cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Terminal latency index in neuropathy with antibodies against myelin‐associated glycoproteins

Neuropathy with antibodies against myelin-associated glycoproteins (MAG/SGPG-N) and hereditary sensorimotor neuropathy type 1 (HMSN1) are characterized by chronic demyelination with little conduction block. Electrodiagnostic studies suggest that in HMSN1 conduction slowing occurs uniformly along the nerve, whereas in MAG/SGPG-N it is predominantly distal. Some but not all previous reports have shown that the terminal latency index (TLI) was useful to distinguish MAG/SGPG-N from chronic idiopathic demyelinating polyneuropathy. We compared median TLI from 21 patients with MAG/SGPG-N with those obtained from 26 patients with HMSN1, 20 with HMSN2, and 12 healthy volunteers. All patients with TLI or =0.32 had HMSN1. In the remaining patients with intermediate TLI values, ulnar distal motor latency (DML) aided in differentiation between MAG/SGPG-N and HMSN1 with an overall sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 98%. In conclusion, median TLI in combination with ulnar DML can further guide the demyelinating neuropathy evaluation toward hereditary or autoimmune causes.
Preoperative renin-angiotensin system inhibitors protect renal function in aging patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Background Renal failure (RF) represents a major postoperative complication for elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This observational cohort study examines effects of preoperative use of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors on postoperative renal failure in aging patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods and Results We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 1287 patients who underwent cardiac surgery at this institution (2003–2007). The patients included were ≥65 years old, scheduled for elective cardiac surgery, and without preexisting RF (defined by the criteria of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons as described in Method). Of all patients evaluated, 346 patients met the inclusion criteria and were divided into two groups: using (n = 122) or not using (n = 224) preoperative RAS inhibitors. A comparison of the two groups showed no significant differences in baseline parameters, including creatinine clearance, body mass index, history of diabetes and smoking, preoperative medicines (except that more patients with RAS inhibitors had a history of hypertension or congestive heart failure, fewer RAS inhibitor patients had chronic lung disease), in intraoperative perfusion and aortic cross-clamp time, and in postoperative complications and 30-d mortality. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated, however, that preoperative RAS inhibitors significantly and independently reduced the incidence of postoperative RF in the patients undergoing cardiac surgery compared with those not taking RAS inhibitors: 1.6% versus 7.6%, yielding an odds ratio of 0.19 (95 % CI 0.04–0.84, P = 0.029). Conclusions Preoperative RAS inhibitors may have significant renoprotective effects for aging patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery.
Finding Traction for Mechanical Circulatory Support During Coronary Interventions

The management of acute cardiogenic shock remains one of the great challenges of contemporary cardiovascular care. Cardiogenic shock manifests as a vicious cascade of systemic hypoperfusion leading to multi-organ system dysfunction and is a hallmark of severe ventricular failure in the wake of extensive myocardial damage following acute infarction. 1 Shock complicates between 5-8% of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMI) and 2-3% of non-STEMI. 2 More than 80% of the time, shock arises from direct myocardial injury downstream from an occluded artery, with the remaining cases coming from later mechanical complications such as acute mitral regurgitation or ventricular septal defect. Despite remarkable advances in medical therapy for acute coronary syndromes over the last three decades, especially the emphasis on early recognition and reperfusion therapy, cardiogenic shock remains a leading cause of death after STEMI and carries with it a mortality rate between 40-50%. 2, 3
University Students from Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences In Majors and Attitudes at a Catholic University:

We conducted an archival study at a coeducational Catholic university to test the proposition that single-sex secondary education predicts lasting differences in college majors. Men from single-sex schools were more likely to both declare and graduate in gender-neutral majors than those from coeducational schools. Women from single-sex schools were more likely to declare gender-neutral majors, but were not different from their coeducated peers at graduation. A second study was conducted with a sample of first-year students to examine the correspondence between egalitarian attitudes, single-sex secondary education, and major choice. Egalitarianism was higher in students in nontraditional majors, but did not correspond in expected ways with single-sex education. Men from single-sex schools were less likely to hold egalitarian attitudes about gender roles, whereas women from single-sex and coeducational high schools did not differ in egalitarianism. Taken together, our results raise questions about the poten...
Cytotoxicity of Adriamycin Combined With Methotrexate Against L1210 Leukemia in Mice

