cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Physician Over-the-Counter Drug Prescribing Patterns: An Analysis of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey

OBJECTIVE:To describe the prevalence of physician over-the-counter (OTC) drug prescribing in relation to selected physician, patient, and drug characteristics.DATA SOURCE AND METHODS:Data from the 1990 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a multistage probability clustered sample, were analyzed. Physician drug utilization was expressed in drug mentions defined as “the physician's entry of a pharmaceutical agent ordered or provided, by any route of administration, for prevention, diagnosis, or treatment.” Sampling weights were used to obtain unbiased national estimates. Cross tabulations of the drug prescription status (OTC or prescription [Rx]) with independent variables were performed, overall and by therapeutic class. The overall OTC/Rx ratio (0.11) was used as the cutoff point for distinguishing high- from low-level OTC drug prescribing.RESULTS:In 1990, 9.7% of physician drug mentions were of OTC drugs. Women between 16 and 34 years, Asian/Pacific Islanders, white Hispanics, and African-Americans e...
Improvement of supervised learning by linear mapping

In this paper, we propose a new supervised learning method to improve the learning speed for feedforward neural networks. Our method is different from traditional supervised learning methods that find a one-to-one mapping between the given-input pattern matrix and the desired output pattern matrix. Instead, it finds one of the one-to-many mappings between the input matrix and an intermediate output matrix, and transforms the intermediate output matrix to the desired output matrix in one step using linear mapping techniques. Learning is faster with our method because there exist many intermediate output matrices, and learning can stop whenever one such matrix is found. Our extensive experimental results show that our learning algorithm converges to within a reasonable range of error after a few training epochs, making it suitable for dynamic real-time applications in which the network may need to be re-trained periodically.
Multigrain parallel Delaunay Mesh generation: challenges and opportunities for multithreaded architectures

Given the importance of parallel mesh generation in large-scale scientific applications and the proliferation of multilevel SMT-based architectures, it is imperative to obtain insight on the interaction between meshing algorithms and these systems. We focus on Parallel Constrained Delaunay Mesh (PCDM) generation. We exploit coarse-grain parallelism at the subdomain level and fine-grain at the element level. This multigrain data parallel approach targets clusters built from low-end, commercially available SMTs. Our experimental evaluation shows that current SMTs are not capable of executing fine-grain parallelism in PCDM. However, experiments on a simulated SMT indicate that with modest hardware support it is possible to exploit fine-grain parallelism opportunities. The exploitation of fine-grain parallelism results to higher performance than a pure MPI implementation and closes the gap between the performance of PCDM and the state-of-the-art sequential mesher on a single physical processor. Our findings extend to other adaptive and irregular multigrain, parallel algorithms.
Impact of stearic acid and oleic acid on hemostatic factors in the context of controlled diets consumed by healthy men

The effects of stearic acid (STA) on cardiovascular disease risk beyond lipid and lipoprotein risk factors, including hemostasis, are unclear, particularly when compared with unsaturated fatty acids. The aim of the present study is to compare the effects of STA with those of oleic acid (OL) on markers of hemostasis. In a randomized crossover study, 50 men consumed six controlled diets for 5 weeks each (39% energy from fat, 15% energy from protein, 46% energy from carbohydrate (CHO)). Fat (8% energy) was replaced across diets by: STA, OL, CHO (control), trans fatty acids (TFAs), TFA/STA and 12:0–16:0 saturated fatty acids. Factor VIIc, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and plasmin alpha-2-antiplasmin complex concentrations were not different between OL and STA (P>0.05). Compared with control, OL increased factor VIIc and PAI-1 (P⩽0.05), whereas there were no differences with STA (P>0.05). STA and OL similarly affect markers of hemostasis in healthy men, within the context of a highly controlled diet.
Prediction of bending strength of long corrugated boxes

Long corrugated boxes were supported at both ends and bent by a concentrated force applied at the middle. Boxes with different lengths, cross-sectional shapes, flute directions and board strengths were tested, using a standard compression tester with a fixed platen in accordance with ASTM D-642. An equation was developed to relate compression strength to the various properties of the box. The correlation coefficient R2 for the fit to actual data was about 0.4. Boxes having the flutes run around the box had a 20% higher compression strength than with horizontal flutes. The most significant factor was found to be the board edge crush strength. The results suggest that failure of boxes in bending is due to localized crushing at the point of application of the load, rather than whole-box collapse. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ecological and Evolutionary Conditions for Fruit Abortion to Regulate Pollinating Seed-Eaters and Increase Plant Reproduction

