cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Understanding Social Support’s Role in the Relationship Between Maltreatment and Depression in Youth With Foster Care Experience

This study investigated whether more complex maltreatment experiences predicted higher levels of depressive symptomatology for young adults and examined the role of social support during late adolescence in that association. Specifically, the study tested whether social support had a direct effect on depression and whether it mediated and/or moderated the relationship between self-reported maltreatment and depression in a sample of 513 youth exiting the child welfare system. Indices of maltreatment types (neglect and physical, sexual, psychological abuse) experienced during two periods (precare and during-care) were used in conjunction with a measure of perceived social support (reflecting support availability and social network sufficiency) in negative binomial regression models predicting depressive symptoms. Both precare and during-care maltreatment were associated with depressive symptoms as a young adult. Social support had a direct effect on depressive symptoms as well as moderation and partial mediation effects on the relationship between maltreatment and depression. Social support's buffering effect was stronger for those experiencing fewer types of maltreatment. This buffering effect appears to diminish as maltreatment histories become more complex.
Increase in Allium cepa Nuclear Dry Mass Following Exposure to Ambient Atmosphere

Nuclear dry mass of outer epidermal cells of onion leaf bases increased following exposure of previously protected tissue to the ambient atmosphere. After 48 h of exposure, average nuclear dry mass increased as much as 78 per cent over the initial value (newly exposed tissue). Nuclear area also increased after exposure. Wounding did not prevent nuclear dry mass increases, but did prevent significant changes in nuclear area.
Conformational flexibility and strand arrangements of the membrane-associated HIV fusion peptide trimer probed by solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) fusion peptide (HFP) is the N-terminal apolar region of the HIV gp41 fusion protein and interacts with target cell membranes and promotes membrane fusion. The...
Comparative Vertebrate Evolutionary Analyses of Type I Collagen: Potential of COL1a1 Gene Structure and Intron Variation for Common Bone-Related Diseases

Collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1a1), which encodes the primary subunit of type I collagen, the main structural and most abundant protein in vertebrates, harbors hundreds of mutations linked to human diseases like osteoporosis and osteogenesis imperfecta. Previous studies have attempted to predict the phenotypic severity associated with type I collagen mutations, yet an evolutionary analysis that compares historical and recent selective pressures, including across noncoding regions, has never been conducted. Here, we use a comparative genomic and species evolutionary analysis representing ;450 My of vertebrate history to investigate functional constraints associated with both exons and introns of the .17-kb COL1a1 gene. We find that although the COL1a1 amino acid sequence is highly conserved, there are both spatial and temporal signatures of varying selective constraint across protein domains. Furthermore, sites of high evolutionary constraint significantly correlate with the location of disease-associated mutations, the latter of which also cluster with respect to specific severity classes typically categorized in clinical studies. Finally, we find that COL1a1 introns are significantly short in length with high GC content, patterns that are shared across highly diverged vertebrates, and which may be a signature of strong stabilizing selection for high COL1a1 gene expression. In conclusion, although previous studies focused on COL1a1 coding regions, the current results implicate introns as areas of high selective constraint and targets of bone-related phenotypic variation. From a broader perspective, our comparative evolutionary approach provides further resolution to models predicting mutations associated with bone-related function and disease severity.
Next-generation DNA sequencing reveals that low fungal diversity in house dust is associated with childhood asthma development

UNLABELLED Dampness and visible mold in homes are associated with asthma development, but causal mechanisms remain unclear. The goal of this research was to explore associations among measured dampness, fungal exposure, and childhood asthma development without the bias of culture-based microbial analysis. In the low-income, Latino CHAMACOS birth cohort, house dust was collected at age 12 months, and asthma status was determined at age 7 years.The current analysis included 13 asthma cases and 28 controls. Next-generation DNA sequencing methods quantified fungal taxa and diversity. Lower fungal diversity (number of fungal operational taxonomic units) was significantly associated with increased risk of asthma development: unadjusted odds ratio(OR) 4.80 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–22.1). Control for potential confounders strengthened this relationship. Decreased diversity within the genus Cryptococcus was significantly associated with increased asthma risk (OR 21.0, 95% CI 2.16–204). No fungal taxon (species, genus, class) was significantly positively associated with asthma development, and one was significantly negatively associated. Elevated moisture was associated with increased fungal diversity, and moisture/mold indicators were associated with four fungal taxa. Next-generation DNA sequencing provided comprehensive estimates of fungal identity and diversity, demonstrating significant associations between low fungal diversity and childhood asthma development in this community. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Early life exposure to low fungal diversity in house dust was associated with increased risk for later asthma developmen tin this low-income, immigrant community. No individual fungal taxon (species, genus, or class) was associated with asthma development, although exposure to low diversity within the genus Cryptococcus was associated with asthma development. Future asthma development studies should incorporate fungal diversity measurements, in addition to measuring individual fungal taxa. These results represent a step toward identifying the aspect(s) of indoor microbial populations that are associated with asthma development and suggest that understanding the factors that control diversity in the indoor environment may lead to public health recommendations for asthma prevention in the future.
A reconstructed phase space approach for distinguishing ischemic from non-ischemic ST changes using Holter ECG data

