cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Primary laparoscopic gastrojejunostomy tubes as a feeding modality in the pediatric population

Abstract Purpose Outcomes associated with primary laparoscopic gastrojejunal (GJ) tube placement in the pediatric population were evaluated. Methods A single-institution, retrospective review examined patients undergoing laparoscopic GJ tube placement between June 2011 and December 2014. Outcomes included gastric feeding tolerance, subsequent fundoplication, complications, and mortality. Results Ninety laparoscopic GJ tubes were placed. Median follow-up was 342days (interquartile range [IQR]=141–561days). Median patient age was 5months (IQR=3–11months) and weight was 5.2kg (IQR=4–8.4kg). The most common indications for placement were gastroesophageal reflux (n=85, 94.4%) and/or aspiration (n=40, 44.4%). Most common comorbidities included cardiac (n=34, 37.8%) and respiratory (n=29, 32.2%) diseases. The complication rate was 17.8%, including one case of intestinal perforation. Thirty-four (37.7%) patients transitioned to gastric feeding within 1year; time to conversion was 156days (IQR=117–210days); of those, 18.9% patients transitioned to oral feedings. A fundoplication was later performed in 4 children for persistent reflux. Mortality was 23.3% with no procedural-related deaths. Conclusion Primary laparoscopically placed GJ tubes are a reliable means of enteral access for pediatric patients with gastric feeding intolerance. Many of these children are successfully transitioned to gastric and/or oral feedings over time. Further studies are needed to characterize which patients are best served with a GJ tube versus alternatives such as fundoplication. Level of evidence III (treatment) Type of study Retrospective
Schwannoma of the nasal cavity

Schwannomas are benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors that occur throughout the body. They may present as either solitary or multiple masses. They rarely occur in the nasal cavity. The diagnosis is often made only after histologic examination. Because these lesions are radioresistant, the preferred treatment is complete surgical excision. We present a new case of a schwannoma of the nasal cavity.
Clinical and molecular features of innate and acquired resistance to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in lung cancer

// Shalin Shah 1, * , Kevin Wood 2, * , Brian Labadie 2 , Brian Won 2 , Ryan Brisson 2 , Theodore Karrison 3 , Thomas Hensing 2 , Mark Kozloff 2 , Riyue Bao 4 , Jyoti D. Patel 2 and Jason J. Luke 2 1 Department of Medicine, NorthShore University HealthSystems, Chicago, IL, USA 2 Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA 3 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago IL, USA 4 Center for Research Informatics and Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Jason J. Luke, email: jluke@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu Keywords: non-small cell lung cancer; anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy; acquired resistance; immunotherapy; innate resistance Received: September 04, 2017 Accepted: December 08, 2017 Published: December 15, 2017 ABSTRACT Hypothesis: The majority of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy develop either innate or acquired resistance. Across tumor types, the "T cell-inflamed" tumor microenvironment correlates with clinical response to immunotherapy. We hypothesize that clinical characteristics may be predictive of resistance and that "T cell-inflamed" NSCLC tumors can be identified by gene expression profiling. Results: Of 93 patients, 36 (38.7%) had innate resistance and 57 (61.3%) had initial benefit to immunotherapy. Innate resistance was associated with non-smokers ( p = 0.013), more involved disease sites ( p = 0.011), more prior therapy ( p = 0.001), and a lower albumin level ( p = 0.014). Among patients with initial benefit, factors associated with subsequent progression-free survival included higher Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) ( p = 0.004) and lower depth of response to anti-PD-1 therapy ( p = 0.003). A "T cell-inflamed" microenvironment was identified in 42% of TCGA adenocarcinoma samples versus 21.0% of squamous cell. Discussion: Specific clinical characteristics appear to be predictive of either innate or acquired resistance to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. A "T cell-inflamed" tumor was more common in adenocarcinoma than squamous histology. Methods: A retrospective review of NSCLC patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy. Patients with innate resistance to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy (defined as progression at first CT evaluation) were compared to patients with initial clinical benefit. Among those with initial clinical benefit, we identified prognostic factors for time to progression (acquired resistance) or death. To further corroborate our findings on limited numbers, immune gene expression profiling of all NSCLC samples from the TCGA database was also pursued.
Abnormal Behavior in Cultural Context

Many psychologists are finding that they are not able to confine their professional activities to the psychological problems of the middle class. This is not a startling revelation since, in our culturally complex society, many individuals who have severe psychological problems are just as likely to be from the under-classes (the poor, the ethnic minorities, the growing number of refugees, the chronically disabled, etc.) as they are to be from the more familiar middle class. What is startling, however, is that the theories we are taught, the procedures and techniques we have inherited from the last generation of psychologists, and even the training programs that introduced us to the profession have their roots—indeed, their major thrust—in middle-class values and orientations. Contemporary practitioners or researchers have little preparation for dealing with the “cultural problem” in our professional activities—little beyond the admonition of sage methodologists that we should be wary of our transgressions if we consider using procedures or concepts derived in one culture with clients or problems from another. But to examine the situation practically, what does the practitioner who is presented with the following problem situations do?
Time Series Volatility Forecasts for Option Valuation and Risk Management

