cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
"Latent" carcinoma of the prostate: a medical misnomer?

I the early 20th century, clinicians recognized that carcinoma of the prostate was not rare. A series of autopsy studies first appearing in the 1930s brought to light the true incidence of this cancer. In 1935, Arnold Rich of the Johns Hopkins Medical School reported on 41 cases of prostate cancer (14%) found in 292 autopsies performed on men older than 50 years of age. Rich referred to autopsy-discovered carcinomas as “occult.”1 The term “latent” in relation to prostate cancer was probably first used by G. S. Andrews in his 1949 necropsy study of 142 prostates of men 15 to 79 years of age.2 As opposed to Rich, who simply sampled sections of the prostate,1 Andrews performed step sections, finding cancer in 17 (12%) of the 142 prostates.2 In a 1954 study, L. M. Franks published his oft-referenced findings on 220 postmortem examinations in which he found 69 “latent” cancers of the prostate (31%).3 At the time that the pathologic literature on latent carcinoma of the prostate was growing, L. F. Greene and H. B. Simon published their clinical results on patients found to have “occult” carcinoma of the prostate in tissues removed by transurethral resection.4 The terms “latent” and “occult” were often used synonymously in the subsequent reports. This nomenclature problem was addressed in a 1953 autopsy study when Edwards and coworkers suggested that latent was more appropriate than occult “. . . to describe that class of small prostatic cancers that remain confined entirely to the prostate and that give rise to no clinical manifestations during life. . . .”5 The terminology was further confused by the use of terms such as “incidental” and “histologic.”6 Recently, the concept of a “clinically insignificant” prostate cancer has been introduced, a concept rooted in the early reports on latent prostate cancer.7,8 What, then, are the pathologic characteristics of latent prostate cancers as described in the published reports? Specifically, what do they tell us about the size, anatomic location, grade, capsular, perineural, and seminal vesicle invasion, and biology of latent carcinoma of the prostate?
A supervisory telerobotic control system using model-based vision feedback

A hierarchical telerobotic control system for experiments with model-based vision feedback is described. The human operator issues commands to a high-level controller which plans actions to be carried out by the low-level controller. A feedforward model of the robot's motion is used by the vision system to look for visual enhancements on the robot in their anticipated positions. A middle-level module is planned which will alter low-level control gains to maintain performance within error bounds. Results of experiments with the vision system and studies of control strategies for vision feedback are discussed. >
Physical Training Effects on Acute Exercise-induced Feeling States in HIV- 1-positive Individuals

Each year, more than one million new AIDS cases are reported worldwide, signaling an immediate need for intervention strategies to combat the physical, immunological, and psychological/emotional complications associated with the disease. In an effort to address this issue, our study contrasted an aerobic exercise intervention with a resistance weight-training intervention for a period of 12 weeks. Each week, participants seropositive for HIV-1 completed a short survey concerning their positive and negative feeling states and perceptions of fatigue immediately following exercise. Results indicated that participants in both exercise groups experienced significantly greater levels of positive well being and significantly lower levels of psychological distress and perceptions of fatigue following exercise sessions engaged in during the final week as compared to sessions engaged in during the initial week.
Disorders in cell circuitry during multistage carcinogenesis : the role of homeostasis

The multistage process of carcinogenesis involves the progressive acquisition of mutations, and epigenetic abnormalities in the expression, of multiple genes that have highly diverse functions. An important group of these genes are involved in cell cycle control. Thus, cyclin D1 is frequently overexpressed in a varety of human cancers. Cylin D1 plays a critical role in carcinogenesis because (i) overexpression enhances cell transformation and tumorigenesis, and enhances the amplification of other genes, and (ii) an antisense cyclin D1 cDNA reverts the malignant phenotype of carcinoma cells. Therefore, cyclin D1 may be a useful biomarker in molecular epidemiology studies, and inhibitors of its function may be useful in both cancer chemoprevention and therapy. We discovered a paradoxical increase in the cell cycle inhibitors protein p27(Kip1) in a subset of human cancers, and obtained evidence for homeostatic feedback loops between cyclins D1 or E and p27(Kip1). Furthermore, derivatives of HT29 colon cancer cells with increased levels of p27(Kip1) showed increased sensitivity to induction of differentiation. This may explain why decreased p27(Kip1) in a subset of human cancers is associated with a high grade (poorly differentiated) histology and poor prognosis. Agents that increase cellular levels of p27(Kip1) may, therefore, also be useful in cancer therapy. Using an antisense Rb oligonucleotide we obtained evidence that the paradoxical increase in pRb often seen in human colon cancers protects these cells from growth inhibition and apopotosis. On the basis of these, and other findings, we hypothesize that homeostatic feedback mechanisms play a critical role in multistage carcinogenesis. Furthermore, because of their bizarre circuitry, cancer cells suffer from 'gene addiction' and 'gene hypersensitivity' disorders that might be exploited in both cancer prevention and chemotherapy.
Discrete mixture modeling to address genetic heterogeneity in time-to-event regression

