cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anti-PD-L1 Treatment Induced Central Diabetes Insipidus.

Context Immune checkpoint inhibitors, including anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), anti-programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1), and anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (anti-CTLA4) monoclonal antibodies, have been widely used in cancer treatment. They are known to cause immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which resemble autoimmune diseases. Anterior pituitary hypophysitis with secondary hypopituitarism is a frequently reported irAE, especially in patients receiving anti-CTLA4 treatment. In contrast, posterior pituitary involvement, such as central diabetes insipidus (DI), is relatively rare and is unreported in patients undergoing PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. Case description We describe a case of a 73-year-old man with Merkel cell carcinoma who received the anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody avelumab and achieved partial response. The patient developed nocturia, polydipsia, and polyuria 3 months after starting avelumab. Further laboratory testing revealed central DI. Avelumab was held and he received desmopressin for the management of central DI. Within 6 weeks after discontinuation of avelumab, the patient's symptoms resolved and he was eventually taken off desmopressin. The patient remained off avelumab and there were no signs or symptoms of DI 2 months after the discontinuation of desmopressin. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first report of central DI associated with anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy. The patient's endocrinopathy was successfully managed by holding treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor. This case highlights the importance of early screening and appropriate management of hormonal irAEs in subjects undergoing treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors to minimize morbidity and mortality.
MULTIREGIONAL FIRMS AND REGION SWITCHING IN THE U.S. MANUFACTURING SECTOR

I use data on U.S. manufacturing establishments to study the spatial reallocation of resources that takes place within surviving firms as they open and close establishments in different regions. To motivate the empirical analysis, I extend existing models of industry dynamics to include production‐location decisions within firms. Consistent with the theory, the empirical results show that only a fraction of firms make the same product in multiple regions, that multiregional firms are larger and more productive on average compared to single‐region firms, and that “region switching” is pervasive among multiregional firms and correlated with changes in firm and firm‐region characteristics. (JEL L2, F12, F23)
Chronic Nosema ceranae infection inflicts comprehensive and persistent immunosuppression and accelerated lipid loss in host Apis mellifera honey bees.

Abstract Nosema ceranae is an intracellular microsporidian parasite of the Asian honey bee Apis cerana and the European honey bee Apis mellifera. Until relatively recently, A. mellifera honey bees were naive to N. ceranae infection. Symptoms of nosemosis, or Nosema disease, in the infected hosts include immunosuppression, damage to gut epithelium, nutrient and energetic stress, precocious foraging and reduced longevity of infected bees. Links remain unclear between immunosuppression, the symptoms of nutrient and energetic stress, and precocious foraging behavior of hosts. To clarify physiological connections, we inoculated newly emerged A. mellifera adult workers with N. ceranae spores, and over 21 days post inoculation (21 days pi), gauged infection intensity and quantified expression of genes representing two innate immune pathways, Toll and Imd. Additionally, we measured each host’s whole-body protein, lipids, carbohydrates and quantified respirometric and activity levels. Results show sustained suppression of genes of both humorally regulated immune response pathways after 6 days pi. At 7 days pi, elevated protein levels of infected bees may reflect synthesis of antimicrobial peptides from an initial immune response, but the lack of protein gain compared with uninfected bees at 14 days pi may represent low de novo protein synthesis. Carbohydrate data do not indicate that hosts experience severe metabolic stress related to this nutrient. At 14 days pi infected honey bees show high respirometric and activity levels, and corresponding lipid loss, suggesting lipids may be used as fuel for increased metabolic demands resulting from infection. Accelerated lipid loss during nurse honey bee behavioral development can have cascading effects on downstream physiology that may lead to precocious foraging, which is a major factor driving colony collapse.
Skeletal growth, body composition, and metabolic risk among North Sudanese immigrant children.

OBJECTIVES Children of immigrants and refugees from developing countries are at risk for poor growth that could contribute to adult chronic disease. This study describes the physical growth, bone growth, body composition, metabolic risks, physical activity, and food security of Sudanese children living in the United States. DESIGN AND SAMPLE Cross-sectional descriptive study of 64 Sudanese children age 5-18. MEASURES Bone mineral content (BMC), bone density (aBMD), and body composition (fat, lean mass, percent body fat) were measured using DXA. Lipids, insulin, glucose, and hs-CRP were analyzed using standardized laboratory methods. Food security was assessed with the U.S. Household Food Security Survey. Physical activity was measured through self-report questionnaire and pedometers. RESULTS About 1/3 of children had low BMC and aBMD. Lean mass was low in 46%, and 32% were obese. Cholesterol, triglycerides, and HOMA-IR were elevated in 23.4%, 32.8%, and 15.6% of children, respectively; only 22% of children were physically active and 40% experienced food insecurity. CONCLUSION Sudanese children may have unique risks related to low bone mass low muscle mass, high percent body fat metabolic biomarkers, inactivity, and food insecurity potentially contributing to adult osteoporosis, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Numerical investigation of effects of nucleation mechanisms on grain structure in metal additive manufacturing