Coevolved mutualisms, such as those between senita cacti, yuccas, and their respective obligate pollinators, benefit both species involved in the interaction. However, in these pollination mutualisms the pollinator's larvae impose a cost on plants through consumption of developing seeds and fruit. The effects of pollinators on benefits and costs are expected to vary with the abundance of pollinators, because large population sizes result in more eggs and larval seed-eaters. Here, we develop the hypothesis that fruit abortion, which is common in yucca, senita, and plants in general, could in some cases have the function of limiting pollinator abundance and, thereby, increasing fruit production. Using a general steady-state model of fruit production and pollinator dynamics, we demonstrate that plants involved in pollinating seed-eater mutualisms can increase their fecundity by randomly aborting fruit. We show that the ecological conditions under which fruit abortion can improve plants fecundity are not unusual. They are best met when the plant is long-lived, the population dynamics of the pollinator are much faster than those of the plant, the loss of one fruit via abortion kills a larva that would have the expectation of destroying more than one fruit through its future egg laying as an adult moth, and the effects of fruit abortion on pollinator abundance are spatially localized. We then use the approach of adaptive dynamics to find conditions under which a fruit abortion strategy based on regulating the pollinator population could feasibly evolve in this type of plant-pollinator interaction.
Mask topography effects in projection printing of phase-shifting masks

Topography effects of glass edges in phase-shifting masks (PSM's) on image quality are assessed using the rigorous electromagnetic simulation program TEMPEST on three different optical systems for four PSM technologies including alternating, rim, attenuated, and chromeless. The scalar and thin mask approximations used in simulation programs such as SPLAT can be in error by as much as 20% for certain classes of shifter edges. A feature size independent bias of 0.021 /spl lambda//NA per edge is recommended for alternating masks with vertical edges because light is lost near the etched glass edges. No direct electromagnetic interaction between chromium edges and shifter edges was found for rim phase-shifting masks. The rim dimension can thus be designed solely on the basis of the sidelobe level and peak intensity. For attenuated PSM, edge effects are less severe but sidelobe problems occur. For a center to sidelobe contrast of 0.6 over a DOF of 3 RU, a lower transmission of 4% is recommended. For chromeless PSM, the imbalance in image peaks is shown to be affected by the optical stepper parameters. In any PSM technology, it appears that a 360/spl deg/ glass protrusion may produce a drastic drop in intensity due to resonant effects. >
The natural history of EGFR and EGFRvIII in glioblastoma patients

Background The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is over expressed in approximately 50–60% of glioblastoma (GBM) tumors, and the most common EGFR mutant, EGFRvIII, is expressed in 24–67% of cases. This study was designed to address whether over expressed EGFR or EGFRvIII is an actual independent prognostic indicator of overall survival in a uniform body of patients in whom gross total surgical resection (GTR; ≥ 95% resection) was not attempted or achieved.
"There's Something in the Water": Salmon Runs and Settler Colonialism on the Columbia River

This paper seeks to decentralize the human and interrogate the ways in which settler colonialism shapes the land itself by engaging with indigenous epistemologies that take seriously notions of place, relationship with the land, and the spatially located lifeways of non-human beings. Analyzing public discourse around the ongoing lawsuit filed by the Humane Society against the states of Oregon and Washington and the Columbia River Indian tribes over the "humane" trapping and euthanizing of sea lions that endanger salmon populations, I reveal that the dominant rubric for human/"nature" relationships in the Northwest—shared natural resource management—has become ossified. By deconstructing the hegemonic notions of "nature" and the commons and to whom they belong that are encoded within the lawsuit, this paper demonstrates that the conquest of Native peoples and conquest of the land are co-constitutive, and that processes of settler colonialism must be considered in light of their geographically specific loca...
Phase Formation and Dielectric Properties of Ln3NbO7 (Ln = Rare Earth Elements)

The structure and dielectric properties of rare earth niobate compounds within the Ln3NbO7 (Ln = Nd, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb and Y) and Ln2(Ln',Nb)O7 (Ln = Nd, Sm and Ln' = Yb) series are investigated. The crystal structure of the all the studied materials is found to be fluorite-related including webertite-type, pyrochlore, and defect fluorite structures. It is observed that the relative permittivity of the defect fluorite Ln3NbO7 (Ln = Dy, Er, Yb and Y) increases with the increase in temperature and exhibits low dielectric loss up to approximately 350 K. Above 350 K, the dielectric loss increases rapidly with increasing temperature as the onset of electrical conductivity takes place. Of particular interests are Gd3NbO7 and Nd3NbO7, which exhibit a frequency and temperature dependent dielectric relaxation behavior. At 1 MHz Gd3NbO7 reaches its maximum relative permittivity of ∼34 at about 330K, while at the same frequency, the maximum relative permittivity of Nd3NbO7 is attained at about 500 K. By contrast, Nd2(Yb,Nb)O7 and Sm2(Yb,Nb)O7, which crystallize in a pyrochlore-type structure, do not show dielectric relaxation and, comparatively, exhibit a more temperature-stable dielectric permittivity response.
International: Highlights of the Fisu Conference, Hyvinkaa, Finland September 8-14, 1974

(1975). International: Highlights of the Fisu Conference, Hyvinkaa, Finland September 8-14, 1974. Journal of Physical Education and Recreation: Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 61-63.
The Coraline Effect: The Misdiagnosis of Personality Disorders in College Students Who Grew up with a Personality Disordered Parent.

