cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Asian Exposure of U.S. Firms: Operational and Risk Management Strategies

This paper examines the Asian currency exposure of US firms with regard to their international operational and risk management strategies. We find that contemporaneous and lagged changes in real exchange rates have significant impacts on firm value for about 30% of the US firms with Asian operations. The effects of a strong dollar are heterogeneous, with both significantly positive and negative coefficients. The exchange exposure coefficients are then estimated as a function of international operational and risk management variables. A strong dollar has an adverse effect on firm value when the firm has a negative initial exposure position, and is related to exports and local sales activities of the firm. However, asset deployment in Asia raises the exposure in absolute terms regardless of initial exposure condition. Variables for hedging incentives explain exposure in both positive and negative exposure cases. Finally, a disaggregate study by country shows significant intra-regional differences, indicating the different ways in which the US firms used their Asian subsidiaries operationally.
Paramyxovirus activation and inhibition of innate immune responses

Paramyxoviruses represent a remarkably diverse family of enveloped nonsegmented negative-strand RNA viruses, some of which are the most ubiquitous disease-causing viruses of humans and animals. This review focuses on paramyxovirus activation of innate immune pathways, the mechanisms by which these RNA viruses counteract these pathways, and the innate response to paramyxovirus infection of dendritic cells (DC). Paramyxoviruses are potent activators of extracellular complement pathways, a first line of defense that viruses must face during natural infections. We discuss mechanisms by which these viruses activate and combat complement to delay neutralization. Once cells are infected, virus replication drives type I interferon (IFN) synthesis that has the potential to induce a large number of antiviral genes. Here we describe four approaches by which paramyxoviruses limit IFN induction: by limiting synthesis of IFN-inducing aberrant viral RNAs, through targeted inhibition of RNA sensors, by providing viral decoy substrates for cellular kinase complexes, and through direct blocking of the IFN promoter. In addition, paramyxoviruses have evolved diverse mechanisms to disrupt IFN signaling pathways. We describe three general mechanisms, including targeted proteolysis of signaling factors, sequestering cellular factors, and upregulation of cellular inhibitors. DC are exceptional cells with the capacity to generate adaptive immunity through the coupling of innate immune signals and T cell activation. We discuss the importance of innate responses in DC following paramyxovirus infection and their consequences for the ability to mount and maintain antiviral T cells.
Modeling the transmission of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a dynamic agent-based simulation

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been a deadly pathogen in healthcare settings since the 1960s, but MRSA epidemiology changed since 1990 with new genetically distinct strain types circulating among previously healthy people outside healthcare settings. Community-associated (CA) MRSA strains primarily cause skin and soft tissue infections, but may also cause life-threatening invasive infections. First seen in Australia and the U.S., it is a growing problem around the world. The U.S. has had the most widespread CA-MRSA epidemic, with strain type USA300 causing the great majority of infections. Individuals with either asymptomatic colonization or infection may transmit CA-MRSA to others, largely by skin-to-skin contact. Control measures have focused on hospital transmission. Limited public health education has focused on care for skin infections. We developed a fine-grained agent-based model for Chicago to identify where to target interventions to reduce CA-MRSA transmission. An agent-based model allows us to represent heterogeneity in population behavior, locations and contact patterns that are highly relevant for CA-MRSA transmission and control. Drawing on nationally representative survey data, the model represents variation in sociodemographics, locations, behaviors, and physical contact patterns. Transmission probabilities are based on a comprehensive literature review. Over multiple 10-year runs with one-hour ticks, our model generates temporal and geographic trends in CA-MRSA incidence similar to Chicago from 2001 to 2010. On average, a majority of transmission events occurred in households, and colonized rather than infected agents were the source of the great majority (over 95%) of transmission events. The key findings are that infected people are not the primary source of spread. Rather, the far greater number of colonized individuals must be targeted to reduce transmission. Our findings suggest that current paradigms in MRSA control in the United States cannot be very effective in reducing the incidence of CA-MRSA infections. Furthermore, the control measures that have focused on hospitals are unlikely to have much population-wide impact on CA-MRSA rates. New strategies need to be developed, as the incidence of CA-MRSA is likely to continue to grow around the world.
Civil Engineering Applications of Remote Sensing

An introduction to the concepts of remote sensing technology is presented. Remote sensor image interpretation is stressed as a practical tool for many civil engineering applications. The utility of remote sensing for use in the general areas of environmental and sanitary engineering, water resources, transportation engineering, geological engineering, and coastal engineering is described. References to publications dealing with specific remote sensing studies are keyed to general areas of application. The specific case of utilizing remote sensing for water quality studies is presented in detail.
West Nile Virus Infection in the Central Nervous System

