cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anxiety symptoms in survivors of critical illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the epidemiology of and postintensive care unit (ICU) interventions for anxiety symptoms after critical illness. Methods We searched five databases (1970–2015) to identify studies assessing anxiety symptoms in adult ICU survivors. Data from studies using the most common assessment instrument were meta-analyzed. Results We identified 27 studies (2880 patients) among 27,334 citations. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety (HADS-A) subscale was the most common instrument (81% of studies). We pooled data at 2–3, 6 and 12–14month time-points, with anxiety symptom prevalences [HADS-A≥8, 95% confidence interval (CI)] of 32%(27–38%), 40%(33–46%) and 34%(25–42%), respectively. In a subset of studies with repeated assessments in the exact same patients, there was no significant change in anxiety score or prevalence over time. Age, gender, severity of illness, diagnosis and length of stay were not associated with anxiety symptoms. Psychiatric symptoms during admission and memories of in-ICU delusional experiences were potential risk factors. Physical rehabilitation and ICU diaries had potential benefit. Conclusions One third of ICU survivors experience anxiety symptoms that are persistent during their first year of recovery. Psychiatric symptoms during admission and memories of in-ICU delusional experiences were associated with post-ICU anxiety. Physical rehabilitation and ICU diaries merit further investigation as possible interventions.
Effects of Certain Allelochemics on the Growth and Development of the Black Cutworm

The black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon, is a highly polyphagous species and therefore the larvae are subject to a wide variety of allelochemics (secondary plant substances having effects on other organisms). We have undertaken the experimental testing of the hypothesis that some of these allelochemics may have in addition to immediate effects on survival or feeding behavior, subtle chronic effects, even at low concentrations, on rate of growth, utilization of food and pupation. These subtle effects are best seen when the insect chronically ingests the chemical, as it would in a monoculture situation. We have found, for example, that certain chemicals which do not significantly inhibit 10-day survival, or have a slight effect on this parameter, may markedly inhibit pupation at concentrations of 10−4 M or lower. The concentrations at which we have found biological activity are well within the range at which many allelochemics occur in plants. We have been particularly interested in the chronic effects of substituted phenols and their oxidized forms (quinones).
Student Buy-In to Active Learning in a College Science Course

Student buy-in as a key mechanism for student engagement and performance in an active-learning context is explored. This paper provides the first operational definition of student buy-in to in-clas...
Bayesian phylogeography of influenza A/H3N2 for the 2014-15 season in the United States using three frameworks of ancestral state reconstruction

Ancestral state reconstructions in Bayesian phylogeography of virus pandemics have been improved by utilizing a Bayesian stochastic search variable selection (BSSVS) framework. Recently, this framework has been extended to model the transition rate matrix between discrete states as a generalized linear model (GLM) of genetic, geographic, demographic, and environmental predictors of interest to the virus and incorporating BSSVS to estimate the posterior inclusion probabilities of each predictor. Although the latter appears to enhance the biological validity of ancestral state reconstruction, there has yet to be a comparison of phylogenies created by the two methods. In this paper, we compare these two methods, while also using a primitive method without BSSVS, and highlight the differences in phylogenies created by each. We test six coalescent priors and six random sequence samples of H3N2 influenza during the 2014-15 flu season in the U.S. We show that the GLMs yield significantly greater root state posterior probabilities than the two alternative methods under five of the six priors, and significantly greater Kullback-Leibler divergence values than the two alternative methods under all priors. Furthermore, the GLMs strongly implicate temperature and precipitation as driving forces of this flu season and nearly unanimously identified a single root state, which exhibits the most tropical climate during a typical flu season in the U.S. The GLM, however, appears to be highly susceptible to sampling bias compared with the other methods, which casts doubt on whether its reconstructions should be favored over those created by alternate methods. We report that a BSSVS approach with a Poisson prior demonstrates less bias toward sample size under certain conditions than the GLMs or primitive models, and believe that the connection between reconstruction method and sampling bias warrants further investigation.
Feeling Brown in the Academy: Decolonizing Mentoring Through a Disidentification Muxerista Approach

ABSTRACTAccording to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Hispanics” comprise only 4% of the full-time faculty in U.S. universities, although Latin@s comprise 16.4% of the U.S. population. Given the under-representation of Latin@ faculty, efforts to support and retain them are paramount. Recently a small body of literature has surfaced explicitly centering the practices of peer mentoring among Latin@s. Through collaborative auto-ethnography and counter-storytelling, using a framework of disidentification, muxerista mentoring, and community cultural wealth, we add to this literature by discussing our experience of engaging in non-hierarchical Latina peer mentoring at a predominantly White university. The main themes include: merging emotional needs with professional growth, forging learning and research partnerships, Browning teaching spaces and transforming institutional practices.
Negative Affectivity, Aging, and Depression: Results From the Neurobiology of Late-Life Depression (NBOLD) Study

