cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reproductive ecology and nest-site selection of eastern wild turkeys translocated to east Texas

Despite extensive restoration efforts in eastern Texas, USA, eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris; hereafter, turkey) densities remain considerably lower than in other southern states. To help understand this disparity, we studied reproductive ecology and nest-site selection of turkeys translocated to 4 super-stocked (≥70 turkeys released) sites in eastern Texas, 2007–2008. Median first nest-initiation date (16 Apr) was similar between first and second year postrelease and release-year nesting rates were highly variable (15–77% among sites) and lower than during year 2 at each site (69–92% among sites). Renesting rates and nest success rates across sites and years averaged 21% and 38%, respectively, and poult survival varied 0–51%, averaging 35% across sites and years. Nest sites had greater living woody vegetation, ground and screening cover, and ground cover height than random sites. Successful nests tended to have more (P > 0.05) shrubs, greater visual obstruction, and more and taller ground cover than unsuccessful nests. We recommend thinning pine (Pinus spp.) forests as young as possible, maintaining 0.5–1-m-tall vegetation to provide nesting cover, and managing these areas outside the nesting season (Apr–Jun) to minimize disturbance of nesting females. We recommend adults represent ≥50% of male turkeys during translocations to bolster nesting rates during the release year. Given sufficient nesting rates and survival, parameter estimates suggest adequate reproduction for turkey population establishment in eastern Texas. The presence of suitable nesting cover should be an important consideration when selecting future release sites. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.
PATTERNS AND SOURCES OF TICKET SPLITTING IN SUBPRESIDENTIAL VOTING

The primary source of divided government in the United States is voters who split their ballots between the parties. Yet there has been little comprehensive examination of either patterns or sources of ticket splitting in recent years. Instead, divergent lines of research have emerged, emphasizing such things as voter partisanship, incumbency, and a “new” (young, well-educated, even partisan) kind of ticket splitter; and their focus has been too often restricted to the atypical president–Congress pair. We seek to unify these research traditions in a comprehensive model of split-ticket voting and to test this model across the partisan ballot in a typical election setting-here, the contests for five Ohio state-wide offices in 1990. The model incorporates partisan strength, candidate visibility, and the individual characteristics that distinguish the “new ticket splitters”. The results support our partisan strength and candidate visibility explanations but provide little support for the emergence of a new type of ticket splitter.
Improvement of Multiple Field Bus Integration

The two common multiple field bus integrations are deeply analyzed.Based on it,an improvement scheme of multiple field bus integration using OPC DX,industry ethernet and switch ethernet was proposed.The integration structure chart and technical characteristic were given.The improvement scheme can provide a theoretic guidance for the integration process.
AC/DC TCP: Virtual Congestion Control Enforcement for Datacenter Networks

Multi-tenant datacenters are successful because tenants can seamlessly port their applications and services to the cloud. Virtual Machine (VM) technology plays an integral role in this success by enabling a diverse set of software to be run on a unified underlying framework. This flexibility, however, comes at the cost of dealing with out-dated, inefficient, or misconfigured TCP stacks implemented in the VMs. This paper investigates if administrators can take control of a VM's TCP congestion control algorithm without making changes to the VM or network hardware. We propose AC/DC TCP, a scheme that exerts fine-grained control over arbitrary tenant TCP stacks by enforcing per-flow congestion control in the virtual switch (vSwitch). Our scheme is light-weight, flexible, scalable and can police non-conforming flows. In our evaluation the computational overhead of AC/DC TCP is less than one percentage point and we show implementing an administrator-defined congestion control algorithm in the vSwitch (i.e., DCTCP) closely tracks its native performance, regardless of the VM's TCP stack.
Mechanical splitting of microtubules into protofilament bundles by surface-bound kinesin-1

The fundamental biophysics of gliding microtubule (MT) motility by surface-tethered kinesin-1 motor proteins has been widely studied, as well as applied to capture and transport analytes in bioanalytical microdevices. In these systems, phenomena such as molecular wear and fracture into shorter MTs have been reported due the mechanical forces applied on the MT during transport. In the present work, we show that MTs can be split longitudinally into protofilament bundles (PFBs) by the work performed by surface-bound kinesin motors. We examine the properties of these PFBs using several techniques (e.g., fluorescence microscopy, SEM, AFM), and show that the PFBs continue to be mobile on the surface and display very high curvature compared to MT. Further, higher surface density of kinesin motors and shorter kinesin-surface tethers promote PFB formation, whereas modifying MT with GMPCPP or higher paclitaxel concentrations did not affect PFB formation.
An Appraisal of Aspects of the Transition Program for Agriculture

