cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Association between obesity and depression in middle-aged women.

Abstract Objective Evaluate the association between obesity and depression among middle-aged women. Methods A total of 4641 female health plan enrollees aged 40–65 years completed a structured telephone interview including self-reported height and weight, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) assessment of depression; a brief measure of rate was 62%. Results Prevalence of moderate or severe depression increased from 6.5% among those with body mass index (BMI) under 25 to 25.9% among those with BMI over 35. Prevalence of obesity increased from 25.4% among those with no depressive symptoms to 57.8% among those with moderate to severe depression. Independent of obesity, depression was associated with significant reductions in frequency of moderate (4.6 vs. 5.4 times per week) or vigorous (2.8 vs. 3.7 times per week) physical activity. Depression was associated with significantly higher daily caloric intake (1831 vs. 1543) among those with BMI over 30. Conclusions Among middle-aged women, depression is strongly and consistently associated with obesity, lower physical activity and (among the obese) higher caloric intake. Public health approaches to reducing the burden of obesity or depression must consider the strong association between these two common conditions.
Passively modelocked vertical extended cavity surface emitting diode laser

Passive modelocking of a surface emitting diode laser is demonstrated using an extended cavity concept which permits the incorporation of a saturable Bragg reflector mirror into a device designed for large aperture operation as a high-power 980 nm InGaAs multiple quantum-well vertical cavity source.
Controlling Acute Inflammation with Fast Releasing Dexamethasone-PLGA Microsphere/PVA Hydrogel Composites for Implantable Devices

Background: Continuous release of dexamethasone from PLGA microsphere/PVA hydrogel composites has been shown to suppress the inflammatory tissue reaction in response to subcutaneously implanted foreign material for a period of one month. The scope of the present work is to investigate whether suppressing the initial acute inflammatory phase with fast releasing dexamethasone-PLGA microsphere/PVA composites (that release the drug over a period of one week) would prevent the development of a foreign body reaction in response to implantation in the subcutaneous tissue using a rat model. Methods: Dexamethasone loaded PLGA microspheres were prepared using the solvent evaporation method. In vitro release from microspheres was analyzed using USP apparatus 4 in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 37°C. Composites were fabricated in 18G needles by freeze-thaw cycling the PVA/microsphere dispersion. The composites were implanted in the subcutaneous tissue of anesthetized rats. The pharmacodynamic effect was evaluated by histological examination of the tissue surrounding the composites at pre-determined time points. Results: In vitro release studies showed that most of the drug entrapped in the microspheres was released within one week. At days 3 and 8, these fast releasing dexamethasone containing composites suppressed the acute phase of inflammation but did not prevent the development of an inflammatory reaction after dexamethasone was completely released from the composites. By day 30, chronic inflammation and fibrosis were observed in the tissue surrounding the drug-containing composites. On days 3 and 8, the number of inflammatory cells in the vicinity of the dexamethasone containing composites was similar to that in normal tissue. However, the number of inflammatory cells was higher in drug-containing composites as compared to drug-free composites by day 30. This was due to the inflammation being in a more advanced stage in drug-free composites where a granulomatous reaction had already developed. Conclusion: Fast release of dexamethasone from PLGA/PVA composites did not provide long-term protection against the foreign body reaction in response to implantation. It would appear that a sustained delivery of anti-inflammatory agents such as dexamethasone is necessary to suppress inflammation throughout the implant life-time.
Cranktrain Simulation of a Natural Gas Engine/Compressor

Advancing simulation technologies are making it possible for engineers to construct models of increasing complexity and fidelity. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI® ) has investigated integrated analysis techniques that account for the dynamic interaction of cylinder load, hydrodynamic bearing orbits and flexible structural components in a time-based multi-body structural simulation. Misalignment of the main bearing bore is also simulated to investigate a condition that affects this type of mechanical system. This paper describes general modeling techniques implemented in ADAMS/Engine and how the component models influence the prediction of crankshaft stress through simulation of an HBA-6 engine/compressor. The HBA-6 is one of a class of reciprocating compressors used in the gas pipeline and process industries. It has a unique layout of power and compressor cylinders that helps to highlight the robustness of the simulation technique.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Time-Related Replication for P2P Storage System

Many P2P based wide-area storage systems are appeared to provide scalable storage services with idle resource from many unreliable clients. To minimize the data loss, quick replication is important to replace lost redundancy on other nodes in reaction to failures. The popular approach is the availability based replication which uses the individual node availability. However, with the high churn some replicas leave or fail within similar time. As a result, it requires bursty data traffic and sometimes it loses data. This paper explores the time-related replication which uses the information of the session time to prevent the bursty failures. It tries to get the primary replica which has enough time to replace the lost redundancy. Moreover, the sparse replicas spread on the timeline and the number of overlapped replicas lessens as best it can. Results from a simulation study suggest that the time-related replication keep the high data availability with less data copy traffic.
GAS EXCHANGE IN CHRONIC PULMONARY DISEASE

