cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exercise as a physiologic intervention to counteract hypertension: can a good idea go bad?

Various treatment strategies have been developed to treat hypertension and affect its clinical outcome. These include early lifestyle modifications such as weight loss, nutritional changes, and exercise as well as pharmacological interventions that are based on diuresis, inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system, calcium channel blockade, central and peripheral sympatolysis, as well as α- and β-receptor blockade.1 In individuals with prehypertension and patients with established hypertension, initial treatment, before the administration of pharmacological therapies, focuses on lifestyle changes targeting nutrition and exercise.1 In particular exercise is an intervention that is widely prescribed and recommended. Multiple clinical trials have shown effects of exercise on blood pressure with an average reduction of −10 mm Hg systolic and −8 mm Hg diastolic.2 Unfortunately, exercise is notoriously difficult to observe, evaluate, and dose in an outpatient population with hypertension.2,3 Exercise is a physiological intervention with a broad variety of positive cardiovascular effects that include changes in lipid metabolism, insulin resistance, weight, arterial hypertension, inflammation, endogenous anabolism, and mood.2 It seems, in fact, reasonable to hypothesize that metabolic abnormalities associated with the primarily sedentary lifestyle in modern Western civilizations are not only counteracted but normalized by physical activity. Therefore, regular exercise would be a physiological correction rather than a medical treatment intervention. Exercise programs distinguish between primarily aerobic dynamic (eg, running and cycling) and resistance (eg, strength training) exercises. Dynamic exercise with alternating muscle contraction and relaxation results in a steady rise of systolic blood pressure when intensity increases, whereas the diastolic pressure varies minimally. In contrast, resistance exercise is characterized by prolonged isometric muscle contraction before relaxation with high interstitial pressure that causes collapse of arterioles and capillaries. Blood pressure increases in relation to intensity and duration of the contraction. Effects of exercise on the myocardium have been well established. …
Does Network Care Prolong Work Absences

We used data on 120,000 workers with occupational injuries occurring in California, Connecticut, and Texas to analyze the effects of healthcare networks on postinjury durations of work absence. Controlling for selection and unobserved heterogeneity, work absences are shorter, all else equal, for network cases than for non-network cases. The shorter durations could reduce lost productivity by more than $3.8 million (a 9% reduction in work loss days for non-network cases) if network care were extended to the non-network cases in our sample.
Effects of Nitrogen Mustard on Mouse Tissue and Modification by AET

SummaryClinical and pathological effects were investigated in RF/Up mice injected intravenously with a radiomimetic agent, nitrogen mustard, as well as the protection from these effects afforded by a radioprotective agent, AET. The effectiveness of HN2 was reduced about 40 per cent by pre-injection with 9·0 mg of AET per mouse, raising the LD50/30 days from 0·127 to 0·203 mg per mouse. Symptoms of HN2-toxicity were also reduced through the use of AET, as was damage to tissues, especially cerebral, haemopoietic, and gastro-intestinal. Recovery began earlier and was more rapid in AET-treated mice. Although the specific cause of death was not ascertained, our results suggested that damage to the central nervous system probably played a significant part.
An Improved Method for Preparation and Purification of Safrole Oxide

Abstract A superior method for the preparation of safrole oxide is described using m-chloroperbenzoic acid as the oxidant. Improvements in the purification process are outlined which give the desired oxirane in a high state of purity free of an unidentified pink contaminant obtained as a by-product.
A set-based approach for white noise modeling

This paper provides a new framework for analyzing white noise disturbances in linear systems; rather than the usual stochastic approach, noise signals are described as elements in sets, and their effect is analyzed from a worst-case perspective. The paper studies how these sets must be chosen to have adequate properties for system response in the worst-case, statistics consistent with the stochastic point of view, and simple descriptions that allow for tractable worst-case analysis. The method is demonstrated by considering its implications in two problems: rejection of white noise signals in the presence of system uncertainty and worst-case system identification.
Rapid diagnosis of influenza infection in older adults: influence on clinical care in a routine clinical setting.

Abstract Background Laboratory diagnosis of influenza has previously relied on viral isolation in culture. Rapid antigen tests (RATs) are now available but few studies have examined their use in older adults under routine clinical conditions. Objectives To determine the utility of the RAT in older adults presenting to a large medical center and how test results impacted clinical care. Study design Retrospective chart review of patients tested for influenza during the 2003–2004 and 2004–2005 influenza seasons. Clinical data were correlated with the results of laboratory testing. Results Eighty-four adults tested positive for influenza. Adding the results of the RAT to symptom complexes predictive of influenza significantly enhanced the ability to diagnose influenza in the acute setting. The positive predictive value of fever plus cough increased from 32% to 92% with a positive RAT. The RAT also directed appropriate antiviral therapy. 20/22 (91%) patients with a positive RAT and symptoms ≤48 h received antiviral treatment compared to only 1/12 (8%) patients with a negative RAT and a positive culture. Conclusions Under routine clinical conditions rapid influenza testing enhances the ability to quickly diagnose influenza and can be used to guide early treatment decisions in older adults.
Offset Quadrature Communications with Decision-Feedback Carrier Synchronization

