cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Supramolecular chemistry on water-soluble carbon nanotubes for drug loading and delivery.

We show that large surface areas exist for supramolecular chemistry on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) prefunctionalized noncovalently or covalently by common surfactant or acid-oxidation routes. Water-soluble SWNTs with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) functionalization via these routes allow for surprisingly high degrees of π-stacking of aromatic molecules, including a cancer drug (doxorubicin) with ultrahigh loading capacity, a widely used fluorescence molecule (fluorescein), and combinations of molecules. Binding of molecules to nanotubes and their release can be controlled by varying the pH. The strength of π-stacking of aromatic molecules is dependent on nanotube diameter, leading to a method for controlling the release rate of molecules from SWNTs by using nanotube materials with suitable diameter. This work introduces the concept of “functionalization partitioning” of SWNTs, i.e., imparting multiple chemical species, such as PEG, drugs, and fluorescent tags, with different functionalities onto t...
Snow-plow route planning using AI search

Snow plowing comprises a major portion of the total municipal budget in many communities. In these times of severe budget stress, it is vital to find ways to perform this essential service in an efficient manner. Optimizing the routes travelled by plows is one way to reduce costs. This problem, however, can be shown to be an NP-Hard problem at its core, with several additional complications. In this paper, we demonstrate how this problem can be formulated as a state-space search problem, and how one can employ AI techniques such as A-Star (A*) search to compute optimal or close-to-optimal routes. Specifically, we have developed A*-SnowPlowRouter (A*SPR), a Java software application that uses a “roads data set” of a town and generates efficient route plans. This data set is generally obtained from the municipal Geographical Information System (GIS). Our procedure transforms this data into a directed graph representation, augmented with road priority data. We then employ the A* technique to generate routes which minimize travel distance, avoid U-Turns, and reach higher-priority roads before lower-priority roads. The route plans computed by A*SPR are then exported into a format that can be displayed on the GIS. We have experimented with road networks in several local municipalities, and obtained routes that are significantly better than the ones currently used.
Colorado's Cyber Charter Schools: The Challenges of Regulation in a Virtual Space

Cyber charter schools have proved difficult for states nationwide to regulate, and Colorado has not been immune to this difficulty. The unique issues associated with regulating cyberspace are particularly challenging in the field of education, in large part due to its long-established real-space norms. Colorado’s legislative efforts to remedy its cyber charters’ poor performance have not shown a distinction between the ways in which regular and cyber schools are regulated, which has contributed to stagnant and, in some cases, even declining academic performance by those schools. There are other states, notably Pennsylvania, whose legislation has been more successful in creating new regulatory norms for cyber charters, which has produced far better results in those schools. Colorado’s current efforts to create a new regulatory regime for its cyber charter schools are promising, and this progress would be furthered by learning from the successes of other states in the field of online education. Cyber charter schools in Colorado are performing poorly due to their lack of cyberschool-specific regulatory standards, and this could be remedied by 1) implementing more pre-authorization regulations and 2) facilitating a support role by cyber charters’ authorizers by lessening post-authorization regulatory requirements.
Natural history of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with interstitial deletions of chromosome 5q detected on G-banded karyotyping

7077 Background: MDS includes a heterogenous group of hematopoietic stem cell malignancies characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis and recurring clonal cytogenetic abnormalities with poorly unde...
Can Trust, Reciprocity and Friendships Survive Contact with the Market?

The market is a tool. It is a social machine that links prospective buyers with prospective sellers. It is a social arena where prospective buyers compete with one another to secure the goods and services that they desire, and where prospective sellers compete with each other to attract customers for their wares. If a buyer and a seller agree on the terms of the trade (including the price), the buyer gives the seller something of value (for example, money or a money equivalent) in exchange for the good or service that the seller is offering. Buyers succeed in the market when they secure the goods and services that they want at the price that they are willing to pay (when the services that they want at the price that they are willing to pay (when the utility they gain from the good is greater than the utility from what they must give up to purchase the good). Sellers succeed in the market when the selling price is greater than the cost (when they earn a profit).
Estimation of individual cumulative ultraviolet exposure using a geographically-adjusted, openly-accessible tool