A method for the classification of ST events through the use of reconstructed phase spaces of the ECG signal is proposed. There is a clinical need for the creation of an automated system for classification of ST events as ischemic or non-ischemic as existing ischemia detection methods are expensive, invasive, or both. The algorithm proposed herein attempts to classify events using the 16 beats surrounding a given ST event. The ST segment and T wave of each of these beats is embedded in a phase space and then modelled and classified through the use of Gaussian mixture models (GMM). Using ten-fold cross validation of available training data the sensitivity and specificity were 81.0% and 88.1% respectively.
Do violations of the axioms of expected utility theory threaten decision analysis

Research demonstrates that people violate the independence principle of expected utility theory, raising the question of whether expected utility theory is normative for medical decision making. The author provides three arguments that violations of the independence principle are less problematic than they might first appear. First, the independence principle follows from other more fundamental axioms whose appeal may be more readily apparent than that of the independence principle. Second, the axioms need not be descriptive to be normative, and they need not be attractive to all decision makers for expected utility theory to be useful for some. Finally, by providing a metaphor of decision analysis as a conversation between the actual decision maker and a model decision maker, the author argues that expected utility theory need not be purely normative for decision analysis to be useful. In short, violations of the independence principle do not necessarily represent direct violations of the axioms of expected utility theory; behavioral violations of the axioms of expected utility theory do not necessarily imply that decision analysis is not normative; and full normativeness is not necessary for decision analysis to generate valuable insights.
Neue Wege der quantitativen Perimetrie

Mit quantitativer Perimetrie kann an verschiedenen Stellen des Gesichtsfeldes auf einfache Weise entschieden werden, ob die inneren oder die auseren Netzhautschichten bzw. die Aderhaut krankhaft verandert sind. Derartige Untersuchungen uber die neurale Datenverarbeitung bzw. uber die Wechselwirkungen durften fur die Kenntnis der Eigenschaften der Receptorenfelder der Netzhaut aufschlusreich sein. Bei der Untersuchung der Eigenschaften der Receptorenfelder von Patienten mit Lasionen des Sehnerven und der Sehbahn kamen in den Meswerten Artefakte infolge zusatzlicher Variabler zum Vorschein. Durch grundliche Untersuchung [11–17] der betreffenden Patienten wurden zwei zeitgebundene Faktoren aufgedeckt, namlich die Schnellsattigung und/oder ermudungsartige Zustande sowie Veranderungen der Lokaladaptation. Diese Faktoren sollten besonders bei Lasionen der Netzhautmitte noch eingehend untersucht werden. Dafur eignen sich zwei Verfahren, die mit einem ublichen Perimeter durchfuhrbar und hier gleichfalls beschrieben worden sind.
In Situ Indications of Gas Hydrate

Unusually high seismic velocities in gas-rich sediments of the Blake-Bahama outer ridge suggest the possibility of gas hydrate deposits in the upper few hundred meters. A prominent reflector lies at a depth that coincides with the lower limit of the hydrate zone, as calculated on the basis of reasonable thermal gradients. A similar reflector in the Bering Sea is associated with a more normal velocity profile and with the presence of gas only at the reflector itself.
Beep, beeep, beeeep, beeeeeep

Modern intensive care units contain an impressive array of medical devices to monitor or manipulate a patient’s physiological state. Each device also provides visual and audible warnings to the health care providers when a measured physiological variable goes out of range or the device detects a malfunction. The design of the associated alarm algorithms has traditionally focused on analyzing individual physiological variables and on maximizing the alarm sensitivity so as not to miss a truly life-threatening event. This approach comes at the expense of alarm specificity and has led to a proliferation of monitoring alarms, often exceeding hundreds of alarms per patient per day, the vast majority of which are either technically false or clinically irrelevant. Health care providers respond to this cacophony of low-specificity alarms with desensitization (“alarm fatigue”), which can result in patient deaths, as truly life-threatening events are missed or the alarm features are simply turned off altogether. Borges and Brusamarello focus on two types of critical heart-rate alarms—extreme bradycardia and extreme tachycardia—and address the false-alarm problem through sensor fusion and machine learning. First, the authors extracted a patient’s heart rate as well as measures of heart-rate variability and signal noise from simultaneously acquired cardiovascular signal streams. This information was then fed into machine learning algorithms that are trained to improve the alarm specificity. Using a three-layer neural network, the authors achieved a false-alarm suppression rate of 92.5% while encountering a true-alarm suppression rate of only 0.08%. Thus, more than 90% of false alarms were rejected while preserving essentially all true alarms. Although the methodology can be extended to other critical cardiac alarms such as ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, or asystole, the approach needs to be independently validated on a much larger sample size than the 1283 alarms from 90 patients used in the study. Nevertheless, the results demonstrate that a substantial reduction in false alarms is eminently feasible by leveraging the redundancies in physiological information among various monitoring signals. Reducing the source of alarm fatigue might also help to make an ICU the serene and safe place it ought to be. G. Borges, V. Brusamarello, Sensor fusion methods for reducing false alarms in heart rate monitoring. J. Clin. Monitor. Comput. 10.1007/s10877-015-9786-4 (2015). [[Abstract]][1] [1]: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10877-015-9786-4%20
Published Covers: A Snapshot of the Visibility of Women in Safety and Engineering

