cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Wenckebach Block of Sino-Atrial Conduction

This electrocardiogram, a continuous strip of lead V2 was obtained from a 62 year-old man who complained of syncope. This patient was a known hypertensive with a diaphragmatic infarct suffered two years prior to this admission. At the time he came into the hospital, his admission blood pressure was 220/110 mm.Hg. The chest x-ray film showed left ventricular hypertrophy. He had been on no previous cardiac medication. The tracing reveals three sequences of five beats separated by a pause. In each period, progressively shorted P-P intervals are seen, the last P-P interval preceding the pause is shorter than the first following it, and the pause measures less than the sum of any two preceding consecutive P-P intervals. This arrhythmia may then be interpreted as a Wenckebach block of sino-atrial conduction and is explained by the fact that as the sino-atrial conduction time becomes progressively longer, the increment of lengthening becomes progressively less. This causes an acceleration of the atrial rate preceding the dropped beat.
Lipokinins: Novel Phospholipase A2 Activators Mediatetestosterone Effects on Embryonic Genitalia

AbstractTestosterone-Treated Calf Thymocytes Produce Increased Amounts Of Proteins, Termed Lipokinins, That Stimulate Phospholipase A2 From Snake Venom And Mammalian Tissue. The Induction Of These Proteins By Testosterone Is Blocked By Cycloheximide And, Thus, Requires New Protein Synthesis. These Proteins Activate Phospholipase A2 Stoichiometrically. They Are Inactivated By Boiling, Trypsin Or Alkaline Phosphatase But Not By Deoxyribonuclease Or Ribonuclease. Lipokinins Significantly Repair The Failure Of Masculinization In The Tfm Mouse With An X-Linked Deficiency Of Androgen-Receptor. Thus, The Post-Receptor Effects Of Testosterone On Embryonic Genitalia May Be Mediated Through Stimulation Of Phospholipase A2 By Lipokinins. Moreover, Lipokinins May Be Involved As Stimulators Of The Arachidonic Acid Cascade, As Lipocortins Are Inhibitors. (J. Urol, Part 2, 140:1184-1188, 1988)
Investment Opportunities and the Structure of Performance-based Executive Compensation

The contracting paradigm advanced in Smith and Watts (1992) suggests that both the risk-sharing and incentive consequences of performance-contingent compensation depend on the extent that investment opportunities comprise firm value. Following Smith and Watts we hypothesize that sensitivity of CEO compensation to measures of firm performance varies directly with future investment opportunities. We also hypothesize that investment opportunities promote the use of market-based rather than accounting-based performance measures. Results using 1992- 1993 compensation paid to 1249 CEOs of publicly-traded U.S. firms are consistent with these hypotheses.
Nel Noddings's uses of Martin Buber's philosophy of dialogue

Feminist ethicist Virginia Held sees an ethic of care as central to development of an adequate feminist ethics. A few scholars note the general compatibility of Martin Buber's philosophy of dialogue with feminist attempts to develop a “relational ethic” or an “ethic of care.” A few others note in passing Nel Noddings's reliance on Buber's philosophy of dialogue in her Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Among the questions that guide this essay are: How accurately and adequately does Noddings employ Buber? What functions does Buber serve for Noddings? How might her version of a care ethic be strengthened by using aspects of Buber's philosophy of dialogue not highlighted by her?
The preparation experiences of elementary mathematics specialists: examining influences on beliefs, content knowledge, and teaching practices

Many in the field of mathematics education call for elementary schools to have elementary mathematics specialists (EMSs) who provide needed mathematical expertise and support for children and teachers. EMSs serve as a reasonable, immediate alternative to the challenges generated by elementary teachers needing improved mathematical knowledge for teaching in the classroom. However, limited inquiry has explored how to best prepare EMSs and how program features and learning activities influence their development. This mixed-method study identifies some of the interrelated benefits from a K-5 Mathematics Endorsement Program designed to prepare EMSs through examining changes in mathematical beliefs, specialized content knowledge (SCK), and classroom teaching practices during the program. Data (n = 32) were collected over the 2-semester program via belief surveys, a content knowledge assessment, observations of teaching practices, and individual interviews from elementary teachers participating in the program. The findings show some changes in beliefs can be made relatively quickly, other shifts in beliefs take more time and continued support, and changes in SCK and adoption of various aspects of standard-based pedagogy require considerably greater opportunities to learn. The described program features and learning experiences provided a context for these changes and offer considerations for EMS preparation programs.
Trasplantando al pueblo. Las Contradicciones del Discurso Moderno Sobre el Mundo Rural y su vigencia en el franquismo

The discourse on the rural world was one of the instruments of propaganda and indoctrination preferred by Franco’s dictatorship. The country was used to, firstly, praise the purity of its traditions, while, at the same time, propagandize the ‘modernization’ that was to end its secular backwardness. This article investigates this contradiction in two ways: firstly, by tracking it in different institutions of the regime (NO-DO, Institute of Colonization, Spanish Falange and its Women’s Section); secondly, by tracing its historical genealogy, that is: showing its pertinence to a modern bourgeois tradition which idealizes and at the same time stigmatizes peasants, considering them the ‘people’ at the core of the essence of the nation, but also some kind of barbarians who must be civilized.
Use of a Digital Health Application for Influenza Surveillance in China.