West Nile virus (WNV), a neurotropic single-stranded flavivirus has been the leading cause of arboviral encephalitis worldwide. Up to 50% of WNV convalescent patients in the United States were reported to have long-term neurological sequelae. Neither antiviral drugs nor vaccines are available for humans. Animal models have been used to investigate WNV pathogenesis and host immune response in humans. In this review, we will discuss recent findings from studies in animal models of WNV infection, and provide new insights on WNV pathogenesis and WNV-induced host immunity in the central nervous system.
Human olfactory receptor responses to odorants

Although the human olfactory system is capable of discriminating a vast number of odors, we do not currently understand what chemical features are encoded by olfactory receptors. In large part this is due to a paucity of data in a search space covering the interactions of hundreds of receptors with billions of odorous molecules. Of the approximately 400 intact human odorant receptors, only 10% have a published ligand. Here we used a heterologous luciferase assay to screen 73 odorants against a clone library of 511 human olfactory receptors. This dataset will allow other researchers to interrogate the combinatorial nature of olfactory coding.
Investigating General Chemistry Students’ Metacognitive Monitoring of Their Exam Performance by Measuring Postdiction Accuracies over Time

Metacognitive monitoring of one’s own understanding plays a key role in learning. An aspect of metacognitive monitoring can be measured by comparing a student’s prediction or postdiction of performance (a judgment made before or after completing the relevant task) with the student’s actual performance. In this study, we investigated students’ postdiction accuracies for a series of exams within a two-semester general chemistry course. The research questions addressed include (1) How accurate are general chemistry students at postdicting their exam scores? Are there gender differences in postdiction accuracy? (2) How do general chemistry students’ postdiction accuracies relate to their exam performance? (3) How do general chemistry students’ postdiction accuracies and metacognitive monitoring of their exam performance change over time? Results indicate that most general chemistry students are not accurate in their exam score postdictions and that, consistent with research conducted in other domains, higher-...
Animals, Nature, and Ethics

Recently, Howard (1993, Journal of Mammalogy, 74:234–235) argued for the defensibility of research on nonhuman animals (hereafter animals). Unfortunately, his essay is unnecessarily combative, lacking in detail, unbalanced, and poorly argued. Howard (1993) unfairly and mistakenly stereotypes as biologically naive anyone who rejects his position that nature's poor treatment of wild animals justifies animal research. Those interested in the morality of animal research deserve better guidance than what Howard (1993) provides. Here, we analyze Howard's (1993) claims and their implications, present relevant literature on ethics and animals, and conclude that much work remains to be done to understand and properly appreciate the moral dimensions of animal research. The questions raised about uses of animals by humans in various activities, including research, are difficult and demand careful interdisciplinary analysis. Simple answers should not be expected. We explore some of the issues and make them accessible to a wide audience, including practicing scientists.
The 1:1 adduct of hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) with racemic trans-1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (CDA).

Hexa­methyl­ene­tetramine and rac-trans-1,2-cyclo­hexane­di­carboxylic acid crystallize in a 1:1 ratio as a neutral molecular adduct, C6H12N4·C8H12O4. Two di­carboxylic acid mol­ecules and two tetr­amine mol­ecules form a hydrogen-bonded ring, in the shape of a rhombus, which lies on a crystallographic twofold axis bisecting the two diacid mol­ecules. The O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds have lengths 2.6808 (19) and 2.6518 (19) A, and, in each ring, both acid mol­ecules have the same handedness.
Photoactive ruthenium nitrosyls as NO donors: how to sensitize them toward visible light.

Nitric oxide (NO) can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) at micromolar or higher doses. Although cell death via NO-induced apoptosis has been studied quite extensively, the targeted delivery of such doses of NO to infected or malignant tissues has not been achieved. The primary obstacle is indiscriminate NO release from typical systemic donors such as glycerin trinitrate: once administered, the drug travels throughout the body, and NO is released through a variety of enzymatic, redox, and pH-dependent pathways.Photosensitive NO donors have the ability to surmount this difficulty through the use of light as a localized stimulus for NO delivery. The potential of the method has prompted synthetic research efforts toward new NO donors for use as photopharmaceuticals in the treatment of infections and malignancies. Over the past few years, we have designed and synthesized several metal nitrosyls (NO complexes of metals) that rapidly release NO when exposed to low-power (milliwatt or greater) light of var...
Advances in lifted importance sampling

We consider lifted importance sampling (LIS), a previously proposed approximate inference algorithm for statistical relational learning (SRL) models. LIS achieves substantial variance reduction over conventional importance sampling by using various lifting rules that take advantage of the symmetry in the relational representation. However, it suffers from two drawbacks. First, it does not take advantage of some important symmetries in the relational representation and may exhibit needlessly high variance on models having these symmetries. Second, it uses an uninformative proposal distribution which adversely affects its accuracy. We propose two improvements to LIS that address these limitations. First, we identify a new symmetry in SRL models and define a lifting rule for taking advantage of this symmetry. The lifting rule reduces the variance of LIS. Second, we propose a new, structured approach for constructing and dynamically updating the proposal distribution via adaptive sampling. We demonstrate experimentally that our new, improved LIS algorithm is substantially more accurate than the LIS algorithm.
Giant type III well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor of the stomach: A case report.

