cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Current Concepts and Ongoing Research in the Prevention and Treatment of Open Fracture Infections

Significance: Open fractures are fractures in which the bone has violated the skin and soft tissue. Because of their severity, open fractures are associated with complications that can result in increased lengths of hospital stays, multiple operative interventions, and even amputation. One of the factors thought to influence the extent of these complications is exposure and contamination of the open fracture with environmental microorganisms, potentially those that are pathogenic in nature. Recent Advances: Current open fracture care aims to prevent infection by wound classification, prophylactic antibiotic administration, debridement and irrigation, and stable fracture fixation. Critical Issues: Despite these established treatment paradigms, infections and infection-related complications remain a significant clinical burden. To address this, improvements need to be made in our ability to detect bacterial infections, effectively remove wound contamination, eradicate infections, and treat and prevent biofi...
U2 and U1 snRNA gene loci associate with coiled bodies.

The coiled bodies are nuclear structures rich in a variety of nuclear and nucleolar components including snRNAs. We have investigated the possibility that coiled bodies may associate with snRNA genes and report here that there is a high degree of association between U2 and U1 genes with a subset of coiled bodies. As investigated in human HeLa cells grown in monolayer culture, about 75% of the nuclei had at least one U2 gene associated with a coiled body, and 45% had at least one U1 locus associated. In another suspension-grown HeLa cell strain, 92% of cells showed association of one or more U2 genes with coiled bodies. In contrast to the U2 and U1 gene associations, a locus closely linked to the U2 gene cluster appeared associated with a coiled body only in 10% of cells. Associated snRNA gene signals were repeatedly positioned at the edge of the coiled body. Thus, this association was highly nonrandom and spatically precise. Our analysis revealed a much higher frequency of association for closely spaced “doublet” U2 gene signals, with over 80% of paired signals associated as opposed to 35% for single U2 signals. This finding, coupled with the fact that not all genes were associated in all cells, suggested the possibility of a cell-cycle-dependent, possibly S-phase, association. However, an analysis of S- and non-S-phase cells using BrdU incorporation or cell synchronization did not indicate an increased level of association in S-phase. These and other results suggested that a substantial fraction of paired U2 signals represented association of U2 genes on homologous chromosomes rather than only replicated DNA. Furthermore, triple lable analysis showed that in a significant fraction of cells U1 and U2 genes were both associated with the same coiled body. U1 and U2 genes were closely paired in approximately 20% of cells, over 60% of which were associated with a readily identifiable coiled body. This finding raises the possibility that multiple genes of a particular class may be in association with each coiled body. Thus, the coiled body may be a dynamic structure which transiently interacts with or is formed by one or more specific genetic loci, possibly carrying out some function related to their expression. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Correction: S1-S3 counter charges in the voltage sensor module of a mammalian sodium channel regulate fast inactivation.

The movement of positively charged S4 segments through the electric field drives the voltage-dependent gating of ion channels. Studies of prokaryotic sodium channels provide a mechanistic view of activation facilitated by electrostatic interactions of negatively charged residues in S1 and S2 segments, with positive counterparts in the S4 segment. In mammalian sodium channels, S4 segments promote domain-specific functions that include activation and several forms of inactivation. We tested the idea that S1–S3 countercharges regulate eukaryotic sodium channel functions, including fast inactivation. Using structural data provided by bacterial channels, we constructed homology models of the S1–S4 voltage sensor module (VSM) for each domain of the mammalian skeletal muscle sodium channel hNaV1.4. These show that side chains of putative countercharges in hNaV1.4 are oriented toward the positive charge complement of S4. We used mutagenesis to define the roles of conserved residues in the extracellular negative charge cluster (ENC), hydrophobic charge region (HCR), and intracellular negative charge cluster (INC). Activation was inhibited with charge-reversing VSM mutations in domains I–III. Charge reversal of ENC residues in domains III (E1051R, D1069K) and IV (E1373K, N1389K) destabilized fast inactivation by decreasing its probability, slowing entry, and accelerating recovery. Several INC mutations increased inactivation from closed states and slowed recovery. Our results extend the functional characterization of VSM countercharges to fast inactivation, and support the premise that these residues play a critical role in domain-specific gating transitions for a mammalian sodium channel.
‘SEA KAFFIRS’: ‘AMERICAN NEGROES’ AND THE GOSPEL OF GARVEYISM IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY CAPE TOWN

This article demonstrates that black British West Indians and black South Africans in post-First World War Cape Town viewed 'American Negroes' as divinely ordained liberators from South African white supremacy. These South-African based Garveyites articulated a prophetic Garveyist Christianity that provided common ideological ground for Africans and diasporic blacks through leading black South African organizations like the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA), the African National Congress (ANC) and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). This study utilizes a 'homeland and diaspora' model that simultaneously offers an expansive framework for African history, redresses the relative neglect of Africa and Africans in African diaspora studies and demonstrates the impact of Garveyism on the country's interwar black freedom struggle.
A Communication Model of Dialectical Inquiring Systems---A Strategy for Strategic Planning

