cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 2433: Comparisons between an IRDye 800CW-labeled PSMA-targeted small molecule and antibody for preclinical small animal imaging

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Prostate cancer continues to be the second leading cause of cancer death in men in 2011. Deciphering the progression and mechanisms contributing to the metastatic spread of this disease is critical to our overall understanding of how to approach treatment and/or therapy. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a possible therapeutic target for the disease and is the focus of several cancer therapies currently in clinical trials. Near infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging for cancer diagnosis and treatment is gaining attention for preclinical as well as clinical applications. IRDye 800CW is a NIR fluorophore exhibiting superior target-to-background ratios when conjugated to targeting moieties such as antibodies, peptides, and small molecules. Here we assess two different PSMA-targeted compounds conjugated to IRDye 800CW: the small molecule YC-27 and a PSMA-specific antibody. In vitro binding kinetics for both compounds exhibit expected dose dependent increases with increasing concentrations. Both compounds were successfully blocked with their unlabeled counterpart; however, neither blocked the other suggesting different PSMA epitopes. Although direct comparisons are inappropriate due to differences in molecular structures and labeling density, assessment of their respective pharmacokinetics is possible. Microscopy of prostate tumor cells incubated with each probe revealed a slower internalization of the small molecule when compared to the internalization of the antibody. Specificity of the labeled compounds in vivo was determined in male athymic nu/nu mice implanted with 22Rv1 (PSMA positive) or PC3M-LN4 (PSMA negative) prostate cancer cells (106). Mice received either IRDye 800CW YC27 (1 nmole) or IRDye 800CW PSMA (50 µg) followed by non-invasive fluorescent optical imaging of 800nm signals on the Pearl Impulse Small Animal Imager. At the study endpoint, organs and tumors were excised and imaged to assess residual probe localization. In vivo clearance patterns for these labeled molecules differed with the YC27 clearing via the kidneys and the antibody clearing through the liver. These subtle differences between the two imaging agents provide valuable options to investigators with specific requirements in their animal research. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2433. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2433
Generalized Shwartzman Reaction. V. Intravenous Injection of Colloidal Iron or Carbon on Response of Rabbits to Meningococcal Toxin

SummaryThe intravenous injection of colloidal carbon or saccharate of iron oxide produces, in the rabbit, an alteration in the reactivity to gram negative bacterial toxins which resembles the effect of cortisone, thorotrast and trypan blue. An intradermal injection of toxin in such animals causes a local reaction of hemorrhagic necrosis which is similar to the local Schwartzman reaction, and an intravenous injection causes the development of bilateral cortical necrosis of the kidneys resembling the generalized Shwartzman reaction. It is suggested that the colloidal materials may produce these effects by interfering with normal protective functions of the reticuloendothelial system.
Serum Xylose Analysis by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) isotope dilution assay for xylose was developed using tertbutyldimethylsilyl-derivatized xylose and [13C]1xylose, and applied to human serum samples. A calibration curve in serum using this assay showed 10% (up to 150 mg/L) when colorimetric values were compared to GC/MS. Two of these samples had borderline-low xylose values by GC/MS, but were well within the normal range by colorimetric analysis. gas chromatography/mass spectrometric isotope dilution assay appears to be an accurate method to measure xylose in serum. These data also suggest that further prospective studies comparing GC/MS to colorimetric methods are indicated for subjects undergoing oral xylose testing.
Cutaneous phaeohyphomycosis caused by Biatriospora mackinnonii in a renal transplant recipient.

Phaeohyphomycosis is a heterogeneous group of opportunistic infections that are becoming increasingly more prevalent as pathogens in immunocompromised individuals. We present a rare case of cutaneous phaeohyphomycosis caused by Biatriospora mackinnonii in a renal transplant patient. This case also highlights the importance of molecular techniques in the diagnosis of this rare disease.
Acidic pH sensing in the bacterial cytoplasm is required for Salmonella virulence

pH regulates gene expression, biochemical activities and cellular behaviors. A mildly acidic pH activates the master virulence regulatory system PhoP/PhoQ in the facultative intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The sensor PhoQ harbors an extracytoplasmic domain implicated in signal sensing, and a cytoplasmic domain controlling activation of the regulator PhoP. We now report that, surprisingly, a decrease in Salmonella's own cytoplasmic pH induces transcription of PhoP-activated genes even when the extracytoplasmic pH remains neutral. Amino acid substitutions in PhoQ's cytoplasmic domain hindered activation by acidic pH and attenuated virulence in mice, but did not abolish activation by low Mg(2+) or the antimicrobial peptide C18G. Conversely, removal of PhoQ's extracytoplasmic domains prevented the response to the latter PhoQ-activating signals but not to acidic pH. PhoP-dependent genes were minimally induced by acidic pH in the non-pathogenic species Salmonella bongori but were activated by low Mg(2+) and C18G as in pathogenic S. enterica. Our findings indicate that the sensor PhoQ enables S. enterica to respond to both host- and bacterial-derived signals that alter its cytoplasmic pH.
Engaging Nursing Home Residents in Formal Volunteer Activities: a Focus on Strengths

