cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tumor-specific nano-entities for optical detection and hyperthermic treatment of breast cancer.

The ultimate goal of this study is to develop a tumor-specific multi-functional, nano-entity that can be used for both cancer detection and treatment. Low heat (42~45°C) hyperthermia is an effective cancer treatment method with little side effect. Magnetic nanoparticles, such as Fe3O4, can be heated by alternating electromagnetic (AEM) fields at well selected frequencies, without heating normal tissue. Nanogold particles (NGPs) are effective optical absorbers and also excellent fluorescent enhancers. Therefore, coating gold on Fe3O4 particles can enhance the optical contrast as well as keeping the particle property for hyperthermia. Indocyanine green (ICG), a FDA approved fluorophore, has a very low quantum yield, and its fluorescence can be enhanced by linking ICGto gold-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH), which has high affinity to breast cancer, can be used for tumor-specific targeting. Our study results showed: Fe3O4 particles at a size range of 10~30 nm can be heated well by an AEM field at a rate of 18°C/wt%-minute; the fluorescence of ICG was extensively enhanced by NGPs; LHRH-coated gold nanoparticles provided as much cancer specificity as LHRHalone. Combining these properties in one entity, i.e.,LHRH/ICGlinked, gold-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles, can be a tumor-specific nano-agent for optical detection and electro-magnetically induced hyperthermia for breast cancer.
Reflections on the Role of Cognitive Science in Biomedical Informatics

Decision making is an inherent part of everything that health professionals do, and accordingly it is not surprising that cognitive science has relevance throughout all of patient care, health promotion, and disease prevention. Even the procedural specialties that depend on manual dexterity or similar skills, such as surgery, intrinsically depend on making good decisions about which procedures to perform, when to undertake them, and how best to prepare patients for what will be required. Many tough decisions carry over to prevention and public health: how best to advise patients, how best to encourage healthy behaviors, and how best to react when surveillance suggests that new attacks on the health and safety of the population may exist.
Program Evaluation for Health and Human Service Programs: How to Tell the Right Story Successfully

Over 50,000 children in the United States alone are placed into residential treatment programs each year. The failure to properly address these issues can compound the problems, which can then result in costly and long-term treatment issues. At both a micro-level (involving the client and the client system) and macro-level (involving an entire healthcare system), program evaluation can help protect clients’ and families’ well-being, justify costs, and monitor effectiveness. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a general understanding of the rationale, purposes, and methods of program evaluation, with specific attention to the role of family therapy in residential treatment. The primary focus of program evaluation performance will center on the five areas of needs assessment, feasibility study, process evaluation, outcome evaluation, and cost–benefit analyses. Note that program evaluation is only as effective as its ability to follow several critical standards/guidelines in its process—utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy.
Big data analysis of cloud storage logs using spark

We use Apache Spark analytics to investigate the logs of an operational cloud object store service to understand how it is being used. This investigation involves going over very large amounts of historical data (PBs of records in some cases) collected over long periods of time retroactively. Existing tools, such as Elasticsearch-Logstash-Kibana (ELK), are mainly used for presenting short-term metrics and can-not perform advanced analytics such as machine learning. A possible solution is to save for long periods only certain aggregations or calculations produced from the raw log data, such as averages or histograms, however these must be decided in advance, and cannot be changed retroactively since the raw data has already been discarded. Spark allows us to gain insights going over historical data collected over long periods of time and to apply the historical models on online data in a simple and efficient way.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHILDREN DIAPHYSEAL FEMORAL FRACTURES.

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the personal, fracture, treatment and complication characteristics among patients with pediatric femoral shaft fractures attended at the pediatric orthopedic service of the Joana de Gusmao Children's Hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study on a population consisting of patients with femoral shaft fractures, aged between birth and 14 years and 11 months, who were divided into four age groups. Information was obtained from medical records and was transferred to a survey questionnaire to present personal, fracture, treatment and complication variables. Results: The study population consisted of 96 patients. Their mean age was 6.8 years. The cases were predominantly among males, comprising closed fractures on the right side, in the middle third with a single line. Regarding fracture etiology, traffic accidents predominated overall in the sample. Most of the patients (74 to 77.1%) presented femoral fractures as their only injury. Conservative treatment predominated in the group younger than six years of age, and surgical treatment in the group aged 6 to 14 years and 11 months. The complications observed until bone union were: discrepancy, infection and movement limitation. The mean time taken for consolidation was 9.6 ± 2.4 weeks, varying with age. Conclusion: The features of these fractures were similar to those described in the literature and the treatment used showed good results. The Joana de Gusmao Children's Hospital has used the treatment proposed in the literature for pediatric femoral shaft fractures.
MEMS enabled scalable fabrication of high performance lithium ion battery electrodes

