cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exclusive skeletal muscle correction does not modulate dystrophic heart disease in the aged mdx model of Duchenne cardiomyopathy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by severe degeneration and necrosis of both skeletal and cardiac muscle. While many experimental therapies have shown great promise in treating skeletal muscle disease, an effective therapy for Duchenne cardiomyopathy remains a challenge in large animal models and human patients. The current views on cardiac consequences of skeletal muscle-centered therapy are controversial. Studies performed in young adult mdx mice (a mild DMD mouse model) have yielded opposing results. Since mdx mice do not develop dystrophic cardiomyopathy until ≥21 months of age, we reasoned that old mdx mice may represent a better model to assess the impact of skeletal muscle rescue on dystrophic heart disease. Here, we aged skeletal muscle-specific micro-dystrophin transgenic mdx mice to 23 months and examined the cardiac phenotype. As expected, transgenic mdx mice had minimal skeletal muscle disease and they also outperformed original mdx mice on treadmill running. On cardiac examination, the dystrophin-null heart of transgenic mdx mice displayed severe cardiomyopathy matching that of non-transgenic mdx mice. Specifically, both the strains showed similar heart fibrosis and cardiac function deterioration in systole and diastole. Cardiac output and ejection fraction were also equally compromised. Our results suggest that skeletal muscle rescue neither aggravates nor alleviates cardiomyopathy in aged mdx mice. These findings underscore the importance of treating both skeletal and cardiac muscles in DMD therapy.
Campus Career Services and Centers

The first step toward a successful professional career path should be making a conscious decision to pursue a specific career. Based upon the Cognitive Information Processing approach to career development and services, Reardon et al. (2006) has grouped the process of making career decisions into three domains: Knowledge Domain, Decision Skills Domain, and Executive Processing Domain. The Knowledge Domain includes assessment of one’s own skills, values, interests and employment preferences, and gathering occupational information. This is commonly known as career exploration.
Utilization of Methionine for Phospholipid Formation as Affected by Dietary Protein in the Rat

Phospholipids were isolated from the livers and brains of rats which had been force-fed L-methionine-methyl-14C 3 hours previously. The rats had been fed three dietsâ€"amino acids (AA), casein-lactalbumin (CL) and wheat gluten (WG)â€" which had been made up to the FAO pattern in essential amino acids and to the same total nitrogen (N) concentration. These diets were fed to rats at two levels, 1.2 and 1.6% of N, for 2 weeks. The "C-activity of liver phospholipids reached a peak after 3 hours and began to decrease. The MC-activity of the brain phospholipids continued to rise for at least 8 hours, but the greatest rate of increase occurred between 3 and 5 hours after the force-feeding of the radioactive methionine. There was no difference in the liver or brain in the degree of conversion of the methyl-14C activity from methionine to phospholipids due to the AA, CL or WG diets. In the liver, the groups fed 1.2% of dietary N showed a significantly higher conversion of the methyl-14C from methionine to phospholipids than the groups fed 1.6% of dietary N. In the brain the groups fed 1.6% of dietary N showed a greater relative conversion of the methyl-"C to phospholipids than the group receiving 1.2% of dietary N. J. Nutr. 103: 285-289, 1973.
Colonial Moral Economy and the Discipline of Development: The Gezira Scheme and "Modern" Sudan

[T]he government . decided to reorganize their lands into a large agricultural project which the government itself, with all its power and authority would supervise. Suddenly they found their village alive with land surveyors, engineers, and inspectors.
Extending ACID semantics to the file system

An organization's data is often its most valuable asset, but today's file systems provide few facilities to ensure its safety. Databases, on the other hand, have long provided transactions. Transactions are useful because they provide atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID). Many applications could make use of these semantics, but databases have a wide variety of nonstandard interfaces. For example, applications like mail servers currently perform elaborate error handling to ensure atomicity and consistency, because it is easier than using a DBMS. A transaction-oriented programming model eliminates complex error-handling code because failed operations can simply be aborted without side effects. We have designed a file system that exports ACID transactions to user-level applications, while preserving the ubiquitous and convenient POSIX interface. In our prototype ACID file system, called Amino, updated applications can protect arbitrary sequences of system calls within a transaction. Unmodified applications operate without any changes, but each system call is transaction protected. We also built a recoverable memory library with support for nested transactions to allow applications to keep their in-memory data structures consistent with the file system. Our performance evaluation shows that ACID semantics can be added to applications with acceptable overheads. When Amino adds atomicity, consistency, and isolation functionality to an application, it performs close to Ext3. Amino achieves durability up to 46p faster than Ext3, thanks to improved locality.
Measurement of far-infrared laser frequencies from optically pumped CHD/sub 2/OH

A three-laser heterodyne system was used to frequency measure 11 previously observed optically pumped far-infrared (FIR) laser emissions of CHD/sub 2/OH. These newly measured frequencies have fractional uncertainties of /spl plusmn/2/spl times/10/sup -7/ and correspond to laser wavelengths ranging from 47.8 to 238.0 /spl mu/m. The pump laser offset frequency was measured for 15 CHD/sub 2/OH FIR laser emissions.
Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Models: Do They Need a Fix?

