cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Needs assessment for novel Gram-negative antibiotics in US hospitals: a retrospective cohort study.

Summary Background Evidence-based needs assessments for novel antibiotics against highly-resistant Gram-negative infections (GNIs) are scarce. We aimed to use real-world data from an electronic health record repository to identify treatment opportunities in US hospitals for GNIs resistant to all first-line drugs. Methods For this retrospective cohort study, population estimates with an unmet need for novel Gram-negative antibiotics were quantified using the Cerner Health Facts database (2009–15), aggregating episodes of infection in US hospitals with pathogens displaying difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR; resistance to carbapenems, other β-lactams, and fluoroquinolones) and episodes involving empirical coverage with reserve drugs (colistin or polymyxin B and aminoglycosides). Episodes displaying extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance (ECR) were also estimated. Episodes were multiplied by site-specific and fixed 14-day treatment durations for conservative and liberal days-of-therapy (DOT) estimates and stratified by site and taxon. Hospital type-specific DOT rates were reliability adjusted to account for random variation; cluster analyses quantified contribution from outbreaks. Findings Across 2 996 271 inpatient encounters and 134 hospitals, there were 1352 DTR-GNI episodes, 1765 episodes involving empirical therapy with colistin or polymyxin B, and 16 632 episodes involving aminoglycosides. Collectively, these yielded 39·0 (conservative estimate) to 138·2 (liberal estimate) DOT per 10 000 encounters for a novel DTR-GNI-targeted drug, whereas greater treatment opportunities were identified for ECR (six times greater) and β-lactam susceptible GNIs (70 times greater). The most common DTR-GNI site and pathogen was lower respiratory (14·3 [43·3%] of 33 DOT per 10 000 encounters) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (522 [38·1%] of 1371 episodes), whereas Enterobacteriaceae urinary-tract infections dominated the ECR or carbapenem-sparing niche (59·0% [5589 of 9535 episodes]) equating to 210·7 DOT per 10 000 encounters. DTR Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Burkholderia spp, and Achromobacter spp represented less than 1 DOT per 10 000 encounters each. The estimated need for DTR-GNI-targeted antibiotics saw minor contributions by outbreaks and varied from 0·5 to 73·1 DOT per 10 000 encounters by hospital type. Interpretation Suspected or documented GNIs with no or suboptimal treatment options are relatively infrequent. Non-revenue-based strategies and innovative trial designs are probably essential to the development of antibiotics with improved effectiveness for these GNIs. Funding Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration; Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer Institute.
S1-Domain RNA-Binding Protein (CvfD) Is a New Post-Transcriptional Regulator That Mediates Cold Sensitivity, Phosphate Transport, and Virulence in Streptococcus pneumoniae D39

Post-transcriptional gene regulation often involves RNA-binding proteins that modulate mRNA translation and/or stability either directly through protein-RNA interactions or indirectly by facilitating the annealing of small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs). The human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 (pneumococcus) does not encode homologs to RNA-binding proteins known to be involved in promoting sRNA stability and function, such as Hfq or ProQ, even though it contains genes for at least 112 sRNAs. However, the pneumococcal genome contains genes for other RNA-binding proteins, including at least six S1-domain proteins; ribosomal protein S1 (rpsA), polynucleotide phosphorylase (pnpA), RNase R (rnr), and three proteins of unknown functions. Here, we characterize the function of one of these conserved, yet uncharacterized S1-domain proteins, SPD_1366, which we have renamed CvfD (Conserved virulence factor D), since loss of this protein results in an attenuation of virulence in a murine pneumonia model. We report that deletion of cvfD impacts expression of 144 transcripts including the pst1 operon, encoding the phosphate transport system 1 in S. pneumoniae. We further show that CvfD post-transcriptionally regulates the PhoU2 master regulator of the pneumococcal dual phosphate transport system by binding phoU2 mRNA and impacting PhoU2 translation. CvfD not only controls expression of phosphate transporter genes, but also functions as a pleiotropic regulator that impacts cold sensitivity and the expression of sRNAs and genes involved in diverse cellular functions, including manganese uptake and zinc efflux. Together, our data show that CvfD exerts a broad impact on pneumococcal physiology and virulence, partly by post-transcriptional gene regulation.
Treatment of borderline infiltrates with minimal inflammation in kidney transplant recipients has no effect on allograft or patient outcomes.