This paper reports a fabrication scheme that utilizes MEMS techniques to manufacture high performance lithium ion battery electrodes. The technology enables precise control over all electrode dimensions while maintaining a high surface area geometry that leads to excellent capacity retention and power/energy density performance. Additionally, this scalable scaffold approach allows the same fabrication process to generate electrodes anywhere from 10−3–1 cm3 in volume, which gives rise to high total energy output. These scalable, high surface area 3-D constructs could also be applicable in pre-concentrators for chemical sensors as well as in high throughput microfluidic applications.
A Novel Adverse Event Associated with Olaparib Therapy in a Patient with Metastatic Breast Cancer

Olaparib was first FDA approved for use in women with advanced ovarian cancer and germline BRCA mutations. Based on the results of subsequent research, the use of this drug has been expanded to patients with metastatic breast cancer with germline BRCA mutation. With the use of a relatively new medication and a larger patient population eligible for therapy, monitoring for novel adverse events associated with therapy is important. This case represents a patient with metastatic breast cancer and germline BRCA2 mutation who developed erythema nodosum after initiation of therapy with olaparib capsules. Her characteristic rash appeared shortly after starting olaparib and recurred after restarting olaparib an additional two times. She was treated with short courses of prednisone therapy with or without holding olaparib with resolution of her rash. The patient was later restarted on olaparib capsules 200 mg twice daily, and she more recently has been maintained on olaparib tablets 300 mg twice daily. On both regimens, the patient experienced only attenuated episodes of erythema nodosum that have not required cessation of therapy or steroid therapy.
A Lagrangian Finite Generation Technique for Solving Linear-Quadratic Problems in Stochastic Programming

A new method is proposed for solving two-stage problems in linear and quadratic stochastic programming. Such problems are dualized, and the dual, althought itself of high dimension, is approximated by a sequence of quadratic programming subproblems whose dimensionality can be kept low. These subproblems correspond to maximizing the dual objective over the convex hull of finitely many dual feasible solutions. An optimizing sequence is produced for the primal problem that converges at a linear rate in the strongly quadratic case. An outer algorithm of augmented Lagrangian type can be used to introduce strongly quadratic terms, if desired.
Surgical Tissue Adhesives In Otolaryngology-Head And Neck Surgery

The primary surgical tissue adhesives used in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery include the cyanoacrylate derivatives and the fibrin tissue adhesives. The cyanoacrylate derivatives are effective for superficial skin closure. Use of this material below the level of the skin can result in acute and chronic inflammation and tissue necrosis. Fibrin tissue adhesives can be used for wound closure, tissue sealing, and hemostasis. Drawbacks noted with the fibrin tissue adhesives include method of preparation, relatively low binding strength, and variable resorption time. This article discusses the properties, methods of preparation, and clinical indications of the cyanoacrylate derivatives and fibrin tissue adhesives.
Changing Global Competitiveness: The Role of Infrastructure

As globalization progresses, the number of players in the world trade arena keeps on increasing (Stiglitz 2002). As the world gets flatter, the role these players play becomes more involved and more competitive. In this increasing competitive activity, perhaps one of the most forgotten or neglected factors is the infrastructure that these competitors possess. But it must be remembered and reiterated that infrastructures fuel economies and enable them to become prosperous (Urban Land Institute 2008). In fact, it is maintained that the countries that manage to invest quite heavily in their infrastructures have and will attain global leadership. However, those infrastructures also need to be sustained (Urban Land Institute 2008). Despite all the important functions that are attributed to infrastructures, they are quite neglected throughout the world.
AI Meets Decision Science: Emerging Synergies For Decision Support

In the 1970s, the field of medicine forced clinically-oriented AI researchers to develop ways to manage explicit statements of uncertainty in expert systems. Classical probability theory was considered, discussed, and even tried, but it tended to be abandoned because of four major limitations that were encountered in efforts to apply it formally: 1. Limitations due to the perceived need to assume conditional independence; 2. Major difficulties with the collection or assessment of conditional probabilities for use in these data-hungry approaches; 3. Cognitive complexity in dealing with large tables of conditional probabilities and their interrelationships; 4. Computational complexity that resulted if rigorous probabilistic approaches were attempted.
The Endocrine System and Pregnancy

Healthy endocrine function is vital for fertility, normal foetal growth and development, labour and delivery, and postnatal breast feeding. In disease states such as diabetes, attention must be given to preconception planning and management of concomitant issues through a pregnancy. Both hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia can be teratogenic, resulting in poor maternal and/or foetal outcomes.
Stochastic processes drive rapid genomic divergence during experimental range expansions

Range expansions are crucibles for rapid evolution, acting via both selective and neutral mechanisms. While selection on traits such as dispersal and fecundity may increase expansion speed, neutral...
Wheat streak mosaic virus alters the transcriptome of its vector, wheat curl mite (Aceria tosichella Keifer), to enhance mite development and population expansion.

Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV; genus Tritimovirus; family Potyviridae) is an economically important wheat virus that is transmitted by the wheat curl mite (WCM; Aceria tosichella Keifer) in a persistent manner. Virus–vector coevolution may potentially influence vector gene expression to prolong viral association and thus increase virus transmission efficiency and spread. To understand the transcriptomic responses of WCM to WSMV, RNA sequencing was performed to assemble and analyse transcriptomes of WSMV viruliferous and aviruliferous mites. Among 7291 de novo-assembled unigenes, 1020 were differentially expressed between viruliferous and aviruliferous WCMs using edgeR at a false discovery rate ≤0.05. Differentially expressed unigenes were enriched for 108 gene ontology terms, with the majority of the unigenes showing downregulation in viruliferous mites in comparison to only a few unigenes that were upregulated. Protein family and metabolic pathway enrichment analyses revealed that most downregulated unigenes encoded enzymes and proteins linked to stress response, immunity and development. Mechanistically, these predicted changes in mite physiology induced by viral association could be suggestive of pathways needed for promoting virus–vector interactions. Overall, our data suggest that transcriptional changes in viruliferous mites facilitate prolonged viral association and alter WCM development to expedite population expansion, both of which could enhance viral transmission.
Numerical and Experimental Investigation of a Laminated Aluminum Composite Structure

This study presents an integrated numerical and experimental investigation of a laminated aluminum composite structure. The laminated aluminum composite structure was created by attaching structural tape adhesive in between aluminum layers and curing it in an oven. Three point bending tests were conducted on samples with different span lengths and thicknesses and their effect on the flexural response was observed and discussed. Using realistic material fracture models, simulations were performed to capture the different failure modes that were observed experimentally (large plastic deformation, wrinkling, and delamination). Good agreement was observed between the simulations and experiments. The delamination mechanism in the simulations was also discussed in detail. The developed simulation methodology can be used as a robust tool to predict the performance of laminated aluminum composite structures with more complex geometries.
Material scaling and frequency-selective enhancement of near-field radiative heat transfer for lossy metals in two dimensions via inverse design

The super-Planckian features of radiative heat transfer in the near field are known to depend strongly on both material and geometric design properties. However, the relative importance and interplay of these two facets, and the degree to which they can be used to ultimately control energy flow, remains an open question. Recently derived bounds suggest that enhancements as large as ${|\ensuremath{\chi}|}^{4}{\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2}/\left[{\left(4\ensuremath{\pi}\right)}^{2}\text{Im}{\left[\ensuremath{\chi}\right]}^{2}{d}^{2}\right]$ are possible between extended structures (compared to blackbody), but geometries reaching this bound, or designs revealing the predicted material ($\ensuremath{\chi}$) scaling, are lacking. Here, exploiting inverse techniques, in combination with fast computational approaches enabled by the low-rank properties of elliptic operators for disjoint bodies, we investigate this relation between material and geometry on a wide variety of periodic gratings. Crucially, we find that the material proportionality given above does indeed emerge in realistic structures, at least within the range of explored values of $\ensuremath{\chi}$. In reaching this result, we also show that (in two dimensions) lossy metals such as tungsten, typically considered to be poor candidate materials for strongly enhancing heat transfer in the near infrared, can be structured to selectively realize flux rates that come within $50%$ of those exhibited by an ideal pair of resonant lossless metals for separations as small as $2%$ of a tunable design wavelength.
DC-DC Boost Converter Design with Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) used in RF- Energy Harvester

In order to supply a stable supply voltage in any system, it is important to design an adjustable load tracking mechanism in a RF energy harvester with variable input RF power. For this reason, design of a DC-DC converter with a maximum power point tracking mechanism for a RF energy harvester is presented in this paper. The maximum power point tracking mechanism is implemented using a sample and hold circuit in tracking loop. The overall design is done in a 130 nm standard CMOS process. This makes the design much smaller compared to other existing designs and suitable for wearable and implantable biomedical applications as well.
The Jackalope gas hydrate system in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract We present a new gas hydrate system, Jackalope, in the US Gulf of Mexico ~110 km from the Louisiana coast primarily in Mississippi Canyon (MC) Blocks 127 and 128. Jackalope is a relatively shallow prospect (~1650 m water depth) and is associated with a submarine channel-levee depositional system. Several kilometers below the seafloor, an extended sub-circular salt ridge rooted into the allochthonous salt canopy creates a system of faulted anticlinal folds. Accordingly, the distribution of bottom simulating reflections mapped at ~250–300 m below seafloor (mbsf) is structurally controlled, indicating that gas tends to accumulate above the hinge of the salt ridge in sand-dominated turbidites. The Jackalope system is not a single accumulation; it comprises two primary prospects (Saint Petersburg and Columbus) and several secondary prospects. The primary prospects are defined based on seismic data by peak-leading reflections and phase reversals at the base of the gas hydrate stability zone: a strong peak-leading amplitude above it changes to trough-leading amplitude below. We interpret strong peak-leading amplitudes as gas hydrate in sand-rich intervals, which is confirmed by resistivity and gamma ray logs at the margin of the Saint Petersburg prospect. Continuous gas-water contacts below the primary prospects characterize them as permeable three-component reservoirs comprising gas hydrate above gas, and gas above water. Both prospects are located at ~230–300 mbsf occupying a total area of ~5.9 km2. Low and high estimates of in place gas at standard pressure and temperature conditions in the primary prospects range between 1.5 and 10.6 BCM. These characteristics define Jackalope as a promising, cost- and time-efficient gas hydrate system for further drilling exploration. Moreover, Jackalope demonstrates there is potential for new discoveries in the US Gulf of Mexico in particular due to expanding public 3D seismic and well log datasets.
Effects of Depressive Disorders on Patients Undergoing Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Matched-Control Analysis.

