cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Iron absorption from soybean ferritin in nonanemic women

Background: Dietary ferritin, a protein cage around an iron mineral, is an underestimated source of bioavailable iron. Plant ferritin, the most common dietary ferritin, has not been studied. Iron from animal ferritin is absorbed as well as is iron from FeSO 4 in women. Objective: The objective was to examine iron absorption from purified soybean ferritin. Design: Healthy, nonanemic women (n = 16) were fed a standardized meal (bagel, cream cheese, and apple juice) containing 1 μCi 59 Fe/meal as FeSO 4 or (extrinsically labeled) as iron-free soybean ferritin reconstituted with the high phosphate characteristic of plant ferritin (iron:phosphorus = 4:1). Iron-free, apo-soybean ferritin was prepared (with the use of thioglycolic acid and extensive dialysis) from purified ferritin. In a randomized crossover design, the other labeled meal, which contained FeSO 4 or ferritin, was given after 4 wk. The subjects received 140 μg Fe as ferritin (2.5 mg) or as FeSO 4 . After 28 d, whole-body 59 Fe and 59 Fe in red blood cells were measured before and after dosing. Results: There was no significant difference in whole-body iron absorption from soybean ferritin (29.9 ± 19.8%) and that from FeSO 4 (34.3 ± 23.6%) or in iron absorption calculated from red blood cell incorporation (33.0 ± 20.1% for soybean ferritin and 35.3 ± 23.4% for FeSO 4 ), which confirmed previous results with animal ferritin that was mineralized and labeled similarly. An inverse relation was observed between serum ferritin and iron absorption from both ferritin and FeSO 4 , which suggested that sensors regulating iron absorption respond similarly to iron provided as ferrous salts or as ferritin mineral. Conclusion: Iron from soybean ferritin is well absorbed and may provide a model for novel, utilizable, plant-based forms of iron for populations with a low iron status.
Adrenocortical color darkness and correlates as indicators of continuous acute premortem stress in chased and purse-seine captured male dolphins

A 2- to 3-h purse-seine set on dolphins to catch yellowfin tuna, including chase, net deployment, and closed net confinement, generates stressful stimuli. In most mammals, lipid depletion and hyperemia in adrenal cortices indicate a continuous acute stress (CAS) response, causing cortices to darken from beige to reddish-brown within a few hours in lab animals. To investigate suspected dolphin CAS, we examined cortices of 262 male spinner and spotted dolphins that died after varying periods of chase, net deployment, and confinement. About 95% were dark, and a subsample showed sparse or absent lipids and no vascular hemorrhage. This shows that most specimens were affected by CAS long enough to cause lipid depletion and hyperemia. Dolphins asphyxiate underwater in < 15 min, insufficient time for CAS signs to occur from entanglement alone. Spotted dolphins showed a significant trend of cortical darkening with lengthening chase and net-deployment periods (P < 0.01), but not confinement periods (P = 0.82). Thus, they were under CAS as early as chase stage; confinement did not augment the response. Possible roles of CAS in mortality are considered.
Ultrastructure and Amino Acid/Protein Contents of Pinus Strobus Needles: A Potential Monitor for Ozone (O3)

A variety of pine species, including eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.), are a significant resource in the Southern USA (Dorman, 1976). Ambient levels of ozone beyond the Earth’s background of 0.02 to 0.03 ppm are suspected to adversely affect the quality and growth of various pines (Berry, 1974). Consequently, visible symptoms of ozone damage can appear on eastern white pine below 10 pphm (Taylor, 1984) which is generally regarded as ozone-sensitive (Berry, 1971). Representative average monthly and mean hourly ozone concentrations are shown in Figures 1A and 1B, respectively, for the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory which is located in western North Carolina within the southern Appalachian Mountains. The 2200-ha Laboratory is in a rural county and the ozone monitoring station is located at low elevation (685 m). General ozone concentrations for 1986 were lower than concentrations experienced in 1987 and 1988, but are useful to characterize seasonal and diurnal trends. Concentrations are typically highest in spring and early summer months (May-June) and subsequently decrease through the summer into fall (Figure 1A). High concentrations coincide with the initiation and development of new foliage which is a period when forest trees may be most susceptible to oxidant damage.
Low Intelligence Agents for Market Testing

Markets are complex artifacts. The design of such artifacts is made possible by continuation — a process that breaks the design into pieces small enough to be within the cognitive reach of the designer. Continuation requires frequent testing of critical behaviors. For the economic agents in markets, these behaviors include certain sensitivities to learning, cooperation and the distribution of autonomy. The paper argues that these sensitivities are best tested by software agents containing relatively simple algorithms, that is, low intelligence agents.
Population Structure and Genetic Diversity in North American Hedysarum boreale Nutt.

