cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TU-A-12A-03: Monitoring Changes in Tumor Texture Features On Weekly CT and CBCT Scans of NSCLC Patients

Purpose: To (1) track changes in CT texture features through time and (2) identify correlations between CT and CBCT texture feature values for NSCLC patients. Methods: Texture features were extracted from weekly CT and CBCT images of 30 NSCLC patients. The physician-drawn GTV contours on the planning CT, during end of expiration phase (T50), were deformed to weekly CT images. The deformed contours were copied to rigidly registered average-CT and CBCT images. These contours were imported to our in-house texture feature analysis program, which performs a Laplacian of Gaussian spatial band-pass filter at different scales followed by a calculation of the tumor uniformity. Three filter sizes were used (coarse, medium, and fine). (1) The normalized change in uniformity as a function of time was evaluated from the T50 images. (2) The uniformity values from the average-CT and CBCT images were used to assess correlation. Results: (1) Texture features measured in T50 scans were shown to change over time for individual patients. As filter size increased, the range of measured normalized changes decreased from 103.6% (SD=22.8) to 25.2% (SD=7.9). (2) Texture features extracted from CT were shown to correlate with values in CBCT with R2 values of 0.79(coarse), 0.84(medium), and 0.84(fine). Correlation values increased for more coarse filters and lower lung tissue thresholds. The correlation was also dependent on removal of patients with metal artifacts, severe truncation of anatomy in CBCT images, or those with tumors smaller than 4.3cc. Seven patients were removed. Conclusions: We showed texture features vary for patients during their course of treatment and these changes can be monitored with CBCT images. Various studies have indicated CT texture features may correlate with patient prognosis. Therefore, our results could be used to observe changes in a patients prognosis and potentially adapt their treatment without any additional imaging studies.
Facial expression wonderland (FEW): a novel design prototype of information and computer technology (ICT) for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). Significant deficits in the children with ASD include lack of social communication skills and cognitive dysfunction. There is currently no cure for autism; however, with appropriate aid, autistic children could learn progressively and maintain a good quality of life with their disorder. Therefore, the market demands Information and Computer Technology (ICT) applications to facilitate children dealing with ASD in their lifetime. Although many ICT designs have been developed and used already in early intervention and treatment, they are not common in long-term training for the children with ASD. The proposed work here presents a novel design prototype, Facial Expression Wonderland (FEW), to train the children with ASD based on the progressive levels of training under a given background context. This prototype is designed to improve the ability of the ASD children in facial expression recognition. This work also discusses how ICT can facilitate the life further for these youngsters with ASD.
Fas-associating death domain protein overexpression induces apoptosis in lung cancer cells☆

Abstract Objectives Non–small cell lung cancers commonly develop resistance to radiation and chemotherapy, and they often present at stages beyond surgical resectability. Because current treatment modalities are inadequate, novel therapies are necessary to reduce the effects of the increasing incidence in pulmonary neoplasms. Fas-associating death domain protein is a central mediator of death receptor–initiated apoptosis that directly activates the caspase-8 protease. We hypothesized that overexpression of Fas-associating death domain protein would effectively eradicate lung cancer cells by induction of apoptosis. Methods Cultured A549 alveolar carcinoma and NCI-H226 squamous carcinoma cells were exposed to increasing multiplicities of infection of a replication-deficient, adenoviral vector that expresses the wild-type murine Fas-associating death domain protein gene or control virus for 4 hours. Twenty-four hours later, cells were assessed for viability by crystal violet staining and caspase activation by microscopic analysis. Protein lysates were examined by Western blotting for expression of Fas-associating death domain protein and activated caspase-8. Results Adenoviral infection with the wild-type murine Fas-associating death domain protein gene in A549 cells resulted in a dose-dependent expression of Fas-associating death domain protein and the appearance of cleaved, activated caspase-8. Increasing multiplicities of infection of the wild-type murine Fas-associating death domain protein gene, but not control adenovirus, was associated with increased cell death in A549 and NCI-H226 cells. The wild-type murine Fas-associating death domain protein gene infection of A549 cells at multiplicities of infection of 50 induced at least 10-fold increase in Fas-associating death domain protein levels and decreased viability by > 50% (n = 3; P Conclusion Overexpression of Fas-associating death domain protein induced dose-dependent cell death in A549 and NCI-H226 lung epithelial cancer cells. Expression of Fas-associating death domain protein results in activation of caspases, a hallmark of apoptosis. Delivery of the wild-type murine Fas-associating death domain protein gene to drug- and radiation-resistant lung cancer may be a novel method for therapy of non-small cell lung cancer.
Cytochemical studies of human bone marrow fibroblast-like cells. I. Alkaline phosphatase.