SUMMARY Patients with asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease and diffuse inter stitial fibrosis were studied., These three groups of patients illustrate very different patterns of VA/Q mismatching in general, consistent with the known pathology of their disease. Some common threads run through all three groups. One is that the level of hypoxemia in an individual depends critically on the interplay between mixed venous PO2 and the degree of VA/Q mismatching. Thus patients with a high cardiac output can have little hypoxemi in the face of severe VA/Q mismatching, while patients with inadequate cardiac output can have moderately severe hypoxemia with relatively little VA/Q mismatching. In other words, the arterial PO2 alone cannot indicate the severity of VA/Q mismatch in any given situation. Another generalization that can be made is that in the obstructive diseases, evidence from our work suggests that it is obstruction due to mucus secretions and/or airway edema and inflammation that is important in causing areas of low VA/Q to be present. Bron-choconstriction on the other hand, is less likely to be responsible for abnormal gas exchange, even while it is the more important factor in terms of airflow rates and symptoms. Finally, the data we have obtained, particularly in obstructive lung diseases, suggests that collateral ventilation is an important phenomenon that protects the lung from collapse and helps to maintain arterial PO2 in the face of severe airways obstruction. Administration of 100% oxygen did not significantly change VA/Q relationships in any of these chronic lung diseases, indicating that at least in the patients that we studied, acute reversal of hypoxic vasoconstriction was not observed. This can be interpreted as evidence that hypoxic vasoconstriction is either not a major factor tending to preserve VA/Q relationships in these patients, or if it is, it is not acutely reversible within one half hour of breathing 1002 oxygen.
Behavioral Measurement of Photoreceptor-Directed Contrast Sensitivity in the Canine

Testing Apparatus: Three computer-controlled monitors were used to present the stimuli. A thin foot step detector mat and an automated food pellet dispenser were associated with each of the monitor stations. The dog received an automatic food reward for approaching the monitor with the visual stimulus.
Discrete-event simulation on hypercube architectures

A performance model for a hierarchical discrete-event-simulation algorithm running on a hypercube architecture is presented. A static allocation of system components to hypercube processors and a global clock algorithm with an event-based time increment are assumed. The model is applied to a digital systems simulation. The effects of different architectures, algorithm parameter values, and partitioning strategies on speedup are evaluated. >
Knowledge base enrichment via object oriented creativity techniques

The authors first summarize the strengths and weaknesses of knowledge acquisition (KA) techniques within the context of exploratory object-oriented models (OOM). These techniques typically capture what is regarded as known or true or important, providing a necessary but insufficient foundation of information for exploratory modeling. The authors then describe creativity tools developed to enrich the knowledge bases associated with exploratory models. Appropriate definitions of creativity are described. The authors argue that the fundamental philosophy of creativity techniques is of value in overcoming KA weaknesses. Three specific creativity tools are described. Fresh Look, Boundary Examination, and Hypothetical Situations. The utility of each tool for enriching the OOM is described. >
A Novel Centrally Managed Self-Protected Bi-directional WDM-PON Architecture using Optical carrier Suppression, Separation Technique and Wavelength Sharing Scheme

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a centrally-managed self-survivable WDM-PON capable of providing protection scheme for distribution/feeder fiber, remote node and laser failure. The bidirectional 10 Gbps transmission over 20 km is achieved with less than 2 dB power penalty at 10-10 BER for both working and protected mode.
Transcriptional Regulation of Bim by FOXO3a and Akt Mediates Scleroderma Serum–Induced Apoptosis in Endothelial Progenitor Cells

Background— Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to vascular regeneration/repair and thus may protect against scleroderma vasculopathy. We aimed to determine whether circulating EPCs were reduced in scleroderma, whether scleroderma sera could induce EPC apoptosis, and, if so, what the underlying apoptotic signaling pathway was. Methods and Results— Circulating EPC levels were quantified in 54 patients with scleroderma and 18 healthy control subjects by colony-forming unit assay and flow cytometry, which revealed markedly decreased EPC levels in scleroderma patients relative to healthy subjects. Substantial apoptosis was detected in EPCs after culturing in the presence of scleroderma sera compared with normal sera. Intriguingly, depletion of the IgG fraction from scleroderma sera completely abolished the apoptotic effects. Furthermore, scleroderma sera inhibited the activation/phosphorylation of Akt, which in turn suppressed the phosphorylation and degradation of forkhead transcription factor FKH...
Transient analysis of the leaky bucket rate control scheme under Poisson and ON-OFF sources

Derives expressions for the time-dependent state probabilities and the time-averaged state-probabilities for the leaky bucket rate control scheme. The model is based on the theory of Markov regenerative processes. The results specialize to those obtained by Sidi et al. (1993) for the steady-state behavior of the leaky bucket. The present results are more general, however, in that they apply to the transient regime and to more general arrival processes. >
Long-Term Observations of Turbulent Reynolds Stresses over the Inner Continental Shelf

