cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Three-dimensional optical tomographic dynamic imaging of small tissue volumes

We have developed a system for acquiring three-dimensional dynamic images of small tissue volumes. As a first example we explored the real-time response of changes in optical properties inside a human finger caused by partial occlusion of distal veins.
Relation of a Large Soil-Borne Spore to Phycomycetous Mycorrhizal Infections

A large, yellow, one-celled spore 291–812μ in diameter was found to be common in Illinois soils. Inoculation studies showed that it causes a mycorrhizal infection of the phycomycete type. The appea...
Foster care, geographic neighborhood change, and the risk of delinquency

Abstract Background and purpose Previous studies report that foster care placement is associated with an increased risk of delinquency. Yet it remains unclear which aspects of the placement experience increase the risk of delinquency. The current study addresses this knowledge gap. This study investigates the relationship between geographic neighborhood change and the risk of delinquency for adolescents in foster care settings. Based on findings from the neighborhood effects literatures, we hypothesize that moving to a neighborhood characterized by concentrated disadvantage and residential instability is associated with increased risk of delinquency. Methods The design for the current study is longitudinal. The sample is comprised of 145 foster youth from two birth cohorts, one born in 1983 and one in 1984, in Chicago, Illinois. The sample was 92% African American and 52% male. Overall, 11% had an official juvenile arrest. We used data from multiple sources, including the 1990 census data and administrative data from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County Juvenile Court. To measure neighborhood change, we calculated a difference between children's home and placement neighborhoods on ten census variables: percentages of households in a given neighborhood that were below the poverty line, neighborhood households on public assistance, female-headed households, unemployed population, and persons Results The results indicate that moving to a neighborhood with high residential instability significantly increases an individual's risk of juvenile delinquency. In addition, two subgroups—male foster youth; and all foster youth with an experience of neglect—are significantly more likely to be associated with a formal delinquency petition. Conclusions and implications The current study is unique and builds the knowledge base with regard to the placement of children and adolescents in substitute care settings. The findings indicate that the neighborhoods in which children are placed do matter in terms of their outcomes, and thus they should be considered in the placement decision process. This finding is consistent with the “person-in-environment” concept advanced by social work professionals.
Activation of intravascular coagulation by collagen.

SummaryThe activation of Factor XII (Hageman Factor) by bovine collagen has been studied in vitro and in vivo. Alkaline eluates obtained from collagen exposed to human and rabbit plasma contained Factors XII and XI, and were found to shorten markedly the whole blood clotting time of rabbits in vivo and in vitro. Formation of stasis thrombi could also be demonstrated in rabbits following injection of collagen eluates. The possible significance of collagen-induced Factor XII activation in the mechanism of hemostasis and thrombosis is discussed.
Improving the Patron Experience: Sterling Memorial Library's Single Service Point.

ABSTRACTThis article describes the planning process and implementation of a single service point at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library. While much recent scholarship on single service points (SSPs) has focused on the virtues or hazards of eliminating reference desks in libraries nationwide, this essay explores the ways in which single service points can improve the patron experience by bringing together circulation, information services, and library privileges. It begins with an overview of the process at Sterling, including the library renovation that enabled our transition. After laying out the planning, training, and implementation phases of the single service point, the essay presents the major issues with which SSPs must contend (staff expertise, integration within the library, and designing a space to suit both staff and patrons) and considers the potential of such service points to improve library services.
The Co-evolution of Neuroimaging and Psychiatric Neurosurgery.

The role of neuroimaging in psychiatric neurosurgery has evolved significantly throughout the field’s history. Psychiatric neurosurgery initially developed without the benefit of information provided by modern imaging modalities, and thus lesion targets were selected based on contemporary theories of frontal lobe dysfunction in psychiatric disease. However, by the end of the twentieth century, the availability of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging allowed for the development of mechanistic theories attempting to explain the anatamofunctional basis of these disorders, as well as the efficacy of stereotactic neuromodulatory treatments. Neuroimaging now plays a central and ever-expanding role in the neurosurgical management of psychiatric disorders, by influencing the determination of surgical candidates, allowing individualized surgical targeting and planning, and identifying network-level changes in the brain following surgery. In this review, we aim to describe the coevolution of psychiatric neurosurgery and neuroimaging, including ways in which neuroimaging has proved useful in elucidating the therapeutic mechanisms of neuromodulatory procedures. We focus on ablative over stimulation-based procedures given their historical precedence and the greater opportunity they afford for post-operative re-imaging, but also discuss important contributions from the deep brain stimulation (DBS) literature. We conclude with a discussion of how neuroimaging will transition the field of psychiatric neurosurgery into the era of precision medicine.
Management of Giant Cervical Teratoma with Intracranial Extension Diagnosed in Utero

