cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rapid control of pandemic H1N1 influenza by targeting NKT-cells

Swine influenza A viruses (IAV) are a major cause of respiratory disease in pigs and humans. Currently approved anti-influenza therapies directly target the virus, but these approaches are losing effectiveness as new viral strains quickly develop drug resistance. To over come this challenge, there is an urgent need for more effective antiviral drugs. Here we tested the anti-influenza efficacy of the invariant natural killer T (NKT) cell superagonist, α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), which stimulates a wide array of anti-viral immune responses. We show that intranasal but not systemic administration of α-GalCer to piglets infected with pandemic A/California/04/2009 (CA04) H1N1 IAV ameliorated disease symptoms and resulted in the restoration of weight gain to the level of uninfected pigs. Correspondingly, viral titers in the upper-and lower-respiratory tract were reduced only in piglets that had received intranasal α-GalCer. Most significantly, lung inflammation as a consequence of virus persistence was largely prevented when NKT-cells were targeted via the respiratory route. Thus, targeting mucosal NKT-cells may provide a novel and potent platform for improving the course of disease in swine infected with seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses, and leads to the suggestion that this may also be true in humans and therefore deserves further study.
Measurement of in vivo Gastrointestinal Release and Dissolution of Three Locally Acting Mesalamine Formulations in Regions of the Human Gastrointestinal Tract.

As an orally administered, locally acting gastrointestinal drug, mesalamine products are designed to achieve high local drug concentration in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. The aim of this study was to directly measure and compare drug dissolution of three mesalamine formulations in human GI tract and to correlate their GI concentration with drug concentration in plasma. Healthy human subjects were orally administered Pentasa, Apriso, or Lialda. GI fluids were aspirated from stomach, duodenum, proximal jejunum, mid jejunum, and distal jejunum regions. Mesalamine (5-ASA) and its primary metabolite acetyl-5-mesalamine (Ac-5-ASA) were measured using LC–MS/MS. GI tract pH was measured from each GI fluid sample, which averaged 1.82, 4.97, 5.67, 6.17, and 6.62 in the stomach, duodenum, proximal jejunum, middle jejunum, and distal jejunum, respectively. For Pentasa, high levels of 5-ASA in solution were observed in the stomach, duodenum, proximal jejunum, mid jejunum, an...
Presentation of the Mineralogical Society of America Award to Quentin C. Williams

Mr. President, members of the Society, and guests: It is with great pleasure and considerable pride that I introduce you to the recipient of the Mineralogical Society of America Award for 2000, Quentin Williams. A professor of Earth Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Quentin Williams has established himself as a leader in the field of mineral and melt spectroscopy. He has documented changes in atomic packing taking place in melts at high pressures, revealing why the physical processes of geochemical differentiation are distinct throughout the bulk of the Earth, as compared with the well-known differentiation processes of the crust and uppermost mantle. For example, he has identified coordination changes in silicate glasses at high pressures, similar to those taking place in crystalline minerals. The coordination changes are found to occur reversibly on compression and decompression of the glass, …
Sustainability of Entrepreneurship in the Telecommunications Industry

The intents of this study was to appraise the success factors of entrepreneurship, determine the challenges militating against sustainable entrepreneurship and consider if proper accessibility to telecommunication services by the grassroots and rural dwellers can improve the chances of success of SMEs using Airtel Nigeria as a case.
Acoustic classification using semi-supervised Deep Neural Networks and stochastic entropy-regularization over nearest-neighbor graphs

We describe a graph-based semi-supervised learning method for acoustic data that uses a Deep Neural Network (DNN) combined with a stochastic graph-based entropic regularizer to favor smooth solutions over a graph induced by the data. We consider graph embeddings constructed from the input features and also from dimensionality-reduced encodings obtained from the bottleneck layer of a separate deep auto-encoder. We use a computationally efficient, stochastic graph-regularization technique that uses mini-batches that are consistent with the graph structure but that also provide enough data diversity for the convergence of stochastic gradient descent methods to good solutions. For this work, we focus on results of frame-level phone classification accuracy on the TIMIT speech corpus but our method is general and scalable to much larger data sets. Results indicate that our method significantly improves classification accuracy compared to the fully-supervised case when the fraction of labeled data is low, and it is competitive with other methods in the fully labeled case.
Reviewing and managing syndromic surveillance SaTScan datasets using an open source data visualization tool.

SaTScan™ is a popular, free software tool used to identify disease clusters early in the course of an outbreak.1 Using geographic and time-based surveillance data, SaTScan can generate large datasets that are difficult for humans to interpret. Tracing disease clusters through space and time using text tables is a challenging cognitive task. To simplify this process, we developed a Java-based open-source tool to transform SaTScan analytic datasets into easily navigable data visualizations.
Hypereosinophilic Syndrome Subtype Predicts Responsiveness to Glucocorticoids.

