cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flow diverter treatment of intracranial vertebral artery dissecting pseudoaneurysms

Introduction Intracranial vertebral dissecting pseudoaneurysms are a rare, but increasingly recognized, cause of subarachnoid hemorrhage and ischemic stroke. The risks of aneurysm re-rupture and associated morbidity are high. The use of flow diverter stents for the treatment of these aneurysms has not been well studied. Objective To report our data and provide a summarized review of literature using flow diverter stents for the treatment of intracranial vertebral artery dissecting pseudoaneurysms. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of flow diverter stents used for the treatment of intracranial vertebral artery dissecting pseudoaneurysms. Clinical, imaging, procedural, and follow-up data were collected. Results We identified eight vertebral dissecting pseudoaneurysms in seven patients (5 (71.4%) female; median age 47 years (IQR 46–52)) who had undergone treatment with flow diverter stents. In 4/7 patients (57.1%) the aneurysm had ruptured; however, only one was treated in the acute phase. Median size of the largest diameter of the aneurysm was 6.3 mm (IQR 4.2–8.8), and 7/8 aneurysms (87.5%) were treated with a single flow diverter device. Three aneurysms were concurrently coiled. Angiographic complete occlusion was seen in 6/8 (75%) aneurysms at a median follow-up of 14 months (IQR 7.7–20.2). Two patients had periprocedural strokes with transient neurologic deficits. All patients had a good clinical outcome (modified Rankin Scale score ≤2). There were no re-treatments or aneurysm ruptures during the follow-up period. Conclusions Our experience suggests that flow diverter stent treatment of intracranial vertebral artery dissecting pseudoaneurysms is safe, and associated with good occlusion rates and favorable clinical outcomes.
Death on the Juniata: Delawares, Iroquois, and Pennsylvanians in a Colonial Whodunit

The fourteen men fanned out, their eyes sweeping the woods, hills, and rivers for clues. Having spent days traveling to this spot, they now had no way of knowing when they would be able to leave. The forest stretched as far as they could see; how could they possibly find what they were seeking? With their breath visible in the chilly damp air of the early spring, the men began to disappear into the woods. The budding trees had not leafed out completely, making it a bit easier to scan the underbrush for the bodies. This group of nine Pennsylvania colonists and five Indians had begun to search for the corpses of John Armstrong, a trader, and his companions James Smith and Woodworth Arnold, along the banks of the Juniata River in what is today south-central Pennsylvania. The journey that brought these men into what was then "Indian country" began about sixty miles to the east in the colonial settlement of Paxton, now Harrisburg. Word reached that settlement in February or March, 1744, that Armstrong, Smith, and Arnold had disappeared, probably murdered by Indians. How should they proceed? Chase down the rumor to its source? Strike out for the traders' last known location?
Initial Weight Loss Response as an Indicator for Providing Early Rescue Efforts to Improve Long-term Treatment Outcomes

There is a large variability in response to behavioral weight loss (WL) programs. Reducing rates of obesity and diabetes may require more individuals to achieve clinically significant WL post-treatment. Given that WL within the first 1–2 months of a WL program is associated with long-term WL, it may be possible to improve treatment outcomes by identifying and providing additional intervention to those with poor initial success (i.e., “early non-responders”). We review the current literature regarding early non-response to WL programs and discuss how adaptive interventions can be leveraged as a strategy to “rescue” early non-responders. Preliminary findings suggest that adaptive interventions, specifically stepped care approaches, offer promise for improving outcomes among early non-responders. Future studies need to determine the optimal time point and threshold for intervening and the type of early intervention to employ. Clinicians and researchers should consider the discussed factors when making treatment decisions.
Kernel-Based Feature Extraction for Collaborative Filtering

Singular value decomposition (SVD) has been used widely in the literature to recover the missing entries of a matrix. The basic principle in such methods is to assume that the correlated data is distributed with a low-rank structure. The knowledge of the low-rank structure is then used to predict the missing entries. SVD is based on the assumption that the data (user ratings) are distributed on a linear hyperplane. This is not always the case, and the data could often be distributed on a nonlinear hyperplane. Therefore, in this paper, we explore the methodology of kernel feature extraction to complement off-the-shelf methods for improving their accuracy. The extracted features can be used to enhance a variety of existing methods such as biased matrix factorization and SVD++. We present experimental results illustrating the effectiveness of using this approach.
Robotic Ureteral and Bladder Reconstruction

The incidence of iatrogenic ureteral injury has been increasing as the widespread of endoscopic procedures and laparoscopy, especially urological, gynecological and colorectal procedures [1, 2]. Ureteral strictures are most commonly secondary to previous surgeries, radiotherapy, malignancy, infection, endometriosis, trauma [3]. Surgical management of ureteral injuries depends not only on the length, location and etiology of the injury, but on the urologist’s surgical experience on open or minimally invasive approaches.
Nurturant Love and Caregiving Emotions

