cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of Gait Speed and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living on All-Cause Mortality in Adults ≥65 Years With Heart Failure

Mobility and function are important predictors of survival. However, their combined impact on mortality in adults ≥65 years with heart failure (HF) is not well understood. This study examined the role of gait speed and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in all-cause mortality in a cohort of 1,119 community-dwelling Cardiovascular Health Study participants ≥65 years with incident HF. Data on HF and mortality were collected through annual examinations or contact during the 10-year follow-up period. Slower gait speed (<0.8 m/s vs ≥0.8 m/s) and IADL impairment (≥1 vs 0 areas of dependence) were determined from baseline and follow-up assessments. A total of 740 (66%) of the 1,119 participants died during the follow-up period. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models showed that impairments in either gait speed (hazard ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 1.10 to 1.70; p = 0.004) or IADL (hazard ratio 1.56, 95% confidence interval 1.29-1.89; p <0.001), measured within 1 year before the diagnosis of incident HF, were independently associated with mortality, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The combined presence of slower gait speed and IADL impairment was associated with a greater risk of mortality and suggested an additive relation between gait speed and IADL. In conclusion, gait speed and IADL are important risk factors for mortality in adults ≥65 years with HF, but the combined impairments of both gait speed and IADL can have an especially important impact on mortality.
Cardiac autonomic nervous system: a tug of war between the big brain and little brain--friends or foes?

Autonomic innervation of the heart involves both extrinsic and intrinsic cardiac autonomic nervous systems (CANS). The former collectively includes the ganglia in the brain or along the spinal cord and their axons (e.g., the vagosympathetic trunk) en route to the heart; the latter consists of the autonomic ganglia and axons located on the heart itself or along the great vessels within the pericardium. 1 Ample structural and functional evidence indicates that the intrinsic CANS form a complex neural network composed of ganglionated plexi (GP) concentrated within epicardial fat pads and their interconnecting ganglia and axons. Indeed, Ardell 2 has summarized the structural and functional concept of the intrinsic CANS as more than a simple relay station for the extrinsic autonomic projections to the heart. It functions as a local integrative neural network capable of modulating extrinsic autonomic projections to the heart and of mediating local cardiocardiac reflexes. The extrinsic and intrinsic CANS can operate interdependently and independently as well. The former was evidenced by observations showing that the neural inputs from the extrinsic CANS are often “integrated” at the fat pads containing GP to control cardiac electrophysiology. 3,4 After the intrinsic CANS was completely separated from the extrinsic CANS in a canine model of cardiac autotransplantation, the autonomic ganglia in the intrinsic CANS remained active and maintained their control over important cardiac function, demonstrating that the intrinsic CANS can operate independently from the extrinsic CANS. 5 It has been known for decades that stimulation of the sympathetic (e.g., stellate ganglion) and parasympathetic (e.g., vagus nerve) component of the extrinsic CANS can induce various arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular tachyarrhythmias. 6,7 The role of the intrinsic CANS in arrhythmogenesis
Federal Environmental Law in the 'New Federalism' Era

As we wrote last year, the U.S. Supreme Court has shown considerable interest during the past decade in reconsidering many constitutional doctrines regarding federalism and congressional power. In a series of important decisions, always decided with the same five justices in the majority, the Court has begun to redefine the federal-state relationship and the scope of federal authority. The past term generally continued that trend, with one important commerce power decision, one significant Eleventh Amendment/Fourteenth Amendment decision, and a number of decisions that involve or affect federalism and the scope of federal power, although the Court sometimes relied on statutory interpretation to avoid serious constitutional issues. Part I of this article describes the most recent decisions.
Bridging the Digital Divide Changing the Technological Landscape of Inner-City Catholic Schools

This article presents an evaluation of the Bridging the Digital Divide Program, an intervention in five inner-city Chicago Catholic schools during one school year conducted by a local university. The interventions included (a) instillation of technology and (b) professional technology skill development for in-service teachers. The analysis indicates that (a) in-service teachers who participated in the workshops did increase their understanding of specific technology, (b) in-service teachers who did not participate also increased their use of technology, (c) students increased their use of technology and skill development, and (d) professional development programs need to address issues for in-service teachers at all levels of skill development.
Dynamic diagnosis of sequential circuits based on stuck-at faults

A dynamic diagnosis scheme for synchronous sequential circuits is proposed. In contrast with schemes like fault dictionaries no prior computation and storage of fault symptoms is performed. The technique combines cause-effect and effect-cause strategies. Cause-effect analysis is performed by single stuck at fault simulation followed by a matching algorithm. Effect-cause analysis is performed by an error propagation back-trace starting from the falling outputs. The error propagation back-trace eliminates from consideration faults that could not have caused the failing symptoms. The procedure is exact for defects behaving as single stuck-at faults. Experimental results are provided for the ISCAS89 benchmark circuits.
Analysis of dynamics trajectories of DNA and DNA-drug complexes.

