cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Women's health in maternal and child health: time for a new tradition?

Objectives. The status quo in maternal and child health (MCH) focuses on obstetric health. An emerging alternative is to broaden the notion to reproductive health. An inclusive perspective encompasses women's health issues in MCH. The purpose of this paper is to further the debate on the relationship of women's health to MCH. Specific aims are (1) to describe activities promoting women's health in MCH and (2) to examine consequences of alternative perspectives for MCH research, services, and training. Method. To achieve the first objective, I discuss developments in a state health agency and pertinent documents from the MCH Section of the American Public Health Association. To address the second aim, I follow the Bush Policy Analysis Model of weighing the three paradigms against the following evaluative criteria: equity, efficiency, satisfaction, stigma, indirect effects, feasibility, sensitivity to class and race, and social responsibility. Results. The obstetric approach meets most criteria in a positive fashion; reproductive health satisfies criteria more positively and less equivocally. A women's health perspective bears the most potential for improving reproductive outcomes at this time, since no area of women's general health has been definitively shown to be irrelevant to reproduction (or vice versa). Conclusions: This analysis suggests that women's health should be incorporated more fully into the MCH field, as well as other areas of public health and medicine. Once research deficits have been addressed and the scope of reproductive health delineated more clearly, the alignment of women's health with MCH may be reevaluated.
Cell-interactions in the splenic suppression caused by antigen-feeding.

Whereas antigen given systemically usually results in a humoral or cell-mediated immune response, antigen given by the oral route usually induces a state of tolerance (1–4). This is most often demonstrated by a reduced response to systemic antigen challenge given after the initial oral antigen administration. Several investigators have shown that the unresponsive state induced by antigen-feeding is “infectious,” that is infusion of cells from antigen-fed mice into normal recipients transfers the unresponsive state (4–6). These data would seem to indicate that antigen-feeding induces suppressor T cells, but in the light of recent findings on T cell interactions, other explanations are available; the main one of which is that antigen-feeding does not induce suppressor T cells, but instead produces “suppressor-inducers” (7, 8). These cells, when re-exposed to antigen can co-opt other T cells to become suppressor cells.
The use of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy to determine the diffusion coefficients of alcohols in polydimethylsiloxane

A variable long path gas cell was used to measure the sorption of organic vapors by a polymer slab. Unfilled polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) slabs were cast and used to study the sorption of a series of aliphatic alcohols. The PDMS slab was suspended in the gas cell and exposed to low relative pressures of an alcohol vapor. The sorption rate of the alcohol vapor by the PDMS slab was obtained by measuring the decrease in the amount of free diffusant in the gas cell. The diffusion coefficients of the alcohols in the PDMS slab were then calculated from the curves of amount of diffusant sorbed versus time. The results show that the values of the diffusion coefficients at nearly infinite dilution, D 0, for methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, and 1-butanol are 1.01 × 10−5, 0.61 × 10−5, 0.54 × 10−5, and 0.33 × 10−5 cm2/sec, respectively. The isotherms for the sorption of the alcohols by the PDMS slab were also constructed from the data.
VASCULARIZED SARCOID GRANULOMA COMPLICATED BY PLACOID DISEASE IN A PEDIATRIC PATIENT.

PURPOSE To report a case of pediatric vascularized sarcoid choroidal granuloma complicated by placoid-like inflammation. METHODS Case report. RESULTS A 10-year-old girl presented with blurry vision in her right eye and a yellowish macular lesion that had been diagnosed as fibrotic choroidal neovascular membrane and observed for several months. On referral to our clinic, optical coherence tomography revealed a homogeneous hyperreflective lesion obliterating the choroidal vasculature and protruding under the retina with associated subretinal and intraretinal fluid. Optical coherence tomography angiography revealed vascularization of this granulomatous lesion, and the girl underwent six intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor, with reabsorption of the fluid and consolidation of the lesion. A sudden, abrupt decrease in the visual acuity of the right eye 3 months after the last injection was accompanied on optical coherence tomography by hyperreflective inflammatory lesions breaking from the retinal pigment epithelium and involving the outer nuclear layer, all around the fibrotic granulomatous lesion. The girl was treated with oral steroids, and an extensive systemic evaluation revealed hilar adenopathy, thus posing the diagnosis of pediatric sarcoidosis complicated by placoid chorioretinopathy. CONCLUSION Atypical presentations of typical uveitic diseases are quite common in children. The presence of a foveal vascularized granuloma complicated by a placoid disorder should prompt the exclusion of infectious etiologies such as tuberculosis, to establish a therapy to preserve the child's vision.
Differential Privacy for Positive and Unlabeled Learning With Known Class Priors

Despite the increasing attention to big data, there are several domains where labeled data is scarce or too costly to obtain. For example, for data from information retrieval, gene analysis, and social network analysis, only training samples from the positive class are annotated while the remaining unlabeled training samples consist of both unlabeled positive and unlabeled negative samples. The specific positive and unlabeled (PU) data from those domains necessitates a mechanism to learn a two-class classifier from only one-class labeled data. Moreover, because data from those domains is highly sensitive and private, preserving training samples privacy is essential. This paper addresses the challenge of private PU learning by designing a differentially private algorithm for positive and unlabeled data. We first propose a learning framework for the PU setting when the class prior probability is known, with a theoretical guarantee of convergence to the optimal classifier. We then propose a privacy-preserving mechanism for the designed framework where the privacy and utility are both theoretically and empirically proved.
Neoadjuvant (neo) immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in patients (Pts) with high-risk resectable metastatic melanoma (MM).

