cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parenting Mediates the Effects of Income and Cumulative Risk on the Development of Effortful Control

This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of income and cumulative risk on the development of effortful control during preschool would be mediated by parenting. The study utilized a community sample of 306 children (36–40 months) representing the full range of family income, with 29 percent at or near poverty and 28 percent lower income. Two dimensions of effortful control (executive control and delay ability) were assessed at four time points, each separated by nine months, and growth trajectories were examined. Maternal warmth, negativity, limit setting, scaffolding, and responsiveness were observed. Above the effects of child cognitive ability, income, and cumulative risk, scaffolding predicted higher initial levels of executive control that remained higher across the study, and limit setting predicted greater gains in executive control. Parenting did not predict changes in delay ability. Significant indirect effects indicated that scaffolding mediated the effects of income and cumulative risk on growth in executive control. The findings suggest that parenting behaviors can promote effortful control in young children and could be targets of prevention programs in low-income families.
Cortactin and phagocytosis in isolated Sertoli cells.

Background: Cortactin, an actin binding protein, has been associated with Sertoli cell ectoplasmic specializations in vivo, based on its immunolocalization around the heads of elongated spermatids, but not previously identified in isolated Sertoli cells. In an in vitro model of Sertoli cell-spermatid binding, cortactin was identified around debris and dead germ cells. Based on this observation, we hypothesized that this actin binding protein may be associated with a non-junction-related physiological function, such as phagocytosis. The purpose of this study was to identify the presence and distribution of cortactin in isolated rat Sertoli cells active in phagocytic activity following the addition of 0.8 µm latex beads. Results: Sertoli cell monocultures were incubated with or without follicle stimulating hormone (FSH; 0.1 µg/ml) in the presence or absence of cytochalasin D (2 µM), as an actin disrupter. Cortactin was identified by standard immunostaining with anti-cortactin, clone 4F11 (Upstate) after incubation times of 15 min, 2 hr, and 24 hr with or without beads. Cells exposed to no hormone and no beads appeared to have a ubiquitous distribution of cortactin throughout the cytoplasm. In the presence of cytochalasin D, cortactin immunostaining was punctate and distributed in a pattern similar to that reported for actin in cells exposed to cytochalasin D. Sertoli cells not exposed to FSH, but activated with beads, did not show cortactin immunostaining around the phagocytized beads at any of the time periods. FSH exposure did not alter the distribution of cortactin within Sertoli cells, even when phagocytic activity was upregulated by the presence of beads. Conclusion: Results of this study suggest cortactin is not associated with peripheralized actin at junctional or phagocytic sites. Further studies are necessary to clarify the role of cortactin in Sertoli cells.
Modeling of Unsteady Shock Tube Flows Using Direct Simulation Monte Carlo

The simulation of the UV spectra of moderate Mach number flows is the strongest test possible of the complex thermochemical models in hypersonic flows. To take advantage of low-density ground-based measurements, however, one needs to be able to model unsteady flows using kinetic particle approaches. The direct simulation Monte Carlo approach is used in this paper to model the thermal relaxation in nonreacting nitrogen shocks corresponding to the data and the higher Mach number air shocks and radiation of previous research. In the first case, it is found that better agreement with experimental data can be achieved when assuming a constant rotational collision number instead of a temperature-dependent one. For the second data set, the nonequilibrium NO UV radiation from unsteady reflected air shocks are modeled and compared with experimental data. The Larsen–Borgnakke and total collision energy models are used to simulate the internal energy relaxation and chemistry of five chemical species (N2, O2, N, O, a...
Understanding the Lived Experiences of Patients: Application of a Phenomenological Approach to Ethics

This perspective article provides a justification, with an overview, of the use of phenomenological inquiry and the interpretation into the everyday ethical concerns of patients with disabilities. Disability is explored as a transformative process that involves physical, cognitive, and moral changes. This perspective article discusses the advantages of phenomenology to supplement and enhance the principlist process of ethical decision making that guides much of contemporary medical practice, including physical therapy. A phenomenological approach provides a more contextual approach to ethical decision making through probing, uncovering, and interpreting the meanings of "stories" of patients. This approach, in turn, provides for a more coherent and genuine application of ethical principles within the "textured life-world" of patients and their evolving values as they grapple with disability to make ethical and clinical decisions. The article begins with an in-depth discussion of the current literature about the phenomenology of people with disability. This literature review is followed by a discussion of the traditional principlist approach to making ethical decisions, which, in turn, is followed by a discussion of phenomenology and its tools for use in clinical inquiry and interpretation of the experiences of patients with disabilities. A specific case is presented that illustrates specific tools of phenomenology to uncover the moral context of disability from the perspective of patients. The article concludes with a discussion of clinical, educational, and research implications of a phenomenological approach to ethics and clinical decision making.
The Effect of Social Category on Third Party Punishment

