cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Certain cardiovascular effects of vasopressin (Pitressin)

Abstract Pitressin was administered intravenously in doses of 0.1 to 1 unit per kilogram of body weight either at once or during a period of thirty minutes to dogs which were anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium. Cardiac output was determined by application of the Fick principle. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures at various points in the heart or pulmonary vessels were recorded by means of strain gauges connected to cardiac catheters. Another strain gauge recorded the blood pressure from a needle inserted into the femoral artery. The blood flow was recorded in heparinized animals from one or both femoral arteries by use of bubble flowmeters. Administration of Pitressin produced definite reduction in cardiac rate, consumption of oxygen, venous content of oxygen and cardiac output. Sometimes the heart became arrhythmic, and extrasystoles appeared soon after injection of Pitressin. Initially, transient increases were noted in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the femoral artery. This was soon followed by increases in the systolic and diastolic pressures in the pulmonary artery, in the wedge pressure in the small pulmonary vessels, and in pressures in the left atrium, while pressures in the femoral artery decreased to less than control values and the pulse pressure was much reduced. Administration of Pitressin produced great reduction in femoral blood flow.
Advances in the development of novel aggrecanase inhibitors

Importance of the field: Aggrecanases are members of a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin motif family of zinc metalloproteases involved in the cleavage of aggrecan fragments in cartilage. Inhibition of aggrecanase activity in osteoarthritis (OA) patients should both provide symptomatic relief of OA pain as well as OA disease modification. Areas covered in this review: This article reviews patent applications containing compounds claimed to have aggrecanase inhibitory activity which were published from 2005 through August 2010. What the reader will gain: Readers will be informed of the different classes of disclosed aggrecanase inhibitors and gain an understanding of how these series interact with the various components of the catalytic sites of these enzymes. Take home message: Patenting in the area of aggrecanase inhibitors has been modest. Most of the patented chemical matter are lipophilic, acidic compounds with molecular mass (MM) > 400: properties that usually do not imbue good syst...
The effect of interfacial tension gradients on the flow structure of single drops or bubbles translating in an electric field

Stream functions, interfacial velocities, and terminal velocities are computed for spherical drops or bubbles supporting interfacial tension gradients and translating in creeping flow in an electric field imposed in the direction of translation. In particular, the case in which a trace of surfactant is present is considered, and it is found that such material may produce quasi-stagnant zones along the interface either near the poles or the equator. Terminal velocities may be either increased or decreased relative to the value obtained in the absence of the electric field.
Investment and cashflow: New evidence

We study the investment-cashflow sensitivities of U.S. firms from 1971–2009. Our tests extend the literature in several key ways and provide strong evidence that cashflow explains investment beyond its correlation with q. In simple OLS regressions, a dollar of currentand prior-year cashflow is associated with $0.53 of additional investment for firms that are the least likely to be constrained and $0.67 for firms that are the most likely to be constrained. Investment-cashflow sensitivities for the two groups drop to a conservatively estimated but still significant 0.32 and 0.63, respectively, after correcting for measurement error in M/B. Our results suggest that financing constraints and free cashflow problems are important for investment decisions.
Narcissism and Self-Insight A Review and Meta-Analysis of Narcissists’ Self-Enhancement Tendencies

The current article reviews the narcissism-self-enhancement literature using a multilevel meta-analytic technique. Specifically, we focus on self-insight self-enhancement (i.e., whether narcissists perceive themselves more positively than they are perceived by others); thus, we only include studies that compare narcissists' self-reports to observer reports or objective measures. Results from 171 correlations reported in 36 empirical studies (N = 6,423) revealed that the narcissism-self-enhancement relationship corrected for unreliability in narcissism was .21 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [.17, .25]), and that narcissists tend to self-enhance their agentic characteristics more than their communal characteristics. The average corrected relationship between narcissism and self-enhancement for agentic characteristics was .29 (95% CI = [.25, .33]), whereas for communal characteristics it was .05 (95% CI = [-.01, .10]). In addition, we individually summarized narcissists' self-enhancement for 10 different constructs (i.e., the Big Five, task performance, intelligence, leadership, attractiveness, and likeability).
The Strategic Implications of Firm-Specific Incentives - Dissertation Executive Summary

This three paper dissertation explores the strategic implications of firm-specific incentives . i.e. incentives that are more valuable to workers in their focal firms than similar incentives elsewhere. The first paper develops the theory of firm-specific incentives. The second paper uses data from 7770 software developers in 94 companies to show that firms with more firm-specific incentives have lower voluntary turnover rates and offer lower wage increases to workers over time – i.e. they exhibit lower wage-tenure slopes. The third paper uses data from 271 software firms to show that small firms have advantages offering incentives that are inherently firm-specific.
Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation in a Patient with a Mechanical Mitral Valve

