cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hydroxyurea up-Regulates Voltage-Dependent Anion Channels in Human Sickle Cell Erythrocytes.

Abstract 2119 Background: Hydroxyurea (HU) is clinically effective in reducing the frequency of pain crises in adults and children with sickle cell disease (SCD). In addition to increased fetal hemoglobin production, HU is known to induce macrocytosis in sickle cell erythrocytes and prolong red cell survival. However, the precise mechanism by which HU produces its varied effects is unknown. Isoelectric focusing has been applied to characterize changes in the red cell membrane following exposure to HU, but this technique has limitations in its ability to identify differences in specific membrane proteins. Mass spectrometry (MS) provides another proteomic approach in analyzing red cell proteins in SCD. Methods: Red blood cells were obtained from patients with SCD on HU therapy. After multiple wash and lysis steps, ghost membranes were obtained following ultracentrifugation. The membrane samples were then analyzed via tandem mass spectrometry and western immunoblot assay. Results: In comparison to a normal control, patients with SCD on HU therapy were found to have significantly elevated levels of voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC) by MS, using a false discovery rate of less than five percent. The application of a stringent threshold initially identified 346 protein candidates. Out of these 346 proteins, 125 contained multiple peptides which all passed quantitation data filters according to quality parameters. Within the set of 125 proteins, 4 proteins were significantly up-regulated (up to 50-fold) in patients with SCD on HU therapy. VDAC2 and VDAC3 are members of the eukaryotic mitochondrial porin family which form channels through the mitochondrial outer membrane allowing diffusion of small hydrophilic molecules. VDAC1 can be found in both the mitochondrial outer membrane and the plasma membrane, where it is involved in cell volume regulation and apoptosis. Conclusions: Up-regulation of VDAC proteins may play an important role in altering the intracellular osmotic composition of the sickle cell erythrocyte resulting in decreased sickling and improved red cell survival in patients with SCD on HU therapy. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Spatial Variation of Soil Moisture and its Effect on Lint Yield in a Deficit Irrigated Cotton Field

As the population increases in Southwest Texas in recent years, the urban water demand is drastically increasing. Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is expected to be one of the potential water management practice for saving water while maintaining crop yield. A field experiment was conducted at the AgriLIFE Research center in Uvalde in summer 2008 to examine the water saving potential. Seven irrigation schemes and four varieties were assigned to the experimental field to test their effects on lint yield. As the spatial correlation of the soil moisture/ soil water content were suspected, a spatial analysis on lint yield and soil water content was conducted. The analysis results showed that: 1) The soil water contents showed spatial correlations, while the lint yield did not. 2) The relationship between lint yield and soil water content can be described by linear model better than spatial autocorrelation model. 3) The variogram fit of the soil water content showed a completed curve; the contour map generated using ordinary kriging illustrated the irrigation schemes effect well, and gradient effect was suspected. The variogram of the lint yield could not be fitted by a completed curve, which indicated that the sample field was not large enough to determine the variance function. Further study is needed to determine the slope effect on soil water content ,and to improve the contour map precision of the lint yield.
Trapeze/IP: TCP/IP at near-gigabit speeds

This paper presents experiences with high-speed TCP/IP networking on a gigabit-per-second Myrinet network, using a Myrinet messaging system called Trapeze. We explore the effects of common optimizations above and below the TCP/IP protocol stack, including zero-copy sockets, large packets with scatter/gather I/O, checksum offloading, message pipelining, and interrupt suppression. Our experiments use extended FreeBSD 4.0 kernels on a range of Intel and Compaq Alpha platforms. These experiments give a snapshot of the FreeBSD TCP/IP implementation running at bandwidths as high as 956 Mb/s. We also report some results using Gigabit Ethernet products from Alteon Networks, which yielded a TCP bandwidth of 988 Mb/s using zero-copy sockets on a 500 MHz Compaq Alpha 21264 workstation.
A Functional Analysis of “Projectile Points” from Yellowjacket, Colorado

A collection of 40 so-called projectile points from three Anasazi sites near Yellowjacket, Colorado was examined microscopically to determine (1) if evidence of non-projectile utilization could be ...
Beyond stem cells: Commitment of progenitor cells to meiosis.