Hedysarum boreale Nutt. is a perennial legume native to western North America, with robust foliage in the late spring season. Due to its wide native range, forage value, and N 2 fi xation, H. boreale is of interest for rangeland revegetation and production. Seed cost is a major obstacle for utilization of H. boreale, primarily due to seed shattering and unreliable seed production, such that a need for improved germplasm exists. This study characterized the genetic relationships of H. boreale accessions, so plant breeders and geneticists will have the information necessary to maintain a broad genetic base within selected germplasm populations. Amplifi ed fragment length polymorphism markers were used on 17 available accessions from Utah, Idaho, Colo- rado, and Alaska. Seventy percent of the total genetic variation was found within all 17 acces- sions, yet each accession showed signifi cant isolation by distance. Genetic diversity within accessions was greatest in sites located in east- ern Utah. The sole cultivar, Timp, had slightly greater genetic diversity than a collection made from the same site approximately 20 yr later. Two groups of metapopulations were identifi ed in Utah, separated longitudinally approximately along the Wasatch mountain range.
Animation aerodynamics

Methods based on aerodynamics are developed to simulate and control the motion of objects in fluid flows. To simplify the physics for animation, the problem is broken down into two parts: a fluid flow regime and an object boundary regime. With this simplification one can approximate the realistic behaviour of objects moving in liquids or air. It also enables a simple way of designing and controlling animation sequences: from a set of flow primitives, an animator can design the spatial arrangement of flows, create flows around obstacles and direct flow timing. The approach is fast, simple, and is easily fitted into simulators that model objects governed by classical mechanics. The methods are applied to an animation that involves hundreds of flexible leaves being blown by wind currents.
Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts

Abstract As the primary barrier to release of radioactive isotopes emitted from the fuel kernel, retention performance of the SiC layer in tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particles is critical to the overall safety of reactors that utilize this fuel design. Most isotopes are well-retained by intact SiC coatings, so pathways through this layer due to cracking, structural defects, or chemical attack can significantly contribute to radioisotope release. In the US TRISO fuel development effort, release of 134Cs and 137Cs are used to detect SiC failure during fuel compact irradiation and safety testing because the amount of cesium released by a compact containing one particle with failed SiC is typically ten or more times higher than that released by compacts without failed SiC. Compacts with particles that released cesium during irradiation testing or post-irradiation safety testing at 1600–1800 °C were identified, and individual particles with abnormally low cesium retention were sorted out with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Irradiated Microsphere Gamma Analyzer (IMGA). X-ray tomography was used for three-dimensional imaging of the internal coating structure to locate low-density pathways through the SiC layer and guide subsequent materialography by optical and scanning electron microscopy. All three cesium-releasing particles recovered from as-irradiated compacts showed a region where the inner pyrocarbon (IPyC) had cracked due to radiation-induced dimensional changes in the shrinking buffer and the exposed SiC had experienced concentrated attack by palladium; SiC failures observed in particles subjected to safety testing were related to either fabrication defects or showed extensive Pd corrosion through the SiC where it had been exposed by similar IPyC cracking.
Seismic velocity structure along a section of the San Andreas fault near Bear Valley, California

Intensive study of an earthquake sequence along a section of the San Andreas fault near Bear Valley, California (February-March 1972) reveals large velocity changes in the vicinity of the fault. These velocity changes are caused primarily by structural variations in the vicinity of the fault zone but may represent in part the effect of active tectonic processes.
Effect of drug and medical treatment on wide geographic variations in repeated emergency department use by HIV-infected drug users.

Repeated (≥ two visits) emergency department (ED) visits by HIV-infected (HIV+) drug users in New York State (NYS) vary widely by region and may reflect regional inequities in receipt of needed drug treatment and medical services. The study’s objective was to evaluate receipt of drug treatment and medical care by HIV+ drug users by region and its effect on ED use. For NYS Medicaid-enrolled HIV+ drug users (N = 11,556) in 1996 and 1997, we identified receipt of long-term (≥ six months) drug treatment, HIV care, and a usual source of medical care from claims files. Regions were classified as New York City , downstate suburban, upstate urban, and rural/small city. We examined adjusted associations of these services with ≥ two ED visits in the entire cohort and separately among patients who do and do not receive these three types of services. Repeated ED visits were greatest in rural/small cities (40.7 percent) and least in New York City (24.1 percent; p < 0.001), and receipt of drug treatment was also poorest (p < 0.001) in rural/small cities, whereas receipt of HIV care and usual source of medical care varied less by region. Adjusted odds of ≥ two ED visits was increased for patients in rural/small cities (1.89 [confidence interval, 1.44 to 2.50]) vs. New York City and reduced for patents with long-term drug treatment (0.76 [confidence interval, 0.69 to 0.84]). Among persons receiving long-term drug treatment, observed regional differences in ED use largely disappeared. Regional variations in receipt of long-term drug treatment by HIV+ drug users in one state appear to contribute to large differences in ED utilization.
Coherence-driven Reflective Equilibrium model of ethical decision-making

