cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MetaMerge: scaling up genome-scale metabolic reconstructions with application to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Reconstructed models of metabolic networks are widely used for studying metabolism in various organisms. Many different reconstructions of the same organism often exist concurrently, forcing researchers to choose one of them at the exclusion of the others. We describe MetaMerge, an algorithm for semi-automatically reconciling a pair of existing metabolic network reconstructions into a single metabolic network model. We use MetaMerge to combine two published metabolic networks for Mycobacterium tuberculosis into a single network, which allows many reactions that could not be active in the individual models to become active, and predicts essential genes with a higher positive predictive value.
Commentary: Dysphagia after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

Commentary on Kepler CK, Rihn JA, Bennett JD, et al. Dysphagia and soft-tissue swelling after anterior cervical surgery: a radiographic analysis. Spine J 2012;12:639–44 ( in this issue )
Predicting Area-Time Tradeoffs for Pipelined Design

In this paper we give a model for predicting the shape of cost-speed tradeoff curves for pipelined designs. The model includes prediction of the number of operators, registers and multiplexers from a behavioral specification. It has been verified with the designs generated by an automated pipeline synthesis program, Sehwa. This model was developed as a part of the ADAM Advanced Design Automation System of the University of Southern California.
Calibration Of UV Imagers

Digital photometry of point-like images has been developed for the calibration of image systems sensitive to the UV and visible wavelengths and which use RS170 video. The photometry algorithm integrates the total net brightness signal over the area of the image. A threshold is determined based on the noise statistics in the image in order to separate signal from a noisy background. The response of this algorithm is linear with respect to brightness over a dynamic range of at least 3000 to 1.
Mortality, Fatality, and Morbidity (Proper Use of Terms)

The interesting article by Alden et al. in the July 1972 issue of Pediatrics is a too common example of the incorrect use of the word mortality where fatality is intended. Mortality represents the number of deaths per unit of population (100,000 now generally used and indicated) which population consists of the sick and the well, thus: mortality = deaths (for a given illness)/unit of population (100,000 sick and well) Fatality is based on the number of deaths per 100 cases of a given disease:
Modular algorithms for biomolecular network alignment

Comparative analyses of biomolecular networks constructed using measurements from different conditions, tissues, and organisms offer a powerful approach to understanding the structure, function, dynamics, and evolution of complex biological systems. The rapidly advancing field of systems biology aims to understand the structure, function, dynamics, and evolution of complex biological systems in terms of the underlying networks of interactions among the large number of molecular participants involved including genes, proteins, and metabolites. In particular, the comparative analysis of network models representing biomolecular interactions in different species or tissues offers a powerful means of identifying conserved modules, predicting functions of specific genes or proteins and studying the evolution of biological processes, among other applications. The primary focus of this dissertation is on the biomolecular network alignment problem: Given two or more networks, the problem is to optimally match the nodes and links in one network with the nodes and links of the other. We describe a suite of modular, extensible, and efficient algorithms for aligning biomolecular network models including: (1) undirected graphs in their weighted and unweighted variations (2) undirected graphs in their labeled and unlabeled variants. The resulting algorithms have been implemented as part of the Biomolecular Network Alignment (BiNA) Toolkit, an open source, user-friendly suite of software for comparative analysis of networks. Our experiments show that BiNA is (i) competitive with the state-of-the-art network alignment tools with respect to the quality of alignments (based on a variety of performance measures) and (ii) able to align large networks ranging in size from a few hundreds of nodes and a few thousand edges to tens of thousands of nodes with millions of edges. We describe several applications of BiNA including (1) construction of phylogenetic trees based on protein-protein interaction networks, and (2) identification of biochemical pathways involved in ligand recognition in B cells by aligning gene co-expression networks constructed from mRNA profiles of B cells exposed to different ligands.
A 16-Year Examination of Domestic Violence Among Asians and Asian Americans in the Empirical Knowledge Base: A Content Analysis

Until recently, research studies have implied that domestic violence does not affect Asian American and immigrant communities, or even Asians abroad, because ethnicity or culture has not been addressed. In this content analysis, the authors examined trends in publications in leading scholarly journals on violence relating to Asian women and domestic violence. A coding schema was developed, with two raters coding the data with high interrater reliability. Sixty articles were published over the 16 years studied, most atheoretical and focusing on individual levels of analysis. The terms used in discussing domestic violence reflected a feminist perspective. Three quarters of the studies were empirical, with most guided by logical positivism using quantitative designs. Most targeted specific Asian subgroups (almost a third focused on Asian Indians) rather than categorizing Asians as a general ethnic category. The concept of "Asian culture" was most often assessed by discussing Asian family structure. Future research is discussed in light of the findings.
On multiple moving objects

