cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pulmonary Atresia or Persistent Truncus Arteriosus: Is It Important to Make the Distinction and How Do We Do It?

See related article, Circ Res 2008:103:142–148 The congenital cardiac anomaly known as tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is characterized by right ventricular outflow tract obstruction caused by subpulmonary stenosis, dextroposition (overriding) of the aorta, a ventricular septal defect, and right ventricular hypertrophy. The right ventricular hypertrophy is secondary to the presence of right ventricular outflow obstruction (pulmonic valvar or subvalvar stenosis or in the most severe case, atresia). Cyanosis in these patients is attributable to the passage of systemic venous blood into the aorta, bypassing the lungs, with the degree of cyanosis dependent on the severity of the outflow tract obstruction. The malformations that are classified as persistent truncus arteriosus (PTA) are characterized by a single multicuspid semilunar valve with a single vessel, the truncus, arising from the ventricles and giving rise to systemic, pulmonary, and coronary circulations. Thus, both PTA and TOF with pulmonary atresia are characterized by a single vessel emanating from the heart. In PTA, the septation that would divide the common arterial trunk into an aorta and pulmonary trunk is missing, whereas in TOF with pulmonary atresia, it is unclear whether this septation is missing or misplaced. Diagnosis of TOF with pulmonary atresia relies on the presence of a pulmonary valve remnant by clinical imaging. This criterion permits differentiation of TOF with pulmonary atresia and PTA. However, if the pulmonary atresia develops embryonically before a valve is formed, then this criterion would not distinguish PTA from TOF with pulmonary atresia. New findings in experimental mouse models by Theveniau-Ruissy et al reported recently in Circulation Research shed unexpected light on the embryogenesis of these defects and may allow differentiation of the 2 defects in ways that have not been used previously.1 The myocardium and smooth muscle at the arterial pole, that is, the subaortic and subpulmonary myocardium …
Analysis of a capacitor-based pulsed-power system for driving long-range electromagnetic guns

Proposed ship-based long-range electromagnetic guns require input energies greater then 100 MJ, at peak powers in excess of 50 GW, and at average power in the tens of megawatts. This paper describes a conceptual pulsed-power system for driving these types of guns. A generic design was developed based on state-of-the-art power-supply, capacitor, and switching technologies. Results of modeling and parametric studies are presented, and key issues that impact system size and configuration are explored. An assessment is made of the feasibility of integrating this type of system into an electric-drive ship.
Marine Phytoplankton Collected at Wake Island

Fitoplancton marino recogido en las inmediaciones de Wake Island. Muestras de aqua embotellada fueron obtenidas en tres diferentes estaciones a to largo de la costa de Wake Island y en dos estaciones en la laguna situada dentro de los limites de diche archipielago. Veintiseis diatomeas, cuatro pyrrophytos y dos cocolitoforos fueron identificados pero el conteo de fitoplancton fue bajo, oscilando entre 2840 y 6768 celulas por litro. Estas muestras contenian mayor cantidad ed fitoplancton que las obtenidas en la laguna Bikini (Johnson, 1954), situada a 630 kilometros al Sur de Wake Island, pero contenian menor cantidad que las obtenidas en mar abierto en la zona ecuatorial del Pacifico (Rampi, 1952; Hasle, 1959).
Microlending: What Business Can Do To Facilitate Community-Based Growth

Billions of dollars have been expended in foreign assistance throughout the third world, with much of this aid being provided by the not-for-profit community. While frequently effective in facilitating short-term benefits, these projects often do not improve the continuing living conditions for the residents of the community. Not-for-profits generally are in the business of short-term crisis relief; consequently, they do not have a focus on job provisions in the affected community that would increase their living standards in the long-term. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are in the business of job creation, which not only provides long-term benefits for the entrepreneur, but also for the entire community. Microlending, a term coined originally by Muhammad Yunus to describe very small loans made in third-world countries, has had an enormous impact on the lives of entrepreneurs, their families, and their communities. Many not-for-profits may wish to employ the techniques illustrated by Yunus and other successful microlending institutions. They may find the task overwhelming, however, without employing business professionals, whose services can be costly. For not-for-profits who might be interested in starting such a program, this paper will describe the process of microlending, articulate methods of selecting a loan recipient, and show mechanisms for documenting a microloan.
Beyond the Basics of Clinical Outcomes Assessment: Selecting Appropriate Patient-Rated Outcomes Instruments for Patient Care.

