cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Depressive symptoms during the menopausal transition: the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN)

Background The influence of menopausal status on depressive symptoms is unclear in diverse ethnic groups. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between changes in menopausal status and the risk of clinically relevant depressive symptoms and whether the relationship differed according to initial depressive symptom level.
CD31− but Not CD31+ Cardiac Side Population Cells Exhibit Functional Cardiomyogenic Differentiation

Heart failure remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The cellular mechanism underlying the development of cardiac dysfunction is a decrease in the number of viable cardiomyocytes. Recent observations have suggested that the adult heart may contain a progenitor cell population. Side population (SP) cells, characterized by a distinct Hoechst dye efflux pattern, have been shown to exist in multiple tissues and are capable of tissue-specific differentiation. In this report, we confirm the existence of a cardiac SP cell population, immunophenotypically distinct from bone marrow SP cells. Moreover, we demonstrate that among cardiac SP cells, the greatest potential for cardiomyogenic differentiation is restricted to cells negative for CD31 expression and positive for stem cell antigen 1 (Sca1) expression (CD31-/Sca1+). Furthermore, we determine that CD31-/Sca1+ cardiac SP cells are capable of both biochemical and functional cardiomyogenic differentiation into mature cardiomyocytes, with expression of cardiomyocyte-specific transcription factors and contractile proteins, as well as stimulated cellular contraction and intracellular calcium transients indistinguishable from adult cardiomyocytes. We also determine the necessity of cell-extrinsic signaling through coupling, although not fusion, with adult cardiomyocytes in regulating cardiomyogenic differentiation of cardiac SP cells. We, therefore, conclude that CD31-/Sca1+ cardiac SP cells represent a distinct cardiac progenitor cell population, capable of cardiomyogenic differentiation into mature cardiomyocytes through a process mediated by cellular coupling with adult cardiomyocytes.
A nearly optimal oracle for avoiding failed vertices and edges

We present an improved oracle for the distance sensitivity problem. The goal is to preprocess a directed graph G = (V,E) with non-negative edge weights to answer queries of the form: what is the length of the shortest path from x to y that does not go through some failed vertex or edge f. The previous best algorithm produces an oracle of size ~O(n2) that has an O(1) query time, and an ~O(n2√m) construction time. It was a randomized Monte Carlo algorithm that worked with high probability. Our oracle also has a constant query time and an ~O(n2) space requirement, but it has an improved construction time of ~O(mn), and it is deterministic. Note that O(1) query, O(n2) space, and O(mn) construction time is also the best known bound (up to logarithmic factors) for the simpler problem of finding all pairs shortest paths in a weighted, directed graph. Thus, barring improved solutions to the all pairs shortest path problem, our oracle is optimal up to logarithmic factors.
Parity of the Partition Function in Arithmetic Progressions, II

Let p ( n ) denote the ordinary partition function. Subbarao conjectured that in every arithmetic progression r (mod t ) there are infinitely many integers N ≡ r (mod t ) for which p ( N ) is even, and infinitely many integers M ≡ r (mod t ) for which p ( M ) is odd. We prove the conjecture for every arithmetic progression whose modulus is a power of 2.
Skin and subcutaneous adipose layer thickness in adults with diabetes at sites used for insulin injections: implications for needle length recommendations.

During subcutaneous insulin therapy, inadvertent intramuscular (IM) injections may increase pain and/or adversely affect glucose control. The most appropriate needle length for patients depends on ...
Nancy Alfaro as an Exemplary Collaborative Public Manager: How Customer Service Was Aligned with Customer Needs

Nancy Alfaro is the quintessential practitioner of collaborative public management. More than that, she is a collaborative public manager focused on delivering customer service. Finding herself in the midst of a flurry of activity when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom suddenly ordered her to allow same-sex marriages in 2004, she pulled together the resources to perform more than 1,000 weddings in three days. Now, as director of San Francisco's 311 Customer Service Center, Alfaro oversees an operation that has reduced the number of telephone numbers residents may need to call for information and nonemergency services from 2,300 to just one. How Ms. Alfaro accomplished these remarkable tasks can be the source of fruitful lessons for other public officials.
Clinical Trials of Bivalent Influenza A/New Jersey/76-A/Victoria/75 Vaccines in the Elderly