Background Glucocorticoids (GCs) are considered first-line treatment for platelet-derived growth factor α (PDGFRA)-negative hypereosinophilic syndromes (HESs). Despite this, little is known about clinical predictors of GC responsiveness in HES. Objective Knowledge of clinical and laboratory predictors of GC response before initiation of GC could lead to more rational selection of subjects with HES for whom earlier institution of second-line and alternative therapies would be appropriate. Methods Response to GC, as defined by the reduction of the absolute eosinophil count to below 1000/mm3 and control of symptoms, was assessed by a retrospective chart review of subjects with PDGFRA-negative HES evaluated on an institutional review board-approved protocol. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters obtained before institution of GC, as well as final diagnosis, were evaluated to determine predictors of GC response. Proportional odds models were used for univariate and multivariate assessment of predictors with permutation adjusted P values to correct for multiple comparisons. Results A total of 164 subjects with PDGFRA-negative HES were categorized according to GC response. Of them, 39% of the subjects responded to low dose (≤10 mg) prednisone, 9% did not respond to GC, and the remainder (52%) had variable responses to GC. The HES subtype diagnosis was the best predictor of response to GC with myeloid forms and lymphocytic variants of HES being the least responsive to GC. Conclusions In a large cohort of well-characterized subjects with HES, the odds of response to GC was predicted by HES subtype. Using this model, clinicians may more readily proceed to second-line agents in subjects with confirmed lymphocytic or myeloid forms of HES.
Deliberate with the Enemy? Polarization, Social Identity, and Attitudes toward Disagreement:

As of late, political theory, research, and practice have taken a deliberative turn, extolling the benefits of idealized public discourse. This paper explores how mass polarization impacts the preconditions for such discourse. Drawing from social identity theory, partisanship is conceptualized as having distinct, yet interrelated social and ideological dimensions. Through both online and telephone-based survey experiments, the paper then examines how these two dimensions affect attitudes toward discussion that theorists prioritize. Strong social attachments to one’s party consistently drive antideliberative attitudes toward disagreement; ideological partisan attachment, however, does not have this effect. The results suggest that the rise of social identity polarization has driven the public away from discursive norms that would support a deliberative democratic system.
Reevaluating the Middle-Class Protest Paradigm: A Case-Control Study of Democratic Protest Coalitions in Russia

A large literature expects rising middle classes to promote democracy. However, few studies provide direct evidence on this group in nondemocratic settings. This article focuses on politically important differentiation within the middle classes, arguing that middle-class growth in state-dependent sectors weakens potential coalitions in support of democratization. I test this argument using surveys conducted at mass demonstrations in Russia and detailed population data. I also present a new approach to studying protest based on case-control methods from epidemiology. The results reveal that state-sector professionals were significantly less likely to mobilize against electoral fraud, even after controlling for ideology. If this group had participated at the same rate as middle-class professionals from the private sector, I estimate that another 90,000 protesters would have taken to the streets. I trace these patterns of participation to the interaction of individual resources and selective incentives. These findings have implications for authoritarian stability and democratic transitions.
Omeprazole was better than H. pylori eradication for preventing recurrent GI bleeding in patients receiving naproxen

Source Citation Chan FK, Chung S, Suen BY, et al. Preventing recurrent upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection who are taking low-dose aspirin or naproxen. N ...
Learning infectious disease epidemiology in a modern framework.

Modern infectious disease epidemiology makes heavy use of computational model–based approaches and a dynamical systems perspective. The importance of analyzing infectious diseases in such a way keeps increasing. However, infectious disease epidemiology is still often taught mainly from a medical and classical epidemiological study design (e.g., cohort, case-control) perspective. While textbooks and other resources that teach a model-based approach to infectious diseases exist, almost any such teaching material requires students to work with mathematical models and write computer code. This is a significant barrier for students who do not have a strong mathematical background or prior coding experience, which applies to many students in public health and related biomedical disciplines. It limits the number of students who can or want to engage with infectious disease epidemiology by using modern, systems modeling–based approaches. New tools and approaches are needed to reach a wider audience and allow students to learn concepts such as the reproductive number, herd immunity, critical community size, and the population-level impact of interventions from a dynamical systems and model perspective, without the obstacles of coding or having to formulate and analyze differential equations. Here, I describe a new software package for the widely used R language that allows individuals to explore and study concepts of infectious disease epidemiology by using a modern, dynamical systems model framework, without the need to read or write computer code. The package includes documentation and material to serve as a stand-alone tool—supplemented as needed with provided references—for students to get an introduction to important modern infectious disease concepts. The package is built in a modular way that allows a student to seamlessly continue on their journey of learning infectious disease modeling if they choose to do so. The different ways to use the package are described in detail, and examples are provided.
Bandwidth performance of an antenna array with tapped delay-line and compressive sensing

This paper examines the effects of broadband interference on an adaptive antenna array when receiving compressively transmitted data. Transmission of compressive data (at the source) may be desired to reduce data rate, but the interference (broadband or not) and additive noise may not be necessarily compressive measurements. This study examines how an antenna array with tapped-delay line suppresses the interference.
Faculty feedback that begins with resident self-assessment: motivation is the key to success.