Much effort has gone into recruiting women into nontraditional fields such as engineering. It has been assumed that providing role models in the form of women faculty members would increase the number of female students entering the field; i.e., seeing the success of women similar to themselves would increase young women's confidence in themselves. More recent efforts are looking into what happens after these women graduate, e.g., the problem of women leaving the field soon after they begin working. Visual images can have a powerful impact on perceptions, thus this project was conducted to address the questions of whether and how often women see themselves as practicing members of their profession on the covers of field-relevant (safety and engineering) journals and magazines. Women were found to have a visible presence on the covers and their presence is approximately proportional to their membership in the professions.
The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical Warren Hoffman. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2014.

The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical Warren Hoffman. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2014.Providing an analysis of the Broadway musical from the 1920s to the present rooted in performance theory, Warren Hoffman convincingly argues that musicals, even those musicals that seem to have nothing to do with race, exhibit stereotypes and assumptions that sometimes challenge but, more often reinforce, the audience's own racial prejudices. Hoffman insists that the view of Broadway musicals as "fanciful, silly, throwaway entertainments" (3) allows them to make powerful statements about race and American identity that generally go unrecognized and unquestioned. For instance, at first glance, The Music Man (1957) would seem to have nothing to do with racial issues but merely hearkens back to the simple life of small-town America decades before. However, the small town of this musical is all-white, and identifying this town with genuine American values, he maintains, makes a powerful statement about race and American identity. Such diverse Broadway musicals as A Chorus Line (1975), South Pacific (1949), and West Side Story (1957) exhibit America's shifting understanding of race, how racial identity is performed, and what performances are and are not most authentically American.Hoffman insists that the Broadway musical from its earliest days can best be understood through the theoretical perspective that identity, particularly racial identity, is something performed, rather than something intrinsic to an individual. The 1927 musical Show Boat has long been criticized as racist for many reasons, not the least of which is that the AfricanAmerican characters are portrayed as one-dimensional, unevolving stereotypes through the many years covered by the musical's plot. While Hoffman avers that Show Boat portrays racist stereotypes, he believes that "[i]t is also a musical about theater and performance itself" (32). To see Show Boat as merely a racist screed is to ignore what he sees as the clear authorial intent to foreground race and force the audience to confront its own tendency to see African Americans as one-dimensional people. Similarly, condemning the musical as unredeemably racist would require ignoring the plot itself, especially the plot line where light-skinned African-American Julie garners success so long as she is able to "pass" as white. Hoffman's conclusion, based on his reading of this plot line, is that Show Boat sets forth the notion of race as performative identity rather than as an essential human trait. …
A Concluding Remark

Increasing interest in systematics among biological scientists and the escalating demands for diverse taxonomic services by the user community in the biological and environmental sciences make this symposium timely and quite significant. This symposium was convened to consider the need for strong support for systematics collections and systematic entomology, discussed present conditions of various entomological collections and current activities associated with them, and clearly pointed out the important roles played by systematic entomology and systematics collections in entomological research.
Association of congenital vertebral malformations with bladder and cloacal exstrophy.

Summary: The radiographs of 28 patients with bladder exstrophy and five with cloacal exstrophy were reviewed at an average age of 8 years 3 months to assess congenital vertebral malformations. Fourteen malformations in 11 patients were noted, including abnormal lumbosacral segmentation in five, congenital scoliosis and kyphosis in four, partial sacral agenesis in three, and interpedicular lumbar widenings in two. These findings are explained by an abnormal embryologic development of the spine and cloaca between 4 and 6 weeks of intrauterine life. We recommend entire spinal radiographs in these patients.
Mycobacterium xenopi, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium kansasii, and Other Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in an Area of Endemicity for AIDS

Between 1981 and 1990, cultures of specimens from 86 patients at State University of New York-Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn were positive for nontuberculous mycobacteria other than Mycobacterium avium/Mycobacterium intracellulare complex or Mycobacterium gordonae. The most common species isolated were Mycobacterium xenopi (33), Mycobacterium fortuitum (28), Mycobacterium kansasii (7), and Mycobacterium chelonae (6). Thirty-five patients (41%) had clinical and/or serological evidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Patients from whom M. xenopi and M. kansasii were isolated were significantly more likely to be infected with HIV than were the remaining patients in this series. Most of the mycobacterial isolates were cultured from respiratory secretions. However, extrapulmonary infections with M. fortuitum, M. xenopi, M. kansasii, Mycobacterium terrae, and Mycobacterium scrofulaceum did occur among the HIV-infected patients.
Preparing for prescriptive practice: Advanced practice psychiatric nursing and psychopharmacotherapy.