Motivation: Time-to-event regression models are a critical tool for associating survival time outcomes with molecular data. Despite mounting evidence that genetic subgroups of the same clinical disease exist, little attention has been given to exploring how this heterogeneity affects time-to-event model building and how to accommodate it. Methods able to diagnose and model heterogeneity should be valuable additions to the biomarker discovery toolset. Results: We propose a mixture of survival functions that classifies subjects with similar relationships to a time-to-event response. This model incorporates multivariate regression and model selection and can be fit with an expectation maximization algorithm, we call Coxassisted clustering. We illustrate a likely manifestation of genetic heterogeneity and demonstrate how it may affect survival models with little warning. An application to gene expression in ovarian cancer DNA repair pathways illustrates how the model may be used to learn new genetic subsets for risk stratification. We explore the implications of this model for censored observations and the effect on genomic predictors and diagnostic analysis. Availability and implementation: R implementation of CAC using standard packages is available at https://gist.github.com/programeng/ 8620b85146b14b6edf8f Data used in the analysis are publicly available.
Patterns of sequence conservation in presynaptic neural genes

The neuronal synapse is a fundamental functional unit in the central nervous system of animals. Because synaptic function is evolutionarily conserved, we reasoned that functional sequences of genes and related genomic elements known to play important roles in neurotransmitter release would also be conserved. Evolutionary rate analysis revealed that presynaptic proteins evolve slowly, although some members of large gene families exhibit accelerated evolutionary rates relative to other family members. Comparative sequence analysis of 46 megabases spanning 150 presynaptic genes identified more than 26,000 elements that are highly conserved in eight vertebrate species, as well as a small subset of sequences (6%) that are shared among unrelated presynaptic genes. Analysis of large gene families revealed that upstream and intronic regions of closely related family members are extremely divergent. We also identified 504 exceptionally long conserved elements (≥360 base pairs, ≥80% pair-wise identity between human and other mammals) in intergenic and intronic regions of presynaptic genes. Many of these elements form a highly stable stem-loop RNA structure and consequently are candidates for novel regulatory elements, whereas some conserved noncoding elements are shown to correlate with specific gene expression profiles. The SynapseDB online database integrates these findings and other functional genomic resources for synaptic genes. Highly conserved elements in nonprotein coding regions of 150 presynaptic genes represent sequences that may be involved in the transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulation of these genes. Furthermore, comparative sequence analysis will facilitate selection of genes and noncoding sequences for future functional studies and analysis of variation studies in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.
Histoplasmosis in a miniature Sicilian burro

Large animals appear less susceptible to clinical disease caused by the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum than are dogs and cats. Review of the literature revealed only 16 documented cases of naturally occurring histoplasmosis in equids. A case of the pulmonic form in a 7-month-old Tennessee Walking Horse colt with intestinal parasitism was reported in 1948. 16 The organism was cultured from the spleen and fetal membranes of a “normal mare” in 1951, and abortion in clinically normal mares was also documented. Histopathologic identification of the organisms in sections of bone marrow from a Thoroughbred gelding with primary lesions of equine infectious anemia was reported in 1969. More recent reports include granulomatous colitis in a Quarterhorse gelding in 1973 and ulcerative colitis with proteinlosing enteropathy associated with intestinal salmonellosis and histoplasmosis in a Quarterhorse stallion. Diagnosis and treatment of the pulmonic form of the disease was described in 1990. Nine diagnosed cases between 1986 and 1990 were documented, 4 of which were abortions and 4 which involved the pulmonic form in neonates. A case of naturally occurring histoplasmosis has not been described in a burro. evaluation for equine infectious anemia was negative prior to transport in this animal. The referring veterinarian related a history of chronic weight loss. Two weeks prior to case submission, the burro was noted to have lost approximately one third of her body weight. Complete blood counts and serum chemical profiles were within normal limits. Fecal flotation was negative for parasite ova. The jenny was afebrile. Despite intravenous fluid therapy with lactated Ringer’s solution and 5% dextrose in conjunction with administration of oral electrolytes and chloramphenicol therapy, the jenny remained anorexic and listless. Euthanasia was elected, and gross necropsy was performed. Gross lesions were confined to the colon and mesentery. Mesenteric lymph nodes were enlarged. There was thickening of the colonic wall, which contained multiple firm, white nodules of various sizes beneath the serosa and along the mesenteric attachment.
Accelerated Rate of Gene Gain and Loss in Primates