Abstract The first step in established spermatogenesis is the production of progenitor cells by the stem cell population. The progenitor cells (undifferentiated A spermatogonia) expand in number via the formation of syncytial chains by mitosis. The mechanism by which these progenitor cells commit to meiosis and spermatogenesis is tightly controlled and results in complex morphological organization all of which is designed to efficiently achieve large numbers of spermatozoa. The major extrinsic factor that triggers the commitment to meiosis and establishes the structural complexity is retinoic acid (RA). Retinoic acid is produced from retinol via two oxidation steps in low abundance near its site of action. The action of RA on undifferentiated A spermatogonia results in the timed progression of these progenitor cells into the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium. We have utilized a drug WIN 18,446 that inhibits the second oxidation step in RA biosynthesis to block the progression of undifferentiated A spermatogonia in the mouse testis. As a result of this block the undifferentiated progenitor cells accumulate but do not differentiate into A1 spermatogonia. When the block is released and a bolus of RA is simultaneously administered the accumulated spermatogonia progress through the differentiation pathway in complete synchrony and maintain that synchrony with regard to stages of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium for several months. This procedure allowed us to accumulate sufficient material to measure retinoic acid levels across the cycle and will allow us to isolate and analyze large number of progenitor cells proceeding synchronously down the pathway to meiosis. We have been able to show that the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium is established and maintained by pulses of RA that appear at stages VIII and IX of the cycle.
Image filter identification using demosaicing residual features

Image filters have become a popular feature of photo editing software and camera phones. Filter identification can provide useful information for us to determine source and processing history of images. Currently, there is no forensic work done to perform filter identification. In this paper, we propose a framework to search for color correlations left by different filters in a set of interpolation residuals obtained from various demosaicing algorithms. To effectively capture the structures of color correlations, we design a diverse set of geometric co-occurrence patterns and gather both intra-channel and inter-channel color dependencies using co-occurrence matrices. Experiments conducted on two large image databases full demonstrate the ability of our framework to identify a wide range of filters provided by both cameras and third-party software.
The percentage cube

Abstract OLAP cubes provide exploratory query capabilities combining joins and aggregations at multiple granularity levels. However, cubes cannot intuitively or directly show the relationship between measures aggregated at different grouping levels. One prominent example is the percentage, which is widely used in most analytical applications. Considering this limitation, we introduce percentage cube as a generalized data cube that takes percentages as its basic measure. More precisely, a percentage cube shows the fractional relationship in every cuboid between each aggregated measure on several dimensions and its rolled-up measure aggregated by fewer dimensions. We propose the syntax and introduce query optimizations to materialize the percentage cube. We justify that percentage cubes are significantly harder to evaluate than standard data cubes because in addition to the exponential number of cuboids, there is an additional exponential number of grouping column pairs (grouping columns at the individual level and the total level) on which percentages are computed. We propose alternative methods to prune the cube to identify interesting percentages including a row count threshold, a percentage threshold, and selecting the top k percentages. We study percentage aggregations within the classification of distributive, algebraic, and holistic functions. Finally, we also consider the problem of incremental computation of percentage cube. Experiments compare our query optimizations with existing SQL functions, evaluate the impact and speed of lattice pruning methods and study the effectiveness of the incremental computation.
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics beneath Impervious Surfaces

Soil sealing by impervious surfaces is a major disturbance caused by urbanization and has been shown to reduce soil carbon and nitrogen significantly. However, the degree to which these changes are driven by the initial disturbance (i.e., top soil removal) or post-construction processes is not clear. A controlled field study consisting of three treatments including concrete slab (SLB), home with crawl space (CRW), and control (CNT) was conducted to monitor changes in soil properties immediately after sealing and over a 15-mo time frame. At depth 10 to 20 cm (first layer beneath the concrete slab) soil carbon decreased by 30.4% (±3.4%) from 2.3 (±0.4) kg m–² at Month 0 to 1.57 (±0.36) kg m–² at the end of experiment with a rate of 0.04 (±0.01) kg m–² per month (p = 0.001, F₁,₇ = 9.27). At this depth soil, carbon and nitrogen fluctuated seasonally at CRW and CNT plots. At depth 20 to 30 cm, the soil carbon beneath the CRW (1.14 ± 0.21 kg m–²) was higher than that beneath the SLB (0.93 ± 0.23 kg m–², p = 0.01, F₂,₂₃ = 5.26), suggesting that partially permeable impervious surfaces such as CRW can support limited inputs of carbon and organic matter. In addition to carbon and nitrogen, temporal changes of microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen mineralization rates were also monitored. Nitrogen mineralization rates also decreased below impervious surfaces as evidenced by zero net ammonium production rate. However, a significant increase in mineralization rates was observed in warm periods of the year beneath SLB treatments.
Faculty Behavior and Other Key Factors in Student Adjustment to Medical School.