The fifth edition of the Athletic Training Education Competencies emphasizes the concepts of clinical outcomes assessment. In athletic training, clinical outcomes assessment, especially as it relat...
Commissioning and cross-comparison of four scanning water tanks

Purpose: Water scanning systems are commonly used for data collection to characterize dosimetric properties of photon and electron beams, and the commissioning of such systems has been previously described. The aim in this study, however, was to investigate tank-specific dependencies as well as conduct a dosimetric comparison between four distinct water scanning systems. Methods: Four water scanning systems were studied including the PTW MP3-M Phantom Tank, the Standard Imaging DoseView 3D, the IBA Blue Phantom, and the Sun Nuclear 3D Scanner. Mechanical accuracy and reproducibility was investigated by driving the chamber holder to nominal positions relative to a zero point and using a leveled caliper with 30 cm range to measure the actual position. Dosimetric measurements were also performed not only to compare percent-depth-dose (PDD) curves and profiles between tanks but also to assess dependencies such as directionality, scanning speed, and reproducibility for each tank individually. A PTW Semiflex 31010 ionization chamber with a sensitive volume of 0.125 cc was used at a Varian Clinac 2300 linear accelerator. Results: Mechanical precision was ensured to within 0.1 mm with the standard deviation (SD) of reproducibility <0.1 mm for measurements made with calipers. Dependencies on scanning direction and speed are presented. 6 MV PDDs between tanks agreed to within 0.6% relative to an averaged PDD beyond d max and within 2.5% in the build-up region. Specifically, the maximum difference was 1.0% between MP3-M and Blue Phantom at 6.1 cm depth. Lateral profiles agreed between tanks within 0.5% in the central 80% of the field. 6 MeV PDD maximum difference was 1.3% occurring at the steepest portion, where the R 50 was nevertheless within 0.6 mm across tanks. Setup uncertainties estimated at ≤1 mm are presumed to have contributed some of the difference between water tank data. Conclusion: Modern water scanning systems have achieved high accuracy across vendors, but commissioning tests nevertheless reveal tank-specific dependencies. This study not only ensures confidence in the individual systems but also provides the medical physicist with an understanding of variation in water tank properties between vendors.
Analysis of molecular aggregation equilibria using random mixing statistics.

Aggregation processes in both the gas phase and aqueous solutions are analyzed by comparing aggregate size distributions obtained from molecular dynamics simulations with analytical predictions pertaining to a nonaggregating random mixture. The latter predictions are obtained by using the binomial distribution to predict the statistical properties of a uniformly mixed solution containing molecules of the same size and concentration as those in the solution of interest. Simulations are performed on systems containing neopentane dissolved in either methane, aqueous methanol, or aqueous NaI solutions. Comparisons of the theoretical and simulation results are used to both classify and quantify the influence of intermolecular interactions on such aggregation processes, including the equilibrium constants and thermodynamic functions pertaining to the partitioning of molecules between the bulk and first coordination shell of neopentane. Although the present results are primarily intended to describe and illustra...
Effects of relaxin in combination with prolactin and ovarian steroids on mammary growth in hypophysectomized rats.

SummaryHypophysectomized-ovariec-tomized albino rats weighing 160 g were injected daily for 19 days with 90 GPU of relaxin and/or other mammotropic hormones, including prolactin (25 IU), estra-diol benzoate (1 μg), and progesterone (3 mg). Prolactin alone or in combination did not increase body weight. Mammary wet weight was increased significantly by prolactin, progesterone, and relaxin, but not by other combinations. Relaxin was without effect on mammary wet weight, but syner-gized with prolactin and progesterone to increase mammary dry fat-free tissue. It also synergized with prolactin or prolactin and progesterone to stimulate DNA and RNA of the mammary tissue, but did not increase the ratio of RNA to DNA. It is concluded that relaxin has limited mammo-tropic action by itself, but synergizes effectively with anterior pituitary and ovarian steroid mammotropins to stimulate mammary development.
siRNA Screen Identifies Trafficking Host Factors that Modulate Alphavirus Infection.

Little is known about the repertoire of cellular factors involved in the replication of pathogenic alphaviruses. To uncover molecular regulators of alphavirus infection, and to identify candidate drug targets, we performed a high-content imaging-based siRNA screen. We revealed an actin-remodeling pathway involving Rac1, PIP5K1- α, and Arp3, as essential for infection by pathogenic alphaviruses. Infection causes cellular actin rearrangements into large bundles of actin filaments termed actin foci. Actin foci are generated late in infection concomitantly with alphavirus envelope (E2) expression and are dependent on the activities of Rac1 and Arp3. E2 associates with actin in alphavirus-infected cells and co-localizes with Rac1–PIP5K1-α along actin filaments in the context of actin foci. Finally, Rac1, Arp3, and actin polymerization inhibitors interfere with E2 trafficking from the trans-Golgi network to the cell surface, suggesting a plausible model in which transport of E2 to the cell surface is mediated via Rac1- and Arp3-dependent actin remodeling.
Delayed Presentation of an Extracranial Internal Carotid Artery Pseudoaneurysm and Massive Epistaxis Secondary to a Nasal Foreign Body: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Background Epistaxis is a very common medical condition and can often be controlled with conservative measures. Rarely, uncontrolled and life-threatening epistaxis can occur. Case Description We present the case of a 58-year-old man who developed delayed, massive epistaxis caused by an extracranial left internal carotid artery pseudoaneurysm caused by an intranasal foreign object without apparent recent trauma. The patient was successfully treated with endovascular stenting of the affected vessel segment. Conclusions Massive epistaxis is a potentially lethal condition. Although the source uncommonly originates from the internal carotid artery, pseudoaneurysm rupture needs to be considered on the differential diagnosis in selected patients. This case illustrates the need for vigilance for the presence of foreign objects and/or vessel injuries in the setting of acute, massive epistaxis. Additionally, we describe treatment options and review the literature.
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist versus human chorionic gonadotropin as a trigger of ovulation in polycystic ovarian disease gonadotropin hyperstimulated cycles.