The molecular changes responsible for the evolution of modern humans have primarily been discussed in terms of individual nucleotide substitutions in regulatory or protein coding sequences. However, rates of nucleotide substitution are slowed in primates, and thus humans and chimpanzees are highly similar at the nucleotide level. We find that a third source of molecular evolution, gene gain and loss, is accelerated in primates relative to other mammals. Using a novel method that allows estimation of rate heterogeneity among lineages, we find that the rate of gene turnover in humans is more than 2.5 times faster than in other mammals and may be due to both mutational and selective forces. By reconciling the gene trees for all of the gene families included in the analysis, we are able to independently verify the numbers of inferred duplications. We also use two methods based on the genome assembly of rhesus macaque to further verify our results. Our analyses identify several gene families that have expanded or contracted more rapidly than is expected even after accounting for an overall rate acceleration in primates, including brain-related families that have more than doubled in size in humans. Many of the families showing large expansions also show evidence for positive selection on their nucleotide sequences, suggesting that selection has been important in shaping copy-number differences among mammals. These findings may help explain why humans and chimpanzees show high similarity between orthologous nucleotides yet great morphological and behavioral differences.
A diary study of information capture in working life

Despite the increasing number of new devices entering the market allowing the capture or recording of information (whether it be marks on paper, scene, sound or moving images), there has been little study of when and why people want to do these kinds of activities. In an effort to systematically explore design requirements for new kinds of information capture devices, we devised a diary study of 22 individuals in a range of different jobs. The data were used to construct a taxonomy as a framework for design and analysis. Design implications are drawn from the framework and applied to the design of digital cameras and hand held scanners.
Dynamic spectrum access policies for cognitive radio

We study the problem of dynamic spectrum sensing and access in cognitive radio systems as a partially observed Markov decision process (POMDP). A group of cognitive users cooperatively tries to exploit vacancies in some primary (licensed) channels whose occupancies have a Markovian evolution. We first consider the scenario where the cognitive users are aware of the distribution of the signals they receive from the primary users and we obtain a greedy channel selection and access policy that maximizes the instantaneous reward, while satisfying a constraint on the probability of interfering with licensed transmissions. We also derive an analytical universal upper bound on the performance of the optimal policy. We then consider the more practical scenario where the distribution of the signal from the primary is characterized by an unknown random parameter. We develop an algorithm that can learn this random parameter, still guaranteeing the constraint on the interference probability. We also demonstrate the performance gains of all our schemes through simulations.
Mammalian Wax Biosynthesis: II. EXPRESSION CLONING OF WAX SYNTHASE cDNAs ENCODING A MEMBER OF THE ACYLTRANSFERASE ENZYME FAMILY *

Wax monoesters are synthesized by the esterification of fatty alcohols and fatty acids. A mammalian enzyme that catalyzes this reaction has not been isolated. We used expression cloning to identify cDNAs encoding a wax synthase in the mouse preputial gland. The wax synthase gene is located on the X chromosome and encodes a member of the acyltransferase family of enzymes that synthesize neutral lipids. Expression of wax synthase in cultured cells led to the formation of wax monoesters from straight chain saturated, unsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty alcohols and acids. Polyisoprenols also were incorporated into wax monoesters by the enzyme. The wax synthase had little or no ability to synthesize cholesteryl esters, diacylglycerols, or triacylglycerols, whereas other acyltransferases, including the acyl-CoA:monoacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 and 2 enzymes and the acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 and 2 enzymes, exhibited modest wax monoester synthesis activities. Confocal light microscopy indicated that the wax synthase was localized in membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. Wax synthase mRNA was abundant in tissues rich in sebaceous glands such as the preputial gland and eyelid and was present at lower levels in other tissues. Coexpression of cDNAs specifying fatty acyl-CoA reductase 1 and wax synthase led to the synthesis of wax monoesters. The data suggest that wax monoester synthesis in mammals involves a two step biosynthetic pathway catalyzed by fatty acyl-CoA reductase and wax synthase enzymes.
Physical characteristics of porous cellulose beads as supporting material for immobilized enzymes

Cellulose beads prepared in this report have high porosity (75-80%) and evenly distributed pores. The pore size is about 1000 A. The cellulose beads are physically strong and contain large amounts of reactive groups, making them suitable for use as carriers for immobilized enzymes.
A circuit-level implementation of fast, energy-efficient CMOS comparators for high-performance microprocessors

Datapath components in modem high performance superscalar processors employ a significant amount of associative addressing logic based on the use of comparators that dissipate energy on a mismatch. These comparators are used to detect a full match, but as mismatches are much more common than full matches in some components of the CPU, considerable energy-inefficiencies occur within the associative logic. We propose the design of two new comparator circuits that predominantly dissipate energy on a match, thus resulting in very significant savings in comparator power dissipation. The proposed designs are evaluated using SPICE simulations of actual VLSI layouts of the comparators in 0.18 micron 6-metal layer process and micro-architectural level statistics.
Neighborhood Governments and Their Role in Property Values