Caregiving for one’s offspring and young kin facilitates the evolutionary goal of successful reproduction. In this chapter we define an emotional state of nurturant love, elicited by cues of cuteness and helplessness, which activates a suite of physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes facilitating caregiving toward the eliciting target. We review the literature pertaining to the elicitors and function of nurturant love, compare and contrast this emotion to other affective states that may promote caregiving, discuss empirical evidence regarding the properties and behavioral consequences of nurturant love, and conclude with potential future directions for research in this area.
Water level prediction with artificial neural network models

Tide tables are the method of choice for water level predictions in most coastal regions. In the United States, the National Ocean Service (NOS) uses harmonic analysis and time series of previous water levels to compute tide tables. This method is adequate for most locations along the US coast. However, for many locations along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, tide tables do not meet NOS criteria. Wind forcing has been recognized as the main variable not included in harmonic analysis [1]. The performance of the tide charts is particularly poor in shallow embayments along the coast of Texas. Recent research at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has shown that Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models including input variables such as previous water levels, tidal forecasts, wind speed, wind direction, wind forecasts and barometric pressure can greatly improve water level prediction at several coastal locations including open coast and deep embayment stations. In this paper, the ANN modeling technique was applied for the first time to a shallow embayment, the station of Rockport, Texas located near Corpus Christi, Texas. The ANN performance was compared against the NOS tide charts and the persistence model for the years 1997 to 2001. The Rockport station was ideal because it is located in a shallow embayment along the Texas coast and there is an 11-year historical record of water levels and meteorological data in the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON) database. The performance of the Artificial Neural Network model was measured using NOS criteria such as Central Frequency (CF), Maximum Duration of Positive Outliers (MDPO), and Maximum Duration of Negative Outliers (MDNO). The ANN model compared favorably to existing models using these criteria and is the best predictor of future water levels tested. Partial support for this work is provided by NASA award # NCC5-517.
Context and Common Ground

The common ground among two or more people is the sum of the knowledge, beliefs, and suppositions they assume they share. Two people's communal common ground is information they take for granted as joint members of cultural communities, such as speakers of English, lawyers, New Zealanders, or football aficionados. Two people's personal common ground is information they believe they share based on joint experiences in conversation and perception. Communal common ground is needed for representing the conventions or rules of semantics, syntax, phonology, and pragmatics. Personal common ground is needed for representing the orderly accumulation of information in discourse.
The Process Hazards Management Program at Dupont

Continual change is constant in risk management in large company that manufactures and handles hazardous materials. Unless one considers all factors in the real world of plant management, risk analysis may fail to take into account the risk of someone — an employee, a contractor, a supplier — making a change. Risk analysis accuracy is limited by the risk of the unknown — those things that we haven’t anticipated or given thought to. It is the challenge of the manager to manage change to reduce risk. In Du Pont operations, the process hazards management program includes: training to prevent unwanted change; process hazards reviews to detect change from original design; operating and emergency procedures and preventative maintenance to prevent change; audits and critical equipment inspections to detect change; and incident investigations to identify causes of change. Du Pont’s 10 principles of safety will be presented and discussed.
Cache conscious dynamic memory allocation

Today, almost all software relies on dynamic memory allocation. In some programming languages, it is impossible to even write "Hello World!" without implicitly calling the allocator. Yet the effect of dynamic memory allocation on cache performance is relatively unstudied. In addition, the code produced by the leading researchers, Chilimbi et al., to investigate this phenomenon appears to be proprietary, making it difficult to study and build upon their work.
Sponsored Search: Do Organic Results help or hurt the Performance and under what conditions?

We study the relative impact of competing links in organic and sponsored search results on the performance of sponsored search ads. We use data generated through a field experiment for several keywords from the ad campaign of an online retailer. Using a hierarchical Bayesian model, we measure the impact of competition on both clickthrough rate and conversion rate of sponsored search ads for these keywords. We find that the competitor links in organic results have a higher impact on the performance as compared to the competitor links in sponsored results. We also find that competition has a greater influence on the conversion performance as compared to the click through performance. Our results inform advertisers on the impact of organic results on their performance. Our results reveal inefficiency in the current auction mechanism as the click performance may not reveal the true quality of advertisers.
Tryptophan Phosphorescence from Proteins at Room Temperature

Phosphorescence is readily detectable from most types of proteins at room temperature. Tryptophan phosphorescence lifetimes and yields are very sensitive to environment, and therefore phosphorescence is sensitive to conformational changes in proteins. Fundamental questions concerning exactly what parameters affect lifetime and spectra of tryptophan in proteins remain still to be answered.
Local fertilizers to achieve food self-sufficiency in Africa