Using Bayesian probability theory and Ackoff's Behayorial Theory of Communication, a mathematical model of the Hegelian Dialectical Inquirer is developed. The model strongly argues against the widely held and naive distinction between “fact” and “theory.” The model strongly argues for a new way of treating statistical data, in a sense, for a “new” theory of statistics. A fundamental principle of the Hegelian Inquirer is formalized, i.e., that one only stands to understand any issue by witnessing the strongest possible kind of debate take place on that issue. The model suggested is one that is seen as especially suited to issues involved in Strategic Planning.
The dual role of floral traits: Pollinator attraction and plant defense

Plants are under siege from a diversity of enemies that consume both leaf and floral parts. Plants resist damage to leaves in a variety of ways, and we now have a rich literature documenting how plants defend themselves against herbivore attack. In con- trast, the mechanisms by which plants resist enemies that consume floral parts or resources are much less known, even though damage to floral tissue usually has tighter links to plant fitness than damage to leaf tissue. Many plants experience nectar robbing, whereby floral visitors remove nectar from flowers, often without pollinating. Nectar robbers can reduce plant fitness to degrees comparable to, or even surpassing, reduction by herbivores. How- ever, because nectar attracts both pollinators and nectar robbers, plants face a dilemma in defending against nectar robbers without also deterring pollinators. Here, we extend the conceptual framework of resistance to herbivores to include resistance to nectar robbers, focusing on nectar traits. We review published data and find that an array of nectar traits may deter robbers without deterring pollinators. Although resistance traits against robbers have been broadly identified, the costs and benefits of these traits in terms of plant fitness remain poorly understood. We present data showing that a nectar trait (dilute nectar) might directly, as well as indirectly, benefit plant fitness by deterring nectar-robbing bumble bees of Ipomopsis aggregata without deterring hummingbird pollinators. However, the magni- tude of any plant fitness benefit will depend on the degree to which plants are pollen- vs. resource-limited in a given year. The results of our work offer both conceptual and empirical insight into how plants cope with attack by nonpollinating floral visitors through a relatively unexplored trait, nectar.
Recent Advances in Thin Film Multilayer Interconnect Technology for IC Packaging

A high-performance packaging technology being developed at Honeywell and a number of other companies uses thin-film processes to pattern high-density interconnections in multiple layers of a high-conductivity conductor (e.g., copper) and a polymer dielectric, primarily polyimide. This paper describes the physical characteristics and unique advantages of this thin film multilayer (TFML) interconnect technology; it then summarizes the results of recent work done at Honeywell in processing TFML structures, assessing the stability and reliability of the materials system, and fabricating test vehicles and demonstration packages.
Economic Development Assumptions and the Elusive Curse of Oil

Scholars have argued that oil resources lead to poor quality institutions and governance, which causes slower economic growth, an increased propensity for civil war, and other maladies. Such conclusions, however, rest on strong modernization assumptions that oil resources are unrelated or detrimental to the level of economic development. Utilizing a unique multilevel version of extreme bounds analysis (EBA), we find that oil's deleterious effects on governance are not well established. Instead, when we relax strong assumptions about the exogeneity of economic development and utilize more objective indicators of institutional quality, oil has a net positive impact on governance. Moreover, when accounting for endogeneity, there is little to suggest either an intervening or independent effect of poor governance on civil conflict in petro-states.
An experimental test of a theory of lightning-induced voltages on an overhead wire

Measured and calculated voltages induced on an unenergized overhead power line by lightning return strokes at distances greater than 5 km from the line are presented. The experiment was performed at the NASA Kennedy Space Center during the summer of 1985 and involved the simultaneous measurement of the voltage induced at one end of the top phase of a three-phase power line and the two horizontal components of the return-stroke magnetic field incident on the line. The effective ground conductivity was determined from previous simultaneous measurements of the vertical and horizontal electric fields. Experiments were performed for two cases: (1) all phases of the power line open-circuited, and (2) one end of the top line terminated at 600 Omega with the other end open-circuited and the other two phases open-circuited at both ends. The waveshapes of the measured and calculated voltages are in reasonably good agreement, and the reasons for observed discrepancies are discussed. >
Evaluation of Multivariate Calibration Using a Tikhonov Regularization Approach and the Generalized Pair‐Correlation Method with Nonlinear Data