Abstract Background Studies evaluating the effects of depressive disorders in patients undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are sparse. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether patients who have depressive disorders undergoing primary TKA have higher rates of (1) in-hospital lengths of stay (LOS), (2) readmission rates, (3) medical complications, (4) implant-related complications, and (5) costs of care. Methods Patients with depressive disorders undergoing primary TKA were identified and matched to controls in a 1:5 ratio by age, sex, and comorbidities. The query yielded 138,076 patients who had (n = 23,061) or did not have (n = 115,015) depressive disorders. Primary outcomes analyzed included in-hospital LOS, 90-day readmission rates, 90-day medical complications, 2-year implant-related complications, and costs of care. A P value less than .003 was considered statistically significant. Results Patients who have depressive disorders had significantly longer in-hospital LOS (6.2 days vs 3.1 days; P Conclusion After adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities, this study demonstrated that patients who have depressive disorders have increased rates of in-hospital LOS, readmissions, complications, and cost. The study is useful in allowing orthopedists to adequately educate patients of potential complications which may occur.
Physical and mental workload interactions in a sterile processing department

Abstract Work in healthcare facilities has been categorized as a high-risk job for developing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs). Little attention has been given to the Sterile Processing Department (SPD) employees who are exposed to both mentally and physically demanding conditions, factors that may impose an elevated risk in the development of WMSDs. Previous studies have shown that WMSDs can be a result of complex interactions between physical, psychosocial, biological, and individual characteristics. However, the evidence of specific associations is still inconclusive. The objective of this study was to determine if the perception of mental workload causes workers to adopt more risky body postures. The study was carried out in four phases: 1) identification of musculoskeletal disorders using customized Nordic questionnaires, 2) ergonomic assessment of SPD using REBA method, 3) mental workload assessment of SPD using NASA-TLX, and 4) interaction between physical (postural risk) and mental workload through the performance of a task at two different levels of workload conducted through a controlled experiment. The findings indicate that increases in REBA scores and NASA-TLX indices were associated with days and conditions with higher workloads. Results showed evidence that increments on mental workload are related to worsening postures, increasing the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. These results serve to raise awareness and warn employees about the need to pause and analyze the way they perform their duties under high levels of workload in an attempt to reduce WMSDs risk in healthcare sector employees.
Exercise Training Impacts Skeletal Muscle Clock Machinery in Prediabetes.

PURPOSE Disruption of the skeletal muscle molecular clock leads to metabolic disease, whereas exercise may be restorative, leading to improvements in metabolic health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 12-wk exercise intervention on skeletal muscle molecular clock machinery in adults with obesity and prediabetes, and determine whether these changes were related to exercise-induced improvements in metabolic health. METHODS Twenty-six adults (age, 66 ± 4.5 yr; body mass index (BMI), 34 ± 3.4 kg·m; fasting plasma glucose, 105 ± 15 mg·dL) participated in a 12-wk exercise intervention and were fully provided isoenergetic diets. Body composition (dual x-ray absorptiometry), abdominal adiposity (computed tomography scans), peripheral insulin sensitivity (euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp), exercise capacity (maximal oxygen consumption), and skeletal muscle molecular clock machinery (vastus lateralis biopsy) were assessed at baseline and after intervention. Gene and protein expression of skeletal muscle BMAL1, CLOCK, CRY1/2, and PER 1/2 were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively. RESULTS Body composition (BMI, dual x-ray absorptiometry, computed tomography), peripheral insulin sensitivity (glucose disposal rate), and exercise capacity (maximal oxygen consumption) all improved (P < 0.005) with exercise training. Skeletal muscle BMAL1 gene (fold change, 1.62 ± 1.01; P = 0.027) and PER2 protein expression (fold change, 1.35 ± 0.05; P = 0.02) increased, whereas CLOCK, CRY1/2, and PER1 were unchanged. The fold change in BMAL1 correlated with post-glucose disposal rate (r = 0.43, P = 0.044), BMI (r = -0.44, P = 0.042), and body weight changes (r = -0.44, P = 0.039) expressed as percent delta. CONCLUSIONS Exercise training impacts skeletal muscle molecular clock machinery in a clinically relevant cohort of adults with obesity and prediabetes. Skeletal muscle BMAL1 gene expression may improve insulin sensitivity. Future studies are needed to determine the physiological significance of exercise-induced alterations in skeletal muscle clock machinery.
Adipocyte lipolysis and lipid-derived metabolite signaling