Clinicians must be mindful of the left ventricular lead when cannulating the coronary sinus with a decapolar catheter or an ablation catheter. Left atrial catheter ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients with a mechanical mitral valve, when approached carefully, can be performed safely and effectively. Block across linear lines should be confirmed using differential activation and/or differential pacing to decrease risks of proarrhythmias.
Design of Hybrid Energy Storage Systems for Wirelessly Charged Electric Vehicles

Emerging Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technology employed to dynamically charge Electric Vehicles (EVs) has the potential to overcome the limitations of EVs by extending vehicle driving range, making them lighter and less expensive. However, while moving over road-embedded pads during a regular driving and charging routines, the vehicle energy storage system is exposed to short-duration, high- energy bursts delivered from the road-embedded equipment. To manage energy storage and distribution inside a vehicle, a hybrid energy storage system is proposed, consisting of a battery and supercapacitor modules actively connected to an internal DC bus while supplying the inverter-motor drivetrain. Considering the specificity of the wireless charging system as a power delivery infrastructure, as well as the operational constrains of supercapacitor and battery storage units, we formulated the requirements and proposed a new energy management system (EMS). The proposed EMS strategy was verified for selected battery and supercapacitor modules through simulations over the downscaled standardized ECE-15 Urban Drive Cycle (UDC) and for various layouts of wireless charging infrastructure. Simulation results have proved the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid energy storage and superimposed EMS algorithm.
Losing a "nucleus" to gain a cytoplasm.

It has been known for more than 130 years that mammalian red cells lack a nucleus and, thus, differ fundamentally from the red cells of fish, birds, and reptiles that maintain their nucleus caged in a network of intermediate filaments.[1][1] However, the process of erythroblast enucleation has
Accountability and Autonomous Weapons: Much Ado About Nothing?

This purpose of this essay is to critique a 2015 report entitled Mind the Gap: The Lack of Accountability for Killer Robots by Human Rights Watch (HRW) produced with the assistance of the Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC). The HRW/IHRC paper attempted to establish that autonomous weapons should be banned because, they claim, “neither criminal law nor civil law guarantees adequate accountability for individuals directly or indirectly involved in the use of fully autonomous systems.” Contrary to HRW/IHRC assertions, this article maintains that although no one can “guarantee” accountability, there are sufficient legal tools to do so when appropriate; autonomous weapons are not somehow exempted from legal regimes applicable to other weapons or the law of war more generally. This essay will conclude that the weapons are not unlawful, and further argue – as other have – that it is better to develop norms to control these systems than to attempt to ban them outright.
Polycystic ovarian disease and congenital and late-onset adrenal hyperplasia.

This article surveys the congenital and late-onset forms of the common steroidogenic enzyme defects of the adrenal cortex—steroid 21-hydroxylase, steroid lls-hydroxylase, and 3 s-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase deficiencies—in connection with the occurrence of polycystic ovarian disease.
Historical and Archival Documentation for Pioneer Park, Bexar County, San Antonio, Texas

An archival search was conducted to determine the impact of planned modifications to Pioneer Park, located along the east bank of the San Antonio River, near the intersection of Hildebrand Avenue and Broadway in north San Antonio. It was determined that the planned construction would have no impact on archaeological resources. However, if further alterations to the park are planned, monitoring should be considered.
Reflex Epilepsy Induced by “Soroban”, A Japanese Calculator

Three patients with reflex epilepsy and myoclonic jerks of the right arm and fingers precipitated by calculation using a Soroban are reported from the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Osaka University Medical School, Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Japan.
Neurite outgrowth is driven by actin polymerization even in the presence of actin polymerization inhibitors

Actin polymerization is a universal mechanism to drive plasma membrane protrusion in motile cells. One apparent exception to this rule is continuing, or even accelerated outgrowth of neuronal processes in the presence of actin polymerization inhibitors. This fact together with a key role of microtubule dynamics in neurite outgrowth led to the concept that microtubules directly drive plasma membrane protrusion, either in the course of polymerization or motor-driven sliding. Surprisingly, a possibility that unextinguished actin polymerization drives neurite outgrowth in the presence of actin drugs was not explored. We show that cultured hippocampal neurons treated with cytochalasin D or latrunculin B contained dense accumulations of branched actin filaments at ∼50% of neurite tips at all tested drug concentrations (1-10 μM). Actin polymerization was required for neurite outgrowth, because only low concentrations of either inhibitor increased the length and/or a number of neurites, whereas high concentrations inhibited neurite outgrowth. Importantly, neurites undergoing active elongation invariably contained a bright F-actin patch at the tip, whereas actin-depleted neurites never elongated, even though they still contained dynamic microtubules. Stabilization of microtubules by taxol treatment did not stop elongation of cytochalasin d-treated neurites. We conclude that actin polymerization is indispensable for neurite elongation.
Medical Sociology and Case-Based Complexity Science: A User’s Guide