Motivations to punish should depend on a number of factors including the nature of the interaction (e.g., collective action versus dyadic exchange) and the social category of the interactants. Here...
Paraboloid reflector and hyperboloid lens antennas

A theoretical analysis of the radiating properties of the paraboloid reflector and the hyperboloid lens shows that low amplitude cross-polarized radiation and high gain factors can be obtained from a paraboloid reflector excited by a plane-wave source. Low amplitude, cross-polarized radiation can also be obtained from the hyperboloid lens with a plane-wave feed, but with a lower gain factor. It is found that the measured properties of the antennas agree reasonably well with the theoretical predictions. Also it is found experimentally that principal plane side lobes of the order of -40 db can be obtained with a short focal length hyperboloid lens.
Absolute Magnitude Determinations from Hydrogen-Line Photometry

The history and status of Balmer hydrogen-line photometry are briefly reviewed, and problems associated with calibrations in general are commented on.
Economic value of flexible hydrogen-based polygeneration energy systems

Abstract Polygeneration energy systems (PES) have the potential to provide a flexible, high-efficiency, and low-emissions alternative for power generation and chemical synthesis from fossil fuels. This study aims to assess the economic value of fossil-fuel PES which rely on hydrogen as an intermediate product. Our analysis focuses on a representative PES configuration that uses coal as the primary energy input and produces electricity and fertilizer as end-products. We derive a series of propositions that assess the cost competitiveness of the modeled PES under both static and flexible operation modes. The result is a set of metrics that quantify the levelized cost of hydrogen, the unit profit-margin of PES, and the real-option values of ‘diversification’ and ‘flexibility’ embedded in PES. These metrics are subsequently applied to assess the economics of Hydrogen Energy California (HECA), a PES currently under development in California. Under our technical and economic assumptions, HECA’s levelized cost of hydrogen is estimated at 1.373 $/kg h . The profitability of HECA as a static PES increases in the share of hydrogen converted to fertilizer rather than electricity. However, when configured as a flexible PES, HECA almost breaks even on a pre-tax basis. Diversification and flexibility are valuable for HECA when polygeneration is compared to static monogeneration of electricity, but these two real options have no value when comparing polygeneration to static monogeneration of fertilizers.
Structural Requirements of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors: SAHA Analogs Modified on the Hydroxamic Acid

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) proteins have emerged as targets for anti-cancer therapeutics, with several inhibitors used in the clinic, including suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA, vorinostat). Because SAHA and many other inhibitors target all or most of the 11 human HDAC proteins, the creation of selective inhibitors has been studied intensely. Recently, inhibitors selective for HDAC1 and HDAC2 were reported where selectivity was attributed to interactions between substituents on the metal binding moiety of the inhibitor and residues in the 14-A internal cavity of the HDAC enzyme structure. Based on this earlier work, we synthesized and tested SAHA analogs with substituents on the hydroxamic acid metal binding moiety. The N-substituted SAHA analogs displayed reduced potency and solubility, but greater selectivity, compared to SAHA. Docking studies suggested that the N-substituent accesses the 14-A internal cavity to impart preferential inhibition of HDAC1. These studies with N-substituted SAHA analogs are consistent with the strategy exploiting the 14-A internal cavity of HDAC proteins to create HDAC1/2 selective inhibitors.
The hepatitis B infectious status and its analysis on the healthy population in high risk counties of Jiujiang city

OBJECTIVE To know the prevalence status in hepatitis B high risk counties in our city and to provide detailed baseline data for the exploration of new methods to control hepatitis B. METHODS Took the population healthy test which featured the hepatitis B test and analyzed the hepatitis B infection systematically. RESULTS The positive HbsAg rate was4.99% in high risk counties which was higher in rural area than that in urban area; although the positive HbsAg rate was lower under the age of 15 years, which was obviously high in rural area. The positive HbsAg rate was increasing gradually with the increase of age above the age of 15. The rate between male and female was 1.18 ︰1. Workers, housework personnel and people waited for employment had high risk of infection of Hepatitis B than other professions. The positive HbsAb rate was lower in the whole population. The rate under 14 years old was 52.75% which was lower than the national average level.CONCLUSION Since the hepatitis B vaccine has been brought into the immunization program, the effect of hepatitis B control is significant. But still has weak spot in hepatitis B routine vaccination especially in rural area. The key point to control hepatitis B is to improve the inoculation rate in the adults. How to improve the immunization effect still needs to be discussed further.
Simple Predictive Model of Early Failure among Patients Undergoing First-Time Arteriovenous Fistula Creation

