cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The History and Future of Health Care Law: An Essentialist View

Health law in the U.S. coalesced intellectually and academically roughly 25 years ago as the doctrinal and public policy study of law that applies to the health care industry. Many scholars, are dissatisfied, however, with the state of the field. What existed for centuries as a field defined by physicians' encounters with courts is now defined in essentially the same fashion, only much more broadly, as the judicial, legislative, market, and regulatory systems' encounter with all facets of the health care industry. The field is much richer and more sophisticated than in its origins, but a hodgepodge it still is. Each of the four major branches stands apart from the others and is thought to be dominated by distinct themes. For a body of substantive law to emerge as a distinctive field of intellectual inquiry, it must be more than just the assortment of rules that result from applying other bodies of substantive law to a particular economic sector or human activity. Such a field is not intellectually distinctive unless there are one or more attributes of the economic or social enterprise in question that make it uniquely important or difficult in the legal domain. For medicine, surely this is the case. Medical law is about the delivery of an extremely important, very expensive, and highly specialized professional service delivered in situations of tremendous personal vulnerability. This is what has attracted scholars to the field. For this simple reason, I propose an essentialist view approach: what are the essential features of health care delivery that distinguish its legal issues from those of other related fields. Of course, any applied body of law should take some stock of its particular subject matter. But, this need to contextualize is much more compelling in health care law than in many or most other economic and social arenas. That is why its defining characteristics include the special features of medicine. Under this essentialist approach, when ethics, or law, regards patients, it tends to regard them as patients, rather than as people who happen to be patients. And the same is true for people who are physicians and for services that are medical care. Sometimes, it matters fundamentally, even profoundly, that a legal matter involves physicians caring for patients rather than providers servicing generic consumers. When this is so, general law becomes health care law. In sum, the core of academic health care law consists of those aspects of law for which the unique features of medicine are central to the analysis or inquiry, rather than medicine simply being an incident of generic law's subject matter.
Ventilation in Morphine-Maintained Rhesus Monkeys. I: Effects of Naltrexone and Abstinence-Associated Withdrawal,

The effects of naltrexone on ventilation were examined in three rhesus monkeys maintained on 3.2 mg/kg/day morphine. Before the onset of the daily morphine-dosing regimen, naltrexone had only modest effects on ventilation; a dose of 32 mg/kg increased ventilatory rate in the presence of normal air to 36 ± 1 breaths/min, from a baseline rate of 25 ± 1 breaths/min. Naltrexone did not affect other measures of ventilation in the presence of normal air or 5% CO2. Subsequent to the onset of the daily morphine injection regimen, naltrexone dose-dependently increased ventilatory rate at doses 4 orders of magnitude lower (0.001–0.01 mg/kg) than those effective in nondependent monkeys. A dose of 0.01 mg/kg naltrexone in morphine-maintained monkeys increased ventilatory rate in the presence of normal air to 52 ± 4 breaths/min. Naltrexone also dose-dependently increased ventilatory rate in the presence of 3% and 5% CO2; tidal volume was not affected by naltrexone administration. Doubling the maintenance dose of morphine to 6.4 mg/kg/day further increased the ventilatory effects of naltrexone. Withholding the maintenance dose of morphine also increased ventilatory rate without affecting tidal volumes, in a manner similar to that seen after naltrexone administration. These results are consistent with the view that changes in ventilation can be used to measure precipitated and abstinence-associated opioid withdrawal in monkeys.
Estrogen Receptor α in Cancer Associated Fibroblasts Suppresses Prostate Cancer Invasion via Reducing CCL5, IL6 and Macrophage Infiltration in the Tumor Microenvironment

Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF) play important roles in tumor growth that involves inflammation and epithelial cell differentiation. Early studies suggested that estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) was expressed in stromal cells in normal prostates and prostate cancer (PCa), but the detailed functions of stromal ERα in the PCa remain to be further elucidated. Migration and invasion assays demonstrated the presence of high levels of ERα in CAF cells (CAF.ERα(+)) suppressed PCa invasion via influencing the infiltration of tumor associated macrophages. ERα decreased CAF CCL5 secretion via suppressing the CCL5 promoter activity was examined by luciferase assay. ERα decreased CCL5 and IL-6 expression in conditioned media that was collected from CAF cell only or CAF cell co-cultured with macrophages as measured by ELISA assay. Both in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated CAF.ERα(+) led to a reduced macrophage migration toward PCa via inhibiting CAF cells secreted chemokine CCL5. This CAF.ERα(+) suppressed macrophage infiltration affected the neighboring PCa cells invasion and the reduced invasiveness of PCa cells are at least partly due to reduced IL6 expression in the macrophages and CAF. Our data suggest that CAF ERα could be applied as a prognostic marker to predict cancer progression, and targeting CCL5 and IL6 may be applied as an alternative therapeutic approach to reduce M2 type macrophages and PCa invasion in PCa patients with low or little ERα expression in CAF cells.
Design principles and techniques for enabling reboot-based administration in a persistent state storage system