Physicians today need a number of non-cognitive attributes and skills in order to be maximally effective. However, these attributes and skills, such as caring and respect for others, self-awareness, and communication skills, are not always addressed in medical education. Many would-be physicians find that medical school is a grueling experience characterized by chronic stress, the need to recognize one's strengths and limitations, and dissonance between their own values and beliefs and those of the school. The faculty and administrators at one medical school developed a special extra-curricular program to render their undergraduate program more humanistic in supporting student socialization and adjustment. The program featured intentionally structured,faculty-facilitated small groups of first-year students.
Globalizing Tobacco Control: Anti-smoking Campaigns in California, France, and Japan (review)

Roddey Reid's book Globalizing Tobacco Control provides a comparative framework for understanding how cigarettes, once an iconic symbol of modernity, became the bete noire of global health by the e...
Analyse des Nachfragerverhaltens nach Finanzdienstleistungen

Die obige Analyse von Wettbewerbsvorteilen, die durch das Angebot kundenindividueller Problemlosungen im Direktvertrieb erzielbar sind, fokussierte eine marktorientierte Sichtweise und das Konzept der Kundenorientierung. Hierbei wurden vor allem die Wettbewerbsvorteile einer geringen sachlichen, zeitlichen und geografischen Distanz herausgearbeitet und dargestellt, das im Direktvertrieb die emotionale Distanz zwischen Anbieter und Nachfragern schwerer uberbruckbar ist als bei den „personlichen“ Absatzmethoden Filial- und Ausendienstvertrieb. Eine Operationalisierung der Distanzen fehlt jedoch bisher ebenso wie eine okonomisch fundierte Analyse des Entscheidungskalkuls der Nachfrager bei der Beschaffung von Finanzdienstleistungen. Erst wenn eine geeignete Modellierung des Entscheidungskalkuls vorliegt, konnen Aussagen abgeleitet werden, welche Bedeutung die Auspragungen der einzelnen Distanzen fur die Entscheidung der Nachfrager besitzen, kundenindividuelle Problemlosungen im Direktvertrieb zu beziehen.
Introduction: Zooarchaeology and Modern Human Origins

We introduce the volume, first discussing the excitement—among professionals and public alike—that currently permeates the study of the modern human origins, and the important contributions that zooarchaeology can make to our overall understanding of this momentous period of upheaval and transition. We briefly introduce the 13 contributions included here, which are arranged geographically, beginning with Africa, then the Near East, and finally Europe. The chapters explore a range of topics and issues, though all are united in a common purpose of using faunal data to better understand the lives and lifeways of Neanderthals and “moderns,” how these hominins adapted to the harsh realities of Late Pleistocene Eurasia, and ultimately what led to the greater success of the newcomers as they spread throughout both continents.
Applying a network framework to the neurobiology of reading and dyslexia

There is a substantial literature on the neurobiology of reading and dyslexia. Differences are often described in terms of individual regions or individual cognitive processes. However, there is a growing appreciation that the brain areas subserving reading are nested within larger functional systems, and new network analysis methods may provide greater insight into how reading difficulty arises. Yet, relatively few studies have adopted a principled network-based approach (e.g., connectomics) to studying reading. In this study, we combine data from previous reading literature, connectomics studies, and original data to investigate the relationship between network architecture and reading. First, we detailed the distribution of reading-related areas across many resting-state networks using meta-analytic data from NeuroSynth. Then, we tested whether individual differences in modularity, the brain’s tendency to segregate into resting-state networks, are related to reading skill. Finally, we determined whether brain areas that function atypically in dyslexia, as identified by previous meta-analyses, tend to be concentrated in hub regions. We found that most resting-state networks contributed to the reading network, including those subserving domain-general cognitive skills such as attention and executive function. There was also a positive relationship between the global modularity of an individual’s brain network and reading skill, with the visual, default mode and cingulo-opercular networks showing the highest correlations. Brain areas implicated in dyslexia were also significantly more likely to have a higher participation coefficient (connect to multiple resting-state networks) than other areas. These results contribute to the growing literature on the relationship between reading and brain network architecture. They suggest that an efficient network organization, i.e., one in which brain areas form cohesive resting-state networks, is important for skilled reading, and that dyslexia can be characterized by abnormal functioning of hub regions that map information between multiple systems. Overall, use of a connectomics framework opens up new possibilities for investigating reading difficulty, especially its commonalities across other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Staging incapacitation: the corporeal politics of hunger striking

This essay examines the ongoing hunger strikes at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Through an analysis of news media compiled by journalists reporting on the timelines of the strikes, and various pri...
Conjugate Addition Reactions of α-Aminoalkylcuprates with α,β-Enones and Enals

Abstract Deprotonation of Boc-protected amines with sec-BuLi or transmetallation of α-aminostannanes with n-BuLi affords α-aminoalkyllithium reagents which can be converted into α-aminoalkylcuprate reagents with CuCN or THF soluble CuCN·2LiCl. These reagents undergo conjugate addition reactions with α,β-enones and enals. Reagents prepared from 2 equiv. of the α-aminoalkyllithium reagent give higher yields of conjugate adducts than those prepared from RCuCNLi, particularly when insoluble CuCN is employed. When CuCN·2LiCl is used, the two cuprate reagents give comparable yields of 1,4-adducts and the RCuCNLi reagent, economical in α-aminoalkyl ligand, is preferred. The Boc protecting group can be removed with PhOH/TMSCl and the amino ketone isolated as the hydrochloride salt.
Retirement, Pensions, and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults in China, England, Mexico, and the United States.