In 2005, the Banff committee expanded the "borderline changes" category to include lesions with minimal (<10%) inflammation: "i0" borderline infiltrates. Clinical significance and optimal treatment of i0 borderline infiltrates are not known. Data suggest that i0 borderline infiltrates may have a more favorable prognosis than borderline infiltrates with higher grades of interstitial inflammation. In this single-center, retrospective, observational study, we assessed 90 renal transplant recipients with i0 borderline infiltrates on biopsies indicated for graft dysfunction. We studied the impact of treatment with corticosteroids on allograft function, allograft survival, and patient survival. We found no differences between treated and untreated groups with respect to eGFR at 4 weeks and 6 months after biopsy. Follow-up biopsies, available in 67% of patients, were negative for rejection in almost half of all cases, regardless of treatment status. The frequencies of persistent borderline infiltrates (38%) and higher-grade T cell-mediated rejection (1A or greater, 14%) on follow-up biopsies were similar between the two groups. There were no differences in rejection-free allograft survival, death-censored graft failure, or patient mortality among treated vs non-treated i0 borderline patients. Our findings suggest that the natural history of i0 borderline infiltrates, in relatively low immunologic risk patients, is not affected by corticosteroid treatment.
Suppressing the Multiplex Disadvantage in Photon-Noise Limited Interferometry Using Cross-Dispersed Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometry:

Spatial heterodyne spectrometers are members of the static Fourier transform class of spectrometers, well-regarded for their ability to acquire high-resolution, high wavelength precision emission spectra in compact, light footprint packages. In a spatial heterodyne spectrometer experiment, a Fizeau fringe is generated for every spectral feature in a given spectrum, and spatial heterodyne spectrometer records the superposition of all Fizeau fringes in the spectrum on a detector. Hence, the sensitivity of spatial heterodyne spectrometers is constrained by uncorrelated, multiplicative photon noise that limits the detection of spectral features to those that are more luminous than the square root of the total incident flux onto the detector. In essence, powerful spectral features create a rising floor of noise that wash out less luminous features. In the present work, we introduce a novel spectrometer coupling, that being an Amici prism spectrometer in series with spatial heterodyne spectrometer, that correlates photon shot noise along one axis of a detector that in turn suppresses multiplicative photon noise within each row of the interferogram image. We demonstrate that this spectrometer pairing facilitates the measurement of weak Raman spectral features that, in a traditional spatial heterodyne spectrometer measurement, would be washed out by multiplicative photon noise.
Real-World Changes in Adolescents' ADHD Symptoms within the Day and across School and Non-school Days.

Research on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) points to the possibility that contextual factors (e.g., time of day, school vs. home) may be related to symptoms and impairment. This prior research has relied on laboratory-based or retrospective, global approaches which has limited ecological validity. The present study substantively contributes to the extant literature by examining adolescents’ ADHD symptoms in the real world across the day on both school and non-school days to test whether symptoms worsened throughout the day and were higher on school days relative to non-school days. As part of a larger study, 83 adolescents taking stimulant medication for ADHD (Mage = 14.7, 66% identified as boys/men, 78% White) completed a 17-day ecological momentary assessment protocol that included wake-up and bedtime reports and two reports in the afternoon and evening. These assessments asked about ADHD symptoms and stimulant medication usage since the last report. Hypotheses were tested using multilevel modeling. Accounting for demographic covariates and medication usage, ADHD symptoms worsened quadratically, peaking by the afternoon report and subsequently declining, across school days but not non-school days. Mean-level ADHD symptoms were also worse on school days relative to non-school days. Results did not differ across gender. In conclusion, our study is the first to examine important environmental factors (school, time of day) in real time in relation to level of naturalistically occurring ADHD symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of advancing treatments to support adolescents with ADHD on school days and in the afternoon.
Abstract 2927: Targeted combination treatment for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The CCND3 gene encodes Cyclin D3–a protein that is essential for G1/S cell cycle progression and proliferation of malignant cells. Targeting Cyclin D3 is used to treat B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL); however, the mechanisms that regulate expression of the CCND3 gene in B-ALL are largely unknown. Here, we present evidence that oncogenic Casein Kinase II (CK2) regulates expression of CCND3 and G1/S cell cycle progression via direct phosphorylation of Ikaros, a transcription regulator and tumor suppressor protein. Global genome-wide DNA-binding analysis using ChIP-seq, show that Ikaros binds the promoter of CCND3 in primary human B-ALL. The role of Ikaros in regulating CCND3 expression in B-ALL was tested using gain-of-function and loss-of-function experiments. Ikaros knock-down with shRNA results in increased transcription of CCND3 in B-ALL. Overexpression of Ikaros in human B-ALL was associated with reduced expression of CCND3. Since Ikaros activity in leukemia is regulated by pro-oncogenic Casein Kinase II (CK2), we tested whether CK2 regulates expression of CCND3 in B-ALL. Increased expression of CK2 in B-ALL results in increased expression of the CCND3 gene. This was associated with a loss of Ikaros binding to the promoter of the CCND3 gene. Inhibition of CK2 with shRNA, and/or a specific CK2 inhibitor, CX-4945, resulted in increased Ikaros binding to the CCND3 promoter and reduced expression of Cyclin D3 in B-ALL. Treatment with CX-4945 showed strong therapeutic activity in preclinical models of B-ALL. A combination treatment with CX-4945 and dexamethasone that targets G1/S cell cycle progression shows a strong synergistic effect on B-ALL cells. In conclusion, presented data show that CK2 and Ikaros regulate G1/S cell cycle progression via transcriptional regulation of the CCND3 gene in B-ALL and that CK2 inhibition represses CCND3 expression by enhancing Ikaros tumor suppressor function. Results demonstrate the synergistic efficacy of a combination treatment with CK2 inhibitor and dexamethasone and provide a rationale for the use of this combination treatment as a novel therapeutic approach for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Citation Format: Shriya Kane, Yali Ding, Chandrika Gowda, Jonathon Lee Payne, Soumya Iyer, Pavan K. Dhanyamraju, Chunhua Song, Dhimant Desai, Arati Sharma, Kimberly J. Payne, Sinisa Dovat. Targeted combination treatment for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2927.
Domain adaptation for robust workload level alignment between sessions and subjects using fNIRS

