cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Human Cytomegalovirus-Associated Immunosuppression Is Mediated Through Interferon-α

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections are commonly associated with a generalized immunologic hyporesponsiveness. The present study was designed to evaluate the potential mechanisms of HCMV-associated immunosuppression. In our initial experiments, monocytes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) exposed to cell-free HCMV appeared morphologically less differentiated than monocytes in PBMCs exposed to a mock preparation. These morphologic changes were closely correlated with a decrease in monocyte oxidative activity and occurred under noncytopathic conditions. HCMV-associated suppression of monocyte differentiation did not require virus replication, occurred in PBMCs from either HCMV seropositive or seronegative donors, and required HCMV interaction with the nonadherent cells. An HCMV-induced soluble factor was found to not only reproduce the identical changes in purified monocytes but to inhibit the phagocytic activity of these cells. Additionally, the HCMV-induced factor accounted for a generalized defect in the ability of PBMCs to proliferate in response to mitogens and recall antigens. In subsequent experiments, interferon-α (IFN-α) was identified as the soluble factor involved in these immunosuppressive effects. Thus, PBMCs, when exposed to HCMV, produce a soluble factor, identified as IFN-α, that appears to be an important mediator of immunosuppression associated with HCMV infection.
Abstract TP394: Who Does It Better? Stroke Outcomes for Comprehensive versus Primary versus Stroke Support Facilities.

Background: Tiered levels of stroke care have developed out of population need and have capabilities that range from centers with no specialized stroke care, to stroke care support centers (SSC), Primary Stroke Centers (PSC), and Comprehensive Stroke Centers (CSC). However, the stroke outcome advantages of Comprehensive Stroke Center care remain to be proven. This study is the first to investigate whether advanced stroke care capability translates to improved patient outcomes. Methods: 51 months of regional hospital data (n=32,740) from the Solucients® data base was reviewed. Descriptive, univariate and multivariable techniques were used to analyze outcomes against stroke center designation on STATA 11.0 software. Results: For ischemic stroke, there were no statistically significant differences among stroke centers for mortality, complication, length of stay (LOS), and 30 day readmissions. CSCs and PSCs were 5.67 (p<0.001) and 2.15 (p<0.001) times more likely to administer thrombolytic treatment than stroke support and non designated centers. For hemorrhagic stroke, there were no statistically significant differences in complication and 30 day readmission rates among the different tiers. Hemorrhage mortality risk was higher at CSCs (OR=1.5, p= 0.037) and PSCs (OR=1.58, p= 0.016). Hemorrhagic stroke LOS was lower for all stroke center designations compared to non designated centers. CSCs and PSCs were associated with increasingly dependent discharge dispositions (coef= 0.227, p<0.001, coef=0.202, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Ischemic stroke patients were more likely to receive thrombolytic treatment at Primary and Comprehensive stroke centers, but not more likely to die or experience complications or readmissions. The tertiary referral status that PSCs and CSCs serve for lower-tiered stroke treatment centers may explain the higher rate of discharge to long-term/ dependent care facilities from PSCs and CSCs.
Correlation between human tear cytokine levels and cellular corneal changes in patients with bacterial keratitis by in vivo confocal microscopy.

PURPOSE We investigated bilateral tear cytokine levels in patients with unilateral bacterial keratitis (BK) as associated with in vivo confocal microscopic (IVCM) alterations in corneal nerves and dendritiform immune cells (DCs). METHODS A total of 54 (13 BK, 13 contralateral, 28 healthy controls) tear samples was collected prospectively and analyzed by multiplex microbeads assay. The IVCM of the central cornea was performed on the same day, and assessed for corneal nerve and DC alterations. RESULTS Interleukin-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 were significantly elevated only in affected eyes (66.6 ± 26.8, 7174 ± 2430, and 810 ± 315 ρg/mL, respectively; P = 0.04, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, respectively), compared to healthy controls (13.0 ± 4.0, 171.8 ± 32.1, and 56.5 ± 33.8 ρg/mL). Levels of chemokine ligand 2 (CCL-2), IL-10, and IL-17a were elevated only in contralateral eyes (813 ± 478, 86.7 ± 38.3, and 3350 ± 881 ρg/mL, respectively; P = 0.02, P = 0.01, and P = 0.04, respectively), compared to controls (73.7 ± 25.3, 17.5 ± 4.9, and 1350 ± 337 ρg/mL). Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM)-1 was significantly elevated in affected (551 ± 231 ρg/mL, P = 0.02) and contralateral unaffected (545 ± 298 ρg/mL, P = 0.03) eyes compared to controls (31.3 ± 12.4 ρg/mL). The density of DCs was significantly increased in affected (226.9 ± 37.3 cells/mm(2), P < 0.001) and unaffected (122.3 ± 23.7 cells/mm(2), P < 0.001) eyes compared to controls (22.7 ± 5.9 cells/mm(2)). Sub-basal nerve density significantly decreased in affected (3337 ± 1615 μm/mm(2), P < 0.001) and contralateral (13,230 ± 1635 μm/mm(2), P < 0.001) eyes compared to controls (21,200 ± 545 μm/mm(2)). Levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 were significantly correlated with DC density (R = 0.40, R = 0.55, and R = 0.31, all P < 0.02) and nerve density (R = -0.30, R = -0.53, and R = -0.39, all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Proinflammatory tear cytokines are elevated bilaterally in patients with unilateral BK, and are correlated strongly with alterations in DCs and nerve density as detected by IVCM.
Preparation of reference material for detection of bio-waste oil