Objectives. To examine whether a commercial digital health application could support influenza surveillance in China.Methods. We retrieved data from the Thermia online and mobile educational tool, which allows parents to monitor their children’s fever and infectious febrile illnesses including influenza. We modeled monthly aggregated influenza-like illness case counts from Thermia users over time and compared them against influenza monthly case counts obtained from the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China by using time series regression analysis. We retrieved 44 999 observations from January 2014 through July 2016 from Thermia China.Results. Thermia appeared to predict influenza outbreaks 1 month earlier than the National Health and Family Planning Commission influenza surveillance system (P = .046). Being younger, not having up-to-date immunizations, and having an underlying health condition were associated with participant-reported influenza-like illness.Concl...
The Highly Sensitized Dialysis Patient

This chapter presents the all too common case of a teenage dialysis patient who has become highly sensitized after losing his first kidney transplant. In spite of the best efforts of the treatment team, there are many reasons why prescribed immunosuppression was not consistently received by the patient. Now, after many years of dialysis, this sensitized teenager is ready to accept another transplant and has the psychosocial supports to allow the transplant to be successful. The many barriers to achieving a successful transplant in a highly sensitized patient are discussed along with approaches that can be used to surmount these barriers. Successful transplantation of these patients requires a complex interplay of a deep knowledge of the immunology of the HLA system, understanding of the local HLA lab protocols and cutoffs, intimate knowledge of the organ allocation system, the ability of the team to balance risks and benefits of various competing strategies, and often a good deal of patience. A collaborative multidisciplinary team is critical to the success of this endeavor.
Origins and transformations of dissolved organic matter in large Arctic rivers.

Arctic river watersheds are important components of the global climate system and show an amplified response to climate change. Here, we characterize origins and transformations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in five major Arctic rivers (Kolyma, Lena, Yenisei, Ob, Mackenzie) over 3 years with seasonal sampling periods using measurements of carbohydrates, amino acids, bacterial biomarkers (D-amino acids), and plant protein biomarkers (hydroxyproline). A strong seasonal cycle of bioavailable DOM export was observed that correlated with discharge, vegetation, river morphology and water residence time. The chemical composition of bioavailable DOM was different among rivers reflecting unique characteristics of Arctic river watersheds. Trends in specific bacterial biomarkers were synchronous to changes in bacterial community compositions demonstrating that bacterial communities responded to the seasonal shifts in organic matter quality and chemical composition. Extensive heterotrophic processing of plant and soil-derived DOM resulted in major inputs of bacterial detritus, and bacterial organic matter accounted for 21–42% of DOC in all watersheds. Dissolved organic nitrogen sources were dominated by bacterially-derived nitrogen and important contributions of soluble plant protein during the Spring freshet. Overall, our results demonstrated the importance of watershed characteristics and bacterial metabolism in regulating DOM composition, reactivity and carbon fluxes in Arctic river watersheds.
Dendritic-Inspired Processing Enables Bio-Plausible STDP in Compound Binary Synapses

Brain-inspired learning mechanisms, e.g., spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP), enable agile, and fast on-the-fly adaptation capability in a spiking neural network. When incorporating emerging nanoscale resistive non-volatile memory (NVM) devices, with ultra-low power consumption and high-density integration capability, a spiking neural network hardware would result in several orders of magnitude reduction in energy consumption at a very small form factor and potentially herald autonomous learning machines. However, actual memory devices have shown to be intrinsically binary with stochastic switching, and thus impede the realization of ideal STDP with continuous analog values. In this paper, a dendritic-inspired processing architecture is proposed in addition to novel CMOS neuron circuits. The utilization of spike attenuations and delays transforms the traditionally undesired stochastic behavior of binary NVMs into a useful leverage that enables biologically-plausible STDP learning. As a result, this paper paves a pathway to adopt practical binary emerging NVM devices in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing.
Strategies for Generating Diverse Antibody Repertoires Using Transgenic Animals Expressing Human Antibodies

Therapeutic molecules derived from antibodies have become a dominant class of drugs used to treat human disease. Increasingly, therapeutic antibodies are discovered using transgenic animal systems that have been engineered to express human antibodies. While the engineering details differ, these platforms share the ability to raise an immune response that is comprised of antibodies with fully human idiotypes. Although the predominant transgenic host species has been mouse, the genomes of rats, rabbits, chickens, and cows have also been modified to express human antibodies. The creation of transgenic animal platforms expressing human antibody repertoires has revolutionized therapeutic antibody drug discovery. The observation that the immune systems of these animals are able to recognize and respond to a wide range of therapeutically relevant human targets has led to a surge in antibody-derived drugs in current development. While the clinical success of fully human monoclonal antibodies derived from transgenic animals is well established, recent trends have seen increasingly stringent functional design goals and a shift in difficulty as the industry attempts to tackle the next generation of disease-associated targets. These challenges have been met with a number of novel approaches focused on the generation of large, high-quality, and diverse antibody repertoires. In this perspective, we describe some of the strategies and considerations we use for manipulating the immune systems of transgenic animal platforms (such as XenoMouse®) with a focus on maximizing the diversity of the primary response and steering the ensuing antibody repertoire toward a desired outcome.
“Proud I Am Negative”: Maintaining HIV-seronegativity among Black MSM in New York City

