cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detrital Floc and Surface Soil Microbial Biomarker Responses to Active Management of the Nutrient Impacted Florida Everglades

Alterations in microbial community composition, biomass, and function in the Florida Everglades impacted by cultural eutrophication reflect a new physicochemical environment associated with monotypic stands of Typha domingensis. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) biomarkers were used to quantify microbial responses in detritus and surface soils in an active management experiment in the eutrophic Everglades. Creation of open plots through removal of Typha altered the physical and chemical characteristics of the region. Mass of PLFA biomarkers increased in open plots, but magnitude of changes differed among microbial groups. Biomarkers indicative of Gram-negative bacteria and fungi were significantly greater in open plots, reflective of the improved oxic environment. Reduction in the proportion of cyclopropyl lipids and the ratio of Gram-positive to Gram-negative bacteria in open plots further suggested an altered oxygen environment and conditions for the rapid growth of Gram-negative bacteria. Changes in the PLFA composition were greater in floc relative to soils, reflective of rapid inputs of new organic matter and direct interaction with the new physicochemical environment. Created open plot microbial mass and composition were significantly different from the oligotrophic Everglades due to differences in phosphorus availability, plant community structure, and a shift to organic peat from marl-peat soils. PLFA analysis also captured the dynamic inter-annual hydrologic variability, notably in PLFA concentrations, but to a lesser degree content. Recently, use of concentration has been advocated over content in studies of soil biogeochemistry, and our results highlight the differential response of these two quantitative measures to similar pressures.
A double‐barreled chemical oscillator

A chemical system, based on the Briggs–Rauscher reaction, which unperturbed undergoes rhythmic activity followed by a long period of iodine production–consumption prior to return of the rhythmic activity, is described. The effect of the various variables on the system is reported.
Health‐Care Data Protection and Biometric Authentication Policies: Comparative Culture and Technology Acceptance in China and in the United States

A proliferation of health information technology (HIT) policies to implement dimensions of e-health, including electronic medical records, electronic health records, personal health records, and e-prescribing—along with expanding initiatives on mobile health in developed countries and emerging technologies—has sparked academic inquiry into the protection of privacy and data and the technology to protect privacy and data. This article examines HIT policies in the United States and in China and the use of authentication technologies to assess biometrics as privacy’s friend or foe in different political frameworks with varying conceptions of privacy. An analysis of privacy in the context of health data protection, challenging relations of trust between patients and providers, the increasing perspective of health data integrity as a cyber-security issue, and the growing rate of medical fraud and medical identity theft may yield findings of a convergence of views of privacy and biometrics unexpected of contrasting political cultures.
Concurrent engineering aspects of software development

Often, the earliest design decisions in product development have significant impact on the operational and support (O&S) aspects of the software product. These support considerations can best be handled concurrently to the planning, requirements definition, and high level design activities. A number of techniques and guidelines are developed in this paper to ensure a focus on reliability and maintainability during the software development process. Some discussion is made of the metrics and measurement of software reliability and maintainability. >
Sustainment of smoking cessation programs in substance use disorder treatment organizations.

INTRODUCTION The majority of individuals who enter substance use disorder (SUD) treatment also use tobacco. Integrating smoking cessation services into SUD treatment may have substantial public health benefits, but few studies have examined whether organizations offering counseling-based smoking cessation programs sustain them over time. METHODS This study examines sustainment of smoking cessation programs using 2 waves of data collected from 150 SUD treatment organizations. Data were collected in 2006-2008 and 2009-2010 using face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and mailed surveys. Logistic regression models of sustainment were estimated with administrators' attitudes toward smoking cessation and organizational barriers as covariates. RESULTS About 60.2% of these SUD treatment organizations sustained their counseling-based smoking cessation programs at follow-up. Sustainment was significantly more likely when administrators' baseline attitudes about the impact of smoking cessation on recovery were more supportive (odds ratio, OR = 1.84; 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.13-3.01; p =.015) and when programs were accredited (OR = 3.95, 95% CI = 1.65-9.50, p =.002). Worsening over time of barriers encompassing staff interest, staff skills, and competing treatment demands were negatively associated with sustainment (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.42-0.81, p =.001). CONCLUSIONS These findings provided empirical support for theoretical perspectives regarding the importance of leadership and staff expertise in promoting sustainment of innovations over time. Although the majority of SUD treatment organizations sustained their smoking cessation programs, the 40% rate of discontinuation is concerning and highlights the ongoing challenges faced by tobacco control efforts in substance abuse treatment.
Exploring the World Through Geology: Harold E. Jones and 4-H Geology in Kansas, 1968–1977