Abstract Alkaline phosphatase activity of marrow fleck components and fibroblast-like cells (FLC) developing in marrow cultures has been compared. The enzyme is demonstrable in the vascular network of marrow stroma, maturing myeloid cells, and FLC developing in culture. The vascular network of marrow flecks visualized by this method is described. It is concluded that the FLC originate from marrow stroma and not from any hemic cells, in this culture system. The most likely parent cell of the FLC is the endothelial cell.
Lithofacies, stable isotopic composition, and stratigraphic evolution of microbial and associated carbonates, Green River Formation (Eocene), Piceance Basin, Colorado

Lacustrine carbonates of the Eocene Green River Formation crop out on the western margin of the Piceance Basin and the eastern margin of the Uinta Basin, in western Colorado. This area allows tracing of vertical and horizontal facies variation over hundreds of meters. Limestone beds consist of littoral to sublittoral lithofacies: bioclastic and oolitic grainstones, oolitic wackestone, intraclastic rudstone, stromatolites, and thrombolites. Facies form upward-deepening cycles that start with sharp-based grainstones and packstones followed by stromatolites or thrombolites and capped by fine-grained stromatolites and/or oil shale deposits. The vertical succession of carbonate deposits correlates with evolutionary lake stages. The succession starts with grainstone deposits rich in ostracods and gastropods that correspond to an initial freshwater lake. Thrombolites capped by laminated stromatolites or coarse-agglutinated stromatolites correlate with a higher-salinity transitional lake. Deepening-upward cycles, as much as 5 m (16 ft) thick, of thrombolites, agglutinated stromatolites, and fine-grained stromatolites occur in the highly fluctuating lake. The upper section is dominated by laminated stromatolites that correspond to a rising lake. Stable isotope 18O and 13C values covary and range from 8 to +0.8 and 3 to +5, respectively. The 18O values indicate carbonate-precipitating water evolved from fresh to saline and became less saline in the upper Green River. Negative excursions of 13C values correspond to lake level rises, and positive excursions of 13C values occur during lake level falls. Syndepositional to burial diagenesis modified carbonate porosity. Early dissolution is followed by burial compaction and fracturing. Compaction and late calcite cements occluded primary and secondary porosity.
Posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth among low-income mothers who survived Hurricane Katrina.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between posttraumatic stress (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) after Hurricane Katrina, and the role of demographics, predisaster psychological distress, hurricane-related stressors, and psychological resources (optimism and purpose) in predicting each. Method: Participants were 334 low-income mothers (82.0% non-Hispanic Black) living in the New Orleans area prior to Hurricane Katrina, who completed surveys in the year prior to the hurricane (T1 [Time 1]) and 1 and 3 years thereafter (T2 and T3). Results: Higher T2 and T3 PTS full-scale and symptom cluster subscales (Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal) were significantly associated with higher T3 PTG, and participants who surpassed the clinical cutoff for probable posttraumatic stress disorder at both T2 and T3 had significantly higher PTG than those who never surpassed the clinical cutoff. Older and non-Hispanic Black participants, as well as those who experienced a greater number of hurricane-related stressors and bereavement, reported significantly greater T3 PTS and PTG. Participants with lower T2 optimism reported significantly greater T3 intrusive symptoms, whereas those with higher T1 and T2 purpose reported significantly greater T3 PTG. Conclusions: Based on the results, we suggest practices and policies with which to identify disaster survivors at greater risk for PTS, as well as longitudinal investigations of reciprocal and mediational relationships between psychological resources, PTS, and PTG.
New Technique to Measure the Toughness of Thin‐Film Interfaces

A new technique to measure the toughness of metal—ceramic interfaces is presented. In this technique, a test coating of 100 to 200 A is deposited on the substrate of interest. This layer is then overlaid by a residually stressed Nb coating (used as a loading device), and its thickness is controlled until the lower test layer buckles away from the substrate. By determining the intrinsic residual strain within the Nb layer in independent delamination experiments, the bilayer buckling morphology is quantified, and a measure of the interface fracture toughness is obtained. This technique has been successfully applied to interfaces between metallic coatings of Sb, Cr, Cu, Nb, Al, and substrates of sapphire with (0001) orientation. Interface toughness values of 0.31, 0.94, 0.93, 0.88, and 1.0 J/m2 were obtained for these systems, respectively.
African American Fathers: A Decade Review of the Literature:

Research on African American fathers has changed dramatically during the past decade. The author seeks to understand the parental experience of African American fathers as they are portrayed in the literature. A computer search was conducted to identify articles on African American fathers published between 1986 and 1996. The author discusses theories used in research on African American fathers as well as limitations and gaps in the literature. Although significant changes have been made in the literature on African American fathers, more comprehensive research on the parenting experiences of these men is needed. Implications for research, policy, and practice are provided.
A KCNE2 mutation in a patient with cardiac arrhythmia induced by auditory stimuli and serum electrolyte imbalance.