Context The seeking and incorporating of feedback are necessary for continuous performance improvement in medicine. We know that beginning feedback conversations with resident self-assessment may reduce some of the tensions experienced by faculty staff. However, we do not fully understand how residents experience feedback that begins with self-assessment, and whether any existing theoretical frameworks can explain their experiences. Methods We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study exploring physical medicine and rehabilitation residents' experiences as they engaged in a structured self-assessment and faculty staff feedback programme. Utilising purposive sampling, we conducted 15 individual interviews and analysed verbatim transcripts iteratively. We implemented several procedures to enhance the credibility of the findings and the protection of participants during recruitment, data collection and data analysis. After defining the themes, we reviewed a variety of existing frameworks to determine if any fitted the data. Results Residents valued self-assessment followed by feedback (SAFF) and had clear ideas of what makes the process useful. Time pressures and poor feedback quality could lead to a process of 'just going through the motions'. Motivation coloured residents' experiences, with more internalised motivation related to a more positive experience. There were no gender- or year of training-related patterns. Conclusions Self-determination theory provided the clearest lens for framing our findings and fitted into a conceptual model linking the quality of the SAFF experience and residents' motivational loci. We identified several study limitations including time in the field, evolving characteristics of the SAFF programme and the absence of faculty voices. We believe that by better understanding residents' experiences of SAFF, educators may be able to tailor the feedback process, enhance clinical performance and ultimately improve patient care.
The 2017 high blood pressure clinical practice guideline: The old and the new.

The 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults was made public on November 13, 2017 (http://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/ten-points-to-remember/2017/11/09/11/41/2017-guideline-for-high-blood-pressure-in-adults).1 The American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) and other societies, including the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC), participated in its development. Guidelines are complex work products; they require compromise and a deep evaluation and understanding of current and past evidence. They are intended to help clinicians, patients, payers, and policymakers in their respective decision-making process. Given the sometimes disparate interests of these stakeholders, construction of guidelines can be extraordinarily complex. Defined by the Institute of Medicine in 1990, guidelines are “systemically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances.”2 Though intended to improve patient care, guidelines can be unintentionally misused by clinicians, patients, payers, and policymakers, all of whom may fail to recognize the guidelines' limitations. They were created to assist, not dictate, decision making. As an example, patients may decline a therapeutic strategy if it is not in a guideline, even when their physician understands why they might best be served by management that falls outside of a guideline. Payers may extract statements without context to support restricting access to novel or costly therapies. Application of guidelines can also be limited by undue complexity. Finally, the unharmonized nature of competing guidelines for the same disease state can increase confusion instead of reducing it. The 2017 guideline appears to be different. Though a long document, its message is rather simple and straightforward; high blood pressure causes complications, and treating it reduces them. Simple blood pressure cut-points with associated clear therapeutic recommendations make this guideline easy to follow. Clinical flexibility is also fundamental to the document, respecting clinical acumen in shared decision making, a vital aspect of optimal healthcare. Finally, the involvement of multiple organizations in the construction and endorsement of the document may reduce the risk of confusion driven by diverse high blood pressure guidelines. In sum, what one will find from this guideline is a clinical breath of fresh air; it represents compromise, coordination among groups, and a simple message for patients and clinicians alike. We have chosen to examine this guideline in the context of history: what is old and what is new. By doing so, we hope to highlight salient, clinically relevant changes in blood pressure management.
On a Theorem of Keldysh and Wiener

Let X be a compact set in the complex plane C. Let H(X) be the uniform closure on X of those real continuous functions each harmonic in a neighborhood of X. Let D(X) be the space of those real continuous functions on X harmonic on the interior of X. In 1941 M. V. Keldysh [4] showed that if X°, the interior of X, was connected and X is the closure of X°, then H(X) = D(X) if each regular point of dX was a point of stability for the Dirichlet problem on X. Much earlier Wiener [6] has proved that a boundary point of X was a regular point for the Dirichlet problem if and only if $$ \sum\limits_{n = 1}^\infty {\frac{n}{{\log \frac{1}{{\gamma ({A_n}(x) - X^\circ )}}}} = \infty } $$ (1) where A n (x) = {z:l/2n+1 ≦ |z-x|≧l/2n} and y denotes the logarithmic capacity. In [4] Keldysh observed that x would be a point of stability for the Dirichlet problem if and only if $$ \sum\limits_{n = 1}^\infty {\frac{n}{{\log \frac{1}{{\gamma ({A_n}(x) - X)}}}} = \infty } $$ (2) .
Microsomal Enzymes Involved in the Metabolism of Ether-Linked Glycerolipids and Their Precursors in Mammals

