cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Eocene and Oligocene Paleosols of Central Oregon

Eocene and Oligocene Paleosols of Central Oregon, Gregory J. Retallack, Erick A. Bestland, and Theodore J. Fremd (Editors), 2000, Geological Society of America Special Paper 344, Boulder, 196 p. (Paperback $58.00) ISBN: 0-8137-2344-2. In the past 20C years, paleopedology (the study of paleosols, or ancient soil horizons) has become one of the hottest areas of research in sedimentary geology. A number of geologists have added paleopedology to their repertoire of skills, and many important discoveries have emerged from the study of paleosols. One of the scientists who sped up this process in the United States was Greg Retallack of the University of Oregon. Beginning with his pioneering studies of Eocene-Oligocene paleosols of the White River Group in the Big Badlands of South Dakota (published in 1983 as GSA Special Paper 193, and summarized in his 1990 book Soils of the Past ), Retallack has made many important discoveries using ancient soils. GSA Special Paper 344 presents the results of many years of research by Retallack, his former student Erick Bestland, and John Day Fossil Beds park paleontologist Ted Fremd. Focusing on the spectacular color-banded buttes and cliffs of the Eocene-Oligocene Clarno and John Day Formations of central …
Land use change and nitrogen enrichment of a Rocky Mountain watershed.

Headwater ecosystems may have a limited threshold for retaining and re- moving nutrients delivered by certain types of land use. Nitrogen enrichment was studied in a Rocky Mountain watershed undergoing rapid expansion of population and residential development. Study sites were located along a 30-km transect from the headwaters of the Blue River to Lake Dillon, a major source of drinking water for Denver, Colorado. Ground water in residential areas with septic systems showed high concentrations of nitrate-N (4.96 6 1.22 mg/L, mean 6 SE), and approximately 40% of wells contained nitrate with d 15 N values in the range of wastewater. Concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in tributaries with residential development peaked during spring snowmelt as concentrations of DIN declined to below detection limits in undeveloped tributaries. Annual export of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was considerably lower in residential streams, suggesting a change in forms of N with development. The seasonal d 15 N of algae in residential streams was intermediate between baseline values from undeveloped streams and stream algae grown on wastewater. Between 19% and 23% of the annual N export from developed tributaries was derived from septic systems, as estimated from the d 15 N of algae. This range was similar to the amount of N export above background determined independently from mass-balance estimates. From a watershed perspective, total loading of N to the Blue River catchment from septic and municipal wastewater (2 kg·ha 21 ·yr 21 ) is currently less than the amount from background atmospheric sources (3 kg·ha 21 ·yr 21 ). Nonetheless, nitrate-N concentra- tions exceeded limits for safe drinking water in some groundwater wells (10 mg/L), resi- dential streams showed elevated seasonal patterns of nitrate-N concentration and ratios of DIN to total dissolved phosphorus, and seasonal minimum concentrations of nitrate-N in Lake Dillon have increased exponentially to 80 mg/L over the last decade from an initial value near zero. Results suggest that isotopic ratios in autotrophs can be used to detect and quantify increases in N enrichment associated with land use change. The biotic capacity of headwater ecosystems to assimilate increases in inorganic N from residential development may be insufficient to prevent nitrogen enrichment over considerable distances and multiple aquatic ecosystems downstream.
Economic Hysteresis in Variety Selection

Investing in a new perennial crop variety involves an irreversible commitment of capital and generates an uncertain return stream. As a result, the decision to adopt a new variety includes a significant real option value. Waiting for returns to rise above this real option causes a delay in adoption because of economic hysteresis. This study tests for hysteresis in the adoption of wine grape varieties using a sample of district-level data from the state of California. The empirical results show a significant hysteretic effect in wine grape investment, which might be reduced by activities that smooth earnings over time.
Elliptical metasurface cloaks in printed technology — Reduction of mutual coupling in closely spaced planar antennas

In this paper, we propose a novel approach based on the mantle cloaking method to reduce the mutual coupling between closely spaced planar antennas. We consider two microstrip-fed monopole antennas resonating at slightly different frequencies and show that by covering each antenna with a conformal elliptical metasurface formed by conformal and confocal printed arrays of sub-wavelength periodic elements, the antennas become invisible to each other and their radiation patterns are restored as if they were isolated.
Cooling Tower Shells Founded on Soil

A dynamic axisymmetric finite element model suitable for shells of revolution founded on ring footings is presented. The model consists of high-precision rotational shell finite elements, representing the axisymmetric shell, supported on an equivalent boundary system, representing the soil medium. The substructure method is used to model the shell and soil components. In addition to the seismic analysis capability of the proposed model, it is also applicable to other dynamic loads such as wind. The dynamic behavior of a hyperboloidal cooling tower shell on discrete supports with a ring footing is studied. Dynamic properties are examined and stress analysis is carried out for a variety of soil conditions.
What's Reasonable Depends on Who's Asking: A Review of the Reasons Requirement in International Arbitration: Critical Case Studies

This book review is a review of The Reasons Requirement in International Arbitration: Critical Case Studies (Guillermo Aguilar Alvarez & W. Michael Reisman Eds. 2008).
Updated methods for assessing the impacts of nearby gas drilling and production on neighborhood air quality and human health.