Cervical teratomas are rare germ cell tumors affecting the fetus that are associated with significant morbidity and mortality due to an increased risk of airway obstruction at delivery. These tumors can commonly produce polyhydramnios that results from the fetus' impaired ability to swallow amniotic fluid. Improved rates of prenatal diagnosis through comprehensive evaluations and imaging have dramatically impacted the perinatal management of infants with this condition. Here, we report a patient diagnosed with polyhydramnios whose fetus was discovered to have a giant cervical teratoma on imaging studies. The child underwent surgical resection after having the airway secured under the uteroplacental support as part of an ex utero intrapartum treatment procedure performed at 37 weeks. The following gross pathological and magnetic resonance images demonstrate this condition and its currently accepted treatment.
Civil Society in Transition, Consolidation, and Regression: A Comparative Analysis

The study of five African nations’ civil society and political history in the preceding chapters has found surprisingly similar results. Civil society was found to have generally positive effects on democratization although that was not always the case. In whichever democratic direction the country went, the trends in civil society were consistent. This correlation is consistent enough that one could predict the democratic direction of the state based on an observation of the strength and composition of its civil society. One could also tell what kind of characteristics in civil society supports democratization. Civil society organizations played a central role in bringing about all the successful transitions and have also played a positive role in consolidating democracy. This chapter summarizes the common trends observed in these states and highlights differences between them. In this process, key findings and arguments made in the previous chapters regarding the study’s hypothesis are restated and elaborated in comparative mode.
Facial Expression Recognition in the Presence of Speech Using Blind Lexical Compensation

During spontaneous conversations the articulation process as well as the internal emotional states influence the facial configurations. Inferring the conveyed emotions from the information presented in facial expressions requires decoupling the linguistic and affective messages in the face. Normalizing and compensating for the underlying lexical content have shown improvement in recognizing facial expressions. However, this requires the transcription and phoneme alignment information, which is not available in broad range of applications. This study uses the asymmetric bilinear factorization model to perform the decoupling of linguistic and affective information when they are not given. The emotion recognition evaluations on the IEMOCAP database show the capability of the proposed approach in separating these factors in facial expressions, yielding statistically significant performance improvements. The achieved improvement is similar to the case when the ground truth phonetic transcription is known. Similarly, experiments on the SEMAINE database using image-based features demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique in practical scenarios.
Distributed NAStore as the next step

The authors describe the goals and requirements that have shaped the emerging NAStore 3 design. They describe the current form of the design, which employs the Bitfile Server interface and the Bitfile Server's Migration Manager to create a transparent distributed file system. They describe how the UNIX system can be modified to work jointly with other UNIX systems to create a distributed file system while continuing to work independently as it does now. They also describe how the NAStore 3 design builds upon NAStore 2 and upon the U.C. Berkeley Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) research. Finally, they outline the prototype construction and system implementation steps to be taken leading to a production NAStore 3 system. >
Fibroblast Growth Requires CT10 Regulator of Kinase (Crk) and Crk-like (CrkL)

CT10 regulator of kinase (Crk) and Crk-like (CrkL) are the cellular counterparts of the viral oncogene v-Crk. Elevated levels of Crk and CrkL have been observed in many human cancers; inhibition of Crk and CrkL expression reduced the tumor-forming potential of cancer cell lines. Despite a close relationship between the Crk family proteins and tumorigenesis, how Crk and CrkL contribute to cell growth is unclear. We ablated endogenous Crk and CrkL from cultured fibroblasts carrying floxed alleles of Crk and CrkL by transfection with synthetic Cre mRNA (synCre). Loss of Crk and CrkL induced by synCre transfection blocked cell proliferation and caused shrinkage of the cytoplasm and the nucleus, formation of adherens junctions, and reduced cell motility. Ablation of Crk or CrkL alone conferred a much more modest reduction in cell proliferation. Reintroduction of CrkI, CrkII, or CrkL individually rescued cell proliferation in the absence of the endogenous Crk and CrkL, suggesting that Crk and CrkL play overlapping functions in regulating fibroblast growth. Serum and basic FGF induced phosphorylation of Akt, MAP kinases, and S6 kinase and Fos expression in the absence of Crk and CrkL, suggesting that cells lacking Crk and CrkL are capable of initiating major signal transduction pathways in response to extracellular stimuli. Furthermore, cell cycle and cell death analyses demonstrated that fibroblasts lacking Crk and CrkL become arrested at the G1-S transition and undergo a modest apoptosis. Taken together, our results suggest that Crk and CrkL play essential overlapping roles in fibroblast growth.
A Geršgorin theory for robust microgrid stability analysis

A robust stability assessment approach is presented to efficiently estimate eigenvalues in microgrids in the presence of bounded uncertainties. Through this method, all possible locations of eigenvalues can be directly obtained, which makes repeatedly eigenvalue calculation unnecessary when dealing with uncertainties. More importantly, a quasi-diagonalization technique is established to reduce the conservativeness of the Gersgorin theory. Extensive tests show that the new method enables highly efficient analysis on impact levels of disturbances and offers a useful tool for droop coefficients design which facilitates microgrids stable operation. Besides, test results show that the Gersgorin theory based approach can be effectively combined with other methods to obtain more accurate solutions. These salient features make the new method a powerful tool for planning, operating, and designing future microgrids.
Acceptability, Shrinkage and Microbial Growth of Vacuum Packaged Pork Comparing Intact Packages, Leaking Packages and Roasts Sprayed with Sodium Hypochlorite.