Instilling trust in autonomous systems requires having confidence that agents have decision-making mechanisms governed by ethical principles. The ability to resolve conflicts among moral principles, duties, obligations, and the consequences is a critical challenge in developing such mechanisms. We demonstrate how the Reflective Equilibrium Method and its implementation in terms of a parallel constraint satisfaction mechanism can help manage conflicts and simultaneously assess multiple principles in a context-sensitive manner. The proposed domain architecture and its implementation are used toward developing an Ethical Advisor for training purposes as well as for designing cognitive decision-making models. A high-level Domain-Specific Language is introduced to specify coherence-governed models of ethical decision-making, so that domain experts express concepts relevant to modeling ethical behavior instead of using general-purpose programming language constructs.
Optimization problems for KG

In this paper we are concerned with certain nonlinear type optimization problems related to the estimation of the universal constant KG appearing in Grothendieck's fundamental Theorem in the metric theory of tensor products. Let KG,k be the smallest constant such that Grothendieck's Theorem remains valid for m x m matrices, m≤k. In this paper we show KG,2=KG,3=√2.
Learning and Industrial Policy: Implications for Africa

Over the past thirty years, Africa has suffered from deindustrialization. The quarter century from the early 1980s was a period of declining per capita income and increasing poverty. Structural adjustment policies advocated by the IMF and the World Bank were predicated on the belief that by eliminating “distortions” in the economy, Africa would grow faster - by constructing an economy based on principles of free and unfettered markets, with the government restrained to ensuring macro-stability (which typically just meant price stability), economic performance would be increased and all would benefit.
Interventional Cardiology: Current Status and Future Directions in Coronary Disease and Valvular Heart Disease.

Percutaneous cardiac interventions were introduced in the 1960s, and, with the introduction of percutaneous coronary interventions by Gruentzig in 1978, the field has had an astounding growth. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the most commonly preformed revascularization technique in the United States today with an estimated 492 000 procedures done in 20101 (Figure 1). This exceeds the number of coronary bypass operations estimated to be 397 000. Likewise, the growth of structural heart disease, in particular, valvular heart disease, has been remarkable with >10 000 procedures in 2013 in the United States 2 years after approval and 38 000 over the first 5 years of approval in Europe.2 It is estimated that > 200 000 transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures have been done worldwide to date. Growth in TAVR has increased the volume of surgical aortic valve replacement as well3 (Figure 2). Invasive pediatric interventions have accelerated over the past decade with better devices and improved success. Peripheral vascular interventions have also grown, expanding into venous in addition to arterial interventions. The field of interventional cardiology is now much broader and more complex than ever before and specialization within interventional cardiology is increasing.4 This review will discuss 2 areas where change has been most dramatic: coronary and valvular interventions. Figure 1. Trends in cardiovascular procedures, United States: 1979 to 2010; inpatient procedures only.1 PCI indicates percutaneous coronary intervention. Original Source: National Hospital Discharge Survey, National Center for Health Statistics, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Figure 2. Growth of TAVR in Germany 2007 to 2013.3 Number of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) procedures performed, according to type of procedure and age group, 2007 to 2013. TA indicates transapical; and TF, transfemoral. ### The Current Status of Coronary Interventions Studies over the past decade have shown that the procedure is effective in relieving …
Supercritical fluid extraction of volatile N-nitrosamines in fried bacon and its drippings: method comparison

N-Nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), known animal carcinogens, are consistently formed in bacon during frying. As a result, commercial bacon has been subject to regulatory monitoring and compliance for the past 20 years to ensure that N-nitrosamines do not exceed the 10 ppb volatile level. Currently, time-consuming distillation-solvent extraction and solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods are used for this purpose. With an emphasis on reducing solvent use, we investigated supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) for isolation of volatile nitrosamines common to fried bacon. Eighteen fried bacon samples were analyzed for NPYR and NDMA by SFE, SPE, mineral oil distillation (MOD), and low-temperature vacuum distillation (LTVD) methods, using the same gas chromatographic-chemiluminescence detection (thermal energy analyzer) conditions. The range of values for SFE was 0.7 to 20.2 ppb for NPYR and none detected (ND) to 2.4 ppb for NDMA. Analysis of variance of the NPYR data showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) between SFE and SPE results and significant differences between these and those obtained by MOD and LTVD. Overall, SFE was superior to the other methods with the highest recoveries, best repeatability, rapidity of analysis, and solvent-sparing characteristics. Similar results were obtained for SFE after comparison with distillation and SPE methods for determining the same nitrosamines in fried bacon drippings.
Mechanisms by Which B Cells and Regulatory T Cells Influence Development of Murine Organ-Specific Autoimmune Diseases