ABSTRACTAn explosive growth in natural gas production within the last decade has fueled concern over the public health impacts of air pollutant emissions from oil and gas sites in the Barnett and Eagle Ford shale regions of Texas. Commonly acknowledged sources of uncertainty are the lack of sustained monitoring of ambient concentrations of pollutants associated with gas mining, poor quantification of their emissions, and inability to correlate health symptoms with specific emission events. These uncertainties are best addressed not by conventional monitoring and modeling technology, but by increasingly available advanced techniques for real-time mobile monitoring, microscale modeling and source attribution, and real-time broadcasting of air quality and human health data over the World Wide Web. The combination of contemporary scientific and social media approaches can be used to develop a strategy to detect and quantify emission events from oil and gas facilities, alert nearby residents of these events, a...
Glamine metabolism in rat small intestine: response to lactation

Inverse correlations have been measured between cyclic GMP content of hepatocytes and loss of TAT activity; indeed it has been suggested that insulin effects on TAT activity might be produced by modulation of cyclic GMP content (Strinden & Stellwagen, 1981, 1982). Neither nitroprusside, which stimulates guanylate cyclase (Ignarro et al., 1980), nor the 8-bromo analogue of cyclic GMP were able to influence loss of TAT immunorectivity or total protein degradation (Table I) . Loss of TAT immunoreactivity represents an early step in the pathway of degradation of the enzyme. Insulin inhibits this process by a mechanism inaccessible to stimulation by vanadate and independent of changes in cyclic GMP content.
Use of big data in drug development for precision medicine

Drug development has been a costly and lengthy process with an extremely low success rate and lack of consideration of individual diversity in drug response and toxicity. Over the past decade, an alternative "big data" approach has been expanding at an unprecedented pace based on the development of electronic databases of chemical substances, disease gene/protein targets, functional readouts, and clinical information covering inter-individual genetic variations and toxicities. This paradigm shift has enabled systematic, high-throughput, and accelerated identification of novel drugs or repurposed indications of existing drugs for pathogenic molecular aberrations specifically present in each individual patient. The exploding interest from the information technology and direct-to-consumer genetic testing industries has been further facilitating the use of big data to achieve personalized Precision Medicine. Here we overview currently available resources and discuss future prospects.
MATERIALIDADE CONSTITUCIONAL: a Contribuição dos Princípios e a Necessária Superação do Formalismo

Os principios constitucionais sao, na verdade, especies de normas. Assim, tem-se as regras, dotadas de objetividade e aplicaveis restritivamente, e os principios, que constituem a propria estrela polar do trato juridico, devendo permear todos os atos jurisdicionais, por vezes horizontalmente, informando o processo, por vezes verticalmente, como o principal instrumento de solucao de conflitos. E na primeira hipotese que se poe a valoracao da Constituicao enquanto cultura, que perpassa a producao legal do poder constituinte originario reclamando a efetiva participacao da sociedade, o que atribui a Constituicao cunho cultural e permite o alcance da tao almejada eficacia social.
Small finger metacarpal shaft wedged between ring and small metacarpal bases: A report of 2 cases

We present two patients with a displaced fracture of the small finger metacarpal base, where the shaft of the small finger metacarpal was wedged between the bases of the ring and small finger metacarpals. The striking appearance on radiographs led to initial recommendations for surgery, but both patients preferred non-operative treatment and did well in the short term without surgery.
H. pylori infection promotes intestinal inflammation and colitis-associated colon cancer in mice with a lineage-restricted deletion of the Smad4 gene in T cells.

Recent data suggest a protective effect of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but the mechanisms mediating this protective effect are poorly understood. We previously reported that selective deletion in T cells of the TGF-β signaling intermediate in mice, Smad4 (Smad4TKO mice) leads to spontaneous gastrointestinal inflammation which progresses to mucosal epithelia cancers. Thus we infected Smad4TKO mice with H. pylori SS1 and PMSS1. Smad4TKO mice developed thickened intestinal mucosa, epithelial hyperplasia, crypt abscesses, and abundant inflammatory cell infiltrates between 2 and 3 months post infection. Some mice also developed colonic adenocarcinoma while wild type (WT) infected mice exhibited no gross or histologic signs of colitis. Smad4TKO mice infected with H. pylori had a increase in the number of mucosal effector CD4+ T cells producing IFN-g and IL-17 and a decrease in the mucosal Foxp3+CD4+ T cells (Tregs) in vivo, compared to WT mice infected with H. pylori. We also observed enhanced epithelia expressing PD-L1 in colon of Smad4TKO mice with H. pylori infection. The colon epithelia of Smad4TKO mice with H. pylori infection exhibited an oncogenic signature with an increase in the expression of iNOS and p-STAT1. Mutations in Smad4 are found in large percentage of human Juvenile Polyposis Syndrome (JPS) and Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HTT) patients who are at risk of developing both adolescent and adult colon cancer. Our results raise the intriguing possibility that H. pylori infection could be a co-factor in the development of colon cancer by JPS/HTT patients.
Application creation for an immersive virtual measurement and analysis laboratory