This placebo-controlled evaluation in elderly persons of inactivated influenza virus vaccines containing 200 or 400 chicke cell-agglutinating units of both A/New Jersey/76 and A/Victoria/75 antigens revealed mild systemic reactions in 7.8% and moderate reactions in 4.9% of vaccinees. These reactions were more common after administration of whole-virus than subvirion vaccines, more frequent in females than males, and more frequent in persons with low initial titers of antibody to A/New Jersey antigen. Local inflammation occurred in 18.7% of vaccinees (predominantly females) and frequently was seen with systemic reactions, but did not correlate with antibody response. Titers of antibody to A/New Jersey antigen were initially high and 99% of vaccinees had titers of greater than 1:20 after vaccination. Titers of antibody to A/Victoria antigen were initially low, and 56% of vaccinees had titers of greater than 1:20 after vaccination. Fourfold or greater increases in titer occurred in about 50% of vaccinees for each virus, most often concomitantly. Antibody responses to subvirion and whole-virus vaccines were similar, and increased responses with higher doses coincided with increased reactogenicity. Later revaccinations because of low titers of A/Victoria antibody produced negligible antibody responses.
Theory of MNOS memory transistor

A theory on the switching behavior of the metal-Si 3 N 4 -SiO 2 -semiconductor (MNOS) memory transistor is presented which is consistent with the experimentally observed facts. The theory treats the switching process as being initially predominantly direct band-to-band tunneling and then dominated by modified-Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The large-signal mathematical treatment includes both of these tunneling terms. The resultant charge-transport equation is rather complex; a numerical method is needed to obtain an exact solution, However, a grossly approximate closed-form solution has been obtained, which indicates that the transferred charge is initially a linear function of time and then logarithmic. This is similar to many of the previous theories. However, the coefficients in the current and charge solutions of the present theory contain the essential material, device, and operating parameters which are absent in previous theories. This makes the present model readily usable as a guide in the design and optimization of MNOS devices.
Defects tail off with six-sigma manufacturing

A description is given of the six-sigma technique, the goal of which is to aid in the design of products that will function as intended, despite variations of 6 sigma ( sigma is the standard deviation) in their physical/operating parameters. The six-sigma metric provides a statistically defined yardstick for quantifying a product's level of quality, using process capability indices. The meaning of the indices and why they are useful are explained. The use of Shewhart statistical process control (SPC) charts is briefly discussed. The six steps in the six-sigma program are outlined. >
Employment Transitions and the Household Division of Labor in China

Highlighting one aspect of the economic transition in China (industrialization), this article focuses on how a change in employment from an agricultural to a non-agricultural job could change the household division of labor. Longitudinal analysis of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey showed that such job shifts affected the household division of labor in different directions and magnitude, depending upon which spouse changed jobs. If the husband changed from an agricultural to a non-agricultural job, he cut back on housework, thereby increasing the difference in the number of hours of housework each spouse performed. If the wife experienced such a job change, the reduction in her housework hours was twice that of her husband's, reducing the difference between their shares of household duties.
Influence of the extrusion shear environment on plant protein texturization.

The effects of total nominal shear strain, apparent shear rate, shear stress in the die, and an integral temperature-time history function on textured soy protein properties were studied. These variables are independent of extruder size and can potentially serve as machine independent correlating factors. Correlation models showed that increasing shear strain and temperature-time in the screw tended to enhance cross-linking between protein molecules, while increasing shear through the die tended to disrupt the linkages. Moisture probably increases the mobility of the protein species which could improve cross-linking and reduced density while increasing water absorption.
Massively parallel in vivo enhancer assay reveals that highly local features determine the cis-regulatory function of ChIP-seq peaks

Transcription factors (TFs) recognize short sequence motifs that are present in millions of copies in large eukaryotic genomes. TFsmust distinguish their target binding sites from a vast genomic excess of spurious motif occurrences; however, it is unclear whether functional sites are distinguished from nonfunctional motifs by local primary sequence features or by the larger genomic context in which motifs reside. We used a massively parallel enhancer assay in living mouse retinas to compare 1,300 sequences bound in the genome by the photoreceptor transcription factor Cone-rod homeobox (Crx), to 3,000 control sequences. We found that very short sequences bound in the genome by Crx activated transcription at high levels, whereas unbound genomic regions with equal numbers of Crx motifs did not activate above background levels, even when liberated from their larger genomic context. High local GC content strongly distinguishes bound motifs from unbound motifs across the entire genome. Our results show that the cis-regulatory potential of TF-bound DNA is determined largely by highly local sequence features and not by genomic context.
Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny, and emergence from general anesthesia