The discovery of tissue plasminogen activator to treat acute stroke is a success story of research on preventing brain injury following transient cerebral ischemia (TGI). That this discovery depended upon development of embolic animal model reiterates that proper stroke modeling is the key to develop new treatments. In contrast to TGI, despite extensive research, prevention or treatment of brain injury following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) has not been achieved. A lack of adequate aSAH disease model may have contributed to this failure. TGI is an important component of aSAH and shares mechanism of injury with it. We hypothesized that modifying aSAH model using experience acquired from TGI modeling may facilitate development of treatment for aSAH and its complications. This review focuses on similarities and dissimilarities between TGI and aSAH, discusses the existing TGI and aSAH animal models, and presents a modified aSAH model which effectively mimics the disease and has a potential of becoming a better resource for studying the brain injury mechanisms and developing a treatment.
Ethnic tensions and social infrastructure

Ethnic tensions may restrict economic growth through a number of infrastructure channels. We extend this literature by (1) using a broad measure of ethnic tensions, (2) considering a variety of measures of social infrastructure for a panel of 87 countries across 16 years and (3) explicitly addressing the endogeneity of ethnic tensions. We find ethnic tensions significantly retard the formation of social infrastructure and, by extension, impose an unnecessary cap on growth and development. As such, governments would well-serve the interests of their populaces by enacting policies, conducting politics and carrying out their daily functions in ways that serve to dampen ethnic tensions, rather than the reverse, which too often seems the case.
The effects of high temperature on isoprene synthesis in oak leaves

Isoprene emission from plants is highly temperature sensitive and is common in forest canopy species that experience rapid leaf temperature fluctuations. Isoprene emission declines with temperature above 35 °C but the temperature at which the decline begins varies between 35 and 44 °C. This variability is caused by the rate at which leaf temperature is increased during measurement with lower temperatures associated with longer measurement cycles. To investigate this we exposed leaves of red oak (Quercus rubra L.) to temperature regimes of 35-45 °C for periods of 20-60 min. Isoprene emission increased during the first 10 min of high temperature exposure and then decreased over the next 10 min until it reached steady state. This phenomenon was common at temperatures above 35 °C but was not noticeable at temperatures below that. The response was reversible within 30 min by lowering leaf temperature to 30 °C. Because there is no storage of isoprene inside the leaf, this behaviour indicates regulation of isoprene synthesis in the leaf. We demonstrated that the variability in isoprene decline results from regulation and explains the variability in the temperature response. This is consistent with our theory that isoprene protects leaves from damage caused by rapid temperature fluctuations.
Forced convection mass transfer: Part III. Increased mass transfer from a flat plate caused by the wake from cylinders located near the edge of the boundary layer

Enhanced rates of mass transfer in the wake region behind detached cylindrical turbulence promoters were investigated with the use of the naphthalene sublimation technique. The maximum increase in the average rate of mass transfer through laminar boundary layers was over 170%. The remarkable feature of these results was that the enhanced rates of mass trasfer persisted for over one hundred and thirty cylinder diameters downstream from the cylinder generating the wake. The observed effect was not only strongly dependent on the free stream velocity and the location of the cylinders relative to the mass transfer surface, but there were marked differences observed between the rate of mass transfer in the wake region behind one and behind two cylinders. These results resemble a “tuning phenomenon” and are believed to be due to Tollmein-Schlichting instabilities and premature transition.
Information-theoretic asymptotics of Bayes methods

In the absence of knowledge of the true density function, Bayesian models take the joint density function for a sequence of n random variables to be an average of densities with respect to a prior. The authors examine the relative entropy distance D/sub n/ between the true density and the Bayesian density and show that the asymptotic distance is (d/2)(log n)+c, where d is the dimension of the parameter vector. Therefore, the relative entropy rate D/sub n//n converges to zero at rate (log n)/n. The constant c, which the authors explicitly identify, depends only on the prior density function and the Fisher information matrix evaluated at the true parameter value. Consequences are given for density estimation, universal data compression, composite hypothesis testing, and stock-market portfolio selection. >
Fourth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research—Lessons Learned and Opportunities Ignored Since Brown v. Board of Education: Youth Development and the Myth of a Color-Blind Society