Fifty four boneless pork loin roasts from three slaughter sessions were assigned to three treatments: (A) roasts sprayed with sodium hypochlorite (200 ppm) prior to vacuum packaging (sprayed), (B) roasts vacuum packaged and mechanically punctured (leaker), and (C) roasts vacuum packaged (control). Roasts within treatments were assigned to six storage (2.8 ± 1°C) intervals (24 h to 5 weeks). Shrinkage was greater (P<.05) for roasts in leaker bags and roasts sprayed with sodium hypochlorite than for the controls. An increase in tenderness was observed up to the first week of storage and roasts from swine 3 months older were less tender throughout the experiment. The roasts stored in the leaker bags were rated lower (P<.05) than the roasts from intact bags for all sensory panel traits. The panel members were unable to detect differences (P<.05) between samples from the intact vacuum stored roasts for up to the fourth week (treatment A and C); however, small pinholes (treatment B-leaker) caused the roasts to ...
Don't Waste Your Emotions: The Impact Of Price And Advertising Appeals In Services

Promoting services through advertising is different and more challenging compared to product advertising, as services possess intangible qualities (Stafford and Day 1995). Research has recognized that services require different advertising strategies than those of products (Cutler and Javalgi 1993). Assuring customers of service quality before the service experience make tangible cues important in services marketing. Even though tangible cues have been shown to be particularly important for services advertising as it can help the pre-purchase assessment of the service through the psychical representation of the attributes in the servicescape (Legg and Baker 1987; Reimer and Kuehn 2005), researchers have found that emotional appeals may result in more positive reactions from advertisements (Goldberg and Gorn 1987). Emotional appeals are thought to be more important in services compared to goods advertising since the consumption experience cannot be easily evaluated pre-purchase (Zeithaml et al. 1985). Therefore, services advertising often rely on the intangible cues found in emotional appeals.
Preoperative Prediction of Node-Negative Disease After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients Presenting with Node-Negative or Node-Positive Breast Cancer

Axillary node status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) influences the axillary surgical staging procedure as well as recommendations regarding reconstruction and radiation. Our aim was to construct a clinical preoperative prediction model to identify the likelihood of patients being node negative after NAC. Using the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from January 2010 to December 2012, we identified cT1–T4c, N0–N3 breast cancer patients treated with NAC. The effects of patient and tumor factors on pathologic node status were assessed by multivariable logistic regression separately for clinically node negative (cN0) and clinically node positive (cN+) disease, and two models were constructed. Model performance was validated in a cohort of NAC patients treated at our institution (January 2013–July 2016), and model discrimination was assessed by estimating the area under the curve (AUC). Of 16,153 NCDB patients, 6659 (41%) were cN0 and 9494 (59%) were cN+. Factors associated with pathologic nodal status and included in the models were patient age, tumor grade, biologic subtype, histology, clinical tumor category, and, in cN+ patients only, clinical nodal category. The validation dataset included 194 cN0 and 180 cN+ patients. The cN0 model demonstrated good discrimination, with an AUC of 0.73 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72–0.74) in the NCDB and 0.77 (95% CI 0.68–0.85) in the external validation, while the cN+ patient model AUC was 0.71 (95% CI 0.70–0.72) in the NCDB and 0.74 (95% CI 0.67–0.82) in the external validation. We constructed two models that showed good discrimination for predicting ypN0 status following NAC in cN0 and cN+ patients. These clinically useful models can guide surgical planning after NAC.
Risk and Adversity, Parenting Quality, and Children's Social-Emotional Adjustment in Families Experiencing Homelessness.

A multimethod, multi-informant design was used to examine links among sociodemographic risk, family adversity, parenting quality, and child adjustment in families experiencing homelessness. Participants were 245 homeless parents (Mage = 31.0, 63.6% African American) and their 4- to 6-year-old children (48.6% male). Path analyses revealed unique associations by risk domain: Higher sociodemographic risk predicted more externalizing behavior and poorer teacher–child relationships, whereas higher family adversity predicted more internalizing behavior. Parenting quality was positively associated with peer acceptance and buffered effects of family adversity on internalizing symptoms, consistent with a protective effect. Parenting quality was associated with lower externalizing behavior only when sociodemographic risk was below the sample mean. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Natural cytotoxicity by hamster lymphoid cells for virus-infected and transformed cells.

