cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Real-time MRI-guided needle placement robot with integrated fiber optic force sensing

This paper presents the first prototype of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible piezoelectric actuated robot integrated with a high-resolution fiber optic sensor for prostate brachytherapy with real-time in situ needle steering capability in 3T MRI. The 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) robot consists of a modular 3-DOF needle driver with fiducial tracking frame and a 3-DOF actuated Cartesian stage. The needle driver provides needle cannula rotation and translation (2-DOF) and stylet translation (1-DOF). The driver mimics the manual physician gesture by two point grasping. To render proprioception associated with prostate interventions, a Fabry-Perot interferometer based fiber optic strain sensor is designed to provide high-resolution axial needle insertion force measurement and is robust to large range of temperature variation. The paper explains the robot mechanism, controller design, optical modeling and opto-mechanical design of the force sensor. MRI compatibility of the robot is evaluated under 3T MRI using standard prostate imaging sequences and average signal noise ratio (SNR) loss is limited to 2% during actuator motion. A dynamic needle insertion is performed and bevel tip needle steering capability is demonstrated under continuous real-time MRI guidance, both with no visually identifiable interference during robot motion. Fiber optic sensor calibration validates the theoretical modeling with satisfactory sensing range and resolution for prostate intervention.
Septic venous thromboembolism

A 61-year-old man was admitted to an outside medical facility with left leg deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli. His clinical course was complicated by hypotension, azotemia and declining mental status. Positive blood cultures for gram-positive cocci prompted transfer to our institution. Despite broad-spectrum antibiotics (vancomycin, cefepime, and ciprofloxacin), the patient remained febrile (temperature 39.4°C) with persistent leukocytosis. An echocardiogram revealed no valvular vegetations. Bacteremia persisted with methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus despite antimicrobial therapy. In the absence of a clear source of infection, an indium-111labeled white blood cell (WBC) scan was performed, revealing radiotracer enhancement of the left popliteal, femoral, and common femoral veins (Panels A and B) corresponding to thrombus location as assessed by ultrasound (Panels C and D). Radiotracer uptake within these Images in Vascular Medicine
Phosphoethanolamine Residues on the Lipid A Moiety of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Lipooligosaccharide Modulate Binding of Complement Inhibitors and Resistance to Complement Killing

Loss of phosphoethanolamine (PEA) from the lipid A of gonococcal strain FA19 results in increased sensitivity to killing by the classical pathway of complement. Here we demonstrate that loss of PEA from lipid A diminishes binding of the complement regulatory protein C4b binding protein (C4BP) to the FA19 porin B (PorB), providing a molecular basis to explain the susceptibility of an lptA null strain of FA19 to killing by normal human serum (NHS). Loss of PEA from lipid A in three additional gonococcal strains that expressed diverse PorB molecules also resulted in decreased C4BP binding, increased deposition of C4b, and increased susceptibility to killing by NHS. Complementation of lptA null strains with lptA restored C4BP binding, decreased C4b deposition, and increased resistance to killing by NHS. These effects of lipid A PEA on C4BP binding to gonococcal PorB and serum resistance were simulated when gonococcal PorB was expressed in a meningococcal background. Loss of PEA from lipid A also affected binding of the alternative pathway regulator factor H (fH) to PorB of some strains. For instance, PorB molecules of lptA null mutants of strains 252 and 1291 bound less fH than those of their parent strains when lipooligosaccharide (LOS) was sialylated, whereas PorB molecules of lptA null mutants of strains FA1090 and 273 retained the ability to bind fH when LOS was sialylated. These data indicate that replacement of lipid A with PEA alters binding of C4BP and fH to PorB and contributes to the ability of gonococci to resist complement-mediated killing.
Natal-Host Environmental Effects on Juvenile Size, Transmission Success, and Operational Sex Ratio in the Entomopathogenic Nematode Steinernema carpocapsae

Abstract: Trans-host effects can alter the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of parasite and host populations. Here, we examine whether resource limitation within a parasite's natal host affects propagule size and influences parasite fitness in a new host. To alter resource competition, we infected caterpillars with 3 doses of the nematode Steinernema carpocapsae and harvested transmission-stage juveniles either early or late in the infection. We measured the size of these juveniles, and then we examined their ability to colonize and their sex ratio upon maturity in a new host. We found a trade-off between the cumulative number and size of nematodes emerging from a host. Emerging nematode size declined significantly over the time course of the infection, but dose had no significant effects. Larger, early emerging nematodes had greater success in colonizing a new host than smaller, later emerging nematodes, independently of whether they needed to locate the host. Furthermore, although early emerging nem...
ADA3: a gene, identified by resistance to GAL4-VP16, with properties similar to and different from those of ADA2.