In this chapter, we provide readers with the first formal overview of case-based complexity science and its related methodology, case-based modeling.Case-based modeling, championed largely by [1], constitutes a fifth major method for modeling complex systems, offering itself as an alternative to (and also integration of) agent (rule-based) modeling, dynamical (equation-based) modeling, qualitative (idiographic) modeling, and statistical (aggregate-based) modeling. For us, as medical sociologists, case-based modeling makes sense because, fundamentally, medicine is about the case. Case-based modeling also resonates with our particular practice of acase-based complexity science, which can be defined as a generalist approach, grounded in the epistemological perspectives of Byrne’s complex realism—which we explain later.
Petascale visualization: Approaches and initial results

With the advent of the first petascale supercomputer, Los Alamos's Roadrunner, there is a pressing need to address how to visualize petascale data. The crux of the petascale visualization performance problem is interactive rendering, since it is the most computationally intensive portion of the visualization process. For terascale platforms, commodity clusters with graphics processors (GPUs) have been used for interactive rendering. For petascale platforms, visualization and rendering may be able to run efficiently on the supercomputer platform itself. In this work, we evaluated the rendering performance of multi-core CPU and GPU-based processors. To achieve high-performance on multi-core processors, we tested with multi-core optimized raytracing engines for rendering. For real-world performance testing, and to prepare for petascale visualization tasks, we interfaced these rendering engines with VTK and ParaView. Initial results show that rendering software optimized for multi-core CPU processors provides competitive performance to GPUs for the parallel rendering of massive data. The current architectural multi-core trend suggests multi-core based supercomputers are able to provide interactive visualization and rendering support now and in the future.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening Instruments for Very Young Children: A Systematic Review

Research on ASD in infancy has provided a rationale for developing screening instruments for children from the first year of life to age of 18 months. A comprehensive literature search identified candidate screening tools. Using methodological probe questions adapted from the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS), two Level 1 and three Level 2 screening instruments were reviewed in detail. Research evidence conclusions were that instrument development was in beginning phases, is not yet strong, and requires further development. Clinical recommendations were to continue vigilant developmental and autism surveillance from the first year on but to use the screening instruments per se only for high-risk children rather than for population screening, with considerations regarding feasibility for individual settings, informing caregivers about strengths and weaknesses of the tool, and monitoring new research.
Assessment of operating room airflow using air particle counts and direct observation of door openings

Background The role of the operating room (OR) environment has been thought to contribute to surgical site infection rates. The quality of OR air, disruption of airflow, and other factors may increase contamination risks. We measured air particulate counts (APCs) to determine if they increased in relation to traffic, door opening, and other common activities. Methods During 1 week, we recorded APCs in 5-minute intervals and movement of health care workers. Trained observers recorded information about traffic, door openings, job title of the opener, and the reason for opening. Results At least 1 OR door was open during 47% of all readings. There were 13.4 door openings per hour during cases. Door opening rates ranged from 0.19-0.28 per minute. During this time, a total of 660 air measurements were obtained. The mean APCs were 9,238 particles (95% confidence interval [CI], 5,494- 12,982) at baseline and 14,292 particles (95% CI, 12,382-16,201) during surgery. Overall APCs increased 13% when either door was opened ( P P Conclusions We observed numerous instances of verbal communication and equipment movement. Improving efficiency of communication and equipment can aid in reduction of traffic. Further study is needed to examine links between microbiologic sampling, outcome data, and particulate matter to enable study of risk factors and effects of personnel movement.
Magnetic implants in the tongue for assistive technologies: Tests of migration; oromotor function; and tissue response in miniature pigs.

Abstract Objective Uncertain biological consequences of titanium-magnet (Ti-mag) tongue implants constrain application of the Tongue Drive System (TDS), a brain-tongue-computer interface for individuals with severe physical impairment. Here we describe oromotor function and tongue tissue response following Ti-Mag implantation and explantation in the miniature pig, an animal model with a tongue similar in size to humans. Design A 1.8 × 6.2 mm Ti-mag tracer was implanted into the anterior tongue in five Yucatan minipigs. X-rays were taken immediately and >six days after implantation to evaluate tracer migration. In three minipigs, the tracer was explanted >16 days after implantation. Twenty-five days post-explantation, tongue tissue was harvested and processed for histological and immunohistochemical (IHC) markers of healing. In two minipigs tissue markers of healing were evaluated post-mortem following >12 days implantation. Drink cycle rate (DCR) was characterized to determine the impact of procedures on oromotor function. Results Neither implantation (N = 5) nor explantation (N = 3) changed DCR. X-rays revealed minimal tracer migration (N = 4, 0–4 mm). By histology and IHC a robust capsule was present two weeks post-implantation with limited fibrosis. Explantation produced localized fibrosis and limited muscle remodeling. Conclusions These findings suggest the safety of Ti-mag anterior tongue implants for assistive technologies in humans.
How does an African Polygamist Experience Grace in the Catholic Church? A Hermeneutical Retrieval of Tertullian