Abstract White adipocytes store excess energy in the form of triglycerides. During energy replete conditions, these triglycerides are broken down by lipolysis leading to the release of free fatty acids and glycerol. The free fatty acids are either released into the circulation where they are taken up by peripheral tissues or they are further processed in the adipocyte. The focus of this chapter will be on the signaling associated with the free fatty acid release, lipid species produced from these fatty acids in the adipocyte, and how these lipids are mobilized in the circulation. We will also discuss the contrast between acute stimulation of lipolysis in conditions such as fasting compared to the chronic stimulation of basal lipolysis observed in obesity.
The Postcolonial State as Container: Lessons on Nation-Building and the Nation-State from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka provides a geopolitical lens to analyze theviolence (both overt and discursive) necessary for the formation of the postcolonial nation-state. Following Himadeep Muppidi’s concept of the z...
485 RAFT: A framework to support rapid and reproducible immuno-oncology analyses

Background Analysis reproducibility and transparency are pillars of robust and trustworthy scientific results. The dependability of these results is crucial in clinical settings where they may guide high-impact decisions affecting patient health. Independent reproduction of computational results has been problematic and can be a burden on the individuals attempting to reproduce the results. Reproduction complications may arise from: 1) insufficiently described parameters, 2) vague methods, or 3) secret scripts required to generate final outputs, among others. Here we introduce RAFT (Reproducible Analyses Framework and Tools), a framework for immuno-oncology biomarker development built with Python 3 and Nextflow DSL2 which aims to enable end-to-end reproducibility of entire computational analyses in multiple contexts (e.g. local, compute cluster, or cloud) with minimal overhead through a focus on usability (figures 1 and 2). Methods RAFT builds upon Nextflow’s DSL2 module-based approach to workflows by providing a ‘project’ context upon which users can add metadata, load references, and build up their analysis step-by-step. RAFT also has pre-built modules with workflows commonly utilized in immuno-oncology analyses (e.g. TCR/BCR repertoire reconstruction and HLA typing) and aids users through automatic module dependency resolution. Transparency is gained by having a single end-to-end script containing all steps and parameters as well as a single configuration file. Finally, RAFT allows users to create and share a package of project metadata files including the main script, all input and output checksums, all modules, and the RAFT steps required to create the analysis. This package, coupled with any required inputs files, can be used to recreate the analysis or further expand an analysis with additional datasets or alternative parameters. Results RAFT has been used by our computational team to create an immuno-oncology meta-analysis submitted to SITC 2020. A simple, proof-of-concept analysis has been used to establish RAFT’s ability to support reproducibility by running locally on laptop computers, on multiple research compute clusters, and on the Google Cloud Platform. Conclusions The RAFT platform shows promising capabilities to support rapid and reproducible research within the field of immuno-oncology. Several features remain in development and testing, such as incorporation of additional immunogenomics feature modules such as variant/fusion detection and HLA/peptide binding affinity estimation. Other functionality in development will enable collaborators to use remote Git repository hosting (e.g. GitHub or GitLab) to jointly and iteratively modify an analysis.
Eternal discrete time crystal beating the Heisenberg limit

This work shows that an all-to-all interaction delivers a discrete time crystal that is robust against spatially inhomogeneous perturbations.
Comprehensive and Collaborative Pharmacist Transitions of Care Service for Underserved Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Background Mortality risk from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increases significantly in the first year after a 30-day hospital readmission. Objective To evaluate a comprehensive and collaborative pharmacist transitions of care service for patients hospitalized with COPD compared to usual care. Methods In this within-site, retrospective study, discharge counseling, medication reconciliation, medication access assistance, therapy changes, and post-discharge long-term follow-up were provided to underserved adult patients with a primary care provider at the study clinic and admitted to the affiliated hospital with a primary diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. Primary outcome was a 180-day composite of COPD-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits. Secondary outcomes were 30-, 60-, 90-, and 180-day events, costs, pharmacist interventions, time to follow-up, and pneumonia. Results Sixty-five patients were identified with a total of 101 index admissions. The mean age was 62.5 years, approximately 55.3% were female, and 67.7% were black or African American. The primary composite was significantly lower in the pharmacist intervention group compared to usual care (mean difference 0.82, P=0.0364, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-1.60), driven by lower 30-day hospitalizations in the intervention group (mean difference 0.15, P=0.0099, 95% CI 0.04-0.27). Cost associated with COPD-related hospitalizations was significantly lower in the pharmacist intervention group compared to usual care ($173,808, P = 0.0330) as well as before intervention ($79,662, P=0.0233). There was no significant difference in time to follow-up or pneumonia. Conclusions A comprehensive, collaborative pharmacist transitions of care service significantly reduced 30-day COPD-related hospital readmissions, ED re-visits, and associated costs in an underserved population.
Media Discourse on Aging Water Infrastructure