In any attempt at appraisal one must speak merely as an individual and out of a certain general background of philosophy, depending for acceptance of conclusions merely on the reasonableness of the propositions and the general acceptance of the points of departure. Secretary Wilson and Dr. Elliott have presented phases of this program as it looks to them from within the administration. This is an attempt to look at it from a more detached position, and possibly in terms of a somewhat different philosophy of agricultural welfare. The federal agricultural program of the past three years has been marked by significant changes, both in the stated objectives and in the methods of procedure. It seems defensible, therefore, to speak of it as a transition program in a special sense, even though we recognize that all national programs are transitional in some degree. At the time this paper was started, around October 1, it seemed we were moving away from the sort of approach which characterized the original AAA. Moving toward a program based more largely on a national rather than a group viewpoint, one in which there would be more local determination and management, and one in which the feature of crop control and of individual crop subsidy would be less pronounced. During recent weeks there has been apparently considerable revival of the idea of control and of programs in terms of individual crops. Whether this will result in a reversal of the tendency indicated above remains to be seen. At any rate, it seems worth while to try to see more clearly what is the nature of the new program which is emerging and whether it is likely to be adequate for the needs of the years ahead. This new program is of course not a fixed or rigid one. Those in charge have emphasized their desire to keep it flexible and alive. This flexibility is an element both of strength and weakness. If it means constant modification in response to new and better understanding of the nation's needs, in terms of fairly well defined basic goals, such flexibility will be all to the good. If, on the other hand, it results in following too closely the swings of popular sentiment in the farmer group, which is the only one
Efficacy and Molecular Mechanisms of Differentiated Response to the Aurora and Angiogenic Kinase Inhibitor ENMD-2076 in Preclinical Models of p53-Mutated Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype associated with poor prognosis and for which there are limited therapeutic options. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ENMD-2076 in p53-mutated TNBC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models and describe patterns of terminal cell fate in models demonstrating sensitivity, intrinsic resistance and acquired resistance to ENMD-2076. Experimental Design: p53-mutated, TNBC PDX models were treated with ENMD-2076 and evaluated for mechanisms of sensitivity or resistance to treatment. Correlative tissue testing was performed on tumor tissue to assess for markers of proliferation, apoptosis, senescence, and pathways of resistance after treatment and at the time of acquired resistance. Results: Sensitivity to ENMD-2076 200 mg/kg daily was associated with induction of apoptosis while models exhibiting intrinsic or acquired resistance to treatment presented with a senescent phenotype. Response to ENMD-2076 was accompanied by an increase in p53 and p73 levels, even within the background of mutant p53. Treatment with ENMD-2076 resulted in a decrease in pAurA and an increase in pHH3. We observed a TNBC subtype switch from the luminal androgen receptor to the basal-like subtype at acquired resistance. Conclusions: ENMD-2076 has anti-tumor activity in preclinical models of p53-mutated TNBC. Increased levels of p53 and p73 correlated with sensitivity whereas senescence was associated with resistance to ENMD-2076. The novel finding of a TNBC subtype switch at time of acquired resistance may provide mechanistic insights into the biologic effects of selective pressure of anticancer treatments on TNBC. ENMD-2076 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with metastatic, previously treated TNBC where these biologic correlates can be further explored.
Second-Generation Aminosilicones as CO2 Capture Solvents

Silicones with a variety of linear, branched, star, and cyclic architectures were synthesized that contained electron-donating ethylaminopropyl groups attached to the silicone core. These solvents were tested for CO2 uptake and their physical state after reaction. In comparison to analogous materials that only possessed a primary amine, all of the heteroatom-substituted derivatives displayed excellent CO2 uptake and all maintained a liquid, flowable state after reaction. Optimal CO2 uptake was achieved at ambient temperatures rather than the typical 40 °C level. This was likely due to the lower heats of reaction for the secondary amine structure. β-Isomer present in the samples did not adversely affect the reaction with CO2 or the ability to remain in a liquid state upon complete reaction.
Enhanced photovoltaic performance and stability with a new type of hollow 3D perovskite {en}FASnI3

Perovskite solar cells have revolutionized the fabrication of solution-processable solar cells. The presence of lead in the devices makes this technology less attractive, and alternative metals in perovskites are being researched as suitable alternatives. We demonstrate a new type of tin-based perovskite absorber that incorporates both ethylenediammonium (en) and formamidinium (FA), forming new materials of the type {en}FASnI3. The three-dimensional ASnI3 structure is stable only with methylammonium, FA, and Cs cations, and the bandgap can be tuned with solid solutions, such as ASnI3-x Br x . We show that en can serve as a new A cation capable of achieving marked increases in the bandgap without the need for solid solutions. The en introduces a new bandgap tuning mechanism that arises from massive Schottky style defects. In addition, incorporation of the en cation in the structure markedly increases the air stability and improves the photoelectric properties of the tin-based perovskite absorbers. Our best-performing {en}FASnI3 solar cell has the highest efficiency of 7.14%, which is achieved for a lead-free perovskite cell, and retains 96% of its initial efficiency after aging over 1000 hours with encapsulation. Our results introduce a new approach for improving the performance and stability of tin-based, lead-free perovskite solar cells.
Water-vapor observations