Introduction We describe a case of a large type III neuroendocrine tumor of the stomach. Management and current literature are reviewed.
When Evil was Good and Good Evil: Remembrances of Nuremberg

Samuel Johnson was arguably England’s greatest man of letters, but he was no moral philosopher.2 He was, however, an astute critic of his times and thus, per force, a moralist. Like many moralists he could be mordant, opinionated, and pompous. But he was, as often as not, on the mark in his diagnoses of our human failings. He uttered them in terse and simple language without formal ethical argument. We would surely be mistaken to treat his words as mere banter because of this.
A concise synchrotron X-ray microdiffraction field guide for the Earth scientists

La mayoria de las muestras geologicas son intrinsecamente heterogeneas en la escala del micron, lo que convierte a su estudio cuantitativo realizado con tecnicas de laboratorio convencionales en algo desafiante. El uso de radiacion sincrotron, que proporciona datos de calidad con una resolucion espacial y angular sin precedentes, se ha convertido en ubicua en varias de las ramas de las ciencias experimentales, y la geologia, la geoquimica, las ciencias de la Tierra y las ciencias del medio ambiente no son una excepcion. El presente capitulo ofrece una vision general de lo que puede ser medido utilizando microdifraccion de rayos X en sincrotron, con el tamano de haz de rayos X en el intervalo entre 100 nm y unas pocas micras. En el presente trabajo se describen los experimentos utilizando muestras geologicas. Se enfatizan dos tecnicas, sus fortalezas y limitaciones: microdifraccion de polvo y microdifraccion Laue
Computer Aided Detection of Transient Inflation Events at Alaskan Volcanoes using GPS Measurements from 2005-2015

Abstract Analysis of transient deformation events in time series data observed via networks of continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) ground stations provide insight into the magmatic and tectonic processes that drive volcanic activity. Typical analyses of spatial positions originating from each station require careful tuning of algorithmic parameters and selection of time and spatial regions of interest to observe possible transient events. This iterative, manual process is tedious when attempting to make new discoveries and does not easily scale with the number of stations. Addressing this challenge, we introduce a novel approach based on a computer-aided discovery system that facilitates the discovery of such potential transient events. The advantages of this approach are demonstrated by actual detections of transient deformation events at volcanoes selected from the Alaska Volcano Observatory database using data recorded by GPS stations from the Plate Boundary Observatory network. Our technique successfully reproduces the analysis of a transient signal detected in the first half of 2008 at Akutan volcano and is also directly applicable to 3 additional volcanoes in Alaska, with the new detection of 2 previously unnoticed inflation events: in early 2011 at Westdahl and in early 2013 at Shishaldin. This study also discusses the benefits of our computer-aided discovery approach for volcanology in general. Advantages include the rapid analysis on multi-scale resolutions of transient deformation events at a large number of sites of interest and the capability to enhance reusability and reproducibility in volcano studies.
Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Adverse Effects of Dermatologic Medications

Severe, recalcitrant dermatologic conditions often require systemic treatment. Although efficacious, these medications have been associated with wide-ranging adverse reactions. Some are reversible, predictable, and either dose-dependent or treatment length-dependent, while others are unpredictable, irreversible, and potentially fatal. This review examines the neuropsychiatric adverse effects associated with US FDA-approved medications for treatment of the following dermatologic pathologies that typically require systemic therapy: autoimmune dermatoses, acne, psoriasis, and melanoma. A search of the literature was performed, with adverse effects ranging from mild headaches and neuropathy to severe encephalopathies. The medications associated with the most serious reactions were those used to treat psoriasis, especially the older non-biologic medications such as cyclosporine A and methotrexate. Given the importance of these systemic dermatologic therapies in treating severe, recalcitrant conditions, and the wide variety of potentially serious neuropsychiatric adverse effects of these medications, neurologists, psychiatrists, dermatologists, oncologists, and primary care providers must be aware of the potential for these neuropsychiatric adverse reactions to allow for appropriate counseling, management, and medication withdrawal.
Abstract 61: Histone Deacetylase 9 (HDAC9) Dysregulation Precipitates High-Fat-Diet--Induced Adipose Tissue Dysfunction and Systemic Metabolic Disorders