Are animals conscious? If so, when did consciousness evolve? We address these long-standing and essential questions using a modern neuroscientific approach that draws on diverse fields such as consciousness studies, evolutionary neurobiology, animal psychology, and anesthesiology. We propose that the stepwise emergence from general anesthesia can serve as a reproducible model to study the evolution of consciousness across various species and use current data from anesthesiology to shed light on the phylogeny of consciousness. Ultimately, we conclude that the neurobiological structure of the vertebrate central nervous system is evolutionarily ancient and highly conserved across species and that the basic neurophysiologic mechanisms supporting consciousness in humans are found at the earliest points of vertebrate brain evolution. Thus, in agreement with Darwin’s insight and the recent “Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness in Non-Human Animals,” a review of modern scientific data suggests that the differences between species in terms of the ability to experience the world is one of degree and not kind.
The systemic aspect of FDI: side effects and spillovers toward social order

This paper discusses the concept that foreign direct investment (FDI) improves social conditions in emerging nations. It is widely assumed that spillover effects, such as technology-transfer and knowledge diffusion improve a host country's economic conditions. But do these spillovers also serve to rebuild the host countries' social order and contribute to improved living standards, especially when they occur in emerging nations? And can those spillover effects be conceived through the theoretical foundation of systems theory? How does systems theory handle environments like FDI, social order and investment law? The paper intends to provide answers to both the practical and the theoretical issues. The literary overview is kept to the essential and only a few widely known sources that report on all sorts of FDI are given. This leaves room for a wider discussion of how a systemic approach would work and for an empirical account of the mechanisms inducing FDI/impact on economic development and social order. It is hoped that, with this, the systemic view on FDI can be promoted and endorsed.
The utility of patient age in evaluating prostate cancer.

The utility of age in examining patients for prostate cancer was assessed. Of the 462 patients in the study, 138 had prostate cancer. The age distribution of the patients with cancer was similar to that found in patients with prostate cancer in the US population, and a correlation between age and the serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value was noted (r = .4, P < .002). Selection of reference intervals had a significant effect on test performance. Using an interval of 0 to 4.0 ng/mL, sensitivity of the PSA assay was 90% overall and varied from 78% (patients aged 50-59 years) to 94% (patients aged 70-79 years). In contrast, age-adjusted reference ranges yielded corresponding sensitivities of 84%, 78%, and 88%. With a single, fixed reference range, specificity decreased with advancing patient age (P < .001). This trend was eliminated by adjusting the cutoff in different age groups. In addition, age-adjusted reference ranges improved specificity by 10%, and by using the results of examination of a biopsy specimen as the "gold standard," the total number of patients classified correctly by PSA increased from 226 to 250 (49%-54%). For staging before treatment, patient age, clinical stage, and Gleason score were combined to yield a single probability estimate for organ-confined disease (P < .001). The use of age-adjusted reference ranges is supported by this study, which demonstrates that assay efficiency and specificity improve and sensitivity, although decreased overall, becomes more uniform across age groups. In this patient population, age was useful in determining the probability of organ-confined prostate cancer. Use of this model in clinical decision making should await evaluation in a prospective trial.
In vitro Transformation of Newborn-Hamster Kidney Cells by Simian Adenoviruses.∗:

SummaryTwo simian adenoviruses, SA7 and SV20, induced transformation of newborn-hamster kidney cells in vitro. The transformation was characterized by an increased growth potential of the cells, a change in morphology of the cells, the production of a new T-antigen within the transformed cells, the production of tumors in hamsters by inoculation of the cells, and the appearance of complement-fixing antibodies to T-antigen in animals which developed tumors. These new T-antigens are virus specific.
Metabolism of Anesthetized Rats

ConclusionsIntraperitoneal injection of amytal did not decrease the variability in the rate of oxygen consumption between different rats. Subcutaneous injection of the drug decreased this variability so that average results of a given standard deviation of the mean could be obtained with approximately half as many rats under anesthesia as would be required with non-treated rats. It is questionable whether or not this decrease in variability justifies the application of anesthesia in respiration trials since this application may introduce influences on metabolism tending to make the results less conclusive in many cases even though the variability may be decreased. The application of the anesthetic also makes the metabolic rate dependent on the time after injection so that a result on an anesthetized rat is not conclusive unless the time after the injection and its influence on the rate of metabolism are defined.
Delay in Seeking Care for Cancer Symptoms: A Population-Based Study of Elderly New Mexicans

To characterize the delay by the elderly in seeking care for cancer symptoms, we interviewed 800 New Mexicans, greater than or equal to 65 years of age, with newly diagnosed cancer. Overall, 29.4% of the subjects were asymptomatic when cancer was detected, and 48.0% presented within 2 months of symptom onset. However, 19.2% of the subjects delayed seeking care for at least 12 weeks and 7.4% delayed at least 1 year. Site of cancer was the strongest determinant of delay. Hispanics tended to report longer delay than non-Hispanics, and age was not associated with delay. Of the numerous other factors considered, only having a regular checkup was significantly associated with delay interval.
The Spotted Lady Beetle, Coleomegilla maculata (De Geer), as a Predator of European Corn Borer Eggs

