cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modified distal urethral polypropylene sling (canal transobturator tape) procedure: efficacy for persistent stress urinary incontinence after a conventional midurethral sling procedure.

PURPOSE Despite reports of persistent stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in patients after the midurethral sling (MUS) procedure, there is no widely accepted definition or cause of the condition. In many cases, the mesh implanted in the previous MUS procedure has been found to have migrated proximally. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the modified distal urethral polypropylene sling, or canal transobturator tape (TOT), procedure for persistent SUI after a conventional MUS procedure on the assumption that persistent SUI after MUS is due to the location of the sling. METHODS From January 2008 to April 2012, 31 female patients who underwent the canal TOT procedure presented with incontinence or lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) were included in this study. We identified patients who had been operated on by use of the conventional MUS procedure at other medical facilities, whose Valsalva leak pressure point was less than 120 cm-H2O by urodynamic study, and who were also diagnosed with persistent SUI. If vaginal or urethral mesh exposure was concomitant with persistent SUI, the mesh was removed completely or in part. Surgical procedures for canal TOT were identical to the original TOT procedures, except in the number and location of the vaginal incisions. Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-Short Form (IIQ-7) and Urogenital Distress Inventory-Short Form (UDI-6) scores were assessed preoperatively and at 3 months postoperatively. RESULTS There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. Twenty-eight patients (90.3%) showed improvement in incontinence or other LUTS. Postoperative scores of the IIQ-7 (0.65±0.48) and UDI-6 (3.48±2.28) were significantly improved compared with preoperative scores (1.26±0.58 and 7.52±4.30, respectively; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Improper sling location is one of the major causes of persistent SUI after the conventional MUS procedure. Our results demonstrate that canal TOT may be an alternative method in the treatment of persistent SUI after the conventional MUS procedure.
Haloperidol induces a partial reinforcement extinction effect in rats: Implications for a dopamine involvement in food reward

Abstract The hypothesis that dopamine antagonist drugs attenuate the reinforcing properties of food was investigated in hungry rats trained to traverse a straight runaway for food reward. Testing consisted of a single trial per day during which latencies to leave the start box and to traverse the alley were recorded. In each experiment, a reinforcement phase lasting 30 consecutive days was immediately followed by a 21 day extinction phase. The runway responses of animals that experienced intermittent food reward during the reinforcement phase of the experiments, was later found to be more resistant to extinction than those of continuously reinforced animals. This “partial reinforcement extinction effect” (PREE) was also observed in animals that experienced periodic reductions in the quantity, but not quality, of food reward. Intermittent pretreatment with 0.15mg/kg of haloperidol during the reinforcement phase produced a PREE that was indistinguishable from that produced by reward omission on those same trials. Control groups for motor debitation and for non-associative drug effects did not demonstrate a PREE. These results are consistent with the view that central dopamine substrates play a role in the neural basis of food reward.
Interactive dynamic response for games

Dynamic response is a technique for employing a physical reaction to an animated character. The technique utilizes a database of reactions as example motions to transition to following a dynamic simulation of an interaction. The search for the example to follow has been the stumbling block for bringing such a system into realtime applications and in this paper, we address that issue by proposing a number of speed-ups which make the approach faster and more appropriate for an electronic game implementation. We accomplish our speed-up by using a supervised learning routine which trains offine on a large set of dynamic response examples and predicts online among the choices found in the database. Also, we propose a near-optimal routine which finds the alignment of the selected motion for the given scenario based on a sparse sampling with an additional speed-up over the original algorthim. With both of these changes in place, we enjoy a tremendous speed-up with inperceptable difference in the final motion compared to previous published results. Finally we offer a few additional alternatives that allow the user to choose between quality and speed based on their individual needs.
ASIST Award of Merit Acceptance Speech: On the Fragmentation of Knowledge, the Connection Explosion, and Assembling Other People's Ideas

L'auteur montre que les professionnels de l'information peuvent deceler de nouvelles hypotheses scientifiques, en etudiant en paralele des litteratures de domaines non interactifs- non interractifs dans le sens que les auteurs de l'une des disciplines ne cite pas les auteurs de l'autre discipline- mais cependant complementaires. La tâche des professionnels de l'information est de produire de nouvelles hypotheses, d'emettre des suggestions mais non de realiser des decouvertes reelles, qui sont l'apanage des laboratoires. Une autre activite des professionnels de l'information est de detecter des nouveautes dans les grandes bases de donnees
Reductions in resistance to extinction and spontaneous recovery as a function of changes in transportational and contextual stimuli

