cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Safflower: A New Host of Cercospora beticola

Safflower is an oilseed crop adapted to the small-grain production areas of the western Great Plains, including the Northern Plains Area (NPA). In the NPA, safflower production is being evaluated for potential rotation with sugar beet. Safflower is susceptible to Cercospora carthami, whereas sugar beet is susceptible to C. beticola C. carthami has not been observed on safflower in the NPA but C. beticola is ubiquitous on sugar beet. Observation of unusual leaf spots on irrigated safflower cv. Centennial at Sidney, MT prompted this investigation of safflower as a potential alternate host of C. beticola. Safflower plants were inoculated with four isolates of C. beticola (C1, C2, Sid1, and Sid2) and incubated in growth chambers; leaf spot symptoms appeared between 3 and 4 weeks later. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of extracts from lesion leaf tissue with C. beticola-specific primers produced fragments comparable with amplified fragments from purified cultures of control C. beticola. PCR assay of cultures of single spores from diseased safflower leaf lesions also produced fragments comparable with fragments from C. beticola cultures. Antibody that was raised from isolate C2 also bound to antigens from the single-spore cultures of the four C. beticola isolates. Inoculum from single-spore cultures from infected safflower also infected sugar beet and produced typical Cercospora leaf spot symptoms. Assay of these leaf lesions by PCR resulted in amplification of target fragments with the C. beticola-specific primers. Our results demonstrate that safflower is a new host of C. beticola.
CONSTRAINED DISJOINT PATHS IN GEOMETRIC NETWORKS

We address the problem of constructing a pair of node-disjoint paths connecting two given nodes in a geometric network. We propose a simple algorithm for constructing such a path that does not use any complicated data structure which can be easily implemented. We also consider two variations of disjoint path pair problems which we call narrow corridor problem and width-bounded corridor problem and present efficient algorithms for solving them.
Pseudochrysogorgia bellona n. gen., n. sp.: a new genus and species of chrysogorgiid octocoral (Coelenterata, Anthozoa) from the Coral Sea

Pante E. & France S. C. 2010. — Pseudochrysogorgia bellona n. gen., n. sp.: a new genus and species of chrysogorgiid octocoral (Coelenterata, Anthozoa) from the Coral Sea. Zoosystema 32 (4) : 595-612.
SpeedBalance: Speed-scaling-aware optimal load balancing for green cellular networks

This paper considers a component-level deceleration technique in BS operation, called speed-scaling, that is more conservative than entirely shutting down BSs, yet can conserve dynamic power effectively during periods of low load while ensuring full coverage at all times. By formulating a total cost minimization that allows for a flexible tradeoff between delay and energy, we first study how to adaptively vary the processing speed based on incoming load. We then investigate how this speedscaling affects the design of network protocol, specifically, with respect to user association. Based on our investigation, we propose and analyze a distributed algorithm, called SpeedBalance, that can yield significant energy savings.
Lymphoepithelial cyst of the pancreas: a rare case report and review of literature.

Lymphoepithelial cysts are rare pancreatic lesions of undetermined pathogenesis. The literature on this entity is limited to case reports or small series. We describe a case of 66 year male, incidentally diagnosed as lymphoepithelial cyst of pancreas that was managed by enucleation. This is the first case report of lymphoepithelial cyst from India. An extensive Medline search was carried out for lymphoepithelial cyst of pancreas. Till date less than 100 cases were identified in available literature. All these cases (including our case) were analyzed. This entity has uniform and distinctive clinicopathological features. About half of the reported cases were asymptomatic with most of the lesions diagnosed incidentally. Majority of patients presents with non-specific symptoms making preoperative diagnosis difficult. Lymphoepithelial cyst of the pancreas is a rare benign lesion, which is difficult to diagnose preoperatively. High index of suspicion and preoperative fine needle aspiration cytology may help in making diagnosis and avoiding surgery in asymptomatic patients.
Turbulent flow over large-amplitude wavy surfaces

The laser-Doppler velocimeter is used to measure the mean and the fluctuating velocity for turbulent flow over a solid sinusoidal wave surface having a wavelength λ of 50.8 mm and a wave amplitude of 5.08 mm. For this flow, a large separated region exists, extending from x/λ = 0.14 to 0.69. From the mean velocity measurements, the time-averaged streamlines and therefore the extent of the separated region are calculated. Three flow elements are identified: the separated region, an attached boundary layer, and a free shear layer formed by the detachment of the boundary layer from the wave surface. The characteristics of these flow elements are discussed in terms of the properties of the mean and fluctuating velocity fields.
Magnetic Scattering of Neutrons by Noncollinear Spin Densities

The spin densities associated with magnetic ions in a ferromagnet are not necessarily collinear with the net magnetization. It is shown that neutron scattering techniques can be used to distinguish noncollinear densities from the usual densities. The generalizations of neutron scattering theory required to account for these phenomena are indicated, and the effect of noncollinear spin densities on certain measurements is considered. (D.C.W.)
Statistical theory of parity nonconservation in compound nuclei