The combination of adriamycin and methotrexate was found in mice to be synergistic in cytotoxicity to L1210 leukemia cells for a range of time intervals between the two agents. Cytotoxicity for normal hematopoietic stem cells was less than additive. Spleen colony assays were used to quantitate both cell populations. Increase in life-span assays yielded similar results. Also, the extent of synergy was dependent on the dose of adriamycin only.
Evacuation and Return of Vietnamese New Orleanians Affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans East—where the main Vietnamese enclave is located— especially hard. By chance, shortly before this disaster, sociodemographic and health data had been collected for a population-based sample of working-age Vietnamese Americans living in New Orleans. One year after the storm, the authors reinterviewed nearly all respondents from the original sample who had returned to the area, which netted about two thirds of the original sample. Results show that returnees were more likely than those yet to return to have been employed before the storm, to have worked in the skilled sector of the economy, to have been married, and to have owned a home. Many problems experienced during the immediate aftermath of the storm, such as crowded and unsanitary conditions, had been resolved by the first anniversary; however, other problems remained, such as a continuing lack of information, lack of access to medical care, and fears of violent crime.
Heart mitochondrial function in acute and in chronic hyperthyroidism in rats.

The effects of acute versus chronic hyperthyroidism on rat heart mitochondria were explored. Acute, severe hyperthyroidism with an 18% loss of body weight was induced by injecting subcutaneously 10 µg/100g/day of triiodothyronine for 6 to 14 days, and chronic, anabolic, moderate hyperthyroidism was induced by placing triiodothyronine in the drinking water at a dose of 25 or 50 µg/100 ml for 15 to 60 days. Mitochondrial function was assessed polarographically using α-ketoglutarate as the oxidizing substrate, and mitochondrial structure was assessed indirectly from changes in rates of swelling in decimolar alkaline salt solutions in vitro. The P-O ratios of heart mitochondria isolated with Nagarse incubation from both types of hyperthyroid rats decreased slightly (15%) but significantly ( P = 0.05). Simple dilution of the hyperthyroid mitochondrial suspensions effected a 75% increase in the P-O ratio of the acutely treated rats but only a 19% increase in that of the chronically treated rats. Significantly increased susceptibility to swelling in vitro was exhibited only by the mitochondria of the chronically triiodothyronine-treated rats. On the other hand, only those of the acutely treated rats showed significant increases in the activity of Mg2+-stimulated mitochondrial ATPase. These data suggest that the mechanisms whereby excess thyroid hormone in vivo affects the function and structure of isolated rat heart mitochondria vary with the mode of induction and the duration of the hyperthyroid state.
Refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition that develops when the reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus causes troublesome symptoms, esophageal injury, and/or complications. Use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) remains the standard therapy for GERD and is effective in most patients. Those whose symptoms are refractory to PPIs should be evaluated further and other treatment options should be considered, according to individual patient characteristics. Response to PPIs could be total (no symptoms), partial (residual breakthrough symptoms), or absent (no change in symptoms). Patients experiencing complete response do not usually need further management. Patients with partial response can be treated surgically or by using emerging endoscopic therapies. Patients who exhibit no response to PPI need further evaluation to rule out other causes.
The Soul of Work: Using Case Studies in the Teaching of Vocational Psychology

Working from a paradigm that considers work issues as either central or contextual requires a shift in the way many counseling psychologists think about the world. Perhaps the easiest time to implement such a paradigm is while students are in training, when they are confronted daily with new ways to think of the world. The purpose of this article is to examine how the use of case studies during training can serve to locate vocational psychology within counseling psychology, with one result being the enhancement of trainees’ ability and willingness to consider the whole person (when vocational issues are primary) and to consider work as a major contextual issue (when it is not the presenting concern). To accomplish this goal, the authors’ approach is threefold: (a) to offer support for the use of case studies in teaching,(b) to provide a brief discussion of reasons that students struggle with the location of vocational psychology within counseling psychology and how the use of case studies helps address th...
Posttranscriptional mechanisms involving microRNA-27a and b contribute to fast-specific and glucocorticoid-mediated myostatin expression in skeletal muscle

Expression of the antigrowth factor myostatin (MSTN) differs between fast and slow skeletal muscles and is increased in nearly every form of muscle atrophy, but the contribution of transcriptional ...
The domination and competition graphs of a tournament

Vertices x and y dominate a tournament T if for all vertices z ≠ x, y, either x beats z or y beats z. Let dom(T) be the graph on the vertices of T with edges between pairs of vertices that dominate T. We show that dom(T) is either an odd cycle with possible pendant vertices or a forest of caterpillars. While this is not a characterization, it does lead to considerable information about dom(T). Since dom(T) is the complement of the competition graph of the tournament formed by reversing the arcs of T, complementary results are obtained for the competition graph of a tournament. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Graph Theory 29: 103–110, 1998
Changes in electrical conductivity of selected vegetables during multiple thermal treatments