Abstract In order to reduce data nonlinearity and overfitting with the multivariate calibration model y=Xb, a modified Tikhonov regularization (TR) algorithm is evaluated for selecting key variables from an X augmented with extra columns that contain the original measured variables (x ij ) as squared terms (x ij 2) and other orders. The TR approach simultaneously develops the multivariate calibration model. The new generalized pair‐correlation method (GPCM) is also studied for variable selection followed by partial least squares (PLS) for multivariate calibration. Results from synthetic spectral data are compared when using the modified TR approach, GPCM, and PLS without variable selection. The GPCM usually performs slightly better than the TR approach for tabulated bias and variance measures and in some cases, at a sacrifice to parsimony. The method of PLS without variable selection performs the worst. By using synthetic spectral data sets, how the methods work could be studied. Thus, results from this s...
Reasons Provided by Prescribers When Overriding Drug-Drug Interaction Alerts

Objectives To investigate prescribers' rationales for overriding drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts and to determine whether these reasons were helpful to pharmacists as a part of prescription order verification. Study design An observational retrospective database analysis was conducted using override reasons derived from a computerized system at 6 Veterans Affairs medical centers. Methods Data on DDI alerts (for interactions designated as "critical" and "significant") were obtained from ambulatory care pharmacy records from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004. Prescribers' reasons for overriding alerts were organized into 14 categories and were then rated as clinically useful or not to the pharmacist in the assessment of potential patient harm. Results Of 291,890 overrides identified, 72% were for critical DDIs. Across the Veterans Affairs medical centers, only 20% of the override reasons for critical DDI alerts were rated as clinically useful for order verification. Despite a mandatory override reason for critical DDI alerts, 53% of the responses were "no reason provided." The top response categories for critical and significant DDI alerts were "no reason provided," "patient has been taking combination," and "patient being monitored." Conclusions When given the opportunity to provide a reason for overriding a DDI alert, prescribers rarely enter clinical justifications that are useful to order verification pharmacists. This brings into question how computerized physician order entry systems should be designed.
Probing light thermal dark matter with a Higgs portal mediator

We systematically study light ($l\text{few}\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$) dark matter (DM) models that thermalize with visible matter through the Higgs portal and identify the remaining gaps in the viable parameter space. Such models require a comparably light scalar mediator that mixes with the Higgs to avoid DM overproduction and can be classified according to whether this mediator decays (in)visibly. In a representative benchmark model with Dirac fermion DM, we find that, even with conservative assumptions about the DM-mediator coupling and mass ratio, the regime in which the mediator is heavier than the DM is fully ruled out by a combination of collider, rare meson decay, and direct detection limits; future and planned experiments including NA62 can further improve sensitivity to scenarios in which the Higgs portal interaction does not determine the DM abundance. The opposite regime in which the mediator is lighter than the DM and the latter annihilates to pairs of visibly decaying mediators is still viable, but much of the parameter space is covered by rare meson decay, supernova cooling, beam dump, and direct detection constraints. Nearly all of these conclusions apply broadly to the simplest variations (e.g., scalar or asymmetric DM). Future experiments including SHiP, NEWS, and Super-CDMS SNOLAB can greatly improve coverage to this class of models.
Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Supreme Court's Wary Rejection

Although the Supreme Court's separate opinions in two physician-assisted suicide cases failed to speak with a decisive voice on some issues, the Court unanimously agreed that no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide exists. Most of the opinions also agreed on the need to provide adequate pain relief, including if necessary terminal sedation. Whether to decriminalize and regulate physician assisted suicide has been left to the states.
Salinity Induced Horizontal Estuarine Circulation

A finite difference approximation to the equations of motion without the field acceleration terms, and the salt conservation equation with an isotropic diffusion coefficient, are used to model the circulation of a rectangular basin having the gross dimensional characteristics of a bar-built estuary. The recursion relations include the dynamic effects of horizontal salinity variations. Two cases are examined; in the first case the basin has a constant depth and in the second case the bottom slope varies linearly across the basin. The resulting patterns of circulation are qualitatively analyzed using a vorticity equation. The analysis indicates that the dynamic effects of horizontal salinity gradients can be significant in controlling the circulation in localized sections of the basin.
The influence of Niels Bohr on Max Delbrück: revisiting the hopes inspired by "light and life".