Introduction Water vapor is a key climate variable, serving to link a variety of complex and poorly understood processes. Although comprising less than 1% of the atmospheric mass, water vapor is the dominant gaseous absorber of thermal radiation. The disproportional importance of water vapor stems from the fact that it is the only atmospheric constituent to possess a permanent dipole moment. This feature, combined with the asymmetrical arrangement of mass in the water-vapor molecule, leads to a rich and complex distribution of absorption lines through the electromagnetic spectrum. Radiative absorption by water vapor not only plays a key role in determining the atmosphere's “greenhouse effect” but, because the concentration of water vapor depends strongly on the surface temperature, it also comprises the largest known feedback mechanism for amplifying global warming (ICCP, 1990). Current estimates are that radiative feedback by water vapor increases the climatic sensitivity to carbon dioxide by roughly a factor of two when considered in isolation from other feedbacks, and by as much as a factor of three or more when the interactions with other feedbacks are considered. In addition to its radiative effects, the strong dipole moment of water vapor is also responsible for the large latent heat associated with its phase transitions which, in turn, provides much of the energy for driving the atmosphere's largescale circulation. The fundamental importance of water vapor in Earth's climate underscores the need for an accurate understanding of its distribution and variation.
The Role of Personality in a Regular Cognitive Monitoring Program.

OBJECTIVES This study examines the role of personality in cognitive performance, adherence, and satisfaction with regular cognitive self-monitoring. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred fifty-seven cognitively healthy older adults, age 55+, completed the 44-item Big-Five Inventory and were subsequently engaged in online monthly cognitive monitoring using the Cogstate Brief Battery for up to 35 months (M=14 mo, SD=7 mo). The test measures speed and accuracy in reaction time, visual learning, and working memory tasks. RESULTS Neuroticism, although not related to cognitive performance overall (P>0.05), was related to a greater increase in accuracy (estimate=0.07, P=0.04) and speed (estimate=-0.09, P=0.03) on One Card Learning. Greater conscientiousness was related to faster overall speed on Detection (estimate=-1.62, P=0.02) and a significant rate of improvement in speed on One Card Learning (estimate=-0.10, P<0.03). No differences in satisfaction or adherence to monthly monitoring as a function of neuroticism or conscientiousness were observed. CONCLUSIONS Participants volunteering for regular cognitive monitoring may be quite uniform in terms of personality traits, with personality traits playing a relatively minor role in adherence and satisfaction. The more neurotic may exhibit better accuracy and improve in speed with time, whereas the more conscientious may perform faster overall and improve in speed on some tasks, but the effects appear small.
Embodied Carbon of Wood and Reinforced Concrete Structures Under Chronic and Acute Hazards

Quantifying the total life cycle embodied carbon of wood and reinforced concrete structures necessitates calculation of use-phase impacts, including expected in-service damage and replacement due to chronic and acute environmental hazards. Such prediction is difficult and often omitted in whole-building life cycle assessment (WBLCA).
States or parties? Emigrant outreach and transnational engagement:

Home-country institutions are increasingly engaged in reaching out to their emigrants to further their domestic agendas. Using a most-different systems design, I compare two cases in which emigrant...
Failure-to-Rescue After Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND Failure-to-rescue (FTR), originally developed to study quality of care in surgery, measures an institution's ability to prevent death after a patient becomes complicated. OBJECTIVES Develop an FTR metric modified to analyze acute myocardial infarction (AMI) outcomes. RESEARCH DESIGN Split-sample design: a random 20% of hospitals to develop FTR definitions, a second 20% to validate test characteristics, and an out-of-sample 60% to validate results. SUBJECTS Older Medicare beneficiaries admitted to short-term acute-care hospitals for AMI between 2009 and 2011. MEASURES Thirty-day mortality and FTR rates, and in-hospital complication rates. RESULTS The 60% out-of-sample validation included 234,277 patients across 1142 hospitals that admitted at least 50 patients over 2.5 years. In total, 72.1% of patients were defined as Medically Complicated (complex on admission or subsequently developed a complication or died without a recorded complication) of whom 19.3% died. Spearman r between hospital risk-adjusted 30-day mortality and FTR was 0.89 (P<0.0001); Mortality versus Complication=-0.01 (P=0.6198); FTR versus Complication=-0.10 (P=0.0011). Major teaching hospitals displayed 19% lower odds of FTR versus non-teaching hospitals (odds ratio=0.81, P<0.0001), while hospitals as a group defined by teaching hospital status, comprehensive cardiac technology, and having good nursing mix and staffing, displayed a 33% lower odds of FTR (odds ratio=0.67, P<0.0001) versus hospitals without any of these characteristics. CONCLUSIONS A modified FTR metric can be created that has many of the advantageous properties of surgical FTR and can aid in studying the quality of care of AMI admissions.
Bumper Sticker Advocacy and the Branding of Save Darfur