Significance: We demonstrated the potential of using domain adaptation on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data to classify different levels of n-back tasks that involve working memory. Aim: Domain shift in fNIRS data is a challenge in the workload level alignment across different experiment sessions and subjects. To address this problem, two domain adaptation approaches—Gromov–Wasserstein (G-W) and fused Gromov–Wasserstein (FG-W) were used. Approach: Specifically, we used labeled data from one session or one subject to classify trials in another session (within the same subject) or another subject. We applied G-W for session-by-session alignment and FG-W for subject-by-subject alignment to fNIRS data acquired during different n-back task levels. We compared these approaches with three supervised methods: multiclass support vector machine (SVM), convolutional neural network (CNN), and recurrent neural network (RNN). Results: In a sample of six subjects, G-W resulted in an alignment accuracy of 68 % ± 4 % (weighted mean ± standard error) for session-by-session alignment, FG-W resulted in an alignment accuracy of 55 % ± 2 % for subject-by-subject alignment. In each of these cases, 25% accuracy represents chance. Alignment accuracy results from both G-W and FG-W are significantly greater than those from SVM, CNN, and RNN. We also showed that removal of motion artifacts from the fNIRS data plays an important role in improving alignment performance. Conclusions: Domain adaptation has potential for session-by-session and subject-by-subject alignment of mental workload by using fNIRS data.
Does California's EMFAC2017 vehicle emissions model underpredict California light-duty gasoline vehicle NOx emissions?

On-road remote sensing measurements of light and medium-duty gasoline vehicles collected within California’s South Coast Air Basin since 1999 generally fall within the range of observed summer ambi...
Are Investments in Daughters Lower When Daughters Move Away? Evidence from Indonesia

In much of the developing world daughters receive lower education and other investments than do their brothers, and may even be so devalued as to suffer differential mortality. Daughter disadvantage may be due in part to social norms that prescribe that daughters move away from their natal family upon marriage, a practice known as virilocality. We evaluate the effects of virilocality on female disadvantage using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey. We find little support for the hypothesis. There is no evidence that the overall pattern of rough equality in the treatment of boys and girls in Indonesia masks differences according to post-marital residential practice. Virilocal groups do not have "missing daughters." Nor is there other evidence of son preference, such as in relatively low height-for-age or education for girls and women in virilocal areas. Explanations of daughter disadvantage as due to virilocality should be subject to further scrutiny and contextualization.
GRK5 is a regulator of fibroblast activation and cardiac fibrosis

Pathological remodeling of the heart is a hallmark of chronic heart failure (HF) and these structural changes further perpetuate the disease. Cardiac fibroblasts are the critical cell type that is responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of the heart. Stress conditions, such as a myocardial infarction (MI), can activate quiescent fibroblasts into synthetic and contractile myofibroblasts. G protein-coupled receptor kinase 5 (GRK5) is an important mediator of cardiovascular homeostasis through dampening of GPCR signaling, and is expressed in the heart and up-regulated in human HF. Of note, GRK5 has been demonstrated to translocate to the nucleus in cardiomyocytes in a calcium-calmodulin (Ca2+-CAM)-dependent manner, promoting hypertrophic gene transcription through activation of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT). Interestingly, NFAT is also involved in fibroblast activation. GRK5 is highly expressed and active in cardiac fibroblasts; however, its pathophysiological role in these crucial cardiac cells is unknown. We demonstrate using adult cardiac fibroblasts that genetic deletion of GRK5 inhibits angiotensin II (AngII)-mediated fibroblast activation. Fibroblast-specific deletion of GRK5 in mice led to decreased fibrosis and cardiac hypertrophy after chronic AngII infusion or after ischemic injury compared to nontransgenic littermate controls (NLCs). Mechanistically, we show that nuclear translocation of GRK5 is involved in fibroblast activation. These data demonstrate that GRK5 is a regulator of fibroblast activation in vitro and cardiac fibrosis in vivo. This adds to previously published data which demonstrate the potential beneficial effects of GRK5 inhibition in the context of cardiac disease.
HIV in the Brain: From Devastating Dementia to White Matter Hyperintensities.

Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, the potentially devastating effect of HIV infection in the brain has been recognized. Clinical accounts from the 1990s documented cases of severe, rapidly progressive dementia, and early autopsy series revealed abnormalities in 90% of the brains studied.1,2 Fortunately, as antiretroviral therapy (ART) was introduced, HIV infection became a chronic, treatable condition that allowed people with HIV to achieve normal lifespans. In addition, the cognitive impact of HIV infection lessened in the ART era but did not disappear.3 Rather than a relentlessly progressive dementia, HIV-associated cognitive deficits have evolved into the HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder of today, which is significantly milder and typically nonprogressive but still affects up to half of people with HIV.4–6
The PorX/PorY system is a virulence factor of Porphyromonas gingivalis and mediates the activation of the type IX secretion system.

PorX/PorY is a two-component system (TCS) of Porphyromonas gingivalis that governs transcription of numerous genes including those encoding a type IX secretion system (T9SS) for gingipain secretion and heme accumulation. Here, an in vitro analysis showed that the response regulator PorX specifically bound to two regions in the promoter of porT, a known PorX-regulated T9SS gene, thus demonstrating that PorX/PorY can directly regulate specific target genes. A truncated PorX protein containing the N-terminal receiver and effector domains retained a wild-type ability in both transcription regulation and heme accumulation, ruling out the role of the C-terminal ALP domain in gene regulation. The PorX/PorY system was the only TCS essential for heme accumulation and concomitantly responded to hemin to stimulate transcription of several known PorX-dependent genes in a concentration-dependent manner. We found that PorX/PorY activated the sigH gene, which encodes a sigma factor known for P. gingivalis adaptation to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Consistently, both ΔporX and ΔsigH mutants were susceptible to H2O2, suggesting a PorX/PorY-σH regulatory cascade to confer resistance to oxidative stress. Furthermore, the ΔporX mutant became susceptible to high hemin levels that could induce oxidative stress. Therefore, a possible reason why hemin activates PorX/PorY is to confer resistance to hemin-induced oxidative stress. We also demonstrated that PorX/PorY was essential for P. gingivalis virulence because the ΔporX mutant was avirulent in a mouse model. Specifically, this TCS was required for the repression of proinflammatory cytokines secreted by dendritic cells and T cells in the P. gingivalis–infected mice.
Brief Activities: Questioning, Brainstorming, Think-Pair-Share, Jigsaw, and Clinical Case Discussions

Traditional lectures can be enhanced by turning them into “interactive lectures”. Interactive lectures disperse active learning opportunities (or brief activities) throughout traditional lecture and across a specific time period (i.e. 50 min). Interactive lectures include opportunities for student interaction through thinking, doing, observing, responding, etc. Interactive lectures help students begin to work towards active learning that promotes development, evaluation, and revision of information networks used to understand the real world. Incorporating brief activities, is a great way for faculty to incorporate interaction into their teaching without having to go full force into higher order activities such as team-based learning or problem-based learning. There are a number of brief activities that can be used to move towards more complex active learning strategies.
An update on the unfolded protein response in brain ischemia: Experimental evidence and therapeutic opportunities.

Abstract After ischemic stroke or cardiac arrest, brain ischemia occurs. Currently, no pharmacologic intervention that targets cellular processes has proven effective in improving neurologic outcome in patients after brain ischemia. Recent experimental research has identified the crucial role of proteostasis in survival and recovery of cells after ischemia. In particular, the unfolded protein response (UPR), a key signaling pathway that safeguards cellular proteostasis, is emerging as a promising therapeutic target for brain ischemia. For some time, the UPR has been known to play a critical role in the pathophysiology of brain ischemia; however, only in the recent years has the field grown substantially, largely due to the extensive use of UPR-specific mouse genetic models and the rapidly expanding availability of pharmacologic tools that target the UPR. In this review, we provide a timely update on the progress in our understanding of the UPR in experimental brain ischemia, and discuss the therapeutic implications of targeting the UPR in ischemic stroke and cardiac arrest.
A History of Research in Social Work Education: 1915-1991

Research has been an important element of social work since the inception of the profession. In social work education, there has been, however, pervasive and enduring confusion regarding the design and implementation of the research curriculum. In 1992, the Council on Social Work Education issued a revised Curriculum Policy Statement that portends profound implications for educators. The author explores the difference in social research and social work research, presents a brief history of research in social work education, and explores the challenges confronting the new policy.
Space structure control using moving bank multiple model adaptive estimation