Aims Auditory stimulus-induced long QT syndrome (LQTS) is almost exclusively linked to mutations in the hERG potassium channel, which generates the I Kr ventricular repolarization current. Here, a young woman with prior episodes of auditory stimulus-induced syncope presented with LQTS and ventricular fibrillation (VF) with hypomagnesaemia and hypocalcaemia after completing a marathon, followed by subsequent VF with hypokalaemia. The patient was found to harbour a KCNE2 gene mutation encoding a T10M amino acid substitution in MiRP1, an ancillary subunit that co-assembles with and functionally modulates hERG. Other family members with the mutation were asymptomatic, and the proband had no mutations in hERG or other LQTS-linked cardiac ion channel genes. The T10M mutation was absent from 578 unrelated, ethnically matched control chromosomes analysed here and was previously described only once—in an LQTS patient—but not functionally characterized. Methods and results T10M-MiRP1-hERG currents were assessed using whole-cell voltage clamp of transfected Chinese Hamster ovary cells. T10M-MiRP1-hERG channels showed ≤80% reduced tail current, left-shifted steady-state inactivation, and 50% slower recovery from inactivation when compared with wild-type channels, with mixed wild-type/T10M channels displaying an intermediate phenotype. Lowering bath K+ concentration reduced wild-type and T10M currents equivalently. Conclusion Data suggest a mechanism for reduced penetrance, inherited arrhythmia in which baseline I Kr current reduction by the T10M mutation is exacerbated by superimposition of arrhythmogenic substrates such as auditory stimuli, or electrolyte disturbances that reduce I Kr (hypokalaemia) or otherwise lower the ventricular threshold for fibrillation (hypomagnesaemia and hypocalcaemia). This first example of a MiRP1 mutation associated with auditory stimulus-induced arrhythmia is supportive of the hypothesis that MiRP1 regulates hERG in the human heart.
Separation of steroid isomers using a liquid crystalline polysiloxane stationary phase in capillary supercritical fluid chromatography

A liquid crystalline biphenylcarboxylate ester polysiloxane stationary phase was used to study the effect of solute structure on retention for the separation of isomeric steroids in capillary supercritical fluid chromatography. It was determined that theretention mechanism is related to solute molecular shape rather than to properties such as volatility or polarity. The elution order of isomeric androstanes and estrogens could be correlated with the planarity of molecules: more-planar molecules were retained longer on the column. The resolution of steroid isomers was improved significantly using the liquid crystalline stationary phase when compared with results obtained using other stationary phases.
Monocytes/macrophages in diagnosis and immunopathogenesis.

This article summarizes studies of human monocytes/macrophages carried out in my laboratory over a period of more than three decades. Modern studies of mammalian phagocytes began with Metchnikoff in the late 19th century. The early history of this field is summarized in Table ​Table1.1. In vivo and in vitro studies in animal systems led to the concept of the mononuclear-phagocyte system as a cell system involved in host defenses, phagocytosis, and antigen presentation and processing (11). Following Metchnikoff’s development of phagocyte theory, Wright described opsonins as factors in serum that facilitated phagocytosis. Aschoff defined the reticuloendothelial system as a cellular system in which tissue macrophages and monocytes share important functional characteristics, namely, phagocytic ability and adhesiveness to glass. Subsequently, the histologic development of silver stains by Del Rio-Hortega defined a type of macrophage-related cell in the brain, the microglia. In the mid-1960s, the late Zanvil Cohn and his collaborators carried out seminal studies of mononuclear phagocytes leading to concepts of macrophage differentiation, activation, secretion, and the relationship of macrophages to antigen presentation and processing. My laboratory has had a long-standing commitment to the investigation of human monocytes/macrophages, their normal structure and function, their role in the immunopathogenesis of various disorders, and their functional abnormalities in diseases. TABLE 1 Early history of research on mononuclear phagocytes (This report was presented as the Abbott Award Lecture in Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology at the 97th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Miami, Fla., May 1997.)
Are we witnessing the emergence of a superspecialty

om Few areas in surgery have witnessed such a steep growth trajectory as advancements in plastic surgery. Conceptual and technical advances in our specialty through evolutionary and revolutionary mechanisms, now firmly entrenched in medical evidence, are some of the most illustrious and diversified in the history of medicine. It is no wonder that so many medical students very early in their clinical upbringing develop a passion for plastic surgery and choose to devote their careers to this uniquely diverse specialty. While many specialties are being divided into smaller entities, plastic surgery expands as both a surgical and a medical clinical specialty developing devices, cosmeceuticals, and noninvasive techniques. Years ago, during my general surgery residency, one of my mentors, a very senior general surgeon, defined plastic surgery as “general surgery done well.” For a long time I could not decide whether or not he intended this as a joke. Finally, I concluded that there was a serious message in his humor with respect to our specialty of plastic surgery. I take themetaphor of superfruits––superfruits are defined by their unusually high nutritional value, high antioxidant capacity, and high consumer appeal; by extrapolating this to a specialty with explosive growth of basic and clinical science
CMOS transceiver with baud rate clock recovery for optical interconnects

