cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Corrugated fibreboard in modified atmospheres : Moisture sorption/desorption and shock cushioning

Corrugated fibreboard, the most used material for transport packaging, is moisture sensitive and therefore its performance is highly influenced by the moisture content. This paper examines the shock absorption under a range of humidity and temperature conditions and the appropriateness of a model for moisture sorption/desorption isotherms for corrugated fibreboard. A range of corrugated fibreboard materials was investigated by first conditioning samples using proximity cells, testing samples for impact absorption using a small scale cushion tester and modelling moisture sorption/desorption isotherms. Results show that the shock absorption is directly influenced by static loading, humidity and temperature and that isotherms can easily fit a widely accepted model.
Bonding/barrier layers on bismuth telluride (Bi 2 Te 3 ) for high temperature applications

In this research, a fundamental study is conducted to identify the materials and processes for producing bonding/barrier composites on Bi 2 Te 3 for high temperature thermoelectric applications. Pd, Ni, Ni/Au, Ag, and Ti/Au were deposited and evaluated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). A thermal evaporated, 100nm Ti/100nm Au composite gave the most promising
64Cu-RGD and microPET/CT as an imaging biomarker for osteoclast number in mouse models of negative and positive osteoclast regulation

1958 Objectives The goal of this study was to validate 64Cu-CB-TE2A-c(RGDyK) (64Cu-RGD) as a biomarker for osteoclast number. A change in osteoclast number was monitored by biodistribution and microPET imaging with CT in mice treated with osteoprotegerin (OPG) and Receptor Activator for Nuclear Factor κ B Ligand (RANKL). OPG is a negative regulator of osteoclasts and should decrease osteoclast number. RANKL is a positive regulator of osteoclast differentiation and leads to an increase in osteoclast number. Methods C57BL/6 mice were treated with OPG at 0.2, 1.0 and 5.0 mg/kg twice a week for two weeks or with RANKL at 0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg twice a day for 10 days. On day 15 (OPG) or day 11 (RANKL) treated and control mice were injected with 64Cu-RGD followed by PET imaging and biodistribution. Standard uptake values (SUVs) were determined. Bones were collected for histology. Results Mice treated with 5 mg/kg of OPG or 0.3 mg/kg of RANKL showed a significant difference compared to control. The normal tissue biodistribution of the tracer did not vary greatly between the control and treated mice. PET images of animals treated with 0.3 mg/kg RANKL demonstrated significantly increased SUVs as compared to the control group. Histology and TRAP5b levels supported the biodistribution, PET, and TRAP5b data. Conclusions Analysis of the PET images showed that 64Cu-RGD bone uptake correlated with the osteoclast number and could be quantified as SUVs in leg bones. Taken together, these data support the use of 64Cu-RGD as the osteoclast turnover imaging biomarker.
The Role of Mental Models in Control Theory:Understanding Cognitive FACTORS Influencing the Behaviors of Salespeople

In this paper we extend control theory by exploring the referents that salespeople use to interpret their perfonnance and, subsequently, adjust their behaviors ifperfonnance is deemed inadequate. While scholars have long relied on referents and control theory to explain motivated behavior, research has just recently begun to investigate the sources of referents that are integral to such advances. We propose that referents are inexorably intertwined with salespersons’ mental models which are engaged during sales episodes. Ergo, we build on research in social cognition to broaden our understandings about organizational control.
Prognosis of Language-Delayed and Autistic Preschool Children

The outcome of 18 children (13 males, 5 females) with severe developmental language delay and some features of autism (not fulfilling all criteria), examined at preschool age (mean age 4 years 4 months) and again 4 years later (mean age 8 years 7 months), was evaluated at the Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
HISTORY OF THE GALVESTON SEA WALL

Galveston Island, one of the long, narrow barrier beaches that fringe the Gulf Coast of Texas, is a low, sandy formation about 28 miles long and from -g to 3 miles wide. In its natural state the Gulf shore was bordered by an area of sand dunes rising to heights of 12 to 15 feet above the natural surface of the island. The availability of deep water along the bay side of the island led to the early development of the city of Galveston on the east end of the island. In its early days the city was protected from hurricane tides by the sand dunes along the Gulf front. The rapid development of the city in the latter part of the 19th century, especially its increasing importance as a summer resort, lead to the removal of the sand dunes along the beach front for fill and to permit easy access to the beach. Without the dunes the city was unprotected from the fury of the hurricanes. The danger to the city was realized by a number of persons, and several plans for storm protection had been developed; however, because of financing difficulties and general public apathy none of these plans was carried out. Figure one shows a map of Galveston Island with development as it was in 1900.
Imaging the South Seas: thoughts on the sexual politics of paradise in Samoa.