ABSTRACTCollege students may be misdiagnosed as personality disordered when in fact their problems are better explained by their upbringing. Growing up with a personality disordered parent may cause them to initially present with what appear to be personality disordered traits due to issues such as not learning adequate coping skills. Accurate diagnosis is important because it affects current treatment and referrals for longer-term treatment.
Peer review as a strategy for improving students’ writing process

Peer review is an established strategy for improving the quality of students’ writing. This study moves beyond the focus on outcomes to assess the peer-review process. In particular, this study foc...
Social Justice Leadership and Family Engagement A Successful Case From Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Research Approach: This in-depth qualitative case study explores one school leader’s enactment of social justice leadership in an elementary school in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Analysis of interviews and observations revealed how this leader adapted her leadership to prioritize the severe needs of families and students in one of the world’s most violent cities. Findings: The article describes how the leader made sense of the community and its needs. Then, it examines how the leader enacted social justice leadership by addressing the out-of-school challenges that affected student achievement and well-being. Consequently, the leader’s focus shifted toward meaningful family engagement through adult education, community advocacy, and critical questioning of the status quo. Implications: Implications for future research, theory, and administrator preparation programs are presented at the conclusion of the article.
Quasi-Likelihood Analysis of Patient Satisfaction with Medical Care

In health services research studies, a score for satisfaction with care is often determined for a patient by summing several items, each measured on a Likert scale with ordered response options indicating satisfaction with some aspect of medical care (e.g., five categories ordered 1-poor to 5-excellent). A common goal is to determine patient and physician level predictors of patient satisfaction using regression analysis. The large number of categories in the ordinal summed response variable may present obstacles to traditional analytic methods for ordinal data such as the proportional odds model for cumulative logits. Further, linear regression is generally known to be inappropriate. Quasi-likelihood methods provide a flexible and tractable alternative modelling procedure. Weak assumptions about the measurement scale may be made by estimating parameters that define a family of link functions. A quasi-likelihood analysis of data from a study of elderly patients' satisfaction with communication with their primary care physician is presented. Although several factors are significantly related to satisfaction, a diagnostic plot based upon cumulative deviances reveals inadequacy of fit for the patients with the lowest observed satisfaction.
Factors Associated with Successful Thrombus Extraction with the AngioVac Device: An Institutional Experience.

Background The AngioVac (AngioDynamics, Latham, NY) device utilizes a venovenous bypass circuit for percutaneous venous thrombectomy and has been applied in the setting of iliocaval thrombosis as well as right heart thrombus and pulmonary emboli. We describe our experience with the AngioVac device in 12 patients with a variety of indications with the goal of identifying factors correlating with successful thrombectomy. Methods From August 2013 to June 2015, 12 patients underwent AngioVac percutaneous thrombectomy at our institution. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were retrospectively analyzed. Results Indications for thrombectomy included iliocaval thrombosis in 33% (4), right heart thrombus in 42% (5), and pulmonary embolus in 25% (3). We experienced a 58% complete success rate. Partial success was achieved in 17%, and no thrombus was extracted in 25%. Iliocaval and right heart thrombi were the most amenable to AngioVac thrombectomy with 100% (4/4) and 60% (3/5) complete success rates, respectively. Pulmonary embolus was the least amenable to thrombectomy with a 33% partial success rate (1/3) and 67% failure rate (2/3). Conclusion The AngioVac devices allow for percutaneous thrombectomy in the setting of iliocaval and right heart thrombus in patients for whom medical therapy fails or for those in whom surgical intervention is considered high risk. Pulmonary emboli are less amenable, likely due to limited steeribility of the device. Larger studies are needed to make more definitive conclusions, and newer iterations of the device will likely allow for improved outcomes.
Structure of Optimal Solutions to Periodic-Review Total-Cost Stochastic Inventory Control Problems

This paper describes the structure of optimal policies for discounted periodic-review single-commodity total-cost inventory control problems with fixed ordering costs for finite and infinite horizons. There are known conditions in the literature for optimality of (st, St) policies for finite-horizon problems and the optimality of (s, S) policies for infinitehorizon problems. The results of this paper cover the situation, when such assumptions may not hold. This paper describes a parameter, which, together with the value of the discount factor and the horizon length, defines the structure of an optimal policy. For the infinite horizon, depending on the values of this parameter and the discount factor, an optimal policy either is an (s, S) policy or never orders inventory. For a finite horizon, depending on the values of this parameter, the discount factor, and the horizon length, there are three possible structures of an optimal policy: (i) it is an (st, St) policy, (ii) it is an (st, St) policy at earlier stages and then does not order inventory, or (iii) it never orders inventory. The paper also establishes continuity of the optimal value function and describes the optimal actions at states st and s.
Green and lean: Is neighborhood park and playground availability associated with youth obesity? Variations by gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity

Parks and park features are important for promoting physical activity and healthy weight, especially for low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth who have disproportionately high obesity rates. This study 1) examined associations between neighborhood park and playground availability and youth obesity, and 2) assessed whether these associations were moderated by youth race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). In 2013, objectively measured height and weight were collected for all 3rd-5th grade youth (n=13.469) in a southeastern US county to determine body mass index (BMI) percentiles. Enumeration and audits of the county's parks (n=103) were concurrently conducted. Neighborhood park and playground availability were calculated as the number of each facility within or intersecting each youth's Census block group. Multilevel linear regression models were utilized to examine study objectives. For boys, no main effects were detected; however, SES moderated associations such that higher park availability was associated with lower BMI percentile for low-SES youth but higher BMI percentile for high-SES youth. For girls, the number of parks and playgrounds were significantly associated with lower BMI (b=-2.2, b=-1.1, p<0.05, respectively) and race/ethnicity and SES moderated associations between playground availability and BMI percentile. Higher playground availability was associated with lower BMI percentile for White and high-SES girls but higher BMI percentile for African American and low-SES girls. Considerable variation was detected in associations between park and playground availability and youth obesity by SES and race/ethnicity, highlighting the importance of studying the intersection of these characteristics when exploring associations between built environment features and obesity.
Redundancy Elimination in the Estimation of Multiple Paths

A method to estimate complex objects is to aggregate local estimates of object fragments. Given uncertainties and ambiguities in the interpretation of these locally estimated fragments, it is usually necessary to maintain multiple hypotheses about fragment aggregates. This introduces redundancies in the representation of each object which can increase exponentially with the size of the objects. A simple procedure to prune redundancies is proposed and analyzed for the problem of estimating objects which can be decomposed into linearly ordered sets of parts.
Potential of one-to-one technologies in the classroom: teachers and students weigh in

Increased efforts to promote 21st century learning emphasize the central role of technology in instructional delivery in order to advance the multifaceted abilities and skills required for student success in an increasingly technology-rich learning and work environment. A qualitative study was conducted in a large, economically diverse, mid-Atlantic school district to examine the implementation of six technology devices in 18 elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The purpose was to understand teachers’ and students’ experiences related to the instructional implications of each device to inform long term, one-to-one implementation of an appropriate technology device to meet the district’s strategic goals for a 21st century learning environment. Teacher interviews and student focus groups revealed several themes related to technology integration, factors influencing implementation, impact on instruction, and impact on student motivation and engagement. Findings are discussed in relation to the district infrastructure and other considerations to support a one-to-one teaching and learning environment and how each of the six devices support the establishment of 21st century learning environments.
Handling, Grading and Curing of Hides and Skins

Hides are important to everyone involved in meat production, processing and marketing, not just those in the leather business. It is by far the most valuable beef by-product, accounting for 7.5% of the value of a steer (Morgan, 1991). Although beef animals are not produced solely for their hides, the value of the hide has a significant impact on profitability within the beef industry. If it were not for the value of the hide, cow-calf profitability would be lower, resulting in fewer cows, fewer calves, and fewer slaughter animals. Less beef would be produced, and margins would be smaller for most segments of the beef industry. Over the past three decades, hides have increased in value more rapidly than meat because the demand for leather has been stronger worldwide than the demand for beef. In 1990, the US produced about $1.9 billion worth of hides, equivalent to 1.2 million metric tons. Sixty percent was exported, primarily to Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico (Morgan, 1991).
Leave the Gun. Take the Cannoli: a perspective on traumatic injury in the Godfather

Summary Introduction: The Godfather is one of the most popular American movies of all time. The aims of this study are to describe the morbidity and mortality portrayed in The Godfather with a thorough video review. Methods: In this descriptive study, The Godfather was viewed for incidents of traumatic mechanisms. On-screen traumatic mechanisms were documented by time in the movie. Characters that died during the film were evaluated for type of mechanism and cause of death. Comparisons by timing and gender were made with Chi-Square tests, using an α = 0.05. Results: There were 24 incidents of on-screen traumatic mechanisms for 21 unique characters. A total of 22/24(92%) of the mechanisms involved male characters whereas 2/24(8%) of the mechanisms involved female characters (p<0.001). There were 7/24(29%) incidents of a traumatic mechanism in the first half of the film with 17/24(71%) inci- dents of a traumatic mechanism in the second half of the film (p=0.03). A Chi-square test showed a higher propor- tion of deaths in the second half of the film (p=0.01). A total of 17/18(94%) of the mortalities involved male charac- ters whereas 1/18(6%) of the mortalities involved a female character (p<0.001). Penetrating injury was the cause of 67% of the deaths. Blunt injury was the cause of 17% of the deaths. Conclusions: There are gender differences in the characters that suffer a traumatic mechanism and death in The Godfather. A majority of injuries are penetrating in mechanism, and are more deadly in the second half of the film.
Destriping pushbroom satellite imaging systems with total variation-L1/-L2 method