This article considers the question of polygamy in the Catholic Church in Africa. Using Tertullian's theology of grace, the author explores key questions that are faced by African polygamists. Asue advocates for a realistic solution to the issue of polygamy in the Church in Africa, which accommodates genuine cases in the Church, without ending up encouraging polygamy altogether.
Setting the Stage for Dissension: Revival in Northampton, Massachusetts and the Dismissal of Jonathan Edwards

The dismissal of Jonathan Edwards is crucial to understanding colonial history and society. Understanding the religious dynamics of Northampton during his tenure provides insight into the evolving structure of New England society only a generation before the American Revolution. Also, viewing the differences in church doctrine between the Connecticut River Valley Revivals, in where Edwards emphasized justification by faith alone, and the Great Awakening, which stressed an emotional experience and a distrust for the traditional church authority of ministers, indicates ways that religion altered how Edwards’ congregation perceived their pastor and their faith.
Free energy and concentration of crystalline vacancies by molecular simulation

We present an approach for evaluating the concentration of vacancy defects in crystalline materials by molecular simulation. The proposed method circumvents the problem of equilibration of the numb...
Separation of Thyroidal Iodoproteins and Purification of Thyroglobulin by Gel Filtration and Density Gradient Centrifugation

Thyroglobulin, the major protein component of normal thyroid glands, contains more than 80% of the thyroidal iodine and has been considered the only source of thyroid hormones (1). Aqueous thyroid extracts contain, besides thyroglobulin, other proteins in variable amounts. Essentially, four methods have been used for the characterization of the various components in such extracts and for the purification of thyroglobulin: salting out, electrophoresis, column chromatography, and ultracentrifugation. Salting out with ammonium sulfate or potassium phosphate (2) is the classical method for preparing thyroglobulin. However, salting out preparations are always contaminated with compounds that sediment faster than thyroglobulin, the 19 S ultracentrifugal component of thyroid extracts (3-5). Electrophoretic methods likewise yield preparations of thyroglobulin known to be heterogeneous when analyzed in the analytical ultracentrifuge (4, 6-9). Column chromatography on DEAEcellulose gives highly purified thyroglobulin (4, 10) but the yield is rather poor. The main disadvant.age of this method is that thyroglobulin itself is fractionated on these columns according to its iodine content. The ultracentrifugally homogeneous fraction obtained by this method has a considerably lower iodine content than the whole thyroglobulin (4, 11-13). Ultracentrifugation is one of the most useful analytical procedures, but preparative moving boundary ultracentrifugation (3) requires multiple runs to obtain good yields of highly purified thyroglobulin. All the methods now available for the purification of thyroglobulin and for the analysis of crude or partially purified thyroid estracts therefore present major shortcomings. The need for suitable methods for the analysis of thyroid extracts, as well as for the preparation of highly purified thyroglobulin, led to the work to be reported here. Methods of fractionation based essentially on molecular size were found to be most useful. Filtration through granulated agar or dextran gel columns was used for the purification of thyroglobulin; ultracentrifugation in a linear density gradient was employed for both analytical and preparative purposes.
Einführung: Prinzipien und historischer Rückblick

In den USA und in Europa erhalt das Gesundheitssystem immer weniger finanzielle Forderung. Unter anderem reduzieren sich auch rehabilitative Leistungen fur Menschen mit erworbener Hirnschadigung. Verscharft wird dieses Problem dadurch, dass bisher keine ausreichenden Wirksamkeitsnachweise fur spezifische Rehabilitations-masnahmen erbracht wurden. Oft fehlen wissenschaftlichen Belege zur Verhinderung politischer Entscheidungen, die sich ausschlieslich an okonomischen Erwagungen und weniger an den Bedurfnissen der Patienten orientieren (Prigatano 1996).
Radiation Probes of Maize Meristems

This paper reviews ways that irradiation of dry seeds in maize can be used to gain information about the stem apex and leaf primordia. For the most part the experiments were originally designed to investigate the biological effectiveness of different kinds of radiation; however, they are discussed here as a means of elucidating properties of meristems. Deuteron microbeam experiments were carried out to study the effect of irradiating only specific parts of the dormant embryo, rather than the whole seed. This was accomplished with a deuteron beam of sufficiently narrow width to localize the irradiation.16 As a consequence, a particular region, primordium or meristematic area could be marked in the embryo by the damage produced or the mutations induced, then traced by effects observed in the developed seedling. The purpose of reporting experiments on comparative responses to x rays vs. neutrons in the context of this conference is to call attention to the consistent and quantitatively predictable performance of the meristem during recovery from various levels of genetic damage inflicted by two different radiation probes of the seed embryo. Observations showing different radiation sensitivities for different embryonic leaves were used to analyze differences in size of nuclei and constituent chromosomal segments in leaf primordial cells.
Role of Class I and Class II Panel Reactive Antibodies in Predicting Post-Heart Transplant Rejection and Survival in the Current Era.

