cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Disorders of Phosphate: Physiology

Phosphate and phosphorus are generally used interchangeably. Phosphate, although not as abundant as Ca2+, is an important constituent of the body. It plays a significant role in mitochondrial respiration and oxidative phosphorylation. Phosphate constitutes approximately 1 % of the body weight. A 70-kg man contains about 700 g of phosphate. Of this amount, 85 % is present in bones and teeth, 14 % in soft tissues, and the remaining 1 % in the extracellular fluid. In biologic fluids, phosphate is measured as elemental phosphorus. However, the latter participates in biologic functions as phosphate. For example, it is phosphate that is filtered at the glomerulus or transported across the renal tubules. In plasma, the concentration of phosphorus is expressed as mg/dL, and in transport and other processes it is generally expressed as mEq or mmol/L. In plasma, phosphate exists as organic (70 %) and inorganic (30 %) forms. The inorganic form is physiologically active. Only 10 % of inorganic phosphate is bound to albumin. However, unlike Ca2+, phosphate concentration is not influenced by changes in plasma albumin concentration. At a pH of 7.40, inorganic phosphate exists predominantly as divalent phosphate (HPO4 2−) and monovalent phosphate (H2PO4−) in the ratio of 4:1. However, at a pH of 6.8, which is the pKa of this buffer pair, the ratio falls to 1:1. The concentration of intracellular phosphate is several-fold higher than the plasma concentration. Inside the cell, 75 % of phosphate exists as organic phosphate compounds such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), creatine phosphate, and adenosine monophosphate. In red blood cells, it occurs predominantly as 2,3-diphosphoglycerate.
Investigation of the impacts of aging and RAP percentages on effectiveness of asphalt binder rejuvenators

Abstract In this study, the ability of five asphalt binder rejuvenators to restore low and high temperature true performance grades of aged binders was investigated. The rejuvenators considered in this study included a Naphthenic Oil, a Paraffinic Oil, an Aromatic Extracts, a Tall Oil, and an Oleic Acid. Several sets of asphalt mixtures containing different percentages (i.e. 25% and 45%) of RAP materials were prepared using PG 76-22 polymer-modified asphalt binder blended with rejuvenators at manufacturers’ recommended dosage. Control mixtures not including the rejuvenators were also prepared. All mixtures were loose mix aged for two hours and six hours to evaluate the impact of aging on the effectiveness of the different rejuvenators. After aging and compaction, the asphalt binder contained in each of these mixtures was extracted and recovered. The true low and high temperature grades of the extracted binders were determined using the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) and the Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) tests. The recovered binders were considered RTFO aged due to the mixture aging used in this study. The DSR shear modulus master curves were also utilized to examine the impact of using different rejuvenators on rutting and fatigue cracking. Furthermore, a multi-factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to evaluate the statistical significance of the differences between results. The results showed that all rejuvenated binders had lower performance grade than that of the control binder without rejuvenation. In addition, rejuvenator’s effectiveness was not affected by aging (from 2 to 6 h) and increasing the amount of RAP materials (up to 45%). The rejuvenators were also found to improve the fatigue resistance without substantially influencing rutting performance.
Chemosterilant Effect of 5-Fluoroorotic Acid on House Flies.

When fed to adult house flies, Musca domestica L., at a level of 1.0% for 48 hours after emergence, 5-fluoroorotic acid was found to be a permanent sterilant, eliminating oviposition. Although oviposition was greatly reduced at lower concentrations, a significant percentage of the eggs hatched and normal-appearing second generation flies were reared. Five-fluoroorotic acid-2-C14 was incorporated into the ovaries for 48 hours after removal of the chemical from the diet. But the testes did not at any time contain a significant quantity of the labeled 5-fluoroorotic acid.
Does Providing Transition Services Early Enable Students with ASD to Achieve Better Vocational Outcomes as Adults

This study investigated whether receiving transition services early (i.e., by age 14) promoted better vocational outcomes than receiving transition services later (i.e., by age 16) for young adults...
Quality Measures for Prolapse Management

Quality measure development has become increasingly important over the past few years, and there have been many attempts to increase the scientific literature on the subject. Measurement of quality is now an integral part of the healthcare system. This review considers recently recommended quality metrics for prolapse management, subdividing these into structural, process, and outcome metrics. The Quality in Prolapse Surgery (QuIPS) project, Choosing Wisely® campaign by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), quality measures proposed by AUGS, and the 2012 joint report from IUGA and International Continence Society (ICS) are included this review. Evaluation of adherence to quality metrics is also discussed.
Letting Down the Ladder or Shutting the Door: Female Prime Ministers, Party Leaders, and Cabinet Ministers