Objective To study candidate reference materials,processes route and quality control indexes for the detection of bio-waste oil. Methods Using the most common and convenient raw material and the most probable technical processes,reference material for bio-waste oil detection was screened taking the appearances,gas taste,color,water and volatiles,acid value as quality control indexes. Results Kitchen waste oils were collected and candidates of biowaste oil reference materials were prepared by the processes of distilling deodorization,alkali refining deacidification and adsorption decolorization. These candidates have the index values of color(1",R)between 4. 0-5. 1,water and volatile between 0. 02%-0. 05%,and acid between 5. 60-6. 30 mg/g. Conclusion The candidates could be used to prepare reference material for detection of specific substance in bio-waste oils with good specificity,sensitivity and detection limit.
Investigation of Drinking-water Quality in Rural Areas in Jiangsu Province

Objective This work was to investigate the drinking-water quality in rural areas in Jiangsu province. Methods A total of72 water samples were analyzed for all 106 water quality indices according to the national drinking-water quality standard. Results The qualified rate of water samples was 62.50%. There were totally 14 indices failed in the test. The failed indices were mainly the microbial indices including the total coliforms, thermophilic coliforms, and Giardia lamblia, toxicological indices including trichloroacetaldehyde, fluoride, chlorite and antimony, and normal chemistry indices including turbidity, aluminum, iron,manganese, oxygen consumption, sulfate and total hardness. Conclusion The microbial pollution was the main problem. Measures should be taken to strengthen water quality management and upgrade the water supply facilities.
Forefoot and rearfoot contributions to the lunge position in individuals with and without insertional Achilles tendinopathy.

Abstract Background Clinicians use the lunge position to assess and treat restricted ankle dorsiflexion. However, the individual forefoot and rearfoot contributions to dorsiflexion and the potential for abnormal compensations are unclear. The purposes of this case–control study were to 1) compare single- (representing a clinical lunge position measure) versus multi-segment contributions to dorsiflexion, and 2) determine if differences are present in patients with tendinopathy. Methods 32 individuals (16 with insertional Achilles tendinopathy and 16 age- and gender-matched controls) participated. Using three-dimensional motion analysis, the single-segment model was defined as tibial inclination relative to the whole foot. The multi-segment model consisted of rearfoot (tibia relative to calcaneus) and forefoot (1st metatarsal relative to calcaneus) motion. Two-way (kinematic model and group) analyses of variance were used to assess differences in knee bent and straight positions. Associations between models were tested with Pearson correlations. Findings Single-segment modeling resulted in ankle DF values 5° greater than multi-segment modeling that isolated rearfoot dorsiflexion for knee bent and straight positions ( P P r = 0.95, P r = 0.81, P r = 0.87, P r = 0.23, P = 0.39). Interpretation Clinically used single-segment models of ankle dorsiflexion overestimate rearfoot dorsiflexion. Participants with insertional Achilles tendinopathy may compensate for restricted and/or painful ankle dorsiflexion by increased lowering of the medial longitudinal arch (forefoot dorsiflexion) with the lunge position.
Report of the worldwide survey on teaching physiology.

This report by George G. Somjen, for the Commission on Teaching Physiology, International Union of Physiological Sciences, presents a summary of answers received to a questionnaire concerning the s...
The role of adaptive immunity as an ecological filter on the gut microbiota in zebrafish

All animals live in intimate association with communities of microbes, collectively referred to as their microbiota. Certain host traits can influence which microbial taxa comprise the microbiota. One potentially important trait in vertebrate animals is the adaptive immune system, which has been hypothesized to act as an ecological filter, promoting the presence of some microbial taxa over others. Here we surveyed the intestinal microbiota of 68 wild-type zebrafish, with functional adaptive immunity, and 61 rag1- zebrafish, lacking functional B- and T-cell receptors, to test the role of adaptive immunity as an ecological filter on the intestinal microbiota. In addition, we tested the robustness of adaptive immunity's filtering effects to host-host interaction by comparing the microbiota of fish populations segregated by genotype to those containing both genotypes. The presence of adaptive immunity individualized the gut microbiota and decreased the contributions of neutral processes to gut microbiota assembly. Although mixing genotypes led to increased phylogenetic diversity in each, there was no significant effect of adaptive immunity on gut microbiota composition in either housing condition. Interestingly, the most robust effect on microbiota composition was co-housing within a tank. In all, these results suggest that adaptive immunity has a role as an ecological filter of the zebrafish gut microbiota, but it can be overwhelmed by other factors, including transmission of microbes among hosts.
Where Tradition and Pragmatism Meet: African Diaspora Archaeology at the Crossroads