Cell-mediated immunity is a significant aspect of the host response to herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. Several investigators have shown that adoptive transfer of immune T lymphocytes will protect mice against virus challenge (1,2,3). More recently, in vitro studies have shown that draining lymph node (4,5) or spleen cells (6) from virus-sensitized hosts were specifically cytotoxic for HSV-infected cells. Substantial levels of lysis usually were not seen, however, unless the effector cells, identified as T lymphocytes (6,7) first had experienced some form of experimental manipulation such as incubation in vitro for a number of days.
Improving Cardiovascular Disease Knowledge among Rural Participants: The Results of a Cluster Randomized Trial.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death and disability, especially among people living in the rural, southern United States. Rural African Americans are often diagnosed with CVD earlier in life, and they bear a disproportionate burden of CVD risk factors, morbidity, and mortality. Health equity among historically underserved, rural populations can potentially be attained through culturally relevant interventions that teach people skills to stay well and avoid CVD-related risk and diagnoses. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to determine the effect of an evidence-based intervention on cardiovascular health knowledge and the stages of change toward the action and maintenance phases. The pre-test-post-test data were obtained during a cluster randomized trial involving twelve rural churches that were randomized to intervention (n = 6) and control (n = 6) groups. Participants (n = 115) in the intervention group received a cardiovascular health intervention, and those (n = 114) in the control group could receive the intervention following the study’s completion. The data were analyzed using a linear mixed model to compare group differences from pre-test to post-test. The cardiovascular health promotion intervention significantly improved cardiovascular health knowledge and was associated with advancements in the stages of change toward the action and maintenance phases.
Towards a General Relation Browser: A GUI for Information Architects

The paper presents the case of ongoing efforts to develop and test generalizable user interfaces that provide interactive overviews for large-scale Web sites, portals, and other partitions of Web space. The interfaces are called Relation Browsers (RB) because they help people explore the relationships across different attribute sets, thus enabling understanding the scope and extent of the corpus through active exploration of different "slices" defined by different attribute value juxtapositions. The RB concept is illustrated through discussion of six iterations over a five year period that included laboratory usability studies, a field test, and implementations with a variety of data management problems. The current application to design concepts in a digital government setting is discussed, and the concept of the RB as the basis for an interface server is presented.
Safety of Food and Beverages: Risks of Food Adulteration

Food adulteration risk – including food defense incidents, intended to harm or commit food fraud motivated by economic gain – is growing in scope, scale, and threat. The adulteration risks are direct, indirect, and technical. Public health vulnerability in each case is because the production operation is probably not following good manufacturing practices. Examples of fraud include melamine in milk, carcinogen colorants in foods, dilution of fruit juices, species swapping of seafood, unauthorized repackaging, tax-avoidance smuggling, or the sale of stolen goods. The topic is examined not only from the perspective of the adulteration result, but also considering the cause or motivation.
Abstract 20004: Long-term Risk of Mortality, Aortic Dissection and Thoracic Aortic Surgery After Isolated Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients With Bicuspid and Tricuspid Aortic Valves

Introduction: The natural history of aortopathy after isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) in patients with bicuspid aortic valves (BAV) is not well characterized. Hypothesis: The incidence of dissection and thoracic aortic surgery after isolated AVR in patients with BAV is higher than in patients with tricuspid valves. Methods: From 1995-2010, 2,203 bicuspid and 1,436 rheumatic tricuspid patients undergoing isolated AVR were identified from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System which captures all inpatient admissions and emergency visits to every hospital in New York State. Deaths were identified from the Social Security Death Master File. Kaplan-Meier analysis of survival and competing risk analysis of aortic dissection and thoracic aortic surgery was performed. Results: BAV patients were younger than tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) patients (52.0 vs. 64.2 years, p<0.001). Survival at 15 years after AVR was 77% versus 58%, respectively (p<0.001). During median follow up of 8.0 years (range 0-19.0 years), aortic dissection occurred in 9 BAV patients versus 4 TAV patients. The 15-year cumulative incidence of dissection after AVR in BAV patients was 0.7% versus 0.4% in TAV patients (p=0.28) (Figure 1). Thoracic aortic surgery was performed in 33 BAV patients versus 9 TAV patients. The 15-year cumulative incidence of thoracic aortic surgery was 3.1% in BAV patients versus 1.1% in TAV patients (p<0.001) (Figure 2). Conclusions: Patients undergoing isolated AVR of bicuspid valves are at greater long-term risk of aortic dissection and thoracic aortic surgery than patients with tricuspid valves, and should be considered for life-long surveillance. ![][1] ![][2] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif [2]: /embed/graphic-2.gif
Symptomatic Pneumocephalus Occurring Years after Transphenoidal Surgery and Radiation Therapy for an Invasive Pituitary Tumor: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

We present the unusual case of a patient who experienced a CSF leak and subsequent pneumocephalus several years after transphenoidal surgery and radiation treatment for an ACTH secreting pituitary tumor. This patient underwent aggressive management including placement of a lumbar drain, and reoperation to stop her leak. Despite these efforts, her leak persisted resulting in significant tension pneumocephalus. Pneumocephalus is a rare but important potential complication of transphenoidal surgery. Here we discuss our management of this patient's condition, and review the existing literature.
Uptake of a fluorescence imaging agent in an orthotopic glioblastoma using fluorescence molecular tomography

We reported the uptake value of a near-infrared imaging agent in an orthotopic glioma mouse models. The imaging agent was IRDy680®. The mice were injected with a trace amount of this imaging agent and imaged on a magnetic resonance imaging device that is coupled with a fluorescence imaging tomography system. By applying a reconstruction method, at each time point, we got a single value for the uptake of this imaging agent in the tumor region. The mean of the uptake values in the mice is reported here.
Change in knowledge and attitude about HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2017: an analysis of national survey data

Abstract Background People's knowledge of and attitude to HIV/AIDS are key contributors to the success of public-health interventions. However, evidence on country-level HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes is still scarce across sub-Saharan countries. To address this knowledge gap, we have gathered evidence to estimate national trends in HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitude from 1990 to 2017 across 46 sub-Saharan African countries. Methods We retrieved national surveys that have indicators of HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitude from Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx). There are ten indicators of knowledge of HIV transmission and risk reduction and four indicators that reflect attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS. We extracted individual-level data on knowledge and attitude in a systematic and consistent way and collapsed these into country-level estimates. Multi-level multiple imputation was used to impute missing indicators on country level and we used spatial-temporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) to estimate the trend of each indicator in each country. Findings We included 313 national surveys in the study. From 1990 to 2017, most knowledge indicators slightly increased across all countries. However, the trends of knowledge on HIV mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy vary between countries, with significant decreasing trends in 18 of 46 countries including Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia. For the attitude factors, we noted that the factors “willing to frequent a HIV-positive vendor”, “willing to take care of a HIV-positive family members in the house”, and “belief that a HIV-positive teacher should continue to work” all increased across countries. However, across the study period, people have become more reluctant to reveal a family member's positive status. In addition, our results indicate that men are slightly more knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS than are women. Interpretation In sub-Saharan African countries, knowledge of HIV/AIDS increased slightly between 1990 and 2017, with people becoming more accepting of people with HIV/AIDS. Of concern is that knowledge about prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during pregnancy has not been improving as much, and is even decreasing in some countries. Of similar concern is that people are now less likely to reveal a family member's positive HIV status, suggesting that discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS is still persistent and may be becoming worse. Efforts and resources are still needed to turn the tide in these areas. Funding US National Institutes of Health and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
A comparison of the personal and neighborhood characteristics associated with ridesourcing, transit use, and driving with NHTS data

Abstract The opportunity to conduct an overarching national study to examine the characteristics of ridesourcing users and their neighborhoods was absent until the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) dataset was released in 2018. As the 2017 NHTS combines ridesourcing with taxi and limo in the trip file, ridesourcing trip characteristics cannot be separately analyzed. Thus, the paper examines the characteristics of users and neighborhoods associated with ridesourcing trip frequency from the person file, defined as the number of rides taken in 30 days. Because the public-use NHTS dataset includes only limited information about the neighborhoods where the respondents live, additional data from the NHTS DOT files were analyzed so that the characteristics of the neighborhoods could be fully comprehended. In an effort to examine the proximity of those neighborhoods to public transit stations and stops, GIS data on transit stations and stops were analyzed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the US Department of Homeland Security. A zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model was used to identify the variables associated with ridesourcing trip frequency. Two similar models were used to identify the variables associated with public transit trip frequency and annual vehicle miles driven. The analysis showed that the direction of the effects of the personal and neighborhood characteristics on ridesourcing and transit trip frequency is mostly similar, but often dissimilar to their effects on miles driven. A significant finding of this research is that people living near transit stations/stops use ridesourcing more frequently.
Teriparatide treatment increases Hounsfield units in the lumbar spine out of proportion to DEXA changes

Objective The authors sought to assess whether Hounsfield units (HU) increase following teriparatide treatment and to compare HU increases with changes in bone mineral density (BMD) as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Methods A retrospective chart review was performed from 1997 to 2018 across all campuses at our institution. The authors identified patients who had been treated with at least 6 months of teriparatide and compared HU and BMD as measured on DEXA scans before and after treatment. Results Fifty-two patients were identified for analysis (46 women and 6 men, average age 67 years) who underwent an average of 20.9 ± 6.5 months of teriparatide therapy. The mean ± standard deviation HU increase throughout the lumbar spine (L1-4) was from 109.8 ± 53 to 133.9 ± 61 HU (+22%, 95% CI 1.2-46, p value = 0.039). Based on DEXA results, lumbar spine BMD increased from 0.85 to 0.93 g/cm2 (+9%, p value = 0.044). Lumbar spine T-scores improved from -2.4 ± 1.5 to -1.7 ± 1.5 (p value = 0.03). Average femoral neck T-scores improved from -2.5 ± 1.1 to -2.3 ± 1.0 (p value = 0.31). Conclusions Teriparatide treatment increased both HU and BMD on DEXA in the lumbar spine, without a change in femoral BMD. The 22% improvement in HU surpassed the 9% improvement determined with DEXA. These results support some surgeons' subjective sense that intraoperative bone quality following teriparatide treatment is better than indicated by DEXA results. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating an increase in HU with teriparatide treatment.
Efficient Homology-directed Repair with Circular ssDNA Donors

While genome editing has been revolutionized by the advent of CRISPR-based nucleases, difficulties in achieving efficient, nuclease-mediated, homology-directed repair (HDR) still limit many applications. Commonly used DNA donors such as plasmids suffer from low HDR efficiencies in many cell types, as well as integration at unintended sites. In contrast, single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) donors can produce efficient HDR with minimal off-target integration. Here, we describe the use of ssDNA phage to efficiently and inexpensively produce long circular ssDNA (cssDNA) donors. These cssDNA donors serve as efficient HDR templates when used with Cas9 or Cas12a, with integration frequencies superior to linear ssDNA (lssDNA) donors. To evaluate the relative efficiencies of imprecise and precise repair for a suite of different Cas9 or Cas12a nucleases, we have developed a modified Traffic Light Reporter (TLR) system [TLR-Multi-Cas Variant 1 (MCV1)] that permits side-by-side comparisons of different nuclease systems. We used this system to assess editing and HDR efficiencies of different nuclease platforms with distinct DNA donor types. We then extended the analysis of DNA donor types to evaluate efficiencies of fluorescent tag knock-ins at endogenous sites in HEK293T and K562 cells. Our results show that cssDNA templates produce efficient and robust insertion of reporter tags. Targeting efficiency is high, allowing production of biallelic integrants using cssDNA donors. cssDNA donors also outcompete lssDNA donors in template-driven repair at the target site. These data demonstrate that circular donors provide an efficient, cost-effective method to achieve knock-ins in mammalian cell lines.
Interpretive approaches to culture: Understanding and investigating children’s psychological development

While psychologists increasingly recognize the role of cultural processes in children’s psychological development, few analyze these cultural processes directly. This paper demonstrates how such cu...
Neural indicators of sexual objectification: an examination of the late positive potential (LPP), sexual objectification, and the body-inversion effect

In Western cultures, sexualized women are frequently viewed as if they were objects rather than people (i.e., dehumanized). Researchers have reported an inversion effect in which images of sexualiz...
Intelligibility of first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) speech by switched-dominance Spanish-English bilinguals

Recordings of Spanish and English sentences by switched-dominance bilingual (SDB) Spanish (i.e., L2-dominant Spanish-English bilinguals) and by L1-dominant Spanish and English controls were presented to L1-dominant Spanish and English listeners, respectively. At –4 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Spanish and English productions by SDBs were equally intelligible with both reaching L1-dominant control levels. At –8 dB SNR, SDB English intelligibility matched that of L1-dominant English controls, yet SDB Spanish intelligibility was significantly lower than that of L1-dominant Spanish controls. These results emphasize that extended (but not early) exposure is both necessary and sufficient for robust speech learning.
Building Your Own Neuroscience Equipment: A Precision Micromanipulator and an Epi-fluorescence Microscope for Calcium Imaging

A faculty member's ability to develop meaningful research-oriented laboratories in neurobiology is often hampered by the rapid pace of new technologies and the increasing cost of equipment. To help undergraduate neuroscience faculty meet these challenges, we introduce two important neuroscience research tools we designed and built. The first is a precision micromanipulator for neurophysiology applications costing less than $40 USD. We compare data generated using the DIY manipulator with commercial micromanipulators costing over $1000. The second tool is our newly designed 3D printed epi-fluorescence microscope. Commercial fluorescence imaging devices often cost over $20,000, but our 3D printed version is constructed for less than $1200. This epi-fluorescence microscope uses interchangeable LED light sources and filter sets to image static fluorescence in prepared slides and calcium imaging of neuronal activity in living Drosophila brains. This later technique uses transgenic flies with a genetically encoded calcium indicator, GCaMP, linked to green fluorescent protein (GFP). During an action potential, calcium ions (Ca2+) enter neurons and are observed as an increase in fluorescence intensity from a series of video images. These neuronal firing patterns can be assessed qualitatively and quantitatively to understand neural circuits leading to specific behaviors. We plan to develop curricula around the use of the epi-fluorescence microscope for calcium imaging in the next year, and to provide detailed parts sources and construction guides for the student and faculty DIY experience.
The Future of Simulations in Materials Science

The early part of the 21st century is rapidly developing into the era of man-made “materials by design.” The full realization of this situation requires the requisite understanding of the microscopic origins of diverse phenomena and the subsequent incorporation of this knowledge into the process which leads to the production of new materials. The optimum approach to scientific research now often requires the interplay between theory, experiment, and simulation as shown schematically in Fig. 1 below. Of course, each vertex of this triangular array represents a spectrum of different methods, some of which are more sensitive than others. From the perspective of computer simulations the situation has been brightening rapidly with the passage of time. Nevertheless, even with the dramatic increase in algorithmic sophistication and computer speed that has occurred during the past several decades, the treatment of models with large numbers of atoms is quite difficult. Moreover, because of the need to examine diverse, imperfect systems over wide ranges of temperature and other applied “fields,” it is quite likely that fully classical simulations employing approximate potentials will continue to play an exceedingly important role for a number of years to come. Heretofore, these potentials have been empirical; but because of the limitations of many such potentials, the interplay between quantum studies of smaller systems and the extraction of more fundamentally based and quantitatively accurate effective interactions for classical simulations will become increasingly important.
Induction of apoptosis in MCF-7: WS8 breast cancer cells by β-Lapachone

Beta-lapachone (beta-lap) affects a number of enzymes in vitro, including type I topoisomerase (Topo I); however, its exact intracellular target(s) and mechanism of cell killing remain unknown. We compared the cytotoxic responses of MCF-7:WS8 (MCF-7) human breast cancer cells after 4-h pulses of beta-lap or camptothecin (CPT), a known Topo I poison. A direct correlation between loss of survival and apoptosis was seen after beta-lap treatment (LD50 = 2.5 microM). A concentration-dependent, transient sub-2 N preapoptotic cell population was observed at 4-8 h. Estrogen deprivation-induced synchronization and bromodeoxyuridine-labeling studies revealed an apoptotic exit point near the G1-S border. Apoptosis activated by beta-lap was closely correlated with cleavage of lamin B but not with increases in p53/p21 or decreases in bcl-2. Loss of hyperphosphorylated forms of the retinoblastoma protein was observed within 5 h, but cyclins A, B1, and E levels were unaltered for up to 72 h after 5 microM beta-lap. Topo I and Topo IIalpha levels decreased at > 24 h. Logarithmic-phase MCF-7 cells were not affected by 5 microM CPT arrested at key cell cycle checkpoints (i.e., G1, S, and G2-M), with little or no movement for 6 days. Ten-fold increases in p53/p21 and 2-5-fold decreases in bcl-2, Topo I, Topo IIalpha, and cyclins A and B1, with no change in cyclin E, were observed. Temporal decreases in bcl-2 and cleavage of lamin B corresponded to the minimal apoptotic response observed. Beta-lap activated apoptosis without inducing p53/p21 or cell cycle arrest responses and killed MCF-7 cells solely by apoptosis. In contrast, concentration-dependent increases in nuclear p53/p21 and various cell cycle checkpoint arrests were seen in MCF-7 cells after CPT. Despite dramatic p53/p21 protein induction responses, CPT-treated MCF-7 cells showed low levels of apoptosis, possibly due to protective cell cycle checkpoints or the lack of specific CPT-activated apoptotic pathways in MCF-7 cells.
Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Unsolicited Commercial E-mail and Postal Direct Mail Marketing Methods

ABSTRACTUsing Psychological Reactance as the framework, this study sought to understand consumer attitudes towards two major direct marketing techniques: unsolicited commercial e-mail and postal direct mail. In particular, audience perceptions of advertising intrusiveness, perceived loss of control (as conceptualized by Psychological Reactance), and irritation regarding the direct marketing techniques were investigated. The results of this survey study (N=119) indicated that recipients perceived unsolicited e-mails as more intrusive and irritating than postal direct mail. This study contributed to the theory of Psychological Reactance by indicating that recipients did not feel a loss of control regarding spam, thus Psychological Reactance was not fully supported in the context of these marketing communication techniques. Suggestions for direct marketing practitioners conclude the paper.
Somatic Cell Genetics

Somatic cell genetics make use of paragenetic mechanisms such as cell hybridization and chromosome segregation to analyse complex mammalian genomes. Keywords: chromosome; isozyme; cell hybrid; gene transfer; gene mapping; transgenic mouse
Science policy and moral purity: The case of animal biotechnology

Public controversy over animalbiotechnology is analyzed as a case that illustratestwo broad theoretical approaches for linking science,political or ethical theory, and public policy. Moralpurification proceeds by isolating the social,environmental, animal, and human health impacts ofbiotechnology from each other in terms of discretecategories of moral significance. Each of thesecategories can also be isolated from the sense inwhich biotechnology raises religious or metaphysicalissues. Moral purification yields a comprehensive andsystematic account of normative issues raised bycontroversial science. Hybridization proceeds bytaking concern for all these elements to be a mark ofsound moral character. The advocate of hybridizationinfers that those who employ a strategy ofpurification seek to avoid accountability by dividingissues, and hence are not to be trusted. Lack of trustincreases perceived risk and challenges the legitimacyof government regulations to control social,environmental, and human health risks that areestablished under separate mandate, and administeredby separate agencies.The close alignment between government agencies, theiracademic affines, and the categories of purificationplaces the purified analysis in a favored politicalposition. Legitimation of science-based policy inareas like animal biotechnology becomes problematicbecause the concern of those who would take a hybridapproach (arguably the majority of lay persons) tounderstanding controversial science are excluded.Ironically, this exclusion heightens the perception ofrisk from animal biotechnology. The paper concludeswith a call for procedural approaches to incorporatingthe hybrid view of science‘s moral significance.
Plasmid DNA Encoding IFN-α1 Antagonizes Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Ocular Infection Through CD4 + and CD8 + T Lymphocytes

The present study was undertaken to further characterize the anti-viral efficacy of a plasmid DNA encoding IFN-α1 against ocular herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection. In mice ocularly treated with plasmid DNA encoding IFN-α1, the efficacy of the transgene was inversely proportional to the amount of virus used to infect the mice. Ocular treatment of mice with the IFN-α1 transgene was the only mucosal route tested that showed efficacy against ocular HSV-1 infection compared with vaginal or intranasal delivery. Mice treated with the plasmid DNA encoding IFN-α1 showed a significant reduction in viral Ag expression in the eyes and trigeminal ganglion that correlated with a reduction in immune cell infiltration into the cornea and iris on days 3 and 6 postinfection, as evidenced by immunohistochemical staining. Depleting mice of either CD4 + or CD8 + T lymphocytes completely blocked the resistance to herpes simplex virus type 1-induced mortality in mice treated with the IFN-α1 transgene. In the absence of infection, the application of naked DNA encoding IFN-α1 significantly increased the levels of IL-6- and IFN-γ-inducible protein 10 transcript expression in the corneas 24 h post-treatment. Expression of the plasmid construct following topical application in the eye included the rectus muscles proximal to the cornea as well as the spleen. Collectively, the protective efficacy of the IFN-α1 transgene against ocular HSV-1 infection is dependent upon the local or distal participation of CD4 + and CD8 + T lymphocytes early in the course of the infection, suggesting an indirect effect of the transgene against HSV-1-induced mortality.
Effective treatment of dysmenorrhea and menstrual molimina by the preovulatory administration of methyltestosterone or methylandrostenediol.

Abstract Methyltestosterone, 10 mg. three times a day, or methylandrostenediol, 25 mg. twice a day, was administered before ovulation by oral ingestion to a series of patients with dysmenorrhea and premenstrual tension. Either preparation was started 4 to 6 days before the expected day of ovulation and given for 6 to 8 days. Fifty-three patients with dysmenorrhea and/or premenstrual tension received methyltestosterone while 16 additional patients with comparable symptoms were placed on methylandrostenediol therapy. Both preparations were therapeutically effective and similar in action. The preovulatory use of ethinyltestosterone, on the other hand, did not prove to be effective in controlling dysmenorrhea. The advantage of methyltestosterone or methylandrostenediol over the previous preovulatory use of estrogens in the treatment of dysmenorrhea is that ovulation is not inhibited by the androgens despite the attainment of relief of menstrual pain. This is supported by the fact that a secretory endometrium, an ovulatory rise in body temperature, and several pregnancies were noted after the preovulatory administrations of these androgens in the doses employed. Methylandrostenediol, perhaps, has the added advantage in that arrhenomimetic phenomena following its use in the above dose levels are improbable. Both preparations proved to be effective when used in successive and repeated cycles, and their use was not associated with any disturbance in regularity of subsequent menstrual periods. The possible mechanism involved in the control of dysmenorrhea by the above androgens was not evident. The effectiveness of such therapy, however, indicated that inhibition of ovulation is not necessary in the treatment of dysmenorrhea.
Spin-wave dispersion in half-doped La3/2Sr1/2NiO4

Recent neutron scattering measurements reveal spin and charge ordering in the half-doped nickelate, ${\mathrm{La}}_{3∕2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{1∕2}{\mathrm{NiO}}_{4}$. Many of the features of the magnetic excitations have been explained in terms of the spin waves of diagonal stripes with a magnetic coupling structure which is fourfold symmetric. However, an optical mode dispersing away from the $(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})$ point was not captured by this theory. We show here that this apparent optical mode is a natural consequence of stripe twinning in a diagonal stripe pattern with a magnetic coupling structure which is twofold symmetric, i.e., one possessing the same spatial rotational symmetry as the ground state.