cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
New Treatments for CKD—New Insights into Pathogenesis

Albuminuria is a standard surrogate endpoint for many clinical studies examining therapies for diabetic nephropathy and other kidney diseases. This standard is based on the assumption that a reduction in albuminuria corresponds to a reduction in glomerular damage and therefore, amelioration of CKD. Albuminuria, however, can also result from decreased proximal tubular uptake. Because proximal tubule reabsorption of albumin is associated with an inflammatory response, inhibition of albumin absorption presents another potential target for therapy of CKDs.
Norge electronics (Portugal), S.A

The case begins with the protagonist, Joao Silva, in Oslo for a meeting of personnel directors of the subsidiaries of a large Scandinavian multinational, Norge Electronics. Silva is the administrative director (Finance and Administration, HR, Legal) of the division's smallest subsidiary—Norge Electronics Portugal. Silva had been asked by the vice president of human resources to present to the personnel directors what has been achieved in Portugal. The evening before his presentation, Silva received a fax from a consultant he hired in Portugal with the preliminary results of a climate study. The consultant's report is not what Silva expected and, in fact, raises questions about the effectiveness of a series of change actions implemented over the past two years. The case describes in detail the actions taken by Silva to “professionalize” HR management in the Portuguese subsidiary. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
The interdisciplinary management of pediatric pain: Time for more integration

Chronic pain in children is overwhelmingly prevalent and is recognized as a major health concern in this population. A biopsychosocial model has been essential for understanding and treating chronic pain in children for decades through interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary pain programs, with results showing a trend for favorable outcomes. However, despite this trend, there remains a subset of patients who continue to have pain issues and disability that prevents full recovery to an optimally functional life. With our increased understanding of central sensitization, the underlying mechanism that promotes chronic pain, we need to target interventions that will calm and balance the nervous system. With expanded use of nutritional therapies that can reduce inflammation and complementary and alternative medicine modalities that have “centrally acting” nonspecific actions, many of these children may have resolution of symptoms and an improved quality of life. An integrative approach to pain management is particularly applicable in children as it seeks to have a full understanding of the underlying problem, promotes partnership with the patient and the family, and uses evidence-based medicine to employ all appropriate therapeutic approaches, both conventional and alternative.
India in 2012: Spiraling Down?

The year 2012 began for India with a steep decline in the economy, disarray in politics, and paralysis in policy. While there were more immediate causes for this state of affairs, each malady reflected a deeper dilemma created by widespread corruption, a weakening central state, declining discipline within the ruling coalition, a loss of economic momentum caused by an unresolved balance between equity and growth, and a failure to harness popular support for reforms. Each dilemma called for a fundamental change in the power equation between different parts of the state and between state and society.
Comparison between the Gen-Probe Transcription-Mediated Amplification Trichomonas vaginalis Research Assay and Real-Time PCR for Trichomonas vaginalis Detection Using a Roche LightCycler Instrument with Female Self-Obtained Vaginal Swab Samples and Male Urine Samples

This study compared two assays for Trichomonas vaginalis detection, Gen-Probe's transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) assay for Trichomonas vaginalis and BTUB FRET PCR, using self-obtained clinical samples from 611 patients. Infection status was defined as two positive results by two different tests. The initial TMA assay sensitivity was 96.7%; specificity was 97.5%. The TMA assay was comparable to BTUB FRET PCR.
Spatially - and temporally- resolved investigation of discharge in water in pin-to-pin geometry

In the recent years plasma in contact with liquids is receiving a wide attention due to many potential bio-medical and environmental applications. Usually such plasmas have very transient nature and understanding their kinetics and dynamics is very important. The easiest approach of conducting the investigation are non-disturbing optical diagnostics, such as fast-framing photography, Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) and various laser scattering techniques.
Primary Tumors of the Spleen in Guinea Pigs

A classification and morphologic description of primary splenic tumors of guinea pigs is presented for the first time. Twenty glomerate vascular tumors, 15 sinusoidal hemangioendotheliomas, 4 hemangiosarcomas, 2 chondromatous and 5 lipomatous tumors with or without fibrous or vascular components were encountered in the spleen of male and female guinea pigs of 2 inbred strains and one noninbred stock. Foci of cellular arrangements distinctive for splenic tissues were observed in every tumor. In 2 additional guinea pigs, hemangiosarcomas were found disseminated in the spleen, liver, lung and kidney; since the splenic origin of these tumors was uncertain, they were not included in this group of primary splenic tumors. At all levels used, whole body irradiation with X- or gamma rays increased the rate of occurrence and the number of splenic tumors. A significantly greater number of splenic tumors developed in the irradiated than in the untreated inbred guinea pigs after the age of 30 months. In the irradiated noninbred guinea pigs significantly fewer splenic tumors occurred than in the guinea pigs of the inbred strains. Primary neoplasms of the spleen are rare in human beings and laboratory animals in contrast to involvement of the spleen by lymphoreticular-hematopoietic neoplasms. In his recent exhaustive review of reports on primary tumors of the guinea pig, Robinson (1) listed only 2 primary splenic tumors, a splenoma (2) and a sarcoma (3). In this publication, we present the morphologic description and classification of 46 primary splenic tumors that arose in the spleen in two inbred strains and one noninbred stock of irradiated and untreated guinea pigs.
On large deviations of empirical measures for stationary Gaussian processes