Background Native arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) have a high 1 year failure rate leading to a need for secondary procedures. We set out to create a predictive model of early failure in patients undergoing first-time AVF creation, to identify failure-associated factors and stratify initial failure risk. Methods The Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) (2010–2014) was queried to identify patients undergoing first-time AVF creation. Patients with early (within 3 months postoperation) AVF failure (EF) or no failure (NF) were compared, failure being defined as any AVF that could not be used for dialysis. A multivariate logistic regression predictive model of EF based on perioperative clinical variables was created. Backward elimination with alpha level of 0.2 was used to create a parsimonious model. Results We identified 376 first-time AVF patients with follow-up data available in VSGNE. EF rate was 17.5%. Patients in the EF group had lower rates of hypertension (80.3% vs. 93.2%, P = 0.003) and diabetes (47.0% vs. 61.3%, P = 0.039). EF patients were also more likely to have radial artery inflow (57.6% vs. 38.4%, P = 0.011) and have forearm cephalic vein outflow (57.6% vs. 36.5%, P = 0.008). Additionally, the EF group was noted to have significantly smaller mean diameters of target artery (3.1 ± 0.9 vs. 3.6 ± 1.1, P = 0.002) and vein (3.1 ± 0.7 vs. 3.6 ± 0.9, P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that hypertension, diabetes, and vein larger than 3 mm were protective of EF (P < 0.05). The discriminating ability of this model was good (C-statistic = 0.731) and the model fits the data well (Hosmer–Lemeshow P = 0.149). β-estimates of significant factors were used to create a point system and assign probabilities of EF. Conclusions We developed a simple model that robustly predicts first-time AVF EF and suggests that anatomical and clinical factors directly affect early AVF outcomes. The risk score has the potential to be used in clinical settings to stratify risk and make informed follow-up plans for AVF patients.
Comment on "Deficient NLRP3 and AIM2 Inflammasome Function in Autoimmune NZB Mice".

The role of inflammasomes remains unclear in the development of autoimmunity in mouse models such as the New Zealand Black (NZB) and B6. Nba2 congenic (congenic for the NZB-derived Nba2 locus on the C57BL/6 genetic background) mice ([1][1]). Therefore, we read the recent paper by Sester et al. ([2][
Root instrumentation. Power-driven versus manual scalers, which one?

The literature is clear that periodontal therapies aimed at altering the progression of inflammatory periodontal diseases must include meticulous subgingival mechanical debridement during both the nonsurgical and the surgical phases of treatment as the basis of most anti-infective therapy. In the past, infection control was achieved by the mechanical removal of subgingival deposits of plaque, calculus, and endotoxin with curets, files, and hoes. Historically, it was also generally agreed that aggressive scaling and root planing with hand instruments was necessary to remove tenacious calculus deposits to produce roots as smooth as possible for removal of the endotoxins previously thought to be deeply embedded into the root surfaces. Based on current evidence in the literature, it is now known that endotoxin is a weakly adherent surface phenomenon and that sonic and ultrasonic (power-driven) instruments can be used to accomplish definitive root detoxification and maximal wound healing without overinstrumentation of root and without extensive cementum removal. Power-driven scalers may have unique advantages because of the cavitational activity associated with ultrasonics thought to supplement removal of root surface plaques. In addition, the constant flushing activity of the lavage used to cool the tips results in disruption of the unattached and weakly attached subgingival plaques. The ability to flush the pocket during subgingival instrumentation with water or other chemical irrigating solutions is unique to ultrasonic and sonic scalers and has been shown to enhance pocket depth reduction and gain in clinical attachment beyond that achieved with hand scaling. The added benefit of chemical lavage during ultrasonic instrumentation shows great promise and may enhance the overall effect of nonsurgical anti-infective periodontal therapy. Other major advantages of power-driven scalers may include better access to difficult areas, such as deep narrow defects, root grooves, and furcations, using newly designed microultrasonic tips, which are smaller in diameter and able to penetrate the pocket approximately 1 mm farther than hand instruments. Taken together, it appears that use of ultrasonic or sonic scalers for periodontal debridement will result in improvements in clinical and microbial parameters at a level equal to or superior to hand scalers.
Emerging Designer Drugs

Abstract Recently, a plethora of new and formerly obscure compounds have appeared on the illicit drug market, and many have become quite popular. These new drugs of abuse often prove to be established research chemicals that have diffused out of laboratories and scientific journals and onto the streets. Their rapid appearance and largely unknown character put them into a legal gray area, where they are often referred to by sellers and users as “legal highs,” until emergency scheduling can be invoked. A factor that has contributed to this explosion of new street drugs is the ready access to information about their effects as well as sources of the drugs that has been provided by the Internet. This chapter will survey the types of new designer drugs that are emerging, and provide some basic information about each class. At the end, we provide a commentary about legal issues involved in control of new designer drugs.
Atmospheric inputs of organic matter to a forested watershed: Variations from storm to storm over the seasons