Estimates of an individual’s cumulative ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure can be useful since ultraviolet radiation exposure increases skin cancer risk, but a comprehensive tool that is practical for use in the clinic does not currently exist. The objective of this study is to develop a geographically-adjusted tool to systematically estimate an individual’s self-reported cumulative UV radiation exposure, investigate the association of these estimates with skin cancer diagnosis, and assess test reliability. A 12-item online questionnaire from validated survey items for UV exposure and skin cancer was administered to online volunteers across the United States and results cross-referenced with UV radiation indices. Cumulative UV exposure scores (CUES) were calculated and correlated with personal history of skin cancer in a case–control design. Reliability was assessed in a separate convenience sample. 1,118 responses were included in the overall sample; the mean age of respondents was 46 (standard deviation 15, range 18 – 81) and 150 (13 %) reported a history of skin cancer. In bivariate analysis of 1:2 age-matched cases (n = 149) and controls (n = 298), skin cancer cases were associated with (1) greater CUES prior to first skin cancer diagnosis than controls without skin cancer history (242,074 vs. 205,379, p = 0.003) and (2) less engagement in UV protective behaviors (p < 0.01). In a multivariate analysis of age-matched data, individuals with CUES in the lowest quartile were less likely to develop skin cancer compared to those in the highest quartile. In reliability testing among 19 volunteers, the 2-week intra-class correlation coefficient for CUES was 0.94. We have provided the programming code for this tool as well as the tool itself via open access. CUES is a useable and comprehensive tool to better estimate lifetime ultraviolet exposure, so that individuals with higher levels of exposure may be identified for counseling on photo-protective measures.
Effective Task Training Strategies for Instructional Robots

From teaching in labs to training for assembly, a key role that robots are expected to play is to instruct their users in completing physical tasks. While task instruction requires a wide range of capabilities, such as effective use of verbal and nonverbal language, a fundamental requirement for an instructional robot is to provide its students with task instructions in a way that maximizes their understanding of and performance in the task. In this paper, we present an autonomous instructional robot system and investigate how different instructional strategies affect user performance and experience. We collected data on human instructor-trainee interactions in a pipe-assembly task. Our analysis identified two key instructional strategies: (1) grouping instructions together and (2) summarizing the outcome of subsequent instructions. We implemented these strategies into a humanlike robot that autonomously instructed its users in the same pipe-assembly task. To achieve autonomous instruction, we also developed a repair mechanism that enabled the robot to correct mistakes and misunderstandings. An evaluation of the instructional strategies in a human-robot interaction study showed that employing the grouping strategy resulted in faster task completion and increased rapport with the robot, although it also increased the number of task breakdowns. Our model of instructional strategies and study findings offer strong implications for the design of instructional robots.
Vacuum-assisted Closure of a Vesicocutaneous Fistula in a Pediatric Patient After Bladder Cystoplasty

A vesicocutaneous fistula is an abnormal communication from the bladder to the skin (Pritts et al, 2001). Recently, wound vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) has been used to facilitate fistula closure. There are no reports of using VAC to help fistula closure in the pediatric population. We present a case of an adolescent patient who develops a vesicocutaneous fistula after bladder augment cystoplasty and was treated with VAC only.
Quantifying the Cost of Disability Transitions in Medicare

Objective: To investigate the impact of disability transitions on annual Medicare Part A and B cost. Method: We analyzed 6,385 community-dwelling beneficiaries who were continuously enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare Part A and B from 2008 to 2009. We estimated adjusted effects of disability transitions on Medicare cost using a generalized linear model. Results: Transitions to more severe disability states were associated with significantly higher average annual Medicare cost ranging from US$2,639 to US$5,405. Lower spending levels were observed for beneficiaries with improvements in functioning. Beneficiaries who transitioned from severe to moderate activities of daily living (ADLs) disability cost significantly less (−US$6,045) than those who remained severely disabled. Discussion: Interventions aimed at preventing disability progression and efforts to restore functional capacity are promising strategies for containing costs and generating savings for Medicare. Future research is needed to assess the ...
Ca(2+)-dependent Cl- channels in undifferentiated human colonic cells (HT-29). I. Single-channel properties

The patch-clamp technique was combined with camera-based intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) imaging to identify the single-channel basis of the Ca(2+)-dependent Cl- conductance in human col...
Removing TCP congestion control on the last hop in split TCP environments

The poor performance of TCP in wireless networks is a well-known problem, and a large amount of research effort has been devoted to it. However, our own experiments show that existing solutions including split TCP and recently developed congestion control algorithms still suffer significant performance degradation in lossy environments, leaving considerable room for improvement. Rather than developing a more sophisticated congestion control algorithm, we explore a radically different approach: we instead propose to completely remove congestion control between the Wi-Fi access points and the wireless receivers. We introduce TCP Fixed, a TCP used in split TCP environments that eliminates congestion control for the last lossy hop, allowing TCP to send data as fast as the channel allows. Extensive evaluations in both lab and real-world settings demonstrate that our approach significantly improves TCP performance in the presence of packet losses. In addition, our results indicate that existing 802.11 rate adaptation schemes which strive to minimize frame loss unnecessarily decrease the data rate in the presence of TCP Fixed. These results offer new opportunities for future link-layer rate adaptation designs.
Urodynamic Manifestations of Cerebellar Ataxia