9510Background: Nivolumab (nivo) and combination ipilimumab (ipi) + nivo are highly active in pts with unresectable and stage IV MM. Nivo is also safe and effective adjuvant treatment for MM pts wi...
Validating a Time Series of Annual Grass Percent Cover in the Sagebrush Ecosystem

Abstract We mapped yearly (2000–2016) estimates of annual grass percent cover for much of the sagebrush ecosystem of the western United States using remotely sensed, climate, and geophysical data in regression-tree models. Annual grasses senesce and cure by early summer and then become beds of fine fuel that easily ignite and spread fire through rangeland systems. Our annual maps estimate the extent of these fuels and can serve as a tool to assist land managers and scientists in understanding the ecosystem’s response to weather variations, disturbances, and management. Validating the time series of annual maps is important for determining the usefulness of the data. To validate these maps, we compare Bureau of Land Management Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) data to mapped estimates and use a leave-one-out spatial assessment technique that is effective for validating maps that cover broad geographical extents. We hypothesize that the time series of annual maps exhibits high spatiotemporal variability because precipitation is highly variable in arid and semiarid environments where sagebrush is native, and invasive annual grasses respond to precipitation. The remotely sensed data that help drive our regression-tree model effectively measures annual grasses’ response to precipitation. The mean absolute error (MAE) rate varied depending on the validation data and technique used for comparison. The AIM plot data and our maps had substantial spatial incongruence, but despite this, the MAE rate for the assessment equaled 12.62%. The leave-one-out accuracy assessment had an MAE of 8.43%. We quantified bias, and bias was more substantial at higher percent cover. These annual maps can help management identify actions that may alleviate the current cycle of invasive grasses because it enables the assessment of the variability of annual grass − percent cover distribution through space and time, as part of dynamic systems rather than static systems.
Monitoring neuronal survival via longitudinal fluorescence microscopy

Standard cytotoxicity assays, which require the collection of lysates or fixed cells at multiple time points, have limited sensitivity and capacity to assess factors that influence neuronal fate. These assays require the observation of separate populations of cells at discrete time points. As a result, individual cells cannot be followed prospectively over time, severely limiting the ability to discriminate whether subcellular events, such as puncta formation or protein mislocalization, are pathogenic drivers of disease, homeostatic responses, or merely coincidental phenomena. Single-cell longitudinal microscopy overcomes these limitations, allowing the researcher to determine differences in survival between populations and draw causal relationships with enhanced sensitivity. This video guide will outline a representative workflow for experiments measuring single-cell survival of rat primary cortical neurons expressing a fluorescent protein marker. The viewer will learn how to achieve high-efficiency transfections, collect and process images enabling the prospective tracking of individual cells, and compare the relative survival of neuronal populations using Cox proportional hazards analysis.
Variant allele frequencies do not correlate well with myeloblast counts in a clinically validated gene sequencing panel for routine acute myeloid leukemia workup.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) has introduced new types of data, such as variant allele frequencies (VAFs), into the workup of acute myeloid leukemias (AML). There is interest in using NGS to pro...
La biología molecular y las cardiopatías congénitas: presente y futuro

La frecuencia de las malformaciones cardiovasculares congenitas en humanos es de alrededor del 1% en nacidos vivos, del 10% en por nacer y del 20% en abortos espontaneos (Hoffman, 1995). En los Estados Unidos de Norteamerica, nacen anualmente 32,000 bebes con malformaciones cardiovasculares; aproximadamente 20% mueren durante el primer ano de vida. Ademas de estos cardiopatas, 30,000 padeceran anomalias del ritmo cardiaco y 40,000 mas, tendran otros tipos de enfermedades cardiovasculares que disminuiran su esperanza de vida (Moller et al, 1993). Actualmente, el exito en el tratamiento de las malformaciones congenitas cardiacas se debe a un diagnostico preciso y a la baja morbilidad y mortalidad de la terapia quirurgica de la transposicion de las grandes arterias (TGA) y del cierre del defecto del septum interatrial (ASV) por medio del “transcateter” (Benson & McQuin, 1999), pero aun se desconocen las causas que dan origen a las cardiopatias congenitas; no obstante, se considera que surgen de un efecto combinado de factores geneticos y medio ambientales (Chien, 1993; Grossfeld & Chien, 2000).
Gadolinium-based MRI contrast agent for the detection of tyrosinase