This paper explores the motion planning problem for multiple moving objects. The approach taken consists of assigning priorities to the objects, then planning motions one object at a time. For each moving object, the planner constructs a configuration space-time that represents the time-varying constraints imposed on the moving object by the other moving and stationary objects. The planner represents this space-time approximately, using two-dimensional slices. The space-time is then searched for a collision-free path. The paper demonstrates this approach in two domains. One domain consists of translating planar objects; the other domain consists of two-link planar articulated arms.
Assessing Dialogic Argumentation in Online Environments to Relate Structure, Grounds, and Conceptual Quality

The national science standards, along with prominent researchers, call for increased focus on scientific argumentation in the classroom. Over the past decade, researchers have developed sophisticated online science learning environments to support these opportunities for scientific argumentation. Assessing the quality of dialogic argumentation, however, has proven challenging. Existing analytic frameworks assess dialogic argumentation in terms of the nature of students' discourse, formal argumentation structure, interactions, and epistemic forms of reasoning. Few frameworks, however, connect these assessments to conceptual quality. We present an analytic framework for assessing argumentation in online science learning environments that relates levels of opposition with discourse moves, use of grounds, and conceptual quality. We then apply the proposed framework to students' dialogic argumentation within a representative online science learning environment to investigate the framework's potential affordances as well as to assess issues of reliability and appropriateness. The results suggest that the framework offers significant affordances and that it also offers high interrater reliability for trained coders. The applicability of the framework for offline contexts and future extensions of the framework are discussed in light of these results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 293–321, 2008
An active camera system for acquiring multi-view video

A system is described for acquiring multi-view video of a person moving through the environment. A real-time tracking algorithm adjusts the pan, tilt, zoom and focus parameters of multiple active cameras to keep the moving person centered in each view. The output of the system is a set of synchronized, time-stamped video streams, showing the person simultaneously from several viewpoints.
Para uma leitura pós-colonial de António Aurélio Gonçalves: o potencial subversivo da imitação em Pródiga e Virgens loucas

Apesar de ser geralmente reconhecido como um dos mais talentosos escritores cabo-verdianos do seculo vinte, Antonio Aurelio Goncalves tem recebido pouca atencao da critica literaria, que o considera mais universal do que propriamente cabo-verdianos. Este ensaio propoe uma leitura pos-colonial de duas noveletas de Goncalves, Prodiga e Virgens loucas, ambas as quais sao baseadas em parabolas biblicas. Uma analise destas duas obras a partir do conceito da imitacao de Homi Bhabha e do estudo de Linda Hutcheon sobre a parodia revela a sua natureza subversiva e p
New insights into NLPHL transformation.

In this issue of Blood, Kenderian et al report a lower rate of transformation (7.6%) to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) for patients with nodular lymphocyte–predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) compared with other series and the lack of negative impact on overall survival (OS) (see figure).1
Non-infectious Pulmonary Diseases and HIV

Pulmonary complications remain among the most frequent causes of morbidity and mortality for individuals with HIV despite the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and improvement in its efficacy and availability. The prevalence of non-infectious pulmonary diseases is rising in this population, reflecting both an increase in smoking and the independent risk associated with HIV. The unique mechanisms of pulmonary disease in these patients remain poorly understood, and direct effects of HIV, genetic predisposition, inflammatory pathways, and co-infections have all been implicated. Lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pulmonary hypertension are the most prevalent non-infectious pulmonary diseases in persons with HIV, and the risk of each of these diseases is higher among HIV-infected (HIV+) persons than in the general population. This review discusses the latest advances in the literature on these important complications of HIV infection.
Abstract 88: AMP-activated Protein Kinase Signaling Mediates the Cardioprotective effect of Antithrombin against Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury

Background: Antithrombin (AT) is an endogenous protein of the serpin superfamily involved in regulation of the proteolytic activity of the serine proteases of the coagulation system. AT is known to exhibit anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective properties when it binds to distinct heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) on vascular endothelial cells. The energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) plays an important cardioprotective role during myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). The objective of this study was to investigate whether the cardioprotective signaling function of AT against I/R injury is mediated through the AMPK pathway. Methods and Results: The cardioprotective activities of wild-type (WT) AT and its two recombinant derivatives, one having high affinity and the other no affinity for heparin, were evaluated in an acute I/R (20 min/4 h) injury model in which the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was occluded. The serpin derivatives were given 5 min before reperfusion. ...
Transcatheter Embolization of Large Idiopathic Renal Arteriovenous Fistula