A FORTRAN-77 program is described which was applied for analysis of optimized structures and computer-generated dynamics trajectories of DNA and DNA-drug complexes. The CORDAN program (coordinates analysis) also can be used for various manipulations of DNA-drug complexes, i.e. inversion of asymmetric sites or rebuilding the structure of the intercalator, among others. These procedures can find application in drug design. Analysis of dynamics trajectory of neocarzinostatin antibiotic (NCS) intercalated to the A-DNA form of 5'GGATGGGAG:5'CTCCCATCC is presented. The procedures described can be used for detailed analysis of dynamics structures of DNA and their complexes with intercalating drugs.
Directional Connected Components Algorithm Based on Gradient Information

This paper presents a directional connected components algorithm that overcomes the problem of overlapping components by gradient information. The proposed algorithm replaces the binary matrix with the directional matrix that contains the gradient information. The directional matrix contains both the gradient magnitude and angle and provides the merge decisions of neighboring pixels for solving the problem of overlapping edges. The proposed algorithm improves the performance of the connected components algorithm in the classification of features and candidates using edge information. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can resolve the problem of overlapping components, and prevent false connections between components and background under various circumstances.
Adaptive stretch-shortening contractions: diminished regenerative capacity with aging.

This study determined the age-related changes in acute events responsible for initiating skeletal muscle remodeling and (or) regeneration in the tibialis anterior muscle following a bout of stretch-shortening contractions (SSCs). Changes in muscle performance and morphology were quantified in young and old rats, following an acute exposure to adaptive SSCs at 6, 24, 48, 72, and 120 h postexposure (n = 6 for each age at each recovery period). Following SSC exposure, all performance measures were decreased in old rats throughout the 120 h acute phase. Estimates of edema were increased in the old vs. young exposed muscle at 120 h recovery. Both young and old rats displayed an increase in developmental myosin heavy chain (MHCdev+) labeling in the exposed muscle, indicating muscle regeneration. However, old rats displayed diminished MHCdev+ labeling, compared with young rats, suggesting limited remodeling and (or) regenerative capacity. Based on these data, diminished local muscle remodeling and (or) regenerat...
Tumor-derived Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Up-Regulates Angiopoietin-2 in Host Endothelium and Destabilizes Host Vasculature, Supporting Angiogenesis in Ovarian Cancer

Vascular remodeling in host tissues surrounding growing tumors is implicated in the successful development of tumor neovasculature. Cooperation between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietins (Angs) is considered to be critical in this context. However, the mechanisms regulating the coordinated expression of these molecules remain, to date, elusive. In this study, we used a murine ovarian cancer angiogenesis model induced by overexpression of VEGF, as well as 52 human ovarian cancer specimens and 36 established cancer cell lines to characterize the expression and regulation of Ang-2 in the context of tumor angiogenesis. Using a combination of immunohistochemistry, laser capture microdissection and real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, we showed that tumor-derived VEGF significantly up-regulated the expression of Ang-2 in host stroma endothelial cells, resulting in markedly increased Ang-2/Tie-2 mRNA copy number ratio in vivo. In vitro experiments showed that VEGF directly up-regulated Ang-2, which is mediated via VEGF receptor-2/flk-1/KDR pathway, in cultured endothelial cells through transcriptional activation rather than the enhanced mRNA stability. In human ovarian cancer, Ang-2 was primarily expressed in stroma endothelial cells and detectable in tumor cells of only 12% tumor specimens; however, it was not detected in the majority of established ovarian cancer cell lines. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between VEGF and Ang-2 mRNA expression (P < 0.01) but not between VEGF and Ang-1 or Tie-2 in human ovarian cancer specimens. In the mouse ovarian cancer model, up-regulation of Ang-2 in host stroma endothelial cells was significantly associated with pericyte loss and instability of the host vasculature surrounding the tumor. Our study suggests a novel mechanism by which tumor-derived VEGF interacts with Angs/Tie-2 system in host stroma endothelial cells and induces in a paracrine manner the remodeling of host vasculature to support angiogenesis during tumor growth.
Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed

As conceived by classical Muslim jurists, ijtihād is the exertion of mental energy in the search for a legal opinion to the extent that the faculties of the jurist become incapable of further effort. In other words, ijtihad is the maximum effort expended by the jurist to master and apply the principles and rules of uṣūl alfiqh (legal theory) for the purpose of discovering God's law.1 The activity of ijtihad is assumed by many a modern scholar to have ceased about the end of the third/ninth century, with the consent of the Muslim jurists themselves. This process, known as ‘closing the gate of ijtihad’ (in Arabic: ‘insidād bāb al-ijtihād’), was described by Joseph Schacht as follows:
Provenance and Annotation for Visual Exploration Systems