We present the first application of statistical spectroscopy to study the root-mean-square value of the parity nonconserving (PNC) interaction matrix element M determined experimentally by scattering longitudinally polarized neutrons from compound nuclei. Our effective PNC interaction consists of a standard two-body meson-exchange piece and a ''doorway'' term to account for 0{sup -} spin-flip excitations. Strength functions are calculated using realistic single-particle energies and a residual strong interaction adjusted to fit the experimental density of states for the targets, {sup 238}U for A{approx}230 and {sup 104,105,106,108}Pd for A{approx}100. Using the standard Desplanques-Donoghue-Holstein estimates of the weak PNC meson-nucleon coupling constants, we find that M is about a factor of 3 smaller than the experimental value for {sup 238}U and about a factor of 1.7 smaller for Pd. The significance of this result for refining the empirical determination of the weak-coupling constants is discussed.
Vascular Permeability Factor/Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-mediated Signaling In Mouse Mesentery Vascular Endothelium

Vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor (VPF/VEGF) is a multifunctional cytokine and growth factor that has important roles in both pathological and physiological angiogenesis. VPF/VEGF induces vascular hyperpermeability, cell division, and other activities by interacting with two specific receptor tyrosine kinases, KDR/Flk-1 and Flt-1, that are selectively expressed on vascular endothelium. The signaling cascade that follows VPF/VEGF interaction with cultured endothelium is only partially understood but is known to result in increased intracellular calcium, activation of protein kinase C, and tyrosine phosphorylations of both receptors, phospholipase C-gamma (PLC-gamma) and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase. For many reasons, signaling events elicited in cultured endothelium may not mimic mediator effects on intact normal or tumor-induced microvessels in vivo. Therefore, we developed a system that would allow measurement of VPF/VEGF-induced signaling on intact microvessels. We used mouse mesentery, a tissue whose numerous microvessels are highly responsive to VPF/VEGF and that we found to express Flk-1 and Flt-1 selectively. At intervals after injecting VPF/VEGF i.p., mesenteries were harvested, extracted, and immunoprecipitated. Immunoblots confirmed that VPF/VEGF induced tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins in mesenteric microvessels as in cultured endothelium: Flk-1; PLC-gamma; and mitogen-activated protein kinase. Similar phosphorylations were observed when mesentery was exposed to VPF/VEGF in vitro, or when mesenteries were harvested from mice bearing the mouse ovarian tumor ascites tumor, which itself secretes abundant VPF/VEGF. Other experiments further elucidated the VPF/VEGF signaling pathway, demonstrating phosphorylation of both PYK2 and focal adhesion kinase, activation of c-jun-NH2-kinase with phosphorylation of c-Jun, and an association between Flk-1 and PLC-gamma. In addition, we demonstrated translocation of mitogen-activated protein kinase to the cell nucleus in cultured endothelium. Taken together, these experiments describe a new model system with the potential for investigating signaling events in response to diverse mediators on intact microvessels in vivo and have further elucidated the VPF/VEGF signaling cascade.
Inverse scattering for frequency-scanned full-field optical coherence tomography

Full-field optical coherence tomography (OCT) is able to image an entire en face plane of scatterers simultaneously, but typically the focus is scanned through the volume to acquire three-dimensional structure. By solving the inverse scattering problem for full-field OCT, we show it is possible to computationally reconstruct a three-dimensional volume while the focus is fixed at one plane inside the sample. While a low-numerical-aperture (NA) OCT system can tolerate defocus because the depth of field is large, for high NA it is critical to correct for defocus. By deriving a solution to the inverse scattering problem for full-field OCT, we propose and simulate an algorithm that recovers object structure both inside and outside the depth of field, so that even for high NA the focus can be fixed at a particular plane within the sample without compromising resolution away from the focal plane.
Global routing revisited

Recent progress in the area of global routing has been remarkable; yet, in many ways, the classical formulation has yet to catch up with the demands imposed by modern physical synthesis flows. In this work, we visit (and revisit) the topic of global routing. We provide a brief review of global routing's history, and touch on recent work that has contributed to the state-of-the-art in the field. While we cover in depth the basic principles behind leading approaches, we also emphasize open challenges and problems that remain unresolved. We argue that not only does the current academic formulation lack key components of the true routing problem — such as scenic control, layer directives, and capabilities for integration with physical synthesis — but also that present methods are likely to fail when extended toward the more generalized formulation. Finally, we offer a revised incarnation of the ISPD benchmarks to encourage continued progress in the research community. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.7.2 [Integrated Circuits]: Design Aids-placement and routing; J.6 [Computer-Aided Engineering]: Computer-Aided Design; G.4 [Mathematical Software]: Algorithm Design and Analysis General Terms global routing, physical synthesis, optimization
LncRNA-ID: Long non-coding RNA IDentification using balanced random forests