The authors investigate the feasibility of applying moving bank multiple model adaptive estimation algorithms to flexible space structure control. This form of estimation/control is an attempt to reduce the computational loading associated with the implementation of a full-scale multiple-model adaptive estimator/controller. It is shown that the moving bank controller performs nearly identically to a benchmark controller and substantially better than a fixed-bank controller with a coarse discretization level that covers the entire range of parameter variation. >
Modular Verification of Multipliers

We present a new method for the efficient verification of multipliers and other arithmetic circuits. It is based on modular arithmetic like Kimura's approach, and on composition, like Hamaguchi's approach. It differs from both in several important respects, which make it more robust. The technique builds the residue Algebraic Decision Diagram (ADD) of as many variables as the number of outputs in the multiplier and composes the implementation circuit from the outputs to the inputs into the residue. Finally, the residue ADD is checked against the specification.
Neural networks for autonomous robot navigation

Research at West Virginia University directed at developing autonomous mobile robot navigation systems for use in underground mines is discussed. One of the focal points has been the exploration of applications for neural network technology in the navigation context. An overview of the various experiments as they relate to each other is given along with some of the conclusions drawn about neural network applications resulting from this work. The networks have excelled in applications involving pattern recognition such as the neural area recognition system, the landmark recognition system, and the noise distribution function estimator, in these applications the difficulties encountered in configuring the networks by trial and error and the slow network training process were outweighed by the performance the networks eventually provided in difficult signal processing tasks. In other applications such as the early steering control system and the neural position estimator the performance of the networks has proven inferior to what is believed could have been achieved more easily by conventional means. >
Realtime Camera Calibration for Enhanced Reality Visualization

The problem which must be solved to make realtime enhanced reality visualization possible is basically the camera calibration problem. The relationship between the coordinate frames of the patient, the patient’s internal anatomy scans and the image plane of the camera observing the patient must be established. This paper presents a new approach to finding this relationship and develops a system for performing enhanced reality visualization. Given the locations of a few fiducials our method is fully automatic, runs in nearly real-time, is accurate to a fraction of a pixel, allows both patient and camera motion, automatically corrects for changes to the internal camera parameters (focal length, focus, aperture, etc.) and requires only a single video image.
Transitional kindergarten: an opportunity to explore the intersection between early childhood and kindergarten practice

Early childhood educators are concerned about a ‘shovedown’ of elementary school expectations, standards, and curriculum on to young children due to policy-makers’ moves towards utilising preschool programmes to address disparities in academic achievement. This study employs interviews and classroom observations to contrast the perspectives of two transitional kindergarten (TK) teachers – one a former preschool teacher and one a former kindergarten teacher – to understand how they adapted practices from both early childhood and elementary education to support their students’ development in TK. Key intersections include (1) developing both self-regulation and academic skills, (2) exposing students to kindergarten standards rather than teaching to mastery and (3) differentiating expectations to match children's development and interests. The study suggests that TK, operating in the hybrid space between preschool and kindergarten, has the potential to ‘push up’ child-centred practices of early childhood educ...
A vector-based method for bank-material tracking in coupled models of meandering and landscape evolution

Sinuous channels commonly migrate laterally and interact with banks of different strengths—an interplay that links geomorphology and life and shapes diverse landscapes from the seafloor to planetary surfaces. To investigate feedbacks between meandering rivers and landscapes over geomorphic timescales, numerical models typically represent bank properties using grids; however, this approach produces results inherently dependent on grid resolution. Herein we assess existing techniques for tracking landscape and bank-strength evolution in numerical models of meandering channels and show that grid-based models implicitly include unintended thresholds for bank migration that can control simulated landscape evolution. Building on stratigraphic modeling techniques, we develop a vector-based method for land surface- and subsurface-material tracking that overcomes the resolution-dependence inherent in grid-based techniques by allowing high-fidelity representation of bank-material properties for curvilinear banks and low channel lateral migration rates. We illustrate four specific applications of the new technique: (1) the effect of resistant mud-rich deposits in abandoned meander cutoff loops on meander belt evolution; (2) the stratigraphic architecture of aggrading, alluvial meandering channels that interact with cohesive-bank and floodplain material; (3) the evolution of an incising, meandering river with mixed bedrock and alluvial banks within a confined bedrock valley; and (4) the effect of a bank-height dependent lateral-erosion rate for a meandering river in an aggrading floodplain. In all cases the vector-based approach overcomes numerical artifacts with the grid-based model. Because of its geometric flexibility, the vector-based material tracking approach provides new opportunities for exploring the coevolution of meandering rivers and surrounding landscapes over geologic timescales.
MBBC: an efficient approach for metagenomic binning based on clustering

