cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development and Initial Validation of the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale—Revised:

Purpose:The purpose of this research is to provide an initial validation of a revision of the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale—Revised (TAPS-R) with international transracial adoptive parents.M...
Practical Considerations with Using Mobile Phone Survey Incentives: Experiences in Ghana and Tanzania

As mobile phone surveys are gaining popularity among researchers and practitioners in international development, one primary challenge is improving survey response and completion rates. A common solution is to provide monetary compensation to respondents. This paper reports on our experience with using incentives with a mobile phone survey conducted in Ghana and Tanzania in June 2015. We find that extrinsic incentives – transfers of airtime – improve survey completion rates by roughly 6 to 8 percentage points. We also find that an SMS notification, aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation to complete the survey, has a comparable positive effect. Considering three levels of compensation (airtime transfers), we find that the supply curve of completed surveys appears to be fairly inelastic. In other words, small amounts of incentives have a similar effect as larger incentives. We also find little evidence of the extrinsic incentives skewing the demographics of the completed samples. However, we do find some evidence that the SMS treatment may have skewed the sample toward wealthier and more educated respondents. Finally, we found that the cost per completed response is not substantially less for every incentive or combination of incentives, compared to the group that did not receive any incentives. Considering these results, we would recommend the consideration of modest monetary compensation as a way of increasing response and completion rates. Nonetheless, a complete lack of extrinsic incentives may remain the most cost effective way to gather completed responses without any associated risk of skewing the survey sample. However, if higher completion rates are desired, a small monetary compensation would be most cost effective with lower risks of biasing the completed sample.
SVitchboard-II and FiSVer-I: Crafting high quality and low complexity conversational english speech corpora using submodular function optimization

Abstract We introduce a set of benchmark corpora of conversational English speech derived from the Switchboard-I and Fisher datasets. Traditional automatic speech recognition (ASR) research requires considerable computational resources and has slow experimental turnaround times. Our goal is to introduce these new datasets to researchers in the ASR and machine learning communities in order to facilitate the development of novel speech recognition techniques on smaller but still acoustically rich, diverse, and hence interesting corpora. We select these corpora to maximize an acoustic quality criterion while limiting the vocabulary size (from 10 words up to 10,000 words), where both “acoustic quality” and vocabulary size are adeptly measured via various submodular functions. We also survey numerous submodular functions that could be useful to measure both “acoustic quality” and “corpus complexity” and offer guidelines on when and why a scientist may wish use to one vs. another. The corpora selection process itself is naturally performed using various state-of-the-art submodular function optimization procedures, including submodular level-set constrained submodular optimization (SCSC/SCSK), difference-of-submodular (DS) optimization, and unconstrained submodular minimization (SFM), all of which are fully defined herein. While the focus of this paper is on the resultant speech corpora, and the survey of possible objectives, a consequence of the paper is a thorough empirical comparison of the relative merits of these modern submodular optimization procedures. We provide baseline word recognition results on all of the resultant speech corpora for both Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and deep neural network (DNN)-based systems, and we have released all of the corpora definitions and Kaldi training recipes for free in the public domain.
Translating Chinese Film Festivals: Three Cases in New York

Wong investigates how China and multiple Chinese can be understood through the comparative study of three Chinese film festivals in New York organized by different people, including fans of Chinese/Asian cinema in the West, Asian Americans and Chinese from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The three festivals illuminate how Chinese cinema, which is already heterogeneous and diverse, embodies different meanings for varied stakeholders—festival programmers, filmmakers and audiences—especially when it travels abroad. The study understands processes of globalization through the examination of the different practices involved in international film festivals with an emphasis on Chinese and/or Asian cinema; Wong underscores both the role of film festivals in transmitting information and the ideas of China that can be read in different contexts even within a single cinematic event.
Asociación e identidad “imparcial”una propuesta alternativa a las logias masónicas en la administración de Guadalupe Victoria (1826–1828)

En la administracion de Guadalupe Victoria, los imparciales surgieron con la intencion de replantear significativas problematicas de la gobernabilidad establecida con la republica federal en 1824, especialmente las logias. La suya fue una voz protagonica para las inquietudes de diferentes sectores, ya fueran contrarios a sociedades escocesas y yorkinas o estuvieran insertos en ambas. Esta investigacion analiza ideas y practicas de los imparciales desde la publicacion periodica Aguila Mejicana , hasta los principales debates de esta con periodicos masonicos lideres. Tambien explica de que manera los imparciales contribuyeron a eliminar ambas logias y, al mismo tiempo, ofrecieron nuevos y substanciales fundamentos para cohesionar a los “hombres de bien”. During the Guadalupe Victoria administration, the “Impartials” criticized key governance issues established in the 1824 first federal republic, especially when related to the Masonic Lodges. They voiced the concerns of many key sectors that opposed the Masonic Lodges. This article analyzes Impartials’ ideas and practices in the Aguila Mejicana publication. Likewise, it examines the debates between the Impartials and the Masonic Lodges periodicals in Mexico City. This article explains how the Impartials contrived to eliminate the Masonic Lodges. Furthermore, it explores the new foundations the Impartials established to bring together the so-called “hombres de bien.”
Orosomucoid-like 3 (ORMDL3) upregulates airway smooth muscle proliferation, contraction, and Ca2+ oscillations in asthma