Abstract Harold Jones' 4-H Geology Project was unique in the history of geologic education in Kansas. Not only did this grass-roots program introduce the young participants, their leaders, and their parents to the basic principles and materials of geology, the program also provided an appreciation of the state's natural resources and the fragility of its natural environment. Jones undertook the revitalization of the Geology Project in the 4-H program in Kansas in 1968. In short order, he established a three-tier activity program for participants and prepared materials, both written and display, for instruction both of 4-H members and their adult leaders. Between 1968 and his retirement from Kansas State University in 1977, the 4-H Geology Project in Kansas introduced hundreds of young Kansans, their 4-H sponsors and leaders, and their parents to the basic concepts and materials of geology. Although difficult to measure, the insights provided undoubtedly have had a positive influence as the young people ha...
Allometry of early growth in selected and wild sources of white spruce, Picea glauca (Moench) Voss

White spruce (Picea glauca) is commonly planted in timberlands of the upper Great Lakes region. Genetically improved seed, sourced from selected genotypes and propagated in seed orchards, is a primary seed source for artificial regeneration. Volume improvements gained by planting selected genotypes of Picea glauca sources range from 9 to 30 %; however, tradeoffs associated with selection for volume are relatively unexplored for allometry and needle traits. Biomass allocation is of particular interest, especially if increased wood production comes at the expense of root allocation. Open-pollinated seedlings from wild and selected genotypes were planted. Sixty seedlings per source were destructively sampled per year after 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 growing seasons. Roots, stems, and needles were separated, dried and weighed. Tree height and caliper at root collar were measured, along with specific leaf area. Selected genotypes were allometrically similar to wild sources. Tree heights and biomass allocation were similar between sources during years 2–4. By year 5, selected genotypes averaged 30 % more volume and root mass than wild sources but maintained similar allometric ratios. SLA declined with each year and did not differ between sources. Our results suggest that superior volume growth in selected stock is not the result of alterations in biomass allocation or needle morphology: increases in stem mass were associated with tandem increases in root mass.
The Panama Canal Tolls Controversy: A Different Perspective

O NE OF THE more significant elements in the Panama Canal tolls controversy of 1912-1914, perhaps the most important so far as the British were concerned, has not received sufficient attention from historians. The tolls problem has commonly been coupled with United States-British relations in Mexico. The argument that President Woodrow Wilson traded repeal of the objectionable tolls clause in the Panama Canal Act of 1912 for British support of his Mexican policy has been discredited.' What has been
Library Web Pages and Policies Toward Outsiders : Is the Information There?

Abstract The article reports the results of a visual survey of library Web sites conducted over a seven-month period in 2000. Included in the survey were 100 ARL libraries in public and private universities in the United States. The author sought information about the libraries' policies regarding access to services and resources for unaffiliated users-library users who are not students, faculty, or staff of a library's parent institution. The author focused on four areas: entrance to the building, circulation policies, interlibrary loan service, and the use of proprietary databases. The author also looked for mention of services to unaffiliated users in library mission statements and the costs for use of services or resources. As expected, the variation among library Web sites was great, in terms of the amount of information provided, the level of access to services and resources, and the cost for access. No attempt was made to confirm the information by direct correspondence with staff at the libraries,...
DORMANT CONDUCTION FOLLOWING PULMONARY VEIN ISOLATIONS IS A PREDICTOR OF REPEAT CATHETER ABLATION FOR RECURRENT ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

Our aim was to identify the value of dormant conduction (DC) induced by adenosine following pulmonary vein (PV) isolation for predicting atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence, repeat procedure and chronic PV reconnection at repeat procedure. A total of 1013 AF patients (75 %male; age 63 ± 10 years;
Attraction of female boll weevils to diapausing and reproducing males.

In field trapping tests, reproducing males of Anthonomus grandis Boheman were twice as attractive as males in diapause, and the attractiveness of diapausing males did not differ from that of unbaited traps. Frass from reproducing males was 4 × more attractive than frass from diapausing males in olfactometer tests. However, the increased incidence of pheromone deficient diapausing weevils in field populations in the fall does not clearly explain the renewed efficiency of pheromone traps during this period.
Charge Densities and Electrostatic Potentials for Energetic Materials

High resolution (sinθ/λ < 1.34 A−1), low temperature (85 K) X-ray diffraction data has been used to map the deformation density and the derived electrostatic potential for three dinitramide salts. The traditional presentation of contour maps has been replaced with 3D views of the molecule. A comparison of the dinitramide ions from each salt is presented.
Mathematical Modeling of Multicomponent Nonisothermal Adsorption in Sorbent Particles Under Pressure Swing Conditions