Abstract The objectives of this study were to determine the quantity and chemical composition of precipitation inputs of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to a forested watershed; and to characterize the associated temporal variability. We sampled most precipitation that occurred from May 2012 through August 2013 at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (Pennsylvania, USA). Sub-event precipitation samples (159) were collected sequentially during 90 events; covering various types of synoptic meteorological conditions in all climatic seasons. Precipitation DOC concentrations and rates of wet atmospheric DOC deposition were highly variable from storm to storm, ranging from 0.3 to 5.6 mg C L−1 and from 0.5 to 32.8 mg C m−2 h−1, respectively. Seasonally, storms in spring and summer had higher concentrations of DOC and more optically active organic matter than in winter. Higher DOC concentrations resulted from weather types that favor air advection, where cold frontal systems, on average, delivered more than warm/stationary fronts and northeasters. A mixed modeling statistical approach revealed that factors related to storm properties, emission sources, and to the chemical composition of the atmosphere could explain more than 60% of the storm to storm variability in DOC concentrations. This study provided observations on changes in dissolved organic matter that can be useful in modeling of atmospheric oxidative chemistry, exploring relationships between organics and other elements of precipitation chemistry, and in considering temporal changes in ecosystem nutrient balances and microbial activity.
Thermally actuated wax valves for paper-fluidic diagnostics

The complexity of current paper-fluidic diagnostic devices is limited by their imperfect control of reagent incubation and delivery. Valves providing complete fluid obstruction and multiple actuation steps within a single paper-fluidic diagnostic would increase the range of diagnostic bioassays in these porous membranes. Here, we report the rapid fabrication of tunable wax-ink valves that are thermally actuated within porous membranes. Varying width bands of wax-ink were printed onto strips of nitrocellulose and cellulose membranes and characterized by their triggered obstruction and release of fluid wicking through the membranes. To demonstrate the utility of these wax-ink valves, we have transformed a traditional lateral flow immunoassay into a multi-step, semi-autonomous assay that enhances bacterial detection signal intensity 6-fold. The wax-ink valves are applicable to other paper fluidic assays by fully obstructing fluid flow for a sustained reaction time and are able to be actuated multiple times for sequential fluid delivery with minimal user involvement. These easily fabricated wax-ink valves are a versatile addition to the toolkit of fluidic control mechanisms required to develop more sensitive paper-based diagnostics.
A Diffusion Model for Maximizing Influence Spread in Large Networks

Influence spread is an important phenomenon that occurs in many social networks. Influence maximization is the corresponding problem of finding the most influential nodes in these networks. In this paper, we present a new influence diffusion model, based on pairwise factor graphs, that captures dependencies and directions of influence among neighboring nodes. We use an augmented belief propagation algorithm to efficiently compute influence spread on this model so that the direction of influence is preserved. Due to its simplicity, the model can be used on large graphs with high-degree nodes, making the influence maximization problem practical on large, real-world graphs. Using large Flixster and Epinions datasets, we provide experimental results showing that our model predictions match well with ground-truth influence spreads, far better than other techniques. Furthermore, we show that the influential nodes identified by our model achieve significantly higher influence spread compared to other popular models. The model parameters can easily be learned from basic, readily available training data. In the absence of training, our approach can still be used to identify influential seed nodes.
Did the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 Impact Economic Growth in North Africa?

AbstractIn this paper, we utilize time series tests with structural breaks to test for evidence of an impact on economic growth rates in North African countries following the 2007−2009 U.S. and global financial crisis. One or two breaks in economic growth are identified in each country, except for Morocco where no break is found. However, breaks that coincide with the financial crisis are found in only two of the six countries (Libya and Mauritania), while other breaks coincide most often with earlier U.S. and EU recessions. To further examine the impact of shocks, impulse response functions are estimated from Vector Auto-Regression models with structural breaks. We again find no evidence that shocks from the financial crisis had a significant impact on economic growth in North Africa. We conclude that shocks from the 2007−2009 financial crisis had only a temporary and relatively small impact on economic growth rates in North Africa.
Rapid Iron Reduction Rates Are Stimulated by High-Amplitude Redox Fluctuations in a Tropical Forest Soil.