Abstract One of the key Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations (UN) aims by 2030 to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. Fertilizers will play a pivotal role in achieving that goal given that ~90% of crop production growth is expected to come from higher yields and increased cropping intensity. However, materials-science research on fertilizers has received little attention, especially in Africa. In this work we present an overview of the use of fertilizers in Africa to date, and based on that overview we suggest future research directions for material scientists. Developing a new generation of local and affordable fertilizers will launch Africa into a new phase of remunerative agricultural production that in turn will lead to both food self-sufficiency and considerable progress towards goals of food and nutrition security.
The Quantum Detection Problem: A Survey

We will look at the development of the quantum detection problem and its equivalent forms. We conclude with a complete solution to the POVM version of the problem, recast in terms of frame theory, as in [7].
Anemia and postoperative outcomes after open and endovascular repair of intact abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Abstract Objective Anemia is associated with increased cardiac adverse events during the early postoperative period because of high physiologic stress and increased cardiac demand. The aim of this study was to assess the surgical outcomes and prognostic implications of anemia in patients undergoing repair of intact abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). Methods A retrospective analysis of all patients who underwent open aortic repair (OAR) or endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) in the Vascular Quality Initiative database (2008-2017) was performed. Patients with preoperative polycythemia, patients with ruptured aneurysms, and patients transfused with >4 units of packed red blood cells were excluded. Hemoglobin levels were categorized into three groups: moderate-severe anemia ( 12 g/dL in women and >13 g/dL in men). Multivariate logistic models and coarsened exact matching were used to analyze the association between anemia and 30-day mortality and between anemia and major in-hospital complications after OAR and EVAR. Results A total of 34,397 patients were identified undergoing AAA repair. Of those, 28.5% had mild anemia and 4.3% had moderate-severe anemia. In both OAR (n = 6112) and EVAR (n = 28,285), patients with moderate-severe anemia had significantly higher rates of in-hospital adverse events, such as in-hospital mortality, myocardial infarction, renal and respiratory complications, and reoperation, compared with patients with mild or no anemia. They also had higher rates of 30-day mortality. After multivariate analysis and 1:1 coarsened exact matching, no association was found between anemia and 30-day mortality and other in-hospital outcomes in patients undergoing OAR. On the other hand, in EVAR, moderate-severe anemia was associated with 2.7 times the odds of 30-day mortality (odds ratio [OR], 2.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.69-4.18), 2.5 times the odds of renal complications (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.78-3.43; P Conclusions Preoperative anemia is associated with higher odds of 30-day mortality and in-hospital adverse outcomes after EVAR but not after OAR. These findings highlight the need to incorporate anemia into the preoperative risk assessment of patients undergoing EVAR. Future studies are needed to assess the efficacy of medical therapies in improving postoperative outcomes in anemic patients undergoing AAA repair.
Ventilatory Limitation of Exercise in Pediatric Subjects Evaluated for Exertional Dyspnea.

Purpose Attribution of ventilatory limitation to exercise when the ratio of ventilation (V E) at peak work to maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) exceeds 0.80 is problematic in pediatrics. Instead, expiratory flow limitation (EFL) measured by tidal flow-volume loop (FVL) analysis – the method of choice – was compared with directly measured MVV or proxies to determine ventilatory limitation. Methods Subjects undergoing clinical evaluation for exertional dyspnea performed maximal exercise testing with measurement of tidal FVL. EFL was defined when exercise tidal FVL overlapped at least 5% of the maximal expiratory flow-volume envelope for >5 breaths in any stage of exercise. We compared this method of ventilatory limitation to traditional methods based on MVV or multiples (30, 35, or 40) of FEV1. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed and area under curve (AUC) computed for peakV E/MVV and peakV E/x∙FEV1. Results Among 148 subjects aged 7-18 years (60% female), EFL was found in 87 (59%). Using EFL shown by FVL analysis as a true positive to determine ventilatory limitation, AUC for peakV E/30∙FEV1 was 0.84 (95% CI 0.78-0.90), significantly better than AUC 0.70 (95% CI 0.61-0.79) when 12-second sprint MVV was used for peakV E/MVV. Sensitivity and specificity were 0.82 and 0.70 respectively when using a cutoff of 0.85 for peakV E/30∙FEV1 to predict ventilatory limitation to exercise. Conclusion PeakV E/30∙FEV1 is superior to peakV _E/MVV, as a means to identify potential ventilatory limitation in pediatric subjects when FVL analysis is not available.
Tissue Transport and Initial Processing Cryostat Preparation of Slides