Objective Neuroticism is a common yet understudied condition in older adults. We hypothesized that presence of high negativity affectivity (NA), a key feature of neuroticism, would be associated with different prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity and connectivity patterns in depressed and never-depressed older adults. Methods This is a baseline cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study of 52 depressed and 36 never-depressed older adults. Assessments included NA scores from the Type D Scale-14 and Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale scores. All subjects had a 3T brain functional magnetic resonance imaging resting scan, neuronal activity determined by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) were obtained, and resting state functional connectivity (FC) analyses were performed. Analyses of covariance were conducted on ALFFs and FC to examine significant differences between groups. Results In the ALFF analyses there were clearly different patterns between depressed and comparison groups in the correlation of ALFFs and NA. The correlation differences between the two groups were significant in the dorsomedial PFC, insula, amygdala, and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). FC analyses revealed different between-group connectivity patterns. Significantly higher ventromedial PFC–amygdala FC with NA correlation was found in the depressed group than that in the never-depressed group. Conclusion This study confirms differential activity of the dorsal and ventral regions of the medial PFC in individuals with high neuroticism. Our findings suggest increased rostral medial PFC activity may be a marker of resilience to depression in the elderly and decreased anterior ventromedial PFC, PCC, and amygdala activity may be a result of successful emotion regulation in never-depressed higher NA individuals.
Explaining benefits of employee proactive personality: The role of engagement, team proactivity composition and perceived organizational support

Abstract Proactive personality is an individual difference factor capturing the behavioral tendency toward displaying proactive behaviors to enact positive situational changes. Drawing from the Job Demands – Resources framework and trait activation theory, we conducted two studies to extend the proactive personality literature by responding to calls to explore how and under which circumstances proactive personality affects work outcomes. We found that work proactive personality related to performance (i.e., task performance and counterproductive work behaviors) through its relationship with engagement in a field study of 340 employee-supervisor dyads (study 1). In order to explore what organizational factors can be targeted to intervene or support employees who lack proactive personality, we explored the boundary conditions and organizational circumstances of the proactive personality-engagement relationship. We conducted a multilevel study of 52 teams (study 2) and showed that perceived organizational support and team proactive personality composition (mean) moderated the relationship between individual proactive personality and work engagement. Specifically, this positive relationship was found to be stronger among employees who had low perceived organizational support, and who worked in teams with high team proactive personality means.
Evaluation of a Longitudinal Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

Objective. To describe satisfaction and career path of students who participated in the longitudinal advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE).Methods. A 3-part survey was administered to students enrolled between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2013. The sections of the survey evaluated respondents’ baseline characteristics, satisfaction, and career path.Results. Majority of the respondents had a GPA above 3.0 (91%), pharmacy school honors (84%), work experience in retail (16%) or multiple pharmacy sites (38%), and were members of at least one professional organization (76%). Sixty-nine percent reported that the program exceeded their expectations. Strengths included practice site consistency, rotation diversity, preceptors, presentations, and collaboration with health care professionals. Students gained approximately 76 hours of additional clinical experience, compared to if they completed rotations at individual sites. After graduation, more than half of the respondents accepted a pharmacy practic...
Supramolecular Assembly and Solid State Chemistry

The deceptively simple act of molecular recognition is the result of a balancing act between a variety of intermolecular interactions. Through the use of structural chemistry, interpreted against a background of calculated molecular electrostatic potential surfaces it is possible to identify binding preferences supramolecular patterns of behavior of discrete molecular species. The outcome is robust supramolecular synthetic strategies based on tunable site-specific intermolecular interactions that facilitate the preparation of co-crystals and specific solid-state motifs via selective and hierarchical self-assembly.
An Optical Interconnect Network Design for Dynamically Composable Data Centers

Virtual Data Center (VDC) is becoming the real world tendency of IT model that offers flexible and on-demand service, most of which adopt Software-Defined Networking (SDN) as their network architecture to simplify network management and ensure network isolation. In our paper, by following our Just-in-Time Architecture (JITA) design, we further studied the composable architecture in optical domain. For this architecture to work efficiently, Terabit per second (Tbps) bandwidth and negligible latency (i.e., less than microsecond latency) are needed to support disaggregated infrastructures. Therefore, in this paper, we present an all-optical packets switch solution with proposed SDN controlling scheme. The modeling of the all-optical switch is also proposed, implemented and studied. Based on the modeling of the switch, the output Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio (OSNR) and latency performance are studied. With the result of the simulation, we find the limits and dominated factors for designing the large scale all-optical switch in the composable data centers. An example of analyzing the maximum throughput and the latency of the all-optical switch is given at the end.
The atomic coilgun and single-photon cooling. A method for trapping and cooling of hydrogen isotopes