This study explores the associations of retirement, and of public and private pensions, with older adults’ depressive symptoms by comparing differences between countries and age groups. Harmonized ...
The Artificial Intelligence Arms Race: Trends and World Leaders in Autonomous Weapons Development

Autonomous weapons technologies, which rely on artificial intelligence, are advancing rapidly and without sufficient public debate or accountability. Oversight of increased autonomy in warfare is critically important because this deadly technology is likely to proliferate rapidly, enhance terrorist tactics, empower authoritarian rulers, undermine democratic peace, and is vulnerable to bias, hacking, and malfunction. The top competitors in this arms race are the United States, China, Russia, South Korea, and the European Union.
Robotic-Assisted Radical Cystectomy

Robotically-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) is an exciting application of the robotic surgical platform whose role continues to evolve. Importantly, over a decade into widespread usage, its usage is associated with outcomes that are clearly non-inferior to open radical cystectomy (ORC). Many different outcomes have been reported regarding potential benefits and costs with the robotically-assisted approach, but two factors have been consistent: blood loss is lower, and operative times are longer for RARC as compared to ORC. In some centers outcomes and length of stay appear to favor the robotic approach, but in other centers of excellence no benefit has been demonstrated when compared with well-executed, high-volume open cystectomy. That said, we are aware of no recent series that shows RARC to result in inferior oncologic or quality-associated outcomes such as length of stay or complication rate when compared to ORC. The learning curve, especially for surgeons familiar with the robotic platform, appears to require 20–30 cases to generate excellent outcomes. Costs are largely associated with avoidance of complications; as familiarity grows and technique is refined, the benefits of lower blood loss and decreased fluid shifts may ultimately result in measurably better outcomes and lower overall cost. No prospective series to date has compared a surgical arm performing robotic intracorporeal diversion to open surgery, although early data suggests a possible benefit.
Neural correlates of inhibitory control in youth with symptoms of food addiction.

Abstract Prior research has found that food addiction is associated with reward-related neural differences, but research has yet to examine whether there are also neural differences in inhibitory control. This may be particularly relevant during adolescence as it is a key developmental period where difficulties in inhibitory control are more prevalent. The Yale Food Addiction Scale is a self-report questionnaire that applies substance use disorder diagnostic criteria to certain foods that has also been adapted for children. Here we investigate the association between addictive-like eating and brain functioning during inhibitory control in youth. Seventy-six right-handed participants 8.2–17.8 years (44 male) were recruited. Participants performed a go/no-go task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children, after which they were categorized into two groups according to their scores (No Symptom Group = 0; YFAS-C Group: score ≥ 1). Inhibitory control was probed with a contrast of correct no-go versus go trials. An independent-samples t-test comparing groups revealed a significant difference in three primary clusters, all exclusively in the left hemisphere (No Symptom Group > YFAS-C Group): middle temporal gyrus/occipital gyrus, precuneus/calcarine sulcus, and inferior frontal gyrus. Specifically, the YFAS-C Group showed deactivation in all three clusters. Adolescents who endorse food addiction appear to show hypo-activation in response to the inhibitory control portion of a go/no-go task, which suggests possible inhibitory control difficulties.
3 Reducing frequent attenders to the emergency department at west suffolk hospital

Introduction Patients who repeatedly attend the emergency department (ED) often have underlying complex social, psychological and chronic medical issues which are difficult to address in the emergency/acute medicine environment alone. Their attendances not only present a burden to the ED, but also can be a sign that the patient’s primary issue has been insufficiently addressed. At West Suffolk Hospital, we are trialling an approach to reduce frequency of ED attendances in a specific cohort of patients identified as being frequent attenders. In order to do this, we are using a multi-disciplinary approach including psychiatry services and ED clinicians. Methods Our cohort of frequent attenders were identified as patients presenting more than 4 times to ED between March 2017 to April 2018. Exclusion criteria was if the patient is under 18 years old, has known long term medical conditions and known safeguarding concerns. With collaborative working by the emergency medicine clinician and liaison psychiatry, a letter was sent to 38 patients in May 2018, identifying them as frequent attenders and inviting them to a tailored multi-disciplinary team meeting. Initially we are assessing the impact of the letter, so 6 months after the letters were sent out, we assessed patient attendances again. 2 patients were excluded due to moving out of area and being in prison. Paired sample for means t-test was used to compare attendances pre- and post-intervention. Results There were a wide range of presenting complaints to ED, most of which were psychiatric related – overdose, deliberate self harm, alcohol/drug related. The intervention letter improved the attendance rate the most in this cohort, whereas it had a negligible effect on attendances with physical complaints. The average fall in attendance was 33% in the 6 months post patients receiving the intervention letter. This reached significance level with p=0.039. Conclusions Sending frequent attender patients a letter and putting in place a care plan could significantly reduce Emergency Department attendances. However there were a small number of patients, making it difficult to assess the efficacy of our intervention especially when adjusting for patient relocation. We are hoping to disseminate the locally trialed strategy region wide across East Anglia, providing many more data points. We can also implement the model not just in patients with psychiatric background, but also patients with chronic medical problems too with additions to the multi-disciplinary team as per the needs of the patient.
Effects of Size and Prestressing of Aluminum Particles on the Oxidation of Levitated exo-Tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene Droplets