Nursing homes around the world are seeking new strategies to improve the quality of life for older adults living in their facilities. Involvement of older adults in formal volunteer opportunities is a strategy that can provide social interaction and meaningful experiences and has been associated with physical and emotional health benefits. Although engaging older adults in volunteering has shown promise as a method for improving quality of life, community volunteer opportunities have often been made available only to non-institutionalized older adults. This may be due to negative views of both nursing homes and their residents. In addition, nursing home residents are often isolated both physically and socially from their surrounding community. However, using the strengths perspective as a framework, human service professionals in the United States and around the world can help to address these barriers. Specifically, human service professionals can help reframe negative views of nursing homes, identify strengths of nursing homes and their residents, and create and implement a strengths-based agenda for extending formal volunteer opportunities into nursing homes.
An Analysis of Scalp Thickness and Other Novel Risk Factors for Deep Brain Stimulator Infections.

Introduction: Deep brain stimulator (DBS) infections are a persistent problem for patients undergoing this procedure. They may require further surgery, treatment with antibiotics, or even removal of the device. To date, no consensus exists on the best practices to avoid DBS infections or what factors predispose patients to an eventual infection. The goal of this study was to examine several patient factors for association with DBS infection. Methods: A single-center, single-surgeon quality improvement database was queried. All patients who experienced an infection were identified. The primary variable analyzed was scalp thickness. Other pre-specified, secondary variables included routine intraoperative cultures, operative time, diagnosis, and age. Results: None of the independent variables examined were significantly associated with DBS infections. Only two of the 46 infections qualified as surgical site infections as defined by the Centers for Disease Control. Conclusion: DBS infections are independent of all of the predictor variables analyzed. Surgical site infections, according to traditional definitions, are not the optimal definition for evaluating DBS infections/erosions. New studies must examine new variables that are not routinely gathered in this population. Also, because of the rare event rates and difficulty in randomizing patients to exposures, a large, multicenter registry may be the optimal study design to solve this clinical problem.
Adapting to rates versus amounts of climate change: a case of adaptation to sea-level rise

Adaptation is the process of adjusting to climate change in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities associated with it. Most adaptation strategies are designed to adjust to a new climate state. However, despite our best efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, climate is likely to continue changing far into the future. Here, we show how considering rates of change affects the projected optimal adaptation strategy. We ground our discussion with an example of optimal investment in the face of continued sea-level rise, presenting a quantitative model that illustrates the interplay among physical and economic factors governing coastal development decisions such as rate of sea-level rise, land slope, discount rate, and depreciation rate. This model shows that the determination of optimal investment strategies depends on taking into account future rates of sea-level rise, as well as social and political constraints. This general approach also applies to the development of improved strategies to adapt to ongoing trends in temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables. Adaptation to some amount of change instead of adaptation to ongoing rates of change may produce inaccurate estimates of damages to the social systems and their ability to respond to external pressures.
Investigation of the thermal conductivity of propylene glycol nanofluids and comparison with correlations

Abstract Experimental study has been carried out to determine the thermal conductivity of five different nanofluids containing aluminum oxide, copper oxide, zinc oxide, silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles dispersed in a base fluid of 60:40 (by mass) propylene glycol and water mixture. The effect of particle volumetric concentration up to 6% was studied with temperatures ranging from −30° to 90 °C. Experiments showed an increase in thermal conductivity of nanofluids with increasing concentration and temperature. The thermal conductivity of nanofluids showed a strong dependence on particle volumetric concentration, particle size, properties of particles and the base fluid and temperature. Several existing theoretical models for thermal conductivity of nanofluids were compared with the experimental data, but they all showed disagreement. From comparisons, the most agreeable model was selected and a curve-fit constant was derived to match the data of propylene glycol nanofluids. This model expresses the thermal conductivity of nanofluids as a function of Brownian motion, Biot number, fluid temperature, particle volumetric concentration, and the properties of the nanoparticles and the base fluid. This model provided good agreement with 600 experimental data points obtained from five different nanofluids with an average absolute deviation of 1.79 percent. Because of the enhanced thermal conductivity with increasing temperature, nanofluids should be more beneficial at higher temperature applications.
Stat5 Is Essential for BCR-ABL-Transformed Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) Associated with Increased CCN3 Gene Expression.

