cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increase in Vertebral Body Height after Vertebroplasty

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: During clinical work, we have seen increases in vertebral body height associated with vertebroplasty, but our literature search revealed no reports as to how often and to what degree those increases occur. The purpose of this study was to document the frequency and degree of changes in vertebral body height after vertebroplasty. METHODS: The heights of 85 vertebral bodies in 37 patients were measured before and after vertebroplasty. In addition, one adjacent vertebral body was measured in each patient as a control. Twenty-six patients had compression fractures in the thoracic spine, and 24 patients had compression fractures in the lumbar spine. Vertebroplasty was performed with a bilateral transpedicular approach by injecting polymethylmethacrylate, under biplane fluoroscopic control. Measurements were performed on preoperative MR images and on postoperative CT sagittal reformations. Anterior, central, and posterior vertebral body height measurements were obtained in the midsagittal plane. RESULTS: The average increase in vertebral body height was 2.5 mm anteriorly, 2.7 mm centrally, and 1.4 mm posteriorly. Thirteen of 85 treated vertebrae remained unchanged. All control vertebral bodies also remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: Vertebral body height often increases during vertebroplasty. The clinical significance of increasing vertebral body height is unknown.
Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations over the ARM SGP

Abstract This study aims to combine the cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulations with the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) observations to provide long-term comprehensive and physically consistent data that facilitate quantifying the effects of subgrid cloud–radiation interactions and ultimately to develop physically based parameterization of these interactions in general circulation models. The CRM is applied here to simulate the midlatitude cloud systems observed at the ARM southern Great Plains (SGP) site during the 1997 intensive observation period. As in the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE), the CRM-simulated ensemble mean quantities such as cloud liquid water, cloud fraction, precipitation, and radiative fluxes are generally in line with the surface measurements, satellite, and radar retrievals. The CRM differences from the ARM estimates, when averaged over the entire period, are less than 5 W m−2 in both ...
Spatiotemporal Receptive Field Organization in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus of Cats and Kittens

Cai, Daqing, Gregory C. DeAngelis, and Ralph D. Freeman. Spatiotemporal receptive field organization in the lateral geniculate nucleus of cats and kittens. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 1045–1061, 1997. We ...
Genetic contributions to expression of the baboon cingular remnant

Abstract Primitive mammalian molar morphology is characterised in part by a ridge of enamel that encircles the entire base of the molar crown, the cingulum. Many higher primates have reduced the cingulum, but often retain remnant features on the lingual surface of maxillary molars and the labial surface of mandibular molars. Two of these remnants in cercopithecoid primates, the interconulus and interconulid, are morphologically similar though the interconulus is found on maxillary molars and the interconulid is located on mandibular molars. Here we present results from a quantitative genetic analysis of expression of these two traits in a sample of 479 modern savannah baboons from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR). We found that both traits are significantly heritable with little variance attributable to other factors, such as sex, age, and molar crown size. Bivariate analyses yielded point estimates for genetic correlations between left and right side expression that are either equal to or not significantly different from 1.0; meaning that 100% of their additive genetic variance is due to the effects of the same gene or suite of genes. By contrast, our estimates of the genetic correlations between maxillary and mandibular expression of this trait range from 0.52 to 0.72, suggesting that 28–52% of the additive genetic variance in the interconulus and interconulid is due to the effects of shared genes. These results demonstrate that intra-arch expression is characterised by complete pleiotropy whereas inter-arch expression is caused by incomplete pleiotropy. These results are relevant to dental developmental studies as well as paleontological analyses of the evolution of the primate dentition.
THE PERCEPTUAL THEORY OF PAIN: ANOTHER LOOK

The essential logical deficiency of the perceptual theory of pain, as I tried to show in my paper,1 is that feeling pain cannot be perceiving anything. The conceptual framework that would make it possible for us to understand “feel” in this use to be a perception concept does not exist. The concept of a glimpse, which George Pitcher relies upon to supply this framework,2cannot begin to do so because it is a secondary perception concept entirely dependent upon that of seeing. This primary concept of visual perception is tied up with actions and supporting concepts like looking, glancing, gazing, glimpsing, watching, and the like. These are different ways in which one's visual perceiving may be characterized. Without the primary concept and the actions connected with it, there would be nothing to characterize. The word “feel” in contexts involving pain is not a perception concept and efforts to make it one are doomed to fail. The supporting actions and concepts do not exist.
Evacuation of a Rural Community Hospital: Lessons Learned From an Unplanned Event

A credible bomb threat forced the complete evacuation of a rural community hospital. An Incident Command System was implemented, and all 46 patients were temporarily transported and maintained at 2 local sites. They were returned to the hospital approximately 24 hours later. Only one patient experienced a complication possibly associated with the evacuation. This article discusses pertinent strategies and considerations involved in the planning and execution of a rural hospital evacuation. It further highlights the role of the emergency department medical and nursing staff throughout the evacuation process.
Creating a state strategic plan for integrating services for children using multiple qualitative methods.