Managing large computer installations is complex and expensive. It is already the case that system administration accounts for a majority of the total cost of ownership, often costing 5 to 10 times more than the purchase price of hardware and software. Since long-running trends of decreasing hardware costs and increasing system complexity exacerbate the problem, ease of management will continue to be a critical system design challenge in the future. In this thesis, I focus on management of persistent state in Internet-scale systems. These systems are characterized by their large scale and dynamically changing environment. At the scale of hundreds or thousands of nodes, node failures are the common case, which makes failure handling an important area of administration on which to focus. When changes in workload or system environment are frequent, system evolution tasks such as scaling are also common tasks administrators must handle. Finally, since Internet applications serve requests globally for fractions of a penny per access, mechanisms for dealing with scale and change must meet the 24 x 7 availability and low cost requirements. The approach I take to simplifying state management is to first design the system to have low-cost reboot-based recovery. The properties of “cheap” recovery are that data remains available and data consistency is maintained throughout failure, failover, and recovery. Instead of affecting availability or consistency, failure and recovery manifests as minimal performance degradation that is predictable and bounded. With cheap recovery, system administration can be simplified in two ways. First, cheap recovery simplifies failure detection by lowering the cost of acting on false positives, which in turn, enables the use of statistical techniques to turn hard-to-catch failures, such as node degradation, into failure followed by recovery. Second, cheap recovery can be used to cast system evolution tasks like online data repartitioning into failure plus recovery to achieve zero-downtime incremental scaling. These low-cost failure handling and system evolution mechanisms make it possible for the system to be continuously self-adjusting, a key property of self-managing systems.
Plasmacytoma associated with canaliculitis

Plasmacytomas are plasma cell neoplasms that rarely involve ocular adnexal tissues as a primary lesion or secondary manifestation of plasma cell myeloma. Only one case of plasmacytoma involving the lacrimal drainage system, to our knowledge, is described in the literature. The clinical presentation of ocular adnexal primary plasmacytoma typically relates to its mass effect. In this clinicopathologic report, we describe an unusual presentation of primary plasmacytoma of the lacrimal canaliculus as infectious canaliculitis.
Taking animal news seriously: Cat tales in The New York Times

‘Cute cat videos’ are often vilified for representing everything journalism is not and should not be. However, news about cats – cute and otherwise – has been fodder for The New York Times for more than 140 years. This article critically examines the Times’ cat tales in the context of the cultural history of journalism and the academic study of human–animal relations, also known as anthrozoology. Trends and themes in the coverage indicate that cats have been used and portrayed as commodities, heroes, villains, victims, women’s best friends, and urban symbols. The stories demonstrate how and why animal news should be taken seriously by journalism scholars. Not only does it offer insight into our evolving relationships with animals, it also provides a provocative means of thinking about where journalism has been and where it is heading.
FECUNDITY IN POPULATIONS OF OXALIS ALPINA IN SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA.

edge of Arisaema triphyllum. Mem. Torrey. Bot. Club 16:1-55. POOLE, C. F., AND P. C. GRIMBALL. 1939. Inheritance of new sex forms in Cucumis melo L. J. Heredity 30:21-25. RICHARDS, A. J. 1975. Notes on the sex and age of Potentillafruiticosa L. in upper Teasdale. Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Northumbria 42:84-92. RICHARDSON, E. A., P. D. CHRISTENSEN, W. G. DEWEY, R. F. NEILSON, G. L. ASHCROFT, AND R. J. HANKS. 1977. Utah's drought-what can we do about it? Utah Sci. 37:3-10. SCHAFFNER, J. H. 1922. Control of the sexual state of Arisaema triphyllum and Arisaemma dracontium. Amer. J. Bot. 9:72-78. SCHAFFNER, J. H. 1935. Observations and experiments on sex in plants. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 62:387-401. TORREY, J. G. 1976. Root hormones and plant growth. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 27:435-459. WILLIAMS, C. N., AND R. L. THOMAS. 1970. Observations on sex differentiation in the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis L. Ann. Bot. 34:957-963. WILLSON, M. F. 1979. Sexual selection in plants. Amer. Natur. 113:777-790.
Roaming Pathway Leading to Unexpected Water + Vinyl Products in C2H4OH Dissociation

We report molecular dynamics simulations of the unimolecular dissociation of energetic C2H4OH radicals using a full-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) fit to density functional theory (DFT) and coupled cluster (CCSD) calculations. Quasiclassical trajectories are initiated on the surface using microcanonical sampling at a total energy of 85.0 kcal/mol (44.1 kcal/mol relative to the zero-point energy). The trajectories reveal a roaming channel leading to the formation of water. The transition state (TS) corresponding to direct water production is energetically inaccessible. However, the roaming pathway finds a lower-energy path via frustrated dissociation to hydroxyl that makes water + vinyl production feasible. The trajectory calculations suggest that the roaming pathway constitutes a minor (a few percent) channel of the overall C2H4OH dissociation. The mechanism of the roaming reaction is analyzed in terms of the geomteric proximity of the TSs leading to OH loss and internal abstraction as well as...
HyperChem: a software package for computational chemistry and molecular modeling.