Addition of high-energy-density materials such as aluminum (Al) microparticles or nanoparticles to liquid propellants potentially improves performance of the fuel. We report on the effects of untreated, prestressed, and superquenched aluminum particles with diameters of 100 nm, 250 nm, 500 nm, 1.6 μm, and 8.8 μm on the combustion of JP-10 droplets acoustically levitated in an oxygen-argon atmosphere. Ignition was initiated by a carbon dioxide laser, and the resulting oxidation processes were traced by Raman, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopies together with high-speed optical and IR thermal-imaging cameras. The UV-vis emission spectra reveal that the key reactive radical intermediates hydroxyl (OH), methylidyne (CH), dicarbon (C2), aluminum monoxide (AlO), and aluminum monohydride (AlH) were formed in addition to atomic aluminum (Al) and the final oxidation products of JP-10, namely, water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The Al particles facilitated ignition of the JP-10 droplets and produced higher temperatures in the combustion process of up to typically 2600 K. The effect of the Al particles on the ignition and maximum flame temperatures increased as the diameters reduced. The different stress treatments did not produce observable changes for the ignition or combustion of the droplets, which indicates that the liquid propellant was not significantly affected by manipulating the mechanical properties of the fuel particle additive. The initiation and enhancement of the combustion were a consequence of forming highly reactive atomic oxygen (O) and aluminum monoxide (AlO) radicals in the reaction of aluminum atoms with molecular oxygen in the gas phase. These radicals initiate the degradation of JP-10 via atomic hydrogen abstraction forming the hydroxyl (OH) and aluminum hydroxide (AlOH) radicals in reactions which are mainly exothermic by up to 68 kJ mol-1. In contrast, hydrogen abstractions from JP-10 by molecular oxygen or atomic aluminum are strongly endothermic by up to 236 kJ mol-1, thus making these reactions less competitive. The generation of C10H15 hydrocarbon radicals from the JP-10 initiates successive oxidations and chain reactions with molecular oxygen leading eventually to carbon dioxide and water. These combined experimental results provide insight into how aluminum particles facilitate the oxidation and reaction mechanisms of JP-10 droplets.
FORENSIC ISSUES IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY - A NEED FOR EXPERTISE?

Abstract Psychiatrists are often contacted by lawyers to provide information and opinions about their patients. This is especially true for geriatric psychiatrists, as so much of the aging process involves a loss or perceived loss of previously held abilities. As a result, geriatric psychiatrists need to have a solid understanding of how legal decisions are made in order to interact effectively with lawyers, judges, and other legal personnel. It can be quite difficult to know how to balance privacy, confidentiality. public safety, autonomy, best interests, and liberty while still maintaining a therapeutic alliance with patients and families. By having a better understanding of the legal system, geriatric psychiatrists can feel more confident in their role in the legal process. We will compare and contrast the legal and medical models of decision making and define several key terms that are relevant in both realms. An overview of civil and criminal issues that can arise in working with older adults will be provided, including providing examples from the authors' experiences and from the news. We will then discuss in detail one "hot topic issue " - whether geriatric psychiatrists should be assessing their older patients for capacity to possess guns, focusing on the differences between legal and medical approaches to the issue. This session provides information and tools that all geriatric psychiatrists - from trainees to seasoned clinicians - can use to enhance their practice and feel confident in their interactions with the legal system. Time will be set aside for group discussion and problem solving.
High-Conductivity and High-Capacitance Electrospun Fibers for Supercapacitor Applications

Electrospinning is a simple method for producing nanoscale or microscale fibers from a wide variety of materials. Intrinsically conductive polymers (ICPs), such as polyaniline (PANI), show higher conductivities with the use of secondary dopants like m-cresol. However, due to the low volatility of most secondary dopants, it has not been possible to electrospin secondary doped ICP fibers. In this work, the concept of secondary doping has been applied for the first time to electrospun fibers. Using a novel design for rotating drum electrospinning, fibers were efficiently and reliably produced from a mixture of low- and high-volatility solvents. The conductivity of electrospun PANI-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) fibers prepared was 1.73 S/cm, two orders of magnitude higher than the average value reported in the literature. These conductive fibers were tested as electrodes for supercapacitors and were shown to have a specific capacitance as high as 3121 F/g at 0.1 A/g, the highest value reported, thus far, for PANI-PEO electrospun fibers.
A New Decoding Algorithm for XOR-Based Erasure Codes