Option pricing models and longer-term value-at-risk models typically require volatility forecasts over horizons considerably longer than the data frequency. These are generally generated from short-horizon forecasts by successive forward substitution. We document deficiencies with the resulting long-horizon volatility predictions generated by GARCH type models, such as GARCH(1,1), EGARCH, and GJR. One, since volatility forecasts for forward periods are functions of forecast volatility for the next period, this recursive procedure keeps the relative weights of recent and older observations the same whether forecasting volatility in the near or distant future. In contrast, we find that older observations are relatively more important in forecasting at long horizons, e.g., more important in forecasting volatility next month than in forecasting volatility tomorrow. Two, forecasts of the return standard deviation - the most appropriate volatility measure for option valuation and value-at-risk models - are strongly positively biased. Three, GARCH(1,1) and GJR forecasts are especially biased following high volatility days. We find that the ARLS model of Ederington and Guan corrects these three deficiencies and generally forecasts better out-of-sample than GARCH, EGARCH, AGARCH and the GJR models across a wide variety of markets and forecast horizons.
Matrix stimulates the proliferation of human corneal endothelial cells in culture.

Purpose. Extracellular matrices were tested for their ability to support the adhesio prolifn an-deration of human corneal endothelial cells.Methods. Human corneal endothelial cells were plated onto tissue culture dishes coated withpurified fibronectin or a matrix elaborated by cultured bovine corneal endothelial cells. Thepresence of human cells in the cultures was confirmed by karyotyping. Cell size at increasingpassage number was analyzed, and cellular response to growth factors was assessed using a96-well microtiter plate assay.Results. When tissue culture dishes were coated with fibronectin, the cells attached to the dishbut grew slowly. Human corneal endothelial cells plated onto the matrices elaborated bybovine corneal endothelial cells attached to the culture dish and grew to fill the flask. Atconfluence, the cells had a hexagonal morphology similar to that seen in vivo. Karyotypeanalysis showed that the cells were of human and not bovine origin. The time required forsenescence in culture was dependent on the age of the donor cornea. The bovine matricesenhanced the proliferative response of human corneal endothelial cell cultures to endothelialcell growth supplement and keratinocyte growth factor. Epidermal growdi factor and hepato-cyte growth factor stimulated human cell proliferation in a dose-dependent fashion, regardlessof the substratum on which the cells were plated.Conclusions. The use of substratum elaborated by bovine corneal endothelial cells has proveduseful in the preparation of human endothelial cell cultures from juvenile and adult donors.The method has been used to establish cultures from more than 50 donors from age 1 dayto 76 years. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1997;38:1119-1129.
Blood Urea Nitrogen: A Marker for Adverse Effects of Loop Diuretics?

Loop diuretics are used in patients with heart failure (HF) to relieve symptoms of systemic and pulmonary venous congestion. Despite their nearly universal use for this indication, loop diuretics have not been shown to improve survival—indeed, a number of recent studies suggest an adverse
Perfluorinated Chemicals as Emerging Environmental Threats to Kidney Health: A Scoping Review

Background and objectives Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a large group of manufactured nonbiodegradable compounds. Despite increasing awareness as global pollutants, the impact of PFAS exposure on human health is not well understood, and there are growing concerns for adverse effects on kidney function. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review to summarize and identify gaps in the understanding between PFAS exposure and kidney health. Design, setting, participants, & measurements We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, EBSCO Global Health, World Health Organization Global Index, and Web of Science for studies published from 1990 to 2018. We included studies on the epidemiology, pharmacokinetics, or toxicology of PFAS exposure and kidney-related health, including clinical, histologic, molecular, and metabolic outcomes related to kidney disease, or outcomes related to the pharmacokinetic role of the kidneys. Results We identified 74 studies, including 21 epidemiologic, 13 pharmacokinetic, and 40 toxicological studies. Three population-based epidemiologic studies demonstrated associations between PFAS exposure and lower kidney function. Along with toxicology studies ( n =10) showing tubular histologic and cellular changes from PFAS exposure, pharmacokinetic studies ( n =5) demonstrated the kidneys were major routes of elimination, with active proximal tubule transport. In several studies ( n =17), PFAS exposure altered several pathways linked to kidney disease, including oxidative stress pathways, peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor pathways, NF-E2–related factor 2 pathways, partial epithelial mesenchymal transition, and enhanced endothelial permeability through actin filament modeling. Conclusions A growing body of evidence portends PFASs are emerging environmental threats to kidney health; yet several important gaps in our understanding still exist.
Toward safer health care: a review strategy of FDA medical device adverse event database to identify and categorize health information technology related events.