The features of HyperChem, a new software package for computational chemistry and molecular modeling on Silicon Graphics workstations and IBM® PC-compatible computers, are described
Extramedullary hematopoiesis presented as cytopenia and massive paraspinal masses leading to cord compression in a patient with hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin

Background Extramedullary hematopoeisis (EMH) can occur in various physiological and pathologic states. The spleen is the most common site of EMH.
Opinion Formation Using the Gür Game

Opinion leaders with different degrees of influence may lead to different outcomes when seeking support from their followers. In this paper, we present the opinion leaders with high trustworthiness or the effective persuasion tactics will gain the desired proportion of support from followers sooner in the Gur game framework. The composition of followers in a group affects the time to achieve the target proportion of support as well. The Gur game is a self-organized artificial game associating players with finite state automata and a moderator with a reward function. We regard each follower as a player associating with a finite state automaton to reflect their states of mind. An opinion leader, considered as a moderator, has a reward function to reflect his/her degree of influence and to predict the probability of followers changing their state of mind after he/she delivers a speech or comments on a topic or a product.
PCL-PDMS-PCL Copolymer-Based Microspheres Mediate Cardiovascular Differentiation from Embryonic Stem Cells

Poly-ɛ-caprolactone (PCL) based microspheres have received much attention as drug or growth factor delivery carriers and tissue engineering scaffolds due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability...
Crossed Products: Characters, Cyclic Homology, and Grothendieck Groups

This article surveys some recent developments in the study of modules over crossed products R * G. As indicated in the title, we focus on three particular techniques, namely (1) characters or rather their ring theoretic analog, Hattori-Stallings ranks (2) cyclic homology and Connes’ “Chern characters”, an extension of Hattori-Stallings ranks, and (3) Moody’s induction theorem for Grothendieck groups G 0(R*G) where G is a polycyclic-by-finite group.
Pervasive parallel and distributed computing in a liberal arts college curriculum

Abstract We present a model for incorporating parallel and distributed computing (PDC) throughout an undergraduate CS curriculum. Our curriculum is designed to introduce students early to parallel and distributed computing topics and to expose students to these topics repeatedly in the context of a wide variety of CS courses. The key to our approach is the development of a required intermediate-level course that serves as an introduction to computer systems and parallel computing. It serves as a requirement for every CS major and minor and is a prerequisite to upper-level courses that expand on parallel and distributed computing topics in different contexts. With the addition of this new course, we are able to easily make room in upper-level courses to add and expand parallel and distributed computing topics. The goal of our curricular design is to ensure that every graduating CS major has exposure to parallel and distributed computing, with both a breadth and depth of coverage. Our curriculum is particularly designed for the constraints of a small liberal arts college, however, much of its ideas and its design are applicable to any undergraduate CS curriculum.
Counterfeit Electronic Cigarette Products with Mislabeled Nicotine Concentrations.

Author(s): Omaiye, Esther E; Cordova, Iliana; Davis, Barbara; Talbot, Prue | Abstract: Objectives:We compared nicotine concentrations in one brand of refill fluids that were purchased in 4 countries and labeled 0 mg of nicotine/mL. We then identified counterfeit e-cigarette products from these countries. Methods:Overall, 125 e-cigarette refill fluids were purchased in Nigeria, the United States (US), England, and China. Nicotine concentrations were measured using high performance liquid chromatography and compared to labeled concentrations. Refill fluids were examined to identify physical differences and grouped into authentic and counterfeit products. Results:Whereas nicotine was in 51.7% (15/29) of the Nigerian, 3.7% (1/27) of the Chinese and 1.6% (1/61) of the American refill fluids (range = 0.4 - 20.4 mg/mL), 8 British products did not contain nicotine. Products from China, the US, and Nigeria with trace amounts of nicotine (0.4 to 0.6 mg/mL) were authentic; however, all products from Nigeria with more than 3.7 mg/mL were counterfeit. Conclusions:We introduce 2 novel issues in the e-cigarette industry, the production of counterfeit refill fluids under a brandjacked label and inclusion of nicotine in 81.3% of the counterfeit products labeled 0 mg/mL. This study emphasizes the need for better control and monitoring of nicotine containing products and sales outlets.
Phase Conjugation Using Gated Digital Holography for Illumination Through Partial Obscurations

We describe a method to project a laser beam possessing a scene-dependent intensity distribution, using a pulsed phase conjugator. We demonstrate projection of light, bypassing a partial obscuration, with potential for enhancing foliage-penetrating lidar applications.
Limited fitness costs of herbicide‐resistance traits in Amaranthus tuberculatus facilitate resistance evolution