Abstract 3271 Poster Board III-1 Introduction: Signal transducers and activators of transcription5 (Stat5) proteins are involved in many cellular processes through mediated cytokine, hormone, and growth factor signaling. But its role in disease pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. Recently, activation of BCR-ABL has been reported to regulate a novel gene, CCN3 in cell lines and primary cells derived from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. To investigate the function of Stat5 in CML initiation and maintenance and determine the downstream target genes on Jak-Stat5 pathway, we developed a BCR-ABL - induced CML - like disease model by using retro-viral infection in Cre-mediated Stat5 knockout transgenic mice and analyzed the progress of CML. We also used Stat5 knockout (Stat5 KO) mice to perform gene profiling. Results: Our study showed that loss of Stat5 resulted in increased survival rate and remission of CML. Microarray analysis showed that CCN3 expression was down-regulated in KL cells derived from Stat5 KO mice. BCR-ABL-activated Stat5 increased expression level of CCN3 in CML cells. We further determined that Stat5 binds to CCN3 promoter region in IL-3 stimulated 32D cells and BCR-ABL-induced CML cells. Conclusions: Our study suggested that Stat5 is essential for BCR-ABL transformed CML and that CCN3 is involved in normal hematopoiesis and CML development. Further study will be necessary to uncover the function of CCN3 and more targets of Stat5 pathway in CML development and discover the therapeutic significance. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Introduction to Volume Conduction

The term “volume conduction” refers to the complex effects of measuring electrical potentials a distance from their source generators. Near-field potentials refer to those recorded in relative close proximity to the detector, whereas far-field potentials refer to those recorded at a considerable distance, as is most commonly the case in evoked potentials. A relative straightforward model of volume conduction can be worked through to assist in better understanding how volume conduction effects can impact the shape of a recorded neuronal potential. In fact, all motor and sensory nerve conduction waveforms are substantially impacted by volume conductive effects. The recording setup of sensory studies (i.e., whether they are bipolar or referential) also impacts the size and morphology of the recorded signals. In addition, the compound motor action potential actually represents a composite of both near- and far-field activity. The morphology of both spontaneous discharges and the motor unit potentials themselves evaluated during needle EMG are, in part, caused by the complex effects of volume conduction.
Evaluation of the radiosensitizing potential of clofarabine in six xenograft models.

421 We have previously shown that clofarabine radiosensitizes DLD-1 colon tumor xenografts (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Cancer Res. 48: 1196). The purpose of the current study was to determine whether other tumor xenograft histiotypes can be radiosensitized by clofarabine. Gemcitabine was used as a comparison for radiosensitization in all studies. We investigated six other xenograft models: NCI-H460 lung, SR475HN head and neck, SF-295 glioblastoma, DU-145 prostate, PANC-1 pancreatic, and HCT-116 colon. Mice were implanted with tumor fragments subcutaneously from an in vivo passage and the tumors were allowed to grow. Mice with tumors in the designated size range were selected for the studies. The NCI-H460 and SF-295 studies used 12 Gy total radiation delivered in four, 3 Gy fractions every three days combined with clofarabine injected by intraperitoneal (ip) injection daily for 10 days at a dosage of 30 mg/kg/injection. The remaining tumor models were given 20 Gy, in 2 Gy fractions daily for five days for two weeks combined with clofarabine injected ip daily for 12 days at a dosage of 30 mg/kg/injection. Clofarabine had no effect on the growth of SF-295 glioblastoma which was not enhanced by radiation. There was no difference between radiation alone and radiation combined with clofarabine in DU-145 prostate xenografts. The combined effect on NCI-H460 lung tumors appeared to be additive with T-C values (based on time to 3 tumor doublings) of 4.6, 9.4, and 16.9 days for clofarabine, radiation, and the combination, respectively. SR475HN head and neck tumors were radiosensitized by clofarabine with T-C values (based on 2 tumor doublings) of 16.7, 73.2, and >162 days for clofarabine, radiation, and the combination, respectively. PANC-1 pancreatic tumors were radiosensitized by clofarabine with T-C values (based on 2 tumor doublings) of 17.2, 1.7, and 62.9 days for clofarabine, radiation, and the combination, respectively. HCT-116 colon tumors were radiosensitized by clofarabine with T-C values (based on 3 tumor doublings) of 24.2, 29.3, and >78.9 days for clofarabine, radiation, and the combination, respectively. The radiosensitizing capacity of gemcitabine tracked with the clofarabine results. Three out of the six tumor models tested showed marked radiosensitization with clofarabine while another tumor model showed an additive effect. Two out of the six models tested showed no evidence of an interaction between clofarabine and radiation. Clofarabine has potential as a radiosensitizing cancer treatment.
Oppression and Resistance Timeline