The trope of “tradition” dominates archaeological studies of the African diaspora. Much of the information archaeologists have about traditions on the African continent or in the early diaspora comes from historical documents and from ethnography. Here, the author argues that pragmatism provides a model for analysis that allows archaeology a degree of independence from these allied datasets. Archaeologists, like other social scientists, confront the problem of the relative importance of social learning (i.e., tradition) vs. structure as forces shaping cultural expression in the African diaspora. An analytical strategy inspired by pragmatism is here applied to beads recovered from Tidewater Chesapeake slave quarters occupied in the 18th and early 19th centuries in order to demonstrate that tradition is only part of the story
Inventory Decision Making under Epistemic and Aleatory Uncertainty

Inventory decision makers routinely face epistemic uncertainty due to the psychological awareness that there is unknown information about salient events that is knowable in principle. Extensive lit...
Analysis of multi-aspect and fully polarimetric L-band SAR data from uavsar over spacex rocket debris site

On September 21 and 22, 2016, the L-band UAVSAR airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaged the SpaceX rocket debris field at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida. This debris field was the result of an explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during its launch preparations on September 1. The data collected by UAVSAR allowed us to investigate methods for the detection of small ground targets in a complex wetland environment using multi-aspect, fully polarimetric, and high resolution SAR data. We developed a new time domain processor to focus the SAR data directly to a predefined map grid instead of traditional radar coordinates. This approach allowed us to form co-registered SAR images acquired from 8 flight headings to a common map grid without additional resampling. We computed various polarimetric observables for each observed aspect angle, then calculated statistical deviations to identify candidate locations of debris.
Control of topology in luminescent nitrobenzene-detecting cadmium camphorate polymers via hydrogen-bonding capable dipyridyl ligands

Abstract Hydrothermal reaction of cadmium nitrate, d -camphoric acid (D-camH2), and a hydrogen-bonding capable dipyridyl ligand resulted in coordination polymers whose dimensionalities and topologies depend critically on the pyridyl nitrogen donor disposition and tether length. The four new phases were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction; racemization of the camphorate ligands was observed in three cases. {[Cd( dl -cam)(hdin)]n (1, hdin = N,N′-(hexane-1,6-diyl)diisonicotinamide) shows a 2D sawtooth (4,4) grid structure. [Cd2( d -cam)2(3-bpmp)(H2O)2]n (2, 3-bpmp = bis(3-pyridylmethyl)piperazine) displays a 1D ladder coordination polymer structure with [Cd( d -cam)(H2O)]n uprights pillared by 3-bpmp rungs. The minor product [Cd2( dl -cam)2(3-bpmp)]n (3) manifests a {Cd2O2} dimer-based 6-connected 3D 41263 pcu topology. [Cd2( dl -cam)2(4-bpmp)]n (4, 4-bpmp = bis(4-pyridylmethyl)piperazine) also displays a dimer-based 6-connected 3D net, but witha 446108 mab self-penetrated net due to cross-pillaring of the pyridyl ligands. Thermal and luminescent properties of were investigated; compounds 2 and 4 showed very good ability to detect nitrobenzene in ethanol suspension via luminescence quenching.
Robotic mitral valve operations by experienced surgeons are cost-neutral and durable at 1 year.

Abstract Background Robotic mitral valve surgery has potential advantages in patient satisfaction and 30-day outcome. Cost concerns and repair durability limit wider adoption of robotic technology. This study examined detailed cost differences between robotic and sternotomy techniques in relation to outcomes and durability following robotic mitral program initiation. Methods Between April 2013 and October 2015, 30-day and 1-year outcomes of 328 consecutive patients undergoing robotic or sternotomy mitral valve repair or replacement by experienced surgeons were examined. Multivariable logistic regression informed propensity matching to derive a cohort of 182 patients. Echocardiographic follow-up was completed at 1 year in all robotic patients. Detailed activity-based cost accounting was applied to include direct, semidirect, and indirect costs with special respect to robotic depreciation, maintenance, and supplies. A quantitative analysis of all hospital costs was applied directly to each patient encounter for comparative financial analyses. Results Mean predicted risk of mortality was similar in both the robotic (n = 91) and sternotomy (n = 91) groups (0.9% vs 0.8%; P > .431). The total costs of robotic mitral operations were similar to those of sternotomy ($27,662 vs $28,241; P = .273). Early direct costs were higher in the robotic group. There was a marked increase in late indirect cost with the sternotomy cohort related to increased length of stay, transfusion requirements, and readmission rates. Robotic repair technique was associated with no echocardiographic recurrence greater than trace to only mild regurgitation at 1 year. Conclusions Experienced mitral surgeons can initiate a robotic program in a cost-neutral manner that maintains clinical outcome integrity as well as repair durability.
The FadL family: unusual transporters for unusual substrates