Background Airway hyperresponsiveness is a major feature of asthma attributed predominantly to an extrinsic immune/inflammatory response increasing airway smooth muscle (ASM) contractility. Objective We investigated whether increased ASM expression of orosomucoid-like 3 (ORMDL3), a gene on chromosome 17q21 highly linked to asthma, induced increased ASM proliferation and contractility in vitro and influenced airway contractility and calcium flux in ASM in precision-cut lung slices (PCLSs) from wild-type and hORMDL3 Zp3-Cre mice (which express increased levels of human ORMDL3 [hORMDL3]). Methods Levels of ASM proliferation and contraction were assessed in ASM cells transfected with ORMDL3 in vitro . In addition, airway contractility and calcium oscillations were quantitated in ASM cells in PCLSs derived from naive wild-type and naive hORMDL3 Zp3-Cre mice, which do not have a blood supply. Results Increased ASM expression of ORMDL3 in vitro resulted in increased ASM proliferation and contractility. PCLSs derived from naive hORMDL3 Zp3-Cre mice, which do not have airway inflammation, exhibit increased airway contractility with increased calcium oscillations in ASM cells. Increased ASM ORMDL3 expression increases levels of ASM sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ ATPase 2b (SERCA2b), which increases ASM proliferation and contractility. Conclusion Overall, these studies provide evidence that an intrinsic increase in ORMDL3 expression in ASM can induce increased ASM proliferation and contractility, which might contribute to increased airway hyperresponsiveness in the absence of airway inflammation in asthmatic patients.
Politics and Religion vs. Law and Order in Nigeria: Implications for National and Regional Security.

Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has grappled with the ominous challenge of building a sustainable bridge between its ever increasing populations divided not only along distinct multi-ethnic groups but also between two major diametrically opposed faiths [in content, structure, and tactics]- Christianity and Islam. The study was exploratory in nature, which adopted descriptive adequacy in articulating and examining the underlying alternatives factors that propel national politics and religious violence in Nigeria, thus producing a more comprehensive and total picture of the dynamics of the phenomena under investigation- the understanding of religious violence in Nigeria with minimum distortion. Furthermore, the study adopted a survey method based on the perception of Government officials and Religious leaders regarding religious violence, with a corresponding sample size of 100. The study found that the seeming overwhelming implications of persistent religious violence for Nigeria are three folds; they include; sustained threat to national peace, unity, and security, undermines national political/economic development, as well as socio-cultural and religious harmony and cooperation. In addition, the study found that the present state of religious violence in Nigeria exacerbates bitterness, hatred, and mistrust among the federating units of Nigeria resulting to violent reactions and heightened intra-ethnic and religious clashes, with a volcanic potential to explode into secession by aggrieved groups, internecine civil war, pogroms and/or jihads. Finally, the study recommended that the Nigerian civil society must step up organized and peaceful agitations for fundamental changes in the structure and character of the Nigeria state through a Sovereign National Conference or credible constitution review effort. Also, the Nigerian government and the international community must seize the opportunity of current fragile peace in Nigeria, to implement a number of credible measures aimed at preventing a recurrence of widespread religious conflicts threatening to spill over to a civil war.
Addressing Selection Bias in Event Studies with General-Purpose Social Media Panels

Data from Twitter have been employed in prior research to study the impacts of events. Conventionally, researchers use keyword-based samples of tweets to create a panel of Twitter users who mention event-related keywords during and after an event. However, the keyword-based sampling is limited in its objectivity dimension of data and information quality. First, the technique suffers from selection bias since users who discuss an event are already more likely to discuss event-related topics beforehand. Second, there are no viable control groups for comparison to a keyword-based sample of Twitter users. We propose an alternative sampling approach to construct panels of users defined by their geolocation. Geolocated panels are exogenous to the keywords in users’ tweets, resulting in less selection bias than the keyword panel method. Geolocated panels allow us to follow within-person changes over time and enable the creation of comparison groups. We compare different panels in two real-world settings: response to mass shootings and TV advertising. We first show the strength of the selection biases of keyword panels. Then, we empirically illustrate how geolocated panels reduce selection biases and allow meaningful comparison groups regarding the impact of the studied events. We are the first to provide a clear, empirical example of how a better panel selection design, based on an exogenous variable such as geography, both reduces selection bias compared to the current state of the art and increases the value of Twitter research for studying events. While we advocate for the use of a geolocated panel, we also discuss its weaknesses and application scenario seriously. This article also calls attention to the importance of selection bias in impacting the objectivity of social media data.
State Variation in Certifying Manner of Death and Drugs Involved in Drug Intoxication Deaths