Exploring data using visualization systems has been shown to be an extremely powerful technique. However, one of the challenges with such systems is an inability to completely support the knowledge discovery process. More than simply looking at data, users will make a semipermanent record of their visualizations by printing out a hard copy. Subsequently, users will mark and annotate these static representations, either for dissemination purposes or to augment their personal memory of what was witnessed. In this paper, we present a model for recording the history of user explorations in visualization environments, augmented with the capability for users to annotate their explorations. A prototype system is used to demonstrate how this provenance information can be recalled and shared. The prototype system generates interactive visualizations of the provenance data using a spatio-temporal technique. Beyond the technical details of our model and prototype, results from a controlled experiment that explores how different history mechanisms impact problem solving in visualization environments are presented
Self assembly of modular manipulators with active and passive modules

We describe self-assembling robot arm systems composed of active modular robots and passive bars. We present a case study where the robotic module is the Shady3D robot and the passive component is a rigid bar with embedded IR LEDs. We propose algorithms that demonstrate the cooperative aggregation of modular robotic manipulators with greater capability and workspace out of these two types of elements. We present results from physical experiments in which two 3DOF Shady3D robots and one rigid bar coordinate to self-assemble into a 6DOF manipulator. We then demonstrate cooperative algorithms for forward and inverse kinematics, grasping, and mobility with this arm.
Lyme Neuroborreliosis: Preliminary Results from an Urban Referral Center Employing Strict CDC Criteria for Case Selection

Lyme neuroborreliosis or “neurological Lyme disease” was evidenced in 2 of 23 patients submitted to strict criteria for case selection of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employing a two-tier test to detect antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi at a single institution. One patient had symptomatic polyradiculoneuritis, dysautonomia, and serological evidence of early infection; and another had symptomatic small fiber sensory neuropathy, distal polyneuropathy, dysautonomia, and serological evidence of late infection. In the remaining patients symptoms initially ascribed to Lyme disease were probably unrelated to B. burgdorferi infection. Our findings suggest early susceptibility and protracted involvement of the nervous system most likely due to the immunological effects of B. burgdorferi infection, although the exact mechanisms remain uncertain.
Gallium Nitride Power Device Design Tradeoffs

carrier lifetime, termination, HFET, polarization charge Abstract. Design curves for GaN power devices are developed by a power-law fit to theoretically calculated ionization coefficients, including parallel-plane depletionwidth and breakdown voltage versus doping. An epitaxial junction termination extension structure is described for vertical GaN devices and the effect of AlGaN/GaN polarization charge on breakdown in HFETs is considered. A key design relationship for GaN unipolar devices, the specific on-resistance is estimated versus breakdown voltage and for bipolar devices, the carrier lifetime requirement versus breakdown voltage is calculated.
Two Kinds of Belief: A Comparative Study of Two Jewish Literary Characters

Sholom Aleichem (the pen name of Shalom Rabinowitz) and Shemuel Yosef Agnon were both Jews born in Eastern Europe; the literary work of both predominantly focuses on the Jewish small town (stetl) in Eastern Europe. Sholom Aleichem was born in Pereyaslev, in die Ukraine, in 1859 and died in New York in 1916. Agnon (originally Czaczkes) was born in Buczacz, Eastern Galicia, in 1888 and died in Jerusalem in 1970. Sholom Aleichem wrote in Yiddish and has been one of the most popular and widely read writers in that language. Agnon was a prominent Hebrew writer whose literary work was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1966.
Far-Infrared Observations with a Small, Low-Background, Balloon-Borne Telescope

A single-mirror, off-axis telescope 20cm in diameter has been developed for observations in the 50-300μ band. Because of its low background properties, a large field of view and high sensitivity are obtained. With a 15 arcminute field of view the peak-to-peak noise equivalent flux with one second integration time is approximately l000Jy. The performance of this telescope and its associated three-axis pointing system will be discussed and the results of a limited far-infrared sky survey will be presented.
A Liberal Theory of the Good

Assuming that the argument of the previous chapter is correct, a puzzle arises. If it is indeed a relatively straightforward path of argument that leads to the conclusion that liberalism is not neutral with regard to the question of the good life, then why do so many liberals remain convinced that it is?1 Why, when liberals and their critics debate the issue of neutrality, do they so often seem to talk beyond one another? It seems to me that instances of these debates ought to come off better than they do, and in this essay I attempt to describe how they might. Leaving aside the consequences of state action and inaction in relation to the ideal of neutrality, I focus instead upon the two-tiered structure of liberal thinking about the idea of the good and the ideal of neutrality. My claim is that this structure inclines liberals to subtly but powerfully distort the nature of non-liberal ideals through the way in which the notion of “conceptions of the good” is itself conceptualized.
Kinetic Resolution of N-Acyl-β-Lactams via Benzotetramisole-Catalyzed Enantioselective Alcoholysis

The first nonenzymatic kinetic resolution of β-lactams has been achieved. Alcoholysis of their N-aroyl derivatives in the presence of a simple chiral acyl transfer catalyst, benzotetramisole, produces β-amino acid derivatives with excellent enantioselectivity.
UNSTEADY COMPRESSIBLE AERODYNAMICS OF A FLAPPED AIRFOIL WITH APPLICATION TO HELICOPTER VIBRATION REDUCTION