AbstractRenal arteriovenous fistulas are unusual lesions with a variety of clinical manifestations. Congenital and acquired forms have been treated successfully with transcatheter embolization for 2 decades. In the case of large aneurysmal lesions the risk of inadvertent pulmonary embolism has traditionally precluded this approach and necessitated open surgery. However, with refinements in angiographic equipment and technique, such an approach is now feasible and desirable.
1 H NMR-Based Metabolomics Methods for Chemical Genomics Experiments

Metabolomics and chemical genomics studies can each provide unique insights into plant biology. Although a variety of analytical techniques can be used for the interrogation of plant systems, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides unbiased characterization of abundant metabolites. An example methodology is provided for probing the metabolism of Arabidopsis thaliana in a chemical genomics experiment including methods for tissue treatment, tissue collection, metabolite extraction, and methods to minimize variance in biological and technical sample replicates. Additionally, considerations and methods for data analysis, including multivariate statistics, univariate statistics, and data interpretation are included. The process is illustrated by examining the metabolic effects of chemical treatment of Arabidopsis with Sortin 1, also known as vacuolar protein sorting inhibitor 1. Sortin 1 was applied to Arabidopsis seedlings to examine metabolic effects in a chemical genomics experiment and to demonstrate the utility of metabolomics in conjunction with other "omics" techniques.
Vector-Valued Polynomial and Spline Approximation

Blended interpolation of vector-valued functions is discussed relative to their applications in the construction of finite elements, mesh generation and table look-up of thermodynamic properties of a gas or liquid. The invertibi1ity of two isoparametric transformations is investigated.
The Electoral Politics of Subsidized Medical Technology

Technological advance has been a primary driver of healthcare expenditures in the twentieth century and continues to be so. This paper models the electoral politics of government support for R&D. A forward-looking median voter has to take account of a wide variety of interdependencies even in a relatively lean model of voter interests and electoral politics to cast informed votes. Our analysis implies that electoral support for subsidizing healthcare R&D is likely to exist in both private and public healthcare systems. Healthcare technology is not an exogenous variable as is usually assumed. In a complete model of healthcare systems, investments in healthcare R&D are determined by many of the same considerations that determines national healthcare policies
Impact of Simulated Twenty-First-Century Changes in Extratropical Cyclones on Coastal Flooding at the Battery, New York City

AbstractThis paper explores simulated changes to the cool-season (November–March) storm-surge and coastal-flooding events at the Battery in New York City, New York (NYC), during most of the twenty-first century using several climate models and a previously developed multilinear regression model. The surface wind and pressure forcing for the surge predictions are obtained from an ensemble of 6 coupled global climate models (GCM) and 30 members from the Community Earth System Model. Using the “RCP8.5” emission scenario, both the single-model and multimodel ensemble means yielded insignificant (significance level p > 0.05) simulated changes to the median surge event (>0.61 m above astronomical tide) between a historical period (1979–2004) and the mid-to-late twenty-first century (2054–79). There is also little change in the return interval for the moderate-to-high surge events. By the mid-to-late twenty-first century, there is a poleward shift of the mean surface cyclone track in many of the models and most ...
Experience and Temporality: Toward a New Paradigm of Critical Theory

This chapter develops a vision of critical theory as being engaged more concretely with forms of dissatisfaction arising directly from key facts about contemporary society. In particular, the author is interested in two fundamental kinds of dissatisfaction: (a) a loss of meaning due to the progressive evisceration of the past, and of tradition, as sources of orientation, and (b) an enhanced sense of transience as time is increasingly homogenized and made calculable independently of lifeworldly and narratively structured contexts of temporal awareness. The chapter starts by identifying some of the negative consequences for a critical theory of society seeking to identify and critique social pathology that arise as a result of Habermas’s turn from experience (which used to be the leitmotif of Adorno’s work) to validity. It then turns to the question of modernization, arguing for the centrality of the category of time. The chapter finishes by drawing up a research program based on a renewed conception of critical theory.
Sustained Reduction in HIV Diagnoses in Massachusetts, 2000-2014.