During chronic overfeeding, adipose tissue expansion contributes to adipose inflammation, insulin resistance and obesity-related diabetes. Consequently, identifying mechanisms that promote “healthy” growth of adipose tissues could potentially improve obesity-related disease. We previously demonstrated that endogenous HDAC9 negatively regulates adipogenic differentiation in isolated preadipocytes. Here, we investigated the role of HDAC9 in regulating adipose tissue function and glucose intolerance in high fat fed mice. High fat feeding upregulated HDAC9 expression in adipose tissues, isolated preadipocytes and adipocytes, in conjunction with reduced expression of adipocyte differentiation-specific genes C/EBPα, PPARγ, FABP4, and adiponectin. HDAC9 gene knockout completely prevented these effects of high fat feeding on adipocyte differentiation-specific gene expression and adipogenic differentiation in vitro. HDAC9 knockout mice also gained less weight and exhibited less visceral adiposity, despite similar food intake, as compared to wild type mice during high fat feeding. In addition, HDAC9 gene deletion blunted elevations of plasma pro-inflammatory adipokines leptin and resistin, and resulted in improved systemic glucose tolerance, in the setting of high fat diet. Adipocytes were smaller in HDAC9 knockout mice, while ectopic lipid accumulation, as revealed by hepatosteatosis, following high fat feeding was completely prevented by HDAC9 gene knockout. Interestingly, adipose tissues of high fat fed HDAC9 knockout mice accumulated more anti-inflammatory M2 polarized macrophages and Treg cells, consistent with reduced adipose tissue inflammation. These findings suggest that HDAC9 disrupts adipose tissue function in high fat feeding, leading thereby to adipose tissue inflammation and glucose intolerance. Thus, HDAC9 could be a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of disorders associated with diet-induced obesity.
Building Relations with Radiology Administrators

In some radiology departments, the lack of alignment between administrators and radiologists can pose significant challenges. This article describes how differences in background and priorities between administrators and radiologists can contribute to conflict and presents strategies on how to manage the conflict in a way that can leverage positive change. Strategies to build relations between radiologists and radiology administrators are described.
Certain about Dying with Uncertainty.

Mrs. C. said she’d had a good life and if an event came along that was the medical equivalent of a flat tire, we should fix it. But if something required major intervention, she didn’t want it. We didn’t know how hard it would be to keep our part of the bargain.
Rethinking the laryngopharyngeal reflux treatment algorithm: Evaluating an alternate empiric dosing regimen and considering up-front, pH-impedance, and manometry testing to minimize cost in treating suspect laryngopharyngeal reflux disease.

Objectives/Hypothesis Empiric proton pump inhibitor (PPI) trials for laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) are common. A majority of the patients respond to acid suppression. This work intends to evaluate once-daily, 40 mg omeprazole and once-nightly, 300 mg ranitidine (QD/QHS) dosing as an alternative regimen, and use this study's cohort to evaluate empiric regimens prescribed for LPR as compared to up-front testing with pH impedance multichannel intraluminal impedance (MII) with dual pH probes and high-resolution manometry (HRM) for potential cost minimization. Study Design Retrospective cohort review and cost minimization study. Methods A chart review identified patients diagnosed with LPR. All subjects were treated sequentially and outcomes recorded. Initial QD/QHS dosing increased after 3 months to BID if no improvement and ultimately prescribed MII and HRM if they failed BID dosing. Decision tree diagrams were constructed to determine costs of two empiric regimens and up-front MII and HRM. Results Ninety-seven subjects met the criteria. Responders and nonresponders to empiric therapy were identified. Seventy-two subjects (74%) responded. Forty-eight (67% of responders and 49% of all) improved with QD/QHS dosing. Forty-nine (51%) subjects escalated to BID dosing. Twenty-four subjects (33% of responders and 25% of all) improved on BID therapy. Twenty-five subjects (26%) did not respond to acid suppression. Average weighted cost was $1,897.00 per patient for up-front testing, $3,033.00 for initial BID, and $3,366.00 for initial QD/QHS. Conclusions An alternate QD/QHS regimen improved the majority who presented with presumed LPR. Cost estimates demonstrate that the QD/QHS regimen was more expensive than the initial BID high-dose PPI for 6 months. Overall per-patient cost appears less with up-front MII and HRM. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 127:S1–S13, 2017
Dao of Emily Dickinson: placing of poetry and philosophy prosodically across boundaries

Reading philosophy is often as much a “language-game” as reading poetry because it requires, as Wittgenstein himself would so emphasize here, a vital “technique” that deals with a fundamental issue of whether or how our world could remain alive in words a posteriori in accordance with and in spite of any predestined verbal “attributes” or “parts of speech” a priori. This vital “technique” thus also deals with the issue of how this “reincarnated” world in words would ultimately enliven our irreducible human agency that enlivens the worded world as the irreplaceable “place” or “unstable locale” for our communicable being/becoming-in-the-world. This vital “technique” concerns in other words how or how much our “meaning-making,” “world-making,” “Dao (way)-making,” and “human-becoming” process of reading (immediately recognizable are certainly these crucial terms transplanted from Roger Ames's works and talks) could actually be nourished by the best of our literatures in philosophy and poetry from across cultues that they also simultaneously nourish. As indicated by the specific references to Emily Dickinson, Wittgenstein, Zhuangzi and Ma Zhiyuan among others, the dao of Emily Dickinson is thus ultimately the dao of a humanistic ecologically innovated world in words, which is always live a posteriori on the ground, in the context, of the moment, and through the irreducible human agency that forever at once enriches the world and is enriched by it.
Possible Garcinia cambogia-Induced Mania With Psychosis: A Case Report:

