cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Musical-grade tuning forks for emergent audiometric screening

We discuss our experience using high-quality, musical-grade tuning forks for emergent audiometric screening in a 22-year-old woman with sudden-onset unilateral hearing sensation loss. We present a framework for using this method when proper audiometric equipment is unavailable but where musical-grade tuning forks can be rapidly supplied.
Analysis of results of sentinel surveillance of male patients in venereal disease clinic in Chengguan District of Lanzhou

Objective To monitor male patients infected with HIV, HCV, syphilis and their AIDS-related high-risk behavior,to provide scientific basis for formulating measures of AIDS prevention and control. Methods According to national schedule for AIDS sentinel surveillance, questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 200 male patients initiatively visited the clinic from 2011 to 2013, and blood samples were collected to detect HIV, HCV and syphilis. Results Total awareness rate of AIDS knowledge was 86.08% in the 1 200 male patients. The proportion was 22.33% for sexual behavior with female commercial sex workers in the latest 3 months, 22.83% for the sexual behavior with casually sexual partners in the latest 3months, and 2.75% for the anal sexual behavior with same-sex partners. There were detected positive antibody in 4 cases(0.33%) with HIV, 59 cases(4.92%) of antibody positive, and 25 cases with HCV(2.08%). Conclusions The commercial heterosexual sex and casual sex behavior is common in the local male patients in the clinic. Some of them have history of venereal disease, and cases infected with HIV, HCV and syphilis are also found. Behavior intervention such as developing safe sexual behavior and extending condom use should be strengthened in the male patients in the clinic. Meanwhile, normative diagnosis and treatment of venereal disease and service of counseling and detection should be provided for them in the future.
Representation and Inequality in Late Nineteenth-Century America: The Politics of Apportionment.

The majority of election law scholarship in American politics focuses on the redistricting process and how politicians draw district lines to manipulate elections. We talk about manipulating partis...
Femtosecond Laser Tagging Characterization of a Sweeping Jet Actuator Operating in the Compressible Regime

A sweeping jet (SWJ) actuator operating over a range of nozzle pressure ratios (NPRs) was characterized with femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET), single hot-wire anemometry (HWA) and high-speed/phase-averaged schlieren. FLEET velocimetry was successfully demonstrated in a highly unsteady, oscillatory flow containing subsonic through supersonic velocities. Qualitative comparisons between FLEET and HWA (which measured mass flux since the flow was compressible) showed relatively good agreement in the external flow profiles. The spreading rate was found to vary from 0.5 to 1.2 depending on the pressure ratio. The precision of FLEET velocity measurements in the external flow field was poorer (is approximately equal to 25 m/s) than reported in a previous study due to the use of relatively low laser fluences, impacting the velocity fluctuation measurements. FLEET enabled velocity measurements inside the device and showed that choking likely occurred for NPR ≥ 2.0, and no internal shockwaves were present. Qualitative oxygen concentration measurements using FLEET were explored in an effort to gauge the jet's mixing with the ambient. The jet was shown to mix well within roughly four throat diameters and mix fully within roughly eight throat diameters. Schlieren provided visualization of the internal and external flow fields and showed that the qualitative structure of the internal flow does not vary with pressure ratio and the sweeping mechanism observed for incompressible NPRs also probably holds for compressible NPRs.
Gedächtnisstörungen nach unilateralen zerebralen Läsionen

Bei unilateralen hemisphariellen Lasionen treten im Unterschied zum amnestischen Syndrom haufig nur selektive Gedachtnisstorungen auf, die sich entweder auf verbale oder auf figural-raumliche Informationen beziehen. Klinische Untersuchungen hierzu liegen vor allem bei Patienten mit Temporallappenepilepsie vor. Nahezu in allen Studien wird dabei festgestellt, dass vor oder nach links temporaler Lobektomie signifikant schwerere verbale Gedachtnisstorungen auftreten. Im Unterschied dazu sind die Aussagen zu figuralen Gedachtnisstorungen bei rechts temporaler Lobektomie uneinheitlich. Methodisch werden stets Mittelwertvergleiche zwischen Stichproben mit links und rechts hemisphariellen Patienten durchgefuhrt. Im Unterschied dazu geht die vorgestellte Studie vom klinischen Einzelfall aus und untersucht eine Stichprobe von neurologischen Patienten unterschiedlicher Genese mit einem standardisierten Gedachtnistest (Berliner Amnesie-Test). Es wird dabei sowohl ein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen links hemisphariellen Lasionen und verbalen als auch zwischen rechts hemisphariellen Lasionen und figural-raumlichen Gedachtnisstorungen nachgewiesen. Mogliche Ursachen der differierenden Ergebnisse bei figural-raumlichen Gedachtnisstorungen werden diskutiert.
Data assimilation in a coupled physical-biogeochemical model of the California current system using an incremental lognormal 4-dimensional variational approach: Part 3—Assimilation in a realistic context using satellite and in situ observations

