cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Higher education Building efficient electrical design

This paper encompasses design and development for an energy efficient electrical design of a commercial structure for a post-secondary academic institution. The goal of this work is to design a complete and safe electrical system that reduces power consumption and increases user friendly operation of all high and low voltage equipment for the end users of the building. Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools are used to design and model the electrical systems. In this paper, a step by step process has been presented to accomplish each task to successfully complete designs. Background information, goals, and methodologies are included with supporting material to showcase that this design has a high probability of achieving all expectations. The device and equipment layout of the floor plans for each type of electrical system were designed. In addition, all electrical load and lighting calculations were performed using Microsoft Excel and Acuity Brands Visual 2012. Furthermore, three dimensional modeling of components within the building environment was presented. Schematic floor plan layouts on 30″ x 42″ architectural sheets along with highlighting important points from our technical specifications were also introduced and presented. Also simulation results obtained from the lighting analysis software were presented to demonstrate the completion of the power distribution diagram, the lightning protection design, and all technical detailed installation drawings in AutoCAD MEP and Autodesk Revit.
The Political Ecology of Oil and Gas in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea: State, Petroleum, and Conflict in Nigeria

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the dynamics of the largest oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea (Nigeria), and to offer a political–ecological analysis of the recent history of an archetypical petro-state. Nigeria is a poster-child of the so-called resource curse, a ‘fragile and conflicted state’ condemned to embark upon a ‘postconflict transition’. Exclusionary political settlements and extractive institutions of the sort found in Nigeria are associated with high levels of violence and political conflict. However, the inventory of institutional failures of ‘oil development’ must not blind us to the fact that the combination of oil and nation-building has produced a durable and expanded federal system, a democracy of sorts (albeit retaining an authoritarian and often violent cast) and important forms of institution building. I argue that the state has been informalized for particular purposes, vested with certain capabilities and made ‘functional’ while at the same time generating considerable civic and political violence including an insurgency and endemic conflict in the oil-producing Niger Delta region. Oil and its political logics are central to this complex and contradictory picture of uneven state capabilities coupled with spatial fragmentation and conflict.
Influenza A, Febrile Seizures, and Postictal Prolonged Impairment of Consciousness

Febrile seizure (FS) patients in a one-year period, 2003-4, during an outbreak of influenza A in the Kitakawachi area of Japan, were prospectively analyzed by researchers at Hirakata City Hospital and Osaka Medical College.
Investigation of Pr incorporation in LuAG powders and ceramics

An investigation of the luminescence concentration quenching of (Lu1−xPrx)3Al5O12 (LuAG:Pr) ceramics was carried out coupled with microstructural characterization by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD) and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FTIR) measurements. It was found that the Pr concentration that maximizes luminescence emission depends on the thermal processing conditions. While the calcined LuAG:Pr powder showed maximum luminescence emission for Pr concentrations between 0.18 and 0.33 at.%, maximum emission of ceramic bodies sintered at 1500 °C for 20 hrs. was for Pr concentrations between 0.018 and 0.18 at.%. Further, for short sintering times up to about 3 hrs. luminescence is maximum for Pr concentration around 0.33 at.%. Longer sintering times lead to the formation of PrAlO3 as a secondary phase, concomitant with a reduction of the intensity of luminescence emission.
Isolated bladder dysfunction in human T lymphotropic virus type 1 infection: 10 years of follow-up.

Dear Editor , Human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the aetiological agent of HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a neurological disease characterised by a slowly progressive paraparesis and bladder dysfunction. Most HTLV-1-infected individuals remain asymptomatic throughout their lives, and the factors that play a role to conversion from asymptomatic to symptomatic status are still a matter of discussion. It is believed that <1% of HTLV-1-infected individuals will develop HAM/TSP. Host genetic factors and the immunological response against HTLV-1 are pivotal to HTLV-1 proviral load (PVL), and there are evidences that a high PVL is associated with HAM/TSP and with other HTLV-1-associated diseases such as peripheral neuropathy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.1 In addition, some aspects …
Extrapolating meaning from local field potential recordings

Local field potentials (LFP) reflect the spatially weighted low-frequency activity nearest to a recording electrode. LFP recording is a window to a wide range of cellular activities and has gained increasing attention over recent years. We here review major conceptual issues related to LFP with the goal of creating a resource for non-experts considering implementing LFP into their research. We discuss the cellular activity that constitutes the local field potential; recording techniques, including recommendations and limitations; approaches to analysis of LFP data (with focus on power-banded analyses); and finally we discuss reports of the successful use of LFP in clinical applications.
Is There a Legitimate Concept of Drug-Centered Care?