APPNs providing psychopharmacotherapy under the supervision of a psychiatrist can pave the way to more independent, autonomous practice. Quality of practice can be assigned by inservice education, weekly supervision, and case reviews. Nurse-physician collaboration can result in better containment of costs, increased job satisfaction for both professions, and better patient outcomes.
SUCCESSIVELY PRODUCTIVE PROCESS TO PREPARE SOFT MnZn FERRITE POWDER

The investigation of reaction time, amount of ammonia , maturation time, and fedding rate on filterabilityof soft MnZn ferrite powder prepared with co-dump coprecitation process was carried out. The results revealal that the reaction should take place Under following optimum process conditions: 55℃, [NH4HCO3]/[nh3 H2O]=2.05 ~ 2.10, maturation time 2 hours at 55℃, and the feding rate was controlled toensure the system temperature to be above 40℃. The experimental comparison between co-dump process and reverse-dump process has also been carried out. The results show that the filterability of precipitates withco-dymp process has ho greatly improved compared with reverse-dump process, and the consumption ofprecipitant could be obviously reduced. The co-dump process would be much better than reverse-dumpprocess in production of soft MnZn ferrite powder. Finally, the successively productive process was suggested inthis study.
Review of Mothering Mennonite

Mothering Mennonite , by Rachel Epp Buller and Kerry Fast (Eds.), Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press, 312 pages, $34.95,Paperback, 2013, ISBN: 9781927335123
Age-related changes in calcium metabolism. Why they occur and what can be done.

PreviewOsteoporosis is a major concern among the elderly and the physicians who treat them. The underlying age-related changes that may lead to calcium deficiency and its related disorders are the focus of this article. Dr Felicetta also discusses the merits and risks of calcium supplementation and estrogen replacement and gives his recommendation for treating hyperparathyroidism.
The predictive value and the management of cycles with low initial estradiol levels.

This study was undertaken to examine the predictive value of low estradiol (E 2 ) after 5 days of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) stimulation response to therapy in that cycle. We further examined whether the outcome of such cycles can be improved by increasing the hMG dose. When 18 cycles in which day 8 E 2 was ≤50pg/mL were compared with 48 cycles with corresponding E 2 levels of 51 to 150pg/mL, the former showed a significantly worse response to subsequent hMG therapy. To determine the effect of an increase in hMG dose we studied 48 cycles with day 8 E 2 of 51 to 150pg/mL. In 32 cycles hMG dose was increased from three to a mean of five ampules a day, after 5 days of therapy. In 16 cycles it was kept constant at three ampules per day. Although a tendency towards lower fertilization rate was observed in the higher hMG group, no significant differences were observed in the results between the two groups. We thus conclude that very low E 2 levels after 5 days of gonadotropin therapy are predictive of low response in that cycle, and that in cycles with day 8 E 2 of 51 to 150pg/mL, increasing the dosage of hMG on day 8 and beyond does not alter the course of the cycle.
Biochemical Effects and Toxicity of Mitoxantrone in Cultured Heart Cells

In response to the cumulative cardiotoxicity associated with the clinical use of the antitumor agent doxorubicin, many structurally related anthraquinone drugs have been developed. Mitoxantrone has been the most successful of these, and is used with increasing frequency in the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma, and breast cancer. Response rates are similar to those obtained with doxorubicin treatment, and notably, mitoxantrone is less cardiotoxic. However, while more courses of mitoxantrone therapy can be given, patients eventually develop a cumulative cardiotoxicity which is clinically similar to that observed following prolonged doxorubicin treatment (Henderson et al., 1989).
TH-E-201-00: Teaching Radiology Residents: What, How, and Expectation

The ABR Core Examination stresses integrating physics into real-world clinical practice and, accordingly, has shifted its focus from passive recall of facts to active application of physics principles. Physics education of radiology residents poses a challenge. The traditional method of didactic lectures alone is insufficient, yet it is difficult to incorporate physics teaching consistently into clinical rotations due to time constraints. Faced with this challenge, diagnostic medical physicists who teach radiology residents, have been thinking about how to adapt their teaching to the new paradigm, what to teach and meet expectation of the radiology resident and the radiology residency program. The proposed lecture attempts to discuss above questions. Newly developed diagnostic radiology residents physics curriculum by the AAPM Imaging Physics Curricula Subcommittee will be reviewed. Initial experience on hands-on physics teaching will be discussed. Radiology resident who will have taken the BAR Core Examination will share the expectation of physics teaching from a resident perspective. The lecture will help develop robust educational approaches to prepare radiology residents for safer and more effective lifelong practice. Learning Objectives: 1.Learn updated physics requirements for radiology residents 2.Pursue effective approaches to teach physics to radiology residents 3.Learn expectation of physics teaching from resident perspective J. Zhang, This topic is partially supported by RSNA Education Scholar Grant
A high-performance sub-half micron CMOS technology for fast SRAMs