In response to the violence in Darfur, Sudan, beginning in 2003, new human rights organizations sprang up to respond and build a permanent constituency for action. The Save Darfur Coalition (SDC) in particular sought to galvanize public attention and raise the costs of inaction for elected officials. To this end, Save Darfur employed corporate marketing firms to brand their campaign and spread the news about the “genocide” in progress. Utilizing advertising techniques as no human rights actor ever had, the organization made consistent headlines and forced elites to stake out policy positions. However, the branding strategy sacrificed factual accuracy for the sake of mass appeal. In the process, Save Darfur departed from trusted advocacy tactics and created credibility problems for itself that circumscribed its political salience.
Bifurcated Review of Interpreter Determinations Under the Court Interpreters Act

Since the passage of the Court Interpreters Act in 1978, defendants have had a statutory right to a language interpreter when the district court determines that the defendant’s language barrier inhibits his comprehension. When defendants have appealed their convictions, claiming that the court erroneously denied them an interpreter, courts of appeals review the lower court determinations for clear error or abuse of discretion. This Article argues that this deferential standard is not proper for reviewing interpreter determinations under the Act, which are mixed questions of law and fact. Instead, appellate courts should review findings of fact for clear error and legal conclusions de novo.
A Cognitive Approach to Spatial Visualization Assessment for First-Year Engineering Students.

First-year engineering (FYE) students are routinely screened for spatial ability, with the goals of predicting retention in the major and identifying those who need supplementary spatial instruction. Psychometric tests used for such screenings are often domain-general measures that lack diagnostic information to inform remedial instruction. A new approach to spatial screening is to use measures that assess perfor¬mance on authentic engineering tasks while accounting for the cognitive processes that underlie spatial thinking. We tested the utility of a relatively new spatial visualization test (the Santa Barbara Solids Test; SBST) to characterize individual differences in performance among FYE students with low mental rotation scores. The internal reliability and predictive validity of the SBST were previously demonstrated in sample populations with average spatial skill. One hundred and forty-one FYE students with low mental rotation scores completed the SBST and an engineering drawing task before instruction. We investigated the internal reliability of the SBST, patterns of performance and the validity of the test to predict performance on the drawing task. Through item analysis, we deleted problems that contributed to low internal reliability. Performance means were normally distributed. There were small significant positive correlations between the drawing task and SBST total score and subscales. The SBST shows promise for diagnosing difficul¬ties and strategies demonstrated by students who are challenged by spatial visualization. We suggest applications of the SBST to support remedial spatial instruction.
Effects of tumor biobank storage on polysome stability

Human biological material has become an important resource for biomedical research. Tumor Biobanks are facilities that collect, store and distribute samples of tumor and normal tissue for further use in basic and translational cancer research. mRNA-translation has been demonstrated to modulate protein levels and is considered a fundamental post-transcriptional mechanism of gene expression regulation. Thus, determining translation efficiencies of individual mRNAs in human tumors may add another layer of information that contributes to the understanding of tumorigenic pathways. To analyze the RNAs actively engaged in translation, RNAs associated with ribosomes (polysomes) are isolated, identified and compared to total RNA. However, the application of this technique in human tumors depends on the stability of the polysomal structure under Biobank storage conditions that usually consists of ultra-low temperature. Since the effect of freezing on the stability of the polysomal structure in stored tumor samples is not known, it is essential to evaluate this factor in the frozen samples, validating the use of biobank samples in studies of translational efficiency. Xenograft tumors were divided in two parts, half was subject to immediate processing, and half was frozen for posterior analysis. Both parts were subject to polysomal separation, RNA extraction and identification through RNAseq. It was possible to successfully extract and identify total and polysomal RNA from both fresh and frozen tumoral tissue. The quantification of the polysome profile indicated no difference in the translational efficiency estimated in fresh versus frozen tissue. Gene expression data from the fresh versus frozen tissues were compared and the correlation between the polysome associated fresh x frozen (R = 0,89) and total fresh x frozen (0,90) mRNAs was calculated. No difference was identified between the two conditions. We demonstrated that tissue freezing does not affect the polysomal structure, consequently validating the viability of the use of biobank stored tissue for polysome associated RNA analysis.
Bad Neighborhoods of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: A Method for Predicting the Deployment of Unlicensed Devices