Electrical conductivity (σ) is the most important parameter in ohmic heating. Although data exist on its changes during ohmic heating, limited information is available about preheated foods. In this study, the conductivity changes of raw vegetable samples (potato, carrot, and yam) in cyclic ohmic heating and samples preheated by conventional heating prior to ohmic heating were investigated. In cyclic ohmic heating, cylindrical vegetable samples were subjected to three repeated cycles of ohmic heating (40 V/cm, 60Hz) to 80C, and cooling to 25C. Fresh samples were also preheated by conventional heating to 80C, then subjected to ohmic heating for comparison. Specific heats changed by cycles, although moisture content remained constant in all cases. The results show that in cyclic ohmic heating, the heating rate increased by cycles. Samples preheated by either conventional or ohmic heating showed a higher heating rate than raw materials. Electrical conductivity data during ohmic heating showed that preheated vegetables have higher conductivities than fresh ones, and a tendency of increase by cycles was found.
VSPEC constraints modeling and evaluation

Performance constraints play a key role in VLSI design. Performance constraints evaluation help in discovering requirements specification errors at an early stage in the design process when they are easy to fix. VSPEC is a requirements specification language for digital systems that contains a standard method for describing constraints. The paper presents a method of evaluating and verifying these constraints. Performance Description Language (PDL) is used for evaluation. The system is implemented within the ORBIT design environment.
Geospatial Data Interoperability, Geography Markup Language (GML), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), and Geospatial Web Services

Although many GIS databases have been developed, geospatial data interoperability is still a challenge faced by the geospatial community. GML, as a standard data exchange format, aims to achieve the goal of data interoperability by providing mechanisms for data sharing and reuse at the feature level over the Web. While GML provides a means to encode and transport geospatial features into XML, SVG provides a means to display these GML-encoded geospatial features into vector maps on the Web. The Geospatial Web Services Implementation Specifications developed by the OGC, such as Web Feature Service (WFS), Web Map Service (WMS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Processing Service (WPS), and Catalogue Service (CS), provide the state-of-the-art technologies for achieving geospatial data interoperability at the syntax level. Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) moves away from monolithic systems towards distributive systems with interoperable components, and implementations of the SOA may decrease problems in data and model duplication and maintenance.
Diet-induced increases in chemerin are attenuated by exercise and mediate the effect of diet on insulin and HOMA-IR.

Objectives:Chemerin concentrations are elevated in obesity and associated with inflammation and insulin resistance. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity, which may be facilitated by changes in chemerin. We explored the effects of chronic exercise on chemerin levels in diet-induced obese mice.Methods:We divided 40 mice into 4 groups: high-fat diet/exercise, high-fat diet/sedentary, normal diet/exercise, and normal diet/sedentary. A 9-week dietary intervention was followed by a 12-week exercise intervention (treadmill run: 11 m/min for 30 min, 3×/week). We analyzed blood samples before and after the exercise intervention. We used t-tests and linear regression to examine changes in chemerin, insulin resistance, and inflammatory markers, and associations between changes in chemerin and all other biomarkers.Results:Chemerin increased significantly across all mice over the 12-week intervention (mean ± SD = 40.7 ± 77.8%, p = 0.01), and this increase was smaller in the exercise versus sedentary mice (27.2 ± 83.9...
Surfactant-Polymer Interactions in Tertiary Oil Recovery

Dilute aqueous surfactant and polymer solutions are used to displace the trapped oil from the porous reservoirs in the tertiary recovery process, by virtue of their interfacial tension lowering and mobility control characteristics, respectively. The interactions that occur between the surfactant and the polymer solutions, however, lead to the formation of a polymer-surfactant complex and phase separation thus resulting in the loss of the chemicals and the modification of the designed solution properties of the surfactant and of the polymer. For the purpose of characterizing apriori, the type of polymer suitable for the tertiary recovery process, a simple model is developed here to predict the extent of the surfactant binding to the polymers in dilute aqueous solution. The model is based on the premise that the intra-molecular contacts between the polar and the non-polar segments of the polymer can be visualized as the analogs of the macroscopic hydrocarbon-polar medium interface, where preferential accumulation of the surfactant molecules occurs. The surfactant binding to the polymer is described by the multiple equilibria model commonly used to describe the protein-ligand interactions.
Sensitivity of Traditional and Risk-Based Glycemic Variability Measures to the Effect of Glucose-Lowering Treatment in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus:

Background:Here we assess associations between glycemic variability (GV) measures and outcomes from glucose-lowering therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) to identify the metrics most sensitive to treatment response.Methods:Data from 1699 patients in 6 previously reported studies in adults with T2DM treated with basal insulin and/or oral glucose-lowering drugs were included in a post hoc meta-analysis. Using 7-point blood glucose (BG) profiles we compared the GV metrics standard deviation (SD), mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE), mean absolute glucose (MAG), low and high BG risk indices (LBGI, HBGI), and average daily risk range (ADRR). Treatment-related changes in GV and risk status and associations between end-of-trial GV/risk metrics with treatment outcomes (end-of-trial glycated hemoglobin A1c[A1C] level ≥7.0%, hypoglycemia, and composite outcome of A1C <7.0% and no hypoglycemia), were evaluated.Results:Significant changes from baseline to end of treatment were observed in all measu...
Cancers of the skin of the nose.