Abstract The impact of Niels Bohr’s 1932 “Light and Life” lecture on Max Delbruck’s lifelong search for a form of “complementarity” in biology is well documented and much discussed, but the precise nature of that influence remains subject to misunderstanding. The standard reading, which sees Delbruck’s transition from physics into biology as inspired by the hope that investigation of biological phenomena might lead to a breakthrough discovery of new laws of physics, is colored much more by Erwin Schrodinger’s What Is Life? (1944) than is often acknowledged. Bohr’s view was that teleological and mechanistic descriptions are mutually exclusive yet jointly necessary for an exhaustive understanding of life. Although Delbruck’s approach was empirical and less self‐consciously philosophical, he shared Bohr’s hope that scientific investigation would vindicate the view that at least some aspects of life are not reducible to physico‐chemical terms.
Qualitative Examination of the Hypersensitive Response of Loblolly Pine, Pinus taeda L., Inoculated with Two Fungal Associates of the Southern Pine Beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)

Loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L., responded to wounding and wounding plus inoculation with two fungal associates of the southern pine beetle (SPB), Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann by forming a hypersensitive reaction zone around the wound sites. There was a significant difference in the length of the reaction produced depending upon treatments. A simple mechanical wound produced a shorter lesion than a wound accompanied by inoculation with Ceratocystis minor (Hedgecock) Hunt var. barrassi Taylor which produced a shorter lesion than a wound accompanied by a C. minor inoculation. There was a significant change in monoterpene composition and a significant decrease in soluble sugars present in the hypersensitive reaction zones compared with unwounded phloem, but there were no differences in these parameters between the reaction zones resulting from the two fungal inocula. The overall response of the trees to invasion by SPB fungal associates was a compositional change in potential toxins (monoterpenes) accompanied by a decrease in potential nutrients (soluble sugars) in the area directly surrounding the wound site. Also, the more virulent invader appeared to evoke a stronger response (lesion length) by the trees.
Safety Culture in Indian Hospitals: A Cultural Adaptation of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire.

ObjectivesPatient safety is increasingly recognized as a global health concern because of a staggering number of health care–related injuries and deaths. Although many hospitals are attempting to promote a patient safety agenda, there are relatively few options to track progress. The aims of this st
Myocardial protection of self-blood cardioplegia for neonatus with congenital heart disease

Objective:To study the changes of the oxyradical in myocardium of neonatus with acyanotic congenital heat disease in cardiopulmonary bypass by self-blood cardioplegia.Method:There were 30 cases of neonatus with acyanotic congenital heart disease,who were divided into self-cold blood cardioplegic solution group(group A,n=10),allograft blood cardioplegic solution group(group B,n=10) and crystalloid cardioplegic solution group(group C,n=10) in the study.The biopsies were taken from right atrium just before arrested and after heart self-recovery to measure MDA and SOD.Result:Myocardial cell's MDA increased and SOD decreased significantly after operation in three groups compared with those before operation(P0.05).Furthermore,MDA was lower and SOD was higher in group A than those in group B or C(P0.05).Conclusion: Self-cold blood cardioplegia has cardioprotective effect in pediatric cardiac surgery by reducing oxygen free radical generation.
Mutations in Transgenic Mice

The induction of mutations in transgenic mice represents a powerful experimental tool as it not only allows the derivation of precise animal models for human hereditary diseases but also permits a systematic genetic dissection of the mammalian genome. In mammals, three approaches have been successful in inducing mutations (Gridley et al., 1987; Jaenisch, 1988): (i) infection of preimplantation mouse embryos with retroviruses, (ii) microinjection of recombinant DNA into the zygote pronucleus and (iii) introduction of exogenous DNA into embryonic stem cells. Both recessive and dominant mutations have been induced using the different methods of generating transgenic mice. In this article we will summarize our studies on recessive virus-induced insertional mutations and on the induction of dominant lethal mutations by introducing mutant genes into the early embryo.
The development of seasonal climate forecasting for agricultural producers

Abstract This review summarizes advances in seasonal climate forecasting with a focus on agriculture, predominantly since the year 2000. The main research methods used were keyword searches in publisher-unaffiliated databases such as Web of Knowledge and in publication libraries of institutions known for their interdisciplinary work in climate forecasting and agriculture. Crop and livestock producers use seasonal climate forecasts for management decisions such as planting and harvest timing, field fertilization, or grazing. Agricultural users have often criticized lack of forecast skill and usability as well as a lack of understanding of user needs among forecast developers. Recently, interdisciplinary studies started exploring agricultural decision-making and integrating social science and climate science in order to improve the value of seasonal forecasts. Producer requests include direct and derived forecast products, such as total rainfall and consecutive dry days, information on uncertainty, and comparisons to previous years. The review explores single-model and ensemble forecasts, describes different measures of forecast value, and highlights economic and other agricultural decision factors besides weather and climate. It also examines seasonal climate forecasts from an agricultural perspective, explores communication challenges and how to overcome them, and delves into end-to-end forecast concepts that span forecast production to forecast application by end users.
Drosophila IRBP bZIP heterodimer binds P-element DNA and affects hybrid dysgenesis.