Abstract We describe the isolation of a yeast gene, ADA3, mutations in which prevent the toxicity of GAL4-VP16 in vivo. Toxicity was previously proposed to be due to the trapping of general transcription factors required at RNA polymerase II promoters (S. L. Berger, B. Pina, N. Silverman, G. A. Marcus, J. Agapite, J. L. Regier, S. J. Triezenberg, and L. Guarente, Cell 70:251-265, 1992). trans activation by VP16 as well as the acidic activation domain of GCN4 is reduced in the mutant. Other activation domains, such as those of GAL4 and HAP4, are only slightly affected in the mutant. This spectrum is similar to that observed for mutants with lesions in ADA2, a gene proposed to encode a transcriptional adaptor. The ADA3 gene is not absolutely essential for cell growth, but gene disruption mutants grow slowly and are temperature sensitive. Strains doubly disrupted for ada2 and ada3 grow no more slowly than single mutants, providing further evidence that these genes function in the same pathway. Selection of initiation sites by the general transcriptional machinery in vitro is altered in the ada3 mutant, providing a clue that ADA3 could be a novel general transcription factor involved in the response to acidic activators.
Diagnosing network-wide traffic anomalies

Anomalies are unusual and significant changes in a network's traffic levels, which can often span multiple links. Diagnosing anomalies is critical for both network operators and end users. It is a difficult problem because one must extract and interpret anomalous patterns from large amounts of high-dimensional, noisy data.In this paper we propose a general method to diagnose anomalies. This method is based on a separation of the high-dimensional space occupied by a set of network traffic measurements into disjoint subspaces corresponding to normal and anomalous network conditions. We show that this separation can be performed effectively by Principal Component Analysis.Using only simple traffic measurements from links, we study volume anomalies and show that the method can: (1) accurately detect when a volume anomaly is occurring; (2) correctly identify the underlying origin-destination (OD) flow which is the source of the anomaly; and (3) accurately estimate the amount of traffic involved in the anomalous OD flow.We evaluate the method's ability to diagnose (i.e., detect, identify, and quantify) both existing and synthetically injected volume anomalies in real traffic from two backbone networks. Our method consistently diagnoses the largest volume anomalies, and does so with a very low false alarm rate.
Locally nilpotent derivations and their applications, III

We give an algorithm to decide if certain derivations are locally nilpotent. This algorithm is used to give a solution of the extendability problem for n≤3 (i.e. canF1, …, Fn−1 be extended to a polynomial automorphism (F1, …, Fn−1, Fn):Cn → Cn) and to indicate a strategy for solving the n-dimensional extendability problem. We also reformulate the cancellation problem in terms of locally nilpotent derivations.
Defect Migration of Multi-chip Modules Using Structural Test

The high-volume production and rework of 100 chip MCMs in a structured test environment and the rationale for defect migration (continuous quality improvement) is described. Manufacturing and rework of these MCMs requires continuous improvements in chip quality. This necessitates in- expensive diagnostics at chip, INICM and system level so that the root cause of the defects can be determined and the chip fabrication, test, and burn-in processes improved. The requirements for and implementation of structural test (to detect both stuck fault and delay defects), diagnostic automation, system level test correlation, coordination of defect tracking at the system, MCM and chip level and defect model correlation are discussed. The MCMs are designed using level-sensitive scan design (LSSD). Through the use of structural test and it's associated diagnostics, the details of the defects are sup- plied to the chip fabricator who successfully improves the chip quality levels.
The petawatt laser and its application to inertial confinement fusion

Summary form only given. A project to develop a 1000 TW (petawatt) class laser began in 1992 in order to provide the capability to examine the fast ignitor concept for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The laser was designed to produce 1 kilojoule pulses with a duration less than 500 fsec and be focusable to a high irradiance. Near-diffraction-limited beams require large-scale pulse compression and sophisticated adaptive optics. Metallic gratings are capable of compressing near 1 kT pulses.
The Application of Compartmental Analysis to Research in Nutrition

Our purpose here is to discuss compartmental analysis, a mathematical modeling approach that is particularly useful for nutritionists. Although we do not review papers in which the approach has been applied to nutritionally interesting systems, we refer to selected applications as examples of various points. We discuss compartmental analysis more from a biologist's perspective than from the mathematical point of view
Response to Open Peer Commentaries on "Looking for Trouble: Preventive Genomic Sequencing in the General Population and the Role of Patient Choice".