Garcinia cambogia is a Southeast Asian fruit becoming increasingly popular as a weight management supplement. Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) is the primary active ingredient which demonstrates serotonergic- and muscarinic-enhancing properties via inhibition of selective serotonin reuptake and acetylcholinesterase. We report a young adult female with no history of bipolar disorder who developed mania and psychosis approximately 1 week following initiation of G cambogia and the Cleanse and Detox™ dietary supplement manufactured by Apex Vitality Health. She presented with a predominantly expansive mood, psychomotor agitation, disorganized and pressured speech, flight of ideas, grandiosity, delusions, and auditory hallucinations. Following discontinuation of G cambogia and the initiation of lithium and quetiapine, the patient experienced rapid and progressive mood stabilization and was discharged after 8 days. Seven previous case reports associating (hypo)mania and/or psychosis with G cambogia consumption have been published. The chronology of mania and/or psychosis onset may appear between 1 and 8 weeks following initiation of G cambogia. Psychiatric symptoms have resolved with G cambogia discontinuation in some instances and may not require chronic pharmacotherapy. Our report should encourage further research and case reports regarding this adverse event and the reconciliation of complete herbal supplement use at clinic visits and hospital admissions.
The first day of the rest of their lives.

○Mary's 16-year-old daughter was murdered, and her nude body was found tied with a child's jump rope and left inside a trash bag sealed with duct tape in a dumpster outside a fast food restaurant. ○Ruth's 16-year-old son was murdered on their front porch returning from the local hamburger place. He died in her arms. His last word was Mama. ○Sandy's 13-year-old son was murdered by a friend who had stolen an illegal, sawed-off shotgun from his parents' room and was showing off for his friends. ○ Loretta's 15-year-old son was shot and killed while he was out cruising with friends on a Saturday night. ○Carrie's 21-year-old son was shot and killed in a road rage incident. ○Nancy's 12-year-old son was shot in the back, murdered by his best friend in an incident of horse play gone wrong. ○Alice and Ray's son was shot and killed in front of their house when returning from a night of Halloween fun with his friends.
“Age Schemas”: Guides to Processing Information About the Self

Previous research has shown that the cognitive generalizations we maintain about ourselves, termed self-schemas, influence how we process self-referent information. This study investigated the operation of self-schemas in the domain of age. In the first phase of the study, 50 young adult men and women completed a scale designed to measure their age schematicity. One week later, these same adults completed computer reaction time tasks in which they were asked to identity whether or not 40 age-related trait adjectives were self-descriptive and to respond to questions about their subjective age. It was predicted that adults who were schematic for age would make faster judgments about age-related material than those who were aschematic. The results supported the notion that age schemas operate like other schemas that guide the processing of information about the self.
Passive nonlinear targeted energy transfer

Nonlinearity in dynamics and acoustics may be viewed as scattering of energy across frequencies/wavenumbers. This is in contrast with linear systems when no such scattering exists. Motivated by irr...
An evolutionary approach for analyzing Alloy specifications

Formal methods use mathematical notations and logical reasoning to precisely define a program's specifications, from which we can instantiate valid instances of a system. With these techniques we can perform a multitude of tasks to check system dependability. Despite the existence of many automated tools including ones considered lightweight, they still lack a strong adoption in practice. At the crux of this problem, is scalability and applicability to large real world applications. In this paper we show how to relax the completeness guarantee without much loss, since soundness is maintained. We have extended a popular lightweight analysis, Alloy, with a genetic algorithm. Our new tool, EvoAlloy, works at the level of finite relations generated by Kodkod and evolves the chromosomes based on the failed constraints. In a feasibility study we demonstrate that we can find solutions to a set of specifications beyond the scope where traditional Alloy fails. While small specifications take longer with EvoAlloy, the scalability means we can handle larger specifications. Our future vision is that when specifications are small we can maintain both soundness and completeness, but when this fails, EvoAlloy can switch to its genetic algorithm.
IgA-deficient humans exhibit gut microbiota dysbiosis despite production of compensatory IgM