Howard Brody identifies “drug-centered care” as a contrast to “patient-centered care” and asks whether drug-centered care promotes the same outcomes that justify patient-centered care—health and dignity for patients and virtue in providers. Answering in the negative, Brody provides a sobering account of how the pharmaceutical industry molds our disease concepts and our perspectives on medications as medical tools. Brody’s new concept was set up to fail, much as if he had named it “money-centered care” or simply “bad care.” This essay asks whether there is a way to reconceptualize drug-centered care such that, even if it does not promote health, dignity, and virtue, it is at least not obviously at odds with these goals. I identify four ways to show that drug-centered care has, in limited cases, morally legitimate application. I show that whether the morally legitimate application of drug-centered care is in the service of health per se, enhancement or quality of life depends on the theoretical background adopted.
Imaginary Worlds and Efficiency Frontiers: Should We Abandon the IQWiG Health Technology Assessment Model?

The contribution of cost-effectiveness analysis to the pricing of pharmaceuticals in Germany is at best marginal and in many, if not most cases, absent. While this may reflect a reasonable belief that cost-effectiveness analysis adds little if anything to pricing and formulary placement decisions, its marginalization reflects considerable dissatisfaction, if not frustration, with modeling efforts by the Institut fur Qualitat und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitseesen (IQWiG). In part, this reflects the rejection of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) as the common outcome standard, together with the adoption of the efficiency frontier as the default framework for modeled claims. The purpose of this commentary is to consider the merits, in the German context, of an efficiency frontier framework for cost-effectiveness and pricing decisions. The commentary concludes that the efficiency frontier framework for health technology assessment, in supporting the creation of non-evaluable claims from models or simulations, fails of to meet the standards of normal science: it fails to support claims that are credible, evaluable and replicable. It should be abandoned. If cost-effectiveness modeling is to play a constructive role in pricing negotiations in Germany then manufacturers should be required to submit evaluable claims. The most effective way of ensuring this is to require manufacturers to accompany any submission for a new product with a protocol detailing how their claims, to include those for clinical outcomes, cost-effectiveness and budget impact, are to be evaluated and reported to decision makers in a meaningful time frame. Type: Commentary
Inner core boundary topography explored with reflected and diffracted P waves

Abstract The existence of topography of the inner core boundary (ICB) can affect the amplitude, phase, and coda of body waves incident on the inner core. By applying pseudospectral and boundary element methods to synthesize compressional waves interacting with the ICB, these effects are predicted and compared with waveform observations in pre-critical, critical, post-critical, and diffraction ranges of the PKiKP wave reflected from the ICB. These data sample overlapping regions of the inner core beneath the circum-Pacific belt and the Eurasian, North American, and Australian continents, but exclude large areas beneath the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the poles. In the pre-critical range, PKiKP waveforms require an upper bound of 2 km at 1–20 km wavelength for any ICB topography. Higher topography sharply reduces PKiKP amplitude and produces time-extended coda not observed in PKiKP waveforms. The existence of topography of this scale smooths over minima and zeros in the pre-critical ICB reflection coefficient predicted from standard earth models. In the range surrounding critical incidence (108–130 ° ), this upper bound of topography does not strongly affect the amplitude and waveform behavior of PKIKP + PKiKP at 1.5 Hz, which is relatively insensitive to 10–20 km wavelength topography height approaching 5 km. These data, however, have a strong overlap in the regions of the ICB sampled by pre-critical PKiKP that require a 2 km upper bound to topography height. In the diffracted range (>152°), topography as high as 5 km attenuates the peak amplitudes of PKIKP and PKPCdiff by similar amounts, leaving the PKPCdiff/PKIKP amplitude ratio unchanged from that predicted by a smooth ICB. The observed decay of PKPCdiff into the inner core shadow and the PKIKP-PKPCdiff differential travel time are consistent with a flattening of the outer core P velocity gradient near the ICB and iron enrichment at the bottom of the outer core.
Neopilina, Neomphalus, and Neritopsis, Living Fossil Molluscs

The living fossil mollusc examples used here represent three different phylogenetic patterns. The neopilinid monoplacophorans have a disjunct time pattern that separates the living species from the Cambro-Devonian tryblidiid (limpet) monoplacophorans—a gap just short of 430 million years—with the extinction of the last tryblidiid Archaeophiala in the Lower Devonian. The Silurian Pilina unguis (Lindstrom 1880) from the middle Silurian of Gotland is nearly identical (except for shell thickness) to Vema (Vema) ewingi Clarke and Menzies 1959 (Fig. 1).
The use of labeled drugs in psychopharmacology research.