More U.S. citizens live in neighborhoods governed by homeowners (HOAs) or neighborhood associations (NAs) than in any period of American history. Property values are typical association goals. Rese...
Noise penalty of highly saturated erbium-doped fiber amplifiers in analog links

We outline the noise penalty of using a high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifier in the place of a shot-noise-limited laser for analog applications. Intensity noise measurements are presented using a highly saturated +22-dBm output-power amplifier, demonstrating the achievable signal-to-noise ratios when passive optical loss follows the amplification stage.
Preventing Adolescent Drug Abuse and High School Dropout through an Intensive School-Based Social Network Development Program:

Abstract Purpose. The hypothesis tested was that experimental subjects, relative to controls, would demonstrate significant increases in school performance and decreases in drug involvement at program exit (5 months) and at follow-up (10 months). Design. A two-group, repeated-measures, intervention trial was the design used. Setting. The study involved four urban Northwest high schools. Subjects. Participants included 259 youth at high risk of potential school dropout, 101 in the experimental group and 158 in the control group. Intervention. The Personal Growth Class experimental condition was a one-semester, five-month elective course taken as one of five or six regular classes. It had a 1:12 teacher-student ratio, and integrated group support and life-skills training interventions. The control condition included a regular school schedule. Measures. School performance measures (semester GPA, class absences) came from school records. Drug use progression, drug control, and adverse consequences were measur...
Ultra-low inductance phase leg design for GaN-based three-phase motor drive systems

This paper presents an improved phase leg power loop design for enhance mode lateral structure Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors. Static characterization results of a 650V/30A GaN transistor are presented. The gate driver circuit is designed based on the characterization results. In order to reduce current commutation loop inductance within the GaN phase leg, an improved power loop design with vertical structure is proposed for lateral structure GaN transistors. The control of Common Mode (CM) noise current propagation is also considered during the gate driver design by optimizing the power distribution and grounding structure of the gate driver and digital control circuits. By differentiating the propagation path impedance of digital control circuits and their power supply circuits, conductive CM noise can propagate through power supply path to protect the digital control circuits. The design is verified through experiments on a phase leg prototype which prove the effectiveness of the proposed phase leg on the overvoltage reduction during current transition along with less cross-coupling between power loop and gate loop compared with conventional lateral power loop design. Finally, a three phase motor drive system is designed and tested based on the proposed phase leg.
Introduction to Accelerator Physics

The development of charged particle accelerators and it’s underlying principles has its basis on the theoretical and experimental progress in fundamental physical phenomena. While active particle accelerator experimentation started seriously only in the twentieth century, it depended on the basic physical understanding of electromagnetic phenomena as investigated both theoretically and experimentally mainly during the nineteenth and beginning twentieth century. In this introduction we will recall briefly the history leading to particle accelerator development, applications and introduce basic definitions and formulas governing particle beam dynamics.
Calculating zeros of the twisted Euler polynomials

In this paper we introduce the twisted Euler numbers En,wand polynomials En,w(x). Finally, we investigate the zeros of the twisted Euler polynomials.
Sexual function of the gynecologic cancer survivor.

Current advances in the field of medicine have aided in the early detection and treatment of cancer, leading to an increased rate of survivorship among cancer patients after an initial diagnosis.
Minority Protection and Democratic Consolidation: The role of European Integration in the Republic of Macedonia

The pur pose of this article is to take stock of the European integration literature in reference to Eastern Europe in order to bett er understand how international forces affe ct minority rights. The article will focus on the status of the Albanian minority in the case of the Republic of Macedonia and att empt to illustrate how European integration has contributed to or hindered ethnic reconciliation between the ethnic Albanian minority and Macedonian majority through a historical-sociological analysis. Additionally, by linking the protection of minority rights to democratic consolidation, this article will show how the former is largely dependent on the latt er.
Monographs of the Genera Megalacron and Rhytidoconcha (Papuininae: Camaenidae)

Summary This present study is a companion report to the one published in this Journal , No. 6. January, 1963, which covered the genera Papustyla, Forcartia and Meliobba. The two genera, Megalacron and Rhytidoconcha, reviewed in this report occur in the Bismarck Archipelago with two species, M . boyeri F. & B., found only on Woodlark Id., off the north-east coast of New Guinea, and M. alfredi Cox from Buka and Bougainville Islands in the northern Solomon Islands.
Evolving Law on Airport Implications by Unmanned Aerial Systems

