cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prevention of Post-extubation Failure in Critically Ill Obese Patient

The decision to extubate a morbidly obese patient can be fraught with significant challenges. Several lines of evidence suggest that extubation failure requiring reintubation prolongs hospital stay, predisposes to hospital-acquired pneumonia, and can worsen outcomes. Risk factors for failure to sustain spontaneous breathing can be classified into unresolved underlying conditions like respiratory impairment, recurrent aspiration, sepsis, or the onset of a new complication related to prolonged mechanical ventilation such as upper airway obstruction, delirium, or ICU-acquired neuropathy. Daily screening followed by a weaning test and then by extubation if the test is successful can shorten the intubation time without increasing the risk of reintubation. Institution of prophylactic noninvasive positive pressure ventilation immediately after extubation can reduce reintubation rate and may improve mortality in those who are hypercapnic.
Molecular basis for sterol transport by StART-like lipid transfer domains.

Abstract Lipid transport proteins at membrane contact sites, where two organelles are closely apposed, play key roles in trafficking lipids between cellular compartments while distinct membrane compositions for each organelle are maintained. Understanding the mechanisms underlying non‐vesicular lipid trafficking requires characterization of the lipid transporters residing at contact sites. Here, we show that the mammalian proteins in the lipid transfer proteins anchored at a membrane contact site (LAM) family, called GRAMD1a‐c, transfer sterols with similar efficiency as the yeast orthologues, which have known roles in sterol transport. Moreover, we have determined the structure of a lipid transfer domain of the yeast LAM protein Ysp2p, both in its apo‐bound and sterol‐bound forms, at 2.0 A resolution. It folds into a truncated version of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein‐related lipid transfer (StART) domain, resembling a lidded cup in overall shape. Ergosterol binds within the cup, with its 3‐hydroxy group interacting with protein indirectly via a water network at the cup bottom. This ligand binding mode likely is conserved for the other LAM proteins and for StART domains transferring sterols.
A Renter's Tax Credit to Curtail the Affordable Housing Crisis

To address the housing affordability crisis for low-income Americans, we argue for a refundable renter’s tax credit. The proposed credit would be delivered through the tax code, reach a broad segment of renters, and target those with high housing cost burdens. We simulate the effects of the credit using Current Population Survey data. The credit would reach nearly 60 percent of poor renters and more than 70 percent of renters facing severe housing cost burdens, the credit amount averaging $2,059. Among recipients, the credit reduces the poverty rate by 12.4 percentage points and the deep poverty rate by 8.8 percentage points. For those who remain poor, it reduces the poverty gap by nearly a third. The annual cost is $24.1 billion.
Perinephric Urinoma Secondary to Malignancy in a Pediatric Patient

Perinephric urinomas commonly arise following traumatic injury or high-grade obstruction from kidney stones or lower urinary tract disorders. Not only are spontaneous urinomas rare in the pediatric population, but malignancy presenting with perinephric urinomas have only been described in the adult population. In this case report, we report flank pain from a spontaneous perinephric urinoma as the presenting symptom of lymphoma in a pediatric patient.
Dynamically tunable and active hyperbolic metamaterials

The first generation of hyperbolic metamaterials, metasurfaces, and naturally hyperbolic materials (HMMs) utilized the static and passive properties of their constituent metallic and dielectric components to achieve intriguing macroscopic behavior, such as imaging and focusing of light below the diffraction limit and the broadband modification to the rate of spontaneous emission. While promising, and operating from RF frequencies to the ultraviolet, many potential applications of early HMMs were spoiled by inflexible operation and dissipation losses. Recently, the use of dynamically tunable and active constituent materials has increased, guiding HMMs into more functional regimes. In this review we survey the state-of-the-art of tunable and active electromagnetic HMMs. Based on a firm theoretical foundation, we review the most recent experimental work on hyperbolic dispersion endowed with a tunable or active character. Additionally, we review proposed ideas that may inspire new experimental work and offer a comparison to other photonic platforms.
Violence Exposure and Mental Health of College Students in the United States

Background: Despite the well-established link between exposure to violence and mental health problems, less is known about this association among college students. The current study aimed to investigate the association between history of exposure to violence and mental health of American college students. Methods: Healthy Mind Study (HMS, 2016–2017) is a national online survey of 41,898 adult college students. The independent variable was lifetime history of exposure to violence (psychological, physical, and sexual). The dependent variables were anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Race, age, gender, sexual orientation, parental education, financial stress, transfer status, enrollment status, and graduate status were covariates. Linear and logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Results: History of exposure to violence was associated with all three aspects of poor mental health, namely general anxiety, depression, and suicidality. These associations were independent of covariates and type of abuse. Conclusions: There is a need to address various mental health needs of college students who have experienced various forms of violence. College students who screen positive for history of violence exposure should be evaluated for anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors.
Morphogenetic Role of Glycosaminoglycans (Acid Mucopolysaccharides) in Brain and Other Tissues