The FadL family of proteins is responsible for the transport of hydrophobic compounds across the bacterial outer membrane. Two crystal structures of FadL, the long-chain fatty acid transporter from Escherichia coli, were recently determined, showing a novel fold characterized by the combination of a 14-stranded beta barrel and a "hatch" domain that plugs the barrel. Both crystal forms have several bound detergent molecules in the interior of the protein. This, together with differences between the N-terminal conformations of the FadL structures, has led to the proposal of a transport model that is distinct from those of all other known outer membrane transporters. According to this model, the transport of hydrophobic substrates across the outer membrane, as mediated by FadL family members, is based on diffusion, coupled to spontaneous conformational changes in the hatch domain.
Swift: a fast dynamic packet filter

This paper presents Swift, a packet filter for high performance packet capture on commercial off-the-shelf hard-ware. The key features of Swift include (1) extremely low filter update latency for dynamic packet filtering, and (2) Gbps high-speed packet processing. Based on complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architecture (ISA), Swift achieves the former with an instruction set design that avoids the need for compilation and security checking, and the latter by mainly utilizing SIMD (single instruction, multiple data). We implement Swift in the Linux 2.6 kernel for both i386 and x86_64 architectures. The Swift userspace library supports two sets of application programming interfaces (APIs): a BPF-friendly API for backward compatibility and an object oriented API for simplifying filter coding. We extensively evaluate the dynamic and static filtering performance of Swift on multiple machines with different hardware setups. We compare Swift with BPF (the BSD packet filter)--the de facto standard for packet filtering in modern operating systems--and hand-coded optimized C filters that are used for demonstrating possible performance gains. For dynamic filtering tasks, Swift is at least three orders of magnitude faster than BPF in terms of filter update latency. For static filtering tasks, Swift outperforms BPF up to three times in terms of packet processing speed, and achieves much closer performance to the optimized C filters.
Theoretical Foundations of Psychiatry: The (K)not of being as A (W)Hole

In her essay entitled “The Moral Sense: A Discourse on the Phenomeno-logical Foundation of the Social World and of Ethics,” Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka attempts “to free moral experience as valuation.from its direct submission to objective factors.”1 As she observes, the history of value inquiry — whether an ethics of reason (ancient and medieval) or feeling (Brentano, Husserl, Scheler) — traditionally assumes that values are “the a priori.determining factors of morality”; hence, “this formulation of the issue presupposes the role of objective cognition in moral valuation” (AH,.15:11). Thus, while Husserl and, even more so, Scheler emphasize the role of emotion in value experience, both nevertheless assume “that objectivity belongs to the constitutive-intentional nature of consciousness, which is directed toward positing objects through the noematic content of intentional acts” (AH, 15:13). Over and against its cognitive ground in (transcendental) subjectivity, Tymieniecka would shift the locus of value to its origin in the human condition.and, if I understand it correctly, thereby recuperate intersubjectivity as ontologi-cally prior. The very nature of subjectivity itself depends upon this formulation.
Vaginal Dysplasia and HIV: An African American and Caribbean American Cohort Study.

Background. Vaginal cancer is a rare disease with poor clinical outcomes and limited therapeutic options. In the United States (US), minority women and older women are disproportionately diagnosed with late-stage vaginal cancer. Sociodemographic characteristics, risk behaviors, and cooccurring conditions are linked to vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VaIN). The diagnosis of VaIN is more prevalent among older women and women living with HIV (WLWH). The Caribbean basin has one of the highest rates of anogenital cancers in the Western Hemisphere. In the US, vaginal infections are more prevalent among Caribbean women, and these infections contribute to higher rates of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Given the high rate of anogenital cancers in the Caribbean and the high rates of HPV among Caribbean women in the US, we sought to describe the occurrence of VaIN in a cohort of Black non-Hispanic WLWH. The cohort was followed by an interdisciplinary team of providers with the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Results. Caribbean Americans were living with HIV longer and more were uninsured; more African Americans endorsed cigarette and illicit substance use. Caribbean Americans trended towards the highest grades of VaIN (VaIN 2+) at baseline, but more African Americans progressed to VaIN 2+ in subsequent biopsies. Conclusion. In this cohort of Caribbean American and African American women living with HIV diagnosed with VaIN, Caribbean Americans had the highest grade of VaIN at baseline, but more African Americans progressed to more advanced stages of the disease.
Methods for Blended Shared Control of Hydraulic Excavators with Learning and Prediction