The use, both public and private, of unmanned aerial systems (“UAS” or “drones”) is a rapidly expanding subset of aviation in America. For example, in the public sector, the United States Air Force currently trains more UAS operators than fighter pilots while the Central Intelligence Agency and Customs and Border Patrol use large “Predator” drones to support domestic defense and national security missions. Meanwhile, in the private sector, sales of micro- and small UAS (“sUAS”) — fixed-wing aircraft and quadcopters weighing less than 0.55 lbs. (approx. 250 grams) and 55 lbs. (approx. 25 kilograms), respectively — flown for hobby or recreational or commercial purposes — are growing exponentially, already numbering in the millions. Further, the potential for use of UAS for humanitarian and commercial purposes across a wide range of activities is enormous, from agriculture to search and rescue to aerial videography to environmental conservation. Companies such as Amazon have demonstrated the successful use of UAS to deliver consumer goods and packages to shoppers. The wide-spread availability of UAS has opened the national airspace system (“NAS”) to countless new users and uses in less than a decade. But, along with the beneficial applications have come the inevitable threats of misuse and misconduct, most significantly in terms of safety, security, and privacy. How to use and manage unmanned aerial traffic alongside traditional manned aircraft operations is of significant concern and interest to airports and their legal counsel. In this context, the purpose of this report is to provide a practical guide to assist airport sponsors and legal professionals in (1) understanding the basic legal and operational issues presented by civil UAS flight (i.e., including commercial and recreational uses, but excluding public operations) in airspace over, near, at, and around airports of all types, and (2) evaluating best practices for managing these legal and operational issues.
Off-center blast in a shocked medium

When multiple blasts occur at different times, the situation arises in which a blast wave is propagating into a medium that has already been shocked. Determining the evolution in the shape of the second shock is not trivial, as it is propagating into air that is not only non-uniform, but also non-stationary. To accomplish this task, we employ the method of Kompaneets to determine the shape of a shock in a non-uniform media. We also draw from the work of Korycansky (Astrophys J 398:184–189. https://doi.org/10.1086/171847 , 1992) on an off-center explosion in a medium with radially varying density. Extending this to treat non-stationary flow, and making use of approximations to the Sedov solution for the point blast problem, we are able to determine an analytic expression for the evolving shape of the second shock. In particular, we consider the case of a shock in air at standard ambient temperature and pressure, with the second shock occurring shortly after the original blast wave reaches it, as in a sympathetic detonation.
Assessment Approaches in Massive Open Online Courses: Possibilities, Challenges and Future Directions.

The development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has launched an era of large-scale interactive participation in education. While massive open enrolment and the advances of learning technology are creating exciting potentials for lifelong learning in formal and informal ways, the implementation of efficient and effective assessment is still problematic. To ensure that genuine learning occurs, both assessments for learning (formative assessments), which evaluate students’ current progress, and assessments of learning (summative assessments), which record students’ cumulative progress, are needed. Providers’ more recent shift towards the granting of certificates and digital badges for course accomplishments also indicates the need for proper, secure and accurate assessment results to ensure accountability. This article examines possible assessment approaches that fit open online education from formative and summative assessment perspectives. The authors discuss the importance of, and challenges to, implementing assessments of MOOC learners’ progress for both purposes. Various formative and summative assessment approaches are then identified. The authors examine and analyse their respective advantages and disadvantages. They conclude that peer assessment is quite possibly the only universally applicable approach in massive open online education. They discuss the promises, practical and technical challenges, current developments in and recommendations for implementing peer assessment. They also suggest some possible future research directions.
Effect of Measurement Technique on TMJ Mandibular Condyle and Articular Disc Morphometry: CBCT, MRI, and Physical Measurements.

Purpose Accurate description of the temporomandibular size and shape (morphometry) is critical for clinical diagnosis and surgical planning and the design and development of regenerative scaffolds and prosthetic devices and to model the temporomandibular loading environment. The study objective was to determine the 3-dimensional morphometry of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) condyle and articular disc using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and physical measurements of the same joints using a repeated measures design and to determine the effect of the measurement technique on temporomandibular size and shape. Materials and Methods Human cadaveric heads underwent a multistep protocol to acquire physiologically meaningful measurements of the condyle and disc. The heads first underwent CBCT scanning, and solid models were automatically generated. The superficial soft tissues were dissected, and intact TMJs were excised and underwent MRI scanning, with solid models generated after manual segmentation. After MRI, the intact joints were dissected, and physical measurements of the condyle and articular disc were performed. The CBCT-based model measurements, MRI-based model measurements, and physical measurements were standardized, and a repeated measures study design was used to determine the effect of the measurement technique on the morphometric parameters. Results Multivariate general linear mixed effects models showed significant effects for measurement technique for condylar morphometric outcomes (P Conclusions Physical measurements after dissection are still considered the reference standard. However, owing to their inaccessibility in vivo, understanding how the imaging technique affects the temporomandibular size and shape is critical toward the development of high-fidelity solid models to be used in the design and development of regenerative scaffolds, surgical planning, prosthetic devices, and anatomic investigations.
Hypertensive crisis with massive retinal and choroidal infarction: A case update.