Objectives. To describe secular trends in reported HIV diagnoses in Massachusetts concurrent with treatment access expansion.Methods. We characterized cases of HIV infection reported to the Massachusetts HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program between 2000 and 2014 by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and exposure mode. We used Poisson regression to test the statistical significance of trends in diagnoses.Results. Between 2000 and 2014, annual new HIV infections diagnosed in Massachusetts decreased by 47% (P < .001 for trend). We observed significant reductions in diagnoses among women (58% when comparing 2000 with 2014), men (42%), Whites (54%), Blacks (51%), and Hispanics (35%; P < .001 for trend). New diagnoses decreased significantly among men who have sex with men (19%), persons who inject drugs (91%), and heterosexuals (86%; P < .001 for trend). We saw statistically significant downward trends among all men by race/ethnicity, but the trend among Black men who have sex with men was nonsignificant.Conclusions. Sustaine...
Nonhuman Primate Retrovirus Isolates and AIDS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the virologic, immunologic, and epidemiologic aspects of immunosuppressive disease caused by type D retroviruses (SRV-1, SRV-2, MPMV) and by lentiviruses (SIV) in nonhuman primates. Insofar as AIDS is a human retroviral disease caused by HIV and the chimpanzee is still the only nonhuman species known to be susceptible to experimental infection with this virus, both of these other nonhuman primate models will be of great benefit, although they present a few limitations. HIV-2 appears to cause persistent infection in some macaques without inducing disease. This model may, therefore, help reduce the need for chimpanzees of African origin. Because SIV causes a persistent infection and fatal AIDS-like disease in Asian macaques, this system constitutes the most directly relevant animal model for human AIDS. Critical questions on retrovirus-induced immunopathology that can be assessed in these animal models which cannot be tested as directly for HIV include the role of cofactors for infection and disease, the viral determinants of pathogenesis, the significance of envelope gene variation, and the potential for protective immunization, both pre- and postexposure. Analyses of the effects of a variety of retroviruses in primates and nonhuman primates reveal the complexity of immunosuppression and prefigure a diversity of pathogenic mechanisms. New concepts learned in these systems will have fundamental implications on the understanding of viruses, the immune system, and regulation of gene expression, and may lead to the development of procedures to prevent or limit immunologic abnormalities caused by these viruses.
Developing an Adaptive Mobile Platform in Family Medicine Field Experiences: User Perceptions

EASEL (education through application-supported experiential learning) is a platform designed to provide just-in-time content and reflection opportunities to students during field experiences, such as interviews or field labs, conducted as part of the workload in a course. This study was conducted in area of family medicine education at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. EASEL allows instructors and students flexibility to engage with course content based on the time of day and the location of each student conducting field work by providing access to questions and content before, during, and after a targeted field experience. In this study, three cohorts of family medicine students (N = 20) interviewed either a health care professional or a patient. Students used EASEL to facilitate and support their experience in the field. This study examined the student perceptions of EASEL. The data indicated instructive information on the usability of the EASEL platform and aided developers in considering future technologies to use as a part of the platform.
Dynamical Roles of Jacobian Feedback Loops and Qualitative Modeling

The chapter presents a mathematical methodology applicable to qualitative modeling of systems using the feedback loops encoded in the Jacobian matrix and described by the products of the Jacobian entries under cyclic permutations of the indices. The relation between these feedback loops and the Jacobian spectrum defines their dynamical properties. We determine the conditions of nondegeneracy and appearance of multiple equilibria in terms of feedback loops as well as the conditions of loop stability to induce the stability analysis of the systems. In particular we emphasize the applications to qualitative modeling in biological and biochemical sciences, economics. We present a complete loop analysis of the celebrated Lorenz and Rossler systems predicting their global dynamics.The methodology is proved efficient to assert the possibility of multistationarity, periodicity, self-sustained oscillations, and chaos using strictly the qualitative relations and assumptions of the systems, to achieve primarily qualitative understanding rather than quantitative numerical prediction. We also show the Jacobian loops technique is easy to implement and could quickly demarcate both parameter and phase spaces into exciting regions (limit cycle, multiple equilibria, chaotic behavior), non-exciting ones (single stable fixed points), hard-instance regions (ergodic behavior). Therefore as such the technique could be useful in surveying dynamical responses of models simulating physico-chemical, biological, biochemical, economical systems and game theory.
Sources of Power Consumption

The design of portable devices certainly requires consideration of the peak power consumption for reliability and proper circuit operation, but more critical is the time averaged power consumption which is directly proportional to the battery weight and volume required to operate circuits for a given amount of time. In fact, the approaches which will be presented to minimize the average power consumption will also reduce the peak power consumption and improve reliability.
Attitudes of young adults about breastfeeding and the association of breastfeeding exposure

iii CHAPTER 1 WHY BREASTFEEDING 1 Rationale for the Study 1 Definition of Terms 2 Conceptual Framework 3 Problem Being Addressed and Research Questions 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 Introduction 6 Benefits and Support of Breastfeeding 6 Historical Overview 8 Current Literature about Breastfeeding Support 12 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Design 22 Research Population 23 Variables 23 Instrumentation 24 Data Collection 29 Data Analysis 30 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY 31 Sample Population 31 First Hypothesis 31 Second Hypothesis 33 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 35 Limitations of the Study 35 Conclusions 35 Implications 39 Summary 43 APPENDIX A THE TEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL BREASTFEEDING 51 APPENDIX B BACKGROUND INFORMATION 52 APPENDIX C IOWA INFANT FEEDING ATTITUDE SCALE 53 APPENDIX D IRB EXEMPT REVIEW 54 REFERENCES 55
Help-Seeking Behaviors and Intimate Partner Violence-Related Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognized as a health concern needing more attention from researchers and practitioners. This study ex...
ADP-based Home Energy Management System: A Case Study using DYNAMO