In this paper, we focus our attention on the decisionfeedback approach to carrier synchronization of offset quadrature phase-shift-keyed (QPSK) and more generally offset quadrature amplitude-shift-keyed (QASK) systems. In particular, we present two decision-feedback loops for tracking offset QPSK and offset QASK, which are modifications of comparable loops previously given in the literature for carrier synchronization of QPSK and QASK respectively. The performance gains obtained using such synchronization techniques are discussed. In particular, we show that the use of offset-quadrature communications rather than conventional quadrature communications permits a doubled loop bandwidth at fixed data rate, signal-to-noise ratio and probability of error. However, the more efficient phase-tracking loop (decision-feedback as opposed to phase-locked loop) used reduces substantially the total signal-to-noise ratio required.
Side-illumination fluorescence spectroscopy. II. Applications to squaraine-dye-doped polymer optical fibers

We apply the side-illumination fluorescence (SIF) measurement to determine the linear absorption spectrum in the fluorescence emission range and to study the excited states of dye molecules in polymer fibers. These studies demonstrate that the dye is the main contributor to light absorption in the 720–840-nm range in squaraine-dye-doped polymer fibers and reveal a J-like aggregate absorption spectrum in the 780–810-nm range. We also determine that a two-level model, which accounts for inhomogeneous broadening, describes the dominant excited state of poly(methyl methacrylate) fibers doped with PSQ and HSQ dyes more effectively than does the standard Lorentzian or Gaussian two-level model. We conclude that the SIF method is a useful, nondestructive, and accurate method for measuring off-resonance absorption.
Paper: A tutorial introduction to stochastic simulation algorithms for belief networks

Belief networks combine probabilistic knowledge with explicit information about conditional independence assumptions. A belief network consists of a directed acyclic graph in which the nodes represent variables and the edges express relationships of conditional dependence. When information about one variable's state is given to the network in the form of evidence, an update algorithm computes the posterior marginal probability distributions for the remaining variables in the network. Many algorithms for performing this inference task have been proposed. Exact algorithms report precise results for some classes of networks, but take exponential time (in the number of nodes) both in the worst case and for many interesting networks. Stochastic simulation algorithms estimate the posterior marginal probability distribution for many graph topologies that would require exponential time when using an exactalgorithm. Nonetheless, for some belief networks, stochastic simulation algorithms are also known to have exponential worst case performance. This article describes at a tutorial level several stochastic simulation algorithms for belief networks, and illustrates them on some simple examples. In addition, the theoretical and empirical performance of the algorithms is briefly surveyed.
Quality assurance for the query and distribution systems of the RCSB Protein Data Bank

The RCSB Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB, www.pdb.org) is a key online resource for structural biology and related scientific disciplines. The website is used on average by 165 000 unique visitors per month, and more than 2000 other websites link to it. The amount and complexity of PDB data as well as the expectations on its usage are growing rapidly. Therefore, ensuring the reliability and robustness of the RCSB PDB query and distribution systems are crucially important and increasingly challenging. This article describes quality assurance for the RCSB PDB website at several distinct levels, including: (i) hardware redundancy and failover, (ii) testing protocols for weekly database updates, (iii) testing and release procedures for major software updates and (iv) miscellaneous monitoring and troubleshooting tools and practices. As such it provides suggestions for how other websites might be operated. Database URL: www.pdb.org
Full-Scale Testing of Procedures for Assembling Trunnion-Hub-Girder in Bascule Bridges

To simulate a trunnion-hub-girder (THG) assembly for bascule bridges, two full-scale laboratory tests were conducted for quantifying stresses at previously observed failure locations and for identifying a favorable assembly procedure. One assembly procedure, AP#1, cools the trunnion for a shrink fit into the hub, followed by cooling of the trunnion-hub assembly to shrink fit it into the girder. Using AP#1, development of cracks on the hub was observed in one THG assembly, and, in yet another assembly, the trunnion got stuck in the hub before full insertion could take place. Large hoop stresses and low temperatures were observed at the trunnion-hub interface when the trunnion-hub assembly was cooled for insertion into the girder. Since fracture toughness of THG parts decreases with temperature, allowable crack lengths were small. In an alternative assembly procedure, AP#2, where the hub is shrink fitted into the girder first, followed by cooling the trunnion and shrink fitting it into the hub-girder assembly, the allowable crack length was determined to be double the allowable crack length of AP#1. Hence, for the given full-scale geometry and interference values, assembly procedure AP#2 was found to be better than AP#1.
The Role of Threat in Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action and Its Beneficiaries