We show that the large deviation principle with respect to the weak topology holds for the empirical measure of any stationary continuous-time Gaussian process with continuous vanishing at infinity spectral density. We also point out that large deviation principle might fail in both continuous and discrete time if the spectral density is discontinuous.
The College Drinking Attitude Scale: A Tool for Alcohol Education Program Assessment

The development and validation of the College Drinking Attitude Scale (CDAS) are described. Based on a sample of over 4,000 college students, an item analysis, internal consistency analysis, and criterion validity analysis procedures were performed. The author concludes that the CDAS is a valid and reliable instrument that could be used to assess responsible attitudes toward the use of alcohol among college students.
Waiting time analysis in a single buffer DQDB (802.6) network

The statistics of the request and countdown counters of a user in a network that operates with the DQDB (distributed queue dual bus) media access protocol are investigated. Assuming that a user can have at most one packet waiting for transmission, an expression is obtained for the steady-state generating function of the number of requests queued ahead of an arriving packet. Given this number, the waiting time of the packet can be easily obtained. The results provide an insight on how traffic, generated from the left and the right of a user in the network, affects the waiting time characteristics of packets generated by the user. >
The continuing tensions between individual rights and public health. Talking Point on public health versus civil liberties.

To what extent can a state legitimately restrict the liberties of its citizens in order to serve the common good? Furthermore, to what extent has the protection of the public's welfare been a pretext for governments to curtail or erode fundamental rights? These questions have formed the foundation of controversies and long‐running debates about public health in the USA; conflicts that have been animated by a deep‐rooted mistrust of overreaching authorities, concerns about arbitrary exercises of power, and by the anti‐authoritarian ethos that is a historically prominent feature of US politics and civic culture. The first tensions over the scope of public health and the acceptability of its measures arose during the fight against infectious disease in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They resurfaced in the last decades of the twentieth century in the wake of efforts to address chronic conditions that began to inform the pattern of morbidity and mortality in industrial societies. They reveal an enduring tension between public health and individual rights—a tension that we ignore at our own peril. Scientific advances in Europe during the nineteenth century, notably in the laboratories of Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) and Robert Koch (1843–1910), identified the causative agents of many infectious diseases. This ‘bacteriological revolution’ transformed our understanding of how disease spreads and laid the foundations for a new public health ethos (Baldwin, 1999). In this regard, it is worth noting that the discoveries of infectious bacteria by Pasteur and Koch provoked sharp resistance in those nations that were concerned about whether and how the imposition of quarantines would interrupt the free movement of goods and people (Ackerknect, 1948). Early advocates of public health in the USA, such as Mitchell Prudden (1849–1924) and Hermann Biggs (1859–1923), who was general medical officer of the city of New York's (NY, USA) …
CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells induce cytokine deprivation–mediated apoptosis of effector CD4+ T cells

A key issue in mammalian immunology is how CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg cells) suppress immune responses. Here we show that Treg cells induced apoptosis of effector CD4+ T cells in vitro and in vivo in a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease. Treg cells did not affect the early activation or proliferation of effector CD4+ T cells. Cytokines that signal through the common γ-chain suppressed Treg cell–induced apoptosis. Treg cell–induced effector CD4+ T cell death required the proapoptotic protein Bim, and effector CD4+ T cells incubated with Treg cells showed less activation of the prosurvival kinase Akt and less phosphorylation of the proapoptotic protein Bad. Thus, cytokine deprivation–induced apoptosis is a prominent mechanism by which Treg cells inhibit effector T cell responses.
Amino acids regulate skeletal muscle PHAS-I and p70 S6-kinase phosphorylation independently of insulin

Refeeding reverses the muscle protein loss seen with fasting. The physiological regulators and cellular control sites responsible for this reversal are incompletely defined. Phosphorylation of phos...
Reproductive Performance of Inbred or Outbred F1 and F2 Progeny of Adult Indianmeal Moth Females or Males × Females Partially Sterilized by Gamma Irradiation

One-day-old females of the Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner), were treated with 5, 10, 15, or 20 krad of gamma radiation and paired with either treated or untreated males. Progeny were collected through 3 generations (F1 F2, and F3); both inbred and outbred lines were established; and effects were assayed by determining percentage of mating and sterility, the average number of progeny produced by males, females, or pairs from each line at each dose, and the sex ratio of F1, and F2 progeny. The greater the initial dose, the greater the reduction in the number of progeny and the longer the depression in reproduction persisted. Both F1 males and F1 females were less affected than the P1 females, though F1 males were much more affected than F1 females. In addition, each generation of males was more affected than the corresponding females when outcrossed with untreated moths. When both parents were irradiated (inbred), decreases in reproduction were much greater than when only one parent was treated; and the greater the degree of P1 and F1 inbreeding, the greater the effect on both male and female progeny and the longer the effects persisted. All mating combinations for all doses showed partial recovery of reproductive ability in the F2 generation. Population suppression by release of partially sterilized females only is probably not practical, but both partially sterilized males and females can be released and control would be as good as or better than that obtained from the release of treated males alone.
Application of OLE Automation Technology in the Dynamic Output of Complex Curve

By combining OLE controls with OLE automation technology in visual basic, not only any complex curve can be made, but also data in the curve can real-timely be refreshed. The principle is that the graph is inserted into the VB application routine with using OLE controls, then, refresh of data is performed by data written into the *.XLS at the time running excel.exe in the back. The method is that *.XLS is built in the excel, OLE object is created in the VB application routine, and data dynamic activation is executed using the data refresh function.
Social marketing: Influencing behavior for social impact

SOCIAL ENTERPRISES ARE CREATIVE APPROACHES to bringing about important—and some not-so-important—changes in the lives of individuals and of the societies of which they are a part. They can be carried out by corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and, in some countries, government agencies. To succeed, they need to find ways to get a wide range of individuals to take actions. Central, of course, are behaviors vital to the social enterprise’s mission—getting people to take up a recommended action such as not smoking, starting a business, allowing their daughters to get advanced schooling, washing their hands regularly, installing energy-saving appliances in their homes, and so forth. But the social enterprise has a great many other constituencies to take actions—governments to give contracts or give permission for a particular initiative, volunteers to help out, corporations to partner, foundations or philanthropists to give grants, and individuals to volunteer as advisors or board members. And finally, because they are social enterprises, they are expected to generate sales for their artist works, food services, or used clothing!
Reducing variation in feeding newborns with congenital heart disease

Objective Enteral feeding is associated with decreased infection rates, decreased mechanical ventilation, decreased hospital length of stay, and improved wound healing. Enteral feeding difficulties are common in congenital heart disease. Our objective was to develop experience-based newborn feeding guidelines for the initiation and advancement of enteral feeding in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit. Design This is a retrospective analysis of a quality improvement project. Setting This quality improvement project was performed in a cardiothoracic intensive care unit. Patients Newborns admitted to the cardiothoracic intensive care unit for cardiac surgery from January 2011 to May 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Intervention Newborn feeding guidelines for the initiation and advancement of enteral feeding were implemented in January 2012. Outcome measures Guideline compliance and clinical variables before and after guideline implementation were reviewed. Results Compliance with the guidelines increased from 83% in 2012 to 100% in the first two quarters of 2015. Preguidelines (January 2011–December 2011): 45 newborns underwent cardiac surgery; 8 deaths prior to discharge; 1 patient discharged from NICU, therefore, N = 36. Postguidelines (January 2012–May 2015): 131 newborns with 12 deaths, 12 admitted from home, 8 in the NICU, 3 on the floor preop, and 3 back transferred, therefore, N = 93. No difference in feeding preop (post 75% vs pre 69%; P = .5) or full po feeds at discharge (post 78% vs pre 89%; P = .2). Mesenteric ischemia was not statistically different postguidelines (post 6% vs pre 14%; P = .14). Length of hospital stay decreased postguidelines (post 27 + 17 d vs pre 34 + 42 d; P < .001). Conclusions Implementation of experience-based newborn feeding guidelines for initiation and advancement of enteral feeding in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit was successful in reducing practice variation supported by increasing guideline compliance. Percentage of patient's full oral feeding at discharge did not change. Length of hospital stay was reduced although cannot be fully attributed to feeding guideline implementation.
Nanostructure Introduces Artifacts in Quantitative Immunofluorescence by Influencing Fluorophore Intensity

Quantitative analysis of fluorescence signals from cells reacted with fluorescently labeled probes is a widely-used method for assessing cell biology. This method has become especially powerful for screening novel nanostructured materials for their influence on cell behavior. However, the effect of nanostructured surface on fluorescence intensity has largely been ignored, which likely leads to erroneous conclusions about cell behavior. This paper investigates this possibility by using fibroblasts cultured on nanoporous gold (np-Au) as a model nanostructured material system. We found that fibroblasts stained for f-actin using phalloidin conjugated with common fluorophores display different levels of fluorescence on np-Au, planar gold, and glass, suggesting different levels of f-actin composition. However, direct quantification via western blots indicates that the actin expression is the same across all conditions. We further investigated whether the fluorescence intensity depended on np-Au feature size, complementing the findings with reflection dark field measurements from different np-Au surfaces. Overall, our experimental measurements in agreement with our electrodynamic simulations suggest that nanostructured surfaces alter the fluorescence intensity of fluorophores by modulating both the excitation and light emission processes. We conclude that comparison of fluorescence on materials with different nanostructures should be done with a quantification method decoupled from the nanostructure's influence.
A General Strategy for Visible-Light Decaging Based on the Quinone Trimethyl Lock

Visible-light triggered quinone trimethyl locks are reported as a general design for long-wavelength photoremovable protecting groups for alcohols and amines. Intramolecular photoreduction unmasks a reactive phenol that undergoes fast lactonization to release alcohols and amines. Model substrates are released in quantitative yield along with well-defined, colorless hydroquinone byproducts. Substituent modifications of the quinone core allow absorption from 400 to 600 nm.
DKA-Induced Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy in Patient with Known HOCM.

The first published case of Diabetic Ketoacidosis-induced Takotsubo cardiomyopathy was in 2009. Our patient is the 1st reported case of Diabetic Ketoacidosis- (DKA-) induced Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) in a patient with known hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HOCM) in the United States. In the literature, there are only two examples linking DKA to TC; however, this report focuses on the biochemical and physiological causes of TC in a patient with known HOCM and new-onset DKA. TC in previously diagnosed HOCM poses particular complications. With the above patient’s baseline outflow tract obstruction due to septal hypertrophy, the acute reduction in EF due to TC resulted in transient drop in brain perfusion and, therefore, syncope.
Learning a neural response metric for retinal prosthesis

Retinal prostheses for treating incurable blindness are designed to electrically stimulate surviving retinal neurons, causing them to send artificial visual signals to the brain. However, electrical stimulation generally cannot precisely reproduce typical patterns of neural activity in the retina. Therefore, an electrical stimulus must be selected so as to produce a neural response as close as possible to the desired response. This setting requires a technique for computing the distance between a desired response and an achievable response that is meaningful in terms of the visual signal being conveyed. We propose a method to learn a metric on neural responses directly from recorded light responses of a population of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the primate retina. The learned metric produces a measure of similarity of RGC population responses that accurately reflects the similarity of visual inputs. Using data from electrical stimulation experiments, we demonstrate that the learned metric leads to improvements in the performance of a retinal prosthesis.
Integrating mindfulness training in school health education to promote healthy behaviors in adolescents: Feasibility and preliminary effects on exercise and dietary habits

Abstract Whether mindfulness training (MT) could improve healthy behaviors is unknown. This study sought to determine feasibility and acceptability of integrating MT into school-based health education (primary outcomes) and to explore its possible effects on healthy behaviors (exploratory outcomes). Two high schools in Massachusetts (2014–2015) were randomized to health education plus MT (HE-MT) (one session/week for 8 weeks) or to health education plus attention control (HE-AC). Dietary habits (24-h dietary recalls) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA/7-day recalls) were assessed at baseline, end of treatment (EOT), and 6 months thereafter. Quantile regression and linear mixed models were used, respectively, to estimate effects on MVPA and dietary outcomes adjusting for confounders. We recruited 53 9th graders (30 HEM, 23 HEAC; average age 14.5, 60% white, 59% female). Retention was 100% (EOT) and 96% (6 months); attendance was 96% (both conditions), with moderate-to-high satisfaction ratings. Among students with higher MVPA at baseline, MVPA was higher in HE-MT vs. HE-AC at both EOT (median difference = 81 min/week, p = 0.005) and at 6 months (p = 0.004). Among males, median MVPA was higher (median difference = 99 min/week) in HE-MT vs. HEAC at both EOT (p = 0.056) and at 6 months (p = 0.04). No differences were noted in dietary habits. In sum, integrating school-based MT into health education was feasible and acceptable and had promising effects on MVPA among male and more active adolescents. These findings suggest that MT may improve healthy behaviors in adolescents and deserve to be reproduced in larger, rigorous studies.
Techniques for Analysis of Biological Aging

The aging process encompasses changes at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels that can be analyzed by a variety of methods. For several decades, a popular mode of studying biological aging has been the analysis of cells cultured in vitro that display cellular senescence. Current interest is also focused on models of senescence that include organismal aging such as aging of yeast and Drosophila. The number of techniques applied to biological aging has increased exponentially over the past decade. Although approaches to biological aging vary greatly, they can be generally grouped into basic techniques, intervention methods, and protocols for analyzing the many molecular and cellular changes seen in aging cells. Hence, this volume organizes the topics into these three categories.
Oxyanion Concentrations in Eastern Sierra Nevada Rivers – 3. Boron, Molybdenum, Vanadium, and Tungsten

Water samples were collected from 10 locations along the Truckee River system, 14 locations along the Walker River system, and 12 locations along the Carson River, and analyzed for B, Mo, V, W, Na, Cl, and pH. Boron concentrations ranged from approximately 2 μmol/kg in the upper reaches of the Truckee River to almost 1,200 μmol/kg in Pyramid Lake. Molybdenum, V, and W had concentrations in the nanomolal range; Mo varied from a low of about 12 nmol/kg to a high of 3,200 nmol/kg (Walker Lake); V ranged from 9 nmol/kg to approximately 470 nmol/kg; and W varied from a low value around 0.8 nmol/kg (West Walker River) to 1,030 nmol/kg. The high concentrations of these oxyanion-forming trace elements in the rivers reflects (1) the relative stability of these oxyanions (e.g., MoO4 2-, HVO4 2-, WO4 2-, B(OH)3, and/or B(OH)4 -) in the alkaline, well oxygenated river and lake waters, (2) contributions of hydrothermal waters (especially for B), and (3) weathering of rocks/regolith with high concentrations of these elements. In the case of Mo, V, and W, each exhibited relatively conservative behavior in the upper, oxygenated reaches of all three rivers. During the study period the region experienced a prolonged drought such that the lower reaches of each river were typified by no flow or stagnant waters and probably low oxygen and/or anoxic conditions (although not measured). Reductive processes occurring in the low flow to stagnant reaches of each river could have led to removal of Mo, V, and W from solution as coprecipitates with Fe monosulfides, or via sorption to Fe oxides/oxyhydroxides and/or organic matter. Boron, however, exhibited essentially no or minor removal from these rivers, and instead was added to each river via B-rich hydrothermal waters (e.g., Steamboat Creek from Steamboat Hot Springs), or by B-rich groundwaters via base-flow during the extensive drought.
Characterization and Structural Principles of Membrane Proteins

Whereas the primary role of membrane lipids is to provide the structural framework of the biomembrane in the form of a stable bilayer, the proteins provide the active components of the biomembrane. In this chapter we discuss some of the operational principles which have proved useful in understanding the structure of membrane proteins. Specific examples which have provided paradigms are discussed in this chapter, and further examples of membrane proteins are covered in Chapters 6, 8, and 9, which deal with major functional classes of membrane proteins. The interactions between membrane lipids and proteins are summarized in Chapter 5, along with a discussion of the motions of both the lipid and protein components.
The flow diffusion nucleation chamber: A quantitative instrument for nucleation research

Publisher Summary Two of the more commonly used devices for nucleation research are the thermal diffusion cloud chamber (TDCC) and the expansion cloud chamber (ECC). These devices are useful for making quantitative nucleation measurements but they have limitations that affect their range of usefulness. Flow nucleation devices offer a number of significant advantages over TDCC and ECC systems. While these devices are not without problems, they can quite often be used effectively to produce results not easily achievable with the TDCC and ECC and to provide important complimentary results to those obtained with the TDCC and ECC devices. This chapter discusses the designing, analyses, and testing of a version of the flow nucleation chamber allowing critical supersaturation measurements by the use of a variety of background gases at ambient pressure and a conveniently accessible range of temperatures. This is done to test the quantitative operation of the nucleation chamber comparing nucleation measurements with data in the literature obtained using other nucleation devices and to make preliminary measurements of nucleation in the presence of a variety of different background gases and compare those results with data in the literature obtained using a specially designed high pressure cloud chamber.
Pseudo CT Estimation using Patch-based Joint Dictionary Learning

Magnetic resonance (MR) simulators have recently gained popularity; it avoids the unnecessary radiation exposure associated with Computed Tomography (CT) when used for radiation therapy planning. We propose a method for pseudo CT estimation from MR images based on joint dictionary learning. Patient-specific anatomical features were extracted from the aligned training images and adopted as signatures for each voxel. The most relevant and informative features were identified to train the joint dictionary learning-based model. The well-trained dictionary was used to predict the pseudo CT of a new patient. This prediction technique was validated with a clinical study of 12 patients with MR and CT images of the brain. The mean absolute error (MAE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), normalized cross correlation (NCC) indexes were used to quantify the prediction accuracy. We compared our proposed method with a state-of-the-art dictionary learning method. Overall our proposed method significantly improves the prediction accuracy over the state-of-the-art dictionary learning method. We have investigated a novel joint dictionary Iearning- based approach to predict CT images from routine MRIs and demonstrated its reliability. This CT prediction technique could be a useful tool for MRI-based radiation treatment planning or attenuation correction for quantifying PET images for PET/MR imaging.
Informants, Police, and Unconscionability

Essay exploring the extent to which certain agreements between the police and informants are an affront (both procedurally and substantively) to basic tenets of the liberal tradition in legal and political philosophy.
Should I Pursue HR Certification? Motivations, Expectations, and Benefits for the PHR and SPHR

This study takes a comprehensive look at the reasons behind an HR professional’s decision to pursue (or not pursue) PHR and SPHR certification. In addition to examining which underlying motivations have the greatest effect on the decision, this study also examines the extent to which the benefits received by certified professionals met their benefit expectations when they first began the certification process. Finally, using both demographic and occupational commitment variables, the profiles of “pursuing” and “non-pursuing” subsamples of professionals are compared. Results showed that the main motivation for certification was intrinsic development, followed by extrinsic rewards and social pressures. The main reason why professionals did not pursue PHR certification was a perceived lack of value; the main reason why professionals chose not to pursue SPHR certification was the perceived time requirements. In general, certified professionals felt they realized benefits only to a limited extent, and these be...
Temperature, by Controlling Growth Rate, Regulates CRISPR-Cas Activity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

ABSTRACT Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated (CRISPR-Cas) systems are adaptive defense systems that protect bacteria and archaea from invading genetic elements. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, quorum sensing (QS) induces the CRISPR-Cas defense system at high cell density when the risk of bacteriophage infection is high. Here, we show that another cue, temperature, modulates P. aeruginosa CRISPR-Cas. Increased CRISPR adaptation occurs at environmental (i.e., low) temperatures compared to that at body (i.e., high) temperature. This increase is a consequence of the accumulation of CRISPR-Cas complexes, coupled with reduced P. aeruginosa growth rate at the lower temperature, the latter of which provides additional time prior to cell division for CRISPR-Cas to patrol the cell and successfully eliminate and/or acquire immunity to foreign DNA. Analyses of a QS mutant and synthetic QS compounds show that the QS and temperature cues act synergistically. The diversity and level of phage encountered by P. aeruginosa in the environment exceed that in the human body, presumably warranting increased reliance on CRISPR-Cas at environmental temperatures. IMPORTANCEP. aeruginosa is a soil dwelling bacterium and a plant pathogen, and it also causes life-threatening infections in humans. Thus, P. aeruginosa thrives in diverse environments and over a broad range of temperatures. Some P. aeruginosa strains rely on the CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune system as a phage defense mechanism. Our discovery that low temperatures increase CRISPR adaptation suggests that the rarely occurring but crucial naive adaptation events may take place predominantly under conditions of slow growth, e.g., during the bacterium’s soil dwelling existence and during slow growth in biofilms.
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, parenting, and externalizing behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder:

Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a biomarker for processes related to emotion regulation, with higher...
Data-Driven Energy Use Estimation in Large Scale Transportation Networks

Energy consumption in the transportation sector accounts for 28.8% of the total value among all the industry sectors in the United States, reaching 28.2 quadrillion btu in 2017. Having an accurate evaluation of the vehicle fuel and energy consumption values is a challenging task due to numerous implicit influential factors, such as the variety of powertrain configurations, time-varying traffic and congestion patterns, and emerging new technologies, such as regenerative braking. In this paper, we propose to present a data-driven computational framework to evaluate the energy impact on the transportation system at different scales, leveraging the scalable high-performance transportation simulator, Mobiliti. Instead of using empirical energy models, we create a deep-neural-network mapping between the fuel and energy consumption rate with a variety of heterogeneous driving conditions based on dynamometer test datasets, real-world drive cycle survey datasets as well as real-world GPS probe datasets. For the dynamic driving behaviors, machine learning algorithms are applied over the real-world drive cycle datasets to identify the dominant features and to cluster the drive cycles into representative groups, which can be used to generate high-resolution random drive cycles using a Markov chain approach. Using Mobiliti, both urban-scale static evaluations and dynamic analysis at the trip level can be estimated with a significantly improved fidelity. We demonstrate this approach through case studies with different scales and varied penetrations of different vehicle types, such as conventional ICE vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and electric vehicles.
Load path visualization and fiber trajectory optimization for additive manufacturing of composites

Abstract A methodology of fiber trajectory optimization is proposed for Additive Manufacturing of composites. The present method aligns fiber with a physically-determined load path to simultaneously increase the stiffness and strength of the composite structures. The fiber trajectories of the open-hole panel and Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) were determined. In the case of open-hole panel, the deformation and the failure index were decreased by 8 % and 55 % compared to those obtained by the unidirectional structure. In the case of PAF, the decrease in failure index was 76 %, but the reduction of deformation was not significant (6 %). The present method also identified the structural members that did not contribute to strength and rigidity, which in turn realized the appropriate weight savings and increased the specific strength and specific stiffness.
Time-series temperature analyses indicate conduction and diffusion are dominant heat-transfer processes in fine sediment, low-flow streams.

Abstract Stream-groundwater exchange has been investigated in a wide range of hydrologic settings, though very few studies have focused on fine-sediment streambeds. Well-established thermal methods (i.e., analytical and numerical solution of time-series temperature depth-profiles) in combination with Darcy's and electrical resistivity (ER) evaluations were implemented to improve understanding of processes dominating flow and transport in a low permeability and low-flow coastal stream such as Oso Creek, Texas. The seasonal-trend decomposition using Loess (STL) is tested as a potential means to differentiate between advection and conduction and is validated against groundwater fluxes derived from the other well-established thermal methods. The numerical and analytical solutions indicate groundwater upward discharge was 9 mm d−1 for summer and 3.5 mm d−1 for winter, corresponding to the region's extreme drought conditions. These types of low flow conditions are usually accompanied by hyporheic flow, limiting the vertical flow assumption. While the numerical and analytical methods provide good insight into streambed hydrology for a low-permeability and low-flow stream in a semiarid coastal area, there are limitations associated with the STL method. The analytical and numerical thermal methods employed herein confirm that conduction and diffusion are the dominant processes of heat and solute transfer in fine-sediment streambeds, providing an improved understanding of process-based groundwater-stream interaction and water resources in this type of settings.
Understanding Women's Vaginal Douching Behaviors and Practices for Consideration in the Development of a Potential Future Vaginal Microbicide Douche for HIV Prevention: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Despite clinicians consistently advising against vaginal douching, 29–92% of women worldwide report douching. This review documents women’s douching practices, motivations for douching, and specific associations (or absence of associations) between vaginal douche use and vaginal outcomes thought to be associated with douching. Understanding women’s existing douching behaviors and vaginal health outcomes is critical for developing a safe vaginal microbicide douche that can be used as HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). A vaginal douche as PrEP could help prevent new HIV infections, since emerging evidence shows some women discontinue oral PrEP. We performed a systematic review of the literature using the guidelines for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Articles included in the analysis (N = 48) were published 2009–2019 in English and focused on women’s experiences with douching. Two trained independent reviewers assessed these articles for content on vaginal douching, including racial/ethnic focus of studies, study design, sampling, women’s reasons for douching, contents of douche solutions, and associations between vaginal douching and vaginal health outcomes. Several studies focused on Black women (N = 12 studies) or had no racial/ethnic focus (N = 12). Just over half of all studies (N = 24) were cross-sectional and involved a self-reported questionnaire and lab samples. Studies sampled women from health clinics where they were (N = 13) or were not (N = 14) presenting for vaginal health complaints. Women’s primary motivation for douching was for “general cleanliness” (N = 13), and most douche solutions contained water (N = 12). There was little empirical agreement between vaginal douche use and most vaginal health outcomes. Future studies of PrEP vaginal douches should be well controlled and prioritize safety to ensure positive vaginal health outcomes.
Biochemical and structural basis of the passive mechanical properties of whole skeletal muscle

Passive skeletal muscle mechanical properties of whole muscle are not as well understood as muscle's active mechanical properties. Both the structural basis for passive mechanical properties and the properties themselves are challenging to determine because it is not clear which structures within skeletal muscle actually bear passive loads and there are not established standards by which to make mechanical measurements. Evidence suggests that titin bears the majority of the passive load within the single muscle cell. However, at larger scales, such as fascicles and muscles, there is emerging evidence that the extracellular matrix (ECM) bears the majority of the load. Complicating the ability to quantify and compare across size scales, muscles, and species, definitions of muscle passive properties such as stress, strain, modulus and stiffness can be made relative to many reference parameters. These uncertainties make a full understanding of whole muscle passive mechanical properties and modeling these properties very difficult. Future studies defining the specific load bearing structures and their composition and organization are required to fully understand passive mechanics of the whole muscle and develop therapies to treat disorders in which passive muscle properties are altered such as muscular dystrophy, traumatic laceration, and contracture due to upper motor neuron lesion as seen in spinal cord injury, stroke and cerebral palsy. Abstract figure legend Schematic representation of passive load bearing at various skeletal muscle scales. In the sarcomere (upper left), load is borne by the giant elastic protein titin and, to a lesser extent, desmin. The myofilaments actin and myosin are responsible for active force production. Sarcomeres in series (myofibrils) connect to the fiber surface at specialized focal adhesions called costameres at which desmin and other cytoskeletal proteins converge (upper right). Muscle fibers are embedded in a connective tissue matrix (lower left) composed primarily of basal lamina collagen type IV. At larger scales, passive load is borne in the perimysium (lower right) by perimysial cables that seem to be composed of collagen types 1 and 3 and this is where the majority of passive load is borne. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell–Derived Extracellular Vesicles for Chronic Kidney Disease: Are We There Yet?

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are the most utilized cell type for cellular therapy, partly due to their important proliferative potential and ability to differentiate into various cell types. MSCs produce large amounts of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which carry genetic and protein cargo to mediate MSC paracrine function. Recently, MSC-derived EVs have been successfully used in several preclinical models of chronic kidney disease. However, uncertainty remains regarding EV fate, safety, and long-term effects, which might impose important limitations on their path to clinical translation. This review discusses the therapeutic application of MSC-derived EV therapy for renal disease, with particular emphasis on potential mechanisms of kidney repair and major translational barriers. Emerging evidence indicates that the cargo of MSC-derived EVs is capable of modulating several pathways responsible for renal injury, including inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, fibrosis, and microvascular remodeling. EV-induced modulation of these pathways has been associated with important renoprotective effects in experimental studies. However, scarce clinical data are available, and several challenges need to be addressed as we move toward clinical translation, including standardization of methods for EV isolation and characterization, EV fate, duration of EV effects, and effects of cardiovascular risk factors. MSC-derived EVs have the potential to preserve renal structure and function, but further experimental and clinical evidence is needed to confirm their protective effects in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Isoform-Specific Destabilization of the Active Site Reveals Molecular Mechanism of Intrinsic Activation of KRas G13D

Ras GTPases are mutated at codons 12, 13 and 61 with different frequencies in KRas, HRas and NRas and in a cancer-specific manner. The G13D mutant appears in 25% of KRas driven colorectal cancers, while observed only rarely in HRas or NRas. Structures of Ras G13D in the three isoforms show an open active site, with adjustments to the D13 backbone torsion angles and with disconnected switch regions. KRas G13D has unique features that destabilize the nucleotide binding pocket. In KRas G13D bound to GDP, A59 is placed in the Mg2+ binding site, as in the HRas/SOS complex. Structure and biochemistry are consistent with an intermediate level of KRas G13D bound to GTP, relative to WT and KRas G12D, observed in genetically engineered mouse models. The results explain, in part, the elevated frequency of the G13D mutant in KRas over the other isoforms of Ras.
From the bellies of babes: a larval-based approach to ant molecular gut content analysis

We used high-throughput sequencing molecular gut content analysis (HTS-MGCA) to examine diets of the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta; hereafter fire ant). Because adult fire ant workers rely on their larvae (brood) to digest prey and share it via trophallaxis with the rest of the colony, we conducted a study to determine if we could sequence the gut contents of final instar ant brood instead of adult workers to better capture colony diet. We sequenced all samples on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 using general primers to amplify and identify arthropod DNA within larval guts. We first verified our methods in a controlled-feeding experiment in the laboratory using crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus), beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua), or a mixture of both species, and then we analyzed the diets of field-collected fire ants. The sequences from our controlled-feeding lab samples were very accurate, validating our analysis pipeline. We identified a total of 45 diet events from six field-collected fire ant samples. All fire ant field samples contained sequences from both detritus-based food webs (arthropods that consume decaying material) and plant-based food webs (arthropods that consume living plant material). HTS-MGCA of fire ant larvae was highly successful and provided novel insights into the community-level impacts of ant foraging. Our approach should be widely applicable to the study of resource use and trophic interactions in other eusocial insects.
Design and Implementation of Highly Scalable Quantifiable Data Structures

Architectural imperatives due to the slowing of Moore’s Law, the broad acceptance of relaxed semantics and the O(n!) worst case verification complexity of generating sequential histories motivate a new approach to concurrent correctness. Quantifiability is proposed as a novel correctness condition that models a system in vector space to launch a new mathematical analysis of concurrency. Analysis is facilitated with linear algebra, better supported and of much more efficient time complexity than traditional combinatorial methods. In this paper, we design and implement a quantifiable stack (QStack) and queue (QQueue) and present results showing that quantifiable data structures are highly scalable through use of relaxed semantics, an explicit implementation trade-off permitted by quantifiability. We present a technique for proving that a data structure is quantifiable and apply this technique to show that the QStack is quantifiably correct.
Envelope method with ignorable missing data

Envelope method was recently proposed as a method to reduce the dimension of responses in multivariate regressions. However, when there exists missing data, the envelope method using the complete case observations may lead to biased and inefficient results. In this paper, we generalize the envelope estimation when the predictors and/or the responses are missing at random. Specifically, we incorporate the envelope structure in the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. As the parameters under the envelope method are not pointwise identifiable, the EM algorithm for the envelope method was not straightforward and requires a special decomposition. Our method is guaranteed to be more efficient, or at least as efficient as, the standard EM algorithm. Moreover, our method has the potential to outperform the full data MLE. We give asymptotic properties of our method under both normal and non-normal cases. The efficiency gain over the standard EM is confirmed in simulation studies and in an application to the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study.