Human operators of construction and farming equipment exhibit strong situational awareness which enables them to execute tasks while robustly handling unexpected uncertainties in the environment. Automatic control, on the other hand, is generally capable of executing repetitive and well-defined tasks more efficiently and precisely. Collaboratively achieving the tasks by combining the benefits of critical situational awareness and decision making capabilities of human operators and the efficiency and accuracy of automatic control is expected to provide improved performance of these tasks. Development of methods in learning, prediction and human-machine shared control to improve such collaborative task execution and application to hydraulic excavators is the focus of this work. In this paper, we propose a task learning method based on an operator primitives based segmentation (OPbS) and Bayesian non-parametric clustering with temporal ordering (BNPC/TO). Then, we introduce a method for predicting the operator's intent in a dynamical environment by proposing an empirical stochastic transition matrix (ESTM) and a dynamic angle difference exponential (DADE). We then provide a design for blended shared control with conflict-awareness (BSC/CA) extended from the dynamic angle difference. Finally, we evaluate the approach on a scaled hydraulic excavator test-platform for a typical earth-moving task with novice learning operators and a skilled demonstration operator.
On the nonlinear relation between product market competition and earnings quality

The literature documents conflicting results regarding the influence of product market competition on earnings quality. We extend this stream of literature by incorporating competition’s effect on ...
Senolytic therapy alleviates Aβ-associated oligodendrocyte progenitor cell senescence and cognitive deficits in an Alzheimer's disease model.

Neuritic plaques, a pathological hallmark in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains, comprise extracellular aggregates of amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide and degenerating neurites that accumulate autolysosomes. We found that, in the brains of patients with AD and in AD mouse models, Aβ plaque-associated Olig2- and NG2-expressing oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), but not astrocytes, microglia, or oligodendrocytes, exhibit a senescence-like phenotype characterized by the upregulation of p21/CDKN1A, p16/INK4/CDKN2A proteins, and senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity. Molecular interrogation of the Aβ plaque environment revealed elevated levels of transcripts encoding proteins involved in OPC function, replicative senescence, and inflammation. Direct exposure of cultured OPCs to aggregating Aβ triggered cell senescence. Senolytic treatment of AD mice selectively removed senescent cells from the plaque environment, reduced neuroinflammation, lessened Aβ load, and ameliorated cognitive deficits. Our findings suggest a role for Aβ-induced OPC cell senescence in neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits in AD, and a potential therapeutic benefit of senolytic treatments. The Alzheimer’s disease (AD) amyloid-beta peptide causes oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to undergo senescence, contributing to neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment. Treatment of AD mice with senolytic drugs ameliorates AD neuropathologies and cognitive deficits.
Electronic Petitioning as Online Collective Action: Exploring the Systematic and Strategic E-petitioning Behavior of an Extremist Group in We the People

This study aims to reveal patterns of e-petition co-signing behavior that are indicative of the mobilization of online “communities” engaging in collective action to express policy preferences on We the People (WtP), the first web-enabled US government petitioning system initiated by Obama. This Internet-based tool allowed users to petition the Obama Administration1 and solicit support for policy suggestions. Using petition data from WtP, this case study examines a set of 125 petitions that were created by individuals that are associated with a white supremacist group called The White Genocide Project2 . Using data mining techniques, namely market basket analysis and social network analysis, I found evidence of the mobilization of “communities” of individuals who systematically and strategically used the WtP platform to broadcast their message by creating and co-signing petitions every month for almost four years.
Indications and Contraindications for Hair Transplant

The objective of this chapter is to aid in the identification of factors that will affect the outcome of hair treatment and to highlight conditions that may make patients appropriate or poor candidates. Consultation of the hair transplant (HT) patient begins with a thorough and open discussion of the patients’ concerns and goals for treatment. Despite the benign effects of alopecia on physical health, hair loss patients can suffer significant psychosocial distress including decreased self-esteem, decreased satisfaction with their self-image, and decreased sexual quality of life [1, 2]. This distress may manifest in depressive symptoms and less frequent social engagement [3–5]. Experiments on the perceptions of alopecia also indicate that balding patients are more likely to be rated by others as less attractive, likable, and successful compared to non-balding peers, underscoring potential difficulties with finding romantic relationships and employment [6–8].
Sex differences in early transcriptomic responses to oxidative stress in the copepod Tigriopus californicus.

Patterns of gene expression can be dramatically different between males and females of the same species, in part due to genes on sex chromosomes. Here we test for sex differences in early transcriptomic response to oxidative stress in a species which lacks heteromorphic sex chromosomes, the copepod Tigriopus californicus. Male and female individuals were separately exposed to control conditions and pro-oxidant conditions (hydrogen peroxide and paraquat) for periods of 3 hours and 6 hours. Variance partitioning showed the greatest expression variance among individuals, highlighting the important information that can be obscured by the common practice of pooling individuals. Gene expression variance between sexes was greater than that among treatments, showing the profound effect of sex even when males and females share the same genome. Males exhibited a larger response to both pro-oxidants, differentially expressing more than four times as many genes, including up-regulation of more antioxidant genes, heat shock proteins and protease genes. While females differentially expressed fewer genes, the magnitudes of fold change were generally greater, indicating a more targeted response. Although females shared a smaller fraction of differentially expressed genes between stressors and time points, expression patterns of antioxidant and protease genes were more similar between stressors and more GO terms were shared between time points. Early transcriptomic responses to the pro-oxidants H2O2 and paraquat in copepods revealed substantial variation among individuals and between sexes. The finding of such profound sex differences in oxidative stress response, even in the absence of sex chromosomes, highlights the importance of studying both sexes and the potential for developing sex-specific strategies to promote optimal health and aging in humans.
Multi-competitive viruses over time-varying networks with mutations and human awareness