Morphogenesis of an organ or tissue is a complex and specific series of events leading to a unique, functional organization of cellular and extracellular elements. Underlying these events are several types of cell behavior such as cell movement, recognition and adhesion, shape changes, mitosis, and death. Morphogenesis is usually accompanied by and necessary for cellular differentiation, in which the component cells undergo a series of distinctive metabolic and cytological changes that result in the synthesis or secretion of characteristic and functional cell products. Although morphogenesis and differentiation are not exact or discrete terms (they both involve metabolic, cytological, and behavioral changes), it is the behavioral aspects that are emphasized when morphogenesis is spoken of and the metabolic and cytological changes that are emphasized when differentiation is spoken of.
Tetracycline consumption in prehistory

Debra Martin was visiting the Calcified Tissue Laboratory at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, learning to make thin sections of undecalcifiedtarchaeological bone. The objective of her visit was to make slides of bone thin enough to allow the light from the microscope to be transmitted through them. Although modern equipment speeds up the process, Martin, at the time a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts, was using a manual method for grinding the bone to the desired 100-micron thickness. The femoral cross-section is removed from an area just below the lesser trochanter (a few inches below its neck).
Quantification of Mitochondrial S-Nitrosylation by CysTMT 6 Switch Assay

S-nitrosylation (SNO) is an important oxidative posttranslational modification in the regulation of cardiac mitochondria. SNO modification of several mitochondrial proteins has been associated with cardiac preconditioning and improved cell survival following ischemia/reperfusion injury. Due to their labile nature, SNO modifications are challenging to study using traditional biochemical techniques; particularly, the identification of individual modified cysteine residues. Here, we describe the details of the cysTMT(6) switch assay, a variation of the classic biotin switch protocol. The cysTMT(6) reagent provides a simplified and powerful approach to SNO detection by combining unambiguous identification of the modified cysteine residue and relative quantification of up to six samples by mass spectrometry analysis.
Proprioceptive Inference for Dual-Arm Grasping of Bulky Objects Using RoboSimian

This work demonstrates dual-arm lifting of bulky objects based on inferred object properties (center of mass (COM) location, weight, and shape) using proprioception (i.e. force torque measurements). Data-driven Bayesian models describe these quantities, which enables subsequent behaviors to depend on confidence of the learned models. Experiments were conducted using the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) RoboSimian to lift a variety of cumbersome objects ranging in mass from 7kg to 25kg. The position of a supporting second manipulator was determined using a particle set and heuristics that were derived from inferred object properties. The supporting manipulator decreased the initial manipulator's load and distributed the wrench load more equitably across each manipulator, for each bulky object. Knowledge of the objects came from pure proprioception (i.e. without reliance on vision or other exteroceptive sensors) throughout the experiments.
The Shifting Context of Sustainability: Growth and the World Ocean Regime

To better understand how regimes select norms and how sustainability concepts are used and change, we conduct a quantitative content analysis of important documents specifically related to a critical Earth system, the “World Ocean.” Using the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture reports from 1995 to 2016, we find that economic norms have always been dominant, and the use of sustainability concepts has become increasingly growth oriented. Discourses of restraint, relevant to principles of sustainability, are virtually absent. Growth is the central driving concern for the World Ocean Regime, a noncodified, economistic regime that governs the oceans. We conclude that the norms of sustainability have been selected for fitness with the neoliberal political–economic order and a totalizing ideology of growth, and that sustainability concepts are used as a mask to legitimize extractivist goals that are actually not sustainable.
Detection of communication attacks on spatially distributed systems with multiple interconnected actuator/sensor pairs

The work considers the effects of communication on the performance of multiple inexpensive actuating and sensing devices when used in place of single high capacity actuator and sensor. By opting for a large number of inexpensive actuating and sensing devices, one relies on their interconnection to emulate the performance of a controller based on single high capacity actuator and sensor. The communication effects become more prominent when the networked actuators and sensors are used to control spatially distributed systems. When the control units are viewed as the nodes of a communication topology, then accidental or deliberate actions on the connectivity of the networked actuator/sensor nodes may severely degrade the controller performance, or yet, destabilize the system. Viewing attacks on the actuator/sensor pairs as faults, which may be accidental or deliberate, a monitoring scheme based on detection and diagnostic observers is proposed for a class of partial differential equations with multiple interconnected actuator/sensor pairs. Two different types of network attacks are considered, accidental and deliberate, and both are modelled by a single attack function. The adaptive-based detection observer provides an alarm when an attack occurs in the system and via the diagnostic part of the observer, provides an indication of the node location within the communication graph that has been attacked. An attack accommodation scheme which takes the form of resetting the communication links of the affected node, is provided as a means to minimize the effects of the attack. Numerical results on a diffusion partial differential equation with five actuator sensor pairs is provided to highlight the detrimental effects of a network attack and the beneficial effects of a swift detection and accommodation.
Variance Estimation for a Specified Multiple-Frame Survey Design