DO This paper describes a new, two-dimensional, D\ compressible unsteady aerodynamic model developed for dynamic analysis of a rotor blade/actively controlled flap cqmbination. Aerodynamic loads are approximated in the frequency domain as rational functions of the Laplace variable using a least squares fit to oscillatory response data. Transforma- F(x< tion to the time domain yields a state space model g(x.d for the unsteady aerodynamic loads. Expressions G for the unsteady lift, moment, and hinge moment h for an airfoil/flap combination are presented. Frequency domain loads are obtained using a two di- ft mensional doublet-lattice analysis. A provision is H included for representing the unsteady effects as- I sociated with time-varying freestream. The aero- ./ dynamic model for the airfoil/flap is implemented fc in an aeroelastic simulation of a fully elastic hin- Lh geless helicopter rotor with a partial span trailing Lcs edge flap. Vibration control studies using the ac- ji/y lively controlled flap are presented, with comparisons to results obtained using quasisteady aerody- M namics. Average and instantaneous power require- jv/j ments for the flap are also presented. nb nr
RANS and LES/RANS Simulation of Airfoils under Static and Dynamic Stall

This work presents results from Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes and hybrid Largeeddy/Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (LES/RANS) simulations of two flow cases: a turbulent flow past an Aerospatiale A-Airfoil near stall at a chord Reynolds number, ( , , ), and a flow past NACA 0012 airfoil under static and dynamic stall conditions ( , , ). In the flow past the A-Airfoil, the suction side boundary layer is complex: it includes a laminar separation bubble by an adverse pressure gradient, a turbulent reattachment and a turbulent separation near trailing edge. Comparisons with surface skin-friction coefficient and pressure coefficient distribution are generally in good agreement with experimental measurements. Comparisons with experimental velocity profile data and Reynolds-stress data are also generally favorable. Leading-edge laminar separation and turbulent reattachment is predicted when the Menter-Langtry correlation-based transition model is used in combination with either RANS or LES/RANS strategies, but the level of trailing-edge separated is under-predicted, relative to experimental data and to results obtained without the transition model. In the flow past NACA 0012 airfoil case, the airfoil was dynamically pitched about its quarter-chord at a reduced frequency, . Computational results from RANS simulations show that the flow remains attached in the leading edge region above the static stall angle during upstroke, whereas it remains separated below the static stall angle during downstroke. These results match the experimental measurement well. For static stall case of flow past NACA 0012 airfoil, results from the LES/RANS simulation are in much better agreement with the experimental data compared with those from RANS simulations. The RANS models predict flow attachment at the leading edge, whereas the LES/RANS model predicts leading edge flow separation, with the leading-edge vortex stabilized upstream of the trailing edge.
Brady's Yeast Powder Treatment of Acute Diarrhea of Children with Diabetes Results Analysis

Objective to investigate and study the clinical treatment of acute diarrhea of children with diabetes, the curative effect of application of brady's yeast powder. Methods select in May 2014 to April 2015, we treated 120 cases of children with acute diarrhea of children with diabetes as the object of study and observation. Patients aged from 6 months to 7 years old, the sufferer randomly divided into observation group and control group, two groups of 60 cases. Two groups of patients were given including oral montmorillonite powder, and anti-infection and rehydration of routine treatment, at the same time,the observation group was given oral brady's yeast powder treatment. On two groups of children with diarrhea used time and relieve diarrhea remission rate, and number of traits and stool. Results After two weeks of treatment, the observation group of patients with the total effective rate was 92.7%(56/60), significantly higher than the control group(71.4%, 47/60) patients, the total effective rate in patients with two groups of contrast, there are significant differences, statistically significant(P value is less than 0.05), with statistical significance. Conclusion in the conventional treatment at the same time, it is in giving children with diarrhea combination treatment with oral brady's yeast powder, diarrhea can effectively shorten the course of the disease and the curative effect is obviously improved, has good clinical application and popularization value.
Effect of interleukin-11 on cycling status and clonogenic maturation of fetal and adult hematopoietic progenitors

A recently cloned human cytokine, interleukin-11 (IL-11), has functional similarities to IL-6. We tested the hypothesis that the hematopoietic actions of IL-11 in vitro also resemble those of IL-6. The effect of IL-11 on the cell cycle status of fetal and adult hematopoietic progenitors was assessed using serum-free incubations followed by tritiated thymidine suicide studies. Its effect on clonogenic maturation was assessed by including IL-11, either as a single agent or with subplateau or plateau concentrations of other recombinant cytokines, in cultures that contained neutralizing monoclonal antibodies directed against relevant growth factors. Similar to IL-6, IL-11 resulted in accelerated cycling of fetal colony-forming units-mixed (CFU-MIX), CFU-granulocyte macrophage (CFU-GM), and erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E). This effect was additive to that of submaximal, but not to plateau, concentrations of IL-6. However, no effect of IL-11 was observed on cycling status of adult progenitors. As a single agent, IL-11 failed to support clonal maturation of either fetal or adult progenitors. IL-11 was additive to GM-CSF in supporting clonal maturation of CFU-GM from adult marrow but not from fetal blood. We conclude that the in vitro hematopoietic actions of IL-11 on cell cycle status of hematopoietic progenitors resemble those of IL-6. However, unlike IL-6, IL-11 as a single agent failed to support clonal maturation of fetal CFU-GM, BFU-E, and CFU-MIX.
T Cells in Autoimmunity and Allograft Rejection