Controversy generated by criticism of research Margaret Mead conducted nearly three-quarters of a century ago reminds us that modern ethnography came of age with fieldwork conducted on the sexual lives of Pacific Islanders. The Samoa debate suggests that an exotic eroticism continues to inform representations of women in anthropological writings and popular culture, and that Samoa is a candidate for sexual paradise on earth. This article explores the image-making of paradise by examining book covers and photographs associated with Margaret Mead's and Derek Freeman's narratives of Samoa. As cultural artifacts, book covers and photographs offer an intriguing way of investigating issues of ethnographic representation and the problem of who "owns" the bodies of Pacific Islander women.
Thyroid Nodules in the Elderly

Thyroid nodules in the elderly are more frequent and more frequently malignant. Fine needle aspiration is the first step to diagnose these type of nodules, and thyroid scans and ultrasounds may be obtained in special cases. Thyroid suppression is frequently not effective in decreasing the size of the nodule and may cause subclinical or clinical thyrotoxicosis. It is not uncommon to discover that what initially was thought to be a solitary nodule is only the dominant nodule of a multinodular goiter.
Looking beyond drivers and passengers in cancer genome sequencing data

Cancer arises as a result of acquired changes in the DNA sequence of the genome of somatic cells. A subset of the genetic changes, dubbed driver mutations, propels tumor growth, and the remaining changes are passengers, apparently inconsequential for neoplastic transformation. Massive genome sequencing of thousands of tumors from all major cancer types has enabled cataloging of the so-called driver and passenger mutations, and facilitated molecular classification of cancer, guiding precision medicine approach for the patients. Nonetheless, innovative analyses of cancer genomics data has led to novel, sometimes serendipitous findings that have aided to our understanding of other aspects of the biology of the disease and opened up new frontiers. For instance, emerging findings show that mutational patterns in cancer genomes can help detect signatures of known and novel DNA damage and repair processes, provide a likely chronological account of genomic changes in cancer genomes, and allow revisiting the models of cancer evolution. These findings have stimulated original approaches to identify disease etiology, stratify patients, target the disease, and monitor patient responses, complementing driver-mutation centric approaches. In this review, we discuss these emerging approaches and unexpected breakthroughs, and their implications for basic cancer research and clinical practices.
Age-Related Differences in Trauma Experiences, Mental-Health Needs, and Mental-Health-Service Use in Victims of Human Trafficking: A Pilot Investigation of Transition-Aged Youth Compared to Older Adults

This pilot study aimed to provide a preliminary comparison of the differences in traumatic experiences, mental-health needs, and service use in transition-aged youth (TAY) and older adults who were...
HYDRA: Heterodyne Crosstalk Mitigation With Double Microring Resonators and Data Encoding for Photonic NoCs

Silicon-photonic networks on chip (PNoCs) provide high bandwidth with lower data-dependent power dissipation than does the traditional electrical NoCs (ENoCs); therefore, they are promising candidates to replace ENoCs in future manycore chips. PNoCs typically employ photonic waveguides with dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) for signal traversal and microring resonators (MRs) for signal modulation. Unfortunately, DWDM increases susceptibility to intermodulation (IM) and off-resonance filtering effects, which reduce optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) for photonic data transfers. Additionally, process variations (PVs) induce variations in the width and thickness of MRs causing resonance wavelength shifts, which further reduce OSNR, and create communication errors. This paper proposes a novel cross-layer framework called HYDRA to mitigate heterodyne crosstalk due to PVs, off-resonance filtering, and IM effects in PNoCs. The framework consists of two device-level mechanisms and a circuit-level mechanism to improve heterodyne crosstalk resilience in PNoCs. Simulation results on three PNoC architectures indicate that HYDRA can improve the worst case OSNR by up to $5.3\times $ and significantly enhance the reliability of DWDM-based PNoC architectures.
The Schwartz-Jampel syndrome. Its clinical, physiological and histological expressions.

Abstract Patients with the Schwartz-Jampel syndrome represent an example of continuous muscle fiber activity at rest. Abolition of the continuous repetitive discharges with curare showed that this was not myotonia as previously reported. The likelihood that the abnormal discharges originated from the muscle component of the neuromuscular junction rather than the nerve was suggested by the observation that spontaneous electrical activity persisted long after peripheral nerve injury in 1 of the cases. Electron-microscopic examination of biopsy specimens showed marked dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum of skin fibroblasts and moderate dilatation of the sarcoplasmic reticulum of muscle fibres. Tissue culture studies of the fibroblasts revealed a low level of lipid label incorporation representing a non-specific depression of the synthetic machinery of these cells. These studies failed to demonstrate any mucopolysaccharide abnormality, even though the radiologic findings in 1 of the cases were consistent with those found in the Morquio-Brailsford syndrome. Histochemical evaluation showed hypertrophy of both Type I and II fibers with SDH activity uniformly high in both fiber types. AChE staining revealed marked diffuse activity throughout the sarcoplasm of the muscle similar to that reported in embryonic muscle. These findings suggest the possibility that the abnormality in this syndrome occurs during fetal development.
Rare occurrence of eight-and-a-half syndrome as a clinically isolated syndrome.