This paper is concerned with the estimation of the variance of estimates based on a multiple-frame sample design in which alphabetic clusters of elements have been sampled from different lists, and where elements selected from different lists may correspond to the same element of the population of interest. A nesting procedure is used to assure that clusters selected from any one of the lists are also in the sample for any other list in which an equal or greater sampling rate has been specified.
Role of the use phase and pavement-vehicle interaction in comparative pavement life cycle assessment as a function of context

Abstract While many pavement life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been performed over the last decade, one of the most important advances and challenges is quantifying the impacts of various components during the use phase of pavements. The goal of this research is to understand the role of the use phase, particularly pavement-vehicle interaction (PVI), in pavement LCAs, and how use phase impacts vary by context (i.e., for specific climates and traffic levels). We have performed comparative pavement LCAs on two pavement design alternatives for multiple scenarios that encompass a range of locations and traffic levels. The pavement LCA model is probabilistic and the use phase element includes excess fuel consumption from both deflection-induced and roughness-induced PVI. Results from the scenario analysis demonstrate that the use phase can contribute up to 78% of a pavement's life cycle environmental impact and that PVI is the predominant element in the use phase of high-volume roads. Scenario analysis results also indicate that the use phase contributions are highly context sensitive to traffic volume, climate, and vehicle speed. This work contributes to the understanding of the context-dependent use phase impact and reinforces the importance of uncertainty quantification in comparative pavement LCAs.
Factors Associated With Inability to Bear Weight Following Hip Fracture Surgery: An Analysis of the ACS-NSQIP Hip Fracture Procedure Targeted Database.

Introduction:While the benefits of early mobility for prevention of complications such as pneumonia, thromboembolic events, and improved mortality have been well studied in postsurgical patients, i...
A Web-Service Framework For the Water Evaluation and Planning System

For systems-of-systems, the use of different modeling methods is important not only because each system can be described more correctly, but also benefit from tools that are in use by different communities. Using an opaque or closed source-code tool with others, however, is challenging. Consequently, to facilitate the development of simulations for systems-of-systems it is useful to cast closed-source models in a flexible component-based framework. Using this concept, a RESTful web service framework is developed for the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) software system. The WEAP RESTful framework has a suite of model components for all the model entities defined in the WEAP system. An example water system model shows the computational cost for the web-service framework is negligible. Casting the model entities to components can play a key role in using the WEAP system with other modeling frameworks useful for simulating the complexities of the Food-Energy-Water systems.
Abstract 1993: Gluthathione peroxidase 2 downregulation in the PyMT mammary tumor model leads to an aggressive phenotype due to stimulation of angiogenesis and tumor stemness via HIF1 alpha signaling

Breast tumors are known to undergo high levels of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation leading to accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which in turn potentiate cancer stem cells and chemoresistance. This was shown to be due to HIF1α stabilization by ROS; however, the signaling events downstream of HIF1α regulating the cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype remain unknown. Kaplan Meier survival curves upon the gene profiling database of breast cancer patients showed that reduced levels of the ROS scavenging enzyme, glutathione peroxidase 2 (GPx2) in breast cancers was associated with shorter patient survival duration. Consistent with this idea, we found that GPx2 was downregulated in metastatic mammary tumor cells, suggesting GPx2 loss enhances metastasis. Indeed, GPx2 knockdown in poorly metastatic cells increased ROS production, shortened tumor latency, and stimulated dramatic mammary tumor growth and metastasis. These effects were associated with marked increases in angiogenesis, CSC-like properties, and chemoresistance. Here, we show that GPx2 downregulation in mammary epithelial cells increases ROS production and HIF1α stabilization which were accompanied by VEGF upregulation and enhanced angiogenesis. On the other hand, GPx2 loss caused dramatic mammosphere formation and resistance to doxorubicin, implying effects on stemness leading to chemoresistance. These data suggest that GPx2 loss is a critical event that drives mammary tumorigenesis and metastasis via HIF1α signaling leading to stimulation of angiogenesis and stemness properties. Understanding the ramifications of GPx2 loss in breast cancer will allow us to identify key regulators of stemness and chemoresistance, with the goal of identifying novel drug targets in metastasis. Citation Format: Zuen Ren, Huizhi Liang, Outhiriaradjou Benard, Kimita Suyama, Joseph M. Albanese, Larry Norton, Wei Zheng, Rachel B. Hazan. Gluthathione peroxidase 2 downregulation in the PyMT mammary tumor model leads to an aggressive phenotype due to stimulation of angiogenesis and tumor stemness via HIF1 alpha signaling [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1993.
Binary Control-Flow Trimming