AbstractIn situ observations of turbulent momentum flux, or Reynolds stresses, were estimated from a 10-yr acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) record of inner-shelf velocities at the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO) using recently developed analysis techniques that account for wave-induced biases. These observations were used to examine the vertical structure of stress and turbulent mixing in the coastal ocean during tidal-, wave-, and wind-driven circulation by conditionally averaging the dataset by the level of forcing or stratification present. Bottom-intensified stresses were found during tidally driven flow, having estimated eddy viscosities as high as 1 × 10−2 m−2 s−1 during slack water. An assessment of the mean, low-wave, low-wind stress results quantified the magnitude of an unmeasured body force responsible for the mean circulation present in the absence of wind and wave forcing. During weak stratification and isolated wind forcing, downwind stresses matched the observed wind st...
Infection and pathogenicity of the mosquito densoviruses AeDNV, HeDNV, and APeDNV in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae).

These studies compared three genetically distinct mosquito densoviruses Aedes aegypti (AeDNV), Hemagogus equinus (HeDNV), and Aedes Peruvian (APeDNV) densoviruses in a laboratory investigation to begin to evaluate their potential as mosquito control agents. A real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for quantification of viral genomes and a standardized mosquito infection protocol were developed. Mortality associated with exposure to AeDNV increased in a dose-dependent manner, with the maximum mortality of 75.1% occurring in those organisms exposed to the highest dose of virus. The majority of death occurred as larvae. Similar results were observed with AeDNV produced from ground larvae and AeDNV produced from cell culture. Exposure of mosquitoes to HeDNV and APeDNV resulted in lower mortality, with values peaking at 33.5% for HeDNV and 27.8% for APeDNV. AeDNV-exposed larvae develop at a slower rate than nonexposed and HeDNV- and APeDNV-exposed larvae. Decreased virulence does not reflect a decrease in virus replication. PCR analysis of infectivity rates and titers in adults revealed reproduction of all three viruses, with an average viral titer of ≈10 logs/mosquito after exposure to the highest dose of each virus. Accumulation of virus in the larval-rearing water was also observed with values approaching 10–11 logs/ml for each virus. These data indicate that there are dramatic differences in the pathogenicity among mosquito densoviruses.
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum, Mitochondria and Filament Organization in Vascular Smooth Muscle

The purpose of our studies was to characterize, in vascular smooth muscle (VSM), the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and mitochondria that may contribute to the release and uptake of activator calcium during excitation-contraction coupling, and to determine the organization of myofilaments with particular attention to the state of myosin.
Cross-Cultural Studies of Infant Intelligence

It is no longer fashionable to talk of primitive tribes. Yet we can, and do, talk about whole groups of people as being disadvantaged, deprived, and with restricted word codes, ad nauseum. This review of cross-cultural studies of infant intelligence starts from a specific developmental bias: “People are different in important ways around the world; different societies need different types of children and adults; societies differ from each other.... We are impoverished, as human beings, even within our own culture, when we call differences in development ‘worse’ ” (Rebelsky, 1972, p. 130). This chapter first elaborates on this bias and then discusses the concept of intelligence in general and its application to cross-cultural research. Then we explore some specific issues and speculations in the field of cross-cultural infant intelligence.
Leader inclusiveness, psychological diversity climate, and helping behaviors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological diversity climate and leader inclusiveness relate to an employee’s self-reported propensity to engage in helping behaviors toward the leader or work group. The authors also tested whether these elements operate differently for women and racioethnic minorities. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 534 respondents completed electronic surveys. Hypotheses were tested with hierarchical multiple regression. Findings – Results indicate a positive relationship between leader inclusiveness and leader-directed and work group-directed helping behaviors, particularly when accompanied by a positive psychological diversity climate. These relationships were stronger for racioethnic minorities and women relative to racioethnic majority members and men for leader-directed helping. Research limitations/implications – Data were self-report. Future research should incorporate data from other sources and additional outcomes. Practical/implications – Lea...
Frozen Section for Hip and Knee Joint Revisions

As Kanner et al1 state, there are many studies with differing criteria established for infection/inflammation when reading intraoperative frozen sections, and while the specificity of the procedure is very good, orthopedic surgeons tend not to use the results selectively. It is interesting that the authors selected the criteria of Mirra et al,2 because in their studies Mirra …
Effect of operational parameters on the determination of laboratory extract and associated wort quality factors

Mashing for the determination of malt extract and wort quality factors is one of the most fundamental analyses performed in malting and brewing laboratories. The origins of the Congress mash method...
Optimization Design of a New Synthesized Measuring and Control Device for Substations

By referring to the construction of the ultra-high voltage(UHV) grid,dispatch centre and communication information platform,the measuring and control technology of the substation automation system and the optimization design of the measuring and control device are studied.Information can be integrated at the substation information source to realize its more efficient use.Some new technologies such as IEC 61850 generic object-oriented substation events(GOOSE) are applied in the device that can transform the process layer information through the network and promote digitized construction of substation.
Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity in patients with complex abdominal wall hernias