This set of two studies employed the integrated threat theory to examine attitudes toward affirmative action (AA). The first study found that opposition to the policy of AA was predicted by realistic threats, symbolic threats, and personal relevance; while attitudes toward the beneficiaries of AA were predicted by three of the four threat variables (symbolic threats, intergroup anxiety, and negative stereotypes), and in-group identity. The second study replicated and expanded on the first study and found that the effects of several individual-difference variables (racism, anti-Black affect, and political conservatism) on opposition to AA were mediated by three of the threats in the integrated threat theory (realistic threats, symbolic threats, and negative stereotypes). The implications of the results are discussed.
Marionette: a system for parallel distributed programming using a master/slave model

Marionette, a software package for distributed parallel programming in an environment of networked heterogeneous computer systems is described. It uses a master/slave model in which otherwise sequential application programmes can invoke worker operations (asynchronous remote procedure calls executed by slave processes) and context operations (updates to slaves' process states). The master and slaves also interact through shared data structures that can be modified only by the master. The Marionette runtime system is a heterogeneous remote procedure call package. It maintains the consistency of shared data structures, recovers transparently from slave processor failure, and assigns operations to slaves. The Marionette system includes tools for debugging, automated compilation of program binaries for multiple architectures, and distributing binaries to remote file systems. Measurements of a UNIX-based implementation to Marionette and a parallel ray-tracing renderer are presented. >
Performance on Indirect Measures of Race Evaluation Predicts Amygdala Activation

We used fMRI to explore the neural substrates involved in the unconscious evaluation of Black and White social groups. Specifically, we focused on the amygdala, a subcortical structure known to play a role in emotional learning and evaluation. In Experiment 1, White American subjects observed faces of unfamiliar Black and White males. The strength of amygdala activation to Black-versus-White faces was correlated with two indirect (unconscious) measures of race evaluation (Implicit Association Test lIATr and potentiated startle), but not with the direct (conscious) expression of race attitudes. In Experiment 2, these patterns were not obtained when the stimulus faces belonged to familiar and positively regarded Black and White individuals. Together, these results suggest that amygdala and behavioral responses to Black-versus-White faces in White subjects reflect cultural evaluations of social groups modified by individual experience.
Safety and tolerability: How do second-generation atypical antipsychotics compare?

Previously, clinicians could only utilize antipsychotic drugs that almost invariably caused extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) at the dose at which they were clinically effective. By definition, second-generation atypical antipsychotic agents are significantly better than conventional agents with regard to EPS; that is, they are clinically effective at doses at which they are less likely to cause EPS. This advantage translates into several important clinical benefits, including better negative symptom efficacy, lesser dysphoria, less impaired cognition, and a lower risk of tardive dyskinesia; in fact, this “EPS advantage” is the principal basis of the clinical advantages provided by this class of atypical antipsychotics. Pharmacologically, “atypical” antipsychotics differ in their side-effect profiles. Six second-generation antipsychotics are currently available in the United States: clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, and aripiprazole. There are meaningful differences between these agents with regard to weight gain, sedation, anticholinergic side effects, cardiovascular issues, endocrine side effects, and hepatic and sexual issues; these are considered and their clinical implications discussed.
African Colonial States

This chapter sketches a history of European colonial states in Africa, north and south of the Sahara, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It explains when and why colonial states emerged, what they did, how they worked, and who shaped them. Noting discrepancies between the theory and practice of colonial administration, the chapter shows that colonial administration was far more diffuse and less closely coordinated than official discourses of governance suggested. The performance of colonialism involved a wide range of actors: not only European military and civilian elites and African chiefs, but also African translators and tax collectors, as well as European forestry experts, missionaries, anthropologists, and settlers. The chapter also considers debates over reconciling the violence and exploitation of colonial states with their claims to, and aspirations for, social development in Africa, particularly in light of their relationship to the postcolonial states that succeeded them.
An endowment effect for risk: : Experimental tests of stochastic reference points

Recent models of reference-dependent preferences indicate that expectations may play a prominent role in the presence of behavioral anomalies. A subset of such expectations-based models predicts an “endowment effect for risk”: that risk attitudes differ when reference points change from certain to stochastic. In two purposefully simple risk preference experiments, eliminating often-discussed confounds, I demonstrate both between and within subjects such an endowment effect for risk. These results provide needed separation between expectations-based reference-dependent models, allow for evaluation of recent theoretical extensions, and may help to close a long-standing debate in decision science on inconsistency between utility elicitation methodologies.
Chapter 1: The Sociological View of the Economy

After spending eighteen months among the Yanomamo of northern Brazil, Napoleon Chagnon (1968) described them as a fierce people respectful of quick tempers and casual violence.
RPC: An Efficient Classifier Ensemble Using Random Projections