In Drosophila , P-element transposition causes mutagenesis and genome instability during hybrid dysgenesis. The P-element 31-bp terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) contain sequences essential for transposase cleavage and have been implicated in DNA repair via protein–DNA interactions with cellular proteins. The identity and function of these cellular proteins were unknown. Biochemical characterization of proteins that bind the TIRs identified a heterodimeric basic leucine zipper (bZIP) complex between an uncharacterized protein that we termed “Inverted Repeat Binding Protein (IRBP) 18” and its partner Xrp1. The reconstituted IRBP18/Xrp1 heterodimer binds sequence-specifically to its dsDNA-binding site within the P-element TIRs. Genetic analyses implicate both proteins as critical for repair of DNA breaks following transposase cleavage in vivo. These results identify a cellular protein complex that binds an active mobile element and plays a more general role in maintaining genome stability.
Supporting Students Reading Complex Texts: Evidence for Motivational Scaffolding

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) require students to read grade-level text with “scaffolding as needed.” The current study examines the effectiveness of interactional scaffolding, which is re...
Increasing Hispanic participation in cancer clinical trials: The role of linguistic capacity and patient/provider focus group results

B61 Substantial research documents that minorities are underrepresented in clinical trials. However, much of the research on understanding the factors responsible for the underrepresentation of minorities has focused on African-Americans and comparatively little research has been conducted on barriers to Hispanic participation in clinical trials. Among Hispanics, the importance of language barriers in receiving appropriate health care has been documented. This Redes En Accion and Arizona Biomedical Research Commission funded research project was conducted in order to: i) describe the linguistic factors that impact enrollment into gynecologic cancer prevention trials for Hispanic women; ii) describe the beliefs of Hispanic women regarding participation in gynecologic cancer prevention trials; and iii) collect Arizona specific data about barriers and facilitators encountered by Hispanic patients and community physicians in referral and recruitment to cancer clinical trials. The quantitative aspect of this project involved implementing a 20-item questionnaire among subjects (n=190) measuring their preferences for documentation/time/staff, language preferences, and other demographic information. The qualitative aspect of this project involved conducting a series of focus groups with Hispanic patients and AHCCCS providers to obtain qualitative data about barriers and facilitators to patient participation and provider referral and recruitment of patients to clinical trials. Separate interview guides were developed for patient groups, providers that do not refer or recruit patients, and providers that do refer or recruit patients. The results showed that when comparing Hispanics to non-Hispanics, the proportion of Hispanic subjects indicating that the availability of consent forms and materials in Spanish was very important for their participation in clinical research (20%) significantly differed from non-Hispanics (1%, p
Irgm1 Is a Negative Regulator of Interferon-Gamma Signaling in Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

Abstract 382 Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are a self-renewing population of bone marrow cells that give rise to all of the cellular elements of the blood and retain enormous proliferative potential in vivo. We have a growing understanding that the controls on HSC proliferation are tied in part to regulation by the immune system—specifically, that HSC proliferation and mobilization can be stimulated by the immune cytokines interferon-alpha and interferon-gamma (IFNg). Our previous work has demonstrated that HSC quiescence and function are aberrant in mice lacking the immunity-related GTPase Irgm1 (also Lrg47). Indeed, the bone marrow of Irgm1-deficient animals at baseline mimics the bone marrow of wild type animals that have been stimulated with IFNg. We hypothesized that the HSC defects in Irgm1-deficient animals are due to overabundant IFNg signaling, and that Irgm1 normally serves to dampen the stimulatory effects of IFNg on HSCs. To test this hypothesis, we used RNA expression profiling to compare gene expression in wild type versus Irgm1-deficient mice. We found that interferon-dependent signaling is globally upregulated in the HSCs of Irgm1-deficient mice. Next we generated Irgm1-/-IFNgR1-/- and Irgm1-/-Stat1-/- double knock out animals. In contrast to the phenotype of Irgm1 single knock out mutants, the hyperproliferation and self-renewal defects in HSCs were both rescued in the double knock out animals, indicating that IFNg signaling is required for manifestation of the Irgm1-deficient phenotype. Futhermore, we found that Irgm1 is expressed in HSCs in a Stat1- and IFNgR-dependent fashion, suggesting that it forms a negative feedback loop for IFNg signaling in the HSC population. Collectively, our results indicate that Irgm1 is a powerful negative regulator of IFNg-dependent stimulation in HSCs. These findings demonstrate that IFNg provides a significant stimulus for HSC proliferation even in the absence of infection, and that IFNg-dependent signaling must be tightly regulated to preserve HSC self-renewal capacity. This study provides evidence that the Irgm1 protein can serve as a link between immunity and regulation of hematopoiesis at the level of the stem cell. We speculate that utilization of Irgm1 for its immune functions may detract from its ability to regulate HSC self-renewal capacity, thus ultimately contributing to myelosuppression and increased risk of death from chronic infections such as tuberculosis. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Oral application of a periodontal pathogen impacts SerpinE1 expression and pancreatic islet architecture in prediabetes.