This paper introduces a variational method for destriping data acquired by pushbroom-type satellite imaging systems. The model leverages sparsity in signals and is based on current research in sparse optimization and compressed sensing. It is based on the basic principles of regularization and data fidelity with certain constraints using modern methods in variational optimization — namely total variation (TV), both L1 and L2 fidelity, and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). The main algorithm in this paper, TV-L1, uses sparsity promoting energy functionals to achieve two important imaging effects. The TV term maintains boundary sharpness of content in the underlying clean image, while the L1 fidelity allows for the equitable removal of stripes without over- or under-penalization, providing a more accurate model of presumably independent sensors with unspecified and unrestricted bias distribution. A comparison is made between the TV-L1 and TV-L2 models to exemplify the qualitative efficacy of an L1 striping penalty. The model makes use of novel minimization splittings and proximal mapping operators, successfully yielding more realistic destriped images in very few iterations.
Marginal decision-making in the treatment of refractory epilepsy.

Objective: Epilepsy surgery is one of the most effective treatments in modern medicine. Yet, it remains largely under-utilized, in spite of its proven efficacy. The referrals for epilepsy surgery are often delayed until it is too late to prevent the detrimental psychosocial effects of refractory seizures. The reluctance towards epilepsy surgery is influenced by the perceived risks of the procedure by practitioners and patients. This review discusses how, in general decision-making processes, one faces a natural tendency towards emphasizing the risks of the most immediate and operational decision (surgery), at times without contrasting these risks with the alternative (uncontrolled epilepsy).Methods: In the field of economics, this bias is well recognized and can be overcome through marginal analysis, formally defined as focusing on incremental changes as opposed to absolute levels.Results: Regarding epilepsy surgery, the risks and benefits of surgery are considered separately from the risks of unc...
Natural diet of mirror and scaly carp (Cyprinus carpio) phenotypes in earth ponds

The natural diet of two different common carp (Cyprinus carpio) phenotypes (mirror and scaly) was studied in earth ponds in the Czech Republic. The proportion of different items was assessed through analysis of gut contents in order to establish differences and similarities between the phenotypes. In addition, temporal changes through the growing season, the influence of fish weight on proportion of main items ingested and the relationship between gut content and natural food availability was also assessed. The results showed no difference in feeding behaviour between mirror and scaly carp, the two phenotypes displaying a diet overlap of around 0.8. A shift in food resources from benthic to planktonic organisms was observed between early and late summer, which was reflected in changes in electivity index for some taxa. Fish weight did not influence the proportion of organisms ingested. No correlation was found between natural food in the pond and that in the gut, any variation in diet probably reflecting the microhabitats in which individual carp choose to feed.
All in the Family? Missionaries, Marriage, and Universal Kinship in Jane Eyre

Winter Jade Werner, “All in the Family? Missionaries, Marriage, and Universal Kinship in Jane Eyre ” (pp. 452–486) As a number of critics have shown, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847) has as a central theme the analysis of certain essential contradictions in a constellation of ideas concerning kinship and race. In this essay, I propose that these contradictions—which receive fullest exposition in the missionary St John’s determination to wed his kinswoman Jane—gesture toward the history of these issues as they were enacted in missionary literature. Jane Eyre , this essay contends, roots itself in a fraught phase of the Protestant missionary movement: the brief period of time prior to the 1820s when missionary societies, eager to realize what they termed “universal kinship,” not only permitted but encouraged missionaries to enter into interracial marriages. These marriages, however, proved more reciprocal in influence than missionary societies had anticipated. Ultimately they undermined assumptions of British Christians’ “natural” superiority over “natives”—the very assumptions that underwrote missionary work in the first place. Unnerved by the reciprocity and openness these unions appeared to establish between spouses, missionary societies began discouraging intermarriage and dissociated conceptions of “universal kinship” from actual racial mixing. This period of controversy unifies the novel’s anxious focus on family formation and interracial marriage. In exposing how intermarriages worked to legitimate and problematize evangelical understandings of universal kinship, Jane Eyre ultimately suggests that there exists a crucial link between St John’s proposed endogamous union with his kinswoman and Rochester and Bertha’s intermarriage—the former becomes the conceptual alternative to the latter.
Clostridium difficile toxins a and b decrease intestinal SLC26A3 protein expression