AbstractThe urodynamic findings in 15 patients with voiding dysfunction associated with various forms of the ataxia syndrome were reviewed. Urodynamic studies helped segregate the patients into 3 groups: group 1—detrusor hyperreflexia, group 2—normal bladder contractility and group 3—acontractile bladder. Pelvic floor electromyography demonstrated either coordinated or uncoordinated vesico-sphincteric function. Although the neurologic findings associated with the ataxia syndrome have been studied extensively the urodynamic findings have not yet been recorded. We emphasize the importance of urodynamic evaluation in the treatment of patients with ataxia and voiding dysfunction.
Legal and Ethical Issues

Legal issues permeate a clinician’s contact with every patient, whether the clinician directly attends to the patient or not. Legal matters are of particular concern when clinicians evaluate and treat aggressive and destructive patients.
A Flexible Real-Time Ridesharing System Considering Current Road Conditions

Recently, ridesharing applications, such as Uber, have gained popularity by helping riders to save money. However, current real-time ridesharing systems with time-window constraints have not yet considered the impact of real-time road conditions. In this work, we propose transferring algorithms and incentive models to enhance the flexibility of an existing large scale real-time ridesharing system. Transferring algorithms aim to transfer those users who experienced delay to other vehicles by using a pair wise bounding-box pruning technique. The incentive models avoid the use of transferring but instead compensate affected passengers with credits to maintain their satisfaction level in a different way. Extensive experiments were conducted using a real road network. Results show that our proposed algorithms and models are able to boost users' satisfaction level up to 90% under the influence of real-time road conditions.
Host food resource supplementation increases echinostome infection in larval anurans

Host-parasite interactions are often influenced by environmental factors through multiple mechanisms. For example, changes in host food resources may affect multiple host traits (e.g., body size, behavior, immunocompetence), which may increase or decrease infection levels and the impact of parasites on host fitness. We often lack an understanding of which traits are most important for parasite transmission and fitness effects, posing challenges to predicting consequences of changing environmental conditions (e.g., eutrophication). Here, I examined the effects of food resources and host traits experimentally in a larval frog (Rana clamitans Latreille, 1801)—trematode parasite (Echinostoma revolutum Looss, 1899) system. I hypothesized that higher food resources reduce parasite infection and parasite effects on host growth and survival, due to increased host investment in parasite defenses, which I tested in a laboratory experiment. Contrary to my hypothesis, the results indicated that increased food levels enhanced infection in hosts, while the effect of parasites on survival did not depend on host food resources. A potential explanation for the positive effect of food level on infection was size-dependent infection rates (i.e., higher food levels increased infection through increased host growth), which is supported by a positive relationship between host body size and infection. These findings emphasize the complex relationship between host food resources and parasitism and the importance of environmental context and host traits (i.e., body size) in mediating interactions with parasites. The results also have relevance for conservation in light of rising anthropogenic impacts on aquatic systems and recent amphibian declines.
NRF2-targeted therapeutics: New targets and modes of NRF2 regulation

Pharmacological activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-erythroid derived 2-like 2 (NRF2), the key regulator of the cellular antioxidant response, has been recognized as a feasible strategy to reduce oxidative/electrophilic stress and prevent carcinogenesis or other chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease. In contrast, due to the discovery of the "dark side" of NRF2, where prolonged activation of NRF2 causes tissue damage, cancer progression, or chemoresistance, efforts have been devoted to identify inhibitors. Currently, only one NRF2 activator has been approved for use in the clinic, while no specific NRF2 inhibitors have been discovered. Future development of NRF2-targeted therapeutics should be based on our current understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of this protein. In addition to the KEAP1-dependent mechanisms, the recent discovery of other pathways involved in the degradation of NRF2 have opened up new possibilities for the development of safe and specific therapeutics. Here, we review available and putative NRF2-targeted therapeutics and discuss their modes of action as well as their potential for disease prevention and treatment.
‘Subjective’ and ‘Objective’ in Social Anthropological Epistemology

Anthropology has often been accused, especially by social science disciplines which have modelled their epistemologies and methodologies on those of the physical sciences, 1 of being not only without rigor but especially of not being objective. Being subjective is, of course, bad.
Predicted and measured temperature compensated surface acoustic wave devices for high-temperature applications

Industrial monitoring and process control, power plants, aerospace industry, military equipment manufacturing, oil and gas industries are examples of businesses in need for high-temperature and harsh-environment electronic components and systems. In particular, resonators and filters that operate beyond the 125°C military range upper limit, normally dictated by silicon-based semiconductor devices, are required in applications which demand frequency control, clocking and sensors. In this Letter, temperature compensated surface acoustic wave orientations appropriate for the fabrication of resonators and filters >125°C have been identified through numerical calculations and experimentally confirmed on a commercially available langasite wafer, a piezoelectric crystal which operates at high temperatures. Resonator filters have been designed, fabricated and tested along two orientations, confirming the zero temperature sensitivities at 150 and 300°C. These devices are of great interest for modern harsh environment frequency control, timing and sensor applications.
Crossing the Ghanaian Border University & Public Schools Partnership