An efficient baud rate clock and data recovery architecture is applied to a double sampling/integrating front-end receiver for optical interconnects. Receiver performance is analyzed and projected for future technologies. This front-end allows use of a 1:5 demux architecture to achieve 5Gb/s in a 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS process. A 5:1 multiplexing transmitter is used to drive VCSELs for optical transmission. The transceiver chip consumes 145mW per link at 5Gb/s with a 2.5V supply.
The professional voice: Part III. Common diagnoses and treatments

Summary Common problems that are of little consequence to other patients may be disabling to professional singers. Laryngologists must recognize even subtle manifestation of these ailments and be familiar with techniques to treat them without creating undesirable side effects. It is not usually necessary to restrict the trained professional from performing, and absolute voice rest is rarely necessary. Laryngeal surgery should be avoided whenever possible.
The effect of action recognition and robot awareness in cooperative robotic teams

Previous research in cooperative robotics has investigated several possible ways of coordinating the actions of cooperative teams-from implicit cooperation through sensory feedback to explicit cooperation using the exchange of communicated messages. These various approaches differ in the extent to which robot team members are aware of, or recognize the actions of their teammates and the extent to which they use this information to effect their own actions. The research described in this paper investigates this issue of robot awareness of team member actions and its effect on cooperative team performance by examining the results of a series of experiments on teams of mobile robots performing a puck moving mission. In these experiments, the author varies the team size (and thus the level of redundancy in team member capabilities) and the level of awareness robots have of their teammates' current actions and evaluate the team's performance using two metrics: time and energy. The results indicate that the impact of action awareness on cooperative team performance is a function not only of team size and the metric of evaluation, but also on the degree to which the effects of actions can be sensed through the world, the relative amount of work that is available per robot, and the cost of replicated actions. Based on these empirical studies, the author discusses the impact of action recognition and robot awareness on cooperative team design.
Test-Bed for Sensor Network Management Protocols

An implementation of a sensor network test-bed is presented in this paper. This test-bed will be used for performance benchmarking of existing and novel sensor networks management protocols. The sensor networks are unique as much as they are common. From one point of view, we see that sensor networks share many attributes with other networks having the same architecture or communication type. Thus a study of sensor networks can not but overlap with other areas of research. From another point of view, there are certain characteristics of sensor networks that differentiate them from others such as the high density of sensor nodes that can surpass the 20 nodes/m3 in some of the cases and lead to the need for appropriate management protocols for cooperation of these nodes. This paper deals with building a test-bed that consists of a PC which manages the network through sensor management graphical user interface (GUI) and communicates with the sensor nodes through a base station, which is implemented by combining a FPGA-based Nios II Development kit, Cyclone Edition serially connected to a MIB510 equipped with a MICA2 node with ID0
Efficiency analysis of switched capacitor doubler

Switched capacitors doubler and triplers are used to step-up dc voltage. They are readily integrable which makes them a good choice for numerous applications. Their power conversion efficiency is limited due to switch drops, parasitic capacitances and resistances. However their efficiency is also inherently limited by the circuit topology. This paper provides an upper bound for the power conversion efficiency of a doubler assuming ideal components. This analysis also provides design guidelines, in terms of capacitor size and switching frequency, for meeting efficiency and ripple goals. An alternate circuit topology is examined that does not have this efficiency bound.
CFAR detection and estimation for STAP radar

The algorithm presented here provides both a constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detection and a maximum likelihood (ML) Doppler-bearing estimator of a target in a background of unknown Gaussian noise. A target is detected, and its parameters estimated within each range gate by evaluating a statistical test for each Doppler-angle cell and by selecting the cell with maximum output and finally comparing it with a threshold. Its CFAR performance is analyzed by the use of the sample matrix inversion (SMI) method and is evaluated in the cases of a fully adaptive space-time adaptive processing (STAP) and two partially adaptive STAPs. The performances of these criteria show that the probability of detection is a function only of the sample size K used to estimate the covariance matrix and a generalized signal-to-noise ratio. The choice of the number K is a tradeoff between performance and computational complexity. The performance curves demonstrate that the finer the resolution is, the poorer the detection capability. That means that one can trade off the accuracy of ML estimation with the performance of the CFAR detection criterion.
Periodontitis and glycemic control in diabetes: NHANES 2009 to 2012

Background: This study examines the association between periodontitis, diabetes (DM), and glycemic control.Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data for 2009 to 2012 were analyzed. Periodontitis status of each participant was assessed using the full-mouth periodontal examination protocol, classified using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Periodontology surveillance case definition for total periodontitis. Self-reported DM status was defined as yes or no. Glycemic control was assessed using glycohemoglobin data at cutoff points of 7.0%, 7.5%, 8.0%, 8.5%, and 9.0%. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were performed, and all analyses were adjusted for the survey design.Results: Overall, 7,042 adults ≥30 years old with complete data were included in the study. The mean glycohemoglobin levels for individuals with and without periodontitis were 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively, and increased to 7.4% and 7.0% for participants with DM. ...
Competition in learning language-based categories