Data protection is essential in large-scale storage systems. Over the years, erasure codes, which provide the system ability to reconstruct data when damage occurs, have been proven effective and integrated within various large storage systems. With the emergence of new data storage technologies, such as SSD and NVMe [33, 34], the performance of erasure codes may soon become a potential bottleneck in the whole system. While encoding performance of XOR-based codes has been studied and optimized [7, 19, 20], there is a need of decoding performance to match. This paper addresses new methods in improving the decoding speed for XOR-based erasure codes. A new decoding algorithm is proposed, with which CPU cache can be utilized more efficiently. Various sets of experiments are conducted on different platforms, and the results show that, with the new decoding algorithm, general decoding speed gains considerable improvements.
Effects of comprehensive measures on prevention of children's Kashin-Beck disease in Aba state Sichuan province from 2007 to 2011

Objective To observe the effects of comprehensive measures of changing grain,selenium supplementation,off-site education and resettlement on prevention of children's Kashin-Beck disease in Aba state.Methods Fifty eight villages in Aba Kashin-Beck disease areas were chosen as intervention points in Aba state Sichuan province from 2007 to 2011.Based on the implementation of prevention and control measures,the villages were divided into off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group and resettlement + off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group,Geletuo town of Seda county,Ganzi state was selected as a control point,and right-hand anteroposterior X-ray examination(including the wrist) was carried out on children aged 6-13 from 2007 to 2011 annually.Clinical and X-ray diagnosis of Kashin-Beck disease was made in accordance with "the Diagnostic Criteria of Kaschin-Beck Disease"(GB 16003-1995).The effects of prevention and control measures were evaluated by comparing the child X-ray detection rate before and after the implementation of the measures.Results The average X-ray positive detectable rate of children in the intervention points was 2.07％(66/3181),2.72％ (69/2540),1.16％ (35/3017),0.56％ (19/3397) and 0.56％ (24/4273),respectively from 2007 to 2011,with a downward trend (x2trend =66.74,P ＜ 0.01).There was a downward trend in the average X-ray positive detectable rate of children in off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group [1.60％(29/1809),2.63％ (39/1484),1.29％ (25/1941),0.64％ (15/2332),0.42％ (10/2379)] and resettlement + off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group [2.70％ (37/1372),2.84％ (30/1056),0.93％(10/1076),0.38％ (4/1065),0.74％(14/1894)] (x2trend=30.97,35.19,all P ＜ 0.01).The average X-ray positive detectable rate of children in the intervention group was 0 from 2007 to 2010,and was 1.61％ (1/62) in 2011.The difference of X-ray positive detectable rate was not statistically significant in the control group in the 5 years from 2007 to 2011.The difference of children's X-ray positive detectable rate was not statistically significant between control group and intervention group.Conclusions The effect of taking changing grain,selenium supplementation,off-site education and resettlement comprehensive measures to prevent children's Kashin-Beck disease is not significant in those places where the state of Kaschin-Beck disease is not active. Key words: Kaschin-Beck disease; Data collection; Epidemiologic studies
Publish or Perish! Sharing Best practices for a Writing Instructor Led “Writing for Publication” Course

There is an urgent need to teach “Writing for Publications” classes to graduate and doctoral students. Though the debate about who should instruct such classes continues, the paper proffers best practices for writing instructors to use while teaching it. The paper highlights the need for scholar-participants to opt for modeling as a way to familiarize themselves with disciplinary and journal conventions. The paper expands on the way online peer review workshops could be conducted at milestone points in the semester to elevate and formalize peer reviews, so integral to the publication process. A sample syllabus with week-by-week activity break-up is offered.
Pathologic Shear and Elongation Rates Do Not Cause Cleavage of Von Willebrand Factor by ADAMTS13 in a Purified System.

Pathological flows in patients with severe aortic stenosis are associated with acquired von Willebrand syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by excessive cleavage of von Willebrand factor by its main protease, A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with a Thrombospondin Type 1 Motif, Member 13 (ADAMTS13) leading to decreased VWF function and mucocutaneous bleeding. Aortic valve replacement and correction of the flow behavior to physiological levels reverses the syndrome, supporting the association between pathological flow and acquired von Willebrand syndrome. We investigated the effects of shear and elongational rates on von Willebrand factor cleavage in the presence of ADAMTS13. We identified acquired von Willebrand syndrome in five patients with severe aortic stenosis. Doppler echography values from these patients were used to develop three computational fluid dynamic (CFD) aortic valve models (normal, mild and severe stenosis). Shear, elongational rates and exposure times identified in the CFD simulations were used as parameters for the design of microfluidic devices to test the effects of pathologic shear and elongational rates on the structure and function of von Willebrand factor. The shear rates (0–10,000s−1), elongational rates (0–1000 s−1) and exposure times (1–180 ms) tested in our microfluidic designs mimicked the flow features identified in patients with aortic stenosis. The shear and elongational rates tested in vitro did not lead to excessive cleavage or decreased function of von Willebrand factor in the presence of the protease. High shear and elongational rates in the presence of ADAMTS13 are not sufficient for excessive cleavage of von Willebrand Factor.
Navigating a "New Normal" During the COVID-19 Pandemic: College Student Perspectives of the Shift to Remote Learning