National statistics on drug intoxication deaths are based solely on data derived from death certificates. This study examines the variation in the manner of death classification by state, and the s...
Types and forms of knowledge (patterns): probabilistic and casual networks

Bayes nets are directed acyclic graphs whose nodes or vertices are random variables with some definite joint probability distribution having conditional independence properties determined by the topology of the graph. If a directed edge X → Y is taken to represent the proposition that some variation in X produces a variation in Y, for some fixed values of other variables that are not descendants of Y, the Bayes net is a causal model. Bayes nets allow prediction of the probabilities of values of any represented variables conditional on values of any other disjoint set of represented variables. Causal Bayes nets also allow the prediction of the probabilities of variables, conditional on interventions that force values, or probabilities, on other variables. The two, predictions from conditioning and predictions from intervention, are not in general equal. Often the point of causal investigations is to enable prediction of the effects of interventions. Under appropriate assumptions, causal Bayes nets can be learned from experimental data, and features of them can be learned from observational data.
Effects of Selective α-Adrenergic Blockade on Control of Human Skin Blood Flow during Exercise

Nonacral human skin blood flow (SkBF) is determined by the balance between α-adrenergic vasoconstriction and active vasodilation. In separate studies, we used pharmacological agents to selectively block either α1- or α2-adrenoceptors to study the potential role of each receptor subtype in the control of SkBF during exercise. α1-adrenergic blockade (prazosin) increased resting SkBF but did not alter its control during exercise. Results from a subsequent α2-blockade (yohimbine) study suggest that α2-receptors mediate the relative vasoconstriction in the skin during the sympathetic activation accompanying the first few minutes of exercise. However, this vasoconstriction is overridden by active vasodilation as core temperature increases further. Both studies confirm the idea that the functional limit to increasing SkBF during prolonged exercise is due to an alteration in active vasodilation rather than vasoconstriction.
Atrial Natriuretic Peptide: Fluid/Mineral Balance

Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and B-type and C-type (CNP) natriuretic peptides (NPs) are homologous peptides that share common receptors and exert similar actions in the periphery, all related to the control of fluid and electrolyte homeostasis and cardiovascular function. In brain, ANF inhibits vasopressin secretion, sympathetic tone, thirst, and salt appetite. At blood–brain barrier-free sites, ANF may act via the type A NP receptor (NPR-A); however, many of the NP actions behind the barrier are exerted via activation of the NPR-B or NPR-C receptors, probably reflecting physiologically relevant actions of endogenous, brain-derived CNP.
An Economic Model and Simulation Results of App Adoption Decisions on Networks with Interdependent Privacy Consequences

The popularity of third-party apps on social network sites and mobile networks emphasizes the problem of the interdependency of privacy. It is caused by users installing apps that often collect and potentially misuse the personal information of users’ friends who are typically not involved in the decision-making process. In this paper, we provide an economic model and simulation results addressing this problem space. We study the adoption of social apps in a network where privacy consequences are interdependent. Motivated by research in behavioral economics, we extend the model to account for users’ other-regarding preferences; that is, users care about privacy harms they inflict on their peers.
Maternal peripartum antibiotic exposure and the risk of postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression is a relatively common occurrence that may carry lifelong consequences. Also common is the exposure of pregnant and postpartum women in the United States to antibiotics, especially during the peripartum period. Antibiotic exposure is known to alter gut microbial composition and structure, contributing to a dysbiotic, or imbalanced gut microbiome, and is a mechanism suggested for the increased risk of depressive symptoms following antibiotic exposure in non-pregnant, non-postpartum populations. We sought to determine the relationship between antibiotic exposure intrapartum through the first 14 days postpartum and depressive symptoms within the first 6-months postpartum. In this secondary data analysis, 124 pregnant women from a prospective cohort were enrolled into the study and provided demographic characteristics and health history. Participants completed questionnaires including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale between 32-36 weeks, and 1- and 2-weeks and 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-months postpartum. Clinical measures including hours in labor, perineal injury, and mode of giving birth were ascertained by medical record abstraction. Antibiotic exposure was identified by self-report at 1- and 2-weeks postpartum. Antibiotic exposure was found to be independently predictive of postpartum depressive symptoms at 1-month (Beta = 0.43; CI [0.01, 0.86]) and 2-months (Beta = 0.51; CI [0.08, 0.94]) postpartum after controlling for baseline predictors. The relationship between antibiotic exposure and postpartum depressive symptoms did not maintain significance at 3- or 6-months postpartum. Additional studies are needed to further investigate the relationship between onset and duration of antibiotic exposure, the peripartum gut microbiome, and the risk for postpartum depressive symptoms.
Palmitic acid methyl ester is a novel neuroprotective agent against cardiac arrest.