Eighteen New Mexico public school teachers, primarily from rural, ethnically diverse areas of New Mexico, participated in the Ghanaian Area Studies in Diversity Globalization: An Intercultural Perspective of Rural Ghanaian Villages as part of a Fulbright-Hays Group Abroad Program. This program was a partnership between Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU), College of Education and the teacher-participants and their school districts. The purpose of the partnership was to provide an expansion of international, cross-cultural area studies that would bring a global perspective to the 5th through 12th grade classrooms of New Mexico. A goal of the project was to internationalize the school curriculum for New Mexico classrooms with the introduction to Ghanaian culture and social science issues. Through curriculum materials that were developed as a result of this project, the New Mexico students are getting a perspective of what daily life is like in rural Ghana.
Psychogenic Stress Activates C-Fos in Nucleus Accumbens-Projecting Neurons of the Hippocampal Ventral Subiculum.

© The Author 2017. Background: The ventral subiculum is known to be activated by the presentation of novel stressors. It has been hypothesized that neuronal ensembles at the ventral aspect of the hippocampal formation are involved in context-dependent processing and can guide the learning of appropriate action selections in response to threatening contexts. Artificial activation of the ventral subiculum can excite medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens and can increase the excitability of mesolimbic dopamine neurons via a polysynaptic pathway through the basal ganglia. However, it remains unknown whether this circuit can be activated by aversive experience, and if so, whether ventral subiculum engages nucleus accumbens monosynaptically. Methods: To address this, the retrograde tracer fluorogold was used in rats to label neurons projecting to the caudomedial nucleus accumbens. One to 2 weeks later, the same rats were exposed to psychogenic stress (i.e., acute restraint in a novel test room) or served as nonhandled controls, followed by dual immunocytochemical localization of retrogradely transported tracer and nuclear Fos. Results: Compared with controls, rats exposed to psychogenic stress displayed more fluorogold-positive ventral subiculum neurons that were double-labeled for Fos. Conclusion: This study establishes that the direct pathway from ventral subiculum to the caudomedial nucleus accumbens is activated by stressful experience.
Main Clause Phenomena in Korean (vs. V2 in German)

Abstract The goal of this paper is to examine what kind of universals and parameters exist in Main Clause Phenomena (MCP), conducting a comparative study between Korean and German. First, we show that complements allowing MCP reveal a structural ambiguity between root or subordinating clauses, which implies that these cases of semi-Roots are only an optional operation in Korean. Second, we discuss the typology of MCP with respect to true Roots and semi-Roots in Korean. Third, we discuss three semantic properties of MCP in Korean: (i) non-presupposition is a prerequisite in triggering MCP, supporting earlier accounts; (ii) the (non-)presuppositional property reflected in complementizer selection precisely patterns with the (non-)factivity of matrix predicates; and (iii) various semantic–pragmatic sources for MCP such as illocutionary forces, expressive/emotional attitude, mirative evidentials, (anti)honorification, and mood choice in Korean are identified. Fourth, we show that Korean complements with MCP and German V2 constructions exhibit striking parallels in terms of distribution, which implies that MCP in these typologically unrelated languages can be captured by a single principle. Finally, we propose a unified account for the syntax of true Roots, semi-Roots, and non-Roots, building on Wurmbrand, 2012 , Wurmbrand, 2014 timing-of-Merge account. This dynamic syntax allows us to capture the crosslinguistic variation such as structural ambiguity of MCP constructions in Korean and the mismatches between syntactic and LF/PF properties in V2 in German. The current analysis has important consequences: First, this study has empirical confirmation that the types of MCP-trigger must be extended to comprise the newly identified cases in Korean. Second, the structural ambiguity for MCP constructions in Korean gives us the generalization that MCP operate on syntax, even though they are semantically or pragmatically motivated. Finally, the comparative analysis of genetically distant languages opens the possibility to provide a principled account of the MCP-activating force heads across languages, incorporating the empirical findings of prior research on individual factors such as emotional attitude, evidentiality, or mood.
Chapter 6 – Commercial Law

Several countries in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries implemented structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in the mid-1980s in support of their market-led development policies. Countries found that a hostile business environment, especially poor contract dispute resolution process could stifle the flow of foreign direct investments (FDI). In response several countries established Commercial Courts to facilitate the resolution of contract disputes. Courts have relied on Sale of Goods Acts that contain the general rules for resolving business commercial disputes. International conventions such as the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (the Vienna Convention) have also been applied in commercial dispute resolution. The Sale of Goods Act is applicable to merchants but to date there is no case law that considers farmers as merchants so there remains the question of the extent of applicability of the commercial rules to farmers in SSA countries.
Deep Learning-Guided Image Reconstruction from Incomplete Data