Binning environmental shotgun reads is one of the most fundamental tasks in metagenomic studies, in which mixed reads from different species or operational taxonomical units (OTUs) are separated into different groups. While dozens of binning methods are available, there is still room for improvement. We developed a novel taxonomy-independent approach called MBBC (Metagenomic Binning Based on Clustering) to cluster environmental shotgun reads, by considering k-mer frequency in reads and Markov properties of the inferred OTUs. Tested on twelve simulated datasets, MBBC reliably estimated the species number, the genome size, and the relative abundance of each species, independent of whether there are errors in reads. Tested on multiple experimental datasets, MBBC outperformed two state-of-the-art taxonomy-independent methods, in terms of the accuracy of the estimated species number, genome sizes, and percentages of correctly assigned reads, among other metrics. We have developed a novel method for binning metagenomic reads based on clustering. This method is demonstrated to reliably predict species numbers, genome sizes, relative species abundances, and k-mer coverage in simple datasets. Our method also has a high accuracy in read binning. The MBBC software is freely available at http://eecs.ucf.edu/~xiaoman/MBBC/MBBC.html .
Lula's Development Council: Neo-Corporatism and Policy Reform in Brazil

Brazil's recently created Council for Economic and Social Development was designed to enhance democratic governance and socioeconomic development via consultation and dialogue with civil society actors. In its first years of operation, it served to articulate the interests and preferences of political and economic elites, institutionalizing dialogue and in the process enhancing support for policy reform, improving governance, and driving forward democratization. Its substantive achievements were limited, however, by its bias in favor of business and the more developed South, its dependence on the executive, the government's minority status in Congress, and the lack of interest of political elites. As a result, the future of this neo-corporatist institution remains unclear.
An Investigation of Clinical Unit Choices by Graduating Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Although there is a general shortage of nurses throughout U.S. hospitals, there are certain areas, such as general medical and surgical units, where this shortage is most acute. The purposes of this study were to investigate clinical unit choices of graduating baccalaureate nursing students and to identify factors that influence these decisions. Seven semistructured focus groups were conducted, consisting of 55 senior baccalaureate students from two colleges. Most participants were 21–22 years old. There were 50 women and 5 men. Approximately half the sample had nursing experience prior to college, and two thirds completed a nurse extern program. Following graduation, approximately one third of participants planned to work in pediatrics and half of those in pediatric critical care. Of the remaining two thirds who picked an adult population, half chose critical care. Specific units were chosen based on the atmosphere, staff, nurse manager, and externship experience on that unit. Critical care was chosen over general medical or surgical units because of the nurse–patient ratio, independence, “making a big difference,” acuity, and pace. Floor nursing was perceived as boring but too busy and stressful and, for many, only a stepping stone to other units. The contradictory perceptions about medical and surgical units appear to influence the choice between critical care and these units.
Surface deformation and crack initiation during fatigue of vacuum melted iron: Environmental effects

Samples of vacuum melted commercially pure iron were fatigued in the reverse bending mode in different environments including ultrahigh vacuum, oxygen, water vapor, and their combinations. Reverse bending alternating stress in ultrahigh vacuum produced a rumpled surface (without any prominent slip lines) with cracks initiated along grain boundaries. In the presence of oxygen, such fatigue generated well-developed slip lines. Fatigue cracks were observed more along slip lines than grain boundaries. When the same sample was fatigued in both ultrahigh vacuum and oxygen in succession, the resulting surface structure was dependent on the order in which two environments were employed. In water vapor, there was a reduction in surface deformation at low pressures (~ 1 x 10-4 torr (1.33 x 10-2 Pa)) and coarse, prominent slip lines at high pressures (0.17 to 0.7 torr (9.31 to 93.1 Pa)). It also caused grain sliding and void formation. In an environment of water vapor and oxygen, fatigue caused grain boundary cracking and reduced plastic deformation inside grains surrounded by those cracks. Possible reasons for these observations are discussed. Suggestions are also made for utilizing some of these findings to improve the fatigue performance of metals.
Outcomes after bidirectional Glenn operation: Blalock-Taussig shunt versus right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery conduit.

