cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mineralization in soils amended with manure as affected by environmental conditions

Nitrogen (N) is the most deficient nutrient in most agricultural production systems; therefore, the economic sustainability of most crops is dependent on adequate supply of nitrogen. Consideration for N availability must be taken into account when incorporating animal manure into a cropping system’s management practice. Since N mineralization is the process by which manure N is transformed into readily available forms for plant uptake, understanding how environmental conditions affect the N mineralization process is essential for making manure N availability prescriptions. This chapter discusses the factors that can affect N mineralization and demonstrate the impact of temperature, moisture, soil wetting and drying cycles, and field spatial variability on manure N availability. Our objective is to increase the understanding of manure management in cropping systems in order to maximize N use efficiency.
The Diabetic Health of African American Grandmothers Raising their Grandchildren

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the health of primary caregiving African American grandmothers with diabetes with African American women with diabetes who were not primary caregivers. Design: Using a comparative, descriptive, cross-sectional design, 34 African American primary caregiving grandmothers were compared with 34 non-caregiving women with diabetes mellitus; women aged 55–75 years were recruited for this study throughout the central Arkansas. Methods: To measure the overall health, data on blood pressure, body mass index measurements, HbA1c levels, total cholesterol, and urine protein and creatinine levels were collected from all the participants. Results: Statistically significant differences between the caregivers and non-caregivers groups in systolic pressure (t = –3.42, P = 0.001) and diastolic pressure (t = –3.790, P = 0.000) and urine protein (W = 294.00, P = 0.000) were noted. Additionally, a clinically significant difference in HbA1c was noted between groups. Conclusion: Differences in systolic and diastolic pressures, urine protein, and clinically significant differences in HbA1c suggest that African American primary caregiving grandmothers with diabetes mellitus may have more difficulty in maintaining their diabetic health than non-caregiving African American women.
Meiosis: Cohesins Are Not Just for Sisters Any More.

Multiple meiosis-specific cohesion proteins act to facilitate homolog segregation at the first meiotic division. A recent paper demonstrates that meiotic cohesins can be separated into two complexes, one that establishes and maintains intersister cohesion and one that promotes interhomolog adhesion by regulating synaptonemal complex assembly.
Concise Review: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Origins: Lessons From Embryogenesis for Improving Regenerative Medicine

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have extensive regenerative capacity to replace all blood cell types, an ability that is harnessed in the clinic for bone marrow transplantation. Finding appropriate donors remains a major limitation to more extensive usage of HSC-based therapies. Derivation of patient-specific HSCs from pluripotent stem cells offers great promise to remedy this problem if scientists could crack the code on how to make robust, transplantable HSCs in a dish. Studies delving into the native origins of HSC production during embryonic development should supply the necessary playbook. This review presents recent discoveries from animal models, with a focus on zebrafish, and discusses the implications of these new advances in the context of prior knowledge. The focus is on the latest research exploring the role of epigenetic regulation, signaling pathways, and niche components needed for proper HSC formation. These studies provide new directions that should be explored for de novo generation and expansion of HSCs for regenerative therapies. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2017;6:60-67.
Remarks on the Inverse Scattering Problem for Acoustic Waves

A fact that is often overlooked in inverse scattering theory is that there are many inverse scattering problems and the ones chosen for study are frequently done so on the basis of mathematical convenience rather than physical reality. Of course in some cases mathematical convenience and physical reality coincide and there is no problem. However in many other situations this is not the case. For example the two most commonly studied inverse scattering problems in acoustics are, given the far-field pattern of the scattered wave at a fixed frequency, 1) to determine the shape of a sound-soft or sound-hard obstacle and 2) to determine the “index of refraction” of a penetrable obstacle under the assumption that the pressure is smoothly varying across the boundary of the obstacle [3]. These problems only make sense if it is known a priori that the object is in fact sound-soft or sound-hard or, if the object is penetrable, that the pressure is smoothly varying, i.e. that certain physical properties of the object are known as apriori. If multi-frequency far-field data is assumed known then further assumptions are needed on the dispersion properties of the scattering object. From this point of view, the first problem in inverse scattering theory is to find out what can be determined about the scattering object if nothing at all is known apriori about its physical composition or dispersive properties. This is the problem we will address ourselves to in this paper.
Infant and Early Childhood Assessment

Neuropsychological assessment of infants and young children is a fledgling area. This type of evaluation was previously accomplished by means of a neurological examination performed by a pediatric neurologist or a developmental examination administered by a developmental psychologist. There has not been complete concordance between the two assessments since underlying neural function or maturation is not necessarily reflected in developmental acquisitions. Because the aims of these assessments and the information derived from each can overlap and differ, boundaries have not been clearly defined and the area has been essentially relegated to a “no-man’s-land” status. Recently, general interest in neuropsychological assessment has grown rapidly, so it is logical that this interest should also extend to children 4 years of age and below. However, despite the obvious need for theoretical frameworks and acceptable techniques, few exist currently.
Optimal sensor placement for parameter estimation of bridges

Gathering measurements from a structure can be extremely valuable for tasks such as verifying a numerical model, or structural health monitoring (SHM) to identify changes in the natural frequencies and mode shapes which can be attributed to changes in the system. In most monitoring applications, the number of potential degrees-of-freedom (DOF) for monitoring greatly outnumbers the available sensors. Optimal sensor placement (OSP) is a field of research into different methods for locating the available sensors to gather the optimal measurements. Three common methods of OSP are the effective independence (EI), effective independence driving point residue (EI-DPR), and modal kinetic energy (MKE) methods. However, comparisons of the different OSP methods for SHM applications are limited. In this paper, a comparison of the performance of the three described OSP methods for parameter estimation is performed. Parameter estimation is implemented using modified parameter localization with direct model updating, and added mass quantification utilizing a genetic algorithm (GA). The quantification of the mass addition, using simulated measurements from the sensor networks developed by each OSP method, is compared to provide an evaluation of each OSP methods capability for parameter estimation applications.
Enzymatic catalysis: New functional twists for P450s

Two papers provide insight into the reactivity of cytochrome P450s. A direct link between electron donation and reactivity has been shown with a selenocysteine-ligated P450 compound I, whereas a serine-ligated P450 (P411) has been engineered to catalyse an intermolecular C–H amination via nitrene transfer.
Glomerular Endothelial Cell Stress and Cross-Talk With Podocytes in Early Diabetic Kidney Disease

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients and also the leading single cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States. A large proportion of diabetic patients develop DKD even with comparable blood glucose levels, indicating a significant genetic component of disease susceptibility. The glomerulus is the primary site of diabetic injury in the kidney, glomerular hypertrophy and podocyte depletion are glomerular hallmarks of progressive DKD and the degree of podocyte loss correlates with severity of the disease. We know that chronic hyperglycemia contributes to both micro- and macrovascular complications, as well as podocyte injury. We are beginning to understand the role of glomerular endothelial injury, as well as the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial stress, which play a direct role in DKD and in other diabetes complications. There is however, a gap in our knowledge that links genetic susceptibility to early molecular mechanisms and proteinuria in DKD. Emerging research that explores glomerular cell’s specific responses to diabetes and cell crosstalk will provide mechanistic clues that underlie DKD susceptibility and provide novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.
Building a Corpus of Temporal-Causal Structure.

While recent corpus annotation efforts cover a wide variety of semantic structures, work on temporal and causal relations is still in its early stages. Annotation efforts have typically considered either temporal relations or causal relations, but not both, and no corpora currently exist that allow the relation between temporals and causals to be examined empirically. We have annotated a corpus of 1000 event pairs for both temporal and causal relations, focusing on a relatively frequent construction in which the events are conjoined by the word and. Temporal relations were annotated using an extension of the BEFORE and AFTER scheme used in the TempEval competition, and causal relations were annotated using a scheme based on connective phrases like and as a result. The annotators achieved 81.2% agreement on temporal relations and 77.8% agreement on causal relations. Analysis of the resulting corpus revealed some interesting findings, for example, that over 30% of CAUSAL relations do not have an underlying BEFORE relation. The corpus was also explored using machine learning methods, and while model performance exceeded all baselines, the results suggested that simple grammatical cues may be insufficient for identifying the more difficult temporal and causal relations.
Tidal Marshes as Outwelling/Pulsing Systems

Now that we are beginning to understand that the balance of nature is a pulsing one and not a steady-state as is the case at the organism level (i.e., homeorhesis rather than homeostasis) estuaries become important sites for research because they pulse so strongly. The external tidal pulses interface in a complex manner with internal biological and life history pulses. I review the concept that productivity of near shore ocean waters can be enhanced not only by upwelling of nutrients from deeper waters but also by outwelling of nutrients and organic matter from fertile estuaries. I conclude 1) that the extent of the latter depends on the level of production within the estuary, the tidal amplitude and the geomorphology of the estuarine landscape and 2) the outwelling from tidal marshes where it occurs is often intermittent and largest during rain storms and storm tides.
Bringt die neue Norm IEC 62271-200 mehr Sicherheit für die Betreiber von Schaltanlagen?

Die International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) hat die Normengruppe fur Hochspannungsschaltgerate und Schaltanlagen in eine Nummerngruppe zusammengefasst. Gleichzeitig wurde die Norm IEC 62271-200 (alt IEC 60298) neu aufgelegt. Daraus entstand eine Unsicherheit um die Gultigkeit von Produkten, die nach alter Norm gepruft waren. Der Artikel beschreibt die neue Gliederung der Normengruppe, die wichtigsten Anderungen, Anwendungsbereich und Gultigkeit der neuen Norm IEC 62271-200. Weiters werden das Risiko von Storlichtbogen und Moglichkeiten zur Optimierung von Sicherheit fur das Bedienpersonal und Verfugbarkeit aufgezeigt.
Original Contribution: Training a 3-node neural network is NP-complete

We consider a 2-layer, 3-node, n-input neural network whose nodes compute linear threshold functions of their inputs. We show that it is NP-complete to decide whether there exist weights and thresholds for this network so that it produces output consistent with a given set of training examples. We extend the result to other simple networks. We also present a network for which training is hard but where switching to a more powerful representation makes training easier. These results suggest that those looking for perfect training algorithms cannot escape inherent computational difficulties just by considering only simple or very regular networks. They also suggest the importance, given a training problem, of finding an appropriate network and input encoding for that problem. It is left as an open problem to extend our result to nodes with nonlinear functions such as sigmoids.
The neoantigen landscape underlying clinical response to ipilimumab.

3003 Background: Ipilimumab, an antibody against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), prolongs overall survival and can produce durable tumor regression in patients with advanced m...
Hierarchical patterns with sub-20 nm pattern fidelity via block copolymer self-assembly and soft nanotransfer printing

We describe the development of a technique to transfer micrometer patterns of organic thin films with sub-50 nm edge resolution and sub-20 nm pattern fidelity. Large-area transfer of homopolymers, diblock copolymers, and small molecules films is demonstrated, and extended to multitudes of different shapes. Moreover, this technique is amenable to sequential printing (i.e. multilayer stacking) and can be integrated with 2D atomic crystals. This high-fidelity pattern transfer work has broad scope for potential uses from the construction of van der Waals heterostructures interfaced with self-assembled block copolymer thin films to the development of platforms to investigate the influence of hierarchical patterning on cell differentiation.
Wearing many hats: Literary creative practice in New England

This publication appears in Special Issue 54: Writing and researching (in) the regions, eds Nike Sulway, Lynda Hawryluk and Moya Costello, April 2019.
Diversified RACE Sampling on Data Streams Applied to Metagenomic Sequence Analysis

The rise of whole-genome shotgun sequencing (WGS) has enabled numerous breakthroughs in large-scale comparative genomics research. However, the size of genomic datasets has grown exponentially over the last few years, leading to new challenges for traditional streaming algorithms. Modern petabyte-sized genomic datasets are difficult to process because they are delivered by high-throughput data streams and are difficult to store. As a result, many traditional streaming problems are becoming increasingly relevant. One such problem is the task of constructing a maximally diverse sample over a data stream. In this regime, complex sampling procedures are not possible due to the overwhelming data generation rate. In theory, the best diversity sampling methods are based on a simple greedy algorithm that compares the current sequence with a large pool of sampled sequences and decides whether to accept or reject the sequence. While these methods are elegant and optimal, they are largely confined to the theoretical realm because the greedy procedure is too slow in practice. While there are many methods to identify common elements in data streams efficiently, fast and memory-efficient diversity sampling remains a challenging and fundamental data streaming problem with few satisfactory solutions. In this work, we bridge the gap with RACE sampling, an online algorithm for diversified sampling. Unlike random sampling, which samples uniformly, RACE selectively accepts samples from streams that lead to higher sequence diversity. At the same time, RACE is as computationally efficient as random sampling and avoids pairwise similarity comparisons between sequences. At the heart of RACE lies an efficient lookup array constructed using locality-sensitive hashing (LSH). Our theory indicates that an accept/reject procedure based on LSH lookups is sufficient to obtain a highly diverse subsample. We provide rigorous theoretical guarantees for well-known biodiversity indices and show that RACE can nearly double the Shannon and Simpson indices of a genetic sample in practice, all while using the same resources as random sampling. We also compare RACE against Diginorm and coreset-based diversity sampling methods and find that RACE is faster and more memory efficient. Our algorithm is straightforward to implement, easy to parallelize, and fast enough to keep pace with the overwhelming data generation rates. We expect that as DNA sequence data streams become more mainstream and faster, RACE will become an essential component for many applications
The Impact of Local Literature on Foreign Libraries: A Bibliographic Evaluation of the Modern Greek Literary Generation of Last Decade

This article presents a bibliographic survey relating to the number of titles in Modern Greek fiction owned by libraries worldwide. Using extracted metadata, mainly via the OCLC WorldCat database a...
Aware, But Don't Really Care: Students' Perspective on Privacy and Data Collection in Online Courses

The purpose of this study was to examine student viewpoints about privacy and personal data collection in online courses. Results of data analysis revealed that students were aware that their learning behaviors such as login frequency, pages viewed or clicked, and learning profiles could be monitored and recorded by their instructors. Additionally, they were not concerned about their learning behaviors being monitored, recorded, or collected for academic research, and used for instructional/teaching improvement purposes. No significant difference between gender (female and male) of students in terms of their awareness and concern about their privacy in online learning settings was evident.
Analysis of phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in the Great Miami and Little Miami basins in Ohio, USA from 2015 to 2017

Concentrations of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in the Great Miami (GM) and Little Miami (LM) basins still remain among the highest detected in the United States. The recent nutrient analysis from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency revealed slightly above average P and N for the recorded period. To assess the temporal changes of nutrient concentrations, this short communication examined datasets collected in the GM and LM basins for three consecutive years—from 2015 to 2017. Our results indicated abrupt spikes of N concentrations in 2017 for six sample sites. By mapping 3 years of data, we found high annual differences in levels of P in the middle and southeast zones of the watersheds. The concentration levels of N did not change much over 3 years, except for specific hotspots in the middle section of the region. Our results could benefit environmental scientists and watershed managers in identifying optimum conditions and adopting new strategies and tools to further mitigate the input of P and N nutrients into the river systems of the GM and LM basins.
Social Networking for Interpersonal Life: A Competence-Based Approach to the Rich Get Richer Hypothesis:

Online and offline interactions are thought to draw from separate but complementary skill sets. This explains why individuals who are competent interpersonally tend to get more out of social networ...
Initial Performance Evaluation of a Compact Add-on PET Scanner for Small Animal PET/CT/RT: A Rotating Dual Detector Panel Study

The objective of this study was to evaluate the data acquisition, process and imaging performance with two PET detector panels for assessing the potential imaging performance of the PET to be with 12 such detector panels. Each detector panel (DP) consistes of four 15×15 arrays of 1×1×20 mm3 LYSO scintillators, with the two array ends optically coupled to four size-matching 8×8 arrays of 2×2 mm2 SiPMs. A compact 96-channel signal readout and processing electronics based on FPGA-controlled charge integration and fast linear discharging QDC was developed for acquiring coincidence events. In the experiment setup , two constructed detector panels were placed on a rotating stage for imaging study, with a 150 mm crystal-to-crystal distance; the effective field of view (FOV) by the two rotating panels was 35mm in diameter; a Na-22 point source was placed within the FOV; coincidence data were acquired from six different angles over 180o, with a 30o interval between angular positions and a 30 seconds acquisition at each angle. Coincidence data were recorded in list-mode and reconstructed offline with MLEM algorithm. The measured mean image resolution (FWHM) was 0.79 mm over 30 images of the poin soure at different positions over the FOV. In addition, the coincidence intrinsic detector spatial resolution was 1.03 mm measured from the coincidence counts distribution of crystal pairs with the point at different positions over the FOV. In summary, the initial dual detector panel based imaging study shows expected good image resolution and the performance at system acquisition level, which projects good system and imaging performance of the full PET that is under construction. More evaluation studies, including a hot-rod small phantom iamge and potentially full PET system capabitlily, will be presented in the conference.
Implementation of Preoperative Screening Protocols in Otolaryngology During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ObjectiveTo highlight emerging preoperative screening protocols and document workflow challenges and successes during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study...
Application of statistical design of experiments to assess pre-treatment parameters in forensic hair analysis for amphetamine

Abstract Toxicological analysis of human head hair for detecting drugs of abuse requires multiple pre-treatment steps before analysis, such as washing to remove external contamination, pulverization/homogenization of the sample matrix, and subsequent extraction of the drug from matrix components. The predominant approach to developing and assessing the efficacy of hair pre-treatment protocols uses a traditional one factor at a time (OFAT) approach, in which one independent variable at a time is changed to observe the effect on the dependent variable. An alternative approach to assessing pre-treatment protocols is statistical design of experiments (DoE), which involves the systematic variation of all independent variables (i.e., pre-treatment conditions) simultaneously, allowing for the variation in the dependent variable (i.e., extraction efficiency) associated with each independent variable and combinations thereof to be observed. In the present study, a 24 factorial block DoE design was used to compare the efficacy of parameters in the decontamination and extraction of amphetamine from human head hair. DoE studies identified that the most effective pre-treatment conditions included 1% SDS washes followed by methanol washes for 30 s each time, milling the hair into a powder, and final extraction of drug with 12.5 μL of 2 mM proteinase K solution/mg of hair. The most notable result of these DoE studies was that the combinatorial effect of all parameters was consistently significant, confirming that it is necessary to consider pre-treatment protocols as complete sets of procedures, as is done in DoE, compared to optimizing individual factors using an OFAT approach.
MiSeq Sequencing of Salmonella enterica subsp. houtenae Isolates from a Dog Treated for Hind-Limb Paresis.

ABSTRACT The genomes of three clinical isolates of Salmonella enterica subsp. houtenae were sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq instrument. These isolates came from the urine and cerebrospinal fluid of a dog treated for hind-limb paresis with immunosuppressive drugs. S. enterica subsp. houtenae has also been implicated in brain infections in humans.
Intravenous Zanamivir: A Viable Option for Critically Ill Patients With Influenza.

Objective:To review the pharmacology, clinical trial data, and clinical implications for the intravenous formulation of zanamivir.Data Sources:MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were searc...
The Pediatric Open Supracondylar Fracture: Associated Injuries and Surgical Management

BACKGROUND While supracondylar (SC) fractures are relatively common in children, the incidence of open injuries is believed to be only 1%. Two prior studies on open SC fractures in children reported an increased incidence of vascular injuries. The purposes of our study were to clarify the incidence, associated conditions, and current treatment for open SC fractures. METHODS The Pennsylvania Trauma Outcome Study database was queried. Subjects age 25 to 156 months old admitted to trauma centers between January 2000 and December 2015 with a SC fracture were included. Controls were those with closed fractures and the study group, those with open injuries. Study variables were age, sex, weight, injury severity score, length of stay (LOS), nerve injury, ipsilateral forearm fracture, compartment syndrome/fasciotomy, requirement for a vascular procedure. Other variables were mode of treatment, provisional reduction, repeat reduction, time interval between referring facility admission and operation, and time from emergency department admission to operation. RESULTS A total of 4308 subjects were included, 104 (2.4%) of whom had an open SC fracture. LOS was 2 days for the study group versus 1 day for controls (P<0.001). Open SC fractures were more likely than closed to be associated with a nerve injury (13.5% vs. 3.7%), ipsilateral forearm fracture (18.3% vs. 6.4%) and/or a vascular procedure (6.7% vs. 0.3%) (P<0.001). 5.9% of those in the study group required repeat surgery compared with 0.4% for controls (P<0.001). Time from emergency department admission to operation was 3.2 versus 10.3 hours (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS We report the largest series to date of open SC fractures in children. Surgeons caring for such patients should be aware of their increased risks for both associated injuries and potential requirement for vascular reconstruction. The majority of children with an open SC fracture are managed with 1 operation and in the absence of vascular injury, seldom require an extended LOS. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level III-retrospective cohort study.
Diabetic Nephropathy and End-Stage Renal Disease in a 28 year old, or Is It?

Introduction: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an auto-immune disease which affects multiple organ systems. Concomitant chronic inflammatory conditions can worsen disease prognosis. The addition of psycho-social barriers makes diagnosis and treatment more difficult. This case will emphasize the importance of holistic patient care. Case Description: A 28-year-old Hispanic female with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis for 2 years, Type 1 diabetes mellitus since age 10 years old, hypothyroidism secondary to Hashimoto’s, and four miscarriages was admitted to the ICU with pneumonia, pleural effusions, and reduced ejection fraction heart failure. Further …
Multi-Branch Attention Networks for Classifying Galaxy Clusters

This paper addresses the task of classifying galaxy clusters, which are the largest known objects in the Universe. Galaxy clusters can be categorized as cool-core (CC), weak-cool-core (WCC), and non-cool-core (NCC), depending on their central cooling times. Traditional classification approaches used in astrophysics are inaccurate and rely on measuring surface brightness concentrations or central gas densities. In this work, we propose a multi-branch attention network that uses spatial attention to classify a given cluster. To evaluate our network, we use a database of simulated X-ray emissivity images, which contains 954 projections of 318 clusters. Experimental results show that our network outperforms several strong baseline methods and achieves a macro-averaged F1 score of 0.83. We highlight the value of our proposed spatial attention module through an ablation study.
A Proof-of-Concept Study for Hydraulic Model-Based Leakage Detection in Water Pipelines Using Pressure Monitoring Data

It is estimated that about 20% of treated drinking water is lost through distribution pipeline leakages in the United States. Pipeline leakage detection is a top priority for water utilities across the globe as leaks increase operational energy consumption and could also develop into potentially catastrophic water main breaks, if left unaddressed. Leakage detection is a laborious task often limited by the financial and human resources that utilities can afford. Many conventional leak detection techniques also only offer a snapshot indication of leakage presence. Furthermore, the reliability of many leakage detection techniques on plastic pipelines that are increasingly preferred for drinking water applications is questionable. As part of a smart water utility framework, this paper proposes and validates a hydraulic model-based technique for detecting and assessing the severity of leakages in buried water pipelines through monitoring of pressure from across the water distribution system (WDS). The envisioned smart water utility framework entails the capabilities to collect water consumption data from a limited number of WDS nodes and pressure data from a limited number of pressure monitoring stations placed across the WDS. A popular benchmark WDS is initially modified by inducing leakages through addition of orifice nodes. The leakage severity is controlled using emitter coefficients of the orifice nodes. WDS pressure data for various sets of demands is subsequently gathered from locations where pressure monitoring stations are to be placed in that modified distribution network. An evolutionary optimization algorithm is subsequently used to predict the emitter coefficients so as to determine the leakage severities based on the hydraulic dependency of the monitored pressure data on various sets of nodal demands. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are employed to mimic the popular hydraulic solver EPANET 2.2 for high computational efficiency. The goals of this study are to: (1) validate the proof of concept of the proposed modeling approach for detecting and assessing the severity of leakages and (2) evaluate the sensitivity of the prediction accuracy to number of pressure monitoring stations and number of demand nodes at which consumption data is gathered and used.
Pregnancy in patients with preexisting transverse myelitis

Background : Although several cases of pregnancies of traumatic spinal cord injury patients have been reported, to our knowledge, only one case has been reported detailing the perinatal outcome in a patient with preexisting transverse myelitis. Case : The prenatal course and pregnancy outcome in two patients with preexisting transverse myelitis is presented. The major complications encountered were urinary tract infections and mobility problems. Conclusion : Patients with preexisting transverse myelitis can have successful pregnancies with term vaginal deliveries. Prevention of potential complications, such as anemia, preterm labor and delivery, decubitus ulcers, and autonomic dysreflexia can be achieved with coordinated multidisciplinary management.
Collaborative Oceanography and Virtual Experiments

Abstract : Our long term goal is to develop online collaboration environments that support cooperative operation of complex environmental field programs by distributed interdisciplinary teams. The need for such collaborative environments is growing. Modern field experiments are challenging to manage, in part because new autonomous and unmanned platforms increase both the complexity and the number of options available to participants. Consequently, managing a field program demands a diverse project team. Traditionally, the tight cooperation of the team is enabled by collocating participants for the duration of the experiment. Our work focuses on developing a collaboration environment that would allow a team to manage a field program collectively, without leaving their home institutions.
The Role of Extracellular Heat Shock Proteins in Cellular Inflammation and Injury

Ferruccio Ritossa first observed a novel hyperthermia-dependent puffing pattern in the giant chromosomes from the salivary glands of Drosophila melanogaster in 1962 [1]. By a chance occurrence, a colleague accidentally increased the temperature of one of the incubators in which he kept his specimens, and the following morning Ritossa discovered a new puffing pattern that had not been there on the previous day. Realizing the mistake, Ritossa conducted additional, properly controlled experiments and subsequently linked this new chromosomal puffing pattern with the expression of a specific group of proteins that he fittingly called heat shock proteins (HSP) [1,2]. Since Ritossa’s seminal observations in 1962, subsequent investigations into this area have continued, resulting in a growing interest in what is now commonly referred to as the heat shock response. The heat shock response is characterized by the rapid expression of a unique set of proteins collectively known as HSP [3, 4]. The structure, mode of regulation, and function of HSP are highly conserved among different species, and HSP have been identified in virtually all eukaryotic and prokaryotic species examined to date. While classically described as a response to thermal stress (hence the term heat shock response), HSP can be induced by a wide variety of non-thermal stressors and pharmacological agents (Table 1). These proteins range in molecular weight from 7 to 110 kDa and are found in virtually every cellular compartment, including the nucleus, cytoplasm, and mitochondria (Table 2). By convention, the stress proteins are classified according to their molecular weight, e.g. HSP25, HSP32, HSP47, HSP60, HSP70, HSP90, and HSP110.
Towards indoor localization of pedestrians via smart building vibration sensing

Indoor localization by means of GNSS or a cellular-based method is known to be difficult. Potentially, other wireless technologies could address the technical requirements, but they usually imply the end user must carry a device compatible with this additional technology too. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of collecting vibration sensor readings within a building to locate pedestrians by their footsteps. Vibration propagation in buildings is markedly different than radio wave propagation in free space, thus prompting one to question the suitability of conventional positioning algorithms for this task. We presents the results of experiments conducted with actual measurements from an instrumented, smart building. We expect such buildings to become more prevalent in the future thanks to the technical advances and cost reductions provided by the Internet-of-Things (IoT). The promising initial findings indicate that time-difference-of-arrival, within a limited spatial extent, could be a viable localization technique, and these results encourage further research into vibration-based indoor localization.
Symptoms of restless legs syndrome in older adults: outcomes on sleep quality, sleepiness, fatigue, depression, and quality of life.

OBJECTIVES: To compare differences in sleep quality, sleepiness, fatigue, depression, and quality of life according to severity of symptoms of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in older adults. DESIGN: Descriptive, comparative study; cross-sectional design. SETTING: Penn Sleep Center at the University of Pennsylvania and RLS support groups in Philadelphia. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-nine adults, aged 65 and older, diagnosed with RLS with symptoms at least 3 nights per week. Participants were stratified according to symptom severity based on scores from the RLS Symptom Severity Scale. Exclusion criteria were dementia, cognitive impairments, and sleep disorders other than RLS. MEASUREMENTS: Sleep quality, measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were sleepiness, fatigue, depression, and quality of life measured using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression Scale (CES-D), and RLS Quality of Life Instrument (RLS-QLI), respectively. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in subjective sleep quality (P=.007) and sleep duration (P=.04), as well as in PSQI global score (P=.007). RLS-QLI sleep quality (β=−0.12, 95% confidence interval (CI)=−0.18 to −0.06, P<.001) and sleepiness (β=0.35, 95% CI=0.09–0.61, P=.01) were significantly related to PSQI global score. Subjects with severe symptoms were five times as likely to use medication to treat RLS (OR=5.3, 95% CI=1.2–22.2). CONCLUSION: The severity of RLS symptoms in older adults affects not only sleep quality but also many aspects of quality of life, including social functioning, daily functioning, and emotional well-being.
Pericyte dysfunction in blood brain barrier impairment caused by HIV infection (278.1)

Studies performed over the last decade indicated that functional alterations of brain endothelium is the main factor in blood brain barrier (BBB) injury during HIV infection. However, other cells c...
Vadose Zone Monitoring Techniques

Monitoring fluids of the vadose zone has multiple motives, including detecting contaminants, measuring soil properties and water conditions for construction or monitoring geologic hazards, and determinations of water saturation that may be used for optimizing irrigation. Because fluids must move through the vadose zone to reach the water table, monitoring of the vadose zone allows predicting possible sources and processes of groundwater contamination. Geologic hazards such as landslides, rising water tables, or land subsidence can be partially predetermined by monitoring the vadose zone. And in agriculture, monitoring soil water content to irrigate most efficiently has a long history. Keywords: vadose zone; environmental; monitoring; environmental monitoring; groundwater
Expression and characterization of a novel thyroid hormone-sulfating form of cytosolic sulfotransferase from human liver.

Sulfation is an important conjugation reaction for a wide range of endogenous and exogenous compounds in humans, including steroids, bile acids, catecholamine neurotransmitters and thyroid hormones. The cDNA for a distinct human cytosolic sulfotransferase (ST), hST1B2, has been isolated from a human liver λZap cDNA library. The hST1B2 cDNA consists of 1144 bp and contains the coding region for a novel human cytosolic ST that has been termed hST1B2 on the basis of its sequence similarity to a rat sulfotransferase, ST1B1. The hST1B2 cDNA contains an 888-bp open reading frame that encodes a 296-amino acid protein with a calculated molecular mass of 34,897 Da. The hST1B2 cDNA also has a 127-bp 5′ untranslated region (UTR) and a 129-bp 3′-UTR, including a 22-bp poly(A) + tract. The amino acid sequence of hST1B2 is 74%, 53%, 53%, 52%, 56%, and 34% identical to the amino acid sequences of rat ST1B1 and human P-PST-1, P-PST-2, M-PST, EST, and DHEA-ST, respectively. Enzymatically active hST1B2 was expressed in the bacterial expression vector pKK233–2 for kinetic characterization and in the bacterial expression vector pQE-31, which generates a histidine-tagged fusion protein for the generation of antibodies. Expressed hST1B2 sulfates small phenols such as 1-naphthol and p -nitrophenol and thyroid hormones, including 3,3′-diiodothyronine, triiodothyronine, reverse triiodothyronine, and thyroxine. No activity was detected when several steroids or dopamine were tested as substrates. High levels of hST1B2 message were detected by Northern blot analysis in RNA isolated from human liver, colon, small intestine, and blood leukocytes. Immunoblot analysis detected a protein with the same mass as expressed hST1B2 in several human tissues that also possessed hST1B2 message. These results indicate that a novel cytosolic ST is present in human tissues, which may have an important role in thyroid hormone and xenobiotic metabolism.
Ivory Tower Graduates in the Red: The Role of Debt in Higher Education