Preventive genomic sequencing (PGS) programs aimed at the general adult population hold much promise for improving human health. However, there are numerous unanswered questions about whether and h...
Mismatch binding, ADP–ATP exchange and intramolecular signaling during mismatch repair

The focus of this article is on the DNA binding and ATPase activities of the mismatch repair (MMR) protein, MutS-our current understanding of how this protein uses ATP to fuel its actions on DNA and initiate repair via interactions with MutL, the next protein in the pathway. Structure-function and kinetic studies have yielded detailed views of the MutS mechanism of action in MMR. How MutS and MutL work together after mismatch recognition to enable strand-specific nicking, which leads to strand excision and synthesis, is less clear and remains an active area of investigation.
Soluble Type II Transforming Growth Factor-β Receptor Attenuates Expression of Metastasis-associated Genes and Suppresses Pancreatic Cancer Cell Metastasis1

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly malignancy that frequently metastasizes and that overexpresses transforming growth factor-s (TGF-s). To determine whether TGF-s can act to enhance the metastatic potential of PDAC, PANC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells were transfected with an expression construct encoding a soluble type II TGFreceptor (sTRII) that blocks cellular responsiveness to TGF-1. When injected s.c. in athymic mice, PANC-1 clones expressing sTRII exhibited decreased tumor growth in comparison with sham-transfected cells and attenuated expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), a gene associated with tumor growth. When tested in an orthotopic mouse model, these clones formed small intrapancreatic tumors that exhibited a suppressed metastatic capacity and decreased expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 and the metastasis-associated urokinase plasminogen activator. These results indicate that TGFs act in vivo to enhance the expression of genes that promote the growth and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells and suggest that sTRII may ultimately have a therapeutic benefit in PDAC.
All-trans-retinoic Acid Increases SLC26A3 DRA (Down-regulated in Adenoma) Expression in Intestinal Epithelial Cells via HNF-1β

All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) is an active vitamin A derivative known to modulate a number of physiological processes, including growth and development, differentiation, and gene transcription. The protective effect of ATRA in gut inflammation and diarrheal diseases has been documented. In this regard, down-regulated in adenoma (DRA, a key luminal membrane Cl− transporter involved in NaCl absorption) has been shown to be suppressed in intestinal inflammation. This suppression of DRA is associated with diarrheal phenotype. Therefore, current studies were undertaken to examine the effects of ATRA on DRA expression. DRA mRNA levels were significantly elevated (∼4-fold) in response to ATRA with induction starting as early as 8 h of incubation. Similarly, ATRA increased DRA protein expression by ∼50%. Furthermore, DRA promoter activity was significantly increased in response to ATRA indicating transcriptional activation. ATRA effects on DRA expression appeared to be mediated via the RAR-β receptor subtype, as ATRA remarkably induced RAR-β mRNA levels, whereas RAR-β knockdown substantially attenuated the ability of ATRA to increase DRA expression. Results obtained from agonist (CH-55) and antagonist (LE-135) studies further confirmed that ATRA exerts its effects through RAR-β. Furthermore, ATRA treatment resulted in a significant increase in HNF-1β mRNA levels. The ability of ATRA to induce DRA expression was inhibited in the presence of HNF-1β siRNA indicative of its involvement in ATRA-induced effects on DRA expression. In conclusion, ATRA may act as an antidiarrheal agent by increasing DRA expression via the RAR-β/HNF-1β-dependent pathway.
Federal and State Philosophies in the Antitrust Law of Mergers

The antitrust policy of the states with respect to horizontal mergers and acquisitions reveals a markedly different philosophy of the role of government in antitrust enforcement from that underlying federal policy. The states' philosophy emphasizes concern for the distribution of wealth in society as opposed to the strict economic efficiency concerns of the federal enforcement strategy, a greater skepticism regarding the benefits to be derived from mergers, and a greater willingness to interfere with incentives created by market forces in either a concentrated or an atomistic market. While federal and state philosophies, as reflected in their respective horizontal merger guidelines, claim to be grounded in and consistent with section 7 of the Clayton Act as reflected in its legislative history and in its interpretation by the Supreme Court, application of the two sets of guidelines may give quite divergent results. Although both claim to increase the certainty with which the business community can assess the legality of potential mergers and acquisitions from an antitrust viewpoint, the conflicts inherent in the guidelines actually increase the uncertainty businesses face. This article describes the differences in philosophies and associated implications. These philosophical differences result in contrasting treatment of the productive efficiencies offset to increasing market power, treatment of allocative efficiency issues, and treatment of evidence of anticompetitive and procompetitive effects of a merger. The philosophical differences result both in different standards for when a merger will be challenged and different interpretations and receptivity to evidence presented in the defense of mergers once challenged.
Abstract 3680: Hemostatic Genes Variant Predictivity Of Intracerebral Hematoma Growth