Abstract We previously discovered that palmitic acid methyl ester (PAME) is a potent vasodilator first identified and released from the superior cervical ganglion and remain understudied. Thus, we investigated PAME's role in modulating cerebral blood flow (CBF) and neuroprotection after 6 min of cardiac arrest (model of global cerebral ischemia). Our results suggest that PAME can enhance CBF under normal physiological conditions, while administration of PAME (0.02 mg/kg) immediately after cardiopulmonary resuscitation can also enhance CBF in vivo. Additionally, functional learning and spatial memory assessments (via T-maze) 3 days after asphyxial cardiac arrest (ACA) suggest that PAME-treated rats have improved learning and memory recovery versus ACA alone. Furthermore, improved neuronal survival in the CA1 region of the hippocampus were observed in PAME-treated, ACA-induced rats. Altogether, our findings suggest that PAME can enhance CBF, alleviate neuronal cell death, and promote functional outcomes in the presence of ACA.
Heart Failure in Racial/Ethnic Groups

Heart failure management continues to excel through evidence-based efforts. In relation to race/ethnicity, heart failure continues to disproportionately affect minorities, often with a significantly different phenotypical profile. As the evidence strengthens for heart failure management, there are rising concerns of differential effects of medical therapies for various minority groups. Even so, there are no data to suggest that any of the current medical therapies available have deleterious effects on any group of minority patients with heart failure. This chapter will evaluate the evidence for the accepted chronic therapies of heart failure management as they relate to minority patients and outcome. We will also address the selective benefits of more current race-specific evidence-based therapies.
Abstract GS1-02: Towards a human breast cell atlas

The human breast tissue consists of lobules connected to a complex network of ducts that are evolutionarily designed to produce and transport milk to nourish offspring. Histopathology has identified 10 major cell types based on morphological features but have provided limited information on cell states - the transcriptional programs of cell types that reflect different biological functions. In this study, we have generated an unbiased 9cell atlas9 of the normal human breast to define the cell types and cell states using single cell RNA sequencing methods. We performed 39 microdroplet based single cell RNA sequencing of 31,442 stromal cells from 11 women with pathologically normal breast tissues that were collected from mastectomies. Unbiased expression analysis identified three major cell types: epithelial cells (luminal and basal), fibroblasts and endothelial cells, in addition to several minor cell types: macrophages, T-cells, natural killer cells, pericytes and smooth muscle cells. Analysis of cell states of these cell types revealed different transcriptional programs in luminal epithelial cells (hormone receptor positive and secretory), basal epithelial cells (myoepithelial or basement-like), endothelial cells (lymphatic or vascular), macrophages (M1 or M2) and fibroblasts (three subgroups) and provided insight into progenitors of each cell types. These data provide a valuable reference for the research community and will provide new insights into how normal cell types are transformed in the tumor microenvironment to promote or inhibit the progression of breast cancer. Citation Format: Seth TK, Bai S, Hu M, Sei E, Wood A, Wiley J, Chen H, Contreras A, Teshome M, Lim B, Navin NE. Towards a human breast cell atlas [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS1-02.
Perceived Importance of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation According to Social and Medical Factors Among Residents of Impacted Communities in the United States

Abstract Purpose: To determine whether perceived importance of local climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts differs according to social or medical factors among residents of impacted comm...
The DARPA SocialSim Challenge: Massive Multi-Agent Simulations of the Github Ecosystem

We model the evolution of GitHub, a large collaborative software-development ecosystem, using massive multi-agent simulations as a part of DARPA's SocialSim program. Our best performing models and our agent-based simulation framework are described here. Six different agent models were tested based on a variety of machine learning and statistical methods. The most successful models are based on sampling from a stationary probability distribution of actions and repositories for each agent.
Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma (NccRCC) and clear cell renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation (ccRCCsd): Updated results of activity and predictive biomarkers from a phase II study.