Introduction Health information technology (HIT) is intended to provide safer and better care to patients. However, poorly designed or implemented HIT poses a key risk to patient safety. It is essential for healthcare providers and researchers to investigate the HIT-related events. Unfortunately, the lack of HIT-related event databases in the community hinders the analysis and management of HIT-related events. Objectives Develop a standardized process for identifying HIT-related events from a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) database in order to create an HIT exclusive database for analysis and learning. Methods The FDA Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database, containing over 7-million reports about medical device malfunctions and problems leading to serious injury or death, was considered as a potential resource to identify HIT-related events. We developed a strategy of identifying and categorizing HIT-related events from the FDA reports through the application of a keyword filter and standardized expert review. Ten percent identified reports were reviewed to measure the consistency among experts and to initialize a database for HIT-related events. Results With the proposed strategy, we initialized an HIT-related event database with over 3500 reports, and updated the estimation of the HIT-related event proportion in the FDA MAUDE database to 0.46∼0.69%, up to 50,000 HIT-related events. Conclusion The proposed strategy for HIT-related event identification holds promise in aiding the understanding, characterization, discovery, and reporting of HIT-related events toward improved patient safety. The analysis of contributing factors under the 8-dimensional sociotechnical model shows that hardware and software, clinical content, and human-computer interface were identified more frequently than the other dimensions.
Mixture or Actuarial Models

The independent-default model is deeply flawed. Not only is it fair to argue that dependence is the single most important aspect of credit-risk modelling, but the tails of the associated loss distribution are overly thin and its asymptotic behaviour is simply too well behaved. This chapter offers a family of approaches—generally referred to as mixture or actuarial models—to address each of these shortcomings. The principle idea behind this new methodology is the randomization of the default probability. Practically, a common state variable is introduced, which induces default dependence among all obligors. Conditionally, default events remain independent, but unconditionally they are related through the realization of the systematic state variable. The structure of the default-loss distribution thus depends on the statistical properties of one’s state-variable choice mixed with underlying binomial-default structure. A variety of possible choices are investigated, convergence properties are explored, and our portfolio example is examined from both analytic and numerical perspectives. Through the law of rare events, a separate class of Poisson-mixture models are explored ultimately leading to the celebrated CreditRisk+ model used widely in practice and first suggested by Wilde (1997, CreditRisk+: A credit risk management framework, Credit Suisse First Boston).
Social Customer Relationship Management and Company Intervention: A Strategy to Build Trust: An Abstract

Firms are increasingly extending their customer relationship management (CRM) strategies to social networking sites (SNS), moving from just communicating with their customers to learning more about them (Forbes 2016). Customer relationship management performed on SNS is called social CRM, which is defined as “a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment” (Greenberg 2010). The use of social CRM helps organizations to engage more with customers (Malthouse et. al. 2013). Engagement helps in building trust with the company (Vivek et. al. 2012).
Improving Care for Sickle Cell Pain Crisis Using a Multidisciplinary Approach.

OBJECTIVES: Frequent hospitalizations for sickle cell disease (SCD) vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) are associated with school absenteeism, emotional distress, and financial hardships. Our goal was to decrease hospital days for VOC admissions by 40% over a 5-year period. METHODS: From October 2011 to September 2016, a multidisciplinary quality-improvement project was conducted with a plan-do-study-act methodology. Five key drivers were identified and 9 interventions implemented. Interventions included individualized home pain plans, emergency department and inpatient order sets, an inpatient daily schedule, psychoeducation, and a biofeedback program. High users (≥4 admissions per year) received an individualized SCD plan and assigned mental health provider. We expanded the high-use group to include at-risk patients (3 admissions per year). Data were analyzed for patients ages 0 to 21 years admitted for VOC. Hospital days were the primary measure; the 30-day readmission rate was the balancing measure. RESULTS: A total of 216 SCD pediatric patients were managed in 2011 with a 14% increase over 5 years. A total of 122 patients were admitted for VOC. Hospital days decreased by 61% from 59.6 days per month in the preintervention period to 23.2 days per month in the postintervention period (P CONCLUSIONS: A dedicated team effort with simple interventions can have a significant impact on the well-being of a patient population and hospital costs.
Freeform Optics for Illumination and Supporting Quadric Method (SQM)

Redistribution of light from a given source in order to create a prescribed intensity pattern on a given set in 3D space is a task arising in numerous applications. Designing optical systems with capabilities to perform such tasks reliably in a wide variety of applications is the overall goal of much of research in optics. In many important practical cases the a priori requirement of radial symmetry should not be imposed neither on the input/output radiances nor on the geometry of the input/output beams. Such cases include the “laser beam shaping problem” requiring transformation of a Gaussian beam from a laser into a beam with “flat top” intensity profile and “picture” generation or creation of illumination patterns on flat, tilted and curved surfaces with non-uniform input/output distributions. In all such cases utilization of freeform optical surfaces is a must. The “Supporting Quadric Method (SQM) was developed to solve problems of this kind. It provides physically motivated and mathematically rigorous theoretical and computational tools for dealing with such design problems.
Accounting for Part Pose Estimation Uncertainties during Trajectory Generation for Part Pick-Up Using Mobile Manipulators