Abstract Understanding the grain structure in metal additive manufacturing (MAM) builds is important to improve the properties of MAM builds and the controllability of MAM processes. The formation of the columnar and/or equiaxed grains in MAM are caused by an interplay of nucleation and growth mechanisms, which is numerically investigated in this work. A meso-scale Cellular Automata model combined with a macro-scale thermal model is used to predict the three-dimensional grain structure in the direct laser deposition process of stainless steel 304, with the investigation focused on the effects of the nucleation mechanisms (both the epitaxial nucleation at the fusion line and the bulk nucleation in the molten metal) on the grain structure. Our results show that the bulk nucleation condition can significantly change the grain structure (from columnar to equiaxed), and typical grain structures in MAM can be successfully reproduced using different bulk nucleation conditions.
Linguistics - Cornell University

Currently the researcher is segmenting and transcribing her Cheyenne/English language audio files herself. The process is far from ideal; she is applying for a grant that would allow her to hire a lab technician, ideally with linguistic background or training that would help her do that; even if it is only for the parts that are in English. Once the files have been transcribed; the data needs to be cleaned up and normalized; and metadata applied, after which it should be searchable, so that the textual files can be searched for specific linguistic features and then call up the audio files. Ultimately the data will be ingested in a publically accessible searchable db, that allows for the download of segments. The db is searchable in the original language, in English and by the morphological gloss (which is the closest notion to a data dictionary in linguistics.) The data needs to be backed up and preserved indefinitely.
Processing of dengue type 4 and other flavivirus nonstructural proteins

Dengue type 4 (DEN4) and other flaviviruses employ host and viral proteases for polyprotein processing. Most proteolytic cleavages in the DEN4 nonstructural protein (NS) region are mediated by the viral NS2B-NS3 protease. The N-terminal third of NS3, containing sequences homologous to serine protease active sites, is the protease domain. To determine required sequences in NS2B, deletions were introduced into DEN4 NS2B-30%NS3 cDNA and the expressed polyproteins assayed for self-cleavage. A 40 amino acid segment within NS2B was essential. Sequence analysis of NS2B predicts that this segment constitutes a hydrophilic domain surrounded by hydrophobic regions. Hydophobicity profiles of other flavivirus NS2Bs show similar patterns. Cleavage of DEN4 NS1-NS2A requires an octapeptide sequence at the NS1 C terminus and downstream NS2A. Comparison of the analogous octapeptide sequences among flaviviruses indicates a consensus cleavage sequence of (P8)/Met/Leu-Val-Xaa-Ser-Xaa-Val-Ala(P1), where Xaa are non- conserved amino acids. The effects on cleavage of amino acid substitutions in this consensus sequence were analyzed. Most substitutions of the conserved residues interfered with cleavage, whereas substitutions of non-conserved residues had little or no effect. These findings indicate that the responsible enzyme recognizes well-defined sequences at the cleavage site.
Supporting finding and re-finding through personalization

Although one of the most common uses for the Internet to search for information, Web search tools often fail to connect people with what they are looking for. This is because search tools are designed to satisfy people in general, not the searcher in particular. Different individuals with different information needs often type the same search terms into a search box and expect different results. For example, the query "breast cancer" may be used by a student to find information on the disease for a fifth grade science report, and by a cancer patient to find treatment options. This thesis explores how Web search personalization can help individuals take advantage of their unique past information interactions when searching. Several studies of search behavior are presented and used to inform the design of a personalized search system that significantly improves result quality. Without requiring any extra effort from the user, the system is able to return simple breast cancer tutorials for the fifth grader's "breast cancer" query, and lists of treatment options for the patient's. While personalization can help identify relevant new information, new information can create problems re-finding when presented in a way that does not account for previous information interactions. Consider the cancer patient who repeats a search for breast cancer treatments: she may want to learn about new treatments while reviewing the information she found earlier about her current treatment. To not interfere with refinding, repeat search results should be personalized not by ranking the most relevant results first, but rather by ranking them where the user most expects them to be. This thesis presents a model of what people remember about search results, and shows that it is possible to invisibly merge new information into previously viewed search result lists where information has been forgotten. Personalizing repeat search results in this way enables people to effectively find both new and old information using the same search result list. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Biochemical and Pharmacological Differentiation of Generic Low Molecular Weight Heparins

Generic LMWHs are available in several countries and several products are under review by the FDA. There are no regulatory guidelines for defining equivalence of complex biologic drugs. Multiple lo...
An elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for the hot-forming of aluminum alloys