4583Background: NccRCC and ccRCCsd are aggressive tumors associated with poor prognosis and response to therapy. Combination strategies co-targeting VEGF signaling and inhibitory immune checkpoints...
Protein dynamics and conformational changes explored by hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry

Proteins are not rigid bodies under their physiological conditions. Here we discuss a solution-phase structural proteomics technique, hydrogen deuterium exchange coupled with mass spectrometry (HDX-MS), as a means to study protein dynamics, which can complement other structural approaches. We outline the background theory and highlight the utility of HDX-MS measurements in two case studies involving a nuclear receptor and an innate immunity receptor. We also discuss emerging software advances for improving data analysis and three-dimensional visualization.
Minimizing Cost of Smart Grid Operations by Scheduling Mobile Energy Storage Systems

Energy storage systems (ESS) are effective solutions to reduce the cost of smart grid operations due to their ability to store and supply electricity on demand. Traditionally, ESS have been used to implement a plethora of cost reduction techniques for smart grid operations such as temporal supply-demand shifting, frequency regulation, voltage regulation etc. However, the stationary nature of ESS limits their flexibility, potentially leading to low utilization and risk being a stranded asset. In this work, we explore the use of Mobile ESS in implementing such cost reduction techniques in a grid consisting of multiple microgrids. We develop an algorithmic framework to assign multiple Mobile ESS to various microgrids of the smart grid across several days. Our framework attempts to maximize the cost reduction achieved due to Mobile ESS assignment minus the routing cost. We show that our algorithm is a polynomial time $1/e-$1/e-approximation for the NP-Hard problem of optimal assignment of MESS.
Susan Glaspell: A Critical Biography. By Barbara Ozieblo. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000; pp 345. $55.00 hardcover, $22.50 paperback.

The past two decades have witnessed an increasing interest in the work of Susan Glaspell. C. W. E. Bigsby's collection of her plays, published in 1988, introduced many readers to her work for the first time. Reviewing the collection, critic Michael Goldman called Glaspell “the only playwright of her generation worthy of comparison with O'Neill.” Since that time, essays about Glaspell's work have been published in multiple books: Mary E. Papke published the very thorough and useful Susan Glaspell: A Research and Production Sourcebook (1993); a lengthy analysis of Glaspell's plays, with particular emphasis on their expressionistic qualities, appeared in my book American Women Playwrights, 1900 – 1950 (1995); and there have been academic conferences devoted to Glaspell's work. Now Barbara Ozieblo has written an excellent critical biography that will be of value to theatre scholars.
Ictal autonomic activity recorded via wearable-sensors plus machine learning can discriminate epileptic and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures

Differentiating epileptic seizures (ES) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) is commonly based on electroencephalogram and concurrent video recordings (vEEG). Here, we demonstrate that these two types of seizures can be discriminated based on signals related to autonomic nervous system activity recorded via wearable sensors. We used Empatica E4 Wristband sensors worn on both arms in vEEG confirmed seizures, and machine learning methods to train classifiers, specifically, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). Classification performance achieved a predictive accuracy of 78 ± 1.5% on previously unseen data for whether a seizure was epileptic or psychogenic, which is 6 standard deviations above the baseline of 68% accuracy. Our dataset contained altogether 35 seizures from 18 patients out of which 8 patients had 13 convulsive seizures. Prediction of seizure type was based on simple features derived from the segments of autonomic activity measurements (electrodermal activity, body temperature, blood volume pulse, and heart rate) and forearm acceleration. Features related to heart rate and electrodermal activity were ranked as the top predictors in XGBoost classifiers. We found that patients with PNES had a higher ictal heart rate and electrodermal activity than patients with ES. In contrast to existing published studies of mainly convulsive seizures, our classifier focuses on autonomic signals to differentiate convulsive or nonconvulsive semiology ES from PNES. Our results show that autonomic activity recorded via wearable sensors provides promising signals for detection and discrimination of psychogenic and epileptic seizures, but more work is necessary to improve the predictive power of the model.
2-Dimentional Fiber Array with Reflow Compatibility for High-Density Optical Interconnection

We developed a 2-dimensional fiber array (2D-FA) as an optical interconnection device for co-packaged optics. The 2D-FA was capable of maintaining a low connection loss of < 1.0 dB after reflow process at 260°C.
Multi-cause Discrimination Analysis Using Potential Outcomes.

Discrimination analysis recently aroused wide attention in the fairness-aware learning field. Most existing causal modeling based fair learning research focuses on single cause effect of one protected attribute on decision. In this paper, we focus on discrimination discovery when multiple protected attributes and redlining attributes are present in addition to other covariates. We regard those protected and redlining attributes as multiple causes of the outcome variable. To deal with unobserved variables, especially hidden confounders, we adopt the potential outcome framework and leverage the state-of-the-art deconfounder algorithm to do causal inference under multiple causes. The deconfounder algorithm infers a latent variable as a substitute for unobserved confounders and then uses that substitute to perform causal inference. Our approach is more appropriate for discrimination discovery as it is able to relax the Markovian assumption and avoid the unidentifiability issue in structural causal modeling approaches. We conduct empirical evaluation on both synthetic data and real data. Empirical evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.
Genotyping Dickeya dianthicola Causing Potato Blackleg and Soft Rot Outbreak Associated With Inoculum Geography in the United States