Competition is a property of cognitive processing which results from learning that is characterized by the indeterminate encoding of instances and from processing that is characterized by the mutual influence of all activated representations on one another. In the present study, non-French participants learned gender-appropriate adjectives (petit or petite) for a set of 24 French nouns. We found that learning the same set of feminine French nouns could be made more or less difficult when the nouns in the masculine category created more or less competition. One measure from the Competition Model of MacWhinney and Bates (Bates & MacWhinney, 1987, 1989; MacWhinney, 1985, 1987) – cue reliability – predicted these competition effects. We tested an alternative measure based on the encoding of the nouns in memory (termed exemplars) and found that it predicted participants' mean learning performance somewhat more accurately. In the final section of this article, we extend our exemplar-based measure to a connectionist network in order to account for competition and the time course of learning. The network provided a superior fit to the data, with an average R2 = .91.
Exile Meets Homeland: Politics, Performance, and Authenticity in the Tibetan Diaspora

Tibetans are often imagined as authentic, pure, and geographically undifferentiated, but Tibetan identity formation is, in fact, varied and deeply inflected by national location and transnational trajectories. In this paper I examine the frictions of encounter between three groups of Tibetans who arrived in the USA around the same time, but who differ in their relationships to the homeland. The numerically dominant group consists of refugees who left Tibet in 1959 and of exiles born in South Asia; second are Tibetans who left Tibet after the 1980s for India and Nepal; and third are those whose routes have taken them from Tibet directly to the United States. Whereas the cultural authority claimed by long-term exiles derives from the notion of preserving tradition outside of Tibet, that of Tibetans from Tibet is based on their embodied knowledge of the actual place of the homeland. Their struggles over authenticity, which play out in everyday practices such as language use and embodied reactions to staged p...
How to Write an Effective Memo

Make yourself valuable to your supervisor by following three suggestions for writing legal memos: answer questions directly, be succinct, and be thorough.
A Semi-supervised Learning Framework to Cluster Mixed Data Types

We propose a semi-supervised framework to handle diverse data formats or data with mixedtype attributes. Our preliminary results in clustering data with mixed numerical and categorical attributes show that the proposed semi-supervised framework gives better clustering results in the categorical domain. Thus the seeds obtained from clustering the numerical domain give an additional knowledge to the categorical clustering algorithm. Additional results show that our approach has the potential to outperform clustering either domain on its own or clustering both domains after converting them to the same target domain.
A depth-five lower bound for iterated matrix multiplication

We prove that certain instances of the iterated matrix multiplication (IMM) family of polynomials with N variables and degree n require [EQUATION] gates when expressed as a homogeneous depth-five ΣΠΣΠΣ arithmetic circuit with the bottom fan-in bounded by N1/2-e. By a depth-reduction result of Tavenas, this size lower bound is optimal and can be achieved by the weaker class of homogeneous depth-four ΣΠΣΠ circuits.Our result extends a recent result of Kumar and Saraf, who gave the same [EQUATION] lower bound for homogeneous depth-four ΣΠΣΠ circuits computing IMM. It is analogous to a recent result of Kayal and Saha, who gave the same lower bound for homogeneous ΣΠΣΠΣ circuits (over characteristic zero) with bottom fan-in at most N1-e, for the harder problem of computing certain polynomials defined by Nisan--Wigderson designs.
A High-Throughput Method To Detect Palladium in Ores

Platinum-group metals are in increasing demand for industrial use. Herein, we present a fluorometric method for palladium detection that can be used to prioritize ore samples on site. The analyses of solid ore samples were sufficiently correlated with that of aqua regia extracts of the same ore samples. Twenty samples could be analyzed in parallel and more samples can be if so desired due to the high throughput nature of the assay method. Although the correlational study was performed after 90 min incubation, 30 min incubation was sufficient to obtain strong fluorescence signals (i.e., 1.5 min per sample). Given the visible nature of the green fluorescence and the procedural simplicity, palladium and coexisting platinum ores are identifiable in the field with the naked eye.
Polyethylene glycol-conjugated superoxide dismutase in focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion

Generation of free radicals during reperfusion after organ ischemia has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ischemic injury. We have previously shown that a combination of intravenous polyethylene glycol-conjugated superoxide dismutase (PEG-SOD) and catalase (PEG-CAT), at a dose of 10,000 U/kg each, is effective in reducing infarct size in a focal cerebral ischemia model in the rat. It is not clear whether PEG-SOD alone is sufficient to reduce ischemic brain injury. In this study we determined the therapeutic efficacy of PEG-SOD and its dose-response curve. In a range of 1,000-30,000 U/kg, PEG-SOD exhibited a U-shaped dose-response curve. Only 10,000 U/kg significantly reduced infarct size [control 121 +/- 12 mm3 (mean +/- SE), n = 35; PEG-SOD 95 +/- 10 mm3, n = 36, P < 0.05]. PEG-SOD at the doses tested did not have significant acute hemodynamic effects but had a tendency to improve postischemic hypotension. This beneficial effect of PEG-SOD on blood pressure did not appear to fully account for the treatment effect of PEG-SOD on infarct size. The narrow therapeutic dose range of PEG-SOD in this study and similar findings of SOD in other investigations may contribute to the inconsistent protective effects of SOD preparations in ischemia-reperfusion injury in the literature.
Characterizing and classifying water-based lubricants using direct analysis in real time®time of flight mass spectrometry