Under hot-forming conditions characterized by high homologous temperatures and strain-rates, metals usually exhibit rate-dependent inelastic behavior. An elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model is presented here to describe metal behavior during hot-forming. The model uses an isotropic internal variable to represent the resistance offered to plastic deformation by the microstructure. Evolution equations are developed for the inelastic strain and the deformation resistance based on experimental results. A methodology is presented for extracting model parameters from constant true strain-rate compression tests performed at different temperatures. Model parameters are determined for an Al-1Mn alloy and an Al-Mg-Si alloy, and the predictions of the model are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data.
Investigation of Wave Focusing over a Parabolic Step

We report here upon an exploratory investigation of wave focusing over a bottom step which has a parabolic shape in the horizontal plane. Although building of a large-scale reflector can be a very costly project, the idea of using a parabolic reflector--either in the form of a wall or a step discontinuity at the bottom-- will be presented along with small-scale experimental results to test the feasibility of such systems. Some theoretical considerations for analytical description will be discussed.
Patient-Family Agenda Setting for Primary Care Patients with Cognitive Impairment: the SAME Page Trial.

Establishing priorities for discussion during time-limited primary care visits is challenging in the care of patients with cognitive impairment. These patients commonly attend primary care visits with a family companion. To examine whether a patient–family agenda setting intervention improves primary care visit communication for patients with cognitive impairment Two-group pilot randomized controlled study Patients aged 65 + with cognitive impairment and family companions (n = 93 dyads) and clinicians (n = 14) from two general and one geriatrics primary care clinic A self-administered paper-pencil checklist to clarify the role of the companion and establish a shared visit agenda Patient-centered communication (primary); verbal activity, information disclosure including discussion of memory, and visit duration (secondary), from audio recordings of visit discussion Dyads were randomized to usual care (n = 44) or intervention (n = 49). Intervention participants endorsed an active communication role for companions to help patients understand what the clinician says or means (90% of dyads), remind patients to ask questions or ask clinicians questions directly (84% of dyads), or listen and take notes (82% of dyads). Intervention dyads identified 4.4 health issues for the agenda on average: patients more often identified memory (59.2 versus 38.8%; p = 0.012) and mood (42.9 versus 24.5%; p = 0.013) whereas companions more often identified safety (36.7 versus 18.4%; p = 0.039) and personality/behavior change (32.7 versus 16.3%; p = 0.011). Communication was significantly more patient-centered in intervention than in control visits at general clinics (p < 0.001) and in pooled analyses (ratio of 0.86 versus 0.68; p = 0.046). At general clinics, intervention (versus control) dyads contributed more lifestyle and psychosocial talk (p < 0.001) and less biomedical talk (p < 0.001) and companions were more verbally active (p < 0.005). No intervention effects were found at the geriatrics clinic. No effect on memory discussions or visit duration was observed. Patient–family agenda setting may improve primary care visit communication for patients with cognitive impairment. ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT02986958
Duration Since Never in HIV Care and Immediate Blood-Draw After HIV Diagnosis are Associated with Willingness to Link to Care Following Health Department Outreach, New York City.

Late presentation to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care is an important concern for clinical outcomes and HIV prevention. Significant proportions of HIV-diagnosed persons are not timely linked to care following HIV diagnosis. We implemented and evaluated an intervention to link to care persons never in HIV care (NIC). Disease intervention specialists (DIS) traced persons presumed to be NIC since HIV diagnosis, offered them assistance with linkage to care, and elicited reasons for NIC. We examined the overall outcomes of the intervention and reasons for NIC. From January 2013 to December 2016, 121 persons were traced; 19% were linked to HIV care. Significantly (all P < 0.001) higher proportions of persons linked versus not linked to care were diagnosed < 1 year prior to being contacted by DIS (48% vs. 13%) or had a HIV-related laboratory test performed within 0–7 days of their diagnosis (87% vs. 33%). Among the 105 who provided reasons for NIC, most commonly reported were not believing one’s HIV diagnosis (30%) and lacking medical insurance (18%). Approximately 10% had been to a hospital emergency room and 20% to a primary care physician in the past year. Health department efforts to link persons NIC for HIV care were effective with a minority of eligible persons. Persons diagnosed within 1 year or who underwent HIV-related testing within 0–7 days of diagnosis were more likely to link to care. Newly HIV-diagnosed persons should be promptly referred to undergo all diagnostic testing and assessments on the same day or within 1 week of diagnosis.
Exhibiting memory: Temporary, mobile, and participatory memorialization and the Let Paul Robeson Sing! exhibition:

Since his first interactions with Welsh miners striking in London in 1929, Paul Robeson has been considered by some as an “honorary Welshman.” While the African American actor, athlete, activist, s...
Normative data for a rapid, automated test of spatial release from masking