This paper explores Home Energy Management System (HEMS) algorithms to minimize household cost while maintaining comfort when faced with uncertain weather, and demand. Specifically, we consider a HEMS that optimizes forward looking schedules for a home’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); water heater (WH); and electric vehicle (EV) charging while considering uncertainty in outside temperature, hot water usage, and non-controllable load (NCL). We adopt a Dynamic Programming (DP) formulation and utilize the Dynamic programming for Adaptive Modeling and Optimization (DYNAMO) toolkit to implement DP and approximate dynamic programming (ADP) algorithms. Simulation results under a single tariff plan compare the quality of the solution generated by ADP to that of DP, and show significant improvement in computation time while maintaining acceptable solution accuracy.
Sums of Consecutive Positive Integers.

WHAT is mathematics? For many secondary school pupils, it is solving equa tions, evaluating determinants, using syn thetic division, or finding a derivative. All too frequently what the student does is more closely related to bookkeeping than to real mathematics. Perhaps this is why we have so many prospective mathe matics majors at the university level who breeze through calculus but who never seem able to cope with "abstract mathe matics." Their manipulative skills are adequate, but their ability to think has never been developed. To the mathematician, a substantial part of mathematics is creating more mathematics. It is making conjectures, constructing counterexamples, and writing proofs. It is exploration and discovery of the highest order, complete with exhilara tion and frustration.
Copper-Catalyzed Trifluoromethylation of Alkyl Bromides

Copper oxidative addition into organohalides is a challenging two-electron process. In contrast, formal oxidative addition of copper to Csp2 carbon–bromine bonds can be accomplished by employing latent silyl radicals under photoredox conditions. This novel paradigm for copper oxidative addition has now been applied to a Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling of Csp3-bromides. Specifically, a copper/photoredox dual catalytic system for the coupling of alkyl bromides with trifluoromethyl groups is presented. This operationally simple and robust protocol successfully converts a variety of alkyl, allyl, benzyl, and heterobenzyl bromides into the corresponding alkyl trifluoromethanes.
AsterixDB Mid-Flight: A Case Study in Building Systems in Academia

Building large software systems is always a challenging venture, but it is especially so in academia. This paper describes the experiences that the author and his (mostly UC-based) partners in software crime have had that culminated in the Big Data Management System now available as Apache AsterixDB. It covers a mix of the history and technical content of the nearly ten-year-old project, starting with its inception during the MapReduce craze. It describes the phases that the effort has gone through and some of the lessons learned along the way. The paper also covers some personal reflections and opinions about the challenges of systems-building, as well as writing about it, in our current academic culture. Included is the case for doing this sort of work at all – discussing the pitfalls of doing "systems" research in the absence of an actual system, and why the gain outweighs the pain of building and sharing database software in academia. As of late 2018, Apache AsterixDB is also having a commercial impact as the storage and parallel query engine underlying a new offering called Couchbase Analytics. The last part of the paper explains how we are attempting to balance the uses of AsterixDB as (i) a generally available open source Apache software platform, (ii) an end-to-end research testbed for universities, and (iii) the technology powering a commercial NoSQL product.
Incorporating Youth Voice into Services for Young People Experiencing Homelessness.

Homeless youth are typically served through a traditional service system that provides important basic needs but tends to be limited in scope, deficit-based, and adult-led, creating challenges for engaging youth in making real change in their lives. In contrast, a youth voice approach emphasizes building relationships with youth, holistically and as respected partners in services. Several different practice frameworks may help homeless service providers integrate youth voice into their programming. A positive youth development (PYD) approach aims to build assets in young people, often by empowering them through skill building, team-based activities, and projects. Empowerment practice has emerged as a way to promote youth agency and leadership. And, recently, a trauma-informed lens has permeated many homeless youth services. This chapter describes these three frameworks, outlines how such frameworks can lead to the empowerment of marginalized youths’ voices, and reviews the most recent literature on empowerment programming with homeless youth. The chapter concludes that providing services to young people experiencing homelessness through a lens of youth voice is likely to help youth strengthen social networks while building individual skills useful in exiting the streets.
Treatment practices for aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease: analysis of a national insurance claims database.