Objective To compare the use of GnRH agonist (GnRH-a) versus hCG in triggering the follicular rupture in patients with polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD) in whom ovulation was induced by gonadotropins. Design Polycystic ovarian disease gonadotropin hyperstimulated cycles outcome was investigated in a prospective study. Patients and Interventions Thirty-three PCOD patients (40cycles) with gonadotropin-induced mild to moderate degree of ovarian hyperstimulation received 5,000IU IM hCG or 200g SC GnRH-a. A subgroup of GnRH-a-treated patients received P for luteal support. Five GnRH-a-treated patients underwent a GnRH test during luteal phase. Main Outcome Measures Echographic and endocrine characteristics both during the therapy and the luteal phase. Results There was a similar percentage of ovulation and pregnancy rate in both groups of patients. The ovarian enlargement during the luteal phase in the GnRH-a-treated patients was lower than in the hCG group. Progesterone plasma levels (at midluteal phase) and the length of luteal phase was significantly lower in GnRH-a-treated patients with respect to the hCG-treated group. These differences disappeared in patients receiving luteal support. After GnRH injection, LH secretion decreased in GnRH-a-treated patients with respect to controls; however, corpus luteum was able to respond with a normal increase of P production. Conclusion The GnRH-a appears to be an effective alternative to hCG for inducing the follicular rupture in stimulated cycles in women who are at risk for developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. However, GnRH-a administration can induce short luteal phase. This defect may be ascribed to the pituitary desensitization rather than to a direct effect on corpus luteum. Luteal phase support is needed to prevent luteal phase deficiency.
Orthodontics and the temporomandibular joint.

Abstract A review of the multiple factors involved in temporomandibular joint function and dysfunction, together with research findings that suggest a minor role for occlusal modification in the management of myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome associated with the temporomandibular joint. Read at the Conference on the Temporomandibular Joint sponsored by the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation in Dallas, Texas, January, 1981.
Further studies on ribosome unfolding: The reversible release of 5-S RNA☆

Abstract 1. The release of 5-S RNA during unfolding of the 50-S ribosomal subunit of Escherichia coli and its reassociation with the unfolded ribosome has been examined. 2. Exposure of ribosomes to 0.5–1.0 M NH4Cl, at Mg2+ concentrations of 0.1 mM or lower, results in a partial unfolding of the nucleoprotein particles; 50-S and 30-S subunits are converted to 40-S (38–42-S) and 25-S (24–26-S) components, respectively. 3. As a result of this unfolding, 85–90 % of the 5-S RNA is released from the 50-S ribosomal subunit together with 4–7 ribosomal proteins. 4. The detachment of both 5-S RNA and ribosomal proteins is reversible. When NH4Cl-treated ribosomes are refolded by dialysis against 10 mM Mg2+, the 5-S RNA and proteins released at high salt concentrations reassociate with the ribosomal particles. 5. Reattachment of 5-S RNA to 50-S subunits requires the ribosomal protein fraction released by NH4Cl. The reassociation is specific for 5-S RNA; little tRNA is bound to the ribosomes under these conditions.
Numerical evidence for a chiral spin liquid in the XXZ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice at m =2/3 magnetization

We perform an exact-diagonalization study of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XXZ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice at finite magnetization $m=\frac{2}{3}$ with an emphasis on the $XY$ point $({J}_{z}=0)$ and in the presence of a small chiral term. Recent analytic work by Kumar et al. [K. Kumar, K. Sun, and E. Fradkin, Phys. Rev. B 90, 174409 (2014)] on the same model, using a newly developed flux attachment transformation, predicts a plateau at this value of the magnetization described by a chiral spin liquid (CSL) with a spin Hall conductance of ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{xy}=\frac{1}{2}$. Such a state is topological in nature, has a ground-state degeneracy, and exhibits fractional excitations. We analyze the degeneracy structure in the low-energy manifold, identify the candidate topological states, and use them to compute the modular matrices and Chern numbers, all of which strongly agree with expected theoretical behavior for the ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{xy}=\frac{1}{2}$ CSL. In the limit of zero chirality, we find on most (not all) clusters that the topological invariants are still those of a CSL.
Usability evaluation of touchless mouse based on infrared proximity sensing

In this work, we examined a touchless mouse, which is a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) device for non-contact gesture inputs to a computer system. The touchless or T-less mouse is used by moving a finger without touching any device or surface. We evaluated it according to the guidelines and testing procedures for evaluating computer pointing devices. Via data collection and statistical techniques, the T-less mouse was compared to a conventional mouse. The results indicated that the average completion time with the T-less mouse is longer than that with a conventional mouse. The number of errors with the T-less mouse were not significantly higher than that with a conventional mouse. A majority of the participants indicated that the T-less mouse could be a useful alternative in special situations in which a conventional mouse cannot be used.
Bioterror defense and its impact on the clinical laboratory.

