cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Respiratory metabolism of the extra-embryonic membranes of chick embryos in relation to multiplication of the agent of feline pneumonitis.

* Present address: Department of Bacteriology, Indiana University, Blooming ton. Ind. eliminated from the yolk sacs of embryos within a few hours after they died from feline pneumon tis infection. This change in composition and weight of the yolk sac introduces a serious error when the virus titer in yolk sacs of living embryos is compared with the titer in dead ones. In later experiments, this error was eliminated by determining the virus content of whole eggs. For each titration, the entire contents of 4 eggs were placed in a Waring blendor, blended for 45 seconds, and the homogenate thus prepared was tested for virus content by the procedure previously described (Moulder and WT eiss, 1951a). The titer of virus was then expressed as the number of LD50 per egg. Histological sections of yolk sac were prepared as described by Weiss (1950b). Measurement of the metabolism of extra-embryonic membranes.?The yolk sac of chick embryos is well suited for direct manometric study without slicing or mincing. The yolk sac is composed of a single layer of entodermal cells which enlarges by formation of folds and villi. It is associated only with blood vessels of various sizes and a few supporting elements. Although some of the entodermal cells of the chorioallantois become infected with feline pneumonitis virus inoculated into the yolk sac, the bulk of the infection occurs in the yolk sac itself. In microscopic sections, the virus is first detected about 36 hours before the death of the embryos, and the number of vesicles present increases very rapidly. At the time of death, each entodermal cell of the yolk sac is usually infected with 3 or 4 vesicles, clusters, or initial bodies. For respiratory measurements, each egg was opened and its contents poured into a Petri dish. The extra-embryonic membranes were removed as completely as possible, washed 3 to 5 times in cold 0.9(^ sodium chloride to remove as much yolk as possible, and kept in cold O^ sodium chloride until used. Since it was difficult to separate the chorioallantois from the yolk sac in embryos which had been dead for some time, it appeared desirable to include all the extra-embryonic membranes in this study. Up to this point, all operations were carried out under aseptic conditions. Subsequent operations were
Hyperglycemic and Hypoglycemic Drugs

The most common disorder of carbohydrate metabolism can be classified as hyperglycemia (high blood glucose), which happens when the body has too little insulin or can’t use insulin. Insulin plays multiple roles in the body, processing the use of glucose, activating glucose transporters, facilitating the conversion of glucose to glycogenpolysaccharide (C 6 H 10 O 5 ) x , a form in which glucose is stored in tissues as energy source, and hypoglycemia (low level of blood glucose).
Time, Tense, and American Literature: When Is Now?

In Time, Tense, and American Literature, Cindy Weinstein examines canonical American authors who employ a range of tenses to tell a story that has already taken place. This book argues that key texts in the archive of American literature are inconsistent in their retrospective status, ricocheting between past, present and future. Taking 'The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym' as her point of departure, Weinstein shows how Poe's way of representing time involves careening tenses, missing chronometers and inoperable watches, thus establishing a vocabulary of time that is at once anticipated in the fiction of Charles Brockden Brown and further articulated in works by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Theodore Dreiser and Edward P. Jones. Each chapter examines the often strange narrative fabric of these novels and presents an opportunity to understand how especially complicated historical moments, from the founding of the new nation to the psychic consequences of the Civil War, find contextual expression through a literary uncertainty about time.
Rhythms in the Digestive System

This chapter reviews how circadian rhythms in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are established and contribute to homeostasis. Circadian rhythms in the digestive system are shaped by a combination of endogenous rhythms and our activity/rest schedules. Most rhythms have obvious rationales, for instance, the temporal partitioning of opposing cellular functions including absorption vs. proliferation and glucose disposal vs. glucose production. Circadian clocks in peripheral tissues are cell-autonomous molecular mechanisms that maintain 24-h periodicity and drive cyclic expression of many rhythmic functions or clock outputs. In general, GI clocks coordinate the induction of physiological processes to match temporal needs. The feeding rhythm is a potent entrainment signal, presumed to operate by shifting the phases of GI clocks and, consequently, clock outputs. Disturbance of clock operation by mutation or detrimental environmental stimuli can disrupt proper functioning of the digestive system and could lead to adverse metabolic changes, obesity, and diabetes. A more thorough understanding of intestinal clocks and their role in nutrition and homeostasis should enhance our ability to address health issues of modern life.
Quantifying the Visual Impact of Classification Boundaries in Choropleth Maps