Abstract A fully coupled physical and biogeochemical ocean data assimilation system is tested in a realistic configuration of the California Current System using the Regional Ocean Modeling System. In situ measurements for sea surface temperature and salinity as well as satellite observations for temperature, sea level and chlorophyll are used for the year 2000. Initial conditions of the combined physical and biogeochemical state are adjusted at the start of each 3-day assimilation cycle. Data assimilation results in substantial reduction of root-mean-square error (RMSE) over unconstrained model output. RMSE for physical variables is slightly lower when assimilating only physical variables than when assimilating both physical variables and surface chlorophyll. Surface chlorophyll RMSE is lowest when assimilating both physical variables and surface chlorophyll. Estimates of subsurface, nitrate and chlorophyll show modest improvements over the unconstrained model run relative to independent, unassimilated in situ data. Assimilation adjustments to the biogeochemical initial conditions are investigated within different regions of the California Current System. The incremental, lognormal 4-dimensional data assimilation method tested here represents a viable approach to coupled physical biogeochemical state estimation at practical computational cost.
Contingency learning is reduced for high conflict stimuli

Recent theories have proposed that contingency learning occurs independent of control processes. These parallel processing accounts propose that behavioral effects originally thought to be products of control processes are in fact products solely of contingency learning. This view runs contrary to conflict-mediated Hebbian-learning models that posit control and contingency learning are parts of an interactive system. In this study we replicate the contingency learning effect and modify it to further test the veracity of the parallel processing accounts in comparison to conflict-mediated Hebbian-learning models. This is accomplished by manipulating conflict to test for an interaction, or lack thereof, between conflict and contingency learning. The results are consistent with conflict-mediated Hebbian-learning in that the addition of conflict reduces the magnitude of the contingency learning effect.
Academic Help Seeking: a Framework for Conceptualizing Facebook Use for Higher Education Support

This purpose of this study was to understand how higher education students, specifically preservice teachers, used Facebook to seek academic help. Results indicated that participants who regularly used Facebook to seek academic support formally and informally, considered the network to be social in nature, generated a sense of community through online interactions, and sought help for academic task completion. A framework for understanding help seeking is provided for higher education personnel working to support the academic success of students.
12 Reaction mechanisms : Part (iii) Pericyclic reactions

Reports describing clever experimental studies and advanced computational studies continue to reveal the mechanistic complexity of seemingly simple pericyclic reactions. Some important examples are highlighted here. Experimental and computational evidence for the first two-step, no-intermediate reaction mechanism for the ene reaction of singlet oxygen with a simple alkene is presented by Singleton, Foote, Houk and co-workers. A new type of kinetic isotope effect due to dynamics is described by Singleton et al., discovered in their studies of the ene reaction involving singlet oxygen. Baldwin and Burrell report a study on the complicated thermal behavior of optically active trans and cis-1-(E)-propenyl-2-methylcyclobutanes. The following papers are relevant to several categories of pericyclic reactions. Otto and Engberts reviewed the importance of hydrophobic interactions on chemical reactivity, and include a discussion of Diels–Alder reactions, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, and Claisen rearrangements. Also, Houk and co-workers published a benchmarking study comparing experimental and computational data for eleven hydrocarbon pericyclic reactions. The authors' goals are: to establish reliable experimental data for comparative purposes; to determine what level of theory is necessary to calculate activation enthalpies with high accuracy; and to determine which density functional methods give reasonable results for pericyclic reactions. The most reliable activation enthalpies and heats of reaction are obtained using CASPT2 and CBS-QB3 methods. Some density functional methods also give very good activation enthalpies. All computational methods studied gave reasonable transition state geometries, with the exceptions of those for Cope rearrangement and cyclopentadiene dimerization.
Raman spectroscopy of sol-gel derived perovskites

Abstract Barium magnesium tantalate (BMT) perovskite was prepared from organic precursors including Ba metal, Mg(OC 2 H 5 ) 5 and Ta(OC 2 H 5 ) 5 . Crystallization and phase formation were studied for the sol—gel derived BMT powders. Microstructure of BMT shows particle sizes less than 0.1 μm. Raman spectroscopy was done to study the modes of vibration in the BMT ceramics.
Developmental origins of the human hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

Introduction: The developmental origins of disease or fetal programming model predicts that intrauterine exposures have life long consequences for physical and psychological health. Prenatal progra...
Conservation agriculture improves yield and reduces weeding activity in sandy soils of Cambodia