The scholarship of Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark, referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, emphasized the nation’s color line, not only in the Jim Crow South but in American cities overall. The Clarks pointed out the critical role of context; however, they applied it narrowly to the issue of “harm” as an inevitable consequence of segregation. The author of this article argues that the Clarks and their social science colleagues missed an opportunity to view Black youth as diverse human beings engaged in normal developmental tasks under difficult conditions. She denotes the role of context as key, especially when linked with human growth and psychological processes. Her findings from a sample of impoverished multiethnic youth reaffirm that America is not colorblind and suggest that these youths’ political beliefs and concerns about government vary by ethnicity, gender, family structure, and skin color preferences.
The SMesh wireless mesh network

Wireless mesh networks extend the connectivity range of mobile devices by using multiple access points, some of them connected to the Internet, to create a mesh topology and forward packets over multiple wireless hops. However, the quality of service provided by the mesh is impaired by the delays and disconnections caused by handoffs, as clients move within the area covered by multiple access points. We present the architecture and protocols of SMesh, the first transparent wireless mesh system that offers seamless, fast handoff, supporting real-time applications such as interactive VoIP. The handoff and routing logic is done solely by the access points, and therefore connectivity is attainable by any 802.11 device. In SMesh, the entire mesh network is seen by the mobile clients as a single, omnipresent access point, giving the mobile clients the illusion that they are stationary. We use multicast for access points coordination and, during handoff transitions, we use more than one access point to handle the moving client. SMesh provides a hybrid routing protocol that optimizes routes over wireless and wired links in a multihomed environment. Experimental results on a fully deployed mesh network demonstrate the effectiveness of the SMesh architecture and its intra-domain and inter-domain handoff protocols.
Identification of inflammation-associated serum and colon markers as indicators of nutritional attenuation of colon carcinogenesis in AOM-induced ob/ob mice consuming dietary navy beans and their fractions

A61 Background: There exists a great need for the identification of non-invasive biomarkers that can be utilized for early detection of colorectal cancer. Epidemiological studies have suggested that increased intake of bioactive food components is associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk. We have previously shown that dietary navy beans and their fractions attenuate colon carcinogenesis in genetically obese mice. We hypothesized that this attenuation would be associated with changes in inflammatory cytokines and obesity-related serum proteins that may serve as measures of efficacy. Methods: Ob/Ob mice (n=160) were injected twice with the colon carcinogen azoxymethane and were then randomly placed on 1 of 4 diets: control, whole navy bean, bean residue fraction, or bean extract fraction for up to 40 weeks. A multiplex-based analysis of 15 inflammation and obesity-related serum proteins was conducted. In addition, 84 Th1 Th2 Th3 inflammation-associated gene transcripts were detected via real-time qPCR. Results: Overall, bean fed mice had lower serum levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and the obesity-related protein leptin and higher levels of the inflammatory cytokine MCP-1 compared to mice on the control diet. Serum levels of IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IFNg, GM-CSF, and Leptin were transiently increased during early stages of colon carcinogenesis. Serum levels of IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IFNg and GM-CSF were lower in tumor-bearing mice compared to mice with early stage lesions. Analysis of Th1 Th2 Th3 inflammation-associated gene transcripts in colon mucosa samples revealed that mice on bean-based diets showed downregulation (Tnfrsfr8) and upregulation (Cd4, Ccl5, Ptprc, Maf, IL-1r1) of inflammation-related genes. A Cd4 transcript change was seen with both whole bean and residue fraction indicating that a residue-associated compound may contribute to the Cd4 change seen with whole beans. A Tnfrsfr8 transcript change was seen with residue and extract fractions indicating that different compounds in residue and extract may target the same transcript. Conclusion: Changes in serum protein levels of inflammation-related cytokines may serve as reliable indicators of nutritional attenuation. Gene expression changes in colon mucosa may also be indicative of nutritional attenuation. Serum proteins and transcripts identified as altered by a bean-based dietary intervention have potential to serve as biomarkers of colon cancer risk as well as response indicators.
Immunochemical studies on thymosin: Radioimmunoassay of thymosin β4

Thymosin beta 4, a peptide with hormonal-like properties first isolated from the thymus gland, can be measured in serum using a newly described radioimmunoassay. The radioimmunoassay utilizes an antibody raised in rabbits against synthetic thymosin beta 4 conjugated by glutaraldehyde to keyhole limpet hemocyanin. A 125I-tyrosine-C13 analogue of the biologically active C-terminal fragment is used as the radioactive tracer. The radioimmunoassay is sensitive in the nanogram range and no cross-reactivity with common serum proteins is demonstrable. High performance liquid chromatography of serum samples indicates that two thymosin beta 4 cross-reactive species are present in human serum. Levels in serum range from 450 to 1100 ng/ml and decline with age.
A Comparative Study of Library and Information Science Education

AbstractThis paper delineates the historical retrospective and current status of library and information science education in China. Emphases are on analysing the similarities and differences in origin, evolution, scale, structure, curriculum, faculty and students in library and information science education between China and the United States. Possible causes are also explored. The golden age of China’s library education in the 1980s and the disastrous Great Cultural Revolution, both clearly show that China’s political situation has a greater influence on its library education than does the US political situation on American library education. On the other hand, it seems that the impact of financial resources and job market for librarians on American library education is more influential than on China’s. It has become clear that China’s substantial progress in the 1980s has reduced the gap between the two countries.
A Portrait of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in Technical and Professional Communication: Results of a Pilot Study.