Abstract In this paper, we introduce a model for multiple competing viruses over networks, derived using each state variable of the model as the infection percentage of a group or a subpopulation. We show that the model is well-posed, and also compare it to a full probabilistic Markov model. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition for uniqueness of the healthy state (the origin) of the multi-virus model over static graphs. We also provide several sufficient conditions for convergence to the healthy state for mutating viruses over dynamic networks. We analyze various endemic states of the multi-virus model over static graphs, including providing necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of parallel equilibria. We further extend the model to include an awareness state, allowing nodes to become alerted to the fact that viruses are spreading in the system and therefore reduce their susceptibility, and analyze the equilibria of such a model. Finally, we propose several antidote control techniques and present a set of illustrative simulations.
Interpretable Structured Learning with Sparse Gated Sequence Encoder for Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction

Predicting protein-protein interactions (PPIs) by learning informative representations from amino acid sequences is a challenging yet important problem in biology. Although various deep learning models in Siamese architecture have been proposed to model PPIs from sequences, these methods are computationally expensive for a large number of PPIs due to the pairwise encoding process. Furthermore, these methods are difficult to interpret because of non-intuitive mappings from protein sequences to their sequence representation. To address these challenges, we present a novel deep framework to model and predict PPIs from sequence alone. Our model incorporates a bidirectional gated recurrent unit to learn sequence representations by leveraging contextualized and sequential information from sequences. We further employ a sparse regularization to model long-range dependencies between amino acids and to select important amino acids (protein motifs), thus enhancing interpretability. Besides, the novel design of the encoding process makes our model computationally efficient and scalable to an increasing number of interactions. Experimental results on up-to-date interaction datasets demonstrate that our model achieves superior performance compared to other state-of-the-art methods. Literature-based case studies illustrate the ability of our model to provide biological insights to interpret the predictions.
Racism camouflaged as impostorism and the impact on black STEM doctoral students

Black doctoral students in engineering and computing fields experience racialized stress, as structural racism in STEM takes a toll on their sense of belonging and acceptance as intellectually comp...
Sleep and neighborhood socioeconomic status: a micro longitudinal study of chronic low-back pain and pain-free individuals

Individuals with chronic low back pain (cLBP) frequently report sleep disturbances. Living in a neighborhood characterized by low-socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, including poor sleep. Whether low-neighborhood SES exacerbates sleep disturbances of people with cLBP, relative to pain-free individuals, has not previously been observed. This study compared associations between neighborhood-level SES, pain-status (cLBP vs. pain-free), and daily sleep metrics in 117 adults (cLBP = 82, pain-free = 35). Neighborhood-level SES was gathered from Neighborhood Atlas, which provides a composite measurement of overall neighborhood deprivation (e.g. area deprivation index). Individuals completed home sleep monitoring for 7-consecutive days/nights. Neighborhood SES and pain-status were tested as predictors of actigraphic sleep variables (e.g., sleep efficiency). Analyses revealed neighborhood-level SES and neighborhood-level SES*pain-status interaction significantly impacted objective sleep quality. These findings provide initial support for the negative impact of low neighborhood-level SES and chronic pain on sleep quality.
Collective Land Titling: Formalization of Customary Regimes or Redistribution of Land Ownership for Afro Colombian Communities

This paper focuses on the first collective titles of 1996 and 1997. It interrogates Collective Land Titling (CLT) processes and examines the differences between the actors that participated in them...
SHIPBOARD NOISE AND VIBRATION FROM A HABITABILITY VIEWPOINT

This paper discusses the problems of noise and vibration due to propeller, propulsion machinery, and associated auxiliaries on commercial merchant ships, and their effects on shipboard habitability. Human sensitivity to noise and vibration is reviewed and some discussion concerning the relative positions of design agent, shipbuilder, and shipowner is presented. Results of shipboard noise and vibration surveys conducted by the Maritime Administration are presented together with proposed acceptable limits of noise and vibration.
Practical Issues Relating to Analysis with Missing Data: Avoiding and Troubleshooting Problems

If you follow the advice I have given in previous chapters, the chances are good that the results of your multiple imputation and analysis will be good. However, unforeseen things happen. Also, if you happen to be helping another person with these analyses, the material in this chapter will give some strategies for working through the problems.
A Nash Equilibrium Need Not Exist in the Locational Marginal Pricing Mechanism.