Water infrastructure in the United States is aging. Budgetary constraints of federal, state and local governments have resulted in the delay or deferral of critically needed investments. Infrastructure failures such as water main breaks are a daily occurrence in many cities across the U.S. Recent observations at the state and national level indicate that public opinion is asserting itself on public investment decision-making by elected leaders. We conducted a content analysis of print media articles during the period 1999-2012 on water main breaks (WMB), and water and sewer rate increases (WSR). Approximately 500 articles on each topic drawn from the LexisNexis news database were randomly selected for the analysis. Our analysis found that media coverage of water infrastructure is an episodic affair with little attention to ongoing issues. WSR articles contained more details and a focus on governance, while WMB articles addressed business concerns and were concentrated in older cities.
Distributed nearest-neighbor Gaussian processes

While many statistical approaches have tackled the problem of large spatial datasets, the issues arising from costly data movement and data storage have long been set aside. Having easy access to t...
Detection of bovine inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α with a multiplex electrochemiluminescent assay platform.

Commercially available bovine-specific assays are limited in number, and multiplex assays for this species are rare. Our objective was to develop a multiplex assay for the bovine inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α using the Meso Scale Discovery U-PLEX platform. "Do-It-Yourself" ELISA kits that contained polyclonal antibodies, both unlabeled and biotinylated, and the specific recombinant bovine cytokine standard, were purchased for each of these three cytokines. The biotinylated antibodies were coupled to linkers that bind to specific locations within each well of the U-PLEX plate. Unique linkers were used for each of the cytokines. The unlabeled antibodies were conjugated with electrochemiluminescent labels to serve as detection antibodies. Each cytokine assay was optimized individually prior to performing an optimization on the multiplex assay containing reagents for all three cytokines. To calculate cytokine concentrations, standard curves were developed using the recombinant cytokines and were run concurrently on each plate. Standard curves for IL-1β and TNF-α were run at concentrations ranging from 0 to 50,000 pg/mL, and for IL-6 from 0 to 10,000 pg/mL. The average lowest level of detection concentration measured by the standard curves were 5.3 pg/mL, 0.92 pg/mL, and 22.34 pg/mL for IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α respectively, as determined by data from seven plates containing bovine plasma samples from a combination of healthy and diseased cattle. The U-PLEX platform was a viable means to develop custom analyte- and species-specific multiplex assays using privately developed or purchased sets of commercially available reagents.
High-speed short cavity strained-layer multiple quantum well lasers

The high-speed response and optical properties of strained-layer In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As four and five quantum-well ridge waveguide lasers fabricated by chemically-assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) are presented. The threshold current variation with cavity length is very similar for the two-layer designs, but the differential gain decreases more quickly with optical loss in the four quantum-well devices. Consequently, whereas the 200-400 mu m cavity length lasers from the four quantum-well wafer are superior to those from the five quantum-well layer in terms of high speed performance, the 50- and 100- mu m long devices are nearly identical. A CW 3-dB bandwidth of 22 GHz and a record 3-dB bandwidth of 26 GHz under pulsed bias have been measured on 50 mu m long lasers. 100- mu m cavity length lasers exhibit excellent modulation efficiency with a typical 3-dB bandwidth of 20 GHz. >
Guava leaf volatiles and dimethyl disulphide inhibit response of Diaphorina citri Kuwayama to host plant volatiles

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, vectors the causal pathogen of huanglongbing (HLB), which is likely the most important disease affecting worldwide citrus production. Interplanting citrus with guava, Psidium guajava L., was reported to reduce D. citri populations and incidence of HLB. We describe a series of investigations on the response of D. citri to citrus volatiles with and without guava leaf volatiles and to synthetic dimethyl disulphide (DMDS), in laboratory olfactometers and in the field. Volatiles from guava leaves significantly inhibited attraction of D. citri to normally attractive host-plant (citrus) volatiles. A similar level of inhibition was recorded when synthetic DMDS was co-released with volatiles from citrus leaves. In addition, the volatile mixture emanating from a combination of intact citrus and intact guava leaves induced a knock-down effect on adult D. citri. Compounds similar to DMDS including dipropyl disulphide, ethyl-1-propyl disulphide, and diethyl disulphide did not affect the behavioural response of D. citri to attractive citrus host plant volatiles. Head-space volatile analyses were conducted to compare sulphur volatile profiles of citrus and guava, used in our behavioural assays, with a gas chromatography-pulsed flame photometric detector. DMDS, produced by wounded guava in our olfactometer assays, was not produced by similarly wounded citrus. The airborne concentration of DMDS that induced the behavioural effect in the 4-choice olfactometer was 107 pg/ml. In a small plot field experiment, populations of D. citri were significantly reduced by deployment of synthetic DMDS from polyethylene vials compared with untreated control plots. Our results verify that guava leaf volatiles inhibit the response of D. citri to citrus host plant volatiles and suggest that the induced compound, DMDS, may be partially responsible for this effect. Also, we show that field deployment of DMDS reduces densities of D. citri and thus may have potential as a novel control strategy.
An energy efficient flooding protocol for enhanced security in Wireless Sensor Networks