Content creation for realtime interactive systems is a difficult problem. In game development, content creation pipelines are a major portion of the code base and content creation is a major portion of the budget. In research environments, the choice of rendering and simulation systems is frequently driven by the need for easy to use content authoring tools. In visualization, this problem is compounded by the widely varying types of data that users desire to visualize. We present a visualization application creation framework incorporated into our visualization system that enables measurement and quantitative analysis tasks in both desktop and immersive environments on diverse input data sets.
Recoarctation of the aorta

Abstract Recoarctation of the aorta has occurred in 20 (8.5 per cent) of 235 patients with adequate follow-up study after repair of coarctation of the aorta. All 20 patients were reoperated upon (4 had the first procedure performed elsewhere). Twelve were boys. The subjects ranged in age from 2 weeks to 15 years at the time of the first operation; significantly, however, 15 were 3 years or less. In 9 cases signs of recoarctation developed within five months of the procedure and were rapidly progressive in 6 cases. Sixteen patients had a technically satisfactory second procedure; I did not have repair because of anatomic limitations; 3 patients died during reoperation. One additional death occurred 40 days postoperatively because of rupture of a false aneurysm at the suture line. Of the 16 survivors, only 3 had evidence of recurrent obstruction, which was of significant degree in 2 patients. Recoarctation was attributed to insufficient resection of the coarcted segment in 1 patient, residual ductal tissue in 1, kinking of a left subclavian artery in 1 and thrombosis of a graft in another; fibrosis at the suture line was a significant factor in 8 cases. In the remaining cases the cause was not readily identifiable, but may possibly have been a result of failure of adequate growth at an anastomosis performed with a continuous suture. In 6 patients, obstruction proximal to the anastomosis may have played an important role in the development of the recoarctation. Indications for reoperation are progressive signs and symptoms of obstruction, with a difference in blood pressure between the upper and lower limbs of at least 40 mm. Hg. Aortography should confirm a significant narrowing, and a gradient of 40 mm. Hg or more should be substantiated by catheterization. If recoarctation is associated with reappearance of refractory heart failure, reoperation should be prompt. If recoarctation is slowly progressive, reoperation can wait until a fair-sized anastomosis can be achieved; however, procrastination until adult age should be avoided, thus minimizing the need for a prosthesis.
The Role of MIF in Parasitic Infections

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic molecule with extensive reach and numerous important roles in shaping the immune response to a large variety of infections and inflammatory diseases. MIF was first identified as a factor capable of preventing random macrophage migration in vitro in 1966 (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 56(1):72–77, 1966; Science 153(3731):80–82, 1966). Subsequent efforts to characterize the function of MIF have shown that the roles of this molecule extend far beyond the purview of macrophage migration and into antigen-specific responses (Cell Immunol 1:133–145, 1970) macrophage activation and survival (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99(1):345–350, 2002), modulation of glucocorticoid activity to promote inflammation (Ann N Y Acad Sci 210–220, 1999; Nature 377(6544):68–71, 1995), T cell activation (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93(15):7849–7854, 1996), and macrophage phagocytosis (Immunology 92(1):131–137, 1997). MIF also is involved in the coordination between the innate and adaptive immune response. Due to the sheer number of functions performed by MIF during the immune response, its role during parasitic infections has come under increased scrutiny. Interestingly, MIF has been found to be a critical mediator of immunity against a broad range of parasite infections. Here we summarize the findings relevant to the role of MIF during parasitic infections.
Congenital Pulmonary Atresia with Ventricular Septal Defect Review of the Clinical Course of Fifty Patients with Assessment of the Results of Palliative Surgery

Abstract Fifty patients with congenital pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect are separated into three relatively distinct physiologic, clinical and therapeutic categories, according to the amount of flow of pulmonary blood through aorticopulmonary communications. Clinical characteristics of the entire group are summarized, and additional findings that permitted separation of patients into one of three therapeutic groups are analyzed. Twenty-two infants with minimal aorticopulmonary communications had maximal hypoxia, and only those in whom successful palliative surgery was accomplished survived the first year of life. In 13 patients pulmonary flow was adequate during infancy but thereafter became sufficiently limited to require surgery. Fifteen patients had adequate pulmonary blood flow in infancy or childhood, and in 2 of these increased pulmonary flow through collaterals led to heart failure in early infancy. None of these 15 patients has required palliative surgery so far. The methods and results of palliative surgery in 28 infants and children are presented. An ascending aorta to right pulmonary artery shunt is the procedure of choice in the very young. Other types of systemic to pulmonary artery anastomosis may be utilized in older children. Successful total correction of patients with congenital pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect requires the presence of pulmonary arteries of adequate size. Half our patients had pulmonary arteries at least 5 mm. in diameter and therefore could be considered eligible for complete repair. Palliative surgery in infancy and early childhood, in addition to alleviating the catastrophic consequences of anoxia, also may promote sufficient growth of the pulmonary arteries to make definitive surgery more feasible at a later age.
Insulin resistance and cognitive test performance in elderly adults: National health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES).