An advanced high-performance sub-half-micron technology for fast CMOS SRAMs (static RAMs) has been developed. Features of this thin-well process include: an aggressive interwell isolation module, framed-mask poly-buffered LOCOS isolation (FMPBL), a 125-AA gate oxide, dual n/sup +//p/sup +/ implanted polysilicon gates, titanium salicide, two levels of polysilicon, TiN metallization barriers, a poly plug option, and up to three layers of metallization. An interwell isolation process allows scaling of the n/sup +/ to p/sup +/ space to less than 2 mu m. Active transistor design is optimized to reduce the polysilicon gate bird's beak and LDD (lightly doped drain) underdiffusion. Discrete transistor lifetimes for hot carrier degradation are in excess of 10 years of 3.3-V operation. A 16 K*4 SRAM displays no parametric shifts after HCl stressing for 1000 h at 7 V and 0 degrees C. Ring oscillator delay times of 85 ps at 3.3-V and 65 ps at 5-V supply are obtained. >
The Poiésis of Birth

This chapter explores an alternative to enframed birth. This alternative of birth as a bringing-forth connects the later Heidegger’s interpretation of poiesis with Sara Ruddick’s feminist account of a “work of conscience” (a concept that seems to owe an unacknowledged debt to Heidegger’s Being and Time). I argue that childbirth is exemplary for bringing-forth and that water birth is exemplary for childbirth. My account of birth as a bringing-forth transposes aspects of Ruddick’s account of a mother’s work of conscience, directed at her children, onto a pregnant woman’s relationship to herself and to her fetus. Laboring and birthing as a bringing-forth require that a woman engage in the reflective practice and struggle that are necessary to resist dominant forms of birthing that treat mother and child as mere resources. I argue that empathy is necessary for birth.
Micromirror Arrays for High Temperature Operation

This paper describes the design, modeling, fabrication, and testing of electroplated metal electrostatic torsion micromirror arrays. The goal is to develop novel micromirror arrays optimized for high temperature operation for use in epitaxial growth systems such as MOCVD and MBE to define device structure and hence eliminate the need for etching and lithography. The metallic micromirror arrays were fabricated with a hexagonal shape and with diameters of 0.5 mm2 and 1mm2. The micromirror arrays were structurally composed of primarily electroplated nickel, a mechanically durable material with a high glass transition temperature and with controllable residual stress. The torsion beam was designed with a straight bar and serpentine shape in order to optimize the voltage necessary to tilt the micromirror by ± 10°. A finite element model built in Ansys has been employed to determine the micromirror geometries and performance. A voltage of 130 volts was required to rotate the mirror with a serpentine shape beams by 10°. In addition, the mirror was operated at a resonant frequency of 2.2 kHz.
An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb.

In the developed world, extreme prematurity is the leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity due to a combination of organ immaturity and iatrogenic injury. Until now, efforts to extend gestation using extracorporeal systems have achieved limited success. Here we report the development of a system that incorporates a pumpless oxygenator circuit connected to the fetus of a lamb via an umbilical cord interface that is maintained within a closed ‘amniotic fluid’ circuit that closely reproduces the environment of the womb. We show that fetal lambs that are developmentally equivalent to the extreme premature human infant can be physiologically supported in this extra-uterine device for up to 4 weeks. Lambs on support maintain stable haemodynamics, have normal blood gas and oxygenation parameters and maintain patency of the fetal circulation. With appropriate nutritional support, lambs on the system demonstrate normal somatic growth, lung maturation and brain growth and myelination. The ability to support the development of a premature fetus in the form of an extracorporeal system has had limited success. Here, the authors show that an extra-uterine device that mimics the intra-uterine environment can provide physiologic support for the extreme premature lamb fetus for four weeks.
Large device for large atrial septal defects-the 40 mm Atrial Septal Occluder.

Key Points The 40 mm ASO device can be used with a high rate of successful implantation for ASD closure The technique of implantation usually requires more than simple direct, device placement Balloon-assisted technique (BAT) can make use of this large occluder more predictable Experience contributes significantly to procedure success Important complications, such as device embolization will occur in a small number of cases Thrombotic complications are infrequent, even with aspirin monotherapy
Alternative Strategy for Biventricular Assist Device in an Infant With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

We report an infant with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who underwent biventricular assist device placement with two 15-mL Berlin Heart EXCOR pediatric ventricular assist devices using an alternative atrial cannulation strategy. The systemic circulation was supported by left atrium (LA) to aorta cannulation. The LA was accessed through the right atrium by extending a 6-mm EXCOR cannula with a Gore-Tex graft connected to an atrial septal defect. The pulmonary circulation was supported with cannulation of the right atrium to pulmonary artery. This alternative cannulation strategy facilitated effective biventricular support and may be applicable to other patients with hypertrophic or restrictive physiology.
Findings Associated With Knee Pathology on MRI in Patients Without Osteoarthritis.

