cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Millennial-scale changes in local vegetation and fire regimes on Mount Constitution, Orcas Island, Washington, USA, using small hollow sediments

We used pollen and charcoal records from small hollows plus a network of surface samples to reconstruct stand-level vegetation and fire history at three sites on the Mount Constitution plateau of Orcas Island, Washington, USA. One record (beginning ca. 7100 calibrated years BP) is from a xeric site on the northern plateau, and two (beginning 3800 and 7650 years BP, respectively) are from mesic sites on the central and south-central plateau. Before 5300 years BP, veg- etation and fire regimes at both the northern and south-central sites resembled those of current Mount Constitution forests. Around 5300 years BP, Alnus increased and Pinus decreased at the mesic south-central site, suggesting a change to mois- ter and (or) cooler conditions, but Pinus remained dominant at or near the more xeric northern site. At both sites, charcoal deposition decreased, suggesting a decrease in fire frequency and (or) severity consistent with wetter conditions. After 2000 years BP, charcoal deposition increased at all three sites, and Pinus increased in the central and south-central sites, suggesting a return to drier conditions. Thus, stands on different sites in close proximity responded individually to the same climate change, depending on local site conditions and the ecology of the dominant trees. Resume´ : Nous avons utilisedes donnees d'archives sur le pollen et le charbon de bois provenant de petites cuvettes ainsi qu'un reseau d'echantillons de surface pour reconstituer la vegetation et l'historique des feux a l'echelle du peuplement dans trois stations sur le plateau du mont Constitution a l'oˆle d'Orcas dans l'Etat de Washington, aux Etats-Unis d'Amerique. Dans un cas, les donnees d'archives (debutant il y a approximativement 7 100 ans calibre ´) proviennent d'une
An integrated CMOS micromechanical resonator high-Q oscillator

A completely monolithic high-Q oscillator, fabricated via a combined CMOS plus surface micromachining technology, is described, for which the oscillation frequency is controlled by a polysilicon micromechanical resonator with the intent of achieving high stability. The operation and performance of micromechanical resonators are modeled, with emphasis on circuit and noise modeling of multiport resonators. A series resonant oscillator design is discussed that utilizes a unique, gain-controllable transresistance sustaining amplifier. We show that in the absence of an automatic level control loop, the closed-loop, steady-state oscillation amplitude of this oscillator depends strongly upon the dc-bias voltage applied to the capacitively driven and sensed /spl mu/resonator. Although the high-Q of the micromechanical resonator does contribute to improved oscillator stability, its limited power-handling ability outweighs the Q benefits and prevents this oscillator from achieving the high short-term stability normally expected of high-Q oscillators.
Multi-scale modeling of microstructure dependent intergranular brittle fracture using a quantitative phase-field based method

Abstract The fracture behavior of brittle materials is strongly influenced by their underlying microstructure that needs explicit consideration for accurate prediction of fracture properties and the associated scatter. In this work, a hierarchical multi-scale approach is pursued to model microstructure sensitive brittle fracture. A quantitative phase-field based fracture model is utilized to capture the complex crack growth behavior in the microstructure and the related parameters are calibrated from lower length scale atomistic simulations instead of engineering scale experimental data. The workability of this approach is demonstrated by performing porosity dependent intergranular fracture simulations in UO2 and comparing the predictions with experiments.
Dynamics of Cloud-Top Generating Cells in Winter Cyclones. Part I: Idealized Simulations in the Context of Field Observations

AbstractThis paper assesses the influence of radiative forcing and latent heating on the development and maintenance of cloud-top generating cells (GCs) in high-resolution idealized Weather Research and Forecasting Model simulations with initial conditions representative of the vertical structure of a cyclone observed during the Profiling of Winter Storms campaign. Simulated GC kinematics, structure, and ice mass are shown to compare well quantitatively with Wyoming Cloud Radar, cloud probe, and other observations. Sensitivity to radiative forcing was assessed in simulations with longwave-only (nighttime), longwave-and-shortwave (daytime), and no-radiation parameterizations. The domain-averaged longwave cooling rate exceeded 0.50 K h−1 near cloud top, with maxima greater than 2.00 K h−1 atop GCs. Shortwave warming was weaker by comparison, with domain-averaged values of 0.10–0.20 K h−1 and maxima of 0.50 K h−1 atop GCs. The stabilizing influence of cloud-top shortwave warming was evident in the daytime si...
Clinico‑microbiological study and antibiotic resistance profile of mecA and ESBL gene prevalence in patients with diabetic foot infections