Abstract Background Chronic muscle wasting, or sarcopenia, has been associated with poor-health outcomes after major surgical procedures. Here, we explore the utility of CT-generated determinations of sarcopenia as markers of risk in patients undergoing evaluation for complex ventral hernia repair. Methods In 148 successive patients being evaluated for complex ventral hernia repair, CT scans were analyzed retrospectively for attributes of the hernia and indices of core-muscle mass, correlating them with preoperative clinical/laboratory profiles and outcomes in 82 patients who had undergone surgery. Results Prevalence of sarcopenia, and sarcopenia corrected for obesity, was 26% and 20% respectively. Sarcopenia was associated with age, some laboratory indicators, and increased hospital length of stay but not with a higher likelihood of surgical site occurrence. Conclusions Obesity may obscure the value of sarcopenia as a marker of metabolic disturbance and postoperative outcome. Image-based measurements of core-muscle mass should be used with caution as predictors of risk in similar surgical populations.
Mechanical back-action of a spin-wave resonance in a magnetoelastic thin film on a surface acoustic wave

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) traveling on the surface of a piezoelectric crystal can, through the magnetoelastic interaction, excite traveling spin-wave resonance in a magnetic film deposited on the substrate. This spin-wave resonance in the magnetic film creates a time-dynamic surface stress of magnetoelastic origin that acts back on the surface of the piezoelectric and modifies the SAW propagation. Unlike previous analyses that treat the excitation as a magnon-phonon polariton, here the magnetoelastic film is treated as a perturbation modifying boundary conditions on the SAW. We use acoustical perturbation theory to find closed-form expressions for the back-action surface stress and strain fields and the resultant SAW velocity shifts and attenuation. We demonstrate that the shear stress fields associated with this spin-wave back-action also generate effective surface currents on the piezoelectric both in phase and out of phase with the driving SAW potential. Characterization of these surface currents and their applications in determination of the magnetoelastic coupling are discussed. The perturbative calculation is carried out explicitly to first order (a regime corresponding to many experimental situations of current interest) and we provide a sketch of the implications of the theory at higher order.
Does Achieving High Flexion Increase Polyethylene Damage in Posterior-Stabilized Knees? A Retrieval Study

Abstract Background Increased range of motion to higher degrees of flexion following total knee arthroplasty has been postulated to increase implant damage and revision rates, even in designs modified to accommodate high flexion. Methods We examined posterior-stabilized and high-flexion retrieved tibial inserts to look for differences in polyethylene surface damage with light microscopy and 3D deviation with laser scanning between inserts from patients who achieved a high degree of flexion (≥120° postoperatively) and inserts from patients who did not reach a high degree of flexion. Results No differences were found in damage scores on the articular and backside surfaces, except for abrasion in the posterior articular regions, or in 3D deviations between patients who reached a high degree of flexion and patients who did not. These results were independent of the reason for revision. Conclusion In our series, reaching a high degree of flexion did not influence surface damage or 3D deviation of the polyethylene inserts.
First-Line Chemotherapy for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Most patients with malignant mesothelioma are candidates for systemic chemotherapy during the course of their disease, but no standard regimen has been established. Several phase II single-agent and combination chemotherapy studies have been performed over the past two decades. Although the true impact of chemotherapy in mesothelioma remains to be determined, agents with consistent antitumor activity include the platinum agents and the antifolates. Phase II studies of combination chemotherapy are associated with higher response rates but not necessarily longer median survivals. Recent data from a large randomized phase III clinical trial established the superiority of cisplatin/pemetrexed compared to cisplatin alone. Data from this and other ongoing studies will help establish standard chemotherapy regimens for mesothelioma and provide a basis for combination studies with molecular agents and incorporation of these regimens into multimodality treatment approaches.
High-dimensional Canonical Forest

ABSTRACTRecently, a new ensemble classification method named Canonical Forest (CF) has been proposed by Chen et al. [Canonical forest. Comput Stat. 2014;29:849–867]. CF has been proven to give consistently good results in many data sets and comparable to other widely used classification ensemble methods. However, CF requires an adopting feature reduction method before classifying high-dimensional data. Here, we extend CF to a high-dimensional classifier by incorporating a random feature subspace algorithm [Ho TK. The random subspace method for constructing decision forests. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell. 1998;20:832–844]. This extended algorithm is called HDCF (high-dimensional CF) as it is specifically designed for high-dimensional data. We conducted an experiment using three data sets – gene imprinting, oestrogen, and leukaemia – to compare the performance of HDCF with several popular and successful classification methods on high-dimensional data sets, including Random Forest [Breiman L. Random fo...
Study on the Barriers to the Industrial Adoption of Formal Methods