A decade ago Gerard [1] published an article entitled “Drugs for the Soul; The Rise of Psychopharmacology.” At that time, three out of ten prescriptions in the United States were being written for various tranquilizers, and the annual usage of a typical psychoactive drug, meprobamate, was in excess of 1 billion tablets. The use of such agents, not only in the treatment of severe mental illness, but also in ameliorating the mental stress of everyday life, has continued to mushroom. Along with the increased use of psychotherapeutic agents, there has been a concomitant growth of the research area known as “psychopharmacology.”
Debt Covenants and Risk-Taking

We examine a comprehensive set of debt contracts that have different types of covenants and performance pricing provisions to determine how these contractual features relate to borrowers’ risk-taking decisions. We predict and find that the relation between covenants and operating risk depends on the type of contractual provision: covenants that restrict the amount of resources invested (capital covenants) have a positive relation with borrowers’ operating risk, while covenants related to the outcome of these investments (performance covenants) and performance pricing provisions both have a negative relation with borrowers’ operating risk. Moreover, these relations are reversed for financial risk, suggesting that lenders face tradeoffs in managing their exposure to different facets of borrowers’ risk-taking. Our estimation strategy aims at distinguishing between adverse selection and moral hazard explanations and indicates that different types of covenants address different agency conflicts, which helps explain the variety of covenants used in debt contracts. Our results are also consistent with concerns that recent banking regulations may actually increase rather than curtail risk-taking by these institutions.
Evaluating the Trade-offs in Student Outcomes from Alternative School Organization Policies

At a few key points in the history of American public schools, tensions have surfaced between the goal of educational equity—providing egalitarian access to all levels of education—and the goal of educational quality—maintaining high standards of student performance. These occasions include the debate over a common curriculum prompted by the report of the Committee of Ten in 1893, the emergence of vocational course offerings that accompanied the 1918 NEA Commission’s “Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education” and curriculum proposals to improve the comprehensive high school and upgrade instruction in mathematics and science beginning in the 1950s following the Conant reports and in reaction to Sputnik. But usually Americans ignore dilemmas between equity and quality in their debates about school policy, apparently assuming that schools can progress on both fronts without making trade-offs between them and without making difficult decisions about resource allocations and cost efficiencies.
Transient electromagnetic co-simulation of electrostatic air discharge

Transient electromagnetic co-simulation is used to simulate the currents in a discharging rod. The simulation model simultaneously solves Maxwell's equation and the arc resistance equations in time domain to estimate the currents and fields for a given geometry, charge voltage and arc length. The Rompe-Weizel model is used to obtain the time dependent arc resistance, and results from different simulation methods are compared to measured data.
Parlez-vous DICOM?

In Chap. 2, we briefly touched on the subject of DICOM data representation. DICOM segments all real-world data into standardized attributes (listed in the DICOM Data Dictionary) and describes any real object as a collection of these attributes known as the Information Object Definition. In this chapter, we look at this process more carefully.
Language Between God and the Poets : maʿnā in the eleventh century

NB: some fonts may not display correctly on all readers, in which case the PDF file should be consulted. In addition, the PDF file and the print hard copy are the only formats that include the indexes. In the Arabic eleventh-century, scholars were intensely preoccupied with the way that language generated truth and beauty in the space between God and the poets. Alexander Key leads the reader through discussions of language, mind, and reality across multiple genres of scholarship in the work of four of the most famous Classical Arabic scholars. The litterateur ar-Rāġib al-Iṣfahānī, the theologian and legal theorist Ibn Fūrak, the philosopher Ibn Sīnā (known in the west as Avicenna), and the literary critic ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Gurgānī shared a conceptual vocabulary based on the words maʿnā and ḥaqīqah . They built theories that can be used today. We still want to understand how poetry works through syntax to create affect, and we are still interested in the problem of how language, mind, and reality interact. Language Between God and the Poets makes Classical Arabic solutions to these problems available for the first time in twenty-first-century English, and does so within a rigorous and original theoretical framework for the translation of theory. “Alexander Key takes four major exponents of eleventh-century Arabic lexicography, theology, logic, and poetics and explores the interconnectedness of their thinking on ‘mental content’ and its various ‘accurate’ realizations. This book, brimming with philological insight, crackles with erudition.” JAMES E. MONTGOMERY, Professor of Arabic, University of Cambridge “This is really an excellent book—well-written, engaging, intellectually exciting, and a great advance in the fi eld. The selection of four scholars, experts in different disciplines, but all talking about language and meaning, is extremely clever. The sophistication and nuance of the argument makes this a work of solid scholarship.” ROBERT GLEAVE, Professor of Arabic Studies, University of Exeter ALEXANDER KEY is Assistant Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages at Stanford University.
G protein–coupled receptors differentially regulate glycosylation and activity of the inwardly rectifying potassium channel Kir7.1