Experiments with B cell-deficient (B-/-) mice indicate that a number of autoimmune diseases require B cells in addition to T cells for their development. Using B-/- Non-obese diabetic (NOD) and NOD.H-2h4 mice, we demonstrated that development of spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis (SAT), Sjogren's syndrome and diabetes do not develop in B-/- mice, whereas all three diseases develop in B cell-positive wild-type (WT) mice. B cells are required early in life, since reconstitution of adult mice with B cells or autoantibodies did not restore their ability to develop disease. B cells function as important antigen presenting cells (APC) to initiate activation of autoreactive CD4+ effector T cells. If B cells are absent or greatly reduced in number, other APC will present the antigen, such that Treg are preferentially activated and effector T cells are not activated. In these situations, B-/- or B cell-depleted mice develop the autoimmune disease when T regulatory cells (Treg) are transiently depleted. This review focuses on how B cells influence Treg activation and function, and briefly considers factors that influence the effectiveness of B cell depletion for treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Genomic islands of divergence or opportunities for introgression

In animals, introgression between species is often perceived as the breakdown of reproductive isolating mechanisms, but gene flow between incipient species can also represent a source for potential...
Stochastic Modeling of Fatigue Crack Dynamics for On-line Damage Estimation and Life Prediction

Abstract This paper presents a nonlinear stochastic model of fatigue damage dynamics for real-time computation of the time-dependent rate and accumulation of fatigue crack damage in metallic materials. The model structure allows construction of a filter for estimation of the current damage state and prediction of the remaining service life based on the underlying principle of the Gauss-Markov processes in the Wiener integral setting instead of solving the Kolmogorov forward equation in the Ito integral setting. The model results have been verified with experimentally generated statistical data of time-dependent fatigue crack damage for the 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 Aluminum alloys.
Objectifying the Occult: Studying an Islamic Talismanic Shirt as an Embodied Object

Islamic talismanic shirts from pre-Mughal South Asia form a stylistically cohesive subset within the larger corpus of Islamic talismanic shirts from the patrimonial-bureaucratic period. These objects have eluded sustained study due, in large part, to their wide geographical purview and dissimilarity from other period textiles. While these objects bear some similarities with talismans of smaller shape and disparate media, their form as garments has yet to be considered as integral to their function. In analyzing one of these South Asian shirts, from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, parallels between the arts of the book and the construction of armor highlight the apotropaic function of Koranic text when placed on the human body.Les chemises talismaniques islamiques de l’Asie du Sud pre-moghole forment un sous-ensemble stylistiquement coherent dans le corpus plus large des chemises talismaniques islamiques de la periode patrimoniale-bureaucratique. Ces objets ont echappe a une etude substantielle en raison, en grande partie, de leur vaste dispersion geographique et de leur difference par rapport aux autres textiles de la meme epoque. Bien que ces objets presentent des similitudes avec des talismans de forme plus petite et de support different, leur forme de vetement n’a pas encore ete consideree comme faisant partie integrante de leur fonction. En analysant l’une de ces chemises sud-asiatiques, du Musee des Beaux-Arts de Virginie, les paralleles entre les arts du livre et la construction de l’armure mettent l’accent sur la fonction apotropaique du texte coranique lorsqu’il est place sur le corps humain.This article is in English.
Integrity of Data in a Mobile Crowdsensing Campaign: A Case Study

Mobile crowdsensing (MCS) has a huge potential to provide societal benefits by effectively utilizing the sensing, computing, and networking capability of mobile devices, which have become ubiquitous especially in the developed world. However, many challenges come along with MCS such as energy cost, privacy issues, and the data integrity of crowdsensed data. In this paper, we focus on analyzing the data integrity of mobile crowdsensed data in a user study of 60 people who participate in a crowdsensing campaign that collects barometric pressure data from various locations of our campus. Each set of 20 users runs one of the three different crowdsensing frameworks, one of which, called SENSE-AID, is an energy-efficient framework designed by us. We analyze the characteristics of the data with respect to their integrity. From our analysis, we find that for 90 MCS tasks there is a surprisingly high number of outlier percentage (close to 20%), only about 10% of the participants report data for the entire duration of 7 days of the MCS campaign, and using a reputation system to filter out spurious data values helps in getting within 0.8% of the ground truth barometric pressure, whereas not using the reputation system leads to a discrepancy of about 20%. We hope our analysis will provide a useful reference to MCS researchers and developers in their future work running MCS campaigns.
Learning From Others: Developing Preservice Teachers’ Workplace Skills

Being a teacher requires the ability to work with difficult behaviors—not just of students and parents but also of colleagues. Preservice teachers need the opportunity to develop and practice colla...
Deeper learning in collaborative concept mapping: A mixed methods study of conflict resolution