BACKGROUND The fitness cost of herbicide resistance (HR) in the absence of herbicide selection plays a key role in HR evolution. Quantifying the fitness cost of resistance, however, is challenging, and there exists a knowledge gap in this area. A synthetic (artificially generated) Amaranthus tuberculatus population segregating for five types of HR was subjected to competitive growth conditions in the absence of herbicide selection for six generations. Fitness costs were quantified by using a combination of phenotyping and genotyping to monitor HR frequency changes over generations. RESULTS In the absence of herbicide selection, a significant fitness cost was observed for resistance to acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, but not for resistances to atrazine (non-target-site resistance mechanism), protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors, 4-hydroxyphenylpryuvate dioxygenase inhibitors or glyphosate. Glyphosate resistance was conferred by multiple mechanisms in the synthetic population, and further analysis revealed that one mechanism, amplification of the 5-enolypyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene, did decrease in frequency. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that herbicide-resistance mitigation strategies (e.g. herbicide rotation) that rely on the existence of fitness costs in the absence of herbicide selection likely will be largely ineffective in many cases. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry
The impact of contemplative practices on foreign language anxiety and learning

This study looked at the impact of the integration of contemplative practices on foreign language anxiety, positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, classroom climate, and language learning in students enrolled in an advanced intermediate Spanish language course in the USA. Data included pre- and post-test surveys, exam scores to measure learning outcomes, student interviews, and course evaluations. In the contemplative group, students engaged in brief 10-minute contemplative practices once a week, while the non-contemplative group followed the same syllabus but was not exposed to contemplative practices. Analysis of the data showed no significant differences in foreign language anxiety, self-efficacy or affect between the non-contemplative and contemplative groups at post-test but significantly higher scores on classroom climate measures in the contemplative group. Significantly higher grades were found on course exams for students in the contemplative group. Analysis of the pre-/post-survey data revealed a significant decrease in foreign language anxiety in both groups over the semester but not for affect or self-efficacy. This study extends the existing research on contemplative practices to a new context—affect and learning in foreign language courses.
The Role of the International Trade Regime in Global Governance

Trade agreements originated as narrow bargains for mutual tariff reductions between countries. Over the years, however, their scope has expanded considerably. First, rules to address domestic laws that discriminated, both overtly and covertly, against foreign products were added, in order to ensure that tariff concessions were not circumvented. More recently, governments have negotiated trade agreement rules in a wide range of new areas, such as intellectual property protection, many of which have only a tenuous connection to "trade." On the basis of this expansion, combined with the development of strong and effective enforcement mechanisms, the modern international trade regime now functions as a limited form of "global governance." Partly as a result, the trade regime is in a precarious state today, with multilateral trade negotiations stalled and mass protests greeting many bilateral and multilateral negotiations. In this paper, I propose a framework for strengthening the regime, involving a more open and honest debate about the appropriate scope of the regime and re-focusing the trade regime on the core purpose of non-discrimination. As a corollary to this proposal, I argue that many of the issues that have been incorporated into trade agreements over the years should be addressed as part of a distributed and cooperative approach to global governance that involves other international organizations and softens the binding nature of the current trade rules in these areas.
Administrative Law Through the Lens of Immigration Law

Immigration law does lag behind in the advancement of public law, but not in all respects. While immigration law is idiosyncratic in many ways, this article finds immigration law in the administrative law mainstream when it comes to its troubles with nonlegislative rules (sometimes called guidance documents). There are concerns throughout administrative law that agencies use such rules to bind regulated parties practically, even if not legally, without the procedural protections of notice and comment. This article analyzes immigration troubles with nonlegislative rules and makes three main contributions. First, it casts new light on the negative effects of guidance documents by viewing administrative law through the lens of immigration law. In immigration law, the cons of guidance documents play out in the context of some of life’s most fundamental questions: where and with whom to live and to work. Second, by showing how administrative law manifests in immigration law, this article concludes that immigration law’s troubles cannot be divorced from the mainstream administrative law debate over nonlegislative rules. Third, this article also evaluates a procedure new to immigration law: the draft memorandum for comment. Through the draft memorandum for comment procedure, the public may comment on draft guidance documents, but is not afforded the full protections of notice and comment rulemaking. While the new procedure is a pragmatic and positive step for immigration law, this article highlights that nonlegislative rules are not the only administrative tool available and argues for greater priority for notice and comment rulemaking in immigration law.
Comparative industrial policy and cybersecurity: a framework for analysis

This comparative project evaluates the role of firms, governments, and other key stakeholders in the rise of industrial policy in important states in the cybersecurity industry. In particular, we f...
Maternal Buffering of Adolescent Dysregulation in Socially Appetitive Contexts: From Behavior to the Brain.