Kir7.1 is an inwardly rectifying potassium channel with important roles in the regulation of the membrane potential in retinal pigment epithelium, uterine smooth muscle, and hypothalamic neurons. Regulation of G protein–coupled inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels by G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) via the G protein βγ subunits has been well characterized. However, how Kir channels are regulated is incompletely understood. We report here that Kir7.1 is also regulated by GPCRs, but through a different mechanism. Using Western blotting analysis, we observed that multiple GPCRs tested caused a striking reduction in the complex glycosylation of Kir7.1. Further, GPCR-mediated reduction of Kir7.1 glycosylation in HEK293T cells did not alter its expression at the cell surface but decreased channel activity. Of note, mutagenesis of the sole Kir7.1 glycosylation site reduced conductance and open probability, as indicated by single-channel recording. Additionally, we report that the L241P mutation of Kir7.1 associated with Lebers congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited retinal degenerative disease, has significantly reduced complex glycosylation. Collectively, these results suggest that Kir7.1 channel glycosylation is essential for function, and this activity within cells is suppressed by most GPCRs. The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R), a GPCR previously reported to induce ligand-regulated activity of this channel, is the only GPCR tested that does not have this effect on Kir7.1.
Toxicidade celular do herbicida glifosato sobre os ovários do peixe Danio rerio

No oeste do estado de Santa Catarina, a agricultura e a atividade economica predominante, visando a producao de milho, soja e produtos destinados a pecuaria. Para manter tais producoes, este setor utiliza intensamente insumos quimicos, como fertilizantes e agrotoxicos, causando poluicao nos ecossistemas. Dentre os residuos quimicos, os agrotoxicos sao os mais toxicos, constituidos por uma grande variedade de compostos, que afetam os organismos animais e vegetais. Este estudo objetivou avaliar a toxicidade do herbicida glifosato na concentracao de 65 µg/L e o dobro desta concentracao 120 µg/L, nos ovarios do peixe Danio rerio. Os peixes permaneceram expostos as concentracoes do herbicida glifosato por 15 dias para o calculo do Indice Gonadossomatico (IGS) e massa corporal. Para o teste de micronucleos os peixes ficaram expostos por 3 dias as diferentes concentracoes de glifosato. Nao houve diferenca estatistica significativa na massa corporal dos grupos experimentais avaliados. Houve diferenca estatistica significativa (p<0,05) na massa dos ovarios do grupo controle quando comparado com os grupos expostos a diferentes concentracoes de glifosato. Em relacao ao IGS houve diferenca significativa entre as diferentes concentracoes de glifosato e tambem em relacao ao grupo controle. Porem a concentracao de 120 µg/L apresentou maior diferenca em relacao a concentracao de 65 µg/L (p<0,05). A frequencia de micronucleos e IGS dos peixes expostos ao glifosato, em ambas as concentracoes, foram estatisticamente significativas em relacao ao grupo controle. Portanto concluiu-se que o glifosato tem um potencial genotoxico em ambas as concentracoes e pode causar danos a reproducao dos peixes. Palavras-chave: Poluicao. Micronucleos. Genotoxico. Concentracoes.
Institutional Constraints and the Forest Transition in Tropical Developing Countries

The forest transition describes a reversal or turnaround in long-run land-use trends for a country or region from a period of net forest area loss to net gain. Following North, this paper constructs a model to show that effective institutions may impose additional costs on a representative economic agent converting forests to agriculture in a tropical developing country. The main outcome to emerge from the model is that an improvement in institutions accelerates the onset of a forest transition. This hypothesis is tested by examining the probability of a forest transition occurring for 101 tropical developing countries over 1990 to 2015. The empirical results suggest that the hypothesis cannot be fully rejected. However, not all the institutional indicators analyzed affect the likelihood of the forest transition, and one economy-wide indicator appears to delay the transition. Nevertheless, the results illustrate the importance of understanding how institutional indicators affect the decisions of economic agents concerning land clearing as well as forest management practices and policies.
ALKALI-AGGREGATE EXPANSION INHIBITING ADMIXTURES

Abstract Many concrete structures have exhibited deterioration due to the alkali-aggregate expansion reactions. A review has been prepared to describe the nature of the alkali-aggregate reactions, test methods that are adopted to evaluate the aggregates for their potential to cause expansion and the methods suggested to counter this reaction. Some methods seem to be effective but further work has to be carried out before establishing the efficacy of others. Results obtained using additives such as silica fume and other siliceous materials such as fly ash, slag, and rice husk ash have been discussed. Some chemicals based on lithium compounds have shown promise as, also, have other non-lithium bearing compounds.
First-Principles Materials Design of High-Performing Bulk Photovoltaics with the Li Nb O 3 Structure