Abstract Lubricant analysis is a relatively recent addition to the examination protocol in sexual assault cases by the forensic science community. Currently, lubricants cannot be unequivocally identified, although their presence can be determined based on the detection of a few chemical components, i.e. polydimethylsiloxane, polyethylene glycol, glycerol or nonoxynol-9. Confirmation of their presence typically requires that an authentic reference sample be submitted and compared to the unknown sample to determine if they potentially came from the same source. In this study, 33 individual personal water-based lubricants were characterized by direct analysis in real time⿿time of flight mass spectroscopy (DART⿿TOFMS). The resultant mass spectral data were evaluated using well-established multivariate statistical techniques, such as principal component and linear discriminant analysis. Statistical analysis revealed six different groupings within the data that could be correlated to sub-categories of water-based lubricants that contain additives in the form of anesthetics, sensation enhancers and flavorings. This variability in the personal lubricant sources can be utilized to aid in identifying the specific type of lubricant when only a questioned sample is available.
Prophylactic Antibiotics in Twin Pregnancies Complicated by Previable Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes.

Objective This study aims to determine if antibiotics given for latency to women with twins and previable preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) affect the duration from membrane rupture to delivery. Methods A retrospective cohort study of twin pregnancies at a single center from 2000 to 2015 with previable (14 0/7–22 6/7 weeks) PPROM was conducted. Women who were not candidates for expectant management or who elected for immediate delivery were excluded. Pregnancy complications, delivery data, and neonatal outcomes were compared between women who did and did not receive latency antibiotics. The primary outcome was latency. Results Of 52 eligible women, 30 (64%) elected expectant management; 17 women received antibiotics and 13 did not. No demographic differences existed between the groups. The median gestational age of rupture was 20 and 20.3 weeks in the antibiotic group and no antibiotic group, respectively. Median latency was 0.8 and 2.4 weeks in the antibiotic and no antibiotic groups correspondingly (p = 0.21). Overall, 58.8 and 23.1% of women who did and didn't receive antibiotics developed chorioamnionitis (p = 0.07). Perinatal mortality and maternal complication rates were high, though not different between the groups. Conclusion Currently, even though in singletons with previable PPROM there is a recommendation to consider administrating antibiotics, in the setting of twins, no evidence exists to support this.
Relation of phosphorus fertilization to petiole phosphorus concentrations and vegetative growth of young papaya plants

Young papaya plants grown on aa lava soil were treated with phosphorus at five rates during the vegetative to the flowering stage. Growth rates of the stem circumference and stem height differed between treatments. A curvilinear regression equation was used to relate P concentration of the petiole to growth rate of the stem determined from the square of its circumference. The concentration of P in the petiole associated with maximum vegetative growth was found to be well above the range associated with production of fruit of marketable size. Applied P increased the concentrations of phosphorus, water calcium and boron, and decreased those of sulphur, copper and magnesium in the petiole.
A Class Discussion Project for Investment Management and Business Strategy

This paper presents an instructor’s guide for a class discussion of a notable lecture on stock selection and business strategy by a successful investor and businessman.
Breakthrough Therapy Designation: CDER Analysis of Requests 4 Years Into the Program.

Background:A breakthrough therapy designation is intended to facilitate and expedite development and review of new drugs to address unmet medical need in the treatment of a serious condition.Method...
The Utility of Finance

Public Utilities Commissions (PUCs) are charged with regulating a public utility’s rates at levels that serve the public’s interest while allowing the utility’s investors to earn a rate commensurate with that expected by businesses facing similar risks. Although the process of adjusting rates for risk is a staple of modern finance, we know surprisingly little about how well accomplish their regulatory mandate when judged against the benchmarks of financial economics. This article analyzes a dozen years’ worth of gas and electric rate-setting decisions from PUCs in the United States and Canada, demonstrating empirically that allowed returns on equity (ROE) diverge significantly and systematically from the predictions of accepted asset pricing methodologies in finance. Our analysis suggests that current regulatory practice more plausibly reflects an amalgam of other non-finance desiderata, including political goals, incentive provision, and regulatory capture. For example, elected PUCs award significantly lower ROEs than appointed ones. We nevertheless conjecture that the divergence of observed regulatory behavior from asset-pricing fundamentals may be due (in part) to a lack of financial valuation expertise among regulators. To test this conjecture, we study a unique field experiment that exposed commissioners and their staffs to immersion training in finance. We find evidence that treated PUCs began to issue ROE rulings that were (moderately) more aligned with standard asset pricing theory than those of untreated placebo groups. Our results suggest that it is possible to train non-expert legal and regulatory decision-makers to exhibit greater fidelity to principles of financial economics.
All-optically reconfigurable chiral metamolecules

We experimentally demonstrate the optothermal assembly of various metal and dielectric colloidal nanoparticles into chiral metamolecules with reconfigurability.
Who regulates whom: ZNF341 is an additional player in the STAT3/TH17 song.