Motivation Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are non-coding RNAs of length above 200 nucleotides, play important biological functions such as gene expression regulation. To fully reveal the functions of lncRNAs, a fundamental step is to annotate them in various species. However, as lncRNAs tend to encode one or multiple open reading frames, it is not trivial to distinguish these long non-coding transcripts from protein-coding genes in transcriptomic data. Results In this work, we design a new tool that calculates the coding potential of a transcript using a machine learning model (random forest) based on multiple features including sequence characteristics of putative open reading frames, translation scores based on ribosomal coverage, and conservation against characterized protein families. The experimental results show that our tool competes favorably with existing coding potential computation tools in lncRNA identification. Availability and implementation The scripts and data can be downloaded at https://github.com/zhangy72/LncRNA-ID.
Abdominal wall hernia and aortic injury secondary to blunt trauma: Case report and review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION Traumatic abdominal wall hernia (TAWH) and traumatic abdominal aortic injury (TAAI) are two uncommon complications secondary to blunt trauma. In both TAWH and TAAI, reported cases are often associated with poly-trauma. TAWH may be initially missed if more pressing issues are identified during the patient's primary survey. TAAI may be an incidental finding on imaging or, if severe, a cause of an acute abdomen and hemodynamic abnormality.
3.3 V GPS receiver MMIC implemented on a mixed-signal, silicon bipolar array

A generic Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver architecture is described to highlight the RF/microwave semiconductor components. This generic GPS monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) contains two downconversion stages and the dividers, buffers, digital phase-frequency detector, and negative resistance cell required to synthesize both local oscillators (LOs) and a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) system clock. The MMIC operates from a 20-MHz external reference and provides overall conversion gain of about 65 dB from a 1575-MHz RF to a 15-MHz second IF. The 1.8*1.8-mm MMIC was implemented on a mixed-signal, silicon bipolar cell array and consumed less than 150 mW from a single 3.3-V supply. >
Outage Behavior of a MISO Wireless Optical Link with Pointing and Tracking Errors

In this paper, we investigate the outage behavior of optical inter-satellite communication links. The main issues addressed in the present work are: (1) source-induced fading, (2) statistically correlated fading, (3) transmitter diversity, (4) selection combining, and (5) equal gain combining. It is shown that (i) the merit of combining is obvious when the correlation coefficient is less than 0.5, (ii) the EGC scheme gives better performance than the SC scheme, and (iii) the long wavelength gives better performance than the short wavelength.
An Analytical Determination of its Clinical Importance

Summary There is apparently a very close relationship between both height and weight of the baby and placental size. The next closest relationship exists between duration of pregnancy and placental size. This relationship, however, is less than that between the size of the baby and the size of the placenta, and in this same series of cases there is a much closer relationship between duration of pregnancy and size of the baby (+0.430 ±0.021) than there is between duration of pregnancy and size of the placenta. The evident conclusion is that whereas the placenta continues to grow in the latter part of pregnancy, it does so at a relatively much less rapid rate than the baby. The apparent (low degree of) correlation between blood loss in the third stage of labor and placental size is again perhaps more apparent than real, as the correlation between blood loss and infant size in this series shows a coefficient (+0.216 ±0.016) somewhat larger than that between size of placenta and blood loss. It would seem then that the larger placentas are associated with greater blood loss only because they are also associated with larger babies. Perhaps the greater distention of the uterus associated with the larger babies is a more important factor in the production of blood loss than the larger placental area of attachment. Indeed, one might doubt whether a large placental site produces any greater blood loss than a small placental site. Physiologically there should be no difference. Comparison of the data on placental weight with those on placental area would indicate that the latter is less important than the former, because the coefficients of correlation in every instance (where a definite coefficient was present) were less than the coefficients for placental weight. It would seem then that the determination of placental weight alone would be quite sufficient for clinical purposes and that the addition of placental dimensions adds little, if anything, to the value of our clinical charts.
High-Dose Etoposide, Cyclophosphamide, and Total Body Irradiation With Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation for Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Untreated First Relapse: A Study by the North American Marrow Transplant Group