Since T lymphocytes are important regulators and effectors of the immune response, a basic understanding of T lymphocyte activation and differentiation may lay the basis for novel immunotherapies of immune mediated diseases. Potential sites at which to interrupt T lymphocyte mediated diseases include: (1) HLA-peptide interactions, (2) T cell receptor (TCR) recognition of peptides in the context of HLA, (3) biochemical signals mediated via the TCR, (4) numerous other cellular adhesion and signaling pathways, (5) second messengers, (6) transcription factors, and (7) various effector molecules, including granzymes and perforin. We have investigated the effects of peptides corresponding to linear sequences of HLA class I molecules. Previously, we showed that peptides corresponding to regions of the polymorphic alpha 1 and alpha 2 domains could inhibit lysis by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for those regions. We now show that peptides corresponding to certain conserved regions of the HLA class I molecule can profoundly inhibit CTL. Furthermore, peptides corresponding to a particular conserved region of the HLA class I alpha 1 alpha helix are able to significantly prolong rat heterotopic heart transplants when given in conjunction with a sub-therapeutic course of cyclosporin A. These observations raise the possibility that soluble HLA molecules are natural immunoregulatory factors in vivo and that synthetic peptides may prove useful as novel immunosuppressive drugs.
Deposition of Suspended Particles in a Gravel Bed

Silt particles moving in suspension in a flow over a clean gravel bed will deposit in this bed. In a uniform bed the probability of depositing at any place is proportional to the availability of silt particles. If no additional silt particles become available along the bed, the deposition reduces exponentially along the bed. The half-life for staying in suspension is proportional to the water depth and inversely proportional to the settling velocity of the silt particles.
Clinical aspects of hypertension in children.

The importance of measuring blood pressure routinely in children over 3 years, and in specific circumstances in younger children, is increasingly recognized. The incidence of pediatric hypertension is relatively high, its prevalence increasing, and high blood pressure tends to track into adulthood. Interpretation of a blood pressure measurement requires knowledge of sex-, age-, and height-specific normative values. Blood pressure is classified as normal if 95th percentile, and as prehypertension if 90-95th percentile. The methods available to measure blood pressure together with their advantages and disadvantages, as well as pitfalls in measurement, are discussed. Also discussed is Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring which may define if there is "dipping", i.e. a decrease in blood pressure by > 10% during sleep, a novel parameter that may help identify children at risk of sustained hypertension or its complications. Signs, symptoms and physical findings of the child with hypertension are reviewed.
Coronary constriction due to neuropeptide Y: alleviation with cyclooxygenase blockers.

Intra-arterial administration of neuropeptide Y (NPY), a peptide endogenous to sympathetic nerves, increases coronary vascular resistance by 30-40%. To test whether blockade of prostaglandin synthesis altered the severity of the NPY-induced coronary vasoconstriction, dogs (n = 25) were anesthetized and instrumented to record hemodynamic parameters. In control animals (n = 11) paired infusions of NPY (42 nmol/3 min) were given at 0 and 120 min. NPY produced similar increases in coronary resistance by 10 min, 31 +/- 7% (mean +/- SD) with the first dose vs. 32 +/- 12% with the second dose. The increases in resistance were due to an initial decrease in coronary flow (10 +/- 6%) followed by a prolonged increase in aortic pressure (15-20% over 20 min). Each infusion of NPY decreased heart rate (-10 +/- 7%) but did not alter left ventricular dP/dt. The effects of NPY lasted 40–60 min. In a separate group, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor (COI), indomethacin (n = 6) or ibuprofen (n = 8), was given 1 h before the second dose of NPY. The increases in coronary resistance were blunted significantly after cyclooxygenase blockade from a predrug value of 36 +/- 13 to 19 +/- 12%. In these treated animals, the decrease (-12 +/- 6%) in coronary blood flow seen with the first dose of NPY was prevented (4 +/- 14%) during the second dose (P less than 0.05). Of the two drugs, ibuprofen appeared to restore coronary flow more than did indomethacin. Neither drug affected the base line or the NPY-elicited changes in aortic pressure, heart rate, dP/dt, or myocardial oxygen demands.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Breast Cancer Research in the Nurses' Health Studies: Exposures Across the Life Course.