Tyrosinase is a key enzyme that has long been considered as a biomarker for melanoma as it catalyzes the oxidation of tyrosine and l-DOPA in melanogenesis. Recent studies also suggest a link between tyrosinase activity and Parkinson's disease; however, the mechanism of tyrosinase-mediated melanin formation in the brain is poorly understood. To better understand this connection, more advanced tools for the detection of tyrosinase in the brain are required. Herein, we successfully designed and synthesized a tyrosinase-targeting Gd(iii)-based MR contrast agent Tyr-GBCA 1. Tyr-GBCA 1 was synthesized by linking m-hydroxyphenyl to Gd-DOTA via a self-immolative linker. Tyr-GBCA 1 shows a 21% increase in the T1 relaxation rate (R1) in the presence of tyrosinase in artificial cerebral spinal fluid. Furthermore, Tyr-GBCA 1 is unreactive to hydrogen peroxide, which is a potential interferent in oxidation-based tyrosinase sensing systems. The reaction mechanism of the probe was studied by electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry and supports the cleavage of a reaction site.
Benchmarking Site of Death and Hospice Use: A Case Study of Veterans Cared by Department of Veterans Affairs Home-based Primary Care.

Objective The objective of this study was to examine site of death and hospice use, identifying potential disparities among veterans dying in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Based Primary Care (VA-HBPC). Methods Administrative data (2008, 2012, and 2016) were compiled using the VA Residential-History-File which tracks health care service location, daily. Outcomes were site of death [home, nursing home (NH), hospital, inpatient hospice]; and hospice use on the day of death. We compared VA-HBPC rates to rates of 2 decedent benchmarks: VA patients and 5% Traditional Medicare non-veteran males. Potential age, race, urban/rural residence and living alone status disparities in rates among veterans dying in VA-HBPC in 2016 were examined by multinomial logistic regression. Results In 2016, 7796 veterans died in VA-HBPC of whom 62.1% died at home, 11.8% in NHs, 14.7% in hospitals and 11.4% in inpatient hospice. Hospice was provided to 60.9% of veterans dying at home and 63.9% of veterans dying in NH. Over the 2008-2012-2016 period, rates of VA-HBPC veterans who died at home and rates of home death with hospice increased and were higher than both benchmarks. Among VA-HBPC decedents, younger/older veterans were more/less likely to die at home and less/more likely to die with hospice. Race/ethnicity and urban/rural residence were unrelated to death at home but veterans living alone were less likely to die at home. Conclusions Results reflect VA-HBPC's primary goal of supporting its veterans at home, including at the end-of-life, surpassing other population benchmarks with some potential disparities remaining.
Systemic Administration of the AMPA Receptor Antagonist, NBQX, Reduces Alcohol Drinking in Male C57BL/6J, But Not Female C57BL/6J or High‐Alcohol‐Preferring, Mice

Background α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors are ionotropic glutamate receptors that have been investigated for their role in modulating alcohol consumption. However, little is known about the role of AMPA receptors in the control of binge-like or free-access alcohol drinking in C57BL/6J or in selectively bred high-alcohol-preferring (HAP) mice. The purpose of this experiment was to assess the role of systemic administration of the AMPA receptor antagonist, 2,3-dioxo-6-nitro-7-sulfamoyl-benzo[f]quinoxaline (NBQX), on alcohol consumption using a model of binge-like drinking, drinking in the dark (DID) and free-access 2-bottle choice (2BC) in male and female C57BL/6J and HAP mice. Methods C57BL/6J mice were allowed free access to 20% (v/v) alcohol for 2 hours each day beginning 3 hours into the dark cycle for 4 days. On day 5, mice were intraperitoneally injected with one of 4 doses of NBQX (0, 3, 10, or 30 mg/kg; n = 10) 15 minutes before alcohol presentation and were given 4-hour alcohol access (extended DID). HAP mice were given 24-hour free access to 10% (v/v) alcohol and water for 19 days. On day 20, mice were intraperitoneally injected with one of 4 doses of NBQX (0, 3, 10, or 30 mg/kg; n = 9) 15 minutes before alcohol and water presentation. Results In the first 2 hours of DID, at 30 mg/kg, male, but not female C57BL/6J or HAP, mice drank significantly less alcohol compared with controls and 30 mg/kg NBQX did not alter saccharin intake in the males. Although male HAP mice drank significantly less alcohol than female mice following 10 mg/kg NBQX, neither sex exhibited drinking that differed significantly from controls. NBQX did not reduce locomotor behavior at any dose, sex, or genotype. Conclusions These data suggest that AMPA receptors play a key role in modulating binge-like alcohol consumption without altering saccharin consumption or general locomotion and that this effect is specific to sex and genotype.
Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cortical and Trabecular Bone