As the simplest atom, hydrogen has a unique role as a testing ground of fundamental physics. Precision measurements of the hydrogen atomic structure provide stringent tests of current theory, while tritium is an excellent candidate for studies of β-decay and possible measurement of the neutrino rest mass. Furthermore, precision measurement of antihydrogen would allow for tests of fundamental symmetries. Methods demonstrated in our lab provide an avenue by which hydrogen isotopes can be trapped and cooled to near the recoil limit. The atomic coilgun, which we have demonstrated with metastable neon and molecular oxygen, provides a general method of stopping a supersonic beam of any paramagnetic species. This tool provides a method by which hydrogen and its isotopes can be magnetically trapped at around 100 mK using a room temperature apparatus. Another tool developed in our laboratory, single-photon cooling, allows further cooling of a trapped sample to near the recoil limit. This cooling method has already been demonstrated on a trapped sample of rubidium. We report on the progress of implementing these methods to trap and cool hydrogen isotopes, and on the prospects for using cold trapped hydrogen for precision measurements.
Radioactive Waste Management

Publisher Summary Expansion of nuclear energy worldwide is necessary to meet increased power demands and greenhouse gas reduction targets. Virtually any international energy forecast predicts large growth in nuclear power generation over the next 30–50 years. The expansion of commercial nuclear power production is likely to result in increased radioactive waste generation. Managing this waste effectively is a critical component of a worldwide nuclear renaissance and is a primary consideration for future nuclear fuel cycles. Wastes generated from nuclear power generation can be effectively managed using technologies that are well demonstrated at industrial scales, with decades of safe operating practices. As the worldwide community continues to investigate advanced nuclear fuel cycles, radioactive waste management considerations are being given increased emphasis and are, in fact, being considered at the advent of proposed fuel cycles. This emphasis is necessary to ensure that future nuclear fuel cycles remain economically and environmentally competitive (as compared with other forms of energy production) and do not produce legacy waste management issues for future generations.
Toward a Phenomenological Grounding of the Geographical Conception of Therapeutic Landscapes

The purpose of this paper is to provide the propaedeutic for the philosophical grounding of the geographical concept, “therapeutic landscapes.” The propaedeutic for a more detailed fleshing and exfoliation consists in establishing the meaning and overall extent of the concept, as well as considering how the notion relates to praxis. As a guiding, preliminary definition, a therapeutic landscape provides a placial nexus for the promotion and maintenance of health and well being. By this definition I do not condone or disapprove of any particular human relations with nature and human society or want to immediately imply any particular agenda. Nothing beyond a general skeleton of the study is intended in order to avoid perspectival assumptions leading to ideological contexts and premature advocation of policy implementation, which would theoretically limit the project. I elaborate the sense of the notion in light of Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka’s Phenomenology of Life, which I advocate as providing the most viable framework.1 The description that follows will engender general implications of Tymieniecka’s phenomenology, which allows for the development of the concept of therapeutic landscapes in terms of a function of life’s evolutionary progress, or in Tymieniecka’s phenomenology, ontopoiesis — first makings of life. In this form of descriptive phenomenological investigation, “beingness” (the non-substantive dynamic organization of real entities) naturally unfolds into implications for ethico-valuational prescription.
Sex differences in HIV-associated cognitive impairment.

Author(s): Sundermann, Erin E; Heaton, Robert K; Pasipanodya, Elizabeth; Moore, Raeanne C; Paolillo, Emily W; Rubin, Leah H; Ellis, Ronald; Moore, David J; HNRP Group | Abstract: ObjectiveWe determined whether there are sex differences in the prevalence and profile of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment, and whether sex moderates the effect of HIV-serostatus on neurocognitive impairment among HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. Secondarily, we assessed whether differences were explained by greater biopsychosocial risk factors in HIV-positive women.DesignAn observational cohort study.MethodsAnalyses included 1361 HIV-positive (204 women) and 702 HIV-negative (214 women) (ages = 18-79 years) participants from the UCSD HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program. Demographically corrected standardized T-scores from 15 neuropsychological tests were used to calculate domain-specific and global deficit scores (GDS). GDS at least 0.5 defined neurocognitive impairment. Biopsychosocial risk factors included low education, low reading level (education quality), lifetime substance use disorders, depressed mood (clinically significant depressive symptoms and/or current major depressive disorder) and a cumulative syndemic count (sum of biopsychosocial risk factors, range = 0-4). Race-stratified analyses were conducted. Analyses were adjusted for relevant demographic and clinical factors.ResultsHIV-associated neurocognitive impairment was more prevalent in women versus men; however, the difference was eliminated after adjustment for reading level. In sex-stratified logistic regressions, the association between HIV-seropositivity and higher likelihood of neurocognitive impairment was stronger in women versus men; however, the association was attenuated in women, but not men, after adjusting for reading level. These results in the overall sample were specific to blacks. Sex differences in the profile of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment varied by race.ConclusionWomen, particularly black women, were most at-risk for HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment. Higher rates of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment in women versus men may reflect differences in educational quality.
Incomplete Label Uncertainty Estimation for Petition Victory Prediction with Dynamic Features