Relapse is a major cause of treatment failure following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). To reduce the risk of relapse following BMT for patients with hematologic malignancy, our group developed a novel preparative regimen which combines high-dose etoposide with cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation (VPCyTBI). We now report the outcome of therapy with VPCyTBI followed by allogeneic BMT for 40 patients with AML in untreated first relapse. With the exception of increased stomatitis, the toxicity of this regimen was similar to that reported by others for CyTBI. Forty-four months after transplant the actuarial probabilities of disease-free survival (DFS), persistent or recurrent leukemia, and transplant related mortality were .29, .44, and .47 respectively. DFS was improved (P or = 2) acute GVHD. Patients with 30% or more blasts on pre-BMT bone marrow examination were not at increased risk for persistent or recurrent leukemia. We conclude that VPCyTBI with allogeneic BMT is effective therapy for AML in untreated first relapse and that a randomized trial comparing this regimen with CyTBI is warranted.
Prehospital Indicators for Disaster Preparedness and Response: New York City Emergency Medical Services in Hurricane Sandy.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate emergency medical services (EMS) data as disaster metrics and to assess stress in surrounding hospitals and a municipal network after the closure of Bellevue Hospital during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed EMS activity and call types within New York City's 911 computer-assisted dispatch database from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013. We evaluated EMS ambulance transports to individual hospitals during Bellevue's closure and incremental recovery from urgent care capacity, to freestanding emergency department (ED) capability, freestanding ED with 911-receiving designation, and return of inpatient services. RESULTS: A total of 2,877,087 patient transports were available for analysis; a total of 707,593 involved Manhattan hospitals. The 911 ambulance transports disproportionately increased at the 3 closest hospitals by 63.6%, 60.7%, and 37.2%. When Bellevue closed, transports to specific hospitals increased by 45% or more for the following call types: blunt traumatic injury, drugs and alcohol, cardiac conditions, difficulty breathing, "pedestrian struck," unconsciousness, altered mental status, and emotionally disturbed persons. CONCLUSIONS: EMS data identified hospitals with disproportionately increased patient loads after Hurricane Sandy. Loss of Bellevue, a public, safety net medical center, produced statistically significant increases in specific types of medical and trauma transports at surrounding hospitals. Focused redeployment of human, economic, and social capital across hospital systems may be required to expedite regional health care systems recovery. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;0:1-11). Language: en
Gesture recognition using active body parts and active difference signatures

The introduction of low cost depth cameras along with advances in computer vision have spawned an exciting new era in Human Computer Interaction. Real time gesture recognition systems have become commonplace and attention has now turned towards making these systems invariant to within-user and user-to-user variation. Active difference signatures have been used to describe temporal motion as well as static difference from a canonical resting position. Geometric features, such as joint angles, and joint topological distances can be used along with active difference signatures as salient feature descriptors. To achieve robustness to natural gesture variation, this paper introduces active body part recognition along with these features into the Hidden Markov Model framework. The proposed method is bench-marked against other methods, achieving state of the art results on the MSR3D and ChaLearn datasets.
A CHIRPED SEMICONDUCTOR LASER AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SLD IN A FIBER GYRO

A chirped semiconductor laser is used instead of a superluminescent diode (SLD) to reduce the effects of backscattering and the optical Kerr effect in a fiber interferometer gyroscope.
X-Ray Photography of Human Cell Tumors in X-Ray and Cortisone-Treated Rats.

SummaryApplication of x-ray photography to the study of tumor development in treated rats injected with human cells is demonstrated.
Laser 3D micro-manufacturing

Laser-based materials processing techniques are gaining widespread use in micro-manufacturing applications. The use of laser microfabrication techniques enables the processing of micro- and nanostructures from a wide range of materials and geometries without the need for masking and etching steps commonly associated with photolithography. This review aims to describe the broad applications space covered by laser-based micro- and nanoprocessing techniques and the benefits offered by the use of lasers in micro-manufacturing processes. Given their non-lithographic nature, these processes are also referred to as laser direct-write and constitute some of the earliest demonstrations of 3D printing or additive manufacturing at the microscale. As this review will show, the use of lasers enables precise control of the various types of processing steps—from subtractive to additive—over a wide range of scales with an extensive materials palette. Overall, laser-based direct-write techniques offer multiple modes of operation including the removal (via ablative processes) and addition (via photopolymerization or printing) of most classes of materials using the same equipment in many cases. The versatility provided by these multi-function, multi-material and multi-scale laser micro-manufacturing processes cannot be matched by photolithography nor with other direct-write microfabrication techniques and offer unique opportunities for current and future 3D micro-manufacturing applications.
Foliar Nutrient Contents in Different Clones of Triploid Populus tomentosa

Foliar nutrient contents in different clones of triploid Populus tomentosa were measured in 2006.It was found that the contents of nitrogen and potassium decreased with time;While the content of calsuim always in the trend of increasing around the year.The content of phosphorus in spring were lower than those of in summer,and lowest in autumn;the contents of magnesium changed little in all three seasons.The causes of the variations of the elements needed to be further investigated.According to the annual average contents,the ratio of N:P:K:Ca:Mg was 1.00:0.06:0.40:0.10:0.04.The contents of trace elements,such as Fe,Mn, Cu,and Zn,increased with time.Different clones had the same dynamics.With the samples in July,the results of analysis of variance showed only N contents were significant at 5% level(F=6.73F0.05=3.68,n=18).Generally,the orders of nutrient contents in different clones were not alike in the seasons.The results may benefit the nutrient management of triploid P.tomentosa.
FDA and OHRP

The FDA and OHRP control the IRB system; if your IRB reviews a variety of biomedical protocols, it functions under the watchful eye of both. If you understand their position in our political system, it will be easier to keep in their good graces.
Why Do They Do What They Do?: A Study of What Motivates Users to (Not) Follow Computer Security Advice