The major goal during tissue transport and initial processing is to maintain specimen orientation. Once the specimen is removed from the surgical site and hemostasis is achieved, the Mohs map can be drawn. Then the specimen is transported to the histopathology laboratory. The specimen should be cut into as few sections as possible in order to avoid orientation error, while still producing high-quality slides. Colored ink is used to assist in maintaining orientation. Optimum cutting temperature (OCT) is used to facilitate specimen adhesion to the microtome chuck. Following microtome sectioning, the specimen is stained, most commonly with hematoxylin and eosin. After application of the coverslip, the slides are ready to be analyzed by the Mohs surgeon.
Design and Implementation of Semi-Autonomous Wall Climbing Robot Using Vacuum Suction Adhesion

This paper presents the wirelessly operated semi-independent wall climbing robot, capable of climbing vertical surfaces and ceilings. To increase the working efficiency and to save human life, the robot was designed. For the movement of the robot, a method of a centrifugal pump for continuous suction is utilized. Detailed analysis and scientific calculations are performed for the mechanical design of the robot. The design of the robot is unique and having a high degree of modification makes it suitable for different applications. All mechanical design parts of the robot are manufactured after complete study, including basic structure, the vacuum duct, driving assembly, and the camera mounting pad. The wireless transceiver is employed to control the robot and to transmit wireless video signal captured by the camera. This robot overcomes the design limitations of certain other prototypes. The robot could be used for inspection, surveillance and could provide information in hostage situations. The robot is overall lightweight and smaller in size.
Pain Control Protocols for Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

One of the most important recent advances in the field of joint arthroplasty is the creation of postoperative protocols to improve patient safety, outcomes, and satisfaction. A key measure of early success is pain control, and multimodal approaches to manage pain are critical. This topic is divided into the three phases of any joint replacement: preoperative preparation, intraoperative surgical and anesthesia techniques, and postoperative care. Preoperatively, patients need education to manage expectations and physical therapy to improve strength and range of motion. Intraoperatively, the surgeon and anesthesiologist must collaborate to decide on the best combination of general and/or regional anesthesia with possible peripheral nerve blocks and/or intra-articular injections. Postoperatively, a scheduled plan for administering medications is preferred over as-needed dosing. This chapter summarizes current trends in pain control and recovery after total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty.
Quasi-Ballistic Transitions in AlGaN/SiC Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors

The effect of base scaling on the performance of wurtzite n-p-n AlGaN/SiC HBTs is investigated using analytical expressions. The transition to the quasi-ballistic base transport regime is identified within the free path formalism. The effect of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization on the HBT characteristics is studied. Getting current gains of 200 or more becomes extremely difficult without extreme base width scaling for base carrier concentrations of > 1×1019 cm-3, required for obtaining high maximum frequency of oscillation f max. Since the base transit times tend to be large for these HBTs, the tradeoff of frequency versus power is not seen except for devices scaled to mesoscopic base dimensions. The impact of dislocation generation in AlGaN emitters with high lattice mismatch to the GaN base on the transistor characteristics are also studied within a Shockley-Read-Hall type model for recombination at dislocation sites.
Making Money in Energy Markets: Probabilistic Forecasting and Stochastic Programming Paradigms.

Undoubtedly, evolving wholesale electricity markets continue to provide new revenue opportunities for diverse generation, energy storage, and flexible demand technologies. In this paper, we quantitatively explore how price uncertainty impacts optimal market participation strategies and resulting revenues. Specifically, we benchmark 2-stage stochastic programming formulations for self-schedule and bidding market participation modes in a receding horizon model predictive control framework. To generate probabilistic price forecasts, we propose an autoregressive Gaussian process regression model and compare three sampling strategies. As an illustrative example, we study a price-taker generation company with six unique generation units using historical price data from CAISO (California market). We show that self-schedule is sensitive to the error in the forecast mean, whereas bidding requires price forecasts that cover extreme events (e.g., tails of the distribution). We benchmark realized market revenue against optimal bidding with perfect information and find static bid curve, time-varying bid curve, and self-schedule modes recovery 95.29%, 94.85%, and 84.87% of perfect information revenue, respectively.
Review of three health/medical statistics books: Textbook of Clinical Trials in Oncology: A statistical Perspective, edited by Susan Halabi and Stefan Michiels, 2019, CRC Press, 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487, ISBN: 978-1-138-p38-08377-6 (hardcover), pp. 626+xviii, $127.96.