HIV incidence among black men who have sex with men (BMSM) is at epidemic proportions. However, the vast majority of studies have focused on risk factors related to HIV infections with a dearth of research on resiliency and how BMSM maintain seronegativity. Using three focus groups (N = 29) comprised of BMSM in New York City, this study explored psychosocial factors and practices related to maintaining seronegativity. Major themes included having spirituality and/or religious beliefs, access to social supports that held positive expectations, and having personal agency by engaging in seroadaptive harm reduction practices. Overall, findings highlight the importance of addressing HIV stigma, supporting the need for BMSM to be validated, and creating safe spaces that allow them to discuss the challenges related to remaining HIV-negative.
The Stability of Mitochondrial d-β-Hydroxybutyric Dehydrogenase and Its Relationship to the Respiratory Chain

Earlier work in this laboratory (1) has shown that the diphosphopyridine nucleotide-linked n-P-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase of animal tissues (2) is localized exclusively in the mitochondria. The enzyme is very firmly attached to the mitochondrial membranes (cf. l-5), in contrast to other pyridinelinked dehydrogenases of mitochondria, which are usually readily extracted after disruption of structure by means of sonic oscillations, chemical treatment, or hypotonicity. There is evidence that mitochondrial n-fi-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase bears a special relationship to the components of the respiratory chain. Gamble and Lehninger (6) found that the bound diphosphopyridine nucleotide in digitonin fragments of rat liver mitochondrial membranes (7) is reactive with bound n-P-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase, but it does not interact with other dehydrogenases present; the bound diphosphopyridine nucleotide is also unreactive with added alcohol dehydrogenase. Oxidation of o-P-hydroxybutyrate via bound DPN occurs with coupled formation of adenosinet.riphosphate; on the other hand, interaction of /3-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase with added or “external” DPN produces nonphosphorylating electron transport (8). Devlin and Bedell (9) have shown that mitochondrial /3-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase may, under certain conditions, serve as a “shuttle” system for the introduction of reducing equivalents from extramitochondrial DPNH to the phosphorylating respiratory chain. For these and other reasons, it was suggested that n-fl-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase may serve some unique function in the respiratory chain and that the bound DPN with which it reacts is specifically concerned in phosphorylating electron transport (1, 10). In this paper, further evidence for a specific relationship between n-P-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase and the respiratory chain is reported; this evidence was obtained from examination of the rather peculiar stability characteristics of the enzyme. n-/3-Hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase as it occurs in either sonic or digitonin fragments of rat liver mitochondria is relatively stable anaerobically, but is reversibly inactivated under aerobic conditions. The enzyme is almost completely protected from aerobic inactivation by the combined addition of succinate, DPN+, and ATP. When the dehydrogenase is inactivated aerobically, it can be reactivated again by incubation with thiols; however, the reactivation requires addition of oxidized DPN and reductants * Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Nutrition Foundation, and the Whitehall Foundation. t Henry Strong Denison Scholar, 1959-1961. of the respiratory chain. These and other findings indicate a functional relationship between an essential thiol group or groups of P-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase, the binding of DPN, and the action of succinate on the respiratory chain.
Vernonia Oil Characterization and Polymerication, and Simultaneous Interpenetrating Polymer Networks Based on Vernonia Oil-Sebacic Acid/Polystyrene-DVB Compositions

The term “renewable resources” has come to mean sources of energy or products that can be used, grown, or replenished naturally, time after time, as opposed to mineral and petroleum products, which once depleted, are gone forever. Among the renewable resources available in the world, plant products rank very high. Examples include wood, cellulose, starch, rubber, and triglyceride oils. These oils are usually obtained by pressing or extracting various seeds. For industrial purposes, the oils may be classified according to the principal types of chemical reactivity.
TrailMix: An Ensemble Recommender System for Playlist Curation and Continuation

This paper describes TrailMix, an ensemble model designed to tackle the RecSys Challenge 2018 for automatic music playlist continuation. TrailMix combines three different models designed to exploit complementary aspects of playlist recommendation: (i) CC-Title, a cluster-based approach for playlist titles; (ii) DNCF, an extension of Neural Collaborative Filtering for taking advantage of the flat interaction among tracks; and (iii) C-Tree, a hierarchical approach akin to Phylogenetic trees for finding relationships between tracks.
Software Abundance in the Face of Economic Scarcity, Part 2