One critical visual task when using choropleth maps is to identify spatial clusters in the data. If spatial units have the same color and are in the same neighborhood, this region can be visually identified as a spatial cluster. However, the choice of classification method used to create the choropleth map determines the visual output. The critical map elements in the classification scheme are those that lie near the classification boundary as those elements could potentially belong to different classes with a slight adjustment of the classification boundary. Thus, these elements have the most potential to impact the visual features (i.e., spatial clusters) that occur in the choropleth map. We present a methodology to enable analysts and designers to identify spatial regions where the visual appearance may be the result of spurious data artifacts. The proposed methodology automatically detects the critical boundary cases that can impact the overall visual presentation of the choropleth map using a classification metric of cluster stability. The map elements that belong to a critical boundary case are then automatically assessed to quantify the visual impact of classification edge effects. Our results demonstrate the impact of boundary elements on the resulting visualization and suggest that special attention should be given to these elements during map design.
Energy Drink Use Linked to High-sugar Beverage Intake and BMI among Teens.

OBJECTIVE We assessed the relationship of energy drink, high-sugar, and low-sugar beverage consumption. METHODS Mann-Whitney U, Cohen's d and effect sizes were used to examine data from 1737 adolescents in the United States who participated in the 2014 FLASHE Study. Secondary analysis examined consumption of energy drinks, high- and low-sugar beverages, and adolescents' BMIs. RESULTS Among adolescents, 13.7% (N = 239) reported past 7-day energy drink consumption. Participants who did not consume energy drinks in the past 7 days were more likely to consume low-sugar beverages of water (p < .001) and milk (p = .046). Consumption of energy drinks was positively related to sweetened fruit drinks (p < .001), pure fruit juice (p = .008), soda (p < .001), and sports drinks (p < .001). Energy drink consumers also reported higher mean BMI (p = .004). CONCLUSIONS Adolescents who consume energy drinks during the past 7 days are more likely to also consume other high-sugar beverages. Whereas those who report no past 7-day use of energy drinks consume higher rates of low- or no-sugar beverages. Health education and prevention efforts to reduce adolescent energy drink consumption may lead to reductions in other high-sugar beverage intake and have a positive impact on obesity rates among adolescents.
Erosion of Digital Professionalism During Medical Students’ Core Clinical Clerkships

Background: The increased use of social media, cloud computing, and mobile devices has led to the emergence of guidelines and novel teaching efforts to guide students toward the appropriate use of technology. Despite this, violations of professional conduct are common. Objective: We sought to explore professional behaviors specific to appropriate use of technology by looking at changes in third-year medical students’ attitudes and behaviors at the beginning and conclusion of their clinical clerkships. Methods: After formal teaching about digital professionalism, we administered a survey to medical students that described 35 technology-related behaviors and queried students about professionalism of the behavior (on a 5-point Likert scale), observation of others engaging in the behavior (yes or no), as well as personal participation in the behavior (yes or no). Students were resurveyed at the end of the academic year. Results: Over the year, perceptions of what is considered acceptable behavior regarding privacy, data security, communications, and social media boundaries changed, despite formal teaching sessions to reinforce professional behavior. Furthermore, medical students who observed unprofessional behaviors were more likely to participate in such behaviors. Conclusions: Although technology is a useful tool to enhance teaching and learning, our results reflect an erosion of professionalism related to information security that occurred despite medical school and hospital-based teaching sessions to promote digital professionalism. True alteration of trainee behavior will require a cultural shift that includes continual education, better role models, and frequent reminders for faculty, house staff, students, and staff. [JMIR Med Educ 2017;3(1):e9]
Optimal load and resource balance in internet distributed systems

A distributed system is a network of multiple autonomous computational nodes designed primarily for performance scalability and robustness. The performance of a distributed system depends critically on how tasks and resources are distributed among the nodes. Thus, a main thrust in distributed system research is to design schemes for distributing computational loads and resource sharing in ways that boost the overall system performance. For many Internet distributed systems such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, the optimization of loads and resource sharing become even more important due to the higher costs of communication and management of nodes located geographically far part. Furthermore, in many P2P-based systems, nodes are individual users who ultimately decide whether they want to contribute their computer resources to the system. As a result, in addition to the system performance consideration from the engineering perspective, many recently proposed resource and task distribution schemes are designed to provide incentives to users, in such a way to promote resource sharing and enhancing system performance. In this dissertation, we study different approaches for optimizing performance of distributed systems. Specifically, the dissertation is focused on “balancing” resources and loads on each node to improve the performance for two important models of distributed systems. In the first model, we study incentive mechanisms to promote cooperation of users in P2P networks. In a typical file sharing P2P network, there are uncooperative peers, or free riders who only download data from other peers without sharing their data with others. As a result, upload bandwidth of cooperative peers are saturated, but those of uncooperative peers are unused. This leads to overall low system utilization and performance degradation. This dissertation proposes a scalable, decentralized mechanism to efficiently prevent free riding, and to increase system performance. The key ingredient of the proposed mechanism is to balance the amounts of upload and download data of each peer using the notion of global contribution which can be efficiently calculated in a distributed manner. In the second model, we consider a class of distributed server systems that can be used as the underlying engines for many Internet applications, especially social networking applications. Such a system consists of a large number of clients who communicate with each other indirectly via a number of intermediate servers. Optimizing the overall performance of such a system then can be formulated as a client-server assignment problem whose aim is to assign the clients to the servers in such a way to satisfy some pre-specified requirements on the communication cost and load balancing. We propose to solve this client-server assignment problem via relaxed convex optimization techniques. The simulation results indicate that the proposed approach produces superior performance than many other popular heuristics.
Ultrasound for the Diagnosis and Management of Suspected Urolithiasis in the Emergency Department.