Locational marginal pricing (LMP) is a widely employed method for pricing electricity in the wholesale electricity market. Although it is well known that the LMP mechanism is vulnerable to market manipulation, there is little literature providing a systematic analysis of this phenomenon. In the first part of this paper, we investigate the economic dispatch outcomes of the LMP mechanism with strategic agents. We show via counterexamples, that contrary to popular belief, a Nash equilibrium may not exist. And when it exists, the price of anarchy may be arbitrarily large. We then provide two sufficient conditions under either of which an efficient Nash equilibria exists. Last, we propose a new market mechanism for electricity markets, the Power Network Second Price (PNSP) mechanism that always induces an efficient Nash equilibrium. We briefly address the extensions on the demand side.
Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration: Abortion and Homosexuality

In a similar way, arguments against antiabortion and antisodomy laws take two different forms: Some say the laws are unjust because the practices they prohibit are morally permissible, indeed sometimes desirable; others oppose these laws without reference to the moral status of the practices at issue, and argue instead that individuals have a right to choose for themselves whether to engage in them. These two styles of argument might be called, respectively, the "naive" and the "sophisticated." The naive view holds that the justice of laws depends on the moral worth of the conduct they prohibit or protect. The sophisticated view holds that the justice of such laws depends not on a substantive moral judgment about the conduct at stake, but instead on a more general theory about the respective claims of majority rule and individual rights, of democracy on the one hand, and liberty on the other.
Network Epistemology: Communication in Epistemic Communities

Much of contemporary knowledge is generated by groups not single individuals. A natural question to ask is, what features make groups better or worse at generating knowledge? This paper surveys research that spans several disciplines which focuses on one aspect of epistemic communities: the way they communicate internally. This research has revealed that a wide number of different communication structures are best, but what is best in a given situation depends on particular details of the problem being confronted by the group.
Biosynthesis of heparin. IV. N-Deacetylation of a precursor glycosaminoglycan.

Abstract Deacetylation of an N-acetylated glycosaminoglycan related to heparin is described in the presence of a microsomal preparation from mouse mast cell tumors. This N-deacetylation occurs when 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate is present during active glycosaminoglycan polymerization or when 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate is added subsequent to glycosaminoglycan polymerization. Loss of N-acetyl corresponds to 30 to 50% of the original N-acetylglucosamine moieties, and the product appears to be N-sulfated to the same degree as it is N-deacetylated. Thus the N-acetylated glycosaminoglycan previously described is shown to be a precursor for N-sulfated glycosaminoglycan indistinguishable from heparin. The reaction takes place in the presence of the same microsomal preparation that has previously been shown to catalyze glycosaminoglycan polymerization and sulfate incorporation, indicating a probable proximity of these reactions within the cell.
Anatomy and Physiology/Forensic Science

Forensic Pig Dissection (Carolina Biological. One student group, $55. Kit for class of 32, $200.) I have been teaching Anatomy and Physiology for the past 13 years, and one of the underlying themes in the semester is forensic science. This is an introductory course, so I have a lot of freedom to select activities to pique my students’ interest. I was looking for an activity that could introduce students to dissection before the much more detailed cat dissection, which occurs at the end of the course. I was also looking for a new way to have my students explore the steps of autopsy. In the past, I had done the virtual autopsies available on the Internet, but I really wanted an activity in which the students could be more active in the process. The Carolina Forensic Dissection Kit, as I discovered, does a great job of meeting both of my needs. It engages students in the process of a forensic autopsy, while using a new approach to teach mammalian anatomy. The kit is designed for middle and high school students, with the overarching learning goal of students conducting a fetal pig dissection using the protocol for a human autopsy. If you are like me and have to check off every indicator and benchmark, Carolina Biological has designed the product in such a way that it is effortless to modify the investigation to match your goals …
A new method in power systems control and economic operation

A method for power system daily control and economic operation, called the best trace method (BTM), is described. This method is different from dynamic programming sequential truncation combination (DP-STC) and all other methods in that a constant trace line (from 1 a.m. to about 10 a.m.) is used instead of the daily actual load curve to obtain an optimal or suboptimal solution. A changeable priority list is used in a dynamic programming (DP) search for the solution, according to the daily shape and the system status. Two power systems are used to test the performance of this method. It is found that the computation time of DP-BTM is about 10 times faster than that of DP-STC on average, and that the cost saving from DP-BTM is in the range of 0.1-0.6% compared with DP-STC method. >
Hypoxic vasodilation in porcine coronary artery is preferentially inhibited by organ culture

Hypoxia (95% N2-5% CO2) elicits an endothelium-independent relaxation (45–80%) in freshly dissected porcine coronary arteries. Paired artery rings cultured at 37°C in sterile DMEM (pH ∼7.4) for 24 ...
Study of the Mechanism of Hyperlipemia Serum Chylomicron Fatty Acid Patterns of Hyperlipemic Patients before and after the Ingestion of Different Food Fats