Background There are distinct physiologic differences between patients with single-ventricle lesions who have undergone the Norwood procedure with a right ventricle–to–pulmonary artery conduit (NW-RVPA) compared with those patients who have undergone the Norwood operation with a Blalock-Taussig shunt (NW-BTS). We evaluated bidirectional Glenn operation outcomes and compared the two groups to assess whether the type of Norwood operation influenced outcomes. Methods A retrospective chart review compared bidirectional Glenn operation outcomes for children undergoing the Norwood operation with NW-RVPA or NW-BTS at Children's Hospital Boston from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2003. Results Of 80 patients undergoing the Norwood operation, 56 (NW-BTS, 27 versus NW-RVPA, 29) returned for the bidirectional Glenn operation at our institution. The NW-RVPA group had a lower median age at presentation for bidirectional Glenn (4.5 months versus 5.8 months; p = 0.01), but had better weight gain (20.6 g/day versus 16.5 g/day; p = 0.03) than the NW-BTS group. No interstage deaths occurred in the NW-RVPA group. There were no differences in morbidity or mortality after the BDG between the two groups. Conclusions There were no differences in morbidity and mortality outcomes after the bidirectional Glenn operation between the NW-RVPA and NW-BTS groups. Despite younger age at presentation, the NW-RVPA patients had better growth rate, which may have contributed to the similar postoperative outcomes.
AB initio calculation of the structure and intermolecular vibrational frequencies of the H3CCN⋯HF complex

Abstract An ab initio calculation of the structure and intermolecular frequencies of the hydrogen-bonded complex H 3 CCN⋯HF is reported and compared with recent experimental results.
Detail and Survey Radioautographs

The much used survey or contact type of radioautograph is indispensible for a study of the gross distribution of radioactive materials. A detail radioautograph is equally indispensible. The radioautograph makes possible the determination of plutonium with respect to cells. Outlines of survey and detail techniques are given.
Coordinated Care Management For Dementia In A Large Academic Health System

Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are chronic, incurable diseases that require coordinated care that addresses the medical, behavioral, and social aspects of the disease. With funding from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, we launched a dementia care program in which a nurse practitioner acting as a dementia care manager worked with primary care physicians to develop and implement a dementia care plan that offers training and support to caregivers, manages care transitions, and facilitates access to community-based services. Postvisit surveys showed high levels of caregiver satisfaction. As program enrollment grows, outcomes will be tracked based on the Triple Aim developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: better care, better health, and lower cost and utilization. The program, if successful at achieving the Triple Aim, may serve as a national model for how dementia and other chronic diseases can be managed in partnership with primary care practices. It may also inform policy and reimbursement decisions for the recently released transitional care management codes and the complex chronic care management codes to be released by Medicare in 2015.
Carbon-oxygen bond strength as a control of reaction kinetics: Phenol on Mo(110)

Abstract The reaction of phenol on Mo(110) has been studied using temperature programmed reaction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. After desorption of multilayers and a weakly bound molecular species, decomposition produces the only reaction products observed: gaseous dihydrogen, surface carbon and surface oxygen. The O-H bond cleaves first at temperatures below 360 K to form surface phenoxide (C 6 H 5 O-), followed by C-H bond activation commencing at 370 K. C-O bonds are cleaved in the temperature range of 370 to 450 K. After annealing to 300 K, multiple species are detected on the surface by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The cleavage of C-H bonds in the same temperature regime as C-O bonds is thought to lead to selective decomposition of phenol on Mo(110). The reaction of phenol is contrasted to that of a sulfur-containing analogue, benzenethiol, on the Mo(110) surface. The stability of the phenoxide intermediate with respect to carbon-heteroatom bond cleavage is greater than that of the corresponding phenyl thiolate formed from benzenethiol. Comparison of the reaction of phenol and benzenethiol demonstrates the importance of C - X ( X = O , S ) bond strength in determining the reactivity and selectivity of these molecules.
Measurement of Instructional Effectiveness.

The problem of measuring instructional effectiveness was examined, and a rationale was offered for employing “student progress on relevant objectives” for this purpose. To assess such progress, it was suggested that instructor ratings of the importance of objectives be combined with student ratings of progress on these objectives.
INHIBITION OF OSTEOBLASTIC CELL PROLIFERATION AND ORNITHINE DECARBOXYLASE ACTIVITY BY ETHANOL

Low bone mass and an increased prevalence of skeletal fractures are evident in the alcoholic population. Histomorphometric analysis of skeletal tissue from alcoholic patients reveals reduced osteoblast number and suppressed bone formation activity, with relative sparing of resorptive indexes. The decreased number of osteoblasts observed in alcoholic subjects results from either impaired proliferation or accelerated senescence. Polyamines and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), the rate-limiting enzyme for polyamine synthesis, are essential for cell proliferation in a variety of cell types. To determine whether the consequences of ethanol on osteoblast number involve the modulation of polyamine biosynthesis, we examined the effect of ethanol on parameters of cell growth and ODC activity in a rat osteoblast-like osteosarcoma cell line (UMR 106-01). Ethanol markedly impaired DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in a dose-dependent fashion. Difluoromethylornithine, a specific inhibitor of ODC activity, induced a s...
Situs inversus of the abdominal viscera with levocardia; report of eight cases submitted to the Blalock-Taussig operation.