An approach to incorporate deep learning within an iterative image reconstruction framework to reconstruct images from severely incomplete measurement data is presented. Specifically, we utilize a convolutional neural network (CNN) as a quasi-projection operator within a least squares minimization procedure. The CNN is trained to encode high level information about the class of images being imaged; this information is utilized to mitigate artifacts in intermediate images produced by use of an iterative method. The structure of the method was inspired by the proximal gradient descent method, where the proximal operator is replaced by a deep CNN and the gradient descent step is generalized by use of a linear reconstruction operator. It is demonstrated that this approach improves image quality for several cases of limited-view image reconstruction and that using a CNN in an iterative method increases performance compared to conventional image reconstruction approaches. We test our method on several limited-view image reconstruction problems. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate state-of-the-art performance.
Postoperative Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Patients

The fastest growing segment of the population is individuals over the age of 65 years, resulting in an ever-growing need for surgical procedures in aging patients. Changes in mental function after surgery are common in geriatric patients. Here we review two similar, yet distinct clinical diagnoses of postoperative cognitive impairment, both of which are associated with significantly increased morbidity and mortality. Inattention and disorganized thinking in the setting of an acute change in consciousness are hallmarks of postoperative delirium (PD). Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a research construct characterized by decline in cognitive performance compared to a baseline exam. PD typically occurs in the first few days after surgery, while POCD is identified in the weeks to months after surgery. Pathophysiologic mechanisms for PD and POCD have significant overlap, and current research implicates general health status, altered neurotransmission, inflammation, oxidative stress, and disruption of the circadian clock. Awareness of certain perioperative factors, some of which are modifiable, is important for risk stratification and for optimization of care to minimize postoperative cognitive impairment. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative risk factors are discussed in detail. Health professionals caring for postsurgical patients should be trained to recognize and document signs and symptoms associated with delirium using one of the validated assessments presented. Several pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions are discussed for the treatment of postoperative cognitive impairment, along with a review of the current best practice guidelines from the American Geriatrics Society Expert Panel on Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults.
Stream Fish Community Dynamics—A Critical Synthesis

“Just read all of Bill and Edie's papers!”—wise words I received from my advisor upon entering graduate school at the University of Toronto. Very quickly I did exactly what I was told, and many (bu...
Artificial intelligence powers digital medicine.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently surpassed human performance in several domains, and there is great hope that in healthcare, AI may allow for better prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. While many fear that AI will disrupt jobs and the physician–patient relationship, we believe that AI can eliminate many repetitive tasks to clear the way for human-to-human bonding and the application of emotional intelligence and judgment. We review several recent studies of AI applications in healthcare that provide a view of a future where healthcare delivery is a more unified, human experience.
Dynamic Computational Models of Organizational Behavior Phenomena

Organizational behavioral (OB) phenomena includes complex processes related to motivation, decision making, leadership, group processes, and stress, to name a few (Weinhardt & Vancouver, 2012). Mor...
INTRODUCTION TO CLASSIFICATION AND SYSTEMATICS

Biological nomenclature forms a beautiful system. I doubt whether it is fully appreciated even by the average biologist, who is apt to be irritated by the trivial inconsistencies that turn up through daily use.
Studies of the irradiation protection effect of fetal liver in mice. II. Storage by freezing.

Various methods of freezing were evaluated for the preservation of the radiation protection effect in fetal mouse liver. The best results were obtained with tissue frozen slowly in glycerol to -80 deg C, stored at --50 deg C or lower, and thawed rapidly. Other variables such as the size of the tissue particles, the amount of serum in the freezing mixture, and the method of dilution did not influence the results. (auth)
Introduction to biomaterials for cancer therapeutics

Abstract: Treating cancer requires multiple levels of investigation. Anticancer agents need to be developed through in vitro testing, in vivo animal experiments, followed by clinical studies. Most anticancer drugs are highly hydrophobic and are formulated with excipient materials that increase the water solubility of the drugs, such as co-solvents, liposomes, lipids, polymer micelles, and hydrotropic agents. Anticancer drugs cause serious side effects, so there is a great need to deliver the majority of drug to target cancer cells or solid tumors more specifically. This requires development of formulations for targeted delivery. Delivery systems in nanosize, commonly-called nanovehicles, have been frequently used for this purpose. Nanovehicles are also used as an imaging agent for theranosis and as a photothermal agent for thermal ablation of cancer cells. Nanovehicles are engineered to be responsive to environmental changes in temperature or pH for efficient release of a drug at a target site. While nanovehicles have increased the proportion of the drug delivered to target tumors, the absolute amount of the drug delivered is still very small. New polymeric delivery systems may be necessary to achieve the goal of targeted drug delivery. The testing of the various drugs and delivery systems in vivo is difficult, thus it is highly desirable to develop in vitro model systems that can simulate in vivo conditions in humans with the highest fidelity. Proper use of existing biomaterials and development of new biomaterials are necessary to achieve these goals.
Knowledge and attitudes of permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia among health care providers.