Abstract This paper extends the investigation of deeper learning beyond learning as an individual endeavor by looking at the collaborative achievement of teams. Healthcare students were engaged in collaborative concept mapping to solve an authentic, contextually situated problem in triads. Both quantitative and qualitative investigations have been conducted to study specifically the impact of learners' conflict resolution on their deeper learning as measured by knowledge convergence (KC). Knowledge convergence refers the similarity between team members' post-collaboration knowledge representations derived through interaction. To compute learners' KC, team members' post-collaboration individual maps were compared through Pathfinder analysis. Contrary to prior research findings, increased conflict negotiation behaviors by an individual resulted in fewer similarities between his or her second map and other members' maps. Theme analysis revealed both effective interaction strategies and challenges that impacted triad team members' attainment of KC. Findings from this study can inform development of effective instructional support to cultivate the occurrence of deeper learning within the contexts of collaborative concept mapping and healthcare education.
Das Wesen einer Innovation

In diesem Buch ist so viel vom Davonlaufen die Rede! Als ich klein war, fand ich zum Beispiel Petersilie zum Davonlaufen, wenn sie auf Salzkartoffeln lag. Ich setzte bei meiner auf Gesundheit bedachten Mutter durch, dass ich einen Teeloffel davon vor dem Essen schlucken durfte, worauf man erlaubte, dass ich mir nicht mehr das Mittagessen damit verderben musste. Ich war namlich auf diese Weise schon vor dem Essen gesund. Jahrzehnte spater wechselte auch meine Mutter selbst zu dieser Praxis. Wer wollte eigentlich die Petersilie? Mein Vater hatte einige Male in meinem Leben gesagt: „Schmeckt nicht, aber es ist gesund.“ Das lies aufhorchen. Zuruck zur Flut: Wenn sie nicht gerade uber ihre Fluchtbahnen nachdachten, so lebten die Menschen in schmucken Hausern und freuten sich des Lebens. Sonntags gab es das traditionelle Festessen aller Menschen, die Petersiliensuppe.
Methods of DNA Technology

This chapter describes the methods used by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technologists to recombine cells with foreign genes and stimulate those cells to produce proteins having practical use. The chapter describes that genes are isolated from cells or synthesized in the laboratory using the enzyme reverse transcriptase. The chapter also describes that the gene is attached to a carrier molecule called a “vector.” A plasmid can be a vector, or a cosmid or a virus, such as a bacteriophage. The vector must have gene sequences for an origin of replication, a promoter, and a termination signal. The DNA technologist must consider several factors, such as: (1) the proper gene signals on the vector, (2) the ability of the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) to bind to ribosomes, and (3) the presence of introns in the DNA molecule to produce the gene product inside the host cell. The technologist must also pay attention to collecting the gene product. The biochemist must pay attention to exporting the gene products. The chapter concludes with gene libraries that are host cells or organisms, from which the genes are obtained. They are called “genomic libraries” where genes for specific functions are stored. The gene library is then used to provide the gene for insertion to a vector.
Snowshoe Hare Virus

This chapter provides an overview of the classification, description, hosts, key developments, and diagnostic techniques for the snowshoe hare virus. The virus belongs to the Bunyaviridae family and is a part of the Bunyavirus genus. The virus is a member of the California group of viruses. It causes an illness, usually in young children, characterized by fever, severe headache, and nausea. Man and small mammals, principally snowshoe hares and Arctic ground squirrels, are \ susceptible to the virus. Areas outside the Western Hemisphere are free from the virus. The snowshoe hare virus was originally isolated from the blood of a snowshoe hare collected in Montana in 1958. Winter maintenance of the virus may occur by transovarial transmission in a mosquito to its eggs, persistence in the overwintering adult mosquitoes, and/or by a chronic infection of the vertebrate reservoir. The snowshoe hare appears to be the principal vertebrate host, but in its absence, the role is fulfilled by a ground squirrel. Inoculation of tissue culture with confirmation by fluorescent antibody technique is the preferred method for the viral diagnosis. In some instances, the more expensive but sensitive method of intercerebral suckling mouse inoculation may be required to obtain an isolate.
Testing the Influence of Recent Weather on Perceptions of Personal Experience with Climate Change and Extreme Weather in New York State

AbstractThe general public’s perceptions of climate change may be shaped by local climate impacts through the mechanism of experiential processing. Although climate change is a long-term global tre...
Optimizing Patient Positioning to Reduce Variation in the Measurement of Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema.