There have been a plethora of researches focusing on providing privacy for the base station in Wireless Sensor Networks. One of the proposed solutions is to use dummy data sources, where dummy traffic is introduced to obfuscate the real traffic. This makes the adversary no longer able to see difference between real and fake traffic. In this solution, every node becomes a dummy data source and sends dummy packets to neighbor nodes, which create dummy traffic and hide the real packet from adversary. This technique uses flooding method for routing. Every node sends the received packet to all its neighbor nodes except the one which initiated the process. However, this technique has several disadvantages, most important, large bandwidth and energy consumption. In this paper, we propose a novel protocol which uses dummy data sources with variable packet size to provide security and conserve energy in WSN.
Optically-trapped Fermi gas

Summary form only given. Cold, dense gases of fermions offer exciting new opportunities for fundamental studies of quantum degeneracy, collective behavior, and superfluidity. Fermionic /sup 6/Li has been the subject of numerous theoretical treatments. This is due in part to its anomalously large and negative triplet scattering length, a/sub T/=-2160 a/sub O/, which arises from a near zero energy resonance. The large scattering length leads to two-state mixtures which are predicted to undergo a transition to a superfluid state at a relatively high temperature. To increase our well depth, we retroreflect the CO/sub 2/ beam which forms our optical trap, nearly doubling the intensity of the trapping field and thus the well depth. We will discuss this technique and its effect on evaporative cooling, and report our progress towards producing a degenerate gas of /sup 6/Li.
Optogalvanic Spectroscopy in Recombination-Limited Plasmas with Color Center Lasers

Strong infrared optogalvanic signals have been observed in the region from 3600–4100 cm−1 for H, He, Li, Ne, and Ar excited in hollow cathode discharges as a result of transitions induced among low Rydberg states of the atoms by a cw F-center laser. On the order of fifty transitions have been assigned in both neon and argon, eleven in helium, and one each in lithium and hydrogen. Studies of the quenching of helium and neon optogalvanic signals by the addition of hydrogen, deuterium and nitrogen to the inert gas plasmas indicate that a quasi-resonant process is occurring for the quenching of helium n = 4 → 6 transitions by H2. The high signal-to-noise ratios observed for many of these transitions with only a few milliwatts of laser power illustrates the potential of this technique for studying excited states of atoms and molecules in plasma environments and suggests the use of atomic Rydberg optogalvanic spectra for frequency calibration in the infrared.
Evaluation of Male Sexual Dysfunction

The management of male sexual dysfunction and specifically erectile dysfunction (ED) has seen major changes in each decade since the 1970s thanks to the discovery that a papaverine injection could produce erection, the NIH Consensus Statement which defined ED in 1992, advances in minimally invasive diagnostics, and the development of orally effective erectogenic class of drugs, the phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitors (PDE-5 Inhs). As a result the health care professionals most frequently consulted have also changed from the psychologists to the urologists and now to the primary care clinicians (PCC), who are the most frequent prescribers of the PDE-5 Inhs. The evaluation and management of male sexual dysfunctions may come under the purview of many different providers besides PCCs including cardiology, urology, endocrinology, psychiatry, psychology, and neurology and allied health care professionals. Unfortunately, many providers are reluctant to ask patients about sexual health. Identification of sexual dysfunctions has been hampered by traditional and difficult to overcome barriers: embarrassment, lack of expertise in sexual history taking, concerns about the safety of ED treatments, and lack of time. Studies have documented both patient and physician misconceptions [1].
Design of Sequence-Specific DNA Binding Molecules for DNA Methyltransferase Inhibition

The CpG dyad, an important genomic feature in DNA methylation and transcriptional regulation, is an attractive target for small molecules. To assess the utility of minor groove binding oligomers for CpG recognition, we screened a small library of hairpin pyrrole-imidazole polyamides targeting the sequence 5′-CGCG-3′ and assessed their sequence specificity using an unbiased next-generation sequencing assay. Our findings indicate that hairpin polyamide of sequence PyImβIm-γ-PyImβIm (1), previously identified as a high affinity 5′-CGCG-3′ binder, favors 5′-GCGC-3′ in an unanticipated reverse binding orientation. Replacement of one β alanine with Py to afford PyImPyIm-γ-PyImβIm (3) restores the preference for 5′-CGCG-3′ binding in a forward orientation. The minor groove binding hairpin 3 inhibits DNA methyltransferase activity in the major groove at its target site more effectively than 1, providing a molecular basis for design of sequence-specific antagonists of CpG methylation.
Ordering by auto-expansions