1. Isaac D Montoya, PhD CHS CLS 1. College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, 3104 Edloe, Suite 330, Houston TX 77027-6022. (713) 439-0210. (imontoya{at}uh.edu) Top government and public health officials have reported that the United States' investment of $20 billion in bioterrorism preparedness since 2001 has left the US dolefully unprepared to respond to a bioterrorism attack. Critics such as Irwin Redlener from the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University contend that bioterrorism preparedness programs are not operated in an effective manner, thus wasting billions of dollars. Bioterrorism preparedness is the primary responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The department's responsibilities include stocking antibiotics, sharing information among laboratories and hospitals, and assisting communities in response in the event of an emergency. This is an overwhelming responsibility even for the federal government. While the government has made advances in addressing this responsibility, problems exist with some of these efforts. For example, a national stockpile of medical equipment and supplies has been amassed and can be delivered to any city within 12 hours of an attack. Unfortunately, once the cities receive the supplies they have not developed the infrastructure to deliver these supplies to their citizens in a time frame that would save lives. While the location and exact contents of the stockpile are secret, DHHS reports that there is enough smallpox vaccine for every US resident and enough antibiotics to treat 60 million people who might be exposed the most viral form of anthrax. In 2003 President Bush announced an initiative titled Project BioShield. The project is a $5.6 billion research effort intended to spur the development of vaccines…
Paradoxes of Autonomy; Or, Why Won't The Problem of Artistic Justification Go Away?

L'A. souleve la question meta-esthetique de la persistence d'un debat axiologique sur la justification de l'art dans l'histoire de l'esthetique occidentale de Platon au postmodernisme. Soulignant la nature conceptuelle de la dialectique de l'instrumentalisme et de l'autonomisme, d'une part, et examinant le paradoxe de l'autonomie en reference a Kant, d'autre part, l'A. met en evidence les presupposes epistemologiques, anthropologiques et metaphysiques du debat sur la valeur et l'explication artistiques, dont la culture philosophique reste prisonniere au sens de Wittgenstein.
Test Report for NG Sensors GTX-1000

This report describes initial testing of the NG Sensor GTX-1000 natural gas monitoring system. This testing showed that the retention time, peak area stability and heating value repeatability of the GTX-1000 were promising for natural gas measurements in the field or at the well head. The repeatability can be less than 0.25% for LHV and HHV for the Airgas standard tested in this report, which is very promising for a first generation prototype. Ultimately this system should be capable of 0.1% repeatability in heating value at significant size and power reductions compared with competing systems.
Effects of rock mineralogy and pore structure on stress-dependent permeability of shale samples.

We conducted pulse-decay permeability experiments on Utica and Permian shale samples to investigate the effect of rock mineralogy and pore structure on the transport mechanisms using a non-adsorbin...
A theoretical model for the porosity–permeability relationship

Abstract An analytical permeability model is proposed for incompressible flow in porous media. Based on a general non-equilibrium thermodynamic stability theory, the model is derived from maximizing the entropy production rate to achieve a stable system. The resulting formula is in a form similar to previous empirical equations, but with calculable coefficients. Both three-dimensional lid-driven cavity and cubicle natural convection problems have been computed, via a modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, for numerical investigations of its performance.
Does anion-cation organization in Na+-containing X-ray crystal structures relate to solution interactions in inhomogeneous nanoscale environments: Sodium-decavanadate in solid state materials, minerals, and microemulsions

Abstract Bonding is commonly examined in the solid state and determined by placement of atoms and molecules. Bonding in solution is equally important but much less accessible because these systems are more fluid and thus difficult to characterize the exact bonding motifs. This paper gleans information from the bonding in solid-state structures including more complex mineral systems with varying microenvironments to the bonding within inhomogeneous solutions at the nanoscale. The analysis for the solid state uses structurally well-described anion systems combined with a range of cations and their association in the solid state of both synthetic and naturally-occurring materials, minerals. Detailed solid-state structural information is available on the >180 decavanadate structures reported, however, because the structures will be compared with aqueous nanodroplets of dissolved decavanadate captured within reverse micelles, the abundant Na+ cations stabilizing the reverse micellar interface formed with anionic surfactant focuses the current comparison to Na+-containing materials. As a result the structures observed for the Na+-containing decavanadate materials led to identification of the Na+-containing subclusters and the information is used to provide information on the decavanadate in nanosized water droplets found when a decavanadate anion associating with an Na+ interface in a bis-2-ethylhexyl-sulfosuccinate (AOT) reverse micelles.
Automated data in transit: Recent developments and applications