This chapter presents a graphic representation of the grand timescale on which oppression and resistance have been carried out. We present a number of events intended to illustrate how oppression has been enacted from 1607 to 2016. We also provide a number of examples on the same timescale for resistance efforts. This timeline makes clear that oppression started early and continued in force through the present day. It also makes clear, however, that resistance efforts have been ongoing, with more visible successes in the modern day.
Chino Tico Routes and Repertoires: Cultivating Chineseness and Entrepreneurism for a New Era of Trans-Pacific Relations

Resumen Aunque las comunidades chinas diasporicas tengan raices en Centro America desde el siglo diecinueve, la creciente relacion contemporanea entre China e America Latina ha asignado un nuevo valor a la cultura china dentro de esta relacion. En este ensayo, analizo como una nueva generacion de costarricenses de descendencia china concibe, practica, y proyecta su identidad etnica para cultivar una ventaja economica dentro de las nuevas iniciativas transpacificas. Basado en un estudio etnografico con un grupo de jovenes ¨Chino Ticos¨ en San Jose, Costa Rica, trazo las trayectorias y experiencias transnacionales de este grupo con el fin de revelar los cambiantes rutas y repertorios de la identidad china de esta generacion y sus implicaciones para las relaciones transpacificas. En vez de entender la nueva generacion de empresario diasporico chino en Centro America como producto de un esencialismo etnico, enfatizo el papel de relaciones de clase y del estado en configurar las relaciones transpacificas. [Costa Rica, desarrollo, etnicidad, globalizacion, identidad]
Selectivity enhancements in gel-based DNA-nanoparticle assays by membrane-induced isotachophoresis: thermodynamics versus kinetics.

Selectivity against mutant nontargets with a few mismatches remains challenging in nucleic acid sensing. Sensitivity enhancement by analyte concentration does not improve selectivity because it affects targets and nontargets equally. Hydrodynamic or electrical shear enhanced selectivity is often accompanied by substantial losses in target signals, thereby leading to poor limits of detection. We introduce a platform based on depletion isotachophoresis in agarose gel generated by an ion-selective membrane that allows both selectivity and sensitivity enhancement with a two-step assay involving concentration polarization at an ion-selective membrane. By concentrating both the targets and probe-functionalized nanoparticles by ion enrichment at the membrane, the effective thermodynamic dissociation constant is lowered from 40 nM to below 500 pM, and the detection limit is 10 pM as reported previously. A dynamically optimized ion depletion front is then generated from the membrane with a high electrical shear force to selectively and irreversibly dehybridize nontargets. The optimized selectivity against a two-mismatch nontarget (in a 35-base pairing sequence) is shown to be better than the thermodynamic equilibrium selectivity by more than a hundred-fold, such that there is no detectable signal from the two-mismatch nontarget. We offer empirical evidence that irreversible cooperative dehybridization plays an important role in this kinetic selectivity enhancement and that mismatch location controls the optimum selectivity even when there is little change in the corresponding thermodynamic dissociation constant.
Analysis of MC T and MC TC Mast Cells in Tissue

The MC(TC) and MCT types of human mast cells initially were recognized on the basis of the protease compositions of their secretory granules, with tryptase, chymase, carboxypeptidase A3, and cathepsin G in the former and only tryptase in the latter. Antibodies against chymase and tryptase traditionally have been used to distinguish these mast cell types from one another. Antitryptase antibodies label all mast cells; antichymase labels only the MC(TC) type. To identify both types in a tissue section, a sequential double-labeling scheme was developed to first stain chymase-positive cells, thereby blocking their recognition by the antitryptase antibody, which will label only the chymase-negative mast cells. In general, these immunocytochemical techniques are more sensitive and specific than classical histochemical techniques for detecting mast cells.
O diagnóstico do subdesenvolvimento brasileiro em O cortiço : hibridismo leva a degeneração?

Since 1822, racial and ethnic diversity predominated discussions related to Brazilian national identity. In the literary field, racial mixture dominated intellectual discourses and influenced the literary production. Writers were grappled with Brazil’s global position and vulnerability in relation to modernization. For this reason, Brazilian intellects attempted to determine the “supposed” causes of the Brazilian backwardness. Aluisio de Azevedo, one of the more prominent writers of Brazilian Naturalism, also seemed to be concerned with the Brazilian underdevelopment, as it is evident in one of his most important work, O cortico . In this context, the aim of this study is to analyze what would be the cause of the Brazilian underdevelopment. As a conclusion, it can be stated that there is a strong connection between economic development and the white race, as well as between underdevelopment and miscegenation, represented respectively by Portugal and the white male characters and Brazil and its female hybrid characters. The couples Romao/Betoleza and Jeronimo/Rita symbolize the old colonial order showing that despite the fact Brazil has gained its political independence from Portugal, the colonial economic ideals persist.
Using an improvement model to reduce adverse drug events in VA facilities.