Our studies demonstrate, for the first time, that C. difficile toxins reduce DRA protein, but not mRNA, levels in intestinal epithelial cells. These findings suggest that a downregulation of DRA ma...
Development of Direct-Electrical-Heating Apparatus to Study the Response of Nuclear Fuels to Applied Transients

A prototype direct-electrical-heating apparatus has been modified extensively to perform more sophisticated experiments for the out-of-reactor simulation of the in-reactor response of nuclear fuels to applied transients. Improvements have been made to the specimen chamber and the electrical system, and additional instrumentation has been installed. Preliminary results of prooftests indicate that interesting fuel-motion phenomena such as incipient melting, prefailure fuel motion, and gross fuel motion can be studied by means of precise, reproducible, and interrupted experiments.
The Magic of Mass Publicity: Reading Ioan Couliano

Advertising and the other arts of mass publicity are often compared to magic. The comparison is generally offered as an ironic simile. But what if one were to propose, in all seriousness, that mass publicity is not like magic but rather that it is magic? This chapter revisits Ioan Couliano’s Eros and Magic in the Renaissance in order to develop some hints that he left regarding the esoteric affinities between magic and the work of advertising, and asks questions like: what makes one thing or person resonate with another? How can these resonances be manipulated or harnessed?
Neural correlates of social cognitive introspective accuracy in schizophrenia

Introspective accuracy (IA) refers to the ability to accurately assess one's own skills and capabilities. Recent work provides evidence of IA deficits in schizophrenia that are predictive of everyday functioning. Thus, IA deficits are an important target to understand mechanistically. The current study used fMRI to assess neural activation in 32 healthy controls and 31 individuals with schizophrenia as they completed IA and control versions of a social cognitive task (i.e., emotion recognition). Analyses revealed different areas of IA-specific neural activity between groups including activations of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (rlPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in healthy individuals that were absent in patients. Direct group comparisons revealed greater IA-specific activation for healthy individuals in right rlPFC, a region thought to be critical for successful IA. For healthy individuals only, activation in rlPFC was positively correlated with IA ability, but no association was observed for patients. Further, among individuals with schizophrenia, increased activation of rlPFC during judgments of IA was positively correlated with better informant-reported interpersonal functioning. These results suggest that reduced specialization of IA-related neural activation may contribute to impaired IA in schizophrenia and also highlight IA as a potential target for remediation programs aimed at improving real-world functioning.
Black “Matter” Lives

Since its inception, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has opened space for three interrelated discourses on the polysemic nature of matter, but so far two have dominated Black and communicatio...
Net Present Value Analysis of Projects Under Expected Utility

The traditional decision-analytic approach to incorporate risk aversion into project evaluation is to calculate the expected utility of initial capital plus net present value. The choice of discount rate, and the convergence with the traditional finance approach, have always been a question. Our goal is to fill this gap. We adopt a standard continuous-time setup whereby the alternative to the project is the market for treasuries and stocks, and provide reasons to restrict preferences to generalized power or log utility. We find a convenient rate to discount portfolio capital (treasuries, stocks, and the project), which depends on market parameters and on the utility function. We also cater to practitioners, who discount the cash flows of the project, and ignore the market uncertainty. For them, we propose an adjusted discount rate that correctly compensate for the omission. The adjusted discount rate is lower than the beta-adjusted rate recommended in finance, and converges to the latter when the initial capital is large relative to the project, or the owner is risk neutral.
Tensorial Shear Stress Sensing Using Elliptically-Shaped Nanopillar Light-Emitting Diodes

We experimentally demonstrated a tensorial shear stress sensor capableof detecting both the magnitude and direction of the stress using an array of elliptically-shaped nanopillar GaN light-emitting diodes.
(Re)telling the Times: The Tangled Memories of Confederate Spies Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Belle Boyd

This article explores the rhetorical nature of “tangled” memories, what Marita Sturken describes as an intermeshing of sanctioned histories with personal and/or public narratives. To exemplify this...
Multifidelity Surrogate Based on Single Linear Regression

Multifidelity surrogates (MFS) combine low-fidelity models with few high-fidelity samples to infer the response of the high-fidelity model for design optimization or uncertainty quantification. Mos...
Meromorphic Functions, Maps and Their Rational Approximants in ℂn

We discuss Montessus and non-Montessus type of convergence for (μ,υ) rational approximants to meromorphic functions and their generalizations to meromorphic maps in ℂn.
Embryology and Anatomy of the Aorta

Development of the aorta occurs during the third week of gestation. At this time, isolated vascular islands coalesce into plexuses to form the (initially) paired aortae, each consisting of a ventral and dorsal segment. A six-paired system of aortic arches sequentially develops in cranio-caudal fashion between the ventral and dorsal aortae providing blood flow from the cardiac ventricles to the embryonic circulatory system. In addition, the dorsal aorta gives off several intersegmental arteries (Fig. 2.2). The sequence of developmental events in the formation of the aorta can lead to a variety of anatomic variants, congenital anomalies, and pathologic abnormalities.
Geometric Nanophotonics: Light Management in Single Nanowires through Morphology.