Objective To develop a statewide strategic plan for California’s State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) project using a multi-method qualitative study design.
Experiments in a cylindrical magnetic shock tube

An investigation has been conducted with the two-fold purpose of producing very high Mach number shock waves and studying their interaction with an external magnetic field parallel to the shock front. By means of the technique of electromagnetic driving, stable reproducible, outward-going cylindrical shock waves in the Mach number range from 20 to 100 have been produced and studied. Theory predicts fundamental differences between the interaction of a magnetic field with a shock moving into a highly conducting fluid and the interaction of a field with a strong gas-ionizing shock. In the former case a true mhd shock is produced. In the latter the field interacts directly only with the piston and the shock remains an ordinary one. The effect of a conducting wall surrounding the chamber also differs substantially in the two cases. Detailed experiments have been carried out on gas-ionizing shocks. While the overall motion is very nearly that predicted by the theory, anomalies have arisen in the details of the flow and are explained in a qualitative manner. Methods of producing sufficient initial conductivity to obtain a thin magnetohydrodynamic shock are discussed, together with some preliminary experiments along these lines.
Effects of Zr on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al-Sc-Yb Alloys

Cast, coarse-grained Al-Sc alloys are interesting candidates for high temperature, creepresistant applications due to the formation of a high number density of nanometer sized Al3Sc precipitates [1]. Upon addition of Yb to Al-Sc alloys, Yb replaces the Sc forming Al3(Sc1-xYbx) precipitates (L12 structure) [2]. The resulting alloys have higher creep resistance due to the larger lattice parameter mismatch between the matrix and precipitate phases as a result of the substitution of Yb for Sc. The precipitates in Al-Sc-Yb alloys form rapidly at 300 C and the coarsening kinetics are not slowed when compared with binary Al-Sc alloys [3]. Additions of Zr to Al-Sc alloys do, however, retard the coarsening kinetics of the Al3(Sc1-xZrx) precipitates [4]. In the present study, Zr is added to an Al-Sc-Yb alloy. The compositions of the alloys studied are Al-0.06Sc-0.02Yb0.02Zr (at.%) and Al-0.06Sc-0.02Yb-0.005Zr (at.%).
Mechanisms of endogenous nitrosation.

Substantial evidence has been assembled suggesting the possible health risk from exposure to N-nitroso compounds. Sander1 originally proposed the concept of endogenous intragastric nitrosation, a process capable of generating carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds in humans. It has also been demonstrated that N-nitroso compounds are formed endogenously in animals given nitrite and a suitable amine2,3. However, the initial research on endogenous synthesis of N-nitroso compounds in humans was complicated by the presence of numerous artifacts of the analytical methods and the collection procedures. A method proposed by Ohshima and Bartsch4 was the first potentially suitable procedure for estimating daily human exposure to endogenously formed N-nitroso compounds. The monitoring of urinary levels of N-nitrosoproline (NPRO) after dosing with nitrate and proline was utilized in a human volunteer without adverse biological effects. Since this publication, a number of other investigators have used this procedure to demonstrate the endogenous formation of nitrosoproline as well as other nitrosoamino acids in humans.
RNA's First Four Billion Years on Earth: A Biography

Before there were bacteria, before there were archaea or eukaryotes, there were ribocytes—primitive replicating microbes that did all their biochemical maneuvering with RNA alone. “ Ribocytes were likely cells because the most plausible way to maintain a coherent evolutionary identity is to be membrane delimited,” according to Michael Yarus, of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The limit-defining outer membrane of these simple creatures was probably made of cosmochemicals—“that is, amphipathic lipids [that] occur naturally and broadly in the universe and don’t require complex biosynthesis,” he explains. Such amphipathic lipids— fatty bio molecules with both waterfriendly and -phobic regions that enable them to form bilayers in cell membranes—are still common today in the form of phospholipids. What might a ribocyte look like? They were probably small spherical cells with no internal membranes and little fine structure. How did they reproduce? Their bounding membranes were very likely unstable, so cells of a certain size would simply pinch off a daughter containing a sample of their genes. A sensible cellular RNA world must have begun with replication and selection, argues Yarus. He maintains that Cech’s laboratory at the University of Colorado. Preribosomal RNAs are normally genetically streamlined, or processed, into mature ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) when long nucleotide sequences are removed by ribonucleoprotein complexes called spliceosomes. However, working with a specific rRNA in the free-living protozoa Tetrahymena thermophila, Cech and his colleagues found that an unprocessed pre-RNA molecule could splice itself. “Such a self-splicing RNA was a new kind of sensing receptor, or ‘sensor,’ for amino acid binding,” says Yarus, who notes that this binding changes the activity of the resulting protein by moving its parts around. The race was ribocytes could therefore make and support large unstable molecules such as RNA, could create the nucleotides that they needed to multiply, and could concentrate amino acids as well as attach them to RNAs so that translation could be invented. The ribocytes’ greatest feat of ingenuity was the invention of the genetic code, and once reproducible RNA sequences were in place, replication could begin. Researchers reasoned, and rightly, that the code began with a reaction between RNA and a subset of amino acids. But RNA–aminoacid binding sites are rare. After an unrewarding search by RNAists, the first were finally discovered during seemingly unrelated research in Tom
An Event-Triggered ADP Control Approach for Continuous-Time System With Unknown Internal States