Diabetic foot infections (DFIs) constitute a major complication of diabetes mellitus. DFIs contribute to the development of gangrene and non-traumatic lower extremity amputations with a lifetime risk of up to 25%. The aim of the present study was to identify the presence of neuropathy and determine the ulcer grade, microbial profile and phenotypic and genotypic prevalence of the methicillin-resistance gene mecA and extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-encoding genes in bacterial isolates of DFI in patients registered at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Islamabad, Pakistan). The results indicated that 46/50 patients (92%), exhibited sensory neuropathy. The most common isolate was Staphylococcus aureus (25%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa; 18.18%), Escherichia coli (16.16%), Streptococcus species (spp.) (15.15%), Proteus spp. (15.15%), Enterococcus spp. (9%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae; 3%). The prevalence of the mecA gene was found to be 88% phenotypically and 84% genotypically. K. pneumoniae was shown to have the highest percentage of ESBL producers with a prevalence of 66.7% by double disk synergy test, and 100% by the cefotaxime + clavulanic acid/ceftazidime + clavulanic acid combination disk test. P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae had the highest (100%) proportion of metallo β-lactamase producers as identified by the EDTA combination disk test. The overall prevalence of β-lactamase (bla)-CTX-M, bla-CTX-M-15, bla-TEM, bla-OXA and bla-SHV genes was found to be 76.9, 76.9, 75.0, 57.7 and 84.6%, respectively, in gram-negative DFI isolates. The prevalence of mecA and ESBL-related genes was found to be alarmingly high in DFIs, since these genes are a major cause of antibiotic treatment failure.
Prostaglandins in carotid sinus enhance baroreflex in rabbits

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible influence of endogenous prostaglandins in the carotid sinus on the arterial baroreflex. Lumbar sympathetic nerve activity (LSNA) and arterial pressure were recorded during step increases in isolated carotid sinus pressure in rabbits anesthetized with chloralose. Baroreflex responses were facilitated after intrasinus administration of prostacyclin (PGI2; 5 and 10 microM, n = 6) or arachidonic acid (10 microM, n = 12). PGI2 (10 microM) increased the slope of the carotid sinus pressure-LSNA relation (gain) from -0.32 +/- 0.09 to -1.19 +/- 0.38 spikes.s-1.mmHg-1 and decreased the pressure at which 50% of the maximum inhibition of LSNA occurred (EP50) from 127 +/- 5 to 98 +/- 4 mmHg (P less than 0.05). Similar responses were observed with arachidonic acid. Baroreflex responses were attenuated after intrasinus administration of indomethacin (40 and 80 microM, n = 5) or aspirin (1 and 2 mM, n = 7). Indomethacin (80 microM) decreased the gain of the baroreflex from -1.02 +/- 0.24 to -0.47 +/- 0.16 spikes.s-1.mmHg-1 and increased the EP50 from 121 +/- 6 to 133 +/- 7 mmHg (P less than 0.05). Both indomethacin (80 microM) and aspirin (2 mM) reduced the maximum percent inhibition of LSNA significantly. The results indicate that prostaglandins within the carotid sinus facilitate the baroreflex control of LSNA. The attenuation of the baroreflex after inhibition of cyclooxygenase suggests that endogenous prostaglandins contribute to the activation of baroreceptors during increases in carotid sinus pressure.
Mechanism of sodium hyperabsorption in cultured cystic fibrosis nasal epithelium: a patch-clamp study

Transepithelial Na+ absorption is increased two to three times in cystic fibrosis (CF) compared with normal (NL) airway epithelia. This increase has been associated with a higher Na+ permeability o...
Metastability and microscopic avalanche dynamics in charge-density waves of chromium

We have measured the relaxation of charge-density waves in chromium from out-of-equilibrium states achieved through rapid thermal quenching. Although pinned density waves have been predicted to relax through stick-slip dynamics, in which long-lived metastable states are linked by abrupt rearrangements of the microscopic structure, these microscopic behaviors have not been observed. Using synchrotron x rays, we have measured metastability of the order parameter and microscopic pinning phenomena including an avalanche of the charge-density wave phase. Molecular dynamical simulations based on the Fukuyama-Lee-Rice model show that these behaviors may be attributed to nucleation, pinning, and propagation of phase solitons.
Molt Indicators and Growth Per Molt for Male Snow Crabs (Chionoecetes Opilio)

ABSTRACT Examination of mouth parts is a standard method for determining the position in the molt cycle of individual male snow crabs. We showed that the color of the carapace can also be used to determine whether a crab is about to molt. A third, destructive, method is to tear off the dorsal carapace and look for the presence of a second carapace. During a bottom trawl survey in April 1991 in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, we found that green carapace color and a well-developed second carapace were strongly correlated and each was strongly associated with mouthpart classification D, or above. During a subsequent trap survey in May 1991, we found crabs with the normal reddish coloration that had seemingly partially formed second carapaces and mouthparts in the C or D0 stage. However, further work is necessary to describe and validate the early stages of carapace formation. We concluded that the collection of crabs with a green carapace is a viable way to obtain crabs for growth studies, because they will molt in the near future, thus minimizing effects of captivity. We collected 79 green crabs and maintained them in the laboratory until they molted. All but one molted within 24 days of capture. Growth per molt was similar to that estimated for another Newfoundland snow crab population, based on the same approach, but was greater than earlier estimates derived from longer-term laboratory studies.
LD pumped thermally bonded YAG passively Q-switched lasers

