cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Noninvasive visualization of human dopamine dynamics from PET images.

Abstract We recently introduced strategies for extracting temporal patterns of brain dopamine fluctuations from dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) data using the tracer [11C]-raclopride. Each of our methods yields a collection of time-concentration curves for endogenous dopamine. Given a spatially dense collection of curves (i.e., one at every voxel in a region of interest), we produce image volumes of dopamine (DA) concentration, DA( ―X , t ), at multiple voxel locations and each time-frame. The volume over time-frames constitutes a 4D dataset that can be thought of as a DA “movie”. There are a number of ways to visualize such data. Viewing cine loops of a slice through the DA volume is one way. Creating images of dopamine peak-time, T peak ( ―X ), derived from a movie, is another. Each visualization may reveal spatio-temporal patterns of neurotransmitter activity heretofore unobservable. We conducted an initial validation experiment in which identical DA responses were induced by an identical task, initiated at different times by the same subject, in two separate PET scans. A comparison of the resulting T peak ( ―X ) images revealed a large contiguous cluster of striatal voxels, on each side, whose DA timing was consistent with the relative timing of the tasks. Hence, the DA movies and their respective peak-time images were shown to be new types of functional images that contain bonafide timing information about a neurotransmitter's response to a stimulus.
Strategic planning leadership through constraint management

Strategic planning includes high visibility components such as profitability and market share, a secure employee environment, and customer satisfaction. Less visible are planning for an uncertain future, decisions which make the best use of limited resources, and the implementation of these plans and decisions. The authors recommend structured planning tools to impose some objectivity on a subjective process, and a combination of constraint management and intelligent resource deployment to minimize risks associated with strategic investment decisions that have long term consequences.
Counseling Single Mothers of Multiple Heritage Children: What Is the Difference?

An instrumental qualitative multiple case study design was conducted on 3 single mothers raising multiple heritage children concerning issues involved in being a single mother and attempting to juggle socializing their children among two different cultures. Using constant comparison analysis, themes were assigned by analyzing the single mothers’ interview responses to determine the advantages and disadvantages that single mothers might face while raising multiple heritage children. Results indicate an array of pertinent issues single mothers might face while attempting to juggle family and social issues pertaining to raising a multiple heritage child on their own. Recommendations for counselors working with single mothers of multiple heritage children are presented.
Earth departure stage technology requirements for the Mars DRM

Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.01(Mars DRA5.0) 2, released in 2009, presented a method for sustained human exploration of Mars using either Nuclear-Thermal Propulsion or Chemical Propulsion along with a Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle such as the Ares V. The reference heavy-lift launch vehicle for the lunar architecture program of record and several alternatives were assessed during Mars DRA5.0. Currently, the Ares V vehicle concept envisioned for use in the lunar architecture consists of two 5-segment reusable Solid Rocket Boosters, a Core Stage (CS) with five RS-68B-E/O engines, an Earth Departure Stage (EDS) powered by one J-2X engine and a Payload Shroud. Extensibility options for this vehicle concept were assessed which included the Mars mission scenario.,3
Egg Trading in the Chalk Bass, Serranus tortugarum, a Simultaneous Hermaphrodite

and Summary The simultaneously hermaphroditic fish, Hypoplectrus nigricans, engages in a form of reciprocal spawning called “egg trading”, where one partner gives up eggs for fertilization in exchange for the opportunity to fertilize those of the partner. Since egg trading appears to be important in the evolutionary maintenance of hermaphroditism in H. nigricans, an attempt was made to determine if another species, Serranus tortugarum, behaved in a similar fashion. S. tortugarum do trade eggs, and the phenomenon seems to be widespread in simultaneously hermaphroditic serranids. However, the cues for spawning are much subtler than in H. nigricans and other simultaneously hermaphroditic serranids. This trait appears to be an evolutionary response to the occurrence of heavy sperm competition in the form of streaking.
Weathering climate change: Can institutions mitigate international water conflict?:

Although the subject remains contested, some have speculated that climate change could jeopardize international security. Climate change is likely to alter the runoff of many rivers due to changes ...
The effect of a changed environment on bacterial colonization rates in an established burns centre.