In October 2012 the Danish Socialist People's Party chose Annette Vilhelmsen as its leader. With her ascension to power, women simultaneously headed all three of Denmark's governing parties for the first time. Though an exclusively female-led coalition government remains exceptional, in developed democracies the number of female prime ministers and party leaders has grown in recent years. Since 2000, women have governed in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia and have commanded coalition partner parties in Austria, Ireland, and Sweden. Just as there are now more female leaders, governments are also nominating more women to cabinets than ever before. Women recently held half of all ministerial posts in Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Spain. Female ministers are also serving in high-prestige portfolios from which they were traditionally excluded, including finance and foreign affairs.
Financial Repression,Ownershiap Discrimainatiaon,and Negative Spillovers:SOE Efficiency Losses Revisited

This paper investigates the SOEs' efficiency losses from the perspective of their negative spillovers to economic growth.In the process of economic transition,SOEs do not only entail efficiency losses in themselves,but also hinder economic growth through financial repression and ownership discrimination.The dragging effect is not apparent because financial resources can leak from the SOE sector to the private sector and private finance develops fast.Using China's provincial panel data for the period 1985—2004,we have partially confirmed the theory.The result lends supports to further financial deregulation and SOE reform.
Study of Small Intestinal Electric and Mechanical Activity in Rats with Experimental Spleen Deficiency

By electrode and strain gauge recording,changes in small intestinal activity in the rats with experimental Spleen Defi ciency Syndrome were studied.As compared with control,frequency(time/3min)of slow wave did not obvious change (13.33±1.03 and 13.80±0.84,P0.05),but the amplitude(mV)of slow wave was reduced obviously (O.14±0.04 and 0.28±0.08,P0.01),fast wave was reduced also.In self-recovery group,amplitude of slow wave recovered slightly (0.93±0.06 and 2.36±0.48 P0.001).After treatment with Jiawei Sijunzi decoction(加味四君子汤),the small intestinal activity was improved to the levels of control groups(P0.05);but small intestinal motility remained weak in experimental Spleen Deficiency group,while that motility of self recovery group was improved to a certain degree, however,main indices were not obvious difference between the two groups(P0.05).It suggested that there are signif- icant changes of small intestinal activity in rats with Spleen Deficiency Syndrome and some Chinese herbs are able to im- prove this syndrome apparently.
Layered Beam Systems with Interlayer Slip

Layered systems of various materials are used to fabricate beams, plates and shells. The procedures commonly employed to analyze such systems are based on assumption of rigid interconnection between layers. In some widely used systems, however, this assumption is questionable. The basic phenomenon of interlayer slip is considered and a consistent theory for layered beams is developed. The results of experiments with layered wood beams connected with nails, with and without glued ends, are given. Excellent agreement with the general theory is shown. The importance of interlayer slip effect on the deflection of layered beams is demonstrated. The procedures developed can be used for any mechanically-connected beam system.
Use of a Simulation-Based Capstone Course to Teach and Assess Entrustable Professional Activities to Graduating Medical Students

A 3-day simulation-based capstone course was developed and pilot tested for a cohort of graduating medical students to assess their readiness for residency. The intervention taught and assessed individual performance on specific components of the 13 core entrustable professional activities (EPAs) that all medical school graduates should perform independently. Two 6-station clinical skills examinations (CSE) were developed to assess performance before and after a simulation-based educational intervention. Graduating medical students could not reliably perform selected EPAs at baseline. However, a focused 3-day simulation-based capstone experience produced significant improvement in core clinical skills.
Minimally invasive epicardial implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement for infants and children: An effective alternative to the transvenous approach.

Background Young patients have high rates of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) lead fractures and are at risk for venous occlusion or tricuspid regurgitation with transvenous lead placement. Epicardial ICDs have the potential to circumvent complications associated with transvenous ICDs, but the literature on young patients remains limited. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of a minimally invasive epicardial ICD lead placement approach in young patients. Methods A retrospective, institutional review board–approved electronic medical record review of all patients undergoing epicardial ICD placement at our institution from January 2011 to December 2015 was performed. Results A total of 46 patients (20 female [43%]; mean age 10.3 years, range 0.7–18.2 years; mean weight 41 ± 21 kg) were identified; 24 (52%) were ≤10 years old. A minithoracotomy was used in 28 patients (61%). All had acceptable defibrillation, right ventricular sensing, and stimulation thresholds. Median follow-up was 2.0 ± 1.3 years (range 0.02–4.5 years). Eight surgical complications occurred in 7 patients (15%), and 8 device-related complications occurred in 6 patients (13%). Fifty-eight appropriate shocks were delivered in 7 patients (15%). Four patients received inappropriate shocks in relation to lead fractures/microfractures. One patient in this cohort who had long QT syndrome type 8 died of a hypoglycemic seizure. Conclusion Minimally invasive epicardial ICD placement provides an effective, alternative method for implanting an ICD system, particularly in very young patients (
Innovative technology in oceanography: Past, present and future