The growing adoption of automated data collection systems in the transit industry, such as automated fare-collection (AFC) and automated vehicle location (AVL), is providing operators with extensive data about the state of the system and its usage by passengers. The paper proposes a framework for using automated data to support the various functions, both planning and real time, and demonstrates its use with two examples of recent developments: a) using AFC and AVL data from metro systems with entry and exit transactions to assign passengers to the itinerary they actually used on a particular day; and b) a predictive decision support platform with real time prediction of passenger demand in terms of station arrivals and OD flows, and its use for platform and train crowding prediction.
Rethinking NoCs for Spatial Neural Network Accelerators

Applications across image processing, speech recognition, and classification heavily rely on neural network-based algorithms that have demonstrated highly promising results in accuracy. However, such algorithms involve massive computations that are not manageable in general purpose processors. To cope with this challenge, spatial architecture-based accelerators, which consist of an array of hundreds of processing elements (PEs), have emerged. These accelerators achieve high throughput exploiting massive parallel computations over the PEs; however, most of them do not focus on on-chip data movement overhead, which increases with the degree of computational parallelism, and employ primitive networks-on-chip (NoC) such as buses, crossbars, and meshes. Such NoCs work for general purpose multicores, but lack scalability in area, power, latency, and throughput to use inside accelerators, as this work demonstrates. To this end, we propose a novel NoC generator that generates a network tailored for the traffic flows within a neural network, namely scatters, gathers and local communication, facilitating accelerator design. We build our NoC using an array of extremely lightweight microswitches that are energy- and area-efficient compared to traditional on-chip routers. We demonstrate the performance, area, and energy of our micro-switch based networks for convolutional neural network accelerators.
Timing performance of two PET detector designs capable of time-of-flight and depth-of-interaction measurement: Phoswich and offset crystal layers

PET detectors capable of measuring 511 keV photon time-of-fight (TOF) and depth-of-interaction (DOI) can improve resulting image quality and accuracy. In this work, we studied the timing performance of two TOF-DOI PET detector designs: (1) phoswich and (2) offset crystal arrays. The phoswich detector comprises a 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 element made from a 3 × 3 × 10 mm3 LYSO:Ce crystal with 42 ns decay time optically epoxied to a 3 × 3 × 10 mm3 calcium co-doped LSO:Ce,Ca(0.4%) crystal with 33 ns decay time. The offset crystal block comprises a 4 × 4 array of 3 × 3 × 10 mm3 LYSO crystals in the bottom layer and a 4 × 3 array of LYSO crystals of the same size in the top layer. The top array is offset by half pixel pitch from the bottom array. The coincidence timing resolution for photopeak events acquired by two opposing phoswich detectors ranges from 164.6 ± 0.9 ps to 183.1 ± 4.2 ps FWHM, depending on the interaction layer combinations between two identical, dual layer elements. The coincidence timing resolution for photopeak events acquired by the offset crystal layers against a reference detector comprising a single 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 LYSO crystal ranges from 177.8 ps to 272.6 ps FWHM and averaged to 219.7 ± 35.5 ps FWHM. These results show that both designs are capable of TOF and DOI measurement.
Fitting in: The Joys and Challenges of Being an Indian Woman in America

This paper attempts to explore the joys and challenges of a diasporic Indian women who chose to live in the US after marriage. It also engages the research done by Avtar Brah who shows how political contexts in the adopted countries shape South Asian women’s struggles when they try to fit in. This paper would also bring in this dialogue the issue of subjectivity formation explored in the research of Deleuze and Guattari which often shape the way Indian women in the US try to assimilate in the American society. Finally it also complicates the idea of ‘home’ that women settling down in the US feel about their homeland, India. This idea is akin to what Minnie Pratt calls a place of ‘forced subservience’ that hides forms of repression, exploitation, and violence which one may not be conscious of till it comes flooding in when contexts change in a diasporic situation. Much of this paper will be autobiographical but would also include the results of a survey that was done on about fifteen women spanning three generations of Indian diasporic women living in and near Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.
Primary and Rescue Endoluminal Vacuum Therapy in the Management of Esophageal Perforations and Leaks.