Bone is a composite material consisting of mineral, organic matrix, and water. Water in bone can be categorized as bound water (BW), which is bound to bone mineral and organic matrix, or as pore water (PW), which resides in Haversian canals as well as in lacunae and canaliculi. Bone is generally classified into two types: cortical bone and trabecular bone. Cortical bone is much denser than trabecular bone that is surrounded by marrow and fat. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has been increasingly used for noninvasive assessment of both cortical bone and trabecular bone. Bone typically appears as a signal void with conventional MR sequences because of its short T2*. Ultrashort echo time (UTE) sequences with echo times 100 to 1,000 times shorter than those of conventional sequences allow direct imaging of BW and PW in bone. This article summarizes several quantitative MR techniques recently developed for bone evaluation. Specifically, we discuss the use of UTE and adiabatic inversion recovery prepared UTE sequences to quantify BW and PW, UTE magnetization transfer sequences to quantify collagen backbone protons, UTE quantitative susceptibility mapping sequences to assess bone mineral, and conventional sequences for high-resolution imaging of PW as well as the evaluation of trabecular bone architecture.
A 16 kV PCB-Based DC-Bus Distributed Capacitor Array with Integrated Power-AC-Terminal for 10 kV SiC MOSFET Modules in Medium-Voltage Inverter Applications

This paper presents the insulation design and assessment of a medium-voltage (MV), printed circuit board (PCB) based dc-bus distributed capacitor array. A generalized insulation design process is introduced with considerations for insulator material stress as well as surface discharge on external interconnections. Finite-element analysis (FEA) simulation studies of the multilayer PCB bus are used to analyze several approaches to control electric field distribution in the design layout. A specific implementation of a dc-bus for a 16 kV rated MV three phase inverter is described to demonstrate the proposed design procedure to achieve partial discharge (PD) free operation up to 18 kV (for 10 % design margin). The designed dc-bus also features a low inductance, modular architecture to improve the power density and specific power of the MV system. Experimental results of partial discharge behavior are presented for insulation design validation.
Appraising climate change impacts on future water resources and agricultural productivity in agro-urban river basins.

Abstract Climate change can have an adverse effect on agricultural productivity and water availability in semi-arid regions, as changes in surface water availability lead to groundwater depletion and resultant losses in crop yield. These inter-relationships necessitate an integrated management approach for surface water, groundwater, and crop yield as a holistic system. This study quantifies the future availability of surface water and groundwater and associated crop production in a large semi-arid agro-urban river basin in which agricultural irrigation is a leader consumer of water. The region of study is the South Platte River Basin (72,000 km2), Colorado, USA. The coupled SWAT-MODFLOW modeling code is used as the hydrologic simulator and forced with five different CMIP5 climate models downscaled by Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogs (MACA), each for two climate scenarios, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5, for 1980–2100. The hydrologic model accounts for surface runoff, soil lateral flow, groundwater flow, groundwater-surface water interactions, irrigation from surface water and groundwater, and crop yield on a per-field basis. In all climate models and emission scenarios, an increase of 3 to 5 °C in annual average temperature is projected. Whereas, variation in the projected precipitation depends on topography and distances from mountains. Based on the results of this study, the worst-case climate model in the basin is IPSL-CM5A-MR-8.5. Under this climate scenario, for a 1 °C increase in temperature and the 1.3% reduction in annual precipitation, the basin will experience an 8.5% decrease in stream discharge, 2–5% decline in groundwater storage, and 11% reduction in crop yield. These results indicate the significant effect of climate change on water and food resources of a large river basin, pointing to the need for immediate implementation of conservation practices.
The Impact of Daily Emotional Labor on Health and Well-Being:

Emotional labor research largely focuses on client-facing occupations. However, employees across occupations engage in emotional labor when they perceive that specific types of emotional communicat...
English Grammar: Understanding the Basics

Looking for an easy-to-use guide to English grammar? This handy introduction covers all the basics of the subject, using a simple and straightforward style. Students will find the book's step-by-step approach easy to follow and be encouraged by its non-technical language. Requiring no prior knowledge of English grammar, the information is presented in small steps, with objective techniques to help readers apply concepts. With clear explanations and well chosen examples, the book gives students the tools to understand the mysteries of English grammar as well as the perfect foundation from which to move on to more advanced topics.
Composition and Structure of Giant Chromosomes

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the composition and structure of giant chromosomes. Recent advances in chromosome chemistry, the salivary gland-type chromosome, the lampbrush chromosome, and a comparison of both types and their relation to nuclear function are also discussed. The nucleoprotein composition of the interphase nucleus in a variety of cell types is investigated by a combination of biochemical techniques and by microspectrophotometric studies in situ and on isolated cell components. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) appears to be quantitatively correlated with the chromosome complement present in a nucleus and is by far the least variable of the known nuclear fractions. A characteristic quantity of DNA is associated with the haploid chromosome set of each species, and depending on their degree of ploidy, nuclei in nondividing tissues contain multiples of the basic amount. Correlated with chromosome reproduction, nuclear DNA doubles prior to division in mitotically active cells and increases in geometric steps when nuclei become polyploid.
Throw Yo' Voice Out: Disability as a Desirable Practice in Hip-Hop Vocal Performance