Thirty rats received 10 sessions of baseline training in which leverpressing was reinforced according to a variable-interval (VI) 60-sec schedule. Twenty-four of the subjects were then assigned to one of four groups that received five sessions of extinction, with groups being differentiated in a 2 by 2 factorial design on the basis of: (1) changes in stimuli accompanying transportation of subjects from home cages to the laboratory and placement in the apparatus, and/or (2) changes in contextual stimuli within the apparatus. During the sixth session of extinction, the transportational and contextual stimuli previously associated with baseline training were reinstated. The remaining six rats experienced changes in both transportational and contextual stimuli but were maintained on the VI 60-sec schedule of reinforcement. Changes in either transportational or contextual stimuli reduced resistance to extinction and spontaneous recovery, and substantial increments in responding occurred upon reinstatement of the transportational and contextual stimuli associated with baseline training. Evidence for summation of the two sources of stimulus change was obtained. Changes in transportational and contextual stimuli produced only a brief disruption in responding when reinforcement of leverpressing was continued.
Context, Meaning, and Transfer of Verbal Behavior

Si~mmary.-Two ex~riments, with 54 and 60 college Ss, respectively, had paired-associate words varied either in or our of a sentence context in training; had stimulus, response or both S-R similarity varied in 3 lists of paired-associate words or sentences between uaining and transfer; and had the meaning relationships of words within the 3 lists of paired-associate words or sentences between training and transfer varied in six ways: unrelated, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, associates, and identical. Both experiments were designed as 2 (context) by 3 (lists) by 6 (meaning) with repeated measures for meaning. In Exp. I, the paired-associate words for the transfer task were not in a sentence context and in Exp. I1 the same paired-associate words were in a sentence context. The results indicated that there was reliably greater transfer for words that had homonym, associate or identical than unrelated, synonym, or antonym meaning relationships between training and transfer. This was true whether the pairedassociate words were in or out of context in training or in transfer. Only when the training and transfer csks were in context was there more transfer of learning due to context than no context. Contrary to the theory of transfer, there was no difference due to S, R, or S-R similarity being varied bemeen training and transfer. In a previous study, Sassenrath and Yonge (1967) reviewed studies by Underwood (1951), Ryan (1960), Bastian (1961), and Wimer (1964) that showed transfer effects increased due to judged similarity in meaning between the training and transfer lists when either the simulus (S) or response (R) elements were varied. These studies frequently confounded either synonym and antonym meanings with associative meanings (hand-glove) or varied only S or R conditions between training and transfer. Thus, in the previous study, Sassenrath and Yonge (1967) studied synonym, antonym, homonym, and associative meaning independent of one another and in S, R, and S-R positions between training and transfer in the same experiment. The major results of that experiment showed that, when the training and transfer words were related as homonyms or associates, chere was greater transfer of learning than when che words were related as either synonyms or antonyms. That was true regardless of whether the word meaning relationships were varied in the S, R, or both S-R position between training and ttansfer in paired-associate learning. As a result of our previous study it was surmised that synonyms, antonyms, and other semantic aspects of words may often be learned in a context and transfer their meaning to another context. Therefore, it was hypothesized that when the semantic aspects of paired-associate words are in a simple sentence context rather than in paired-associare lists out of concext there may be as great as or a greater transfer effect than when the words have an associative "meaning" (us
CB1 cannabinoid receptor-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase-related non-kinase.

The effect of cannabinoid on the tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and focal adhesion kinase-related non-kinase (FRNK) was investigated in differentiated mouse neuroblastoma N1E-115 cells. HU-210, a potent cannabinoid agonist, elicited a time-dependent enhancement of tyrosine phosphorylation of FRNK, but not FAK. Pretreatment of cells with antisense oligodeoxynucleotide targeting CB1 cannabinoid receptor abolished HU-210-induced FRNK tyrosine phosphorylation. In addition, pretreatment of cells with 8-Br-cAMP also blocked HU-210-induced FRNK tyrosine phosphorylation. These data demonstrated that HU-210 induces FRNK tyrosine phosphorylation by activating Gi-coupled CB1 cannabinoid receptor in N1E-115 cells. This newly discovered, cannabinoid-induced FRNK tyrosine phosphorylation might be a novel mechanism for cannabinoid-induced functional changes.
Repeated evolution in overlapping mimicry rings among North American velvet ants