Background: To investigate the efficacy of primary and rescue endoluminal vacuum (EVAC) therapy in the treatment of esophageal perforations and leaks. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of a prospectively gathered, Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved database of EVAC therapy patients at our center from July 2013 to September 2016. Results: In all, 13 patients were treated for esophageal perforations or leaks. Etiologies included iatrogenic injury (n = 8), anastomotic leak (n = 2), Boerhaave syndrome (n = 1), and bronchoesophageal fistula (n = 2). In total, 10 patients underwent primary treatment and three were treated with rescue therapy. Mean Perforation Severity Scores (PSSs) in the primary and rescue treatment groups were 7 and 10, respectively. Average defect size was 2.4 (range: 0.5–6) cm. The rescue group had a shorter mean time to defect closure (25 vs. 33 days). In all, 12 of 13 defects healed. One death occurred following the implementation of comfort care. One therapy-specific complication occurred. Hospital length of stay (LOS) was longer in the rescue group (72 vs. 53 days); however, the intensive care unit (ICU) duration was similar between groups. Totally, 10 patients (83%) resumed an oral diet after successful defect closure. Conclusion: Utilized as either a primary or rescue therapy, EVAC therapy appears to be beneficial in the management of esophageal perforations or leaks.
Infrastructure for Crisis-2000

Either nature-caused and man-made disasters seem to be occurring more frequently and are more severe, or our communication technology has advanced considerably and we are made aware more quickly and completely of disasters happening everywhere in the world. Such disasters can cause a large number of injured, dead and homeless. Some disasters are small and can be handled by the local authorities. On the other hand, some of them may be large in magnitude and spread over large geographical areas and therefore require coordination by authorities in many localities, as well as authorities of county, region, state and country levels - as in the case of very large earthquakes, coordinated worldwide distributed terrorist activities, etc.
Absence of terminal transferase may predict failure of remission induction in childhood ALL.

Two children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), whose lymphoblasts lacked terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) by both enzyme and fluorescent antibody assay, responded poorly or not at all to vincristine and prednisone. Both patients had high presenting white counts and mixed L1-L2 morphology. Lymphoblasts from one patient, an adolescent boy with a mediastinal mass, possessed surface membrane receptors for sheep red cells (E) and for complement (EAC) and had elevated adenosine deaminase activity (ADA). Lymphoblasts from a 2.5-yr- old boy without a mediastinal mass did not form E or EAC rosettes and did not express the la-like antigen or carry surface immunoglobulin. The poor response to therapy and absence of TdT were associated with a lymphoblast phenotype suggestive of a highly differentiated T-cell- derived line in one instance and an undifferentiated cell in the other instance. It is postulated that absence of TdT may predict poor therapeutic efficacy of vincristine and prednisone in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood. The absence of TdT may correlate with other developmental characteristics of lymphoblasts, such as altered function or low numbers of glucocorticoid receptors or resistance to lysis by steroid drugs. Determination of many parameters of lymphoblast phenotype at diagnosis to characterize the nature of the malignant cells more precisely may ultimately enhance our understanding of, and improve therapy for, the group of leukemic children who fail to respond to standard regimens.
Effect of Hypernatremia on Outcomes After severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Nationwide Inpatient Sample analysis.

Objective Induced hypernatremia is frequently used to reduce intracranial pressure in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). This technique is controversial, and some studies have independently associated hypernatremia with worse outcomes after TBI. We sought to investigate this potential association in a large healthcare database. Methods The Nationwide Inpatient Sample was used to obtain data on all adults who had been discharged from 2002 to 2011 with a primary diagnosis of TBI who required mechanical ventilation, intracranial pressure monitoring, or craniotomy/craniectomy. Patients with diabetes insipidus were excluded. The patients with hypernatremia were assigned to the hypernatremia group, and the rest were assigned to the control group. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, and the secondary outcomes included the length of stay, nonroutine hospital discharge, total hospital charges, tracheostomy, and gastrostomy placement. Results A total of 85,579 patients without a diagnosis of hypernatremia (control group) and 4542 patients with a diagnosis of hypernatremia (hypernatremia group) were identified. When controlling for age, comorbidities, gender, and cerebral edema, hypernatremia was associated with an increased rate of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 1.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.39–1.65), a longer mean length of stay (23.65 vs. 12.12 days; P Conclusions Hypernatremia was associated with poorer outcomes in patients with severe TBI. This finding warrants further investigation in a prospective, randomized study.
Abstract 4373: AR signaling in concert with PP2A/B regulates YAP1 expression in prostate cancer cells