A new method of automatically reducing the attack surfaces of binary software is introduced, affording code consumers the power to remove features that are unwanted or unused in a particular deployment context. The approach targets stripped binary native code with no source-derived metadata or symbols, can remove semantic features irrespective of whether they were intended and/or known to code developers, and anticipates consumers who can demonstrate desired features (e.g., via unit testing), but who may not know the existence of specific unwanted features, and who lack any formal specifications of the code's semantics. Through a combination of runtime tracing, machine learning, in-lined reference monitoring, and contextual control-flow integrity enforcement, it is demonstrated that automated code feature removal is nevertheless feasible under these constraints, even for complex programs such as compilers and servers. The approach additionally accommodates consumers whose demonstration of desired features is incomplete; a tunable entropy-based metric detects coverage lapses and conservatively preserves unexercised but probably desired flows. A prototype implementation for Intel x86-64 exhibits low runtime overhead for trimmed binaries (about 1.87%), and case studies show that consumer-side control-flow trimming can successfully eliminate zero-day vulnerabilities.
Observation of O–O Bond Forming Step of Molecular Co4O4 Cubane Catalyst for Water Oxidation by Rapid-Scan FT-IR Spectroscopy

Monitoring of water oxidation by the established Co cubane catalyst Co4O4(OAc)4(py)4 (abbrev. Co4O4, OAc = acetate, py = pyridine) by time-resolved rapid-scan ATR FT-IR spectroscopy revealed the O–...
Modifying the Structure and Dynamics of Ionomers through Counterion Sterics

The role of counterion sterics on the structure and dynamics of a low glass transition temperature, amorphous poly(isoprene-ran-styrenesulfonate) copolymer was investigated using a series of symmetric, tetraalkylammonium counterions with methyl (TMA), ethyl (TEA), propyl (TPA), and butyl (TBA) pendent groups, in addition to a sodium (Na) control. A detailed analysis of the aggregate structure was achieved by fitting the copolymers’ X-ray scattering profiles with a modified hard sphere model. Increasing the counterion sterics from Na to TEA resulted in slight changes to the aggregates with some ionic groups present in the isoprene matrix. For the more hindered TPA and TBA counterions, considerable disruption of the structure occurred. Using solid-state NMR, dynamic mechanical analysis, and rheology, the effect of the counterion sterics on the copolymer’s dynamics was determined. The T1ρ relaxation of the copolymers revealed a rigid isoprene fraction, associated with the ion clusters, and a mobile isoprene ...
Globalization, Nationalism, and Inclusive Education for All: A Reflection on the Ideological Shifts in Education Reform

This chapter examines the concept of inclusive education for all as articulated in the United Nations against the rise of nationalism and ethnicism. We begin with a discussion of the concept of globalization. At the turn of this century, globalization was a positive force in the forward march of modernization. The former Soviet Union had collapsed barely a decade earlier, and liberal democracy became the dominant regime form around the world. In fact, no other option appeared to be possible. As we examine the rise in nationalism and ethnicism in the post-2000 era, that point of view now seems quaint. We explore the implications in education reforms under the global shift towards human rights-based development, with the adoption of the 2000 United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the more recent 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We offer a reflection on global education reforms that began with the adoption of the Dakar 2000 Framework of Action and the more recent 2015 Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4. We conclude with an extrapolation of the education reform outcomes arising from the synergy and contradictions embedded in the global shift that has taken place.
Making the Future “Different”: The Politics of Nichols’s The Graduate (1967)

For all its cultural relevance at the time of its release and its continuing cultural resonance, Mike Nichols’s The Graduate has been little analyzed. Much of the analysis that does exist, moreover, is of strikingly poor quality. This dearth of effective interpretation serves as solicitation, to which this chapter responds by taking up consideration of two central concerns—the representation of Mrs. Robinson and the political implications of the film’s conclusion. Although the settled position on Mrs. Robinson is that she is The Graduate’s principal villain, the film, in fact, offers a complex, in some ways tragic, portrait of the character, whose experience functions as commentary on the self-replicating capacities of patriarchy, and whose failure to find an effective response to her sense of entrapment foreshadows and parallels the ultimate—and markedly political—failure of the film’s protagonist to find a way of being in the world that is “different” from that of his superficial, status-oriented parents.
Frequency of Testing for Clostridioides difficile in Long-Term Care Facilities in Louisville, Kentucky