The bulk photovoltaic effect is a long-known but poorly understood phenomenon. Recently, however, the multiferroic bismuth ferrite has been observed to produce strong photovoltaic response to visible light, suggesting that the effect has been underexploited as well. Here we present three polar oxides in the LiNbO$_3$ structure that we predict to have band gaps in the 1-2 eV range and very high bulk photovoltaic response: PbNiO$_3$, Mg$_{1/2}$Zn$_{1/2}$PbO$_3$, and LiBiO$_3$. All three have band gaps determined by cations with $d^{10}s^0$ electronic configurations, leading to conduction bands composed of cation $s$-orbitals and O $p$-orbitals. This both dramatically lowers the band gap and increases the bulk photovoltaic response by as much as an order of magnitude over previous materials, demonstrating the potential for high-performing bulk photovoltaics.
EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF HIBISCUS CANNABINUS LEAF ON HIGH CHOLESTEROL DIET INDUCED OBESITY IN FEMALE ALBINO RATS

Objective: Even with the growing awareness, about 3% of Indian population are obese and worldwide around 1.2 billion people suffer with obesity and those suffer with the related complications might be much higher. Preventing the occurrence of obesity by including certain food substances with antiobesity effect in our regular diet would always be a welcome move. In this context, the ethanolic extracts of Hibiscus cannabinus leaves were examined by in vivo study on high cholesterol diet induced obese female albino rats, since female obesity is prevalent among Indian women. Hibiscus cannabinus is a plant of Malvaceae family, native to southern Asia. Methods: Female wistar rats were divided into five groups. Clinical condition was induced by giving high cholesterol diet and treated with the ethanolic extract of Hibiscus cannabinus leaf. A very common green used in Indian diet. Results: In cholesterol diet induced animals treated with the extracts of H. cannabinus and lovastatin demonstrated a significant decrease in the serum cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C and also significant decrease in the levels of SGOT and SGPT activities when compared to cholesterol diet induced group. The groups treated with the extracts of H .cannabinus also showed decrease in body weights when compared to cholesterol induced group. The histopathological studies of liver sections of rats showed reversal of changes, and prevent the fat accumulation in the liver of hyperlipidemic group after treatment with H. cannabinus . Conclusion: Results suggested that the ethanolic extracts of H. cannabinus possess significant antiobesity effect which might me attributed by its rich phytochemical presence.
Optimizing interconception care: Rationale for the IMPLICIT model

Despite traditional prenatal interventions, the incidence of low birth weight and prematurity in the United States have not significantly decreased. Interconception care for women between pregnancies has been proposed as a method of improving various perinatal outcomes. Although broadly advocated by national groups, interconception care (ICC) has not been widely implemented. We describe best practices for an ICC model based on screening mothers for tobacco use, depression, folic acid intake, and inter-pregnancy interval at well child visits. Because of the model's flexibility, sites can readily customize implementation by incorporating the questions directly into existing workflows and using local service providers already working in maternal-child health. This model has demonstrated promising results and ease of implementation thus far, and offers great potential for improved perinatal outcomes and promotion of health equity.
Differentiating pregnancies near the uterotubal junction (angular, cornual, and interstitial): a review and recommendations.

Eccentrically located intracavitary pregnancies, which include pregnancies traditionally termed as cornual and/or angular, have long presented complex diagnostic and management challenges given their inherent relationship to interstitial ectopic pregnancies. This review uses the existing literature to discriminate among interstitial, cornual, and angular pregnancies. Current arguments propose the outright abandonment of the terms cornual and angular may be justified in favor of the singular term, eccentric pregnancy. Disparate definitions and diagnostic approaches have compromised the literature’s ability to precisely describe prognosis and ideal management practices for each of these types of pregnancies. Standardizing the classification of these pregnancies near the uterotubal junction is important to unify conservative, yet safe and effective management strategies. We advocate the use of early first trimester ultrasound to correctly differentiate between eccentric pregnancy and interstitial ectopic pregnancy as current research suggests substantially better outcomes with correctly diagnosed and expectantly managed eccentric pregnancies than past investigations may have shown. The expectant management of eccentric pregnancies will often result in a healthy term pregnancy, while interstitial ectopic pregnancies inherently have a poor likelihood of progressing to viability. When the terms and diagnosis of cornual, angular, and interstitial pregnancy are indistinct, there is substantial risk of intrauterine pregnancies to be inappropriately managed as ectopic pregnancies. Until we standardize terms and criteria, it will remain difficult, if not impossible, to determine true risk for pregnancy loss, preterm labor, abnormal placentation, and uterine or uterotubal rupture. The development of best practice guidelines will require standardized terminology and diagnostic techniques.
Epileptogenesis-induced changes of hippocampal-piriform connectivity.