Eight-and-a-half syndrome is a rare condition that is described as a combination of one-and-a-half syndrome and an ipsilateral facial nucleus lesion. We present a clinical case of occurrence of eight-and-a-half syndrome that was caused by a demyelinating lesion in the dorsal pontine tegmentum. A 44-year-old man presented to the hospital with a subacute onset of horizontal diplopia and left-sided facial weakness. MRI revealed a T2 hyperintense lesion in his dorsal pons, which was consistent with a demyelinating pathology. Treatment with intravenous steroids showed significant improvement in his symptoms. In our case, it occurred due to a suspected demyelinating lesion that was this patient’s first and only demyelinating event, leaving him with a diagnosis of clinically isolated syndrome. His responsiveness to steroids represents the first case report of an adult patient presenting with an eight-and-a-half syndrome secondary to a suspected demyelinating pathology.
Formation and Growth Mechanisms of Pt Particles in Y Zeolites

Abstract TPR, TPD, XRD, SEM and H 2 chemisorption have been used to study the formation and growth mechanisms of Pt particles in Y zeolites. It was found that the initial calcination temperature, T c , largely controls the type of Pt particle after reduction. At low T c (≈360°C) all Pt ions are located in supercages and small Pt particles are formed after reduction. At medium T c (≈450°) some Pt ions migrate to sodalite cages; after reduction particles are formed which are larger than supercages but entrapped in the zeolite. At very high T c (≈550°) large Pt aggregates are formed at the exterior of the zeolite, because virtually all Pt ions had migrated to sodalite cages, and after reduction no nucleation sites are present in the supercages. This situation is realized at T C =550°C for Pt/NaY, but for Pt/NaHY. Secondary growth of particles occurs by migration and coalescence of primary particles.
Anterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion

The patient was identified by the Anesthesia Team and brought to the main operating room. General anesthetic was administered via the endotracheal tube, and 1 g of Ancef was administered via the IV. The patient was then transferred to the Jackson table where Gardner-Wells tongs were applied. The patient was placed in 7 lb. of traction. The shoulders were taped distally, and the neck was positioned in neutral to slight extension. The patient was then prepped and draped in the standard surgical fashion. Somatosensory evoked potentials were performed throughout the procedure. There was a good wave form, and there were no changes noted by the technician. An anterior approach to the neck was performed from the left side at approximately the level of C5.
LIN-15B promotes enrichment of H3K9me2 on the promoters of a subset of germline genes that are repressed in somatic cells in C. elegans

ABSTRACT Repression of germline-promoting genes in somatic cells is critical for somatic development and function. To study how germline genes are repressed in somatic tissues, we analyzed key histone modifications in three Caenorhabditis elegans synMuv B mutants, lin-15B, lin-35, and lin-37, all of which display ectopic expression of germline genes in the soma. LIN-35 and LIN-37 are members of the conserved DREAM complex. LIN-15B has been proposed to work with the DREAM complex but has not been shown biochemically to be a complex member. We found that in wild-type worms synMuv B target genes and germline genes are enriched for the repressive histone modification dimethylation of histone H3 on lysine 9 (H3K9me2) at their promoters. Genes with H3K9me2 promoter localization are distributed across the autosomes and not biased toward autosomal arms like broad H3K9me2 domains. Both synMuv B targets and germline genes display dramatic reduction of H3K9me2 promoter localization in lin-15B mutants, but much weaker reduction in lin-35 and lin-37 mutants. This is the first major difference reported between lin-15B and DREAM complex mutants, which likely represents a difference in molecular function for these synMuv B proteins. In support of the pivotal role of H3K9me2 in regulation of germline genes through LIN-15B, global loss of H3K9me2 but not H3K9me3 results in phenotypes similar to synMuv B mutants, high temperature larval arrest and ectopic expression of germline genes in the soma. We propose that LIN-15B-driven enrichment of H3K9me2 on promoters of germline genes contributes to repression of those genes in somatic tissues.
The gift of honeymoon: An interesting case of furuncular myiasis caused by Dermatobia Hominis in Taiwan and review of the literature

Travel-related cutaneous diseases are very common, and among them, myiasis ranks in the fourth place. Hereby, we present a case of a 28-year-old Taiwanese woman infested by Dermatobia hominis during honeymoon trip to Amazonas region and Peru. The diagnosis was confirmed by extracting the larva intraoperatively. The epidemiology, distinctive life cycle, clinical features, auxiliary diagnostic tools, therapeutic methods, and prophylactic measures of human botfly infestation will be discussed in the article. Owing to the progressive increment of international travels and ecological explorations, raising awareness of tropical diseases should be more emphasized.
Electrohydrodynamics and surface force analysis in AFM imaging of a charged, deformable biological membrane in a dilute electrolyte solution

Surface forces arising in atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging of a deformable, negatively charged biological membrane in an electrolyte solution are investigated in the limit of continuous electrohydrodynamics. Specifically, we extend our previous analysis (Fan, T.-H.; Fedorov, A. G. Langmuir 2003, 19, 1347−1356) of purely hydrodynamic interactions between an AFM tip and the elastic cell membrane by accounting for electric double-layer forces under the assumptions of a dilute electrolyte solution and local electrochemical equilibrium. The solution of the problem is obtained by integrating the quasi-steady, electrically forced Stokes equation for the electrohydrodynamic field, the linearized Poisson−Boltzmann equation for the electrostatic field in the electrolyte inside and outside of the cell, and the Laplace equation for the electrostatic field within a dielectric AFM tip. Helfrich and Zhong-can's equation for an equilibrium shape of the cell membrane is employed as a quasi-steady, nonlinear boundary ...
Changes in atrial fibrillation admissions following daylight saving time transitions.