Purpose The purpose of this study is to report normative data and predict thresholds for a rapid test of spatial release from masking for speech perception. The test is easily administered and has ...
Disappearing Medicaid Enrollment Disparities for US Citizen Children in Immigrant Families: State-Level Trends from 2008 to 2015

Abstract Objective Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health insurance to 38% of all children in the United States. Uninsured rates continued to fall over the past decade, and citizen children in immigrant families experienced the most dramatic gains. Our objective is to test whether states have managed to close Medicaid enrollment gaps between US citizen children in native and immigrant families. Methods We use the 2008 to 2015 American Community Surveys to compare uninsured rates for 2.4million Medicaid-eligible citizen children in immigrant and native families. State fixed-effects probit models estimate the probability of children remaining uninsured when eligible for public coverage, excluding children covered by private insurance. We compare the states with the largest enrollment gains across differences in policies relevant to CHIP/Medicaid participation for all children, including CHIP Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) enrollment simplification, Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion. Results Most states reduced their enrollment disparities by one half or even completely eliminated their enrollment differentials. However, the states with the largest gains did not adopt ACA and CHIPRA policy options that would have improved CHIP/Medicaid participation for children in their states–or implemented the policies long before the observed gains. Conclusions Rather than policy anchoring the gains, the improvements may be rooted in operational changes and outreach efforts during CHIPRA and ACA implementation. Absent a policy anchor, the large enrollment differentials of a decade ago may reappear for children in immigrant families, affect the wellbeing of children and their communities.
The Medial Axis

The medial axis (or skeleton) of a shape is the set of centers of discs of maximal radii inscribed in the shape. It provides a skeleton-like structure, which, when the associated maximal radii are also stored (providing the medial axis transform) uniquely encodes the shape geometry. This chapter described some fundamental properties of this transforms introduces some extensions.
Load Distribution of a Prestressed Self-Consolidating Concrete Bridge

Bridge A7957 is the first Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) large-scale project using self-consolidating concrete (SCC) and high-strength self-consolidating concrete (HS-SCC). The objective of this research was to monitor the initial in-service behavior of the precast-prestressed concrete primary elements of Bridge A7957 and to obtain the load distribution of the bridge using field and finite element models (FEM) data. An initial series of diagnostic load tests was conducted on the bridge superstructure. Embedded sensors recorded strain variations at different section of the instrumented girders for different load configurations. An automated total station (ATS) collected the vertical deflection of the girders at several locations during the application of different test loads. The load distribution for moment was obtained experimentally (using deflection and strain data), FEMs, and using the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. The distribution factors for moment estimated with the AASHTO LRFD equations resulted in larger values compared to field test and FEM results. No difference was observed between the response of the SCC and conventional concrete members during the first series of field load tests.
Entangling past, present, and future to examine queerness and white privilege in academia.

Lesbians have limited visibility or representation in educational research, and there has been even less consideration of the ways that lesbians' experiences are racialized. Using a methodological approach that entwines Karen Barad's concept of queer temporalities with Kimberle Crenshaw's discussion of single-axis intersectionality, this paper uses critical autoethnography to offer narrative examinations of the author's queerness as constantly enmeshed with her Whiteness. The author considers the degrees to which being situated in the socio-politically conservative U.S. South have influenced her experiences as a queer lesbian academic, even as White privilege has, intentionally and unintentionally, shaped her scholarship.
Multiple malignant transformations of an ovarian mature cystic teratoma

Background Malignant transformation of mature cystic teratomas (MCTs) is a rare phenomenon. The most common histology of a malignant transformation is squamous cell carcinoma, and there are limited reports of multiple malignancies arising in a single MCT. Further data are necessary to guide management of these atypical cases. Case We present the case of a 48-year-old with MCT containing a malignant papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) arising in the context of struma ovarii and a carcinoid tumour. Conclusion Malignant transformations of MCTs are exceedingly rare with no guidelines on management. We use this case to demonstrate an approach for the workup and management of malignantly transformed MCTs.
Methods for evaluating T cell receptor (TcR) repertoire via CDR3 spectratyping analysis

4126 Analysis of T cell receptor (TcR) repertoires has been the focus of recent studies of immunologic health. Diversity of this repertoire can effectively be measured through spectratyping, an RT-PCR-based method for estimating V gene representation and diversity of complementarity determining regions 3 (CDR3s). Primary focus has been on graphical analyses of chromatographs, where healthy TcRs exhibit an array of variable CDR3 lengths for a single rearranged V gene. Chromatographs could be used for evaluating a few patients, but for larger studies is unfeasible. Other more quantitative methods have focused only on the distributions of the peaks reflected on these chromatographs. However, this specific focus can omit other relevant information. Thus, we developed methods to summarize key features of spectratyping data and methods for TcR analysis where three primary measures are used to quantify the TcR diversity and health. Our approach focuses on quantifying the total number of peaks representing individual CDR3 lengths, the proportion of peaks representing productively rearranged alpha and beta transcripts, and disturbances in the distribution of CDR3 lengths. Examples of these methods to identify patterns in T cell diversity across different age groups as well as between healthy subjects and cancer patients will be presented.
Ancient Africa education: Egypt and nubia