This paper proposes a novel event-triggered adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) control method for nonlinear continuous-time system with unknown internal states. Comparing with the traditional ADP design with a fixed sample period, the event-triggered method samples the state and updates the controller only when it is necessary. Therefore, the computation cost and transmission load are reduced. Usually, the event-triggered method is based on the system entire state which is either infeasible or very difficult to obtain in practice applications. This paper integrates a neural-network-based observer to recover the system internal states from the measurable feedback. Both the proposed observer and the controller are aperiodically updated according to the designed triggering condition. Neural network techniques are applied to estimate the performance index and help calculate the control action. The stability analysis of the proposed method is also demonstrated by Lyapunov construct for both the continuous and jump dynamics. The simulation results verify the theoretical analysis and justify the efficiency of the proposed method.
Stimulation of NF-κB activation and gene expression by platelet- activating factor

PAF stimulation of NF-κB activation and transcription of immediate-early genes have been investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the cloned PAF receptor. These studies identified a G protein-coupled pathway for PAF induction of gene expression and transcription factor activation, which differs from the mechanisms employed by other immediate-early gene inducers. Potential significance of PAF induced NF-κB activation is discussed.
Investigation of the thermoelectric properties of the PbTe-SrTe system

PbTe-based materials are promising for efficient heat energy to electricity conversion. We present studies of the thermoelectric properties of the PbTe-SrTe system. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal that all the samples crystallize in the rock salt structure without noticeable secondary phase. Na2Te doping of the PbTe-SrTe materials resulting in a positive sign Hall coefficient indicating p-type conduction. Lattice thermal conductivity is significantly decreased with the insertion of SrTe in PbTe lattice. The ZT ∼ 1.3 of these materials is derived from their very low thermal conductivities and reasonably high power factor at 800 K.
Rosette-Forming Cell Assay

Cells actively synthesizing and releasing antibodies can be detected by the plaque assay, as described in Exercise No. 66. Other lymphocytic cells will have antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin groups on the surface, held by their Fc portion in the membrane. Such cells will react with specific antigens which they can recognize. If this antigen is a surface immunogen of the sheep red blood cell (SRBC), the recognition-capable immune lymphocyte may hold several erthrocytes attached, thus forming a rosette. If mice are immunized with SRBC, in ten days their spleens will contain rosette-forming cells (RFC). Immune lymphocytes can also form such rosettes if the SRBC has been reacted first with anti-SRBC antibodies. In that case, the lymphocyte will receive and hold the FC portion of the already reacted anti-SRBC immunoglobulins, and form a rosette. According to the overwhelming majority of experimental data, the cell which is capable of forming such rosette is an immune B lymphocyte (Greaves and Raff, 1971).
Suggestion on practice of medical undergraduates in surgery

Surgery is a strong practical science, as well a s one of the clinical practical subjects. The chief problem is how to teach this subject and culture qualified professionals with good operative skills. The pro blems of clinical practice in surgery were analyzed, at the same time, and some countermeasures were suggested in this article.
Neisseriae internalization by epithelial cells is enhanced by TLR2 stimulation.

Neisseria meningitidis (NM) is an opportunistic gram-negative human pathogen that colonizes the human nasopharyngeal epithelium. Asymptomatic carriage is common, but some meningococcal strains can invade nasopharyngeal epithelial cells and proceed to cause severe and often fatal infections. Invasion is predominantly driven by expression of bacterial virulence factors and host cell cognate receptors for bacterial recognition. Porins are among the Neisserial components involved in host cell activation and bacterial internalization processes. Similar to other virulence factors, porins present antigenic and structure variability among strains. Such sequence variability in the surface-exposed loop regions has been correlated to bacterial invasiveness and to variability in host cell responses via Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). Here, we examined whether TLR2 signaling by porins influences recovery of intracellular Neisseriae from epithelial cells in vitro. Our results show that TLR2 stimulation, either by the organism or exogenously, generally enhances Neisseriae internalization by epithelial cells. TLR2-driven intracellular signaling via ERK1/2, JNK and particularly NF-κB plays a role in this process. Based on these results, it is possible that expression of porin sequence variants that strongly induce TLR2 activation may be a mechanism to enhance the invasive features of pathogenic Neisseriae strains.
Variation of Stress with Direction