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), caused by toxigenic C. difficile and predominately manifested by moderate-to-severe diarrhea, is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). However, for CDI to be diagnosed in an LTCF resident, an LTCF resident with diarrhea must have a stool specimen collected for CDI diagnostic testing. The objective of this study was to define the frequency of stool specimen collection and testing for CDI in adult LTCF residents with diarrhea in Louisville, Kentucky. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 14 (31%) of the 45 LTCFs in Louisville (adults aged ≥18 years; population, 599,276) to identify LTCF residents with diarrhea and to observe the frequency of stool specimen collection for CDI diagnosis. For 14 consecutive days in February 2019, each LTCF was visited to identify new onset diarrhea (≥3 loose stools in 24 hours) by interviews of nursing staff. For residents with diarrhea, staff reviewed electronic medical records to determine whether a stool specimen was collected for CDI diagnosis and interviewed nurses about potential noninfectious causes of diarrhea. Results: The 14 participating LTCFs have 1,208 beds (median, 86 beds and 43 occupied beds per participating LTCF). Among 743 LTCF residents (with 10,402 patient days of surveillance), new-onset diarrhea was identified in 63 residents (21% male; median age 75 years); 0.6 diarrhea cases per 100 patient days (diarrhea attack rate, 0.6% per day). Nurses indicated that 16 (25%) of the 63 residents with diarrhea had a potential noninfectious cause of diarrhea (11 laxatives, 3 feeding tube, 1 colostomy, and 1 gastric surgery). Stool specimens were collected for CDI testing from 20 of 63 of residents (32%) with diarrhea; none with potential noninfectious cause of diarrhea and from 20 of 47 other residents (42%) with diarrhea. Of 20 stool specimens tested, 9 (47%) yielded toxigenic C. difficile (8.6 CDI cases per 10,000 patient days). During this survey, none of the 63 LTCF residents with diarrhea were transferred to a hospital or other healthcare facility. Conclusions: Diarrhea was common among LTCF residents, and toxigenic C. difficile was frequently identified in stool specimens collected from LTCF residents with diarrhea. The majority of non–laxative-receiving LTCF residents with diarrhea did not have a stool specimen collected for CDI diagnosis. The low frequency of CDI diagnostic testing of LTCF residents with diarrhea indicates that CDI may be underdiagnosed in these LTCFs and suggests that the CDI disease burden may be larger than currently appreciated. Funding: Pfizer Vaccines provided support for this study. Disclosures: Frederick Angulo, Kimbal D. Ford, Joann Zamparo, Elisa Gonzalez, Sharon Gray, David Swerdlow, and Catia Ferreira all report salary from Pfizer.
Microalgal applications toward agricultural sustainability: Recent trends and future prospects

Abstract Conventional agriculture methods employ the use of chemicals especially fertilizers and pesticides that pose severe environmental concerns due to the increasing pollution of soil and water bodies. The ever-increasing population and its rising food requirements have further emphasized the need to identify sustainable agricultural methods and techniques. Microalgae application in modern agriculture has gained a great deal of interest due to the wide range of benefits they can offer in improving crop yield and crop health yet maintaining environmental balance. Microalgae have been widely used as biofertilizers and are envisaged to positively impact agriculture as biostimulants, biopesticides, and bioremediating agents. This chapter provides an overview of recent research conducted in the areas of microalgal use in improving agricultural productivity and sustainable agriculture, primarily through their use as alternatives to existing harmful chemicals. In addition, our views on advantages microalgae can offer in comparison to existing agrochemicals have been discussed.
Racial and socioeconomic disparities in retroperitoneal lymph node dissection and survival in nonseminomatous germ cell tumor: A population-based study.

Abstract Background Though testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men, there is a paucity of epidemiologic studies examining sociodemographic disparities in adjuvant therapy and outcomes. We examined the associations of sociodemographic factors with retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) and survival among patients with nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCTs). Methods Within the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database (2005–2015), we identified 8,573 patients with nonseminomatous germ cell tumors. Multivariable logistic regression and Fine-Gray competing-risks regression models were constructed to examine the association of sociodemographic factors (neighborhood SES (nSES), race, and insurance) with, respectively, adjuvant RPLND within 1 year of diagnosis and cancer-specific mortality. Results Patients in the lowest nSES quintile (OR 0.59, 95% CI = 0.40–0.88, P = 0.01) and Black patients (OR 0.41, 95% CI = 0.15–1.00, P= 0.058) with stage II disease were less likely to receive RPLND compared to those in the highest quintile and White patients, respectively. Stage III patients with Medicaid (OR 0.64, 95% CI = 0.46–0.89, P= 0.009) or without insurance (OR 0.46, 95% CI = 0.27–0.76, P= 0.003) were less likely to receive RPLND compared to patients with private insurance. Lowest quintile nSES patients of all disease stages and Black patients with stage I disease (HR = 2.64, 95% CI = 1.12–6.20, P = 0.026) or stage II disease (HR=4.93, 95% CI = 1.48–16.44, P = 0.009) had higher risks of cancer-specific mortality compared to highest quintile nSES and White patients, respectively. Conclusions This national study found multilevel, stage-specific sociodemographic disparities in receipt of RPLND and survival.
The pharmacokinetics of a fentanyl matrix patch applied at three different anatomical locations in horses.