142Background: Reports of permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA) are increasing in the field of oncodermatology, but there is a dearth of information regarding how it is recognized and mana...
Monobit Wideband Receiver with Integrated Dithering in FPGA

This work presents an innovative and very competitive approach to re-purpose FPGA digital high-speed transceivers to sample wideband analog signals while achieving excellent sampling quality. Such solution can achieve 16+GHz instantaneous bandwidth using existing technology in Stratix-V FPGA family
Borohydride-free catalytic reduction of organic pollutants by platinum nanoparticles supported on cellulose fibers

Abstract This study presents hydrogen gas-assisted reduction of organic pollutants viz. 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and methyl orange (MO) by platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) immobilized on cellulose fibers (CF). Because sodium borohydride (NaBH4) causes secondary pollution in water by its decomposition products, hydrogen (H2) gas was used as a clean, highly active, and alternative reducing agent. As the catalyst, PtNPs of about 2 nm in diameter were synthesized and supported on CF by employing a facile method. The nanocomposites (PtNPs@CF) demonstrated excellent catalytic activity and cyclic stability in the reduction of 4-NP and MO using H2 gas as the clean, environmentally friendly, highly reactive, and an alternative reducing agent to NaBH4. The catalytic reduction followed the pseudo-first-order reaction kinetic with apparent rate constants of 3.6 × 10−1 min−1 and 5.3✕10−1 min−1 for 4-NP and MO, respectively. The results of this study further indicate that the H2 gas (reducing agent) and PtNPs@CF nanocomposite (catalyst) can potentially be used for the reduction of a wide variety of other organic and inorganic compounds in water.
Public Sector Reform and the Quest for a Capable Public Service

The ANC views the bureaucracy as an indispensable tool for transforming society and redressing the harm caused by apartheid. This chapter begins by discussing major administrative reforms undertaken in South Africa since 1994 to create an integrated, capable, effective, representative, and accountable public service that responds to the needs and interests of all South Africans. The discussion then turns to ongoing administrative deficiencies and challenges facing the public service, many of which represent striking continuities from the apartheid era. The chapter ends with a discussion of the limits of administrative reform.
Compensation of ACE2 Function for Possible Clinical Management of 2019-nCoV-Induced Acute Lung Injury.

This perspective is intended to stimulate discussions about possible pathogenic mechanisms, based on the interaction of the virus with its receptor ACE2, so that rational therapies can be developed. Although ACE is regarded as the primary Ang II-converting enzyme, another enzyme, chymase, is also involved in converting Ang II in certain pathological conditions that may need attention (Fyhrquist and Saijonmaa 2008; Lindberg et al. 1997). In addition, coronavirus pathogenesis is a highly complex process (Lo et al. 2006), and much of the needed detail in host–pathogen interaction in 2019-nCoV infection awaits investigation. It also remains to be clinically tested whether some of these potential treatments, as proposed here, can be effective or beneficial in the management of 2019-nCoV-induced lung injury.
Hemolytic markers following the transfusion of uncrossmatched, cold-stored, low-titer, group O+ whole blood in civilian trauma patients.

BACKGROUND Low-titer group O whole blood (LTOWB) is increasingly being used in the civilian trauma setting, although there is a risk of hemolysis. This study evaluated the impact on hemolytic markers following the transfusion of 4 or more units of uncrossmatched LTOWB. METHODS Civilian adult trauma patients who received four or more units of leukoreduced group O+, low-titer (<50 anti-A and anti-B), platelet-replete uncrossmatched whole blood during their initial resuscitation and who survived for more than 24 hours after the transfusion were included in this retrospective study. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), total bilirubin, haptoglobin, potassium, and creatinine were evaluated on the day of LTOWB transfusion (Day 0) and the next 3 days. Blood product administration over the first 24 hours of admission was recorded. RESULTS There were 54 non-group O and 23 group O recipients of four or more LTOWB units. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) number of transfused LTOWB units was 4 (4-5) and 4 (4-4), respectively, the maximum number in both groups was eight. The non-group O patients received a median (IQR) volume of 1470 mL (1368-2052) of ABO-incompatible plasma. Comparing the non-group O to the group O recipients, there were no significant differences in the haptoglobin, LDH, total bilirubin, potassium, or creatinine concentrations at any of the time points. There were no reported transfusion reactions. CONCLUSION Receiving at least four LTOWB units was not associated with biochemical or clinical evidence of hemolysis.
On the Thermal Signature of the Residual Foam in Breaking Waves

Quantifying energy dissipation due to wave breaking remains an essential but elusive goal for studying and modeling air-sea fluxes of heat, gas, and momentum. Previous observations have shown that ...
Spatially Adaptive Regularization in Total Field Inversion for Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping.