We report the results of a pilot study that offers the field of technical and professional communication its first look at material working conditions of contingent faculty, such as course loads, c...
Treatment of transsphincteric anal fistulas by endorectal advancement flap or collagen fistula plug: a comparative study.

PURPOSE: In this study we compared the outcomes of patients with complex cryptoglandular fistulas treated by endorectal advancement flap or anal fistula plug. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with transsphincteric anal fistulas treated by endorectal advancement flap or anal fistula plug from January 1996 through April 2007. Patients with noncryptoglandular fistulas or insufficient follow-up were excluded. Results were obtained with a combination of chart reviews, mailed questionnaire, and phone interviews. Success was defined as a closed external opening in absence of symptoms at a minimal follow-up time of six months. RESULTS: Forty-three patients had an endorectal advancement flap and 37 patients had an anal fistula plug procedure. The two cohorts were comparable for age, gender, smoking status, fistula type, and previous failed treatments. The success rate was 63 percent in the endorectal advancement flap group and 32 percent in the anal fistula plug group (P = 0.008), after a mean follow-up of 56 (range, 6-136) months for endorectal advancement flap and 14 (range, 6-22) months for anal fistula plug. CONCLUSIONS: The current study indicates that the endorectal advancement flap provides a higher success rate than the anal fistula plug. Randomized trials are needed to further elucidate the efficacy and potential functional benefit of the anal fistula plug in the treatment of complex anal fistulas.
Signal extraction goodness-of-fit diagnostic tests under model parameter uncertainty: Formulations and empirical evaluation

ABSTRACTWe present a time-domain goodness-of-fit (gof) diagnostic test that is based on signal-extraction variances for nonstationary time series. This diagnostic test extends the time-domain gof statistic of Maravall (2003) by taking into account the effects of model parameter uncertainty, utilizing theoretical results of McElroy and Holan (2009). We demonstrate that omitting this correction results in a severely undersized statistic. Adequate size and power are obtained in Monte Carlo studies for fairly short time series (10 to 15 years of monthly data). Our Monte Carlo studies of finite sample size and power consider different combinations of both signal and noise components using seasonal, trend, and irregular component models obtained via canonical decomposition. Details of the implementation appropriate for SARIMA models are given. We apply the gof diagnostic test statistics to several U.S. Census Bureau time series. The results generally corroborate the output of the automatic model selection proce...
Abstract P629: Effect of Circulating ACE2 Activity on plasma Angiotensin Peptides

Circulating ACE2, an enzyme that degrades Ang II, has been reported to be increased in rodent models of diabetes. Upregulation of ACE2 by increasing hydrolysis of Ang II could help downregulate RAS overactivity in a compensatory way and/or reflect increased Ang II metabolism. ACE2 activity in plasma, however, is relatively low even in diabetic conditions. Therefore, further increases in ACE2 effected by exogenous ACE2 administration could have a therapeutic action as a result of enhanced Ang II degradation and formation of Ang 1-7. We examined the effect of a massive increase in circulating ACE2 activity on plasma levels of Ang II and other Ang peptides in mice rendered diabetic by STZ. Circulating ACE2 was amplified using ACE2 mini-circle (ACE2MC) gene delivery. Multiple Ang peptides were evaluated in plasma from STZ-mice that received ACE2MC and sham STZ-mice (n=6/group). Plasma Ang II in STZ-ACE2MC mice were markedly lower than in STZ sham mice (3±1 vs. 22±13, pg/mL, respectively), but the difference was not significant owing to high variability. Since the seemingly lower Ang II levels could be influenced by either lower levels of the precursor peptide Ang I, increased degradation of Ang II, or both, a ratio between Ang II and Ang I was calculated. Ang II/Ang I ratio was significantly lower in STZ-ACE2MC as compared to STZ sham mice (0.15±0.05 vs. 0.35±0.06, p We conclude that a massive increase in circulating ACE2 is associated with an accelerated metabolism of Ang II. The increase in Ang II degradation seems best reflected by an increase in Ang 1-5/Ang II ratio.
Womanhood as Experienced in Childbirth: Psychoanalytic Explorations of the Body