This chapter focuses on pre-Hellenistic Egypt and Nubia, c. 3200–300 BCE. There is currently no comprehensive study of ancient Egyptian and Nubian education. This is partly due to a dearth of evidence (notably, there is no evidence for an indigenous Kerma writing system and Meroitic remains enigmatic), but also due to the general lack of formal educational institutions upon which we can focus our inquiry. The notable exception is scribal schools, which have largely been the focus of previous education-related studies. A recent scholarly trend focusing on settlement archaeology, however, has allowed scholars to better understand ancient Egyptian (and to a lesser degree Nubian) households, which provides a window into daily life and informal systems of knowledge production and maintenance. This chapter investigates formal and informal systems of education in ancient Egypt and Nubia, including literacy/scribal training, moral and social education, and specialized education such as scientific training.
An Air of Despair-Spontaneous Pneumomediastinum in Covid-19

Background: Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is the presence of free air in the mediastinum which is not preceded by any trauma, instrumentation, or medical procedure. SPM is a recognized complication in various clinical settings, including infections. There have been several reports of pneumomediastinum secondary to invasive ventilation in the current pandemic. However, the occurrence of spontaneous pneumomediastinum has been infrequently described with the background of Covid-19 infection. Case Presentation: A 65-year-old gentleman presented with three days history of fever, cough, and exertional dyspnea to our hospital. He denied any trauma, emesis, chest or neck pain. Past medical history was significant for a remote history of 10-pack-year smoking. On presentation, he was in distress with a respiratory rate of 26, saturating 85% on ambient air and otherwise hemodynamically stable. His chest X-ray showed bilateral infiltrates and subcutaneous emphysema. Complete blood count and electrolyte panel was unremarkable. D-Dimer was 8.47ug/ml with a CRP of 10.8mg/dl. Nasopharyngeal RT-PCR was positive for SARS-COV-2. A CT-Chest showed multifocal ground glass opacities along with pneumomediastinum(fig.1). He was managed conservatively with oxygen supplementation, IV dexamethasone and remdesivir. He was discharged after 7 days of hospitalization with interval resolution of the SPM. Discussion:SPM is an uncommon phenomenon in a viral pneumonia. The development of SPM occurs due to increased intra-thoracic pressures that cause alveolar rupture and leakage of air. It travels along the pulmonary interstitium to reach the mediastinum. The mechanism in Covid-19 is poorly understood but is hypothesized as intense alveolar inflammation that predisposes these patients to such a complication, further precipitated by bouts of cough. Previous reports have described the presence of subpleural bullae or cysts on CT images caused by the infectious process that led to the development of SPM. However, this finding was not present in our patient denoting a different mechanism. Use of non-invasive or mechanical ventilation carries a potential to either cause or exacerbate SPM as well. Conclusion: SPM is an infrequent complication of viral pneumonia. We highlight the importance of this phenomenon in COVID-19 patients with an unknown mechanism. Development of SPM may warrant monitoring for the possibility of pneumomediastinum-related cardiovascular and respiratory complications, especially in those requiring ventilation.
Federated Adversarial Debiasing for Fair and Transferable Representations

Federated learning is a distributed learning framework that is communication efficient and provides protection over participating users' raw training data. One outstanding challenge of federate learning comes from the users' heterogeneity, and learning from such data may yield biased and unfair models for minority groups. While adversarial learning is commonly used in centralized learning for mitigating bias, there are significant barriers when extending it to the federated framework. In this work, we study these barriers and address them by proposing a novel approach Federated Adversarial DEbiasing (FADE). FADE does not require users' sensitive group information for debiasing and offers users the freedom to opt-out from the adversarial component when privacy or computational costs become a concern. We show that ideally, FADE can attain the same global optimality as the one by the centralized algorithm. We then analyze when its convergence may fail in practice and propose a simple yet effective method to address the problem. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework through extensive empirical studies, including the problem settings of unsupervised domain adaptation and fair learning. Our codes and pretrained models are available at: https://github.com/illidanlab/FADE.
Pediatric Vascular Injuries