Summary Adaptive Total Field Inversion is described for quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) reconstruction from total field data through a spatially adaptive suppression of shadow artifacts through spatially adaptive regularization. The regularization for shadow suppression consists of penalizing low-frequency components of susceptibility in regions of small susceptibility contrasts as estimated by R2∗ derived signal intensity. Compared with a conventional local field method and two previously proposed regularized total field inversion methods, improvements were demonstrated in phantoms and subjects without and with hemorrhages. This algorithm, named TFIR, demonstrates the lowest error in numerical and gadolinium phantom datasets. In COSMOS data, TFIR performs well in matching ground truth in high-susceptibility regions. For patient data, TFIR comes close to meeting the quality of the reference local field method and outperforms other total field techniques in both clinical scores and shadow reduction.
Managing the Rehabilitation Wave: Rehabilitation Services for COVID-19 Survivors.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a profound effect on the provision of medical care. As the curve progresses and patients are discharged, the rehabilitation wave brings a high number of postacute COVID-19 patients suffering from physical, mental, and cognitive impairments threatening their return to normal life. The complexity and severity of disease in patients recovering from severe COVID-19 infection require an approach that is implemented as early in the recovery phase as possible, in a concerted and systematic way. To address the rehabilitation wave, we describe a spectrum of interventions that start in the intensive care unit and continue through all the appropriate levels of care. This approach requires organized rehabilitation teams including physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, rehabilitation psychologists or neuropsychologists, and physiatrists collaborating with acute medical teams. Here, we also discuss administrative factors that influence the provision of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The services that can be provided are described in detail to allow the reader to understand what services may be appropriate locally. We have been learning and adapting real time during this crisis and hope that sharing our experience facilitates the work of others as the pandemic evolves. It is our goal to help reduce the potentially long-lasting challenges faced by COVID-19 survivors.
Drug-induced cardiomyopathy: Characterization of a rat model by [18F]FDG/PET and [99mTc]MIBI/SPECT

Background Drug-induced cardiomyopathy is a significant medical problem. Clinical diagnosis of myocardial injury is based on initial electrocardiogram, levels of circulating biomarkers, and perfusion imaging with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Positron emission tomography (PET) is an alternative imaging modality that provides better resolution and sensitivity than SPECT, improves diagnostic accuracy, and allows therapeutic monitoring. The objective of this study was to assess the detection of drug-induced cardiomyopathy by PET using 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and compare it with the conventional SPECT technique with [99mTc]-Sestamibi (MIBI). Methods Cardiomyopathy was induced in Sprague Dawley rats using high-dose isoproterenol. Nuclear [18F]FDG/PET and [99mTc]MIBI/SPECT were performed before and after isoproterenol administration. [18F]FDG (0.1 mCi, 200-400 µL) and [99mTc]MIBI (2 mCi, 200-600 µL) were administered via the tail vein and imaging was performed 1 hour postinjection. Isoproterenol-induced injury was confirmed by the plasma level of cardiac troponin and triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. Results Isoproterenol administration resulted in an increase in circulating cardiac troponin I and showed histologic damage in the myocardium. Visually, preisoproterenol and postisoproterenol images showed alterations in cardiac accumulation of [18F]FDG, but not of [99mTc]MIBI. Image analysis revealed that myocardial uptake of [18F]FDG reduced by 60% after isoproterenol treatment, whereas that of [99mTc]MIBI decreased by 45%. Conclusion We conclude that [18F]FDG is a more sensitive radiotracer than [99mTc]MIBI for imaging of drug-induced cardiomyopathy. We theorize that isoproterenol-induced cardiomyopathy impacts cellular metabolism more than perfusion, which results in more substantial changes in [18F]FDG uptake than in [99mTc]MIBI accumulation in cardiac tissue.
Attacking COVID-19 Progression Using Multi-Drug Therapy for Synergetic Target Engagement

COVID-19 is a devastating respiratory and inflammatory illness caused by a new coronavirus that is rapidly spreading throughout the human population. Over the past 12 months, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19, has already infected over 160 million (>20% located in United States) and killed more than 3.3 million people around the world (>20% deaths in USA). As we face one of the most challenging times in our recent history, there is an urgent need to identify drug candidates that can attack SARS-CoV-2 on multiple fronts. We have therefore initiated a computational dynamics drug pipeline using molecular modeling, structure simulation, docking and machine learning models to predict the inhibitory activity of several million compounds against two essential SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins and their host protein interactors—S/Ace2, Tmprss2, Cathepsins L and K, and Mpro—to prevent binding, membrane fusion and replication of the virus, respectively. All together, we generated an ensemble of structural conformations that increase high-quality docking outcomes to screen over >6 million compounds including all FDA-approved drugs, drugs under clinical trial (>3000) and an additional >30 million selected chemotypes from fragment libraries. Our results yielded an initial set of 350 high-value compounds from both new and FDA-approved compounds that can now be tested experimentally in appropriate biological model systems. We anticipate that our results will initiate screening campaigns and accelerate the discovery of COVID-19 treatments.
A Spoke in the Wheel: Enhancing Chaplaincy Documentation in Interdisciplinary Care Settings.