To minimize the operation time, mobile manipulators need to pick-up parts while the mobile base and the gripper are moving. The gripper speed needs to be selected to ensure that the pick-up operation does not fail due to uncertainties in part pose estimation. This, in turn, affects the mobile base trajectory. This paper presents an active learning based approach to construct a meta-model to estimate the probability of successful part pick-up for a given level of uncertainty in the part pose estimate. Using this model, we present an optimization-based framework to generate time-optimal trajectories that satisfy the given level of success probability threshold for picking-up the part.
Thermochemistry of rare earth oxyhydroxides, REOOH (RE = Eu to Lu)

Abstract As intermediate products of the dehydration of hydroxides or the hydration of oxides, rare earth oxyhydroxides (REOOH) have important implications for synthesis and potential applications in luminescent devices. Using high temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry and thermal analysis, thermodynamic properties of REOOH (RE ​= ​Eu to Lu), including enthalpies of dehydration and formation, were determined. The exothermic enthalpies of formation from oxides and endothermic enthalpies of dehydration demonstrate that oxyhydroxides are not only synthetic but also thermodynamic intermediates in rare earth oxide - water systems. The linear relationship between enthalpies of formation from oxides and ionic radius of RE3+ confirms the key role of cation size in the stability of REOOH, and reveals that REOOH with lighter rare earth elements are easier to form and harder to dehydrate, both thermodynamically and kinetically.
Infant positioning: A brief review

The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016a) has made several recommendations regarding the safe positioning of infants by caregivers, including placing infants in a supine position for sleep and in prone for supervised periods of tummy time. However, caregivers may have difficulty adhering with these recommendations. A small, but growing, number of behavior analytic studies have examined these infant safety recommendations and strategies for increasing adherence. This review describes behavior analytic research on infant positioning and provides suggestions for future research.
Trends and Impact of the Use of Mechanical Circulatory Support for Cardiogenic Shock Secondary to Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

Data on the trend and impact of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) in patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) are scarce. We evaluated the incidence and outcomes of cardiogenic shock (CS) in TC patients and the trend in use of MCS over time. The National Inpatient Sample from 2005 to 2014 was used to identify patients admitted with TC and those receiving MCS. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of mortality. The Cochran-Armitage test was used for the trend analysis across the years. Admissions for TC showed a linear increase for the study period. From 2005 to 2014 the proportion of TC managed with MCS remained stable, with some yearly fluctuations. Crude in-hospital mortality rate was 2.5% in the patients admitted with TC but was significantly higher in those with CS (15.81% vs 1.68%, p
Africa’s Diaspora: Prospects for Women Entrepreneurs

It is interesting to note that as much as Africa is not fully developed (economically and socially) nor free of the ever-present political conflicts, its citizens in the diaspora are always thinking of her, especially the women.
Whitening Facial Toner Herbal Refreshing Balancing

At both laparoscopy and hysteroscopy, controlled movement of fluids is necessary. In addition, at laparoscopy, suctioning of accumulated smoke from lasers or electrosurgery is an essential venting technique to enhance visibility. This chapter will describe and discuss a unique, simple, cost-effective system that can be used for both hysteroscopy and laparoscopy to accomplish movement of fluids and management of smoke. Aquadissection or hydrodissection has been used for many years as an adjuvant to operative laparoscopy.' It has been found useful for operative laparoscopic treatment of conditions such as endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, and tubal obstructron. Most current systems are cumbersome, wastefully use large volumes of fluid, and often require a mechanical pump for pressurizing the fluid suction and irrigation systems. Usually, during combined laparoscopy and hysteroscopy, a separate system is used for accomplishing uterine distention when fluids are used for the hysteroscopic portion of surgery. The Pump Vac Plus can be used for both hysteroscopic distention and laparoscopic suction and irrigation. This article will describe our techniques for using the Pump Vac for both of these endoscopic approaches.
ELL for 3D FSI problems with thin flexible structures based on the continuum-based shell element

Abstract This paper extends the Eulerian–Lagrangian–Lagrangian (ELL) method to solve the three-dimensional (3D) fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems with flexible thin solids. The continuum-based (CB) shell element is adopted to model the flexible, thin-shell structure that undergoes large deformation. Several benchmarking problems, including a 3D cylinder-beam problem, vertical beam bending, and flapping flag, are solved to validate the present ELL approach incorporates the CB shell model. The results show that the ELL approach in this work has good agreement with references. A flapping butterfly with flexible wings is calculated to show the capability of the ELL to analyze more complex FSI problems in biomechanics.
Specific neuronal subpopulations in the rat basolateral amygdala express high levels of nonphosphorylated neurofilaments.