Abstract Objective Tissue remodeling has been described in brain circuits that are involved in the generation and propagation of epileptic seizures. Human and animal studies suggest that the anterior piriform cortex (aPC) is crucial for seizure expression in focal epilepsies. Here, we investigate the effect of kainic-acid (KA)-induced seizures on the effective connectivity of the aPC with bilateral hippocampal CA3 regions using cerebro-cerebral evoked potentials (CCEPs). Methods Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with a tripolar electrode in the left aPC for stimulation and recording, and with unipolar recording electrodes in bilateral CA3 regions. Single pulse stimulations were given to the aPC and CCEPs were averaged before KA injections and after the emergence of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS). Similar recordings at equivalent time intervals were obtained from animals that received saline injections instead of KA (controls). Results In the experimental group, the percentage change of increased amplitude of the contralateral (but not ipsilateral) CA3 CCEPs between pre-KA injection and after the emergence of SRS was significantly greater than in controls. No significant single-pulse-induced spectral change responses were observed in either epileptic or control rats when comparing pre- and post-stimulus time intervals. Also, we found no correlation between seizure frequency and the extent of amplitude changes in the CCEPs. Conclusions In the KA model, epileptogenesis results in plastic changes that manifest as an amplification of evoked potential amplitudes recorded in the contralateral hippocampus in response to single-pulse stimulation of the aPC. These results suggest epileptogenesis-induced facilitation of interhemispheric connectivity between the aPC and the hippocampus. Since the amplitude increase of the contralateral CCEP is a possible in vivo biomarker of epilepsy, any intervention (e.g. neuromodulatory) that can reverse this phenomenon may hold a potential antiepileptic efficacy.
Great Risks from Small Benefits Grow: Against the Repetition Argument

Tom Dougherty (2013) argues that the following moral principles are inconsistent: (α) it is impermissible to benefit many people slightly rather than save someone’s life, and (β) it is permissible to risk someone’s life slightly to benefit them slightly. This inconsistency has highly counterintuitive consequences for non-consequentialist moral theories. However, Dougherty’s argument, the “Repetition Argument,” relies on a premise that ignores the moral distinction between acting with statistical knowledge and acting with individualized knowledge. According to this premise, if it is permissible to make it near certain that a distribution obtains, then it is permissible to bring about that distribution. I will argue that this premise proves too much for the Repetition Argument, and so we should reject it. Finally, to further motivate my argument, I show that a recent objection to the Repetition Argument by James R. Kirkpatrick (2018) does not resolve the alleged inconsistency, whereas my argumentative strategy does.
An Intuitive Proof of the Singular Value Decomposition of a Matrix.

where Bn is the unit ball of Rn and ‖ · ‖ is the Euclidean norm or its induced matrix norm. The existence of each vi follows from the continuity of the norm and the compactness of closed subsets of Bn . The set {v1, v2, v3 . . . , vk} is obviously orthonormal. Setting σi = ‖Avi‖, we have σ1 ≥ σ2 ≥ · · · ≥ σk ≥ 0. If σi = 0 for some i , then σ j = 0 for all j ≥ i and the range of A is spanned by {Av1, Av2, Av3, . . . , Avi−1}, contradicting the fact that A is of rank k. Thus σi > 0 for 1 ≤ i ≤ k. This constructs D (and hence 6), as well as the first k columns of V . We define ui , the i th column of U , to be Avi σi for 1 ≤ i ≤ k. Then ‖ui‖ = 1. The key question is, why does this inductive construction lead to the pairwise orthogonality of {u1, u2, u3, . . . , uk}? The remaining n − k columns of V and m − k columns of U are easily constructed once we establish orthogonality. We use an approach that is quite simple, based on the trigonometric limit
Retrospective Review of Interventional Radiology Treatment and Outcomes in Pediatric Liver Disease

Background: Interventional radiology (IR) procedures offer less invasive and low risk options for the treatment of pediatric liver abnormalities, as well as life sustaining measures to bridge patients to transplant. Literature regarding IR interventions for pediatric liver disease is limited. Common conditions that can be treated with IR procedures include vascular anomalies: congenital portosystemic shunts, arteriovenous malformations (AVM), and Budd-Chiari malformation. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) can be used to prevent recalcitrant variceal bleeding in portal HTN. Liver biopsy (percutaneous and transjugular) is used to sample the liver and can be targeted to tumors and other lesions. Percutaneous approaches to image biliary abnormalities and treat strictures are useful in children after liver transplant and also without., Objective: describe liver IR procedures and their outcomes in a single-center cohort study Methods: Patients will be identified through retrospective chart review at Riley Hospital for Children to identify and record the diagnoses, interventions, and relevant outcomes for eligible patients. Descriptive statistics can then be performed. This data set can be used to help inform clinicians on indications and expected outcomes for relevant hepatic IR procedures. Conclusion: It is anticipated that data collected for this project will show increased utilization of these procedures at the end of the study period compared to the beginning, and the complication rate for the IR procedure will be lower when compared to equivalent traditional procedures to treat the same condition.
Risk of Venous Thromboembolism Following Rhinoplasty.