The years of intensive tillage in Cambodia have caused significant decline in agriculture’s natural resources that could threaten its future of agricultural production and sustainability. Conventional tillage could cause rapid loss of soil organic matter, leading to a high potential for soil degradation and decline of environmental quality. Hence, a better and comprehensive process-based understanding of differential effects of tillage systems and crop management on crop yield is critically needed. A study was conducted in 10 farmer’s fields to evaluate the effect of conservation agriculture and conventional tillage on yield of selected crops and weeding activity in two villages of Siem Reap, Cambodia. The experiment was laid out following a 2 × 2 factorial treatment combination in randomized complete block design. Each treatment was replicated five times. Each farmer’s field was divided into four plots and was randomly assigned with production management and irrigation treatments, respectively. We demonstrated that our results supported the overall premises of conservation agriculture. Average yields of selected crops were significantly (≤ 0.001) improved in plots with conservation agriculture (17.1 ± 6.3 to 89.3 ± 40.2 Mg ha−1) compared with conventional tillage (18.8 ± 6.4 to 63.8 ± 27.7 Mg ha−1). Our results showed that manual weeding in all cropping seasons was significantly reduced by about 35% in conservation agriculture (169 ± 23 to 125 ± 18 man-day ha−1), which can be attributed to existing cover crops and surface mulch. Overall, our results suggest that in smallholder commercial household farms, adoption of conservation agriculture had a profitable production management system, which could save natural resources, improve yield, and reduce labor. We proved for the first time that in Cambodian smallholder commercial household farms, adoption of conservation agriculture saves natural resources, improves yield, and reduces labor. Additional studies are encouraged to further test the conservation agriculture system for a longer period of time, with repeated cropping sequences.
It's not that Difficult: An Interrater Reliability Study of the DSM-5 Section III Alternative Model for Personality Disorders.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed. [DSM–5]; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) Section III Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) represents a novel...
Generation of Transgenic Spores of the Fern Ceratopteris richardii to Analyze Ca 2+ Transport Dynamics During Gravity-Directed Polarization

Spores from the fern, Ceratopteris richardii, have been used to study gravity-directed cell polarization for over three decades. This system is ideal for these studies because it has a highly predictable growth and developmental pattern and primarily responds to the mechanical force of gravity during polarization. Early studies on the development in this system showed that during the first 24 h of germination, Ceratopteris spores establish a Ca2+ concentration differential along the outer periphery of the cell that is defined by the uptake of Ca2+ through channels at the bottom of the spore and an efflux of Ca2+ through pumps at the top. This 100-fold [Ca2+] differential is sensitive to the direction and magnitude of the gravitational force. In a low-gravity environment or when the uptake of Ca2+ is blocked, spore polarization becomes random. These results support the hypothesis that the uptake of Ca2+ is necessary for gravity-directed polarization in Ceratopteris spores. For many years, studies of Ceratopteris were limited by the inability to produce stable transformants. However, recent protocols have led to the first stably transformed lines in Ceratopteris richardii. This work reviews and discusses the latest studies of gravity-induced changes in Ca2+ transport dynamics in Ceratopteris spores, the use of transformation protocols to overexpress or knock out genes relevant to the transport of Ca2+ in Ceratopteris, and the potential value of mutants to more thoroughly understand the role of Ca2+ transport dynamics in gravity-directed polarization of spores.
Evolution of Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Learning Curve.

ObjectiveMinimally invasive coronary surgery approach for coronary artery bypass grafting is a safe and reproducible procedure for multivessel revascularization. This study reviewed a single surgeo...
The Legacy of Patricia Ann Webb: Broken Vials and Urgency

Patricia Ann Webb (1925–2005) left a rich legacy of work undertaken during a time when arbovirus and hemorrhagic fever virus studies were coming of age. She participated in the discovery and characterization of some of the most consequential infectious diseases of today. She had a role in the classification of the arenaviruses, including Machupo and Lassa viruses. She identified, by immunofluorescence, that Ebola virus was a new pathogen in 1976. She demonstrated that AIDS was unlikely to be transmitted by mosquitos or bed bugs. Patricia was a part of a legendary group of physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, microbiologists, entomologists, and ecologists whose findings and stories have inspired new generations of scientists. How they elucidated disease transmission, treatment, and control serves as the best examples of studies on emerging zoonotic diseases. Those who signed up had to have a yen for adventure, and Patricia thrived in exotic places. Colleagues fondly remember her as smart, sharp-witted, demanding, tenacious, detail-oriented, and crusty, but all knew that she could be counted on for support when needed. Her professional credentials and personal notes attest to her endeavors and achievements. In this chapter, by May Chu, some of those achievements are recounted, interspersed with personal recollections to give insight into a demanding and distinguished public health career. One can only imagine what she would have to say about today’s situation as the world is recovering from the largest-ever Ebola virus epidemic and as arboviruses like Chikungunya and Zika viruses are spreading from their natural habitats.
Education: Visualizing and animating the winged-edge data structure