Abstract Objectives To examine the relationship between homeostatic model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and cognitive test performance among population ≥ 60 years in a national database. Hypothesis Higher insulin resistance is associated with lower cognitive test performance score in the population ≥ 60 years. Participants We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2000 and 2001–2002. Measurements Cognitive test performance was measured by the Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS) exercise score. The main independent variable was the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). We used bivariate analysis and generalized linear model adjusting for age, gender, race, education, body mass index, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures; total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglyceride levels; and physical activity, diabetes mellitus, stroke, and congestive heart failure. STATA 14 was used to analyze the data taking into consideration the design, strata and weight. Results Of the 1028 participants, 44% were male and 85% were white. The mean age was 70.0 ± 0.28 (SE) years. Their average HOMA-IR was 3.6 ± 0.14 and they had a mean of 49.2 ± 0.8 correct DSS score in the cognitive test. Adjusting for the confounding variables, HOMA-IR was associated with decline in DSS score (B = − 0.30, 95% confidence interval = − 0.54 and − 0.05, p = 0.01). The model explained 44% of the variability of the DSS score (R2 = 0.44). Significant predictors of decline in DSS score were age, gender, race, and education (p = 0.01). Conclusion Insulin resistance as measured by HOMA-IR was independently associated with lower cognitive test performance score among elderly participants aged ≥ 60 years. Longitudinal studies are needed to test the mechanism and the causal relationship.
Biopsy diagnosis of colitis: an algorithmic approach

Certain types of colitides, such as collagenous colitis, lymphocytic colitis, and ischemic colitis, have distinct histologic features that allow for a specific diagnosis. However, in most colonic biopsy specimens, a definite diagnosis cannot be established on the basis of histology alone. Thus, in most cases of colitis, it is helpful to utilize a systematic approach in order to recognize patterns of injury. This information in conjunction with clinical and laboratory findings may help pathologists narrow the differential diagnosis and/or establish a more definite etiology for the patient's illness in order to guide clinical management. We provide general guidelines to distinguish variations in normal mucosa and biopsy procedure-related artifacts from true inflammatory conditions. Inflammatory conditions may be further categorized into those with predominantly lymphoplasmacytic inflammation (with or without neutrophils), predominantly neutrophilic inflammation, predominantly eosinophilic inflammation, or paucicellular colitis, since each of these patterns of inflammation are associated with a distinct differential diagnosis. This review will focus on a pattern-based algorithmic approach to evaluating biopsies of patients who present to physicians with signs and symptoms of colitis.
Characterization of paint dust aerosol generated from mechanical abrasion of TiO2-containing paints

The purpose of the study was to determine the potential for release of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in paint dust. The coatings aerosol resuspension system was developed and used for testing the ...
The politics of “french negroes” in the united states

When slaves on the French Caribbean island of Saint Domingue set fi re to their masters’ plantations in August 1791, U.S. newspapers carried gruesome reports about what, in their opinion, was a “calamitous event.” That “event” grew into a revolution that ravaged the wealthiest colony in the Americas for the next thirteen years. Taking advantage of the political upheaval among ruling white colonists caused by the French Revolution, Saint Dominguan slaves carried out a campaign for freedom that European armies failed to quell. By 1804 black forces had succeeded in dismantling French colonial control and abolishing slavery. In January the black leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independent nation of Haiti. 2As Americans struggled to comprehend how and why the insurrection in Saint Domingue occurred, one of the issues that most troubled them was the role of slaves. Accounts in American newspapers depicted the rebels as agents of death and destruction, but generally denied that the slaves were the authors of the revolution. Instead, contemporary commentators looked to other groups-French republicans, colonists and antislavery activists among others-to explain the uprising. In all these scenarios black Saint Dominguans were seen as agents of corrupt whites rather than creators of their own revolution. 3Although white participants and bystanders tried to redirect discussion away from the slaves, it was impossible to extricate them from the debate. The diffi culty of doing so arose, in part, from the ways in which the French and Haitian revolutions unfolded. When the French National Assembly abolished slavery in February 1794, the goals of metropole republicans and insurgent slaves became offi cially intertwined. But even before 1794 Saint Dominguan slaves remained central to debates about the Haitian Revolution. For, almost as soon as the insurrection began, slaveholders throughout the Atlantic world worried about the potential for rebellion on their own plantations. White onlookers analyzed circumstances in the French colony hoping to discover a means to avoid a similar situation.
Ab initio determination of ion traps and the dynamics of silver in silver-doped chalcogenide glass

We present a microscopic picture of silver dynamics in ${\text{GeSe}}_{3}:\text{Ag}$ glass obtained from the ab initio simulation. The dynamics of Ag is explored at two temperatures: 300 and 700 K. In the relaxed network, Ag occupies trapping centers that exist between suitably separated host sites. At 700 K, Ag motion proceeds via a trapping-release dynamics between ``supertraps'' or cages consisting of multiple trapping center sites in a small volume. Our work offers a first-principles identification of trapping centers invoked in current theories, with a description of their properties and associated Ag dynamics. We compute the charge state of the Ag in the network and show that it is neutral if weakly bonded and ${\text{Ag}}^{+}$ if in a trapping center.
Do They Have to Like It to Learn from It? Students’ Experiences, Group Dynamics, and Learning Outcomes in Group Research Projects:

Small-group pedagogies, such as group research projects, are a common instructional method in undergraduate education. The literature suggests that small-group learning has positive effects on lear...
Decreased mortality with local versus general anesthesia in endovascular aneurysm repair for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in the Vascular Quality Initiative database.