It is important for decision-makers to effectively and proactively differentiate the significance of various public concerns, and address them with optimal strategy under the limited resources. Online Petition Platforms (OPPs) are replacing traditional social and market surveys for the advantages of low financial cost and high-fidelity social indicators. Despite benefits from OPPs, the raw information from millions of petition signers can easily overwhelm decision makers. In addition, spatio-temporal and semantic dissemination patterns increase the complexity of such OPP data. These two aspects show the necessity of a framework that learns from all available data, which is encoded by dynamic representation of features, to predict whether a petition will successfully lead to a change by decision makers. To build such framework, we need to overcome several challenges including: 1) missing values in dynamic features; 2) strong uncertainty in petition prediction; 3) unknown labels for ongoing petitions and 4) Scalability regarding increasing features and petitions. To address these difficulties simultaneously, we propose a novel chain-structure Multi-task Learning framework with Uncertainty Estimation (MLUE) to predict potentially victorious petitions, which facilitates the process of decision making. Specifically, we divide data into different Increasing Feature Blocks (IFBs) according to missing patterns. Besides, we propose a novel criterion to estimate uncertainty in order to label petitions as early as possible. To handle the challenge of scalability, we present an Expectation-Maximization (EM)-based algorithm to optimize the non-convex objective function accurately and efficiently. Various experiments on six petition datasets demonstrate that our MLUE outperformed other baselines by a large margin.
Improving Functional Programming Understanding through Student-Created Instructional Videos

This poster presents findings on a pedagogical approach we designed to enhance undergraduate computing students' understanding of functional programming (FP) through student-created video-tutorials. Students created two video tutorials. The first video-tutorial assignment asked the students to develop explanations of FP concepts (theoretical understanding of FP). The second video-tutorial required students to explain their solutions to programming exercises using Haskell (application of FP). Our findings suggest that the use of student-created video-tutorial can be effective for increasing students' understanding and application of functional programming.
Passing cash from bank notes to bitcoin: standardizing money

ABSTRACTThis essay is about the modern bank note and bitcoin and how each standardizes money. Whether constituted by paper or protocol, whether performing (or failing) as a store of wealth, a mediu...
Prescription opioid misuse among heterosexual versus lesbian, gay, and bisexual military veterans: Evidence from the 2015-2017 national survey of drug use and health.

Abstract Background Little research examines risks of opioid misuse among military veterans, particularly among minority military veterans. The present study examines lifetime and past 12-month prescription opioid misuse among heterosexual versus non-heterosexual military veterans in the United States. Method Participants comprised 9729 U.S. military veterans aged 18 and older who completed the 2015–2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Sample weights were applied to yield nationally representative estimates in the target population. Design-based multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between sociodemographic characteristics and risk of prescription opioid misuse. Results Bisexual veterans reported greater lifetime odds of having misused prescription opioids in their lives compared to their heterosexual peers (AOR: 4.04, 95% CI: 1.72–5.38). However, only bisexual women veterans reported elevated risk past 12-month misuse (AOR: 3.47, 95% CI: 1.28, 9.41). Although veterans aged 50 and older reported lower risk of lifetime prescription opioid misuse relative to 18−34 year olds (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.25-0.44), older veterans showed greater risk of past 12-month misuse (AOR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.02–1.49). Discussion To our knowledge, this study is the first to systematically examine differential risk factors of prescription opioid misuse between heterosexual and non-heterosexual military veterans. Results from this study suggest a critical need for greater investigations into the specific risks of opioid-related substance use for military veterans. This study highlights areas of research and practice that can improve health outcomes for military veterans and their communities.
Hydrosilylation of an Iron(IV) Nitride Complex