Introduction Patients with elevated panel reactive antibodies (PRA) have longer waitlist times and worse outcomes post-transplant. PRAs are now better characterized with newer detection techniques and are classified as Class I and Class II antibodies. The prognostic role of Class I and Class II antibodies is currently unknown. Hypothesis Elevated Class I and Class II may not have the same prognostic implications. Methods Retrospective analysis of data reported to UNOS/OPTN registry for heart transplants between 2004 and 2015 was performed. All patients over the age of 18 were included in the study. Patients with missing PRA data and those with prior heart transplantation were excluded. Impact of Class I and Class II antibodies on treated rejection at one year and overall long-term survival was evaluated. Results Our cohort consisted of 17, 460 patients; of these 75.1% were male and 24.9% female. The mean age at transplant was 52.8 ±12.6 years. Class I PRA was ≤25% in 15,816 (90.6%) patients and ˃25% in 1600 (9.2%) patients. Class II PRA was ≤ 25% in 16,266 (93.2%) and ˃ 25% in 1121 (6.4%) patients. Multivariate analysis based on predictors identified in univariate analysis showed that recipient age, gender, year of transplantation, HLA mismatch and Class 2 antibodies ˃ 25% were predictive of treated rejection at one year. Similar analysis showed that recipient age, donor age, ischemic time, year of transplantation and Class I antibodies ˃ 25% were predictive of long-term survival ( Figure 1 ). Of these, elevated Class I antibodies was the strongest predictor of mortality with a hazard ratio of 25%. Conclusions Elevated Class I and Class II antibodies impact outcomes very differently. While higher Class II antibodies are associated with increased treated rejection at one year, higher Class I antibodies are associated with increased long-term mortality.
Assessment of Psychometric Properties of an Oral Health Care Measure of Cultural Competence Among Dental Students Using Rasch Partial Credit Model.

Reliability, validity, and feasibility of the only validated oral health care measure of cultural competence, the Knowledge, Efficacy, and Practices Instrument (KEPI), have been confirmed. However, the instrument’s psychometric properties including item and person reliability, category response functioning, and scale targeting, as well as differential scale functioning for subgroups, have not yet been examined. The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of KEPI among dental students using Rasch Partial Credit Model to determine if this model provided broader valid information that cannot be demonstrated according to Classical Test Theory. A total 1,290 dental students in the first or final semester at four U.S. dental schools were invited to participate in the study in 2016. Of those, 1,231 individuals completed the survey, for a 95.4% response rate. The participants were 613 males and 618 females and 889 non-underrepresented minority (URM) and 342 URM students. The Rasch Partial Credit Model assessed the psychometric properties of KEPI’s 20 items/three subscales. Differential scale functioning was found in the Culture-Centered Practice and Efficacy of Assessment subscales. Four items were endorsed differentially by gender; four items were endorsed differentially by URM/non-URM students. This study examined the psychometric properties of the KEPI using Rasch analysis to assess differential item functioning by dental student gender and race. The results provided valid evidence for the high internal reliability, measurement properties, and unidimensionality for the KEPI domains, ideal targeting, and well response category functioning, showing that the KEPI is a reliable instrument for measuring the subscales Knowledge of Diversity, Culture-Centered Practice skills, and Efficacy of Assessment for health care providers.
Oxygen Vacancy Creation Energy in Mn-Containing Perovskites: An Effective Indicator for Chemical Looping with Oxygen Uncoupling

Chemical looping with oxygen uncoupling (CLOU) is a novel process for carbon dioxide capture from coal combustion. Designing a metal oxide oxygen carrier with suitable oxygen release and uptake (re...
Wading through the Muddy Waters of Recovered Memory

The author reviews the professional debate about recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse and addresses conceptual errors, unwarranted assumptions, and factual inaccuracies in Benatar's essay “...
Parameter Generation Algorithms for Text-To-Speech Synthesis with Recurrent Neural Networks

Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) have recently proved to be effective in acoustic modeling for TTS. Various techniques such as the Maximum Likelihood Parameter Generation (MLPG) algorithm have been naturally inherited from the HMM-based speech synthesis framework. This paper investigates in which situations parameter generation and variance restoration approaches help for RNN-based TTS. We explore how their performance is affected by various factors such as the choice of the loss function, the application of regularization methods and the amount of training data. We propose an efficient way to calculate MLPG using a convolutional kernel. Our results show that the use of the L1 loss with proper regularization outperforms any system built with the conventional L2 loss and does not require to apply MLPG (which is necessary otherwise). We did not observe perceptual improvements when embedding MLPG into the acoustic model. Finally, we show that variance restoration approaches are important for cepstral features but only yield minor perceptual gains for the prediction of F0.
A bacterial artificial chromosome library for soybean PI 437654 and identification of clones associated with cyst nematode resistance.