The fatty acid patterns of the serum chylomicrons of 10 normal and 10 hyperlipemic subjects were determined by gas-liquid chromatography, before and after feedings of cream, corn oil, and coconut oil. Their depot fat composition was analyzed. Changes in the composition of the fasting serum chylomicrons of these hyperlipemic patients after they were stabilized on low fat, and rice and fruit diets were also studied. Upon a full American diet, after 12 hours of fasting, the fatty acid pattern of the very light serum chylomicrons of the hyperlipemic patients was found to reflect that of the ingested fats, consisting chiefly of a mixture of saturated animal fats. The effect of food fats was less evident in the heavier serum chylomicrons and very low density lipoprotein fraction of these patients, where the pattern of endogenously synthesized fat predominated. A low-fat diet in eight of these patients caused a significant lowering of the serum chylomicron (triglyceride) concentration and a shift of chromatograp...
Sensitivity Studies for the Shallow-Pocket Geometry of a Hydrostatic Thrust Bearing

Hydrostatic thrust bearings have been the object of considerable research for many years. The attention that these bearings have received is primarily due to the important role they play in the design and operation of heavy equipment. In this role, the hydrostatic thrust bearing is often considered to be the “Achilles heel” of the total machine system as failures result in catastrophic difficulties and expensive repairs. The objectives of this research are to examine the nuances of designing a hydorstatic thrust bearing using a shallow pocket as opposed to the more traditional deep pocket design. By using a two-dimensional model for this geometry, the basic features of the shallow pocket design are extracted in closed-form and behaviors that would be expected in the three-dimensional setting are identified. In this research, a single dimensionless parameter is used to describe the influence of the bearing speed under laminar flow conditions. The principal results of this research are closed-form expression that describe the load carrying capcity of the bearing, the tilting moment exerted on the bearing by a skewed pressure distribution, and the volumetric leakage of the bearing. Sensitivity studies are conducted using these results and the influence of small perturbations of the pocket depth are identified for bearings with different pocket widths. These results are discussed and conclusions are itemized in the final section of the paper.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Environmental protection policies and the structure of the US economy

The policy of regulation has been used to abate pollution in the USA. However, a number of other measures such as a tax-cum-subsidy program and taxes on polluters have been frequently suggested in the literature. In this paper, the impact of these policies on the structure of pices, production, income distribution and the input requirements of labour and capital is determined. The input-output methodology is used for this purpose. The direct and primary input requirement coefficients of the 1971 input-output table are adjusted to reflect the input requirements of pollution abatement technology. The policy of regulation is found to be more effective in controlling pollution than the tax-cum-subsidy program, though the latter will create more jobs. The reason for this is that the tax-cum-subsidy program is not as successful as the policy of controls or taxes on polluters in steering consumption away from the polluting industries.
Opioid-induced feeding: localization of sensitive brain sites.

Abstract These experiments were designed to identify brain sites at which opioids might act to influence ingestive behavior and to determine which opioid receptor types are involved. After food deprivation, rats were given microinjections of naloxone into several brain regions and food intake was measured. Injections into or near the paraventricular (PVN) or ventromedial (VMH) hypothalamic nuclei or the globus pallidus (GP) reduced food intake; injections into the striatum or lateral hypothalamus (LH) were ineffective. A second study examined the ingestive effects of roughly equimolar doses (1.43–1.75 nmol) of dynorphin A (DYN), s-endorphin (s-END), and d -Ala2, d -Leu5-enkephalin (DADLE) when injected into 4 different brain regions. Only DYN significantly increased food intake, and this effect was seen only with injections into the PVN and VMH. s-END stimulated water intake when injected into the PVN, VMH and GP but not the LH. Further studies indicated that with PVN injections, DYN was effective at a dose as low as 0.47 nmol, and that a higher dose of DADLE (4.39 nmol) did stimulate food intake. These studies support an important role for dynorphin and ϰ opioid receptor in the regulation of feeding and suggest that the opioid regulation of food and water intake can be differentiated both by sites of action and by effective agonists.
Efficient Final Placement Based on Nets-as-points

Deterministic optimization programs are coming to be considered as viable alternatives for the placement of very large sea-of-gate, gate array and standard cell designs. A nets-as-points placement program has been described which provides competitive results in comparison with non-deterministic placement, and at a fraction of the run time. A new pseudo Steiner tree model for the gate placement about the net-points, along with a virtual channel snap-to-grid procedure, provides results superior to the original nets-as-points placement program without requiring iterative improvement.
Investigation on the Strength Analysis of Vacuum Tank

A strength analysis on a large-scale horizontal vacuum tank, a dry equipment of the “ two million” large transformers, will be done in this article. Using the means of finite element analysis and two different unit-setting models, we compare the two results getting from the two units. Different lengthen styles of vacuum tank’s reinforced bead will be discussed, as well as different processing styles of welding parts model-setting in ANSYS.