Abstract Background Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is an accepted approach for patients presenting with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) and suitable anatomy. The effect of anesthesia modality on mortality outcomes in rAAA has not been well described. Using the Vascular Quality Initiative database, this study compares local anesthesia (LA) vs general anesthesia (GA) in EVAR for rAAA. Methods The Vascular Quality Initiative database was queried for patients presenting with rAAA managed with open surgical repair, EVAR under LA (rEVAR-LA), and EVAR under GA (rEVAR-GA) between 2003 and 2017. Patients were observed until the earlier end point of either death or 1-year follow-up. Kaplan-Meier event rates are presented at 30 days and 1 year. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model risk of death, with adjustment for demographic and clinical factors. Additional multivariate Cox hazards analyses were used to assess effect modifiers for 1-year mortality for the different repair methods. Results A total of 3330 patients (77.4% male) met the inclusion criteria (1594 [47.9%] open surgical repair, 226 [6.8%] rEVAR-LA, and 1510 [45.3%] rEVAR-GA). Patients treated with rEVAR-LA compared with rEVAR-GA had decreased intraoperative time, number of intraoperative blood transfusions, intraoperative crystalloid administration, intensive care unit length of stay, and postoperative pulmonary complications. Mortality rates with rEVAR-LA were lower compared with rEVAR-GA at 30 days (15.5% vs 23.3%; adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49-0.99; P = .04) and at 1 year (22.5% vs 32.3%; AHR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.53-0.96; P = .02). Patients undergoing EVAR who were Conclusions This study demonstrates that rEVAR-LA for rAAA may be a safe alternative to rEVAR-GA for certain patients, with lower morbidity and improved mortality. Further prospective study is warranted to confirm mortality benefit in rEVAR-LA for rAAA.
Bevacizumab as Treatment for Epistaxis in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia: A Literature Review.

Background:Severe, recurring epistaxis is the most common symptom of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasias (HHT). Current treatment modalities range from noninvasive treatments that frequently fai...
Seshadri Constants and Fujita's Conjecture via Positive Characteristic Methods

In 1988, Fujita conjectured that there is an effective and uniform way to turn an ample line bundle on a smooth projective variety into a globally generated or very ample line bundle. We study Fujita's conjecture using Seshadri constants, which were first introduced by Demailly in 1992 with the hope that they could be used to prove cases of Fujita's conjecture. While examples of Miranda seemed to indicate that Seshadri constants could not be used to prove Fujita's conjecture, we present a new approach to Fujita's conjecture using Seshadri constants and positive characteristic methods. Our technique recovers some known results toward Fujita's conjecture over the complex numbers, without the use of vanishing theorems, and proves new results for complex varieties with singularities. Instead of vanishing theorems, we use positive characteristic techniques related to the Frobenius-Seshadri constants introduced by Musta\c{t}\u{a}-Schwede and the author. As an application of our results, we give a characterization of projective space using Seshadri constants in positive characteristic, which was proved in characteristic zero by Bauer and Szemberg.
Ex vivo evaluation of a novel surgical guide on the accuracy of closing wedge osteotomies.

OBJECTIVE To determine the influence of a novel surgical guide on the accuracy and technical difficulty of closing wedge osteotomies (CWO). STUDY DESIGN Ex vivo experimental study. SAMPLE POPULATION Canine tibia models (n = 40). METHODS A 20° cranial CWO (CCWO) was created without (standard procedure; STCCWO) or with the aid of a novel wedge osteotomy guide (WOCCWO). Procedures were performed by diplomate (n = 4) and resident (n = 6) surgeons, with each performing 2 STCCWO followed by 2 WOCCWO. To prevent bias, surgeons were unaware of the study purpose until after completing the STCCWO. The wedges were evaluated by comparing the deviation from the 20° target angle, divergence of the 2 osteotomies (osteotomy divergence angle [ODA]), and measurements of the wedge height at the caudomedial cortex (CMC) and caudolateral cortex (CLC). Technique difficulty was explored through a surgeon questionnaire. RESULTS The WOCCWO resulted in smaller mean ODA (WOCCWO = 0.86°, SD ± 0.38°, P < .001), and smaller mean difference between CMC and CLC (WOCCWO = 0.29 mm, SD ± 0.19, P < .001) than for the STCCWO (4.22°, SD ± 2.16° and 1.39 mm, SD ± 0.65 respectively). Deviation from the target 20° wedge angle was greater after STCCWO (1.46°, SD ± 1.27°) than after WOCCWO (0.53°, SD ± 0.33°, P = .004). No difference was reported regarding the difficulty of the procedures, but resident surgeons stated that they were more likely to use the guide in a clinical setting compared with diplomates. CONCLUSION The wedge osteotomy guide improved the accuracy of CCWO compared with standard technique. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE The clinical significance of the differences detected in this study is unclear and warrants in vivo investigation.
Predicting Aortic Regurgitation After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement by Finite Element Method