We have constructed a soybean bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library using the plant introduction (PI) 437654. The library contains 73 728 clones stored in 192 384-well microtiter plates. A random sampling of 230 BACs indicated an average insert size of 136 kb with a range of 20 to 325 kb, and less than 4% of the clones do not contain inserts. Ninety percent of BAC clones in the library have an average insert size greater than 100 kb. Based on a genome size of 1115 Mb, library coverage is 9 haploid genome equivalents. Screening the BAC library colony filters with cpDNA sequences showed that contamination of the genomic library with chloroplast clones was low (1.85%). Library screening with three genomic RFLP probes linked to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) resistance genes resulted in an average of 18 hits per probe (range 7 to 30). Two separate pools of forward and reverse suppression subtractive cDNAs obtained from SCN-infected and uninfected roots of PI 437654 were hybridized to the BAC library filters. The 488 BACs identified from positive signals were fingerprinted and analyzed using FPC software (version 4.0) resulting in 85 different contigs. Contigs were grouped and analyzed in three categories: (1) contigs of BAC clones which hybridized to forward subtracted cDNAs, (2) contigs of BAC clones which hybridized to reverse subtracted cDNAs, and (3) contigs of BAC clones which hybridized to both forward and reverse subtracted cDNAs. This protocol provides an estimate of the number of genomic regions involved in early resistance response to a pathogenic attack.
Genetic ancestry does not explain increased atopic dermatitis susceptibility or worse disease control among African American subjects in 2 large US cohorts.

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is more common among African American children. Whether there are racial/ethnic difference among adults with AD and the causes for those disparities are unclear. Objective We sought to examine the relationship between self-reported race/ethnicity and AD and determine whether African genetic ancestry is predictive of these outcomes among African American subjects. Methods We analyzed data from 2 independent multiethnic longitudinal studies: 86,893 subjects aged 18 to 100 years from the Kaiser Permanente Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA) cohort and 5467 subjects aged 2 to 26 years from the national Pediatric Eczema Elective Registry (PEER) cohort. The primary outcomes were physician-diagnosed AD in GERA and repeated measures of self-reported disease control among patients with physician-diagnosed AD at 6-month intervals in PEER. We examined whether self-identified African American race/ethnicity was predictive of these outcomes and then tested whether a continuous measure of African genetic ancestry was associated with outcomes within the African American group. Results AD was more common among self-identified African American subjects than non-Hispanic white subjects in GERA (4.4% vs 2.1%; odds ratio, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.70-2.48) and less well-controlled in PEER subjects (odds of 1-level worse control, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.64-2.22). However, African genetic ancestry was not associated with AD risk or control among self-identified African American subjects in either cohort, nor did an AD polygenic risk score or genetic skin pigment score explain the AD disparities in patients with AD. Conclusion Ancestry-related genetic effects do not explain increased AD prevalence or poorer disease control among African American subjects.
Walking pace is inversely associated with risk of death and cardiovascular disease: The Physicians' Health Study.

Abstract Background Walking pace is increasingly being used to assess functional status in ambulatory settings. Methods We conducted a prospective analysis within the Physicians’ Health Study to examine whether walking pace is associated with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease (fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty). Participants included 21,919 male physicians with a mean age of 67.8 ± 9.0 years. Results After a median follow-up of 9.4 years (IQR: 7.9–10.3), 3906 deaths and 2487 incident CVD events occurred. In a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking, exercise frequency, and prevalent hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, cancer, and total weekly walking time, hazard ratios for mortality were 0.72 (95% CI: 0.64–0.81) for walking pace of 2-2.9mph, 0.63 (95% CI: 0.55–0.73) for walking pace of 3-3.9mph and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.48–0.83) for walking pace of ≥4mph compared to the group that reported not walking regularly (p trend Conclusion We found that walking pace is inversely associated with risk of mortality and CVD among US male physicians.
A Preliminary Strategic Framework for Enhancing the Sustainability of International Technology Transfer: The Case of Libya