The nitride ligand in iron(IV) complex PhB(MesIm)3Fe≡N reacts with excess H3SiPh to afford PhB(MesIm)3Fe(μ-H)3(SiHPh) as the major product, which has been structurally and spectroscopically characterized. Bulkier silane HaSiPh2 provides iron(II) amido complex PhB(MesIm)3FeN(H)(SiHPh2) as the initial product of the reaction, with excess H2SiPh2 affording diamagnetic PhB(MesIm)3Fe(μ-H)3(SiPh2) as the major product. Unobserved iron(II) hydride PhB(MesIm)3Fe–H is implicated as an intermediate in this reaction, as suggested by the results of the reaction between iron(II) amido PhB(MesIm)3FeN(H)tBu and H3SiPh, which provides PhB(MesIm)3Fe(H)(μ-H)2(Si(NHtBu)Ph) as the sole product.
Full Scale Bridge Damage Detection Using Sparse Sensor Networks, Principal Component Analysis, and Novelty Detection

Over the decades, visual inspection has been adopted as a means to monitor infrastructure health. While visual inspection provides insights on bridge condition, it has been generally agreed that it is insufficient and inefficient. This has called for creating autonomous, robust, continuous and quantitative Structural Health Monitoring systems to detect damage early using machine learning algorithms and monitor future condition. Various methods have been explored that associate changes in condition with changes in the structure vibration characteristics. These methods have been mostly tested on laboratory specimens experiencing simulated damage. There is need for more validation of these SHM methods on in-situ structures experiencing real damage under operational and environmental conditions. This paper summarizes a full-scale experiment exploring bridge damage detection effectiveness under variable traffic loads. Three different types of damage were introduced into a full-scale, bridge deck mock-up. These included crash-induced bridge barrier damage, controlled barrier damage, and damage to the deck slab. At the end of each introduced damage case, bridge response to the multiple passages using specific vehicles specifications was recorded. Data was extracted and analyzed to identify damage using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) as damage sensitive features. The extracted damage features were thereafter used as input for unsupervised learning (novelty detection). One interesting observation was how PCA revealed possibly significant damage after crash, which under visual inspection appeared to be minor cracking. Novelty detection using PCA as its damage feature was shown to provide robust damage detection irrespective of load, speed variation and signal noise levels.
Correlation between surgical site infection and classification of early onset scoliosis (C-EOS) in patients managed by rib-based distraction instrumentation.

The aim of this study is to determine risk factors for infection among EOS patients treated by rib-based distraction instrumentation, and to further assess the incidence of infection among C-EOS categories and sub-types. Despite the heterogonous nature of early onset scoliosis, the classification of early onset scoliosis (C-EOS) has proven to have excellent reliability across its major categories. C-EOS’s reliability has been verified; however, little data exist on the utility of this categorization in clinical decision-making and risk assessment. After institutional review board approval, data for EOS patients treated by rib-based distraction instrumentation were collected between 2013 and 2017 in a single institution. Data collection included: major categories of early onset scoliosis classification (etiology, major curve and kyphosis), BMI, height, weight, procedure type, site of procedure, presence of tracheostomy, and bowel/urinary incontinence. 156 EOS patients underwent 843 rib-based distraction instrumentation procedures. 22.4% of patients (35/156 patients, 42 procedures) developed infections, 30/35 requiring irrigation and debridement. Type of procedure was significantly associated with infection rate, with rib-based distraction instrumentation insertion corresponding with the highest incidence of infection, as compared to instrumentation revisions or expansions (p = 0.006). Infection rates were also more common in shorter and lighter weight children (p = 0.001 and 0.03; respectively). Patients with a neuromuscular etiology had the highest rate of infection in comparison to congenital, syndromic, and idiopathic (5.7% vs, 4.9%, 4.7%, and 2.6%; respectively). Notably, high infection rates occurred neuromuscular hyper-kyphotic subjects (M+), occurring in all major curve C-EOS subgroups and at a rate of 8.3% for all procedures. Neuromuscular, larger magnitude major curve, and larger magnitude kyphotic angle C-EOS categories appear to be at a higher risk of infection. Such information potentiates the usefulness of C-EOS in surgical decision-making and in the informed consent process. Level III therapeutic.
A case of Bacillus cereus bacteremia in a COVID-19 patient treated with steroids

This report describes a case of Bacillus cereus bacteremia in a COVID-19 patient with prior inhalational steroid use and inpatient steroid treatment for COVID-19 pulmonary symptoms. The case herein is intended to illustrate an uncommon presentation of B. cereus bacteremia and highlight the increased likelihood for the occurrence of this bacteremia in patients with COVID-19 and concomitant steroid use.
Catching flame retardants and pesticides in silicone wristbands: Evidence of exposure to current and legacy pollutants in Uruguayan children.