Aortic regurgitation as a severe complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is usually due to the aortic valve leaflets that carry severity and inhomogeneous distribution of the calcification. However, it is difficult to precisely simulate the post-procedural biomechanical behavior on aortic tissue. This paper presents and validates a reliable system to predict which aortic stenosis patients may suffer aortic regurgitation after TAVR and to identify the best fit for TAVR valve. We randomly chose 22 patients (12 patients without regurgitation and 10 patients have regurgitation) who had been followed for at least 2 years after TAVR. An elastic model is designed to characterize the biomechanical behavior of the aortic tissue for each patient. After calculating the loading force on the tissue, the finite-element method (FEM) is applied to calculate the stresses of each tissue node. The support vector regression (SVR) method is used to model the relationship between the stress information and the risk of aortic regurgitation. Therefore, the risk of regurgitation and the optimal valve size can be predicted by this integrated model prior to the procedure. Leave-one-out cross-validation is implemented to assess the accuracy of our prediction. As a result, the mean prediction accuracy is 90.9% for all these cases, demonstrating the high value of this model as a decision-making assistant for pre-procedural planning of patients who are scheduled to undergo intervention. This method combines a bio-mechanical and machine learning approach to create a procedural planning tool that may support the clinical decision in the future.
Induction of human tenascin (neuronectin) by growth factors and cytokines : cell type-specific signals and signalling pathways

The extracellular matrix protein tenascin (TN) is expressed with precise temporo-spatial patterns during embryonic and fetal development and is induced in healing wounds, inflammatory lesions and solid tumors. These tissue patterns suggest that TN synthesis may be modulated by soluble factors present in developing tissues or released from injured, inflammatory or neoplastic cells. To characterize the extrinsic control of human TN we examined the effects of several signalling molecules on cultured neural, melanocytic and fibroblastic cells. Results obtained with alpha TN antibodies in enzyme-linked immunosorbent and immunoprecipitation assays indicate that TN expression is tightly regulated in a cell type-specific manner: (1) Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) cells grown in chemically defined, serum-free media show up to > 100-fold TN induction in response to fibroblast growth factors (aFGF, bFGF, K-FGF) and phorbol ester, independent of changes in cell proliferation or total protein synthesis; no induction is seen in PNET cultures stimulated with serum or other growth and differentiation factors. (2) Normal melanocytes, which require FGF and phorbol ester for survival in vitro, fail to express TN; however, they produce TN following oncogenic transformation. (3) Fibroblasts derived from disparate tissues differ up to 100-fold in basal TN production; for example, fetal lung fibroblasts are TNhigh, but conjunctival fibroblasts derived from the same donors and fetal leptomeningeal cells are TNlow. (4) TNlow fibroblasts treated with interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin-4 show up to > 100-fold increased TN secretion and TN incorporation into their extracellular matrix. Transforming growth factor-beta, which acts as an inducer of fibronectin, collagen, and integrin-type matrix receptors, has variable effects on fibroblast TN, ranging from increased deposition in the extracellular matrix of fetal conjunctival fibroblasts to reduced secretion in newborn foreskin fibroblasts. In contrast, FGFs (which are potent fibroblast mitogens), phorbol ester, bone morphogenetic proteins, and several other factors tested produced no discernible effects on fibroblast TN expression. These findings suggest that discrete sets of extrinsic signals modify TN expression in specific cell types, with the effects of a given ligand/receptor system determined by cell type-specific signalling pathways that may be linked to unique cis-regulatory elements of the TN gene. As a result, a limited set of regulatory peptides may produce highly diversified TN distribution patterns in developing and lesional tissues.
Deterministic Self-Morphing of Soft-Stiff Hybridized Polymeric Films for Acoustic Metamaterials.

We reported a soft-stiff hybridized polymeric film that can self-morph to dedicated three-dimensional (3D) structures for application in acoustic metamaterials. The hybridized film was fabricated b...
Information at Work: Information Management In the Workplace.: Bystrom, Katriina, Jannica Heinstrom, and Ian Ruthven. London: Facet Publishing, 2019. 200p. ISBN 978-1-78330-275-8. $89.99 (Softcover).