In this paper, we prove a theorem about the auto-expansions of real numbers. This theorem was first stated by Derrida et al. (Ann. Inst. H. Poincare29 (1978), 305), but their proof is not complete. The auto-expansion theory is useful in proving the internal similarity of the MSS sequences of periodic orbits of mappings Of the interval to itself.
Batching to minimize flow times on parallel heterogeneous machines

Traditional scheduling models have emphasized sequencing of tasks at machines. At multiple-machine work-centers mean flow times are affected by the allocation of work to machines, as well as the batch-sizes used for processing. An efficient algorithm for computing the optimal solution for the single product case is given. An approximate closed-form solution is available that could be used as a heuristic loading-rule in a dynamic environment. For the special case of equal setup times at machines, the optimal solution is given in closed form. Further, it is demonstrated that the optimal flow time for the work center depends only on the total processing rate at that center.
Diffusion behavior of tungsten clusters on the tungsten (110) planes

Abstract Diffusion of tungsten diatomic clusters on the W (110) exhibits comparable prefactor (1.6×10-4 cm2/sec) as single W atoms, but with slightly higher activation energy. Clusters with three atoms are unstable with respect to diffusion.
Shunt-related abdominal metastases in a child with choroid plexus carcinoma: case report.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Metastasis of primary brain neoplasms to the abdomen through a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) has been described for many types of tumors, including medulloblastoma, germ cell tumors, astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, lymphoma, ependymoma, and melanoma. Choroid plexus tumors (CPTs) are located within the cerebrospinal fluid-containing spaces of the brain and frequently disseminate throughout the craniospinal subarachnoid space, yet VPS-related metastasis of a CPT to the abdomen has not been reported previously. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: We present the case of a 3-year-old boy with choroid plexus carcinoma of the lateral ventricle and preoperative intraventricular dissemination of the tumor. The patient later developed VPS-related abdominal metastases causing abdominal ascites. INTERVENTION: Surgical resection of the tumor was followed by chemotherapy and craniospinal radiation, but the tumor further disseminated throughout the craniospinal subarachnoid space. When the child presented with abdominal ascites, the distal VPS catheter was externalized and drained cerebrospinal fluid at a rate of more than 750 ml/d. Paracentesis was performed for persistent ascites, and cytological analysis of the fluid revealed metastatic tumor cells. CONCLUSION: The child died from widely metastatic tumor and aspiration pneumonia. CPT metastasis to the abdomen through a VPS should be considered in patients with the appropriate clinical findings. This condition may exacerbate overproduction of cerebrospinal fluid, which can occur with CPTs, and treatment must be individualized. Unusual options may be considered, such as long-term shunt externalization or paracentesis.
Hydromagnetic flow and heat transfer over a continuous, moving, porous, flat surface

Exact solutions for hydromagnetic boundary-layer flow and heat transfer over a continuous, moving, flat surface with uniform suction and internal heat generation/absorption are obtained. Flow of this type represents a new class of boundary-layer problems, with solutions substantially different from those for boundary-layer flow on a flat surface of finite length. These solutions are even exact solutions of the complete Navier-Stokes equations and the energy equation.
Holmium:YAG laser lithotripsy for the management of urolithiasis in small ruminants and pot-bellied pigs

Obstructive urolithiasis is a common problem in small ruminants and pot-bellied pigs. The most common site of urinary tract obstruction in these species is the urethra. Surgical procedures developed to relieve obstructions, in our experience have been effective in approximately 75% of cases. Urethral stricture is a common complication if the mucosa of the urethra is disrupted. The objective of this project was to evaluate endoscopy guided laser lithotripsy as a therapeutic modality to relieve urethral obstructions in small ruminants and pot-bellied pigs. The study population consisted of patients presented to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California Davis with obstructive urolithiasis. Lithotripsy was performed using a Holmium:YAG laser via a 200-micron low water quartz fiber passed through a flexible mini-endoscope. Two types of urinary calculi were managed with this technique, calcium carbonate and calcium hydroxyphosphate. Laser lithotripsy was effective at relieving obstructions caused by both types of calculi when conventional methods had failed. Laser lithotripsy performed via urethral endoscopy is a safe and effective therapeutic modality for management of obstructive urolithiasis in small ruminants and pot-bellied pigs and reduces the risk of post procedural urethral stricture.
Knowledge and power, body and self : An analysis of knowledge systems and the transgendered self

Symbolic interactionists have widely established the tenet that the self is formed in interaction with others. Despite this great contribution, this perspective has tended to sidestep discussions o...