Abstract Background Daylight saving time (DST) imposes a twice-yearly hour shift. The transitions to and from DST are associated with decreases in sleep quality and environmental hazards. Detrimental health effects include increased incidence of acute myocardial infarction (MI) following the springtime transition and increased ischemic stroke following both DST transitions. Conditions effecting sleep are known to provoke atrial fibrillation (AF), however the effect of DST transitions on AF are unknown. Methods Admitted patients aged 18–100 with primary ICD9 code of AF between 2009 and 2016 were included. The number of admissions was compiled and means were compared for the Monday to Thursday period and the entire seven day interval following each DST transition and the entire year for the entire cohort and separated by gender. Significance was determined with Wilcoxon nonparametric tests. Results Admission data for 6089 patients were included, with mean age of 68 years and 53% female. A significant increase was found in mean AF admissions over the Monday to Thursday period (3.09 vs 2.47 admissions/day [adm/d], P = 0.017) and entire week (2.48 vs 2.09 adm/d, P = 0.025) following the DST spring transition compared to the yearly mean. When separated by gender, women exhibited an increase in AF admissions following the DST spring transition (1.78 vs 1.28 adm/d for Monday to Thursday period, P = 0.036 and 1.38 vs 1.11 adm/d for entire week, P = 0.050) while a non-significant increase was seen in men. No significant differences were found following the autumn transition for the entire cohort or when separated by gender. Conclusion An increase in AF hospital admissions was found following the DST springtime transition. When separated by gender, this finding persisted only among women. This finding adds to evidence of negative health effects associated with DST transitions and factors that contribute to AF episodes.
Rights and Duties

We have now to consider social rights and duties as they appear to the individual. Morality is a matter of having one’s preferences governed by principles, one’s own or another’s; and such governance may be by oneself or another. Thus it is true as Reid said that when actions are regulated (and I would add also when thoughts are induced and feelings generated) always either interest or duty is involved; although the distinction between them is not usually so clear, since it is possible, for instance, that on some occasions if not on all one might want to do what one has to do; might, in short, be drawn toward something toward which one would otherwise be compelled. In the pursuit of preferences under principles, expedience turns into prudence. However, it is not prudence which can be expected to bring interest and duty together but, because the governance is by principles, reason; the prudence should have operated earlier in selecting the principles. In the course of pursuing the moral life (inescapable for the individual in any society) there are goods which may be expected and rules which must be observed. The former are called rights and the latter duties. Rights are the goods which the individual can conventionally expect to receive from society. Duties are the goods which the individual can conventionally be expected to give to society. The use of words here is not entirely consistent, however. Rights are often spoken of as though the term covered duties also. I will use the term, rights, here in both senses. Both rights and duties are meant to indicate certain actions which the individual can perform and which he in fact will perform if he wishes to behave morally. In most studies of ethics duty has traditionally been accorded more attention than rights, but rights stand on an equal footing.
Surviving the Holocaust: Trauma and Resiliency in Later Life.

Dear Editor,Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, who are now quite elderly, make up a small and curious cohort of older trauma victims, whose stories of resiliency often challenge the tenets of trauma ...
A time course for markers of protein synthesis and degradation with hindlimb unloading and the accompanying anabolic resistance to refeeding.

Hindlimb unloading causes significant skeletal muscle atrophy by adversely affecting the balance between protein synthesis and breakdown. This study demonstrates a more complete time course for cha...
Fast magnetic reconnection with large guide fields

In this letter, it is demonstrated using two-fluid simulations that low-β magnetic reconnection remains fast, regardless of the presence of fast dispersive waves, which have been previously suggested to play a critical role. To understand these results, a discrete model is constructed that offers scaling relationships for the reconnection rate and dissipation region (DR) thickness in terms of the upstream magnetic field and DR length. We verify these scalings numerically and show how the DR self-adjusts to process magnetic flux at the same rate that it is supplied to a larger region where two-fluid effects become important. The rate is therefore independent of the DR physics and is in good agreement with kinetic results.
Political Ideology and Law School Rankings: Measuring the Conservative Penalty and Liberal Bonus