Mountains and outcrops are more agreeable to look at than city streets. Part of the virtue is the variety of texture—the spongy moss, the craggy cliff, the delicacy of the thin little stream trickling down through the rocks. Another part is the variety of attitude: in a city street, most surfaces are vertical or horizontal, rather monotonous, whereas rocks show an abundance of planes, and every attitude one can imagine—a sweet disorder. But of course the planes are not totally random; there is some underlying system. It is the business of geomorphology, rock mechanics, and structural geology to find reasons and causes for the obliquities we see.
Density of lithium fluoride–lithium carbonate-based molten salts

The density of the LiF-Li2CO3 melts system was measured using the Archimedean method. Using the quadratic regression orthogonal design with two factors, a regression equation for the density of LiF-Li2CO3 melts was obtained in which the concentration of LiF and temperature were considered. The results indicated that the density of the LiF-Li2CO3 melts decreased with either increasing the concentration of LiF or increasing temperature; a linear relation was observed between density and temperature. In addition, the influences of NaF, KF, NaCl, and KCl additives on the densities of the given systems were studied. The addition of NaF and KF increased the density of the melts, whereas NaCl and KCl resulted in an initial increase and subsequent decrease with an increasing additive concentration. The density attained a maximum at NaCl and KCl mass fraction of approximately 15%.
The brown midrib 2 (bm2) gene of maize encodes methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase

Brown-midrib (bm) mutants are associated with reduction in lignin concentration and alteration in lignin composition. Biomass with reduced lignin concentration is more easily digested by ruminants and is a more efficient feedstock for biofuel production. Analysis of bm genes can enhance our understanding of the biochemical pathways that lead to lignin accumulation, therefore offering the promise of designing crops with reduced lignin concentration. This information could also provide an alternative way to capture carbon in soil to reduce the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide. Here, we report the mapping, cloning and functional analysis of the bm2 gene of maize. The midrib of bm2 mutants displays a reddish-brown color, which reflects alteration in lignin concentration and/or composition that can be detected via histochemical staining. The bm2 gene was mapped to an internal of 289-291MB on chromosome 1 using a newly developed adaptation of RNA-Seq based bulked segregant analysis (BSArSeq) that exploits the power of next generation sequencing. Based on fine mapping experiments and expression analyses a putative methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene was identified as a bm2 candidate gene. Disturbance of this MTHFR gene via Mu insertion recreate bm2 mutants, confirming the cloning of bm2. The bm2 cDNA can complements a yeast MTHFR mutant, demonstrating that bm2 encodes a functional MTHFR protein. A model that explains the role of the MTHFR enzyme in lignin biosynthesis is presented.
Evaluation of the Effect of Thermal Oxidation and Moisture on the Interfacial Shear Strength of Unidirectional IM7/BMI Composite by Fiber Push-in Nanoindentation

Fiber push-in nanoindentation is conducted on a unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced bismaleimide resin composite (IM7/BMI) after thermal oxidation to determine the interfacial shear strength. A unidirectional IM7/BMI laminated plate is isothermally oxidized under various conditions: in air for 2 months at 195 °C and 245 °C, and immersed in water for 2 years at room temperature to reach a moisture-saturated state. The water-immersed specimens are subsequently placed in a preheated environment at 260 °C to receive sudden heating, or are gradually heated at a rate of approximately 6 °C/min. A flat punch tip of 3 μm in diameter is used to push the fiber into the matrix while the resulting load-displacement data is recorded. From the load-displacement data, the interfacial shear strength is determined using a shear-lag model, which is verified by finite element method simulations. It is found that thermal oxidation at 245 °C in air leads to a significant reduction in interfacial shear strength of the IM7/BMI unidirectional composite, while thermal oxidation at 195 °C and moisture concentration have a negligible effect on the interfacial shear strength. For moisture-saturated specimens under a slow heating rate, there is no detectable reduction in the interfacial shear strength. In contrast, the moisture-saturated specimens under sudden heating show a significant reduction in interfacial shear strength. Scanning electron micrographs of IM7/BMI composite reveal that both thermal oxidation at 245 °C in air and sudden heating induced microcracks and debonding along the fiber/matrix interface, thereby weakening the interface, which is the origin of failure mechanism.
LSD1 promotes S-phase entry and tumorigenesis via chromatin co-occupation with E2F1 and selective H3K9 demethylation