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hematoma expansion (HE), the leading cause of neurological deterioration after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). In the present study, we explored whether common genetic variants in within the hemostasis pathway were related to hematoma expansion during the acute period after ICH. METHODS: Patients with spontaneous ICH admitted to the instutional Neuro-ICU from 2009 to 2011 were enrolled in the study (Table 1) and clinical data were collected prospectively. Hematoma size was measured volumetrically for CT scans obtained on or before post-bleed day 2. Baseline models for hematoma growth were construted using backwards-stepwise logistic regression. Genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms for 15 genes (Table2) involved in hemostasis was performed and the results were individually included in the above baseline models to test for independent association with hematoma expansion. RESULTS: During the study period, eighty-two patients were enrolled in the study and had complete data. Mean age was 65.9±14.9 and 38% were female. Only von willebrand factor (vWF) was associated with absolute and relative hematoma growth in univariate analysis (p CONCLUSIONS: Our genomic analysis of various hemostatic factors identified vWF as a potential predictor of HE in patients with ICH. The identification of vWF SNPs may allow us to better identify patients who are at risk for hematoma enlargement and will benefit the most from treatment. The relationship of vWF with regards to hematoma enlargement in a larger population warrants further study.
The effects of laser immunotherapy on cancer cell migration

Laser immunotherapy (LIT) uses laser irradiation and immunological stimulation to target all types of metastases and creates a long-term tumor resistance. Glycated chitosan (GC) is the immunological stimulant used in LIT. Interestingly, GC can act as a surfactant for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to immunologically modify SWNTs. SWNT-GC retains the optical properties of SWNTs and the immunological functions of GC to help increase the selectivity of the laser and create a more optimal immune response. One essential aspect of understanding this immune response is knowing how laser irradiation affects cancer cells’ ability to metastasize. In this experiment, a cell migration assay was performed. A 2mm circular elastomer plugs were placed at the bottom of multi-well dishes. Pre-cancerous keratinocytes, different tumor cells, and fibroblasts were then plated separately in treated wells. Once the cells reached 100% confluence, they were irradiated by either a 980nm or 805nm wavelength laser. The goal was to determine the effects of laser irradiation and immunological stimulation on cancer cell migration in vitro, paying the way to understand the mechanism of LIT in treating metastatic tumors in cancer patients.
Beyond band alignment: hole localization driven formation of three spatially separated long-lived exciton states in CdSe/CdS nanorods.

Colloidal one-dimensional semiconductor nanoheterostructures have emerged as an important family of functional materials for solar energy conversion, although the nature of the long-lived exciton state and their formation and dissociation dynamics remain poorly understood. In this paper we study these dynamics in CdSe/CdS dot-in-rod (DIR) NRs, a representative of 1D heterostructures, and DIR-electron-acceptor complexes by transient absorption spectroscopy. Because of a quasi-type II band alignment of CdSe and CdS, it is often assumed that there exists one long-lived exciton state with holes localized in the CdSe seed and electrons delocalized among CdSe and CdS. We show that excitation into the CdS rod forms three distinct types of long-lived excitons that are spatially localized in the CdS rod, in and near the CdSe seed and in the CdS shell surrounding the seed. The branching ratio of forming these exciton states is controlled by the competition between the band offset driven hole localization to the CdS...
Phylogenetic Variability of Serum Lipids and Lipoproteins in Nonhuman Primates Fed Diets with Different Contents of Dietary Cholesterol

The response of serum lipids and lipoproteins to different levels of dietary cholesterol (0.05% to 1.5% w/w) was measured in six nonhuman primate species. Relative response of serum cholesterol in different species, measured in terms of response index, varied with dietary cholesterol concentration. The overall response for the different diets allowed ranking of the species as follows: Squirrel > green > spider ≃ rhesus ≃ patas > chimpanzee. The serum cholesterol response was reflected not only in an increase in β + pre-β-lipoprotein cholesterol but also in α-lipoprotein cholesterol, with significant differences among species in the amount of cholesterol transported in the lipoprotein classes.
Interacting in-plane molecular dipoles in a zigzag chain

A system with externally polarized dipole molecules at half-filling moving along a one-dimensional zigzag chain is studied, including ground-state phase diagrams. The dipoles are oriented in-plane. Together with the geometry of the chain, this gives rise to a bond-alternating nearest-neighbor interaction due to simultaneous attractive and repulsive interactions. By tuning the ratio between the nearest-neighbor interaction and hopping, various phases can be accessed by controlling the polarization angle. In the ultrastrong coupling limit, the system simplifies to a frustrated extended axial Ising model. For the small coupling limit, qualitative discussion of the ordering behavior using effective field theory arguments is provided. We show that when the chain angle is small, the system mostly exhibits BKT-type phase transitions, whereasa large chain angle would drive the system into a gapped (Ising) dimerized phase, where the hopping strength is closely related to the orientation of dimerized pairs.
Prioritizing Change-Impact Analysis via Semantic Program-Dependence Quantification