Objectives. To review the contribution of the Nurses’ Heath Study (NHS) and the NHS II in identifying risk and protective factors for breast cancer incidence and survival.Methods. We conducted a narrative review of NHS and NHS II articles on breast cancer incidence and survival published from 1976 to 2016, with a focus on exogenous and endogenous hormones; lifestyle factors, including diet, physical activity, and aspirin use; intermediate markers of risk; and genetic factors.Results. With the investigation of individual risk factors, as well as their incorporation into risk prediction models, the NHS has contributed to the identification of ways in which women may reduce breast cancer risk, including limiting alcohol consumption, reducing the duration of postmenopausal estrogen-plus-progestin use, avoiding weight gain, and increasing vegetable consumption. In addition, the NHS has helped elucidate the roles of several biomarkers and contributed to the identification of risk alleles.Conclusions. The NHS ha...
Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a term that encompasses a broad array of symptoms including deficits in social interaction and communication, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and often intellectual delays. The diagnosis of ASD is more common in boys than girls. Children with ASD typically experience stress when they must cope with differences from their usual routine. Some children with ASD may have difficulty transitioning between activities in the school setting. Children with ASD benefit from behavioral training where new behaviors are taught gradually and children are rewarded for small positive changes in their behaviors. Repeated practice and the use of social routines (to help the child recall the steps in a social interaction) may assist children in learning and exhibiting social skills, such as greeting others and turn-taking in conversations. There are numerous tools for assessing symptoms of ASD, most of which are based on observations of symptoms necessary to make a diagnosis of ASD. Children with ASD learn though routines and practice. They may need continued reinforcement of and practice of social and communication skills to maintain critical skills they have learned. Continued support in the classroom setting is usually needed with Individual Education Programming.
Protein Interaction Profile Sequencing (PIP‐seq) in Plants

RNA secondary structure and RNA-protein interactions are necessary for maintaining biological functionality and regulatory mechanisms within eukaryotic transcriptomes. Determining the structural characteristics and protein-bound sites of RNA molecules has therefore become a major research objective and requires the development of global methods for probing intra- and intermolecular RNA interaction sites. Sequencing RNAs treated with single-strand- and double-strand-specific ribonucleases in the absence of proteins allows the inference of RNA secondary structure. These samples can be compared to samples treated with nucleases in the presence of interacting proteins to identify protein-bound sequences. Thus, these four libraries reveal a comprehensive, transcriptome-wide view of RNA secondary structure and RNA protein interaction sites in a single experiment for any plant species of interest. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Specification and verification of technical plant behavior with symbolic timing diagrams

The specification of technical plant behavior is vitally important. It forms the basis for the draft of hardware and software and it serves the creation of documentation. Furthermore, the specification enables the engineer to verify the control software with a model-checking tool. In order to be able to provide the description of behavior correctly and without misunderstandings, it should be done formally. Temporal logics, like the Computation Tree Logic, offer an ideal solution for this purpose. However they are based on a complex theory. In order to use them anyway in practice the formal expressions have to be developed by automated procedures out of an intuitively understandable description. This contribution proposes a graphic-based method, which enables the user to create such a formal specification by the use of Symbolic Timing Diagrams.
Letter by Moris and Avgerinos Regarding Article, "Recurrent Ischemic Lesions After Acute Atherothrombotic Stroke: Clopidogrel Plus Aspirin Versus Aspirin Alone".

We read with great interest the recent publication of Hong et al1 evaluating the potential superiority of clopidogrel plus aspirin versus aspirin alone in terms of recurrent cerebral ischemia prevention in patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by large artery atherosclerosis. The striking finding of this trial was that clopidogrel plus aspirin might not be superior to aspirin alone to prevent new ischemic lesion and clinical vascular events in patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by large artery atherosclerosis.1 Moreover, they found that overall 35.2% of patients had ischemic lesion recurrence within 30 days: the rate of 36.5% in the clopidogrel plus aspirin arm was higher than expected and that of 35.9% in the aspirin-alone arm was lower than …
Performance of 4 Point-of-Care Screening Tests for Feline Leukemia Virus and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.

Background More than 3 million cats in the United States are infected with FeLV or FIV. The cornerstone of control is identification and segregation of infected cats. Hypothesis/Objectives To compare test performance with well-characterized clinical samples of currently available FeLV antigen/FIV antibody combination test kits. Animals Surplus serum and plasma from diagnostic samples submitted by animal shelters, diagnostic laboratories, veterinary clinics, and cat research colonies. None of the cats had been vaccinated against FIV. The final sample set included 146 FeLV+, 154 FeLV−, 94 FIV+, and 97 FIV− samples. Methods Prospective, blind comparison to a gold standard: Samples were evaluated in 4 different point-of-care tests by ELISA antigen plate tests (FeLV) and virus isolation (FIV) as the reference standards. All test results were visually read by 2 blinded observers. Results Sensitivity and specificity, respectively, for FeLV were SNAP® (100%/100%), WITNESS® (89.0%/95.5%), Anigen® (91.8%/95.5%), and VetScan® (85.6%/85.7%). Sensitivity and specificity for FIV were SNAP® (97.9%/99.0%), WITNESS® (94.7%/100%), Anigen® (96.8%/99.0%), and VetScan® (91.5%/99.0%). Conclusions and Clinical Importance The SNAP® test had the best performance for FeLV, but there were no significant differences for FIV. In typical cat populations with seroprevalence of 1–5%, a majority of positive results reported by most point-of-care test devices would be false-positives. This could result in unnecessary segregation or even euthanasia.
Remembering that big things sound big: Sound symbolism and associative memory