Introduction We conducted a retrospective study in patients with minimal or no radiographically evident knee osteoarthritis to determine whether presenting signs and symptoms were predictive of knee pathology that was evident on MRI and could be treated with nonarthroplasty knee surgery or could alter nonsurgical treatment. Methods We reviewed records of patients for whom sports medicine orthopaedic surgeons had ordered an MRI of the knee. Univariate analysis identified factors that were associated with positive MRI findings (eg, surgically treatable lesion, meniscal tear) or a finding that could alter treatment. We used multivariate logistic regression to determine independent predictors of evidence of pathology on MRI. Results Of the 434 patients in the study, 281 (64.7%) had evidence of knee pathology on MRI. Acute injury, effusion, and ligamentous instability were among the independent predictors of positive MRI results. Patients with evidence of knee pathology on MRI were more likely to have undergone surgery. Discussion Specific aspects of patient history and physical examination are associated with evidence of knee pathology on MRI. Conclusions In patients without osteoarthritis, positive findings on knee MRI could be associated with a number of presenting signs and symptoms, and this information could aid physicians in deciding which patients should undergo knee MRIs. Additional prospective research is needed to validate the relationships discovered in our study. Level of evidence Level III retrospective study.
Use of Phenoxyaniline Analogues To Generate Biochemical Insights into the Interactio n of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether with CYP2B Enzymes.

Human hepatic cytochromes P450 (CYP) are integral to xenobiotic metabolism. CYP2B6 is a major catalyst of biotransformation of environmental toxicants, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). CYP2B substrates tend to contain halogen atoms, but the biochemical basis for this selectivity and for species specific determinants of metabolism has not been identified. Spectral binding titrations and inhibition studies were performed to investigate interactions of rat CYP2B1, rabbit CYP2B4, and CYP2B6 with a series of phenoxyaniline (POA) congeners that are analogues of PBDEs. For most congeners, there was a <3-fold difference between the spectral binding constants (KS) and IC50 values. In contrast, large discrepancies between these values were observed for POA and 3-chloro-4-phenoxyaniline. CYP2B1 was the enzyme most sensitive to POA congeners, so the Val-363 residue from that enzyme was introduced into CYP2B4 or CYP2B6. This substitution partially altered the protein–ligand interaction profiles to mak...
Multiple-place swarm foraging with dynamic depots

Teams of robots can be organized to collectively complete complex real-world tasks, for example collective foraging in which robots search for, pick up, and drop off targets in a collection zone. In the previously proposed central-place foraging algorithm (CPFA), foraging performance decreases as swarm size and search areas scale up: more robots produce more inter-robot collisions and larger search areas produce longer travel distances. We propose the multiple-place foraging algorithm with dynamic depots ( $$\hbox {MPFA}_{dynamic}$$ ) to address these problems. Depots are special robots which are initially distributed in the search area and can carry multiple targets. Depots move to the centroids of the positions of local targets recently detected by robots. The spatially distributed design reduces robot transport time and reduces collisions among robots. We simulate robot swarms that mimic foraging ants using the $$\hbox {MPFA}_{dynamic}$$ strategy, employing a genetic algorithm to optimize their behavior in the robot simulator ARGoS. Robots using the $$\hbox {MPFA}_{dynamic}$$ find and collect targets faster than both the CPFA and the static MPFA. $$\hbox {MPFA}_{dynamic}$$ outperforms the static MPFA even when the static depots are optimally placed using global information, and it outperforms the CPFA even when the dynamic depots deliver targets to a central location. Further, the $$\hbox {MPFA}_{dynamic}$$ scales up more efficiently, so that the improvement over the CPFA and the static MPFA is even greater in large (50 $$\times $$ 50 m) areas. Including simulated error reduces foraging performance across all algorithms, but the MPFA still outperforms the other approaches. Our work demonstrates that dispersed agents that dynamically adapt to local information in their environment provide more flexible and scalable swarms. In addition, we illustrate a path to implement the $$\hbox {MPFA}_{dynamic}$$ in the physical robot swarm of the NASA Swarmathon competition.
Changing the Game for Hand Hygiene Conversations.