U.S. News & World Report conducts overall rankings and peer rankings of law schools. This Article reports the findings of a first-of-its-kind study designed to measure whether peer rankings are affected by a law school’s ideological reputation. The extreme disparity uncovered — combined with consistent findings in studies that measure other forms of ideological bias in legal academia — make a strong case for the existence of a conservative penalty and liberal bonus in law school rankings. This Article concludes by proposing a simple solution to circumvent this particular manifestation of ideological bias.
Evolutionary dynamics and structural consequences of de novo beneficial mutations and mutant lineages arising in a constant environment

Microbial evolution experiments can be used to study the tempo and dynamics of evolutionary change in asexual populations, founded from single clones and growing into large populations with multiple clonal lineages. High-throughput sequencing can be used to catalog de novo mutations as potential targets of selection, determine in which lineages they arise, and track the fates of those lineages. Here, we describe a long-term experimental evolution study to identify targets of selection and to determine when, where, and how often those targets are hit. We experimentally evolved replicate Escherichia coli populations that originated from a mutator/nonsense suppressor ancestor under glucose limitation for between 300 and 500 generations. Whole-genome, whole-population sequencing enabled us to catalog 3346 de novo mutations that reached > 1% frequency. We sequenced the genomes of 96 clones from each population when allelic diversity was greatest in order to establish whether mutations were in the same or different lineages and to depict lineage dynamics. Operon-specific mutations that enhance glucose uptake were the first to rise to high frequency, followed by global regulatory mutations. Mutations related to energy conservation, membrane biogenesis, and mitigating the impact of nonsense mutations, both ancestral and derived, arose later. New alleles were confined to relatively few loci, with many instances of identical mutations arising independently in multiple lineages, among and within replicate populations. However, most never exceeded 10% in frequency and were at a lower frequency at the end of the experiment than at their maxima, indicating clonal interference. Many alleles mapped to key structures within the proteins that they mutated, providing insight into their functional consequences. Overall, we find that when mutational input is increased by an ancestral defect in DNA repair, the spectrum of high-frequency beneficial mutations in a simple, constant resource-limited environment is narrow, resulting in extreme parallelism where many adaptive mutations arise but few ever go to fixation.
ReCiter: An open source, identity-driven, authorship prediction algorithm optimized for academic institutions.

Academic institutions need to maintain publication lists for thousands of faculty and other scholars. Automated tools are essential to minimize the need for direct feedback from the scholars themselves who are practically unable to commit necessary effort to keep the data accurate. In relying exclusively on clustering techniques, author disambiguation applications fail to satisfy key use cases of academic institutions. Algorithms can perfectly group together a set of publications authored by a common individual, but, for them to be useful to an academic institution, they need to programmatically and recurrently map articles to thousands of scholars of interest en masse. Consistent with a savvy librarian’s approach for generating a scholar’s list of publications, identity-driven authorship prediction is the process of using information about a scholar to quantify the likelihood that person wrote certain articles. ReCiter is an application that attempts to do exactly that. ReCiter uses institutionally-maintained identity data such as name of department and year of terminal degree to predict which articles a given scholar has authored. To compute the overall score for a given candidate article from PubMed (and, optionally, Scopus), ReCiter uses: up to 12 types of commonly available, identity data; whether other members of a cluster have been accepted or rejected by a user; and the average score of a cluster. In addition, ReCiter provides scoring and qualitative evidence supporting why particular articles are suggested. This context and confidence scoring allows curators to more accurately provide feedback on behalf of scholars. To help users to more efficiently curate publication lists, we used a support vector machine analysis to optimize the scoring of the ReCiter algorithm. In our analysis of a diverse test group of 500 scholars at an academic private medical center, ReCiter correctly predicted 98% of their publications in PubMed.
Factors Associated With HIV Testing Among High-School Girls in the U.S., 2015‒2017.

Introduction Few studies have examined the factors associated with HIV testing, specifically among U.S. high-school girls. Methods Investigators analyzed 2015 and 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data to calculate the prevalence ratios and the corresponding 95% CIs for the association of HIV-related risk behaviors and other factors with HIV testing. Analyses were completed in March 2020. Results Approximately 1 in 10 high-school girls reported ever having had an HIV test. Ever having had an HIV test was most common among girls who had ≥4 lifetime sexual partners and those who had ever injected illegal drugs. Conclusions High-school girls who engage in behaviors or experience other factors that put them at higher risk for HIV are more likely to have ever gotten tested. However, the prevalence of having ever had an HIV test remains relatively low, indicating that continued efforts may be warranted to reduce risk behaviors and increase testing among high-school girls.
The association between body composition, leptin levels and glucose dysregulation in youth with cystic fibrosis

Abstract Background Optimization of nutritional status is recommended in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) given the association between lower body mass index (BMI) and poor clinical outcomes. However, higher BMI and body fat correlate with glucose impairment and higher leptin levels in the general population. Differences in body composition and leptin levels between the categories of glucose tolerance were assessed in youth with CF and healthy controls. Methods In a cross-sectional study, 59 adolescents and young adults with CF and 15 healthy controls matched by age and gender, underwent body composition analysis using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Measures of insulin sensitivity, β-cell insulin secretion and fasting leptin levels were obtained. Results Of the participants with CF, 62% were classified as abnormal glucose tolerant and 22% with cystic fibrosis related diabetes (CFRD). Patients with CFRD had a lower fat mass index (FMI) z-score, wt z-score and leptin levels compared to the control group (-1.86 vs. - 0.59, p=0.01; -1.86 vs 0.44, p= Conclusions This study shows that despite new therapeutic strategies, youth with CF have lower body fat, weight z-score and leptin levels, particularly in subjects with early onset CFRD.
Aorta-cameral fistulas: Spectrum of CT findings and review.