LD pumped thermally bonded Nd:YAG/Cr4+:YAG Q-switched laser experiment was studied. A 3×12 mm thermally bonded crystal was used and a parallel resonator could be obtained by directly coating dielectric film on both sides. With LD ending pump,the characters of laser output such as pulse repeat rate,average output power and pulse duration were discussed. With the pump power increasing,the average output power and pulse repeat rate were linearly increased,the pulse duration trended to be compressed. With 6 W pump power,the thermally bonded laser could obtain a Q-switched 1 064 nm laser pulse with 5.3 ns pulse duration and 690 mW output power. The light-light efficiency of Q-switched laser was about 11.5%,the beam divergence angle was 3.1 mrad. Experiment shows that the thermally bonded laser has good thermal effect,high reliability,and high quality of light beam. It is a new type of Q-switched solid laser with good performance.
Determination of Existing Forms of Bromine in Beverage by IC-ICP-MS

In this study,we presented a method based on ion chromatographic separation and ICP-MS detection for the determination of two existing forms of bromine in beverage,i.e.,BrO3-and Br-.The limits of detection of the presented method were 0.1 μg/L for BrO3-and 0.2 μg/L for Br-.Spike recovery tests were carried out to evaluate the accuracy and precision of this method,and average recoveries for BrO3-in 3 different matrices spiked at 3 levels ranged from 88.1% to 106.4%,with a relative standard deviation from 1.52% to 3.83%(n = 6).This method was used to analyze some commercial beverages,and no BrO3-was detected in any of them.
The analysis on myocardial oxygen consumption and diastolic blood pressure in tooth extraction under electrocardiographic monitoring for elderly patients with cardiovascular diseases

Objective: To analyze myocardial oxygen consumption(MOC) and diastolic blood pressure(DBP) of elderly patients with cardiovascular disease in tooth extraction.Methods: The changes about heart rate(HR) and blood pressure(BP) of 257 elderly patients with cardiovascular disease were monitored,and studied both Cardiacrate-pressure product(RPP,HR multiplied by SBP) which can react MOC indirectly and DBP in different stages including before extraction,during injection,after injection,during extraction and after extraction.Results: The results indicated that MOC and DBP in different stages of tooth extraction process showed significant differences.Conclusion: It would efficiently decrease surgical risk when we monitor the changes about HR and BP of elderly patients with cardiovascular disease during the whole process of tooth extraction and adopt various steps to control BP and MOC.
Who's Reading Whose Reading?

n Literature and Domination, M. Keith Booker extends the ideas developed in his 1991 Techniques of Subversion in Modern Literature by exploring the ways twentieth-century literature both thematically presents and dramatically enacts strategies of domination, oppression, resistance and subversion. These strategies, spreading outward through text and reader, reader and reader's self, that self and society, reveal a web of linkages encompassing the literature, politics and philosophy of this century. Booker analyzes the complex analogy between the urge to dominate–whether text's urge to dominate reader, reader's urge to dominate text, criticism's urge to dominate both reader and text, society's urge to dominate the self, the self's urge to dominate the other, etc. –and the act of literary interpretation. Ultimately, he wants to link his efforts to contemporary critical and philosophical trends which find the fundamental sin of Western culture to be its legacy of rationalism and bourgeois individualism spawned–according to the neo-Marxism of Adorno and Horkheimer–by the Enlightenment.
Scalp nerve blockade reduces pain after headframe placement in radiosurgery: a double blind, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND Patients undergoing stereotactic headframe placement for radiosurgery report that discomfort associated with the headframe often lasts for the duration of the treatment day (approximately 6 hours). We hypothesize that blockade of scalp nerves prior to headframe placement reduces the incidence of moderate to severe head pain during the entire treatment day. We describe a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of awake patients having radiosurgery for intracranial pathology that examines whether scalp nerve blockade and local anesthetic infiltration results in superior patient comfort versus infiltration alone. METHODS Twenty seven adult patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery were randomized to receive a nerve block with placebo or bupivacaine 0.5% with epinephrine. Supraorbital and greater occipital nerve blocks using blinded syringes were performed by the anesthesiologist in addition to subcutaneous infiltration of pin sites with lidocaine 1% by the surgeon. Pain was reported using 10 cm visual analog scales (VAS) at pre-specified time points during the treatment day. The primary outcome measure was the presence of pain scores classified as "zero to mild pain (VAS or = 4)". RESULTS 27 patients were randomized to placebo (n = 14) and nerve block (n = 13) groups. The proportion of moderate to severe pain measurements were significantly less in the nerve block group than the placebo group (4.9% vs. 24.1%; odds ratio, 0.166; 95% confidence interval 0.029-0.955; p = 0.044). There were no adverse events. CONCLUSION Scalp nerve block significantly decreased moderate to severe head pain in radiosurgery patients throughout the treatment day.
Total Synthesis of (-)-Spinosyn A via Carbonylative Macrolactonization.