Abstract Purpose We report an update on a recently published case of uncontrolled hypertension secondary to immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy resulting in massive bilateral retinal and choroidal infarction. Observations In our previous report, we presented a 30-year old female with end-stage renal disease who complained of painless vision loss after many missed hemodialysis. The patient was found to be in hypertensive crisis resulting in massive retinal and choroidal infarction with severe vision loss in both eyes. The patient was treated with pan-retinal photocoagulation (PRP) with intravitreal Bevacizumab and was subsequently lost to follow-up. In this update, we report the complications that followed. After many months, she presented to clinic with a blind painful right eye. She was found to have a further decrease in vision with neovascular glaucoma in the right eye and a tractional retinal detachment in the left eye. The patient ultimately elected for enucleation of her right eye. Immunohistopathology revealed IgA deposition, confirming the presumed diagnosis of IgA nephropathy, previously unconfirmable through renal biopsy. Conclusions and Importance There is a strong association between severity of retinopathy and level of kidney function. Although a rare presentation, hypertensive retinopathy is a common complication of end-stage renal disease and can be a devastating process as emphasized by this report. Those with auto-immune renal disease, such as IgA nephropathy, are at higher risk for retino-choroidal complications. It should remind all ophthalmologists and clinicians on the necessity of closer eye examinations for these patients, particularly for those with auto-immune renal disease.
A new simplified predictive model for mortality in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

Adjustment for confounding is important in observational methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (MRSAB) studies due to the wide spectrum of disease severity and baseline health status that patients present with. The objectives of this study were to develop a simplified MRSAB-specific scoring model to estimate the risk of 30-day all-cause mortality and to compare its performance to the APACHE II and Pitt Bacteremia scores. Retrospective, singe-center, cohort study in adults with MRSAB 2008 to 2018. Independent predictors of mortality were identified through multivariable logistic regression. A scoring model was derived using a regression coefficient-based scoring method. Discriminatory ability was assessed using the c statistic. A total of 455 patients were included. Thirty-day mortality was 16.3%. The MRSAB score consisted of six variables: age, respiratory rate, Glasgow Coma scale, renal failure, hospital-acquired MRSAB, and infective endocarditis or lower respiratory tract infection source. The score demonstrated very good discrimination (c statistic 0.8662, 95% CI 0.824–0.909) and was superior to the APACHE II (P = 0.043) and the Pitt bacteremia (P < 0.001) scores. A weighted combination of six independent variables routinely measured in patients with MRSAB can be used to predict, with high discrimination, 30-day all-cause mortality. External validation is required before widespread use.
Legionella pneumophila immunity and immunomodulation: nature and mechanisms.

Legionella pneumophila is considered the etiologic agent of legionellosis and may cause severe respiratory infection in susceptible individuals, including man and guinea pigs (1–8). These organisms are fastidious opportunistic pathogens which are ubiquitously found in nature but only occasionally causes disease in man under normal circumstances. Guinea pigs are extremely susceptible to these bacteria and are widely used as an animal model for legionellosis. In contrast, rodents such as mice and rats are highly resistant to infection by these bacteria (7,8,10,11). Mice are difficult to infect with strains of Legionella highly virulent for guinea pigs. In several situations, it has been observed that Legionella may infect immunocompromised individuals, although no particular immunological lesion has been associated with acquisition of the disease (12–14). Indeed, in the first recognized outbreak of legionellosis, i.e., the upper respiratory infection in Pennsylvania State Legionnaires attending a convention in Philadelphia, specific immunologic depression was not observed although individuals who developed the disease drank more liquor, smoked more cigarettes and generally had less sleep than those companions who did not contact the disease.
Typical entanglement entropy in the presence of a center: Page curve and its variance

In a quantum system in a pure state, a subsystem generally has a nonzero entropy because of entanglement with the rest of the system. Is the average entanglement entropy of pure states also the typical entropy of the subsystem? We present a method to compute the exact formula of the momenta of the probability $P({S}_{A})\mathrm{d}{S}_{A}$ that a subsystem has entanglement entropy ${S}_{A}$. The method applies to subsystems defined by a subalgebra of observables with a center. In the case of a trivial center, we reobtain the well-known result for the average entropy and the formula for the variance. In the presence of a nontrivial center, the Hilbert space does not have a tensor product structure and the well-known formula does not apply. We present the exact formula for the average entanglement entropy and its variance in the presence of a center. We show that for large systems the variance is small, $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{S}_{A}/⟨{S}_{A}⟩\ensuremath{\ll}1$, and therefore the average entanglement entropy is typical. We compare exact and numerical results for the probability distribution and comment on the relation to previous results on concentration of measure bounds. We discuss the application to physical systems where a center arises. In particular, for a system of noninteracting spins in a magnetic field and for a free quantum field, we show how the thermal entropy arises as the typical entanglement entropy of energy eigenstates.
Evaluating NATO enlargement: scholarly debates, policy implications, and roads not taken