An outbreak of blackleg and soft rot of potato, caused primarily by the bacterial pathogen Dickeya dianthicola, has resulted in significant economic losses in the northeastern United States since 2...
Beginning High School Teachers’ Organization of Students for Learning and Methods for Teaching Mathematics

We observed eight beginning secondary mathematics teachers’ classrooms to investigate which they organized students for learning, uses of instructional methods, and how these may differ based on the level of course being taught. We found that beginning teachers frequently organize their students to learn collaboratively – either in small groups or as a whole class – coupled with an abundance of teacher directed instruction. Differences in organizations, teaching methods, and associated learning opportunities between course levels also exist. Implications for supporting practicing teachers and preparing prospective teachers to establish collaborative learning environments and utilize student centered teaching methods are discussed.
Residual Cardiovascular Risk at Low LDL: Remnants, Lipoprotein(a), and Inflammation.

BACKGROUND Current guidelines target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk, and yet clinical trials demonstrate persistent residual ASCVD risk despite aggressive LDL-C lowering. CONTENT Non-LDL-C lipid parameters, most notably triglycerides, triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRLs), and lipoprotein(a), and C-reactive protein as a measure of inflammation are increasingly recognized as associated with residual risk after LDL-C lowering. Eicosapentaenoic acid in statin-treated patients with high triglycerides reduced both triglycerides and ASCVD events. Reducing TGRLs is believed to have beneficial effects on inflammation and atherosclerosis. High lipoprotein(a) concentrations increase ASCVD risk even in individuals with LDL-C < 70 mg/dL. Although statins do not generally lower lipoprotein(a), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors reduce lipoprotein(a) and cardiovascular outcomes, and newer approaches are in development. Persistent increases in C-reactive protein after intensive lipid therapy have been consistently associated with increased risk for ASCVD events. SUMMARY We review the evidence that biochemical assays to measure TGRLs, lipoprotein(a), and C-reactive protein are associated with residual risk in patients treated to low concentrations of LDL-C. Growing evidence supports a causal role for TGRLs, lipoprotein(a), and inflammation in ASCVD; novel therapies that target TGRLs, lipoprotein(a), and inflammation are in development to reduce residual ASCVD risk.
Commission Gallagher's and Professor Grundfest's Wrongful Attack on the Shareholder Rights Project

This paper offers a critique of a recent paper, entitled “Did Harvard Violate the Federal Securities laws? The Campaign Against Classified Boards of Directors,” that was issued by SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher and Professor Joseph Grundfest. Gallagher/Grundfest claim that declassification proposals submitted by institutional investors assisted by the Shareholder Rights Project (SRP) violated the federal securities laws by not including sufficient references to studies supporting staggered boards. My analysis shows that Gallagher/Grundfest wrongfully accused the SRP.Among other things, I explain that the SRP proposals were consistent with the SEC’s long-standing rules, policies and practices; that the weakness of the Gallagher/Grundfest’s omission claim is reflected in the fact that not a single company of the more than one-hundred major companies receiving the proposals chose to raise such a claim; that the actions against the SRP that Gallagher/Grundfest urge are without any precedent; and that Gallagher/Grundfest inconsistently endorse non-inclusion of references by issuers while seeking to treat harshly proponents that do so. I also show that Gallagher/Grundfest do not aim at making shareholder voting more informed but rather seek to avoid shareholder votes on board declassification. In addition, I explain that responses to my criticism that Professor Grundfest published further demonstrate that the authors wrongfully accused the SRP.My analysis, which builds on a series of posts I published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, is supported by a joint statement that a group of 34 senior professors from 17 leadings law school subsequently issued to opine that the Gallagher/Grundfest claims are meritless and to call for their withdrawal. I conclude that, having wrongfully accused the SRP, Gallagher/Grundfest should withdraw their allegations.
The Role of Life Style Modifications in Comprehensive Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Treatment.

There are many reasons to promote lifestyle modifications for NAFLD as the first and, perhaps, best therapy (Fig. ​(Fig.2).2). Clinical trials for NAFLD show that adoption of healthy behaviors is possible in a study environment. Standardization of lifestyle interventions in future trials will allow for improved outcome assessment and help clarify which recommendations are most effective. 2 Success beyond clinical trials is attainable but may be challenging because of barriers, including provider‐perceived limitations in training, time, and resources to help long‐term behavior change. 5 Although lifestyle changes are difficult to initiate and to maintain, several of these interventions are achievable, and their benefits on general health and NAFLD are worth a detailed and sustained discussion (Table ​(Table33). Open in a separate window FIG 2 Lifestyle recommendations for NAFLD. Adapted from JHEP Reports. 5
Thermal Analysis of Calcium–Magnesium–Alumino–Silicate Infiltration Dynamics in Thermal Barrier Coatings

Molten calcium–magnesium–alumino–silicate (CMAS) infiltration into thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) of gas turbines causes loss of strain tolerance and delamination of the ceramic topcoat. To develo...
Protein interaction interface region prediction by geometric deep learning