Software is constantly changing. To ensure the quality of this process, when preparing to change a program, developers must first identify the main consequences and risks of modifying the program locations they intend to change. This activity is called change-impact analysis. However, existing impact analysis suffers from two major problems: coarse granularity and large size of the resulting impact sets. Finer-grained analyses such as slicing give more detailed impact sets which, however, are also even larger in size. While various impact-set reduction approaches have been proposed at different levels of granularity, the challenge persists as very-large impact sets are still produced, impeding the adoption of impact analysis due to the great costs of inspecting those impact sets. To address these challenges, we present a novel dynamic-analysis technique called SensA which combines sensitivity analysis and execution differencing. SensA not only provides fine-grained (statement-level) impact sets but also prioritizes potential impacts via semantic-dependence quantification for program slices. We evaluated the benefits of impact prioritization using SensA with respect to static and dynamic forward slicing via an extensive empirical study of open-source Java applications and three case studies. Our results show that SensA can offer much better cost-effectiveness than slicing in assisting developers with impact inspection and fault cause-effect understanding.
Verification and Quantification of the Hammond-Leffler Postulate

O postulado de Hammond-Leffl er preve que reacoes exotermicas possuem estados de transicoes (ET) mais similares a estrutura dos reagentes e as reacoes endotermicas mais similares aos produtos. Nos mostramos que esta previsao pode ser verifi cada calculandose a trajetoria de reacao e a sua curvatura utilizando metodos de quimica quântica. A trajetoria escalar da curvatura adota o ponto maximo da reacao onde ha a quebra e a formacao de ligacoes durante o processo quimico. E sempre possivel defi nir o centro da area desta trajetoria. A mudanca do ET em relacao a este centro muda linearmente com a energia da reacao de valores positivos (reacoes exotermicas) a valores negativos (reacoes endotermicas) descrevendo assim quantitativamente o carater do ET como sendo similar aos reagentes ou produtos. Palavras-chave: postulado de Hammond-Leffl er, curvatura da trajetoria de reacao, aproximacao para a unifi cacao dos vales no caminho de reacao. The Hammond-Leffl er postulate predicts that exothermic reactions possess an early transition state (TS) and endothermic reactions a late one. We show that this prediction can be verifi ed by calculating the reaction path and its curvature by utilizing quantum chemical methods. The scalar path curvature adopts maxima where the chemical processes of bond breaking and forming take place. It is always possible to defi ne the center of this path area. The shift of the TS with regard to this center changes linearly with the reaction energy from positive values (exothermic reactions) to negative values (endothermic reactions) thus quantitatively describing the character of the TS as being early or late.
Fragmentation of copper current collectors in Li-ion batteries during spherical indentation

Abstract Large, areal, brittle fracture of copper current collector foils has been observed by 3D x-ray computed tomography (XCT) of a spherically indented Li-ion cell. This fracture is hidden and non-catastrophic to a degree because the graphite layers deform plastically, and hold the materials together so that the cracks in the foils cannot be seen under optical and electron microscopy. The cracking of copper foils could not be immediately confirmed when the cell is opened for post-mortem examination. However, 3D XCT on the indented cell reveals “mud cracks” within the copper layer and an X-ray radiograph on a single foil of the Cu anode shows clearly that the copper foil has broken into multiple pieces. This failure mode of anodes in Li-ion cell has very important implications on the behavior of Li-ion cells under mechanical abuse conditions. The fragmentation of current collectors in the anode must be taken into consideration for the electrochemical responses which may lead to capacity loss and affect thermal runaway behavior of the cells.
CARDIAC RESYNCHRONIZATION THERAPY DOES NOT BENEFIT HEART FAILURE PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION WITHOUT ATRIO-VENTRICULAR JUNCTION ABLATION: A META-ANALYSIS

Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) predispose to each other. CRT is beneficial in selected HF patients in sinus rhythm (SR), but its benefit in AF patients has been controversial. This meta-analysis evaluated the impact of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in HF patients with
Introducing the State-of-the-Art Additive Manufacturing Research in Education

Although additive manufacturing technologies have undergone significant development in recent years, significant challenges remain in the understanding of the physics of the processes as well as many other aspects. Therefore, in the education of the next-generation AM workforce, besides the instruction of existing AM knowledge, it is of critical importance that the state-of-the-art research subjects and concepts are also made aware to the students. In various classroom and lab setups at University of Louisville, contemporary AM research subjects are introduced to students via various tools, which include self-guided literature review, project-based research subject investigation, open research discussion sessions, and design competitions. Through literature review-based studies the students not only become aware of various research subjects but also have the opportunity to practice critical analysis with new AM knowledge. Through project-based learning, the students also gain hands-on experiences with AM research, which can be applied to new AM research and development problems in their future career.
In vivo control of phosphofructokinase: system models suggest new experimental protocols.