Background and Objectives Epidemiological studies suggest a close association between periodontitis and prediabetes/insulin resistance (IR) but whether periodontitis causes prediabetes in humans is not known. Using various animal models, we have recently established that periodontitis can be an initiator of prediabetes, which is characterized by glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia and IR. In addition, our in vitro studies indicated that Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) induced insulin secretion in MIN6 β cells and this induction was in part SerpinE1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, PAI1) dependent. However, the mechanism(s) by which periodontitis induces prediabetes is not known. As α and β cells in pancreatic islets are the major modulators of glucose levels, we investigated whether experimental periodontitis by oral application of a periodontal pathogen caused molecular and/or cellular alterations in pancreatic islets and whether SerpinE1 was involved in this process. Material and Methods We induced periodontitis in C57BL/6 mice by oral application of a periodontal pathogen, Pg, and determined changes that occurred in islets following 22 weeks of Pg application. Pancreatic islet architecture was determined by 2-D and 3-D immunofluorescence microscopy and SerpinE1 and its target, urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), as well as insulin, glucagon and Pg/gingipain in islets were detected by immunofluorescence. The presence of apoptotic islet cells was determined by both histochemical and immunofluorescence TUNEL assays. To investigate further the direct effect of Pg on apoptosis and the involvement of SerpinE1 in this process, we used SerpinE1 knockdown and scrambled control clones of the MIN6 pancreatic β-cell line. Results Pg/gingipain was detected in both the periodontium and pancreas in the experimental group. Islets from animals that were administered Pg orally (experimental group) developed significant changes in islet architecture, upregulation of SerpinE1, and increased β-cell apoptosis compared with the control group. We also observed that exposure of MIN6 cells to Pg in vitro resulted in apoptosis. However, apoptosis was significantly reduced when SerpinE1 expression by MIN6 cells was knocked down. Conclusion Oral application of the periodontal pathogen Pg to C57BL/6 mice induces periodontitis, translocation of Pg/gingipain to the pancreas and results in complex alterations in pancreatic islet morphology. SerpinE1 appears to be involved in this process.
Do religious and spiritual identity confer risk for hypertension via psychosocial and lifestyle factors

The total and indirect effect of hostility on systolic and diastolic blood pressure was compared as a function of religious and spirituality identity in a nationally representative sample of 2971 adults aged 46.44 years. Structural equation modeling uncovered an indirect path from hostility to diastolic blood pressure via unhealthy behaviors and hostility to unhealthy behaviors via social isolation. Compared to a non-religious/non-spiritual reference group, the effect for unhealthy behaviors on diastolic blood pressure was greater for those endorsing some form of religious identity. However, the direction of the effect for hostility on social isolation and social isolation on unhealthy behaviors was reversed in those endorsing spiritual and religious identity.
Influence of Solvent Swelling on Ultrafast Structural Dynamics in Polydimethylsiloxane Thin Films by Two-Dimensional IR Spectroscopy

Fourier transform infrared and two-dimensional IR (2D-IR) spectroscopies were applied to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cross-linked elastomer and a siloxane oligomer without solvent and swollen or dissolved in various solvents. The silicon hydride, which is covalently bound to the polymer chains, was the vibrational probe for the systems studied. There is almost an absence of vibrational solvatochromism in these systems. Frequency–frequency correlation functions obtained by 2D-IR spectroscopy show that the insensitivity of the FTIR spectra is due to overwhelming heterogeneity. However, the homogeneous contribution to the FTIR spectrum is smaller for the elastomer than the oligomer showing that the cross-linking process restricts the frequency fluctuations that are experienced by the hydride mode. The silicon hydride mode in a cross-linked, solvent-free PDMS film also exhibits spectral diffusion that must be due to polymer structural motions on the ultrafast time scale that are active above the glass transit...
Interspecies variation in the susceptibility of adult Pacific salmon to toxic urban stormwater runoff.