Adolescents are more susceptible to dysregulation in positive social contexts, compared to children. We investigated whether maternal presence would buffer these effects in adolescence. Fifty-four adolescents and children (age range = 8-17 years, Mage = 13.38 years) completed a social go-nogo task during an fMRI scan alone and in the presence of their mother. We found age-related patterns, such that older relative to younger youth displayed more disinhibition toward socially appetitive than socially aversive stimuli, which was buffered by maternal presence. Furthermore, with age, maternal buffering in socially appetitive contexts elicited heightened activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex connectivity. Findings underscore the importance of caregivers in promoting the neural regulation of their offspring during adolescence.
Water-Soluble and Bright Luminescent Cesium–Lead–Bromide Perovskite Quantum Dot–Polymer Composites for Tumor-Derived Exosome Imaging

Cesium–lead-halide perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) are a highly promising class of the next-generation optical material for bioimaging applications. Herein, we present a nanocomposite strategy for t...
Dislocations under gradient flow and their effect on the renormalized coupling

Nonzero topological charge is prohibited in the chiral limit of continuum gauge-fermion systems because any unpaired instanton would create a zero mode of the Dirac operator. On the lattice, however, the geometric ${Q}_{\mathrm{geom}}=⟨F\stackrel{\texttildelow{}}{F}⟩/32{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{2}$ definition of the topological charge does not necessarily vanish in the chiral limit even when the gauge fields are smoothed for example with gradient flow. Small vacuum fluctuations (dislocations) not seen by the fermions may be promoted to instantonlike objects by the gradient flow. We demonstrate that these artifacts of the flow cause the gradient flow renormalized gauge coupling to increase and appear to run faster. In step-scaling studies such strong coupling artifacts contribute a term that might not follow perturbative scaling. The usual $a/L\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ continuum limit extrapolations can hence lead to incorrect results. In this paper we investigate these topological lattice artifacts in the massless SU(3) 10-flavor system with domain wall fermions and the massless 8-flavor system with staggered fermions. For both systems we observe that in the range of strong coupling Symanzik gradient flow exhibits more lattice artifacts compared to Wilson gradient flow. We demonstrate how this artifact impacts the determination of the renormalized gauge coupling and the step-scaling $\ensuremath{\beta}$ function.
Procedure for the selection of materials for use in oxygen systems at the John F. Kennedy Space Center

This paper describes tests used at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in the material selection procedure for evaluating materials suitable for use in oxygen systems. Special attention is given to the basic selection criteria for materials used in oxygen enriched environments. The flow chart for the material selection procedure is presented, and information that must be supplied by vendors requesting batch/lot certification support from KSC is given.
Pica Disorder among African American Women: A Call for Action and Further Research

Pica is simply defined as the consumption of none food products such as laundry starch, clay dirt, ice, soap, and chalk. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) classifies Pica as the habitual consumption of nonfood and non-nutritive substances for at least one year. Pica disorder is usually unnoticed, under-reported, causes serious harm to clients especially African American women, and seldom discussed in social work scholarship. It is, therefore, important to begin to sensitize social workers to the harmful effects of Pica, especially because it is often unrecognized and misdiagnoses can cause harm. This article provides a panoramic overview of Pica, the signs and symptoms of the disorder specifically among African American women and also address some of the adverse effects, and highlights some of the evidence-based effective treatment strategies. Finally, an urgent clarion call to social workers to conduct more research on Pica disorders among African American women is articulated.
Gestational weight gain disparities in South Carolina: Temporal trends, 2004-2015

Background Few studies have examined secular trends in gestational weight gain (GWG) and findings are inconsistent. Parallel to increasing trends in pre-pregnancy obesity, we hypothesised similar increasing GWG trends. Objectives The study examined trends in GWG in South Carolina (SC), using methods to reduce bias. We also examined whether the 12-year trends in GWG varied according to race/ethnicity and pre-pregnancy weight. Methods Data came from SC birth certificates, 2004 to 2015. We calculated standardised GWG z-scores (GWGZ), using smoothed reference values to account for gestational age and pre-pregnancy body mass index. Quantile regression was used to examine trends in GWGZ, adjusting for pre-pregnancy weight status, race/ethnicity, parity, WIC participation, smoking during pregnancy, residence, age, and birth cohort. Results Among 615 093 women, the mean GWGZ was -0.4 (SD = 1.3), which increased from -0.4 in 2004-2005 to -0.2 in 2014-2015. GWGZ increased at the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles (ranging 0.04 to 0.73 units), with differential trends observed in sub-groups by pre-pregnancy weight and racial/ethnic group. Notably, non-Hispanic White women showed larger increasing trends (0.89 units) compared to non-Hispanic Black (0.55 units) and Hispanic (0.76 units) women in the 5th percentile. Decreasing trends were seen overall for the 90th (-0.02) and 95th percentile (-0.06 units) but positive trends were not seen among women experiencing obese class 1 (no change in 90th and 95th), and 2 (0.01 units in 90th, -0.02 units in 95th). Conclusions This study shows increasing GWGZ trends from the 5th to the 75th percentiles and decreasing trends in 90th and 95th percentiles in SC for the last decade. Racial/ethnic and pre-pregnancy weight disparities did not improve over the study period. Future research is needed to confirm these findings in other states and to develop strategies to narrow racial and pre-pregnancy weight disparities at the highest and lowest percentiles.
COVID-19 and International Diversification: A New Paradigm for Multinationals