Disabled bodies and disabling spaces— especially the recording studio— shape the sound iconicity of hip-hop vocal performances. The disabled voice is the audible sign by which hip-hop artists trouble cultural definitions of the self and other; exceptionalism and failure; the natural and techno-mediated; comedy and tragedy; and aesthetic play and seriousness. Hip-hop vocal performances also function as self-conscious acts of transvaluation that challenge the discursive dominance of ableism. A materialist approach to vocal performance resists reducing voice to a silent metaphor for race, oppositionality, or liberation; and it emphasizes, instead, the physiological and social processes that render hip-hop voices unique, particular, and audible. It emphasizes the agency hip-hop artists possess in seeking out disabled bodies and assuming disabled identities for aesthetic and political ends. Thus, the body is returned to the analysis of style.
Dworkin on Community and Critical Interests

In Liberal Community Professor Dworkin introduces a broader subject matter into ethical and political philosophy than rights-centered, or Utilitarian, liberalism has traditionally allowed. I am sympathetic to his enriching the discussion of liberalism with these philosophical materials, and I am sympathetic to many of his political conclusions. Ungratefully, I am less happy with some of the ways he uses these materials to reach his conclusions, and it is these points of concern that I shall address. I shall stick to Dworkin's terminology, and refer to the interests under discussion as "critical" interests, but I do not find this term entirely satisfactory.' "Critical" may incorrectly suggest interests that are necessarily expressed in criticism or satisfied only as a result of criticism. These important long-standing interests may, indeed, come to be understood through critical thinking and may well lead to or support social criticism, but it begs some large questions to associate them necessarily with processes of criticism.2 Again, the contrast between "volitional" and "critical" interests suggests that there are two separate species of interests. But not all volitional interests will turn out really to be interests, while those that survive can bear on practical reasoning in much the same way as "critical" interests. Despite the misleading implications which Dworkin rightly points out, I still think that there is something to be said for the Hegelian terminology of "real" interests. "Real" arouses the suspicion of liberals, while "critical" placates them, but it is useful to recall those suspicions, particularly as a reminder that someone has to interpret these interests. However named, the idea seems roughly the same: something is in someone's critical interests if it makes that person's life a better life to lead. Dworkin also says: it is something that the person should or ought to want, but in using such expressions, he does not want us to forget that critical interests are supposed to be interests, a term that is supposed to be univocal between critical and volitional interests. To say that a course of action or a way of life is in certain people's interests must be to claim
Real-Time Virtual Resource: A Timely Abstraction for Embedded Systems

Embedded systems comprise of tasks that have a wide variety of timing requirements, from the lax to the very stringent. The mixing of such tasks has been handled by specialized real-time schedulers, from the traditional cyclic executive dispatcher to sophisticated dynamic-priority schedulers. A common assumption of these real-time schedulers is the availability of global knowledge of the entire task set, and this assumption is required to ensure the schedulability of the time-critical tasks notwithstanding the interference of the less time-critical tasks. In this paper, we discuss the notion of a real-time virtual resource which abstracts the sharing of a physical resource such as a CPU by multiple time-critical tasks. Each real-time virtual resource is a virtual resource in the traditional sense of operating systems but its rate of service provision varies with time and is bounded. The real-time virtual resource abstraction allows tasks with wide-ranging timing criticality to be programmed as if they run on dedicated but slower CPUs such that global knowledge of the tasks is not necessary for schedulability analysis. More importantly, events or signals that are timing sensitive may retain their timeliness properties to within a bound under the real-time virtual resource abstraction, thereby permitting the composition of real-time tasks to preserve global timeliness properties.
Communal aspects of self-regulation.

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights major biases that exist in traditional theories of psychology. Since such theories typically have been operationalized and developed according to the values and standards of a Western, European philosophy, they have reflected a rather narrow band of human behavior. They either isolate competing explanations of behavior or present them in a less favorable light. For example, within traditional theories, individualism connotes strength and adaptability, whereas communal or collectivist patterns of behavior are indicative of submissiveness and a less influential status in society. Because of this underlying bias, alternative concepts of human behavior previously have received minimal attention in the mainstream study of psychology. Reflecting the bias toward individualism, self-reliance and self-regulation typically represent notions that are highly valued in society, such as self-control, personal freedom, and accountability. On an individual level, processes that focus on the self and are geared primarily toward personal advancement are viewed as prerequisites for productivity and adaptive functioning. As a result, the shortcomings of an individualistic philosophy often are overlooked. For example, perspectives primarily focusing on self-focus, in reality are not optimally adaptive and even can be counterproductive when practiced to an extreme. In contrast, a more societal perspective recognizes the shortcomings of a purely individualistic approach and highlights the notion that behaviors do not occur in a social vacuum. Therefore, the focus shifts to viewing environmental factors, such as standards, norms, and interpersonal interactions within people's social environment as predominant determinants of behavior.
An Addendum to Cox and Posner: A Visa to 'Snitch'