A detailed model for nonisothermal sorption of multicomponent mixtures in a single sorbent particle (monodisperse or bidisperse with negligible intracrystalline mass transport limitations) under pressure swing conditions is developed in this study. The dusty-gas model is used to describe the coupling of the molar fluxes, the temperature, the partial pressures and the partial pressure gradients of the components in the pore space of the particle. The variations of the temperature are described by an energy equation in which both convective and conductive modes of heat transport are accounted for. No limitations are imposed on the number of the components in the mixture and on the type of the adsorption isotherm. The model is applied in the investigation of the industrially important air-zeolite 5A system. Two cases with respect to the surrounding gas phase are examined: infinite environment, which is representative for single particle experiments, and finite environment, which is representative for the situation in packed bed adsorbers. It is found that in an infinite environment the external and internal temperature gradients are equally important while in a finite environment the external heat transport limitations are negligible. It is concluded that in modeling the nonisothermal operation of adsorption processes occurring in packed beds it is not necessary to allow for the temperature differences between the gas phase and the surface of the adsorbing particles. Furthermore, if the temperature gradients within the particles can be neglected, only a single temperature equation is needed to describe the energy transport in the bed.
Life-long Learning in Singapore

The 21st century is an epoch of knowledge economy and life long learning becomes a basic need of the people. In order to respond actively to the demands of the new age, the Singaporean government has taken a number of measures in setting up a complete continuing education system, the enlightenment of which can serve as an exemplary model for China in establishing a life long learning system.
Aiming at Doves Experimental Evidence of Military Images’ Political Effects

Politicians (and journalists covering them) assume that association with the military has political consequences. We propose and experimentally test conditions under which military images have such...
The Crisis of Political Communication: Normative Critiques of News and Democratic Processes

Over the past 25 years, political communication researchers have presented mounting evidence of how the press fails its public mission by not adequately informing the electorate, presenting an accurate picture of civic affairs, or fostering a sense of connectedness to governing institutions. Perceived shortcomings of the political communication system and sustained controversy in the field over the nature and extent of media deficiencies have led scholars to articulate a crisis of communication for citizenship and a crisis of political communication research. Focusing on the literature of the press’s expanding role in the “modern campaign,” this chapter describes the schisms and disciplinary divides among scholars and identifies two valuative propositions emerging from normative critiques of news and democratic processes. The review also addresses the field’s historical ambivalence toward normative theory and discusses contemporary democratic expectations of the press. Finally, three developments within p...
The Importance of Hypersensitivity in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract Background Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains the most common pediatric malignancy in the world. Overall survival rates have increased from 30% in the 1960s to 90% in past 10 years. Enabling this dramatic improvement are the multi-agent chemotherapeutic regimens in which asparaginase is cornerstone. Unfortunately, hypersensitivity to asparaginase has been a commonly-reported adverse event, associated with inferior outcomes in ALL. Methods Between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2012, 97 patients were enrolled in the study. Selection criteria included those were diagnosed with ALL and given the ALL-BFM-2000 protocol at Dr. Behcet Uz Children’s Hospital. Data regarding age at diagnosis, sex, follow-up duration, hypersensitivity of L- asparaginase, status of relapse and outcome were gathered from the patients’ files. The event-free survival (EFS) and the overall survival (OS) of the patients who developed and did not develop hypersensitivity to L- asparaginase were compared. Peg-asparaginase was given to patients who developed L- asparaginase hypersensitivity, and erwinia asparaginase was given if the patients developed peg-asparaginase. The asparaginase activity could not be measured. Kaplan mayer test was used to calculate the EFS and the OS. Results A total of 97 patients were evaluated. Thirty-two were standard risk, 49 were moderate risk, and 15 were high risk. 61 patients were male, and 36 were female. The median age (range) at diagnosis was 5 (1-15) years. Median (range) follow-up duration was 5.1 (0.08-7.3) years. Of the 97 patients, 28 (29.2%) developed L-asparaginase hypersensitivity. The event-free survival was 84.5 ± 4.6%, and 62.6 ± 9.4% for patients who developed and did not develop hypersensitivity, respectively (p=0.01). The overall survival rates were 89.2 ± 3.9 % and 74.6 ± 8.3% for patients who developed and did not develop hypersensitivity, respectively (p=0,07). Download : Download high-res image (68KB) Download : Download full-size image Figure 1. . Event-free survival. The five years EFS±SE for the patients who developed and did not develop native L- asparaginasehypersensitivity were 84.5 ± 4.6% and 62.6 ± 9.4%, respectively (p=0.01). Conclusions This study demonstrated that EFS was lower in patients with L-asparaginase hypersensitivity than those without hypersensitivity, although there were no differences in terms of OS. All of the patients with hypersensitivity received a sufficient dose of peg-asparaginase or erwinia asparaginase according to the ALL-BFM-2000 protocol. The lower EFS for patients who were switched to peg-asparaginase because of L- asparaginase may be explained by silent inactivation of peg-asparaginase. If the activity of asparaginase could not be measured, it could be preferable to switch to erwinia asparaginase. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Other Vision-based Robot Guidance Methods