Histone H3 lysine-9 (H3K9) methylation is essential for retinoblastoma protein (RB)-mediated heterochromatin formation, epigenetic silencing of S-phase genes and permanent cell cycle arrest or cellular senescence. Besides as an H3K4 demethylase, lysine-specific demethylase-1 (LSD1) has been shown to promote H3K9 demethylation. However, it is unexplored whether LSD1 has a causal role in regulating cell cycle entry and senescence. Here we demonstrate that genetic depletion or pharmacological inhibition of LSD1 triggers G1 arrest and cellular senescence. Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing analysis reveals that LSD1 binding sites overlap significantly with those bound by the S-phase gene transcription factor E2F1. Gene ontology analysis demonstrates that a large portion of E2F1 and LSD1 cotargeted genes are involved in cell cycle and proliferation. Further analyses show that depletion of LSD1 increases the level of H3K9me2 and thereby represses expression of the LSD1-E2F1 cotarget genes, but has no effects on H3K4me2 level in those loci. In contrast, knockdown of the H3K4me2 reader PHF8 decreases the H3K4me2 level at the LSD1-E2F1 cotargeted loci, but this effect is rescued by codepletion of LSD1. Furthermore, the enzymatic activity of LSD1 is essential for H3K9me2 demethylation at cell cycle gene loci. Notably, cotreatment of chemotherapeutic agent camptothecin enhanced LSD1 inhibitor-induced senescence and growth inhibition of cancer cells in vitro and in mice. Our data reveal LSD1 as a molecular rheostat selectively regulating H3K9 demethylation at cell cycle gene loci, thereby representing a key player in oncogenesis and a viable target for cancer therapy.
A Recombinant Antibody-Expressing Influenza Virus Delays Tumor Growth in a Mouse Model

Summary Influenza A virus (IAV) has shown promise as an oncolytic agent. To improve IAV as an oncolytic virus, we sought to design a transgenic virus expressing an immune checkpoint-inhibiting antibody during the viral life cycle. To test whether it was possible to express an antibody during infection, an influenza virus was constructed encoding the heavy chain of an antibody on the PB1 segment and the light chain of an antibody on the PA segment. This antibody-expressing IAV grows to high titers, and the antibodies secreted from infected cells exhibit comparable functionality with hybridoma-produced antibodies. To enhance the anti-cancer activity of IAV, an influenza virus was engineered to express a single-chain antibody antagonizing the immune checkpoint CTLA4 (IAV-CTLA4). In mice implanted with the aggressive B16-F10 melanoma, intratumoral injection with IAV-CTLA4 delayed the growth of treated tumors, mediated an abscopal effect, and increased overall survival.
An Introduction to Nonlinear Robust Control for Unmanned Quadrotor Aircraft: How to Design Control Algorithms for Quadrotors Using Sliding Mode Control and Adaptive Control Techniques [Focus on Education]

Quadrotor aircraft are drawing considerable attention for their high mobility and capacity to perform tasks with complete autonomy, while minimizing the costs and risks involved with the direct intervention of human operators. Moreover, several limitations characterizing these rotary-wing unmanned aerial systems (UASs), such as their underactuation, make quadrotors ideal testbeds for innovative theoretical approaches to the problem of controlling mechanical systems. Designing autopilots for autonomous quadrotors is a challenging task, which involves multiple interconnected aspects. Numerous researchers are currently addressing the problem of designing autonomous guidance systems, navigation systems, and control systems for quadrotors. The primary goal of this article is to present an analysis and synthesis of several nonlinear robust control systems for quadrotors, as discussed in “Summary.” First, the article presents and analyzes the equations of motion of quadrotors under three sets of progressively restrictive modeling assumptions: 1) the vehicle’s inertial properties (such as the mass and matrix of inertia) vary in time, 2) the quadrotor’s main frame is a rigid body and the propellers are thin spinning discs, and 3) the pitch and roll angles are small.
Associations between childhood vaccination status and medical practice characteristics among white, black, and Hispanic children.

Background The purpose of the study was to identify and understand associations between characteristics of medical practices where immunization services are delivered and vaccination status among white, black, and Hispanic children aged less than 19 months. Methods Eighty pediatric and family physicians participated in a physician-patient encounters survey that included 684 children aged less than 19 months who received at least 1 vaccination during a randomly selected week in 2003. Results According to physicians’ responses to survey questions, white children who used large medical practices, and black and Hispanic children who used practices, all enrolled in the Vaccine for Children (VFC) program, were more likely to receive vaccines at the recommended age, but Hispanic children who used large Medicaid practices were less likely to receive them at the recommended age. White children who used medical practices that had a large minority patient population were more likely to have completely missed whole series of vaccines. Conclusion Medical practice characteristics varied in importance as determinants of childhood vaccination among white, black, and Hispanic children. Understanding how type of medical practice and other medical practice characteristics may impact the receipt of timely preventive health services is vital to improving health care access in underserved populations.
The Spectrum of Pathology of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections in Open-Lung Biopsy Specimens

The diagnosis of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection may be difficult to establish unless open-lung biopsy is performed. Mycobacteria were present in resected lung tissues from forty patients at the Mount Sinai Hospital during the period 1969-1980. M. avium-intracellulare was cultured in 24 patients, M. tuberculosis in six, M. gordonae in three, and M. fortuitum in two. In five instances, mycobacteria were seen in smears of lung tissues but failed to grow in culture. Three distinct clinicopathologic groups of patients with NTM were recognized. (1) Eighteen patients had solitary pulmonary nodules resected with the clinical diagnosis of lung cancer. Histologically, they exhibited granulomas with varying degrees of necrosis. Mediastinal lymph nodes had no granulomas, except in one case. (2) Seven patients presented with roentgenologic evidence of bilateral, diffuse interstitial infiltration. M. avium-intracellulare or M. gordonae were isolated from lung tissue which histologically showed interstitial fibrosis and organizing pneumonia. In only one instance a few non-caseating epitheloid cell granulomas were found. Three of these patients had underlying malignancies treated with chemotherapy and one other had arthritis. The other three had no underlying diseases. (3) Three patients had multiple discrete infiltrates on chest roentgenograms. M. avium-intracellulare was isolated from their lung tissues. One of these patients exhibited necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis indistinguishable from Wegener's granulomatosis. It is apparent that classical "tuberculosis-like" granulomatous reaction is the most common histologic pattern but should not be expected in all patients with NTM infections.
A Declarative Logic-Based Approach for Threat Analysis of Advanced Metering Infrastructure