Information is the common thread in the rapid changes taking place in the modern workplace. In this research and academic-oriented work, the editors attempt to piece together how information is con...
Innovating to mitigate adverse financial implications of covid-19's effects on higher education

The COVID-19 global pandemic has changed the educational landscape for the foreseeable future. The marked public health, economic and societal challenges stemming from the virus’ spread has resulted in substantial strains to the financial and educational frameworks in the United States. As the fall 2020 semester approaches, a vaccine will likely not be available before the beginning of the term. As such, universities will need to ensure that safe health policy measures are in place while simultaneously continuing to be keenly aware of the likely financial hardships at hand. To mitigate financial harm while achieving the tall order of community public health stewardship, novel innovations to efficiently allocate resources both on and off of campuses are imperative.
Hunt, A. and Marlow, H.F. (eds.) (2019). Ecology and Theology in the Ancient World. Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives

HUNT, ALISA and MARLOW, HILARY F. (eds.) (2019). Ecology and Theology in the Ancient World. Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. London: Bloomsbury Academic. 216 pp., 100,97€ [ISBN 978-1-3500-0406-1] [Book review]
The potential power of play in second language academic writing

Abstract Research in applied linguistics has shown the potential for language play to have a facilitative role in second language development, with numerous studies exploring how and why language learners play with language in and out of the classroom, as well as the effects of such play. Despite a growing acknowledgement of the value of play in language learning, it play has received little attention in second language writing. This paper explores the potential value of play in the context of academic second language writing, with a specific interest in its implications for instruction. I begin by defining play and its role in human behavior more generally and reviewing the more specific role of language play in second language development. I next turn to examining the potential value of play (including language play and genre play) in academic writing, drawing on relevant research. Finally, I consider how we might help create second language writing classrooms that foster opportunities for play, and I conclude with potential directions for future research.
A Recipe for Wellbeing: Improving Provider Wellbeing, Eating Habits and Nutrition Knowledge Through a Brief Experiential Cooking Course

PURPOSE: The U.S. healthcare system is overwhelmed by diet- and lifestyle-related diseases and, increasingly, provider burnout. (1,2) Most health professionals receive inadequate education around lifestyle-based health promotion, the impact of food choices on one’s health and strategies for personal wellbeing. (3) Over the course of health professions training programs, students often experience growing rates of burnout themselves. (4, 5) To meet these challenges, a Chef/MPH and integrative medicine physician developed “Food Matters for Health Professionals,” a brief, experiential, interprofessional …
Dilemmas of Distrust: Conspiracy Beliefs, Elite Rhetoric, and Motivated Reasoning:

Conspiracy theories are playing an increasingly prominent role worldwide in both political rhetoric and popular belief. Previous research has emphasized the individual-level factors behind conspira...
Chapter 57 Differences in the Economic Decisions of Men and Women: Experimental Evidence

This chapter reviews the results from public goods, ultimatum, and dictator experiments for evidence of systematic differences in the behavior of men and women. While the results do not offer consistent evidence of behavioral differences between men and women, there are some intriguing patterns in the data. No significant evidence of systematic differences in the play of men and women is evident in those settings where subjects are exposed to risk. In those settings where risk is absent, systematic differences are revealed. This finding is conditioned by the level of risk.
Topical cyclosporine inhibits mast cell-mediated conjunctivitis.

Purpose. Allergic conjunctivitis is a common condition caused by a mast cell-mediated hypersensitivity reaction to immunoglobulin E-bound allergens. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of topical cyclosporine A on the development of mast cell-mediated conjunctivitis in mice. Methods. Allergic conjunctivitis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by topical applications of compound 48/80, a mast cell degranulating agent. In two separate experiments, mice were treated with topical cyclosporine A (0.05%, 0.2%, or 0.4%), prednisolone acetate 1%, or phosphate-buffered saline. Twenty-four hours after compound 48/80 instillation, the number ofneutrophils, eosinophils, lymphocytes, macrophages, and the number of preserved goblet cells and undegranulated mast cells in the conjunctiva were counted by a masked observer. Results. In both experiments, treatment with all three doses of cyclosporine A resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the number of infiltrating neutrophils and eosinophils compared to saline-treated controls. There was no significant difference in the treatment effect of cyclosporine and prednisolone acetate. In addition, there was increased preservation of goblet cells in the cyclosporine A-treated animals. Immunohistochemical staining showed a reduction in infiltrating lymphocytes and a smaller reduction in infiltrating macrophages in animals treated with cyclosporine compared to saline-treated controls. Conclusions. Topical cyclosporine A was effective in inhibiting the development of mast cell-mediated allergic conjunctivitis in mice. This study suggests that topical cyclosporine A may be effective in treating allergic conjunctivitis in humans.
The Indian advantage

According to author Dinesh Sharma, the foundations of India's IT revolution were laid during the first half of the 20th century, when the country was still under British rule. During this time, leading Indian scientists worked to build centers for computer science and technology, and facilitated robust training programs for Indian engineers. Driven by the desire to establish a self-sufficient nation-state, in subsequent years, the Indian government worked to foster indigenous computer science efforts. India's lasting contribution to the computing industry has mainly been the development of the outsourcing service delivery model, however, as reviewer Somaditya Banerjee points out, India may ultimately leave a mark in other arenas as well.
Mode-Selective Control of Surface Reactions

Researchers have achieved the goal of controlling chemical reactions by selectively exciting a single vibrational mode. A free-electron laser selectively desorbs Hfrom a silicon surface coated with hydrogen and deuterium.
Mitochondria buffer physiological calcium loads in cultured rat dorsal root ganglion neurons