An uncontroversial prediction about the future of electromagnetic spectrum use is that the developed world will soon be filled with far more license-exempt low powered devices. Today's widespread deployment of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth exemplify this trend. Although in many ways a consumer's Wi-Fi enabled portable device couldn't be more different from a licensed television broadcast tower serving a major city, the mental frameworks used in policymaking to reason about the use of spectrum remain in thrall to high-powered broadcast towers. For example, some proposals for differential power limits divide the nation into two kinds of places: rural and urban. Often policy action about spectrum is never based in any empirical knowledge about use or congestion. This paper demonstrates the problems with these approaches by reporting on a longitudinal empirical study of low-powered unlicensed spectrum use (specifically, Wi-Fi deployment) in Illinois and California over four years. From 2004 to 2007, researchers visited selected census block groups (N = 60) in urban, suburban, and rural areas in two states and used modified packet sniffers to identify Wi-Fi access points, collecting several million observations. By combining the packet sniffer with a GPS receiver, we estimated the location of each access point we discovered. Then, we employed the extensive diffusion of innovations literature to capture demographic features salient to Wi-Fi diffusion (Rogers, 1995), and gathered these data from the US Census. Next, we developed a demographic regression model that predicts Wi-Fi deployment in our study areas (R2 = .84; p Finally, we constructed a subset of the relevant Census tables for the entire US and applied our regression model to construct a national unlicensed spectrum prediction engine. Given any address in the US, our service -- named the "RED Project" for "Rendering Electromagnetic Distributions" -- predicts Wi-Fi deployment and (using a Macromedia Flash front end) dynamically renders the regression equation predictions on a street map or satellite photo at a variety of zoom levels. Aside from the possible utility of this prediction service (for example, at predicting congestion), surprisingly, our findings also overturn a number of habits of thought about spectrum. For a variety of reasons, some densely populated city blocks are devoid of Wi-Fi and some rural areas are approaching congestion failure. As the diffusion of innovations literature predicts, adoption cannot be predicted simply by income or by population density. Some "bad" neighborhoods in US cities are "good" neighborhoods of the spectrum -- that is, they are devoid of congestion -- and vice-versa. Some neighborhoods that communication companies think of as a very desirable urban market are almost devoid of signals. We conclude by trying to come to terms with the variegated new spectrum topography of low-powered consumer devices.
Case 53: A Repeat Back Operation in a Patient Who Has Had Postoperative Visual Loss in the Past

You are in the preoperative clinic. The nurse asks your opinion about a 65-year-old man (85 kg, 5 ft 9 in.) who is scheduled for a repeat one level lumbosacral laminectomy. Two years ago after a back operation, he developed temporary bilateral postoperative visual loss (POVL). He was seen by an ophthalmologist at that time, who diagnosed ischemic optic neuropathy [1–3]. The patient is obviously very concerned about the upcoming surgery, but tells you that he cannot live with the back pain and would rather take his chances. The operation will take 1–2 h. The patient has a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and is a smoker. He takes glyburide and captopril.
Medical Dance/Movement Therapy in the Infusion Room: A Model for Individual Sessions with Adults in Active Treatment

A dance/movement therapy (DMT) program was implemented in a medical setting that is relatively new to medical DMT and in a format that is not covered in DMT literature. Dance/movement therapy sessions were conducted with adult patients in active treatment for cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the infusion room of an outpatient cancer center. The sessions were offered in individual format rather than in group format, which led to the development of a model for individual DMT in the infusion room. The model consists of six components that guide patients to develop the attitudes and skills to cope with their disease while in active treatment. Patients start with mindfulness exercises and a therapist guided movement warm-up, and progress to mindful moving. Patients eventually direct their own movements and use symbolic and expressive movements to access and express thoughts and feelings that are held in the body or in the unconscious, before ending with reflections and verbal discussions. A limitation of the model is that it is based on conducting DMT with a small number of patients at one medical facility and may not be viable in a more culturally diverse population.
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) findings to predict survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

e16734Background: Chemotherapy is the primary therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), but response to therapy is variable. Patients with PDAC often develop jau...
Intermixed medullary and papillary thyroid cancer in a patient with renal cell carcinoma.

Summary We report a rare case of concurrent medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) with intermixed disease in several of the lymph node (LN) metastases in a patient who was subsequently diagnosed with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). A 56 year old female presented with dysphagia and was found to have a left thyroid nodule and left superior cervical LN with suspicious sonographic features. Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) demonstrated PTC in the left thyroid nodule and MTC in the left cervical LN. Histopathology demonstrated multifocal PTC with 3/21 LNs positive for metastatic PTC. One LN in the left lateral neck dissection exhibited features of both MTC and PTC within the same node. In the right lobe, a 0.3 cm focus of MTC with extra-thyroidal extension was noted. Given persistent calcitonin elevation, a follow-up ultrasound displayed an abnormal left level 4 LN. FNAB showed features of both PTC and MTC on the cytopathology itself. The patient underwent repeat central and left radical neck dissection with 3/6 LNs positive for PTC in the central neck and 2/6 LNs positive for intermixed PTC and MTC in the left neck. There was no evidence of distant metastases on computed tomography and whole body scintigraphy, however a 1.9 x 2.5 cm enhancing mass within the right inter-polar kidney was discovered. This lesion was highly suspicious for RCC. Surgical pathology revealed a 2.5 cm clear cell RCC, Fuhrman grade 2/4, with negative surgical margins. She continues to be observed with stable imaging of her triple malignancies. Learning points Mixed medullary-papillary thyroid neoplasm is characterized by the presence of morphological and immunohistochemical features of both medullary and papillary thyroid cancers within the same lesion. Simultaneous occurrence of these carcinomas has been previously reported, but a mixed disease within the same lymph node is an infrequent phenomenon. Prognosis of mixed medullary-papillary thyroid carcinomas is determined by the medullary component. Therefore, when PTC and MTC occur concurrently, the priority should be given to the management of MTC, which involves total thyroidectomy and central lymph node dissection. Patients with thyroid cancer, predominantly PTC, have shown higher than expected rates of RCC. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the combination of MTC, PTC, and RCC in a single patient.
TMEM216 Deletion Causes Mislocalization of Cone Opsin and Rhodopsin and Photoreceptor Degeneration in Zebrafish