COVID-19 has challenged longstanding assumptions about multinationals’ international diversification strategies. Unlike corruption or war, this new type of uncertainty is unavoidable. All countries are affected. And, throughout the pandemic, having a global workforce has created additional challenges related to managing diverse policies, resources, and cultures. Going forward, executives of multinationals will first and foremost consider business continuity when selecting investment locations. Multinationals, especially those in service-based industries, likely will scale down their global operations and focus on countries with infrastructures that support remote work and sustaining healthy populations. Key insights come from an executive who managed his firm’s COVID-19 response.
An Interactive Approach to Region of Interest Selection in Cytologic Analysis of Uveal Melanoma Based on Unsupervised Clustering

Facilitating quantitative analysis of cytology images of fine needle aspirates of uveal melanoma is important to confirm diagnosis and inform management decisions. Extracting high-quality regions of interest (ROIs) from cytology whole slide images is a critical first step. To the best of our knowledge, we describe the first unsupervised clustering-based method for fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) that automatically suggests high-quality ROIs. Our method is integrated in a graphical user interface that allows for interactive refinement of ROI suggestions to tailor analysis to any specific specimen. We show that the proposed approach suggests ROIs that are in very good agreement with expert-extracted regions and demonstrate that interactive refinement results in the extraction of more high-quality regions compared to purely algorithmic extraction alone.
The effect of colonization dynamics in competition for space in metacommunities

One of the main factors that determines habitat suitability for sessile and territorial organisms is the presence or absence of another competing individual in that habitat. This type of competition arises in populations occupying patches in a metacommunity. Previous studies have looked at this process using a continuous-time modeling framework, where colonizations and extinctions occur simultaneously. However, different colonization processes may be performed by different species, which may affect the metacommunity dynamics. We address this issue by developing a discrete-time framework that describes these kinds of metacommunity interactions, and we consider different colonization dynamics. To understand potential dynamics, we consider specific functional forms that characterize the colonization and extinction processes of metapopulations competing for space as their limiting factor. We then provide a mathematical analysis of the models generated by this framework, and we compare these results to what is seen in nature and in previous models.
Survival of Patients with Lung Cancer in the Setting of Liver Cirrhosis: A Multicenter Propensity Score Matching Study.

Purpose The survival outcome of lung cancer patients with coexisting liver cirrhosis has thus far received limited attention in the literature. In this study, we evaluated whether liver cirrhosis is an independent risk factor for the survival of patients with lung cancer. Materials and Methods We conducted a retrospective, multicenter, propensity-matched study of lung cancer patients with and without liver cirrhosis. To determine differences in survival, we sought to identify risk factors associated with poor outcomes using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results There were no statistically significant differences in the baseline clinical characteristics of patients between the cirrhosis and non-cirrhosis groups. The median overall survival of patients with and without cirrhosis was 13.07 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.56-16.84) and 13.67 months (95% CI: 10.42-16.91), respectively (p=0.76). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that liver cirrhosis was not an independent risk factor for poor outcome (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.057, 95% CI: 0.805-1.388, p=0.690). In patients with cirrhosis, lower serum albumin levels, higher Charlson Comorbidity Index score, advanced-stage lung cancer, and treatment modality were factors associated with poor outcome. Increase in serum albumin by 1 g was associated with a 30% reduction in the risk of mortality (HR: 0.700, 95% CI: 0.494-0.993, p=0.045). While every point increase in the Charlson Comorbidity Index score by 1 point was linked to a 9% higher risk of mortality (HR: 1.090, 95% CI: 1.023-1.161, p=0.007). Conclusion The survival rates of lung cancer patients with and without cirrhosis did not differ significantly. Higher serum albumin levels and lower Charlson Comorbidity Index scores were associated with improved survival.
Trap-Assisted Dopant Compensation Prevents Shunting in poly-Si Passivating Interdigitated Back Contact Silicon Solar Cells

Interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells achieve the highest efficiencies of single-junction architectures, but complicated patterning of the rear fingers and spreading of dopants during processing inhibit their mainstream adoption due to concerns of shunting between the IBC fingers. One method of simplifying patterning at the rear is by using contact masks combined with plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or ion implantation. However, the intrinsic isolation region becomes contaminated during high-temperature annealing by lateral diffusion of dopants and during masked PECVD by spreading of dopant radicals through region between the mask and the substrate. Despite this contamination, we show through scanning spreading resistance microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy that a ~20 µm wide compensating region exists with high enough resistivity to prevent shunting. We model this p-i-n poly-Si system using two simulation models: a simple resistor model considering only the capture of charge carriers by trap defects in poly-Si to reduce the conductivity, and a more refined 1-dimensional finite element model using Poisson’s equation, drift-diffusion equations, and recombination of carriers. Using this model, we show that high defect density significantly decreases the current across the region between the p- and n-type fingers, preventing shunting.
A Survey of Beauville p-Groups