Abstract Children are exposed to many potentially toxic compounds in their daily lives and are vulnerable to the harmful effects. To date, very few non-invasive methods are available to quantify children's exposure to environmental chemicals. Due to their ease of implementation, silicone wristbands have emerged as passive samplers to study personal environmental exposures and have the potential to greatly increase our knowledge of chemical exposures in vulnerable population groups. Nevertheless, there is a limited number of studies monitoring children's exposures via silicone wristbands. In this study, we implemented this sampling technique in ongoing research activities in Montevideo, Uruguay which aim to monitor chemical exposures in a cohort of elementary school children. The silicone wristbands were worn by 24 children for 7 days; they were quantitatively analyzed using gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry for 45 chemical pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs), and novel halogenated flame-retardant chemicals (NHFRs). All classes of chemicals, except NHFRs, were identified in the passive samplers. The average number of analytes detected in each wristband was 13 ±3. OPFRs were consistently the most abundant class of analytes detected. Median concentrations of ΣOPFRs, ΣPBDEs, ΣPCBs, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD)) were 1020, 3.00, 0.52 and 3.79 ng/g wristband, respectively. Two major findings result from this research; differences in trends of two OPFRs (TCPP and TDCPP) are observed between studies in Uruguay and the United States, and the detection of DDT, a chemical banned in several countries, suggests that children's exposure profiles in these settings may differ from other parts of the world. This was the first study to examine children's exposome in South America using silicone wristbands and clearly points to a need for further studies.
Effects of Aging and Temperature on Supercapacitor Charge Capacity

This paper examines the effects of aging condition and operating temperature on supercapacitor charge capacity. Both the utilized and total charge capacities are studied: the former refers to the amount of charge delivered during a constant current discharge process and the latter measures the total available charge stored in the supercapacitor. Experimental results show that aging leads to degradation of supercapacitor capacitance and therefore a drop in charge capacity. Supercapacitor charge capacity also drops when the operating temperature decreases. Depending on the specific aging condition and operating temperature, the effects of these two mechanisms on supercapacitor charge capacity may be enhanced or reduced. Comparisons of the upper and lower bounds of the utilized and total charge capacities show that the differences between the bounds are significant for all samples under different aging conditions and at different operating temperatures.
Institutional Change and the Uses and Limits of Path Dependence: The Case of German Finance

How can we determine when an existing institutional path or trajectory is ending and being replaced with a new one? How does such a process take place? How can we distinguish between institutional innovation within an existing trajectory and a switchover to a new trajectory or path? This paper explores these questions by examining the pattern of institutional change in the German financial system. It is argued that this system has moved onto a new institutional path. In the course of analyzing this case, the paper advances four theoretical claims: First, that endogenous developments can disrupt an institutional path and lead to a new one. Second, that an event sequence involving a move to a new institutional path may not follow from a contingent event yet may nonetheless be marked by path dependent or increasing returns processes. Third, that increasing returns in politics are not automatic and must be cultivated by actors in order to be realized. Finally, that the concept of path is still in need of a measurable conceptualization before any further advances in path dependent arguments can be made.
Management of hepatoblastoma in the United States: Can we do better?

Abstract Background Hepatoblastoma is the most common type of liver cancer in children. Refined therapeutic approaches combining risk-adapted chemotherapy along with complete tumor resection has led to improved survival. We aimed to evaluate the current state of management and outcomes for hepatoblastoma in the United States. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 794 children ( Results Median age was 1 year (interquartile range: 0–2) and 170 (21.4%) presented with metastatic disease. Surgical resection was included in the treatment of 614 (77.3%) children (resection in 66.8% and liver transplantation in 10.6%). In the entire cohort, 95.1% of children received chemotherapy. In the surgical cohort, 575 (93.6%) received chemotherapy (34.5% neoadjuvant, 28.7% adjuvant, 30.5% both neoadjuvant and adjuvant). The 5-year overall survival was 76.6% for the entire cohort (no-surgery group: 55.3% vs surgery group: 82.8%). In multivariable analysis for all children, age ≥8 years (P = .009), metastasis (P Conclusion Excellent long-term overall survival is achievable with a combination of chemotherapy and surgical resection when a negative resection margin is achieved. However, nearly a quarter of children never received surgical treatment, representing a potential opportunity for improvement in care.
Combining porosity and resistivity logs for pore pressure prediction