Cortical pyramidal neurons (PNs) containing non-phosphorylated neurofilaments (NNFs) localized with the SMI-32 monoclonal antibody have been shown to be especially vulnerable to degeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present investigation is the first to study the expression of SMI-32+ NNFs in neurons of the basolateral nuclear complex of the amygdala (BNC), which contains cortex-like PNs and nonpyramidal neurons (NPNs). We observed that PNs in the rat basolateral nucleus (BL), but not in the lateral (LAT) or basomedial (BM) nuclei, have significant levels of SMI-32-ir in their somata with antibody diluents that did not contain Triton X-100, but staining in these cells was greatly attenuated when the antibody diluent contained 0.3% Triton. Using Triton-containing diluents we found that all SMI-32+ neurons in all three of the BNC nuclei were NPNs. Using a dual-labeling immunoperoxidase technique we demonstrated that most of these SMI-32+ NPNs were parvalbumin-positive (PV+) or somatostatin-positive NPNs, but not vasoactive intestinal peptide-positive or neuropeptide Y-positive NPNs. Using a technique that combines retrograde tracing with SMI-32 immunohistochemistry using intermediate levels of Triton in the diluent we found that all BNC neurons projecting to the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) were large NPNs, and most were SMI-32+. In contrast, BNC neurons projecting to the ventral striatum or cerebral cortex were PNs that expressed low levels of SMI-32 immunoreactivity (SMI-32-ir) in the BL, and no SMI-32-ir in the LAT or BM. These data suggest that the main neuronal subpopulations in the BNC that degenerate in AD may be PV+ and MD-projecting NPNs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Characterization of carbon dioxide fluxes in tropical lowland flooded rice ecology

Characterization of carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes was investigated in tropical lowland flooded rice ecology using open path eddy covariance (EC) technique during dry season of 2009–2010. Select environmental variables like air and soil temperatures, soil moisture, net radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, vapour pressure deficit and soil heat flux were monitored throughout the season and correlated with half hourly CO2 fluxes. The study was conducted to gain insight of environmental impact in terms of carbon (C) budget in a submerged soil of tropical region planted to rice. Total C budget integrated over dry season expressed in terms of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) was − 392 g C m−2, while the gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (RE) were 731 and 339 g C m−2, respectively. Seasonal daily mean NEE, GPP and RE were − 3.73, 6.96 and 3.23 g C m−2 d−1, respectively. The ratio of RE/GPP in flooded rice field was 0.46. The NEE was negative during daytime and positive during nighttime, i.e. rice paddy ecosystem acted as a CO2 sink and source during daytime and night hours, respectively. Lowest negative NEE was found during heading to flowering stage (− 26.93 µmol CO2 m−2 s−1) of crop growth due to estimated highest values of GPP (32.34 µmol CO2 m−2 s−1) and RE (5.42 µmol CO2 m−2 s−1). On seasonal basis flooded rice ecology behaved as net sink for CO2. This was attributed to higher photosynthetic capacity of lowland rice to convert atmospheric C into organic compounds and slow organic matter decomposition in flooded soils.
Wallpaper patterns admissible in itajime shibori

Spurred by a study of producing wallpaper pattern types in itajime shibori, this paper explains how the mathematical concept of orbifold places limitations on realizing patterns in this medium. Rea...
Assessment of Cancer Perfusion with Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging and Relationship to Intratumoral Pressure Measures

It is well accepted that some breast cancers have abnormally high intratumoral pressures that physically impede systemic drug treatment efficacy. Owing in part to rapid blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) and lack of a functioning lymphatic system, these conditions lead to a chaotic microvascular network with higher permeability and these increased pressure levels. The objective of this study was to compare in vivo contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) image-derived measures of tumor perfusion with local intratumoral pressure measurements. Nine female athymic nude mice were implanted with breast cancer cells. Before and after microbubble (MB) dosing, nonlinear CEUS imaging was performed across the largest tumor cross-section. Local direct intratumoral pressure measurements were taken from within the ultrasound image plane and along the tumor periphery with a calibrated pressure catheter. Mice were then injected intravenously with fluorescent-conjugated tomato lectin to label all blood vessels with a patent blood supply. After euthanasia, tumors were excised for ex vivo analysis. Small region-of interests were manually selected from the CEUS images and matched to the locations where the pressure catheter tip was positioned. Time-intensity (TIC) curves were analyzed to calculate the wash-in rate (WIR) and peak enhancement (PE) parameters at each location. Pressure measurements and TIC-derived parameters were compared using linear regression analyses. Of the nine animals studied, 45 different in vivo pressure measurements were successfully performed and compared to CEUS imaging results. It was found that the WIR and PE parameters had an inverse relationship with direct pressure measurements ( $R^{2} > 0.63,\ p ). These results indicate that CEUS-derived perfusion parameters can provide surrogate information on intratumoral pressure levels and prognosis of systemic anticancer drug delivery.
An Ensemble Variational Fokker-Planck Method for Data Assimilation