Spinosyn A (1), a complex natural product featuring a unique 5,6,5,12-fused tetracyclic core structure, is the major component of spinosad, an organic insecticide and an FDA-approved agent used worldwide. Herein, we report an efficient total synthesis of (−)-spinosyn A with 15 steps in the longest linear sequence and 23 steps total from readily available compounds 14 and 23. The synthetic approach features several important catalytic transformations including a chiral amine-catalyzed intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction to afford 22 in excellent diastereoselectivity, a one-step gold-catalyzed propargylic acetate rearrangement to convert 28 to α-iodoenone 31, an unprecedented palladium-catalyzed carbonylative Heck macrolactonization to form the 5,12-fused macrolactone in one step, and a gold-catalyzed Yu glycosylation to install the challenging β-forosamine. This total synthesis is highly convergent and modular, thus offering opportunities to synthesize spinosyn analogues in order to address the emerging cr...
SP17 as new immunotherapy target and biomarker for triple-negative breast cancer (VAC5P.1121)

Breast cancer (BC) is a main health concern for women worldwide. Immunotherapies directed against specific tumor-associated antigens enhancing cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated antitumor responses, have not been equally effective against all BCs: targeted, specific anti-hormonal therapies are now available against the estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR)-positive BC, as well as HER-2/neu receptor. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) displays a negative immunohistologic pattern for ER, PR, and HER-2/neu. As neither of the hormone receptors nor the HER-2 are expressed in TNBC, the hormonal and molecular therapies used in other subtypes are not effective. Current efforts are focused on identifying molecular targets for TNBC. The CTA, SP17, is aberrantly expressed in an array of neoplasms. In this study, we investigated SP17 expression and immunogenicity in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines and tissues, and we tested the efficacy SP17 to stimulate a specific CTL-mediated antitumor response. We showed, for the first time, that SP17 was expressed in TNBC cell lines and primary breast tumor samples. Furthermore, we identified specific anti-SP17 antibodies in TNBC patients’ sera and we were able to generate SP17-specific, HLA class I-restricted, cytotoxic T lymphocytes capable of efficiently killing TNBC cells in vitro. Hence, SP17 may function as a novel biomarker, as well as vaccine target in this disease.
Becoming Landowners: Entanglements of Custom and Modernity in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, by Victoria C. Stead

This book addresses one of the most vexing problems in the Pacific, the awkward and sometimes fractious relationship between property organised through kinship and customary practices on the one ha...
Ultra-compact broadband TE-pass polarizer based on vanadate-nanowire-integrated SOI waveguides

An ultra-compact TE-pass polarizer is numerically demonstrated at telecommunication wavelengths by integrating a vanadate nanowire with a SOI platform. Results show that a device of 15 μm in length is capable of achieving a high extinction ratio of 22 ∼ 34 dB, in conjunction with a low insertion loss of 0.18 ∼ 0.23 dB in a wavelength range of 1.52 ∼ 1.62 μm.
Solid-Phase Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Cyclohexapeptide Wollamide B Analogs.

Herein we report the antibacterial structure–activity relationships of cyclic hexapeptide wollamide analogs derived from solid-phase library synthesis. Wollamide B, a cyclic hexapeptide natural product, has been previously found to have activity against Mycobacterium bovis. To further evaluate its antimycobacterial/antibacterial potential, 27 peptides including wollamides A/B, and desotamide B, were synthesized and subsequently tested against a panel of clinically significant bacterial pathogens. Biological evaluation revealed that the cyclic scaffold, amide functionality in position I, tryptophan residue in position V, and the original stereochemistry pattern of the core scaffold were key for antituberculosis and/or antibacterial activity. In addition, against M. tuberculosis and Gram-positive bacteria, residues in position II and/or VI greatly impacted antibacterial activity and selectivity. Wollamides A (3) and B (2) along with their corresponding II (l-Leu) analog 10 retained the most promising antitu...
Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD).

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is one of the most potent psychoactive agents known, producing dramatic alterations of consciousness after submilligram (≥20 μg) oral doses. Following the accidental discovery of its potent psychoactive effects in 1943, it was supplied by Sandoz Laboratories as an experimental drug that might be useful as an adjunct for psychotherapy, or to give psychiatrists insight into the mental processes in their patients. The finding of serotonin in the mammalian brain in 1953, and its structural resemblance to LSD, quickly led to ideas that serotonin in the brain might be involved in mental disorders, initiating rapid research interest in the neurochemistry of serotonin. LSD proved to be physiologically very safe and nonaddictive, with a very low incidence of adverse events when used in controlled experiments. Widely hailed by psychiatry as a breakthrough in the 1950s and early 1960s, clinical research with LSD ended by about 1970, when it was formally placed into Schedule 1 of the ...
Defining Black Families