A search of the literature has revealed the reports of only 14 cases of situs inversus of the abdominal viscera with levocardia. Eight additional cases are presented in this paper. Angiocardiography and/or heart catheterization was carried out on 6 of these and a Blalock-Taussig operation was performed subsequently on each patient. The autopsy findings in 2 instances, together with the results of special investigations in surviving patients, indicate that the malformations are of a bizarre nature. Anomalies of the venous return to the heart are particularly common and variable degrees of transposition of the great vessels are postulated.
On the Conjugate Gradient Matched Filter

The conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm is an efficient method for the calculation of the weight vector of the matched filter (MF). As an iterative algorithm, it produces a series of approximations to the MF weight vector, each of which can be used to filter the test signal and form a test statistic. This effectively leads to a family of detectors, referred to as the CG-MF detectors, which are indexed by the number of iterations incurred. We first consider a general case involving an arbitrary covariance matrix of the disturbance (including interference, noise, etc.) and show that all CG-MF detectors attain constant false alarm rate (CFAR) and, furthermore, are optimum in the sense that the th CG-MF detector yields the highest output signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) among all linear detectors within the th Krylov subspace. We then consider a structured case frequently encountered in practice, where the covariance matrix of the disturbance contains a low-rank component (rank- ) due to dominant interference sources, a scaled identity due to the presence of a white noise, and a perturbation component containing the residual interference. We show that the st CG-MF detector achieves CFAR and an output SINR nearly identical to that of the MF detector which requires complete iterations of the CG algorithm till reaching convergence. Hence, the st CG-MF detector can be used in place of the MF detector for significant computational saving when is small. Numerical results are presented to verify the accuracy of our analysis for the CG-MF detectors.
NONLINEAR DISUTILITY OF TRAVEL DELAY: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAFFIC DIVERSION BENEFIT AND STRATEGY

Most travelers tend to be tolerant of or oblivious to short travel delay whether it is expected (a result of recurring congestion) or unexpected (a result of nonrecurring congestion). In contrast, long travel delay is disproportionately burdensome, especially if it is unexpected. Thus, the disutility of travel delay, as subjectively assessed by the typical traveler, is nonlinear. The social benefit of traffic diversion for congestion reduction has traditionally been determined from calculations based on a linear disutility of delay. If, instead, a nonlinear disutility curve is used, the benefit might be substantially higher. In addition, graphical analyses taking nonlinear disutility into account suggest new traffic management strategies for diversion from incidents. A need for research to better determine the distribution of individual travel delay is indicated.
Comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder with alcohol dependence among US adults: results from National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

a b s t r a c t Background: Despite the high rates of comorbidity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependence (AD) in clinical and epidemiological samples, little is known about the prevalence, clinical presentation, course, risk factors and patterns of treatment-seeking of co-occurring PTSD-AD among the general population. Methods: The sample included respondents of the Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Weighted means, frequencies and odds ratios (ORs) of sociodemo- graphic correlates, prevalence of psychiatric disorders and rates of treatment-seeking were computed. Results: In the general population, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD only, AD only and PTSD-AD was 4.83%, 13.66% and 1.59%, respectively. Individuals with comorbid PTSD-AD were more likely than those with PTSD or AD only to have suffered childhood adversities and had higher rates of Axis I and II disorders and suicide attempts. They also met more PTSD diagnostic criteria, had earlier onset of PTSD and were more likely to use drugs and alcohol to relieve their PTSD symptoms than those with PTSD only; they also met more AD diagnostic criteria than those with AD only and had greater disability. Individuals with PTSD-AD had higher rates of treatment seeking for AD than those with AD only, but similar rates than those with PTSD only. Conclusion: PTSD-AD is associated with high levels of severity across a broad range of domains even compared with individuals with PTSD or AD only, yet treatment-seeking rates are very low. There is a need to improve treatment access and outcomes for individuals with PTSD-AD.
Ethics Education in Science and Engineering: The Case of Animal Research

The past one hundred fifty years of debate over the use of animals in research and testing has been characterized mainly byad hominem attacks and on uncritical rejection of the other sides’ arguments. In the classroom, it is important to avoid repeating exercises in public relations and to demand sound scholarship.
Infant feeding and morbidity among poor migrant squatters in hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

Abstract A longitudinal study of 105 poor, migrant women, their households and infants of ≤8 months of age in Sonora, Mexico was undertaken. The research was performed to elucidate, among other things, the relationship between infant feeding and morbidity. The families all resided in 12 squatter settlements of Hermosillo. Mean age of infants as of the first interview was 4.6 months. Mean age at sevrage was 7.26 months and all but 10 women reported to have initiated breast feeding. Upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections were most common and appeared to be seasonal. Some protection from infection was provided by increased frequency of breast feeding (alpha