We propose a classifier ensemble called RPC based on principles of rotation forest using random projections. Random projections project the original high dimensional data into lower dimensions while preserving the dataset's geometrical structure reducing classifier's complexity. Random projections are also an efficient dimensionality reduction tool, removing noisy features from dataset and representing the information using only small number of features. Training set for RPC is created by applying random projection on random subsets of the feature set. The randomness of random projection coupled with random sampling adds diversity to RPC. Initial evaluation using datasets from UCI machine learning repository shows that RPC performs equally well or better than Random Forest, Bagging and AdaBoost. We demonstrate that using dimensionality reduction with RPC we can dramatically reduce datasets dimensions without any loss in classification accuracy and significantly enhance computational performance. Finally, we experiment building RPC with different base learners.
Bacterial endotoxin detection in hyaluronic acid-based medical devices

A simple and rapid method has been developed for testing bacterial endotoxin in hyaluronic acid (HA)-based medical devices. High-molecular-weight HA (HMW HA) in solution or HA-based medical devices was digested by the enzyme hyaluronidase to reduce solution viscosity by truncating the long chains of HA and to test for bacterial endotoxin. The bacterial endotoxin level was detected and measured by kinetic chromogenic Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay. The method was applied to two different ophthalmic viscosurgical devices (OVDs) and one dermal filler, and may easily be adapted to use with up to 3% HA solutions and other HA-based medical devices. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1210-1215, 2017.
A Comparison of Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Curriculum and Talent Cultivation between United States and China

Electrical engineering program has wide caliber in both electronics and information engineering. The mission of undergraduate program is to cultivate higher engineering technical personnel with basic knowledge of electrical technology and information system and capability of being engaged on technical assignments such as research,design,manufacturing,application and development in electronic equipment and information systems. In the paper,electrical engineering of the Pennsylvania State University( PSU) and University of Shanghai for Science and Technology( USST) are selected as typical examples. Similarities and differences of electrical engineering between two universities in United States and China are analyzed from aspects of operation and management of undergraduate education,curriculum provision,teaching and evaluation. And the paper puts forward constructive suggestions to improve undergraduate teaching quality of electrical engineering.
Application of data standardization in integrated service platform of power IOT

In order to ensure the platform transmit data and basic information with consistency and unambiguity, the standardization design method is introduced to analyze the method and basic conception of the data standardization. Through data unified modeling for sensing device, monitoring data, business data and communication protocol of the platform by using data standardization model, the standardized data format basic on XML is obtained. The data sharing and use between different applications are realized.
From Prowar Soldier to Antiwar Activist: Change and Continuity in the Narratives of Political Conversion among Iraq War Veterans

This study examines conversion narratives of Iraq War military veterans who have become antiwar political activists. I examine how antiwar veterans construct and emplot prewar, wartime, and postwar narrative periods to shape and reclaim their moral identities as patriots fighting for a just cause, and how through a communal antiwar story they work to both challenge and reappropriate the rhetorical framework they associate with justifications for the invasion of Iraq. The study draws on in-depth interviews with forty members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). In sum, the research describes how veterans engage with dominant narratives, shape new moral identities, and transition from soldiers to political activists.
Advances in the Management of Blunt Thoracic Aortic Injury : Parmley to the Present

This article traces the evolution in management of blunt aortic injury (BAI) over the past 50 years from the time of the seminal description from Parmley in 1958. There have been major advances in both diagnostics and treatment paradigms with very rapid technologic advances occurring over the past decade. For many years, conventional aortography was the principle diagnostic tool, but it has been replaced by the progression of CT. The widespread adoption of antihypertensive therapy has sharply reduced the incidence of aortic rupture before planned reconstruction. Many patients with major associated injuries have definitive treatment of BAI managed in a delayed fashion with the use of hypertensives, which appears to improve outcomes. In the past 5 years, definitive treatment has changed with the majority of injuries being treated today with endoluminal stent grafts as opposed to open thoracotomy and traditional repair techniques. Paraplegia rates have diminished from 8 to 10 per cent down to 1 to 2 per cent in association with these therapeutic advances.
Toxic Effects of Bronchodilators

The critical care clinician commonly encounters patients with acute bronchospasm. Therapy includes a multidrag regimen of sympathomimetics, anticholinergics, methylxanthines, and corticosteroids. The best use of these agents is predicated on knowledge and avoidance of drag toxicities. This article reviews toxic effects of these bronchodilator agents.
VON NEUMANN'S CLAIM OF IMPOSSIBILITY OF HIDDEN-VARIABLES THEORIES