Deficiency of ZNF341, a transcription factor featuring 12 Cys2His2 zinc fingers that regulates the expression and autoinduction of STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3), results in hyper–immunoglobulin E syndrome and defective T helper 17 cell differentiation in humans.
Agricultural Strategies and Policies for the Future

The various transformations of industrial society that are foreseeable and desirable over the coming century have been sketched out in the previous chapter. The evolutionary parameters into which those developmental changes must fit have been outlined. We now face the task of mapping out agricultural strategies and policies that are consistent with the limitations and goals of the two larger contexts. We must also give much greater attention to variations between different regions of the world than in the previous discussions. It should be noted that the mode of analysis employed here for deriving appropriate agricultural policy would be equally applicable to other economic sectors. The crucial point regarding the policy time-frame is that the kind of sectoral specialization that is possible at this level of analysis makes sense only when placed in the larger contexts of the developmental and evolutionary time-frames. Only by consciously assessing the larger societal and environmental trends, limitations, and interactions visible there can one hope to avoid the sort of sectoral tunnel vision that afflicts so much current policymaking.
BYPASSING TRUST IN ONLINE PURCHASE DECISIONS BY ESTABLISHING COMMON GROUND

Revenue from ecommerce represents a multi-billion dollar industry in rapid expansion. Old and new players in this burgeoning market must foster purchase intentions in potential consumers in order to stay afloat. Until now, trust has acted as the lone gatekeeper to purchase intentions. In this study we suggest an alternative gate through establishing common ground with product reviewers. Common ground is a multidimensional construct from the fields of cognitive science that refers to the mutual knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions shared during communication (Clark 1996; Clark et al. 1983). Using PLS to analyze results from 102 online surveys, we distinguish between common ground and homophily (similarity of attributes), and show what role each plays in ecommerce. Our findings support our recommendation to measure common ground and homophily separately. Lastly, we find that purchase intentions can be fostered in potential customers through establishing common ground—regardless of levels of trust.
“A Place to Step Further”: Jack Spicer’s Quantum Poetics

Both the themes and the techniques of Jack Spicer’s poetry are dedicated to the “erasures”, as Michael Davidson (p. 128) has written, of accepted ideas and structures which are imposed upon language by Newtonian epistemological systems. Spicer’s work challenges, as William V. Spanos observes (p. 1), “the metaphysical or logocentric forms that have dominated the poetry — and above all the hermeneutics — of the Western literary tradition”. In this paper I want to suggest that Spicer’s poetry and poetics challenge the hermeneutics of the Western scientific tradition as well, by presenting the reader with linguistic models which are relevant to a quantum not a Newtonian universe.1
Terrestrial Ecosystem Response to Climate Change during the Paleogene

In this chapter we investigate the relationship between climatic change and extinction in continental ecosystems during the era of modern biotas. In contrast to the previous chapter, the time frame examined is shorter and therefore the number of major global extinction events is smaller. But at the same time, the more recent fossil record of the past 50 million years is more highly resolved, and it is possible to begin to examine causal linkages between climate and extinctions.
Platinum—Amine Complexes as Anticancer Agents

The discovery of the antitumour activity of cisplatin, cis-[PtCl2(NH3)2], and its subsequent clinical development are now well documented [1, 2]. The present clinical utility of this complex and its analogues make them of great interest both from the chemical and pharmacological viewpoint.
Towards Interest And Engagement, A Framework For Adaptive Storytelling

A storyteller builds a narrative that captivates the audience, immersing them in the story. Storytelling is an interactive process. Though the listeners cannot affect what happens in the story, a good narrator observes the audience’s responses and adjusts his/her storytelling accordingly. We present an automated storytelling agent that is aimed at achieving the same effect. While presenting a story, the user is given chances to give comments or ask questions. The agent estimates the user’s preferences towards various topics from these responses and weighs the factors of novelty, current interest, and consistency for generating the next part of the narration. We describe the components of the agent, and an example of applying it for narrating a Chinese fantasy story.
Treatment of Proximal Fifth Metatarsal Fractures and Refractures With Plantar Plating in Elite Athletes

Background:Fractures of the proximal fifth metatarsal are relatively common foot injuries in elite athletes. Acute fixation with intramedullary screws is the most common operative treatment. Howeve...
Monitoring Fast, Voxel-Scale Cure Kinetics via Sample-Coupled-Resonance Photorheology