Many changes are occurring in the families of our society. The rates of divorce and of single parenthood have increased dramatically in recent years. Roles within families are changing as the number of women in the workforce has increased. These changes in families have occurred as our society experienced great economic difficulty. As the attention of psychologists is given to new and evolving family forms and functions, it is important to reexamine black families, which have frequently been viewed as problematic. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the ways in which black families have been defined and conceptualized in the past and present and to suggest alternative conceptualizations.
Cognitive Mechanisms in Animal Problem-Solving

In recent years there has been a burgeoning interest in the use of cognitive concepts to account for the performances of animals in complex test situations both in the laboratory and in the field. The recent volume stemming from the Guggenheim Conference on animal cognition (1984) published within six years of the major works by O’Keefe and Nadel (1978) and by Hulse, Fowler and Honig (1978) attest to the renewed interest in cognitive mechanisms in animal behavior. Animal psychologists have begun to reconsider the possibility that many of the behaviors exhibited by animals in laboratory as well as field test situations cannot be accounted for simply as chains of S-R associations strung together in complex patterns.
Regulating the Internet

The Internet is one of the most remarkable products of the 20th century and not least among the remarkable things about it is that it is the only electronic medium not regulated. Yet. Despite a lot of rhetorical assurances of elected public officials and unelected bureaucrats, the unregulated character of the Net will change; it is just a matter of how and how soon. The focus of this brief essay is on classic forms of regulation. The Internet is now somewhere between two heavily regulated media--mass media and telecommunications media. However, it is a commonplace that these other media are converging, and it appears they are converging around the Internet technology and architecture. As this happens, as the Internet becomes both our telephone and our television, it naturally invites questions about whether and how traditional regulatory policies will be extended to Internet communications. The current posture of Internet exceptionalism in regard to regulatory policies does not appear to be sustainable. The pressures to regulate are particularly prominent in the economic area. Issues such as open access to broadband facilities (being pressed by independent ISPs) and local access charges (being pressed by local telephone companies) are creating a climate for regulation. In part this simply follows the old siren song of maintaining a level playing field between new and old media--a song that always seems to result in leveling up rather than leveling down the (regulated) playing field. If this happens again here (I predict it will), we will have lost one of the most important charms of the Internet--the chance to use it as an occasion for rethinking some of the old regulatory models.
A conceptual model for the integration of social and ecological information to understand human-wildlife interactions

Abstract There is growing recognition that interdisciplinary approaches that account for both ecological and social processes are necessary to successfully address human-wildlife interactions. However, such approaches are hindered by challenges in aligning data types, communicating across disciplines, and applying social science information to conservation actions. To meet these challenges, we propose a conceptual model that adopts a social-ecological systems approach and integrates social and ecological theory to identify the multiple, nested levels of influence on both human and animal behavior. By accounting for a diverse array of influences and feedback mechanisms between social and ecological systems, this model fulfills a need for approaches that treat social and ecological processes with equal depth and facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the drivers of human and animal behaviors that perpetuate human-wildlife interactions. We apply this conceptual model to our work on human-black bear conflicts in Colorado, USA to demonstrate its utility. Using this example, we identify key lessons and offer guidance to researchers and conservation practitioners for applying integrated approaches to other human-wildlife systems.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: Missed Opportunities for Early Diagnosis.

Background: “There is a high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). There is also strong evidence that proper OSA management can reduce AF recurrence.” Polysomnography is the gold standard for OSA diagnosis, but screening tests, such as STOP-BANG, have been successful in identifying patients at risk for OSA. Our study assesses screening rates for OSA in patients with persistent AF, and willingness of patients at increased risk for OSA towards further diagnostic evaluation. Methods: A total of 254 persistent AF patients were surveyed regarding prior screening for OSA, and if previously unscreened, assessed with STOP-BANG. Prior cardioversions and willingness to undergo further workup was also recorded. Patients at risk for OSA were given educational brochures. Subjects with diagnosis of OSA were asked about their compliance with positive airway pressure therapy. Results: Sixty-six percent of AF patients were never screened for OSA; 75% unscreened participants (95% CI: 68-81%) were at high risk for OSA. Patients with previous hospitalizations or electrical cardioversions were more frequently screened for OSA (P = 0.02, P = 0.03, respectively). Forty-three percent of high-risk individuals had a BMI < 30. Among patients at risk for OSA (score ? 3), the majority (n = 99, 79%) were interested in follow-up with a sleep study (n = 93, 74%). Conclusions: Although there is a strong OSA-associated risk for AF, which is amenable to intervention, most patients with persistent AF are not assessed for OSA. Simple to use screening questionnaires are sensitive and can reliably identify patients at high risk for OSA, reserving costlier and somewhat inconvenient nocturnal polysomnography to only those at risk. We hope our study will help to push the AF and OSA connection into the spotlight in the primary care of patients with AF. J Clin Med Res. 2019;11(1):21-25 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jocmr3635
Development and Validation of an Improved Pathological Nodal Staging System for Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder

Abstract Background Current pathological nodal staging for bladder cancer is based on lymph node (LN) location but not on the number of positive LNs. Objective We sought to improve prognostic classification by creating a novel staging system incorporating positive LN burden. Design, setting, and participants We sampled 12515 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) and 5928 MIBC patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for our development and validation cohorts, respectively. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis Multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis with restricted cubic splines was used to assess the association between the number of metastatic LNs and overall mortality (OM). A novel staging system was derived by recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) in NCDB and was validated in SEER by assessing discrimination (Harrel's c-index) and calibration (mean absolute prediction error). Results and limitations Mortality risk increased continuously with more metastatic LNs; the effect was most pronounced up to four LNs (hazard ratio [HR] 1.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12–1.22) and attenuated beyond four nodes (HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.02–1.05). RPA generated a novel staging system predicting mortality by metastatic nodal number with cutpoints at zero (reference), one (HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.46–1.69), two to three (HR 2.03, 95% CI 1.88–2.19), four to seven (HR 2.46, 95% CI 2.25–2.70), and more than seven (HR 3.83, 95% CI 3.38–4.33) positive LNs. Location of LN involvement was not a significant predictor of OM. In external validation, the novel staging system showed good risk discrimination (optimism corrected c-index 0.677, 95% CI 0.672–0.682) and calibration (mean absolute prediction error 0.011 for 5-yr OM). Results are limited by development and validation using secondary data. Conclusions The number of metastatic LNs predicts mortality better than LN location and may improve pathological nodal staging in MIBC. Patient summary This retrospective study found that the number of metastatic lymph nodes more accurately predicts survival than the location of metastatic lymph nodes in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. This finding argues for change to the current bladder cancer staging system.
Extended methods for gene-environment-wide interaction scans in studies of admixed individuals with varying degrees of relationships.

The etiology of many complex diseases involves both environmental exposures and inherited genetic predisposition as well as interactions between them. Gene-environment-wide interaction studies (GEWIS) provide a means to identify the interactions between genetic variation and environmental exposures that underlie disease risk. However, current GEWIS methods lack the capability to adjust for the potentially complex correlations in studies with varying degrees of relationships (both known and unknown) among individuals in admixed populations. We developed novel generalized estimating equation (GEE) based methods-GEE-adaptive and GEE-joint-to account for phenotypic correlations due to kinship while accounting for covariates, including, measures of genome-wide ancestry. In simulation studies of admixed individuals, both methods controlled family-wise error rates, an advantage over the case-only approach. They demonstrated higher power than traditional case-control methods across a wide range of underlying alternative hypotheses, especially where both marginal and interaction effects were present. We applied the proposed method to conduct a GEWIS of a known sarcoidosis risk factor (insecticide exposure) and risk of sarcoidosis in African Americans and identified two novel loci with suggestive evidence of G × E interaction.
Principles of Computer Integrated Manufacturing

I. PROLOGUE. 1. Meaning and Scope of CIM. 2. Manufacturing-An Overview. II. BRAIN, NERVES, AND HEART OF CIM. 3. Computer Technology and Manufacturing. 4. Fundamentals of Communications. 5. Database. III. TECHNOLOGY AND SYSTEMS. 6. Product Design. 7. Production Planning. 8. Production. 9. Shopfloor control. 10. Robotics and Material Handling. 11. Quality. IV. CIM MANAGEMENT. 12. Management of CIM. 13. Personnel. V. EPILOGUE. 14. Emerging Technologies. 15. Ramifications of CIM. Appendixes. Bibliography. Glossary. Index.
Rotational diffusion of particles in turbulence

Through laboratory measurements, we compared the rotation of spherical and ellipsoidal particles in homogeneous, isotropic turbulence. We found that the particles' angular velocity statistics are well described by an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) process. This theoretical model predicts that the Lagrangian autocovariance of particles' angular velocity will decay exponentially. We measured the autocovariance by using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) applied to spherical and ellipsoidal particles whose size was within the inertial subrange of the ambient turbulence. SPIV resolves the motion of points interior to the particles, from which we calculated the solid body rotation of the particles. This provided us with the angular velocity time series for individual particles. Through ensemble statistics, we determined the autocovariance of angular velocity and confirmed that it matches the form predicted by an OU process. We found that in this stochastic framework the autocovariances of both the ellipsoids and spheres are statistically identical, suggesting that rotation is controlled by the large scales of turbulence. We can further use the autocovariance curve to quantify the turbulent rotational diffusivity and discuss its implications for the transport of aquatic organisms in natural turbulence.
A linearized error propagation method for skeletal mechanism reduction