Usable security researchers have long been interested in what users do to keep their devices and data safe and how that compares to recommendations. Additionally, experts have long debated and studied the psychological underpinnings and motivations for users to do what they do, especially when such behavior is seen as risky, at least to experts. This study investigates user motivations through a survey conducted on Mechanical Turk, which resulted in responses from 290 participants. We use a rational decision model to guide our design, as well as current thought on human motivation in general and in the realm of computer security. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, we identify key gaps in perception between those who follow common security advice (i.e., update software, use a password manager, use 2FA, change passwords) and those who do not and help explain participants’ motivations behind their decisions. Additionally, we find that social considerations are trumped by individualized rationales.
Vitamin K deficiency and hemorrhage in infancy.

Vitamin K given intramuscularly will prevent largely hemor-rhagic disease in the newborn infant. Results with oral vitamin K prophylaxis, currently used in some countries following the association found in a single report between childhood cancer and intramuscular vitamin K, are far more controversial. Any role of vitamin K in the prevention of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in premature infants has not been demonstrated sufficiently. Ongoing developments in this field will lead to improved methods of detecting early vitamin K deficiency and perhaps suitable alternatives to intramuscular vitamin K prophylaxis in the newborn.
LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACT: Plasma level of TRAIL is associated with severity of sepsis and predicts survival after critical illness

Introduction Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a cytokine that induces cell death by apoptosis or necroptosis. Based on older criteria, lower plasma TRAIL has been associated with increased severity of sepsis in humans. Suppression of TRAIL may promote the dysregulated immune response seen in sepsis. Methods Subjects admitted to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine were recruited in an ongoing, prospective, cohort study. Demographics and clinical outcomes were recorded. We collected plasma on Day 1 of MICU admission. Subjects were stratified by non-infectious critical illness, sepsis, and septic shock using new Sepsis-3 criteria. Plasma TRAIL level was assessed by ELISA using a commercially available kit (R&D Systems, USA). Results We analyzed the first 79 subjects with available plasma. Median plasma TRAIL concentrations were lower in subjects with septic shock (14.354 pg/mL) compared to control subjects without documented infection (34.342 pg/mL), p=0.008. There was a trend towards lower TRAIL concentration in septic patients without shock (20.307 pg/mL) compared to the same controls, p=0.077, and a trend towards lower median TRAIL concentration in subjects who died at 28 days compared to survivors (14.837 pg/mL vs 21.333 pg/mL, p=0.079). The mean TRAIL level in the cohort was 27.039 pg/mL. Subjects with a TRAIL above the mean had a lower odds of death, OR 0.108 (95% CI 0.013 to 0.873). Conclusion Soluble TRAIL is lower in patients with septic shock compared to control subjects without documented infection based on new Sepsis-3 criteria. Elevated TRAIL may be predictive of survival.
Nachrichten aus Nürnberg: The Annunciation as an Epistolary Address

When, around the turn of the fifteenth century, the art of northern Europe developed a pictorial motif whereby an angel delivers the news of the Incarnation in the form of a sealed document, the material properties of ink and wax metaphorically evoked the unique properties of the incription of divine form upon Mary's virginal body. The social impact of this communication, the dissemination of the message to a community of recipients, could be strengthened by references to the re-transmittable nature of the announcement, as enforced by other indicators of sociability detectable in different portions of the narrative scheme. The Tucher Altarpiece in Nuremberg and Michael Wolgemut's altarpiece for the cathedral of St. Mary in Zwickau present two examples of uses of the epistolary Annunciation that may have influenced Albretch Durer, who employs the motif in his woodcut series "The life of the Virgin", which also contains, along with this pictorial form of broad address, more narrowly articulated messages to his contemporaries in the form of writen words.
Success biased imitation increases the probability of effectively dealing with ecological disturbances

Ecological disturbances (i.e. pests, invasive species, floods, fires etc.) are a fundamental challenge in managing connected social-ecological systems. Even if treatment for such disturbances is available, often managers do not act quickly enough or not at all. In this paper we build an agent based model that examines: a) under what circumstances are managers locked into non-action that favors ecological disturbances? b) what learning strategies are most effective in avoiding management lock-in? The model we develop relates adoption of treatment strategies to eradicate ecological disturbances with the type of learning preferred by individuals (success bias, conformist and individual). We further model treatment strategy adoption as a function of treatment cost, ability of the ecological system to recover once treated and the disturbance effect on the social system. Our model shows the importance of success-bias imitation and system size in affecting the odds of eradicating ecological disturbances on connected landscapes.
Reduction of Inhibitory Anti-FVIII Antibody Titer by Using a B Domain Variant FVIII/N6 cDNA for Nonviral Gene Therapy in Hemophilia a Mice