Article-at-a-Glance Background Adverse drug events cause significant morbidity and mortality in health care. Many adverse drug events are due to medication errors and are preventable. In 1999 and 2000 the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry collaborated with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to implement a quality improvement (QI) project designed to reduce medication errors within the Veterans Administration system. Methods During a 6- to 9-month period, interdisciplinary teams that want to achieve much higher levels of performance work on a common aim, under the guidance of faculty, and come together for three 2-day educational and planning sessions. Between these sessions, teams implement some of the suggested changes, measure the results of those changes, and report back to the larger group. Results During the formal project, teams collected allergy information on more than 20,000 veterans and averted 1,833 medication errors that had the potential to cause adverse events. At 6-month follow-up, the majority of teams remained intact, continued to collect data, and maintained their gains, approximately doubling the results obtained during the formal project. Half of the teams expanded their efforts to other settings, and one-third of the teams expanded beyond their original topics. Returns on investment in the QI effort were substantial. Conclusions The results suggest that gains made in organized QI efforts can be maintained for 6 months without additional external support or coaching if team structure and leadership support remain intact. Facilitators of QI efforts should focus on teams that are having difficulty learning new techniques. Finally, this effort appeared to generate cost savings.
HPLC Assay of Phosphoamino Acids by Fluorescence Detection

Phosphorylation of proteins at serine residues and, less frequently, at threonine residues is an active area of research that has grown steadily for almost two decades as a consequence of the discovery that second messengers such as cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP and Ca++ can stimulate specific protein kinases (for a recent review, see reference 1). Interest in phosphorylation as a means of regulating protein function has increased recently with the findings that receptors for several polypeptide hormones such as insulin and epidermal growth factor are substrates for and apparently possess hormone-sensitive protein kinase activities with specificity for tyrosine residues of substrates2–4. The data of Hunter and Sefton5 and others have provided additional stimulus: several viral gene products are tyrosine-directed protein kinases, implicating tyrosine phosphorylation as a key reaction in the malignant transformation of mammalian cells by viruses.
Waggling the Form Baton: Analyzing Body-Movement-Based Design Patterns in Nintendo Wii Games, Toward Innovation of New Possibilities for Social and Emotional Experience

This chapter describes research conducted to analyze and better understand what is compelling about particular body-movement-based design patterns in Nintendo Wii games, towards innovating new possibilities for social and emotional experience with movement-based games and other interactive experiences. The authors analyzed games from diverse genres, to generate a bottom-up set of dimensions and characteristics of the mechanics, that can help build a foundation for heightening social and emotional engagement and enjoyment through design of novel mechanics, and/or through combining and extending successful existing mechanics. Key findings include the prevalence of kinesthetic mimicry, the value of whole body versus piecemeal movement, tensions between precision and loose movement in design, and the value of using Laban’s dimensions of Effort as a lens through which to understand which sorts of movement patterns are more engaging.
Genetic variation in transcription factors and photosynthesis light-reaction genes regulates photosynthetic traits

Transcription factors (TFs) play crucial roles in regulating the production of the components required for photosynthesis; elucidating the mechanisms by which underlying genetic variation in TFs affects complex photosynthesis-related traits may improve our understanding of photosynthesis and identify ways to improve photosynthetic efficiency. Promoter analysis of 96 nuclear-encoded Populus tomentosa Carr. genes within this pathway revealed 47 motifs responsive to light, stress, hormones and organ-specific regulation, as well as 86 TFs that might bind these motifs. Using phenotype-genotype associations, we identified 244 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 105 genes associated with 12 photosynthesis-related traits. Most (30.33%) of these SNPs were located in intronic regions and these SNPs explained 18.66% of the mean phenotypic variation in the photosynthesis-related traits. Additionally, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping identified 216 eQTLs associated with 110 eGenes (genes regulated by eQTLs), explaining 14.12% of the variability of gene expression. The lead SNPs of 12.04% of the eQTLs also contributed to phenotypic variation. Among these, a SNP in zf-Dof 5.6 (G120_9287) affected photosynthesis by modulating the expression of a sub-regulatory network of eight other TFs, which in turn regulate 55 photosynthesis-related genes. Furthermore, epistasis analysis identified a large interacting network representing 732 SNP-SNP pairs, of which 354 were photosynthesis gene-TF pairs, emphasizing the important roles of TFs in affecting photosynthesis-related traits. We combined eQTL and epistasis analysis and found 32 TFs harboring eQTLs being epistatic to their targets (identified by eQTL analysis), of which 15 TFs were also associated with photosynthesis traits. We therefore constructed a schematic model of TFs involved in regulating the photosynthetic light reaction pathway. Taken together, our results provide insight into the genetic regulation of photosynthesis, and may drive progress in the marker-assisted selection of desirable P. tomentosa genotypes with more efficient photosynthesis.
A Comparison of Pellet Quality from Straight-grate and Grate-kiln Furnaces