The spotted lady beetle, Coleomegilla maculata (De G.), is a known predator of the eggs of the European corn borer, Pyrausta nubilalis (Him.), but the actual extent of control had never been Devised for collecting the fecula of the spotted lady beetle and other predators found on corn plants were characterized and a method devised for collecting these pellets beneath the site of borer eggs. By examining the fecula, it could be determined whether this beetle had fed, In two different fields under observation 16.5 and 15.3% of the eggs were fed upon. Studies on food preference and potential egg consumption showed that the spotted lady beetle would feed only upon pollen, pea aphids, Macrosiplmm pisi (Harr.), or eggs of the European corn borer, when these foods were on appropriate plants, in this case older corn leaves and alfalfa. It was found that the number of eggs an individual adult spotted lady beetle could consunms averaged 59.4 per day. Temperature and rainfall had no significant effect upon feedling.
Dispersal of Cellular Slime Molds by two Soil Invertebrates

Earthworms and pillbugs are known to feed upon substrates likely to be inhabited by cellular slime molds. Gut contents of earthworms (Aporrectodea calignosa and Octolasion tyrtaeum) and pillbugs (A...
Determination of metsulfuron methyl and its two metabolites in crops by liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

Metsulfuron methyl, its hydroxy metabolite (A1), and its glucose conjugate metabolite (A) were determined in several crops by liquid chromatography (LC) using a simple extraction and cleanup scheme. After the parent and 2 major metabolites were extracted from crops with methanol, metabolite A was enzymatically hydrolyzed to metabolite A1 with β-glucosidase. The treated extracts were cleaned up chromatographically, and then metsulfuron methyl and metabolite A1 were quantitatively determined by reversed-phase LC with UV detection at 254 nm. Recovery of metsulfuron methyl and its 2 metabolites was 90±6% over a range of 0.005 to 0.4 ppm from fortified samples of brown grain, wheat, barley, sugarcane stalk, and oat straw
Hedgehog and TGFβ signaling converge on Gli2 to control bony invasion and bone destruction in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

// Shellese A. Cannonier 1, 2, 3 , Cara B. Gonzales 4 , Kim Ely 5 , Scott A. Guelcher 2, 6, 7 , Julie A. Sterling 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 1 Department of Veteran Affairs, Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville TN 37212, USA 2 Center for Bone Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville TN 37232, USA 3 Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville TN 37232, USA 4 Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio Dental School, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA 5 Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville TN 37232, USA 6 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37235, USA 7 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37235, USA 8 Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville TN 37232, USA Correspondence to: Julie A. Sterling, email: Julie.sterling@vanderbilt.edu Keywords: oral cancer, Gli2, hedgehog, TGF-B, parathroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) Received: February 11, 2016 Accepted: September 27, 2016 Published: October 12, 2016 ABSTRACT Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. OSCC invasion into the lymph nodes and mandible correlates with increased rates of recurrence and lower overall survival. Tumors that infiltrate mandibular bone proliferate rapidly and induce bone destruction. While survival rates have increased 12% over the last 20 years, this improvement is attributed to general advances in prevention, earlier detection, and updated treatments. Additionally, despite decades of research, the molecular mechanisms of OSCC invasion into the mandible are not well understood. Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein (PTHrP), has been shown to be essential for mandibular invasion in OSCC animal models, and our previous studies demonstrate that the transcription factor Gli2 increases PTHrP expression in tumor metastasis to bone. In OSCC, we investigated regulators of Gli2, including Hedgehog, TGFβ, and Wnt signaling to elucidate how PTHrP expression is controlled. Here we show that canonical Hedgehog and TGFβ signaling cooperate to increase PTHrP expression and mandibular invasion in a Gli2-dependent manner. Additionally, in an orthotopic model of mandibular invasion, inhibition of Gli2 using shRNA resulted in a significant decrease of both PTHrP expression and bony invasion. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that multiple signaling pathways converge on Gli2 to mediate PTHrP expression and bony invasion, highlighting Gli2 as a therapeutic target to prevent bony invasion in OSCC.
Acute Vision Loss Following Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