Background Matrix fentanyl patches have not been investigated in horses and may represent an effective means of providing analgesia over an extended time period without venous catheterisation. Objectives To describe the pharmacokinetics of a matrix transdermal fentanyl patch in horses. Study design Randomised experiment, Latin-square design. Methods Six adult horses were given each of three treatments with a 96-hour washout. For each treatment, two 100 µg/h matrix fentanyl patches were applied to the inguinal region (TXA), metacarpus (TXM) or ventral tail base (TXT) for 72 hours. Blood samples for fentanyl analysis were obtained and heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR) and rectal temperature (RT) were measured at various time points for 96 hours. Fentanyl plasma concentrations were measured with LC-MS/MS for pharmacokinetic analysis. A mixed-effects model was used to analyse pharmacodynamic variables. Results The time to maximum plasma concentration, maximum plasma concentration and area under the curve extrapolated to infinity were 10 ± 3.79, 14.3 ± 5.13 and 10.3 ± 4.8 hours; 2.07 ± 0.74, 1.55 ± 0.53 and 2.07 ± 0.72 ng/mL; and 46.6 ± 9.3, 44.6 ± 6.0 and 46.2 ± 7.68 ng hours/mL for TXA, TXM and TXT respectively. There was no significant difference among groups. There was no significant change from baseline or among treatment groups with regard to HR, RR or RT (P > .1 for all). Main limitations There was no intravenous treatment group for determination of bioavailability. Conclusions Fentanyl was rapidly absorbed and persisted in the plasma for up to 96 hours. No adverse effects of treatment on HR, RR or RT were observed. Further controlled prospective studies are needed to determine what plasma concentration, if any, of fentanyl achieves an analgesic effect in horses when administered via a transdermal patch system.
Influence of branched-chain fatty acid supplementation on voluntary intake, site and extent of digestion, ruminal fermentation, digesta kinetics and microbial protein synthesis in beef heifers consuming grass hay.

Four heifers (British x British; average BW 372 kg) cannulated at the rumen and duodenum and consuming a grass hay (fescue-orchardgrass) diet were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square and supplemented with four levels (0, 20, 40, and 60 g.head-1.d-1) of supplemental four- and five-carbon VFA (BCFA). Forage OM, ADF, NDF and N intakes and digestibilities were not affected (P greater than .10) by BCFA supplementation. Likewise, duodenal N (microbial, feed and ammonia) flows and microbial efficiency were not altered (P greater than .10) by BCFA supplementation. Neither particulate and fluid passage rate nor in situ rate of NDF digestion was affected (P greater than .10) by treatment. Ruminal pH, ammonia concentrations and total VFA concentrations were similar (P greater than .10) among treatments. Ruminal proportions of acetate and propionate were not affected (P greater than .10) by treatment; however, butyrate responded in a cubic (P less than .05) fashion to BCFA, with the lowest proportion of butyrate at the 40 g BCFA feeding level. A time x treatment interaction (P less than .05) was noted for isobutyrate, isovalerate and valerate proportions; they were increased as a function of BCFA dosage at 2 to 8 h postdosing. Supplemental four- and five-carbon VFA had no effect on digestion and fermentation of grass hay. Supplementation of low-quality roughages with BCFA is not justified.
Wide-awake Local Anesthesia with No Tourniquet: An Updated Review.

The wide-awake local anesthesia with no tourniquet (WALANT) technique has become popularized for various hand/upper extremity procedures. Before surgery, patients receive local anesthetic, consisting of lidocaine with epinephrine, and remain awake for the entire procedure. The purpose of this review was to investigate the advantages, diverse application, outcomes, cost benefits, use in challenging environments, patient considerations, and contraindications associated with WALANT. Methods A comprehensive review of the literature on the WALANT technique was conducted. Search terms included: WALANT, wide-awake surgery, no tourniquet, local anesthesia, hand, wrist, cost, and safety. Results The WALANT technique has proven to be successful for common procedures such as flexor tendon repair, tendon transfer, trigger finger releases, Depuytren disease, and simple bony procedures. Recently, the use of WALANT has expanded to more extensive soft-tissue repair, fracture management, and bony manipulation. Advantages include negating preoperative evaluation and testing for anesthesia clearance, eliminating risk of monitored anesthesia care, removal of anesthesia providers and ancillary staff, significant cost savings, and less waste produced. Intraoperative evaluations can be performed through active patient participation, and postoperative recovery and monitoring time are reduced. WALANT is associated with high patient satisfaction rates and low infection rates. Conclusions The WALANT technique has proven to be valuable to both patients and providers, optimizing patient satisfaction and providing substantial healthcare savings. As its application continues to grow, current literature suggests positive outcomes.
Group Marketing Strategies – Design, Implementation, and Measurement

In the age of connected customers, organizations are increasingly devoted to social and group marketing. In doing so, firms need to consider not only interactions with customers but also interactions among customers. Such interactions among customers are dynamic in nature and thus create a dynamic structure of influences among customers. This article, using 27 years of data on university alumni donation and event attendance, highlights the importance of the interdependence that arises from joint event attendance among potential customers over time and the substantial effects such interdependence has on behavioral outcomes. Therefore, when designing group marketing strategies and deciding which customers to target, companies need to consider group similarities due to demographics, contacts and interactions among customers over time, and the synergistic effects between customers who interact with each other and also share similar demographics. Accordingly, this article provides guidelines on data collection, design, implementation, tracking, and fine-tuning of group CRM strategies.
Expansion of quality preschool in Philadelphia: Leveraging an evidence-based, integrated data system to provide actionable intelligence for policy and program planning