Cox and Posner’s landmark contribution is the first article to have highlighted the challenges of information asymmetry in immigration screening. While Cox and Posner have undoubtedly made a significant contribution, there is a critical oversight in their framework: they do not discuss the importance of targeted ex post mechanisms of screening educational elites. This Essay is an attempt to remedy Cox and Posner’s omission. Why is this oversight so problematic? In the post-9/11 world, U.S. immigration policy currently finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. While immigrant educational elites are critical to U.S. economic growth, terrorist networks have stepped up their recruiting among well-trained elites.In visa application processes, screening out terrorism suspects is notoriously complicated, in part because terrorist networks are typically difficult for outsiders to penetrate. Yet, the same cannot be said of elite networks. Indeed, the term “global elite” is meant to reflect precisely the fact that a network of rich, well-educated persons from developing countries exists, and that members of this network are now bona fide members of the Western elite. Social network theory tells us that these elites are typically only a few degrees of separation apart. Yet while a primary goal of immigration law is screening, the U.S. currently finds itself in the absurd position of screening elite aliens utilizing what this Essay terms “insufficiently networked” information. This screening typically occurs with little reference to the closely-knit elite networks whence these aliens originate, even as these networks are far better placed to access information about their members. A primary goal of immigration law should be to leverage these networks to supply the government with early warning signals when U.S. visa recipients display terrorist sympathies.This Essay seeks to mitigate the challenges of information gathering about such elites through an under-utilized and under-theorized sanction, namely, visa-revocation. If not as a de jure matter, certainly as a de facto matter, elites typically have access to U.S. immigration privileges that are not easily available to their fellow nationals. Visas are status-conveyers, and their loss may undermine business and educational opportunities dear to global elites. In a proposal referred to in shorthand as “a visa to snitch,” I impose a “duty to snitch” on elite visa-recipients. Each time that a visa holder commits a terrorist act, the authorities would determine which persons in her network knew of her terrorist sympathies and failed to report them. These persons would face visa cancellation, or at a minimum, a reduced prospect of visa renewal, unless they were able to demonstrate that they had good reason not to know or not to report.
Abstract A24: Network-based inference of resistance mechanisms to estrogen inhibitors in ER+ breast cancer

Anti-estrogen therapy is the standard of adjuvant care for luminal breast cancer. However, more than 30% of the cases either do not respond to the therapy or develop resistance and progress to metastatic disease. In this work we use a network-based approach to identify the regulatory motifs driving resistance to estrogen inhibitors and to predict small molecule compounds that can abrogate the activity of such regulatory modules, thus reverting the resistance phenotype. This is similar to what we have accomplished in glucocorticoid resistance in T-ALL (Piovan et.al (2013) Cancer Cell 24(6):766). To accomplish this goal, we established genome-wide expression signatures characteristic of the resistant phenotype (ER-GES) both from patients9 data and cell lines. Then, we used the VIPER algorithm to interrogate a breast carcinoma-specific transcriptional network (BRCAnet) assembled from 844 TCGA tumor samples with these signatures, to infer master regulators of resistance. Finally we leveraged the connectivity map (CMAP) dataset, containing expression profiles from MCF7 cells exposed to 1,300 small molecule compounds, to identify the effectors of each profiled compounds. By comparing drug effectors with master regulators of ER-inhibitors chemoresistance, we identified small molecule compounds predicted to revert resistant cells to a sensitive state. We reasoned that a compound able to reverse such resistance should induce synergistic activity when combined with anti-estrogen agents, like tamoxifen. To validate our prediction in an unbiased way, we assessed the synergistic nature of the interaction between tamoxifen and 100 compounds (sensitizer set) selected to have the most orthogonal mechanism of action, using 4 x 4 dilutions assays, with cell viability as readout. Synergistic interactors were identified by combination index (CI 10%). Interestingly, compounds predicted to rescue sensitivity to ER inhibitors in cell lines were highly enriched in those that were experimentally validated to be synergistic with tamoxifen. Taken together, these results suggest that network-based analysis is effective in capturing drivers of chemoresistance to estrogen deprivation, as well as the specific compounds that can rescue sensitivity by inhibiting them. Citation Format: Mariano Javier Alvarez, Yao Shen, Brygida Bisikirska, Ronald Realubit, Sergey Pampou, Charles Karan, Andrea Califano. Network-based inference of resistance mechanisms to estrogen inhibitors in ER+ breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Drug Sensitivity and Resistance: Improving Cancer Therapy; Jun 18-21, 2014; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2015;21(4 Suppl): Abstract nr A24.
Metabolism of phosphatidylethanolamine in the frog retina.