The book with the title ‘Textbook of Clinical Trials in Oncology: A statistical Perspective’ edited by Susan Halabi and Stefan Michiels fulfils a great need to provide a rich source on statistical ...
Mi Jaragual: Masculinidade precária,soberania e farmacolonialidade aural na salsa de Ismael “Maelo” Rivera

O cantor afro-porto-riquenho Ismael 'Maelo' Rivera (1931-1987) incluiu a sua versao da musica "Mi jaragual" em seu album intitulado Vengo por la maceta (1973). Essa musica pinta um retrato familiar no qual a vida camponesa, a propriedade da terra e a mulher se tornam formas de exercer uma soberania heteropatriarcal fundamentada em ideias românticas sobre nacao, familia e masculinidade. Este ensaio propoe uma escuta critica desse retrato patriarcal cantado em “Mi Jaragual”, tomando-o nao como um deslize, mas como uma reafirmacao do homem ou do masculino como o parâmetro do que significa ser humano. Reafirmacao que se da mesmo quando se trata de homens cujas vidas precarias sao tambem objetos da violencia colonial. Proponho escutar a utopia camponesa cantada por Maelo em “Mi Jaragual” como expressao de masculinidades precarias que reenfatizam a violencia patriarcal contra as mulheres e, ao mesmo tempo, como reafirmacao legitima da soberania no contexto colonial porto-riquenho.
Impact of congenital cutaneous hemangiomas on newborn care in the United States.

Little is known regarding the characteristics of newborns with congenital cutaneous hemangioma (CH) and the burden of CH on newborn care. The objective of this study is to describe the burden of CH on newborn inpatient stays in the United States. Specific aims include characterizing newborns with CH, assessing factors predictive of CH and procedures performed during hospitalization, determining characteristics associated with increased cost of care and length of stay in newborns with CH, and investigating trends in prevalence, length of stay, and cost of care. This is a nationally representative retrospective cohort study (National Inpatient Sample, 2009–2015). Sociodemographic factors associated with CH and risk factors for increased cost of care/length of stay were evaluated using weighted multivariable regression models. Overall prevalence of CH is 17.0 per 10,000 newborns. Cost of care and length of stay for newborns with CH are increasing over time. Controlling for all covariates, white (aOR 1.69), female (aOR 1.52) newborns from higher income families (aOR 1.44) were more likely to be born with CH (p < 0.001). Newborns with CH who were premature (aOR 3.88), underwent more procedures (aOR 8.81), and born in urban teaching hospitals (aOR 2.66) had the greatest cost of care (p < 0.001). Premature (aOR 3.74) newborns with CH in urban teaching hospitals (aOR 1.31) had the longest hospital stays (p < 0.001). The burden of CH in newborns is substantial and increasing over time. Understanding contributors to costly hospital stays is critical in developing evidence-based guidelines to reduce the growing impact of CH on newborn care.
Racial Variation in the Association between Positive Urgency and Body Mass Index among American Children.

Background: Positive urgency reflects a specific facet of impulsivity and correlates with several health-related risk behaviors such as obesity, food addiction, and substance use. However, less is known about whether positive urgency is similarly or differently associated with high body mass index (BMI) across diverse racial groups. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate racial differences in the associations between positive urgency and BMI in 9-10-year-old children in the US. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study used the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Participants were 11590 American children between ages 9 and 10 years old. The independent variable was positive urgency measured by the Urgency, Premeditation (lack of), Perseverance (lack of), Sensation Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS-SS). The primary outcome was BMI. Race was the moderator. Demographic variables (age and sex) were covariates. Mixed-effects regression models were used for data analysis to adjust for the nested nature of the ABCD data. We also used weights (propensity score) to generate nationally representative results. Results: In the pooled sample, race showed a statistically significant interaction with positive urgency on children’s BMI, indicating a stronger effect of positive urgency on BMI for White children, compared to African American children. Conclusion: The association between positive urgency and BMI seems to be weaker in African American children than in White American children. The role of individual-level risk factors such as impulsive traits may be smaller for African American than White American children. Future research should study the role of obesogenic environments and other area level indicators in altering the effects of individual-level risk factors on BMI and obesity.
CAS 2012 Research Brief #4 Financial Distress Among Child Care Centers in Chicago West and North Side ZIP Codes