Iron oxides are important structural and biogeochemical components of soils that can be strongly altered by redox-driven processes. This study examined the influence of temporal oxygen variations on Fe speciation in soils from the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory (Puerto Rico). We incubated soils under cycles of oxic-anoxic conditions (τoxic:τanoxic = 1:6) at three frequencies with and without phosphate addition. Fe(II) production, P availability, and Fe mineral composition were monitored using batch analytical and spectroscopic techniques. The rate of soil Fe(II) production increased from ∼3 to >45 mmol Fe(II) kg–1 d–1 over the experiment with a concomitant increase of an Fe(II) concentration plateau within each anoxic period. The apparent maximum in Fe(II) produced is similar in all treatments, but was hastened by P-amendment. Numerical modeling suggests the Fe(II) dynamics can be explained by the formation of a rapidly reducible Fe(III) phases derived from the progressive dissolution and re-oxidation...
ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom

The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today's active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is important to gain a more holistic view of the student experience in an active-learning classroom. We have taken a mixed-methods approach to iteratively develop and validate a 16-item survey to measure multiple facets of the student experience during active-learning exercises. The instrument, which we call A ssessing S tudent P erspective of E ngagement in C lass T ool (ASPECT), was administered to a large introductory biology class, and student responses were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The 16 items loaded onto three factors that cumulatively explained 52% of the variation in student response: 1) value of activity, 2) personal effort, and 3) instructor contribution. ASPECT provides a rapid, easily administered means to measure student perception of engagement in an active-learning classroom. Gaining a better understanding of students' level of engagement will help inform instructor best practices and provide an additional measure for comprehensively assessing the impact of different active-learning strategies.
Time-based persistence in channel-access protocols with carrier sensing

Prior work on persistent and non-persistent transmission strategies of CSMA and CSMA/CD indicated that no persistence provides better performance; however, this result applies only to a specific approach to persistence. We introduce time-based persistence in which a node with a packet to send that finds the channel busy persists for a limited amount of time, and provide a simple unifying analysis of the impact of time-based persistence in channel-access protocols that use carrier sensing and operate in ad-hoc wireless networks. We focus on CSMA with priority acknowledgments (ACK) and CSMA with collision detection (CSMA/CD) and ACKs. Our analysis takes into account the effect that receive-to-transmit turnaround times have on performance, and shows that CSMA and CSMA/CD with time-based persistence can attain the same throughput values relative to a non-persistent strategy.
3D bioprinting for scaffold fabrication

Abstract In present time, need for the organ and tissue repair, restoration, and regeneration for patient is in all time high demand and would only increase exponentially due to the longer life expectancy. Even in the given times supply of organ is much shorter than demand due to paucity of donors along with complex biocompatibility issues that result in rejection of the transplants in the recipient who end up receiving the organ. However, with the emergence of tissue engineering, scientists have been constantly investigating to use three-dimensional (3D) scaffold as an alternative source of natural tissue needed for transplantation. These 3D matrices are designed and decorated to mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) of the required tissue thereby enabling easier cellular attachment, proliferation, and subsequently differentiate into fully functional tissues or organs. This approach has undergone tremendous modification since the days where developing scaffold was considered to be challenging to emerging into designing intrinsic network of capillaries by computer-aided printing process. Utilizing 3D printing (3DP) methodology one is able to create ECM-like scaffold with high degree of precision and complexity including fine details at micro and nano-level. In this book chapter, brief history to 3DP of scaffold, polymers used, properties of scaffold, bioinks, scaffold-based viral transduction techniques, and application of 3DP in scaffold fabrication that eventually results in tissue regeneration are discussed. Furthermore, how creation of biofunctional scaffold could ultimately end the longer waiting queues for patient and overcome complexity of tissue transplant.
Free-breathing quantification of hepatic fat in healthy children and children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease using a multi-echo 3-D stack-of-radial MRI technique.

In adults, noninvasive chemical shift encoded Cartesian magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and single-voxel magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy (SVS) accurately quantify hepatic steatosis but require breath-holding. In children, especially young and sick children, breath-holding is often limited or not feasible. Sedation can facilitate breath-holding but is highly undesirable. For these reasons, there is a need to develop free-breathing MRI technology that accurately quantifies steatosis in all children. This study aimed to compare non-sedated free-breathing multi-echo 3-D stack-of-radial (radial) MRI versus standard breath-holding MRI and SVS techniques in a group of children for fat quantification with respect to image quality, accuracy and repeatability. Healthy children (n=10, median age [±interquartile range]: 10.9 [±3.3] years) and overweight children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (n=9, median age: 15.2 [±3.2] years) were imaged at 3 Tesla using free-breathing radial MRI, breath-holding Cartesian MRI and breath-holding SVS. Acquisitions were performed twice to assess repeatability (within-subject mean difference, MDwithin). Images and hepatic proton-density fat fraction (PDFF) maps were scored for image quality. Free-breathing and breath-holding PDFF were compared using linear regression (correlation coefficient, r and concordance correlation coefficient, ρc) and Bland-Altman analysis (mean difference). P<0.05 was considered significant. In patients with NAFLD, free-breathing radial MRI demonstrated significantly less motion artifacts compared to breath-holding Cartesian (P<0.05). Free-breathing radial PDFF demonstrated a linear relationship (P<0.001) versus breath-holding SVS PDFF and breath-holding Cartesian PDFF with r=0.996 and ρc=0.994, and r=0.997 and ρc=0.995, respectively. The mean difference in PDFF between free-breathing radial MRI, breath-holding Cartesian MRI and breath-holding SVS was <0.7%. Repeated free-breathing radial MRI had MDwithin=0.25% for PDFF. In this pediatric study, non-sedated free-breathing radial MRI provided accurate and repeatable hepatic PDFF measurements and improved image quality, compared to standard breath-holding MR techniques.
Light-Shade Adaptation in Marine Phytoplankton