Motivation Protein-protein interactions drive wide-ranging molecular processes, and characterizing at the atomic level how proteins interact (beyond just the fact that they interact) can provide key insights into understanding and controlling this machinery. Unfortunately, experimental determination of three-dimensional protein complex structures remains difficult and does not scale to the increasingly large sets of proteins whose interactions are of interest. Computational methods are thus required to meet the demands of large-scale, high-throughput prediction of how proteins interact, but unfortunately both physical modeling and machine learning methods suffer from poor precision and/or recall. Results In order to improve performance in predicting protein interaction interfaces, we leverage the best properties of both data- and physics-driven methods to develop a unified Geometric Deep Neural Network, "PInet" (Protein Interface Network). PInet consumes pairs of point clouds encoding the structures of two partner proteins, in order to predict their structural regions mediating interaction. To make such predictions, PInet learns and utilizes models capturing both geometrical and physicochemical molecular surface complementarity. In application to a set of benchmarks, PInet simultaneously predicts the interface regions on both interacting proteins, achieving performance equivalent to or even much better than the state-of-the-art predictor for each dataset. Furthermore, since PInet is based on joint segmentation of a representation of a protein surfaces, its predictions are meaningful in terms of the underlying physical complementarity driving molecular recognition. Availability PInet scripts and models are available at https://github.com/FTD007/PInet. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Risk Stratification in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma: A Review of Novel FDG PET/CT Imaging and Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers and Suggestions for Future Directions to Improve Prognostic Accuracy

2026 Introduction: Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of lymphoid cancer, accounting for up to 25-30% of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Current first-line treatment regimens, which include rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) are effective in 60-70% of patients, however, the remaining 30-40% of patients have a poor prognosis with limited response to salvage therapy. Many attempts to accurately risk stratify patients prior to and throughout treatment have been developed, including baseline clinical factors such as the International Prognostic Index (IPI) and treatment response by interim18F-FDG PET/CT using Lugano Classificaiton and Response Evaluation Criteria in Lymphoma (RECIL). However, these have been ineffective in improving clinical prognosis in these patients. There is need for better risk stratification with identification of the patients at highest risk of treatment failure. New quantitative PET parameters, such as Metabolic Tumor Volume (MTV) and dissemination features (Dmax) have recently been shown to be robust predictors of prognosis in DLBCL. Emerging biomarkers and liquid biopsy are also being evaluated in this setting, including circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and have been shown to be independently prognostic of patient outcomes. When molecular response, measured by ctDNA levels, is combined with interim PET/CT, it is possible to identify a subset of patients with extremely high risk of treatment failure, which may allow for earlier intervention or alternative therapies, for example, autologous bone marrow transplantation or chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T). Current and emerging PET/CT parameters will likely need to be factored into an algorithm with clinical factors and molecular markers, both at baseline and throughout treatment as dynamic response markers. In this educational exhibit we review potential approaches for integrating novel ctDNA biomarkers from liquid biopsy with PET/CT for evaluation of therapy response and recurrence in DLBCL as well as future directions for research.
Role of Id2 in the regulation of fatty acid metabolism

2728 In normal and malignant tissues, fatty acids (FA) have a spectrum of functions that range from energy storage and membrane synthesis to participation in signal transduction cascades. A hallmark of the highly malignant phenotype is an increase in the carbon flux through glycolysis and an increased reliance on FA metabolism for energy production. This change can confer significant growth and survival advantages in addition to functioning as an anabolic energy-storage pathway. We have identified a key regulatory role for Id2 in mediating the balance between glycolysis and fatty acid metabolism for energy production. Id2, an endogenous dominant negative regulator of bHLH transcription factors, has been shown to inhibit differentiation, increase proliferation, and promote invasion in both normal and malignant cells. In mouse embryonic fibroblasts from animals in which the Id2 gene had been deleted (Id2-/- MEFs) we observed an increase in glucose uptake and an increase in the expression of genes related to mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. Id2-/- MEFs display increased glucose uptake, decreased pyruvate utilization, and a three-fold increase in lactic acid production under normoxic conditions. The phenotype seen in Id2-/- MEFs was due to an increase in Hif-2a levels. In addition to ineffective glucose utilization, these cells exhibited an increase in fatty acid oxidation, in which we demonstrated that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARa) plays a key role. Importantly, we also found that Hif-2a is responsible for the high levels of PPARa in these cells. To elucidate the importance of Id2 as a regulator of the metabolic switch in cancer cells, we first evaluated a nonaggressive and differentiated breast cancer cell line (T47D) and an aggressive and metastatic breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231). The levels of Id2 and markers of fatty acid metabolism were measured in both cells lines, and we identified a direct correlation between them. Other studies are being conducted to explore further this relationship. In normoxic conditions, MDA-MB-231 cells were highly dependent on anaerobic glycolysis, a phenotype comparable to the one observed on the Id2 -/- MEFs and indistinguishable from the Warburg effect. Based on these results, we propose a model for the regulation of tumor metabolism in which Id2 plays a central role in energy metabolism, shunting ineffective glucose metabolism to more efficient metabolism of fatty acids.
Running in packs to develop knowledge-intensive technologies