In the last chapter, I demonstrated how the flexibility of the techniques described in this book make them applicable to other vision-based robot guidance tasks. The techniques were also shown to have distinct advantages over more traditional, hand-coded machine vision algorithms for guiding the SM2. In the first section of this chapter, I expand the comparison between the connectionist methods I’ve developed and non-learning techniques others have employed for autonomous navigation. As was the case in the walking robot domain, ALVINN is shown to have distinct advantages relative to hand-programmed systems for autonomous driving.
Abstract 428: Shear Stress-Induced Mitochondrial Biogenesis: Implications for Salutary Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Endothelial Homeostasis

Enhancing structural/functional integrity of mitochondria in the vascular endothelium has emerged as a novel therapeutic approach for vascular disease. Aerobic exercise stimulates mitochondrial bio...
Effects of Cyclohexane- Monoxime and Dioxime on the Electrodeposition of Cobalt

Abstract Electrodeposition of cobalt was studied in presence of two additives, cyclohexane oxime (CHO) and cyclohexane dioxime (CHD), which differ by one oxime group. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), potentiostatic deposition with pulsed rotation rates, and galvanostatic deposition with injections of additives were carried out to understand the formation and breakdown of intermediate species that suppress cobalt electrodeposition. While strong and fast suppression was observed for CHD on cobalt deposition, the suppression effect of CHO was much less pronounced. A negative differential resistance in CV was observed for CHD due to a breakdown of suppression, which was related to the reduction of absorbed Co-CHD chelate species. A critical rotation rate was defined for CHD as the minimum rotation required to enable a fully suppressed deposition state. An inversely proportional relation between additive concentration and the square root of critical rotation rate demonstrated an equilibrium between the diffusion of the intermediate in solution and the consumption of intermediate by incorporation into deposit. While a pair of adjacent oxime groups was necessary for a strong fast suppression effect, bulkier molecular structures and stronger chelating resulted in stronger suppression.
Viral Hepatitis in Pregnancy

Viral hepatitis during pregnancy in the acute setting presents with nausea, right upper quadrant pain, and decreased appetite. Laboratory results can show high aminotransferase levels. In the case of chronic hepatitis, vertical transmission to the neonate may occur at delivery; however, cesarean section is not recommended for prevention [1].
CoMerge: toward efficient data placement in shared heterogeneous memory systems

Emerging systems with heterogeneous memory components demand new mechanisms and policies for spanning applications' data across the complex memory substrate. This is particularly important for data-intensive scientific or analytics applications, demanding both large memory capacity and fast access speeds, which can only be satisfied by embracing memory heterogeneity. Current approaches advocated in research are based on detailed full-application profiles, and while they show promise with respect to their effectiveness, their utility can be limited when considering multi-tenant environments, that need to support collocation and dynamic activity of different applications. As a step toward extending the current state-of-the-art, we propose CoMerge, a memory-sharing rather than partitioning technique, that prioritizes allocations of performance-critical data across collocated applications, with respect to their overall sensitivity to changes in memory latency and bandwidth.
Krebs cycle metabolites and preferential succinate oxidation following neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in mice.

Reverse electron transport (RET) driven by the oxidation of succinate has been proposed as the mechanism of accelerated production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in post-ischemic mitochondria. However, it remains unclear whether upon reperfusion, mitochondria preferentially oxidase succinate. Neonatal mice were subjected to Rice-Vannucci model of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HI) followed by assessment of Krebs cycle metabolites, mitochondrial substrate preference, and H2O2 generation rate in the ischemic brain. While brain mitochondria from control mice exhibited a rotenone-sensitive complex-I-dependent respiration, HI-brain mitochondria, at the initiation of reperfusion, demonstrated complex-II-dependent respiration, as rotenone minimally affected, but inhibition of complex-II ceased respiration. This was associated with a 30-fold increase of cerebral succinate concentration and significantly elevated H2O2 emission rate in HI-mice compared to controls. At 60 min of reperfusion, cerebral succinate content and the mitochondrial response to rotenone did not differ from that in controls. These data are the first ex vivo evidence, that at the initiation of reperfusion, brain mitochondria transiently shift their metabolism from complex-I-dependent oxidation of NADH toward complex II-linked oxidation of succinate. Our study provides a critical piece of support for existence of the RET-dependent mechanism of elevated ROS production in reperfusion.
Volume element model for 3D dynamic building thermal modeling and simulation