The four most common mechanisms of injury in adults and children are motor vehicle collisions, firearm injuries, stab wounds, and falls. Blunt traumatic mechanisms account for more than half of the vascular injuries observed in children. The most commonly injured vessels in children are in the upper extremity, particularly the brachial artery. Pediatric traumatic aortic rupture is an uncommon but significant, immediately life-threatening injury typically diagnosed using CT angiography. Management options require individualization based upon the child’s size, associated injuries, and institutional experience. As experience increases with pediatric endovascular stent grafts, this approach may offer an effective treatment in selected children with aortic injury. Pediatric extremity vascular injury is complicated by the small caliber of the injured vessels and the propensity for extreme vasospasm. Management principles are guided by clinical determination of ongoing hemorrhage, hemodynamic status, and limb viability. The ABI remains useful in assessing distal limb perfusion in neonates, infants, and children. Selected cases of neonatal and pediatric iatrogenic femoral arterial injury may be successfully managed by antithrombotic therapy. Operative management of childhood and adolescent vascular injuries follows established principles for adult vascular trauma. The use of temporary vascular shunting in children requires access to smaller diameter, size-specific shunts and may be a useful adjunct during damage control.
Manufacturing process used to produce long-acting recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein.

Abstract Recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein (rFVIIIFc) is a long-acting coagulation factor approved for the treatment of hemophilia A. Here, the rFVIIIFc manufacturing process and results of studies evaluating product quality and the capacity of the process to remove potential impurities and viruses are described. This manufacturing process utilized readily transferable and scalable unit operations and employed multi-step purification and viral clearance processing, including a novel affinity chromatography adsorbent and a 15 nm pore size virus removal nanofilter. A cell line derived from human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293H cells was used to produce rFVIIIFc. Validation studies evaluated identity, purity, activity, and safety. Process-related impurity clearance and viral clearance spiking studies demonstrate robust and reproducible removal of impurities and viruses, with total viral clearance >8–15 log 10 for four model viruses (xenotropic murine leukemia virus, mice minute virus, reovirus type 3, and suid herpes virus 1). Terminal galactose-α-1,3-galactose and N-glycolylneuraminic acid, two non-human glycans, were undetectable in rFVIIIFc. Biochemical and in vitro biological analyses confirmed the purity, activity, and consistency of rFVIIIFc. In conclusion, this manufacturing process produces a highly pure product free of viruses, impurities, and non-human glycan structures, with scale capabilities to ensure a consistent and adequate supply of rFVIIIFc.
Chilling and Bud Break in Silver Maple

Abstract Silver maple (Acer saccharinum L.) goes dormant in the autumn and is greatly delayed in bud break unless the buds are exposed to prolonged low temperature. Approximately 1000 hours below 4...
Beyond Minutiae: A Fingerprint Individuality Model with Pattern, Ridge and Pore Features

Fingerprints are considered to be unique because they contain various distinctive features, including minutiae, ridges, pores, etc. Some attempts have been made to model the minutiae in order to get a quantitative measure for uniqueness or individuality of fingerprints. However, these models do not fully exploit information contained in non-minutiae features that is utilized for matching fingerprints in practice. We propose an individuality model that incorporates all three levels of fingerprint features: pattern or class type (Level 1), minutiae and ridges (Level 2), and pores (Level 3). Correlations among these features and their distributions are also taken into account in our model. Experimental results show that the theoretical estimates of fingerprint individuality using our model consistently follow the empirical values based on the public domain NIST-4 database.
Spatial distribution of relativistic electron precipitation during a radiation belt depletion event

[1] We present observations from the NOAA-15 MEPED telescopes during a radiation belt depletion event on January 19–20, 2000 to investigate the spatial extent of electron precipitation during this interval. Precipitation mapped to the equatorial plane was confined to radial distances less than ∼6.5 Earth radii, indicating that precipitation was not the direct cause of the decrease in trapped flux observed by GOES. We found an enhanced day–night magnetic field asymmetry during the event, suggesting that magnetopause losses may have been responsible. Precipitation at lower L-values was observed by POES on the dusk passes (18:30–21:00 MLT), but not on the dawn passes, and was observed in conjugate hemispheres. These observations suggest that both precipitation and magnetopause losses were acting during this flux depletion event.
Stated goals and their influence on helping behavior toward ingroups and outgroups

When seeking to motivate individuals to help, helping behavior may be framed in terms of power-oriented, results focused, goals or value-oriented, ideologically based, goals. In two studies, participants were presented with a call for assistance benefitting an ingroup or an outgroup. The stated goal associated with helping behavior was power-oriented or value-oriented. Participants showed more willingness to help on behalf of an outgroup when they believed the charitable organization had value-oriented goals and more willingness to help on behalf of their ingroup when they believed the charitable organization had power-oriented goals. The results suggest that organizations should consider the relationship between who will benefit and who is providing assistance to maximize the likelihood that assistance will be provided.
Conformations and interactions of pectins. II. Models for junction zones in pectinic acid and calcium pectate gels.