The current COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly shifted institutions of higher education to remote learning environments, which has impacted student learning in unknown ways. The authors surveyed college students to determine how learning was impacted by the shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify both the factors that created barriers and the factors that helped students succeed. Results indicate four primary factors — instructional design, instructor interactions, student autonomy and responsibility, and life/environmental factors — intersected to create the student learning environment. Implications for addressing barriers and increasing student success are discussed.
Exploring the Experience of the Surgical Workforce During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the stress levels and experience of academic surgeons by training status (eg, housestaff or faculty). BACKGROUND: Covid-19 has uniquely challenged and changed the United States healthcare system. A better understanding of the surgeon experience is necessary to inform proactive workforce management and support. METHODS: A multi-institutional, cross-sectional telephone survey of surgeons was conducted across 5 academic medical centers from May 15 to June 5, 2020. The exposure of interest was training status. The primary outcome was maximum stress level, measured using the validated Stress Numerical Rating Scale-11 (range 0-10). RESULTS: A total of 335 surveys were completed (49.3% housestaff, 50.7% faculty; response rate 63.7%). The mean maximum stress level of faculty was 7.21 (SD 1.81) and of housestaff was 6.86 (SD 2.06) (P = 0.102). Mean stress levels at the time of the survey trended lower amongst housestaff (4.17, SD 1.89) than faculty (4.56, SD 2.15) (P = 0.076). More housestaff (63.6%) than faculty (40.0%) reported exposure to individuals with Covid-19 (P < 0.001). Subjects reported inadequate personal protective equipment in approximately a third of professional exposures, with no difference by training status (P = 0.557). CONCLUSIONS: During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the personal and professional experiences of housestaff and faculty differed, in part due to a difference in exposure as well as non-work-related stressors. Workforce safety, including adequate personal protective equipment, expanded benefits (eg, emergency childcare), and deliberate staffing models may help to alleviate the stress associated with disease resurgence or future disasters.
Eudaimonic Testimonial Vs. Didactic Presentation Impact on Willingness to Engage in Conversations about End-of-Life Care: The Moderating Role of Modeling.

Using the mediated wisdom of experience (MWOE) theoretical framework, this study examines how eudaimonic testimonials versus comparable didactic presentations, and the presence or absence of modeli...
Male bias in ACE2 basic science research: Missed opportunity for discovery in the time of COVID-19.

Throughout the world, including the United States, men have worse outcomes from COVID-19 than women. SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of the COVID-19 pandemic, uses angiotensin-converting-enzyme-2 (ACE2) to gain cellular entry. ACE2 is a member of the renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) and plays an important role in counteracting the harmful effects mediated by the angiotensin-type-1-receptor. Therefore, we conducted Ovid MEDLINE and Embase database searches of basic science studies investigating the impact of the biological variable of sex on ACE2 expression and regulation from 2000, the year ACE2 was discovered, through December 31, 2020. Out of 2131 publications, we identified 853 original research articles on ACE2 conducted in primary cells, tissues and/or whole mammals excluding humans. The majority (68.7%) of these studies that cited the sex of the animal were conducted in males, while 11.2% were conducted solely in females; 9.26% compared ACE2 between the sexes, while 10.8% did not report the sex of the animals used. General findings are that sex-differences are tissue-specific and when present, are dependent-upon gonadal state. Renal, cardiac and adipose ACE2 is increased in both sexes under experimental conditions that model co-morbidities associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes including hypertension, obesity, and renal and cardiovascular diseases; however, ACE2 protein was generally higher in the males. Studies in Ace2- knockout-mice indicate ACE2 plays a greater role protecting the female from developing hypertension than the male. Studying the biological variable of sex in ACE2 research provides an opportunity for discovery in conditions involving RAS-dysfunction and will shed light on sex-differences in COVID-19-severity.
Non-Adiabaticity, Chaos and Topological Effects on Nuclear Collective Dynamics

I review the role played by level crossings for collective motion in the presence of intrinsic degrees of freedom. Level crossings induce monopole gauge potentials, which act as sources of chaos for the collective dynamics. As a result, collective dynamics can develop distinct components, including trapped, quasi-trapped and quasi-free motion. From the point of view of large amplitude shape diffusion, level crossings result in memory effects, which on certain time scales, results in fractional Brownian motion, a behavior not contained in the standard Fokker-Plank approach to shape diffusion. Rather, the appropriate class of diffusion processes for collective dynamics seems to be Levy diffusion. I outline a series of open problems related to the microscopic understanding of diffusion and dissipation.
The intergalactic medium - Initial and boundary conditions for galaxy and primeval star formation