The winged- and half-edge data structures are commonly used representations for polyhedron models. Due to the complexity, students in an introductory course to computer graphics usually have difficulty in handling these data structures and developing applications. This paper describes the authors' effort in the development of a visualization and animation tool for teaching and learning these data structures. This tool also includes a simple pseudo-code-like language for algorithm design. Instructors may employ this tool for presentation and demonstration purposes. Students may use the simple language to develop and experiment with new algorithms before their actual implementation. The visualization and animation system may be used to explore and understand the relationship among mesh elements and algorithm execution.
1040-LBP: Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis used to assess biological identity between a potential kidney donor-recipient pair of twins with the patient having a history of Polycystic Kidney Disease

Aim Chimerism analysis is an important tool for post-transplant management of allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation. It is also commonly used for human identity testing in non-clinical settings. In this case, we report the use of this technique to assess identity of a potential kidney donor-recipient pair of twins. Methods Chimerism analysis was performed using 16 STR markers and HLA typing was by intermediate resolution sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (SSOP). Single Antigen Bead assay by Luminex was performed to determine cPRA. Results An eighteen-year-old female, with history of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and hypertension since birth, has a healthy twin sister. Due to this disease, the sick twin underwent a deceased donor kidney transplant. The patient lost graft function due to graft rejection and was restarted on dialysis. She developed a high level of sensitization with cPRA of 99%, and has been on the transplant waiting list for six years. The healthy twin is willing to donate a kidney to her sister and HLA typing of the twins revealed complete identity. However, concerns arose because being twins, the chances of developing the disease could not be underestimated. In order to evaluate the risk of the healthy sister to develop ADPKD, we performed chimerism analysis to determine if these siblings were identical. STR analysis revealed differences between the markers. Conclusions Our data shows that the patient and her sister are HLA identical, but not identical twins. By using STR analysis, we provided the patient and her family with the prospect to make an informed decision on disease risk as well as the opportunity for the patient to be transplanted with minimal risk of rejection since the patient and her twin are HLA identical.
Patent Publication and Innovation

How does the publication of patents affect innovation? To answer this question, we exploit a large-scale natural experiment — the passage of the American Inventor's Protection Act (AIPA) — that accelerated the public disclosure of most patents in the U.S. by two years. After the passage of AIPA, patents receive more and faster follow-on citations, indicating significant technology diffusion. Technological overlap increases between distant but related patents and decreases between highly similar patents, and patent applications are less likely to be abandoned post-AIPA, suggesting a reduction in duplicative R&D. Firms exposed to longer patent grant delays increased their R&D investment more after AIPA. We estimate AIPA increased patenting by a significant 6.2 percent and increased firms’ R&D investment by up to six percent. These findings are consistent with the predictions of our theoretical framework which models patent publication as provisioning current information about related technologies to inventors.
Cardiotoxicity Monitoring in Patients Treated with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) can cause cardiotoxicity, and some suggest routine monitoring of cardiac function during TKI use. We describe two cases of TKI-induced heart failure (HF) that suggest the utility of monitoring with laboratory tests is questionable. One patient developed HF 5 days after starting pazopanib. The other developed HF while receiving 25 mg per day sunitinib, and had previously received a higher dose (50 mg per day) with no symptoms of cardiotoxicy. In addition, she later received 5 cycles of sunitinib (25 mg per day) without developing an abnormal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) value by echocardiography or cardiac symptoms. Although the LVEF is commonly performed to monitor TKI cardiotoxicity, evidence for its predictive utility is limited. These cases raise questions regarding the practical utility of sequential measurement of LVEF in adults treated with TKIs. We suggest a simple daily activity such as stair climbing to monitor exercise tolerance.
Patient-Reported Outcomes in Orphan Drug Labels Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration

Abstract Objectives In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the need to assess treatment benefit from the patient’s perspective. The extent of patient-reported outcome (PRO) data included in labeling for rare disease treatment is largely unknown. The objective of this study was to review trends over time for PRO-based labeling granted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for orphan drugs. Study Design Review of FDA package inserts. Methods Products included in this analysis were all new molecular entities (NMEs) and biologic license applications (BLAs) with orphan designations approved by the FDA from 2002 through 2017. For identified products, package inserts were reviewed to determine the number and type of PRO claim(s) granted, endpoint status, and PRO measure named. Two trends were analyzed: (1) over all years 2002 to 2017 and (2) 2002 to 2017 stratified into 3 periods (before draft FDA PRO guidance [2006], between draft and final guidance release, and after final guidance [2009] release. Results A total of 156 NMEs and BLAs with orphan designations were approved between 2002 and 2017. Of these, 13 products (8.3%) had PRO-based labeling, and 7 of 13 were symptom-related. The percent of orphan drugs approved with PRO-based labeling between 2002 and 2005, 2006 and 2008, and 2009 and 2017 was 0, 10.5, and 9.9, respectively. Conclusions In FDA-approved labeling for orphan therapies, PRO measures used as primary and secondary endpoints increased after draft FDA PRO guidance release but remained relatively low thereafter. It is important to understand barriers to PRO measure use to ensure that treatments capture perspectives of patients with rare diseases.
Synthetic Studies of the Tridentatols

The tridentatols are conjugated tyramine derivatives isolated from the Atlantic hydroid Tridentata marginata and have potentially useful properties in sunscreen applications. Preparations of tridentatol C and two tridentatol A analogues bearing the unusual N-[bis(methylthio)methylene] functional group are described.
The Air-Driven Dental Unit: Form and Function at a Mechanical Level:

The goal of this article is to provide an overview at a mechanical level of how the dental machine functions. A description of the low-speed handpiece and its air-driven micromotor as well as the high-speed handpiece and turbine will be provided. The compressor, rheostat, air-water syringe, suction, fiber-optic light, and handpiece couplings will also be discussed. It is important to understand the function of equipment to allow for troubleshooting problems and understanding maintenance requirements to keep equipment functioning optimally.
YejM Controls LpxC Levels by Regulating Protease Activity of the FtsH/YciM Complex of Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT LpxC is a deacetylase that catalyzes the first committed step of lipid A biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. LpxC competes for a common precursor, R-3-hydroxymyristoyl-UDP-GlcNAc, with FabZ, whose dehydratase activity catalyzes the first committed step of phospholipid biosynthesis. To maintain the optimum flow of the common precursor to these two competing pathways, the LpxC level is controlled by FtsH/YciM-mediated proteolysis. It is not known whether this complex or another protein senses the status of lipid A synthesis to control LpxC proteolysis. The work carried out in this study began with a novel mutation, yejM1163, which causes hypersensitivity to large antibiotics such as vancomycin and erythromycin. Isolates resistant to these antibiotics carried suppressor mutations in the ftsH and yciM genes. Western blot analysis showed a dramatically reduced LpxC level in the yejM1163 background, while the presence of ftsH or yciM suppressor mutations restored LpxC levels to different degrees. Based on these observations, it is proposed that YejM is a sensor of lipid A synthesis and controls LpxC levels by modulating the activity of the FtsH/YciM complex. The truncation of the periplasmic domain in the YejM1163 protein causes unregulated proteolysis of LpxC, thus diverting a greater pool of R-3-hydroxymyristoyl-UDP-GlcNAc toward phospholipid synthesis. This imbalance in lipid synthesis perturbs the outer membrane permeability barrier, causing hypersensitivity toward vancomycin and erythromycin. yejM1163 suppressor mutations in ftsH and yciM lower the proteolytic activity toward LpxC, thus restoring lipid homeostasis and the outer membrane permeability barrier. IMPORTANCE Lipid homeostasis is critical for proper envelope functions. The level of LpxC, which catalyzes the first committed step of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synthesis, is controlled by an essential protease complex comprised of FtsH and YciM. Work carried out here suggests YejM, an essential envelope protein, plays a central role in sensing the state of LPS synthesis and controls LpxC levels by regulating the activity of FtsH/YciM. All four essential proteins are attractive targets of therapeutic development.
Exploring the Complexities of Racial Inequality and Grandparent-grandchild Relationships in the Classroom: A Review of the Film Black or White.

Black or White is a modern-day film that presents an unconventional family dynamic between a biracial elementary-aged girl and her Black and White grandparents. The film portrays social and relational issues such as racial inequality, discrimination, and disparities while introducing interracial grandparenting roles and their associated challenges. This film review serves to first summarize major highlights of the film's plot, followed by exploring the film's cinematographic quality, its relevance to Social Work and social welfare, and ways in which the film can be used as a teaching tool for Social Work students. This review also includes discussion of Black or White's strengths and weaknesses as they pertain to considerations instructors should have before utilizing the film in a college classroom setting.
Phospholipid exchange shows insulin receptor activity is supported by both the propensity to form wide bilayers and ordered domains (rafts)

Using efficient methyl-alpha-cyclodextrin mediated lipid exchange, we studied the effect of altering plasma membrane outer leaflet phospholipid composition upon the activity of insulin receptor (IR) in mammalian cells. After substitution of endogenous lipids with lipids having an ability to form liquid ordered (Lo) domains (sphingomyelins) or liquid disordered (Ld) domains (unsaturated phosphatidylcholines (PCs)), we found that the propensity of lipids to form ordered domains is required for high IR activity. Additional substitution experiments using a series of saturated PCs showed that IR activity increased substantially with increasing acyl chain length. Increasing acyl chain length increases both bilayer width and the propensity to form ordered domains. To distinguish the effects of membrane width and domain formation, we incorporated purified IR into alkyl maltoside micelles with increasing hydrocarbon lengths. IR activity increases with increased chain length, but more modestly than by increasing lipid acyl chain length in cells. This suggests that the ability to form Lo domains as well as wide bilayer width contributes to increased IR activity. Inhibition of phosphatases with sodium orthovanadate showed that some of the lipid dependence of IR activity upon lipid structure reflected protection from phosphatases by lipids that support Lo domain formation. The results are consistent with a model in which a combination of bilayer width and ordered domain formation modulate IR activity via effects upon IR conformation and accessibility to phosphatases. SignificanceThis study shows how methyl--cyclodextrin mediated lipid exchange can be used to probe the influence of lipid structure upon the functioning of a transmembrane receptor. Plasma membranes having a propensity to form Lo domains are required to support a high level of IR activity. The studies indicate this may reflect an effect of lipid environment upon IR domain localization, which in turn alters its conformation and vulnerability to phosphatases. Alterations in lipid composition could conceivably regulate IR activity in vivo.
Clinical regression of inguinal hernias in premature infants without surgical repair

The incidence of inguinal hernias in premature infants is approximately 30%. Due to concerns about a high risk of incarceration, early repair is commonly performed. We present a series of patients whose families opted to delay repair until after 55 weeks corrected gestational age (GA) and experienced safe clinical regression of their hernias. Between June 2015 and July 2020, premature infants (< 37 weeks GA) diagnosed with inguinal hernias on physical examination were identified. Families of eligible infants were offered either immediate or delayed repair after 55 weeks corrected GA. Infants whose families elected to delay were followed until their hernia(s) clinically regressed, or until older than 55 weeks. Families of 68 infants consented to delay repair. 23 infants (33.8%) had hernias that clinically regressed at median follow up from diagnosis of 14.1 weeks. Univariate analysis demonstrated female sex as a significant predictor of hernia clinical regression (OR: 3.08; p = 0.046). Of the 45 infants who underwent repair, 84.4% safely progressed to 55 weeks corrected GA prior to. Delaying inguinal hernia repair in this series of premature infants until after 55 weeks corrected GA revealed that one third of hernias, especially in females, safely regressed upon follow-up examination.
A Surgeon's purpose, American Pediatric Surgical Association, Presidential Address, 2021.

Through an examination of literature and art history over the past several centuries, we can better understand what it is to be a physician and meet the needs of our patients by recognizing suffering and creating hope. Literature and historical works of art are rich in the description of children and families confronting disease and through close examination of both types of media, we can better empathize and understand our patients and families when confronted by illness.
DDX41 is needed for pre-and post-natal hematopoietic stem cell differentiation in mice

DDX41 is a tumor suppressor frequently mutated in human myeloid neoplasms. DDX41 binds to DNA/RNA hybrids and interacts with spliceosome component (1, 2). How it affects hematopoiesis is still unclear. Using a knockout mouse model, we demonstrate that DDX41 is required for mouse hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) survival and differentiation. Lack of DDX41 particularly affected myeloid progenitor development, starting at embryonic day 13.5. DDX41-deficient fetal liver and adult bone marrow (BM) cells were unable to rescue mice from lethal irradiation after transplantation. DDX41 knockout stem cells were also defective in ex vivo colony forming assays. RNASeq analysis of lineage-negative, cKit+Sca1+ cells isolated from fetal liver demonstrated that the expression of many genes associated with hematopoietic differentiation were altered in DDX41 knockout cells. Furthermore, altered splicing of genes involved in key biological processes were observed. Our data reveal a critical role for DDX41 in HSPC differentiation and myeloid progenitor development, likely through its regulation of gene expression programs and splicing. SignificanceDDX41 is a tumor suppressor in hematologic malignancies. However, whether DDX41 functions in hematopoiesis and myeloid cell differentiation is not known. Here we show that in mice, loss of DDX41 in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) leads to defects in hematopoietic development. The myeloid lineage was particularly affected as early as pre-natal stages. Transcriptional profiling of embryonic HSCs revealed that there were global changes in gene expression and splicing due to lack of DDX41. Collectively, the study uncovers a new function of DDX41 in HSC differentiation and could provide molecular targets for treatment of myeloid differentiation disorders.
Effects of Tracheal Distension on Upper Airway Reflex Responsiveness in Cat

A tracheostomy cuff is used in patients to ensure no material enters the lower airway. To clinically determine whether a patient is ready for cuff-deflation airway protective reflexes are tested, o...
You Ain't Dead Yet

and stuck the spade in a pile of sand. "She'll be done soon!" he hollered at Elmer, who was knocking the forms off a fresh burial vault. Elmer nodded and coughed. Like Mark, he wore a red bandana across his face. The air inside the Sun wall Brothers' Vault Company was heavy with fine gray dust. By the end of the day his lungs felt so thick that more than once as he sank into sleep Mark had imagined his lungs were hardening, slowly turning to concrete. Still, it was the best summer job he'd ever had. The pay was decent, Elmer was good if quiet company, and the nearness to death made him feel serious, adult, and curiously alive.
Assessment of the Obese Patient

Obesity is one of the most common conditions encountered in clinical practice. It predisposes to and is associated with a range of chronic health problems, reduced functional capacity, and impaired quality of life. A range of treatment options are available that have been shown to reduce weight and improve health. There is a broad consensus that physicians should screen patients for obesity, assess overweight and obese individuals for associated health problems including risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and help patient select a treatment approach that is appropriate for their health and readiness to change their lifestyle behaviors. While the BMI and waist circumference remain the primary tools for assessing health risks associated with weight, it is widely acknowledged that there are limitations to risk screening that is based solely on BMI. Recent data suggest that the relationships between weight, morbidity, and mortality are not straightforward. As a result, a number of strategies have been proposed for assessing risk in obese patients in an effort to allow interventions to be targeted to those at greatest risk of adverse health outcomes. When seeing an overweight or obese patient the clinician should evaluate the weight history, previous attempts at weight loss, eating and exercise habits and inquire about medications that might promote weight gain. While uncommon, patients are often concerned that they have a secondary cause of obesity and clinicians should understand the approach to screening for hypothyroidism, hypercortisolism, and genetic forms of obesity. Finally, clinicians should assess a patient’s readiness to make lifestyle changes before advising weight loss. The available evidence suggests that when physicians identify obesity as a problem and advise patients to lose weight there is a greater likelihood that patients will take action. However, physicians continue to discuss this important topic with only a minority of obese patients. Developing an approach to the complete yet efficient assessment of the obese patient is the first step in helping these individuals lose weight and improve their health.
A hierarchically-controlled SIMD machine for 2D DCT on FPGAs

Platform FPGA devices are an attractive option for implementing parallel systems on a single chip that can be used as a coprocessor. However, the substantial communication overhead between the host workstation and the FPGAs is a major performance bottleneck. Also, mapping an application to FPGAs still remains a daunting job. To address these problems, this paper describes a hierarchical SIMD (H-SIMD) machine design with its codesign of a hierarchical instruction set architecture (HISA). The proposed H-SIMD design uses an FPGA controller to facilitate ease of program development. It also employs a memory switching scheme to overlap communications with computations as much as possible. The two-dimensional discrete cosine transform (DCT2 or 2D-DCT) is enlisted to show the effectiveness of the H-SIMD machine.
Taxing Investment Fund Managers Using a Simplified Mark-to-Market Approach.

For several years, a debate has swirled around the taxation of hedge fund managers’ compensation. Because it is structured as a type of partnership interest in the hedge fund, hedge fund managers may be eligible to pay taxes at lower capital gains rates on a large percentage of their income from the fund, which seems intuitively unfair. Until now, the debate has generally revolved around whether this compensation, called “carried interest,” is more like compensation, taxable at a 35 percent rate, or is more like an investment return, taxable at a 15 percent rate. And, because strong arguments support analogizing carried interest to both compensation and investment income, there is no clear resolution to the debate. This Article argues that asking what carried interest most resembles is the wrong question. Instead, it asks whether the policy considerations employed to justify taxing capital gains at lower rates apply equally to carried interest. Because those policy considerations do not strongly support taxing carried interest at lower rates, it is not necessary to determine what carried interest most resembles. Moreover, taxing hedge fund managers’ receipt of carried interest using a simplified mark-to-market approach better solves the problems that weakly justify taxing carried interest at lower rates better than the lower rates solve the problems. Mark-to-market taxation provides the best representation of economic income. Because of liquidity and valuation concerns, however, the tax law generally requires realization before imposing tax. Carried interest does not present these liquidity or valuation problems, however, and can and should be taxable on a mark-to-market basis.
Length of western tent caterpillar egg masses and diameter of their associated stems

Stems bearing egg masses of the western tent caterpillar ( Malacosoma californicum ), collected in Arizona and northern New Mexico during 1977–1980, had mean diameters between 2.9 and 4 mm. Mean lengths of the egg masses were consistently between 11 and 14 mm.
Continuous Orthonormalization for Linear Two-Point Boundary Value Problems Revisited

In this work we revisit the continuous orthonormalization technique for solving linear two-point boundary value problems and discuss a specific implementation of the method. We infer stability of the method by putting it in a multiple shooting—like framework. Numerical examples are given.
The Face of Social Suffering: The Life History of a Street Drug Addict

The Face of Social Suffering: The Life History of. Street Drug Addict. Merrill Singer. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2006 (paper). viii + 176 pp.
Interactions between CO2 chemoreflexes and arterial baroreflexes

We studied interactions between CO2 chemoreflexes and arterial baroreflexes in 10 supine healthy young men and women. We measured vagal carotid baroreceptor-cardiac reflexes and steady-state fast Fourier transform R-R interval and photoplethysmographic arterial pressure power spectra at three arterial pressure levels (nitroprusside, saline, and phenylephrine infusions) and three end-tidal CO2 levels (3, 4, and 5%, fixed-frequency, large-tidal-volume breathing, CO2 plus O2). Our study supports three principal conclusions. First, although low levels of CO2 chemoreceptor stimulation reduce R-R intervals and R-R interval variability, statistical modeling suggests that this effect is indirect rather than direct and is mediated by reductions of arterial pressure. Second, reductions of R-R intervals during hypocapnia reflect simple shifting of vagally mediated carotid baroreflex responses on the R-R interval axis rather than changes of baroreflex gain, range, or operational point. Third, the influence of CO2 chemoreceptor stimulation on arterial pressure (and, derivatively, on R-R intervals and R-R interval variability) depends critically on baseline arterial pressure levels: chemoreceptor effects are smaller when pressure is low and larger when arterial pressure is high.
Flow and thermal characteristics of a circular porous slider bearing

Abstract An incompressible newtonian fluid is forced through the porous bottom of a circular slider which is moving laterally on a horizontal plane. The effects of mass injection and lateral velocity on the heat generated by viscous dissipation are investigated by solving the governing boundary layer equations using numerical integration techniques. Numerical results are presented for the velocity and temperature distributions as well as for the wall derivatives of the velocity and thermal functions. The range of Prandtl numbers investigated varies from 0.7 to 10 while the cross-flow Reynolds numbers and translational Reynolds numbers range from 0.01 to 50 and 1 to 1000 respectively.
The effects of yttrium ion implantation on the oxidation of nickel-chromium alloys. II. Oxidation of yttrium implanted Ni-20Cr

Yttrium ions were implanted into an alloy of nickel containing 20 wt.% chromium. The oxidation weight gains of the implanted alloy, as well as unimplanted Ni-20Cr, were measured in 1 atm. of oxygen at temperatures between 815°C and 1100°C. Though a yttrium fluence of 2×1015 ions/cm2 increased the weight gained at a given time for the implanted alloy compared to the unimplanted alloy, a fluence of 7.5×1016 ions/cm2 considerably retarded the oxidation process. This retardation was caused both by a reduction in the duration of transient oxidation and by a reduction in the rate of parabolic oxidation that follows the transient stage. Examination of oxidized specimens revealed that the higher fluence yttrium implantation caused an earlier formation of Cr2O3, thus shortening the time during which NiO forms and contributing to the reduced time and weight gain during transient oxidation. This accelerated formation of Cr2O3 is explained by reference to the yttrium-implantation-induced amorphous phase present on the alloys, the formation of small grains of nickel-chromium solid solution within this amorphous phase, and the presence of NiCr2O4 at the oxide/gas interface. Potential causes of the reduced rates of parabolic oxidation are also discussed.
Community Dynamics and Analysis of Decadal Trends in Climate Data

The application of complex networks to study complex phenomena, including the Internet, social networks, food networks, and others, has seen a growing interest in recent years. In particular, the use of complex networks and network theory to analyze the behavior of the climate system is an emerging topic. This newfound interest is due to the difficulty of analyzing climate data -- this analysis is notoriously difficult due to the strong spatio-temporal dependencies, multivariate nature, seasonal behavior, and nonlinear phenomena inherent in the climate system. Network-based approaches model the complex long-term dependencies of weather attributes (such as temperature or air pressure) between locations on the Earth as a network of relationships and analyze these networks to gather insights about the emergent behavior of the system as a whole. In this paper, we describe our work-in-progress on a methodology for capturing and characterizing the evolution of the climate network. We do this by splitting the climate data into a set of overlapping decadal time windows and forming a network for each of these datasets representing the complex interdependencies in the climate system over the particular decade. We can then use this sequence of networks to characterize major patterns and anomalies in the data. We validate our methodology by identifying nontrivial events and trends in the evolution of the decadal networks and correlating these with known climatological phenomena.
Comparison of stack measurement data from R&D facilities to regulatory criteria: a case study from PNNL.

Chemical emissions from research and development (R&D) activities are difficult to estimate because of the large number of chemicals used and the potential for continual changes in processes. In this case study, stack measurements taken from R&D facilities at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) were examined, including extreme worst-case emissions estimates and alternate analyses using a Monte Carlo method that takes into account the full distribution of sampling results. The objective of this study was to develop techniques to estimate emissions from stack measurement data that take into account a high degree of variability in the actual emissions. The results from these analyses were then compared to emissions estimated from chemical inventories. Results showed that downwind ambient air concentrations calculated from the stack measurement data were below acceptable source impact levels (ASILs) for almost all compounds, even under extreme worst-case analyses. However, for compounds with averagin...
Being Culturally Sensitive is Not the Same as Being Culturally Competent

Empirically supported treatments have been found to be effective for psychiatric problems among Caucasian American clients. However, there continues to be little research conducted on the efficacy of such treatments when used with ethnic minority clients. Liu (2007) does an excellent job in using cognitive-behavioral and cognitive-interpersonal case formulations to develop an effective treatment plan for TC, a Chinese American male client. Moreover, this case study highlights the importance of cultural competency and cultural adaptation of empirically supported treatments when working with clients from diverse backgrounds. Herein, we summarize the literature on cultural competency and adaptation of therapeutic services, and discuss the cultural complexities involved with treating ethnic minorities.