Abstract Due to the large size of FVIII, a B-domain deleted FVIII (BDD-FVIII) cDNA is usually used for developing gene therapy protocols for treating hemophilia A. Inefficient transcription of wild- type FVIII cDNA can be overcome by deletion of the heavily glycosylated B-domain encoding portion of the gene. BDD-FVIII is as clinically efficacious and not more immunogenic than full-length recombinant FVIII. More recently, it was demonstrated that a partial deletion of the B-domain leaving an N-terminal 226 amino acid stretch containing 6 putative asparagine-linked glycosylation sites intact (FVIII/N6) was able to increase in vitro and in vivo secretion of FVIII by 10–15 fold. We have inserted this B domain variant FVIII/N6 cDNA into our liver-specific gene expression vector. The resulting construct, FVIII/N6 plasmid was delivered into the hemophilia A mouse liver by the hydrodynamic method. In control mice treated with BDD-FVIII plasmid (n=5/group), FVIII expression dropped to undetectable levels at 2 weeks post injection and high-titer anti-FVIII antibodies were generated in all the plasmid-treated mice. However, in mice treated with FVIII/N6 plasmid (n=5/group), one out of five mice never developed inhibitory antibodies and still had some FVIII gene expression (~10%) at 8 weeks post gene transfer. Three FVIII/N6 plasmid-treated mice developed anti-FVIII antibodies with significantly reduced inhibitor titer and only one mouse developed high-titer inhibitory antibodies. The CD4+ T cells isolated from the spleen of mice injected with FVIII/N6 constructs proliferated less in response to FVIII stimulation than those from mice injected with BDD-FVIII. These results indicate that FVIII/N6 protein is less immunogenic than BDD-FVIII. Interestingly, both BDD-FVIII and FVIII/N6 constructs produced similar levels of FVIII gene expression (100–300%) initially following nonviral gene transfer. However this could be due to saturation of the ER to Golgi transport apparatus for FVIII by the initial high-level gene expression. Gene expression levels produced by using reduced dosages of BDD-FVIII and FVIII/N6 plasmids are currently being evaluated and compared. These findings suggest that use of a FVIII/N6 construct decreases transgene-specific immune responses following nonviral gene transfer and facilitates long-term gene expression.
Making Thin Film Composite Hollow Fiber Forward Osmosis Membranes at the Module Scale Using Commercial Ultrafiltration Membranes

Previous investigations of thin film composite (TFC) hollow fiber membranes for forward osmosis (FO) have been focused on the careful design of the support layer that provides mechanical strength to a thin selective layer (typically a polyamide film). While exhibiting excellent FO performance due to a delicately tailored supporting structure, some of these membranes require complicated fabrication procedures. This has led commercial entities to criticize these academic efforts for being impractical or unattainable for conventional manufacturing procedures. These criticisms have motivated us to approach making hollow fiber FO membranes differently. In this study, we use commercial ultrafiltration hollow fiber membranes (Koch Membrane Systems) as supports for polyamide TFC membranes. These membranes were already potted into 18-in. modules before the in situ formation of the polyamide on the lumen of the fibers. Two fiber sizes were selected for comparison, and all membranes tested exhibited remarkably good ...
TD-DeltaPi: A Model-Free Algorithm for Efficient Exploration.

We study the problem of finding efficient exploration policies for the case in which an agent is momentarily not concerned with exploiting, and instead tries to compute a policy for later use. We first formally define the Optimal Exploration Problem as one of sequential sampling and show that its solutions correspond to paths of minimum expected length in the space of policies. We derive a model-free, local linear approximation to such solutions and use it to construct efficient exploration policies. We compare our model-free approach to other exploration techniques, including one with the best known PAC bounds, and show that ours is both based on a well-defined optimization problem and empirically efficient.
The Four Cs of Parenting: Applying Key Counseling Concepts for Raising Healthy Children Across Countries, Cultures, and Families

Parenting is a challenge that faces every culture, creed, and nation. It carries a variety of assumptions, values, and perspectives that indicate how proper parenting should look. Much has been wri...
Modeling the effects of diagenesis on carbonate clumped-isotope values in deep- and shallow-water settings

The measurement of multiply isotopically substituted (‘clumped isotope’) carbonate groups provides a way to reconstruct past mineral formation temperatures. However, dissolution-reprecipitation (i.e., recrystallization) reactions, which commonly occur during sedimentary burial, can alter a sample’s clumped-isotope composition such that it partially or wholly reflects deeper burial temperatures. Here we derive a quantitative model of diagenesis to explore how diagenesis alters carbonate clumped-isotope values. We apply the model to a new dataset from deep-sea sediments taken from Ocean Drilling Project site 807 in the equatorial Pacific. This dataset is used to ground truth the model. We demonstrate that the use of the model with accompanying carbonate clumped-isotope and carbonate δ^(18)O values provides new constraints on both the diagenetic history of deep-sea settings as well as past equatorial sea-surface temperatures. Specifically, the combination of the diagenetic model and data support previous work that indicates equatorial sea-surface temperatures were warmer in the Paleogene as compared to today. We then explore whether the model is applicable to shallow-water settings commonly preserved in the rock record. Using a previously published dataset from the Bahamas, we demonstrate that the model captures the main trends of the data as a function of burial depth and thus appears applicable to a range of depositional settings.
Assessment of Nannochloropsis gaditana growth and lipid accumulation with increased inorganic carbon delivery