ABSTRACTEvaluating data from interviews with 30 first-time mothers predelivery and postdelivery reveals three pertinent themes: fear of bodily damage, immense pride and awe about producing a baby, and circumscribed terms of true womanhood. Data demonstrate an evolving pressure on some women to deliver vaginally without medical intervention or pain medication and to nurse a baby exclusively without formula as a marker of womanhood. Psychoanalytic theorists have explored the unique trajectory of growth from girlhood to womanhood wrestling with the unconscious meanings of pregnancy and motherhood. Not enough focus has been placed on the unconscious meanings of actual childbirth itself. Qualitative data illustrate the current social pressure on women to adhere to an unspoken norm regarding womanhood. This article examines contemporary issues of awe, fear, and performance anxiety reported by childbearing women and evidences a need to augment our understanding of female psychosexual development around unconscio...
Effect of Pressure and Temperature on Transcription Initiation in Bacterial Cells

Abstract:In order for a cell to function normally in any environmental condition, a cell must be able to perform basic cellular functions such as cell metabolism, transcription, translation, and cell division. Adaptation to extremes of physicochemical conditions such as high pressure and temperature requires that all basic cellular processes are unrestricted. Here, we focus on the effect of pressure and temperature on transcription. For the initiation of transcription to occur, RNA polymerase must bind to DNA. We have studied the binding propensity of T7-RNA polymerase and Escherichia coli (E. coli) RNA polymerase to a consensus T7 promoter and E.coli recA promoter DNA, respectively. Specifically, we have investigated the stability of RNA polymerase-promoter DNA elongation complex in a wide range of pressure (1-2000 atm) and temperature (10-50oC) using fluorescence anisotropy. At constant temperature, the stability of elongation complex decreases with increasing pressure. The pressure at which transcription elongation stops depends on temperature. We construct a pressure-temperature phase diagram of the stability of elongation complex for both T7 polymerase + T7 promoter and E.coli polymerase + recA promoter. Furthermore, we show that the pressure-temperature stability phase diagram of elongation complex exhibits typical elliptical shape usually associated with the stability of proteins. Our results suggest that the evolution of polymerases has maintained their functionality in a wide range of pressures and temperatures.
Is There a Remedy for the Problems of Bank Supervision

The first nine chapters of this book should have brought to the reader’s attention the impossible situation the banking industry has created for itself, on-balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet. Bad enough though their case is, the subprimes are not the only reason why investment banks, commercial banks, mortgage lenders, non-bank banks, and other financial institutions are in trouble.
15 Years of penile cancer management in the United States: An analysis of the use of partial penectomy for localized disease and chemotherapy in the metastatic setting

Abstract Background Penile cancer remains a rare disease in the United States, and its understanding may be limited by the uncommon nature of the malignancy. We sought to describe recent penile cancer treatment patterns using the National Cancer Data Base. Methods A retrospective review of data obtained from the National Cancer Data Base from 1998 to 2012 was performed. We obtained demographic information and therapeutic approaches within the following2 clinical scenarios: performance of partial penectomy for early stage disease (clinical Ta–T2) and the use of chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Multivariate logistic analysis was performed. Results A total of 2,677 patients presented with early stage penile carcinoma. The proportion receiving partial penectomy increased from 74% in 1998 to 2000 to 80% in 2010 to 2012 ( P 80, odd ratios [OR] = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.05–2.23), young (age n = 819), use of chemotherapy increased over the time period from 39% receiving chemotherapy in 1998 to 2000 to 49% in 2010 to 2012 ( P P Conclusions Penile-sparing surgery for early stage disease and the use of chemotherapy for metastatic disease are becoming more commonly utilized over the past several years. Further work is needed to define clinical and nonclinical factors associated with the treatment.
Medium voltage AC-AC adapter using multilevel capacitor clamped buck converter

In this paper, a multilevel capacitor clamped buck converter is investigated for AC-AC applications. The proposed topology significantly improves the flexibility of distribution systems in applications such as data centers and residential / industrial power distribution in urban settings. This paper discusses the operation and control of the proposed topology for a load of 50 kVA and 0.9 power factor, with a requirement to step down the voltage from 8 kV to 2.4 kV. An application of the proposed converter as an interface to a solid state transformer is discussed. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate that the topology can provide a low THD output voltage. A scaled-down laboratory prototype was constructed and experimental results are shown to prove the functionality of the topology.
Systemic Treatment of Brain Metastases

Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States. Brain metastases are a significant problem in patients with lung cancer and have conventionally been treated with whole-brain radiation. This article reviews the data for systemic chemotherapy to treat brain metastasis from lung cancer and examines the activity of small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the targeted therapy for brain metastases from EGFR-mutant and ALK-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer. Future directions for evaluating the role of immunotherapy in treating brain metastasis are also discussed.
BCI Use and Its Relation to Adaptation in Cortical Networks