This chapter discusses the von Neumann's claim of impossibility of hidden-variables theories. The work of von Neumann was mainly concerned with the axiomatization of the mathematical methods of quantum theory. His side remarks on hidden variables were merely an unfortunate step away from the main line of his reasoning. The public recognition that somehow von Neumann's formulation of hidden-variables theory was not a fortunate one and could not have the generality and exhaustiveness which von Neumann suggested, goes back at least to Bohm. With von Neumann and with Gleason and with all other quantum theorists there do not exist any pure quantum-mechanical states. As a reason for the nonexistence of hidden variables, von Neumann alludes to the impossibility of a relation like and to the validity of inequalities like in hidden variables theory, which he considers to be in conflict with the relations of quantum theory.
A strategic sourcing evaluation methodology for reshoring decisions

ABSTRACTDecisions regarding offshoring and reshoring of manufacturing facilities and processes are of strategic importance for companies. These decisions often require the consideration of multiple financial, quantitative and qualitative factors. Integrating these often disparate factors can be extremely difficult for managers. This article presents a methodology, based on expert and practitioner input and literature, which aids in this process. The methodology incorporates concepts from activity-based costing, multi-attribute decision making and utility theory. An illustrative example using factors derived from literature and practice is presented to demonstrate the methodology and to discuss the issues which must be considered when making offshoring/reshoring decisions. The results of a series of interviews with supply chain professionals to establish the validity of the approach are discussed.
In adults ≥ 70 years of age, an adjuvanted herpes zoster subunit vaccine reduced herpes zoster at a mean 3.7 years.

Source Citation Cunningham AL, Lal H, Kovac M, et al; ZOE-70 Study Group. Efficacy of the herpes zoster subunit vaccine in adults 70 years of age or older. N Engl J Med. 2016;375:1019-32. 27626517
102. The Cognitive Costs of Social Exclusion in Schizophrenia

Background: Social exclusion is a particularly poignant and impairing social experience that can lead to affective and cognitive impairments in clinical populations. Various psychiatric disorders, (e.g., depression, social anxiety, and schizophrenia) are associated with hyper-responsivity to social exclusion. Social exclusion is exceedingly common in schizophrenia (e.g., most have very few friends, few get married, and many are estranged from family members). The most extensively validated paradigm for social exclusion is the Cyberball task, in which participants believe they are interacting with peers, and being excluded from an online ball-tossing game. For individuals with depression and anxiety, social exclusion leads to slowed processing speed, deficits in social self-regulation, and impaired cognitive control, memory, attention, and motivation. Despite the relevance to schizophrenia, no studies have examined the cognitive consequences of social exclusion in individuals with schizophrenia. Methods: Data collection is ongoing, and data are available on 35 patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls. Social exclusion and social inclusion conditions were counterbalanced such that all participants were administered the Cyberball game (exclusion condition) and an online ball-passing game (inclusion condition) during 2 separate visits to our laboratory. Additionally, participants completed measures of neurocognition, defeatist beliefs, and emotional reactivity following both social exclusion and social inclusion. Results: There was a significant interaction such that the 2 groups showed different patterns in neurocognitive performance following social exclusion—patients get worse after being excluded and were less able to perform tasks requiring working memory and processing speed, while controls’ performance actually improved after they are socially excluded, compared to when they are included. Results indicate that patients had significantly higher levels of defeatist beliefs than controls, and both groups showed a significant increase in defeatist beliefs after social exclusion, compared to inclusion. Conclusion: This is the first study to directly examine the consequences of social exclusion on individuals with schizophrenia. The results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia may experience increases in neurocognitive impairment and in defeatist beliefs, when they feel socially excluded. The present data support the notion that social and environmental factors may contribute to impaired neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia.
Conflict of Interest in Practice Guidelines Panels

Practice guidelines are an important innovation in patient care. According to the 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) definition, practice guidelines are “statements that include recommendations, intended to optimize patient care, that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options.”1 In the United States, guideline programs began in the early 1980s. As guidelines have been used for decisions about insurance coverage and standards for measuring quality of care, they have become increasingly influential, and conflict of interest (COI) in developing guidelines has become an important concern.
The Legal Significance of the Natural Affection of Charlie Gard's Parents

This essay will survey the importance of the concept of the natural affection of parents for their children in American law and explore the significance of the possible ongoing shift in the perceived basis of this natural affection from an understanding that natural affection is given by God to consideration of the possibility that there is no such thing as natural affection at all, with particular attention to the case of Charlie Gard. Section I will survey the various ways that Anglo-American law has relied on the existence of natural affection between parents and children. Having thus established the importance of natural affection to Anglo-American law, Section II will briefly explore some of the religious texts that have helped to define the concept of natural affection. Finally, Section III will explore the shifting conception of natural affection and what significance such a changed understanding might have for Anglo-American law, and especially for Charlie Gard and his family.
Native Fashion Now