Abstract A method of linearized error propagation (LEP) based on Jacobian analysis is developed for systematic skeletal mechanism reduction. Jacobian analysis is performed in LEP to estimate the reduction error in selected target species induced by the elimination of other species. Skeletal mechanisms are obtained by eliminating species that induce negligible worst-case errors to the target species. LEP is compared with the methods of directed relation graph (DRG) and DRG with error propagation (DRGEP) on the accuracy of reduction error estimation. It is shown that DRG can effectively control the worst-case error of every species retained in the skeletal mechanism by assuming that error may not decay in the worst cases along the graph-search paths, while it tends to overestimate the errors in the starting species, such that the skeletal mechanism can typically be further reduced if only the starting species are of interest. In contrast, DRGEP assumes geometric error decay along graph-search paths, and may overestimate the error decay and subsequently underestimate the reduction errors in species many steps away from the starting species, resulting in potential unsafe species-eliminations. Compared with DRG and DRGEP, LEP can overall more accurately estimate the errors in the target species such that smaller mechanisms can be obtained compared with DRG, while unsafe species eliminations are less likely compared with DRGEP. To demonstrate the performance of the LEP method, skeletal mechanisms are derived based on perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) solutions sampled along the S-curves, including both the ignition and the extinction states. A 35-species skeletal mechanism is obtained for ethylene−air based on the 111-species USC-Mech II, and a 146-species skeletal mechanism for n-heptane−air is obtained based on a 188-species skeletal mechanism previously developed using DRG. Validation of global flame behaviors, including PSR ignition and extinction residence time, auto-ignition delay, and laminar flame speed, shows that no significant errors are further induced by LEP.
Exploring fruit’s role in dessert: The Dessert Flip and its impact on university student acceptance and food waste

Abstract The Dessert Flip is a plant-forward strategy to increase the sustainability and healthfulness of desserts that “flips” the relative proportion of full-calorie desserts like cake with fruit garnishes—simultaneously increasing servings of fruit and reducing added sugar, saturated fat, and calories. In a university dining hall, students (n = 86) were served a full-sized entree followed by a dessert randomized over three weeks: a conventional plated dessert (20% fruit, 80% cake), a flipped dessert (60% fruit, 40% cake), and a subtle “stealth” flipped dessert with peach puree in the cake (45% fruit, 55% cake). The flipped dessert was preferred over the conventional and the stealth versions in ranking and in overall, appearance, color, and flavor liking (p
Sweat and Hair: Online Interventions for Improving Physical Activity in African-American Women.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of an informational website in improving patient knowledge on hair care and exercise. Design Pre- and post-exposure surveys, focusing on exercise and hair care practices, were administered to subjects after 1 h of browsing a dermatologist-designed hair care and exercise website. Setting Winston Salem State University, a historically Black university in North Carolina, USA. Participants 22 African-American women (AAW) aged between 18 and 54 years. Measurements The outcome measures of the study include patient demographics, hair care practices, knowledge of hair/care disorders, exercise habits, and website feedback. Results There were 22 women enrolled in the study with 95% identifying as African-American. The average age was 28 ± 12 years. A total of 80% (16/20) of subjects reported exercising less than 150 min per week, and 36% of these patients reported modifying their hairstyle to accommodate physical activity. 85% learned new information about hair and scalp disorders from the educational material on the website, and 81% had increased understanding of their hair health. 91% reported that they would return to the website. Conclusion An informational website can be an effective tool to educate AAW on hair and scalp disease, as well as appropriate hair care practices and fitness goals.
Equinox: A Road-Side Edge Computing Experimental Platform for CAVs

The great success of artificial intelligence and edge computing technology has largely promote the development of connected and autonomous driving. However, owing to the missing of the experiment platform for Road-Side Unit (RSU), majority of research works are either simulation based task offloading or commercial equipment's based scheduling design. The fundamental challenge of how to co-design the communication and computation in a practical system is not tackled.In this paper, we proposed Equinox, which is our design of the rode-side edge computing experimental platform for connected and autonomous vehicles. With communication, data, as well as the computation taken into consideration, Equinox provides stable and sufficient communication based on a combination of WiFi, LTE, and DSRC. Also, Equinox guarantees reliable and flexible data collection, data storage, and efficient data processing.
ON THE FRACTURE AND WEAR CHARACTERISTICS OF CHROMIUM-MOLYBDENUM BAINITIC STEEL.

ABSTRACT This paper summarizes the fracture and wear characteristics of the first bainitic rail steel produced in North America.
A Web-Based Perioperative Dashboard as a Platform for Anesthesia Informatics Innovation