BACKGROUND Although prior studies have identified a low risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in rhinoplasty, these studies are limited by small samples and associated risk factors remain unknown. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to discern the incidence of VTE following rhinoplasty in a large patient population through analysis of a nationwide insurance claims database. METHODS This study involved a population-based retrospective analysis of insurance claims made by patients who underwent rhinoplasty between 2007 and 2016. Established risk factors for VTE, demographic data, procedural details, and absolute incidence of VTE were collected. RESULTS We identified a total of 55,287 patients who underwent rhinoplasty from 2007 to 2016. Mean age [standard error of the mean] was 38.74 [0.06] years (range, 18-74 years), and 54% were female. The overall incidence of VTE was 111, of which 70 were DVT and 41 were PE. From multivariate regression analysis, previous VTE (odds ratio [OR], 52.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 35.2-78.6; P < 0.0001), peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC)/central line placement (OR, 19.6; 95% CI, 9.8-153; P < 0.05), rib graft (OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 2.3-8.5; P < 0.0001), age 41 to 60 years (OR, 2.65; 95% CI, 1.7-4.3; P < 0.01), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.0-5.5; P < 0.05), and age 61 to 74 years (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.2-4.8; P < 0.05) were associated with an increased risk of VTE. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate a low overall incidence of VTE in rhinoplasty patients. Previous VTE, PICC/central line, advancing age, IBD, and intraoperative rib graft harvest were most strongly associated with VTE in this population cohort. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4
Resilience in the face of interpersonal loss: The role of character strengths

The present study assessed whether seven specific character strengths may function to promote resilience or growth following interpersonal loss. A sample of 3710 adults, including 557 who experienced a recent interpersonal loss (defined as death of a first-degree relative or divorce in the previous six months), completed questionnaires at least once across three time points to evaluate the extent to which character strengths predicted the presence of or changes in depression and functional impairment over a six-month period. Exploratory analyses also assessed changes in character strengths over time after loss. Results indicated that depression generally decreased over time and was unrelated to loss. Further, higher scores on the examined strengths predicted resilience, in that they predicted consistently lower levels of depression and impairment over time, regardless of loss. Thus, the seven examined strengths appeared to protect against depression and impairment over time. The loss group demonstrated higher levels of hope and gratitude across time points. Consistent with the concept of post-traumatic growth, results suggest that these strengths may be particularly salient when confronted with loss. Contrary to predictions of post-traumatic growth theory, however, there was little change in strengths over time.
Impact of molecular testing on detecting mimics of oncocytic neoplasms in thyroid fine-needle aspirates diagnosed as follicular neoplasm of Hürthle cell (oncocytic) type

Background Some thyroid nodules cytologically presenting as follicular neoplasm, Hurthle cell (Oncocytic) type (FNHCT), are not oncocytic tumors and represent autonomously functioning thyroid nodules (AFTNs) with TSHR, GNAS, and EZH1 mutations or oncocytic metaplasia. A to be defined subset of FNHCT harbors genome haploidisation-type DNA copy number alterations (GH-CNA). Molecular profiling of FNHCT may distinguish oncocytic neoplasms from its mimics. Methods Consecutive fine-needle aspirates of 180 thyroid nodules over 37 months diagnosed as FNHCT and tested by ThyroSeq v3 were identified. Histologic follow-up was available for 79 of 180 nodules (44%). Results No molecular alterations were found in 76 of 180 nodules (42%), of which 15 were resected (oncocytic metaplasia, n = 7; follicular oncocytic adenoma, n = 8). Of nodules followed without surgery, 17 of 101 (17%) showed TSHR, EZH1, and GNAS mutations of AFTNs. Papillary thyroid carcinoma was identified by BRAF V600E (n = 2) and hyalinizing trabecular adenoma by PAX8-GLIS3 (n = 1). GH-CNA alone was detected in 42 of 180 FNHCT nodules (23%), of which 29 were resected and histologically diagnosed as follicular oncocytic neoplasms. All remaining resected nodules were histologically proven oncocytic neoplasms: 1) RAS-like alterations without GH-CNA (n = 25) and 2) TERT and/or TP53 mutations co-occurring with GH-CNA (n = 6), including anaplastic thyroid carcinoma arising from follicular oncocytic carcinoma with TP53, TERT mutations with GH-CNA (n = 2). Conclusions A proportion of FNHCT nodules are AFTNs and oncocytic metaplasias, which can be suspected based on characteristic mutations or lack of alterations on molecular testing. Among resected FNHCTs, GH-CNAs characterize approximately half of histologically confirmed follicular oncocytic neoplasms.
Nonbacterial Myositis