International Technology Transfer (ITT) has played a crucial role not only in the industrial growth of developing countries but also in enhancing the competitiveness of their enterprises in the global market. Libya is a North African country that is currently shifting from a strictly petroleum/mineral based economy to a broad-based economy competing with distinct advantages through selecting, planning, and adopting the right technology for the domestic market. This significant transition requires strategic access to global technology transfer. In this paper, a preliminary strategic framework is designed to enhance the sustainability of the ITT process from international donators to the Country of Libya. The research provides a systematic technology transfer process between the donor and recipient, which focuses on ITT challenges in term of barriers and planning. Two principle research questions are proposed to cover these challenges and help to develop a unique strategic framework: What are the most significant barriers for an international technology transfer between developed and developing countries? Moreover, how should the Country of Libya plan strategically to overcome those barriers and achieve sustainable technology receiving and adoption? In this paper, an in-depth literature investigation is used to answer both questions, leading to the development of a sustainable strategic framework that can help improve the ITT process from international donators to the Country of Libya. Additionally, the research highlights recommendations that can help to improve the quality of the technology transfer process itself in an international context.
Learning to Teach Students with Disabilities through Community Service-Learning: Physical Education Preservice Teachers’ Experiences

Currently, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the learning and professional development processes that preservice teachers experience when engaged in community service-learning (CSL) programmes....
Renal Function Parameters and Serum Sodium Enhance Prediction of Wait-List Outcomes in Pediatric Liver Transplantation.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Reliance on exception points to prioritize children for liver transplantation (LT) stems from concerns that the Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) score underestimates mortality. Renal dysfunction and serum sodium disturbances are negative prognosticators in adult LT candidates and various pediatric populations, but are not accounted for in PELD. We retrospectively evaluated the effect of these parameters in predicting 90-day wait-list death/deterioration among pediatric patients (<12 years) listed for isolated LT in the United States between February 2002 and June 2018. APPROACH AND RESULTS Among 4,765 patients, 2,303 (49.3%) were transplanted, and 231 (4.8%) died or deteriorated beyond transplantability within 90 days of listing. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (hazard ratio [HR] 1.09 per 5-unit decrease, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.10) and dialysis (HR 7.24, 95% CI 3.57-14.66) were univariate predictors of 90-day death/deterioration (P < 0.001). The long-term benefit of LT persisted in patients with renal dysfunction, with LT as a time-dependent covariate conferring a 2.4-fold and 17-fold improvement in late survival among those with mild and moderate-to-severe dysfunction, respectively. Adjusting for PELD, sodium was a significant nonlinear predictor of outcome, with 90-day death/deterioration risk increased at both extremes of sodium (HR 1.20 per 1-unit decrease below 137 mmol/L, 95% CI 1.16-1.23; HR per 1-unit increase above 137 mmol/L 1.13, 95% CI 1.10-1.17, P < 0.001). A multivariable model incorporating PELD, eGFR, dialysis, and sodium demonstrated improved performance and superior calibration in predicting wait-list outcomes relative to the PELD score. CONCLUSIONS Listing eGFR, dialysis, and serum sodium are potent, independent predictors of 90-day death/deterioration in pediatric LT candidates, capturing risk not accounted for by PELD. Incorporation of these variables into organ allocation systems may highlight patient subsets with previously underappreciated risk, augment ability of PELD to prioritize patients for transplantation, and ultimately mitigate reliance on nonstandard exceptions.
The effects of total sulfur amino acids on the intestinal health status of broilers challenged with Eimeria spp.

Abstract This study evaluated the effects of total sulfur amino acids (TSAA) levels on the performance and intestinal health of broilers challenged with Eimeria spp. A total of 432 one d-old off-sex Cobb 500 male chicks were randomly assigned to a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement (6 replicates/12 birds), with diets and Eimeria challenge as the main factors. The diets were: 70% (no Met supplementation), 85%, and 100% TSAA, supplemented with L-Met. At d 14, the challenged birds (n = 216) were orally gavaged with a pool of E. acervulina, E. maxima, and E. tenella sporulated oocysts, and the unchallenged birds (n = 216) received water. At 6 and 12 d post infection (dpi), performance and intestinal health were evaluated. The challenge, regardless of diets, significantly impaired the performance, intestinal villi height, villi:crypt ratio, and ileal digestibility of dry matter, energy, and crude protein (CP) and modulated the tight junction protein (TJP) expression throughout the experiment. Moreover, the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was increased, whereas the reduced and oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH:GSSG) was decreased by challenge at 6 dpi. Regardless of challenge, the 70% of TSAA diet reduced the body weight and feed intake in all phases, whereas the ileal digestibility of CP was higher in birds fed 70% than 100% of TSAA at 6 dpi. No major differences were observed among the diets regarding the intestinal histomorphology and TJP expression, and birds fed 100% of TSAA had the highest GSH concentration at 12 dpi. Few interactions were observed, and the Met supplementation counteracted the negative effects of Eimeria challenge on GSH concentration when 85 and 100% of TSAA levels were reached. Overall, the Eimeria challenge had a negative impact on growth and intestinal health. Moreover, the supplementation of L-Met until either 85 or 100% of TSAA levels were reached was enough to assure good performance and intestinal health in birds challenged or not with Eimeria spp.
Spin–orbit torque nano-oscillator with giant magnetoresistance readout