Abstract Background This review provides practicing emergency physicians updated information regarding point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) imaging of patients with suspected urolithiasis. Methods A PubMed literature search was conducted for articles published between January 1, 1996 and May 31, 2017 and limited to human clinical trials written in English with relevant keywords. High-quality studies identified then underwent a structured review. Recommendations herein are made based on the literature review. Results Two hundred seventy-two abstracts fulfilling the search criteria were screened and 10 appropriate articles were rigorously reviewed in detail. There were 8 prospective studies and 2 retrospective studies. Only 1 of them was a multi-institutional randomized trial. POCUS performed in the emergency department (ED) is moderately sensitive and specific in making the diagnosis of urolithiasis in symptomatic patients. Suspected urolithiasis patients evaluated initially with ED POCUS have complication rates compatible with those evaluated initially with computed tomography. Conclusions POCUS has moderate accuracy in making the diagnosis of urolithiasis. Nevertheless, it may be safely used as a first line of imaging in ED patients with suspected symptomatic urolithiaisis.
Laminin-1 induces endocytosis of 67KDa laminin receptor and protects Neuroscreen-1 cells against death induced by serum withdrawal.

Abstract Although the function of laminin in the basement membrane is known, the function of soluble “neuronal” laminin is unknown. Since laminin is neuroprotective, we determined whether the soluble laminin-1 induces signaling for neuroprotection via its 67KDa laminin-1 receptor (67LR). Treatment of Neuroscreen-1 (NS-1) cells with laminin-1 or YIGSR peptide, which corresponds to a sequence in laminin-1 β1 chain that binds to 67LR, induced a decrease in the cell-surface expression of 67LR and caused its internalization. Furthermore, intracellular cAMP-elevating agents, dibutyryl-cAMP, forskolin, and rolipram, also induced this internalization. Both soluble laminin-1 and YIGSR induced a sustained elevation of intracellular cAMP under defined conditions, suggesting a causal role of cAMP in the endocytosis of 67LR. This endocytosis was not observed in cells deficient in protein kinase A (PKA) nor in cells treated with either SQ 22536, an inhibitor for adenylyl cyclase, or ESI-09, an inhibitor for the exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac). In addition, when internalization occurred in NS-1 cells, 67LR and adenylyl cyclase were localized in early endosomes. Under conditions in which endocytosis had occurred, both laminin-1 and YIGSR protected NS-1 cells from cell death induced by serum withdrawal. However, under conditions in which endocytosis did not occur, neither laminin-1 nor YIGSR protected these cells. Conceivably, the binding of laminin-1 to 67LR causes initial signaling through PKA and Epac, which causes the internalization of 67LR, along with signaling enzymes, such as adenylyl cyclase, into early endosomes. This causes sustained signaling for protection against cell death induced by serum withdrawal.
Marketplace Plans Provide Risk Protection, But Actuarial Values Overstate Realized Coverage For Most Enrollees.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has increased the number of Americans with health insurance. Yet many policy makers and consumers have questioned the value of Marketplace plan coverage because of the generally high levels of cost sharing. We simulated out-of-pocket spending for bronze, silver, or gold Marketplace plans (those having actuarial values of 60 percent, 70 percent, and 80 percent, respectively). We found that for the vast majority of consumers, the proportion of covered spending paid by the plans is likely to be far less than their actuarial values, the metric commonly used to convey plan generosity. Indeed, only when annual health care spending exceeds $16,500 for bronze plans, $19,500 for silver plans, and $21,500 for gold plans do plans in these metal tiers cover the proportion of costs matching their actuarial values. While Marketplace plans substantially reduce consumers’ exposure to financial risk relative to being uninsured, the use of actuarial values to communicate plan generosity is lik...
Probing the structure of the stable Xe isotopes with inelastic neutron scattering

The stable isotopes of xenon, which have attracted interest for a number of reasons, span a transitional region that evolves from γ -soft structures for the lighter mass isotopes to nearly spherical 136 Xe with a closed neutron shell. The nature of this transition, which is gradual, is not well understood. To provide detailed spectroscopic information on the Xe isotopes, we have studied 130,132,134,136 Xe at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory using inelastic neutron scattering and γ -ray detection. These measurements yielded γ -ray angular distributions, branching ratios, multipole mixing ratios, and level lifetimes (from the Doppler-shift attenuation method), which allowed the determination of reduced transition probabilities and provided insight into the structure of these nuclei.
Combined Chemoradiation Therapy for Limited-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer

After nearly 4 decades of use in treating small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), thoracic radiation has become integral to the management of limited-stage disease. Many prospective randomized trials have demonstrated that adding thoracic radiation therapy to chemotherapy improves locoregional control and survival at 3 and 5 years. This has resulted in a greater appreciation of the role of thoracic radiation in the treatment of SCLC. Currently, the most commonly used regimens incorporate concurrent administration of cisplatin (Platinol) and etoposide (VePesid) chemotherapy and radiation doses of 45 Gy given over 5 weeks. However, issues concerning timing, volume, and dose fractionation remain to be resolved.
Flow Behaviour of Nickel-Base Superalloys at Isothermal Forging Temperatures and Strain Rates

The interrelationship between flow strength and microstructure at isothermal forging temperatures and strain rates in high γ'volume fraction nickel-base superalloys is discussed. A deformation mechanism map for these materials is introduced that has been developed as a basis for the formulation of constitutive relation for flow in this class of alloys.
Immune Modulating Therapies for Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Publisher Summary This chapter describes immune modulating therapies for idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease. Continued advances in the therapeutics for idiopathic inflammatory bowel diseases reflect the progress that is made in the understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders. The availability of powerful molecular genetic and cell biological laboratory-investigational techniques has created opportunities to uncover basic causes of these diseases that may lead to singular-curative therapies. A fundamental understanding of the biology of the Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis can form the basis for therapeutic interventions that are more successful than those available today. More specific drugs that can interrupt immune-mediated tissue destruction may become available as knowledge of the regulation of systemic and local mucosal immune response is discussed in the chapter. Better appreciation of microbial ecology of the intestinal lumen and altered mucosal-barrier function may lead to other treatment approaches involving a coupling of the first-line immune modulating and anti-inflammatory therapies with antibiotics and agents that help restitute the mucosal-barrier epithelium.
Effect of a purified porcine relaxin upon glycogen and protein in the rat uterus.

The recent isolation (Sherwood and O’Byrne, 1974; Frieden et al., 1980) and characterization of porcine relaxin as a two-chain polypeptide bearing a distinct structural similarity to insulin (Schwabe and McDonald, 1977; James et al., 1977) has revived interest in an earlier report (Steinetz et al., 1950) that relaxin can exert glycogenic and protein anabolic effects in ovariectomized, estrogen- treated rats. Since the relaxins used in these early experiments were of relatively low specific activity (10–150 GPU/mg), we have examined the metabolic effects of purified, electrophoretically homogenous porcine relaxin as well as NIH-relaxin.
Hydrophobic Residue in Escherichia coli Thioredoxin Critical for the Processivity of T7 DNA Polymerase.

Bacteriophage T7 uses the thioredoxin of its host, Escherichia coli, to enhance the processivity of its DNA polymerase, a requirement for the growth of phage T7. The evolutionarily conserved structure and high degree of homology of amino acid sequence of the thioredoxin family imply that homologues from other organisms might also interact with T7 DNA polymerase to support the phage growth. Despite the structural resemblance, human thioredoxin, whose X-ray crystallographic structure overlaps with that of the E. coli protein, cannot support T7 phage growth. It does not form a complex with T7 DNA polymerase as determined by surface plasmon resonance and thus does not increase the processivity. Homologous scanning analysis using this nonfunctional homologue reveals that the 60 N-terminal and the 12 C-terminal amino acid residues of E. coli thioredoxin can be substituted for its human counterpart without significantly affecting phage growth. Comparison of chimeric thioredoxins, followed by site-directed mutage...
Testing the relationship between a self-management intervention for recurrent depression and health outcomes.

Abstract Background Depression is a leading cause of disability globally. It is a recurrent chronic illness that affects over three million people worldwide. Self-management has been found to positively impact depression outcomes but few techniques or interventions are theory-based and can be used either with or without the support of mental health care providers. Objectives This study aimed to test the relationship between a self-management intervention called the Self-Regulated Illness Management of Depression (SRIM-D) intervention and specific health outcomes (depression, self-efficacy, social support and quality of life). SRIM-D was developed using metacognition and self-regulation theories. Sample and setting Twenty-three individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) participated in the study. Individuals over 21 years of age without a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, current substance abuse problem or suicidal ideations who suffered from MDD (BDI-II Methods The intervention was delivered over three consecutive weeks of 1 ½ hour sessions by two PhD prepared nurses with psychiatric experience. Participants were given a workbook manual with corresponding power point presentations conferring information about depression, and were led through a series of workbook activities designed to teach the self-regulation process as applied to their recurrent depression. Health outcomes were assessed via self-report survey prior to and six-month post-intervention. Results Six months post-intervention depressive symptoms decreased significantly (M = 6.62, SD = 14.76, t(15) = 5.60, p .01) both improved significantly. Social support had a negligible, insignificant decrease from pre-intervention (M = 53.05, SD = 19.81) to six months post-intervention (M = 42.14, SD = 19.53). Conclusions Overall, the SRIM-D intervention improved health outcomes in this study. The intervention demonstrated applicability to people with recurrent, chronic depression who might or might not have access to care.
Understanding the Average Electron–Hole Pair-Creation Energy in Silicon and Germanium Based on Full-Band Monte Carlo Simulations

The thermalization process of sub-10-eV charge carriers is examined with treating carrier transport with full-band Monte Carlo simulations. The average energy loss (3.69 eV in Si and 2.62 eV in Ge) required to create a thermalized electron–hole pair, obtained from the simulations, is very close to the experimentally measured radiation–ionization energies of Si and Ge irradiated with high-energy particles. These results suggest that only interactions that occur after the radiation-generated charge carriers decay to energies of ~10 eV or less determine the fundamental property of the radiation–ionization energies. In addition to an energy loss equal to the band gap energy via impact ionization, acoustic-phonon emission, which has been omitted in prior work, contributes 30% of the remaining carrier energy loss, while optical-phonon emission contributes the other 70%.
Multiparticle correlations and higher order harmonics in pPb collisions at root s(NN)=8.16 TeV

The elliptic and higher-order azimuthal anisotropy Fourier harmonics (v(n)) are obtained for pPb collisions at root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV over a wide range of event multiplicities based on multiparticle correlations. The data were collected by the CMS experiment during the 2016 LHC run. A sample of peripheral PbPb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV covering a similar range of event multiplicities to the pPb results is also analyzed for comparison. The ratios of different harmonic moments are obtained for both v(2) and v(3) with high precision, which allows a direct comparison to theoretical predictions assuming a hydrodynamic evolution of the created medium with initial-state density fluctuations, particularly probing the non-Gaussian nature of initial-state fluctuations in small collision systems. The presented results provide crucial insights into the origin of collective long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.
Minimizing the Number of Detrimental Objects in Multi-Dimensional Graph-Based Codes

The increasing demand for access to data has led to dramatic increases in data storage densities, and as densities increase, new sources of error appear. Multi-dimensional (MD) graph-based codes are capable of mitigating error sources like interference and channel non-uniformity in dense storage devices. A recent innovation improves the performance of MD spatially-coupled codes that are based on circulants by carefully relocating some circulants to minimize the number of short cycles. However, cycles become more detrimental when they combine together to form more advanced objects, e.g., absorbing sets, including low-weight codewords. In this paper, we show how MD relocations can be exploited to minimize the number of detrimental objects in the graph of an MD code. Moreover, we demonstrate the savings in the number of relocation arrangements earned by focusing on objects rather than their constituent cycles. Our technique is applicable to a wide variety of one-dimensional (OD) codes. Simulation results demonstrate significant lifetime gains achieved by the proposed MD codes on an industry-recommended model for Flash systems, and signal-to-noise ratio gains on an industry-recommended model for magnetic recording systems, both with respect to OD codes with similar parameters. The second order analysis of MD relocations relies on conditions and options for an object, called a pattern, to form a bigger cycle after MD relocations, which are discussed in this paper.
Most of the coenzyme A in dormant spores of Bacillus megaterium is in disulfide linkage to protein.

Abstract Approximately 70% of the Coenzyme A in dormant spores of Bacillus megaterium is in disulfide linkage to protein. About 75% of these disulfides are cleaved during the first 15 min of spore germination. In contrast, less than 2% of the Coenzyme A in log phase or stationary phase cells is in disulfide linkage to protein.
Eye-Glance Frequency as a Function of Driver's Intent to Change Lanes

Video capturing technique is useful for detecting driver's visual behavior and their intent to perform a driving task. Video analysis helps in understanding driver intentions and roadway distractions by looking at the driver's eye positions while s/he is performing his primary and/or secondary driving task. Conducting research on a driver simulator is preferred by many researchers as it provides a safe environment to analyze various roadway conditions. In this study, driver simulator is used to collect data from ten subjects (7 males and 3 females) to determine whether eye glance behavior is affected by secondary tasks while driving. Subjects are instructed to drive in a highway scenario with three co-passengers in the car and also alone, while changing lanes whenever possible. Eye glance of the driver is observed for 90 seconds for each scenario and the compared result implies that driving with co passengers increased eye glance rapidly. An overall average frequency of 0.1145 is obtained based on the number of times a subject actually changed lanes and number of glances in 90 seconds in both scenarios. Based on this frequency, an algorithm is designed to predict driver's intention to change lanes.
Single-Chain β-d-Glycopyranosylamides of Unsaturated Fatty Acids: Self-Assembly Properties and Applications to Artificial Cell Development

Amphiphilic molecules undergo self-assembly in aqueous medium to yield various supramolecular structures depending on their chemical structure and molecular geometry. Among these, lamellar membrane-bound vesicles are of special interest due to their resemblance to cellular membranes. Here we describe the self-assembly of single-chain amide-linked amphiphiles derived from β-d-galactopyranosylamine and various unsaturated fatty acids into vesicles. In contrast, the analogous amphiphiles derived from β-d-glucopyranosylamine self-assemble into nanotubes. Fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry are used to determine various physical parameters pertinent to the self-assembly process. The vesicular architecture is characterized using optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, we show that the vesicles derived from these amphiphiles can encapsulate molecules of various sizes and host model biochemical reactions. Our work demonstrates that single-chain glycolipid-based amphiphiles could serve as robust building blocks for artificial cells and have potential applications in drug delivery and microreactor design.
Distribution and Short‐term Prognostic Value of the 21‐gene recurrence score in African American compared to White American breast cancer patients

We evaluated 328 patients (34.8% African American [AA]; 65.2% White American [WA]) with hormone receptor-positive, HER2/neu-negative breast cancer. Mean age (60 years); mean tumor size (1.6 and 1.7 cm for AA and WA, respectively) were similar, and mean BMI was higher for AA (33 vs 29.8; P = 0.001). Recurrence score (RS) distribution was similar- 8.3% AA and 5.9% WA with high RS (≥31). No significant differences were observed in delivery of chemotherapy stratified by score. With median follow-up 27.2 months for AA and 33.4 months for WA, distant recurrence occurred in 1.0% and 1.6%, respectively (P = 1). Our results suggest comparable RS utility in AA and WA patients.
Learning in urban blight: School climate and its effect on the school performance of urban, minority, low-income children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between school climate and children's academic and social development in the early elementary school years, controlling for maternal ed...
Medusa: Mutant Equivalence Detection Using Satisfiability Analysis

This paper introduces Medusa, a framework for reasoning about the equivalence of first-order mutants in Java programs. Since the problem of detecting equivalent mutants is undecidable in general, even when restricted to first-order mutants, Medusa focuses on a subset of Java that can be modeled as SMT solver constraints. This paper describes the key insights behind Medusa and provides details about its concepts and components, in particular constraint forking—a novel approach that leverages structural similarities between mutants to improve its efficiency. This paper further reports on a preliminary evaluation and outlines several optimizations that leverage the first-order mutant property to further improve Medusa's applicability and efficiency.
Evolution of Microstructure in Polycrystalline Silicon Carbide

This paper describes the results of an organized study of the structural aspects of the development of microstructure in polycrystalline silicon carbide. While silicon carbide has long seen specialized application in the polycirystalline form, it is only recently that technological advances have permitted the high resolution observation of structure by transmission electron microscopy. Most of our current understanding of the subject is built upon X-ray diffraction analyses of single crystals prepared by precipitation,from solvents or by growth in the vapor phase. The consolidation processes involved in the preparation of polycrystalline material incorporate these and other phenomena. Much of the single crystal information already in hand provides a basis for the understanding of polycrystalline structure, particularly that relating to the fine structure within grains (crystals). However, the polycrystalline microstructure depends not only upon the initial fine structure but also upon the changes that take place as a result of intercrystalline interaction and processing variables in addition to time and temperature.
Antioxidative Effect of Whey Protein Hydrolysates in Serum,Heart and Kidney of D-galactose-induced Aging Rats