The paper is an editorial that discusses the economics aspect of software industry. The author states that we are in a period of global economic funk, by virtually every measure that we can take. The good news is that we've been here before over the years and we've always seemed to get by. Software is still the most fungible and liquid of resources, and its supply is limited only by human imagination and labor. For this reason, the author began to make the case that software-intensive systems are a necessary element in helping us operate, innovate, and even thrive in the face of lean economic times. There are many opportunities in IT for fueling business, ranging from issues of daily hygiene to opportunities for creating entirely new markets. Effective business strategies must involve some mixture of efficiency-based, innovation-based, and customer-intimacy-based efforts. Software development is an engineering activity. That means not reaching for a perfect solution, but rather evolving to a solution that optimally resolves the static and dynamic forces on that system. For software-intensive systems, these forces include the usual business ones (cost, schedule, and mission) but also development, environmental, operational, and legal/ethical/moral forces. The author also noted that the enterprise's architecture, is the collection of engineering decisions and artifacts that steer the fleet (the organization) through the forces acting upon it and guide it toward its mission. Architecture-as-an-artifact is a manifestation of technical intellectual property and thus serves as an artifact of control. The author concludes that software-intensive systems are an inescapable and necessary element in helping us operate, innovate, and even thrive in the face of lean economic times.
Boucler la boucle : réflexions sur un trajet traductologique en spirale

Cet article retrace le cheminement intellectuel de l’auteure, depuis la fondation de l’Association canadienne de traductologie jusqu’au present, evolution qui reflete, en quelque sorte, celle de la discipline emergente de la traductologie en general. Depuis le premier article qu’elle publie dans TTR, portant sur les traducteurs et ecrivains, elle ne cesse de s’interesser au sujet traduisant, ce qui debouche sur une histoire des traducteurs, suivie de differentes etudes d’eminents ecrivains-traducteurs. L’article propose quelques mini-portraits de ces ecrivains – Paul Valery, Bernard Shaw, Gertrude Stein, Paul Auster, notamment – afin de faire ressortir leur motivation a traduire et les differentes facons dont ils concoivent et manipulent la traduction.
First Year Medical Students, Personal Handheld Ultrasound Devices, and Introduction of Insonation in Medical Education

Background: Ultrasound education has been provided to students in medical schools within and beyond the United States. A formal experiment with use of personal handheld ultrasound equipment by all first-year medical students has not been reported. Employing insonation (an application of ultrasound) at the personal leisure by medical school freshmen enables self-directed learning throughout the academic year. Methods: We describe a peer-led ultrasound curriculum with handheld devices. The students’ perceptions were gathered through quarterly Likert-style questionnaires, and the differences in the categories were tested using Analysis of Variance. Results: The response rate was 58.5% for the first survey (n = 32), 56% (n = 30) for the second survey, and 62.3% (n = 33) for the final survey, respectively, with an average response rate of 58.9%. At the baseline survey, overall agreement was observed for enhancement on performance (62.5%) and interpretation (56.3) of ultrasounds, understanding (68.8%) and learning of anatomy (61.3%), ease (78.1%), comfort (59.4%) and benefit of incorporation of insonation in the medical school curricula (all p-values Conclusions: The introduction of insonation through personal handheld ultrasound devices in the first-year medical school curriculum was received enthusiastically by students, with the majority of respondents finding the devices both easy to use and a valuable aid to improving their understanding of the three-dimensional anatomy.
Transforming Purpose-Driven Business Education

Abstract This timely analysis by Lerzan Aksoy et al at Fordham University Gabelli School of Business highlights an urgent need for business education reformation worldwide. The authors, mindful of impending disruptive change, provoke new research and thinking to integrate “social innovation” more thoroughly into business school curricula and training. Their emphasis on a more reflective and values-centric approach to business education is most welcome given the dire complex of challenges we face globally.
Conservation planning for Africa's Albertine Rift: conserving a biodiverse region in the face of multiple threats

The Albertine Rift is one of Africa's most biodiverse regions, but is threatened by habitat loss as a result of agricultural expansion and human development. Previous studies estimated that 30% of the region has been lost to agricultural conversion and we estimate here that 33% is allocated for mining concessions. For conservation planning, we used niche models for species endemic to the Albertine Rift and those that are globally threatened. We assessed where to conserve these species using three scenarios: (1) a baseline assuming equal conservation costs across all grid cells in the study area, (2) a scenario locking in existing protected areas (i.e. always selecting them by default) and assessing which unprotected areas require conservation, and (3) a scenario considering mining planned across the region. Marxan analyses produced similar results for the three scenarios, highlighting the importance of existing protected areas and the value of several community-managed or provincial protected areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The current protected area network covers 134,246 km2 and an additional 64,586 km2 would be required to ensure the conservation of all threatened and endemic species outside the parks and wildlife reserves. However, if trying to avoid mining concessions this increases to 145,704 km2, an area larger than the existing protected areas. Some mining concessions harbour species with a restricted range and would thus need to be protected to ensure the persistence of threatened and endemic fauna and flora. These mining concessions should be challenged by the conservation community.
Runestone: A Platform for Free, On-line, and Interactive Ebooks