Advances in information technologies and the growth of a knowledge-based service economy are transforming the basis of technological innovation and corporate competition. This transformation requires taking a broader, institutional and political view of information technology and knowledge management. To succeed, firms are advised to focus on building their distinctive competencies, outsource the rest, and become nodes in value chain networks. This shifts the level of competition from between individual firms to between networks of firms. In these networks, individual firms or entrepreneurs seldom have the resources, power, or legitimacy to produce change alone. As a result, "running in packs" is often more successful than "going it alone" to develop and commercialize knowledge-intensive technologies. Many different actors in public and private sectors make important contributions. These actors do not play impartial roles; instead, they are active participants who become embroiled in diverse, partisan, and embedded issues of innovation development. In this setting, success requires not only technical and rational competence, but also political savvy to understand and mobilize the interests of other players with stakes in an emerging industry.
The Regulation of Public Company Auditing: Evidence from the Transition to AS5: the regulation of public company auditing

The replacement of Auditing Standard No. 2 (AS2) by Auditing Standard No. 5 (AS5) creates a natural experiment that sheds light on (1) potential inefficiencies caused by regulatory responses to a political crisis and (2) audit efficiency and effectiveness improvements resulting from the risk-based approach embodied in AS5. We study these effects by examining the impact of AS5 on audit fees. We find that AS5 audit fees are aligned with auditee fraud risk, but not AS2 audit fees. Second, relative to AS2 benchmark levels, AS5 audit fees are, on average, lower for all auditees. Third, relative to AS2 benchmarks, AS5 fees are lower for lower-fraud-risk auditees but greater for higher-fraud-risk auditees. Overall, the evidence is consistent with (1) initial overregulation (via AS2) followed by reform (via AS5) and (2) auditors deploying a risk-based audit approach to obtain both efficiency and potential effectiveness gains in audit production.
An Initial Analysis of Adoption of Animal Welfare Guidelines on the U.S. Egg Industry

Animal welfare activists have succeeded in persuading egg purchasers to purchase only eggs that are produced according to new animal welfare guidelines. This agreement will increase the cost of producing eggs that are sold in the shell. To date, the guidelines do not apply to eggs that are broken and further processed. This agreement creates a bifurcated market: high-cost eggs in the shell and low-cost eggs that are processed. We conduct a qualitative analysis of the effects on consumers and producers from creation of this new market structure. Restricting the movement of low-cost eggs into the in-shell market in periods of peak demand will increase the price of in-shell eggs and will decrease the price of eggs destined for processing in these periods. Winners from adopting this restriction are those producers who produce only for the in-shell market. Losers from this restriction are producers who only produce for the processing market. We are currently undertaking a companion study that will provide estimates of the magnitude of the gains and losses from this new market structure.
Current Nutritional Treatments of Obesity

Obesity in our country is a growing concern. There are several different options for weight loss; however, individuals must be self-motivated and amendable to change in order to achieve success with
A two-parameter matching scheme for massive galaxies and dark matter haloes

Halo Abundance Matching has been used to construct a one-parameter mapping between galaxies and dark matter haloes by assuming that halo mass and galaxy luminosity (or stellar mass) are monotonically related. While this approach has been reasonably successful, it is known that galaxies must be described by at least two parameters, as can be seen from the two-parameter Fundamental Plane on which massive early-type galaxies lie. In this paper, we derive a connection between initial dark matter density perturbations in the early universe and present-day virialized dark matter haloes by assuming simple spherical collapse combined with conservation of mass and energy. We find that $z = 0$ halo concentration, or alternatively the inner slope of the halo density profile $\alpha$, is monotonically and positively correlated with the collapse redshift of the halo. This is qualitatively similar to the findings of some previous works based on numerical simulations, with which we compare our results. We then describe how the halo mass and concentration (or inner slope $\alpha$) can be used as two halo parameters in combination with two parameters of early-type galaxies to create an improved abundance matching scheme.
Improving reliability through nitrogen purge of carriers

Decreasing insulator thickness at many levels of recent technology nodes raises concern for reliability. We apply a stress test inline, using a specially designed structure. It was found that reliability was strongly affected by queue time between a dry and wet etch step of a spacer, likely due to remaining RIE induced damage. By applying nitrogen purge of the wafer carrier the susceptibility to failure can be completely eliminated. This points to a fail mechanism related to residual etch products.