Abstract Background: Prospective lymphedema screening is recommended for breast cancer patients. We observed interoperator variation in perometer-acquired arm volume measurements (P-AVMs) due to pa...
Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump Insertion and Management

Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) counterpulsation is a useful circulatory support adjunct in the setting of refractory cardiogenic shock in critically ill patients. The IABP increases myocardial oxygen perfusion and increases the cardiac output. The IABP inflates in diastole, increasing blood flow to the coronary arteries. It deflates in systole decreasing afterload (Fig. 18.1). Indications for placement include coronary ischemia, acute mitral regurgitation, severe myocardial contusion, and cardiomyopathy (of multiple etiologies) resulting in refractory cardiogenic shock despite adequate vasopressor support. Absolute contraindications include existing aortic injury (i.e., dissection) or severe aortic insufficiency. Site of insertion is primarily the common femoral artery although axillary/subclavian and direct aortic arterial access are feasible. Weaning IABP should be performed with the aid of a method to assess cardiac function in addition to systemic blood pressure.
Evaluation of RFID Technology to Capture Surgeon Arrival Time to Meet American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Verification Guidelines

Background The presence of an attending surgeon at all highest-level trauma activations is a requirement for American College of Surgeons-Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) verification for level I to III trauma centers. Programs must demonstrate compliance with this criterion at least 80% of the time. Documentation of compliance can increase administrative burden presenting an opportunity for automation. Objectives The aim of this quality improvement project was to compare surgeon arrival documentation rates obtained utilizing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology with manual documentation. Methods This project was conducted at a single level-I trauma center. RFID badges were distributed to all trauma surgeons. Arrival times for surgeons using manual nursing documentation and RFID activation were collected from October 2017 through March 2018. Presence of appropriate documentation and attending arrival within 15 minutes of trauma activation were compared by documentation method: nursing manual documentation or RFID system. Results There were 98 code trauma activations included in the analysis over the 6-month period. Nursing documentation of trauma surgeon attendance occurred 83% of the time (n = 81), with 81% (n = 79) in compliance within 15 minutes of code trauma activation. RFID badges were activated 91% (n = 89) of the time, with 86% (n = 84) in compliance within 15 minutes. There was no statistically significant difference between the rates of nursing documentation and RFID badge activation. Conclusion RFID technology is a reliable, complementary method of documenting compliance for trauma surgeon attendance. Trauma centers searching for technological solutions to address compliance with ACS-COT guidelines and to reduce administrative burden may consider the use of RFID technology.
Comment on Proposed Title IX Rulemaking

Jeannie Suk Gersen, Nancy Gertner, and Janet Halley, professors at Harvard Law School, have issued a Comment on the Department of Education’s Proposed Rule on Title IX enforcement. The authors write: “We strongly support vigorous enforcement of Title IX to ensure that students enjoy educational programs and activities unburdened by sexual harassment.” They argue that “sanctions for sexual harassment should apply only under a clear definition of wrongful conduct and after a process that is fair to all parties.” With these dual objectives in mind, the Comment reviews the Department of Education’s Proposed Rule and agrees with some aspects and disagrees with others. The authors agree (with some suggested amendments) with the Rule’s treatment of the burden of proof, the rejection of the single-investigator model, and the requirement of a live hearing process. They argue that the rules they endorse do not undermine the critical goal of enforcing Title IX. They express serious concerns about the provisions on cross examination and the definition of sexual harassment, and propose revisions that will be more protective of complainants. The Comment strongly objects to provisions encouraging schools to file complaints when they have multiple allegations against a single potential respondent but no formal complainant: the inquiry there should be refocused on the threat of harm and take into account the complainants’ as well as the respondents’ interests. The three professors say that they “strongly object to the deliberate indifference standard for schools’ ultimate responsibility to respond to sexual harassment.” Gersen, Gertner and Halley have researched, taught, and written on Title IX, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and feminist legal reform. They were three of the signatories to the statement of twenty-eight Harvard Law School professors, published in the Boston Globe on October 15, 2014, that criticized Harvard University’s newly adopted sexual harassment policy as “overwhelmingly stacked against the accused” and “in no way required by Title IX law or regulation.”
The effect of atmospheric optical turbulence on laser communication systems: Part 2, practice

Laser Communication (lasercom) systems whose beam paths traverse the Earth’s atmosphere, in whole or in part, are subject to the effects of optical turbulence: the random variation in the index of refraction due to small temperature variations. These effects include beam tilt, wander, and spreading, as well as scintillation: the variation in intensity across the receiver’s aperture plane. These effects can result in fades on the order of milli-seconds or longer, and so are important considerations in the design of lasercom links and systems. In Part 1 we developed the stochastic theory necessary to analyze the effects of turbulence on lasercom links. In Part 2 we analyze several specific link geometries, predicting the effects and discussing methods of mitigating fades associated with those effects. Specifically, we will look at the requirements for tip-tilt systems necessary in many systems to correct received beam tilt, and to pre-correct pointing for a transmitted beam. We will then consider how adaptive optics may benefit certain lasercom systems. The concept of “beamlets” will be introduced, and the benefits of mitigating the effects of turbulence on ground to space uplinks will be analyzed.
Scalable Extensions of Nonscalable Schemes