Technological innovation has provided oceanography with tools for observation, analysis and data sharing that increase the rate at which society can benefit from our understanding of the environment. While most of the innovations have come from outside oceanography such as electronics, the analog to digital revolution, microprocessors and the Internet, many have been invented by ocean engineers such as the CTD, underwater acoustic telemetry and autonomous underwater vehicles. The consequences of not having these tools would have been a vastly decreased observational base of data and information and consequent understanding of earth processes including climate change, ocean acidification and other phenomena of social concern. Fiscal concerns threaten innovation in oceanography as in other social activities. It is presumed that freezing technological innovation at the present stage will impede observations, analyses and understanding resulting in unwise policies on a global scale to social detriment for all mankind. The establishment in the IEEE/Oceanic Engineering Society of the Innovative Technology Committee in May 2011 has provided impetus for this paper.
Construction mode for Intelligent Distribution Network

Smart distribution grid is an important part of the smart grid. From the actual engineering demand of the construction of Intelligence Distribution Network, the definition of Intelligence Distribution Network and the technology principles of construction are argued firstly in this paper. According to the function arrangement and the appliance range, the construction mode of Intelligence Distribution is divided into the simple type, the standard type and the extended type. The construction mode and the function configuration are described in detail from the angle of the functional specification, two-way communication channel and scope, etc. It would have the important practical guide significance for standardize and normalization engineering construction of Intelligence Distribution Network.
Cannabis, Associative Memory, fMRI, and the Implicit Association Test

Abstract The understanding of habit processes can be advanced through imaging neurobiological processes that support habit-related associative memories. The implicit association test (IAT) is one method used to examine concept specific associative memory effects. IAT performance in the scanner allows for observation of neural correlates of automatic associative processes during compatible trials, and effortful/controlled processes during incompatible task trials. fMRI evaluation of the neural correlates of a marijuana-IAT revealed marijuana users elicited greater activity in brain regions underlying habit—mediated through striatal regions—during compatible trials relative to fixation, and relative to nonusers. Nonusers showed greater activity in brain regions requiring more effortful/controlled processing—mediated through prefrontal and frontal cortical regions—during incompatible trials relative to fixation. Neural activity generated by IAT performance allows for the detection of potential associative/habit-based learning, since the task reflects neural response to more or less effortful/controlled processing of concepts.
No decline in the risk of heart failure after incident atrial fibrillation: A community study assessing trends overall and by ejection fraction

Background Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) experience an increased risk of heart failure (HF). However, data are lacking on current trends in the risk of HF after AF. Objective The purpose of this study was to describe the temporal trends in HF occurrence after AF in a community cohort of patients with incident AF from 2000 to 2013. Methods Cox regression was used to examine the association of year of AF diagnosis with HF and the predictors of developing HF after AF. Results Among 3491 AF patients without prior HF, 750 (21%) developed incident HF over mean follow-up of 3.7 years. Among those with an echocardiogram, 422 (61%) had HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and 270 (39%) had HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). After adjusting for demographics and comorbidities, the risk of developing HF did not change over time (hazard ratio [HR] (95% confidence interval [CI]) per year of AF diagnosis: 1.01 (0.98–1.03) overall; 1.00 (0.98–1.03) for HFpEF; 1.00 (0.96–1.03) for HFrEF). Increasing age, obesity, smoking, diabetes, chronic pulmonary disease, and renal disease were predictors of developing HF. Compared to the Olmsted County, Minnesota, population, a substantial excess risk of developing HF was observed after AF diagnosis [standardized morbidity ratio (95% CI): 9.60 (7.44–12.19), 2.13 (1.56–2.84), and 1.70 (1.34–2.14) at 90 days, 1 year, and 3 years after diagnosis]. Conclusion In the community, HF is a frequent adverse outcome among patients with AF, and HFpEF is more common than HFrEF. The rates of HF after AF have not declined, thus highlighting the importance of continued efforts to improve outcomes in AF.
Mass Shootings: The Role of the Media in Promoting Generalized Imitation.

Mass shootings are a particular problem in the United States, with one mass shooting occurring approximately every 12.5 days.Recently a “contagion” effect has been suggested wherein the occurrence of one mass shooting increases the likelihood of another mass shooting occurring in the near future. Although contagion is a convenient metaphor used to describe the temporal spread of a behavior, it does not explain how the behavior spreads. Generalized imitation is proposed as a better model to explain how one person’s behavior can influence another person to engage in similar behavior.Here we provide an overview of generalized imitation and discuss how the way in which the media report a mass shooting can increase the likelihood of another shooting event. Also, we propose media reporting guidelines to minimize imitation and further decrease the likelihood of a mass shooting.
Effects of excitation around jet preferred mode Strouhal number in high-speed jets

It has been widely reported in the literature that the jet preferred mode Strouhal number varies over a large range of 0.2–0.6, depending upon the facility where the measurement is made as well as the measurement techniques and the location in the jet plume where the measurement is taken. This study investigates this wide variation and potential explanations for it. Active flow control is used to show that the jet is receptive to excitation over a large range of Strouhal numbers and azimuthal modes. The wide variation in the preferred mode Strouhal number is shown to be tightly linked to the evolution, spacing, and scale of the coherent flow structures, which dominate the jet shear layer’s development. The low-end of the range is determined by the minimum Strouhal number at which structures begin to interact with one another in the jet plume. Below this range, structures have no significant effect on the plume’s statistical properties. For Strouhal numbers at the high-end of the range, the development of coherent flow structures shifts upstream toward the nozzle exit and the structures disintegrate earlier in the jet plume. The earlier development and disintegration prevent these structures from strongly impacting the entire flowfield. The results imply that upstream perturbations in the flow present in various facilities could be responsible for the variations in the measured jet preferred mode Strouhal number. Experimental results from schlieren imaging and near- and far-field microphone measurements are used to investigate the preferred mode Strouhal number across this range.
A Hermeneutic Phenomenology: The Death of the Other Understood as Event

This is a phenomenological description of what is happening when we experience the death of an other that interprets surviving or living on after such death by employing the term event . This term of art from phenomenology and hermeneutics is used to describe a disruptive and transformative experience of singularity. I maintain that the death of the other is an experience of an event because such death is unpredictable or without a horizon of expectation, excessive or without any principle of sufficient reason, and transformative or a death of the world itself.
Integration and scaling of UV-B radiation effects on plants: the relative sensitivity of growth forms and interspecies interactions

The relative plant type sensitivity and selected community interactions under increased UV-B radiation where examined. Specifically, we investigated: (i) if there are differences among growth forms in regard to their sensitivity to UV-B radiation, (ii) if increased UV-B radiation influences the plant competitive balance in plant communities and (iii) the response mechanisms of the UV-B radiation-sensitive species that might increase their fitness. To answer our research questions, we used a mechanistic model that, for the first time, integrated the effects of increased UV-B radiation from molecular level processes, whole plant growth and development, and community interactions. In the model simulations, species types exhibited different levels of sensitivity to increased UV-B radiation. Summer C₃ and C₄ annuals showed similar growth inhibition rates, while biennials and winter C₃ annuals were the most sensitive. Perennials exhibited inhibitions in growth only if increased UV-B radiation results in increases in metabolic rates. In communities, species sensitive to UV-B radiation may have a competitive disadvantage compared to resistant plant species. But, sensitive species may have a wide array of responses that can increase their fitness and reproductive success in the community, such as, increased secondary metabolites production, changes in timing of emergence and reproduction, and changes in seed size. While individual plants may exhibit significant inhibitions in growth and development, in communities, these inhibitions can be mitigated by small morphological and physiological adaptations. Infrequent or occasional increased UV-B radiation events should not have any lasting effect on the structure of the community, unless other environmental factors are perturbing the dynamic equilibrium.
Pheochromocytomas and Paragangliomas: Genetics and Pathophysiology

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are rare tumors of the autonomic nervous system. These tumors are associated with high morbidity and mortality from hormonal hypersecretion, mass effect, and metastatic disease. Metastatic pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are associated with a 50% 5-year survival rate, and currently, there is no cure for widespread disease. Up to 40% of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are associated with a hereditary mutation in one of the many susceptibility genes involved in a variety of cancer syndromes. Between the germline and somatic genetic mutations identified to date, at least 60% of tumors have a known driver of tumorigenesis. Despite the extensive knowledge of the tumor genetics, very little is known about the pathogenesis of malignant transformation.
Doing for the Greater Good: What Price, in Academe?

In discussing how merit is commonly judged in academia, my focus in this article is not on dimensions that are currently considered but on those that warrant more attention. Grounded in suggestions...
Deducing the presence of proteins and proteoforms in quantitative proteomics

The human genome harbors just 20,000 genes suggesting that the variety of possible protein products per gene plays a significant role in generating functional diversity. In bottom-up proteomics peptides are mapped back to proteins and proteoforms to describe a proteome; however, accurate quantitation of proteoforms is challenging due to incomplete protein sequence coverage and mapping ambiguities. Here, we demonstrate that a new software tool called ProteinClusterQuant (PCQ) can be used to deduce the presence of proteoforms that would have otherwise been missed, as exemplified in a proteomic comparison of two fly species, Drosophila melanogaster and D. virilis. PCQ was used to identify reduced levels of serine/threonine protein kinases PKN1 and PKN4 in CFBE41o− cells compared to HBE41o− cells and to elucidate that shorter proteoforms of full-length caspase-4 and ephrin B receptor are differentially expressed. Thus, PCQ extends current analyses in quantitative proteomics and facilitates finding differentially regulated proteins and proteoforms. An accurate quantitation of different proteoforms remains challenging due to incomplete protein sequence coverage in mass spectrometry datasets. Here the authors describe a method to facilitate the discovery of proteoforms that may otherwise not be considered due to incomplete protein coverage or ambiguities in mapping peptides back to proteins.
Big data, agents, and machine learning: towards a data-driven agent-based modeling approach

We have recently witnessed the proliferation of large-scale behavioral data that can be used to empirically develop agent-based models (ABMs). Despite this opportunity, the literature has neglected to offer a structured agent-based modeling approach to produce agents or its parts directly from data. In this paper, we present initial steps towards an agent-based modeling approach that focuses on individual-level data to generate agent behavioral rules and initialize agent attribute values. We present a structured way to integrate Big Data and machine learning techniques at the individual agent-level. We also describe a conceptual use-case study of an urban mobility simulation driven by millions of geo-tagged Twitter social media messages. We believe our approach will advance the-state-of-the-art in developing empirical ABMs and conducting their validation. Further work is needed to assess data suitability, to compare with other approaches, to standardize data collection, and to serve all these features in near-real time.
ESR2 Is Essential for Gonadotropin-Induced Kiss1 Expression in Granulosa Cells

Hypothalamic expression of Kiss1 plays an essential role in the onset of puberty, gonadal development, and ovulation. Estrogens regulate the expression of Kiss1 in the hypothalamus through estrogen receptor-α. Kiss1 is also expressed in the ovary, where its expression correlates with the onset of puberty and progression of the estrous cycle. To date, estrogen regulation of Kiss1 expression in the ovary has not been investigated. We recently observed that gonadotropin-induced Kiss1 expression was absent in Esr2-null rat ovaries even though Esr1 was present. Wild-type granulosa cells abundantly expressed Kiss1 and oocytes expressed the Kiss1 receptor. We characterized estrogen receptor-β (ESR2) regulation of Kiss1 expression in granulosa cells by identifying granulosa cell-specific transcript variants and potential regulatory regions. The Kiss1 promoter, an upstream enhancer, and a downstream enhancer all possessed conserved estrogen response elements (EREs) and showed active histone marks in gonadotropin-stimulated granulosa cells. The transcriptionally active Kiss1 promoter, as well as the enhancers, also revealed enrichment for ESR2 binding. Furthermore, activity of a Kiss1 promoter construct was induced after overexpression of ESR2 and was blocked upon mutation of an ERE within the promoter. Finally, pregnant mare serum gonadotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin administration induced phosphorylation of ESR2 and upregulated the AP-1 proteins FOSL2 and JUNB in granulosa cells. Activated MAPK ERK2 was associated with the ESR2 phosphorylation in granulosa cells, and AP-1 factors could synergistically activate the Kiss1 promoter activity. These gonadotropin-induced changes paralleled Kiss1 expression in granulosa cells. We conclude that gonadotropin-stimulated Kiss1 expression in granulosa cells is dependent on both the activation of ESR2 and the upregulation of AP-1.
Predicting ductile tearing of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel

Predictions for ductile tearing of an additively-manufactured 316L metal structure were generated using a unified creep plasticity damage (UCPD) model and finite element models constructed using 4-node tetrahedral or 8-node hexahedral elements. Uniaxial tension and notched tension experiments were simulated to obtain material parameters for the UCPD model. Results from these simulations revealed that accurate prediction of material bifurcations prior to the initiation of ductile tears are critically important for generating accurate ductile tearing predictions. This occurs because material bifurcations lead to deformation localization which is followed by ductile tearing. Crack path predictions were found to be sensitive to the finite element mesh with cracks preferring to run along mesh lines. Finally, the unloading slope of the load displacement curve was found to be sensitive to element failure modeling.
Recent Advances in Using Natural Language Processing to Address Public Health Research Questions Using Social Media and ConsumerGenerated Data.

Objective: We present a narrative review of recent work on the utilisation of Natural Language Processing (NLP) for the analysis of social media (including online health communities) specifically for public health applications. Methods: We conducted a literature review of NLP research that utilised social media or online consumer-generated text for public health applications, focussing on the years 2016 to 2018. Papers were identified in several ways, including PubMed searches and the inspection of recent conference proceedings from the Association of Computational Linguistics (ACL), the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), and the International AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM). Popular data sources included Twitter, Reddit, various online health communities, and Facebook. Results: In the recent past, communicable diseases (e.g., influenza, dengue) have been the focus of much social media-based NLP health research. However, mental health and substance use and abuse (including the use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and opioids) have been the subject of an increasing volume of research in the 2016 - 2018 period. Associated with this trend, the use of lexicon-based methods remains popular given the availability of psychologically validated lexical resources suitable for mental health and substance abuse research. Finally, we found that in the period under review “modern" machine learning methods (i.e. deep neural-network-based methods), while increasing in popularity, remain less widely used than “classical" machine learning methods.
The effects of simple density-dependent prey diffusion and refuge in a predator-prey system

We study a spatial (two-dimensional) Rosenzweig-MacArthur model under the following assumptions: $(1)$ prey movement follows a nonlinear diffusion, $(2)$ preys have a refuge zone (sometimes called "protection zone") where predators cannot enter, (3) predators move following linear diffusion. We present a bifurcation analysis for the system that shows the existence of positive solutions at the steady state. We complement the theoretical results with numerical computations and compare our results with those obtained in the case of having linear diffusion for the prey movement. Our results show that both models, with linear and nonlinear diffusion for the prey, have the same bifurcation point and the positive solution curves are virtually the same in a neighborhood of this point, but they get drastically different as the bifurcation parameter approaches to zero.
The trustworthiness and transparency in clinical practice guidelines versus the ongoing damaging power of direct and indirect conflict of interest.

Abstract With the increasing costs of health care, clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have gained a crucial role in standardizing care, protecting health resources, and assuring their accurate distribution by improving health outcomes. Influencing the outcome of a guideline (by one of the authors, members of the specialty board, or an influential member of the specialty) could result in inappropriate expense to the health care system and profits to investors of the medications/tests/devices that were recommended. CPGs are statements based on a systematic review of the existing scientific evidence, developed by knowledgeable experts, that have the potential to reduce inappropriate practice variation, enhance research, and improve health care quality and safety. 1
Congestion Minimization for Service Chain Routing Problems With Path Length Considerations

Network function virtualization (NFV), with its perceived potential to accelerate service deployment and to introduce flexibility in service provisioning, has drawn a growing interest from industry and academia alike over the past few years. One of the key challenges in realizing NFV is the service chain routing problem, whereby traffic must be routed so as to traverse the various components of a network service that have been mapped onto the underlying network. In this work, we consider the online service chain routing problem. We route the service chain with the goal of jointly minimizing the maximum network congestion and the number of hops from the source to the destination. To this end, we present a simple yet effective online algorithm in which the routing decision is irrevocably made without prior knowledge of future requests. We prove that our algorithm is $O(\log m)$ -competitive in terms of congestion minimization, where $m$ is the number of edges of the underlying network topology, and we show that this ratio is asymptotically optimal.
The Parkinson’s Disease DNA Variant Browser

Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a genetically complex neurodegenerative disease with ~20 genes known to contain mutations that cause PD or atypical parkinsonism and 90 common genetic risk factors. Large-scale next-generation sequencing projects have revolutionized genomics research. Applying these data to PD, many genes have been reported to contain putative disease-causing mutations. In most instances, however, the results remain quite limited and rather preliminary, in large part because of an inability of any single group to validate findings in a large independent series of sequenced patients. We present here the Parkinson’s Disease Sequencing Browser: a Shiny-based web application that presents comprehensive summary-level frequency data from multiple large-scale genotyping and sequencing projects. The data is aggregated and involves a total of 102,127 participants, including 30,103 PD cases (including 1,650 proxy cases) and 72,024 controls. Our aim is to assist researchers on their search for PD-risk genes and variant candidates with an easily accessible and open summary-level genomic data browser for the PD research community, https://pdgenetics.shinyapps.io/VariantBrowser/.
Plasma metabolites associated with chronic kidney disease and renal function in adults from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important cause of disability and death, but its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Plasma metabolites can provide insights into underlying processes associated with CKD. To clarify the relationship of plasma metabolites with CKD and renal function in human. We used a targeted metabolomics approach to characterize the relationship of 450 plasma metabolites with CKD and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in 616 adults, aged 38–94 years, who participated in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. There were 74 (12.0%) adults with CKD. Carnitine, acetylcarnitine, propionylcarnitine, butyrylcarnitine, trigonelline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), 1-methylhistidine, citrulline, homoarginine, homocysteine, sarcosine, symmetric dimethylarginine, aspartate, phenylalanine, taurodeoxycholic acid, 3-indolepropionic acid, phosphatidylcholines (PC).aa.C40:2, PC.aa.C40:3, PC.ae.C40:6, triglycerides (TG) 20:4/36:3, TG 20:4/36:4, and choline were associated with higher odds of CKD in multivariable analyses adjusting for potential confounders and using a false discovery rate (FDR) to address multiple testing. Six acylcarnitines, trigonelline, TMAO, 18 amino acids and biogenic amines, taurodeoxycholic acid, hexoses, cholesteryl esters 22:6, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, 3-indolepropionic acid, 2 PCs, 17 TGs, and choline were negatively associated with eGFR, and hippuric acid was positively associated with eGFR in multivariable analyses adjusting for potential confounders and using a FDR approach. The metabolites associated with CKD and reduced eGFR suggest that several pathways, such as the urea cycle, the arginine-nitric oxide pathway, the polyamine pathway, and short chain acylcarnitine metabolism are altered in adults with CKD and impaired renal function.
Rural and Urban Differences in COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors.