Physician anesthesiologists have a long and storied history of using technical innovation to improve patient care. Initially, this innovation was focused on hardware. During the 1980s and 1990s, with the rise of the personal computer, the focus shifted to software. The electronic “anesthesia record keeper” was first described over thirty years ago1. This developed from a basic automated charting tool into the anesthesia information management system (AIMS)2, becoming comprehensive data warehouses used for clinical, administrative, and research purposes. AIMS add value beyond direct patient care by sharing anesthesia systems and data horizontally and vertically within the healthcare organization3. Yet as hospitals consolidate into large health systems, the standalone AIMS has become obsolete, increasingly replaced by proprietary enterprise electronic health record (EHR) systems. We contend this hinders innovation. Enterprise EHR vendors typically provide a monolithic “all-in-one” solution on a common platform for all functions – administration, billing, and clinical charting and decision support. This approach is claimed to reduce support, integration, development, and training costs. This is in marked contrast to the classic AIMS, which took a “best-of-breed” approach where the software was highly customized to the needs of the specific end-user. The billing office used billing software, the report writers used reporting software, and the clinicians used an interface often designed by fellow clinicians. The “all-in-one” approach has led to dissatisfaction among clinicians, with usability graded as unacceptable and a major contributor to physician burnout4,5. Ideally, EHR shortcomings could be quickly solved in response to user feedback. However, this idealism is at odds with the business model and development process of EHR vendors. When the AIMS is only one component of an enterprise EHR, the cost of migrating away from only the AIMS component is generally unjustifiably high from the health system perspective, so there is little financial incentive for the vendor to innovate. The ability to create custom solutions is necessary to support and drive research into improvement in AIMS functionality. We describe a custom web-based application, providing functionality absent in the enterprise EHR, that we use to streamline clinical and operational workflows. Our work is distinct from existing efforts focused on clinical decision support6,7. The focus is on supporting and enabling the call team and daily coordinator to most efficiently staff and coordinate the complex dance of scheduling activities that occurs in a busy anesthesia practice. Originally built to work with a standalone AIMS, its modular architecture allowed us to easily adapt it to an enterprise EHR system. The greater significance of this project is that it shows, in an era of monolithic enterprise EHR systems, the importance of open access to EHR data, without which innovation in anesthesia informatics could not occur.
Trauma-Informed Acute Care of Patients With Violence-Related Injury.

Violently-injured individuals presenting to the emergency department (ED) have an elevated risk of repeat injury after being discharged from acute care settings and a high rate of unaddressed menta...
Diagnosis of COVID-19 and the bariatric surgery population: a single center experience.

While many cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are mild, patients with underlying medical conditions such as hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), older age, and morbid obesity are at higher risk of hospitalization and death. These conditions are characteristic of patients eligible for bariatric surgery, many of whom underwent weight loss procedures in the months prior to cessation of elective surgery in March 2020. The effects of the virus on these high-risk patients who had increased healthcare exposure in the early days of the pandemic are currently unknown. To describe the experience of patients who underwent bariatric surgery during the early evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study including patients from a single center who underwent bariatric surgery from January 1st, 2020 to March 18th, 2020. A database was created to analyze patients’ demographics, operative variables, and postoperative outcomes. All patients were contacted and a telephone survey was completed to inquire about COVID-19 exposure, symptoms, and testing 30 days before and after surgery. A total of 190 patients underwent bariatric surgery during the study period. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy was the most common procedure (71.6%). One hundred seventy-eight patients (93.7%) completed the telephone survey. Postoperatively, 19 patients (10.7%) reported COVID-19 compatible symptoms, and six patients (3.4%) went on to test positive for COVID-19. There were no COVID-19-related hospital admissions or mortalities in this population. Morbidly obese patients are at high risk of severe disease secondary to COVID-19, and those undergoing bariatric surgery during the evolution of the pandemic reported symptoms at a rate of 10.7% 30 days after the surgery. While none of these patients suffered severe COVID-19 disease, the temporal relationship of their symptomatology and increased exposure to the healthcare system as a result of their surgery suggest an increased risk of disease with elective surgery.
Predicting Directionality in Causal Relations in Text.

In this work, we test the performance of two bidirectional transformer-based language models, BERT and SpanBERT, on predicting directionality in causal pairs in the textual content. Our preliminary results show that predicting direction for inter-sentence and implicit causal relations is more challenging. And, SpanBERT performs better than BERT on causal samples with longer span length. We also introduce CREST which is a framework for unifying a collection of scattered datasets of causal relations.
Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life: The Culture of Astrobiology in the Muslim World: by Jörg Matthias Determann, London, U.K. Bloomsbury, I.B. Tauris Publishing, 2021, 289 pp., 123.91 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-7556-0127-1

Jorg Matthias Determann’s book is a superb exploration and historical guide to Islam, science, and the world of science fiction. The book deals with issues of materialism vs. idealism, religious vs...
A Pragmatic Quaternary FPGA Implemented with Floating Gate Memories

Consumer demands are outgrowing the benefits of technology scaling, especially for binary circuits. Previous studies proposed multi-valued logic (MVL) architectures, but these architectures use non-standard fabrication techniques and optimistic performance analysis. This study presents a new quaternary FPGA (QFPGA) architecture based on floating-gate memories which can be manufactured through standard CMOS fabrication. When simulated with open-source FinFET SPICE models, artifacts suggest competitive delay and power performance compared to equivalent binary circuits and other QFPGA architectures, and projection onto benchmark circuits predict additional performance improvements of up to 55% less area and one-third power reduction.