Purpose Mutations in TMEM216, a ciliary transition zone tetraspan transmembrane protein, are linked to Joubert syndrome and Meckel syndrome. Photoreceptor degeneration is a prominent phenotype in Joubert syndrome. How TMEM216 contributes to photoreceptor health is poorly understood. Methods We have generated tmem216 knockout zebrafish by CRISPR genome editing. The impact of TMEM216 deletion on photoreceptors was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining and electron microscopy. Results Homozygous tmem216 knockout zebrafish died before 21 days after fertilization. Their retina exhibited reduced immunoreactivity to rod photoreceptor outer segment marker 4D2 and cone photoreceptor outer segment marker G protein subunit α transducin 2 (GNAT2). Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) revealed an increase in TUNEL-positive nuclei in the knockout retina, indicating photoreceptor degeneration. The tmem216 mutation resulted in shortened photoreceptor ciliary axoneme, as revealed by acetylated α-tubulin immunostaining. Photoreceptors in knockout zebrafish exhibited mislocalization of outer segment proteins such as rhodopsin, GNAT2, and red opsin to the inner segment and cell bodies. Additionally, electron microscopy revealed that the mutant photoreceptors elaborated outer segment with abnormal disc morphology such as shortened discs and vesicles/vacuoles within the outer segment. Conclusion Our results indicate that TMEM216 is essential for normal genesis of outer segment disc structures, transport of outer segment materials, and survival of photoreceptors in zebrafish. These tmem216 knockout zebrafish will be useful in studying how transition zone proteins regulate photoreceptor outer segment formation and maintenance.
Nonperturbative β function of eight-flavor SU(3) gauge theory

We study the discrete β function of SU(3) gauge theory with N f = 12 massless fermions in the fundamental representation. Using an nHYP-smeared staggered lattice action and an improved gradient flow running coupling $$ {\tilde{g}}_c^2(L) $$ we determine the continuum-extrapolated discrete β function up to g 2 ≈ 8.2. We observe an IR fixed point at g ⋆ 2 = 7.3( − 2 + 8 ) in the $$ c=\sqrt{8t}/L=0.25 $$ scheme, and g ⋆ 2 = 7.3( − 3 + 6 ) with c = 0.3, combining statistical and systematic uncertainties in quadrature. The systematic effects we investigate include the stability of the (a/L) → 0 extrapolations, the interpolation of $$ {\tilde{g}}_c^2(L) $$ as a function of the bare coupling, the improvement of the gradient flow running coupling, and the discretization of the energy density. In an appendix we observe that the resulting systematic errors increase dramatically upon combining smaller c ≲ 0.2 with smaller L ≤ 12, leading to an IR fixed point at g ⋆ 2 = 5.9(1.9) in the c = 0.2 scheme, which resolves to g ⋆ 2 = 6.9( − 1 + 6 ) upon considering only L ≥ 16. At the IR fixed point we measure the leading irrelevant critical exponent to be γ ⋆ = 0.26(2), comparable to perturbative estimates.
Early functional and cognitive declines measured by auditory evoked cortical potentials in Alzheimer’s disease mice

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized with a progressive loss of memory and cognitive decline. However, assessment of AD-associated functional and cognitive changes is still a big challenge. Auditory evoked cortical potential (AECP) is an event-related potential reflecting not only neural activation in the auditory cortex but also cognitive activity in the brain. In this study, we used the subdermal needle electrodes with the same electrode setting as the auditory brainstem response (ABR) recording and recorded AECP in normal aging CBA/CaJ mice and APP/PS1 AD mice. AECP in mice usually appeared three positive peaks, i.e., P1, P2, and P3, and three corresponding negative peaks N1, N2, and N3. In normal aging CBA mice, the early sensory peaks P1, N1, and P2 were reduced as age increased, whereas the later cognitive peaks N2, P3, and N3 were increased or had no changes with aging. Moreover, the latency of P1 peak was increased as age increased, although the latencies of later peaks had significant reduction with aging. In AD mice, peak P1 was significantly reduced in comparison with wild-type (WT) littermates at young ages, proceeding AD phenotype presentation. In particular, the later cognitive peak P3 was diminished after 3 months old, different from normal aging effect. However, the latencies of AECP peaks in AD mice generally had no significant delay or changes with aging. Finally, consistent with AECP changes, the accumulation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) at the auditory cortex was visible in AD mice as early as 2 months old. These data suggest that AECP could serve as an early, noninvasive, and objective biomarker for detecting AD and AD-related dementia.
Eastern Black Walnut ( Juglans nigra L.) Originating From Native Range Varies in Their Response to Inoculation With Geosmithia morbida