BACKGROUND Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) is the triad of asthma, nasal polyposis, and sensitivity to cyclooxygenase-1 inhibitors. Treatment options include medical management, surgical intervention, and aspirin desensitization (AsaD). METHODS AERD patients were identified using the MarketScan Database from 2009 to 2015. Patients were included using International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition (ICD-9) codes for asthma, nasal polyposis, and drug allergy. Treatments were determined by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for drug desensitization and endonasal procedures. Geographic trends and timing of interventions between those exposed and not exposed to desensitization were explored. RESULTS A total of 5628 patients met inclusion criteria for AERD, with mean age 46 years, 60% female; 395 (7%) underwent AsaD and 2171 (39%) underwent sinus surgery. Among patients who were desensitized, 229 (58%) underwent surgery, of whom 201 (88%) had surgery prior to AsaD (median [quartile 1, quartile 3]; 61 days [30, 208] prior to desensitization). For patients undergoing surgery following AsaD (n = 46), surgery was performed a median of 302 (163, 758) days after AsaD. Nineteen patients had multiple surgeries post-AsaD with median time between surgeries being 734 days (312, 1484); 261 patients were not desensitized to aspirin but did undergo multiple surgeries, with the median of the median time between surgeries being 287 days (15, 617), which is shorter than for patients post-AsaD (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION A very small percentage of AERD patients undergo AsaD. Patients who had AsaD underwent surgery approximately 2 months prior to AsaD. Patients who underwent AsaD experienced an increased time between surgeries compared to patients who did not undergo AsaD.
18F-FDG PET-CT in the clinical management of cardiac sarcoidosis: A regional academic referral center experience.

1527 Objectives: To evaluate the role of 18F-FDG PET-CT in the clinical management of cardiac sarcoidosis (CS), including its initial diagnosis and assessment following therapy. Method and Materials A retrospective review of 168 consecutive patients who received 18F-FDG PET-CT for suspected CS was performed. Data regarding patient demographics, scan findings, and administered therapies (prednisone, methotrexate, or dual therapy) was collected and analyzed. Follow-up 18F-FDG PET-CT scans were compared with the initial scans obtained at diagnosis, and assessed for changes. All 18F-FDG PET-CT scans were performed using a standard protocol as recommended by Society of Nuclear Medicine guidelines. Results A total of 62/168 (37%) of the patients undergoing 18F-FDG PET-CT for the initial diagnosis of CS had evidence of cardiac involvement. A total of 36/168 (21%) of the patients received at least one follow-up study (16 from the group initially positive for CS and 20 patients from the group initially negative for CS). Of the 16 patients with positive studies at initial diagnosis, 7 (44%) patients showed resolution of disease (mean follow-up time 687±232 days), whereas 9 (56%) patients showed persistent disease (mean follow-up time 260±57 days, p=0.39). A total of 2/7 (29%) patients who showed resolution of disease were on dual prednisone and methotrexate therapy. No patients in the group with persistent disease were on dual immunomodulator therapy. Conclusion18F-FDG PET-CT is an effective tool in the clinical management of CS, including its initial diagnosis and assessment following therapy. Although not statistically significant, patients treated for a longer duration were more likely to respond to the therapy. Additionally, dual immunomodulator therapy with prednisone and methotrexate may improve therapeutic response in CS. Figure 1. F-18 FDG PET-CT MIP and axial fused PET-CT images showing (A) focal on diffuse hypermetabolic activity in the left ventricular myocardium consistent with cardiac sarcoidosis, and (B) resolution of the myocardial activity following immunomodulator therapy. It is important to note the scans also revealed persistent pulmonary, as well as mediastinal and hilar nodal involvement.
Abstract P245: Impact of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms on All Cause Mortality Among Andean Hispanics: Result From the PREVENCION Study

Introduction: Depressive/anxiety symptoms are associated with mortality among patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD). These symptoms are also associated with higher burden of CVD ri...
Principles of Mathematical Modeling in Biomedical Sciences: An Unwritten Gospel of Andrei Yakovlev

This article describes Dr. Andrei Yakovlev’s unique philosophy of mathematical modeling in biomedical sciences. Although he never formulated it in a systematic way, it has always been central to his work and manifested amply in the course of the author’s 22-year research collaboration with this visionary scholar. We address methodological tensions between mathematics and biomedical sciences, epistemological status of mathematical models, and various methodological questions of a more practical nature arising in mathematical modeling and statistical data analysis including model selection, model identifiability, and concordance between the model and the observables.
AoI Scheduling with Maximum Thresholds