The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is the core component in a smart grid. It exhibits highly complex heterogeneous network configurations comprising of different cyber-physical components. These components are interconnected through different communication media, protocols, and secure tunnels, and are operated using different modes of data delivery and security policies. The inherent complexity and heterogeneity in AMI significantly increase the potential of security threats due to misconfiguration or attacks, which can cause devastating damage to AMI. Therefore, creating a formal model that can represent the global behavior based on AMI configuration is evidently essential to verify, evaluate and harden its capabilities against dormant security threats. In this paper, we present a novel declarative logic approach for analyzing AMI configurations against various security threats. We develop a tool, called AMISecChecker, which offers manifold contributions: (i) modeling of AMI components’ configurations and their interactions based on property level abstraction; (ii) modeling of AMI topology and communication properties; and (iii) verifying the compliance of AMI configuration with security control guidelines. The efficacy and scalability of the tool have been evaluated in real and synthetic test networks.
ACTIVATING PATIENTS TO PRACTICE SKIN CANCER PREVENTION : RESPONSE TO MAILED MATERIALS FROM PHYSICIANS VERSUS HMOS

Objectives We investigated whether the source and emphasis of mailed messages about skin cancer would differentially activate patients to initiate skin cancer prevention by calling a toll-free number. Methods We mailed a questionnaire to 981 randomly selected patients of a large medical group to assess their concern about and risk for skin cancer: 48 were returned undeliverable (n = 933). The booklet was accompanied by a letter inviting patients to call a toll-free number. Patients received the letter from one of three sources: (1) their physician, (2) their HMO, or (3) a fictitious junk mail organization. Patients received one of three different messages emphasizing the effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays on (1) the risk of skin cancer, (2) aging and wrinkling of the skin, or (3) aging and wrinkling accompanied by a book further emphasizing these harmful effects of the sun. Results The overall activation rate was low (7%); nevertheless, the source of the preventive message significantly affected whether patients called in. Messages from physicians and HMOs were more activating than messages from the junk mail organization (odds ratio [OR] = 3.40, confidence intervals [CI] = 1.66, 6.97), but messages from physicians were not more activating than messages from HMOs (OR = 1.56, CI =.90(2.72:). The emphasis of the message did not significantly affect call-in rates. Risk for skin cancer was positively associated with patient activation, but attitudes and beliefs about skin cancer prevention were unrelated to activation. Conclusions These results should encourage HMOs and physicians to continue their preventive health outreach as one aspect of multicomponent prevention efforts. The results also suggest that HMOs and physicians can activate patients most at risk for skin cancer by emphasizing both risks of cancer and aging and wrinkling when they deliver a skin cancer preventive message.
Assessing the Usability of a Prototype Emergency Medicine Patient-Centered Electronic Health Record Display

In light of issues arising from the transition from manual to electronic patient status boards in the emergency department, this study takes a cognitive systems engineering approach to designing a novel patient centered information display to improve information accessibility for nurses and physicians in emergency medicine. Following observations and focus groups with emergency medicine staff, a prototype was created and is currently undergoing formative usability testing to ensure cognitive support of physicians and nurses.
Intracranial Electrode Placement for Seizures Before Temporal Lobectomy: A Risk-Benefit Analysis.

Background and Objective Anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) is the most common surgical procedure for refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. When scalp electroencephalography cannot adequately identify an epileptogenic site, electrode implantation may be used to monitor epileptic activity and localize a target focus before surgical resection. Whether the advantage of improved seizure localization justifies the added risk of electrode placement remains unclear. : The present study uses an international surgical database to explore whether a 2wo-stage approach, electrode implant followed by ATL, has a reasonable safety profile and is clinically worthwhile versus ATL alone. Methods Data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program for 2005 to 2016 were queried to identify patients undergoing ATL or electrode implant for epilepsy. The 30-day postoperative outcomes were analyzed for the electrode implant and ATL groups, and individual and combined risk profiles were determined. Results Patients undergoing electrode implant followed by ATL had a predicted reoperation rate of 7.6%, readmission rate of 14.6%, and a 30-day mortality rate of 1.2%. The combined rate of patients having ≥1 medical complication for 2-staged procedures was higher, at 14.7%. The most common complications encountered were urinary tract infection (2.7%) and sepsis (2.7%). Conclusions Intracranial electrode placement increases the risk of complications when added to ATL. The severity of complications from electrode placement are mild, however, and as intracranial electrode recording provides a potentially large reduction in the surgical failure risk, electrode placement may be advisable for all but the most convincing seizure foci.
Peer Influence or Projection Bias? Predicting Respondent Delinquency With Perceptual Measures of Peer Delinquency in 22 Samples