Mullerian mimicry, in which two or more harmful species share a similar appearance for mutual benefit, is a widely appreciated, yet relatively uncommon natural phenomenon. Although Mullerian mimicry occurs in vertebrates, most studies are focused on tropical, herbivorous invertebrates. Here we identify a large Mullerian mimicry complex in North American velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). These are conspicuous, diurnal parasitoids of bees and wasps that defend themselves with a powerful sting. We investigate morphological and genetic variation and ask whether morphological similarities are the result of convergent evolution or shared ancestry. We find that 65 species in the velvet ant genus Dasymutilla can be placed into one of six morphologically distinct and geographically delimited mimicry rings. Mullerian colour patterns are primarily the result of independent evolution rather than shared, phylogenetic history. These convergent colour syndromes represent one of the largest known Mullerian mimicry complexes yet identified, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. In Mullerian mimicry two or more harmful species share a similar appearance for mutual benefit. This study identifies a large Mullerian mimicry complex in North American velvet ants, where 65 species mimic each other through shared colour patterns gained as the result of independent evolution.
The determination of melamine in muscle tissue by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

In early 2007 it was determined that the compound melamine, suspected of having been involved in the deaths of numerous pets, had been fed to hogs intended for human consumption. This report describes a method for the analysis of melamine in porcine muscle tissue using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS). Melamine was extracted in 50% acetonitrile in water. Homogenates were centrifuged and supernatants were acidified and washed with methylene chloride. The aqueous extracts were cleaned up using mixed-mode C8/strong cation exchange SPE and then concentrated, fortified with a stable isotope-labeled analog of melamine, and analyzed by HPLC/MS/MS. Gradient HPLC separation was performed using an ether-linked phenyl column with ammonium acetate/acetic acid and acetonitrile as the mobile phase. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode of two precursor-product ion transitions for melamine and one for the internal standard was used. A five point calibration curve ranging from 50 to 2000 ng/mL of melamine in solvent was used to establish instrument response. The method was validated by analysis of seven replicate porcine muscle tissue samples fortified with 10 ng/g of melamine. The mean recovery for the seven replicates was 83% with 6.5% relative standard deviation and the calculated method detection limit was 1.7 ng/g. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Helping the elderly cope with mental changes

Mental changes in the elderly occur as the result of normal aging, medications, and structural and functional loss. The most common mental impairments include memory loss, dementia, grief, de pression, and anxiety. Several well-known nursing interventions have been assembled to assist the home health care nurse to support the elderly and their families in the home. These interventions, coupled with individualistic care, enable nurses to meet their mandate of providing dignified, holistic care to the elders of our society. Key words: mental changes, elderly, depression, coping, dementia
Neurocognitive performance in drug-dependent males and females with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

Sex differences in neurobiological mechanisms of substance dependence are well documented but studies of sex differences in associated neurocognitive deficits have produced inconsistent results. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is comorbid with substance dependence and frequently affects neurocognition. Thus, we investigated the effects of sex and PTSD symptoms on sustained attention and inhibition abilities among 126 female and 297 male substance-dependent individuals (SDIs) using the Immediate Memory Test (IMT). Females with significant PTSD (PTSD+) symptoms demonstrated significantly impaired IMT performance relative to other participants. These results represent progress in efforts to delineate sex-specific risk factors for neurocognitive deficits among SDIs.
Distinct Influences of Anxiety and Pain Catastrophizing on Functional Outcomes in Children and Adolescents With Chronic Pain

Objectives Examine whether anxiety and pain catastrophizing are distinct constructs in relation to functional outcomes in pediatric chronic pain, and whether they differentially predict functional outcomes based on age. Methods In all, 725 youth (191 children, 534 adolescents) with chronic pain completed measures of pain characteristics, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, functional disability, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Structural equation modeling was used to examine interrelationships. Results Anxiety and pain catastrophizing were distinct. For both children and adolescents, pain catastrophizing predicted pain, functional disability, and HRQOL, and was a stronger predictor of pain intensity. For children, anxiety predicted HRQOL, and pain catastrophizing was a stronger predictor of functional disability. For adolescents, anxiety predicted functional disability and HRQOL, and anxiety was a stronger predictor of HRQOL. Conclusions There were age-related differences regarding whether anxiety or pain catastrophizing more strongly predicted specific functional outcomes. Assessment and intervention efforts should emphasize both anxiety and pain catastrophizing.
A PN-acquisition ASIC for wireless CDMA systems

CDMA spread-spectrum systems require PN-acquisition to synchronize the transmitted signal at the receiver. Fast acquisition minimizes the amount of synchronization overhead required in the communication link for maximum system throughput. Yet, the fast acquisition should be done with low energy for portable applications. Conventional acquisition techniques using matched filters or serial correlators alone provide either fast pseudo-noise (PN) acquisition for CDMA or low power dissipation but not both. This paper presents an ASIC which implements a hybrid PN acquisition architecture that achieves both fast acquisition and up to 50% reduction in energy dissipation compared to conventional techniques. This ASIC has been fabricated using 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS technology with an area of 23 mm. It operates at 20 MHz with a 3.3 V supply and dissipates 50 mW per acquisition, or less than 1.5 mW per 50 byte packet.
INSTABILITY OF PATULIN IN CHEDDAR CHEESE