Abstract To address the national priority for school readiness, there is a growing body of research investigating early care and education (ECE) deserts. This research identifies geographies within jurisdictions where there are high demands for and low supplies of ECE programs. The current study used a new approach to investigate preschool deserts in Philadelphia that addressed shortcomings in existing research. This approach used evidence-based measures of supply and demand across neighborhoods to identify and respond to preschool deserts in real time. A population-based data model of early childhood risks derived from a disciplined, local Integrated Data System (IDS) was used to calculate demand and triage it by multiple evidence-based early risk experiences. Actual counts of the number of slots in preschool centers with an evidence-based high-quality rating were used to calculate supply. High-quality, preschool deserts were defined as the neighborhoods with the greatest number of children with multiple evidence-based early risks and the lowest number of high-quality preschool slots relative to the city average. Results showed that about 3 out of 10 preschool children in Philadelphia live in a high-quality preschool desert. A report on how policymakers used the findings to increase high-quality preschool capacity was provided. Findings demonstrate how this evidence-based approach to the investigation of preschool deserts can increase the possibility of providing relevant, actionable intelligence to local policymakers and public service providers.
How and why plant ionomes vary across North American grasslands and its implications for herbivore abundance

Plant elemental content can vary up to 1,000-fold across grasslands, with implications for the herbivores the plants feed. We contrast the regulation, in grasses and forbs, of 12 elements essential to plants and animals (henceforth plant-essential), 7 essential to animals but not plants (animal-essential) and 6 with no known metabolic function (nonessential). Four hypotheses accounted for up to two thirds of the variation in grass and forb ionomes across 54 North American grasslands. Consistent with the supply-side hypothesis, the plant-essential ionome of both forbs and grasses tracked soil availability. Grass ionomes were more likely to harvest even nonessential elements like Cd and Sr. Consistent with the grazing hypothesis, cattle-grazed grasslands also accumulated a handful of metals like Cu and Cr. Consistent with the NP-catalysis hypothesis, increases in the macronutrients N and P in grasses were associated with higher densities of cofactors like Zn and Cu. The plant-essential elements of forbs, in contrast, consistently varied as per the nutrient-dilution hypothesis-there was a decrease in elemental parts per million with increasing local carbohydrate production. Combined, these data fit a working hypothesis that grasses maintain lower elemental densities and survive on nutrient-poor patches by opportunistically harvesting soil nutrients. In contrast, nutrient-rich forbs use episodes of high precipitation and temperature to build new carbohydrate biomass, raising leaves higher to compete for light, but diluting the nutrient content in every bite of tissue. Herbivores of forbs may thus be particularly prone to increases in pCO2 via nutrient dilution.
The Educational Consensus: You Must Learn!

This chapter demonstrates the underlying educational logic across the political spectrum of the knowledge economy: the demand to learn and never stop learning. The right-wing pays the most explicit attention to education and educational systems. When the left does articulate education, it articulates the same educational logic as the right, with some even going so far as to equate learning with human nature. Learning is the educational logic that allows capital and the state to absorb the general intellect and even to accommodate oppositional or subjugated knowledges, and thus the left also works to reinforce systems of oppression that the never-ending quest for the realization of knowledge produces. The final part of the chapter links the logic of learning with the Italian marxist thesis of the primacy over labor, arguing that both logics must be either sublated, overcome, or at least supplemented with an alternative and truly oppositional educational mode of life and politics.
Privacy, Discrimination, and Public Health

For many people in the US, privacy is the single most important ethical issue in genetics. Possible loss of insurance is their greatest fear, though this may reflect a general dislike of insurance companies rather than what is actually happening in genetics. In this chapter, we discuss access to genetic information (Tables 68 and 69), telling a school system a genetic diagnosis (Table 70), DNA fingerprinting (Table 71>), genetic testing in the workplace (Tables 72–74), public safety (Table 75), and “genetic discrimination” (Tables 76–78). We have already described the meanings of “privacy” and “confidentiality” at the beginning of Chapter 6.
An Approach to Glove-Based Gesture Recognition

Nowadays, computer interaction is mostly done using dedicated devices. But gestures are an easy mean of expression between humans that could be used to communicate with computers in a more natural manner. Most of the current research on hand gesture recognition for Human-Computer Interaction rely on either the Neural Networks or Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). In this paper, we compare different approaches for gesture recognition and highlight the major advantages of each. We show that gestures recognition based on the Bio-mechanical characteristic of the hand provides an intuitive approach which provides more accuracy and less complexity.
Measurements of total cross sections for positron-K and-Rb scattering