There is still uncertainty as to how much control of in vivo rates of glycolysis by phosphofructokinase (PFK) depends on cytosolic phosphate energy state. Three models of PFK kinetics incorporating sensitivity to pH, adenine nucleotides, and inorganic phosphate (Pi) were embedded in the physiological "phosphate energy system" of creatine-containing tissues [Connett, R.J. Am. J. Physiol. 254 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 23): R949-R959, 1988]. Effects of changes in phosphate energy state and total adenine nucleotide and phosphate pools on steady-state kinetics were examined. Analyses mimicking in vitro experiments indicated no activity at the pH and [ATP] of working muscles. When tested using the coordinated changes in Pi and adenine nucleotides expected in vivo, all models showed reasonable activity. Control was dominated by [Pi] in the normal physiological range of energy states. The almost linear response to phosphate energy state, measured by creatine charge (phosphocreatine/total creatine), is insensitive to the absolute size of the adenine nucleotide pool. A step to almost full activation occurred when phosphocreatine buffering of [ATP] was exceeded. Several experimental studies are suggested.
C-32: Lyoprotection during bovine sperm desiccation and osmotic damage model

Designing excipients for stable desiccation preservation protocols of bovine sperm at low moisture content and ambient storage conditions for the animal husbandry industry requires subsequent retention of motility. We shall discuss the role of various excipients such as the lyoprotectant trehalose and osmotolerant sorbitol plays in bovine sperm. Since it is hypothesized that much of the damage during drying is related to the osmotic stress encountered due to increased osmolarity of the extracellular environment, we wanted to develop a predictive tool that captured the osmotic damage of sperm during drying. Our approach was to subject bovine sperm to anisosmotic environments for different times and then extract parameters for motility loss and subsequently predict desiccation experiments. We saw a two-step motility response; a rapid drop that can be considered instantaneous and a slower one. We developed two models (a) First order rate injury model (Fast or Slow) and (b) Multi-modal (MM) injury model. For desiccation, the MM model was able to closely bracket motility loss as an osmotic change event with a time independent and a time dependent component. While the mechanistic basis of osmotic damage requires further exploration, the model can serve as a bracketing tool for predicting motility loss during desiccation based on excipients designed to minimize osmotic damage.
The Place of Ion Beams in Clinical Applications

The place of ion beam therapy (IBT) in the clinic has evolved amid a dynamic environment of advancements on several fronts: tumor biology, diagnostic imaging, surgical and medical oncology, and radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery. This chapter will present generalized themes of the current place of IBT and current areas of investigation.
Gonadotropin secretory abnormalities.

Normal physiology of puberty and normal GnRH, LH, FSH, and hCG secretion have been reviewed. Systemic disorders can affect the neuroendocrine axis and cause varying degrees of hypogonadism by acting at different levels in the axis. As both hypothalamic abnormalities and intrinsic pituitary abnormalities can cause an abnormal FSH/LH response to GnRH, this test does not distinguish hypothalamic from pituitary mechanisms of hypogonadism. Therefore, only in disorders that have been demonstrated to have a structural pituitary abnormality (e.g., iron or granulomatous infiltration of the gonadotrophs) can we be certain that the disorder has its effect at the level of the pituitary. Abnormalities leading to hypersecretion (both ectopic and eutopic) of gonadotropins have also been described. To date, ectopic production of FSH and LH has not been unequivocally demonstrated. Systemic disorders cause mainly hypogonadism, many of the symptoms of which are reversible with control or cure of the disease. The effect of hypersecretion of gonadotropins on the reproductive system depends on the age at which the tumor (ectopic/eutopic) occurs.
General Overview: Atomistics of Surface Reactions

The adsorption of a molecule is the first step in the modification of the mechanical properties of a metal by the environment. Once adsorbed, the molecule can play a number of different roles that are relevant to the phenomena of fracture. It can react with the surface to form a coherent and stable layer that protects the solid from further influence from the environment; it can react with the solid to corrode it. This reaction can be activated by mechanical energy stored in locally enhanced stresses and lead to stress corrosion cracking. Hydrogen can dissociate and penetrate the metal and lead to hydrogen embrittlement. The molecule can displace from the surface, or react with, a potentially harmful adsorbate and stop the environmental degradation of the solid. Thus, the study of the physical and chemical interaction of fluids with solid surfaces is of importance to the understanding of environment effects on the fracture of a material under stress.
Financial Systems and Economic Modernization: A New Historical Perspective?

Economic historians of the modern era labor under a particularly “British” view of their discipline. In this view, the “Industrial Revolution” that began in Great Britain in the late 18th century became the driving force of economic modernization. Key innovations in textile machinery, iron production, and steam power made Great Britain “the workshop of the world” by the middle of the 19th century.
Electrodynamics of double neutron star mergers