This paper describes recent results as to which \(p\)-groups are Beauville, with emphasis on ones of small order (joint with N. Barker and B. Fairbairn) and ones that form inverse systems (joint with N. Barker, N. Peyerimhoff, and A. Vdovina).
Architecture and Implementation of an Interactive Tool for the Design and Visualization of Active Capability

Active capability has been proposed as a paradigm to meet the demands of many database and other applications that require a timely response to situations. Event — Condition — Action (or ECA) rules are used to support active capability in a system. The design of an active DBMS for a particular application entails the design of schema for that application as well as ECA rules that correspond to business rules, constraints, invariants, and situations to be monitored in that application.
Restoration of squamous mucosa after ablation of Barrett's esophageal epithelium.

Abstract Background: Antireflux therapy has generally failed to induce regression of Barrett's epithelium. It was hypothesized that squamous epithelium could be restored if the columnar tissue was ablated while gastric acid secretion was suppressed. Methods: Ten white men with Barrett's esophagus received 40 mg of omeprazole daily. Thereafter, every 2–5 weeks they underwent videotaped endoscopies to argon laser photoablate columnar tissue, obtain biopsy specimens, and assess results. Squamous re-epithelialization was assessed by correlation of videotapes and directed biopsies. Results: Patients had one to eight areas ablated, totaling 0.5–12.0 cm 2 . Videotape assessments were corroborated by biopsy in all but one instance. Thirty-eight of 40 treatment locations partially or completely re-epithelialized with squamous tissue. Squamous regrowth appeared to occur by spread from contiguous squamous borders and de novo from glandular tissue. Regrowth was influenced by the extent of squamous borders and completeness of ablations. Nonablated glandular tissue persisted beneath squamous epithelium. Conclusions: Ablation of Barrett's epithelium and suppression of acid secretion facilitated squamous re-epithelialization. A progenitor cell within the metaplastic tissue has the potential to differentiate normally.
Mature Phloem of Perennial Monocotyledons

Structural aspects of differentiating and mature sieve elements of perennial monocotyledons in general and of palms in particular are presented. As in other angiosperms, an immature sieve element undergoes a profound modification of the protoplast during differentiation. Intact, mature sieve elements lack nuclei, possess a parietal cytoplasm, empty lumen and sieve-plate pores that are free of obstructions. Such a structure is in general agreement with the physiological data obtained from exuding inflorescences of woody monocotyledons. Structural evidence and some tracer experiments indicate that sieve elements in perennial monocotyledons are long-lived and apparently function throughout the lifetime of the organ or the plant.
Karagiozis: Three Classic Plays

Reviewed Medium: book Translators: Kostas Myrsiades, Linda Myrsiades Year: 1999 Pages: 224 Publisher: Pella Publishing Prices: $15.00 US(soft cover).
Three-dimensional imaging and computer simulation for office-based surgery.

Purpose Advancements in computers and imaging, especially over the last 10 years, have permitted the adoption of 3-dimensional imaging protocols in the health care field. In addition, the affordability and ease of use of these modalities allow their widespread adoption and use in diagnosis and treatment planning. This is particularly important when the deformities are complex involving both function and esthetics, such as those in the dentofacial area and with orthognathic surgery. Materials and Methods Image fusion involves combining images from different imaging modalities to create a virtual record of an individual called a patient-specific anatomic reconstruction (PSAR). We describe the system and show its use in 1 case. Results Image fusion and, more specifically, PSAR permit a more accurate analysis of deformity as an aid to diagnosis and treatment planning. Conclusion Three-dimensional imaging and computer simulation can be effectively used for planning office-based procedures. The PSAR can be used to perform virtual surgery and establish a definitive and objective treatment plan for correction of a facial deformity. The end result is improved patient care and decreased expense.
Liver Metastases in Prostate Carcinoma Represent a Relatively Aggressive Subtype Refractory to Hormonal Therapy and Short-Duration Response to Docetaxel Monotherapy

Background: We report a single institution’s experience from a small series of patients suggesting that liver metastasis in metastatic castration-refractory prostate cancer (mCRPC) represents a relatively aggressive subtype that is refractory to hormonal manipulation treatment, including luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist (LA) and abiraterone (Ab) therapy, although docetaxel is briefly effective. Methods: Between 2007 and 2013, six patients with prostate cancer with liver metastases were analyzed. Biochemical response was defined as > 50% decrease in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value. Results: Two patients who presented with liver metastases died in less than 3 months after LA therapy. Two out of three patients (one died while receiving chemotherapy) received Ab after chemotherapy did not show any response and died while on therapy. One patient who presented with lung metastases initially received LA therapy and progressed on it with liver metastases in < 6 months. Thus, five of six patients did not respond to hormone therapy including LA and Ab. Three patients who received docetaxel after LA therapy had more than 50% objective PSA response with a mean survival of 4 months. Conclusions: No literature addresses the response to hormone treatment in hepatic metastasis in prostate carcinoma. This small series suggests that liver metastases in prostate carcinoma represent a relatively aggressive subset against which hormonal therapy, including the LA and Ab, appears to be ineffective. Although our patients responded to docetaxel chemotherapy, their responses were of short duration. A further clinical trial involving more patients will be necessary to substantiate our findings. World J Oncol. 2015;6(1):265-269 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/wjon903w
Interaction of gender and body mass index (BMI) reveals evidence of linkage for hypertension in the Framingham Heart Study