The records of 305 patients with cancers of the nasal skin were reviewed. The majority of patients had benign basal cell carcinomas. The selection of therapy was geared to the location and extent o...
NIMG-62USING A MULTI-COMPARTMENT DIFFUSION MODEL TO CHARACTERIZE EDEMA DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GBMS AND BRAIN METASTASES

The differential effects of brain metastases (MET) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) on the peritumoral edema are difficult to decipher based on conventional brain imaging, as they comprise of varying degrees of edema and infiltration. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a form of MRI used to characterize local structure of brain tissues based on water diffusivity patterns quantified using indices such as mean diffusivity (MD). Previous attempts to differentiate GBMs and METs based on peritumoral edema have led to conflicting results, due to variations in tumor location, type and confounds of traditional DTI measures. The aim of this study is to use new DTI-based measures to unambiguously differentiate METs and GBMs, based on peritumoral edema characteristics. We fitted a multi-compartment diffusion model to patients with METs (N = 16) and GBMs (N = 51). This model estimates two compartments, unrestricted diffusion (free water) as in edema and restricted diffusion as in white matter, in the peritumoral edema, which was extracted from these patients using our tumor segmentation software GLISTR. Two measures were computed in the peritumoral region: edema fraction (EF) and diffusion fraction (DF), which is the percent decrease in MD after applying free water correction. The former characterizes the water content of the tissue and the latter the effect of this content on MD values. The DF was smaller in GBMs (69%) compared to METs (77%), with a significant difference between tumor types (p = 0.014). Furthermore, the variance in DF was significantly higher in GBMs (p = 0.03). Additionally, there is increased variance in EF of GBMs (p = 0.0001). Together, these results demonstrate that peritumoral edema of GBMs is more heterogeneous, perhaps due to infiltration, whereas that of METs consists more homogeneously of water. Therefore, these measures of edema characterization, EF and DF, can be used as imaging markers for distinguishing GBMs from METs.
Measure Up Pressure Down: Provider Toolkit to Improve Hypertension Control

Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and diabetes complications. Nearly one in three Americans adults has high blood pressure, and the c...
An empirical research on influence factors of knowledge transfer effectiveness in technology alliance

In order to unveil the black box of management decision 'having knowledge transfer activities of technology alliance but lacking of the effectiveness',a theoretical model of influence factors of knowledge transfer effectiveness in technology alliance was constructed from the three layers including knowledge、 allied enterprise and circumstances in the basis of previous studies.Data collected from a questionnaire survey of 201 domestic enterprises were validated by using SPSS16.0 software,and then hypothesis was further verified by using LISEREL8.70 software.The results show that relevance of basic knowledge,difference of professional knowledge,knowledge transfer ability of sender,knowledge absorption ability of absorber,and trust among allied enterprises have a significant positive influence on knowledge transfer effectiveness;The knowledge transfer effectiveness is not directly affected by trust among allied enterprise but indirectly impaired by acting on promise.
Commentary: An Asian Americanist Perspective on Child Development.

In this commentary, we put forth an Asian Americanist perspective on child development that frames, expands upon, and at times challenges the contextual, conceptual, and methodological ideas put forward by Kiang et al., Mistry et al., and Yoshikawa et al. (this volume). This Asian Americanist perspective draws upon scholarship in Asian American Studies and critical race theory to bridge the historical, conceptual, and methodological contributions of the three articles. We also aim to challenge current and future generations of scholars studying Asian American child development to look at Asian American youth and families as autonomous, self-determining agents who are capable of challenging, resisting, and affecting change in a racialized society.
Functional roles of fusimotor and skeletofusimotor neurons studied in the decerebrate cat

Although the existence of skeletofusimotor innervation of muscle spindles in mammalian muscles is now amply confirmed, the physiological effects of this innervation have not been established. In an attempt to determine such effects, we recorded the discharge of triceps surae primary and secondary spindle receptor afferents, isolated from small dorsal root fascicles in decerebrate cat preparations. Afferent discharge was recorded in quiescent states, and during reflex excitation of the receptor-bearing muscle.
A Topical Mitochondria-Targeted Redox Cycling Nitroxide Mitigates Oxidative Stress Induced Skin Damage.