The antioxidative effect of whey protein isolate(WPI) hydrolysates on aging rats induced by D-galactose(D-gal) was investigated.The rats were divided into seven groups including the control group,D-gal model group,D-gal-induced rats treated with unhydrolyzed WPI,D-gal-induced rats treated with WPI hydrolysates at low,middle and high dosages,and D-gal-induced rats treated with ascorbic acid as the positive group.The experiment period was last for 45 days.The effect of WPI hydrolysates on antioxidative enzyme system including superoxide dismutase(SOD),glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) and hydrogen peroxidase(CAT) in rats was evaluated,and the content of malondialdehyde(MDA) was determined.Results showed that WPI hydrolysates at three dosage levels significantly increased SOD and GSH-Px activities and simultaneously decreased MDA content in serum,heart and kidney tissues.The CAT activity in liver tissue of treated rats was also improved(P 0.05).Moreover,a higher SOD activity was observed in rats treated with WPI hydrolysates at the dosage of 200 mg/kg· bw.Compared with the negative control,the SOD activity in serum of rats treated with WPI hydrolysates at the high dosage was increased by 29.2%.No significant difference in GSH-Px activity in kidney and CAT activity in liver between WPI hydrolysate treatment at the high dosage and the positive control of ascorbic acid was observed(P 0.05).In contrast,compared with the negative control,the MDA content in rats treated with WPI hydrolysates at the dosage of 100 mg/kg bw was decreased by 38.6% in heart.Therefore,WPI hydrolysates delayed the aging process of rats due to the increase of the activity in antioxdative enzyme system.
The Safe and Effective Use of Lumbar Epidural for the Surgical Management of a Femoral Neck Fracture in a Patient with Progressed Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): A Case Report

Objective: Because of the limited publications on the appropriate anesthetic management of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), this manuscript is a means of providing outcome data on the use of epidural anesthesia in an ALS patient and to discuss the risks and benefits of neuraxial anesthesia in these individuals. Background: ALS is a debilitating neuromuscular disease that arises from destruction of large upper and lower motor neurons. Patients develop weakness of their peripheral muscles that can progress to include intrinsic muscles of the airway and oropharynx, which creates a challenge when determining the safest anesthetic plan and considerations for the post-operative course. Case: The case discusses a 78-year-old female with a longstanding history of ALS, for which she required noninvasive mechanical ventilatory support and gastrostomy tube feedings secondary to oropharyngeal and upper respiratory muscle weakness and atrophy. The patient presented for orthopedic repair of a femoral fracture. She underwent epidural anesthesia successfully without any exacerbation of her lower extremity weakness. Conclusion: Regional anesthesia in ALS patients appears to be a safe means of delivering intraoperative anesthesia and postoperative analgesia without compromising baseline functional status. This may be a superior technique to general anesthesia and endotracheal intubation, particularly in patients who already suffer from dysphagia and respiratory compromise.
Self-Perceptions of Aging: Factorial Structure and Invariance by Gender

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Self-perceptions of aging (SPA)-the appraisals people place on their own aging processes-predict well-being in later life. Researchers are increasingly hypothesizing that the overarching construct of SPA is comprised of two factors-positive SPA and negative SPA-and that SPA are gendered. The purpose of this study was to empirically test the hypothesized two-factor structure of SPA and to analyze how the two-factor structure varies between men and women. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data come from the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 7,029; Mage = 68.08), which includes an 8-item SPA scale. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess (i) the positive SPA and negative SPA two-factor solution for the 8-item scale and (ii) whether the two-factor solution had configural, strong, or weak invariance across men and women. RESULTS CFAs indicated a two-factor latent structure of the 8-item scale, with SPA being comprised of both a positive SPA factor and a negative SPA factor. The latent structure was the same for both men and women. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS Results suggest that SPA is a broader construct made up of positive and negative latent factors. Researchers should consider separating the SPA by positive and negative factors to analyze how each factor uniquely shapes health. Moreover, the two-factor solution was equivalent across men and women, possibly because of the generalized nature of the 8-item scale. Researchers can use the 8-item scale similarly for men and women and should continue to elucidate possible gender differences in SPA.
Agreement between a single, self-defined burnout item and the ProQOL burnout subscale for behavioural health staff

Burnout in the field of behavioural health care is widespread. Occupational burnout can negatively impact providers' well-being and patient care, as well as lead to substantial fiscal cost to healthcare institutions. The objective of this quality improvement project was to develop a single-item survey to rapidly assess individual burnout and workforce well-being among behavioural health staff in our urban, safety-net hospital. We examined the degree of agreement between a single, self-defined burnout item from the Mini-Z and the ProQOL burnout subscale among one hundred and thirty-five nurses, behavioural technicians and administrative staff. Our findings indicate that ProQOL and Mini-Z have a low-to-moderate correlation at a baseline (k = 0.52, 95% CI 0.26, 0.69). However, using a modified ProQOL cut-off score with a binary classification of both surveys yields a moderate-to-high agreement (K = 0.67, 95% CI 0.54, 0.80). To our knowledge, this is the first published comparison of the Mini-Z with the ProQOL instrument. The project adheres to the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) 2.0 reporting guidelines for quality improvement (Ogrinc et al., 2016). A single, validated question measuring burnout allows for more rapid assessment and the maximization of response rates, both of which are important steps in evaluating the level of burnout of the collective whole.
Dueling Grants: Reimagining CAFA's Jurisdictional Provisions