Genetic heterogeneity and complex biologic mechanisms of blood pressure regulation pose significant challenges to the identification of susceptibility loci influencing hypertension. Previous linkage studies have reported regions of interest, but lack consistency across studies. Incorporation of covariates, in particular the interaction between two independent risk factors (gender and BMI) greatly improved our ability to detect linkage. We report a highly significant signal for linkage to chromosome 2p, a region that has been implicated in previous linkage studies, along with several suggestive linkage regions. We demonstrate the importance of including covariates in the linkage analysis when the phenotype is complex.
Validation of the Omni Scale of Perceived Exertion in a sample of Spanish-speaking youth from the USA.

Summary Whether the translation of verbal descriptors from English to Spanish affects the validity of the Children's OMNI Scale of Perceived Exertion is not known, so the validity of a Spanish version of the OMNI was examined with 32 boys and 36 girls (9 to 12 years old) for whom Spanish was the primary language. Oxygen consumption, ventilation, respiratory rate, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate, and ratings of perceived exertion for the overall body (RPE-O) were measured during an incremental treadmill test. All response values displayed significant linear increases across test stages. The linear regression analyses indicated RPE-O values were distributed as positive linear functions of oxygen consumption, ventilation, respiratory rate, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate, and percent of maximal oxygen consumption. All regression models were statistically significant. The Spanish OMNI Scale is valid for estimating exercise effort during walking and running amongst Hispanic youth whose primary la...
Anaerobic Methyl tert-Butyl Ether-Degrading Microorganisms Identified in Wastewater Treatment Plant Samples by Stable Isotope Probing

Anaerobic methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) degradation potential was investigated in samples from a range of sources. From these 22 experimental variations, only one source (from wastewater treatment plant samples) exhibited MTBE degradation. These microcosms were methanogenic and were subjected to DNA-based stable isotope probing (SIP) targeted to both bacteria and archaea to identify the putative MTBE degraders. For this purpose, DNA was extracted at two time points, subjected to ultracentrifugation, fractioning, and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP). In addition, bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed. The SIP experiments indicated bacteria in the phyla Firmicutes (family Ruminococcaceae) and Alphaproteobacteria (genus Sphingopyxis) were the dominant MTBE degraders. Previous studies have suggested a role for Firmicutes in anaerobic MTBE degradation; however, the putative MTBE-degrading microorganism in the current study is a novel MTBE-degrading phylotype within this phylum. Two archaeal phylotypes (genera Methanosarcina and Methanocorpusculum) were also enriched in the heavy fractions, and these organisms may be responsible for minor amounts of MTBE degradation or for the uptake of metabolites released from the primary MTBE degraders. Currently, limited information exists on the microorganisms able to degrade MTBE under anaerobic conditions. This work represents the first application of DNA-based SIP to identify anaerobic MTBE-degrading microorganisms in laboratory microcosms and therefore provides a valuable set of data to definitively link identity with anaerobic MTBE degradation.
Responses to Individual, Family or Index Selection for Short Term Rate of Egg Production in Chickens

Abstract THE theory of selection and the relative efficiency of various methods of selection have been discussed in detail by several workers: Lush (1948), Lerner (1958), Falconer (1960), Osborne (1957a, b) and others. Probably the most detailed development of theory with respect to reltive gains expected from various methods of selection, most likely to be employed by poultry breeders, is that presented by Osborne (1957 a, b). The four methods of selection discussed by Osborne are, a) full-sib family selection, b) half-sib family selection, c) index selection in which weights are assigned to full-sib and half-sib family averages, and d) index selection in which weights are assigned to full-sib and half-sib family averages and to individual records. Osborne discusses the theoretical efficiency of these systems relative to each other and relative to individual (mass) selection. His development indicates that expected gains, when a trait is low in heritability and the same…
Data Sources for Health Care Quality Evaluation

The central purpose of this article is to review the major approaches to evaluation of health care quality in terms of its use of different data sources. The areas of application, advantages, and disadvantages of seven data sources are presented, including direct observation, clinical records, record abstracts, clinical and administrative staff survey, patient survey, significant others survey, and population survey. Then the selection of data sources is discussed as this process is influenced by the answers to seven critical questions concerning the context of the quality assurance effort.