Near the turn of the century, plant biologists noted phenotypic differences between terrestrial plants grown in full sunlight and those grown in the shade (1,2). Early photosynthetic studies revealed that shade plants have characteristically higher light utilization efficiencies than sun plants, but lower light-saturated photosynthetic capacity (3). Cross-transplantation studies showed that some species of higher plants can physiologically acclimate to widely varying light regimes, but most higher plants have evolved to become either sun or shade adapted in a Darwinian sense.
The Ontogeny of Wisdom in Its Variations

The concept of wisdom has intrigued the human mind for at least as long as recorded history. In the last two decades, interest in the topic has spread to the realm of psychological inquiry. This chapter outlines tenets of psychological models of wisdom, explores the empirical research on the construct, and elaborates on the processes contributing to its ontogeny. At least two variations of wisdom, each with its own developmental path, emerge in research. One is characterized by “postformal” cognition and is rare, while the other is characterized by cognitive processes engaged in deducing “truths” from experience. At the heart of both variations are the ability to find meaning in life’s often adverse experience, openness to experience, generativity, and ego integrity, although these tasks might be enacted at different levels of complexity.
Molecular Characterization of Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases Derived from Bovine Heart and Human Erythrocytes

The soluble cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase of bovine heart has been purified to homogeneity. It is an asymmetric protein with a molecular weight of 174,000 and is composed of two globular catalytic subunits (molecular weight, 38,000) and an asymmetric cyclic nucleotide-binding protein (molecular weight, 98,000). The cyclic AMP-binding protein consists of two polypeptide chains of equal size and is able to serve as substrate for a protein kinase-catalyzed phosphotransferase reaction. The physiological significance of this “autophosphorylation” of protein kinase has not been established. The protein kinase activity associated with the plasma membrane of the human erythrocyte has many properties in common with soluble protein kinases including the ability to be dissociated into cyclic AMP-independent kinase and cyclic AMP-binding activities. Membrane-bound protein kinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of three endogenous membrane proteins, two of them in a cyclic nucleotide-dependent fashion. Both the cyclic AMP-binding and phosphotransferase activities of the human erythrocyte membrane appear to be localized on the inner cytoplasmic surface of the membrane.
Answer to October 2012 Photo Quiz

Answer: Adenoviral pneumonia . The pneumocytes show enlarged, smudgy nuclei and intranuclear inclusions consistent with an adenovirus cytopathic effect, diagnostically confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The xTAG respiratory virus panel test (Luminex Molecular Diagnostics, Inc., Toronto, Canada)
Nationalization and the Incumbency Advantage

Legislative scholars have investigated both the growth in the incumbency advantage since the early 1970s and its decline in recent decades, but there are several unanswered questions about this phe...
Effect of Second Phase Particle Size on the Recrystallized Microstructure of Mg–Al Alloys Following ECAE Processing

Magnesium (Mg) alloys are excellent candidates for structural applications, given their high strength to weight ratios. Grain boundaries and precipitates can both contribute to strengthening in Mg alloys, but the design of high strength Mg alloys is challenging due to Mg’s anisotropic crystal lattice and yield asymmetry. Herein, we focus on thermomechanical processing that involves grain refinement in the presence of precipitates. We seek an understanding of how small and large Mg17Al12 intermetallic particles impact recrystallization and discontinuous precipitation in Mg–Al alloys. We do so by processing solution treated and peak aged Mg–9Al (wt%) alloys using equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) along the Bc route at 150 °C. We find that the fine nanoprecipitates that nucleate within the solutionized grain interiors during ECAE processing lead to finer Mg grains in the recrystallized regions compared to those in the presence of the long lathlike precipitates produced during peak aging prior to ECAE processing.
The negative effects of dry eye disease on quality of life and visual function

In recent years, dry eye has become a hot topic within ophthalmology and optometry, especially in regards to new frontiers in treatment modalities which include novel devices, procedures, and medications. However, some of the more understudied areas in dry eye involve its impact on quality of life. Although ocular discomfort symptoms are well known to be associated with dry eye, its negative effects on patients? perception of well-being and visual function remain underrecognized. This paper reviews these topics within the currently published literature to heighten awareness among clinicians and stimulate researchers.
CHAPTER 15 – Polynomial-Time Computability