The Runestone platform is open-source, extensible, and serves free ebooks to over 25,000 learners a day from around the world. The site hosts 18 ebooks for computing courses. Some of these ebook have been translated into several languages. There are ebooks for secondary computer science (AP CSP and AP CSA), CS1, CS2, data science, and web programming courses. The platform currently supports executable and editable examples in Python, Java, C, C++, HTML, JavaScript, Processing, and SQL. Runestone provides features for instructors, learners, authors, and researchers. Instructors can create a custom course from any of the existing ebooks and their students can register for that course. Instructors can create assignments from the existing material or author new problems, grade assignments, and visualize student progress. Learners can execute and modify examples and answer practice questions with immediate feedback. Runestone includes common practice types, such as multiple-choice questions, as well as some unique types, such as adaptive Parsons problems. Authors can modify the existing ebooks or write new ebooks using restructuredText: a markup language. Researchers can create and test new interactive features, run experiments, and analyze log file data. This paper describes the architecture of the platform, highlights some of the unique features, provides an overview of how instructors use the platform, summarizes the research studies conducted on the platform, and describes plans for future development.
Deamination of the microbial toxin trans L-2-amino-4-methoxy-3-butenoic acid and its parent vinylglycine by sheep liver serine-threonine dehydratase.

Summary The microbial toxin trans L ¯ ¯ ‐2‐amino‐4‐methoxy‐3‐butenoic acid and its parent vinylglycine are deaminated to alpha ketoacids by sheep liver serine threonine dehydratase. The ability of the dehydratase to deaminate the above compounds is consistent with the proposed mechanism for dehydratases. Since these compounds irreversibly inhibit pig heart aspartate aminotransferase (1), the dehydratase may act as a detoxification pathway.
Examining Help-Seeking Intentions of African American College Students Diagnosed with Depression.

A depressed African American emerging adult’s intention to seek help can be affected by the severity of their mental health or perception of self-flourishing, or positive mental health. Using the Healthy Minds Study, a nationally representative dataset, utilization of mental health services among African American emerging adult students who have been diagnosed with depression by a health professional (n = 201), and the mediating effect of positive mental health on help-seeking intentions were examined. The findings revealed that 89.45% of students reported help-seeking intentions, and they may have one or more than one way of seeking help from a professional clinician, roommate or friend, or significant. The findings show that there are specific groups of people that African Americans prefer to engage with when addressing their mental health. It is critical that we consider these groups when developing interventions or programs for their service access on college campuses and beyond.
Epstein Virus Barr-Positive Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Associated with Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare and often fatal disease if not diagnosed and treated promptly. HLH can be due to genetic factors or infections, malignancies and collagen-associated vascular diseases. Malignancy-associated HLH is not only more common in the setting of T/NK-cell lymphomas, but may also rarely be seen in the setting of B-cell lymphoma. Here, we describe a unique case of a patient who initially was diagnosed with HLH secondary to Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infection and subsequently developed EBV-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma affecting the brain. This case highlights the spectrum of findings associated with EBV infections and the challenges in diagnosing underlying diseases associated with HLH.
Association Between Patients' Self-Reported Gaps in Care Coordination and Preventable Adverse Outcomes: a Cross-Sectional Survey.

Whether patients’ reports of gaps in care coordination reflect clinically significant problems is unclear. To determine any association between patient-reported gaps in care coordination and patient-reported preventable adverse outcomes. We administered a cross-sectional survey on experiences with healthcare to participants in the national Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study who were ≥ 65 years old. Of the 15,817 participants in REGARDS at the time of our survey (August 2017–November 2018), 11,138 completed the survey. We restricted the sample to participants who reported ≥ 2 ambulatory visits and ≥ 2 ambulatory providers in the past year (N = 7568). We considered 7 gaps in ambulatory care coordination, elicited with previously validated questions. We considered 4 outcomes: (1) a test that was repeated because the doctor did not have the result of the first test, (2) a drug-drug interaction that occurred due to multiple prescribers, (3) an emergency department visit that could have been prevented by better communication among providers, and (4) a hospital admission that could have been prevented by better communication among providers. We used logistic regression to determine the association between ≥ 1 gap in care coordination and ≥ 1 preventable outcome, adjusting for potential confounders. The average age of the sample was 77.0 years; 55% were female, and 34% were African-American. More than one-third of participants (38.1%) reported ≥ 1 gap in care coordination and nearly one-tenth (9.8%) reported ≥ 1 preventable outcome. Having ≥ 1 gap in care coordination was associated with an increased odds of ≥ 1 preventable outcome (adjusted odds ratio 1.55; 95% confidence interval 1.33, 1.81). Participants’ reports of gaps in care coordination were associated with an increased odds of preventable adverse outcomes. Future interventions should leverage patients’ observations to detect and resolve gaps in care coordination.
The Candidate Genes Underlying a Stably Expressed QTL for Low Temperature Germinability in Rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Direct seeding is an efficient cultivation technique in rice. However, poor low temperature germinability (LTG) of modern rice cultivars limits its application. Identifying the genes associated with LTG and performing molecular breeding is the fundamental way to address this issue. However, few LTG QTLs have been fine mapped and cloned so far. In the present study, the LTG evaluation of 375 rice accessions selected from the Rice Diversity Panel 2 showed that there were large LTG variations within the population, and the LTG of Indica group was significantly higher than that of Japonica and Aus groups (p < 0.01). In total, eleven QTLs for LTG were identified through genome-wide association study (GWAS). Among them, qLTG_sRDP2–3/qLTG_JAP-3, qLTG_AUS-3 and qLTG_sRDP2–12 are first reported in the present study. The QTL on chromosome 10, qLTG_sRDP2–10a had the largest contribution to LTG variations in 375 rice accessions, and was further validated using single segment substitution line (SSSL). The presence of qLTG_sRDP2–10a could result in 59.8% increase in LTG under 15 °C low temperature. The expression analysis of the genes within qLTG_sRDP2–10a region indicated that LOC_Os10g22520 and LOC_Os10g22484 exhibited differential expression between the high and low LTG lines. Further sequence comparisons revealed that there were insertion and deletion sequence differences in the promoter and intron region of LOC_Os10g22520, and an about 6 kb variation at the 3′ end of LOC_Os10g22484 between the high and low LTG lines, suggesting that the sequence variations of the two genes could be the cause for their differential expression in high and low LTG lines. Among the 11 QTLs identified in this study, qLTG_sRDP2–10a could also be detected in other three studies using different germplasm under different cold environments. Its large effect and stable expression make qLTG_sRDP2–10a particularly valuable in rice breeding. The two genes, LOC_Os10g22484 and LOC_Os10g22520, were considered as the candidate genes underlying qLTG_sRDP2–10a. Our results suggest that integrating GWAS and SSSL can facilitate identification of QTL for complex traits in rice. The identification of qLTG_sRDP2–10a and its candidate genes provide a promising source for gene cloning of LTG and molecular breeding for LTG in rice.
The impact of data breaches on corporations and the status of potential regulation and litigation

Data breaches can have large effects on organizations as their information systems are compromised. This paper examines data breaches and the impact of data breaches on the stock price of corporati...
Energy efficiency and decarbonization: Priorities for regulated utilities

Abstract This essay continues a conversation with electric utilities’ leadership about clean energy prospects, which extends over more than four decades. It reflects a shared conviction that America’s electric utilities should be essential clean energy partners, and that utilities can thrive if they help ensure the acceleration of a now longstanding transition to a decarbonized economy. But two essential elements of decarbonization pose particular challenges for traditional utility business models: massive economy-wide acceleration of energy efficiency and demand response for all customer classes, and a diverse portfolio of utility grid enhancements and zero-carbon resource additions requiring long-term investment and cost recovery. To be sure, utilities have always needed a solution to the conflict of interest that cost-effective demand reductions can create between shareholders and customers, along with reasonable assurances of cost recovery for new infrastructure. But the decarbonization imperative raises the stakes massively and exposes worsening inadequacies of the status quo. Regulatory frameworks that work tolerably well under contemporary levels of energy-efficiency and demand flexibility will be increasingly untenable in the decades ahead.
Job Search, Conditional Treatment and Recidivism: The Employment Services for Ex-Offenders Program Reconsidered

The objective of this paper is to re-evaluate the effect of the 1985 Employment Services for Ex-Offenders (ESEO) program on recidivism in San Diego, Chicago and Boston. The initial group of program participants was split randomly in a control group and a treatment group. The actual treatment (mainly being job related counseling) only takes place conditional on finding a job and not having been arrested for those selected in the treatment group. We use interval-censored proportional hazard models for job search and recidivism time, where the latter model incorporates the conditional treatment effect, depending on covariates. We find that the effect of the program depends on location and age. The ESEO program reduces the risk of recidivism only for ex-inmates over the age of 27 in San Diego and Chicago and over the age of 36 in Boston, but increases the risk of recidivism for the other ex-inmates in the treatment group.
A Case Report of Dural Venous Thrombus Causing Hemorrhagic Stroke in Sickle Cell Disease

Background/Aims: Pediatric stroke is a rare and serious occurrence with an estimated incidence of 1.2-13 cases per 100,000 annually. There is a high level of morbidity and mortality; survivors often suffer from long term neurological sequela. The pathophysiology of sickle cell disease (SCD) creates a prothrombotic state, thus SCD patients constitute a unique population of pediatric patients at high risk for cerebral vascular accidents. It has been estimated that by the age of 20, approximately 11% of SCD patients will have a clinically significant infarction. Most SCD infarctions …
The Man Who Stopped Speaking: An Unusual Presentation Of An Osmotic Demyelination Syndrome In A Patient With Panhypopituitarism (P4.159)