The authors conducted an informal survey of contractors, customers, and certification authorities in the United States aerospace domain to identify barriers to the adoption of formal methods and suggested mitigations for those barriers. We surveyed 31 individuals from the following nine organizations: United States Army, Boeing, FAA, Galois, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Rockwell Collins, and Wind River. The top three barrier categories were education, tools, and the industrial environment (i.e., non-technical barriers with respect to personnel changes, contracts, and schedules) The top three mitigation categories were education, improving tool integration, and creating and disseminating evidence of the benefits of formal analysis. Strategies to accelerate adoption of formal methods include making formal methods a part of the undergraduate software engineering curriculum, hosting courses in formal methods for working engineers, funding the integration of tools, funding improvements to tool interfaces, and promoting/requiring the use of formal methods on future contracts.
Intra-operative navigation of a 3-dimensional needle localization system for precision of irreversible electroporation needles in locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Abstract Introduction Irreversible electroporation (IRE) uses multiple needles and a series of electrical pulses to create pores in cell membranes and cause cell apoptosis. One of the demands of IRE is the precise needle spacing required. Two-dimensional intraoperative ultrasound (2-D iUS) is currently used to measure inter-needle distances but requires significant expertise. This study evaluates the potential of three-dimensional (3-D) image guidance for placing IRE needles and calculating needle spacing. Patients and methods A prospective clinical evaluation of a 3-D needle localization system (Explorer™) was evaluated in consecutive patients from April 2012 through June 2013 for unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma. 3-D reconstructions of patients' anatomy were generated from preoperative CT images, which were aligned to the intraoperative space. Results Thirty consecutive patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer were treated with IRE. The needle localization system setup added an average of 6.5 min to each procedure. The 3-D needle localization system increased surgeon confidence and ultimately reduced needle placement time. Conclusion IRE treatment efficacy is highly dependent on accurate needle spacing. The needle localization system evaluated in this study aims to mitigate these issues by providing the surgeon with additional visualization and data in 3-D. The Explorer™ system provides valuable guidance information and inter-needle distance calculations.
Luminescence investigation of Ce incorporation in garnet-type Li7La3Zr2O12

Abstract The effects of the incorporation of Ce on the luminescence of tetragonal garnet-type Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 (LLZO) were examined. Undoped and Ce-doped LLZO powders with nominal compositions of Li 7 (La 1-x Ce x ) 3 Zr 2 O 12 with x = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05 were synthesized via conventional solid state reaction. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the structural evolution from tetragonal to cubic LLZO, together with Li 2 ZrO 3 and Ce 4 O 7 minor phases upon Ce incorporation. Undoped LLZO exhibited a single luminescence band centered at 2.84 eV that was quenched by the incorporation of Ce. A Gaussian band deconvolution analysis of the radioluminescence (RL) spectra suggested that Ce occupied two distinct crystallographic sites when replacing for La, with emission bands centered at 2.41 and 2.78 eV. The Gaussian band deconvolution analysis of RL spectra up to ∼250 °C revealed thermal quenching reduced the intensity by about half at 50–60 °C, with negligible emission detected at about 250 °C.
Biomimetic biodegradable artificial antigen presenting cells synergize with PD-1 blockade to treat melanoma.

Biomimetic materials that target the immune system and generate an anti-tumor responses hold promise in augmenting cancer immunotherapy. These synthetic materials can be engineered and optimized for their biodegradability, physical parameters such as shape and size, and controlled release of immune-modulators. As these new platforms enter the playing field, it is imperative to understand their interaction with existing immunotherapies since single-targeted approaches have limited efficacy. Here, we investigate the synergy between a PLGA-based artificial antigen presenting cell (aAPC) and a checkpoint blockade molecule, anti-PD1 monoclonal antibody (mAb). The combination of antigen-specific aAPC-based activation and anti-PD-1 mAb checkpoint blockade induced the greatest IFN-γ secretion by CD8+ T cells in vitro. Combination treatment also acted synergistically in an in vivo murine melanoma model to result in delayed tumor growth and extended survival, while either treatment alone had no effect. This was shown mechanistically to be due to decreased PD-1 expression and increased antigen-specific proliferation of CD8+ T cells within the tumor microenvironment and spleen. Thus, biomaterial-based therapy can synergize with other immunotherapies and motivates the translation of biomimetic combinatorial treatments.
Standardization and Quality Control in Data Collection and Assessment of Threatened Plant Species

Informative data collection is important in the identification and conservation of rare plant species. Data sets generated by many small-scale studies may be integrated into large, distributed databases, and statistical tools are being developed to extract meaningful information from such databases. A diversity of field methodologies may be employed across smaller studies, however, resulting in a lack of standardization and quality control, which makes integration more difficult. Here, we present a case study of the population-level monitoring of two threatened plant species with contrasting life history traits that require different field sampling methodologies: the limestone glade bladderpod, Physaria filiformis, and the western prairie fringed orchid, Plantanthera praeclara. Although different data collection methodologies are necessary for these species based on population sizes and plant morphology, the resulting data allow for similar inferences. Different sample designs may frequently be necessary for rare plant sampling, yet still provide comparable data. Various sources of uncertainty may be associated with data collection (e.g., random sampling error, methodological imprecision, observer error), and should always be quantified if possible and included in data sets, and described in metadata. Ancillary data (e.g., abundance of other plants, physical environment, weather/climate) may be valuable and the most relevant variables may be determined by natural history or empirical studies. Once data are collected, standard operating procedures should be established to prevent errors in data entry. Best practices for data archiving should be followed, and data should be made available for other scientists to use. Efforts to standardize data collection and control data quality, particularly in small-scale field studies, are imperative to future cross-study comparisons, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews.
Risk factors on retinopathy of prematurity