Both straight-grate and grate-kiln furnaces have been accepted in the iron ore industry. Both are considered to be roughly equal when comparing overall costs and expenses versus the final product p...
Mercury and Methylmercury in the San Francisco Bay area: land-use impact and indicators

In this study, I analyzed the impact of land-use on mercury and methylmercury in the San Francisco Bay area and I explored correlations of mercury and methylmercury with various water quality indicators using water and sediment quality data from the Regional Monitoring Program. To understand the relationships of land-use and water and sediment quality with mercury and methylmercury concentrations, I conducted a correlation coefficient analysis using Microsoft EXCEL 2007. In the San Joaquin Delta watershed and the Suisun Bay watershed, heavy metals showed strong relationship with methylmercury. Developed land uses such as industrial, commercial services and urban built-up had a strong relationship with methylmercury, while agricultural land uses generally had a negative relationship with methylmercury. Mercury and methylmercury had a strong positive relationship with clay, silt, and fine sand. Mercury had significant negative correlation with pH and significant positive correlation with silver. Methylmercury was strongly related to temperature and total nitrogen. Although underestimated in this study, strip mines had a fairly strong correlation with mercury, indicating that they may be a major source of mercury to the San Francisco Bay. Restoration efforts should target areas with developed land-use, high clay, silt, fine sand and heavy metals.
Associations between age, respiratory comorbidities, and dysphagia in infants with down syndrome.

Objectives Children with Down syndrome (DS) have a high risk of dysphagia and the pediatric pulmonologist may be involved in diagnosis and management. The objective of this study is to evaluate the associations between age, dysphagia, and medical comorbidities in young children with DS. We hypothesized that swallow study findings are more likely to change in younger infants and that medical comorbidities may be associated with dysphagia. Study design Results of videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS) and fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) from 2010 to 2016 were collected retrospectively in children with DS with initial swallow study at less than 12 months of age. Results were analyzed for findings and change based on age at initial study, reason for referral, and medical comorbidities. Results One hundred eleven infants with 247 VFSS and 14 FEES were included. Deep laryngeal penetration and/or aspiration were found in 31.9% of infants less than 6 months and 51.3% of infants 6 to 12 months. Children with initial swallow study performed at greater than or equal to 6 months of age were more likely (80.0%) to have unchanged findings on follow-up study compared to children imaged at less than 6 months (35.3%). Laryngomalacia, pulmonary hypertension, pneumonia, and congenital cardiac disease were associated with dysphagia. Conclusion We confirmed that dysphagia is common in infants with DS and comorbidities and provided preliminary evidence that swallow study findings may be more likely to change in children tested under 6 months of age. Providers should consider that results for instrumental swallow studies may change, particularly if the test was completed on a young infant.
Combining Prefetch Control and Cache Partitioning to Improve Multicore Performance

Modern commercial multi-core processors are equipped with multiple hardware prefetchers on each core. The prefetchers can significantly improve application performance. However, shared resources, such as last-level cache (LLC) and off-chip memory bandwidth and controller, can lead to prefetch interference. Multiple techniques have been proposed to reduce such interference and improve the performance isolation across cores, such as coordinated control among prefetchers and cache partitioning (CP). Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. This paper proposes combining these two techniques in a coordinated way. Prefetchers and LLC are treated as separate resources and a multi-resource management mechanism is proposed to control prefetching and cache partitioning. This control mechanism is implemented as a Linux kernel module and can be applied to a wide variety of prefetch architectures. An implementation on Intel Xeon E5 v4 processor shows that combining LLC partitioning and prefetch throttling provides a significant improvement in performance and fairness.
Risk Analysis (Part 2 of 3): Application to Food Fraud

This chapter presents the risk analysis application to food fraud prevention. The risk analysis concepts and theories are well known and widely researched but not often adapted to the unique fraud opportunity and resource-allocation decision-making needs for food fraud prevention.
Cointegration of Single-Mode Waveguides and Embedded Electrical Interconnects for High-Bandwidth Communications