When 50 μg/g patulin was added to Cheddar cheese and stored at 5° and 25°C for varying time periods, the toxin became undetectable by chemical and biological means. Less than 27% of the added toxin was detected after 3 hr and less than 16% after 48 hr. The reaction was not affected by storage temperature or the presence of microorganisms and thus appeared to be chemical in nature. A patulin producing strain of Penicillium patulum grew well on Cheddar cheese at 5° and 25°C, but patulin production was not observed at 5°C, and only small, variable amounts of patulin were noted at 25°C. The patulin formed at 25°C on the cheese was authentic as shown by UV absorption maxima and high pressure liquid chromatography, and it possessed biological activity against Bacillus megaterium and Clostridium perfringens. Potassium sorbate, vacuum packaging and coating cheese with paraffin wax all pre vented growth of P. patulum on retail size pieces of cheese stored at 5° and 25°C. A heat-sealed wrapping on large (20 lb) blocks of cheese also prevented growth of this organism on cheese stored at 12°C for 6.5 wk.
Research on multiple-beam induction linacs for heavy ion inertial fusion

Since October 1983, research in the US toward the development of a heavy ion inertial fusion driver has focused on the multiple-beam induction linac. The Heavy Ion Fusion Accelerator Research program is addressing the key issues of induction linacs through theory and simulation and a sequence of experiments of increasing scale and sophistication. The economic viability of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's (LBL's) approach was confirmed in a recent assessment. Theoretical work is continuing on this and other induction linac accelerator concepts. This includes studies of the fundamental physics of space-charge-dominated beam transport and acceleration and of the economics of the various approaches to a heavy ion inertial fusion driver. Experimental research in progress at LBL comprises three activities: (a) a single-beam transport experiment for studying collective phenomena in ion beam transport; (b) the multiple-beam induction linac experiment, MBE-4, which accelerates four parallel, separately focused beams of cesium ions from 0.2 to 1 MeV; and (c) development of a 16-beam, pulsed, 2-MV injector. A major activity has been the development of a physics and engineering design for a larger experiment to test (in a scaled way) almost all of the manipulations needed in a full-scale driver. >
Modeling front-end signal coupling in MIMO systems

A detailed model of multiple-input multiple-output systems is used to explore the impact of receiver front-end signal coupling on the communication capacity. Representative examples using a 2 /spl times/ 2 system in a simulated multipath environment demonstrate the dramatic capacity degradation that can occur even for modest signal coupling levels.
Solitude, Violation, Alterity: Rulfo's Wastelands

In the most influential ontology of human being in the last century, Martin Heidegger emphasizes the temporal structure of Dasein as constituted out of the future. My existence, my being here now, is radically unfinished, an open site of possibility, a situatedness that is at once, already and always, toward the future. Existence, according to Heidegger, has the character of project, my practical involvement in the world structured by an in-order-to that develops the sense of Dasein as care. But ultimately my futurity concerns my being-towards-death. For Heidegger, death is not one possibility among others, but the possibility most determinative of my being, that which belongs to me and no one else. Death individuates. Authentically or inauthentically, the relation to death gives shape to my existence and marks the way I bear my temporality, the manner in which the future crashes in upon me and dislodges the present from its static representation within linear time. Ecstatic existence is the concrete correlate of the ontological claim that possibility is higher than actuality (Being and Time, 38, 262). The analytic of Dasein that develops this thought, however, belongs to the larger project announced in Being and Time, that of the recovery of the meaning of being. If the nothingness of death individuates, according to Heidegger, the oblivion of being concerns the destiny of the entire West. Unlike my death, then, that destiny is not mine, but ours. And in this respect, recollection is social. Mark the words of the Eleatic stranger from Plato's Sophist, which serve as the epigraph to Heidegger's fundamental ontology: "For manifestly you have long been aware of what you mean when you use the expression 'being.' We, however, who used to think we understood it, have now become perplexed" (BT xix, my emphasis). If this past is to be reawakened, rediscovered and developed, this is possible only because our factical situation is already hermeneutical, because its interpretation is rooted in our ecstatic
The Due Process Understanding of the 1866 Civil Rights Act