We consider electromagnetic interaction and precursor emission of merging neutron stars. Orbital motion of the magnetized neutron stars may revive pair production within the common magnetosphere years before the merger, igniting pulsar-like magnetospheric dynamics. We identify two basic scenarios: (i) only one star is magnetized (1M-DNS scenario) and (ii) both stars are magnetized (2M-DNS scenario). Inductively created electric fields can have component along the total magnetic field (gaps) and/or the electric field may exceed the value of the local magnetic field. The key to the detection is orbital modulation of the emission. If only one star is magnetized (1M-DNS scenario) the emission is likely to be produced along the direction of the magnetic field at the location of the secondary; then, if the magnetic axis is misaligned with the orbital spin, this direction is modulated on the orbital period. For the 2M-DNS scenario, the structure of the common magnetosphere of the non-rotating neutron stars is complicated, with gaps, but no $E>B$ regions; there is strong orbital variations for the case of misaligned magnetic moments. For the same parameters of neutron stars the 2M-DNS scenario has intrinsically higher potential than the 1M-DNS one. The overall powers are not very high, $\leq 10^{45} $ erg s$^{-1}$; the best chance to detect electromagnetic precursors to the merging neutron stars is if the interaction of their magnetospheres leads to the production of pulsar-like coherent radio emission modulated at the orbital period, with luminosity of up to $\sim 1$ Jankys at the time the merger.
De-Escalation of Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.

Aims:Patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are recommended to be placed on potent P2Y12 blockade. However, the long-term bleeding risk is high. T...
Pumpless platform for high-throughput dynamic multicellular culture and chemosensitivity evaluation

We report here a novel pumpless, 96-well plate-based platform for high-throughput dynamic multicellular culture and chemosensitivity evaluation. A gravity-driven flow strategy was developed to generate and sustain the flow rate of culture medium within 10% in the platform's 20 culture chambers. The ability of the platform to generate and sustain the medium flow was demonstrated by computational simulation, flow visualization, and ascertaining the previously known effect of flow-induced shear stress on the stimulated osteogenic differentiation of osteoblasts. The high-throughput utility of the platform was demonstrated by in situ cell staining and high content screening of chemosensitivity assays of multiple myeloma and osteoblast co-cultures. Endpoint characterization and data analyses for all 20 culture chambers required less than 1 hour.
Semiautomatic carotid intraplaque hemorrhage volume measurement using 3D carotid MRI.

Background Presence of intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) is a known risk factor for stroke and plaque progression. Accurate and reproducible measurement of IPH volume are required for further risk stratification. Purpose To develop a semiautomatic method to measure carotid IPH volume. Study type Retrospective. Population Patients scheduled for carotid endarterectomy and patients with 16-79% asymptomatic carotid stenosis by ultrasound. Field strength 3T. Sequence Simultaneous noncontrast angiography and intraplaque hemorrhage (SNAP) MRI. Assessment A semiautomated volumetric measurement of IPH using signal intensity thresholding of 3D SNAP volume was implemented. Fourteen carotid endarterectomy patients were enrolled to determine the signal intensity threshold of IPH using histology. Thirty-three patients with 16-79% asymptomatic stenosis were scanned twice within 1 month to evaluate reproducibility. The normalized SNAP intensity with the highest Youden index for predicting IPH on histology was used for thresholding. Scan-rescan reproducibility of IPH measurement was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV). Statistical tests Receiver operating characteristic curve, area under the curve, Cohen's kappa, intraclass correlation coefficient, coefficient of variance (CV), and paired t-test. Results IPH detection by the algorithm had substantial agreement with manual review (kappa: 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.83, 1.00) and moderate agreement with histology (kappa: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.68). IPH volume measurements by the algorithm were strongly correlated with histology (Spearman's rho = 0.76, P = 0.002). IPH measurements were also reproducible, with ICCs of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.57, 0.96), 0.77 (95% CI: 0.32, 0.94), and 0.99 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.00) for maximum/mean normalized intensity and IPH volume, respectively. The corresponding CVs were 10.6%, 5.2%, and 11.8%. Data conclusion IPH volume measurements on SNAP MRI are highly reproducible using semiautomatic measurement. Level of Evidence 2 Technical Efficacy Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2019;50:1055-1062.
Place and Claims: Cultural and Communication in Appalachia

Breckinridge was a woman with a remarkable talent for being politic in all interests of concern to her organization. Her organization’s interests were also intimately entwined with the interests of the local community. This was something that was not true of other organizational cultures entering the region. She used a unique form of cultural diplomacy to maximize the needed support for the service, which relied heavily on outside financial support and volunteer Couriers to work with her nurses. She also used it to garner the support of the local population. Therefore, to her aristocratic contributors she proffered the notion that it was not in-breeding but rather, un-mixed breeding of good English stock (of which she knew perfectly well most of them were) that contributed to research findings that indicated justification for her Service [1]. She made her argument to other health professionals using scientifically sound research generated from mental tests given to Appalachian children by a psychologist who was an expert in this field of study to argue against the eugenics crowd of her day [2]. To the local populous she was a distant relation. A former 20-year employee of the FNS and long-time resident said:
Educating the Public About Toxicological Risk