This article presents the modeling, development, and demonstration of glass interposer technology with single-mode waveguides (SMWGs) for high-bandwidth communications and embedded trenches for ultrafine copper traces for high-speed electronics. Glass as the substrate for the integration of photonics and electronics exhibits a unique combination of superior properties over silicon, laminates, and polymers. In conjunction with the advantages of glass, shape control of photoimageable dielectric lines during development and cure was developed and optimized. Single-mode polymer waveguides on glass were fabricated and characterized. Sample preparation methods and their impact on the sample edge quality and coupling loss will also be discussed in this article. Overall, this article presents the successful process development and demonstration of 3- $\mu \text{m}$ embedded trenches in the dielectric film for ultrafine copper traces and 2- $\mu \text{m}$ microvias for interlayer interconnects.
Linear-Quadratic Game Theoretic Analysis for Securing Battery Management Power Converter Systems

The incorporation of active balancing into battery management systems leaves electric vehicles vulnerable to attacks common to cyber-physical systems. A cost-benefit analysis on the effects of these attacks is presented to explore attacker models and possible defenses. This is achieved through the use of a linear-quadratic differential game model through which attackers may use false-data injection, sensor jamming, and false-data actuation. Non-linearities inherent to power converter modeling are approximated using small-signal state-space techniques and state-of-charge is approximated through a Coulomb-counting assumption. The results show that most vulnerable components of the examined battery management system lie primarily with the current and voltage sensor and that efforts should expended on hardening these attack points from false-data injection and jamming.
The extended Moral Foundations Dictionary (eMFD): Development and applications of a crowd-sourced approach to extracting moral intuitions from text

Moral intuitions are a central motivator in human behavior. Recent work highlights the importance of moral intuitions for understanding a wide range of issues ranging from online radicalization to vaccine hesitancy. Extracting and analyzing moral content in messages, narratives, and other forms of public discourse is a critical step toward understanding how the psychological influence of moral judgments unfolds at a global scale. Extant approaches for extracting moral content are limited in their ability to capture the intuitive nature of moral sensibilities, constraining their usefulness for understanding and predicting human moral behavior. Here we introduce the extended Moral Foundations Dictionary (eMFD), a dictionary-based tool for extracting moral content from textual corpora. The eMFD, unlike previous methods, is constructed from text annotations generated by a large sample of human coders. We demonstrate that the eMFD outperforms existing approaches in a variety of domains. We anticipate that the eMFD will contribute to advance the study of moral intuitions and their influence on social, psychological, and communicative processes.
A Framework for Probabilistic Decision-Making Using Change-of-Probability Measures

Probabilistic decision-making is a fundamental problem considered in many disciplines from engineering to social sciences. In this article, we address decision-making in contexts where the law of large numbers (LLN) does not apply. Non-LLN regimes include almost all high-impact decisions. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) decision making is further increasing the importance of developing principled approaches for such problems. In this regard, we first introduce a method called bounded expectation (BE) to apply the accepted principle of ignoring negligible probabilities. We show that BE provides some satisfactory results and insights into some decision-making problems. Pointing out some shortcomings of BE, we then turn to a much more general setting, using change-of-probability measures. We show that the proposed approach can be considered a generalization of expected utility theory (EUT) from two different perspectives. First, the approach converges to EUT as the number of repetitions grows. Additionally, when the fundamental distortion parameter, $\epsilon $ , is set to zero, the proposed theory reduces to EUT. We then propose a systematic approach to applying the developed framework to non-LLN decisions. Finally, through a real-world example, we compare the decisions made with the proposed method and the conventional methods. It is speculated that due to the complexity and multidimensionality of decision-making under non-LLN regimes, the presented ideas can potentially lead to considerable further research, some of which is discussed in this article.
Spatial and Temporal Variations in Interstellar Absorption toward HD 72127AB

New optical spectra of Ca II and Na I toward HD 72127AB provide additional evidence for both spatial and temporal variations in the complex interstellar absorption along the two sight lines; archival UV spectra yield information on the abundances, depletions, and physical conditions in the gas toward HD 72127A. Similarities in the strengths of various tracers of interstellar material in the two lines of sight suggest that the total hydrogen column densities [N(H) ~ 2.5 x 10^{20} cm^{-2}] and the depletions and ionization in the main components at low LSR velocities also are similar. Toward HD 72127A, the main components are relatively cool (T 5000 K) may be largely responsible for the enhanced abundances of those trace neutral species toward HD 72127B. If the main components toward HD 72127AB are associated with material in the Vela SNR, the differences in abundances and physical conditions occur on scales of about 1100 AU.
Toward Continuous-Time Representations of Human Motion

For human motion understanding and generation, it is common to represent the motion sequence via a hidden state of a recurrent neural network, learned in an end-to-end fashion. While powerful, this representation is inflexible as these recurrent models are trained with a specific frame rate, and the hidden state is further hard to interpret. In this paper, we show that we can instead represent the continuous motion via latent parametric curves, leveraging techniques from computer graphics and signal processing. Our parametric representation is powerful enough to faithfully represent continuous motion with few parameters, easy to obtain, and is effective when used for downstream tasks. We validate the proposed method on AMASS and Human3.6M datasets through reconstruction and on a downstream task of point-to-point prediction, and show that our method is able to generate realistic motion. See our demo at www.github.com/WeiyuDu/motion-encode.
Women in leadership: a study of five Kenyan principals and their challenges as leaders