OBJECTIVE: To describe an unusual case presentation of osmotic demyelination syndrome BACKGROUND: Osmotic demyelination syndromes (ODS) are well established complications of the rapid correction of sodium (Na). It is influenced by the rate of correction, the chronicity of the imbalance, and the etiology of the hyponatremia. DESIGN/METHODS: Single case report RESULTS/Case report: 23 y/o man presented with metabolic encephalopathy secondary to symptomatic severe hyponatremia (Na 112 mEq/L) from medication non-compliance after prior surgical resection of a pituitary adenoma. Physiological steroids and thyroid hormone supplementation were initiated in view of clinical panhypopituitarism. His Na corrected by 17mEq/24 hours. Latent diabetes insipidus was unmasked and he was started on DDAVP. His clinical course was characterized by initial improvement of the encephalopathy followed by neurologic deterioration on day 3. He had fluctuating episodes of mutism and bradykinesia without significant motor symptoms. Initial MRI done on day 5 was not suggestive of ODS. MRI on day 10 revealed interval development of swelling in the caudate and lenticular nuclei consistent with Extra Pontine Myelinolysis (EPM). The patient was started on intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and clinical status improved dramatically after 2 doses with return to baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Untreated cases of adrenal insufficiency often present with severe hyponatremia and are vulnerable to the subsequent complications of care. Most physicians cautiously correct the Na deficit and closely monitor for the motor manifestations associated with central pontine myelinolysis (CPM). However, EPM can present with more subtle psychiatric manifestations and may be overlooked. Isolated EPM occurs in about 40 [percnt] of ODS cases and can manifest with a wide array of non-specific neuropsychiatric symptoms. Case studies have reported therapeutic efficacy of IVIG with varying degrees of success. Radiologic imaging, high index of clinical suspicion and prompt intervention is the key to clinical redemption in such patients Disclosure: Dr. Chandra has nothing to disclose. Dr. Peicher has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sudhakar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Varghese has nothing to disclose.
Genetic Regulation of Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylase Induction V. SPECIFIC CHANGES IN SPIN STATE OF CYTOCHROME P450 FROM GENETICALLY RESPONSIVE ANIMALS

Abstract The genetically controlled expression of hepatic aryl hydrocarbon (benzo[a]pyrene) hydroxylase induction in inbred and hybrid mice by aromatic hydrocarbons in vivo is associated, in freshly prepared oxidized microsomes, with increases in high spin cytochrome P450 having a set of electron paramagnetic resonance signals at g = 8.0, 3.7, and 1.7. Phenobarbital causes similar rises (2- to 3-fold) in both high (g = 8.0, 3.7, and 1.7) and low spin (g = 2.4, 2.3, and 1.9) hepatic P450 from any of the inbred or hybrid mice examined. Acetone treatment of microsomes in vitro destroys the g = 8.0, 3.7, 1.7 signals without affecting the hydroxylase activity, whereas Triton X-100 or sodium dodecyl sulfate affects the enzyme activity more so than the high spin signals. Substrate binding produces interconversion between high and low spin P450. In vitro treatment of microsomes with sodium dodecyl sulfate or sodium deoxycholate or at 55° for 5 min causes the irreversible loss of high and low spin signals concomitant with a rise in the g = 5.95 signal. Induction of the hydroxylase activity is associated with the increased g = 8.0, 3.7, and 1.7 signal heights in the kidney from 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rabbit and in the liver or kidney from 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rat, but not in liver from aromatic hydrocarbon-treated rabbit. Hence, aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase induction by polycyclic hydrocarbons and the increase in high-spin cytochrome P450 are not always necessarily related. These results indicate that aromatic hydrocarbon treatment of the genetically responsive animal, rather than treatment of any animal with aromatic hydrocarbons per se, causes an increase in a P450 species which has iron in a preferred high spin configuration. This preferred spin state may reflect a change near the P450 active site, such as the presence of new apoenzyme(s) or a different configuration. There is another high spin protein iron having a g = 5.95 signal; this most likely represents a denatured form of P450.
ACCREDITATIION AT THE US EPA--NEIC

The US Environmental Protection Agency--National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) of Denver, Colorado is the specialty technical arm of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) within the US EPA. NEIC is a center for technical support nationwide to state, local, tribal, and federal environmental enforcement and compliance assurance programs. NEIC is a source of expertise for technical analysis, compliance monitoring, engineering evaluations, forensic laboratory activities, information management, computer forensics, and witness testimony. Effective 1 February 2001, NEIC was granted accreditation for overall environmental measurement activities that include field sampling, field measurements and monitoring, and laboratory measurements. NEIC became the first and only environmental forensic center in the United States to be granted this type of accreditation. The accreditation criteria incorporates nationally and internationally accepted forensic and quality management standards. Awa...
Comparison of methods for handling censored records in beef fertility data: field data.