In view of the increasing public awareness of environmental contaminants and the increasing concern about the risks to health that they pose, it is essential that the level of public education about the assessment and management of such risks be greatly expanded. This education can be achieved by providing programs for intermediaries, e.g., reporters or local health personnel, as well as for the general public. During the past five years, the Center for Environmental Toxicology at Michigan State University has developed a number of approaches to provide such education to this variety of audiences. These include written materials, workshops, symposia, courses, computer materials, an inquiry-response system and a community assistance program. This paper will describe these efforts and discuss the way they contribute to increasing public understanding of toxicological risk.
A novel binomial expansion method for evaluating a Neumann series for the response of a perturbed system

Abstract This paper presents a new method for evaluating the Neumann series approximation for the response of a dynamic system perturbed by two parameters. The proposed method will be valuable for iterative model updating methods, where major computational savings are gained when the approximation is evaluated multiple times. The method is based on the binomial expansion theory and requires the initial computational investment of formulating expansion vectors which will in turn accelerate the evaluation of the approximation. The proposed method is compared to the standard evaluation method which utilizes the recursive nature of the power series when computing the terms in the series. In comparison to the proposed method, the standard method requires no initial investment but suffers from a larger computational cost of evaluating the approximation. This paper investigates the efficiency of the two methods for evaluating the Neumann series approximation with respect to the number of evaluations, order of approximation, and size of the system. Central processing unit timing tests are performed in order to compare the two methods when used to evaluate the approximate displacement response of vibrating systems. In an analytical example, the standard and proposed evaluation method, as well as the traditional direct solve are applied to an iterative model updating method where the response of a perturbed finite element model is evaluated to compute the objective function. In the example, the proposed method performs up to 11 times faster than the standard evaluation method and 22 times faster than the traditional direct solve.
Hospital markets in the United States, 2007–2017

Abstract Background U.S. hospital markets have undergone consolidation in recent decades with the growth of large “health systems,” but little is known about the characteristics of systems, and whether certain geographic areas or service types (e.g. intensive care, obstetrics) have been differentially impacted by consolidation. Methods Using 2007–2017 American Hospital Association data, we characterized health systems and their growth, and determined how changes in hospital market structure have differentially affected specific service types and geographic areas. Results Despite a national trend of reduced hospital utilization, health systems grew larger during our study period. Hospital markets were already highly concentrated in 2007 and became even more concentrated between 2007 and 2017, across all service types that we measured. The least concentrated service was emergency department care, while intensive care and obstetrics were the most concentrated. As of 2017, 19.0% of markets – representing 11.2 million Americans – are served by only one hospital system. Concentrated markets are less populous, poorer areas and have lower physician supply than less concentrated markets. Conclusions Hospital markets were highly concentrated in 2007 and have since become more concentrated in the subsequent decade. Hospital consolidation is a nationwide phenomenon, and is occurring across hospital service types. Implications Antitrust alone may be insufficient to address high and increasing hospital market power. Decreasing barriers to entry may allow for more competition.
Ultrasound-guided aspiration of anterior cruciate ligament mucinous cysts in the posterior intercondylar notch: Technique and short-term outcomes.

Purpose To describe our technique of aspirating symptomatic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) mucinous cysts in the posterior intercondylar notch with ultrasound guidance, and to detail short-term patient outcomes. Methods We identified 13 patients from February 2008 to May 2020 who underwent ultrasound-guided aspiration of symptomatic ACL mucinous cysts in the posterior intercondylar notch. Post-procedural imaging was reviewed to evaluate the degree of cyst decompression. Needle size was noted. Post-procedural symptomatology was also assessed. Results No or minimal fluid was initially aspirated in 11/13 (84.6%) patients. For the two patients in which the cysts were aspirated completely with initial needle placement, with no need for lavage, a 13-gauge trocar was utilized. Of the remaining cysts, 10/11 were aspirated with an 18-gauge needle and one with a 20-gauge needle. Subsequent lavage was performed in 10 of the remaining 11 patients. After lavage, in eight there was a reduction of at least 50% volume by retrospective image interpretation; of 25% to 50% volume in one patient and of less than 25% volume in one patient. Five of the 13 patients reported immediate post-procedural symptomatic relief. In the other patients, immediate efficacy or post-procedural symptomatology was not documented. Conclusion Aspiration of symptomatic ACL mucinous cysts is a safe procedure and can provide symptomatic relief that may be temporary, but useful clinically. We recommend needles larger than 18 gauge for the best chance of successful aspiration.
Adaptive Laboratory Evolution for algal strain improvement: methodologies and applications

Abstract Originally developed in bacterial and fungal models, Adaptive Laboratory Evolution (ALE) experimentally selects for targeted phenotypes by allowing cells containing beneficial random genetic mutations to replicate more quickly in the presence of environmental stress. When applied to microalgae, this technique has been used to increase growth rate, stress tolerance, substrate utilization, and product yield. This review discusses ALE experimental design parameters, and summarizes key results and lessons learned from recent microalgal ALE studies. By documenting the current state of the field, we provide insight on the ways microalgal ALE might be used to develop commercially viable biotechnology strains.