In the April 2017 issue of Hospital Pediatrics , Linam1 wrote of the need to promote a culture in which health care workers, patients, and families are encouraged to speak up about observed hand hygiene failures. He notes that this is a challenging task and cites cases in which, despite witnessing inadequate hand hygiene procedures, observers chose to remain silent.2 A study by Longtin et al3 reported that of 194 patients surveyed, over 75% reported that they would not feel comfortable asking a nurse or physician to perform hand hygiene. There were a variety of reasons given for this inability to ask, including the perception that providers should already know when to perform hand hygiene, the belief that this request is not part of the patient’s role, a feeling of embarrassment or awkwardness about asking, and fear of reprisal. Attempts to address the interpersonal barriers that impede patients’ and families’ abilities to request that providers perform hand hygiene are still nascent. Designing effective strategies to overcome the barriers to speaking up requires a more robust understanding of …
Locke and the Churchill Catalogue Revisited

At the time of his death, in 1704, the library of John Locke held 269 volumes of philosophy—but 275 volumes of geography and travel. Works of geography drew on discoveries related in books of travel, but Locke did nevertheless see them as distinct genres. In both, his holdings were extensive. He owned several volumes of maps; the great recent surveys of Africa, America, and Japan printed by John Ogilby; and the descriptions of the world by Abbot, Purchas, Morden, and Moll. It was in books of travel, though, of which Locke owned 195, where his holdings were most remarkable. He owned the massive collections of Ramusio (in Italian), de Bry (in Latin), Thevenot (in French), and Hakluyt and Purchas (in English). He owned accounts of the well-known voy- ages of Hariot to Virginia, de Lery to Brazil, Sandys to the Ottoman Empire, Gage to the West Indies, and Choisy to Siam. He owned as well accounts of dozens of more minor voyages, such as those of Blount to the Levant, Monconys to Syria, Ray to the Continent, Josselyn to New England, and Fryke to the East Indies. No student of Locke’s library has failed to remark upon what Harrison and Laslett, its modern editors, have called its ‘great strength’ in these areas. This is to understate the matter, for it seems that among libraries of its size in late Stuart England, only the library of Robert Hooke (and perhaps that of Robert Boyle) rivalled Locke’s in works of geography and travel.
Studying the Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Vascular Function in CKD: A Work in Progress

I read with great interest the article “A randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation on vascular function in CKD” published by Kumar et al. [1][1] in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology . The study provided a clear demonstration of a beneficial effect of vitamin D
Bacteriochlorophyll-Containing Rhizobium Species

The Green Revolution has allowed food production in many developing countries to keep pace with population growth. But the use of chemical fertilizers as a source of fixed nitrogen is expensive and creates environmental problems. The United States Agency for International Development sponsored a collaboration between U. S. and Indian scientists to develop sources ofbiologically-fixed nitrogen fertilizers. This effort led to the discovery that photosynthetic rhizobia are found in nitrogen-fixing nodules located on the stems of Aeschynomene, a legume used as a green manure in rice fields. Such rhizobia now have been isolated from Aeschynomene nodules and soils throughout the world. Photosynthetic rhizobia which nodulate a different genus, Lotononis, have been discovered recently.
What Can Be Accomplished with the State of the Art in Information Extraction? A Personal View

Though information extraction (IE) research has more than a 25-year history, F1 scores remain low. Thus, one could question continued investment in IE research. In this article, we present three ap...
Perspectives on the Optimal Genetically Engineered Pig in 2018 for Initial Clinical Trials of Kidney or Heart Xenotransplantation.

AbstractFor a clinical trial today, what might realistically be the optimal pig among those currently available? Deletion of expression of the 3 pig carbohydrate antigens, against which humans have natural (preformed) antibodies (triple-knockout pigs), should form the basis of any clinical trial. Ho
The issue with using DNA profiling as a sole method for investigating the role of marine biofilms in corrosion of metallic materials

Abstract Bacterial community DNA profiles were obtained from surfaces of corroding carbon steel electrodes using next generation sequencing (NGS) Illumina technology. One electrode was exposed to the microbial population present in Key West seawater (KWS), Florida, USA, augmented with Marinobacter J5B1. Another electrode (control) was kept in sterile KWS with the KWS population enclosed within a dialysis tube to prevent biofilm development. Microscopy and culture confirmed sterility of the control electrode, yet DNA was extracted from biofilm-free corrosion deposits. While 16405 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) represented the bioflmed electrode, 64016 OTUs were associated with sterile corrosion deposits. Sequences of Rhodobacteriaceae, a group known to release DNA externally, comprised 50.79% of the latter OTUs. Results demonstrate that in a marine environment corrosion deposits on ferrous alloys can harbour bacterial extracellular DNA (e-DNA). Care must be exercised when using DNA profiling as a sole tool in demonstrating the involvement of biofilms in carbon steel corrosion.
Veillée chez Antoinette Bourgeois