Scholars have long looked to the 1866 Civil Rights Act for clues to understanding the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Despite widely divergent conclusions about the Amendment, almost all scholars share two key assumptions about the Act. First, the framers intended the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause to retroactively constitutionalize rights protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Second, the framers of the Civil Rights Act sought to enforce the “privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states” protected under Article IV and described in the antebellum case Corfield v. Coryell. A close look at the original sources, however, suggests that neither of these assumptions are correct. The members of the Thirty-Ninth Congress who passed the 1866 Civil Rights Act sought to enforce the equal due process rights of all persons, not just the special privileges and immunities of citizens. Scholars have failed to recognize this by failing to study the original and final versions of the Civil Rights Act.The original version of the Civil Rights Act guaranteed all persons certain equal rights relating to the protection of person and property. Proponents described these rights as essential aspects of the due process rights of life, liberty, and property originally declared in the Declaration of Independence and constitutionalized by the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. However, due to concerns that Congress lacked power to enforce the rights of non-citizens, proponents amended the Act to protect only citizens. John Bingham, the man who framed Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment, expressly viewed the 1866 Civil Rights Act as an effort to enforce the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, but he refused to support the Act. According to Bingham, the amended version unjustly failed to protect all persons’ due process rights. Bingham also insisted that protecting anyone’s due process rights required a constitutional amendment. Bingham subsequently submitted his second version of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment — a version that included due process rights for all persons. Following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress repassed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 but extended its key provisions to protect all persons and not just citizens. Satisfied that Congress now had the power to enact such legislation, Bingham supported the final version of the Civil Rights Act. The debates of Congress, including the objections of John Bingham, were well published and prompted public commentary which reflected the due process reading of the Civil Rights Act and suggest a Civil Rights Act public understanding of the Due Process Clause.
Pharmacotherapy of Early-Onset Depression. Update and New Directions

This article discusses the evolving study of early-onset depression. The empiric support for currently available compounds is reviewed, and a pharmacologic treatment algorithm is proposed. Promising examples of rationally designed novel phamacotherapies are presented.
Metachromatic Staining of Basic Nucleoproteins in Chronic Erythremic Myelosis

The thiazine dye azure A was found to produce a metachromatic precipitate when combined with methylated arginine in test tube experiments. This reaction appeared to be unique to both azure A and methylated arginine and did not occur with any of the other 21 essential amino acids or with methylated lysine. A wide variety of other dyes did not produce this reaction. When azure A was used as a histochemical reagent, metachromatic material was found in the nuclei of erythroid precursors of patients with chronic erythremic myelosis (DiGuglielmo syndrome). The nuclei of erythroid precursors obtained from other patients with a variety of other types of anemia did not contain metachromatic material. It is suggested that the metachromasia of the basic nucleoproteins in chronic erythremic myelosis may be due in large part to methylated arginine. The diagnostic usefulness of this test awaits further comparisons with other types of refractory sideroblastic anemia.
CTBT Ratification: A Call to Action

On September 24, 1996, President Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) at the United Nations (UN), calling it “the longest-sought, hardest-fought prize in the history of arms control.” This treaty bans all nuclear weapon test explosions and any other nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, of any size, and at any time in the future–a complete “zero-yield” ban on nuclear testing. Indeed, it is a crowning accomplishment of over forty years of bipartisan arms control efforts in the United States, beginning in the 50s with the Eisenhower administration. Over 145 countries have now signed the CTBT, a global endorsement of political support with a pledge to abide by the terms of the Treaty until it becomes international law. Before this happens, 44 countries with nuclear capabilities, either in reactor technologies, research, or weaponry, must ratify the Treaty and submit instruments of ratification to the UN Secretary General. Three...
Depth-Profiling of Near-Surface Atomic Correlations by Total Reflection of Synchrotron Radiation

We report measurement of Bragg intensities obtained from an Fe3Al( $$1\bar 10$$ ) single crystal under the condition of total reflection. It is demonstrated that depth-resolved near-surface atomic correlations can be achieved by the independent control of both ocurring grazing angles.
Study of the Reactions to Retinoic Acid in Different Weight Female Rats

Objective To study the female rats with retinoic acid-induced osteoporosis model,the different weight of rats toretinoic acid response.Method 193 10-month-old different body weight(313.03 ± 38.86) of female rats were divided into 8 groups according to the weight fed with retinoic acid for 2 weeks,3 days each weigh 1 to compare the different weight of the body weight of rats Retinoic acid out,as well as changes in body weight after recovery.Comparing the prevalence and the mortality rate of different bodie weight in the restructuring of rats fed with retinoic acid.Results The rats were significantly decreased body weight in retinoic acid-induced osteoporosis female rats model,Higher(380.46 ± 7.50) had the more obvious loss than thosewith lower body weight rats(237.43 ± 7.98 and 260.53 ± 6.27).However,The mortality and morbidity among the different groups and as a whole had no significant difference.Conclusion The weight and prevalence,the mortality rate of 10-month-old different weight(313.03 ± 38.86) of female rats had no significant relationship in the retinoic acid-induced osteoporosis model.
Puberty-Defining Normal and Understanding Abnormal