Spin-orbit torque nano-oscillators based on bilayers of ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic metals are ultra-compact current-controlled microwave signal sources. They are attractive for practical applications such as microwave assisted magnetic recording, neuromorphic computing, and chip-to-chip wireless communications. However, a major drawback of these devices is low output microwave power arising from the relatively small anisotropic magnetoresistance of the ferromagnetic layer. Here we experimentally show that the output power of a spin-orbit torque nano-oscillator can be significantly enhanced without compromising its structural simplicity. Addition of a ferromagnetic reference layer to the oscillator allows us to employ current-in-plane giant magnetoresistance to boost the output power of the device. This enhancement of the output power is a result of both large magnitude of giant magnetoresistance compared to that of anisotropic magnetoresistance and their different angular dependencies. Our results hold promise for practical applications of spin-orbit torque nano-oscillators. Spin-orbit torque driven oscillators, such as spin Hall oscillators, form a class of devices that are intensively studied due to potential practical applications in spintronics. Here, the authors modify the conventional ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic stack to include an additional ferromagnetic layer and leverage the giant magnetoresistance effect to enhance the direct conversion of an in-plane driving current into the microwave output signal.
Food Insecurity Among Older Adults: 10-Year National Trends and Associations with Diet Quality.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Food insecurity has emerged as a critical health issue for older adults. Food insecurity has been shown to disrupt healthy eating patterns, but these associations have not been widely studied among older adults. The objectives of the present study were to: (1) examine national trends in food insecurity across a 10-year period, and (2) evaluate the associations between food insecurity and multiple diet quality indices in a recent and nationally representative sample of adults aged 60 or older. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis of the 2007-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. SETTING Nationally representative sample of the United States. PARTICIPANTS The analytic sample was comprised of 5,097 adults aged 60 or older, with household incomes at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. MEASUREMENTS Household food security was measured using the 18-item US Household Food Security Survey Module. Diet was assessed using two 24-hour dietary recalls. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models examined the associations between household food security and three evidence-based diet quality indices, adjusting for sociodemographic and health characteristics. RESULTS Across the 10-year period, food insecurity increased significantly from 5.5% to 12.4% among older adults; this increase was more pronounced among lower-income older adults. From the linear regression models, food insecurity was associated with lower scores on the Healthy Eating Index (β = -1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -3.70, -0.09), the Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (β = -1.47, 95% CI = -2.51, -0.44), and the Mediterranean Diet Score (β = -0.54, 95% CI = -1.06, -0.01) after multivariate adjustment. Further adjustment for the presence of chronic medical conditions did not attenuate these results. CONCLUSION Food insecurity is associated with lower overall diet quality among older adults, supporting the need for clinical efforts to identify those at risk of food insecurity and public health efforts to alleviate food insecurity and promote healthy eating behaviors among older adults.
Cosmetic Surgery: Reviewer Signal-Jamming and Compulsory Embellishment in the Publication Process (Presentation Slides)

These slides correspond to the paper "Cosmetic Surgery in the Academic Review Process" Has the academic review process become excessive? I describe a model in which reviewers who seek reputations with editors for high skill recommend the repair of mere blemishes as well as significant flaws. Reviewer signal-jamming is profitable if editors have trouble distinguishing the two, leading in equilibrium to insistence upon cosmetic surgery. Indeed, if there is a chance that blemishes are unremovable, in equilibrium editor and reviewer demands sometimes cause good papers to remain unpublished. This implies a socially valuable role for active editing. Signal-jamming incentives may especially suppress innovative papers, as well as external verification by means of follow-up papers. This perspective strongly suggests that the increased burden of the review process is undesirable. I offer tentative thoughts about what to do about it. Prepublication version of paper downloadable at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2536064
Guilt, Shame, and Empathy as Predictors of Coping Engagement among United States College Students

College students experience a myriad of stressors in their daily lives. These stressors are associated with negative outcomes for students, both to their academics and well-being. Healthy, effective coping strategies may support students in navigating personal distress. One of the primary aspects of counselling is to help clients develop and apply such strategies. This study aimed to identify intrapersonal factors that predict types of coping strategies. Participants (N = 416) identified as undergraduate college students attending a large public university in the southwestern United States. Results indicated that a problem-focused engagement coping strategy was associated with maladaptive factors such as shame and personal distress. Additionally, a problem-focused engagement coping strategy was predicted by potentially more helpful intrapersonal characteristics including guilt (as a motivator) and two dimensions of empathy. Finally, mean comparisons indicated statistically significant differences between identified gender and coping strategies. Implications for college counsellors are discussed.