We sought to determine whether low-affinity, high-capacity mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake contributes to buffering physiological Ca2+ loads in sensory neurons. Intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) and intracellular free hydrogen ion concentration ([H+]i) were measured in single rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons grown in primary culture using indo-1 and carboxy-SNARF-based dual emission microfluorimetry. Field potential stimulation evoked action potential-mediated increases in [Ca2+]. Brief trains of action potentials elicited [Ca2+]i transients that recovered to basal levels by a single exponential process. Trains of > 25 action potentials elicited larger increases in [Ca2+]i, recovery from which consisted of three distinct phases. During a rapid initial phase [Ca2+]i decreased to a plateau level (450-550 nM). The plateau was followed by a slow return to basal [Ca2+]i [Ca2+]i transients elicited by 40-50 action potentials in the presence of the mitochondrial uncoupler carbonyl cyanide chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP), or the electron transport inhibitor antimycin A1, lacked the plateau, and the recovery to basal [Ca2+]i consisted of a single slow phase. Depolarization with 50 mM K+ produced a multiphasic [Ca2+]i transient and increased [H+]i from 74 +/- 3 to 107 +/- 8 nM. The rise in [H+]i was dependent upon extracellular Ca2+ and was inhibited by mitochondrial poisons. With mitochondrial Ca2+ buffering pharmacologically blocked, the recovery to basal [Ca2+]i was unaffected by removal of extracellular Na+. We conclude that large Ca2+ loads are initially buffered by fast mitochondrial sequestration that effectively uncouples electron transport from ATP synthesis, leading to an increase in [H+]i. Small Ca2+ loads are buffered by a nonmitochondrial, Na(+)-independent process.
Modeling Reputation as a Time‐Series: Evaluating the Risk of Purchase Decisions on eBay

Reputation systems based on buyer feedback play an important role in today's online markets. In this article, we provide a rigorous methodology to establish a relationship between a seller's feedback history and risk of default. We validate this method against eBay's reputation system, using a dataset of terminated users (Not-A-Registered-User or NARU) and the feedback left for them by buyers. By treating feedback rating data as a function of time, we characterize the tendency of change in seller feedback ratings in order to predict the behavior of a seller. We find that NARU sellers have significantly more negative feedback in their final weeks. Applying functional principal component analysis and classification tree methods, we find that when projecting the feedback data to an appropriate space, NARU and non-NARU sellers can be distinguished at better than 92% accuracy. We use this to provide a quantitative mechanism for evaluating the risk of trading with a seller who has less than perfect feedback, and offer advice on how much a buyer should offer to pay, given an asking price on a commodity item and a seller's feedback history
Overexpression of human lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase in cholesterol-fed rabbits: LDL metabolism and HDL metabolism are affected in a gene dose-dependent manner.

Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is an enzyme well known for its involvement in the intravascular metabolism of high density lipoproteins; however, its role in the regulation of apolipoprotein (apo) Bcontaining lipopro- teins remains elusive. The present study was designed to in- vestigate the metabolic mechanisms responsible for the differ- ential lipoprotein response observed between cholesterol-fed hLCAT transgenic and control rabbits. '"I-labeled HDL apoA-I and L'51-labeled LDL kinetics were assessed in age- and sex-matched groups of rabbits with high (HE), low (LE), or no hLCAT expression after 6 weeks on a 0.3% cholesterol diet. In HE, the mean total cholesterol concentration on this diet, mg/dl (230 i- 50), was not significantly different from that of either LE (313 ? 46) or controls (332 ? 52) due to the elevated level of HDL-C observed in HE (127 ? 19), as compared with both LE (100 ? 33) and controls (31 ? 4). In contrast, the mean nonHDL-C concentration for HE (103 It 33) was much lower than that for either LE (213 ? 39) or controls (301 ? 55). FPLC analysis of plasma confirmed that HDL was the predominant lipoprotein class in HE on the che lesterol diet, whereas cholesteryl ester-rich, apokontaining lipoproteins characterized the plasma of LE and, most nota- bly, of controls. In vivo kinetic experiments demonstrated that the differences in HDL levels noted between the three groups were attributable to distinctive rates of apoA-I catabo- lism, with the mean fractional catabolic rate (FCR, d-') of apoA-I slowest in HE (0.282 ? 0.03), followed by LE (0.340 It 0.01) and controls (0.496 ? 0.04). A similar, but opposite, pattern was observed for nonHDL-C levels and LDL metab- olism (h-'), such that HE had the lowest nonHDL-C levels with the fastest rate of clearance (0.131 5 0.027), followed by LE (0.057 ? 0.009) and controls (0.031 ? 0.001). Strong correlations were noted between LCAT activity and both apoA-I (r = -0.868, P < 0.01) and LDL (r = 0.670, P = 0.06) FCR, indicating that LCAT activity played a major role in the mediation of lipoprotein metabo1ism.l In summary, these data are the first to show that LCAT overexpression can regulate both LDL and HDL metabolism in cholesterol-fed rabbits and provide a potential explanation for the preven- tion of diet-induced atherosclerosis observed in our previous