The pathway by which ether-linked glycerolipids are synthesized in animals remained obscure until 1968. Metabolic in vivo studies and structural analysis of alkyl-linked glycerolipids indicated that the alkyl chains were derived from fatty alcohols (Keenan et al., 1961; Friedberg and Greene, 1967; Ellingboe and Karnovsky, 1967; Snyder and Blank, 1969; Schmid and Takahashi, 1970) and that alk-1-enyl-linked glycerolipids (plasmalogens) were formed by desaturation of alkyl glycerolipids (Horrocks and Ansell, 1967; Bickerstaffe and Mead, 1968; Malins, 1968; Thompson, 1968; Wood and Snyder, 1969; Wood and Healy, 1970; Blank et al., 1970; Wood et al., 1970; Bell et al., 1971; Debuch et al., 1970, 1971; Paltauf, 1971a,b; Stoffel and LeKim, 1971). Thompson and Hanahan (1963) found that radioactivity from [6–14C]glucose was incorporated into ether lipids by bone marrow and that the label was almost exclusively in the sn-3 carbon of the glycerol moiety. Later Friedberg and Greene (1968) concluded from in vivo experiments with Tetrahymena and 14C., 3H-labeled glycerol that the glycerol portion of ether lipids is derived from a triose phosphate or some other carbohydrate instead of α-glycerophosphate.
The Child’s Social Network: Social Object, Social Functions, and Their Relationship

The infant enters into the world. It is a social world full of conspecifics, a small segment of which shares his gene pool, a larger segment who will influence him, and, finally, the largest segment that forms the background in which these other interactions will take place. The smallest segment we call the family, the larger, his friends, acquaintances, and peers, and the largest segment, the culture. The people who populate the child’s world are many and the behavior they direct toward the child varied. In order to explore the child as a member of its social group or network, it is necessary to explore some ideas concerning the social objects and social functions of the child’s world.
Mapping Class, Gender and Race in Resistance Literature

(2000). Mapping Class, Gender and Race in Resistance Literature. Comparative Literature: East & West: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 163-173.
Circular Economy, 3D Printing, and the Biosphere Rules:

This article applies the Biosphere Rules—a biomimicry-inspired management framework for circular economy initiatives—to the emerging field of additive manufacturing and three-dimensional (3D) Print...
DuPont Kevlar Fibre. Part 3. Hybrid Cords, Short Fibres, and their Application in Composites with Thermoplastics and Thermosetting Plastics:

Short or staple aramide fibres of the Kevlar type were tested as reinforcing agents for thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers.
Development and Validation of a Simple Convenience Store SHELF Audit.

Background This paper describes the development, reliability, and convergent validity of a practical tool—the Convenience Store Supportive Healthy Environment for Life-Promoting Food (SHELF) Audit. Methods Audit items included: a variety of fresh, processed, and frozen fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy products; healthy staples and frozen meals; healthy food incentive programs; items sold in check-out areas; portion/cup sizes; and pricing. Each audit item was scored using a five-point semantic-differential scale (1 = provides little or no support for healthful foods to 5 = provides high support for healthful foods). Convergent validity was examined by comparing the SHELF audit to Ghirardelli et al. and Laska et al. store audits. Statistical analysis included: Factor analysis, ANOVA, and Spearman correlations. Results SHELF included three factors: a Fruits/Vegetables scale (eight items, α = 0.79; total potential points = 34); a Healthy Foods scale (four items, α = 0.72; total potential points = 16); and a Supports scale (four items, α = 0.685; total potential points = 16). Only 6% of the 124 convenience stores assessed scored in the most healthful range (46–66). The assessed drug stores (n = 15) scored higher than convenience stores (n = 81) on the Healthy Foods and Supports scales but not the Fruits/Vegetables scale. The SHELF sub-scores were highly correlated with other audit tools indicating convergent validity. Conclusion The SHELF convenience store audit is a valid, reliable tool for assessing the degree to which convenience stores support healthfulness regarding Fruits/Vegetables, Healthy Foods, and Supports for choosing healthy.
Mapping floristic gradients of forest composition using an ordination-regression approach with landsat OLI and terrain data in the Central Hardwoods region