Abstract Pectinic acid and calcium pectate gels condensed into uniaxially oriented fibers have been studied by X-ray diffraction. Although the diffraction patterns correspond to systems of only limited order, they show that both systems conserve the 1.3 nm axial period and 0.43 nm pseudo-period observed in sodium pectate. Pectinic acid further resembles sodium pectate in packing isometrically in a hexagonal net of side 0.84 nm. On the other hand, calcium pectate fibers contain the 1.2 nm lateral spacing observed in pectic acid. Speculative models for pectinic acid and calcium pectate have been developed. The former structure could be stabilized by hydrophobic binding from columns of methyl groups as well as by specific intermolecular hydrogen bonds. In the latter, the main interactions between pairs of chains could be bridges formed by calcium ions, which incorporate into their co-ordination shells two polyanion oxygen atoms from one chain and three from another. These model-building studies provide plausible visualizations of two different kinds of junction zones that may exist in pectic gels.
Voluntary Effort as a Tax Substitute in the Revenue-Sharing Allocation Formula

As a cost reducing measure, it is appropriate that local government officials use voluntary labor in their programs supplying public services to constituencies. The Revenue-Sharing Act of 1972, however, may actually serve as a disincentive to this use of voluntary effort, because the revenue-sharing allocation formula may discriminate against communities using voluntary labor. Stinson and Stam state that “the current allocation procedure (of revenue sharing) fails to take into account the cost of inputs which are not purchased with tax revenues” [7, p. 11]. They further suggest that “the most important of these neglected costs is the opportunity cost of voluntary labor” [7, p. 11]. Hitzhusen states, “to the extent the smaller communities substitute … volunteer for paid effort, then tax effort, and thus their revenue-sharing payment, is decreased” [2, p. 10]. The problem is one of examining alternative ways of modifying the present revenue-sharing allocation formula to include the value of voluntary effort. Providing fire protection services to rural areas by employing voluntary labor is the example used here.
Diagnosing self-efficacy in intelligent tutoring systems: an empirical study

Self-efficacy is an individual's belief about her ability to perform well in a given situation. Because self-efficacious students are effective learners, endowing intelligent tutoring systems with the ability to diagnose self-efficacy could lead to improved pedagogy. Self-efficacy is influenced by (and influences) affective state. Thus, physiological data might be used to predict a students' level of self-efficacy. This paper investigates an inductive approach to automatically constructing models of self-efficacy that can be used at runtime to inform pedagogical decisions. In an empirical study, two families of self-efficacy models were induced: a static model, learned solely from pre-test (non-intrusively collected) data, and a dynamic model, learned from both pre-test data as well as runtime physiological data collected with a biofeedback apparatus. The resulting static model is able to predict students' real-time levels of self-efficacy with reasonable accuracy, while the physiologically informed dynamic model is even more accurate.
An Anti-Story from Croatia

NOW AND THEN as a writer I am afraid that I have lost touch with my strongest source of writing?my people, their ways and their stories?and I get the desire to visit Croatia, to plug back into my roots. But, as soon as I got to Croatia in December of 1994, with the notion of gathering materials for stories?fiction and nonfiction?I wanted to leave. I stood in Rijeka in the rain among glum people and waited for the bus. I waited in Zagreb among glum people at tram stops. I could not get used to the slow and depressing rhythm of the new country, and I would have probably left right away if it hadn't been for my desire to visit my mother and my brother in Daruvar, seventy miles east of Zagreb. I had not seen them in two years; I immigrated to the States eighteen years before. My family was glad to see me but soon they ran out of things to say, as did almost anybody I saw in Daruvar. In whatever I heard, I did not catch the faintest glimmer of ex citement, a story. After three days of boredom, I went to the train station to take the first train out of the country. Forget roots. But the rail workers too?not only the storytellers?were on strike. I felt stuck. So when a friend of mine drove to Eastern Croatia, I went along, under the pretext that I'd see my sister, brother-in-law, and several other relatives (seeing nearly a dozen relatives in three days had sufficed); I simply wanted to feel the road shaken into my bones through any kind of wheel. And I hoped that on the new Serb-Croat border, outside of Vinkovci, the tension would present me with story material. South of Vinkovci I visited Blatce, a camp of displaced persons. In late 1991, Serb forces had destroyed Vukovar, a town of 50,000, and slaughtered in several days more than 3,000 people. Mass graves were scattered in the Vukovar vicinity. In Blatce now lived 3,300 survivors from the Vukovar re gion; they could not go back because Serbs occupied the area. (Under United Nations'"protection" since 1991 hundreds more Croats have been driven out of their homes in the Vukovar area.) I was sure there would be stories here. The camp director eyeballed me suspiciously when I told him I wanted to write an article about the camp. He wanted press papers from the Croatian Ministry of Information, which I did not have. His secretary, who lost sev eral members of her family in Vukovar, said, derisively, "He wants stories."
Computational Methods for Determining Individuality

Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual. We establish a computational methodology to determine whether a particular modality of data is sufficient to establish the individuality of every individual or even a demographic group. To test the individuality, generative models are given or learned to represent the distribution of certain characteristics such as birthday, human heights and fingerprints. Given the individuality assessments of different characteristic, the models based on multiple characteristics are proven to get strengthen individuality.
Teaching the Psychology of Gender Roles: Some Life-Stage Considerations

This article presents the argument that instructors of courses in the psychology of gender roles need to address the life-stage concerns of participants in their classes. Examples of films, topics, and popular books with a developmental emphasis are presented.
Agribusiness marketing research in a transition world economy.