A 41-year-old female with a history of uterine cancer and Celiac and Raynaud’s Disease presented to our institution with frequent migraines and nasal congestion. She underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and experienced acute unilateral vision loss postoperatively. Rapid recognition of the etiology and effective treatment are paramount given the permanent and irreversible vision loss that can result. Arterial vasospasm following FESS is rare. Patients with autoimmune diseases have perhaps an increased risk for vasospasm secondary to an increased vasoreactive profile. We present the first documented case of nitroglycerin sublingual therapy to successfully treat ophthalmic artery vasospasm following FESS. Nitroglycerin sublingual therapy is a promising treatment for ophthalmic vasospasm secondary to its ability to cross the blood-ocular barrier, its rapid onset of action, and its ability to promote relaxation of vascular smooth muscle.
Development of robot swarm algorithms on an extensible framework

Swarm intelligence for robots is inspired by observation of how homogenous collections of animals behave in nature to succeed in finding food and avoiding predators. Swarm robots usually lack centralized control to determine each robots individual behavior, however global behaviors can emerge through many local interactions, which are simple in nature. Studies show that simple rules executed on the individual robot can explain complex group behaviors and it is sufficient to support only local sensing and communication. The advantages of swarm intelligence are robustness at the level of the group where individual failure is not a significant problem; individual behaviors are easy to implement, and the approaches are scalable since the control mechanisms do not depend on the number of individuals in the swarm. We present an ongoing project that leverages hardware and extends software for swarm robotics. The hardware consists of robots called swarmies. A swarmie is a small robotic vehicle with a webcam, a GPS system, sensors like IMU, ultrasonic obstacle detector; a Wi-Fi antenna for wireless communication and an on-board computer. The objective of the project is to develop algorithms for the Swarmies so they can communicate and thus execute cooperative april-tag collection autonomously. The software is a ROS (Robot Operating System) controller framework for the Swarmie robots. We were able to improve the swarmie's behavior to search a space more effectively and utilize computer vision methods.
Helical polynomial curves interpolating G1 data with prescribed axes and pitch angles

A helical curve, or curve of constant slope, offers a natural flight path for an aerial vehicle with a limited climb rate to achieve an increase in altitude between prescribed initial and final states. Every polynomial helical curve is a spatial Pythagorean-hodograph (PH) curve, and the distinctive features of the PH curves have attracted growing interest in their use for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) path planning. This study describes an exact algorithm for constructing helical PH paths, corresponding to a constant climb rate at a given speed, between initial and final positions and motion directions. The algorithm bypasses the more sophisticated algebraic representations of spatial PH curves, and instead employs a simple “lifting” scheme to generate helical PH paths from planar PH curves constructed using the complex representation. In this context, a novel scheme to construct planar quintic PH curves that interpolate given end points and tangents, with exactly prescribed arc lengths, plays a key role. It is also shown that these helical paths admit simple closed-form rotation-minimizing adapted frames. The algorithm is simple, efficient, and robust, and can accommodate helical axes of arbitrary orientation through simple rotation transformations. Its implementation is illustrated by several computed examples.
Expanded Distributions of Three Etheostoma Darters (Subgenus Nothonotus) within the Upper Ohio River Watershed

Within the upper Ohio River watershed, 3 Etheostoma darter species in the subgenus Nothonotus have been documented in disjunct populations and were listed as threatened or endangered in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Tailwater habitat below navigation lock and dam (L/D) installations has been shown to contain diverse darter assemblages. Etheostoma camurum (Bluebreast Darter), E. maculatum (Spotted Darter), and E. tippecanoe (Tippecanoe Darter) often live in similar habitats; thus, we hypothesized that all 3 were occupying tailwater habitat below navigational L/Ds. Electrified benthic trawling verified Bluebreast Darter and Tippecanoe Darter below 8 L/D installations and at water depths varying from 1.4 m to 4.5 m and 1.4 m to 5.9 m, respectively. Spotted Darter was only found below 1 L/D. In the Ohio River, benthic trawling documented Bluebreast Darter and Tippecanoe Darter utilizing habitat located within deposition zones and areas above and below islands. Analysis of contemporary and historic distribution data shows that Bluebreast Darter and Tippecanoe Darter now span large sections of the river, but the range of Spotted Darter is more limited and warrants close monitoring. Our study confirms the effectiveness of utilizing benthic trawling in non-wadeable rivers to survey for benthic species such as river-inhabiting darters.
Fundamental Concepts in the Theory of Algebras

Let R be a commutative ring. This first chapter recalls some fundamental concepts and constructions from algebra, e.g., involutions and gradings on R-algebras, and tensor products and graded tensor products of R-algebras. These are also the general Leitmotifs of this book. In addition, this chapter introduces free quadratic R-algebras, i.e., algebras of the form R[X]/(X2 - aX - b), and some of their basic properties. These algebras provide concrete illustrations of the basic concepts and constructions just referred to; more significantly, they will be of importance in virtually every chapter of this book.
Assessing “The Excitement of Meteorology!” for Young Scholars