Abstract In an established burns centre which moved from an old building to new purpose-designed premises, colonization rates of patients' burns with Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Gram-negative bacilli were not reduced. Colonization rates with Streptococcus pyogenes increased but the increase was mainly due to multiple importations in the new premises of a strain of higher communicability than any seen in the old. In the first 32 months in the new environment 10 patients were found colonized with pseudomonas on admission and 20 became colonized in the unit. A much higher proportion of patients with burns of more than 30% body surface became colonized than of patients with less. About one-third of the above 20 patients became colonized with strains already isolated from another patient; all but one of them had small area burns. Cross-infection was not observed from numerous heavily colonized patients with high percentage burns. This paradox is discussed in detail. Basin outflows in the new premises became colonized with P. aeruginosa of two serotypes not found on patients in this unit.
An Algorithm for Vertex-pair Connectivity

ABSTRACT An algorithm is developed for finding the minimum number of vertices ω s,t whose removal from a directed graph G breaks all directed paths from a given vertex s to a given vertex t. The algorithm is performed on G without any modification of its structure and entails examining each vertex at most r times with 2ω s,t ≥ r and, in practice, almost always with ω s,t ≥ r.
Human Rights-Based Approaches to Community Practice in the United States: A Call to Action

As the movement for human rights has matured in the United States, local organizations are increasingly making claims for social inclusion and equality using the language of human rights. This chapter outlines the value of using a rights-based rather than a needs-based approach by community practitioners to address social exclusion and inequality. As a form of practice, a rights-based approach seeks to hold government accountable for ensuring that human rights are met for all members of society. The authors define the concept of human rights and outline key aspects of the international human rights system. They also highlight the United States’ reluctance to participate fully within the global human rights system—“American exceptionalism”—particularly regarding economic and social rights. Most human rights practice in the United States has focused on judicial or legislative processes and has relied on a top-down approach to achieve formal legal change to comply with international human rights norms. Though important, this work has often failed to emphasize grassroots mobilization and specific community-based efforts to promote and actualize human rights. The authors explain the foundation for rights-based community practice, underscoring core values of social inclusion, civic engagement, and deliberative democracy as crucial factors in human rights mobilization. They outline how a rights-based approach offers the potential of greater participation by a broader segment of community members on specific campaigns. Community engagement is also critical for implementation of laws and policies. Without community participation specific human rights gains made in the legal and policy realm may not be realized.
Business Cycles and Regime-Shift Risk

The consumption growth data strongly favor a two-regime specification. The high volatility, low growth regime is associated with deep recessions: the Great Depression, the recession of 1937-1938, the post-war recession of 1945, and the most recent financial crisis. I develop parsimonious models in which (i) consumption and dividend growth follow regime-switching dynamics, (ii) the regime characteristics are consistent with the empirical evidence from the consumption growth data, and (iii) the risks associated with regime shifts are priced in asset markets. The models explain major regime-dependent asset market phenomena. Regime-shift risk exhibits the dominant influence on asset prices: It generates a high equity premium, and also induces time-varying risk premiums and explains the return predictability.
Failure of stress and supplemental lighting to affect release of prolactin in swine.

Summary Concentrations of prolactin (PRL) were quantified in blood serum collected by cannula from prepubertal gilts and by venipuncture from young boars. Subjecting the gilts to a 1-min experimental stress, which consisted of physical restraint with a snare, did not significantly affect serum PRL. However, injection of 50 gtg thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) abruptly increased serum PRL within 5 minutes. In a second experiment with gilts, the stress of vascular cannulation did not increase serum PRL during the ensuing 4-hr period in comparison with concentrations in other gilts cannulated 90 min or 18 hr earlier. Venipuncture samples were obtained biweekly from boars exposed to natural lighting or to supplemental lighting that extended the photoperiod to 15 hr/day. Supplemental lighting did not affect serum concentrations of PRL of boars during the period from 17 to 33 weeks of age. Thus, PRL release in swine was resistant to stress and to supplemental lighting, two factors which readily cause PRL release in other species. However, the PRL response to exogenous TRlt was similar to that observed in other species.
Capuchin monkeys ( Cebus apella ) treat small and large numbers of items similarly during a relative quantity judgment task

A key issue in understanding the evolutionary and developmental emergence of numerical cognition is to learn what mechanism(s) support perception and representation of quantitative information. Two such systems have been proposed, one for dealing with approximate representation of sets of items across an extended numerical range and another for highly precise representation of only small numbers of items. Evidence for the first system is abundant across species and in many tests with human adults and children, whereas the second system is primarily evident in research with children and in some tests with non-human animals. A recent paper (Choo & Franconeri, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 93-99, 2014) with adult humans also reported "superprecise" representation of small sets of items in comparison to large sets of items, which would provide more support for the presence of a second system in human adults. We first presented capuchin monkeys with a test similar to that of Choo and Franconeri in which small or large sets with the same ratios had to be discriminated. We then presented the same monkeys with an expanded range of comparisons in the small number range (all comparisons of 1-9 items) and the large number range (all comparisons of 10-90 items in 10-item increments). Capuchin monkeys showed no increased precision for small over large sets in making these discriminations in either experiment. These data indicate a difference in the performance of monkeys to that of adult humans, and specifically that monkeys do not show improved discrimination performance for small sets relative to large sets when the relative numerical differences are held constant.
Efficient Analysis and Optimization of Reconstruction Plans for Damaged Transportation Networks Following Disasters