Skin is the largest human organ, and it provides a first line of defense that includes physical, chemical, and immune mechanisms to combat environmental stress. Radiation is a prevalent environmental stressor. Radiation-induced skin damage ranges from photoaging and cutaneous carcinogenesis caused by UV exposure, to treatment-limiting radiation dermatitis associated with radiotherapy, to cutaneous radiation syndrome, a frequently fatal consequence of exposures from nuclear accidents. The major mechanism of skin injury common to these exposures is radiation-induced oxidative stress. Efforts to prevent or mitigate radiation damage have included development of antioxidants capable of reducing reactive oxygen species. Mitochondria are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress, and mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis plays a major role in radiation-induced tissue damage. We reasoned that targeting a redox cycling nitroxide to mitochondria could prevent reactive oxygen species accumulation, limiting downstream oxidative damage and preserving mitochondrial function. Here we show that in both mouse and human skin, topical application of a mitochondrially targeted antioxidant prevents and mitigates radiation-induced skin damage characterized by clinical dermatitis, loss of barrier function, inflammation, and fibrosis. Further, damage mitigation is associated with reduced apoptosis, preservation of the skin's antioxidant capacity, and reduction of irreversible DNA and protein oxidation associated with oxidative stress.
Rovibrational Characterization and Interstellar Implications of the Proton-Bound, Noble Gas Complexes: ArHAr+, NeHNe+, and ArHNe+

The detection of the noble gas molecule ArH+ initially in the Crab nebula and elsewhere since has reinvigorated the search for naturally occurring, noble gas compounds. Additionally, proton-bound complexes are known to possess exceptionally bright vibrational modes corresponding to the shifting of the proton between the two, more massive moieties. As such, smaller column densities are required for unique detection of molecules with such intense transitions. In light of this, vibrational, rotational, and rovibrational spectroscopic data are provided here for ArHAr+, NeHNe+, and ArHNe+ to assist in laboratory characterization or even astronomical detection of these noble gas molecular cations. NeHNe+ is shown to be a surprisingly well-bound system, while the neon atom is not nearly as tightly bound to ArHNe+ in comparison. Furthermore, the reaction of the astronomically detected argonium cation with the strongly supported, potential interstellar ArH3+ cation will produce ArHAr+ with favorable energetics. Th...
Creative Engagements: Community Management Roles for RSTEM Praxis

Established roles for praxis beyond teaching are often missing from discussions of RSTEM engagement with the science community. Although it is important to ground engagement in identifiable roles, it may be that these roles are still being conceived or need to be re-created contextually for every engagement situation. This paper grounds RSTEM engagement in one identifiable field of practice: scientific community management. RSTEM's specialized attention to and understanding of how science communities and genre systems interact can provide insight into the forming of these communities and their management.
Evaluating pulmonary nodules to detect lung cancer: Does Fleischner criteria really work?

Abstract Objective The Fleischner Society recommends that interval computed tomography (CT) be conducted as a follow-up for managing incidental small pulmonary nodules detected in CT scans. This study evaluated the clinical application of Fleischner criteria using a large cohort of patients at high risk for lung cancer with low-dose CT screening. Materials and methods During the years 2012–2016, a retrospective study of 176 patients was reviewed for incidental lung nodules. Patient eligibility included: men and women from 55 to 74 years of age; a 30 pack per year smoking history, and the patient quit smoking in the last 15 years; no cancer history within the last 5 years; and no previous CT chest scan performed. The Fleischner criteria was used to calculate proper patient follow-up and management. Nodules were classified based on several features, including but not limited to size and shape; characteristics of nodules were tabulated and analyzed using the Chi-squared and t-tests. Results Out of 176 patients, 117 had nodules with a total of 210 total nodules detected. Table 1 shows the categorization of all nodule features including the Fleischner Criteria. Of the entire cohort, two patients (1.1%) had malignant disease: one was a part-solid nodule of 10.2 mm, and the other was a multiple subsolid ground glass nodule (GGN) of 20.1 mm. Twenty-one patients (17.9%) had undergone unnecessary follow-up CT scans, including those with solitary pure GGNs. Conclusion This study emphasizes the need for new Fleischner guidelines to minimize over-diagnosis, unnecessary follow-ups, cost, and dosage of radiation. Such new guidelines will certainly estimate the risk of malignancy with greater accuracy.
Mixing Time in a Bilingual Program: When Science Time is English Time