Abstract Pore pressure prediction represents an important safety aspect of drilling engineering. Accurate pore pressure prediction is required for appropriate mud weight usage. Kick can occur when mud weight is lower than pore pressure gradient and this can result in disastrous events such as blowout when the kick is not properly controlled. Likewise, too high mud density can fracture the reservoir which can lead to several problems. Thus, the need to research on means of improving accurate pore pressure prediction during drilling is in order. In this article, two methodologies are presented. One of the methodologies is developed to utilize resistivity data for pore pressure prediction, and the other methodology is developed if resistivity and porosity data are available for pore pressure prediction. Several methodologies already exist for pore pressure prediction with resistivity data. Therefore, the methodology presented in this article is compared to other resistivity-based methodologies in order to observe their pore pressure prediction capabilities. Field data is used for testing prediction performance in terms of mean absolute percentage error, root mean square error and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Results of the test show that the methodology developed in this article performed best. Different logging/measurement parameters are used for pore pressure prediction e.g., resistivity log, sonic velocity, corrected d-exponent, etc. One way to improve accuracy of pore pressure prediction is utilizing pore pressure prediction from different logging/measurement parameters. For the other methodology which utilizes resistivity and porosity for pore pressure prediction, the methodology is proposed to utilize the change in Archie's cementation exponent. This is because the effect of cementation on pore pressure prediction could become significant at greater depths. Testing with field data showed that this methodology also performs better than simply averaging pore pressure prediction from resistivity and porosity logs using other conventional equations. In addition to the methodology developed for combining porosity and resistivity log for pore pressure prediction, machine learning can also be utilized. Results obtained using artificial neural network indicate better performance in comparison to simply averaging predictions from conventional means of using resistivity and porosity.
ADAM17 Boosts Cholesterol Efflux and Downstream Effects of High-Density Lipoprotein on Inflammatory Pathways in Macrophages.

Objective HDL (high-density lipoprotein) can exert both anti-inflammatory and proinflammatory effects in macrophages due to its ability to induce cholesterol depletion. Because cholesterol depletion also increases sheddase activity of the membrane protease ADAM17 (ADAM metallopeptidase domain 17) in other cells, we examined if ADAM17 plays a role in HDL's effects on inflammatory processes in macrophages in vitro and in vivo. Approach and Results: Sorted peritoneal macrophages from human APOA1 (apolipoprotein A1) transgenic LDL (low-density lipoprotein) receptor-deficient (APOA1Tg; Ldlr-/-) mice with and without myeloid cell-targeted ADAM17-deficiency were studied in parallel with wildtype and ADAM17-deficient bone marrow-derived macrophages stimulated with HDL in vitro. HDL increased ADAM17 expression and activity in macrophages. Furthermore, ADAM17-deficient macrophages exhibited reduced expression of ABCA1 (ATP-binding cassette A1) and reduced cholesterol efflux and were cholesterol loaded. This was caused by the absence of shedding of TNFα, a major ADAM17 substrate. Sorted thioglycollate-elicited peritoneal macrophages freshly isolated from APOA1Tg; Ldlr-/- mice, which have higher HDL levels than Ldlr-/- controls, showed reduced expression of interferon-inducible genes in response to lipopolysaccharide or interferon-β, but exacerbated proinflammatory responses to lipopolysaccharide for Tnfa, Cxcl1, Ccl2, and Il1b, phenocopying cells stimulated with HDL in vitro. These effects were all prevented in ADAM17-deficient macrophages and associated with lower concentrations of large HDL particles in APOA1Tg; Ldlr-/- mice with myeloid cell-targeted ADAM17-deficiency. Conclusions The increased cholesterol loading of ADAM17-deficient macrophages prevents both anti-inflammatory and proinflammatory responses of HDL. Our findings demonstrate a novel role for ADAM17 in maintaining cholesterol efflux in macrophages, thereby regulating the immune functions of these cells.
A Computational Model of the Interaction Between Residual Cortico-Spinal Inputs and Spinal Cord Stimulation After Paralysis

Epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) improves voluntary motor control after spinal cord injury. It has been hypothesized that SCS increases the excitability of spinal motoneurons thus amplifying residual supra-spinal inputs that enable volitional movement. Understanding these mechanisms would be critical to optimizing SCS for clinical use. However, no studies to date have examined how SCS interacts with residual voluntary commands. To simulate this interaction, we implemented a realistic computational model of spinal motoneurons. Our model included inputs both from proprioceptive afferents that were recruited by SCS and residual excitatory cortico-spinal axons. We simulated subthreshold or suprathreshold SCS pulses as synchronous synaptic inputs and subthreshold cortico-spinal inputs as naturally stochastic. Suprathreshold SCS completely dominated motoneurons responses, uninfluenced by cortico-spinal inputs. In contrast, cortico-spinal inputs amplified close-to-threshold postsynaptic potentials induced by SCS. However, this led to firing rates that were too low to generate movement. Therefore, our results suggest that other mechanisms in addition to excitatory supra-spinal inputs may be required to explain experimental results of SCS.
Synergistic Chromatin-Modifying Treatments Reactivate Latent HIV and Decrease Migration of Multiple Host-Cell Types.