Photopolymerizable materials are the focus of extensive research across a variety of fields ranging from additive manufacturing to regenerative medicine. However, poorly understood material mechanical and rheological properties during polymerization at the relevant exposure powers and single-voxel length-scales limit advancements in part performance and throughput. Here, a novel atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique, sample-coupled-resonance photorheology (SCRPR), to locally characterize the mechano-rheological properties of photopolymerized materials on the relevant reaction kinetic timescales, is demonstrated. By coupling an AFM tip to a photopolymer and exposing the coupled region to a laser, two fundamental photopolymerization phenomena: (1) timescales of photopolymerization at high laser power and (2) reciprocity between photodose and material properties are studied. The ability to capture rapid kinetic changes occurring during polymerization with SCRPR is demonstrated. It is found that reciprocity is only valid for a finite range of exposure powers in the verification material and polymerization is highly localized in a low-diffusion system. After polymerization, in situ imaging of a single polymerized voxel is performed using material-appropriate topographic and nanomechanical modalities of the AFM while still in the as-printed environment.
Comparison of bead array and glass nanoreactor multi-analyte platforms for the evaluation of CNS and peripheral inflammatory markers during HIV infection.

While human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has become a treatable disease with the development of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), chronic inflammation that affects the central nervous system and other organs is still common. Reliable methods are needed to study HIV-associated inflammatory biomarkers. In this study involving both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), we compared multiplex bead array (MBA) to a relatively new technology based on microfluidics and glass nanoreactor (GNR) technology for the measurement of three commonly studied markers from HIV-infected individuals. We found that results correlated between the two platforms for MCP-1 in both fluids as well as for plasma TNFα (all p < .005). However, results between the two platforms did not correlate for CSF TNFα or fractalkine from plasma or CSF. A statistically significant decrease in CSF TNFα over time (p < .0001) was only detectable with the MBA platform, and TNFα on the MBA was the only CSF biomarker to correlate with CSF HIV RNA (rho = 0.71, p < .0001). Meanwhile, the GNR platform was superior in terms of intra-assay fractalkine (FKN) variability and the detection of a significant FKN decrease over time. Additionally, the only significant correlation between blood biomarkers and plasma HIV RNA was with FKN on the GNR platform (rho = 0.38, p = .015). Given the variability in results between platforms, more research is needed on methods to quantitate HIV-associated inflammation.
Mammographic density and breast tissue expression of inflammatory markers, growth factors, and vimentin

Mammographic density is a known risk factor for breast cancer, but the underlying pathologic characteristics are not well understood. The current analysis investigated the expression of several markers of interest, e.g., inflammation and growth, with mammographic density (MD) in normal and malignant breast tissue specimens from 279 women of the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC). Breast cancer cases, recruited from a nested case-control study within the MEC, provided mammograms for density evaluation. Protein expression (COX-2, TNF-α, TGF-β, IGF-1R, IGFBP-2, and vimentin) was assessed by immunohistochemical detection. Linear regression was applied to evaluate the relation between marker expression and percent density and to compute adjusted means with 95% confidence intervals (CI) by marker status while adjusting for confounders. Due to missing cores and tissue, normal tissue could only be evaluated for COX-2 and vimentin. No significant associations with mammographic density were detected for all markers analyzed. For inflammatory markers (TNF-α, COX-2, and TGF-β) in tumor tissue, MD were non-significantly higher with stronger expression but the differences were very small. For example, the mean MD values for no, weak, and strong TNF-α expression were 35% (95% CI 24–47%), 39% (95% CI 29–48%), and 38% (95% CI 27–50%). In a posthoc analysis among postmenopausal women only, the difference across categories of TNF-α expression increased to 25% (95% CI 12–39%), 35% (95% CI 23–48%), and 35% (95% CI 20–49%). The current analysis offers little support for an involvement of immunohistochemical markers representing inflammatory and growth factor pathways as predictors of breast density.
TERNARY LAMELLAR COMPOUNDS OF LITHIUM OR SODIUM WITH GRAPHITE

Lamellar compounds of graphite are formed by the heavy alkali metals potassium, rubidium and cesium. Some doubt exists as to whether or not lithium and sodium can also form such compounds with graphite. Considerations of the energy of formation indicate that neither of these two substances should form concentrated lamellar compounds with graphite. We have found that very pure sodium does not appear to react with graphite at temperatures up to 450°C. However, reactions can be promoted by small amounts of impurities such as sodium hydroxide, sodium oxide, barium oxide, and ammonia. It is believed that the impurities occupy so-called “spacer” positions in the lattice and thus facilitate the intercalation of sodium. However, it seems likely that very low concentrations of impurity act as catalysts. Experiments with lithium seem to indicate that it will also react with graphite only when impurities are present.
Research-supported practices for improving attendance in high schools: a review of the literature

High rates of absenteeism are often an early warning sign for negative long-term outcomes. Typical high school attendance policies, especially those that are punitive in nature, can make attendance...