Thousand cankers disease is caused by the walnut twig beetle (Pityophthorus juglandis) vectoring the fungal canker pathogen Geosmithia morbida, which can result in severe dieback and eventual death to species of walnut (Juglans spp.) and wingnut (Pterocarya spp.). This disease complex is most devastating to the highly valued species J. nigra (black walnut). This species is primarily grown and harvested for timber production in the Central Hardwood Region of the United States, which comprises part of its native range. Management options for thousand cankers disease are limited; therefore, finding resistant genotypes is needed. Initial studies on black walnut susceptibility to G. morbida documented some genetic variation and suggested potential resistance. Furthermore, the causal agents are thought to be native to the USA, which may have allowed for co-evolution. To capture the representative genetic diversity and screen for resistance to G. morbida, J. nigra families were collected from across the native range. These wild trees, in conjunction with seedlings developed in a black walnut timber improvement program, were planted in a common garden in Fort Collins, Colorado and repeatedly inoculated with G. morbida over the course of four years and three growing seasons. Improved seedlings exhibited larger cankered areas than wild J. nigra originating from the same provenance. When looking at the wild germplasm, cankers induced by G. morbida were smaller on J. nigra collected from the western and central portions of the native range compared to those collected from the eastern portion. Although trees from the western and central part of the range still incurred cankers, our findings indicate that variation in genetic resistance to G. morbida is present in black walnut. This study was performed with G. morbida independent of the walnut twig beetle, but our results suggest the limited G. morbida resistance observed in J. nigra will prevent the full compromise of North American walnuts to thousand cankers disease. Results from this study should be taken into consideration in future black walnut breeding programs.
Feasibility and Safety of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound of the Neonatal Brain: A Prospective Study Using MRI as the Reference Standard.

Please see the Editorial Comment by Ryne Didier discussing this article. Background: MRI is the gold standard for neonatal brain imaging but is expensive, time-consuming, potentially limited by ava...
CloudShield: Real-time Anomaly Detection in the Cloud.

In cloud computing, it is desirable if suspicious activities can be detected by automatic anomaly detection systems. Although anomaly detection has been investigated in the past, it remains unsolved in cloud computing. Challenges are: characterizing the normal behavior of a cloud server, distinguishing between benign and malicious anomalies (attacks), and preventing alert fatigue due to false alarms. We propose CloudShield, a practical and generalizable real-time anomaly and attack detection system for cloud computing. Cloudshield uses a general, pretrained deep learning model with different cloud workloads, to predict the normal behavior and provide real-time and continuous detection by examining the model reconstruction error distributions. Once an anomaly is detected, to reduce alert fatigue, CloudShield automatically distinguishes between benign programs, known attacks, and zero-day attacks, by examining the prediction error distributions. We evaluate the proposed CloudShield on representative cloud benchmarks. Our evaluation shows that CloudShield, using model pretraining, can apply to a wide scope of cloud workloads. Especially, we observe that CloudShield can detect the recently proposed speculative execution attacks, e.g., Spectre and Meltdown attacks, in milliseconds. Furthermore, we show that CloudShield accurately differentiates and prioritizes known attacks, and potential zero-day attacks, from benign programs. Thus, it significantly reduces false alarms by up to 99.0%.
Big Data for Small People- How Novel Data Collection Can Improve Pediatric Transplant Outcomes.

Kanneganti et al merged UNOS and PHIS data to perform the first assessment of center-level variation in acute rejection and biliary tract complications in the first year following pediatric liver transplantation (1). By combining these data sources, these authors have (1) created a novel, robust dataset for longitudinal study of pediatric liver transplant recipients and (2) have identified potentially new opportunities for quality improvement in post-pediatric liver transplantation morbidity. In their analysis, Kanneganti et al found significant center-level variation in acute rejection and, to a lesser degree, in biliary complications in the year following pediatric liver transplantation.
Ensemble based point and confidence interval forecasting in software engineering

Proposed an analytical approach to estimate confidence interval (CI).Used simulation of truncated distribution to heuristically estimate CI.Built an ensemble of different approaches and tested it on different real-world datasets. In this paper, we propose and use analytical and heuristic approaches for forecasting 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for software effort or size parameter. The analytical and heuristics forecasts are combined to create an ensemble to lower generalization error. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) and Bayesian regression models, we create three different ensembles. These three different ensembles are one maximizing maximum likelihood hypothesis (MLE), one maximizing maximum a posteriori hypothesis (MAP), a hybrid one maximizing both MLE and MAP hypotheses. Using two different performance metrics, we test the three different ensembles on real-world software engineering datasets. The results of our experiments indicated that the hybrid ensemble shows the worst performance while the MLE ensemble provides superior performance in most cases.
Ornithine Metabolism by Clostridium sticklandii OXIDATION OF ORNITHINE TO 2-AMINO-4-KETOPENTANOIC ACID VIA 2,4-DIAMINOPENTANOIC ACID; PARTICIPATION OF B12 COENZYME, PYRIDOXAL PHOSPHATE, AND PYRIDINE NUCLEOTIDE