Immunoglobulin A is the dominant antibody isotype found in mucosal secretions and enforces host-microbiota symbiosis in mice, yet selective IgA-deficiency (sIgAd) is the most common primary immunodeficiency in humans and is often described as asymptomatic. Here, we determined the effects of IgA deficiency on human gut microbiota composition and evaluated the possibility that secretion of IgM can compensate for a lack of secretory IgA. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing and bacterial cell sorting to evaluate gut microbiota composition and IgA or IgM coating of the gut microbiota in 15 sIgAd subjects and 15 matched controls. Although sIgAd subjects secreted a significant amount of IgM into the intestinal lumen, this was insufficient to fully compensate for the lack of secretory IgA. Indeed, sIgAd subjects displayed an altered gut microbiota composition as compared to healthy controls, which was characterized by a trend towards decreased overall microbial diversity and significant shifts in the relative abundances of specific microbial taxa. While IgA targets a defined subset of the microbiota via high-level coating, compensatory IgM binds a broader subset of the microbiota in a less targeted manner. We conclude that IgA plays a critical and non-redundant role in controlling gut microbiota composition in humans and that secretory IgA has evolved to maintain a diverse and stable gut microbial community that promotes human health, enhances resistance to infection, and is resilient to perturbation.
Are Synthetic Data Derivatives the Future of Translational Medicine

As noted in this Editor’s Page previously, the rising cost of developing new cardiovascular therapies cannot be sustained in the long-term [(1)][1]. Accordingly, there is a critical need for new methodologies that can improve the speed, efficiency, and success rate of efforts to develop new
Measuring Astronomical Distances

Harlow Shapley (1885–1972) was born in Nashville, Missouri. He studied astronomy at the University of Missouri and did graduate work at Princeton University where he performed photometric measurements of eclipsing binary stars. Thereafter, he took a position as a regular observer at the Mount Wilson Observatory. His work on the distances of globular clusters, the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way led to a drastic revision of astronomers’ understanding of the size and structure of the Milky Way galaxy. The reading selection that follows was taken from a chapter of Shapley’s book entitled Galaxies. Herein, he describes a method for measuring astronomical distances using the period-luminosity relationship discovered by Henrietta Leavitt.
Genetic structure of an abundant small mammal is influenced by low intensity urbanization

Urban development can fragment and degrade habitat, and such habitat alterations can have profound effects on wildlife, including influencing population genetics. We used nine microsatellite loci to determine the effects of urbanization on genetic diversity and genetic structure in a native small mammal, Merriam’s kangaroo rat, in areas in and around Las Cruces, NM, an expanding low density urban center. We found that Merriam’s kangaroo rats in urban areas had increased genetic differentiation among populations as compared to wildland animals, and detected some evidence of lower genetic diversity in urban areas, indicating that the population genetics of a common and abundant wildlife species can be impacted by low density urbanization. Our results suggest that although abundant and common wildlife such as Merriam’s kangaroo rats may persist in urban environments, these animals may still be influenced by more subtle effects of urbanization, such as genetic isolation.
CONCLUDING REMARKS ON ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF VERBAL AND COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the electrophysiological basis of verbal and cognitive behavior using innovative techniques. Positron emission tomography (PET) is a recently developed technique which is analogous to computerized axial tomography, save that the source of the detected radiation is internal rather than external to the brain. This method permits the tagging of metabolites or drugs with positron-emitting isotopes. When emitted, the positron immediately decays into two photons of equal energy moving in diametrically opposite directions. These two particles are detected by proportional counters arranged in coincidence, so that only simultaneous events in two detectors at opposite ends of a straight line are accepted. The amplitude of the two detection pulses is proportional to the energy of the detected particles, which, in turn, is inversely proportional to the distances traveled by the two photons from the point where positron decay occurred. Thus, that point can be precisely localized. Application of mathematical techniques analogous to those used in the CAT scan permit reconstruction of the three-dimensional picture of the volume distribution of positron emission.
Highly efficient and stable calcium looping based pre-combustion CO2 capture for high-purity H2 production

Abstract Economically-viable CO2 capture is the most significant challenge for producing high-purity H2 from fossil fuels. In this work, calcium looping (CaL) is explored as a low-cost, pre-combustion CO2 capture scheme for modifying fuel gas produced by gasification and water-gas shifting. The efficiency reveals that average sorption capacities as high as 401 mg-CO2/g-CaO are achieved. Extremely high CO2 removal rates and high-purity H2 streams approaching 100% are achieved due to the uniquely high CO2 selectivity of the CaL-based CO2 capture technology. By using optimal sorption and desorption temperatures, the CaL technology also demonstrated an exceptionally high CO2 carrying capacity of 51%, and the stability of the sorbent through 20 CO2 sorption-desorption cycles in this work is 2 and 3 times better than the best and second best state-of-the-art CaO sorbents, respectively. The implications of the present results are that the CaL technology discussed here could lead to a significant decrease in energy consumption associated with CO2 capture.
Pecs and Serratus Blocks: Current State of Chest Wall Analgesia

This article seeks to provide a current review of pertinent literature with regards to analgesia for chest wall surgery—specifically Pecs and serratus blocks. Intermuscular plane blocks have been shown to be clinically efficacious in the setting of chest wall surgery, especially in the setting of oncologic breast surgery. Pecs and serratus blocks provide a safe and effective alternative to neuraxial analgesia while avoiding many of the associated technical difficulties and potential complications.
Smart Walker V: Implementation of RTAB-Map Algorithm