Abstract We present herein the development, experimental validation, and application of a volume element model for 3D dynamic building thermal simulation. The 3D spatial domain in the VEM is discretized with lumped hexahedral elements using ray crossings and ray/triangle intersection techniques that yield sufficiently accurate geometric representation of a building. Subsequently, energy balance is applied to each element in the mesh, and the resulting system of ordinary differential equations is integrated in time to obtain spatiotemporal indoor temperature and relative humidity fields. In this work, we adjusted the model by comparing the simulated indoor air temperatures to the experimental measurements as we calibrated model parameters with high uncertainty. The adjusted model was validated using different experimental data sets, and the numerical results were in a good agreement with the measurements. We employed the validated model to conduct a case study in which the sensible heat gain and loss as well as the time lag were evaluated as functions of different envelope thermal masses. Results showed the trivial effect of floor thermal mass on heat gain, and the changes in sensible heat gain and envelope thermal mass were not linearly proportional, alluding the existence of an optimal envelope design.
BOUNDS FOR A K-FOLD INTEGRAL FOR LOCATION AND SCALE PARAMETER MODELS WITH APPLICATIONS TO STATISTICAL RANKING AND SELECTION PROBLEMS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the problem of estimating the true probability of a correct selection (PCS) by using information provided by the sample. This is particularly important for those problems in which a retrospective analysis rather than designing an experiment is to be carried out. The chapter also discusses the behavior of the integral α (δ1,…, δk–1) as a function of the configuration of the parameters. It explains the question how does the PCS behave if some of the δ-values are replaced by their average.
Difficulty in recovering inoculated Campylobacter jejuni from dry poultry-associated samples.

We inoculated 5 cm 2 of clean chick pads, 5 g of clean pine shavings, and fresh unsanitized broiler breeder eggshell halves with a cell suspension of Campylobacter jejuni in physiological saline. Inoculation levels were 10 2 , 10 3 , or 10 4 cells per sample. The samples were allowed to remain at room temperature for 15, 30, or 60 min before addition of enrichment broth. When chick pad samples were inoculated with 10 2 cells, by 15 min 40% of the samples had detectable levels of Campylobacter, and by 30 to 60 min Campylobacter could be detected in only 20% of the samples. With samples of pine shavings, only 25% of those inoculated with 10 3 cells were positive for Campylobacter after 15 min and only 5% were positive for Campylobacter after 30 min. When 10 4 cells were inoculated onto litter, Campylobacter was recovered from 20% of the samples at 15 min and 15% of the samples after 30 min. Eggshells were also found to be a harsh environment. When the inoculum was 10 2 at 15 min, 8 of 10 samples were positive for Campylobacter but at 60 min only 10% of the samples remained positive for Campylobacter . The current cultural methods may not be adequate for recovering low numbers of Campylobacter from dry samples. Campylobacter may be present but culturally undetectable in the commercial hatchery and hatchery environment.
The effect of dbt-informed mindfulness skills (what and how skills) and mindfulness-based stress reduction practices on test anxiety in college students: A mixed design study

Many studies have shown the anxiety reducing effects of extended mindfulness interventions; however, few have examined mindfulness interventions on test anxiety in a college student population. This study assesses the effects of Dialectical Behavior Therapy’s (DBT’s) mindfulness skills and Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction practices over an 8-week period on college students. Participants (N = 43), included randomly assigned college students that were either included in a mindfulness group (an 8-week mindfulness training course), an online mindfulness group, or acted as a waitlist control group (no intervention received). Participants were assessed on text anxiety, general anxiety, and mindfulness at the beginning, mid-way point, and end of the study. Participants in the mindfulness conditions showed significant within-group reductions in test anxiety, general anxiety, and all sub-scales of mindfulness, except Observe, while participants in the Wait-List Control group primarily did not show changes. This specific mindfulness intervention that taught the “What” and “How” skills of DBT’s mindfulness module can help students reduce test anxiety and general anxiety as well as increase individual levels of mindfulness.
Who Needs the Wealthy? The Effects of Size Scaling on Money in Senate Elections

A large body scholarship demonstrates that the population size of an electoral district affects elections in important ways, yet little is known about the implications of population size for campai...
Ultrasound-Guided Breast Cancer Cryoablation

OBJECTIVE. Percutaneous ultrasound-guided breast cryoablation is a minimally invasive technique that kills targeted tissue with extreme cold, requires only local anesthesia, and takes less than 45 minutes to complete. CONCLUSION. We discuss the indications for breast cryoablation, the mechanism of cell death, and types of commercially available devices; illustrate procedural technique; and review expected follow-up imaging findings in treated primary breast cancer.
Viewing equality as a loss: How highlighting policy costs and benefits influences attitudes

As economic and political inequality has increased in recent decades, scholars and policy-makers have turned their attention to the American public’s reaction and response to this phenomenon. While...
Severe Sea Lion Bites in Urban Cold-Water Swimmers.