An extract of Clostridium sticklandii converts d - and l -ornithine by a number of enzymatic steps to 2-amino-4-ketopentanoic acid. Except for an initial conversion of l - to d -ornithine, all subsequent changes appear to occur at the distal amino group. In the first of these reactions, which requires the participation of vitamin B12 coenzyme, the C5-amino group of d -ornithine moves to C4 to form one of the epimeric forms of the corresponding 2,4-diaminopentanoic acid. The second enzymatic step, which requires the participation of pyridoxal phosphate, most probably entails inversion of the C4-amino group. The resulting 2,4-diaminopentanoic acid has been purified by chromatography on Dowex 50 and studied by nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy, by measurement of optical rotation, and by pH titration. In the third reaction, a pyridine nucleotide-linked dehydrogenase brings about an oxidative deamination of the amino group at C4 to yield 2-amino-4-ketopentanoic acid. This dehydrogenase has been purified about 44-fold from extracts of C. sticklandii. Both DPN+ and TPN+ can function as hydrogen acceptors. The reaction product has been purified and identified as 2-amino-4-ketopentanoic acid. The enzyme is highly specific for 2,4-diaminopentanoic acid. No cofactors appear to be necessary. Optimum activity is obtained at a pH of about 8.8. Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffer appears to be slightly inhibitory. The equilibrium strongly favors the oxidized pyridine nucleotide.
Protein phosphorylation in response to stress in Clostridium acetobutylicum.

The possible involvement of protein phosphorylation in the clostridial stress response was investigated by radioactively labeling growing cells of Clostridium acetobutylicum with {sup 32}P{sub i} or cell extracts with ({gamma}-{sup 32}P)ATP. Several phosphoproteins were identified; these were not affected by the growth stage of the culture. Although the extent of protein phosphorylation was increased by heat stress, the phosphoproteins did not correspond to known stress proteins seen in one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Purified clostridial DnaK, a stress protein, acted as a kinase catalyzing the phosphorylation of a 50-kilodalton protein. The phosphorylation of this protein was enhanced in extracts prepared from heat-stressed cells. Diadenosine-5{prime},5{double prime}{prime}-P{sup 1},P{sup 4}-tetraphosphate had no influence on protein phosphorylation.
Obesity and the Kidney

Background and objectives Obesity-related glomerulopathy (ORG) is an increasing cause of end-stage renal disease, but evidence concerning the effects of treatments is rather limited. This study was aimed at exploring the renoprotective effects of weight loss on patients with ORG. Design, setting, participants, & measurements A total of 63 patients with renal biopsy–proven ORG had food and exercise intervention in the physician-supervised weight loss program and were divided into three groups on the basis of the percentage of weight change from baseline to follow-up: significant weight loss (>3% reduction in body mass index [BMI]), stable weight, or significant weight gain (>3% increase). Metabolic parameters and renal lesions were evaluated regularly for 2 years. Results After 6 months, 27 patients lost weight by 8.29± 4.00%, with a mean decrease in proteinuria of 35.3%, whereas 24 months later, 27 patients achieved a 9.20± 3.78% reduction in BMI and a 51.33% reduction in urine protein secretion. The levels of serum triglyceride, serum uric acid, and BP were also decreased. Contrarily, in patients with increased BMI, urine protein was increased by 28.78%. Correlation analysis showed proteinuria was associated with BMI, serum triglyceride, and uric acid, and multivariate regression analysis indicated the changes in BMI were the only predictor of proteinuria (P<0.01). Conclusions Weight loss intervention benefited remission of proteinuria in patients with ORG, whose function could not be replaced by conventional pharmacotherapy.
Women's Ways of Organizing: A Conversation with AFSCME Organizers Kris Rondeau and Gladys McKenzie

Excerpt] Their signs declare: "We believe in ourselves." They speak about values: we cut our apples in half and share them; those who are strong carry those who are weaker until they can become stronger They talk about emotional connections; commitment from both the head and heart. They talk about constantly learning. They talk about telling stories; listening; forming relationships. If you think those words have nothing to do with union organizing, think again. Over 6600 clerical and technical workers—at one of the nation's most prestigious private universities and one of the largest public universities in the country—have organized guided by this kind of talking union. Those 6600 workers are now members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
High Speed Rail Learning System (HSRLS) – Taking Advantage of Online Technologies in Railway Education

ABSTRACT The United States has taken initial steps toward developing a high speed rail (HSR) network, but the domestic workforce experience and institutional knowledge necessary for the planning, design, construction, and operations of HSR is underdeveloped. This paper describes and provides preliminary assessment of the High Speed Rail Learning System (HSRLS), a demonstration project that seeks to address gaps in HSR knowledge and skills in the US. The HSRLS developers designed an online education system to serve as a clearinghouse for rail-related information and content, connect teachers, trainers, and students at pre-, and postgraduate levels, and to collect demographic and professional information on groups and individuals interested in HSR. The paper explores the technology review, selection process, and content developed. Website visits and demographic information from over 4,000 unique individuals and 600 HSRLS course registrations are analyzed and assessed.