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses polynomial-time computability. Computability theory has enabled to distinguish clearly and precisely between problems for which there are algorithms and those for which there are none. However, there is a great deal of difference between solvability in principle, with which computability theory deals, and solvability in practice, which is a matter of obtaining an algorithm which can be implemented to run using space and time resources likely to be available. Problems that are solvable not only in principle but also in practice are called as tractable; problems that may be solvable in principle but are not solvable in practice are called intractable. The satisfiability problem is regarded as a prime candidate for intractability, although the matter remains far from being settled. The association of intractability with the exponential function, coupled with the fact that an exponential function grows faster than any polynomial function, suggests that a problem be regarded as tractable if there is an algorithm that solves it, which requires a number of steps bounded by some polynomial in the length of the input.
A Clinical Review of Biosimilars Approved in Oncology.

Objective: To summarize and review the clinical data of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved biosimilars for use in treatment of cancer and the current challenges health care institutions fa...
Antibiotics Effects on the Fecal Metabolome in Preterm Infants.

Within a randomized prospective pilot study of preterm infants born at less than 33 weeks’ gestation, weekly fecal samples from 19 infants were collected and metabolomic analysis was performed. The objective was to evaluate for differences in fecal metabolites in infants exposed to antibiotics vs. not exposed to antibiotics in the first 48 h after birth. Metabolomics analysis was performed on 123 stool samples. Significant differences were seen in the antibiotics vs. no antibiotics groups, including pathways related to vitamin biosynthesis, bile acids, amino acid metabolism, and neurotransmitters. Early antibiotic exposure in preterm infants may alter metabolites in the intestinal tract of preterm infants. Broader multi-omic studies that address mechanisms will guide more prudent antibiotic use in this population.
SPEARS: Standard Performance Evaluation of Ancestral haplotype Reconstruction through Simulation.

MOTIVATION Ancestral haplotype maps provide useful information about genomic variation and insights into biological processes. Reconstructing the descendent haplotype structure of homologous chromosomes, particularly for large numbers of individuals, can help with characterizing the recombination landscape, elucidating genotype-to-phenotype relationships, improving genomic predictions and more. Inferring haplotype maps from sparse genotype data is an efficient approach to whole-genome haplotyping, but this is a non-trivial problem. A standardized approach is needed to validate whether haplotype reconstruction software, conceived population designs and existing data for a given population provides accurate haplotype information for further inference. RESULTS We introduce SPEARS, a pipeline for the simulation-based appraisal of genome-wide haplotype maps constructed from sparse genotype data. Using a specified pedigree, the pipeline generates virtual genotypes (known data) with genotyping errors and missing data structure. It then proceeds to mimic analysis in practice, capturing sources of error due to genotyping, imputation and haplotype inference. Standard metrics allow researchers to assess different population designs and which features of haplotype structure or regions of the genome are sufficiently accurate for analysis. Haplotype maps for 1000 outcross progeny from a multi-parent population of maize are used to demonstrate SPEARS. AVAILABILITYAND IMPLEMENTATION SPEARS, the protocol and suite of scripts, are publicly available under an MIT license at GitHub (https://github.com/maizeatlas/spears). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Do Not Huff, Puff, or Vape That Stuff: Interstitial Airspace Disease in a Teenager.

A 17-year-old previously healthy male was admitted to the hospital for intractable and persistent vomiting, fever, cough, abdominal pain, and intermittent diarrhea and dehydration. He presented with severe chest pain and O2 desaturations up to 80% on room air. An infectious (including a nasopharyngeal swab), GI, and cardiac workup was completed and was negative except for elevated inflammatory markers with a C-reactive protein (CRP) level of 261 mg/L, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of 53 mm/hr, and a D-dimer level of 0.93 mcg/ml. Chest X-ray showed diffuse multifocal infiltrates. The patient was treated with ceftriaxone and azithromycin initially for a suspected pneumonia. He was also started on 4L of nasal cannula O2 supplementation. Due to persistent hypoxic respiratory failure, worsening respiratory distress clinically, with tachypnea and retractions, and lab findings of elevated D-dimer, a chest CT was performed to rule out a pulmonary embolism (PE). Computed tomography (CT) findings were negative for PE but notable for diffuse airspace opacities, primarily within the lower lobes, with a ground-glass appearance concerning for ARDS. Upon further investigation of the social history, the patient admitted to vaping nicotine products for the past 4 years and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products within the last several months. He was immediately started on prednisone 30 mg BID for a diagnosis of e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) and started showing clinical improvement. The patient was able to be weaned off of supplemental oxygen to room air, and clinical symptoms of respiratory distress began to improve over the next 24 hours.
Centrality measures for node-weighted networks via line graphs and the matrix exponential