Planning for post-disaster reconstruction of damaged transportation networks is a complex and computationally expensive effort. Decision makers need to prioritize the use of limited resources to maximize societal benefit through accelerated traffic services restoration, which involves evaluating numerous recovery scenarios. This paper presents a new model that enables efficient analysis and optimization of the post-disaster reconstruction of transportation networks that is capable of identifying optimal reconstruction plans using reasonable computational overhead. The model employs a number of search space reduction techniques using mixed linear-integer programming and goal programming-inspired approaches in order to explore the large space of possible alternative solutions. Each of these solutions is comprised of a set of interdependent variables, including (1) contractors selection; and (2) the start dates of reconstruction projects and their constituent work packages. An application example is used to demonstrate the new model's superior computational performance compared to recent research developments.
Philanthropy and Injustice in Mill and Addams

The idea that philanthropy has promoted social justice is historically well-established. Voluntary action, however, can also be used to perpetuate injustice. In this article I analyze criticisms of...
Hypersonic Planetary Aeroassist Simulation System Validation

A Hypersonic Planetary Aeroassist Simulation System (HyperPASS) tool has been developed and validated for aeroassist and entry studies at planetary bodies in the solar system that have substantial atmospheres. HyperPASS incorporates 3-degree of freedom, point mass trajectory propagation and can also perform specific tasks such as targeted aerocapture, ballute aerocapture, orbit decay, and aerobraking maneuvers. Performance of this analysis tool has been validated for several aeroassist cases, using NASA’s Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories (POST). Comparison between HyperPASS and POST results show excellent agreement for most cases. A discussion is included that explains some of the small differences seen.
Ignorability and coarse data : some biomedical examples

Heitjan and Rubin (1991, Annals of Statistics 19, 2244-2253) define data to be "coarse" when one observes not the exact value of the data but only some set (a subset of the sample space) that contains the exact value. This definition covers a number of incomplete-data problems arising in biomedicine, including rounded, heaped, censored, and missing data. In analyzing coarse data, it is common to proceed as though the degree of coarseness is fixed in advance--in a word, to ignore the randomness in the coarsening mechanism. When coarsening is actually stochastic, however, inferences that ignore this randomness may be seriously misleading. Heitjan and Rubin (1991) have proposed a general model of data coarsening and established conditions under which it is appropriate to ignore the stochastic nature of the coarsening. The conditions are that the data be coarsened at random [a generalization of missing at random (Rubin, 1976, Biometrika 63, 581-592)] and that the parameters of the data and the coarsening process be distinct. This article presents detailed applications of the general model and the ignorability conditions to a variety of coarse-data problems arising in biomedical statistics. A reanalysis of the Stanford Heart Transplant Data (Crowley and Hu, 1977, Journal of the American Statistical Association 72, 27-36) reveals significant evidence that censoring of pretransplant survival times by transplantation was nonignorable, suggesting a greater benefit from cardiac transplantation than previous analyses had found.
Cultivating Liminal Spaces: The Spiritual Lives and Classrooms of Teachers of Students with Emotional Disturbance

AbstractWhile there is hesitancy to talk about spirituality in public education, many educators are recognizing the need for an inclusive spirituality as a resource for teachers and students. This research-based article highlights how teachers of students with emotional disturbance experience the spiritual in the school setting and how they foster spirituality in their students. The article is grounded in the theme of liminality, how participants' experiences of being "betwixt and between" in their lives and their experience on the margins of education, provides a "threshold" for spiritual awareness and transformative action in school and community.
Population Dynamics of a Parasitic Mite Demodex Caprae (Trombidiformes: Demodicidae)

Demodex caprae populations develop within papules in the skin of the dairy goat, Capra hircus. Nutting and Lebel (1969) described the sequence of events in growth and decline of these papules. Invasion of the hair follicle by one to several adult mites is followed by reproduction and harvesting of follicular epithelial cells, which undergo metaplasia. Eventually the papule ruptures; a granulomatous reaction ensues, followed by hyperkeratinization. The mites are extruded and/or phagocytosed by giant cells. Finally, a craterous scar is formed. Notable economic losses due to infestations of this mite have been reported from several African nations, where it was found to be the most common skin disease of goats: 41% incidence in one report (Bwangamoi, 1969). Except in extreme cases, infestation may go unnoticed for a long time, as papules may be hidden from sight by the host hair. We have observed cases in which a single goat had over 100 papules, with a total population of some 5 million mites!
Microbial colonization of laparoscopic gas delivery systems: a qualitative analysis.