Infectious myositis is defined as an infection of a skeletal muscle. Infectious myositis is most commonly caused by bacteria; however, a variety of viral, parasitic, and fungal agents may also cause myositis. The pathogenesis of nonbacterial infectious myositis is via direct or hematogenous infection of the musculature or immune mechanisms. Symptoms typically include muscular pain, tenderness, swelling, and/or weakness. The diagnosis of the specific microbe is often suggested by the presence of concordant clinical signs and symptoms, a detailed medical and travel history, and laboratory data. For example, immunocompromised hosts have a heightened risk of fungal myositis, whereas the presence of a travel history to an endemic location and/or eosinophilia may suggest a parasitic cause. Definitive diagnosis requires detecting the organism by specific laboratory testing including serologies, histopathology, and/or cultures. Treatment entails antimicrobial agents against the pathogen, with consideration for surgical drainage for focal purulent collections within the musculature.
Targeted Therapy for BRAF Mutant Brain Tumors

Molecular heterogeneity has confounded attempts to target individual pathways in brain tumors. However, gliomas with BRAF mutations have been identified as being uniquely vulnerable to targeted therapies. Such mutations are predominantly seen in brain tumors of the adolescent and young adult population. Given that accurate and timely identification of such mutations is essential for offering appropriate treatment, treatment centers should offer both immunohistochemical and sequencing methods for detection of these mutations to guide treatment. Additional studies of these tumors at recurrence would also allow identification of breakthrough resistance mechanisms that may also be targetable for treatment. Due to the relative rarity of these tumors, multicenter collaborative studies will be essential in achieving long term control of these tumors.
Comparing Middle School Students’ Science Explanations During Physical and Virtual Laboratories

In this study, we compared students’ learning from two conditions in a unit on inclined planes: Virtual-then-Physical (V-t-P) (n = 50), where students conducted a virtual lab followed by a physical lab, or vice versa in the Physical-then-Virtual condition (P-t-V) (n = 60). We analyzed students’ written explanations after each lab focusing on connections they made between concepts and their use of evidence. We also analyzed students’ learning using an inclined planes test to understand their overall physics knowledge at the start and end of the unit. While we found no significant differences between students’ post-test scores based on condition using an analysis of covariance, findings from a repeated measures MANOVA of students’ explanations showed that performing a physical lab was less effective in helping students to explain the relationships between the science concepts they were exploring as well as use data to support their ideas. We further found that students who only conducted a virtual lab performed better than students performing both types of labs no matter the sequence. However, the findings from these analyses also indicate that if using both labs, then having students do a physical lab prior to a virtual one may be more beneficial for middle school students than having them participate in the opposite sequence. Limitations, implications, and future research are discussed.
An Analysis of Research from Faculty at U.S. Adult Reconstruction Fellowships

We reviewed all articles published in three major orthopaedic journals from January 2010 to December 2014. Any article focusing on adult reconstruction of the hip or knee was reviewed for first and last authorship, institution, and level of evidence. Three institutions had authored work from arthroplasty faculty that fell within the top five most published institutions in all three journals, while one institution ranked first in all three journals. 43 of 67 (64.2%) reconstruction fellowships had at least one publication included in this study. The majority of the adult reconstruction literature published by faculty at U.S. reconstruction fellowships stems from a few academic centers with the ten most prolific institutions accounting for 65.9% of all U.S. fellowship publications.
Race & Gender Differences in the Experience of Earnings Inequality in the US from 1995 to 2010

This paper studies the evolution of the earnings distribution from 1995 to 2010 of four major de- mographic groups are considered separately, which shows that there are important differences in the experience of inequality that imply that race and gender are not separable when it comes to understand- ing the distribution of earnings in the US. The main findings are that only white men have experienced changes in within-group inequality that parallel the changes in inequality seen in the overall distribution. By contrast, the black population (male and female) has seen no notable increase in within-group in- equality. The evolution of earnings inequality is also compared to the increase in inequality documented by Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, and it is shown that earnings inequality has followed a qualita- tively similar, though less extreme trend to total pre-tax income inequality. In the process, the apparent disconnect between the Gini coefficient - which has not changes much - and inequality assessed via the share of income going to the top percent of income earners is clarified.
Novel and Alternative Bioinformatics Approaches to Understand miRNA-mRNA Interactome in Cancer Research

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding RNAs which play important regulatory roles on target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that in turn, result into posttranslational repression. This intricate interplay between miRNAs and mRNA plays significant roles in complex diseases such as cancer. In this review we will introduce the role of several miRNAs known to be associated with different human cancers. More importantly, we will outline many existing computational algorithms that predict miRNA targets. These target prediction algorithms can potentially provide valuable data-based information for further experimental validation of meaningful miRNA-mRNA interactomes responsible for serious diseases including cancer.