Objective To investigate the present incidence and the risk factors of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).Methods The clinical data of 1 356 premature infants who were born in our hospital from Dec 2008 to Feb 2011 with birth weight of 2 500 g or less and gestational age of 37 weeks or less were analyzed retrospectively,and divided into ROP group(n =208) and without ROP group(n =1 148).They were screened for ROP from 4 ～ 6 weeks of chronological age or 32 weeks of postmenstrual age.Results In 1 356 cases,there were 208 cases with ROP,the incident rate was 15.34％,of which 36 cases were severe diseases (2.65％).Compared with the infants without ROP,the development of ROP was correlated with birth weight [(1 528 ±243) g vs (1 960 ± 187) g],gestational age [(30.92 ±0.72) weeks vs (32.87 ± 1.28) weeks],oxygen uptake time ＞ 8 d (123 cases vs 865 cases),pulmonary surfactants (18 cases vs 216 cases),septicemia (42 cases vs 154 cases),in utero distress (63 cases vs 511 cases) and anemia (64 cases vs 237 cases) (P ＜ 0.05).Logistic regression analysis suggested that birth weight,gestational age,oxygen uptake time ＞8 d,septicemia and pulmonary surfactants were significant risk factors associated with the development of ROP(P ＜ 0.05).Meanwhile,there were significant differences in the incidence of infants with ROP at different birth weight and different gestational age (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The birth weight and gestational age are lower,the incidence of ROP is higher and the disease is more serious.The probability of ROP,particularly severe ROP,is highest in the most immature infants while it is lower in the least immature ones. Key words: Retinopathy of prematurity; Birth weight; Geststional age
X-Ray Spectroscopic Studies of Exploding Foils

Thin CH foils (1-3 μm) have been irradiated with one beam of the Novette laser to produce exploding high-temperature plasmas having long scale lengths. These long- scale-length plasmas are important since they approximate plasma conditions predicted for reactor-size targets. In these experiments we irradiate the foils with 3-4 kJ of 0.532-μm light in a 1-nsec Gaussian pulse at peak irradiances of 3 × 1014 to 10 × 1014 W/cm2, Under these conditions the foil expands to densities less than critical density around the peak of the laser pulse, producing large scale lengths of underdense plasma where parametric absorption processes can occur producing high-energy superthermal electrons. We have used x-ray spectroscopy to help diagnose the plasma temperature and density of the exploding foil.
Approximations to Stochastic Dynamic Programs via Information Relaxation Duality

In the analysis of complex stochastic dynamic programs, we often seek strong theoretical guarantees on the suboptimality of heuristic policies. A common technique for obtaining performance bounds i...
Machine Learning on Signal-to-Noise Ratios Improves Peptide Array Design in SAMDI Mass Spectrometry

Emerging peptide array technologies are able to profile molecular activities within cell lysates. However, the structural diversity of peptides leads to inherent differences in peptide signal-to-noise ratios (S/N). These complex effects can lead to potentially unrepresentative signal intensities and can bias subsequent analyses. Within mass spectrometry-based peptide technologies, the relation between a peptide’s amino acid sequence and S/N remains largely nonquantitative. To address this challenge, we present a method to quantify and analyze mass spectrometry S/N of two peptide arrays, and we use this analysis to portray quality of data and to design future arrays for SAMDI mass spectrometry. Our study demonstrates that S/N varies significantly across peptides within peptide arrays, and variation in S/N is attributable to differences of single amino acids. We apply supervised machine learning to predict peptide S/N based on amino acid sequence, and identify specific physical properties of the amino acids...
The Retinol-Binding Protein Receptor 2 (Rbpr2) Is Required for Photoreceptor Survival and Visual Function in the Zebrafish.