Abstract Aorto-cameral fistula (ACF) is an uncommon entity, defined as an abnormal communication between the aorta and a cardiac chamber. The most common causes include ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm, infective endocarditis, traumatic injury, aortic dissection, or rarely can be iatrogenic in nature. While smaller communications may initially be asymptomatic, the natural course of these connections is generally refractory heart failure as they do not spontaneously heal. Larger fistulas can be life threatening with high mortality rates, and therefore once recognized, surgery is generally considered the treatment of choice. Diagnosis, however, can be challenging, and various imaging modalities are often used for diagnosis. This review highlights common underlying etiologies, clinical manifestations, and radiologic imaging appearances of ACF to each of the cardiac chambers of this uncommon, but clinically important entity, with emphasis on CT.
Clinical stage II seminoma: management options.

Introduction The management of clinical stage II seminoma has evolved with a recent emphasis on minimizing long-term morbidity while achieving oncologic cure. Methods In this review we discuss the available management options for clinical stage II seminoma with an emphasis on the emerging role of surgery in this patient population. Results Historically, treatment options available to clinical stage II seminoma patients were limited to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Survival rates with these options are excellent; however, both are associated with significant long-term morbidities including cardiovascular, pulmonary, and neurologic toxicities. Additionally, higher rates of secondary malignancies are witnessed in this young patient population, decades after successful treatment of the primary cancer. Recently, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection has been proposed as a first-line treatment option for patients with low-volume metastatic seminoma. Conclusion The SEMS and PRIMETEST trials are two studies examining the role of primary retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in clinical stage II seminoma, and early data show significant promise.
A new EEG measure using the 1D cluster variation method

ABSTRACT A new information measure, drawing on the 1-D Cluster Variation Method (CVM), describes local pattern distributions (nearest-neighbor and next-nearest neighbor) in a binary 1-D vector in terms of a single interaction enthalpy parameter h for the specific case where the fractions of elements in each of two states are the same (x 1 =x 2 =0.5 ). An example application of this method would be for EEG interpretation in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), especially in the frontier of invariant biometrics based on distinctive and invariant individual responses to stimuli containing an image of a person with whom there is a strong affiliative response (e.g ., to a persons grandmother). This measure is obtained by mapping EEG observed configuration variables (z 1 , z 2 , z 3 for next-nearest neighbor triplets) to h using the analytic function giving h in terms of these variables at equilibrium. This mapping results in a small phase space region of resulting h values, which characterizes local pattern distributions in the source data. The 1-D vector with equal fractions of units in each of the two states can be obtained using the method for transforming natural images into a binarized equi-probability ensemble (Saremi & Sejnowski, 2014; Stephens et al., 2013). An intrinsically 2-D data configuration can be mapped to 1-D using the 1-D Peano-Hilbert space-filling curve, which has demonstrated a 20 dB lower baseline using the method compared with other approaches (cf. SPIE ICA etc. by Hsu & Szu, 2014). This CVM-based method has multiple potential applications; one near-term one is optimizing classification of the EEG signals from a COTS 1-D BCI baseball hat. This can result in a convenient 3-D lab-tethered EEG, configured in a 1-D CVM equiprobable binary vector, and potentially useful for Smartphone wireless display. Longer-range applications include interpreting neural assembly activations via high-density im planted soft, cellula r-scale electrodes. KEYWORDS: EEG, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Cluster Variation Method, statistical thermodynamics, free energy minimization, pattern classification, neural networks, neural ensembles 1 BRAIN-COMPUTER INFORMATION INTERFACES VIA STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS By harnessing the power of statistical thermodynamics, we create a foundation for interpreting the local pattern information available in active neural ensembles, as observable using current brain imaging and EEG methods, along with next-generation Brain-Computer Inte rfaces (BCIs). This paper presents, as a step in ongoing work, a new method for connecting unsupervised learning in biological neural networks with the global principle of free energy minimization. One key result presented here is that by explicitly accounting for local pattern di stributions in the entropy, we connect observable spatio-temporal patterns with specific enthalpy parameter values. This provides a basis for connecting biological learning and statistical thermodynamics. Neural processes are part of an isothermal system consisting of a very large (O(10
Collections of Mass Spectral Data