Abstract Adult coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) prematurely die when they return from the ocean to spawn in urban watersheds throughout northwestern North America. The available evidence suggests the annual mortality events are caused by toxic stormwater runoff. The underlying pathophysiology of the urban spawner mortality syndrome is not known, and it is unclear whether closely related species of Pacific salmon are similarly at risk. The present study co-exposed adult coho and chum ( O. keta ) salmon to runoff from a high traffic volume urban arterial roadway. The spawners were monitored for the familiar symptoms of the mortality syndrome, including surface swimming, loss of orientation, and loss of equilibrium. Moreover, the hematology of both species was profiled by measuring arterial pH, blood gases, lactate, plasma electrolytes, hematocrit, and glucose. Adult coho developed behavioral symptoms within a few hours of exposure to stormwater. Various measured hematological parameters were significantly altered compared to coho controls, indicating a blood acidosis and ionoregulatory disturbance. By contrast, runoff-exposed chum spawners showed essentially no indications of the mortality syndrome, and measured blood hematological parameters were similar to unexposed chum controls. We conclude that contaminant(s) in urban runoff are the likely cause of the disruption of ion balance and pH in coho but not chum salmon. Among the thousands of chemicals in stormwater, future forensic analyses should focus on the gill or cardiovascular system of coho salmon. Because of their distinctive sensitivity to urban runoff, adult coho remain an important vertebrate indicator species for degraded water quality in freshwater habitats under pressure from human population growth and urbanization.
CONCOMITANT ASYMPTOMATIC MAY-THURNER AND SYMPTOMATIC NUTCRACKER SYNDROME: IS ILIAC VEIN STENTING ESSENTIAL?

May-Thurner Syndrome (MTS) is a clinical condition known for causing a variety of vascular symptoms. The syndrome results when the left common iliac vein is compressed by the right common iliac artery obstructing flow and causing downstream congestion, often manifesting as DVT's. The incidence of
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of AIDS

The role of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in pregnant and breastfeeding women for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (pMTCT) of HIV has become simple: control of maternal HIV viremia with highly active combination ART effectively blocks MTCT. Details, however, are complex. Lifetime optimal health for mother and child must be balanced with potential toxicities associated with such treatment. The pharmacokinetics of ART in pregnancy and transfer of ART through the placenta and in breast milk are also important considerations in optimizing the health of mother and infant. Management of opportunistic infections in the setting of pregnancy, and limitations in access to, and lack of safety data for newer combination therapies also impact the complexity of managing HIV in pregnancy. ART as preexposure prophylaxis (PreP) for serodiscordant couples planning pregnancies and the use of PreP in serodiscordant couples during pregnancy and breastfeeding have emerged as strategies in which HIV treatment is the primary prevention.
A Model to Improve Detection of Nonaccidental Pediatric Burns.

Suspected child abuse cases can be identified and repeat hospitalizations of such cases prevented using multidisciplinary teams to evaluate pediatric burns.
Rural Retirement Destinations: Natural Decrease and the Shared Demographic Destinies of Elderly and Hispanics

The United States (US) population is aging rapidly. Increases in life expectancy, persistent and low rates of fertility, and aging of the baby boom cohort have shifted America’s age structure dramatically upward. In this chapter we examine the processes and implications of these longitudinal patterns of population growth and natural decrease in nonmetropolitan retirement counties. We do so by focusing on four specific objectives. First, we compare changing population growth rates in nonmetropolitan retirement to those of other types of rural counties. Second, we show how these population trends have been shaped by age-specific migration patterns across different kinds of counties, including retirement counties. Third, we evaluate changing patterns of natural decrease, which reflects both population aging and low fertility due to persistent out-migration of populations of reproductive age. Finally, we show how incipient natural decrease in many rural counties, including retirement counties, has been delayed or offset by new Hispanic population growth and high fertility, which has counterbalanced the high death rates of the white elderly population. We conclude that in many rural retirement communities, the social and economic interests of the elderly and Hispanic in-migrants are closely intertwined.
Studies in vivo with ICI 174864 and [D-Pen2, D-Pen5]enkephalin.

We studied the in vivo pharmacology of a selective agonist (DPDPE) and a selective antagonist (ICI 174864) at delta opioid receptors. ICI 174864 (10 micrograms icv) caused postural abnormalities, barrel rotation and hypothermia in rats. DPDPE induced behavioural arousal (at 75 micrograms icv) and barrel rotation (at 125 micrograms) in rats. ICI 174864 (10 micrograms icv) attenuated acetic acid induced writhing in mice. This action was antagonized by naloxone (10 but not 2 mg/kg s.c.). A lower, non-agonist dose of ICI 174864 (5 micrograms) antagonized DPDPE (3 micrograms icv) in this test without affecting DAGO (0.0006 micrograms icv), a selective agonist at mu receptors. In the mouse tail flick test, ICI 174864 (10-50 micrograms icv) did not significantly antagonize the agonist actions of DPDPE (40 micrograms icv) or DAGO (0.3 micrograms icv). At 10-50 micrograms icv, ICI 174864 had no marked effect on gastrointestinal transit in mice. ICI 174864 (25 micrograms icv or 20 mg/kg s.c.) did not interact with mu opioid receptors in mice rendered physically dependent on morphine.
So You Think You Want to Save the World