Particle flow filters that aim to smoothly transform particles from samples from a prior distribution to samples from a posterior are a major topic of active research. In this work we introduce a generalized framework which we call the the Variational Fokker-Planck method for filtering and smoothing in data assimilation that encompasses previous methods such as the mapping particle filter and the particle flow filter. By making use of the properties of the optimal Ito process that solves the underlying Fokker-Planck equation we can explicitly include heuristics methods such as rejuvenation and regularization that fit into this framework. We also extend our framework to higher dimensions using localization and covariance shrinkage, and provide a robust implicit-explicit method for solving the stochastic initial value problem describing the Ito process. The effectiveness of the variational Fokker-Planck method is demonstrated on three test problems, namely the Lorenz '63, Lorenz '96 and the quasi-geostrophic equations.
Real-time visual acoustic feedback in computer-assisted pronunciation training

Previous research on visualization of speech segments for pronunciation training suggests that such learning results in improved segmental production (e.g., Katrushina et al., 2015; Olson, 2014; Patten & Edmonds, 2015). However, investigation into real-time formant visualization for L2 vowel production training has been limited to either training a single or a pair of vowels (Carey, 2004; Sakai, 2016) and to examination of improvement on trained items only (Katrushina et al., 2015). This project investigates the effects of real-time formant visualization on production training for eight L2 vowels in trained and untrained environments as well as spontaneous speech. L2 learners (n = 11) participated in nine 30-minute training sessions, during which they used a formant visualization system to practice their vowel production. A control group (n = 8) was involved in audio-only vowel production training. Pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test design was used, and pronunciation improvement was analyzed acoustically using Mahalanobis distance and mixed-effects modeling. The use of real-time visual acoustic feedback resulted in retained improvement in vowel quality in both trained and untrained items than audio-only training. Spontaneous speech was not improved. The findings suggest that this system could be used as an effective pedagogical tool for L2 learners.
Social Justice: A Shared Paradigm for Social Work & Religion?

The Patient Affordable Care Act (2011) is a move towards equitable access to health care for citizens in the United States, but it is not without controversy. The mandate for shared responsibility and specifically coverage of reproductive health services for women has raised serious opposition. In June of 2011 the Brookings Project on Religion, Policy, and Politics brought together theologians, moral philosophers, legal scholars, health practitioners and advocates reflecting personal perspectives on all sides of the debate. This thoughtful examination of tension between religious leaders, health care advocates sets a backdrop with which to view inherent conflict with social work's professional paradigm of social justice and its historical ties to organized religion.
Attitudes Toward Women in Taiwan and China

The goals of this article are to review published data from both English and Chinese sources on current attitudes toward women in Taiwan and China and to discuss issues in cross-cultural research that may affect the discovery and reporting of effects. Chinese women in both countries, when compared to men, had more liberal attitudes toward women, but women in China had more traditionally oriented attitudes than women in Taiwan. Yang's (1986) modernization theory was used to explain these results. There was also some overlap of gender roles in both cultures, with some traditional masculine (or feminine) roles played by the other gender. We propose that modernization may lead not only to greater gender equality but also to changes in the nature of gender roles, leading to greater gender-role overlap, in which it is advantageous for both men and women to have less distinctive gender-role characteristics. Finally, issues of construct validation, response sets, and alternative approaches to scale development ar...
Unforgiving of Those Who Trespass Against U.S.: State Laws Criminalizing Immigration Status

Since around 2005, states and localities have been using criminal trespass laws to target undocumented immigrants for unlawful presence. Specifically, in April 2010, Arizona passed SB 1070: Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. SB 1070 creates crimes involving trespassing by “illegal aliens” and harboring or concealing unlawful aliens. This paper argues that state trespass laws that criminalize unlawful presence of immigrants are unconstitutional regulations of immigration and are a preempted exercise of state power. In evaluating the constitutionality of state trespass laws that criminalize immigration status, this paper proceeds in three parts. The first part of the paper details how as a sovereign nation, U.S. laws have excluded undesirable categories of people from admission and have attempted to criminalize specific immigration violations. The second part explains and critiques the sections of SB 1070 that create separate state criminal offenses for violating federal immigration laws - namely unlawful presence or criminal trespass. The third part analyzes the constitutionality of the criminal provisions of SB 1070 that make it a state crime to be unlawfully present in the state in relation to specific provisions of the INA and federal immigration policy. The paper concludes that state trespass laws that criminalize unlawful presence of immigrants and attempt to delegate immigration enforcement to state officials are unconstitutional regulations of immigration and are therefore a preempted exercise of state power.
Marked correlations in galaxy formation models