OBJECTIVE Laparoscopic procedures utilize a pneumoperitoneum to distend and separate the abdominal wall from the intra-abdominal structures. Carbon dioxide is commonly used for this purpose, although this study is inclusive of any gas used for abdominal distention. The gas is delivered from cylinders through a gas insufflation delivery system. The purpose of this study is to determine if laparoscopic gas delivery systems composed of gas cylinders and insufflators used for laparoscopy have microbes present. METHODS Gas delivery systems were evaluated for the presence of microbial growth using standard techniques. External connection sites, gas cylinders and the internal conduit tubing of insufflators were cultured. Fifty two (52) insufflators and sixty (60) gas cylinders were evaluated. RESULTS Twelve (12) of the sixty cylinders (20%) and fifty four (54) of the sixty insufflators (92.3%) were culture positive. The organisms identified are significant and a varied spectrum. CONCLUSIONS Recognition that gas cylinders, insufflation attachments and internal components of insufflators quantitatively contain microbes is demonstrated. Reduction of microbial exposure from insufflation apparatus is achieved by cleansing external ports and use of a 0.3 micron filter for abdominal pneumoperitoneum.
Reserpine: A Survey of Its Pharmacology

Studies on the biochemical and pharmacological actions of reserpine and related agents have led to considerable expansion of our knowledge of functional mechanisms in the nervous system. Several chapters in this Handbook of Neurochemistry deal with specific areas of investigation in which studies with reserpine have been intimately involved. Such chapters include those on storage, release, and metabolism of catecholamines and serotonin; antidepressants; the biochemistry of affective disorders; Parkinsonism; and others. This discussion, accordingly, will be restricted to a brief description of the essentials of reserpine’s pharmacology. It must be stressed that references cited are often only representative of the many studies performed on certain aspects of the research described.
Modeling acoustic vector fields for inverse problems

Acoustic vector sensors that measure pressure and orthogonal particle velocity are gaining widespread interest. Predicting their performance requires calculating the pressure field and the velocity fields, which require spatial gradients of the pressure field. In typical hydrophone applications, significant computational savings are realized by using reciprocity to generate the pressure field as a function of source position rather than receive position. However, the presence of the spatial gradients in the velocity fields means that reciprocity cannot be used to model the vector field for inverse problems. Instead, the inverse vector velocity field must be computed point by point, even for the simplest environments. Examples of this effect are demonstrated by the derivation of analytic expressions for pressure and particle velocity in a Pekeris waveguide. These simple waveguide results are extended to arbitrary, range-dependent, environment parameters using a parabolic equation model.
Food insecurity is associated with unhealthy dietary practices among US veterans in California.

Objective US veterans (hereafter, ‘veterans’) are at risk for being overweight or obese and associated unhealthy behaviours, including poor diet; although limited studies have examined the underlying factors associated with such outcomes. As such, the present study evaluated the association between food insecurity and dietary practices among veterans. Design A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the California Health Interview Survey (2009, 2011/2012) was conducted. Survey weights were applied to identify univariate means, population estimates and weighted percentages. Bivariate analyses followed by survey-weighted negative binomial regression were used to model the association between food insecurity and dietary practices of fruit, vegetable, fast food and soda intakes. Setting California Health Interview Survey 2009–2011/2012. Subjects The present study included a total of 11 011 veterans from California. Results Nearly 5 % of the studied veteran population reported living in poverty with food insecurity. Compared with those at or above the poverty level and those in poverty but food secure, the mean intakes of fruits and vegetables were lower, while the mean intakes of soda and fast foods (P for trend <0·05) were higher among veterans living in poverty with food insecurity. Food insecurity was associated with 24 and 142 % higher average consumption of fast foods and soda, respectively, and 24 % lower fruit intake. Conclusions Food insecurity remains a burden among veterans and is associated with unhealthy dietary practices. Targeted interventions to improve diet quality are imperative.
The Tyrosine Kinase, Pyk2/RAFTK, Mediates LPS-Induced IL-8 and MCP-1 Expression in Human Endothelial Cells.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an essential component of the surface of Gram-negative bacteria, has been shown to induce various inflammatory cytokines, including IL-8 and MCP-1, in endothelial cells. However, the mechanism by which LPS mediates the production of these inflammatory cytokines is not well known. In the present study, we investigated the role of proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2), also known as RAFTK, in LPS-induced IL-8 and MCP-1 expression in endothelial cells. We observed the concentration-dependent and time-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of Pyk2 following LPS treatment in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). We next analyzed the site of Pyk2 phosphorylation using antibodies specific to the individual phosphorylated tyrosine residues in Pyk2: pY402 (Src binding site), pY881 (Grb2 binding site) and pY580 (autophosphorylation site). LPS stimulation significantly enhanced phosphorylation of the pY402 and pY580 residues, but not of the pY881 site. The role of Pyk2 in LPS-induced IL-8 and MCP-1 expression was further investigated using a recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) expressing kinase-defective mutant Pyk2. Endothelial cells infected with the catalytically inactive Pyk2 mutant significantly attenuated LPS-induced IL-8 and MCP-1 production in HUVEC, compared to cells infected with the control AAV vector. Treatment of endothelial cells with a specific inhibitor of Pyk2, Tyrphostin A9, also blocked the expression of IL-8 and MCP-1 in a dose-dependent manner. Both p42/p44 and p38 MAP kinase pathways have been implicated in the production of inflammatory cytokines in endothelial cells. We found that blocking of Pyk2 using Tyrphostin A9 inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 MAP kinase but merely altered the kinetics of p42/p44 MAPK phosphorylation, indicating that p38 MAP kinase is an important downstream molecule of Pyk2 in LPS-induced IL-8 production. The involvement of the p38 MAP kinase pathway was confirmed by the dose-dependent blocking of IL-8 production upon treatment with a specific inhibitor of p38 MAP kinase. In summary, our data illustrate a key role for Pyk2 in LPS-mediated signaling, resulting in IL-8 and MCP-1 secretion in human endothelial cells. These findings may have important implications for the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory disorders.
On the analytical approximation of joint aggregate queue-length distributions for traffic networks: A stationary finite capacity Markovian network approach