Abstract The synthesis and the turnover of phosphatidylethanolamine in frog retinal rod outer segments and microsomes were studied by monitoring the incorporation of five radioactive precursors: 32 PO 4 , 33 PO 4 , [ 3 H]glycerol, [ 3 H]serine, and [ 3 H]ethanolamine. 1. 1. Labeled serine was actively incorporated into phosphatidylethanolamine. The kinetics of the labeling patterns in both microsomes and rod outer segments was consistent with formation via decarboxylation of phosphatidyl-serine. 2. 2. Ethanolamine was found, to be an ineffective precursor of phosphatidylethanolamine, suggesting that the major pathway for phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis in the retina is via the decarboxylation reaction. 3. 3. An active methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine to phosphatidylcholine was observed in both retinal microsomes and rod outer segments. 4. 4. The kinetics of labeling of phosphatidylethanolamine in the rod outer segments was different for the various isotopic precursors, and was found to depend on the relative turnover times of the precursor pools. Glycerol was the only precursor that gave a true pulse of radioactivity. 5. 5. The specific activity of phosphatidylethanolamine derived from labeled glycerol declined exponentially, demonstrating that the labeled lipid was diffusely distributed throughout the rod outer segments. The half-life of phosphatidylethanolamine in the rod outer segments was determined to be 18 days. Comparison of this value to the turnover time of rod outer segment integral proteins revealed that rod outer segment lipid is renewed at a faster rate than protein.
MEASUREMENT OF COHESION AND ANGLE OF INTERNAL FRICTION USING CUBICAL TRIAXIAL TESTER AND COMPARISON WITH COMPUTER CONTROLLED SHEAR CELL

ABSTRACT A flexible boundary-type cubical triaxial tester (CTT) was used to measure the flow parameters, i.e., cohesion and angle of internal friction, of Mohr-Coulomb model. The three test materials used in this study were BCR limestone, ground silica and wheat flour. Flow parameters for these materials have been reported in literature using different shear testers. A comparison between the CTT and published computer controlled shear cell (CCSC) results showed that for: 1) BCR limestone -- at low consolidation loads, the results were comparable; however, there were differences in cohesion at 12.5 kPa and cohesion and angle of internal friction at consolidation stress of 6.6 kPa, 2) ground silica -- flow parameter values were comparable at 2.8 and 8.4 kPa, and 3) wheat flour — cohesion values were different, however, angle of internal friction values were comparable. The differences between the CTT and published shear cell results were attributed to the differing initial bulk density values and lack of kn...
Saving PTSD from itself in DSM-V

Papers in this special issue of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders concern critical issues and core assumptions that underlie the diagnostic construct of posttraumatic stress disorder. Rather than addressing specific points raised in these papers, we consider the issues and their implications for redefining PTSD and associated disorders in the DSM-V. Specific proposals are advanced to tighten definitional criteria for traumatic events and posttraumatic symptoms. We believe the more stringent criteria express the intent of the PTSD category and will promote more effective research on whether that intent was legitimate or based on misconceptions.
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION OF RESOURCE-EXPLORATION MODELS

. In this paper, we examine models for exploration and consumption of resources. The fundamental feature of the models is the jump-process nature of the exploration for and discovery of the resource. Several models have been proposed and analyzed in the literature. Here we provide numerical schemes, convergence properties, and some new models that provide risk-averse policies to avoid depletion of the resource.
Distribution of Proteins in Fresh and Stored Shell Eggs

ABSTRACT A FRESHLY laid egg has a white which is firm and stands up well. After the shell egg has been kept for a few days at room temperature or for a longer period in cold storage, the broken out egg white contains less firm white (Almquist and Lorenz, 1932; Lorenz and Almquist, 1936) and becomes less viscous and spreads out much more (Evans and Carver, 1942b; Evans, 1943). The whites of these older eggs do not stand up well and are considered to be of poorer quality (Wilhelm and Heiman, 1938; Evans and Carver, 1942a). Evidently some changes in the protein structure of the white must occur during storage of shell eggs, because egg white is composed primarily of water and protein. Evans and Bandemer (1956) developed a method for the separation of egg white proteins and their quantitative estimation by filter paper electrophoresis in order to make possible a . . .
Effect of Temperature on the Morphology and Cytokinin Levels of Tobacco Crown Gall Teratoma Tissues

Summary The cytokinin contents of cultured tobacco crown gall teratoma tissue are reduced when the temperature is raised from 27° C to 34°C. Also, the growth pattern is altered at 34°C in that the tumor shoots express increased elongation and apical dominance, and, in one teratoma line, root formation occurs. When 34°C-cultured tumor shoots are grafted to normal stock plants, the tumor shoots resume a normal growth pattern. The alteration of growth patterns at 34°C can be prevented by supplying the tissues with exogenous cytokinin. Additionally, normal cultured tobacco tissues supplied with high amounts of cytokinin exhibit the morphological characteristics of teratomas. These results indicate that the decrease in cytokinin levels is responsible for the morphological changes at elevated temperature and support the view (Wullens et al., Cell, 24 (1981) 719) that at standard culture temperatures the high cytokinin content of teratomas is responsible for the lack of apical dominance and rooting in tumor shoots.
Overlapping experiment infrastructure: more, better, faster experimentation