Markets and the agricultural delivery system are examined in terms of the emerging areas of biotechnology and international competitiveness. These areas represent significant new researchable topics of importance to agribusiness. A second general aspect of agribusiness marketing research identified is understanding vertical linkages within the delivery system, especially the role of cash markets and the performance of various risk management strategies. Implications are drawn for priority research in agribusiness marketing.
Families of regular designs based on geometries

Abstract Recently Bush and Ostrom (1979) settled most of the open questions with respect to inequivalent solutions of a class of semiregular (SR) designs which can be constructed from nets. This paper is a study of the same nature for two families of regular (R) designs derived from finite projective planes. One family presents no problems, but the other which is a ‘double’ family with two parameters is much more difficult. In fact it is here solved only for designs based on planes of orders 3, 4, 5 and 8. Certain general methods exist which are indicated, but we were unable to resolve even the case 7 using this technique. Basically we show the existence of either inequivalent solutions or show there is but one solution settling a number of open cases. In particular for the case λ 1 = 2, λ 2 = 1 we give new solutions to a number of D(2) designs or group divisible designs with two associate classes which have no repeated blocks in contrast with the published solutions which have this undesirable property for a number of applications.
Use of Contemporary Genetics in Cardiovascular Diagnosis

An explosion of knowledge about the genetic and genomic bases for rare and common diseases has provided a framework for revolutionizing the practice of medicine. Achieving the reality of a genomic medicine era requires that basic discoveries are effectively translated into clinical practice through implementation of genetic and genomic testing. Clinical genetic tests have become routine for many inherited disorders and can be regarded as the standard of care in many circumstances, including disorders affecting the cardiovascular system. New high-throughput methods for determining the DNA sequence of all coding exons or complete genomes are being adopted for clinical use to expand the speed and breadth of genetic testing. Along with these extraordinary advances have emerged new challenges to practicing physicians for understanding when and how to use genetic testing and how to appropriately interpret test results. This review will acquaint readers with general principles of genetic testing, including newer technologies, test interpretation, and pitfalls. The focus is on testing genes responsible for monogenic disorders and on other emerging applications such as pharmacogenomic profiling. The discussion is extended to the new paradigm of direct-to-consumer genetic testing and the value of assessing genomic risk for common diseases. Genetic testing is a specialized diagnostic procedure that can be performed by commercial and research laboratories. However, in the United States, clinical genetic testing laboratories must meet stringent criteria for quality standards that conform to the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (referred to as CLIA).1 Most research laboratories operate without Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certification, and data generated in this setting are not strictly appropriate for inclusion in patient medical records or for making clinical decisions. Discoveries made by research laboratories should be confirmed by a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments–certified clinical genetics laboratory if the results are meaningful to patient care. Unlike commonly used …
Catabolism of the lignin substructure model compound dehydrodivanillin by a lignin-degrading Streptomyces

The lignin-degrading actinomycete Streptomyces viridosporus T7A readily degrades the lignin model compound dehydrodivanillin. Four mutants of this organism (produced by irradiation of spores with ultraviolet light) were shown to have lost the ability to catabolize dehydrodivanillin. These mutant strains retained an undiminished ability to degrade Douglas-fir lignin (14C-lignin → 14CO2) as compared to the wild-type strain. None of the strains accumulated detectable quantities of dehydrodivanillin when grown on lignocellulose. Thus it appears that the enzymes involved in dehydrodivanillin catabolism are not a part of the streptomycete's system for degrading polymeric lignin. It is concluded that dehydrodivanillin is probably not a relevant model compound for study of lignin polymer degradation by Streptomyces viridosporus. Since many stable mutants completely lacking DHDV-degrading ability were readily obtained, it is suggested that the relevant catabolic enzymes may be encoded on a plasmid.
Giving photovoltaics the green light: Plasmon-enhanced upconversion for broadband solar absorption

Reducing transmission losses in photovoltaics is essential for realizing highly efficient power conversion. Here we describe a cell that achieves near unity absorption of above-bandgap light and a broadband response to subbandgap light via plasmon-enhanced upconversion.