A modification of the apparatus that we have been using to measure absolute total cross sections (QT′s) for positron and electron scattering by alkali metal atoms has enabled us to more easily obtainQT′s at low energies (<10 eV). Our positron-K and-RbQT measurements now extend from 1 to 98 eV and we have made the correspondingQT measurements for electrons in the same system using the same technique (a beam transmission technique). Our measured positron-K and-RbQT values show a peak in the vicinity of 6 eV and decrease substantially as the positron energy is reduced below 6 eV, in sharp contrast to the results obtained in recent 5-state close-coupling approximation calculations. At higher energies (above 10 eV), we have found that the same calculations are in quite good agreement with our measured positron-K and-RbQT′s. Our measurements of the correspondingQT′s for electrons below 10 eV do not show a peak, but rather continue to increase as the energy is decreased.
Fan fiction and copyright: Outside works and intellectual property protection, by Aaron Schwabach

Aaron Schwabach. Fan fiction and copyright: Outside works and intellectual property protection. London: Ashgate, 2011, hardcover, $89.95 (184p) ISBN 978-0754679035.
The Preparation and Study of Detergent-Solubilized Receptors

A number of properties of cell surface receptors cannot be determined in sufficient detail without purification of the putative receptor and subsequent reconstitution of its biological function(s). For example, rigorous proof for the existence of receptor subtypes requires the study of receptor-ligand interactions in a purified preparation. Similarly, determining whether or not receptor affinity states are a manifestation of receptor interaction with components of an effector system is best accomplished by reconstituting isolated receptor and effector components into lipid vesicles of defined composition.
Measurement of Cholecystokinin

Early measurements of cholecystokinin (CCK) were based on the abilities of blood or blood extracts to stimulate gallbladder contraction or pancreatic exocrine secretion. These biological assays were performed in laboratory animals such as dogs, pigs or rodents. The usefulness of these assays was limited because methods were cumbersome and interpretation of results was complicated by confounding problems introduced by other hormones or neural influences. Invention of radioimmunoassay revolutionized the study of endocrinology and most hormones can now be measured by this method. However, the radioimmunoassay of CCK was particularly difficult for several reasons (9). First, multiple molecular forms of CCK ranging from CCK-4 to CCK-83 have been found in blood. Although it appears as though CCK-58 is the major circulating form in the species examined, other forms may contribute to CCK activity. Second, CCK is structurally similar to gastrin. Both CCK and gastrin have an identical pentapeptide carboxyl terminus. Therefore, to avoid crossreactivity, assays must be able to detect the regions of CCK that are distinct from gastrin. Third, CCK circulates in the blood at concentrations that are much lower (10-100 fold) than gastrin. Fourth, large molecular forms of CCK (e.g., CCK-58) that can be used as standards in assays are not routinely available. Fifth, isotope labeling of CCK can be difficult. Sixth, CCK has posttranslationally modified amino acids (e.g., sulfated tyrosine) that are important for activity. CCK-8 is fully active and more potent than shorter forms of CCK. Full activity requires that (1) the hormone be sulfated in position seven (from the carboxyl terminus) and (2) methionine at position 3 remain in the reduced (non-oxidized) state. This multitude of potential problems delayed the development of reproducible, sensitive, and specific RIAs for CCK.
Effect of Acetate on Molecular and Physiological Aspects of Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 Solvent Production and Strain Degeneration

The addition of sodium acetate to chemically defined MP2 medium was found to increase and stabilize solvent production and also increase glucose utilization by Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052. RNA and enzyme analyses indicated that coenzyme A (CoA) transferase was highly expressed and has higher activity in C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 grown in MP2 medium containing added sodium acetate than in the microorganism grown without sodium acetate. RNA analysis suggested the existence of a sol operon and confirmed the presence of a ptb-buk operon in C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052. In addition to CoA transferase, C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 grown in MP2 medium containing added acetate demonstrated higher acetate kinase- and butyrate kinase-specific activity than when the culture was grown in MP2 medium containing no added acetate. Southern blot analysis with chromosomal DNA isolated from solventogenic and degenerated C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 indicated that C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 strain degeneration does not involve loss of the CoA transferase genes. The addition of acetate to MP2 medium may induce the expression of the sol operon, which ensures solvent production and prevents strain degeneration in C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052.
Rejection Control and Sequential Importance Sampling

Abstract We discuss ways of combining rejection sampling and importance sampling methods in Monte Carlo computations and demonstrate their usefulness in updating dynamic systems. Specifically, we propose the rejection controlled sequential importance sampling (RC-SIS) algorithm, which is designed to simultaneously reduce Monte Carlo variation and retain independent samples in sequential importance sampling. The proposed method is demonstrated by three examples taken from econometrics, hierarchical Bayes analysis, and digital telecommunications. They all show significant improvements over previous results.