The formation of the first stars in gas of primordial composition depended upon the complex interplay of the hydrodynamics of gravitational collapse with nonequilibrium chemistry and its effect on the thermal evolution of the gas. The initial conditions and boundary values for the clouds which collapsed gravitationally to form galaxies and stars were determined by the thermal and ionization history of the general intergalactic medium. We describe new detailed numerical calculations of the evolution of the intergalactic medium in a post-recombination Friedmann universe, including a solution of the nonequilibrium rate equations for the ionization and recombination of H and He, the energy equation, and the equation of radiative transfer. The implications of this study for the characteristic mass scale and epoch of gravitational collapse for the average “first” star forming clouds will be discussed. The star formation rate and associated metallicity generation implied if the intergalactic medium was fully ionized by starlight by redshift z > 4 as suggested by recent interpretations of the Gunn-Peterson effect will also be discussed. Finally, we show that the relative strengths of metal lines from a quasar absorption-line Lyman limit system cloud at z = 3 photoionized by our intergalactic uv radiation background are compatible with the observations, at least for background sources of either AGN-type or star-forming galaxy spectra.
A Comprehensive System for Computer-Aided Tolerance Analysis of 2-D and 3-D Mechanical Assemblies

Tolerance analysis of assemblies promotes concurrent engineering by bringing engineering requirements and manufacturing capabilities together in a common model. By further integrating the engineering modeling and analysis with a CAD system, a practical tool for product and process development is created. It provides a quantitative design tool for predicting the effects of manufacturing variation on performance and cost in a computer-based design environment.
On the price of truthfulness in path auctions

We study the frugality ratio of truthful mechanisms in path auctions, which measures the extent to which truthful mechanisms "overpay" compared to non-truthful mechanisms. In particular we consider the fundamental case that the graph is composed of two node-disjoint s-t-paths of length s1 and s2 respectively, and prove an optimal √s1s2 lower bound (an improvement over √s1s2/2). This implies that the √-mechanism of Karlin et al. for path auctions is 2-competitive (an improvement over 2√2), and is optimal if the graph is a series-parallel network. Moreover, our results extend to universally truthful randomized mechanisms as well.
An Intrinsic Neural Pathway for Long Intestino-Intestinal Inhibitory Reflexes

We studied the mechanisms of initiation and pathways for the propagation of intestino-intestinal inhibitory reflexes induced by close intraarterial injections of neostigmine in conscious dogs. Two or three T-shaped catheters were surgically implanted in the intestinal branches of the superior mesenteric artery to inject pharmacologic agents locally in 10-15-cm-long segments. Migrating myoelectric complexes were recorded by a set of 10 electrodes and strain-gauge transducers. Close intraarterial injection of neostigmine initiated strong contractions of long duration in the perfused segment that terminated phase III activity in progress 90-150 cm distal or proximal to the cannulated sites and stopped its further migration. Atropine or 4-diphenylmethoxy-N-methylpiperidine methiodide injected just before neostigmine administration through the same catheter blocked both the local contractile effects and the reflex inhibition of phase III activity. Pirenzepine or hexamethonium injected in a similar manner did not affect the local response to neostigmine but blocked the reflex inhibition of phase III activity. A transection and reanastomosis in the mid-small intestine blocked the reflex inhibition by close intraarterial injection of neostigmine beyond the transection site. Pirenzepine, atropine, or hexamethonium injected through a middle catheter also blocked the reflex inhibition of phase III activity beyond the site perfused with these cholinergic antagonists. Close intraarterial administration of 4-diphenylmethoxy-N-methylpiperidine methiodide at a middle site had no effect on reflex inhibition. We concluded that strong spasmodic contractions in the small intestine initiate an intestino-intestinal inhibitory reflex in both directions. This reflex is mediated through an intrinsic neural pathway involving nicotinic and M1 muscarinic receptors.
Transcutaneous scalp PO2 measurements in the fetal sheep: the influence of external pressure on the electrode or on the skin

Measurements of continuous transcutaneous PO2 (tcPO2) have been performed on the scalps of six fetuses from ewes not in labor, while they were under epidural anesthesia. The effects of artifacts such as pressure upon the electrode and pressure on a circle around the electrode (tonsure effect) have been studied. It appears that tcPO2 measurements are markedly influenced by pressure as well as tonsure. As a result, an artificially low tcPO2 reading caused by pressure or tonsure cannot be distinguished from a low value caused by a real decreased intravascular PO2. The "relative heating power" necessary to keep the temperature of the electrode at 44 degrees C is influenced by a number of variables and hence does not solely reflect capillary flow beneath the electrode. Fetal tcPO2 monitoring is unlikely to function as a suitable method of antepartum monitoring throughout delivery in the same manner as the cardiotocograph. The value of dynamic tests at the start of labor such as testing the response to administration of medicaments or gas mixtures needs to be evaluated.