According to sound symbolism theory, individual sounds or clusters of sounds can convey meaning. To examine the role of sound symbolic effects on processing and memory for nonwords, we developed a novel set of 100 nonwords to convey largeness (nonwords containing plosive consonants and back vowels) and smallness (nonwords containing fricative consonants and front vowels). In Experiments 1A and 1B, participants rated the size of the 100 nonwords and provided definitions to them as if they were products. Nonwords composed of fricative/front vowels were rated as smaller than those composed of plosive/back vowels. In Experiment 2, participants studied sound symbolic congruent and incongruent nonword and participant-generated definition pairings. Definitions paired with nonwords that matched the size and participant-generated meanings were recalled better than those that did not match. When the participant-generated definitions were re-paired with other nonwords, this mnemonic advantage was reduced, although still reliable. In a final free association study, the possibility that plosive/back vowel and fricative/front vowel nonwords elicit sound symbolic size effects due to mediation from word neighbors was ruled out. Together, these results suggest that definitions that are sound symbolically congruent with a nonword are more memorable than incongruent definition-nonword pairings. This work has implications for the creation of brand names and how to create brand names that not only convey desired product characteristics, but also are memorable for consumers.
Causal inference and heterogeneity bias in social science

Because of population heterogeneity, causal inference with observational data in social science may suffer from two possible sources of bias: 1 bias in unobserved pretreatment factors affecting the outcome even without treatment; and 2bias due to heterogeneity in treatment effects. Even when we control for observed covariates, these two biases may occur if the classic ignorability assumption is untrue. In cases where the ignorability assumption is true, "composition bias" can occur if treatment propensity is systematically associated with heterogeneous treatment effects.
PRM1 and KAR5 function in cell-cell fusion and karyogamy to drive distinct bisexual and unisexual cycles in the Cryptococcus pathogenic species complex

Sexual reproduction is critical for successful evolution of eukaryotic organisms in adaptation to changing environments. In the opportunistic human fungal pathogens, the Cryptococcus pathogenic species complex, C. neoformans primarily undergoes bisexual reproduction, while C. deneoformans undergoes both unisexual and bisexual reproduction. During both unisexual and bisexual cycles, a common set of genetic circuits regulates a yeast-to-hyphal morphological transition, that produces either monokaryotic or dikaryotic hyphae. As such, both the unisexual and bisexual cycles can generate genotypic and phenotypic diversity de novo. Despite the similarities between these two cycles, genetic and morphological differences exist, such as the absence of an opposite mating-type partner and monokaryotic instead of dikaryotic hyphae during C. deneoformans unisexual cycle. To better understand the similarities and differences between these modes of sexual reproduction, we focused on two cellular processes involved in sexual reproduction: cell-cell fusion and karyogamy. We identified orthologs of the plasma membrane fusion protein Prm1 and the nuclear membrane fusion protein Kar5 in both Cryptococcus species, and demonstrated their conserved roles in cell fusion and karyogamy during C. deneoformans α-α unisexual reproduction and C. deneoformans and C. neoformans a-α bisexual reproduction. Notably, karyogamy occurs inside the basidum during bisexual reproduction in C. neoformans, but often occurs earlier following cell fusion during bisexual reproduction in C. deneoformans. Characterization of these two genes also showed that cell fusion is dispensable for solo unisexual reproduction in C. deneoformans. The blastospores produced along hyphae during C. deneoformans unisexual reproduction are diploid, suggesting that diploidization occurs early during hyphal development, possibly through either an endoreplication pathway or cell fusion-independent karyogamy events. Taken together, our findings suggest distinct mating mechanisms for unisexual and bisexual reproduction in Cryptococcus, exemplifying distinct evolutionary trajectories within this pathogenic species complex.
Women in Neurosurgery: Final Frontier of Career Women's Movement

In the past, women in neurosurgery were deemed "less than a minority." Pioneering women entered neurosurgical residency programs alone, facing large obstacles to become surgical experts. Recent data suggest a stark increase in the number of women neurosurgical residents. As the field of neurosurgery attempts to increase numbers of women surgeons, it must also adjust workplace culture to embrace a new group of trainees. Here, we share an account of historical numbers, as well as evidence of a changing landscape within neurosurgery and suggestions of ways to modify workplace culture based on examples set in other career paths.
Applying to College: The Role of Family Resources in Academic Undermatch

Background/ContextWhile K–12 research places parents at the center of understanding students’ educational outcomes, empirical analyses of academic undermatch, and transition into higher education m...
Political Decentralization and Party Decay in Latin America