Algal biomass refineries for sustainable transportation fuels, in particular biodiesel, will benefit from algal strain enhancements to improve biomass and lipid productivity. Specifically, the supply of inorganic carbon to microalgal cultures represents an area of great interest due to the potential for improved growth of microalgae and the possibility for incorporation with CO2 mitigation processes. Combinations of bicarbonate (HCO3−) salt addition and application of CO2 to control pH have shown compelling increases in growth rate and lipid productivity of fresh water algae. Here, focus was placed on the marine organism, Nannochloropsis gaditana, to investigate growth and lipid accumulation under various strategies of enhanced inorganic carbon supply. Three gas application strategies were investigated: continuous sparging of atmospheric air, continuous sparging of 5% CO2 during light hours until nitrogen depletion, and continuous sparging of atmospheric air supplemented with 5% CO2 for pH control between 8.0 and 8.3. These gas sparging schemes were combined with addition of low concentrations (5 mM) of sodium bicarbonate at inoculation and high concentration (50 mM) of sodium bicarbonate amendments just prior to nitrogen depletion. The optimum scenario observed for growth of N. gaditana under these inorganic carbon conditions was controlling pH with 5% CO2 on demand, which increased both growth rate and lipid accumulation. Fatty acid methyl esters were primarily comprised of C16:0 (palmitic) and C16:1 (palmitoleic) aliphatic chains. Additionally, the use of high concentration (50 mM) of bicarbonate amendments further improved lipid content (up to 48.6%) under nitrogen deplete conditions when paired with pH-controlled strategies.
Modeling Human Intelligence as A Slow Intelligence System.

[Chang, 2010] argues that slow intelligence is the property shared by surprisingly large number of intelligent systems, and presents examples in scenarios of multimedia data query and mission control in crisis management systems. This paper strengthens this argument by showing that human infant’s object tracing can be understood as a slow intelligence and be simulated in this framework. We first introduce an experiment on infant’s capability of object tracing, and present two rules in psychology which govern object tracing result, namely, the rule of minimal spatial transformation and the rule of categorical continuity. We review related works and reduce object tracing problems into the problem of object mapping. We show that the following capabilities can be simulated in the slow intelligence framework: the capability to acquiring knowledge about one scene, and the capability to mapping object between scenes. We implemented a simple slow intelligence system in C# to simulate the experiment results presented at the beginning of the paper. Some discussions and outlooks are presented.
Interaction of Aflatoxin B 1 within Specific Gene Sequences

The irreversibility of tumor initiation, as well as the heritability of the tumor phenotype, have drawn attention to DNA as the critical macromo- lecular target in chemical carcinogenesis.9 Changes in DNA sequences, brought about by carcinogen-DNA interactions, could constitute molecular bases for observed alterations in gene expression that accompany neoplastic transformation by chemicals. Evidence supporting a putative role of carcinogen-induced DNA sequence change in initiating tumor development has been provided by both qualitative and quantitative correlations between the carcinogenic and mutagenic potency exhibited by many carcinogens and the potency of chemicals as carcinogens compared to the total levels of covalent DNA modification observed in treated animals.20,36
Bleeding esophagogastric varices. Ways to treat active episodes and prevent recurrence.

PreviewOne serious potential effect of cirrhosis is portal hypertension, which in turn may cause esophageal and gastric varices. What causes varices to rupture is unclear, but the bleeding episodes are a medical emergency and patients' long-term survival rates are not encouraging. Dr Marshall discusses emergency treatment for palliation of actively bleeding varices. He also reviews prevention of recurrent bleeding and the status of research on prophylaxis for initial episodes.
Apoptosis propagates through the cytoplasm as trigger waves

Apoptosis is an evolutionarily conserved form of programmed cell death critical for development and tissue homeostasis in animals. The apoptotic control network includes several positive feedback loops that may allow apoptosis to spread through the cytoplasm in self-regenerating trigger waves. We tested this possibility in cell-free Xenopus laevis egg extracts and observed apoptotic trigger waves with speeds of ~30 micrometers per minute. Fractionation and inhibitor studies implicated multiple feedback loops in generating the waves. Apoptotic oocytes and eggs exhibited surface waves with speeds of ~30 micrometers per minute, which were tightly correlated with caspase activation. Thus, apoptosis spreads through trigger waves in both extracts and intact cells. Our findings show how apoptosis can spread over large distances within a cell and emphasize the general importance of trigger waves in cell signaling.
Adipose oxidative stress and protein carbonylation