Vitamin A/retinol (ROL) and its metabolites (retinoids) play critical roles in eye development and photoreception. Short-term dietary vitamin A deficiency (VAD) manifests clinically as night blindness, while prolonged VAD is known to cause retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor degeneration. Therefore, sustained uptake of dietary vitamin A, for ocular retinoid production, is essential for photoreceptor health and visual function. The mechanisms influencing the uptake, storage, and supply of dietary vitamin A, for ocular retinoid production, however, are not fully understood. We investigated, in zebrafish, the physiological role of the retinol-binding protein receptor 2 (Rbpr2), for the uptake of dietary ROL, which is necessary for vision. NIH3T3 cells expressing zebrafish Rbpr2 showed plasma membrane localization patterns and were capable of ROL uptake from its bound form. Using whole-mount in situ hybridization, Rbpr2 was found to be expressed exclusively in the liver, intestine, and pancreas, of staged zebrafish larvae. At 5.5 days post fertilization, TALEN-generated rbpr2 mutants (rbpr2−/−) had smaller eyes and shorter OS lengths and showed loss of PNA (cones) and rhodopsin (rods) by immunofluorescence staining. Finally, tests for visual function using optokinetic response (OKR) showed no consistent OKR in rbpr2−/− larval zebrafish. Our analysis, therefore, suggests that Rbpr2 is capable of ROL uptake and loss of this membrane receptor in zebrafish results in photoreceptor defects that adversely affect visual function.
Casein kinase 2-mediated phosphorylation of Brahma-related gene 1 controls myoblast proliferation and contributes to SWI/SNF complex composition

Transcriptional regulation is modulated in part by chromatin-remodeling enzymes that control gene accessibility by altering chromatin compaction or nucleosome positioning. Brahma-related gene 1 (Brg1), a catalytic subunit of the mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling enzymes, is required for both myoblast proliferation and differentiation, and the control of Brg1 phosphorylation by calcineurin, PKCβ1, and p38 regulates the transition to differentiation. However, we hypothesized that Brg1 activity might be regulated by additional kinases. Here, we report that Brg1 is also a target of casein kinase 2 (CK2), a serine/threonine kinase, in proliferating myoblasts. We found that CK2 interacts with Brg1, and mutation of putative phosphorylation sites to non-phosphorylatable (Ser to Ala, SA) or phosphomimetic residues (Ser to Glu, SE) reduced Brg1 phosphorylation by CK2. Although BRG1-deleted myoblasts that ectopically express the SA-Brg1 mutant proliferated similarly to the parental cells or cells ectopically expressing wild-type (WT) Brg1, ectopic expression of the SE-Brg1 mutant reduced proliferation and increased cell death, similar to observations from cells lacking Brg1. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of CK2 increased myoblast proliferation. Furthermore, the Pax7 promoter, which controls expression of a key transcription factor required for myoblast proliferation, was in an inaccessible chromatin state in the SE-Brg1 mutant, suggesting that hyperphosphorylated Brg1 cannot remodel chromatin. WT-, SA-, and SE-Brg1 exhibited distinct differences in interacting with and affecting expression of the SWI/SNF subunits Baf155 and Baf170 and displayed differential sub-nuclear localization. Our results indicate that CK2-mediated phosphorylation of Brg1 regulates myoblast proliferation and provides insight into one mechanism by which composition of the mammalian SWI/SNF enzyme complex is regulated.
Forests of Delaware, 2017

This publication provides an overview of forest resources in Delaware based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. From 2004–2013, FIA employed an annual inventory with a cycle length of 5 years, measuring data on 20 percent of all sample plots each year in Delaware. Beginning in 2014, FIA is on a 7-year cycle, inventorying 14 percent of all plots annually. For the 2017 inventory, estimates for current variables such as area, volume, and biomass are based on397 plots (140 forested) collected from 2011–2017. Change variables such as net growth, removals, and mortality are based on 377 samples (124 forested) collected in2006–2011 and resampled in 2011–2017. Estimates from earlier annual and periodic inventories are shown for comparison. See Bechtold and Patterson (2005), O'Connell et al. (2017), Gormanson et al. (2017), and USDA Forest Service (2016) for definitions and technical details. A complete set of inventory tables is available at https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-168.
Anastomotic techniques for rat lung transplantation

The first lung transplantation in the rat was achieved by Asimacopoulos et al using sutured anastomoses in 1971. Subsequent development of a cuffed technique to construct the anastomoses by Mizuta and colleagues in 1989 represented a breakthrough that resulted in simplification of the procedure and shorter warm ischemic times. Since then, a number of further variations on the technique of rat lung transplantation have been described. In spite of this, the procedure remains technically demanding and involves a long learning curve. This minireview describes the following new technical safeguards to further evolve the technique for cuffed anastomoses in rat lung transplantation: the use of anatomical landmarks to avoid twisting of the everted donor pulmonary vein and bronchus in the cuff, the use of the cuff tie as a landmark to avoid twisting of the anastomotic cuffs relative to the recipient vessels, distal ties on the recipient vessels to achieve a bloodless field and triangulation of the venotomy to avoid pulmonary vein tearing.
Glutathione deficiency sensitizes cultured embryonic mouse ovaries to benzo[a]pyrene-induced germ cell apoptosis.