There is increasing interest among both medical and other professional communities in becoming involved in global health, development, and other charitable work. There has also been a proliferation of opportunities in the field. Nonetheless, it is still difficult to find practical information on the daily realities of development work or advice on the difficulties inherent to this type of work. This article is intended for individuals who are interested in becoming involved in global health and development work. Through a discussion that touches on development economics, the history, psychology, and current state of development aid, the common conflicts, as well as the rewards of development work, this article aims to prepare the interested individual for the experience of global health and development work. The article also provides practical suggestions and references for those searching for an opportunity in the field, with an emphasis on global health opportunities.
Mechanisms of Settlement Evolution: Cultural Learning and the Creation of Social Institutions

In this chapter, Bowen and Gleeson consider how the evolution of a settled mentality among people has created the capacity to cooperate well enough to build monuments, road systems, regional polities, nation-states, multinational corporations, and megacities. They assert that a great deal of the explanation may be found in the evolutionary accumulation of information, i.e., cultural heritage, that is passed down from generation to generation among people who live the settled lifeway. This cultural heritage evolves into roles and functions of social norms, reciprocity, punishment, intergroup competition, and other types of social institutions. In today’s world, industrial social relations have become the dominant form of cultural heritage. This poses important problems for stimulating cooperation and finding feasible solutions to today’s global challenges
Landscape applications of machine learning: Comparing random forests and logistic regression in multi-scale optimized predictive modeling of American marten occurrence in northern Idaho, USA [Chapter 9]

The American marten is a species that is dependent on old conifer forest at middle to high elevations and is highly sensitive to habitat loss and fragmentation. Our goal was to compoare logistic regression and random forest in multi-scale optimized predictive model of occurrence of the American marten (Martes americana) in northern Idaho USA. There have been relatively few formal comparisons of the performance of multi-scale modeling between logistic regression and random forest, but those that have been conducted have found that random forest out-performs logistic regression. There was substantial similarity in the qualitative interpretation of the logistic regression and the random forest model and both found that occurrence was strongly predicted by a unimodal function of elevation, a non-linear function of canopy cover, a non-linear function of patch density, and the extent of the landscape in large conifer forest. Visual inspection of the predicted occurrence probability maps shows that random forest produces predictions that are more discriminatory, with higher range of predicted probability and higher spatial heterogeneity than logistic regression. The logistic regression model has an AUC of 0.701, while the random forest model had an AUC of 0.981, indicating very high predictive ability, and a much stronger ability to predict presences and absences in the training dataset than the logistic regression model. Expressed as a percentage, the random forest model had 28% higher performance, leading to much better prediction of habitat suitability, better inferences about habitat variables influencing marten occurrence, improved identification of scale dependency, and ultimately, therefore, better guidance to conservation and management.
Deep Generative Models Strike Back! Improving Understanding and Evaluation in Light of Unmet Expectations for OoD Data

Advances in deep generative and density models have shown impressive capacity to model complex probability density functions in lower-dimensional space. Also, applying such models to high-dimensional image data to model the PDF has shown poor generalization, with out-of-distribution data being assigned equal or higher likelihood than in-sample data. Methods to deal with this have been proposed that deviate from a fully unsupervised approach, requiring large ensembles or additional knowledge about the data, not commonly available in the real-world. In this work, the previously offered reasoning behind these issues is challenged empirically, and it is shown that data-sets such as MNIST fashion/digits and CIFAR10/SVHN are trivially separable and have no overlap on their respective data manifolds that explains the higher OoD likelihood. Models like masked autoregressive flows and block neural autoregressive flows are shown to not suffer from OoD likelihood issues to the extent of GLOW, PixelCNN++, and real NVP. A new avenue is also explored which involves a change of basis to a new space of the same dimension with an orthonormal unitary basis of eigenvectors before modeling. In the test data-sets and models, this aids in pushing down the relative likelihood of the contrastive OoD data set and improve discrimination results. The significance of the density of the original space is maintained, while invertibility remains tractable. Finally, a look to the previous generation of generative models in the form of probabilistic principal component analysis is inspired, and revisited for the same data-sets and shown to work really well for discriminating anomalies based on likelihood in a fully unsupervised fashion compared with pixelCNN++, GLOW, and real NVP with less complexity and faster training. Also, dimensionality reduction using PCA is shown to improve anomaly detection in generative models.
Vulnerability Analysis and Modeling

One of the significant risks of computer systems is the lack of security whether that is attributed to the system vulnerabilities or too sophisticated intrusion techniques. The software security vulnerability is detrimental to the user as well as the system because of its inability to protect confidentiality within the system. Analysis from a national database displays how software vulnerabilities are categorized and how much of an impact they play amongst computer systems. To help preventing attacks, we propose that the focus be more on producing vulnerability free software, rather than focusing on issuing patches. The contribution of this paper is to show the need to include all three methods: prevention, detection and accommodation, to mitigate vulnerabilities. This requires the adoption of formal methods in software development, end user education and vulnerability modeling using the Kill Chain Technique.