The setting of this study reflects a common approach for teaching science to K-5 bilingual/multilingual learners combining science time with English-only language instruction. While programs that use both languages to teach bilingual students are more effective in preparing K-5 Latin@ students in science, instruction in science in K-5 classrooms remains largely taught in English. The paper examines how a recurring classroom routine, Community Circle time, exposes the academic and behavioral expectations of a 3rd classroom composed of bilingual/multilingual students learning science. The paper presents analysis of classroom interactions and teacher interviews connected to “science time” which is also English-only time in this school. Several types of activities and participation structures emerge from observations of Community Circle time. During this time, students talk about sharing, planning, and doing activities related to science. This study finds that, while there are productive opportunities for all students to learn a range of academic language and content knowledge during science time, a more expansive approach to language and literacy is needed for teaching and learning science.
Canal neuromast position prefigures developmental patterning of the suborbital bone series in Astyanax cave- and surface-dwelling fish

Developmental patterning is a complex biological phenomenon, involving integrated cellular and molecular signaling across diverse tissues. In Astyanax cavefish, the lateral line sensory system is dramatically expanded in a region of the cranium marked by significant bone abnormalities. This system provides the opportunity to understand how facial bone patterning can become altered through sensory system changes. Here we investigate a classic postulation that mechanosensory receptor neuromasts seed intramembranous facial bones in aquatic vertebrates. Using an in vivo staining procedure across individual life history, we observed infraorbital canal neuromasts serving as sites of ossification for suborbital bones. The manner in which cavefish departed from the stereotypical and symmetrical canal neuromast patterns of closely-related surface-dwelling fish were associated with specific changes to the suborbital bone complex. For instance, bony fusion, rarely observed in surface fish, was associated with shorter distances between canal neuromasts in cavefish, suggesting that closer canal neuromasts result in bony fusions. Additionally, cavefish lacking the sixth suborbital bone (SO6) uniformly lacked the associated (sixth) canal neuromast. This study suggests that patterning of canal neuromasts may impact spatial position of suborbital bones across development. The absence of an eye and subsequent orbital collapse in cavefish appears to influence positional information normally inherent to the infraorbital canal. These alterations result in coordinated changes to adult neuromast and bone structures. This work highlights complex interactions between visual, sensory and bony tissues during development that explain certain abnormal craniofacial features in cavefish.
Role of Fibulins 2 and 5 in Retinal Development and Maintenance.

Fibulins 2 and 5 are part of a seven-member family of proteins integral to the retinal extracellular matrix. Our study aimed to further explore the roles of both fibulins in retinal function. We obtained knockout mouse models of both fibulins and performed immunohistochemistry, electroretinography, and histology to investigate the outcome of eliminating these proteins. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that both fibulins are localized to the RPE, choroid, and Bruch’s membrane. Functional testing showed a significantly reduced scotopic A response at 1 month of age, when compared to their wild-type counterpart. This functional reduction remained constant throughout the age of the animal and only declined as a result of normal aging. The functional decline was associated with reduced number of photoreceptor cells. The results presented clearly demonstrate that fibulins 2 and 5, as extracellular proteins, are necessary for normal retinal development.
Assessment of Immune Response in Biotherapy Trials and Clinical Endpoints

Today, biological therapies occupy an important place among available clinical modalities for treatment of cancer. Their true impact on the disease cannot be unraveled, however, without an understanding of immune mechanisms that therapies target and possibly alter. Immune monitoring is necessary to help identify and define these mechanisms. Recent introduction of rapid, high-throughput assays based on new insights into molecular pathways and attention to assay standardization has improved the quality of immune monitoring. Multiplex profiling of immune phenotypes, definition of regulatory immune cell subsets, identification of critical signaling molecules, and recognition of biologically relevant targets have all played a major role in defining immune competence of patients enrolled in biotherapy clinical trials. Today, the major objective of immune monitoring, to correlate therapy-induced alterations in immune responses and clinical endpoints, is finally being achieved, and potential immune biomarkers of disease-free or overall survival are being identified. In most cases, validation of these immune biomarkers remains to be performed. There is hope that reliable immune biomarkers of response to biotherapy will soon emerge as a result of expert serial monitoring. Immune monitoring is critical to establishing surrogate biomarkers of outcome in biotherapy clinical trials and thus to a better selection and delivery of biologics to patients with cancer.
Aluminum Incorporation in Mesoporous Molecular Sieves

Aluminosilicate mesoporous materials synthesized with various amounts of aluminum have been characterized by solid-state 27Al NMR, powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and elemental analysis to determine the extent of aluminum incorporation and its location in the final product. The presence of aluminum in the framework is observed to influence the stability of the structure to calcination. These studies, in combination, establish that four-coordinate aluminum can be incorporated into the inorganic mesoporous framework, provided a monomeric alumina precursor is used in the synthesis. When the aluminum source is colloidal, residual octahedrally coordinated extraframework aluminum occurs in phase-separated amorphous particles. These results support the synthesis mechanism for mesoporous molecular sieves proposed by Monnier et al. and provide new insight towards isomorphous substitution into mesoporous silicate structures.
Institute White Pages as a System Administration Problem