Age of Information (AoI) is an application layer performance metric that quantifies the freshness of information. This paper investigates scheduling problems at network edge when each source node has an AoI requirement (which we call Maximum AoI Threshold (MAT)). Specifically, we want to determine whether or not a vector of MATs for the source nodes is schedulable, and if so, find a feasible scheduler for it. For a small network, we present an optimal procedure called Cyclic Scheduler Detection (CSD) that can determine the schedulability with absolute certainty. For a large network where CSD is not applicable, we present a novel low-complexity procedure, called Fictitious Polynomial Mapping (FPM), and prove that FPM can find a feasible scheduler for any MAT vector when the load is under ln 2. We use extensive numerical results to validate our theoretical results and show that the performance of FPM is significantly better than a state-of-the-art scheduling algorithm.
Demographic and psychological moderators of the relationship between neighborhood cigarette advertising and current smoking in New York City.

Abstract Background Tobacco advertising in retailers influences smoking, but little research has examined how this relationship differs among population subgroups. This study merged data on neighborhood cigarette advertising with geocoded survey data to assess the association between advertising prevalence and current smoking among New York City (NYC) residents, and whether demographic and psychological characteristics moderate this relationship. Methods Audit data from a stratified, random sample of 796 NYC tobacco retailers generated neighborhood prevalence estimates of cigarette advertising, which were linked with unweighted 2017 NYC Community Health Survey data (n = 7837 adult respondents with residential geocodes). Multilevel regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) of current smoking by level of neighborhood cigarette advertising (quartiles). Interactions assessed differences in this relationship by demographic characteristics and current depression (analyses conducted in 2019). Results There was no main effect of advertising on smoking status or significant interactions with demographic variables, but current depression was an effect modifier (p = 0.045). Cigarette advertising was associated with current smoking among those with current depression (p = 0.023), not those without (p = 0.920). Specifically, respondents with depression who resided in neighborhoods in the highest quartile for cigarette advertising prevalence had higher odds of current smoking, compared to those living in the lowest advertising quartile [aOR: 1.72 (1.04, 2.86)]. Conclusion Retail cigarette advertising may serve as an environmental cue to smoke among adults with depression. Efforts to restrict or counteract this practice, such as the development of community-level public health interventions and counter-marketing programs, may particularly benefit those with depression and, perhaps, other mental health disorders.
Deep Bayesian Bandits: Exploring in Online Personalized Recommendations

Recommender systems trained in a continuous learning fashion are plagued by the feedback loop problem, also known as algorithmic bias. This causes a newly trained model to act greedily and favor items that have already been engaged by users. This behavior is particularly harmful in personalised ads recommendations, as it can also cause new campaigns to remain unexplored. Exploration aims to address this limitation by providing new information about the environment, which encompasses user preference, and can lead to higher long-term reward. In this work, we formulate a display advertising recommender as a contextual bandit and implement exploration techniques that require sampling from the posterior distribution of click-through-rates in a computationally tractable manner. Traditional large-scale deep learning models do not provide uncertainty estimates by default. We approximate these uncertainty measurements of the predictions by employing a bootstrapped model with multiple heads and dropout units. We benchmark a number of different models in an offline simulation environment using a publicly available dataset of user-ads engagements. We test our proposed deep Bayesian bandits algorithm in the offline simulation and online AB setting with large-scale production traffic, where we demonstrate a positive gain of our exploration model.
Management of Chronic Ankle Instability in the Basketball Player

Of all sports-related injuries treated in the emergency room, basketball accounts for over 34%. Basketball-related injuries are the most common type of sports-related injury in patients under the age of 25 years and second in those aged 25–40 years. The ankle is by far the most common joint injured in the National Basketball Association, with ankle sprains being the most common type of injury to the ankle. Prevention strategies, functional rehabilitation, and judicious use of operative intervention are all important in the management of the injured basketball player for safe and timely return to play.
Teaching Pediatric Palliative Care Communication Skills to Fourth-Year Medical Students Through Role-Play.