More than a decade after Congress passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), courts continue to disagree as to its meaning in a variety of situations, many of which have wide-ranging effects. This article considers what happens when a federal court's subject matter jurisdiction derives solely from CAFA's minimal diversity jurisdiction provision and a request for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 is denied. The statute's ambiguity on this point has resulted in numerous inefficiencies and opportunities to manipulate jurisdiction. This article suggests CAFA's language and statutory scheme require courts to consider jurisdiction at two points: before a certification decision is reached and after such a decision. Approaching CAFA's jurisdictional provisions in this way would allow courts to avoid ignoring some of the statute's more problematic, but nevertheless, existing jurisdictional provisions. In addition, it would further the primary articulated purposes underlying CAFA. It would ensure, on the one hand, that class actions of national importance are heard in federal courts and prevent, on the other hand, meritless claims that do not further substantive legal policies and could never qualify for class treatment from taking up judicial resources merely because plaintiffs allege a putative class. It would also promote predictable and logically consistent answers to the question of continuing jurisdiction, even though in some cases characteristics of a given class weigh in favor of delaying class certification decisions, whereas in others they do not.
Pregnancy and Binge Drinking: An Intersectionality Theory Perspective Using Veteran Status and Racial/Ethnic Identity.

Alcohol use during pregnancy is a critical public health issue that results in several adverse outcomes for both mother and child. While the prevalence of and consequences of binge drinking among pregnant women is well-documented in the literature, little is known about the intersectional effect of racial/ethnic identity and veteran status. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of binge drinking among pregnant women using the intersectionality of racial/ethnic identity and veteran status. This study utilized combined data from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a telephone survey that collects health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions and use of preventative services among U.S residents. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine the prevalence of binge drinking using the interaction between race/ethnicity and veteran status. Overall binge drinking prevalence was 3.60% among the sample of 6101 pregnant women. Binge drinking prevalence was the highest among racial/ethnic minority veterans at 17.42%, compared to 5.34% among white veterans, 4.05% among non-veteran racial/ethnic minorities and 3% among non-veteran whites, supporting the theory of intersectionality. Intersectionality Theory suggests that the stressors from membership in two vulnerable groups may lead to increased disparities. The results of this study highlight the unique experience of being a veteran and identifying as a member of a racial/ethnic minority group. This calls for a need to customize preventative measures that address the combined impact of both racial/ethnic minority group status and veteran status.
“I thought we weren't in Spain!”: Discursive negotiations of realness in a foreign language classroom

Abstract This study examines the secluded nature of the foreign language classroom and the contrived nature of foreign language classroom discourse. A critically-inclined ecological framework positions the foreign language classroom as a complex and dynamic site, embedded in multiple social systems. Anchored in literature that situates student relationships with the foreign language as simultaneously divorced from real-world contexts and interactionally contrived, discourse analysis illuminates how classroom participants in a beginning eighth grade Spanish classroom grapple with the perceived (un)realness of the language they are using. Discourse analysis reveals regular misunderstandings between participants about the immediate realness and efficacy of Spanish, as it is used in their classroom. These moments of benign conversational conflict, referred to as boundary clashes, are valuable in the information they uncover, both about the nature of the foreign language classroom as well as about varying participant perceptions of whether Spanish is being used for practice, performance, or immediate communication.
Multi-dimensional analyses identify genes of high priority for pancreatic cancer research

Abstract Genomic profiling has unveiled the molecular subtypes and mutational landscape of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, there is a knowledge gap on the consistency of gene expression across PDAC tumors profiled in independent studies and this limits follow up research. To facilitate novel drug target prioritization and biomarker discovery, we investigated the most consistently expressed genes in human PDAC. We identified ~4,000 genes highly or lowly expressed in at least 4 of 5 microarrays (adjusted P Highlights Identifies ~4,000 consistent genes across PDAC microarrays, >50% of which have not been studied Glycolysis and cell cycle are the most consistent processes in PDAC Heterogeneous pathways underlie or correlate with clinicopathological variables Identifies 205 genes with similar expression pattern in PDAC tissues and peripheral blood Highlights 185 upregulated genes that are high priority therapeutic targets in PDAC