Autonomous Navigation has been a field of major attraction to a large number of robotics enthusiasts all around the globe. Smart walker, a robot designed for assisting patients under intensive care, requires this exceptional add-on in order to have a better sense of the surrounding, captured through the RGB and depth sensor available on board. This paper addresses the navigation and mapping problem through a graph-based SLAM technique knows as Real-Time Appearance-based Mapping (RTAB-Map), which uses an interesting approach to map an area with the help of loop closures, and provides a number of visual feature tracking methods that can be used to detect the loop closures. The software stack on the Smart Walker has been built around ROS (Robot Operating System), and the necessary sensor, odometry and transformation messages have been configured accordingly, based on the onboard sensors and actuators attached to the Smart Walker. This paper discusses the implementation of RTAB-Map algorithm on the Smart Walker and steps involved in collecting a custom dataset. The approach also involves comparing the performance of visual feature tracking methods available in RTAB-Map algorithm on a standard dataset and on the custom dataset, based on non-statistical aspects in order to implement the right set of features for indoor use of the Smart Walker.
Phenobarbital and symptom-triggered lorazepam versus lorazepam alone for severe alcohol withdrawal in the intensive care unit

Abstract A symptom-triggered lorazepam regimen is the standard for treating alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in an inpatient setting. However, in severe AWS, lorazepam requirements can reach significant amounts and lead to risk of delirium and propylene glycol toxicity. Phenobarbital has been shown to be an effective adjunctive therapy for AWS, reducing benzodiazepine use, in the emergency department. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of phenobarbital in adjunct to symptom-triggered lorazepam for severe AWS vs. lorazepam alone in the intensive care unit (ICU). A retrospective cohort was conducted at Cleveland Clinic hospitals from 2013 to 2018 of ICU patients with AWS receiving either phenobarbital adjunct to symptom-triggered lorazepam or lorazepam alone. The primary outcome was the total duration of treatment. Secondary outcomes include ICU length of stay, change in CIWA-Ar score at 24 h, incidence of hypotension, mechanical ventilation, and serum osmolar gap. A total of 72 ICU patients were included with 36 patients in each arm. The median duration of treatment in the phenobarbital adjunct arm was 2.7 days (IQR = 1.7–6.4), compared to 3.1 days (IQR = 1.6–4.8) in the lorazepam arm (p = 0.578). The median ICU length of stay was similar between both arms [4.1 days (IQR = 2.4–8.4) vs. 4.5 days (IQR = 2.8–6.1), p = 0.727]. The average change in CIWA-Ar from baseline at 24 h was significantly lower for those who received phenobarbital (1.8 ± 9.0 vs. 6.5 ± 8.5, p = 0.028). Three patients in the phenobarbital-adjunct group received mechanical ventilation after starting phenobarbital treatment. There were no new incidences of hypotension or increased osmol gap >10 mmol/L after starting treatment in both groups. In conclusion, phenobarbital is an effective adjunct to symptom-triggered lorazepam in severe alcohol withdrawal in the ICU with no significant difference in adverse events.
The War on German Language and Culture, 1917-1925

During WWI, German-Americans were the targets of harassment and discrimination. In this article, Professor Finkelman discusses the conditions for foreigners in America leading up to and during the war that created the backlash against immigrants. Further, Finkelman discusses the lasting effects of German culture repression, including the disappearance of Germans as a distinct ethnic group in America.
Defining Higher-Order Interactions in Synthetic Ecology: Lessons from Physics and Quantitative Genetics

A new paper from Mickalide and Kuehn studies a well-controlled microbial trophic chain and identifies a high-order interaction between its species.
Relations between Early Childhood Paternal Depression and Preschool- and School-age Psychosocial Functioning

Objective: The present study used a longitudinal design to examine associations between paternal depressive symptoms in toddlerhood and children’s psychosocial adjustment during the preschool and s...
Floristic diversity and co-occurrences in a subtropical broad-leaved forest and two contrasting regrowth stands in central-west Yunnan Province, China

Many of the natural forested ecosystems that still remain in mainland China are being cleared with potentially detrimental effects on woody plant species diversity on both local and regional scales. The most extensive stand of subtropical broad-leaved forest remaining in China is located in Yunnan Province. In an effort to document the influence of human-induced disturbance on Yunnan's woody flora, floristic inventories were conducted in a stand of primary forest and in regrowth stands located in its interior and along its outer margin in the Xujiaba Nature Sanctuary in the Ailao Mountain Range. Of particular interest was the location of the disturbance relative to the primary forest source area. A total of 134 woody plant species representing 74 genera and 43 families were recorded. The floristics of the two regrowth stands were significantly different from each other, with 40% were still non-co-occurring. The principal families represented in the primary forest and the interior regrowth stand were Aquifoliaceae, Berberidaceae, Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Rosaceae, Smilacaceae, Symplocaceae, Theaceae, and Vacciniaceae. The three dominant species with relative importance values ranging from > 5% to 18% in both the primary forest and the interior regrowth stand were Castanopsis wattii, Lithocarpus jingdongensis, and Symplocos sumuntia. The edge regrowth stands had the lowest species diversity and were dominated by the native pine Pinus yunnanensis, with a relative importance of 24%. The principal families represented in the edge regrowth stand were Betulaceae, Ericaceae, Fagaceae, Myricaceae, Pinaceae, and Theaceae. Only the Fagaceae and Theaceae were well-represented in all three stands. The results of the study document the low species diversity in post-cutting regrowth on the margins of the primary forest as compared with post-cutting regrowth in the forest interior.
Modern epigenetics methods in biological research