Abstract This paper is motivated by recent results in the design of signal plans for Manhattan that highlight the importance of providing signal control algorithms with an analytical description of between-link dependencies. This is particularly important for congested networks prone to the occurrence of spillbacks. This paper formulates a probabilistic network model that proposes an aggregate description of the queue-length, and then approximates the joint aggregate queue-length distribution of subnetworks. The goal is to model between-queue dependencies beyond first-order moments, yet to do so in a tractable manner such that these techniques can be used for optimization purposes. This paper models an urban road network as a finite space capacity Markovian queueing network. Exact evaluation of the stationary joint queue-length distribution of such a network with arbitrary size and topology can be obtained numerically. Nonetheless, the main challenge to such an approach remains the dimensionality of the network state space, which is exponential in the number of queues. This paper proposes to address the dimensionality issue by: 1) describing the state of the network aggregately, and 2) decomposing the network into overlapping subnetworks. We propose an analytical approximation of the stationary aggregate joint queue-length distribution of a subnetwork. The model consists of a system of nonlinear equations with a dimension that is linear, instead of exponential, in the number of queues and that is independent of the space capacity of the individual queues. The method is derived for tandem Markovian finite capacity queueing networks. The proposed model is computationally tractable and scalable, it can be efficiently used for the higher-order distributional analysis of large-scale networks. The model is validated versus simulation estimates and versus other decomposition methods. We then use it to address an urban traffic control problem. We show the added value of accounting for higher-order spatial between-queue dependency information in the control of congested urban networks.
Testing multi-agent autonomy in complex communications environments

Advanced approaches to intelligent, real-time decision making are difficult to test for multi-agent systems. Specifically, the expense and logistics of fielding multiple unmanned underwater vehicles in an open ocean environment are significant challenges in marine autonomy. Traditionally, algorithms may be developed and tested under ideal conditions with tools that do not accurately reflect real-time performance (e:g: MATLAB). Effort is then required to integrate these algorithms onto the hardware platforms intended for in-water experimentation, so that they may be validated in a realistic setting. A simulation platform that enables the execution of complex algorithms using realistic sensor models while minimizing integration efforts enhances the ability to more productively prototype autonomy. This work highlights developments for a real-time autonomy simulator based on the common marine autonomy architecture, MOOS (Mission-Oriented Operating Suite), and DRI (Distributed Resource Integration), named DRI-MOOS. This unique pairing of software solutions minimizes that hardware integration requirement and expands the potential use cases for testing real-time vehicle performance and in situ decision making. This work presents example applications that use this simulator to demonstrate the impact of real-time sensor simulation for such a purpose.
Políticas de la vergüenza y la exclusión: el sujeto mestizo en Parias zugun de Adriana Pinda

espanolEn el presente articulo se abordan las estrategias politicas que Adriana Pinda desenvuelve en su libro Parias zugun, para posicionar una comunidad de resistencia al pacto historico implicito entre los poderes patriarcales-indigenas y patriarcales-colonialistas. Esta comunidad se forma fundamentalmente a partir de un heterogeneo "matrilinaje" en el cual la resignificacion historica de la figura de la Malinche es fundamental. De este modo, es significativa, para este estudio, la construccion politica tanto de la condicion mestiza y paria, como de la verguenza y la exclusion que manifiesta y legitima la sujeto de los poemas. EnglishIn this article the political strategies that Adriana Pinda performs in his book Parias zugun are considered in order to situate a community's resistance to the implicit historic pact between the patriarchal-indigenous and the patriarchal-colonialist powers. This community is formed mainly from a heterogeneous "matrilineality" where the historical resignification of the Malinche figure is essential. Thus, for this study, it is relevant the political construction of both the crossbred and pariah conditions as well as the shame and exclusion that manifest and legitimate the subject of these poems.
Attitudes Toward Spanish and Code-Switching in Belize: Stigmatization and Innovation in the Spanish Classroom