Abstract Background A series of sea lion bites in open-water swimmers recently gained the attention of the national and international media. Pinniped (the clade including seals and sea lions) bites historically have been in people who hunt or handle marine mammals. As populations of humans and pinnipeds continue to grow, interactions with animals by those participating in recreational activities are likely to become more frequent. Case Reports In December of 2017 and January of 2018, four sea lion (Zalophus californianus) bites in humans occurred at a popular open-water recreational swimming area in San Francisco, California. Three swimmers required treatment at a local trauma center and two required surgery. Two of the wounds were potentially life threatening; one swimmer required a field tourniquet to stop bleeding from the antecubital fossa, and the bite in another narrowly missed the femoral artery. The purpose of this report is to offer an in-depth discussion of antimicrobial use and rabies postexposure prophylaxis in patients with severe pinniped bites. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? Information from this report can be used in conjunction with input from local experts to develop a thoughtful therapeutic plan for patients with severe pinniped bites. Doxycycline is the first-line antibiotic therapy, but broader coverage may be needed for severe wounds with the potential for contamination. The likelihood of rabies is low, and rabies postexposure prophylaxis should be reserved for cases that involve unusually aggressive animal behavior or other factors suggestive of rabies.
Association of blood mercury levels with nonmelanoma skin cancer in the U.S.A. using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (2003-2016)

Background Some studies have reported increased incidence or mortality of lung and brain cancers associated with occupations involving potential mercury exposure. Epidemiological evidence related to skin cancer is also limited. Objectives To investigate the association between blood mercury (Hg) levels and nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Methods We used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2003 to 2016. The exposures were blood total (tHg), inorganic (iHg) and methylmercury (MeHg). The outcome was a self-reported diagnosis of NMSC. We included participants aged ≥ 20 years who had information on blood mercury and sociodemographic factors. We conducted a logistic regression analysis to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of NMSC associated with quartiles of blood Hg, after adjusting for the sociodemographic factors and survey year. Results The number of participants was 29 413; mean age was 49 years and 52% were female. Compared with those with a tHg ≤ 0·47 μg L-1 (Q1), those with a tHg > 1·74 μg L-1 (Q4) had nearly double the odds of NMSC (OR 1·79, 95% CI 1·19-2·71; Ptrend = 0·004). Similarly, those in the highest quartile of MeHg (> 1·44 μg L-1 ) had 1·7 times greater odds of NMSC (OR 1·74, 95% CI 1·13-2·70; Ptrend = 0·01) than those in the lowest quartile (≤ 0·21 μg L-1 ). iHg levels were nonsignificantly positively associated with NMSC (Ptrend = 0·08). Conclusions We found that higher blood tHg and MeHg levels were associated with a higher prevalence of NMSC. Linked Comment: Taylor. Br J Dermatol 2020; 183:413-414.
Effect of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) Inducers on Exposure of P-gp Substrates: Review of Clinical Drug–Drug Interaction Studies

Understanding transporter-mediated drug–drug interactions (DDIs) for investigational agents is important during drug development to assess DDI liability, its clinical relevance, and to determine appropriate DDI management strategies. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is an efflux transporter that influences the pharmacokinetics (PK) of various compounds. Assessing transporter induction in vitro is challenging and is not always predictive of in vivo effects, and hence there is a need to consider clinical DDI studies; however, there is no clear guidance on when clinical evaluation of transporter induction is required. Furthermore, there is no proposed list of index transporter inducers to be used in clinical studies. This review evaluated DDI studies with known P-gp inducers to better understand the mechanism and site of P-gp induction, as well as the magnitude of induction effect on the exposure of P-gp substrates. Our review indicates that P-gp and cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes are co-regulated via the pregnane xenobiotic receptor (PXR) and the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR). The magnitude of the decrease in substrate drug exposure by P-gp induction is generally less than that of CYP3A. Most P-gp inducers reduced total bioavailability with a minor impact on renal clearance, despite known expression of P-gp at the apical membrane of the kidney proximal tubules. Rifampin is the most potent P-gp inducer, resulting in an average reduction in substrate exposure ranging between 20 and 67%. For other inducers, the reduction in P-gp substrate exposure ranged from 12 to 42%. A lower reduction in exposure of the P-gp substrate was observed with a lower dose of the inducer and/or if the administration of the inducer and substrate was simultaneous, i.e. not staggered. These findings suggest that clinical evaluation of the impact of P-gp inducers on the PK of investigational agents that are substrates for P-gp might be warranted only for compounds with a relatively steep exposure–efficacy relationship.
Optimization of Lightning Warning Effectiveness Assessment Method for Atmospheric Electric Field

Atmospheric electric field instrument is often used for lightning warning. The lightning alert is issued by setting the threshold of electric field. Because the threshold value directly affects the accuracy of the warning, the optimal threshold can be determined by evaluating the effectiveness of lightning early warning. But the conventional evaluation method is to match the alarm information with the lightning activity information. The method does not consider the operation state and network communication of the electric field instrument itself. There is a certain deviation in the evaluation accuracy, which affecting the optimal threshold. In this paper, the effectiveness evaluation method of the conventional lightning early warning is optimized. The evaluation method based on the abnormal operation state and data reception rate of the instrument is proposed. The original evaluation results are modified. The electric field data of Jiangsu in 2017 are analyzed. The results show that the evaluation method proposed in this paper can not only evaluate the early-warning effect of the electric field instrument more accurately, but also the efficiency of the lightning early-warning algorithm based on the atmospheric electric field instrument is improved.
Perceived/Experienced Sexism Scale: Women’s Perceptions of Support and Job Attitudes during #MeToo

Existing measures of sexism are intended to identify and measure sexism amongst men and women by examining perpetrator’s actions or thoughts. However, researchers must make assumptions as to the ef...
Outcomes Following Surgical Treatment of Hamate Arthrosis Lunotriquetral Ligament Injuries.