This paper is concerned with the identification of important nodes in node-weighted graphs by applying matrix functions, in particular the matrix exponential. Many tools that use an adjacency matrix for a graph have been developed to study the importance of the nodes in unweighted or edge-weighted networks. However, adjacency matrices for node-weighted graphs have not received much attention. The present paper proposes using a line graph associated with a node-weighted graph to construct an edge-weighted graph that can be analyzed with available methods. Both undirected and directed graphs with positive node weights are considered. We show that when the weight of a node increases, the importance of this node in the graph increases as well, provided that the adjacency matrix is suitably scaled. Applications to real-life problems are presented.
Dyspnoea unmasked with point of care ultrasound. A Case Report

Pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening cause for dyspnoea and hemodynamic compromise, is difficult to diagnose and is often missed because of non-specific clinical presentation. Point of care ultrasound can help in a quick diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. A 29-year-old lady who was admitted with dyspnoea and hemodynamic compromise. Point of care ultrasound helped us confirm the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism with choriocarcinoma. Point of care ultrasound helps to diagnose even very rare conditions like pulmonary embolism with choriocarcinoma at the bedside.
A Report on the Theory and Practice of Performance-Based Regulation

This report is designed to be a self-contained introduction to performance-based regulation (PBR) with an emphasis on the energy sector in North America. The main topics include: key differences between PBR and traditional cost-of-service regulation (COSR), the various forms of PBR and their efficiency properties, common misconceptions about PBR, the economic and public policy principles that should inform the design and implementation of PBR, the mechanics of PBR, the advantages and disadvantages of earnings sharing mechanisms, the importance of regulatory commitment and the role of benchmarking in PBR regimes.
Opioid and non-opioid analgesic prescribing before and after the CDC’s 2016 opioid guideline

The U.S. has addressed the opioid crisis using a two-front approach: state regulations limiting opioid prescriptions for acute pain patients, and voluntary federal CDC guidelines on shifting chronic pain patients to lower opioid doses and non-opioids. No opioid policy research to date has accounted for this two-pronged approach in their research design. We develop a theory of physician prescribing behavior under this two-pronged incentive structure. Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we empirically corroborate the theory: regulations and guidelines have the intended effects of reducing opioid prescriptions for acute and chronic pain, respectively, as well as the predicted unintended effects-income effects cause regulations on acute pain treatment to increase chronic pain opioid prescriptions and the chronic pain treatment guidelines spillover to reduce opioids for acute pain. Moreover, we find that the guidelines worked as intended in terms of the reduced usage, with chronic pain patients shifting to non-opioids and also tapering opioid doses. For those who discontinued opioids under regulations and guidelines, we find no harm in terms of increased work limitations due to pain a year after discontinuing opioids. Finally, we observe an unexplained dichotomy-regulations reduce opioid use by causing fewer new starts, whereas guidelines reduce opioid use by discontinuing current users, with no impact on new starts.
The common neural parasite Pseudoloma neurophilia is associated with altered startle response habituation in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio): Implications for the zebrafish as a model organism

The zebrafish's potential as a model for human neurobehavioral research appears nearly limitless despite its relatively recent emergence as an experimental organism. Since the zebrafish has only been part of the research community for a handful of decades, pathogens from its commercial origins continue to plague laboratory stocks. One such pathogen is Pseudoloma neurophilia, a common microparasite in zebrafish laboratories world-wide that generally produces subclinical infections. Given its high prevalence, its predilection for the host's brain and spinal cord, and the delicate nature of neurobehavioral research, the behavioral consequences of subclinical P. neurophilia infection must be explored. Fish infected via cohabitation were tested for startle response habituation in parallel with controls in a device that administered ten taps over 10 min along with taps at 18 and 60 min to evaluate habituation extinction. After testing, fish were euthanized and evaluated for infection via histopathology. Infected fish had a significantly smaller reduction in startle velocity during habituation compared to uninfected tankmates and controls. Habituation was eliminated in infected and control fish at 18 min, whereas exposed negative fish retained partial habituation at 18 min. Infection was also associated with enhanced capture evasion: Despite the absence of external symptoms, infected fish tended to be caught later than uninfected fish netted from the same tank. The combination of decreased overall habituation, early extinction of habituation compared to uninfected cohorts, and enhanced netting evasion indicates that P. neurophilia infection is associated with a behavioral phenotype distinct from that of controls and uninfected cohorts. Because of its prevalence in zebrafish facilities, P. neurophilia has the potential to insidiously influence a wide range of neurobehavioral studies if these associations are causative. Rigorous health screening is therefore vital to the improvement of the zebrafish as a translational model for human behavior.