ABSTRACTThrough the analysis of survey and interview data, we investigated the attitudes and perceptions of 32 multilingual teachers of Spanish in Belize, a code-switching (CS) context where Spanish is in intense contact with English and Belizean Kriol. More specifically, we examined teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward Spanish and CS and teachers’ perceptions vis-a-vis students’ attitudes toward Spanish instruction. The study revealed that whereas some teachers held negative views of Northern Belizean Spanish, they did not markedly perceive standard Spanish as “better” than the local variety of Belizean Spanish. The analysis also showed that most teachers had a positive predisposition to the use of CS as a pedagogical tool in their classrooms, a finding that suggests that ultra-normative attitudes toward Spanish varieties are not prevalent among these educators. In view of students’ attitudes, teachers concurred that students had overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward standard Spanish, in line with...
Treatment With Fecal Microbiota Transplantation: The Need for Complete Methodological Reporting for Clinical Trials.

The editorialist discusses Bafeta and colleagues' systematic review, which examined the methods described in 85 studies of fecal microbiota transplantation.
Study Skills and Test Taking Strategies for Coaching Medical Learners Based on Identified Areas of Struggle

Introduction Learners in high-performing contexts such as medical school and residency are presumed to have appropriate study skills to be successful. However, for those learners in academic diffic...
Ironing Out Genes in the Environment: An Experimental Study of the DNA–Goethite Interface

DNA fate in soil plays an important role in the cycling of genetic information in the environment. Adsorption onto mineral surfaces has great impact on this function. This study probes the kinetics, equilibrium behavior and bonding mechanisms associated with adsorption of DNA onto goethite, a common soil mineral. Surface sensitive ATR-FTIR and XPS approaches are applied to directly characterize the DNA–goethite interface. Adsorption kinetics follow a pseudo-first-order model, suggesting adsorption rate is surface limited. Adsorption rate constants increase with DNA concentration, ranging from 3.29 × 10–3 to 3.55 × 10–1 min–1. Equilibrium adsorption, as monitored by ATR-FTIR and XPS, follows the Langmuir model, with a high affinity of DNA for goethite observed (K = 1.25 × 103 and 9.48 × 102 mL/mg for ATR-FTIR and XPS, respectively). ATR-FTIR and XPS characterization of the structure of surface adsorbed DNA demonstrates inner-sphere coordination between backbone phosphate groups of DNA and goethite. Further...
Describing the dynamics, distributions, and multiscale relationships in the time evolution of residential building energy consumption

Abstract Residential buildings may be described as complex social-technological systems expressing component interdependence and chaotic temporal variability. As such, we characterized the dynamics and multiscale relationships of hourly electricity consumption data for 13 occupied Florida houses from calendar year 2013. Statistical approaches included: (1) exploratory data analyses with distribution-based descriptive statistics; (2) normality testing; (3) spectral and monofractal analyses; (4) multifractal detrended fluctuation analyses (MFDFA) with surrogate testing; and (5) Ward’s minimum variance method for hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Results suggested the energy-use patterns were non-normal, nonlinear, and exhibited predominantly anti-persistent fractal complexities. Thus, classical descriptive statistics presuming Gaussian probability density function (PDF) distributions neither well fit, nor well described, the data and their interdependent characteristics. Notably, clusters of comparable houses were categorically and statistically different when using descriptors based on normality (e.g., mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis) versus those based on fractality (e.g., Hurst exponent, multifractal spectrum width). We believe MFDFA statistical outputs may serve as novel indicators of residential building dynamics as they better characterize the complex, nonlinear asset and occupancy interactions and they require no assumptions regarding the PDF distribution shape. We offer guidance on the data management, transformation, parameterization, and interpretation processes necessary to apply MFDFA to whole-house, short-interval, electricity consumption time series data. Multifractal quantification of building performance time series data may be useful on multiple fronts: (1) detecting under-performing households; (2) improving segmentation, targeting, and pre/post analyses of energy efficiency interventions; (3) diagnosing building system failure risks; and (4) improving smart grid supply and load balancing.
Effects of leucine metabolism on T cell activation: a potential target for nutritional immunotherapy (IRC8P.439)

T cells are essential for cell-mediated defense against pathogens and cancer. Recent advances in understanding T cell regulation reveal that cell metabolism can greatly impact the final outcome of the immune response. A primary regulator of cell growth and proliferation, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), is critical for T cell activation and differentiation. Leucine is a nutritional activator of mTOR and its intracellular concentrations are regulated by the branched chain aminotransferase (BCAT) isoenzymes, cytosolic BCATc and mitochondrial BCATm. We showed recently that activated CD4 + T cells, lacking cytosolic leucine transamination (BCATc KO), had up-regulated mTOR signaling and glycolysis. To explore further the role of BCATc in T cell activation, we measured INFƴ production and proliferation in T cells from BCATc KO and wildtype mice. Loss of BCATc increased INFƴ by 2.8-fold in activated T cells but did not impact T cell proliferation. Knocking out the mitochondrial BCATm had a robust effect on T cell glycolytic rate (3.1-fold increase) upon activation but only mild effects on mTOR and INFƴ. The results suggest that loss of either enzyme is sufficient to increase T cell glycolysis and mTOR signaling but not T cell proliferation. Thus, BCATc and BCATm are critical players in T cell activation by providing negative feedback regulation of mTOR and glycolysis. Manipulating leucine metabolism may be one mechanism to modulate activation and differentiation of T cells.
Three-Year Retention in Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Among Privately Insured Adults