Abstract Mapping forest properties with supervised remote sensing has historically and increasingly remained vital to research and management efforts, and the demand for such products will only increase as better tools and data increase the usability of such maps. Multispectral imagery by the Landsat program has been an invaluable resource for forest type characterization for several decades. As an alternative to traditional classification approaches dominating these efforts, we instead employed an ordination-regression approach to mapping forest composition as floristic gradients across a ∼5000-km2 forestland in southeastern Ohio’s Central Hardwoods. Plot data (n = 699 plots; 99 species/genera) from a comprehensive sample of both overstory and understory woody plants across structurally- (open to closed canopy) and topographically-variable forest conditions were projected onto a non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination solution. Floristic gradients, via their ordination scores, were related to spectral reflectance provided by a multitemporal Landsat 8-Operational Land Imager (OLI) image and various terrain variables using Random Forests models. Approximately 61%, 49%, and 25% of the floristic variation among the three axes of the NMDS ordination were related to the remotely-sensed variables during regression modeling. The axes were predicted onto three images and merged to a RGB color composite for the final floristic gradient map, displaying multivariate vegetation variation across the landscape in terms of variation in color. The color values, by referencing ordination space position within the original solution, provide a statistical approximation of the taxonomic composition of individual forest stands in relation to the plot data. We found this approach highly effective and an attractive alternative to traditional classifications. It is time-efficient, more realistic in that compositional turnover is expressed in continuous fields rather than arbitrary breaks, and less subjective, overcoming the generalization problem inherent in categorizing vegetation assemblages a priori. Moving forward, our model will be a valuable tool in developing suitable management options on individual forest stands for the restoration of desired species, adapting to a changing climate, and improving wildlife habitat in forestlands across the Central Hardwoods.
Amplitude-integrated EEG use in neonatal abstinence syndrome: a pilot study

Objective: Though central nervous system irritability is a well-established consequence of neonatal drug withdrawal, brain function in infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is not well un...
Postconcussion Academic Support in Children Who Attend a Primary Care Provider Follow-up Visit after Presenting to the Emergency Department

Objective To examine whether a primary care provider (PCP) follow-up visit after emergency department evaluation of concussion improved the children's likelihood of receiving academic support. Study design This was a prospective cohort study. Concussed children, aged 8-18 years, presenting to a regional pediatric trauma center emergency department (n = 160) were contacted 7 and 30 days after injury to gather data on PCP follow-up, symptoms, quality of life, and receipt of academic support instituted after and because of the concussion. Bivariate comparisons of demographics, concussion characteristics, quality of life, and symptoms were made between children who did and did not receive support using independent samples t tests, Wilcoxon rank sum tests, or χ2 tests. ORs and 95% CIs were calculated using multivariable logistic regression with backwards elimination to test the association between attending an outpatient follow-up visit and the receipt of academic support for variables where P Results Overall, 51.3% (n = 82) received academic support; of these, 84.2% attended a follow-up visit compared with 71.8% of 78 children who attended a follow-up visit but did not receive support (P = .06). Children who received support were more likely to have commercial insurance; experience a sports-related injury mechanism; have parents whose primary language was English; suffer from learning disabilities and migraines; and be non-Hispanic (P Conclusions Although the majority of children received academic support postconcussion, accommodations were associated with several demographic, medical history, and injury characteristics, but not attending a PCP follow-up visit.
Not Always Helpful: Exploring the Antecedents and Outcomes of Team Autonomous and Dependent Helping

Does helping in teams always benefit team outcomes? To better understand the roles of helping in teamwork, we propose and test a model on the antecedents and consequences of team helping behaviors ...
In vivo characterization of emerging white matter microstructure in the fetal brain in the third trimester.

The third trimester of pregnancy is a period of rapid development of fiber bundles in the fetal white matter. Using a recently developed motion-tracked slice-to-volume registration (MT-SVR) method, we aimed to quantify tract-specific developmental changes in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), and volume in third trimester healthy fetuses. To this end, we reconstructed diffusion tensor images from motion corrected fetal diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data. With an approved protocol, fetal MRI exams were performed on healthy pregnant women at 3 Tesla and included multiple (2-8) diffusion scans of the fetal head (1-2 b = 0 s/mm2 images and 12 diffusion-sensitized images at b = 500 s/mm2 ). Diffusion data from 32 fetuses (13 females) with median gestational age (GA) of 33 weeks 4 days were processed with MT-SVR and deterministic tractography seeded by regions of interest corresponding to 12 major fiber tracts. Multivariable regression analysis was used to evaluate the association of GA with volume, FA, and ADC for each tract. For all tracts, the volume and FA increased, and the ADC decreased with GA. Associations reached statistical significance for: FA and ADC of the forceps major; volume and ADC for the forceps minor; FA, ADC, and volume for the cingulum; ADC, FA, and volume for the uncinate fasciculi; ADC of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi, ADC of the inferior longitudinal fasciculi; and FA and ADC for the corticospinal tracts. These quantitative results demonstrate the complex pattern and rates of tract-specific, GA-related microstructural changes of the developing white matter in human fetal brain.
Metal 3D-Printing via Selective Laser Sintering

Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a state-of-the-art manufacturing technology which has emerged rapidly in the last decade as observed from the growth in its global market. AM’s impact relies on products and supply chains in numerous industries such as automobiles, consumer electronics, aerospace, and medical devices. While industrial AM systems for polymer materials can produce reasonable quality for customers, AM for metallic materials still has room for quality improvement.
The Rule of Law: Sean McCandless

“The rule of law” is a much lauded concept in that as “political morality […] it refers to the ascendancy of law […] and of the institutions of the legal system in a system of governance.” It is so...
A Checklist to Assess Childbearing Intentions and Promote Referral to Preconception Care or Contraception: A Multi-Site Study

This study assesses HIV provider views on the value of a checklist designed to assess patients’ preconception care (PCC) needs and guide implementation of PCC. Ninety-two HIV providers in seven U.S. cities provided perspectives via an in-depth phone interview regarding a checklist to facilitate communication and referrals for PCC. A sub-sample of 27 providers shared feedback on a checklist designed for this purpose. Interview audio files were transcribed and uploaded to a web-based program supporting coding and analysis of qualitative data. Content analysis was utilized to identify key themes within the larger, a priori themes of interest. Feedback regarding the checklist was analyzed using a grounded theory approach to examine patterns and emergent themes across transcripts. Providers averaged 11.5 years of HIV treatment experience; over 80 percent were physicians (MD) or nurse practitioners (NP) and 76 percent were HIV/infectious disease specialists. The majority of providers were female (70%) and Caucasian (72%). Checklist benefits identified included standardization of care, assisting new/inexperienced providers, educational resource for patients, and aid in normalizing childbearing. Concerns included over-protocolizing care, interfering with patient-provider communication, or requiring providers address non-priority issues during visits. Providers suggested checklists be simple, incorporated into the electronic medical record, and accompanied with appropriate referral systems. Findings support a need for a checklist tool to assist in conversations about reproductive intentions/desires. Additional referral or innovative consultative services will be needed as more persons living with HIV/AIDS are engaged on the topic of childbearing.
A Modified Hybrid Wald’s Approximation Method for Efficient Covariate Selection in Population Pharmacokinetic Analysis

One important objective of population pharmacokinetic (PPK) analyses is to identify and quantify relationships between covariates and model parameters such as clearance and volume. To improve upon existing covariate model development methods including stepwise procedures and Wald's approximation method (WAM), this paper introduces an innovative method named the hybrid first-order conditional estimation (FOCE)/Monte-Carlo parametric expectation maximization (MCPEM)-based Wald's approximation method with backward elimination (BE), or H-WAM-BE. Compared with WAM, this new method uses MCPEM to obtain full covariance matrix after running FOCE to obtain full model parameter estimates, followed by BE to select the final covariate model. Two groups of datasets (simulation datasets and rituximab datasets) were used to compare the performance of H-WAM-BE with two other methods, likelihood ratio test (LRT)-based stepwise covariate method (SCM) and H-WAM with full subset approach (H-WAM-F) in NONMEM. Different scenarios with different sample sizes and sampling schemes were used for simulating datasets. The nominal model was used as the reference to evaluate the three methods for their ability to accurately identify parameter-covariate relationships. The methods were compared using the number of true and false positive covariates identified, number of times that they identified the reference model, computation times, and predictive performance. Best-performing H-WAM-BE methods (M2 and M4) showed comparable results with LRT-based SCM. H-WAM-BE required shorter or comparable computation times than LRT-based SCM and H-WAM-F regardless of the model structure, sample size, or sampling design used in this study.
Using QuantCrit to Advance an Anti-Racist Developmental Science: Applications to Mixture Modeling:

How researchers use statistical analyses shapes their research toward or away from an anti-racist agenda. In this article, we demonstrate how developmental scientists can use the QuantCrit framewor...
Normative intercapillary distance and vessel density data in the temporal retina assessed by wide-field spectral-domain optical coherence tomography angiography.

A limitation of conventional optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is the limited field of view normally used in data acquisition. As the technology improves, larger fields of view that c...
Judicial Discretion and the Problem of Dirty Hands

H.L.A. Hart’s lost and found essay ‘Discretion’ has provided new insight into the issue of how legal systems can cope with indeterminacy in the law. The so-called ‘open texture’ of law calls for the exercise of judicial discretion, which, I argue, renders judges susceptible to the problem of dirty hands. To show this, I frame the problem as being open to an array of appropriate emotional responses, namely, various senses of guilt. With these responses in mind, I revise an example from Michael Walzer’s original analysis in a way that highlights purely personal sacrifices in solutions to dirty hands situations. I then turn to an account of moral emotions in legal decision-making and show how judges—in failing to advance all interests—might be left with a unique sense of guilt. With an application of this account to Hart’s legal positivism, it can be seen that a judge’s hands are often dirtied in resolving borderline cases. If discretion leaves judges in situations where they must do wrong in order to do right, Hart’s endorsement of a closure view of wrongdoing will lead to difficulties in how he can explain the presence of moral remainders in jurisprudence.
Modeling of Radiofrequency Ablation Lesions for Image-Guided Arrhythmia Therapy: A Preliminary ex vivo Demonstration