Antoinette Bourgeois (1902-1991), fille du photographe franco-americain Ulric Bourgeois (1874-1963) de Manchester au New-Hampshire, et la derniere survivante de sa famille, raconte ses souvenirs en 1978. Elle parle de son pere, reconnu pour ses photos du Quebec rural et de Manchester. Grâce a celui-ci, elle a pu rencontrer Charlie Lambert, surnomme l’ermite du Mosquito Pond dans les bois pres de Manchester, ainsi que le pretre-ecrivain Henri d’Arles, un client de son pere. Lorsque la soeur cadette d’Antoinette, Irene Bourgeois, tomba victime de la polio, c’est au frere Andre qu’elle a eu recours pour sa guerison. Par la suite, Antoinette entra la vie religieuse chez les Soeurs de Sainte Jeanne d’Arc de Sillery, Quebec, sous le nom de soeur Celine. Par consequent, elle a pu connaitre des membres du clerge franco-americain du Rhode-Island, partisans d’un cote ou de l’autre du mouvement Sentinelliste. Elle rencontra egalement Marie-Rose Ferron, surnommee la Petite Rose, stigmatisee de Woonsocket au Rhode-Island. Enfin, apres vingt ans de vie religieuse, Antoinette retourna dans sa famille pour s’occuper de ses parents jusqu’a leur deces.
Globalization and software piracy within and across 103 countries

Globalization has been linked with many social problems, though little research has examined its relationship with software piracy. The ramifications of software piracy may vary across countries leading to varied criminal justice responses. More developed countries, which produce the most software and stand to gain the most from its protection, use diplomatic leverage to strengthen piracy laws in less developed countries. Consequently, lesser-developed countries are forced to adopt rigorous policies for IP protection. As such, we hypothesize that globalization will decrease software piracy rates over time. Using a modified random effect model, the current study examines the within and between countries effects of globalization on software piracy rates over time in 103 countries across a period of 14 years. Results indicate that globalization is significantly associated with a decrease in software piracy within and between countries over time while controlling for important time-varying and time invariant predictors. Interaction effects suggest that the relationship between globalization and software piracy is less pronounced in Asian countries and more pronounced in Latin American countries. In sum, some crimes, like software piracy, may be deterred if there are strong enough incentives and international pressures to regulate such crime through legislative and policy reforms.
Hardware-Efficient Qubit Control with Single-Flux-Quantum Pulse Sequences

Single-flux-quantum (SFQ) digital logic is an attractive candidate for classical control and monitoring of large-scale quantum processors based on superconducting qubits. The authors describe a control approach based on repeated irradiation of the qubits with short registers of classical bits, which can be stored locally in compact SFQ registers and streamed to the quantum array at a high rate. Numerical simulations show achievable gate fidelity in excess of 99.99%; moreover, the approach allows control of many qubits resonating at different frequencies with a single, global SFQ clock. As a result, the scheme is well matched to the control of a scalable two-dimensional surface code.
Actuator Placement for Enhanced Grid Dynamic Performance: A Machine Learning Approach

This paper proposes a machine learning approach for placing control actuators to enhance dynamic performance in power systems with high penetration of renewable energy. The method transforms the placement problem into a classification problem by studying the relationship between system topological, physical and operational features, and dynamic performance related labels. The proposed framework includes four stages: power system setup; dataset creation; feature extraction and analytical model generation, and creating guidelines for system planners. Test results in the IEEE 39-bus system and the IEEE 118-bus system determine the most significant features including inertia, topological, and impedance distributions. This paper also contributes to providing general criteria and guidance for system planners to place the control resources for improving oscillation damping, voltage, and transient stability issues.
Bob Dylan’s “Westerns”: Border Crossings and the Flight from “the Domestic”

John McCombe’s chapter offers a revealing discussion of “western” codes of masculinity in Dylan’s work. McCombe’s “goal is to demonstrate how Dylan’s westerns regularly conform to, yet occasionally subvert, gender-based binaries that distinguish the classical Hollywood western.” In so doing, McCombe proves how “integral popular music can be to conversations about masculinity, domesticity, and the western genre.” The chapter analyzes a number of Dylan’s western-themed songs that are laced with autobiographical echoes of Dylan’s struggle to balance career and home life. This analysis finally demonstrates how these “increasingly complex song westerns also suggest that a ‘Polyvocal Dylan’ is a product of the manner in which cinematic discourses collide with gender discourses at a particular moment of ideological crisis for the western and western hero.”
Games for a Good Cause: Serious Games in Social Development and Medical and Rehabilitation Therapy

Playing games has often been associated with negative behaviors like playing and not taking things seriously or even wasting time. However, more recently researchers started looking at the positive impacts of playing games or what became to be known as serious games. This study examines the major publications in the usage of serious games in therapy, training, and behavior development. The study analyzed the most cited papers in the field and evaluate what has been done so far.
Solution-Processable Oxidation-Resistant Copper Nanowires Decorated with Alkyl Ligands

Alkyl ligands with an amine or thiol headgroup have been chosen to investigate their effectiveness in preventing copper nanowire (Cu NW) oxidation in hydrothermal and hygrothermal environments. Lig...