The National Science Foundation Young Scholar Program “The Excitement of Meteorology!” successfully brought the atmospheric and related sciences to high school students in Mississippi. The four-wee...
Healthcare Service Utilization and Cost Among Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a U.S. Integrated Healthcare System

Abstract Objectives: To compare healthcare utilization patterns and cost among insured adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), adults with attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and adults with neither condition (general population [GP] controls). Method: We conducted a case–control study among adults (≥18 years) who were members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) for at least 9 months each year from 2008 to 2012. Cases (N = 1507) were adults with an ASD diagnosis (ICD-9-CM 299.0–299.8) recorded in the electronic medical record on at least two separate occasions by December 31, 2012. Two control groups, adults with ADHD (N = 9042) defined by ICD-9-CM code 314 and GP (N = 15,070), were randomly selected and frequency matched to cases on gender and age. Healthcare utilization and cost data were obtained from KPNC databases for the year 2012. Results: Compared with adults with ADHD, adults with ASD had significantly higher utilization of outpatient visits for primary care (74.2...
Risk of Melanoma With Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitor Use Among Patients With Erectile Dysfunction, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms.

Abstract Background Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5is), a treatment for erectile dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension (pHTN), and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), have been implicated in melanoma development. Aim We sought to determine the association between PDE5i use and melanoma development among patients with erectile dysfunction, pHTN, and LUTS. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of subjects contained within the Truven Health MarketScan claims database, which provides information on insurance claims in the United States for privately insured individuals, from 2007–2015. Individuals taking PDE5i were identified through pharmacy claims. A comparison group of men diagnosed with conditions for which PDE5i are prescribed was assembled. Outcomes Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI) of incident melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Results Of 610,881 subjects prescribed PDE5i, 636 developed melanoma (0.10%). The control group had 8,711 diagnoses of melanoma. There was an association between increased PDE5i tablet use and melanoma (HR 1.05, 95% CI 1.05–1.09). This association was also present between PDE5i use and basal cell carcinoma (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02–1.07) and squamous cell carcinoma (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01–1.07). In patients with pHTN and LUTS prescribed PDE5is, there was no relationship between exposure and melanoma incidence (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.48–1.13; and HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.97–1.10, respectively). Clinical Implications There is little evidence for a clinically relevant association between PDE5i use and melanoma incidence. Strengths & Limitations Our current work represents the largest study to date evaluating the relationship between PDE5i use and melanoma risk, and the first to examine all current indications of PDE5i use among men and women. Limitations include a patient population limited to commercially insured individuals, unknown patient medication compliance, and lack of information on patient skin type, lifestyle, and sun-exposure habits. Conclusion There is a slight association between higher-volume PDE5i use and development of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. This association among all skin cancers implies that confounding may account for the observed association. Shkolyar E, Li S, Tang J, et al. Risk of Melanoma With Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitor Use Among Patients With Erectile Dysfunction, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms. J Sex Med 2018;15:982–989.
Expansion of clinical pharmacist positions through sustainable funding

Purpose Expansion of clinical pharmacist positions through sustainable funding is described. Summary The University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was awarded a 2-year program grant to establish an integrated clinical pharmacy program for underserved residents in family health centers in northeastern Colorado. The grant enabled the hiring of 2 bilingual, full-time, board-certified, postgraduate year 2–trained clinical pharmacists to initiate comprehensive clinical pharmacy services. Clinical pharmacy services for diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia management were provided during direct patient care visits using collaborative drug therapy management protocols to facilitate comprehensive medication management. Initial visits lasted 1 hour, and follow-up visits lasted 30 minutes. In addition, clinical pharmacists provided point-of-care consultations for patients seeing other healthcare providers. All patient encounters and consultations were documented in the electronic health record. Success of the clinical pharmacy program was evaluated based on the achievement of goal blood pressure values, glycosylated hemoglobin values, and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Pharmacists’ involvement in patient care activities led to improvements in all of these clinical outcomes. This coincided with unique funding opportunities with regional accountable care organizations that sought to demonstrate improved patient care in an expansion population. As a result, 2 grant-funded clinical pharmacist positions in 2 community health clinics were converted into 4 faculty positions in 5 community health centers funded by regional accountable care organizations. Conclusion Collaboration with accountable care organizations resulted in the successful funding of ambulatory care clinical pharmacy services. These services resulted in improved chronic disease control and provider satisfaction.
Brain Hypometabolism, Oxidative Stress, Maternal Transmission, and Risk of Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-dependent neurodegenerative disorder associated with progressive loss of cognitive function. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) as the tracer has long been used to measure resting-state cerebral metabolic rates of glucose, a proxy for neuronal activity. Several FDG-PET studies have shown that metabolic reductions occur decades before onset of AD symptoms, suggesting that metabolic deficits may be an upstream event in at least some late-onset AD cases. This review explores this possibility, initially by discussing the link between AD pathology and neurodegeneration, with a focus on the metabolic pathways involved in neuronal function and bioenergetics, and the relationship between glucose metabolism, oxidative stress, and AD. This will be followed by a summary of the FDG-PET method, ranging from physics to kinetic modeling, and PET findings in AD. We will then discuss recent findings of progressive FDG-PET hypometabolism in adult children of mothers, but not fathers, affected by late-onset AD. Given the connection between glucose metabolism and mitochondria and the fact that mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited in humans, it will be argued that altered bioenergetics may be an upstream event in individuals with a maternal family history of AD. Biomarkers of AD have great potential for identifying AD endophenotypes in cognitively intact individuals at risk for AD, which may help direct investigation of potential susceptibility genes.
Starvation in Rotifers: Physiology in an Ecological Context