The 2012 Chicago Area Study surveyed 229 center directors in 33 ZIP Codes on the West and North sides of Chicago. All centers and preschools that served three and four year olds in these ZIP Codes were eligible, except those located in the public schools. Eligible settings included preschools in churches, private schools, and community organizations as well as preschool programs and full-day care in standalone child-care centers. Fully 70% of eligible directors participated in the study. For simplicity we refer to all participants as “centers.” We prepared a set of initial research briefs to disseminate basic study findings. Each of these briefs describes a set of data collected in the survey for the sample as a whole and across five types of ZIP Codes. The five ZIP Code types allow us to provide a basic portrait of differences in center characteristics depending on the raceethnicity and income of the community. The five types of ZIP Codes are: (1) mixed race, low income, (2) majority non-Hispanic Black, low income, (3) majority Hispanic, low income, (4) majority non-Hispanic White, middle income, and (5) majority non-Hispanic White, high income. The cutoffs between low/middle and between middle/high income are $48,500 and $70,000 respectively (about two and three times the federal poverty line for a family of four in 2011). We define a location as being a majority of one race-ethnicity if the ZIP Code is comprised of at least 50% of that racial/ethnic group (see CAS 2012 Research Brief #1 for additional details). This CAS 2012 Research Brief #4 summarizes directors’ responses to questions about their experiences with financial distress, including budget adequacy, worries about paying for space and staff, turnover of teachers and classrooms, raising center rates, and conditions of space and materials.
Secreted Effectors Modulating Immune Responses to Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that chronically infects a third of humans. It can cause life-threatening encephalitis in immune-compromised individuals. Congenital infection also results in blindness and intellectual disabilities. In the intracellular milieu, parasites encounter various immunological effectors that have been shaped to limit parasite infection. Parasites not only have to suppress these anti-parasitic inflammatory responses but also ensure the host organism’s survival until their subsequent transmission. Recent advancements in T. gondii research have revealed a plethora of parasite-secreted proteins that suppress as well as activate immune responses. This mini-review will comprehensively examine each secreted immunomodulatory effector based on the location of their actions. The first section is focused on secreted effectors that localize to the parasitophorous vacuole membrane, the interface between the parasites and the host cytoplasm. Murine hosts are equipped with potent IFNγ-induced immune-related GTPases, and various parasite effectors subvert these to prevent parasite elimination. The second section examines several cytoplasmic and ER effectors, including a recently described function for matrix antigen 1 (MAG1) as a secreted effector. The third section covers the repertoire of nuclear effectors that hijack transcription factors and epigenetic repressors that alter gene expression. The last section focuses on the translocation of dense-granule effectors and effectors in the setting of T. gondii tissue cysts (the bradyzoite parasitophorous vacuole).
Narratives and Valuations

While the significance of narrative thinking has become increasingly recognized by economists, very little empirical research has documented its consequences for economically significant outcomes. We address this gap in one important domain: valuations. In two online experiments, participants either told the story of an item they owned (mug in study 1, hat in 2) or listed its characteristics and were then offered the opportunity to sell it via an incentive-compatible procedure. The narrative treatment led to substantially higher selling prices (33% increase on average) and unwillingness to sell rates (78% increase). The impact of different narrative types was also explored.
If You Build It Will They Come? An Empirical Study of the Voluntary Use of Mediation, and Its Implications

A generation ago American litigants did not often go to mediation voluntarily. Advocates of the process predicted, however, that as disputants became more familiar with mediation, they would opt to use it more often. But is this true? Virtually no data exists about how often litigants voluntarily choose to mediate legal disputes, whether mediation use varies in different kinds of cases, and what motivates litigants’ decisions whether to mediate or not. This article presents information gathered from lawyers in 175 cases. The study focused on the most common types of litigation in courts of general jurisdiction, tort and contract cases, and also complex litigation. The study revealed surprising patterns. Litigants elected to mediate two-thirds of tort cases, but only one-quarter of contact cases and less than half of complex business disputes. The cases that went to mediation in all three categories closed more slowly than cases that did not, and most parties opted to begin with a joint session, a format inconsistent with reported trends. The article argues that lawyers now make individualized decisions whether to mediate, based on differences in the nature of the parties, issues, and frequency of adversarial events in each type of litigation. It argues that the special nature of parties and issues explain the high rate of mediation of tort cases, while the much lower rate of contract mediation stems from the fact that most cases are essentially collection actions. It finds large differences in level of adversarial activity between cases that go to mediation and those that do not. The article goes on to analyze the implications of the results for court mediation programs and lawyers’ future use of private mediation.
Ribitol Teichoic Acid Synthesis in Bacteriophage-resistant Mutants of Staphylococcus aureus H

Abstract Teichoic acid synthesis was examined in two types of phage-resistant mutants of Staphylococcus aureus H that have altered cell wall composition. In type I mutants (52A2, 52A4, 52B2) which lack N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) on the cell wall ribitol teichoic acid, the CDP-ribitol:acceptor phosphoribitoltransferase was normal but no UDP-GlcNAc:poly(ribitol phosphate) GlcNAc-transferase activity was detected. Revertants of type I mutants recovered the normal levels of GlcNAc in the teichoic acid as well as GlcNAc-transferase activity. Type II mutants (52A5, 52A7, M3, M9) lacked ribitol teichoic acid in the cell wall and no ribitol phosphate polymer was detected in any other cell fraction or in the spent medium. Despite the lack of ribitol teichoic acid, normal activities in vitro of phosphoribitoltransferase and GlcNAc-transferase were found in these mutants. Compared to the parent strain, trichloracetic acid extracts of type II mutants contained high levels of CDP-ribitol. The lack of ribitol teichoic acid in the cell wall is caused presumably by some defect in the membrane or in some unknown factor required in the polymerization or attachment step of the teichoic acid to murein.
Managed Care and Psychotherapy in the United States

The relationship between managed care and psychotherapists is a stormy one, characterized by conflicts about professional autonomy, accountability, and finances. Both managed care professionals and psychotherapists share a commitment to the provision of effective mental health treatment to those in need. But, there is disagreement regarding the methods best to keep high quality behavioral health services affordable and available. This article traces the evolution of managed behavioral care and psychotherapy from the 1970s to the present. Provider criticisms of managed care are addressed. A patient centric approach to managed behavioral healthcare is proposed in which providers and managed care work together to enhance and sustain positive treatment outcomes while eliminating unnecessary costs.
Chromosomal polymorphism in the tumorous-head strain of Drosophila melanogaster.