With the planned departure of our mainframe, we had to find a new way to maintain and generate our Institute Telephone directory. This gave us the opportunity to examine every aspect of the directory generation process, and make changes to improve the accuracy of the data, reduce the clerical workload in Telecommunications and Human Resources and eliminate some duplication of data and effort. Given that we already had an Oracle based system to automatically create and remove Unix userids for all employees as they are hired and leave, it seemed that with some minor enhancements, this same system could also maintain our directory information. To this end, we added a directory module to our Simon Account management system that extracts directory information from the Human Resources database, adds additional non employee information and generates LaTeX source for the printed phone book, HTML pages for the web and a raw feed for the ph server. In addition, using techniques developed for some of our system administration tools, we gave both individual staff members, and their departmental administrators, the ability to make changes and corrections to their own directory information, which would not only appear in the directories, but also be reflected in the official Human Resource database. This has greatly reduced the delays and paperwork involved in changing this information, and allows us to have accurate and up to date directories. As an added bonus, many of our "traditional" systems administration tools can now directly query the directory information and include contact info in the displays automatically.
Botox for Migraine Headaches and Facial Pain

Botulinum toxin has existed for thousands of years in the natural world, although investigations into its therapeutic use began in earnest in the late 1970s. It has been implicated in many different mechanisms in reducing inflammation and nociception, including central desensitization, inhibition of nociceptor expression, and inhibition of nociceptive and inflammatory neuropeptides and neurotransmitters. Due to its safety and efficacy in reducing neurogenic and musculoskeletal pain, it has been investigated in multiple pain syndromes, including migraine headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Botulinum toxin has been shown to be a useful and safe adjunct in the treatment for these disorders and may reduce or eliminate oral pharmacotherapy. We present the historical background, development, proposed mechanisms of action, uses, and techniques for administering botulinum toxin for these disorders.
Sparse Gaussian Processes on Matrix Lie Groups: A Unified Framework for Optimizing Continuous-Time Trajectories

Continuous-time trajectories are useful for reasoning about robot motion in a wide range of tasks. Sparse Gaussian processes (GPs) can be used as a non-parametric representation for trajectory distributions that enables fast trajectory optimization by sparse GP regression. However, most previous approaches that utilize sparse GPs for trajectory optimization are limited by the fact that the robot state is represented in vector space. In this paper, we first extend previous works to consider the state on general matrix Lie groups by applying a constant-velocity prior and defining locally linear GPs. Next, we discuss how sparse GPs on Lie groups provide a unified continuous-time framework for trajectory optimization for solving a number of robotics problems including state estimation and motion planning. Finally, we demonstrate and evaluate our approach on several different estimation and motion planning tasks with both synthetic and real-world experiments.
Value of Certifications when Seeking Construction Employment

ABSTRACTConstruction graduates and professionals have many professional-development and educational options available. This study explores a range of certifications and evaluates their value to ind...
Why health professions education needs functional linguistics: the power of 'stealth words'.

Context Language is one of the primary modalities for teaching and learning in the health professions in contexts ranging from the more formal teaching relationships of medical school to the guided practice of trainees through continuing education and the deliberate practice of lifelong learning. Yet linguistic analysis, with the possible exception of discourse analysis, has not become a core methodological tool in the field of health professions education (HPE). The purpose of this paper is to argue for the more widespread adoption of one particular approach to linguistics, one that examines less of what learners and instructors say and looks more at how they say it: functional linguistics. Functional linguistics THE POWER OF 'STEALTH WORDS': This approach theorises and structures the functions of language, regularly focusing attention on 'stealth words' such as I, but and was. Drawing on a rich body of literature in linguistics, psychology, the learning sciences and some early work in HPE, we demonstrate how functional linguistic tools can be applied to better understand learners' and instructors' beliefs, reasoning processes, values and emotions. Functional linguistics and reflection AN APPLICATION OF STEALTH WORDS: A brief qualitative analysis of one tool - analysis of the generic use of 'you' to mean 'one' or 'anyone' - demonstrates how functional linguistics can offer insight into physicians' bids for credibility and alignment as they think aloud about their clinical reasoning. Functional linguistics and hpe FUTURE DIRECTIONS: Finally, we offer suggestions for how functional linguistic tools might address questions and gaps in four active research areas in HPE: reflection; emotion and reasoning; learning in simulated contexts, and self-regulated learning. Conclusions We argue that the words used by learners, instructors and practitioners in the health professions as they move through undergraduate and graduate training into practice can offer clues that will help researchers, instructors and colleagues to better support them.
A new method of analyzing extreme-value data

Note presenting a method for analyzing extreme-value data which may arise in a wide variety of applications. Discussion of the method is preceded by the necessary statistical theory which also furnishes a basis for evaluating the new method in relation to existing ones. Several appendices are also included for mathematical developments not included in the text.
Mind Perception in a Competitive Human-Robot Interaction Game:

Robotic agents are becoming increasingly pervasive in society, and have already begun advancing fields such as healthcare, education, and industry. However, despite their potential to do good for s...
We have to leverage those relationships: how Black women business owners respond to limited social capital

Past research has examined how certain amounts of social capital impact business owners. Access to diverse social networks, social support, and resources make running a viable business easier for s...
Can Human Rights Protect Surrogate Women in the Cross-Border Market ?