BACKGROUND An institutional review board-approved study of the functional outcomes of patients after surgical treatment of hamate arthrosis lunotriquetral ligament tear (HALT) lesions was conducted. METHODS In all, 21 wrists in 19 patients underwent arthroscopic, open, or combined treatment of HALT lesions. Seven patients underwent isolated hamate debridement and 14 had concomitant procedures to address lunotriquetral pathology. Nineteen wrists underwent procedures to address additional pathology, including triangular fibrocartilage complex, ulnotriquetral ligament split, and scapholunate ligament injuries. RESULTS Mayo wrist scores increased from 54 to 71. Sixteen patients had no or mild pain postoperatively, compared with none preoperatively. When stratified by lunotriquetral interosseous ligament management, 75% of the limited treatment group (none or debridement) and 78% of the additional treatment group reported improved pain. Three patients underwent additional surgeries for persistent pain. CONCLUSION Resection of the proximal pole of the hamate can improve pain and function for patients with ulnar-sided wrist pain secondary to a HALT lesion. Concomitant wrist pathologies should be considered when determining treatment plans.
Automatic Identification of the Leader in a Swarm using an Optimized Clustering and Probabilistic Approach

Collective behavior appearing abundantly in nature at various scales, such as swarming of insects, flocking of birds or schooling of fish, has motivated an interdisciplinary research thrust towards artificial swarms thanks to its numerous advantages. Although a lot of work has been done on coming up with controllers for these multi-agent systems towards optimizing coordination and planning, the inverse problem of identifying behaviors and models from observing a swarm is still not explored enough. Efficient tools for the analysis of the complex spatial-temporal dataset an observed swarm generates, are still missing. In this paper, we propose a methodology to solve the problem of identifying the leader in a swarm governed by leader-follower control framework using only the macroscopic view of the entire swarm. A methodology that combines clustering and probability methods is used to analyze the spatial-temporal data of a swarm of robots to narrow down on a subset of the robots that includes the leader. The clustering parameters are optimized over multiple simulated behaviors. The results show that this automated system can narrow down on a subset of agents (cluster) that includes the leader of the swarm with high accuracy. Applications of the proposed methodology include automatic identification of leader and swarm dynamics in both artificial and biological swarms, which can lead to a better understanding of collective behaviors and predictions of future behaviors.
Chapter 23. Recent Developments in Adrenergic Receptor Research

Publisher Summary Virtually all the physiological effects of catecholamines, generally termed adrenergic effects, could be classified as being of the two major types. These two types of responses are termed as “α”- and “β”-adrenergic, respectively, and hypothesized that they were mediated by two distinct types of adrenergic receptors, α- and β-adrenergic receptors. The two receptor types were distinguished by their characteristic potency series for agonist drugs. A variety of radioactively labelled ligands, both agonists and antagonists, have been developed and applied to successful study of α- and β-adrenergic binding sites in a wide variety of tissues from a wide variety of species. Research in this area has been the subject of a number of excellent and extensive reviews in the past few years. Subsequent to the classification of adrenergic receptors into α- and β- types by Ahlquist, it became clear that there were at least two major subtypes of each of these receptors. Subtypes of α-adrenergic receptors also exist, and here the situation is somewhat more complex because there is a much greater physiological distinction between these two subtypes than is the case for the β-adrenergic receptor subtypes.
Knowledge Capital Earnings of a Company Listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange

The article makes an attempt at empirical verification of the Knowledge Capital Earnings (KCETM) method. KCETM is one of calculating methods, whose main purpose is to value intellectual capital of a company listed on a stock market, and to evaluate to what extent a company is overvalued or undervalued on the capital market. Analogously, it is possible to indicate how much a unit price of shares is overvalued or undervalued on the market. The article omits all issues related to the speculative nature of the stock market, emphasizing only the practical and possible use of the tool (KCETM) as well as the intellectual capital valuation, overvaluation and undervaluation of a company and its unit stock price. A public company operating in a fuel industry and listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange has been selected for the analysis. The approach presented here is quite interesting among other methods using financial measures for intellectual capital valuation, although, obviously, it demonstrates several weaknesses mentioned in the article.
Ion pathways in the taste bud and their significance for transduction