Early advocates of decentralization lauded it as a strategy for strengthening democratic institutions, but later scholarship has emphasized decentralization’s negative consequences, especially for political parties. This article argues that the impact of political decentralization on established parties is shaped by the context in which the reforms occur, with poor economic performance and limited programmatic differentiation making parties more vulnerable to the challenges posed by decentralization. The article explores how decentralization under such circumstances has contributed to party decay in Latin America, where declining support for established parties has been significant, in some places undermining democratic stability and governability. The article employs cross-national time-series analysis and case studies. The quantitative evidence indicates that political decentralization weakens existing parties in contexts of poor economic conditions and little ideological differentiation in the party system. Case studies elaborate the processes through which decentralizing reforms together with economic conditions and party linkages affect party systems. Resumen Estudios tempranos sobre la descentralizacion celebran el efecto positivo de dichos procesos sobre las instituciones democraticas. En contraste, estudios mas recientes enfatizan las consecuencias negativas de la descentralizacion, especialmente para los partidos politicos. Este articulo argumenta que el impacto de procesos de descentralizacion sobre los partidos politicos depende del contexto en que dichas reformas ocurren. Especificamente, contextos de pobre desempeno economico y falta de diferenciacion programatica hacen a los partidos mas vulnerables a los desafios planteados por la descentralizacion. El articulo explora como, en dichas circunstancias, la descentralizacion ha contribuido al deterioro de los partidos politicos latinoamericanos, en algunos casos debilitando la estabilidad democratica y gobernabilidad. El articulo incluye un analisis estadistico y de casos. El primero muestra como la descentralizacion debilita los partidos existentes en contextos de pobre desempeno economico y falta de diferenciacion ideologica en el sistema de partidos. El segundo ilumina los procesos mediante los cuales las reformas de descentralizacion, junto con condiciones economicas y mecanismos de vinculacion partidaria, afectan al sistema de partidos politicos.
Ice thickness measurements in Lake Erie during the winter of 2010–2011

Abstract Time series measurements of ice thicknesses were made at either 1 or 2 Hz at 6 locations in the western part of Lake Erie's central basin during the winter of 2010–2011. Ice was observed over approximately 80 days beginning in late December and continuing through mid-March. Deformation and ridging of ice occurred frequently and produced ice thicknesses of up to 10 m, and over 6 m at all stations. The measurements show considerable variability (up to several meters) between stations, even when the distance between them is
On Revisiting Social Work

A review of the knowledge expansion in the field emphasizes the need to upgrade education and include clinical options in doctoral programs. It criticizes present unawareness of the roots of many m...
Limiting underage alcohol purchases: An application of the consumer decision model

The consumer decision-making model is applied to store clerks faced with determining which customers should be carded for the purchase of alcohol. Manipulated decisional time pressure induced either a vigilant (high involvement) or hypervigilant (low involvement) decision state. Clerks (N = 256) rated four combined shopper–product profiles under conditions of high or low time pressure and assessed the likelihood that the shopper would be carded. Results indicated that increased time pressure reduced the likelihood of being required to present identification and that males were least likely to be asked for identification under high time pressure. The managerial implications and utility of the consumer decision model for enhancing compliance with minimum legal drinking age laws are considered.
Identifying the Enemy in the War on Drugs: A Critique of the Developing Rule Permitting Visual Identification of Indescript White Powders in Narcotics Prosecutions

When the actual substances have been lost or were never recovered, a number of jurisdictions have allowed criminal prosecutions for possession of a controlled substance to proceed based on an officer's lay opinion testimony that based on visual appearance, a particular power or crystalline substance was, say, heroin, methamphetamine, or cocaine. This article challenges this line of cases, first on the ground that there is no scientific basis for visual identification of powders--it is impossible to tell just by looking what chemicals a white powder contains, particularly because almost all street drug sales involve mixtures. In addition, the existence of statutes prohibiting sales of counterfeit or imitation substances reflect the reality that many sales of what appear to be drugs in fact involve non-controlled substances. Accordingly, this form of opinion testimony should not be admitted in a prosecution where an element of the offense is possession of an actual, particular controlled substance.
New approaches in the management of hyperkinetic movement disorders.

This review covers recent advances in a variety of dyskinesias. Introduction of new drugs for the treatment of myoclonus and sensory biofeedback therapy for focal dystonia are expanding our concepts of these types of movement disorders. Progress in the treatment of action myoclonus is especially noteworthy and has led to the impli cation of serotonin deficit in the pathophysiology of this syndrome. Knowledge of the biochemical pathology of Huntington’s chorea has outpaced therapy for this disorder, but new forms of therapy have been proposed based on the chemical findings. Basic pharmacologic studies suggest pathophysiologic mechanisms for the syndrome known as tardive dyskinesia, but treatment is still far from ideal for this disorder. Other movement disorders with recent therapeutic advances include essential tremor and hemiballism