Mice lacking the modifier subunit of glutamate cysteine ligase (Gclm), the rate-limiting enzyme in glutathione (GSH) synthesis, have decreased tissue GSH. We previously showed that Gclm-/- embryos have increased sensitivity to the prenatal in vivo ovarian toxicity of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) compared with Gclm+/+ littermates. We also showed that BaP-induced germ cell death in cultured wild type embryonic ovaries is caspase-dependent. Here, we hypothesized that GSH deficiency increases sensitivity of cultured embryonic ovaries to BaP-induced germ cell death. 13.5 days post coitum (dpc) embryonic ovaries of all Gclm genotypes were fixed immediately or cultured for 24 h in media supplemented with DMSO vehicle or 500 ng/ml BaP. The percentage of activated caspase-3 positive germ cells varied significantly among groups. Within each genotype, DMSO and BaP-treated groups had increased germ cell caspase-3 activation compared to uncultured. Gclm+/- ovaries had significantly increased caspase-3 activation with BaP treatment compared to DMSO, and caspase-3 activation increased non-significantly in Gclm-/- ovaries treated with BaP compared to DMSO. There was no statistically significant effect of BaP treatment on germ cell numbers at 24 h, consistent with our prior observations in wild type ovaries, but Gclm-/- ovaries in both cultured groups had lower germ cell numbers than Gclm+/+ ovaries. There were no statistically significant BaP-treatment or genotype-related differences among groups in lipid peroxidation and germ cell proliferation. These data indicate that Gclm heterozygous or homozygous deletion sensitizes embryonic ovaries to BaP- and tissue culture-induced germ cell apoptosis.
Imaging forward and Reverse Traveling Waves in the Cochlea

The presence of forward and reverse traveling wave modes on the basilar membrane has important implications to how the cochlea functions as a filter, transducer, and amplifier of sound. The presence and parameters of traveling waves are of particular importance to interpreting otoacoustic emissions (OAE). OAE are vibrations that propagate out of the cochlea and are measureable as sounds emitted from the tympanic membrane. The interpretation of OAE is a powerful research and clinical diagnostic tool, but OAE use has not reached full potential because the mechanisms of their generation and propagation are not fully understood. Of particular interest and deliberation is whether the emissions propagate as a fluid compression wave or a structural traveling wave. In this study a mechanical probe was used to simulate an OAE generation site and optical imaging was used to measure displacement of the inner hair cell stereocilia of the gerbil cochlea. Inner hair cell stereocilia displacement measurements were made in the radial dimension as a function of their longitudinal location along the length of the basilar membrane in response to a transverse stimulation from the probe. The analysis of the spatial frequency response of the inner hair cell stereocilia at frequencies near the characteristic frequency (CF) of the measurement location suggests that a traveling wave propagates in the cochlear partition simultaneously basal and apical (forward and reverse) from the probe location. The traveling wave velocity was estimated to be 5.9m/s - 8m/s in the base (near CF of 29kHz - 40kHz) and 1.9m/s - 2.4m/s in the second turn (near CF of 2kHz - 3kHz). These results suggest that the cochlear partition is capable of supporting both forward and reverse traveling wave modes generated by a source driving the basilar membrane. This suggests that traveling waves in the cochlear partition contribute to OAE propagation.
The Role of Social Security, Defined Benefits, and Private Retirement Accounts in the Face of the Retirement Crisis

For years, EBRI research has documented and quantified the role of Social Security, defined benefit and private retirement accounts on retirement income adequacy for Baby Boomers and Gen Xers in the United States. This paper summarizes that research and presents new evidence on the importance of 401(k) plans for workers currently entering the workforce. EBRI’s modeling shows a substantial improvement in the probability of attaining a financially successful retirement if workers are eligible for automatic enrollment in a 401(k) plan, compared with voluntary enrollment. Assuming current Social Security benefits are not reduced, between 83 and 86 percent of workers with more than 30 years of eligibility in a voluntary enrollment 401(k) plan are simulated to have sufficient 401(k) accumulations that, combined with Social Security retirement benefits, will be able to replace at least 60 percent of their age-64 wages and salary on an inflation-adjusted basis. When the threshold for a financially successful retirement is increased to 70 percent replacement of age-64 income, 73-76 percent of these workers will still meet that threshold, relying only on 401(k) and Social Security combined. At an 80 percent replacement rate, 67 percent of the lowest-income quartile will still meet the threshold; however, the percentage of those in the highest-income quartile deemed to be “successful” relying on just these two retirement components slips to 59 percent. When the same analysis is conducted for automatic enrollment 401(k) plans (with an annual 1 percent automatic-escalation provision and empirically derived opt-outs), the probability of success increases substantially: 88-94 percent at a 60 percent threshold; 81-90 percent at a 70-percent replacement threshold; and 73-85 percent at an 80 percent threshold.The PDF for the above title, published in the January 2014 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another January 2014 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “The Cost of Spousal Health Coverage.”
T cell development in the fetus and neonate.

T lymphocytes (T cells) play a central role in the immune response acting both to mediate specific immune functions and to modulate the function of all other aspects of the immune system. T cells mediate these effects both through direct cell-cell interactions and through the production of soluble mediators known as lymphokines.