Objective:This study examined factors related to retention in buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) among privately insured patients.Methods:Patients with OUD who were newly started...
Adhesion of human myeloma-derived cell lines to bone marrow stromal cells stimulates interleukin-6 secretion

Previous studies show that human myeloma-derived cell lines specifically adhere to fibronectin (FN) through very late antigen-4 (VLA-4; alpha 4 beta 1 integrin complex) and RGD-peptide mechanisms, which may contribute to the localization of tumor cells in bone marrow (BM). In these studies, we characterized the adhesion of myeloma-derived cell lines to both normal and myeloma BM stromal cells (BMSCs) and the effect of adhesion on DNA synthesis. Because interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma, we also examined the effects of tumor cell adhesion on IL-6 secretion by BMSCs. In 51chromium binding assays, the U266, ARH-77, and IM-9 cell lines showed 52% +/- 12%, 55% +/- 6%, and 47% +/- 7% specific adherence, respectively, to normal BMSCs and 74% +/- 4%, 60% +/- 3%, and 61% +/- 6% specific adherence, respectively, to myeloma BMSCs. In contrast, only 12% to 13% specific binding of HS-Sultan cells to BMSCs was noted. The binding of myeloma cells to BMSCs was partially blocked with anti-beta 1 monoclonal antibody (MoAb), anti-beta 2 integrin MoAb, and excess RGD peptide, suggesting multiple mechanisms for the adhesion of myeloma cell lines to BMSCs. Binding of cell lines to FN or myeloma BMSCs did not affect cell line proliferation; however, adhesion of myeloma cell lines to normal BMSCs decreased DNA synthesis, ie, stimulation indices are 0.1 +/- 0.04, 0.2 +/- 0.1, 0.2 +/- 0.07, and 0.1 +/- 0.06 for the adherent non-IL-6-dependent U266, ARH-77, HS-Sultan, and IM-9 cells, respectively (n = 5, P or = 12 hours) normal and myeloma BMSC cultures. Paraformaldehyde fixation of BMSCs before adhesion completely abrogated IL-6 secretion, suggesting that IL-6 secretion was triggered in BMSCs rather than in cell lines. Partial blocking of cell line adhesion to BMSCs, using anti-beta 1 integrin and anti-beta 2 integrin MoAbs and RGD peptide, also partially blocked the triggering of IL-6 secretion by BMSCs. When cell lines were placed in Transwell inserts and then cultured with either normal or myeloma BMSCs, permitting juxtaposition without cell to cell contact between myeloma cell lines and BMSCs, no increase in IL-6 secretion was observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Factors for Calculating Prediction Intervals for Samples from a One-Parameter Exponential Distribution

Factors are provided for one-sided upper or lower, and two-sided prediction intervals for samples from a one-parameter exponential distribution. Some discussion regarding approximating these factors by f percentiles with non- integer numerator degrees o..
Repeated suicide attempts.

Attempted suicide is an act associated with childhood sexual abuse, depression, bipolar illness, substance abuse, and other diagnoses, as documented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). Three women, who attended a group to decrease their depression and increase their self-esteem and who had histories of multiple suicide attempts, agreed to participate in interviews designed to determine the common factors associated with their suicide attempts and to examine the assertion that their suicide attempts were an addiction, similar to their addictions to alcohol and drugs. The common factors found were depression, substance use disorders with early abuse and risky behaviors, history of sexual abuse, faulty relationships, alteration of mood with a suicide plan, and distorted and illogical thinking and motivation. The similarities to addiction also were described. Based on the complexity of factors that emerged and the addictive nature of the suicide attempts, treatment for similar patients needs to be multidimensional and ongoing to allow sufficient time to monitor progress and address the numerous factors involved. Language: en
CONVECTIVE-DIFFUSIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN TUBES: ROLE OF THE HYDRODYNAMICS OF FLOW ON THE FEASIBILITY DOMAIN OF THE ASYMPTOTIC TEMPERATURE PROFILES