In spite of significant efforts to enhance guidance for catheter navigation, very little has been done to consider the changes that occur in the tissue during ablation as a means to provide feedback on therapy delivery. We propose a technique to visualize the lesion progression and monitor the RF energy delivery by means of a real-time thermal ablation model. The model is based on physical and physiological tissue parameters, and uses heat transfer principles to estimate temperature distribution and geometry of the generated lesion in real time. Validation of the model against experimental measurements recorded in ex vivo muscle samples ablated under clinically relevant conditions demonstrated good agreement between the predicted and measured parameters. We believe this technique will enable the generation of real-time thermal maps that can be used to guide the placement of successive lesions to ensure continuous and effective suppression of the arrhythmic pathway.
National evaluation of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia among older versus younger veterans

Objectives Limited research has examined the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) among older adults (age >65 years) receiving treatment in real-world clinical settings and even less has examined effects on outcomes beyond reducing insomnia, such as improved quality of life. The current article examines and compares outcomes of older versus younger (age 18–64 years) veterans receiving CBT-I nationally in nonsleep specialty settings. Method Patient outcomes were assessed using the Insomnia Severity Index, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF. Therapeutic alliance was assessed using the Working Alliance Inventory—Short Revised. Results A total of 536 younger veterans and 121 older veterans received CBT-I; 77% of older and 64% of younger patients completed all sessions or finished early due to symptom relief. Mean insomnia scores declined from 19.5 to 9.7 in the older group and from 20.9 to 11.1 in the younger group. Within-group effect sizes were d = 2.3 and 2.2 for older and younger groups, respectively. CBT-I also yielded significant improvements in depression and quality of life for both age groups. High and increasing levels of therapeutic alliance were observed for both age groups. Conclusions Older (and younger) patients receiving CBT-I from nonsleep specialists experienced large reductions in insomnia and improvements in depression and quality of life. Effects were similar for both age groups, and the rate of dropout was lower among older adults. The results provide strong support for the effectiveness and acceptability of CBT-I for older adults receiving care in routine treatment settings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pension Spiking Pits Reformers Against Public-Funded Retirees

The Public Safety Personnel Retirement System is entangled in controversy related to police officers and firefighters increasing retirement benefits through pension spiking. Similar to municipalities across the nation, pension reform advocates in Phoenix are demanding pension benefits limits and warning about the risk of underfunding for future generations.
Numerical and experimental analysis for solidification and residual stress in the GMAW process for AISI 304 stainless steel

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process was analyzed by combining a finite element thermomechanical model for temperature and stress with solidification model. Model prediction was compared with experimental data in order to validate the model. The effects of welding process parameters on these welding fields were analyzed and reported. The effort to correlate the residual stress and solidification was initiated, yielding some valuable results. The solidification process was simulated using the formulation based on the Hunt-Trivedi model. Based on the temperature history, solidification speed and primary dendrite arm spacing were predicted at given nodes of interest. Results show that the variation during solidification is usually within an order of magnitude. The temperature gradient was generally in the range of 104–105 K/m for the given welding conditions (welding power = 6 kW and welding speed = 3.39 to 7.62 mm/sec), while solidification speed appeared to slow down from an order of 10−2 to 10−3 m/sec during solidification. SEM images revealed that the Primary Dendrite Arm Spacing (PDAS) fell in the range of 101−102 μm. The range of predicted sizes was in agreement with the experimental values. It was observed that the average size of the PDAS was dependent upon the welding speed. The PDAS fell between 7.5 to 20 μm for columnar and 10 to 30 μm for equiaxed dendrites, for welding speeds between 3.39 to 7.62 mm/sec. When the welding speed increased, it was observed that the average size of the PDAS decreased, as the model had predicted. For grain growth at the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ), Ashby's model was employed, and the prediction was in agreement with experimental results. For the residual stress calculation, the same mesh generation used in the heat transfer analysis was applied to make the simulation consistent. The analysis consisted of a transient heat analysis followed by a thermal stress analysis. An experimentally measured strain history was compared with the simulated result. The relationship between microstructure and the stress/strain field of welding was also obtained.
Fine structural features of eosinophile granulocyte development in human bone marrow. Evidence for granule secretion.