The Payne inversion is scattered throughout many natural and laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster. The results of this study show that the majority of flies in the tumorous-head strain...
Biomarkers in pediatric depression

Depression is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in youngsters. Elevated risk for the disorder begins in the early teens and continues to rise in a linear fashion throughout adolescence, with lifetime rates estimated to range from 15% to 25% by late adolescence. Numerous studies have documented that early depressive episodes persist or recur into adult life along with ongoing psychosocial difficulties. A better understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of pediatric depression will be helpful in the development and implementation of more effective primary and secondary preventive strategies, thereby allowing such youth to achieve their full potential as adults. There is a general consensus that depression results from complex interactions between multiple genetic and environmental factors. Endophenotypes or biomarkers help target the underlying mechanisms. The biomarkers also can be used to strengthen classifications of clinical phenotypes, or to differentiate possible biological subtypes that may, in turn, have different clinical or treatment profiles. In order to better characterize the potential biomarkers associated with pediatric depression, a summary of the literature on adult depression will be provided; in contrast to the wealth of information available in adults, empirical data in youngsters are limited by relatively modest sample sizes in far fewer studies.
SNARE Complex Dysfunction: A Unifying Hypothesis for Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects approximately 1% of the world’s population at tremendous personal, social, and economic costs. Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit diverse combinations of positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Genetic susceptibility and environmental stressors are major risk factors for schizophrenia, contributing to the variety of phenotypes. It has been widely hypothesized that deficiencies in neurotransmitter systems contribute to schizophrenia. The dopamine hypothesis was supported by observations that pharmacologically increasing dopamine (e.g., with amphetamine) can induce psychosis in humans, whereas antipsychotics that block dopamine alleviate the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Similarly, the glutamate hypothesis arose from observations that schizophrenia was associated with decreased glutamate levels, and the administration of glutamate antagonists in healthy subjects induced psychosis. These two hypotheses are combined in a third hypothesis, the synaptic hypothesis, which proposes that general deficits in synaptic function are a root cause of schizophrenia (1). In this issue of Biological Psychiatry, Ramos-Miguel et al. (2) explore the hypothesis that presynaptic abnormalities in the neurotransmitter exocytic machinery are altered in schizophrenia. This hypothesis is intriguing because altered neurotransmitter release could yield problems with dopamine and glutamate signaling, synapse function, and neural development, all of which have been observed in individuals with schizophrenia.
Neural-network-based transformation for joint compression and discrimination

Due to the proliferation of sensor-platform combinations that are capable of wide area searches, automated target detection has become increasingly important. Most learning- algorithm-based target detectors perform dimensionality reduction before actual training, because the high dimensionality of imagery requires enormous training sets to achieve satisfactory performance. One potential problem with this approach is that most dimensionality reduction techniques, such as principal component analysis, seek to maximize the representation of data variation into each component in turn, without considering interclass discriminability. We present a neural-network-based transformation that provides dimensionality reduction and a high degree of discriminability. Our approach achieves simultaneous data compression and target discriminability by adjusting the pretrained base components to maximize separability between classes. This will allow classifiers to operate at a higher level of efficiency and generalization capability on the low-dimensionality data that contain highly discriminative information as well.
The construction of South Texas masculinity: masculine space, the pico de gallo and the barbeque grill

I contend that masculinity formation in South Texas is linked to objects that have been deemed as ‘manly’. This study is significant because it examines a group in the US population that, according to census predictions, account for a large percentage of the fastest growing and largest Latino group in the United States. This autoethnography research examines how pico de gallo – a type of salsa – and the barbeque grill assist working-class Mexican American males in constructing a masculine identity known as macho. The data are based on observing 30 social events in the Rio Grande Valley. The findings reveal a pursuit for an apex status of macho through these objects and the cultural transmission of gender roles to the next generation of males. This study concludes by offering suggestions in examining how masculinity, for men of colour, might be linked to marginalisation practices within a social structure.
Sexual dimorphism of plasma sex steroid levels in juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, during smoltification.