Upon infection of its host cell, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) establishes a quiescent and non-productive state capable of spontaneous reactivation. Diverse cell types harboring the provirus form a latent reservoir, constituting a major obstacle to curing HIV. Here, we investigate the effects of latency reversal agents (LRAs) in an HIV-infected THP-1 monocyte cell line in vitro. We demonstrate that leading drug treatments synergize activation of the HIV long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter. We establish a latency model in THP-1 monocytes using a replication incompetent HIV reporter vector with functional Tat, and show that chromatin modifiers synergize with a potent transcriptional activator to enhance HIV reactivation, similar to T-cells. Furthermore, leading reactivation cocktails are shown to differentially affect latency reactivation and surface expression of chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4), leading to altered host cell migration. This study investigates the effect of chromatin-modifying LRA treatments on HIV latent reactivation and cell migration in monocytes. As previously reported in T-cells, epigenetic mechanisms in monocytes contribute to controlling the relationship between latent reactivation and cell migration. Ultimately, advanced “Shock and Kill” therapy needs to successfully target and account for all host cell types represented in a complex and composite latency milieu.
The General Review of How Different Leadership Styles Cause the Transformational Change Efforts to Be Successful

Organizational change refers to the transformation of an organization from its current state to its desired future state. Organizational change helps to maintain a competitive position as well as the companies’ sustainability in a competitive market. There are different kinds of leadership styles that have strong relationships with the growth of change. This research reviews the different leadership styles, including commanding, supportive, inspirational, logical, transformational, transactional and servant. Different leadership styles take up different kinds of roles and use different actions when implementing organizational change. In conclusion, this research concludes that different changing processes require different leadership styles.
Are the Organisational Management Characteristics of Healthcare Organisations Distinguishable from Other Professional Organisations

Organisational management characteristics occur with varying rates across industries and organisations within industries. While professional organisations tend to have fewer undesirable management ...
Adding a Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy with Anteromedialization to Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction Does Not Impact Patient Reported Outcomes in the Treatment of Patellar Instability

Abstract OBJECTIVES An isolated MPFL reconstruction (MPFLR) has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment option in the prevention of patellar instability, but there is growing support for performing a tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO) in patients with an elevated tibial tubercle-trochlear groove distance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of adding a TTO to MPFLR on patient reported outcomes. METHODS A retrospective review of patients who underwent MPFLR with or without TTO with a minimum of 12-month follow-up was performed. Patients in both groups were matched based on age, gender, and follow-up time. Recurrent instability (including re-dislocation and subluxation), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, Kujala score, and satisfaction were evaluated. RESULTS There were 59 patients who underwent MPFLR with concomitant TTO performed at our institution and met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. These patients were then matched to patients undergoing isolated MPFLR based on demographics and follow up time. The mean age was 25.0, 76.3% were female, and the mean follow up time was 49 months. There was a significant difference in mean tibial tubercle-trochlear groove distance (19.8 ± 3.9 vs. 14.1 ± 2.8) between groups. There was no significant difference in VAS (1.48 ± 2.0 vs. 1.49 ± 2.1, p = 0.972), satisfaction (86.1% ± 24.2% vs. 81.2% ± 27.9, p=0.311), or revision surgeries (10.2% vs 10.2%) between groups. CONCLUSION Matched patients undergoing MPFLR with TTO compared to isolated MPFLR demonstrate no statistically significant difference in patient reported outcomes, levels of pain and satisfaction post-operatively. Furthermore, the addition of a TTO does not increase the risk of further surgery or complications. Level of evidence III, retrospective comparative study.
Expression of Human Chromosome 2 Ornithine Decarboxylase Gene in Ornithine Decarboxylase-deficient Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells

Abstract Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) belongs to a multigene family and some of these may very well be nonfunctional (pseudogenes). We isolated an ODC gene from a human chromosome 2-specific library and transfected the gene into ODC-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells to directly demonstrate that this ODC gene is functional and ODC is essential for cell proliferation. After screening 2.5 × 10 5 plaques using a human ODC complementary DNA probe, a typical clone with a 5.4-kilobase insert was isolated and then cloned into the Hind III site of the pGem-1 vector. One (phODC 2B1) of these clones containing a 5.4-kilobase ODC gene insert was identified. Restriction enzyme analysis and partial sequencing data revealed that phODC 2B1 contained the full length protein-coding sequences but lacked first exon and 3′-polyadenylation sequences. Primer extension analysis indicated that human ODC mRNA has homologous sequences with the ODC gene from human chromosome 2. To determine that the chromosome 2 ODC gene is functional, ODC-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells were transfected with the ODC expression vector (phSV2B1-neo) and several G418-resistant transfectants were isolated which expressed 70- to 400-fold more ODC activity than parental or wild-type Chinese hamster ovary cells. Furthermore, these stable transfectants exhibited a higher growth rate than wild-type cells. These results indicate that the ODC gene from human chromosome 2 encodes functional ODC protein, and ODC (and its product putrescine) is required for cell growth.