Planktonic rotifers live in a world where food abundance can change rapidly and where food limitation is common and sometimes extreme. The goal of this review is to synthesize the ecological importance of food limitation in nature with the physiological responses of rotifers to starvation in the laboratory. Different rotifer species have very different responses to starvation. Some species respond to food deprivation by decreasing their metabolic rate and curtailing reproduction, while other species maintain a constant metabolic rate and continue to produce eggs, essentially reproducing themselves to death. This tradeoff between survival and reproduction explains much of the several-fold range in starvation times of different rotifer species. Future research is needed on the chemical composition of energy reserves in rotifers, the patterns of allocation of those reserves during starvation, and the frequency of starvation episodes in nature.
Analytical True Positive: Poppy Seed Products and Opiate Analysis

Abstract Eating poppy seed–containing foods may cause positive opiate drugs of abuse drug testing because poppy seeds contain both codeine and morphine. In response to reports of positive opiate testings using a cutoff concentration of 300 ng/mL, department of health and human services of US Government increased the cutoff concentration to 2000 ng/mL. Because most of codeine and morphine present in poppy seeds are destroyed during baking of poppy seed–containing cakes, breads, and muffin, it is unlikely to get a positive, opiate immunoassay-screening result at 2000 ng/mL after eating reasonable amount of poppy seed–containing food. However, some private employers may still use 300 ng/mL cutoff and it is possible to test positive with such lower cutoff after eating poppy seed–containing foods. Thebaine, a component of poppy seed, can be used as a marker for consuming poppy seed–containing food. However, a morphine concentration over 2000 ng/mL in absence of any codeine is more consistent with heroin abuse.
A Comprehensive Review of the Evolution of Accounting Standards for State and Local Government Pensions and Other Postemployment Benefits in The United States

ABSTRACT Both the business media and the popular press have emphasized the underfunding problems associated with pension funds that are set aside for state and local government workers, a group tha...
Influence of childhood adversity, approach motivation traits, and depression on individual differences in brain activation during reward anticipation.

Abstract Reward anticipation dysfunction is associated with major depressive disorder (MDD), but is not universally observed in individuals with MDD. Reward anticipation deficits have also been linked to childhood adversity (CA) and approach/avoidance traits. The present study evaluated whether severity of CA (as measured by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and approach/avoidance traits predict individual differences in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response to reward anticipation beyond MDD diagnosis alone. Participants were individuals with MDD (n = 23) and healthy controls (n = 27). Multiple regression was conducted using CTQ scores, trait approach/avoidance scores, and diagnosis to predict activation during reward anticipation in a monetary incentive delay fMRI task. Across groups, higher trait reward responsiveness predicted increased activation in the hippocampus, cingulate cortex, and medial frontal gyrus. Greater CTQ scores predicted increased reward network activation. Overall, CTQ and reward responsiveness scores predicted more variance in reward anticipation activation than diagnosis. These findings suggest that clinicians should assess history of childhood adversity and trait reward responsiveness when treating individuals with MDD.
Are We Underestimating Food Insecurity? Partial Identification with a Bayesian 4-Parameter IRT Model

This paper addresses measurement error in food security in the USA. In particular, it uses a Bayesian 4-parameter IRT model to look at the likelihood of over- or under-reporting of the conditions that comprise the food security module (FSM), the data collection administered in many US surveys to assess and monitor food insecurity. While this model’s parameters are only partially identified, we learn about the likely values of these parameters by using a Bayesian framework. My results suggest significant under-reporting of more severe food security items, particularly those in the child module. I find no evidence of over-reporting of food hardships. I show that, under conservative assumptions, this model predicts food insecurity prevalence between 1 and 3 percentage points higher than current estimates, or roughly 4 to 15 percent of prevalence, for the years 2007–2015. Results suggest much larger increases—on the order of 50 percent of prevalence—for very low food security among households that were screened into the food security module.
Modeling Between-Study Heterogeneity for Improved Replicability in Gene Signature Selection and Clinical Prediction.