This chapter focuses on the legal and ethical aspects of the phenomenon of cross-border surrogacy transactions between intended parents from affluent countries and surrogate mothers from lower-middle-income countries, in light of human rights and especially women’s rights. I will argue that surrogacy transactions are a manifestation of autonomy and human rights. According to legal-economic perceptions, transactions for reproductive services are an expression of the surrogate’s autonomous decision regarding how to use her body and they can also be perceived as the exercise of both parties’ rights to freely decide when, if, and how to have children without interference from the State, according to their reproductive freedoms. Such economic transactions are based upon the principle of mutual benefit, according to which all parties have a mutual interest in the transaction because the transaction is an opportunity to improve their situation 1. Although the concept of access to the market is an expression of surrogates’ autonomy according to the liberal concept of human rights, once transactions cross borders to lower-middle-income countries, serious imbalances risk the desirability of such transactions for surrogate mothers. Surrogates autonomously enter transactions in which the terms are unfair ; their autonomy, health rights, and basic freedoms within the transaction are infringed; and there is a high concern of stigma and social exclusion. In this chapter I expose this paradox of cross-border surrogacy transactions as both expression of freedoms and human rights as well structural oppression for women in lower-middle-income countries and infringement of their rights. In this first Section of the chapter I will specify my topic, focuses, the most important demarcations, and my research approach. The second Section aims to outline the market as an expression of human rights. The third Section will point out general challenges of surrogacy markets according to the legal- economic approach, stressing the importance of context-sensitive analysis perspective. In the fourth Section I will focus on the position of surrogates in one of the main sights where cross-border surrogacy transactions are commonly carried out, namely India, focusing on the way these transactions are reportedly carried out there. I will analyse to what extent surrogates’ rights are protected in this market. Finally, in the fifth Section I will discuss whether women’s rights can fulfil the promise of improving the position of women who act as surrogate mothers while protecting their basic rights.
Make it green and useful: Reshaping puzzles for identity management in large-scale distributed systems

A vast number of large-scale distributed systems offer a lightweight process for creating new accounts, so that users can easily join them. Although convenient, such lightweight process fosters the spread of fake accounts (Sybil attack). Existing identity management schemes lack mechanisms to make identity creation easier for honest users and at the same time increasingly harder for an attacker. In this paper, we focus on identity lifecycle management as an (alternative) approach in order to augment the cost of possessing several identities, and thus reduce the volume of counterfeit ones. We build on adaptive puzzles and combine them with waiting time to introduce a green design for lightweight, long-term identity management; it minimally penalizes honest users (by assigning easier-to-solve puzzles to them), and reduces the energy consumption caused by puzzle-solving (by adopting passive wait to reduce their average complexity). We also take advantage of lessons learned from massive distributed computing to come up with a design that makes puzzle-processing useful. We evaluate our proposal via simulation and experimentation using PlanetLab. In summary, we show that an attacker must dedicate a large amount of resources to control a given fraction of identities. We also provide evidence that the overhead imposed to honest users is kept to a minimum.
Searle's speech act theory

Background John Searle's first major work, Speech Acts , appeared in 1969. By then, the tradition of language analysis within which it was framed had matured. Indeed, it was already in the second stage of development. The first stage was strongly influenced by the many accomplishments of science. By the end of the nineteenth century, the revolutionary notion of “natural selection” developed by Charles Darwin in his The Origins of the Species in 1859 and The Descent of Man in 1871 had taken hold. Soon after, in 1905, Albert Einstein presented his special theory of relativity to the world, followed by his general theory in 1916. About the same time, electrons and other subatomic particles were discovered, and Max Planck and Niels Bohr developed their versions of the atomic and quantum theories. Science was on the move. If the changes in science that Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Harvey and others had brought about in earlier centuries were revolutionary, the more recent changes toward the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth were equally revolutionary. The newer revolution differed from the older one in many ways. Science now was more mature. It had a history of success in many areas both on the theoretical as well as the practical level of engineering and medicine. Instruments of observation and measurement were more sophisticated than in the past. The newer science also had a broader base since psychology and the other social sciences had joined the family.