The purpose of this study was to compare methods for handling censored days to calving records in beef cattle data, and verify results of an earlier simulation study. Data were records from natural service matings of 33,176 first-calf females in Australian Angus herds. Three methods for handling censored records were evaluated. Censored records (records on noncalving females) were assigned penalty values on a within-contemporary group basis under the first method (DCPEN). Under the second method (DCSIM), censored records were drawn from their respective predictive truncated normal distributions, whereas censored records were deleted under the third method (DCMISS). Data were analyzed using a mixed linear model that included the fixed effects of contemporary group and sex of calf, linear and quadratic covariates for age at mating, and random effects of animal and residual error. A Bayesian approach via Gibbs sampling was used to estimate variance components and predict breeding values. Posterior means (PM) (SD) of additive genetic variance for DCPEN, DCSIM, and DCMISS were 22.6d 2 (4.2d 2 ), 26.1d 2 (3.6d 2 ), and 13.5d 2 (2.9d 2 ), respectively. The PM (SD) of residual variance for DCPEN, DCSIM, and DCMISS were 431.4d 2 (5.0d 2 ), 371.4d 2 (4.5d 2 ), and 262.2d 2 (3.4d 2 ), respectively. The PM (SD) of heritability for DCPEN, DCSIM, and DCMISS were 0.05 (0.01), 0.07 (0.01), and 0.05 (0.01), respectively. Simulating trait records for noncalving females resulted in similar heritability to the penalty method but lower residual variance. Pearson correlations between posterior means of animal effects for sires with more than 20 daughters with records were 0.99 between DCPEN and DCSIM, 0.77 between DCPEN and DCMISS, and 0.81 between DCSIM and DCMISS. Of the 424 sires ranked in the top 10% and bottom 10% of sires in DCPEN, 91% and 89%, respectively, were also ranked in the top 10% and bottom 10% in DCSIM. Little difference was observed between DCPEN and DCSIM for correlations between posterior means of animal effects for sires, indicating that no major reranking of sires would be expected. This finding suggests little difference between these two censored data handling techniques for use in genetic evaluation of days to calving.
Consideration of Nuclear Criticality When Directly Disposing Highly Enriched Spent Nuclear Fuel in Unsaturated Tuff—II: Geochemical Constraints

This article presents several reasonable cases in which four mechanisms—dissolution, physical mixing, adsorption, and precipitation (either chemical change or evaporation)—might concentrate fissile...
Preservice Secondary Education Majors and Visual-Spatial Perception: An Important Cognitive Aptitude in the Teaching of Science and Mathematics

(1997). Preservice Secondary Education Majors and Visual-Spatial Perception: An Important Cognitive Aptitude in the Teaching of Science and Mathematics. Journal of Science Teacher Education: Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 43-53.
A foil to itself: TLR2 signaling protects and damages host tissue during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (MPF1P.773)

TLR2 polymorphisms have been associated with increased susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB). We have demonstrated that TLR2 is critical for host resistance against Mtb infection and limits immunopathology in the lung. Recent publications illustrating a role for epithelial cells in host immunity against Mtb led us to investigate TLR2’s role in hematopoietic (H) cells and nonhematopoietic (NH) cells in host defense against Mtb. We generated radiation bone marrow chimeric mice, which lack TLR2 either in the H, NH, or both compartments, and infected these mice with Erdman Mtb. Our results show that TLR2 signaling on the H component is crucial for control of chronic murine Mtb infection. Loss of TLR2 in the H component resulted in increased bacterial burden, decreased accumulation of regulatory T cells, and disruption of granuloma architecture. In contrast, loss of TLR2 on the NH compartment resulted in decreased inflammation and dissemination of Mtb to extrapulmonary sites. These data illustrate a novel role for TLR2 and a paradox within TLR2 signaling: TLR2 signaling on H cells is protective to the host both by controlling infection and regulating inflammation while on NH cells it promotes inflammation induced immunopathology. This balanced response is essential to maintaining host control of TB and could lead to the development of cell-specific TLR2 inhibitors.
Quantitative immunology of immune hemolytic anemia: II. The relationship of cell-bound antibody to hemolysis and the effect of treatment

The concentration of cell-bound and serum antibody was determined in a series of patients with warm antibody immune hemolytic anemia by determining the amount of C[unk]1 fixed to the cells by anti-IgG. This was compared to the rate of hemolysis as determined by hemoglobin concentration and reticulocyte count, or the endogenous production of carbon monoxide. The rate of hemolysis was, in general, proportional to the concentration of cell-bound antibody. In splenectomized patients, the rate of hemolysis was very much less than in unsplenectomized patients for a given concentration of cell-bound antibody. When prednisone was given, three effects were noted: (a) at high doses of drug, the concentration of cell-bound antibody decreased rapidly and the concentration of serum antibody increased, suggesting that the affinity of antibody for antigen had been altered; (b) in patients achieving remission, the concentration of serum antibody fell to low levels but rose again if the dose of prednisone was insufficient; (c) in one patient, prednisone appeared to inhibit sequestration of highly sensitized cells.