Stages in the maturation of human eosinophiles were characterized by electron microscopy. An early stage of development was distinguished by prominent nucleoli, dilated segments of RER, and vacuoles that were partially filled with an electron dense matrix. It appeared that such vacuoles might be formed as saccular dilatations of the RER rather than by fusion of Golgi-associated vesicles. Progressive accumulation of dense material within these precursor vacuoles resulted in the formation of spherical homogeneously dense immature granules which constituted the predominant granule found in eosinophiles of intermediate maturity. Many intermediate eosinophiles contained tubular sinusoids filled with dense material resembling granule matrix. Such sinusoids often communicated with the extracellular space, and dense material resembling sinusoidal contents was present on adjacent cell surfaces. These configurations suggested that some material of granule origin was secreted by developing eosinophiles. Other immature granules apparently persisted, were condensed and transformed into crystalloid-containing granules that are typical of mature eosinophiles.
Coordinating Autonomy: Sequential Resource Allocation Systems for Automation

The integrating role that is sought by automation in many contemporary applications frequently can be abstracted to the need for pertinent supervision of a function that allocates a finite set of reusable resources to a set of concurrently executing processes. This article formalizes the corresponding supervisory control problem, surveys the major results that are currently available for it, and highlights the remaining open challenges for the corresponding research community. In the process, it also reveals the analytical and computational advantages that can be attained from the reference of the considered problem to some appropriate control-theoretic frameworks and the additional potential that is defined for such an analytic approach by the identification and exploitation of some essential problem features and the special structure that is defined by them.
Principal series representations of infinite-dimensional Lie groups, I: Minimal parabolic subgroups

We study the structure of minimal parabolic subgroups of the classical infinite-dimensional real simple Lie groups, corresponding to the classical simple direct limit Lie algebras. This depends on the recently developed structure of parabolic subgroups and subalgebras that are not necessarily direct limits of finite-dimensional parabolics. We then discuss the use of that structure theory for the infinite-dimensional analog of the classical principal series representations. We look at the unitary representation theory of the classical lim-compact groups U(∞), SO(∞) and Sp(∞) in order to construct the inducing representations, and we indicate some of the analytic considerations in the actual construction of the induced representations.
Extragonadal sperm reserves, sperm-depletion rates, numbers of sperm per mating, and fertility with successive matings by intact or unilaterally vasectomized rats.

Because of the high rates of sperm production and large extragonadal sperm reserves of sexually rested male rats, mating trials are insensitive for detecting test-induced alterations in sperm production rates. Mating trials might be more sensitive if, independently of any experimental treatments under study, the number of sperm per mating was closer to the minimum requirements for normal fertility. The present study was undertaken to assess the impact of unilateral vasectomy and/or matings with up to three females in succession, for 1 hour each, on the number of sperm per mating and fertility, in comparison to corresponding values for males allowed unlimited matings with a receptive female overnight. Unilateral vasectomy did not affect sperm production, extragonadal sperm reserves, or removal of contralateral sperm during ejaculation (P > 0.05) but caused a 50% decrease in sperm numbers per mating. Sperm output, judged from numbers of residual extragonadal sperm in unmated and mated males, was excessive (290 x 10 6 ) during conventional overnight mating with intact males and during the first and second hours of restricted mating (105 and 184 x 10 6 respectively, for intact males; one-half of these amounts for unilaterally vasectomized males). In contrast, sperm output during the third successive mating was minimal (nonmeasurable) but adequate, since pregnancy rates were similar for females mated first, second, or third in succession (P > 0.05). Since successive matings reduce the number of sperm per mating by natural methods, this approach may enhance the sensitivity of mating tests when applied for assessing the potential effects of experimental treatments on sperm production.
An Unusual Case of Self-inflicted Death in Childhood

The authors report the details of the case of a ten year old boy whose self-inflicted death by gunshot featured the involvement of a nine year old companion. The authors examine the material from the viewpoints of a possible case of suicide, of a certain case of violent death, and of a case with repercussions on the other child and the community.
Spectrophotometric studies of tin (II) and tin (IV) dissolved together in pure methanol and in methanol-carbon tetrachloride

Abstract The ultra-violet absorption spectrum of SnCl4·5H2O and SnCl2·2H2O dissolved together in pure methanol or in methanol-carbon tetrachloride is greater than the sum of the spectra of the separate components in the same solvents. Analyses of these spectra have shown that the observed enhancement is entirely due to collisions between Sn(II) and Sn(IV) species.
Trichomoniasis in Men: Old Issues and New Data

Background and ObjectivesTrichomoniasis is common among sexually active women, but its importance as a cause of morbidity among sexually active men remains uncertain.Study DesignThe article outlines areas of controversy and presents pertinent new data from case-control and natural history studies.Re
Finite size particle diffusion to the surface of a rotating disk

Abstract Levich's convective diffusion model for particle migration towards the surface of a rotating disk is extended to account for the particle size. The solution of the convective diffusion integral equation shows that the diffusional boundary layer thickness, δ c , is independent of the disk radius but is inversely dependent on the particle size. The surface flux is shown to be higher for larger particles than Levich's prediction, but the two models approach as the particles become smaller.