The two-point correlation function has been the standard statistic for quantifying how galaxies are clustered. The statistic uses the positions of galaxies, but not their properties. Clustering as a function of galaxy property, be it type, luminosity, color, etc., is usually studied by analysing a subset of the full population, the galaxies in the subset chosen because they have a similar range of properties. We explore an alternative technique—marked correlations—in which one weights galaxies by some property or ‘mark’ when measuring clustering statistics. Marked correlations are particularly well-suited to quantifying how the properties of galaxies correlate with their environment. Therefore, measurements of marked statistics, with luminosity, stellar mass, color, star-formation rate, etc. as the mark, permit sensitive tests of galaxy formation models. We make measurements of such marked statistics in semi-analytic galaxy formation models to illustrate their utility. These measurements show that close pairs of galaxies are expected to be red, to have larger stellar masses, and to have smaller star formation rates. We also show that the simplest unbiased estimator of the particular marked statistic we use extensively is very simple to measure—it does not require construction of a random catalog—and provide an estimate of its variance. Large wide-field surveys of the sky are revolutionizing our view of galaxies and how they evolve. Our results indicate that application of marked statistics to this high quantity of high-quality data will provide a wealth of information about galaxy formation.
Markets: Anthropological Aspects

Anthropological perspectives on markets, both in historical and contemporary societies, focus on the varied institutional, political, social, and cultural forces that create and sustain market activity, and the ways in which economic life itself is inherently embedded in social and cultural relationships, that are often ignored in conventional economic analyses of market behavior. Anthropological interests in markets, often pursued through ethnographic research, examine commonalities in the principles and practices of exchange in subsistence and peasant societies as well as in centers of advanced capitalist finance. At the same time, questions about the nature of exchange and markets in societies at varied levels of complexity link ethnographic concerns with contemporary markets to historical interest in the development of markets and their impact on social and cultural development.
Inaccuracy of lipid measurements with the portable Cholestech L.D.X analyzer in patients with hypercholesterolemia.

Background: Although total cholesterol concentrations measured by portable lipid analyzers have acceptable bias and precision in young and middle-aged adults, clinically relevant differences in HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglyceride values have been described. Furthermore, the accuracy of portable lipid analyzers in older hyperlipidemic individuals, who have a high incidence of coronary heart disease, has not been validated. This study determined the biases and variability in portable lipid measurements in older patients with hypercholesterolemia and related them to National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. Methods: Participants were ≥70 years of age with fasting serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations >1.40 g/L. Fasting fingerstick samples were analyzed on a Cholestech L·D·X desktop analyzer. Antecubital venous samples were analyzed in a proficiency-certified clinical laboratory. Results: Portable measurements systematically overestimated triglycerides (0.296 g/L; P <0.001) and HDL-C (0.015 g/L; P = 0.026). LDL-C concentrations were underestimated (0.043 g/L; P = 0.046). Total and non-HDL cholesterol calculations based on the portable lipid device provided unbiased estimates, but wide variability was present. Significant variability in lipid determinations limited their clinical usefulness in individual patients, especially because 2 SD of the mean bias between the laboratory and the portable determinations of LDL-C and non-HDL cholesterol exceeded the 0.30 g/L cutoff that defines treatment targets in the current lipid guidelines. Conclusions: Lipid values obtained from portable lipid analyzers may be useful for screening, but they should not be used to make clinical decisions regarding the diagnosis and management of dyslipidemia in individual patients.
Outcome and long-term function of restorative proctocolectomy for Crohn's disease: comparison to patients with ulcerative colitis.

Aim Restorative proctocolectomy (RPC) is the most common operation for chronic ulcerative colitis (CUC), as it provides excellent functional outcome. However, among patients with Crohn’s disease (CD), RPC is generally not recommended, as outcome and long-term function may be poor. Our purpose was to compare matched cohorts of CD and CUC patients to determine whether there are differences in outcome or function. Method We queried our prospectively maintained database of patients who underwent RPC from 1991 to 2008. We identified patients who underwent RPC for CD and compared them with a matched cohort of patients who underwent RPC for CUC. Results We identified 13 patients with CD (seven women, median age 34 years) and 39 patients with CUC (21 women, median age 35 years). The patients were well matched for gender, clinical and demographic variables. Seven patients (54%) with CD had proctitis, but none had perianal or ileal disease. There were four (30.8%) postoperative complications and no anastomotic leaks. The CD group experienced significantly fewer median daily bowel movements (P = 0.02), incontinence for liquids (P < 0.01) and pouchitis (P < 0.01). With a median follow up of 44 months, pouch excision rate was significantly higher in the Crohn’s group (2 vs 0%, P < 0.01). Conclusion In patients with CD, RPC may result in fewer daily bowel movements, less liquid incontinence and a lower incidence of pouchitis compared with CUC patients who undergo RPC. However, risk of pouch loss is higher in patients with CD. Therefore, in properly selected patients with CD, RPC provides an acceptable long-term functional outcome.
The moral obligation to be empirical: Comments on Boynton's “Facilitated Communication—what harm it can do: Confessions of a former facilitator”