Increased oxidative stress and abundance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are positively correlated with a variety of pathophysiologies, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and neuroinflammation. In adipose biology, diabetic obesity is correlated with increased ROS in an age- and depot-specific manner and is mechanistically linked to mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, potentiated lipolysis, and insulin resistance. The cellular quality control systems that homeostatically regulate oxidative stress in the lean state are down-regulated in obesity as a consequence of inflammatory cytokine pressure leading to the accumulation of oxidized biomolecules. New findings have linked protein, DNA, and lipid oxidation at the biochemical level, and the structures and potential functions of protein adducts such as carbonylation that accumulate in stressed cells have been characterized. The sum total of such regulation and biochemical changes results in alteration of cellular metabolism and function in the obese state relative to the lean state and underlies metabolic disease progression. In this review, we discuss the molecular mechanisms and events underlying these processes and their implications for human health and disease.
Making the Visual Tangible: Substituting Lifting Speed Limits for Object Weight in VR

We developed a novel interaction technique that allows virtual reality (VR) users to experience “weight” when hefting virtual, weightless objects. With this technique the perception of weight is ev...
Biodiversity in the United States and Canada

Abstract We summarize the diversity of subterranean-obligate invertebrates and vertebrates that occur in the 48 contiguous United States as well as Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada. These species are found almost exclusively in caves and other subterranean habitats and exhibit some degree of troglomorphy. While a large proportion of the 884 troglobiotic and 469 stygobiotic described species in the United States and Canada are concentrated in 10 biogeographic karst regions, significant diversity exists in other karst and also nonkarst terrain, and new biogeographic regions may be recognized in the future. This diversity includes 5 phyla, 15 classes, 51 orders, 124 families, and 288 genera. Nearly 150 new species have been described since 2008 and many additional taxa await formal description. More than 70% of troglobiont and stygobionts in the United States and Canada are of conservation concern and at an elevated risk of extinction.
Improving advance directive documentation in the electronic medical records at a comprehensive community cancer center.

191Background: Advance directives (AD) are critical to understanding a patient’s wishes should they be unable to communicate. Lacking these documents may lead to decreased knowledge regarding end-o...
A Comparative Study of Coupler-Based Retrodirective Arrays for Next-Generation RFID Tags

Recently, retrodirective arrays—which reflect the impinging electromagnetic waves back towards the direction of incidence with maximal gain—are gaining considerable attention in backscatter-based communications; especially, backscattering at upper microwave and millimeter wave frequencies for low-powered sensing systems. To further investigate this class of arrays, we—in this paper—conduct several experiments that compare the differential radar cross section (RCS) of two coupler-based retrodirective arrays with that of a single antenna. The measurements reveal that all of these three antenna systems share a similar differential RCS beamwidth with a wide field-of-view. Furthermore, the measurements also show that poorly-isolated terminating ports in the case of hybrid-based retrodirective arrays completely degrade the retrodirectivity of the array.
Bounds on the sum of broadcast domination number and strong metric dimension of graphs

Let G be a connected graph of order at least two with vertex set V (G). For x,y ∈ V (G), let d(x,y) denote the length of an x − y geodesic in G. A function f : V (G) → ℤ+ ∪{0} is called a dominatin...
Causes of Extraperitoneal Air

The extraperitoneum is a potential space, and therefor extraperitoneal air is always pathologic. The most common cause of extraperitoneal air is bowel perforation. The two most common causes of bowel perforation are inflammatory disease and ulcerative disease. Other causes include trauma, iatrogenic manipulation, and a foreign body. In a perforated duodenal ulcer, the first part of the duodenum is the most common region affected. In a patient presenting with an acute abdomen and a history of inflammatory or ulcerative disease, bowel perforation should be a consideration. If bowel perforation is due to obstruction, the perforation typically occurs proximal to the obstruction. In progressing pneumoperitoneum, a major complication to be aware of is abdominal compartment syndrome.
Communicating Support: Examining Perceived Organizational Support among Faculty Members with Differing Appointment Types

Given the changing landscape of postsecondary faculty employment, institutions benefit from understanding how organizational policies and behaviors affects the faculty’s perception of organizational support. Using data from faculty members, including those with contingent and part-time appointments, at a single institution in the western United States, this study examined how the faculty’s perceptions of structures and behaviors at the departmental, college, and campus levels affect their perception of organizational support. Results suggest that part-time faculty members are significantly less likely to feel supported; however, as their perceptions of being valued by college and senior administrators increase, so do their perceptions of support. Findings suggest avenues for organizational leaders to promote commitment among all faculty members.
Cumulative Lifetime Adversity in a National Sample of Hispanic/Latino Immigrants: Exploring Construct Validity Across Six Hispanic/Latino Groups Using Data From the HCHS/SOL Sociocultural Ancillary Study:

Hispanic/Latino immigrants often experience significant adversity before, during, and after migrating to the United States. However, no extant studies have tested the construct validity of a cumula...