Introduction Despite growing recognition of pediatric palliative care's importance, training in palliative care communication remains a gap in medical education. Graduating medical students frequen...
Enhanced preference for delayed rewards requires the basolateral amygdala and retrosplenial cortex

9Sunk9 or irrecoverable costs impact reward-based decisions across species. However, it is not known if these sunk costs elicit a sustained change in reward value. To address this, we developed behavioral task to examine how sunk temporal costs alter reward value and reward preference in rats. We first identified the relative preference between different flavored food pellets during a free-feeding test. Animals were then trained to experience the initial less preferred reward after long delays (high temporal cost) and the initial preferred reward after short delays (low temporal cost). This training regimen enhanced the consumption and preference for the initial less desirable food reward. We probed whether this change in preference required neural systems involved with reward valuation. Pharmacological manipulations and site-specific lesions were performed to examine the potential involvement of the dopamine system, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC). The change in reward preference was unaffected by systemic dopamine receptor antagonism or OFC lesions. In contrast, lesions of the BLA or the RSC prevented the enhanced consumption and preference for the initial less desirable reward. These findings demonstrate that both the BLA and RSC participate in how sunk temporal costs alter reward value and reward preference.
Hand Assisted Total Colectomy

The use of minimally invasive approaches to colorectal pathologies has significantly increased in the past three decades. The benefits include faster recovery and better cosmetic results without an increase in complications or inferior oncologic outcomes. Hand assisted total abdominal colectomy is the most obvious example of a procedure that if done open would require a long and disfiguring incision and instead can now be done through a small suprapubic mini laparotomy.
A survey of smartphone and interactive video technology use by participants in Alzheimer's disease research: Implications for remote cognitive assessment

Introduction Participants from a longitudinal cohort study were surveyed to evaluate the practical feasibility of remote cognitive assessment. Methods All active participants/informants at the University of California San Diego Alzheimer's Disease Research Center were invited to complete a nine-question survey assessing technology access/use and willingness to do cognitive testing remotely. Results Three hundred sixty-nine of 450 potential participants/informants (82%) completed the survey. Overall, internet access (88%), device ownership (77%), and willingness to do cognitive testing remotely (72%) were high. Device access was higher among those with normal cognition (85%) or cognitive impairment (85%) than those with dementia (52%), as was willingness to do remote cognitive testing (84%, 74%, 39%, respectively). Latinos were less likely than non-Latinos to have internet or device access but were comparable in willingness to do remote testing. Discussion Remote cognitive assessment using interactive video technology is a practicable option for nondemented participants in longitudinal studies; however, additional resources will be required to ensure representative participation of Latinos.
Patient Perspectives: Valuable Food Insecurity Interventions.

Introduction Food insecurity (FI), defined as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways," affects over 12% of US households. Embarrassment persists for patients with FI, and due to the potential consequences of FI, including increased utilization of the health care system, it is important to find causes and potential interventions for FI. The purpose of this project was to better understand FI from the patient perspective, including contributing factors, perceived health effects, and helpful interventions. Methods Interviews (N=21) were conducted with suburban community residency clinic patients who screened positive for FI in the last 12 months. Six open-ended questions and a ranking question examined contributors to FI, effects of FI, perceptions of clinic intervention helpfulness, and ideas for novel interventions. Results Patients identified lack of income (85.7%) as the primary issue they faced. Secondary identified issues were lack of transportation (38.1%), too much debt (33.3%), and food assistance programs not providing for all needs (33.3%). FI effects on patients' health included difficulty adhering to specialized diets and the need to modify eating patterns due to lack of food. Surprisingly, 28.6% perceived no FI related-health effects. Patients felt that the most valuable clinic intervention was provision of urgent need food boxes, followed by FI screening and referrals to community food resources. Conclusions Frequent FI screening is in itself useful to patients. Screening paired with community food resource referrals and urgent-need food boxes are the most helpful interventions according to patients.
A transient reduction in circulating corticosterone reduces object neophobia in male house sparrows

Abstract Aversive reactions to novelty (or “neophobia”) have been described in a wide variety of different animal species and can affect an individual's ability to exploit new resources and avoid potential dangers. However, despite its ecological importance, the proximate causes of neophobia are poorly understood. In this study, we tested the role of glucocorticoid hormones in neophobia in wild-caught house sparrows (Passer domesticus, n = 11 males) by giving an injection of the drug mitotane that reduced endogenous corticosterone for several days or a vehicle control, and then examined the latency to feed when the food dish was presented with or without a novel object in, on, or near the dish. Each sparrow was exposed to multiple novel object and control trials and received both vehicle control and mitotane treatments, with a week between treatments to allow the drug to wash out. As found previously, all novel objects significantly increased sparrows' latency to feed compared to no object present. Reducing corticosterone using mitotane significantly reduced the latency to feed in the presence of novel objects. In control trials without objects, mitotane had no significant effects on feeding time. Although we have shown that corticosterone affects neophobia, further studies using specific receptor agonists and antagonists will help clarify the neurobiological mechanisms involved and determine whether baseline or stress-induced corticosterone is driving this effect. These results suggest that increased glucocorticoids (e.g., due to human-induced stressors) could increase neophobia, affecting the ability of individuals to exploit novel resources, and, ultimately, to persist in human-altered environments.