Janyce Boynton (2012) does a great service by explaining how she came to author false accusations of sexual abuse against an innocent family using “facilitated communication” (FC). FC involves a “facilitator” allegedly providing motor and emotional support to enable nonspeaking people to communicate by typing or similar means. FC was never credible and is now scientifically discredited. Nevertheless, FC seems to be growing in professional and academic adherents. This article expands Boynton's analysis. It shows how potentially extreme legal remedies might be imposed on academics to deal with the consequences of the irresponsible promotion of FC in the classroom. It explores the practical and legal dangers of adopting FC-recommended forensic techniques to assess authorship of sensitive output, such as abuse allegations. It shows how FC is a type of automatic writing with special features that enhance the lucidity and stability of the facilitator's unconscious composition. These features make false abuse al...
Network externalities and market segmentation in a monopoly

Abstract Network externalities characterize the consumption of many products. In a setting where a monopolist does not price discriminate without externalities, we show that presence of network externalities induces the monopolist to price discriminate and segment its market.
A Tribological Study of Mo/Al2O3 in Sliding Contact

This is Part II of a tribological study of metal/ceramic pair in a sliding contact. The tribological behavior of molybdenum against a single crystal A12O3 was investigated at bulk temperatures of 23oC and 400oC using a sliding speed of 4 m/s and loads from nine to twenty five Newtons. The role of oxidational wear was confirmed at both temperatures. The linear dependency of wear rate on load was identified at 23oC tests. At 400oC, there was a rapid increase of wear rate at a load of about 25 N possibly due to the volatilization of MoO3, which is the limitation of molybdenum oxide as a solid lubricant. However, this study showed that the out-of-contact oxide formation may have prevented the catastrophic oxidation during contact at the real area of contact. It also showed that in-situ formed molybdenum oxide has good lubricating properties (≃ 0.3) and a low wear rate (≃ 10-14 m3/m). Therefore, this molybdenum can be used for a large range of sliding speeds and loads.
Identifying proteins that affect mRNA localization in living cells.

Messenger RNA transport has emerged as a significant mechanism for regulating gene expression. Many of the protein factors affecting RNA transport remain unknown. The emergence of green fluorescent protein (GFP) fluorescence microscopy allows imaging in living cells and an increased understanding of in vivo molecular transport. GFP imaging is now applied to RNA transport by engineering RNA hairpins into the RNA of interest and observing fluorescence from GFP fused to an RNA-binding protein that recognizes the hairpins. In yeast, different genetic backgrounds can be tested to identify various proteins that affect RNA transport and localization. The technology also allows the swapping of different regions of the RNA to determine the cis requirements for transport. GFP RNA imaging opens many possibilities to examine RNA transport in real time in a variety of different organisms.
Fabrication of MnAl thin films with perpendicular anisotropy on Si substrates

For the first time, perpendicularly magnetized L10-ordered MnAl thin films were demonstrated using a MgO seed layer on Si substrates, which is critical to making spintronic devices. Fabrication conditions were selected by systematically varying sputtering parameters (film thickness, DC sputtering power, in situ substrate temperature, and post-annealing temperature) and investigating structural and magnetic properties. Strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with coercivity Hc of 8 kOe, Ku of over 6.5 × 106 erg/cm3, saturation magnetization Ms of 300 emu/cm3, and out-of-plane squareness Mr/Ms of 0.8 were achieved. These MnAl film properties were obtained via DC magnetron sputtering at 530 °C, followed by 350 °C annealing under a 4 kOe magnetic field oriented perpendicular to the film plane.
Examining Disease Risk Factors by Mining Publicly Available Information

Human disease and associated risk factors are of great interest in the medical field. The skyrocketing cost of health care makes the understanding of disease risk factors of even greater importance. When risk factors are well understood for a disease it is possible to educate the public to reduce their risk by avoiding risk factors that they can control. There are publicly available data stores which document risk factors facing the general public in the United States. In particular, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) has been maintained by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This study examines the disease of diabetes using a set of risk factors which the BRFSS maintains. A logistic regression model is created which models diabetes as a function of risk factors. Nine years of existing data from BRFSS was used in building this model (for the years 2002 to 2010). The generated model shows promise in modeling diabetes as a function of risk factors and correctly identified obesity as an important risk factor for diabetes. Studies of this nature can be very cost effective and may generate insights into the risks of disease.