Puberty encompasses a multitude of changes as a child transitions to adolescence and adulthood. Over the years, the timing of puberty has seemed to move towards an earlier age than in the past. While genetics plays a role in the timing of puberty, other influences of puberty include race, nutritional status, exposure to endocrine disruptive chemicals, geographic location, psychological factors, and hormonal influences such as leptin and kisspeptin. The typical spectrum of puberty encompasses changes in height, thelarche, a growth spurt, adrenarche, and then menarche. Alterations in the timing of these changes can result in concern and stress for the patient and their family. Prompt attention and careful evaluation for the presence or absence of abnormal puberty is warranted to accurately determine etiology and proper treatment and to prevent long-term sequelae. Consultation with an experienced practitioner can be useful for providers who are not as intimately familiar with the changes of puberty. Once the diagnosis is made, treatment of idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP) should be accomplished with a GnRH agonist, most commonly leuprolide. Peripheral precocious puberty (PPP) should focus on removing or suppressing the estrogen source, with medication or surgery. When delayed puberty is the source of the problem, treatment is based on finding and treating the underlying cause.
Diffeomorphism learning via relative entropy constrained optimal transport

Performing inference on the Lie group of diffeomorphisms of Euclidean space has many applications, including computer vision, computational anatomy, and density estimation. Computational tools to find such diffeomorphisms typically involve dynamical systems, and computational fluid mechanics. We here consider the problem where we are given IID samples from a distribution P and want to learn a diffeomorphism that transforms them to a samples from a known distribution Q. Using optimal transport theory, properties of relative entropy, and convex optimization, we demonstrate that when the density for Q is log-concave, efficient and scalable convex optimization algorithms can learn the diffeomorphism. We demonstrate applications in density estimation for probabilistic sleep staging where we improve classification performance.
3-Dimensional Printing: Interventional Capacities in the Global Health Arena

The global health arena surmises the entire span of our world and its human populous. This “arena” contains the entirety of our human population and with that population, the health threats that constantly shape our future. In acknowledging the global arena for which we find ourselves in, it is important that the innovations and technologies rendered to help our fellow man are also available to all within the confines of this metaphysical arena. Innovations in science, technology, and medicine must not be available to only a segment of individuals who understand and can harness it. Rather, it is within the adaptability complex of these innovations that the true essence of “innovation” comes to fruition.
Plasma oxalate in relation to eGFR in patients with primary hyperoxaluria, enteric hyperoxaluria and urinary stone disease

Abstract Background Since plasma oxalate (POx) concentrations increase at lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR) levels, even among those without enteric (EH) or primary hyperoxaluria (PH), the appropriate thresholds for considering a disorder of oxalate metabolism are poorly defined. The current study was completed to establish relationships between POx, GFR, and urine oxalate excretion (UOx) among patients with PH, EH, and routine urinary stone disease (USD). Methods The most recent POx measurement on all Mayo Clinic patients between 2005 and 2015 were electronically pulled from the Lab Information System together with the closest serum creatinine within 14 days and 24 h urine study within 60 days. After exclusion of patients not in steady state at the time of blood draw, 270 patients were available for study. Records were reviewed for clinical diagnoses to categorize patients as PH, EH, or USD. Waste plasma for Pox was also obtained from controls without USD undergoing clinical GFR testing. Results In all 3 groups POx increased as eGFR fell. For any given eGFR, POx was highest in the PH group and lowest in the USD and control groups (p Conclusions New models were developed to help interpret POx when considering PH in clinical practice even when it was not previously suspected and/or eGFR is reduced.
The Comparative Governance of Collective Action

We examine the question of how collective action is best organized. Adopting a comparative institutional approach, we contend that the organization of collective action will incur transaction costs...
How to Assess Individual Contributions to a Group Project

In modern education, a lot of students’ efforts goes into group projects. In many real-life situation, the only information that we have for estimating the individual contributions \(E_j\) to a group project consists of individual estimates \(e_{ij}\) of contributions of other participants j.
Distribution system controls assessment in a nonbinding transactive energy market