The transcriptional coactivator YAP1 is a key nuclear effector of the Hippo pathway. STK4/MST1 and LATS1/2 are the core kinase components of the Hippo pathway, which restricts organ size and prevents tumorigenesis by attenuating cell proliferation and inducing cell death. Previously, we have reported that STK4/Hippo-YAP1 signaling could play a critical role in prostate cancer progression and therapeutic relapse. Here, we investigated the effects of androgen hormone signaling on YAP1 expression and post-transcriptional modifications in prostate cancer cells. We demonstrated that androgen exposure reduced Ser127 phosphorylation on YAP1 in a time-dependent manner in the castration-sensitive prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP, but without altering the levels of YAP1-Ser127 phosphorylation in the C4-2 cell line, a castration-resistant subline of LNCaP cells. As demonstrated by imaging and cell fractionation methods, androgen exposure promoted the nuclear accumulation of YAP1 in LNCaP; however, regardless of androgen exposure, YAP1 was accumulated in the nucleus of C4-2 cells. In addition, we demonstrated that androgen exposure reduced YAP1-Ser127 phosphorylation that was induced by okadaic acid, a potent activator of Ser/Thr phosphatases PP1 and PP2A. Also, we demonstrated that androgen exposure increased PP2A/B protein expression. Moreover, reduction of phospho-Ser127-YAP1 was correlated with increases in total YAP1 protein, which coincided with androgen receptor (AR) nuclear accumulation by androgen. Consistent with these observation, the genetic (siRNA) or the pharmacologic (enzalutamide) inhibition of AR signaling attenuated the expression of YAP1 protein. Furthermore, our analysis of the publicly available TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) set indicated that YAP1 and AR mRNA expressions were positively correlated in prostate clinical samples. These observations suggest that YAP1 is a direct target of androgen hormone signaling, implicating that the AR-PP2A/B-YAP1 axis is a viable cancer drug target. Citation Format: Bekir Cinar, Carlos S. Moreno. AR signaling in concert with PP2A/B regulates YAP1 expression in prostate cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4373.
Applying Multi-qubit Correction to Frustrated Cluster Loops on an Adiabatic Quantum Computer.

The class of problems represented by frustrated cluster loops, FCL, is a robust set of problems that spans a wide range of computational difficulty and that are easy to determine what their solutions are. Here, we use frustrated cluster loops to test the relative performance of the D-Wave without post-processing and the D-Wave with multi-qubit correction (MQC) post-processing. MQC post-processing has shown itself exceptionally beneficial in improving the performance of the D-Wave 2000Q when processing difficult FCL problems.
Physical Education Teachers' Contributions to Guidance in Minnesota Secondary Schools

Abstract The objectives of this study were to determine the assigned ranks of general problem areas based on frequency of occurrence, the specific kinds of student problems encountered within the areas, the frequency with which specific problems were encountered, and the extent to which physical education teachers participated in more formal guidance activities. A total of 691 (77%) of 897 questionnaires were returned. The findings showed that students do come to their physical education teachers with a great variety of problems, and that a large percentage of physical education teachers carry responsibilities in connection with the more formal guidance activities of the school.
Beyond big data: Social media challenges and opportunities for understanding social perception of energy

Abstract Social perception, i.e., public advocacy and sentiment, on various energy issues deeply affects our energy future. This type of information is traditionally collected through structured energy surveys and statistics, which is often cost-formidable and labor-intensive. As free communication platforms with massive amounts of public opinions, social media can be used as a new lens for examining the dynamics of social perception towards both fossil and renewable energy. Compared with energy surveys, the analytics of social media leverage crowd-sourced public opinions instead of those from a directed and targeted audience. Based on a preliminary pilot study, we compare Twitter-based data mining results with a recent survey in three regions with different historic ties to fossil and renewable energy. We identify the critical issues associated with social advocacy and sentiment over energy development and consumption, and summarize policy implications. Furthermore, we discuss opportunities and challenges of using social media for understanding energy-related public perception. We conclude that more social media research on energy-related perception may lead to an in-depth understanding of polarized social perception, social contexts of energy policies, and possible strategies of bridging the gaps in and expanding the energy market.
The role of the right prefrontal cortex in recognition of facial emotional expressions in depressed individuals: fNIRS study.

Abstract Background Depressed individuals often perceive neutral facial expressions as emotional. Neurobiological underpinnings of this effect remain unclear. We investigated the differences in prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation in depressed individuals vs. healthy controls (HC) during recognition of emotional and neutral facial expressions using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Method In Experiment 1, 33 depressed individuals and 20 HC performed the Emotion Intensity Rating task in which they rated intensity of facial emotional expressions. In Experiment 2, a different set of participants (18 depressed individuals and 16 HC) performed the same task while their PFC activation was measured using fNIRS. Results Both experiments showed that depressed individuals were slower and less accurate in recognizing neutral, but not happy or fearful, facial emotional expressions. Experiment 2 revealed that lower accuracy for neutral facial emotional expressions was associated with lower right PFC activation in depressed individuals, but not HC. In addition, depressed individuals, compared to HC, had lower right PFC activation during recognition of happy facial expressions. Limitations Relatively small sample size Conclusions Recognition of neutral facial expressions is impaired in depressed individuals. Greater impairment corresponds to lower right PFC activation during neutral face processing. Recognition of happy facial expressions is comparable for depressed individuals and HC, but the former have significantly lower right PFC activation. Taken together, these findings suggest that the ability of depressed individuals to discriminate neutral and emotional signals in the environment may be affected by aberrant functioning of right PFC.
Review of soil salinity assessment for agriculture across multiple scales using proximal and/or remote sensors