Native Fashion Now, curated by Karen Kramer, Curator of Native American and Oceanic Art and Culture at the Peabody Essex Museum, persuasively argues that Native American fashion designers are opera...
Stains and Remains: Liveliness, Materiality, and the Archival Lives of Queer Bodies

ABSTRACTThis article places itself at the centre of a complex debate between scholars of new materialism and feminist theory. Feminist scholarship has been forcefully critiqued by new materialists for its ‘flight from the material’ that may have foreclosed vital attention to ‘lived material bodies and evolving corporeal practices’ [Alaimo, Stacy, and Susan Hekman. 2009. “Introduction: Emerging Models of Materiality in Feminist Theory.” In Material Feminism, edited by Stacy Alaimo and Susan Hekman, 1–20. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 3]. Through my own encounters with bodily remains and stains in LGBTQ archives, I develop the lens of liveliness to argue that such bodily matter animates and is animated because of its archival context. Liveliness offers a novel approach to new materialism as a productive means for feminist scholars to articulate how matter itself, including bodily matter, is animate and imbued with a particular kind of vitality and affective force. Approaching these archival records...
PRESERVED PROINSULIN SECRETION IN LONG-STANDING TYPE 1 DIABETES.

ABSTRACT Objective: Recent literature has reported preserved residual beta-cell function (C-peptide “microsecretion”) in many individuals with long-standing type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, the concentrations of detectable insulin/C-peptide in the serum are usually very low, and beta-cell mass is typically negligible. Proinsulin is measurable in the early years after diagnosis, consistent with the presence of residual functioning beta cells. However, individuals are not expected to secrete significant amounts of proinsulin beyond the early years after diagnosis. Our primary objective was to measure the prohormone, proinsulin, in a heterogeneous cohort of individuals with long-standing T1D. We also sought to assess whether proinsulin secretion might occur in certain individuals despite the absence of measurable C-peptide. Methods: Random postmeal proinsulin concentrations were measured in 97 subjects with T1D (disease duration >3 years) recruited from within the T1D Exchange Clinic Network participants who ...
Rationality, strategic uncertainty, and belief diversity in non-cooperative games: Belief diversity in games

I investigate the existence of epistemic models of complete information games that satisfy the following properties: players do not rule out their opponent's use of rational ex ante strategies for deriving their choices; they do not rule out, ex ante, that they can come to know the action profile that is ultimately played; and they do not rule out strategic uncertainty. In this paper I show that for a large class of games there are no epistemic models that satisfy these three properties.
A Note on Iron Age Figural Artefacts from Tell Dothan

Tell Dothan, located just 10 kilometers from modern-day Jenin, was excavated by Joseph P. Free for 10 seasons between 1953–1964 (Figure 1). During the course of these excavations, Free recovered nu...
Caring for Health in Times of Crisis.

Caring for health in times of crisis creates daunting challenges and unique opportunities to impact others’ lives in meaningful ways. Time and timing are critical, unexpected circumstances arise, a...
Actigraphy-Derived Sleep Efficiency Is Associated With Endothelial Function in Men and Women With Untreated Hypertension.

BACKGROUND Poor sleep quality is increasingly recognized as an important and potentially modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Impaired endothelial function may be 1 mechanism underlying the association between poor sleep and CVD risk. The present study examined the relationship between objective measures of sleep quality and endothelial function in a sample of untreated hypertensive adults. METHODS Participants were 127 men (N = 74) and women (N = 53), including 55 African Americans and 72 White Americans, aged 40-60 years (mean age, 45.3 ± 8.5 years), with untreated hypertension (systolic blood pressure 130-159 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure 85-99 mm Hg). Noninvasive brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was assessed by ultrasound. Sleep parameters, including sleep efficiency (SE), total sleep time (TST), and subjective sleep quality, were assessed over 7 consecutive days by wrist actigraphy. RESULTS Participants averaged 7.76 ± 1 hours in bed, with an average SE of 78 ± 9%, and TST of 6 ± 1 hours. Brachial FMD averaged 3.5 ± 3.1%. In multivariate analyses controlling for sex, race, body mass index, clinic blood pressure, income, smoking, alcohol use, and baseline arterial diameter, SE was positively associated with FMD (β = 0.28, P = 0.012). Subjective sleep quality (β = -0.04, P = 0.63) and TST (β = -0.11, P = 0.25) were unrelated to FMD. CONCLUSIONS Poor sleep as indicated by low SE was associated with impaired FMD. These findings for SE are consistent with previous observations of other measures implicating poor sleep as a CVD risk factor. Interventions that improve sleep may also help lower CVD risk.
Machine Learning as Natural Monopoly