The purpose of this article is to shed critical light on the financial hardships that many individuals, the first author included, experience while earning and paying for advanced degrees. As a young tenure-track assistant professor of educational foundations, Nicholas shares his personal experiences of incurring a great amount of student debt while earning his Ph.D. Lucille, an associate professor, analyzes his account, both during and after, from a critical financial perspective, and both authors conclude with recommendations for all Ph.Ds.—whether newly minted, up-and-coming, or long established—especially those in the field of education.
Measurement of Bisulfite in Biologic Solutions

In order to evaluate the toxicity of sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) used in peritoneal dialysis solutions it was necessary to measure bisulfite in simple solutions and serum. A microdiffusion technic is described for quantification of bisulfite. This involves evolution of SO2 gas from bisulfite by acidification, trapping it as H2SO3, oxidation of the H2SO3 to H2SO4 by hydrogen peroxide, and titration of the hydrogen ion with dilute base. The method is easily performed and is quantitative in the range of 50-500 µg bisulfite per milliliter in simple solutions. Studies in serum show incomplete yet quantitatively reproducible recovery.
Call to Action: Finding Solutions for the Drug Shortage Crisis in the United States

In their article in this issue of CPT, Woodcock and Wosinska are the first to clearly outline the quality and manufacturing problems causing drug shortages of generic injectables. These authors have focused on the main issue, namely, that manufacturing problems and the lack of incentives for quality products are the primary reasons for most recent shortages of generic injectable drugs.
Evaluating the evidence for multiple realization

Consider what the brain-state theorist has to do to make good his claims. He has to specify a physical–chemical state such that organism (not just a mammal) is in pain if and only if (a) it possesses a brain of suitable physical–chemical structure; and (b) its brain is in that physical–chemical state. This means that the physical–chemical state in question must be a possible state of a mammalian brain, a reptilian brain, a mollusc’s brain (octopuses are mollusca, and certainly feel pain), etc. At the same time, it must be a possible (physically possible) state of the brain of any physically possible creature that cannot feel pain. Even if such a state can be found, it must be nomologically certain that it will also be a state of the brain of any extraterrestrial life that may be found that will be capable of feeling pain before we can even entertain the supposition that it may pain. It is not altogether impossible that such a state will be found... . But this is certainly an ambitious hypothesis. (Putnam 1967/1975, p. 436) The belief that mental states are multiply realized is now nearly universal among philosophers, as is the belief that this fact decisively refutes the identity theory. I argue that the empirical support for multiple realization does not justify the confidence that has been placed in it. In order for multiple realization of mental states to be an objection to the identity theory, the neurological differences among pains, for example, must be such as to guarantee that they are of distinct neurological kinds. But the phenomena traditionally cited do not provide evidence of that sort of variation. In particular, examples of neural plasticity do not provide such evidence.
Optimal time-resource allocation for activity-detection via multimodal sensing

The optimal allocation of measurements for activity-level detection in a wireless body area network (WBAN) for health-monitoring applications is considered. The WBAN with heterogeneous sensors is deployed in a simple star topology with the fusion center receiving a fixed number of measurements from the sensors; the number of measurements allocated to each sensor is optimized to minimize the probability of detection error at the fusion center. An analysis of the two-sensor case with binary hypotheses is presented. Since the number of measurements is an integer, an exhaustive search (grid search) is traditionally employed to determine the optimal allocation of measurements. However, such a search is computationally expensive. To this end, an alternate continuous-valued vector optimization is derived which yields approximately optimal allocations which can be found with lower complexity. Numerical case studies based on experimental data for different key activity-states are presented. It is observed that the Kullback-Leibler (KL) distances between the distributions associated with the hypotheses dominate the optimal allocation of measurements.
A model of exurban land-use change and wildfire mitigation

As exurban development spreads throughout fire-prone areas of the western United States, the threat of wildfire to life and property grows. To address this threat, wildfire mitigation, such as mechanical thinning, often takes place in areas close to exurban development. This study demonstrates the utility of spatially explicit dynamic models to understand better where the wildland–urban interface is, how it might change in the future, and how this might affect which land would be prioritized for mechanical thinning. Specifically, a model (WHAMED) is presented that forecasts the prioritized locations for future mechanical thinning as a function of projected exurban development in the montane zone of Boulder County, CO. To predict exurban development, WHAMED uses a cellular automata model with rules derived from statistical models of historical exurban development. The study tests two general sets of criteria for prioritizing mechanical thinning, that of the Community Protection Zone and the Healthy Forests...