ConspectusComprehensive control of light–matter interactions at the nanoscale is increasingly important for the development of miniaturized light-based technologies that have applications ranging f...
On Distance and Kernel Measures of Conditional Independence

Measuring conditional independence is one of the important tasks in statistical inference and is fundamental in causal discovery, feature selection, dimensionality reduction, Bayesian network learning, and others. In this work, we explore the connection between conditional independence measures induced by distances on a metric space and reproducing kernels associated with a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). For certain distance and kernel pairs, we show the distance-based conditional independence measures to be equivalent to that of kernel-based measures. On the other hand, we also show that some popular---in machine learning---kernel conditional independence measures based on the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of a certain cross-conditional covariance operator, do not have a simple distance representation, except in some limiting cases. This paper, therefore, shows the distance and kernel measures of conditional independence to be not quite equivalent unlike in the case of joint independence as shown by Sejdinovic et al. (2013).
Incidence and Outcomes of Child Protective Services Referral in a Cleft Lip and Palate Population

Background: Having a child affected by cleft lip and/or palate can create numerous challenges for a family. Some patients have few medical issues while others have significant needs requiring close attention and monitoring to ensure appropriate growth and development. The cleft team occasionally encounters families who are not able to meet these challenges well. When all conservative prompts and supports provided by the team have proved unsuccessful, referring the family to Child Protective Services for intervention may help ensure appropriate care is provided to the patient. …
Cerebral toxoplasmosis after rituximab for pemphigus vulgaris.

Rituximab is a human/murine chimeric immunoglobulin monoclonal antibody that binds to CD20, a B-cell lymphocyte transmembrane protein. Rituximab been used in the treatment of various hematologic malignancies.1 More recently, rituximab was found to have utility in treating pemphigus vulgaris (PV). The US Food and Drug Administration approved its use in 2018 for treatment of moderate-to-severe pemphigus vulgaris following a randomized trial that demonstrated superior efficacy and fewer adverse events when used in conjunction with prednisone compared with prednisone alone.2,3 As an immunomodulator, rituximab carries a black box warning for potentially fatal infusion reactions, severe mucocutaneous reactions, hepatitis B virus reactivation, and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).2 Rarely, rituximab has been associated with cerebral toxoplasmosis infection.4, 5, 6, 7 Here we present a case of cerebral toxoplasmosis infection in a patient treated with rituximab for pemphigus vulgaris, along with a brief review of central nervous system (CNS) toxoplasmosis in the setting of rituximab therapy.
A case report of papillary thyroid carcinoma dedifferentiated to squamous cell carcinoma presenting as a lung metastasis: A potential diagnostic pitfall

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) tall cell variant (TCV) with squamous dedifferentiation is a rare entity. We present a case of 90-year-old woman who initially had a 2.8 cm conventional PTC in right lobe of thyroid who, couple decades later, had metastatic dedifferentiated PTC to right neck lymph nodes level II and IV with tall cell features; to right level IV and V lymph nodes with tall cell and squamous components, which recently presented exclusively as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) metastasizing to lung. The squamous component in the lymph node and SCC in the lung were both positive for squamous marker p63 and PTC markers TTF1, PAX-8 and BRAF V600E while negative for thyroglobulin and p16. The papillary component was positive for TTF-1, BRAF V600E and P63 (majority); negative for thyroglobulin and p16. Final diagnoses were rendered based on combination of cytological features and immunohistochemical profiles. This report highlights the utilization of current biomarkers to distinguish between metastatic dedifferentiated PTC with squamous features and primary lung SCC, as well as the importance of recognizing this rare entity.
Abstract LB-356: Deep immune profiling of de novo and recurrent glioblastoma