In the genomic era, the identification of gene signatures associated with disease is of significant interest. Such signatures are often used to predict clinical outcomes in new patients and aid cli...
Forms of Critical Neglect: The Cases of Griffith’s Way Down East (1920) and Carné’s Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes, 1938)

Both D. W. Griffith’s Way Down East and Marcel Carne’s Port of Shadows are accomplished, complicated, and evocative films by historically important directors. Literary works of comparable quality and historical significance are almost always the subject of extensive analysis. But very little interpretive work has been done on either of these movies. And both warrant further consideration. Way Down East, when it has been read, has been uniformly read as reflecting and endorsing Victorian values, particularly those relating to gender. But it is quite possible to see the film as drawing critical attention to the social formations and forms of conceptuality that serve to oppress women. Such work simply hasn’t been done. In the case of Port of Shadows, the one extant thesis-driven interpretation of the film in English, an analysis of the attitude it takes toward the Michelle Morgan character Nelly, provides an opening for dialectical progression, the production of fuller, more nuanced understandings of the movie’s representation of gender and gender relations.
INEC: Fast and Coherent In-Network Erasure Coding

Erasure coding (EC) is a promising fault tolerance scheme that has been applied to many well-known distributed storage systems. The capability of Coherent EC Calculation and Networking on modern SmartNICs has demonstrated that EC will be an essential feature of in-network computing. In this paper, we propose a set of coherent in-network EC primitives, named INEC. Our analyses based on the proposed α-β performance model demonstrate that INEC primitives can enable different kinds of EC schemes to fully leverage the EC offload capability on modern SmartNICs. We implement INEC on commodity RDMA NICs and integrate it into five state-of-the-art EC schemes. Our experiments show that INEC primitives significantly reduce 50th, 95th, and 99th percentile latencies, and accelerate the end-to-end throughput, write, and degraded read performance of the key-value store co-designed with INEC by up to 99.57%, 47.30%, and 49.55%, respectively.
Disparate genetic variants associated with distinct components of cowpea resistance to the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus.

Polygenic genome-wide association mapping identified two regions of the cowpea genome associated with different components of resistance to its major post-harvest pest, the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an important grain and fodder crop in arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, Asia, and South America, where the cowpea seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, is a serious post-harvest pest. Development of cultivars resistant to C. maculatus population growth in storage could increase grain yield and quality and reduce reliance on insecticides. Here, we use a MAGIC (multi-parent, advanced-generation intercross) population of cowpea consisting of 305 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) to identify genetic variants associated with resistance to seed beetles. Because inferences regarding the genetic basis of resistance may depend on the source of the pest or the assay protocol, we used two divergent geographic populations of C. maculatus and two complementary assays to measure several aspects of resistance. Using polygenic genome-wide association mapping models, we found that the cowpea RILs harbor substantial additive-genetic variation for most resistance measures. Variation in several components of resistance, including larval development time and survival, was largely explained by one or several linked loci on chromosome 5. A second region on chromosome 8 explained increased seed resistance via the induction of early-exiting larvae. Neither of these regions contained genes previously associated with resistance to insects that infest grain legumes. We found some evidence of gene–gene interactions affecting resistance, but epistasis did not contribute substantially to resistance variation in this mapping population. The combination of mostly high heritabilities and a relatively consistent and simple genetic architecture increases the feasibility of breeding for enhanced resistance to C. maculatus.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma

In the past several decades, concepts of neoplasia have changed markedly. Research efforts in a number of systems including colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, melanoma, and experimental systems in animals such as hepatoma have generated a large body of information on neoplastic development.1–7 Neoplasia appears to be a chronic process that develops through a series of progressive stages, sequentially acquiring various biologic features associated with “malignant” behavior. Although these features are relatively well characterized morphologically in a few systems such as melanoma, cervical carcinoma, and colorectal carcinoma, in most tumor types, the sequence of morphologic changes that comprises the neoplastic developmental pathway is poorly or incompletely characterized. In addition, the differences between various stages of neoplastic development are very poorly understood at a basic molecular level. Nonetheless, several generalizations are important to consider: