cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
International Portfolio Diversification - Role of Emerging Economies-US Integration and Dynamic Linkages: An Empirical Study

This paper presents a comprehensive research by studying the cointegration and dynamic linkages of emerging economies all over the world with special emphasis to the US and India to point out the most attractive of them for international portfolio diversification with a lengthy data set of 2003-12 by using appropriate methodologies. It is found that the Indian stock market has short-run granger relationships with most of its BRIC counterparts and some others. In the long-run, nine co-integration relationships are found. It implies that all these stock markets are cointegrated. The US dominance on most markets and dynamic linkages with them has been proved, at least in the short-run. Overall, this study has found that the emerging economies stock markets and Russia don’t provide any portfolio diversification opportunity for the US and other investors.
Making decisions at the point of care: sore throat.

The article presents an evidence-based encounter form designed to help physicians improve their diagnosis of strep throat. This is the first in a series of articles that offer evidence-based tools to assist family physicians in improving their decision making at the point of care. Future articles will feature forms useful in dealing with other common or important conditions seen in family practice. Companion articles will appear in American Family Physician.
Emerging concepts in smooth muscle contributions to airway structure and function: implications for health and disease

Airway structure and function are key aspects of normal lung development, growth, and aging, as well as of lung responses to the environment and the pathophysiology of important diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and fibrosis. In this regard, the contributions of airway smooth muscle (ASM) are both functional, in the context of airway contractility and relaxation, as well as synthetic, involving production and modulation of extracellular components, modulation of the local immune environment, cellular contribution to airway structure, and, finally, interactions with other airway cell types such as epithelium, fibroblasts, and nerves. These ASM contributions are now found to be critical in airway hyperresponsiveness and remodeling that occur in lung diseases. This review emphasizes established and recent discoveries that underline the central role of ASM and sets the stage for future research toward understanding how ASM plays a central role by being both upstream and downstream in the many interactive processes that determine airway structure and function in health and disease.
Electro-optic cross phase modulation with an accelerator source of intense coherent THz pulses

We have used electro-optic methods to investigate single-cycle THz pulses produced as coherent transition radiation from relativistic electron bunches. The pulses have energies up to 100 muJ such that electric fields approaching 100 MV/m should be attainable. We find that the combination of these large fields and their rapid variation (on a sub-ps time scale) results in significant time-dependent phase modulation of a laser pulse when co-propagated in a non-linear medium such as ZnTe.
Filament damage formation in fused silica glass as a result of 1-50 ps near-infrared laser pulses.

We measure filament damage due to self-focusing in fused silica glass using short laser pulses of 1–50 ps of 1053 nm wavelength. We examine the dependence of the effect on the excitation fluence and pulse length. A beam propagation model adjusted to picosecond pulse lengths shows a good fit to the measurements. Whereas for longer pulses a filament appears within the bulk, for the shorter pulses surface damage appears due to the high nonlinearity of the system.
Servant Leadership: A New Paradigm

The chapter provides a unique opportunity to discuss servant leadership as a style fit for the corporate organization. The chapter increases the knowledge regarding leadership and helps position servant leadership as a promising leadership theory for professional practice. The chapter also provides some insights into servant leadership, transformational leadership, and followers’ perceptions of leaders. Leaders of corporations require them to understand the concept of complex adaptive systems to assist them in effectively achieving organizational goals. Organizational learning (OL) in the workplace was a key element in discussing servant leadership and how the servant leadership perspective might impact organizations. Minimal research exists that investigates servant leadership as an alternative style for learner-centric organizations (OL) and corporate management. OL includes knowledge management, innovation, creativity, complex adaptive systems, and spirituality.
Scaling up data-parallel analytics platforms: Linear algebraic operation cases

Linear algebraic operations such as matrix manipulations form the kernel of many machine learning and other crucial algorithms. Scaling up as well as scaling out such algorithms are key to supporting large scale data analysis that require efficient processing over millions of data samples. To this end, we present, ARION, a hardware acceleration based approach for scaling-up individual tasks of Spark, a popular data-parallel analytics platform. We support both linear algebraic operations of between two dense matrices, and between sparse and dense matrices in distributed environments. ARION provides a flexible control of acceleration according to matrix density, along with efficient scheduling based on runtime resource utilization. We demonstrate the benefit of our approach for general matrix multiplication operations over large matrices with up to four billion elements by using Gramian matrix computation that is commonly used in machine learning. Experiments show that our approach achieves more than 2× and 1.5× end-to-end performance speedups for dense and sparse matrices, respectively, and up to 57.04× faster computation compared to MLlib, a state of the art Spark-based implementation. This work is sponsored in part by the NSF under the grants: CNS-1565314, CNS-1405697, and CNS-1615411. The manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.
Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in the Treatment of Gynecologic Cancer

The purpose of this review is to update readers on recent advancements in the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers. Immunotherapy has emerged as a novel therapeutic paradigm in the treatment of gynecologic malignancies. Currently, immune checkpoint inhibitors are approved for use across five solid malignancies, with recent approval of pembrolizumab in patients with MMR-deficient, recurrent, solid tumors in a disease site agnostic fashion. Phase 3 clinical trials are being conducted in the gynecologic cancer arena to determine if checkpoint inhibition will improve oncologic outcomes. Positive signals have been identified in ovarian cancer cohorts, both as single agents and in combination with other agents. It is anticipated that immunotherapy will be effective in MMR-deficient endometrial cancers, and trials are in development to explore these agents in the front line. Furthermore, the HPV-driven biology of cervical cancer suggests that immune checkpoint inhibition may lead to clinical benefit. Immune checkpoint inhibitors represent a dynamic and exciting opportunity for patients with limited therapeutic options. We eagerly await the results of ongoing phase 3 clinical trials that will inform practice patterns. In addition, emphasizing translational end-points informing patient selection and response is critical.
An Exposition of Bourgain's 2-Source Extractor

A construction of Bourgain [Bou05] gave the first 2-source extractor to break the min-entropy rate 1/2 barrier. In this note, we write an exposition of his result, giving a high level way to view his extractor construction. We also include a proof of a generalization of Vazirani’s XOR lemma that seems interesting in its own right, and an argument (due to Boaz Barak) that shows that any two source extractor with sufficiently small error must bestrong.
Extraordinary Corrosion Protection from Polymer–Clay Nanobrick Wall Thin Films

Metals across all industries demand anticorrosion surface treatments and drive a continual need for high-performing and low-cost coatings. Here we demonstrate polymer–clay nanocomposite thin films as a new class of transparent conformal barrier coatings for protection in corrosive atmospheres. Films assembled via layer-by-layer deposition, as thin as 90 nm, are shown to reduce copper corrosion rates by >1000× in an aggressive H2S atmosphere. These multilayer nanobrick wall coatings hold promise as high-performing anticorrosion treatment alternatives to costlier, more toxic, and less scalable thin films, such as graphene, hexavalent chromium, or atomic-layer-deposited metal oxides.
7.4 – Tubular Reabsorption and Secretion

This chapter begins with comparing the filtered load of materials with the amount excreted and shows that in some cases all of the filtered load is reabsorbed, and in others it is added to by secretion. It introduces renal titration and considers the titration of inulin, glucose, phosphate, and PAH. It defines the transport maximum for either reabsorption or secretion and shows how the interpretation of the clearance depends on the renal handling of the material. It shows how the endogenous creatinine clearance approximates the GFR. This chapter then discusses the TF/P ratio. The TF/P ratio for inulin marks the reabsorption of water because inulin is filtered but not reabsorbed or secreted. The double ratio (TF/P)x/(TF/P)inulin marks reabsorption or filtration processes. The rest of the chapter discusses the mechanisms of reabsorption of glucose, amino acids, phosphate, bicarbonate, water, salt, urea, and proteins.
NADP-Specific glutamate dehydrogenase is not involved in repression of yeast sporulation by ammonia

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the presence or absence of NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase does not affect inhibition of sporulation by ammonia, suggesting that the inhibition is not mediated by this enzyme.
Ligand-dependent notch signaling in vascular formation

The Notch signaling pathway is a critical component of vascular formation and morphogenesis in both development and disease. Compelling evidence indicates that Notch signaling is required for the induction of arterial-cell fate during development and for the selection of endothelial tip and stalk cells during sprouting angiogenesis. In mammals, two of the four Notch receptors (Notch1 and Notch4) and three of the five Notch ligands (Jagged1, Dll1 and Dll4) are predominantly expressed in vascular endothelial cells and are important for many aspects of vascular biology. During arterial cell-fate selection and angiogenesis, the roles of Notch1 and Notch4 are thought to be similar and the role of Dll4 is well-characterized. However, the molecular mechanisms that determine the functional similarities and differences of Notch ligands in vascular endothelial cells remain largely unknown; consequently, additional research is needed to elucidate the ligand-specific functions and mechanisms associated with Notch activation in the vascular endothelium. Results from recent studies indicate that Dll1 and Dll4 have distinct roles in the specification and maintenance of arterial cell identity, while Dll4 and Jagged1 have opposing effects on tip- and stalk-cell selection during sprouting angiogenesis. This chapter will focus on the newly discovered, distinct roles of several Notch ligands in the regulation of blood vessel formation and will provide perspectives for future research in the field.
Transplanting Foreign Norms: Human Rights and Other International Legal Norms in Japan

This essay examines the challenges posed by attempts to transplant foreign legal norms, in the form of human rights standards, into a context that seems far from conducive to them. It reviews a major study showing that the Japanese courts consistently reject international human rights-based arguments, are systematically averse to reliance upon international norms which they use at best as a form of icing upon the cake, very rarely find violations of international norms, and consistently assume that those norms provide no greater protection than the bill of rights in the Constitution. It asks why, despite these factors, it is reasonable to arrive at a generally optimistic assessment of the positive role of international norms in the case of the Japanese legal system
Analysis of Apoptosis: Basic Principles and Protocols

Apoptosis is a distinct form of cell demise. Originally defined by cellular morphology, apoptosis can now be characterized at the molecular, biochemical, and cellular levels. The detection of apoptosis has become more important, not only in the interests of scientific investigation, but also because of its significance in clinical practice. For example, since apoptosis has been implicated in a variety of devastating diseases such as cancer, therapies targeting apoptosis are being developed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment, one would have to assess the apoptotic response before, during, and after the therapy. For the typical apoptosis, a set of characteristics in cell structure and biochemistry has been well defined. In combination, these provide the basis for apoptosis detection in a given setting. The methodology for analyzing these characteristics is as diverse as the research subjects. Several books devoted to the methodology of apoptosis analysis have recently been published (1–3). Readers may find detailed experimental protocols in these books. This chapter provides an overview of the basic approaches used in analyzing apoptosis, the principle and the basic methodology, in order to provide a quick guide for readers to use when deciding which methods are available and appropriate for their own study. We start with the determination of cell viability and the morphology of dying cells. We then discuss approaches for examining apoptotic changes on the cell membrane, in the cytosol, and in the nucleus. We also summarize some of the common sources of reagents for apoptosis research.
Paclitaxel-based treatment of lymphoma.

The activity of paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) recently was evaluated in patients with relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in three phase II clinical trials using different doses and infusion schedules. The largest trial, conducted at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, used the most intensive dose (200 mg/m2 infused over 3 hours every 3 weeks) in 96 patients. As expected, the response rate was low in patients with primary refractory disease. In contrast, patients with intermediate-grade lymphoma and no primary refractory disease had a response rate of 50% and those with low-grade lymphoma had a response rate of 31%. Lower response rates were reported in clinical trials conducted by the National Cancer Institute, which used paclitaxel 140 mg/m2 infused over 96 hours, and by the Southwest Oncology Group, which used paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 infused over 24 hours. Paclitaxel-based combination programs currently are being evaluated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other institutions in patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Early results are encouraging.
Regulation of carbonic anhydrase gene expression in cotyledons of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seedlings during post-germinative growth

Recently, plastidial carbonic anhydrase (CA) cDNA clones encoding functional carbonic anhydrase enzymes were isolated from a 48 h dark-grown cotton seedling (cotyledons) cDNA library (Hoang et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 40: 1999). Here we examined the levels of relative transcript abundance and enzyme activities in cotyledons at different developmental stages and under different environmental conditions (i.e. altering CO2 and light conditions), during post-germinative seedling growth. Relative CA transcript levels and total CA enzyme activity in cotyledons of cotton seedlings increased from 18 h to 72 h of post-germinative growth in the dark, although somewhat later than the glyoxylate cycle enzyme, MS. When 24 h old seedlings were exposed to light for an additional 24 h, CA activity in greening cotyledons increased about 2-fold (compared with controls kept in the dark), whereas relative CA transcript levels were essentially the same. Removal of seed coats from cotyledons of 24 h old seedlings dramatically increased relative CA transcript abundance (measured 24 h later) in the dark, but did not influence CA enzyme activity. Manipulation of external CO2 environments (zero, ambient, or high) modulated coordinately the relative transcript abundance of CA (and rbcS) in cotyledons, but did not affect enzyme activity. On the other hand, regardless of the external CO2 conditions, cotyledons of seedlings exposed to light exhibited increased CA activity, concomitant with increased Rubisco activity and increased chlorophyll content. Collectively, our data suggest that steady-state levels of CA and rbcS transcripts are increased in response to environmental CO2 conditions, while CA (and Rubisco) enzyme activities are likely modulated at the post-transcriptional level following exposure of seedlings to light, and in parallel with development of functional chloroplasts.
Aggregating Information Toward Military Decision Making

The problem of aggregating multiple opinions from multiple individuals presents a decision making challenge. Within the realm of military intelligence analyst decision support, this work considers the matter of aggregating information by first starting with the task of ranking multiple independent judgments from multiple independent individuals. The overarching goal of this research campaign is to investigate the use of heuristic and probabilistic aggregation models with respect to the Value of Information (VoI) problem domain. This paper presents discussion about ongoing VoI research and an exploratory experiment using the Borda count model. The results from the experiment demonstrate the efficacy of the Borda method in aggregating people’s opinions and clearly highlight the “wisdom of the crowd” effect. Future research directions are also offered.
Learning from GOATS

Education research indicates that computer tutoring systems can positively impact learning in mathematics and the sciences. When integrated into a competent and motivated curriculum, computer tutors enable students to engage in deep exploration of a problem space. Successful computer science students apply this same deep exploration and problem-solving process to construct programs. Computer tutors, therefore, present an attractive scaffolding possibility; why not use them to guide students to a richer grasp of the core skills involved in programming?
Thermal inactivation of Bacillus cereus spores during cooking of rice to ensure later safety of boudin

Abstract The heat resistance of a four-stain cocktail of Bacillus cereus was determined in rice. Bags containing inoculated rice samples with hot water were submerged in a temperature-controlled water bath and held at 90.5, 95, or 99 °C for predetermined lengths of time. Surviving spore population were enumerated by plating on mannitol egg yolk polymyxin agar. Survivor curves were fitted to linear and Weibull models using the USDA Integrated Pathogen Modeling Program (IPMP) 2013 software. While both models provided good fit to the data, Weibull model was relatively better since root mean square error values were lower (
V-Y Hemi-keystone Advancement Flap: A Novel and Simplified Reconstructive Modification.

Background The keystone perforator flap design has been gaining popularity for reconstruction of cutaneous defects due to its robust vascular supply and high rates of flap survival. However, the design requires significant tissue mobilization relative to the defect and is consequently technically demanding, time intensive, and has associated morbidity. We present a novel, simplified modification of the keystone flap that may increase its reconstructive applications. Methods A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients who underwent V-Y hemi-keystone advancement flap reconstruction of cutaneous defects by a single surgeon. Outcomes of interest included wound healing complications. Results Eighty-six consecutive V-Y hemi-keystone advancement flaps were performed with an overall complication rate of 7% (6/86). Reconstruction sites included lower extremities (75/86, 87.2%), upper extremities (9/86, 10.5%), and the trunk (2/86, 2.3%). Mean follow-up time was 26.3 weeks. Four out of 5 surgical site infections occurred on lower extremity wounds. There were no cases of complete or partial flap loss. Conclusions The current series presents a simplification of the traditional keystone flap that decreases surgical complexity and time required for successful reconstruction of cutaneous defects, especially in challenging wounds on the lower extremities. The complication rates were similar, or lower, than previously reported series of keystone flap reconstructions. The consistently favorable outcome of this technique supports the integration of the V-Y hemi-keystone advancement flap into reconstructive surgery.
Fire detection in video sequences using a machine learning system and a clustered quantitative image marker

In this paper, we proposed a real-time fire detection system used to identify fire between fire and non-fire cases in video sequences. The proposed method consisted of four steps: (1) Dividing video sequences into three-second video clips. (2) Applying a color space model to segment the fire and fire-like regions of each frame. (3) Employing a feature extraction scheme to create a feature pool of spatial and frequency domain, considering motion and time variations. (4) Reducing the size of the feature pool by Kernel-PCA. (5) Training a multi-layer neural network to classify 502 video clips into the fire and non-fire categories. The results showed that the proposed framework can provide a reliable prediction with a low false rate.
Early assessment of knowledge, attitudes, anxiety and behavioral adaptations of Connecticut residents to COVID-19

Abstract Objectives To assess knowledge, attitudes, anxiety and behavioral adaptations to COVID-19. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among non-healthcare-related participants after a stay-at-home directive was implemented. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with anxiety, perceived seriousness of COVID-19 and loneliness. Results A total of 464 participants responded to the survey. Most participants recognized cough, shortness of breath and fever as primary symptoms of COVID-19. Nearly 50% reported high levels of anxiety to COVID-19 and 48% reported being loneliness during the social isolation. Higher level of COVID-19 knowledge was associate with higher levels with anxiety. Being married had 1.79 times higher levels of anxiety about COVID-19. Women were less likely to report loneliness than men. Older age was associated with taking the pandemic seriously, and was also associated with loneliness during the social isolation. Conclusions It is crucial for the public health authorities not only provide accurate and scientific information about the COVID-19 promoting protective behavior changes but also to minimize anxiety through supportive messages and recommendations for positive coping strategies and timely offering mental health counselling services for those in need.
Edge-Assisted Resource Management for Data-Centric IoT Applications in Shared Sensor Networks

The Shared Sensor Network (SSN) model has recently emerged to reduce the high deployment and management costs of application-specific WSNs. In a SSN, the underlying physical infrastructure is shared among multiple applications simultaneously. Sensor tasks are likely to have different QoS requirements, e.g. in terms of sensing rate and coverage. In this scenario, we advocate the use of a local application broker (typically deployed on an edge device) to act as a mediator between the physical sensing resources and the sensing tasks, and to support efficient resource allocation and controlled sharing of cached data between applications. To this end, we have formulated an optimisation problem to determine: (i) the set of sensing resources to use; (ii) a mapping between activated sensor resources and admitted applications; and (iii) the probing rate of the broker for the activated sensors. The objective of our model is to maximise both the number of admitted applications (i.e. the revenue for the provider of the sensing infrastructure) and the system lifetime. We have implemented a prototype of the proposed broker using native CoAP functionalities, and we have conducted an extensive evaluation in an emulation environment. Results showed that our application broker provides better performance in terms of the number of admitted applications and energy efficiency than a state-of-the-art benchmark.
Metal additive manufacturing of carbon steel with direct laser deposition: computer simulation

Metal 3D printing technology is commercially available, but the quality of the printed product is still a challenging issue that needs to be improved. More research is needed to address the essential technical details of metal 3D printing. Important technical details are the alloy microstructure, imperfections like pores, distortion, surface roughness, and residual stress, which affect the mechanical properties of the printed sample like fatigue performance. This research has computationally studied metal 3D printing for carbon steel to address the parameters that affect the quality of the final product printed by direct laser deposition. Multiscale multiphysics computational algorithms were coding in Microsoft Visual Basics 2015 to simulate the thermal stress, deformation, and austenite grain topology. Energy and force equilibrium equations were numerically solved to simulate the thermal and mechanical history versus print’s adjustable parameters like scan speed, laser power, and rate of metal powders injection through the nozzle. The austenite grain size of steel is an important parameter that is directly related to the local thermal history. A stochastic computational code was developed to simulate grain morphology based on calculated thermal history. The simulation showed the dependence of von Mises stress and thermal history on the rate of metal powders injection, laser power, and scan speed. The simulation showed a rise in von Mises stress by increasing the scan speed and laser power. Print speed and laser power also change the local maximum temperature and the local alloy microstructure. The local austenite grain size increases by reducing scan speed in the heat-affected zone. The simulation showed that the microstructure of the printed part is not uniform, and different layers are distinctive.
Pronounced Pressure Dependence of Electronic Transitions for Americium Compared to Isomorphous Neodymium and Samarium Mellitates.

The mellitate ion is relevant in spent nuclear fuel processing and is utilized as a surrogate for studying the interactions of f elements with humic acids. A wealth of different coordination modes ...
Transitional chordates and vertebrate origins: Tunicates

The Origin of Chordates has fascinated scientists from the time of Charles Darwin's publication "Descent of Man" in 1871. For over 100 years, it was accepted that chordates evolved from tunicates, our sessile invertebrate sister group. However, genomic and embryonic analyses have shown that lancelets have a body plan and genome much more like vertebrates than do tunicates. In 2000, we proposed a worm-like hypothesis of chordate origins, and genomic and embryonic studies in the past 20 years have supported this hypothesis. This hypothesis contends that the deuterostome ancestor was worm-like, with gill slits, very much like a chordate. In contrast, tunicates have a very derived adult body plan that evolved independently. Here, we review the current understanding of deuterostome phylogeny and supporting evidence for the relationships within each phylum. Then we discuss our hypothesis for chordate origins and evidence to support it. We explore some of the evolutionary changes that ascidians have made to their adult body plan and some of the key gene regulatory networks that have been elucidated in Ciona. Finally, we end with insights that we have gained from studying tailless ascidians for the past 30 years. We've found that differentiation genes, at the end of the gene regulatory networks, become pseudogenes and nonfunctional, even though they are still expressed in tailless ascidians. We expect that eventually these pseudogenes will not be expressed and the ascidian larval body plan is abandoned, leaving the embryo to develop directly into an adult.
Long-term retention of lithium disilicate crowns with a current bioactive cement.

OBJECTIVE To determine if a recent bioactive cement provides acceptable lithium disilicate crown retention after long-term aging with monthly thermocycling. MATERIALS AND METHODS Extracted molars prepared with flat occlusal, 20° taper, ~4 mm axial. Prepared teeth assigned to two groups for equal mean surface areas per group. Lithium disilicate crowns fabricated with occlusal bar to facilitate removal. Crowns etched with 9.5%HF and cleaned. Cements were Ceramir Crown & Bridge QuikCap (CM) and Ketac Cem Maxicap (KC). Before cementation, specimens stored in 37°C water. Crowns cemented with 196 N force, placed in 37°C, 100% humidity oven for setting. Specimens thermocycled (5-55°C) 5000 cycles monthly for 6 months; otherwise stored in phosphate buffered saline solution. Crowns removed axially at 0.5 mm/min. Removal forces recorded and stresses calculated using areas. Independent t-test (α = 0.05). RESULTS Levene test not significant (P = 0.649). CM removal stresses and forces (P < 0.001) were higher (1.93 MPa, 261.4 N) compared to KC (1.06 MPa, 139.4 N). CM cement found principally on crown intaglio, KC found with most cement on prepared tooth. Chi-square significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Following long-term aging with monthly thermocycling, lithium disilicate crowns were best retained by CM cement, however both cements are capable of retaining lithium disilicate crowns with preparations of ideal taper and length. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Results serve as a basis for bioactive cement selection for retaining lithium disilicate crowns. Without optimal axial length, taper of preparation or retentive features, Ceramir Crown and Bridge QuikCap offers a bioactive cement with improved long-term retention when compared to Ketac Cem Maxicap for lithium disilicate crowns.
Making Method of Moments Great Again? -- How can GANs learn distributions

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are widely used models to learn complex real-world distributions. In GANs, the training of the generator usually stops when the discriminator can no longer distinguish the generator's output from the set of training examples. A central question of GANs is that when the training stops, whether the generated distribution is actually close to the target distribution, and how the training process reaches to such configurations efficiently? In this paper, we established a theoretical results towards understanding this generator-discriminator training process. We empirically observe that during the earlier stage of the GANs training, the discriminator is trying to force the generator to match the low degree moments between the generator's output and the target distribution. Moreover, only by matching these empirical moments over polynomially many training examples, we prove that the generator can already learn notable class of distributions, including those that can be generated by two-layer neural networks.
MOOCS and 100 Days of COVID: Enrollment surges in massive open online astronomy classes during the coronavirus pandemic

One side-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been increased enrollment in online classes. The paper explores the surge in activity from March through June 2020 in two massive open online classes (MOOCs) on Astronomy, offered by Coursera and Udemy. The increase in enrollment in both classes was an order of magnitude over the similar time span in previous years. Learners enrolling during the pandemic were more likely to be younger than thirty and less likely to have advanced degrees. A majority were full-time undergraduate students, and relatively few were professionals working in technical fields. The largest number of new students were from India and overall, the biggest surge in enrollment came from people in developing countries, particularly in Asia. Those who enrolled during the pandemic were more likely to take the course to get a certificate or to further their career goals than because they had intrinsic interest in the subject. Social motivations were important, particularly among full-time students in the course. These results, albeit limited to MOOCs in astronomy, suggest that new audiences have been turning to online classes during the pandemic for gaining credentials or advancing their professional skills.
The Impact of Childhood School Suspension on Dropout and Arrest in Adolescence: Disparate Relationships by Race and Adverse Childhood Experiences:

Despite its widespread use, school suspension is related to negative outcomes in adolescence, including delinquency and low academic attainment. However, it remains less clear how other sources of ...
Case 60: Compressed Gas Containers

You have just arrived in a small hospital in Equatorial Guinea in West Africa. The only available anesthetic at the moment is thiopental, succinylcholine, nitrous oxide, meperidine, vecuronium, atropine, neostigmine, epinephrine, and ephedrine.
Autologe „Distal-origin-Bypasses” zur Überbrückung infrapoplitealer Verschlußprozesse bei Diabetikern mit kritischer Fußischämie

Objective: In a substantial number of diabetic patients, isolated tibioperoneal arterial occlusions are found to be the underlying cause for severe ischaemic foot lesions. To avoid limb loss under these conditions, short vein grafts have been being used to bypass the occluded crural arteries since the early 1980s. This presentation describes our nearly 12-year experience with this strategy. Patients and methods: Between 1 May 1986 and 31 December 1997, in 109 patients, 115 bypass grafts from the BK-popliteal artery or the proximal anterior tibial artery to malleolar vessels were performed in the presence of extended infrapopliteal arterial occlusions and critical foot ischaemia (rest pain 3, tissue loss 112). The mean age in this group was 70.1 years. Autologous vein was used in all cases (GSV rev. 79, GSV nonrev. 17, GSV in situ 15, LSV rev. 2, cephalic vein 2). Results: Using life-table analysis, primary and secondary patency rates for these bypasses with distal graft origination were 89% and 97% at 30 days, 76% and 83% at 1 year, and 60% and 62% at 6 years, respectively. The corresponding limb salvage rates amounted to 94%, 79%, and 70%. Conclusion: Our results suggest that short vein grafts represent an effective strategy for limb salvage in diabetic patients with infrapopliteal artery occlusions and critical foot ischaemia.
Angiotensin-(1-7) and Cancer

The heptapeptide hormone angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)) inhibits the growth of lung, breast, and prostate cancer cells and tumors. The reductions in tumor size were associated with attenuation of proliferation, inflammation, angiogenesis, fibrosis, and metastasis, suggesting that Ang-(1-7) has pleotrophic effects in decreasing tumor size. The molecular mechanisms for the reduction in cell and tumor growth include a decrease in cyclooxygenase-2 to alter prostaglandins, an increase in the mitogen-activated protein phosphatase DUSP1 to reduce protein kinase activities, a reduction in vascular endothelial growth factor signaling to decrease vessel density, and attenuation of profibrotic signaling pathways to reduce fibrosis. Phase I and II clinical trials demonstrated the safety and efficacy of Ang-(1-7) in patients with cancer, suggesting that the heptapeptide hormone may represent a novel therapy for the treatment of cancer.
Managing molluscan shellfish-borne microbial diseases

Abstract: Disease prevention and quality control are essential elements in promoting consumer confidence, and maintaining and expanding markets. Outbreaks of shellfish-borne disease result in closures of fisheries, erosion of consumer confidence, and economic hardship. Effective quality control diminishes the likelihood of contracting disease from shellfish and maintains the organoleptic attributes of the product. In this chapter I review the ecology, pathogenicity, epidemiology, and management of the major viruses and bacteria responsible for molluscan-borne diseases in humans. The scope of the review is marine molluscan shellfish world-wide, with a special consideration of the eastern oyster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Role of aspartate 27 of dihydrofolate reductase from Escherichia coli in interconversion of active and inactive enzyme conformers and binding of NADPH.

The apoenzyme of wild-type (WT) dihydrofolate reductase (DHRF) from Escherichia coli exists in two conformational states, Et and Ew, which differ in affinity for NADPH and in kinetic competence. Dissociation constants for the binary complex of NADPH with the two conformers differ by over 100-fold (KDt = 0.17 microM, KDw = 22 microM). Rate constants governing the interconversion of conformers are small (t1/2 for Ew----Et = 71 s), and since Ew is not catalytically competent, this conversion is accompanied by an increase in catalytic velocity. The equilibrium proportion of Et in the absence of ligands is 63%, but binding of NADPH greatly increases this proportion, and t1/2 for conversion of Ew.NADPH to Et.NADPH is 30 s. This conformational equilibrium has also been examined in mutant enzyme in which aspartate 27 is replaced by asparagine (D27N E. coli DHFR). Although ASp27 is an active site residue, it does not interact directly with bound NADPH, and in the mutant the rate constant for NADPH binding to Et is unchanged as are the dissociation constants for NADPH complexes with Et or Ew. However, for mutant apoenzyme, the proportion of Et is decreased to 18% in the absence of ligands so that the overall KD for NADPH is increased (0.15 microM for WT E. coli DHFR, 0.68 microM for D27N E. coli DHFR). The lower proportion of Et is due to a decreased rate for Ew----Et (t1/2 = 221 s) and an increased rate for Et----Ew (t1/2 = 50 s versus 120 s for WT E. coli DHFR).
Discovering domain-domain interactions toward genome-wide protein interaction and function predictions

To fully understand the underlying mechanisms of living cells, it is essential to delineate the intricate interactions between the cell proteins at a genome scale. Insights into the protein functions will enrich our understanding in human diseases and contribute to future drug developments. My dissertation focuses on the development and optimization of machine learning algorithms to study protein-protein interactions and protein function annotations through discovery of domain-domain interactions. First of all, I developed a novel domain-based random decision forest framework (RDFF) that explored all possible domain module pairs in mediating protein interactions. RDFF achieved higher sensitivity (79.78%) and specificity (64.38%) in interaction predictions of S. cerevisiae proteins compared to the popular Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) approach. RDFF can also infer interactions for both single-domain pairs and domain module pairs. Secondly, I proposed cross-species interacting domain patterns (CSIDOP) approach that not only increased fidelity of existing functional annotations, but also proposed novel annotations for unknown proteins. CSIDOP accurately determined functions for 95.42% of proteins in H. sapiens using 2,972 GO ‘molecular function’ terms. In contrast, most existing methods can only achieve accuracies of 50% to 75% using much smaller number of categories. Additionally, we were able to assign novel annotations to 181 unknown H. sapiens proteins. Finally, I implemented a web-based system, called PINFUN, which enables users to make online protein-protein interaction and protein function predictions based on a large-scale collection of known and putative domain interactions. Keywords: Systems Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Data Mining, Machine Learning, Protein Interaction Network, Domain Interaction Network, Protein Function
Introduction to OpenCard

The history of the OpenCard Framework begins in 1997 with the introduction of the Network Computer. Companies like Sun, Oracle, and IBM worked on Network Computers to combine the advantages of a desktop computer with the low administration and maintenance cost of a terminal. The first Network Computers already contained smart card readers, and since Java is the language of choice on Network Computers, the idea of a Java framework for smart card access was born.
Changes in the number of N-ethylmaleimide-reacting sulfhydryl groups resulting from ribosomal subunit interactions.

Abstract Rat liver ribosomes and subunits were treated with 0.1 mM N- ethylmaleimide for fifteen minutes at 37°C, in order to determine the number of rapidly-reacting sulfhydryl groups per mole. 40-S subunits had 18; 60-S subunits had 37 and ribosomes had 16 sulfhydryl groups per mole. The number of groups reactive to N- ethylmaleimide was shown to be dependent upon the Mg2+ concentration used in the experiment, in agreement with the known effect of [Mg2+] on the structure of the ribosome. It is concluded: (1) that the inter-subunit region of the ribosome is rich in sulfhydryl groups, whose reaction with N- ethylmaleimide is hindered by steric effects consequent to the interaction of the subunits and (2) that elongation factor two is bound to a sulfhydryl-containing site located on the 60 S subunit.
Abstract 891: Urinary ADAM12 levels detect the presence of pancreatic cancer

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Pancreatic malignancies are the fourth leading cause of all cancer-related deaths of both men and women in the United States. Each year, approximately 32,000 new patients are diagnosed with this disease and nearly the same number die from it. A majority of patients with pancreatic malignancies, including both pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET) present with advanced disease due to a lack of specific symptoms and current diagnostic limitations, making this disease extremely difficult to detect. The combination of poor prognosis and late presentation of pancreatic cancer patients highlights the urgent need for the development of effective, early detection strategies for this disease. Our laboratory has established a comprehensive biomarker discovery initiative whose objective is to identify proteins present in urine of cancer patients, to determine whether their presence might be relevant to disease status and stage and to validate their diagnostic and prognostic efficacy in large scale clinical trials. In the current study, our goal was to determine whether ADAM12 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease 12) could be detected in the urine of patients with pancreatic malignancies and whether ADAM12 levels might serve as an independent predictor of disease status. Retrospective analyses of urine samples (n=130) from PDAC and pNET patients as well as age- and sex-matched controls were conducted. Urinary ADAM12 levels were determined using a monospecific ELISA system. In addition, ADAM12 protein expression in tumor and normal pancreatic tissues was analyzed via immunohistochemistry (IHC). Multivariable logistic regression analyses indicated that, when controlling for age and sex, urinary ADAM12 could serve as significant independent predictor for distinguishing PDAC (P<0.001) and pNET (P<0.008) patients from healthy controls. Kaplan-Meier analysis of estimated patient survival stratified by urinary ADAM12 levels indicated a significantly shorter patient survival time for PDAC patients with high ADAM12 levels (P=0.015) compared to patients with lower urinary ADAM12. In addition, IHC analysis indicated that ADAM12 protein expression was upregulated ∼4-fold in Grade I-III PDAC compared to normal pancreatic tissue. Taken together, our results suggest that the measurement of ADAM12 levels may have diagnostic value in detection and/or clinical monitoring of disease status in patients with pancreatic malignancies. [Supported by: The Advanced Medical Foundation] Citation Format: Roopali Roy, David Zurakowski, Matthew Kulke, Marsha A. Moses. Urinary ADAM12 levels detect the presence of pancreatic cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 891. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-891
Inpatient care for children, ages 1-20 years, with spina bifida in the United States.

AIMS: To describe the inpatient health service use and insurance types for hospitalized children with spina bifida compared to children generally and to evaluate hospital discharge and insurance type trends over a 10-year study period. METHODS: The cross-sectional secondary data analyses were conducted using the 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009 Kid’s Inpatient Databases. Diagnoses were identified by ICD-9 codes and hospital type was categorized based on the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions designations. Chi-squared tests and the Wald test of trend were used for the statistical analyses. RESULTS: Children with spina bifida are more likely to receive their inpatient care in children’s hospitals or pediatric units compared to all children. Children with spina bifida were most commonly admitted for shunt malfunction and repair. The percentage of children covered by Medicaid rose during the study period for both children with spina bifida and children generally. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first of its kind to document longitudinal trends in inpatient utilization, insurance type, and reason for admission for children with spina bifida. The changing trends in insurance coverage should be closely monitored because insurance is closely linked to health care access, which is linked to health outcomes.