The newcomer to mass spectrometry, until he has mastered the art of interpreting spectra, leans heavily upon comparisons of his “unknown” spectra with those obtained by others. Even when a spectrum has been interpreted from first principles, it is usually desirable to confirm an identity by spectral comparisons. Fortunately, there are several central repositories for mass spectral data which make such data available on a continuous basis or which publish printed collections of data periodically. Also, individual groups of mass spectroscopists have compiled more specialized data tabulations. There is considerable overlap between the various data collections, so one does not need to subscribe to all of them.
A type II supernovae constraint on ve−vs mixing

Abstract The role of a resonant v e − v s oscillation is discussed for the event of a supernova explosion. It is concluded that a significant v e − v s mixing may hinder the ability of the supernova to explode. It may also cool the proto-neutron star too quickly with respect to the observed cooling time of several seconds. The constraints on the v e − v s mixing parameters based on the above arguments are calculated.
A Survey of Islamic Attitudes Towards the Legitimacy of International Law and International Agreements

This note will briefly consider the heritage of Islam and its pronouncements upon binding (and non-binding) obligations between peoples and states. The present-day pronouncements on, and challenges to, adhering to international law and international agreements will be examined with a specific survey of the laws and policies of Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Oman. Those systems can be compared and contrasted to those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen with respect aspiring and adhering to a notion of rule of law, as well as the laws and policies pertaining to adherence to international law. The effort to compare and contrast, to understand and to appreciate, is key to interacting with nations and peoples for whom there may be a fundamental reconciliation at best, or a legal recognition at least, of religion and culture in their legal frameworks, and where shari’a, customary law of court-decided laws, and positive law of civil law will be influenced by nonreligious, tribal, clan, and family loyalties and proclivities.
The DMCA and the Cell Phone Unlocking Debate

This short essay, written for a practitioner audience, summarizes and analyzes the recent legal debate over "unlocking" a wireless mobile device for use on a competing wireless provider's network. The origin of the recent controversy lay with a regulation promulgated in late 2012 by the Librarian of Congress in the exercise of its statutory authority to create exemptions from liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). The Librarian's 2012 regulation declared that users of cell phones (and other wireless devices) purchased beginning in 2013 would face possible DMCA liability for "unlocking" their devices. This pronouncement by the Librarian reversed DMCA exemptions the Librarian had promulgated in two previous rulemaking proceedings, which had shielded users from such liability. The Librarian cited changes in the market availability of authorized "unlocked" devices and the business needs of wireless providers as justifications for the change.In response to the Librarian's 2012 rulemaking, Federal executive and legislative officials have taken steps to restore consumers' rights to "unlock" their wireless devices without fear of possible liability under the DMCA. The specific proposals vary widely, from a new voluntary commitment among wireless providers, made at the behest of the Federal Communications Commission, to permit such "unlocking" in a wider range of circumstances; to a proposed legislative revision that would dramatically limit the reach of the DMCA. The essay briefly summarizes the administrative and legislative responses that have been offered to address the Librarian's 2012 regulation and argues that the responses thus far would do little to prevent similar controversies over the DMCA's liability provisions from arising outside the specific context of "unlocking" wireless devices.
Mammary ductal elongation and myoepithelial migration are regulated by the composition of the extracellular matrix

Mammary branching morphogenesis occurs over a period of weeks deep inside an adipocyte-rich stroma. The adipocytes contain light-scattering lipid droplets that limit the depth of penetration of visible light. Organotypic culture methods were developed to enable high-resolution optical monitoring of branching morphogenesis ex vivo. A challenge has been to identify the best culture conditions to model specific developmental events. We recently demonstrated that collagen I induces protrusive invasion in both normal and neoplastic mammary epithelium. In this study, we observed that the abundance of collagen I fibrils correlated strongly with invasive behaviour, even when the collagen I concentration was identical. We found that the extent of fibril assembly was experimentally manipulable by varying the incubation time at 4°C following pH neutralization. We next tested the capacity of collagen I fibrils to induce invasive behaviour when presented in combination with basement membrane proteins (Matrigel). We found that epithelial organoids in mixed gels of collagen I and basement membrane proteins exhibited more extensive branching morphogenesis but did not initiate protrusions into the matrix. Organoids in pure Matrigel produced many small epithelial buds that were bare of myoepithelial cells. Surprisingly, organoids in mixed gels of collagen I and Matrigel produced fewer epithelial buds, the buds elongated further, and the elongating buds remained covered by myoepithelial cells. Our mixed gels therefore provide a more physiologically accurate model of mammary branching morphogenesis. Our results also suggest that changes in the composition of the extracellular matrix could induce migration of epithelial cells past myoepithelial coverage.
Concurrent clustered programming