Notwithstanding several advantages over deterministic schemes, probabilistic schemes like RPS and HARPS suffer from the fact that the computational overhead for public functions is proportional to the achievable collusion resistance \(n\). In this chapter, 3 scalable extensions of non-scalable schemes are discussed. For all such schemes the public function complexity is also small, and does not depend on the achievable collusion resistance \(n\). This chapter also proposes an \((n \phi, \alpha)\)-security model (in addition to the \((n,p)\)-model for probabilistic KPSs) to study the effect of an attacker’s ability to perform brute-force searches.
Modeling submersed macrophyte growth in relation to underwater light climate: modeling approaches and application potential

The underwater light climate is one of the most important determinants of submersed aquatic vegetation. Because of the recent, large-scale, declines in aquatic vegetation, largely attributed to deterioration of the underwater light climate, interest in tools to predict the wax and wane of aquatic macrophyte populations has greatly increased. This paper summarizes two modeling approaches that can be applied to assess impacts of changes in underwater light climate on submersed vegetation. The first, stand-alone, model type focuses on metabolism and biomass formation of submersed freshwater macrophytes with difference in phenologies. This type is illustrated by examples from various sites using models developed for the freshwater macrophytes Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle (HYDRIL) and Myriophyllum spicatum L. (MILFO), and also by an example ecological risk assessment. The models (HYDRIL and MILFO) track carbon flow through the vegetation in meter-squared (m2) water columns. The models include descriptions of various factors that affect biomass dynamics, such as site-characteristic changes in climate, latitude, light attenuation within the water column, carbon assimilation rate at light saturation, temperature, wintering strategies, grazing and mechanical control (removal of shoot biomass). Simulated biomass, net assimilation and maintenance respiration over a relatively short (1–5 year) period agree well with measured values. The models are, therefore, believed to be suitable for predicting plant community production, growth and survival characteristics over relatively short periods over a large range of sites. The feasibility of using a macrophyte growth model of the HYDRIL type for ecological risk assessment is demonstrated. It is used to evaluate the consequences of management changes in large rivers for the survival of submersed vegetation. The current assessment evaluates the potential impact of increased commercial navigation traffic on the growth of Potamogeton pectinatus L. in Pool 4 of the Upper Mississippi River, U.S.A. In this case, navigational traffic scenarios were translated into suspended solids concentrations and underwater light climate, with the latter being used as inputs into the aquatic plant growth model. Model results demonstrate that the scenario increases in commercial traffic cause minimal decreases in growth and vegetative reproduction. Results indicate that this growth model can be a useful tool in ecological risk assessment, since the required stress-response relationships could be established. The second, integrated, model type focuses on the role of seagrass and other primary producers in estuarine littoral zone material cycling (carbon and nitrogen) at the Goodwin Islands, Virginia, U.S.A. The latter model was used to explore the effects of changes
Predicting hospital-onset Clostridium difficile using patient mobility data: A network approach.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between unit-wide Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) susceptibility and inpatient mobility and to create contagion centrality as a new predictive measure of CDI. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHODS A mobility network was constructed using 2 years of patient electronic health record data for a 739-bed hospital (n = 72,636 admissions). Network centrality measures were calculated for each hospital unit (node) providing clinical context for each in terms of patient transfers between units (ie, edges). Daily unit-wide CDI susceptibility scores were calculated using logistic regression and were compared to network centrality measures to determine the relationship between unit CDI susceptibility and patient mobility. RESULTS Closeness centrality was a statistically significant measure associated with unit susceptibility (P < .05), highlighting the importance of incoming patient mobility in CDI prevention at the unit level. Contagion centrality (CC) was calculated using inpatient transfer rates, unit-wide susceptibility of CDI, and current hospital CDI infections. The contagion centrality measure was statistically significant (P < .05) with our outcome of hospital-onset CDI cases, and it captured the additional opportunities for transmission associated with inpatient transfers. We have used this analysis to create easily interpretable clinical tools showing this relationship as well as the risk of hospital-onset CDI in real time, and these tools can be implemented in hospital EHR systems. CONCLUSIONS Quantifying and visualizing the combination of inpatient transfers, unit-wide risk, and current infections help identify hospital units at risk of developing a CDI outbreak and, thus, provide clinicians and infection prevention staff with advanced warning and specific location data to inform prevention efforts.
Species diversity and habitat of grassland passerines during grazing of a prescribe-burned, mixed-grass prairie

No published data exist on responses of grassland passerines and their habitat to combined grazing and burning treatments in northern mixed-grass prairie. At Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge (LNWR) in northwestern North Dakota, we monitored breeding bird occurrence, abundance, and habitat during successive annual grazing treatments (1998-2000) on 5 prescribe-burned, mixed-grass prairie management units (range = 50-534 ha, each burned 3-6 times in the previous 10-20 years). All breeding passerine species characteristic of upland, northern mixed-grass prairie were common (> 10% occurrence) during at least 1 of 3 years on burned and grazed units, except Chestnut-collared Longspur ( Calcarius ornatus ), which was uncommon. Vegetation was generally shorter and sparser than that found on 4 nearby units treated by fire only (1999; density, visual obstruction, and height, all P Molothrus ater ) occurred 2.4 times more frequently on burned and grazed units studied. Our data suggest that species diversity of breeding grassland passerines changes little during initial years of rotation grazing at moderate stocking rates in fire-managed, northern mixed-grass prairie at LNWR.
Successful Outcomes of Severe COVID-19 in Patient with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Diagnostic Challenges in Immunocompromised Hosts