Abstract Introduction The current study was designed to determine whether the peer influence effect is the direct result of respondents projecting their own delinquency onto peers in a process referred to as projection bias. Methods Data from 22 gender-homogeneous U.S. and British samples (Ns = 154 to 4098) of individuals under the age of 17 at the time of initial assessment were used to create partial correlations between perceptual measures of peer delinquency and subsequent respondent offending, controlling for concurrent respondent offending. Results Significant partial correlations surfaced between peer delinquency and subsequent respondent offending in 21 out of 22 samples, for a significant pooled effect size (rp1o2.o1) of 0.158 (95% CI = 0.124‒.193). Although the peer‒offending relationship, controlling for prior offending, was moderated by data recentness—with less recent samples (>16 years old) achieving a higher pooled effect size than more recent samples (≤16 years old)—a small but significant pooled effect size was recorded for both more and less recent samples. Conclusions These results are inconsistent with projection bias as a complete explanation for the peer influence effect and suggest that perceived peer delinquency has a demonstrable and meaningful effect on future offending in adolescents. Despite the lack of support for the projection hypothesis, there is still a need to include additional variables in the analyses (i.e., direct measures of peer delinquency and differential respondent opportunities to observe peer behavior) while entertaining alternative explanations of the perceived peer delinquency‒future offending relationship (i.e., hearsay and rejecting delinquency/non-delinquency).
In situ atomic layer deposition and electron tunneling characterization of monolayer Al2O3 on Fe for magnetic tunnel junctions

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), formed through sandwiching an ultrathin insulating film (so-called tunnel barrier or TB), with ferromagnetic metal electrodes, are fundamental building blocks in magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), spintronics, etc. The current MTJ technology employs physical vapor deposition (PVD) to fabricate either amorphous AlOx or epitaxial MgO TBs of thickness around 1 nm or larger to avoid leakage caused by defects in TBs. Motivated by the fundamental limitation in PVD in, and the need for atomically thin and defect-free TBs in MTJs, this work explores atomic layer deposition (ALD) of 1-6 A thick Al2O3 TBs both directly on Fe films and with an ultrathin Al wetting layer. In situ characterization of the ALD Al2O3 TB was carried out using scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). Despite a moderate decrease in TB height Eb with reducing Al wetting layer thicknesses, a remarkable Eb of ∼1.25 eV was obtained on 1 A thick ALD Al2O3 TB grown directly on an Fe electrode, which is more than twice of that of thermal AlOx TB (∼0.6 eV). Achieving such an atomically thin low-defect TB represents a major step towards improving spin current tunneling in MTJs.
How to Choose Between His Bundle Pacing and Biventricular Pacing for Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

The goal of this critical appraisal is to evaluate the role for His bundle pacing (HBP) in cardiac resynchronization, examine early clinical and physiologic data, as well as offer recommendations for selecting patients for HBP versus biventricular pacing for CRT. Biventricular pacing with a left ventricular (LV) coronary sinus lead has been the primary mode of delivering cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for over two decades. By fusing multiple wavefronts of activation, biventricular pacing shortens and homogenizes ventricular activation, increases left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), reduces mitral regurgitation, and is also associated with improved clinical outcomes, including reduced heart failure (HF) hospitalization and mortality. Despite these myriad benefits, approximately one-third of patients do not derive benefit from traditional CRT. HBP is a means of delivering CRT which restores electromechanical synchrony by activating the His-Purkinje system distal to the site of proximal bundle branch block. Early clinical data suggest that CRT with HBP may be associated with comparable clinical benefits to biventricular pacing in CRT-eligible patients, although randomized data are not yet available. The available data suggest that HBP is an alternative approach to biventricular pacing to achieve cardiac resynchronization by restoration of native Purkinje activation. The applicability is most clear in patients with typical BBB patterns. Further research and randomized studies are necessary to evaluate the role of HBP in CRT.
John H. Muse. Microdramas: Crucibles for Theater and Time