We present the concurrency and distribution primitives of MediaObjects/InlineFigure1.png, a modern, statically typed, class-based object-oriented (OO) programming language, designed for high productivity programming of scalable applications on high-end machines. The basic move in the MediaObjects/InlineFigure2.png, programming model is to reify locality through a notion of place, which hosts multiple data items and activities that operate on them. Aggregate objects (such as arrays) may be distributed across multiple places. Activities may dynamically spawn new activities in mulitple places and sequence them through a finish operation that detects termination of activities. Atomicity is obtained through the use of atomic blocks. Activities may repeatedly detect quiescence of a data-dependent collection of (distributed) activities through a notion of clocks, generalizing barriers. Thus MediaObjects/InlineFigure3.png, has a handful of orthogonal constructs for space, time, sequencing and atomicity. MediaObjects/InlineFigure4.png, smoothly combines and generalizes the current dominant paradigms for shared memory computing and message passing. We present a bisimulation-based operational semantics for MediaObjects/InlineFigure5.png, building on the formal semantics for "Middleweight Java". We establish the central theorem of MediaObjects/InlineFigure6.png,: programs without conditional atomic blocks do not deadlock.
Deactivation Improvement of Advanced CMOS Devices Using a Flood BC PLAD Process

Flood buried-contact (FBC) plasma doping (PLAD) is a promising scheme to improve both pMOS and nMOS device performance with a significant cost reduction. Deactivation characteristics of CMOS devices doped by an FBC implant using an ultra-low energy (ULE) BF3 PLAD process is extensively evaluated from inline [front end of line (FEOL)] to final [back end of line (BEOL)] to investigate the impact of the backend thermal processing. nMOS devices show more serious deactivation than pMOS devices from FEOL to BEOL. However, both pMOS and nMOS devices obtained further improvements at BEOL processing. The mechanism of nMOS device performance improvement can be attributed to the Schottky barrier height lowering effect and carrier deactivation improvement, as well as other effects including silicide stability improvement and mechanical stress. It is observed that the deactivation of nMOS device can be improved by an ULE BF3 PLAD process which can be interpreted by less dopant loss and $F$ passivation on the interface between the source/drain and the dielectric spacer. Another important observation is that the deactivation improvement is more profound for the small-size devices. Deactivation characteristics of CMOS devices are consistent with our recent deactivation mechanism studies of blanket wafers (electrical-assisted diffusion mechanism), and provide further evidence for this mechanism.
Evidence for energy-dependent transposition of core lipopolysaccharide across the inner membrane of Salmonella typhimurium

The uncoupler 2,4-dinitrophenol blocks the final step of lipopolysaccharide assembly--transfer of O antigen from undecaprenyl pyrophosphate to core lipopolysaccharide--in intact Salmonella typhimurium but not in isolated membrane fractions. The O-antigen ligase enzyme is not inhibited by dinitrophenol in vitro, and core lipopolysaccharide synthesized in the presence of uncoupler in vivo is functional as acceptor of O antigen in vitro. The evidence strongly suggests that maintenance of proton motive force is required for transmembrane transposition of core lipopolysaccharide to the active site of O-antigen ligase at the periplasmic face of the inner membrane.
The Bacterial Transcription Termination Factor Rho Coordinates Mg2 + Homeostasis with Translational Signals

The bacterial protein Rho triggers transcription termination at the ends of many operons and when transcription and translation become uncoupled. In addition to these genome wide activities, Rho implements regulation of specific genes by dictating whether RNA polymerase terminates transcription within the 5' leader region or continues into the downstream coding region. Here, we report that the Mg(2+) channel gene corA in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, which was previously thought to be constitutively expressed, is regulated by a Rho-dependent terminator located within its 5' leader region. We demonstrate that the unusually long and highly conserved corA leader mRNA can adopt two mutually exclusive conformations that determine whether or not Rho interacts with a Rho utilization site on the nascent RNA and thereby prevents transcription of the corA coding region. The RNA conformation that promotes Rho-dependent termination is favored by efficient translation of corL, a short open reading frame located within the corA leader. Thus, corA transcription is inversely coupled to corL translation. This mechanism resembles those governing expression of Salmonella's other two Mg(2+) transport genes, suggesting that Rho links Mg(2+) uptake to translational signals.
Anti-tumor effect of inflammatory neutrophils: characteristics of in vivo generation and in vitro tumor cell lysis.

Abstract Inflammatory neutrophils elicited by intraperitoneal injection of Corynebacterium parvum, thioglycollate or proteose peptone were capable of lysing different murine and human tumor targets in a short-term chromium-release assay. A single-cell cytotoxicity assay, which evaluated effector-target cell interactions at the single-cell level, confirmed a PMN-mediated tumor-lytic effect. Optimal lysis was achieved by PMNs obtained 6 hr after injection of C. parvum and 16 hr after injection of thioglycollate. In vitro, loss of tumor cell membrane integrity occurred extremely rapidly following conjugation with inflammatory PMNs (beginning within 15 min of the binding step). By 45 min, the lytic event was completed. Addition of catalase or superoxide dismutase to the cytotoxicity assays prevented tumor lysis in a concentration-dependent fashion, indicating that hydrogen peroxide and superoxide, products of the PMN respiratory burst, are mediators of the lytic reaction.