The emergence and spread of 2019 novel coronavirus have led to an unprecedented public health crisis around the globe, threatening the lives of millions of people We report a severe case of COVID-19 in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and describe primarily the clinical presentation and the challenges encountered in the COVID-19 diagnosis, treatment, and specimens sampling pitfalls This case highlights the importance of a comprehensive diagnostic approach of pneumonia in immunocompromised hosts, including timely and safe bronchoscopy, because of the broad differential diagnosis, more challenging with the current outbreak of COVID-19 FAU - Malek, Alexandre E
Molecular Architecture of Early Dissemination and Massive Second Wave of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus in a Major Metropolitan Area

We sequenced the genomes of 5,085 SARS-CoV-2 strains causing two COVID-19 disease waves in metropolitan Houston, Texas, an ethnically diverse region with seven million residents. The genomes were from viruses recovered in the earliest recognized phase of the pandemic in Houston, and an ongoing massive second wave of infections. The virus was originally introduced into Houston many times independently. Virtually all strains in the second wave have a Gly614 amino acid replacement in the spike protein, a polymorphism that has been linked to increased transmission and infectivity. Patients infected with the Gly614 variant strains had significantly higher virus loads in the nasopharynx on initial diagnosis. We found little evidence of a significant relationship between virus genotypes and altered virulence, stressing the linkage between disease severity, underlying medical conditions, and host genetics. Some regions of the spike protein - the primary target of global vaccine efforts - are replete with amino acid replacements, perhaps indicating the action of selection. We exploited the genomic data to generate defined single amino acid replacements in the receptor binding domain of spike protein that, importantly, produced decreased recognition by the neutralizing monoclonal antibody CR30022. Our study is the first analysis of the molecular architecture of SARS-CoV-2 in two infection waves in a major metropolitan region. The findings will help us to understand the origin, composition, and trajectory of future infection waves, and the potential effect of the host immune response and therapeutic maneuvers on SARS-CoV-2 evolution.
Intermittent fasting from dawn to sunset for four consecutive weeks induces anticancer serum proteome response and improves metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by central obesity, insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, and dyslipidemia. Metabolic syndrome is a significant risk factor for several common cancers (e.g., liver, colorectal, breast, pancreas). Pharmacologic treatments used for the components of the metabolic syndrome appear to be insufficient to control cancer development in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Murine models showed that cancer has the slowest progression when there is no food consumption during the daily activity phase. Intermittent fasting from dawn to sunset is a form of fasting practiced during human activity hours. To test the anticancer effect of intermittent fasting from dawn to sunset in metabolic syndrome, we conducted a pilot study in 14 subjects with metabolic syndrome who fasted (no eating or drinking) from dawn to sunset for more than 14 h daily for four consecutive weeks. We collected serum samples before 4-week intermittent fasting, at the end of 4th week during 4-week intermittent fasting and 1 week after 4-week intermittent fasting. We performed serum proteomic analysis using nano ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We found a significant fold increase in the levels of several tumor suppressor and DNA repair gene protein products (GP)s at the end of 4th week during 4-week intermittent fasting (CALU, INTS6, KIT, CROCC, PIGR), and 1 week after 4-week intermittent fasting (CALU, CALR, IGFBP4, SEMA4B) compared with the levels before 4-week intermittent fasting. We also found a significant reduction in the levels of tumor promoter GPs at the end of 4th week during 4-week intermittent fasting (POLK, CD109, CAMP, NIFK, SRGN), and 1 week after 4-week intermittent fasting (CAMP, PLAC1) compared with the levels before 4-week intermittent fasting. Fasting from dawn to sunset for four weeks also induced an anti-diabetes proteome response by upregulating the key regulatory proteins of insulin signaling at the end of 4th week during 4-week intermittent fasting (VPS8, POLRMT, IGFBP-5) and 1 week after 4-week intermittent fasting (PRKCSH), and an anti-aging proteome response by upregulating H2B histone proteins 1 week after 4-week intermittent fasting. Subjects had a significant reduction in body mass index, waist circumference, and improvement in blood pressure that co-occurred with the anticancer, anti-diabetes, and anti-aging serum proteome response. These findings suggest that intermittent fasting from dawn to sunset actively modulates the respective genes and can be an adjunct treatment in metabolic syndrome. Further studies are needed to test the intermittent fasting from dawn to sunset in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome-induced cancers.