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the challenges in leadership of five Kenyan women principals. These women were identified by their peers as successful in their roles as principals of comprehensive girls’ boarding schools in western Kenya. However, their experiences as leaders have mirrored some of what is reported in the research literature that of systemic stereotypes for women in leadership due to ongoing patriarchal practices and long-held cultural expectations and norms. The goal of this study was to present the voices and lived experiences of these five women leaders through the African perspective instead of a Western viewpoint. Thus, the related research for this study are primarily from African sources wherever possible. The theoretical framework used for this study is that of the concept of role congruity theory, which focuses on gender stereotypes of expected behaviors. The data were collected from individual interviews of the five women participants, and the responses were analyzed using the method of thematic analysis, which then led to identifying the three main themes: General Perceptions of Women in Leadership; Gender Role Expectations; and Inequitable Treatment.
A wider field of view to predict expression.

A gene sequence-to-expression machine learning model achieves improved accuracy by incorporating information about potential long-range interactions.
Have urinary function outcomes after radical prostatectomy improved over the past decade

BACKGROUND Changes in surgical technique and postoperative care that target improvements in functional outcomes are widespread in the literature. Radical prostatectomy (RP) is one such procedure that has seen multiple advances over the past decade. The objective of this study was to leverage RP as an index case to determine whether practice changes over time produced observable improvements in patient-reported outcomes. METHODS This study analyzed patients undergoing RP by experienced surgeons at a tertiary care center with prospectively maintained patient-reported outcome data from 2008 to 2019. Four patient-reported urinary function outcomes at 6 and 12 months after RP were defined with a validated instrument: good urinary function (domain score ≥ 17), no incontinence (0 pads per day), social continence (≤1 pad per day), and severe incontinence (≥3 pads per day). Multivariable logistic regressions evaluated changes in outcomes based on the surgical date. RESULTS Among 3945 patients meeting the inclusion criteria, excellent urinary outcomes were reported throughout the decade but without consistent observable improvements over time. Specifically, there were no improvements in good urinary function at 12 months (P = .087) based on the surgical date, and there were countervailing effects on no incontinence (worsening; P = .005) versus severe incontinence (improving; P = .003). Neither approach (open, laparoscopic, or robotic), nor nerve sparing, nor membranous urethral length mediated changes in outcomes. CONCLUSIONS In a decade with multiple advances in surgical and postoperative care, there was evidence of improvements in severe incontinence, but no measurable improvements across 3 other urinary outcomes. Although worsening disease factors could contribute to the stable observed outcomes, a more systematic approach to evaluating techniques and implementing patient selection and postoperative care advances is needed. LAY SUMMARY Although there have been advances in radical prostatectomy over the past decade, consistent observable improvements in postoperative incontinence were not reported by patients. To improve urinary function outcomes beyond the current high standard, the approach to studying innovations in surgical technique needs to be changed, and further development of other aspects of prostatectomy care is needed.
Negotiating a staging and risk factor scoring system for gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. A progress report.

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the current problems in establishing a unified staging and risk factor scoring system for trophoblastic disease under the auspices of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). STUDY DESIGN: To present a history of the classifications of trophoblastic disease and compare these with the proposals presented to FIGO by the International Society for the Study of Trophoblastic Disease, the International Gynecologic Cancer Society and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. RESULTS: The situation concerning the proposed 2000 FIGO trophoblast classification was resolved by FIGO's acceptance of the recommendations outlined in this paper. CONCLUSION: There is a scientific and clinical need for FIGO to adopt the recommendations of the majority of physicians with expertise in treating trophoblastic disease for a rational classification of trophoblastic disease. It is gratifying that FIGO has done so.
New Television, Old Politics: The Transition to Digital TV in the United States and Britain

List of figures and tables Preface and acknowledgements List of acronyms and abbreviations Part I. A Political Economy of Digital TV: 1. Introduction 2. Why digital TV? Part II. The American Road to Digital TV: 3. The genesis of broadcast regulation in the United States 4. HDTV comes to America 5. A new bargain 6. A long journey Part III. The British Road to Digital TV: 7. The European context 8. The birth and evolution of analog TV in the United Kingdom 9. Being first: the Digital TV race 10. Murdoch phobia? 11. Digital TV and the new Labour Part IV. New Television, Old Politics: 12. One goal, many paths 13. Explaining national variations in digital TV policies 14. Conclusion: the regulation of digital communications and the resilience of national regimes References Index.