Abstract Concentrations of plasma sex steroids, cortisol, and thyroxine were measured by radioimmunoassay in hatchery coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) during winter and early spring. Mean plasma 11-ketotesterone (11-KT) and estradiol levels fell into two distinct categories: 11-KT was 181–373% higher in males than in females, and estradiol was 109–143% higher in females than in males. No changes in plasma levels of estradiol in fish of both sexes, or in levels of 11-KT in males, were evident during spring when plasma thyroxine and cortisol were markedly elevated, indicating that the fish were undergoing smoltification. Although plasma 11-KT in females appeared to be lower in late April than in February, it showed no correlation with plasma thyroxine or cortisol in these individuals. Our finding of sexual dimorphism in 7α-20β-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one was inconsistent between stocks of fish and among sampling dates, thus making interpretation of the results difficult. However, no relationship between this steroid and plasma thyroxine or cortisol was observed. Therefore, plasma levels of sex steroids do not seem to be related to the changes in plasma thyroxine or cortisol observed during smoltification of coho salmon.
Abdominal rapid-kVp-switching dual-energy MDCT with reduced IV contrast compared to conventional MDCT with standard weight-based IV contrast: an intra-patient comparison

Purpose Perform intra-patient comparison of attenuation values on lower keV dual-energy abdominal CT images using reduced IV contrast dose compared to conventional single energy polychromatic beam abdominal MDCT images using standard IV contrast dose.
Construct Validation of the Barron Ego Strength Scale

One component of an MMPI Ego Strength Scale (Es) definition, personal adaptability, was investigated by behavioral, conscious, and fantasy measures of persistence. Male and female, high and low Es ...
The electrocardiogram during exercise.

Abstract A system is described for recording the electrocardiogram during exercise. This system involves the use of pliable stainless steel mesh electrodes, suitable electrode positioning, recording of the signal on magnetic tape and appropriate filtering. Through the use of these technics, a satisfactory electrocardiographic signal can be obtained during the physical exercises described.
On the inelastic behavior of crystalline silicon at elevated temperatures

The broad focus of this paper is on developing continuum models of inelastic response of crystalline materials that include the influence of microstructure, material symmetry, and dissipation of energy accompanying the changes in the microstructure. A framework has been developed, built on the idea of natural configurations of a material, that has provisions for explicit treatment of material microstructure (slip planes, dislocations, interfaces, etc.). It is demonstrated that the developed framework is applicable to diverse phenomena such as plasticity due to slip and twinning, and martensitic phase transformations. The developed framework is used to study the inelastic behavior of crystalline silicon at elevated temperatures.
Interferon regulatory factor-8-driven myeloid differentiation is regulated by 12/15-lipoxygenase-mediated redox signaling.

Objective Several transcription factors determine the cell fate decision between granulocytes and monocytes, but the upstream signal transduction pathways that govern myelopoiesis are largely unknown. Based on our observation of aberrant myeloid cell representation in hematopoietic tissues of 12/15-lipoxygenase (12/15-LOX)-deficient (Alox15) mice, we tested the hypothesis that polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism regulates myelopoiesis. Materials and Methods Multicolor flow cytometric analysis and methylcellulose assays were used to compare myelopoiesis and the differentiative capacity of progenitors from Alox15 and wild-type mice. Furthermore, we elucidated the mechanism by which 12/15-LOX is involved in regulation of myelopoiesis. Results Granulopoiesis in Alox15 mice is increased while monopoiesis is reduced. Moreover, there is an accumulation of granulocyte-macrophage progenitors that exhibit defective differentiation. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that transcriptional activity of interferon regulatory factor-8 (Irf8), which regulates myelopoiesis, is impaired in Alox15 progenitors and bone marrow-derived macrophages due to loss of 12/15-LOX-mediated redox regulation of Irf8 nuclear accumulation. Restoration of redox signaling in Alox15 bone marrow cells and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors reversed the defect in myeloid differentiation. Conclusions These data establish 12/15-LOX-mediated redox signaling as a novel regulator of myelopoiesis and Irf8.
Critical behavior in (2+1)-dimensional QCD.

QED in 2+1 dimensions, analyzed in the $\frac{1}{N}$ expansion, is shown to exhibit a critical behavior as the number $N$ of fermions approaches $\frac{32}{{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{2}}$. The dynamical mass has a universal scaling behavior at the critical point. The existence of criticality is discovered first by an analytic study of the gap equation and the effective potential. Its existence and universality is then confirmed numerically. Similarities to four-dimensional theories are discussed.
Ontogeny of Behavior in Mice Selected for Large Size

Development of 13 reflex responses and behavioral components of mice from the Goodale Giant inbred strain (G/Gw) was compared to that of a sample of 61 pups from a random-bred strain. Significant differences were observed between groups for several responses, but the direction of these differences was not consistent. Effects of rapid growth and increased size in G/Gw mice did not directly affect behavioral maturation.