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) carry great potential in the treatment of motor impairments. As a new motor output, BCIs interface with the native motor system, but acquisition of BCI proficiency requires a degree of learning to integrate this new function. In this review, we discuss how BCI designs often take advantage of the brain’s motor system infrastructure as sources of command signals. We highlight a growing body of literature examining how this approach leads to changes in activity across cortex, including beyond motor regions, as a result of learning the new skill of BCI control. We discuss the previous research identifying patterns of neural activity associated with BCI skill acquisition and use that closely resembles those associated with learning traditional native motor tasks. We then discuss recent work in animals probing changes in connectivity of the BCI control site, which were linked to BCI skill acquisition, and use this as a foundation for our original work in humans. We present our novel work showing changes in resting state connectivity across cortex following the BCI learning process. We find substantial, heterogeneous changes in connectivity across regions and frequencies, including interactions that do not involve the BCI control site. We conclude from our review and original work that BCI skill acquisition may potentially lead to significant changes in evoked and resting state connectivity across multiple cortical regions. We recommend that future studies of BCIs look beyond motor regions to fully describe the cortical networks involved and long-term adaptations resulting from BCI skill acquisition.
Elucidating the molecular mechanisms mediating plant salt-stress responses

Contents Summary 523 I. Introduction 523 II. Sensing salt stress 524 III. Ion homeostasis regulation 524 IV. Metabolite and cell activity responses to salt stress 527 V. Conclusions and perspectives 532 Acknowledgements 533 References 533 SUMMARY: Excess soluble salts in soil (saline soils) are harmful to most plants. Salt imposes osmotic, ionic, and secondary stresses on plants. Over the past two decades, many determinants of salt tolerance and their regulatory mechanisms have been identified and characterized using molecular genetics and genomics approaches. This review describes recent progress in deciphering the mechanisms controlling ion homeostasis, cell activity responses, and epigenetic regulation in plants under salt stress. Finally, we highlight research areas that require further research to reveal new determinants of salt tolerance in plants.
Comparison of Injectable Versus Oral Enrofloxacin Pharmacokinetics in Red-Eared Slider Thirties, Trachemys scripta elegans

ABSTRACT Three male and three female red-eared slider turtles, Trachemys scripta elegans, were given an intramuscular (IM) injection of enrofloxacin (5 mg/kg body weight). Blood was obtained from a peripheral vein, and plasma concentrations of enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were measured at 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, and 48 hr post injection. After a period of six weeks, the same animals were given oral doses of enrofloxacin (10 mg/kg body weight). Blood was obtained and plasma concentrations of enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were measured at 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 hr post oral dosing. The highest mean concentrations of enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were 6.28 μg/ml 2 hr and 0.42 μg/ml 7.4 hr after IM injection and 3.44 μg/ml 5 hr and 0.35 μg/ml 6 hr after oral administration. The mean apparent elimination half-life of enrofloxacin was 17.6 hr after IM injection and 32.8 hr after oral administration. The half-life for ciprofloxacin was 28.4 hr post IM administration and 59.6 hr post-oral admi...
Stability analysis of modulated tool path turning

Abstract A new periodic sampling-based method for identifying the stability of modulated tool path turning (MTP) is presented. A metric is defined that provides a numerical value to indicate stability; it is nominally zero for forced vibration and large for self-excited vibration. Tests were performed using ASM 6061-T6 aluminum tubes with varying wall thicknesses to control stability, where MTP was applied to create discrete chips by superimposing sinusoidal oscillation in the feed direction. Results are compared for the new periodic sampling metric and the traditional frequency-domain approach, where the frequency spectrum is analyzed to identify the chatter frequency (should it exist).
Update in Pediatric Infectious Disease

Change is common in the field of pediatric infectious diseases with novel and re-emerging infections, the development and implementation of new vaccines and antimicrobial therapies, and the introduction of innovative diagnostic methodology and infection prevention modalities. This chapter provides an overview and brief summary of a selection of emerging issues in pediatric infectious diseases including: the impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, despite their relatively poor uptake in the past decade; the ongoing outbreaks of measles in the United States; the rise in Clostridium difficile infections in children; the role of antibiotic stewardship in pediatric facilities; the status and management of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections; the management of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections; the introduction of meningococcal B vaccines; and the implications of the Zika virus outbreak. This assortment of topics will provide the reader with an understanding of the dynamic and diverse nature of the field of pediatric infectious diseases.
Differentiation between the oka varicella vaccine virus and American wild-type varicella-zoster virus (VZV).