In a nonbinding transactive energy market with a distribution system operator (DSO) and a set of distributed flexible energy resources, this paper studies the DSO controls. In this framework, DSO sends discharge permission signals to a subset of enrolled transactive agents, who then have the option, but not the obligation, to discharge power in real time at a time-varying payoff specified in advance in the contract. The DSO controls include decisions on when to dispatch discharge permissions and which subset of transactive agents should be selected at a time to receive the permission to operate. Three schemes for transaction trigger policy and agent selection policy for this nonbinding transactive market are developed. In these schemes the real-time electricity prices and the difference between the real-time and day-ahead loads are employed. Using data from NYISO the intensity of discharge permissions for each transaction trigger policy is estimated. For a nonlinear payoff structure and assuming that the distributed agents all follow their optimal control policies, the value of the nonbinding transactive energy market for the flexible energy resources as well as for DSO is computed under each DSO control. It is shown that the transaction trigger policy, determined by positive unforecasted loads and real-time power prices greater than the contractual time-varying payoff parameter, outperforms other policies in terms of the achievable cost saving for DSO.
Active living in rural Appalachia: Using the rural active living assessment (RALA) tools to explore environmental barriers

People residing in rural communities are more likely to be physically inactive and subsequently have elevated risks for chronic disease. Recent evidence has shown this could stem from environmental barriers, inadequate programming and policies directed at the promotion of physical activity (PA) in rural settings. The objective of this research was to assess active living features in rural towns and townships (n = 16) across seven counties in northwestern North Carolina (NC). The study utilized the Town-Wide and Street Segment components of the Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) as well as the 2014 American Community Survey results. The assessments were conducted in the summer of 2016 in the rural Appalachia region of NC. Using the RALA town-wide assessment scoring system (0 - 100), the range of scores was 18-84, with the mean being 50.06. Three towns had no sidewalks, nine towns had sidewalks on only one side of the main streets, and four had sidewalks on both sides of the main streets. One town was rated as highly walkable, seven towns as moderately walkable, five towns as moderately unwalkable, and three towns as highly unwalkable. The rural Appalachia region of NC offers unique topographic, geographic and environmental barriers to PA. However, our findings indicate many rural towns offer common PA amenities. Future research should utilize qualitative methods and a community-based participatory research approach to more fully understand the challenges with increasing PA in the rural and often isolated Appalachia communities.
Promoting Affirmative Career Development and Work Environment for LGBT Individuals

Recent human rights movement has engendered significant changes in the political and social landscape for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) people around the globe. Given this nascent international shift in attitude, this chapter aims to provide an overview of career issues emerging from recent literature and global events. In particular, this chapter endeavors to address issues of career adaptability, employability, and resilience for LGBT individuals related to (a) equality and workplace climate, (b) international migration and intersectional identities, and (c) identity and career development for LGBT youths, from an international perspective. Implications for research, practice, and training are discussed within each section, and the chapter ends with summative suggestions for future directions.
Practical Tips for Developing your Staff. Edited by Tracey Pratchett and Gil Young. London: Facet Publishing, 2016, 277 pp., ISBN: 978-1-78330-018-1, $95.00. Practical Tips for Library and Information Professionals Series

The library and information profession continues to change at a challenging pace. The skills necessary to maintain a successful, engaged staff, who provide services for a successful, engaged organi...
Mental health issues: ethical considerations.

Employer-initiated psychiatric evaluations raise a number of ethical issues particular to mental health in the workplace. This article addresses the ethical concerns and potential legal implications of psychiatrist and employee role ambiguity (e.g., "mutual deception"); describes the elements common to psychiatric examinations in this setting; offers one way to provide information and documentation of a confidentiality waiver; reviews some differences between psychiatric and general medical IME evaluations; discusses interview and report record "ownership"; reviews dangerousness assessment strengths and limitations; and addresses treatment and restoration to fitness issues.
Indirect Drive at the NIF Scale

We review the basics of ICF ignition, and analytically derive the expected gains for the NIF scale and the reactor scale. We also analytically derive the radiation drive temperature for an empty NIF scale hohlraum. We describe improved physics models that better describe experiments at the NIF scale. We compare those improved models for NIF hohlraum data from 2009. We briefly review the status of NIF ignition experiments of 2011, including shock timing tuning, and the measurement of the implosion velocity.
Two Arms Are Better Than One: A Behavior Based Control System for Assistive Bimanual Manipulation

Robots that work alongside people in their homes and workplaces could potentially extend the time an elderly person can live at home, provide physical assistance to a worker on an assembly line, or help with household chores. Human environments present special challenges for robot manipulation, since they are complex, dynamic, uncontrolled, and difficult to perceive reliably. For tasks that involve two handheld objects, the use of two arms can help overcome these challenges. With bimanual manipulation, a robot can simultaneously control two handheld objects in order to better perceive key features, control the objects with respect to one another, and interact with the user.
Anecortave Acetate: A New Approach for the Medical Treatment of Glaucoma