John Muse’s Microdramas: Crucibles for Theater and Time offers a thoughtful account of very short plays over the course of the long twentieth century. Muse shows how artists have used these works t...
Decanal work: Using role theory and the sociology of time to study the executive behavior of college of education deans

xi CHAPTER I. THE NEED TO STUDY WHAT ACADEMIC DEANS DO 1 Research Questions 6 Rationale for the Study 7 Description of the Research 8 Significance of the Research 9 Limitations of the Study 9 Definition of Key Terms 9 CHAPTER n. THE ACADEMIC DEANSHIP IN THE LITERATURE 11 The Historical Development of the Academic Dean's Position 12 The Academic Dean's Position 15 Changing Careers 15 The Uniqueness of the Academic Dean's Position 16 Dilemmas of the Academic Deanship 17 Pathways to the Deanship 17 Career Trajectory 18 Contributing Factors 18 The Selection of the E)ean 19 The Process 19 Criteria for Selection 19 Job Readiness 20 Preparation for the Deanship 20 New Deans 20 A Demographic Analysis of Academic Deans 22 ProWe 23 How Diverse is the Deanship? 24 Ethnicity 24 Gender 24 Roles of the Academic Dean 25 Academic Leader 25 Leader 26 Resource Allocator 26 Mediator/Advocate 26 Collaborator 26
The Role of Physiology and Voice in Emotion Perception During Social Stress

Deciphering others’ affect is ubiquitous in daily life and is important for navigating social interactions and relationships. Research has found that behavioral components, such as facial expressions or body language, are critical channels by which people understand other people’s affect. In the current research, we examined how people’s perceptions of targets’ positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are associated with targets’ physiological reactivity, and whether behavioral indices mediate these associations. A total of 94 participants (i.e., observers) watched videos of targets completing a social stress task during which targets’ physiological reactivity [i.e., changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), cardiac output (CO), and ventricular contractility (VC)] was assessed. We predicted (1) targets’ RSA reactivity would be negatively associated with observers’ perceptions of PA and NA (to a lesser magnitude than PA); (2) targets’ CO reactivity would be positively associated with observers’ perceptions of PA and unrelated to perceptions of NA; and (3) targets’ VC would be positively associated perceptions of PA or NA (VC was an exploratory hypothesis). Our hypotheses were largely supported. Mediational analyses revealed that vocal prosody was a significant mediator of the association between perceptions of targets’ affect and their physiological reactivity. The findings suggest that observers can reliably detect targets’ emotional experiences as they manifest at a physiological level and that voice is an especially useful marker of how people perceive others’ affective experience. The findings have implications for aspects of relationships involving emotion perception, including affect contagion and interpersonal emotion regulation.
An Efficient Profiling-Based Side-Channel Attack on Graphics Processing Units

The encryption/decryption algorithms have been ported to GPU platforms to take advantage of the GPUs’ high-throughput computing capability. The downside of moving the cryptographic algorithms onto GPUs, however, is that the vulnerability of side-channel attacks for GPUs has not been well studied and the confidential information may be under a great risk by processing encryption on GPUs. In this paper, we proposed to leverage a profiling-based side-channel attack (SCA) to expose GPUs’ side-channel vulnerability and the weakness of security services provided by GPUs. Our results show that GPUs are particularly vulnerable to profiling-based side-channel attacks and need to be protected against side-channel threats. Especially, for AES-128, the proposed method can recover all key bytes in less than 1 min, outperforming all prior SCAs we know.
The utility of reptile blood transcriptomes in molecular ecology

Reptiles and other nonmammalian vertebrates have transcriptionally active nucleated red blood cells. If blood transcriptomes can provide quantitative data to address questions relevant to molecular ecology, this could circumvent the need to euthanize animals to assay tissues. This would allow longitudinal sampling of animals' responses to treatments, as well as sampling of protected taxa. We developed and annotated blood transcriptomes from six reptile species and found on average 25,000 proteins are being transcribed in the blood, and there is a CORE group of 9,282 orthogroups that are found in at least four of six species. In comparison to liver transcriptomes from the same taxa, approximately two-thirds of the orthogroups were found in both blood and liver; and a similar percentage of ecologically relevant gene groups (insulin and insulin-like signalling, electron transport chain, oxidative stress, glucocorticoid receptors) were found transcribed in both blood and liver. As a resource, we provide a user-friendly database of gene ids identified in each blood transcriptome. Although on average 37% of reads mapped to haemoglobin, importantly, the majority of nonhaemoglobin transcripts had sufficient depth (e.g., 97% at ≥10 reads) to be included in differential gene expression analysis. Thus, we demonstrate that RNAseq blood transcriptomes from a very small blood sample (<10 μl) is a minimally invasive option in nonmammalian vertebrates for quantifying expression of a large number of ecologically relevant genes that would allow longitudinal sampling and sampling of protected populations.
Complete remission with immunotherapy: Case report of a patient with metastatic bladder cancer to the humerus.

Abstract Bladder cancer is the sixth most common malignancy in the United States. Cisplatin combination regimens are first line therapy for patients with metastatic urothelial bladder cancer who are eligible candidates and no treatments have shown to improve outcome compared to chemotherapy for the past 20 years. Significant advances were made in past 2–3 years and the most significant was the introduction of checkpoints inhibitors in bladder cancer treatment. We present a patient diagnosed with metastatic urothelial carcinoma who progressed while on cisplatin/gemcitabine chemotherapy in the form of oligometastasis to the bone. He has achieved a durable complete response with atezolizumab.