Machine learning is transforming the economy, reshaping operations in communications, law enforcement, and medicine, among other sectors. But all is not well: It is now well-established that many machine-learning-based applications harvest vast amounts of personal information and yield results that are systematically biased. In response, policymakers have begun to offer a range of inchoate and often insufficient solutions, overlooking the possibility—suggested intuitively by scholars across disciplines—that these systems are natural monopolies, and thus neglecting the long legal tradition of natural monopoly regulation. Drawing on the computer science, economics, and legal literatures, I find that machine-learning-based applications can be natural monopolies. Several features of machine learning suggest that this is so, including the fixed costs of developing these applications and the computational methods of optimizing these systems. This conclusion yields concrete policy implications: Where natural monopolies exist, public oversight and regulation is typically superior to market discipline through competition. Hence, where machine-learning-based applications are natural monopolies, this regulatory tradition offers one framework for confronting a range of issues—from privacy to accuracy and bias—that attend to such systems. Just as prior natural monopolies—the railways, electric grids, and telephone networks—faced rate and service regulation to protect against extractive, anticompetitive, and undemocratic behaviors, so too might machine-learning-based applications face similar public regulation to limit intrusive data collection and protect against algorithmic redlining, among other harms.
Charles Ives: A Research and Information Guide

Preface A Short History of Ives Studies Purpose and Scope of This Volume Acknowledgements Ives Timeline 1. Primary Reference Materials 2. Book-Length Studies 3. General Music Studies 4. Topical Studies 5. Individual Studies by Genre 6. Editing Practices and Selected Reviews of Published Editions 7. Textbook Accounts, Encyclopedia, and Dictionary Entries 8. Selected Reviews of premieres, significant performances, and recordings 9. Significant Festivals, Conferences, and Concert Series, and Select Published Reviews 10. Representations in Theatre, Dance, Poetry, Film, and Fiction 11. Websites Appendix: List of Ives's Compositions Indexes Non-English sources Periodical Titles Authors and Editors Keyword
Cell wall structure of the agarophytes Gracilaria tikvahiae and G. cornea (Rhodophyta) and penetration by the epiphyte Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta)

Use of light, transmission, and scanning electronmicroscopes revealed that the epidermal cell wall ofthe red algal agarophytes Gracilaria tikvahiaeMcLachlan and G. cornea J. Agardh consists of adecklamelle and outer and inner wall layers. The twospecies differed, with G. cornea having asignificantly thicker outer wall and a more diffusedecklamelle. After induction, the zooids of Ulvalactuca would attach to glass slides and the twospecies of Gracilaria via an adhesion pad. Within a few days, 3–5 celled germlings penetrated thedecklamelle and outer wall layer of both basiphytes. By the time the epiphyte germlings reached the 15celled stage, they had penetrated the inner walllayer. The differences in epidermal cell wallconstruction between the two basiphytes may play arole in the ability of zooids of U. lactuca toattach in nature where epiphytization of G.cornea is infrequent.
Monitoring Equity in Health and Healthcare: A Conceptual Framework

This paper aims at articulating a conceptual framework for monitoring equity in health and healthcare. The focus is on four main questions: What is health equity? What is monitoring? What are the essential components of a system for monitoring health equity? and Why monitor health equity? Monitoring equity in health and healthcare requires comparing indicators of health and its social determinants among social groups with different levels of underlying social advantage, i.e. groups who occupy different positions in a social hierarchy. A framework is presented for formulating the key questions, defining the social groups to be compared, and selecting the health indicators and measures of disparity that are fundamental to monitoring health equity. Although monitoring health equity is a scientific endeavour, its fundamental objective is guided by values; technical challenges should be addressed as part of a broader strategy to confront the political obstacles to greater equity.
Teaching as Scholarship

Drawing inspiration, knowledge, support and challenges from our colleagues and from educational consultants is how we enhance teaching and learning. Similar to the need to consult with colleagues about patient care or scientific investigators, we as educators must get together and discuss our work in medical education. To achieve this shared goal, we as educators must think of ourselves as members of an educational cooperative – a teaching and learning community – where we exchange and build our collective knowledge about medical education. This chapter introduces the criteria associated with educational scholarship as teachers, curriculum developers, and authors of learner assessment tools.
Knee Meniscus, Biomechanics of

To fully understand the function of the knee meniscus, it is important to define the characteristics of its structure and composition, and how they vary spatially within the tissue. The meniscus is an excellent example of how structure can confer function in a mechanical device. The goal of this article is to summarize current findings related to meniscal properties. Cellular, biochemical, ultrastructural, and biomechanical characteristics are compared in the different zones, depths, and topographical regions of the knee meniscus. It is important to note the wide variety of species and testing methods that have been used to evaluate such properties. These variations render difficult direct comparisons of the properties of this anisotropic and inhomogeneous tissue. Understanding the structure-function relationships within the meniscus will lead to better design of replacements for this tissue. Keywords: meniscus; fibrocartilage; fibrochondrocytes
Nitrogenase Activity and Nodule Biomass of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) Decrease in Cover Crop Mixtures