PURPOSE: To examine whether the adoption of COVID-19-related preventive health behaviors vary in rural versus urban communities of the United States while accounting for the influence of political ideology, demographic factors, and COVID-19 experiences. METHODS: We rely on a representative survey of 5009 American adults collected from May 28 to June 8, 2020. We analyze the influence of rural status, political ideology, demographic factors, and COVID-19 experiences on self-reported adoption of 8 COVID-19-related preventive health behaviors. FINDINGS: Rural residents are significantly less likely to have worn a mask in public, sanitized their home or workplace with disinfectant, avoided dining at restaurants or bars, or worked from home. These findings, with the exception of dining out, are robust to the inclusion of measures accounting for political ideology, demographic factors, and COVID-19 experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Rural residents are significantly less likely to participate in several COVID-19-related preventive health behaviors. This reality could exacerbate existing disparities in health access and outcomes for rural Americans. Health messaging targeted at improving COVID-19 preventive behavior adoption in rural America is warranted.
Is New York's Mark-to-Market Act Unconstitutionally Retroactive?

This essay analyzes the retroactivity issues that have been raised in regard to mark-to-market and other accrual income tax reforms, with a focus on New York State’s proposed Billionaire Mark-to-Market Tax Act.
Comparison of student performance following in-person or virtual gross anatomy labs during COVID-19

The global pandemic of coronavirus disease has significantly impacted medical education, including removing trainees from clinical environments, transitioning didactic sessions to virtual platforms, and necessitating creative solutions to provide interactive learning opportunities in a virtual, socially distant setting. Human gross anatomy education, with its emphasis on hands-on, team-based, active learning by body donor dissection, has been particularly impacted by these transitions. Dissection is considered the best practice for learning gross anatomy and has been shown to enhance learning over non-dissection-based methods. At the Medical College of Wisconsin, team-based, body donor dissections are the basis for the Clinical Human Anatomy course. However, the pandemic necessitated changes to the format of laboratory activities. For the 2020-2021 academic year, students either completed anatomy labs in-person in a socially distant environment or virtually. This provided an opportunity to directly compare the effect of different laboratory instructional modalities on student performance within a single course. All first-year medical students were enrolled in the same Clinical Human Anatomy course, attended identical didactic sessions, and were assessed by identical examinations that included lecture-based questions as well as laboratory image-based questions. As the semester progressed and coronavirus disease case numbers rose, students were offered two options for completing laboratory instruction: (1) continue dissections in socially distant pairs or (2) transition to a virtual lab format. The virtual lab format included a self-directed module which guided students through the dissections they would have done in person. Each module consisted of a PowerPoint presentation that incorporated interactive software (3D4Medical Complete Anatomy) and dissection images. The self-directed modules were followed by interactive Zoom sessions, wherein faculty reviewed a prosection and posed clinically relevant questions to the meeting attendees. Students who opted for the virtual lab format were able to review dissections in-person on their own time or with a tutor. Likewise, students who opted to continue dissection had access to the virtual modules and recordings of the Zoom sessions. Comparison between students completing labs virtually or in-person showed no difference in aggregate performance on examinations. This study examined medical knowledge and did not investigate other competencies impacted by lab activities (teamwork, dealing with death, and the ?first patient? experience). We consider hands-on dissection to be the gold-standard format for learning gross anatomy, but this study showed by direct comparison in a single course, that multiple laboratory formats can yield equivalent understanding of the complex structure of the body.
Towards a History of Arabic Writing and Legal-Commercial Institutions in Nineteenth-Century West Africa

This paper focuses on the role of writing and literacy in Arabic in the context of nineteenth-century commercial networks in West Africa. Based on the correspondence of a single extended family and their clients based in Timbuktu (Mali) in the second half of the nineteenth century, the paper explores the ways in which letters enabled complex agency relations between investors and travelling commercial agents, and facilitated forms of accounting and book-keeping that could not have existed in the absence of literacy. What the paper attempts to show, using the empirical examples drawn from the letters of this particular family firm, is that writing was a technology that allowed for much more complex and dynamic institutional mechanisms of credit, agency, and trust among merchants in the Sahara and Sahel than would ever have been possible without it. The paper also argues that writing made possible structures of community and identity that attached themselves to religious sentiments, and created a sense of bonds between correspondents in the constant reiteration of salutations, exchanges of news, and mapped movements of members of widely dispersed groups across North and West Africa.
Resolutions of locally analytic principal series representations of $$GL_2$$ G L 2