NATO’s enlargement into Central and Eastern Europe after the Cold War is the subject of significant debate in academic and policy circles. With few exceptions, however, this debate focuses on single issues, such as whether enlargement led to the decline of the West’s relations with Russia. In this framing document, we look to expand the debate. We do so by sequentially reviewing the process by which NATO enlarged, outlining the array of issue areas within which to assess the consequences of NATO enlargement, and highlighting the particular importance of counterfactual analysis to any judgment of enlargement’s legacy. Building on a May 2019 workshop at Boston University, we also summarize the results of several articles that collectively evaluate the consequence of expansion for the USA, Russia, non-US NATO members, and the organization itself. Finally, we conclude by outlining elements of a broader research program on the aftereffects of NATO enlargement.
Financial Distancing: How Venture Capital Follows the Economy Down and Curtails Innovation

Although late-stage venture capital (VC) activity did not change dramatically in the first two months after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S., early-stage VC activity declined by 38%. The particular sensitivity of early-stage VC investment to market conditions- which we show to be common across recessions spanning four decades from 1976 to 2017- raises questions about the pro-cyclicality of VC and its implications for innovation, especially in light of the common narrative that VC is relatively insulated from public markets. We find that the implications for innovation are not benign: innovation conducted by VC-backed firms in recessions is less highly cited, less original, less general, and less closely related to fundamental science. These effects are more pronounced for startups financed by early-stage venture funds. Given the important role that VC plays in financing breakthrough innovations in the economy, our findings have implications for the broader discussion on the nature of innovation across business cycles.
Geminate blockage in Logoori harmony with no added machinery

Following the demise of the SPE theory of phonology, little attention was paid to how rules should be formulated. Instead, there was a general trend to minimize the language-specific component of a grammar, to factor out recurring patterns and state them as independent constraints or parameters. The richer representations of autose­gmental phonology additionally led to uncertainty in rule formulation, primarily because of questions about what the correct representations are, but also because specifying dominance and precedence relations is more complex than just specifying precedence relations. This paper discusses a vowel harmony rule in the Bantu language Logoori, which is blocked by an intervening gemi­nate consonant. It is typologically surprising that an intervening geminate has an effect on harmony, and there is no clear model for how such an effect in a rule should be encoded. It is shown that the effect follows naturally from correctly formalizing the rule, with attention to how rule and representational substrings are matched, and no rule-external conditions on the rule are necessary.
Dynamic fisheye grids for binary black hole simulations

We present a new warped gridding scheme adapted to simulating gas dynamics in binary black hole spacetimes. The grid concentrates grid points in the vicinity of each black hole to resolve the smaller scale structures there, and rarefies grid points away from each black hole to keep the overall problem size at a practical level. In this respect, our system can be thought of as a 'double' version of the fisheye coordinate system, used before in numerical relativity codes for evolving binary black holes. The gridding scheme is constructed as a mapping between a uniform coordinate system—in which the equations of motion are solved—to the distorted system representing the spatial locations of our grid points. Since we are motivated to eventually use this system for circumbinary disc calculations, we demonstrate how the distorted system can be constructed to asymptote to the typical spherical polar coordinate system, amenable to efficiently simulating orbiting gas flows about central objects with little numerical diffusion. We discuss its implementation in the Harm3d code, tailored to evolve the magnetohydrodynamics equations in curved spacetimes. We evaluate the performance of the system's implementation in Harm3d with a series of tests, such as the advected magnetic field loop test, magnetized Bondi accretion, and evolutions of hydrodynamic discs about a single black hole and about a binary black hole. Like we have done with Harm3d, this gridding scheme can be implemented in other unigrid codes as a (possibly) simpler alternative to adaptive mesh refinement.
Overview of Shapes and Stiffness

We begin by identifying some basic deformation modes in structural members, the mechanisms involved are made tangible through some FE computer experiment results. These are converted to concrete mechanics models by the principle of virtual work (PoVW) and the associated stationary principles. We develop two extensions of the PoVW for continuous systems: one is the strong formulation which develops the differential equations governing the deformed shape and makes a clear statement about all the boundary conditions (BCs) the other is the Ritz direct method which uses assumed deformed shapes that need to satisfy only the geometric BCs. These are complementary to each other as illustrated through the examples.
Frequency Analysis of Measured Transient Voltage of Neutral Grounding Reactor on UHV AC Transmission Line