At Google, experimentation is practically a mantra; we evaluate almost every change that potentially affects what our users experience. Such changes include not only obvious user-visible changes such as modifications to a user interface, but also more subtle changes such as different machine learning algorithms that might affect ranking or content selection. Our insatiable appetite for experimentation has led us to tackle the problems of how to run more experiments, how to run experiments that produce better decisions, and how to run them faster. In this paper, we describe Google's overlapping experiment infrastructure that is a key component to solving these problems. In addition, because an experiment infrastructure alone is insufficient, we also discuss the associated tools and educational processes required to use it effectively. We conclude by describing trends that show the success of this overall experimental environment. While the paper specifically describes the experiment system and experimental processes we have in place at Google, we believe they can be generalized and applied by any entity interested in using experimentation to improve search engines and other web applications.
Vibrational behavior of rotating helicopter blades incorporating adaptive capabilities

An integrated distributed actuator design methodology based upon the converse piezoelectric effect and aimed at actively controlling the in-vacuo eigenvibration characteristics of rotating helicopter blades is presented. The system of piezoelectric actuators bonded or embedded into the structure produces a localized strain field in response to an applied voltage and, as a result, it yields an adaptive change of dynamic response characteristics. The helicopter blade is modeled as a thin/thick walled closed cross-section untwisted cantilevered beam rotating with constant angular velocity. The considered numerical illustrations reveal the power of the adaptive technology to control the dynamic characteristics of rotating blade structures and, as a result, to avoid their structural resonance as well as any of their dynamic instabilities.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
HETEROGENEOUS CHEMICAL REACTION OF CHLORINE NITRATE AND WATER ON SULFURIC-ACID SURFACES AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

The use of H2SO4 as a catalyst for aerosol production of chlorine compounds in the chemistry of the antarctic stratosphere was investigated in laboratory trials. The experiments involved the gas surface collision rate of a molecule on a given surface during its residence time in a Knudsen cell in molecular flow conditions. Chlorine nitrate gas was made to flow through a chamber exposed to a container holding a 95.6 pct H2SO4 solution. Gas leaving the cell was scanned with a mass spectrometer. A sticking coefficient of 0.00032 was found for the chlorine nitrate, a value five times that previously reported.
Update 2014: advances to optimize 6-mercaptopurine and azathioprine to reduce toxicity and improve efficacy in the management of IBD.

Background The thiopurine drugs, 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and azathioprine (AZA), remain as a mainstay therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Differences in metabolism of these drugs lead to individual variation in thiopurine metabolite levels that can determine its therapeutic efficacy and development of adverse reactions. In this update, we will review thiopurine metabolic pathway along with the up-to-date approaches in administering thiopurine medications based on the current literature. Methods A search of the PubMed database by 2 independent reviewers identifying 98 articles evaluating thiopurine metabolism and IBD management. Results Monitoring thiopurine metabolites can assist physicians in optimizing 6-MP and AZA therapy in treating patients with IBD. Of the dosing strategies reviewed, we found evidence for monitoring thiopurine metabolite level, use of allopurinol with thiopurine, use of mesalamine with thiopurine, combination therapy with thiopurine and anti-tumor necrosis factor agents, and split dosing of AZA or 6-MP to optimize thiopurine therapy and minimize adverse effects in IBD. Conclusions Based on the currently available literature, various dosing strategies to improve therapeutic response and reduce adverse reactions can be considered, including use of allopurinol with thiopurine, use of mesalamine with thiopurine, combination therapy with thiopurine and anti-tumor necrosis factor agents, and split dosing of thiopurine.
Immune etiology of recurrent pregnancy loss and its diagnosis.

Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion of Immunological Origin (RSAI) is currently diagnosed by the occurrence of 2–3 consecutive miscarriages of unknown origin. The psychological trauma incurred by these events is a serious ailment which may be potentially avoided if a method of analysis is derived which may forecast these events and in turn prevent them from occurring. This review intends to examine studies of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) which use laboratory diagnosis and also studies of RSA that do not use laboratory diagnosis. We believe that when laboratory results are incorporated into the diagnosis of RSA/RSAI that treatment is highly successful whereas the absence of laboratory results severely hinders the effectiveness of treatment. It is worth noting that correlating treatment versus outcome is imprudent because of the multiple variables involved in patient cases. It is not imprudent, however, to say that incorporation of laboratory data is essential when diagnosing RSA/RSAI.
Analysis of a Randomized Trial to Prevent Vertical Transmission of HIV-1

Abstract We analyze data from a randomized trial of breastfeeding versus formula feeding in HIV-1-infected mothers and their infants. Estimates of infant HIV-1-free survival and the timing of vertical transmission of HIV-1 are complicated by the fact that the infants' HIV-1 status at death may be unknown, the time of HIV-1 infection may be interval censored, and the tests used to detect HIV-1 infection in the infants may be less than 100% sensitive or specific. To address these problems we develop nonparametric and semiparametric approaches to estimating the joint distribution of HIV-1 infection time and death time. The nonparametric estimator is based on a self-consistency algorithm and, in the current application, provides a unique estimate of the HIV-1-free survival at 24 months old. However, the estimate of the cumulative probability of HIV-1 infection over time is nonunique. To resolve the nonuniqueness of the nonparametric estimator a semiparametric approach is proposed in which the joint distributi...