Legume cover crops are often used to build soil nitrogen (N) fertility and there is increasing interest in cover crop mixtures. The objective of this mechanistic greenhouse study was to determine the effect of cover crop community diversity and soil fertility on nitrogenase activity and nodule biomass of cowpea. Cover crops were grown for 42–53 days, aboveground biomass was harvested, and nitrogenase activity was estimated with the acetylene reduction assay. Roots were then excavated to determine nodule and root biomass. Nitrogenase activity and nodule biomass per plant were greatest in cowpea monoculture and reduced by 71–98 percent in four-species mixtures. Reduced capacity for N2 fixation was partially driven by lower cowpea biomass in mixtures. The ratio of root nodule / shoot biomass increased by 81–297 percent in low-fertility relative to high-fertility soils, which contributed to increased nitrogenase activity. Results suggest cowpea monocultures in low-fertility soils have the greatest potential f...
The effect of sodium thiosulfate levels on filtered Tc-99m sulfur colloid yields

2719 Objectives In our nuclear pharmacy, filtered Tc-99m sulfur colloid (SC) is formulated from high concentration Tc-99m SC using low thiosulfate levels. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of various thiosulfate levels on filtered Tc-99m SC yields. Methods Previously, high specific concentration Tc-99m SC was formulated using a small fraction, 0.25 mg (0.125 ml) thiosufate from a sulfur colloid kit (Pharmalucence, Inc.). Our lab investigated the effect of increasing thiosulfate levels including 0.2 mg (0.1 ml), 0.4 mg (0.2 ml), and 0.6 mg (0.3 ml) on the yield of filtered Tc-99m SC. For each experimental design, between 101-103 mCi of Tc-99m pertechnetate was added to thiosulfate along with the acid solution. The solution was boiled for 5 minutes, cooled, and neutralized with the respective buffer. The radiochemical purity of each thiosulfate preparation was evaluated using miniaturized chromatography consisting of Whatman 31ET paper with acetone. Duplicate aliquots of each thiosulfate formulation, ranging from 30-40 mCi, was removed and transferred to a 0.1 um membrane filter (Millex Durapore PVDF membrane filter) which were then washed with 1.0 to 1.4 ml of saline into specific vials (2.0 ml total volume). Activity of each membrane filter and vial was measured using a Biodex Atomlab 500 dose calibrator and mean activity for each experimental design calculated. Results The radiochemical purity of high specific concentration Tc-99m SC was >98% for all formulations evaluated. The mean yields of filtered Tc-99m SC (0.1 um) utilizing 0.2 mg, 0.4 mg and 0.6 mg thiosulfate were 54%, 57%, and 50%, respectively, indicating that the 0.4 mg thiosulfate formulation was optimal. Conclusions The effect of altering thiosulfate levels on filtered Tc-99m SC was investigated. As a result, our nuclear pharmacy has adopted the modified formulation consisting of 0.4 mg thiosulfate for filtered Tc-99m SC.
Functional interaction of vega2 and goosecoid homeobox genes in zebrafish.

Summary: The gastrula organizer forms in the dorsal region of the zebrafish embryo, where the bozozok/dharma homeobox gene downregulates expression of the vega1 transcriptional repressor. Here, we describe a novel Vega family homeobox gene, vega2. Expression of vega2 is initiated at the ventral blastoderm margin during blastula stages, and by gastrulation becomes complementary to but partially overlapping with the dorsal expression domain of the homeobox gene goosecoid (gsc). This dorsal exclusion of vega2 expression is not observed in bozozok mutants in which organizer formation is impaired. Both vega2 and vega1 can physically interact with Gsc. Zebrafish embryos injected with vega2 mRNA failed to express gsc and developed a headless phenotype. Conversely, a putative dominant negative form of vega2, VP16-vega2, elicited the expansion of gsc expression and a dorsalized phenotype. We suggest that vega2, in cooperation with vega1, functions as a negative regulator of organizer genes including gsc, and participates in the refinement of the gastrula organizer domain. genesis 28:58–67, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Proletarian Blackface: Appropriation and Class Struggle in Mike Judge's Office Space

Mike Judge's 1999 cult comedy Office Space chronicles the experiences of primarily White male workers in contemporary corporate culture, as well as their efforts to resist it. I argue that the film engages in “proletarian Blackface,” or the appropriation of Black vernacular practices to articulate a predominantly White male, working-class rage against modern capitalism. Through a reading of the film that juxtaposes its key narrative themes with its appropriation of a gangsta aesthetic, I argue that Office Space allows its predominantly White male characters and viewers to traverse racialized, gendered, and classed subject positions in ways that enable critiques of capitalism, Whiteness, and masculinity, but also reify White supremacy.