To understand potential immune system alterations in glioblastoma patients and provide a foundation for immunotherapy, we profiled intra tumoral leucocytes from newly diagnosed de novo patients as well as patients with recurrent tumor using high dimensional CyTOF. All recurrent patients underwent standard-of-care therapy, including surgical resection, concurrent temozolomide and radiotherapy, and adjuvant temozolomide. We used two immune profiling panels: a broad profiling panel that includes 45 phenotypic markers that together permit the identification and enumeration of the main innate and adaptive immune cell subsets in humans, and a deep profiling panel that includes 45 features focused on T cell phenotype and biology. We report in both de novo and recurrent tumors a predominant infiltration by CD11b+CD14+ monocytes (43.6±13%. of CD45+ cells). These monocytes displayed an immunomodulatory M2 profile (CD163+HLA-DR-/+CD80-CD86-/+). The adaptive compartment was sparse and dominated by alpha beta T cells, although some mucosal associated invariant T cells and gamma delta T cells were also present. T cells were both conventional T cells and regulatory T cells. The latter tended to be more abundant in the de novo as compared to recurrent tumors (22.8±17.9% of CD4+ T cells in de novo vs 12.9±12.5% in recurrent tumors, P=0.09). Conventional T cells were mostly CD27-CD45RA- effectors, with high expression of PD1 (69.9±17.6% of CD8+ T cells). Using high dimensional approaches, we confirmed that this high expression of PD1 reflects T cell exhaustion, as defined by co-expression of other inhibitory receptors such as Tim3, CTLA-4 and LAG-3. Exhausted T cells typically co-expressed PD1 and CD39 in the de novo tumors, and this pattern was less often observed in recurrent tumors (63.4±22.84% of CD8+ T cells in de novo vs 46.3±14.5% in recurrent tumors, P=0.03). Together, our results highlight the potential issue of a substandard T cell compartment at the time of GBM diagnosis. We are now investigating the mechanisms underlying these observations, as well as their impact on T cell immunity of the patients, as well as current immunotherapy strategies. Our studies should provide a foundation for improving therapy in glioblastoma patients. Citation Format: Cecile Alanio, Zev A. Binder, Donald M. O9Rourke, E. John Wherry. Deep immune profiling of de novo and recurrent glioblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-356.
Cas12a-assisted precise targeted cloning using in vivo Cre-lox recombination.

Direct cloning represents the most efficient strategy to access the vast number of uncharacterized natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds. However, due to their large size, repetitive nature, or high GC-content, large-scale cloning of these BGCs remains an overwhelming challenge. Here, we report a scalable direct cloning method named Cas12a-assisted precise targeted cloning using in vivo Cre-lox recombination (CAPTURE) which consists of Cas12a digestion, a DNA assembly approach termed T4 polymerase exo + fill-in DNA assembly, and Cre-lox in vivo DNA circularization. We apply this method to clone 47 BGCs ranging from 10 to 113 kb from both Actinomycetes and Bacilli with ~100% efficiency. Heterologous expression of cloned BGCs leads to the discovery of 15 previously uncharacterized natural products including six cyclic head-to-tail heterodimers with a unique 5/6/6/6/5 pentacyclic carbon skeleton, designated as bipentaromycins A–F. Four of the bipentaromycins show strong antimicrobial activity to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycinresistant Enterococcus faecium, and bioweapon Bacillus anthracis. Due to its robustness and efficiency, our direct cloning method coupled with heterologous expression provides an effective strategy for large-scale discovery of novel natural products. Direct cloning of biosynthetic gene clusters is difficult due to their size and repetitive nature. Here, the authors present CAPTURE, which uses Cas12a and in vivo Cre-lox recombination for efficient cloning of gene clusters up to 113 kb, and demonstrate how this method can be used for large-scale discovery of novel natural products.
Recent and active problematic substance use among primary care patients: Results from the alcohol, smoking, and substance involvement screening test in a multisite study

Background: Primary care settings provide salient opportunities for identifying patients with problematic substance use and addressing unmet treatment need. The aim of this study was to examine the extent and correlates of problematic substance use by substance-specific risk categories among primary care patients to inform screening/intervention efforts. Methods: Data were analyzed from 2000 adult primary care patients aged ≥18 years (56% female) across 5 clinics in the eastern U.S. Participants completed the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). Prevalence and ASSIST-defined risk-level of tobacco use, alcohol use, and nonmedical/illicit drug use was examined. Multinomial logistic regression models analyzed the demographic correlates of substance use risk-levels. Results: Among the total sample, the prevalence of any past 3-month use was 53.9% for alcohol, 42.0% for tobacco, 24.2% for any illicit/Rx drug, and 5.3% for opioids; the prevalence of ASSIST-defined moderate/high-risk use was 45.1% for tobacco, 29.0% for any illicit/Rx drug, 14.2% for alcohol, and 9.1% for opioids. Differences in the extent and risk-levels of substance use by sex, race/ethnicity, and age group were observed. Adjusted logistic regression showed that male sex, white race, not being married, and having less education were associated with increased odds of moderate/high-risk use scores for each substance category; older ages (versus ages 18-25 years) were associated with increased odds of moderate/high-risk opioid use. Conclusions: Intervention need for problematic substance use was prevalent in this sample. Providers should maintain awareness and screen for problematic substance use more consistently in identified high risk populations.