Chaplaincy is a spoke in the wheel of interdisciplinary care that uses its disciplines to better the patient’s medical condition. Therefore, chaplains ought to consider how their emotional and spir...
Using high-speed videography for objective and reproducible pain measurement on a mouse pain scale

Summary Mouse models are essential for studying pain neurobiology and testing pain therapeutics. The reliance on assays that only measure the presence, absence, or frequency of a reflex have limited the reliability of preclinical pain studies. Our high-speed videography protocol overcomes this by projecting the discrete sub-second kinematic behavioral features induced by hind paw stimulation onto a “mouse pain scale.” This provides a more objective and robust pain measurement in mice by quantifying the quality of the stimulus-induced hind paw reflex. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Abdus-Saboor et al. (2019) .
Outcomes of reoperations after Ross procedure.

Background: Potential for difficult reoperations has been a concern for patients undergoing a Ross procedure. Data regarding the outcomes of such reoperations is extremely limited. We examined our experience to define the current scope and risk of these operations. Methods: Between 1996 and 2020, 83 patients who had a previous Ross procedure underwent 89 reoperative surgeries. There were 72 males and average age was 48 with a range of 18–76. Twenty-four patients had more than one prior reoperation, with five patients having more than one reoperation post Ross. Patients were stratified by primary reason for reoperation including autograft dysfunction, homograft dysfunction, or other cardiac surgical problems. Demographic, operative, and outcomes data were collected from clinical records and placed in a secure data base for analysis. Results: A total of 176 procedures were done in the 89 operations. Autograft dysfunction affected 68 patients. Homograft dysfunction affected 27 patients. Both of these were seen in 17 patients. Other cardiac problems required 79 other procedures. There were two (2.2%) operative deaths, with perioperative morbidity affecting six patients (6.7%). Survival following reoperation after Ross was 82.3% and 77.5% (±2), at ten and fifteen years respectively. Conclusions: Reoperations after a Ross procedure can be challenging but can be done with a high degree of safety and long-term benefit in experienced hands.
Machiavellianism and Personality Typing as Determinants for Screening Commercial Pilot Candidates

The association between personality and effective team leadership in the cockpit environment has been a major focus of research in aviation management. The major air carriers incorporate in their assessment process personality style and decisionmaking skills by placing pilot candidates through a 2- or 3-stage interview process. In an ongoing effort to develop a comprehensive pilot candidate selection model, university researchers have studied the relationship between personality type and skill in small group manipulation. In this study, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a construct of personality type and the Mach V scale as a construct of skill in small group manipulation were employed in the survey of 52 commercial flight officers. 85% of the surveyed pilots fell into 1 of the 16 personality types measured by the MBTI scale, which correlated significantly with Machiavellian orientation as measured by the Mach V scale. Research indicates a significant relationship in success in leadership of small groups and the Mach V scores. The results of this study suggest the potential of select dimensions of the MBTI and the Mach V instruments in the screening of commercial pilot candidates for hire.
The Challenge of Sex Equality

As America moves toward a new century, few developments appear more significant for the future of our society than the changes that have occurred in the distribution of sex roles over the past 40 years. In many areas the lives of women have been virtually transformed since World War II. In 1940 it was a mark of opprobrium for married middle-class mothers to work. Today more than half of such women are in the labor force. In 1940 participation of women in law and medicine was almost unheard of. Today professional schools in both areas are increasingly populated by women students. In 1940 feminism was a word of suspicion that occasioned laughter, if not scorn. Today politicians and media commentators make a point—on the surface at least—of paying homage to the idea of equal rights.
A clinical study of 240 infertile couples.

Abstract A study of 240 infertile couples is presented. Of these, 134 couples had completed their studies and were under observation from twelve to eighteen months. Forty-eight and five-tenths per cent were classified as female sterility and 25.4 per cent as male sterility. The pathology in these sterility groups is discussed. Twenty-six and one-tenth per cent achieved pregnancy. The factors responsible for successful treatment in this series are believed to be: (1) a thorough study; (2) detailed instruction in utilization of the fertile period and improved sex habits: and (3) the judicious use of thyroid extract. Any “specific” therapy used in the cure of the infertile mating must show a significantly higher percentage of success in order to be recognized as being of therapeutic value.