In this paper, the frequency of measured transient voltage of neutral grounding reactor on UHV AC transmission line (abb.: neutral reactor) is analyzed. Firstly, the measurement method of transient voltage of neutral reactor is introduced. Then the measurement results are analyzed. When the no-load transmission line is put into power system, the transient voltage of neutral reactor contains two high frequency components. The component with lower frequency is determined by the zero-sequence voltage of the transmission line, and these oscillation frequency range is between 100 Hz and 250 Hz. The component with higher frequency is determined by the inductance value of the neutral reactor, and the corresponding relationship between the transient voltage frequency and power frequency impedances of the neutral reactor is obtained. When the no-load transmission line is cut off from power system, the transient voltage of neutral reactor contains only one frequency component, which is determined by the zero-sequence voltage of the transmission line, and these oscillation frequency distribution range is below 50 Hz. The measurement results will be useful for the UHV AC insulation coordination design, computer simulation model development, voltage measurement device development or other technical fields.
A group refactorization procedure for sleep electroencephalography

Abstract [WORKING DRAFT] In order to relate health and disease to brain state, patterns of activity in the brain must be phenotyped. In this regard, polysomnography datasets present both an opportunity and a challenge, as although sleep data are extensive and multidimensional, features of the sleep EEG are known to correlate with clinical outcomes. Machine learning methods for rank reduction are attractive means for bringing the phenotyping problem to a manageable size. The whole-night power spectrogram is nonnegative, and so applying nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) to separate spectrograms into time and frequency factors is a natural choice for dimension reduction. However, NMF converges differently depending on initial conditions, and there is no guarantee that factors obtained from one individual will be comparable with those from another, hampering inter-individual analysis. We therefore reseed time-frequency NMF with group frequency factors obtained from the entire sample. This “refactorization” extends classical frequency bands to frequency factors. The group reseeding procedure coerces factors into equivalence classes, making them comparable across individuals. By comparing frequency factor properties, we illustrate age-related effects on the sleep EEG. The procedure can presumably be adapted to higher resolutions, e.g. to local field potential datasets, for characterizing individual time-frequency events.
Thin Hematite Film Based Flavin Microsensor

We developed a new microelectrode with a tip made of a hematite film for the detection of flavin using pulse voltammetry. Hematite has been used as a reducing agent for many metals and an electrochemical sensor for Riboflavin, hydroquinone, and dopamine because of its excellent adsorption capacity. Potentially, a thin hematite film can be used for microelectrodes for sensor development. We prepared hematite films on a microelectrode with a carbon fiber tip. Colloidal hematite was synthesized from iron nitrate and characterized using FTIR and EDX. In addition to microelectrode work, a hematite film was deposited on to a glassy carbon electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (eQCM) to characterize the mechanism of deposition and physical sorption in a pH range of 5-8. Lastly, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to characterize the electrochemical processes. We found that the hematite film exhibited capacitive and resistive characteristics. We also found that the hematite film microelectrode detection limit improved compared to bare carbon fiber.
The impact of nonoperative hip and core injuries on National Football League athlete performance.

OBJECTIVES Hip and core injuries are common in National Football League (NFL) athletes; however, the impact following injury remains unclear. The goal of this manuscript was to determine the impact of nonoperative hip and core injuries on return to play and performance. METHODS NFL athletes who sustained a hip or core injury treated nonoperatively between 2010 and 2016 were identified. Offensive and defensive power ratings were calculated for each player's injury season and two seasons before and after to assess longitudinal impact. A matched control group without an identified hip and/or core injury was assembled for comparison. RESULTS A total of 41 offensive and 71 defensive players with nonoperative hip or core injury were analyzed. All athletes returned to play; offensive and defensive players missed 4.0 ± 5.2 and 3.1 ± 2.6 games after injury, respectively. Offensive players played fewer cumulative career games returning from core injury versus hip (23.5 ± 20.6 vs 41.0 ± 26.4). Defensive players played fewer games (58.1 ± 41.1 versus 37.4 ± 27.1, p < 0.05) with lower defensive power rating (133.9 ± 128.5 versus 219.8 ± 212.2, p < 0.05) cumulatively after hip or core injury. Additionally, 2 years following injury, defensive players played fewer games compared to controls (9.5 ± 7.0 versus 10.9 ± 6.8, p < 0.05). Following hip injury specifically, NFL defenders played fewer games (39.8 ± 27.9 vs 61.9 ± 38.8; p < 0.05) and had a lower defensive power rating (145.9 ± 131.7 vs 239.0 ± 205.9; p < 0.05) compared to before injury. CONCLUSION Overall, NFL players return to play following nonoperative hip and core injuries. Defensive players played in fewer games following hip or core injury compared to controls; offensive players were unaffected. Hip injuries have a greater impact on performance compared to core injuries in defensive athletes; offensive players played fewer games upon return from core injury.