Abstract Mapping and monitoring soil spatial variability is particularly problematic for temporally and spatially dynamic properties such as soil salinity. The tools necessary to address this classic problem only reached maturity within the past 2 decades to enable field- to regional-scale salinity assessment of the root zone, including GPS, GIS, geophysical techniques involving proximal and remote sensors, and a greater understanding of apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) and multi- and hyper-spectral imagery. The concurrent development and application of these tools have made it possible to map soil salinity across multiple scales, which back in the 1980s was prohibitively expensive and impractical even at field scale. The combination of ECa-directed soil sampling and remote imagery has played a key role in mapping and monitoring soil salinity at large spatial extents with accuracy sufficient for applications ranging from field-scale site-specific management to statewide water allocation management to control salinity within irrigation districts. The objective of this paper is: (i) to present a review of the geophysical and remote imagery techniques used to assess soil salinity variability within the root zone from field to regional scales; (ii) to elucidate gaps in our knowledge and understanding of mapping soil salinity; and (iii) to synthesize existing knowledge to give new insight into the direction soil salinity mapping is heading to benefit policy makers, land resource managers, producers, agriculture consultants, extension specialists, and resource conservation field staff. The review covers the need and justification for mapping and monitoring salinity, basic concepts of soil salinity and its measurement, past geophysical and remote imagery research critical to salinity assessment, current approaches for mapping salinity at different scales, milestones in multi-scale salinity assessment, and future direction of field- to regional-scale salinity assessment.
Temperature profiling of open- and closed-doored produce cases in retail grocery stores

Abstract Temperature control of produce in the retail environment is essential to reduce food safety risks, maintain quality, and reduce food waste. Previous studies have demonstrated that retrofitting or replacing open display cases doors results in better control of temperature and humidity. However, there are no studies to date that comprehensively evaluate temperature profiles in cases with and without doors in actual retail store environments. Twenty-five open and closed refrigerated display cases in ten retail stores in five states were monitored for temperature and humidity over 9 months. Sensors recorded data every 2 min at eight positions (top, middle, bottom and under the bottom bin, in the front and back locations of each shelf). There were significant differences between open and closed cases, retailers, and sensor position in display cases on temperature and relative humidity (p 5 °C) for the longest duration (35.7% of total time observed) of allow locations measured. Temperatures and abuse conditions above 5 °C were not significantly different between front and back positions in the cases. The range of temperature and RH variability was reduced following door installation. With changes in display case technology over the past five years, this study provides updated data on operational temperatures in display cases before and after retrofitting with doors. It also provides evidence of the importance of temperature monitoring within display cases to ensure abusive conditions do not persist.
113 – Prototheca Krüger

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on Prototheca genus and its member species. The colonies of this genus are yeastlike, although budding is absent. Reproduction takes place through the formation of a variable number of sporangiospores within a sporangium. The sporangiospores are released through a split in the sporangial wall and usually disperse. The reproductive morphology is similar to that of Chlorella and is the basis for a presumptive phylogenetic relationship to the algae; however, Prototheca lacks plastids or vestigial plastids. The sporangium is nearly spherical, or an enlarged version of the sporangiospore. The sporangiospores are usually spherical or ellipsoidal, but reniform and falcate strains occur. The member species of this genus include Prototheca moriformis, Prototheca stagnora, Prototheca ulmea, and Prototheca wickerhamii. The cells of Prototheca moriformis, after undergoing growth on Prototheca isolation medium (PIM) for 5–10 days, are encapsulated, resulting in a slimy, glistening, mucoid to viscoelastic, translucent to white colony. Newly released sporangiospores are spherical, or more frequently ellipsoidal. The cells of Prototheca stagnora, after undergoing growth on PIM for 5–10 days, become encapsulated, resulting in a slimy, glistening, translucent to whitish colony. In addition to PIM, P. stagnora grows on other media, such as Sabouraud's medium, and in such cases, no significant differences (except the development of a variable tan colony pigment in old cultures) in the colony type or cell morphology on other media are noted.
The So-What? Making Sense of It All

This chapter will synthesize the recommendations to assist practitioners in putting it all together. Perspectives on the implications of the toxin handling role on the HR profession and ways the function may need to change to minimize the toxic emotions occurring with such regularity in the workplace are explored. Takeaways for Practitioners An understanding about the key actions they can take to minimize organizational toxicity and assist employees deal with toxic emotions Insights into how toxin handlers can impact their respective functions to minimize the toxicity that is so frequently associated with organizational actions Clarity about how important their work is not only to employees directly, but also to the effectiveness of their organizations
Letter: Charged Black Hole Solutions in Einstein-Born-Infeld Gravity with a Cosmological Constant

We construct black hole solutions to Einstein-Born-Infeld gravity with a cosmological constant. Since an elliptic function appears in the solutions for the metric, we construct horizons numerically. The causal structure of these solutions differs drastically from their counterparts in Einstein-Maxwell gravity with a cosmological constant. The charged de-Sitter black holes can have up to three horizons and the charged anti-de Sitter black hole can have one or two depending on the parameters chosen.
Calcium pyrophosphate deposition and crowned dens syndrome

Patients are typically over age 65, often with significant leukocytosis and dramatically elevated inflammatory markers.