For a finite extension $$F/{{{\mathbb {Q}}}_p}$$ we associate a coefficient system on the Bruhat-Tits tree of $$G:= \mathrm{GL}_2(F)$$ to a locally analytic representation V of G. This is done in analogy to the work of Schneider and Stuhler for smooth representations. This coefficient system furnishes a chain-complex which is shown, in the case of locally analytic principal series representations V, to be a resolution of V.
Changes in Hepatocyte TGFß Receptors and Gene Expression during Normal and Neoplastic Liver Growth

We have used the rat liver as a model system for studying the controls on normal and neoplastic growth in vivo and in vitro. Our working hypothesis has been that cell proliferation and the synthesis of specialized proteins are a consequence of gene action which in turn is strongly influenced by cellular environmental stimuli such as hormones and other growth regulatory molecules. The liver model permits the study of hepatocytes from resting normal liver, regenerating liver after a two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) and liver containing proliferating cells as a consequence of chronic carcinogen administration. We have studied these 3 aspects of growth using resting, regenerating, and carcinogen-altered liver as source material from which hepatocyte populations are prepared by the collagenase perfusion technique and after attachment to tissue culture dishes, the cells are then studied. Using this model system, we have been interested in determining how growth regulatory molecules (stimulants and inhibitors) influence hepatocyte growth and conversely, learning about growth controlling mechanisms through the study of how hepatocytes from resting, regenerating and carcinogen-altered liver differ in their interactions with model growth stimulants and growth inhibitors.
The Ethics of Fetal Surgery

Many thoughtful things have been said in this conference about the fetus as patient. I shall take them as prolegomena to my remarks, which are directed at the surgical treatment of the fetus in utero or extra uterum. At the present time, intervention for three serious threats to fetal life and well-being are considered feasible. The first is surgical relief of obstructive hydrocephalus secondary to stenosis of the aquaduct of Sylvius. In this procedure, a shunt is introduced into the ventricles of the brain of the fetus via a needle inserted into the uterus through the maternal abdomen, and cerebrospinal fluid is drawn into the amniotic fluid. The second procedure is correction of the blocked fetal urinary tract. This is done either by placing a catheter through the maternal abdomen into the fetal bladder or by removing the fetus partially from the uterus, decompressing the bladder, and creating a physical channel from the kidneys or the bladder into the amniotic fluid. This second procedure, which involves externalization of the fetus, has been done, to my knowledge, only twice. I was involved in both cases and was present at the second surgery. The third surgical treatment considered feasible is correction of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. This procedure has not yet been done.
Satisfying Students' Requests for Skills

Abstract This paper introduces a process for teaching creative and expressive techniques from an empowerment perspective in advanced practice classes. It demonstrates MSW student learning in play, music, art, and other expressive interventions. The assignment, the use of the class as a group, introduction of specific techniques, and how they empower and enhance culturally competent practice are discussed.
Principles of Demographic Analysis Applied to Natural Polyploid Populations

The general principles of demographic analysis apply equally well to diploid or polyploid populations. The question is whether the morphological, physiological, or behavioral characteristic of polyploid populations will affect their demographic development.
Los tejanos leales a México del este de Texas, 1838-1839

Eneltranscursodelsigloxix, la region conocida como este de Texas llego a ser controlada por la cultura surefia de Es tados Unidos. La economia de la zona se basaba en la agri cultura de hacienda; la politica se cifraba en la defensa de la hegemonia racial "anglo", y el aumento de la poblacion provenia de lugares que compartian estos atributos. Sin em bargo, la historia temprana de esta zona fue espafiola e in dia, no angloamericana, y la lucha de los tejanos* por man tener su herencia cultural, no ha sido explicada por los historiadores.
Bedside sonographic measurement of the inferior vena cava caval index is a poor predictor of fluid responsiveness in emergency department patients.

Objectives Sonographic measurement of the inferior vena cava (IVC) caval index predicts central venous pressure in ED patients. Fluid responsiveness (FR) is a measure of preload dependence defined as an increase in cardiac output secondary to volume expansion. We sought to determine if the caval index is an accurate measurement of FR in ED patients. Methods We conducted a prospective, observational trial at an urban, academic, adult ED with an annual census >105 000. Included patients were clinically suspected of eu- and hypovolemia. Excluded patients were 10% by impedance cardiography (BioZ; Sonosite) following passive leg raise. The primary outcome was analysed using Spearman correlations for non-parametric data and the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve by Wilcoxon method. Results Thirty patients were enrolled; four were excluded because of incomplete data collection. Thirty-one per cent (95% CI 13–48) of the patients were FR. The mean initial caval and cardiac index were 15.8% (95% CI 9.5–22) and 2.9 L/min/m2 (95% CI 2.6–3.2), respectively. Caval index did not predict FR (receiver operating curve = 0.46, 95% CI 0.21–0.71, P = 0.63). Conclusion Bedside sonographic measurement of IVC caval index does not predict FR in a heterogeneous ED patient population. Further research using this technique in targeted patient subsets and a variety of shock etiologies is needed.