Taste buds share a topology with ion-transporting epithelial and evidence now indicates that neural responses in rats to Na+ salts of differing anion are mediated by both transcellular and paracellular ion transport. Na+ exerts its effects mainly on the transcellular pathway. Neural responses to Na+ salts are enhanced by negative voltage clamp and suppressed by positive clamp in a manner indicating modulation of the apical membrane potential of receptor cells. Anion effects are mainly paracellular. Under zero current clamp increasing anion size reduces the neural response at constant Na+ concentration. Below about 50 mM this difference is entirely eliminated under voltage clamp. This suggests that paracellular transepithelial potentials normally create an anion difference. At higher concentrations the relatively high permeability of the paracellular shunt to Cl- permits sufficient electroneutral diffusion of NaCl below the tight junctions to stimulate cells that do not make direct contact with the oral cavity. In general, the sensitivity of a response to perturbations in the apical membrane potential indicates that some phase of Na+ salt taste transduction is accompanied by changes in an apical membrane channel conductance.
A unique cytosolic activity related but distinct from NQO1 catalyses metabolic activation of mitomycin C

Mitomycin C (MMC) is a prototype bioreductive drug employed to treat a variety of cancers including head and neck cancer. Among the various enzymes, dicoumarol inhibitable cytosolic NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase1 (NQO1) was shown to catalyse bioreductive activation of MMC leading to cross-linking of the DNA and cytotoxicity. However, the role of NQO1 in metabolic activation of MMC has been disputed. In this report, we present cellular and animal models to demonstrate that NQO1 may play only a minor role in metabolic activation of MMC. We further demonstrate that bioreductive activation of MMC is catalysed by a unique cytosolic activity which is related but distinct from NQO1. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were developed that permanently express higher levels of cDNA-derived NQO1. These cells showed significantly increased protection against menadione toxicity. However, they failed to demonstrate higher cytotoxicity due to exposure to MMC under oxygen (normal air) or hypoxia, as compared to the wild-type control CHO cells. Disruption of the NQO1 gene by homologous recombination generated NQO1–/– mice that do not express the NQO1 gene resulting in the loss of NQO1 protein and activity. The cytosolic fractions from liver and colon tissues of NQO1–/– mice showed similar amounts of DNA cross-linking upon exposure to MMC, as observed in NQO1+/+ mice. The unique cytosolic activity that activated MMC in cytosolic fractions of liver and colon tissues of NQO1–/– mice was designated as cytosolic MMC reductase. This activity, like NQO1, was inhibited by dicoumarol and immunologically related to NQO1. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign
Pipelined asynchronous time-division multiplexing optical bus

S. Q. ZhengLouisiana State UniversityDepartment of Computer Science,andDepartment of Electrical and ComputerEngineeringBaton Rouge, Louisiana 70803E-mail: zheng@bit.csc.lsu.eduYueming LiLouisiana State UniversityDepartment of Computer ScienceBaton Rouge, Louisiana 70803Abstract. We propose a pipelined asynchronous time-division multi-plexing optical bus. Such a bus can use one of two hardwared priorityschemes: the linear priority scheme and the round-robin priority scheme.Our simulation results show that the performance of the proposed bus issigniﬁcantly better than the performances of known pipelined synchro-nous time-division multiplexing optical buses. The possibilities of usingour buses to construct multichannel switches and multidimensional pro-cessor arrays are also discussed.
Chapter 25 Maintenance of Perpetual Synchrony in HeLa S3 Culture: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the possibility that the perturbing influences of the thymidine-block synchronization technique can be mitigated, in large part, by choosing procedures in harmony with the particular cell line in question. It can also be done by taking advantage of the fact that a partially synchronized population requires a shorter period of inhibition of DNA synthesis (blocking) to achieve maximal synchrony than do asynchronous cultures. In this context, blocking” DNA synthesis means reducing the rate of DNA synthesis to 15-25% of untreated controls and not stopping DNA synthesis entirely. The details of the development of a procedure that permits the maintenance of perpetual synchrony in HeLa S 3 suspension culture have been discussed. The principal conclusion is that the inductive synchronization procedure is improved as an aid to the study of the cell cycle when synchronizing conditions are carefully designed to harmonize with the temporal and biochemical characteristics of the particular cell population. Maintenance of perpetual synchronous exponential growth is simply a demonstration that such harmony between the inducer and the induced has been achieved.
Integrating Diversity Dimensions in Supervision

Abstract Interviews were conducted with 10 ethnic minority AAMFT (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy)-approved supervisors about how they address intersections of diversity in clinical supervision activities. Using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology, three areas of importance emerged from participants: supervisors' initiative in integrating diversity, the impact of social location on current supervision practices, and the need for mentoring the next generation of therapists. The results are discussed in the service of promoting more inclusion of diversity issues in the supervisory process. Implications for supervision practices and ways to meet the diversity standards and core competencies of AAMFT are discussed.