A live attenuated varicella-zoster virus (VZV) vaccine was developed by Takahashi and his colleagues in the early 1970s (1). The vaccine has been designated the Oka strain after the child from whom the virus was isolated. Attenuation was believed to have been induced by serial passage of the original clinical isolate at various temperatures and in different cell lines (1, 2). Numerous studies throughout the world have subsequently shown the vaccine to be safe, immunogenic, and highly protective in both healthy and immunosuppressed individuals (3–6).
Abstract 2493: Inactivation of ARID1A-SWI/SNF complex alters chromatin compactness at enhancer regions and affects transcription of key tumor signaling circuitry

Somatic mutations in ARID1A, a SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling gene, are prevalent in human cancer and represent an emerging mechanism by which a molecular genetic alteration reprograms epigenomes and propels tumorigenesis. Through comprehensive sequencing of chromatin immunoprecipitation and chromatin accessibility, we found chromatin binding regions for ARID1A/BRG1-containing SWI/SNF remodeling complexes, which were enriched at enhancers and corresponded to euchromatin state. ARID1A deletion caused global re-distribution of BRG1-containing complexes in chromatin. Integrative analyses of ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq, and transcriptome data obtained from endometrial epithelium and human endometrioid carcinomas identified high-confidence ARID1A-regulated genes that participate in myriad key tumor and developmental signaling circuitry tissue. Deletion of Arid1a was found to inactivate the TGF-β pathway and to accelerate tumor progression from pre-cancerous lesions to endometrioid carcinomas. This study provides compelling evidence that Arid1a loss is required for developing endometrial cancer from its precursor. Collectively, targeting epigenomic modifications may hold promise for suppressing invasive behaviors of neoplasms carrying ARID1A mutations. Citation Format: Yohan Suryo Rahmanto, Xu Shi, Wenjing Shen, Tsutomu Miyamoto, Yu Yu, Xi Chen, Meng-Horng Lee, Vivek Singh, Michele I. Vitolo, Denis Wirtz, Ronny Drapkin, Jianhua Xuan, Ie-Ming Shih, Tian-Li Wang. Inactivation of ARID1A-SWI/SNF complex alters chromatin compactness at enhancer regions and affects transcription of key tumor signaling circuitry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2493.
Our Bipartisan Due Process Clause

What it meant to “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law” was very well-known to the men who proposed the Fourteenth Amendment: to take away life, liberty, or property without traditional judicial proceedings, except where public safety required it. Congressmen made this very clear, and at great length — but in 1862, rather than 1866.
3D-Printed Microneedles Create Precise Perforations in Human Round Window Membrane in Situ.

Hypothesis Three-dimensional (3D)-printed microneedles can create precise holes on the scale of micrometers in the human round window membrane (HRWM). Background An intact round window membrane is a barrier to delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents into the inner ear. Microperforation of the guinea pig round window membrane has been shown to overcome this barrier by enhancing diffusion 35-fold. In humans, the challenge is to design a microneedle that can precisely perforate the thicker HRWM without damage. Methods Based on the thickness and mechanical properties of the HRWM, two microneedle designs were 3D-printed to perforate the HRWM from fresh frozen temporal bones in situ (n = 18 total perforations), simultaneously measuring force and displacement. Perforations were analyzed using confocal microscopy; microneedles were examined for deformity using scanning electron microscopy. Results HRWM thickness was determined to be 60.1 ± 14.6 (SD) μm. Microneedles separated the collagen fibers and created slit-shaped perforations with the major axis equal to the microneedle shaft diameter. Microneedles needed to be displaced only minimally after making initial contact with the RWM to create a complete perforation, thus avoiding damage to intracochlear structures. The microneedles were durable and intact after use. Conclusion 3D-printed microneedles can create precise perforations in the HRWM without damaging intracochlear structures. As such, they have many potential applications ranging from aspiration of cochlear fluids using a lumenized needle for diagnosis and creating portals for therapeutic delivery into the inner ear.
On the Model Validation of Active Implantable Medical Device for MRI Safety Assessment

In this article, we discuss the model validation for active implantable medical devices (AIMDs) used for safety evaluations under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radio frequency (RF) coil emission. A mathematical derivation is presented to provide the guidance on selecting meaningful pathways for the model validation. Suggested validation pathways from current ISO 10974 are used as examples. It is shown that these standard pathways are: 1) inefficient since validations from several pathways are theoretically redundant and 2) incomplete or false since significantly different AIMD models can have identical validation outputs. Based on the developed guidance, two sets of pathways are proposed. It is demonstrated that for efficient and correct model validation, the electric-field distributions along validation pathways should be orthogonal to each other or at least has low correlations between each other. These guidelines can be implemented for future AIMD model validations in ISO10974.
Borders of belonging: struggle and solidarity in mixed-status immigrant families: by Castañeda, Heide, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2019, $28.00, ISBN: 9781503607910

Heide Castaneda presents an eye opening analysis of the daily, and seemingly perpetual, struggles faced by mixed-status immigrant families in Borders of Belonging. She provides the reader with stor...
Neuropsychological and Emotional Functioning in Patients with Cushing's Syndrome

Patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS) frequently report impairments in cognitive and emotional functioning. Given neuroimaging research that implicates alterations in structure and function in the brain in this population, goals of this study were to investigate neuropsychological and emotional functioning, with particular emphasis on complex attention and memory. In a clinical sample of 18 adults with CS referred for neuropsychological evaluation (age 41.6 ± 10.6, 72% Caucasian), patients' most common subjective complaints were in attention and increased irritability. On objective testing, patients exhibited significant declines in the consistency of their sustained attention and visual-spatial functioning compared to normative peers. Patients exhibited on average significantly reduced initial learning following first exposure to visual and verbal stimuli but intact retention of information learned. Patients with CS endorsed highly elevated levels of somatization, depression, and anxiety, and 59% of them scored in the clinically elevated range for somatization and depressive symptomatology. Exploratory analyses suggested that the 11 patients with active Cushing's exhibited lower processing speed, poorer sustained attention, naming, and cognitive flexibility compared to the 7 patients who achieved biochemical remission. Patients with active Cushing's also reported higher levels of somatization and anxiety compared to patients in biochemical remission. Overall, this study provides new insights into complex attention and memory deficits in patients with CS and concern regarding cognitive and emotional issues despite resolution of hypercortisolism. Our study opens several avenues for further exploration.
The Role of School Counselors Delivering a Trauma-Informed Care Approach to Supporting Youth in Foster Care:

Through the development and implementation of a trauma-sensitive comprehensive school counseling program, school counselors can be essential in meeting the mental health needs of youth in foster ca...
Photon Stimulated Desorption of Fluorine from Semiconductor Surfaces

Photon stimulated desorption (PSD) from XeF2-exposed Si(111) and GaAs(l00) is measured. The F+ threshold from Si is at 27.5 eV, which corresponds to the transition from F 2s to the conduction band minimum (CBM). Features at the Si 2p edge, which distinguish the oxidation state of the bonding Si, are used to determine the structure of the XeF2 etching reaction layer and to show how metal contaminants trap SiF4 on the surface. For GaAs, the PSD threshold is at ∼6 eV, which corresponds to the transition from F 2p to the CBM. Transitions from the 3d core levels of the bonding Ga and As atoms do not contribute to PSD.
Abstract 6359: A novel anti-angiogenic agent F16 for the treatment of glioblastoma

Glioblastoma Multiform (GBM) is one of the most aggressive and lethal types of all cancers with a median survival of about one year and a very low 5-year survival rate of 5% among the patients. Therefore, development of effective treatments for GBM is constantly needed. Since GBM is one of the most highly vascularized solid tumors, and its growth is angiogenesis- dependent, antagonizing tumor angiogenesis by using anti-angiogenic agents seems to be a promising strategy for treating GBM. However, one of the difficulties that limit the usage of angiogenesis inhibitors for brain tumor treatment is the presence of the BBB (Blood-Brain Barrier). In this context, F16, a novel anti-angiogenic agent developed at the Rumbaugh Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research of Nova Southeastern University, has shown promising results. Intensive preclinical evaluation of F16 had exhibited potent anti- angiogenic and anti-tumor activities via selectively antagonizing VEGFR2 in HUVEC (Human Umbilical Vascular Endothelial Cells) and also in xenograft tumor models. More importantly, we evaluated F16 pharmacokinetic distribution patterns using BALB-c mice. After a single i.p injection, F16 concentration was the highest in the brain indicating that F16 was transported across the BBB and was slowly accumulating in the brain. Even though there was a measurable accumulation of F16 in the brain, no signs of cognitive changes or behavioral alterations were observed in the treatment groups. Assessment of biochemical parameters that are reflecting vital organ functions showed no signs nor elevation in injury related biomarker levels of liver, heart, kidney, and pancreases after F16 treatment. Our preliminary in vitro studies of F16 on U87MG cell lines showed that F16 exhibited potent cytotoxicity against U87MG cell lines with the IC50 value of 26 μM. Furthermore, western blot results of U87MG showed an increase in the expression of BAX, p53 and p21 after treatments with 10 μM and 20 μM of F16. In addition, F16 inhibited the migration of U87MG cells after 24 h of treatment. Our experiments with intracranial Glioblastoma xenograft model exhibited significant regression of the tumor in both F16 and F16 + TMZ (Temozolomide) combination treated animals. Therefore, our results suggest that F16 could reduce tumor growth in monotherapy as well as in combination with TMZ and extend the survival of the tumor bearing animals. (This research was supported by the generous funds provided by the Community Foundation of Broward, Florida and the Royal Dames of Cancer Research Inc., Ft. Lauderdale, Florida). Citation Format: Appu Rathinavelu, Mohammad Mansour Algahtani, Umamaheswari Natarajan, Jayanta K. Das, Thiagarajan Venkatesan. A novel anti-angiogenic agent F16 for the treatment of glioblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 6359.
Comparison of salvage chemotherapy regimens and prognostic significance of minimal residual disease in relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

We compared the outcomes of salvage chemotherapy in 146 patients with relapsed (57.5%) or refractory (42.5%) AML who received CLAG-M (51%), MEC (39%) or CLAG (10%). Minimal residual disease (MRD) w...