The medical management of glaucoma is often compromised by patients’ nonadherence with prescribed topical therapy - both the ability to execute eye drop administration and persistency of medication use. This can be made more complex in patients who are taking multiple systemic medi­cations and multiple medications to lower IOP. The consequence of inadequate treatment arising from patient nonadherence is disease progression, with permanent and irreversible loss of visual function. The Early Manifest Glaucoma Treatment Study (EMGTS) found that among individuals treated and closely monitored for their glaucoma, 57% progressed in a 5-year period. In 2008, Urquhart described noncompliance, nonabsorption, and nonresponse as possibilities for disease progression despite use of prescribed medications. It may be that part of the reason for progression in glaucoma is poor adherence to prescribed therapy.
Trend in percutaneous coronary intervention volume following the COURAGE and BARI-2D trials: Insight from over 8.1 million percutaneous coronary interventions

Abstract Background COURAGE and BARI-2D have questioned the utility of routine revascularization for the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD). On the other end of the spectrum, a routine invasive strategy in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is superior to a conservative strategy. The impact of the above trials on the trend in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) volume for SIHD and ACS is not known. Methods Data from the 2001–2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample for discharges with PCI were used. The trend in PCI volume over time was analyzed, especially in relation to the COURAGE (2007) and the BARI-2D (2009) trials. Age and gender adjusted PCI rates were calculated using direct standardization method. Results Among the 8,150,764 PCI procedures, there was a steady increase in PCI volumes until the publication of the COURAGE/BARI-2D trials after which the volume decreased. Compared to the peak volume of 909,331 in 2006, PCI volume declined by 38% to 562,036 in 2011 (P Conclusion The 11-year trend indicates a substantial impact of COURAGE/BARI-2D on SIHD PCI volumes with an unintended consequence of lower PCI volumes for ACS.
The c-jun Gene and its Role in Signal Transduction

The family of protein kinases known collectively as protein kinase C (PKC) occupies a central role in cellular signal transduction (Nishizuka, 1984; 1988). PKCs are associated with the cell surface membrane and are activated by diacylglycerols released as a result of increased phosphoinositol turnover occurring after stimulation of various cell surface receptors (Nishizuka, 1984; Berridge, 1985). In addition to these physiological activators, PKCs are potently stimulated by tumor promoting phorbol esters such as 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA). While many of the early events that occur immediately after receptor occupancy and lead to the activation of PKC are relatively well understood, the events that occur after PKC stimulation, which are responsible for the long term effects on cellular physiology, are still rather nebulous.
The Sarah Siddons Audio Files: Romanticism and the Lost Voice

The Sarah Siddons Audio Files details author Judith Pascoe’s journey to discover, without the benefit of any audio or video recording, the qualities and likeness of actress Sarah Siddons’s voice. P...
Board Leadership Structures in International Joint Ventures

Research summary: We examine board leadership structures in international joint ventures (IJVs) and investigate the determinants of CEO duality (i.e., the CEO also serves as chair). In contrast to corporate governance research emphasizing principal-agent conflicts in corporations, we argue that duality in IJVs can impair the board's execution of its responsibilities when the chair reflects the interests of one of the partners. We consider how unique characteristics of IJVs as organizational forms can exacerbate such governance challenges. In addition, we investigate how formal and relational governance mechanisms supporting IJVs might mitigate these concerns and lead parent firms to adopt unified board leadership structures. By joining the IJV and corporate governance literatures, we identify some of the distinctive properties and determinants of this facet of IJV governance. Managerial Summary: A key facet of governance is whether the CEO also serves as chair of an organization's board. CEO duality can promote unity of command and decisive decision-making, but can also have serious drawbacks. Our paper is unique in investigating CEO duality for international joint ventures (IJVs) rather than unitary corporations. In this context, the chair might prioritize one partner's interests over another partner's, particularly when the chair was appointed by that partner. This problem magnifies when IJVs are prone to conflicts or need to be adapted, so partners might wish to separate the CEO and chair roles when engaging in IJVs involving broad scope or operating in uncertain environments. However, well-specified contracts can limit CEO discretion and protect partners from these downsides of duality.
Examining the Impact of a Videocase-based Mathematics Methods Course on Secondary Preservice Teachers’ Skills at Analyzing Students’ Strategies

This paper focuses on results from a study conducted with two cohorts of preservice teachers (PSTs) in a videocase-based mathematics methods course at a large midwestern university in the US. The motivation for this study was to look beyond whether or not PSTs pay attention to mathematical thinking of students, as shown by previous studies when engaging with video, and, in turn, characterize at a more specific level areas in which PSTs’ responses change. Our findings show that regarding PSTs anticipation of strategies, both cohorts showed a significant increase in the overall number of strategies PSTs were able to anticipate, and a significant increase in the mathematical depth of the anticipated strategies. However, there was no change in terms of PSTs identification and description of high school students’ strategies as displayed in video given that both cohorts of PSTs performed equally proficient at both pre- and post- tests.