The definition of epigenetics refers that molecular modifications on DNA that can regulate gene activity are independent of DNA sequence and mitotically stable. Notably, epigenetics studies have grown exponentially in the past few years. Recent progresses that lead to exciting discoveries and groundbreaking nature of this area demand thorough methodologies and advanced technologies to move epigenetics to the forefront of molecular biology. The most recognized epigenetic regulations are DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). This review will discuss the modern techniques that are available to detect locus-specific and genome-wide changes for all epigenetic codes. Furthermore, updated analysis of technologies, newly developed methods, recent breakthroughs and bioinformatics pipelines in epigenetic analysis will be presented. These methods, as well as many others presented in this specific issue, provide comprehensive guidelines in the area of epigenetics that facilitate further developments in this promising and rapidly developing field.
Using Near-Peer Teaching to Address Concepts of Cystic Fibrosis in Undergraduate Medical Learners.

Introduction Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a high-yield undergraduate medical education topic that lends itself to adaptability of content. We used a CF case paired with activities to deliver content in ...
Change in Social Engagement among Incident Caregivers and Controls: Findings from the Caregiving Transitions Study.

Objectives:We aimed to compare incident family caregivers and matched controls on change in social network variables and satisfaction with social activities. Methods: A total of 479 participants fr...
The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter

Abstract Past studies have identified a spatially extended excess of ∼1–3 GeV gamma rays from the region surrounding the Galactic Center, consistent with the emission expected from annihilating dark matter. We revisit and scrutinize this signal with the intention of further constraining its characteristics and origin. By applying cuts to the Fermi event parameter CTBCORE, we suppress the tails of the point spread function and generate high resolution gamma-ray maps, enabling us to more easily separate the various gamma-ray components. Within these maps, we find the GeV excess to be robust and highly statistically significant, with a spectrum, angular distribution, and overall normalization that is in good agreement with that predicted by simple annihilating dark matter models. For example, the signal is very well fit by a 36–51 GeV dark matter particle annihilating to b b with an annihilation cross section of σ v = ( 1 − 3 ) × 1 0 − 26 cm 3 / s (normalized to a local dark matter density of 0.4 GeV / cm 3 ). Furthermore, we confirm that the angular distribution of the excess is approximately spherically symmetric and centered around the dynamical center of the Milky Way (within ∼ 0.0 5 ∘ of Sgr A ∗ ), showing no sign of elongation along the Galactic Plane. The signal is observed to extend to at least ≃ 1 0 ∘ from the Galactic Center, which together with its other morphological traits disfavors the possibility that this emission originates from previously known or modeled pulsar populations.
Added Benefits of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Use on HIV Incidence with Minimal Changes in Efficiency in the Context of High Treatment Engagement Among Men Who Have Sex with Men.

Although there is ongoing debate over the need for substantial increases in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use when antiretroviral treatment confers the dual benefits of reducing HIV-related morbi...
Gastrocnemius fascicles are shorter and more pennate immediately following acute Achilles tendon rupture

The purpose of this study was to characterize the short-term effects of Achilles tendon ruptures on medial gastrocnemius. We hypothesized that the medial gastrocnemius muscle of the injured Achilles tendon would have shorter and more pennate fascicles immediately following the injury and would persist throughout 4 weeks post-injury. Longitudinal ultrasound images of the medial gastrocnemius were acquired in 10 adults who suffered acute Achilles tendon ruptures and were treated non-operatively. B-mode ultrasound images were acquired within 10 days of the initial injury as well as two and four weeks following the initial clinical treatment. Resting muscle structure was characterized by measuring fascicle length, pennation angle, muscle thickness, and muscle echo intensity in both the injured and contralateral (control) limbs. Fascicle length and pennation was 15% shorter and 21% greater at the presentation of injury (week 0), respectively (P 0.04). Echo intensity of the injured limb was 8 and 11% lower (P < 0.008) than the contralateral muscle at presentation of injury and 2 weeks following injury, respectively, but returned to within 1% by 4 weeks (P = 0.393). Achilles tendon ruptures elicit rapid changes in the configuration and quality of the medial gastrocnemius, which may explain long-term functional deficits.