Abstract In this contribution, an assessment of the role of the hydrodynamics of flow on the asymptotic solutions used to describe convective-diffusive heat transfer in packed-bed and capillary tubes of cylindrical geometry is reported. Such asymptotic solutions are intrinsically dependent from the type of hydrodynamics present in the tubes. They describe the temperature profiles for heat transfer problems found in packed-bed and capillary systems with axial convective and radial diffusive transport and having a constant heat flux at the outer tube wall. The role of the hydrodynamics of the flow on the asymptotic temperature profiles and their feasibility region of validity for both the packed-bed and capillary tube cases were assessed and feasibility ranges identified. A brief comparison of the predictions for the two cases analyzed is also included. The analysis of the impact of the hydrodynamics on the ranges of validity for the asymptotic temperature profiles seems to be first one available.
Cognitive and Emotional Responses of Women on Sexual Appeal Advertising

Sexual appeals remain an extremely famous advertising technique yet questions with respect to the utilization remain. Sex in advertising can be gathered into nudity or dress, sexual conduct, physical appeal, sexual embeds as well as sexual referents. Women tend to be valued by what they look like. To discover whether if sex appeal ads to be effective for a woman, it is essential to consider and value the subjective and passionate process which recognized in this paper in spite of the fact that they are in no means, shape or form comprehensive.
Integration of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Information into a Defect-Review SEM Platform and Design Based Automatic Defect Classification : DI: Defect Inspection and Reduction

Defect metrology for advanced FinFET devices faces a variety of challenges in terms of accurate classification of Defect Review Scanning Electron Microscopy (DR-SEM) images. As the Defect of Interest (DOI) size shrinks in proportion to the printed feature dimension, it is critical that these platforms adjust to continue to provide the best possible defect classification. This can be achieved most efficiently by introducing Computer-Aided Design (CAD) information into these platforms. In order to improve imaging of defects in DR-SEM, CAD data is used to enhance the alignment step, providing more accurate navigation to defects and allowing the magnification to scale according to the smaller defect size. We present a streamlined method to introduce this CAD based alignment step into the existing recipe management system on the DR-SEM platform. While decreasing image FOV is beneficial, the introduction of CAD information into Automatic Defect Classification (ADC) can provide valuable information on the defect’s location. Design Based ADC (DBA) achieves this by providing the means to differentiate the defect’s impact on device performance based on CAD data such as mask or process step. We present two case studies of DBA on multi- patterning and epi layers in the sub-1x FinFET process.
Sedation strategies in children with pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS)

In this review, we discuss the changing landscape of sedation in mechanically ventilated children with pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS). While previous approaches advocated for early and deep sedation with benzodiazepines, emerging literature has highlighted the benefits of light sedation and use of non-benzodiazepine sedating agents, such as dexmedetomidine. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of monitoring multiple factors including, but not limited to, sedation depth, analgesia efficacy, opiate withdrawal, and development of delirium. Through this approach, we hope to improve PARDS outcomes. Overall, more research is needed to further our understanding of the best sedation strategies in children with PARDS.
Cranial MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound: Clinical Challenges and Future Directions

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound is a powerful new technology that is enabling development of noninvasive applications for complex brain disorders. This is currently revolutionizing the treatment of tremor disorders, and a variety of experimental applications are under active investigation. To fully realize the potential of this disruptive technology, many challenges have been identified, some of which have been addressed and others remain to be solved. As an image-based technology, optimal intraoperative imaging can be difficult to achieve and several factors can influence the quality of these images. Technical issues with current devices can also limit the effective delivery of ultrasound technology to particular targets. While lesioning is the primary approved application of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound at present, the ability to transient and precisely open the blood-brain barrier has the potential to clear brain pathologies and deliver restorative therapies, but this more experimental method presents unique difficulties to overcome. Finally, regulatory and reimbursement hurdles currently remain complex and continue to limit widespread application of even approved, effective applications. Here we review many of these challenges, discuss several solutions that have already been developed, and propose potential options for addressing some of these complexities in the future.
Serving with a Smile on Airbnb: Analyzing the Economic Returns and Behavioral Underpinnings of the Host’s Smile

Non-informational cues, such as facial expressions, can significantly influence judgments and interpersonal impressions. Past research has explored how smiling affects business outcomes in offline or in-store contexts, yet relatively little is known about how smiling influences consumer choice in e-commerce settings. This paper explores the effect of smiling in the growing sharing economy context, specifically examining how a smile in an Airbnb host’s profile photo affects property demand. The study uses a facial attribute classifier to determine whether the host is smiling in their profile picture or not, and estimate the influence of a host smile in a longitudinal dataset of Airbnb bookings, controlling for a rich set of variables such as reviews, property characteristics, and the host’s age and gender. A smile in the host’s profile photo increases property demand by 1.9% on average. Further, gender moderates this effect, with smiling increasing demand for male hosts by 6.8%, compared to an insignificant increase for female hosts. An online experiment confirms this pattern, and explores the underlying mechanism. In particular, a moderated mediation analysis shows that smiling increases perceptions of the host’s warmth—to a greater extent for male than female hosts—which increases the likelihood of booking their property.