cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
EVOLUTION OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN

Abundant free oxygen in the atmosphere distinguishes our planet from all others in the solar system. Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere is a direct result of life. The current atmosphere contains (by volume) 78.09% N2, 20.95% O2, 0.93% Ar, 0.036% CO2, and additional trace gases. Apart from argon, all of the quantitatively important gases are at least in part biologically controlled, but oxygen in particular has no significant abiotic source. Diatomic oxygen is generated by oxygenic photosynthesis, the biological process in which water molecules are split using the energy of sunlight. Today, green plants, single-celled phytoplankton (free-floating organisms in the ocean, incl. cyanobacteria (chlorophyll-containing bacteria)) all perform oxygenic photosynthesis. Of these, cyanobacteria are the most numerous, with B10 in the oceans, and probably their ancient ancestors were just as plentiful. However, geological differences between the ancient and modern Earth show that there was insufficient O2 in the early atmosphere to leave traces of oxidation that today are ubiquitous, such as the reddening of exposed iron-rich rocks. The transition from the ancient anoxic atmosphere to a more modern oxic atmosphere appears to have occurred at about 2.3 Ga (where Ga 5 10 years ago). Although this ‘‘rise of O2’’ has been seen by some as controversial, there is more than enough evidence in its favor for it to have come to be regarded as the standard history of the Earth’s atmosphere. This history has been a major influence on life. All animals, multicellular plants, and fungi rely on free oxygen to maintain their energy intensive lifestyles. Life on the planet’s surface also became protected from harmful ultraviolet radiation once O2 levels exceeded 0.2–0.6%, causing an ozone (O3) layer to form in the stratosphere. But why free oxygen should have become abundant on a planet that is overall chemically reducing, or exactly why it first appeared about half-way through Earth’s 4.5 billionyear history, are still open questions. Nor is there yet any firm understanding of what regulates O2 at today’s level. However, the modern oxygen cycle can at least elucidate some basic concepts of oxygen production and loss before we turn to the history of O2.
Pro-opiomelanocortin: A Polyprotein at the Interface of the Endocrine and Nervous Systems

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the pro-opiomelanocortin at the interface of the endocrine and nervous systems. In a study described in the chapter, two approaches were used to demonstrate that a number of peptide hormones present in the pituitary gland are initially synthesized as part of a large common precursor. The peptide approach showed that in the cell line AtT-20-D16v, a newly synthesized polypeptide can be immunoprecipitated with either ACTH or β-endorphin antibodies. Another approach took advantage of in vitro mRNA translation. Total mRNA was extracted from AtT-20-D16v cells and translated in an mRNA-dependent protein-synthesizing cell-free system. Following immunoprecipitation with anti-ACTH and anti-β-endorphin antibodies, it was demonstrated that it is possible to find a common precursor of 28,500 D containing the sequences of ACTH and β-endorphin, as shown by tryptic and chymotryptic analyses. The full sequence of this precursor was obtained by cDNA cloning and nucleic acid sequencing and shows that the bovine ACTH/endorphin precursor is 239 amino acids long. This precursor contains a transitory signal sequence 26 amino acids long and an amino-terminal part 103 amino acids long containing the sequence of a melanocyte-stimulating hormone, γ-MSH.
Confessional ambiguity and unambiguous critics: religion and the Austrian middle way

According to his own testimony Jacopo Strada was a faithful son of Rome. A week before the death of Emperor Maximilian Strada wrote to Jacopo Dani, secretary of the grand duke of Tuscany, reaffirming his allegiance to the Catholic faith. But Strada's Catholicism was not free from heterodox elements. He was in chronic trouble with the Italian Inquisition. In 1567 this ecclesiastical tribunal linked him to a group of Mantuan women accused of heresy. In 1569 Strada avoided Mantuan and Milanese territory for fear of the Inquisition. Strada was also in contact with the well-known Italian heretics Mino Celsi and Giovanni Bernardino Bonifacio. It may well have been these rumors of heresy which prompted pious Duke Albert of Bavaria to remove him from the Antiquarium project in Munich. Whatever the case may be, by 1581 he was in serious trouble with the Italian church. In that year the Inquisition passed down the order to burn him in effigy in his hometown of Mantua. Despite these problems with the Inquisition he refused to make a clear break with Rome and in fact sought to use the church to advance the fortunes of his sons. In 1568 Paolo was elected chapter member of the Mantuan cathedral notwithstanding his father's questionable reputation. In response to Strada's years of faithful service, Archduke Rudolf recommended Ottavio in 1576 for a canonicate in Germany. It is both surprising and significant, however, that in an era preoccupied with confessional issues Strada exhibited relatively little interest in these matters. Instead he described his home as a place for all kinds of people, a forum for open discussion.
Defining risk in MDS over time

In this issue of Blood , [Pfeilstocker et al][1] reveal that our current major scoring systems for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) predict outcome better at diagnosis than at later times in the disease, a point that should be taken into consideration in decision making at follow-up.[
Increasing Female Academics in Science in the United States: An Examination of Policies

Women academics are underrepresented in science faculties at many colleges and universities in the United States. Efforts to improve the imbalance have been driven by institutional and national-level policies. This article highlights many of the policy efforts by considering the stages of policy process. The article also incorporates international differences in gender equity policy and shows how this issue can be an important part of the policy agenda in science faculties. Through an understanding of policy process, policy makers can find creative ways to grow the numbers of female science academics at universities around the country. This growth can help further expand the opportunities for future generations of female science academics.
Green Tea (Camellia sinensis)

The active constituent of green tea extract is EGCG, which accounts for 40% of its total polyphenol content. Regular consumption of green tea may reduce the risk of hypertension and positively affect mood.
Acute onset heart failure due to Marfan syndrome

A 28-year-old visiting from Central America presented with twenty-four hours of lower extremity swelling, dyspnea and orthopnea. Clinically, she was diagnosed with acute heart failure requiring inotropes with a transthoracic echocardiogram revealing severe mitral regurgitation with a normal ejection fraction. Subsequent transesophageal echocardiogram confirmed severe mitral regurgitation with aortic root dilatation (Z-score: 3.9). She was also found to have arachnodactyly, scoliosis on X-ray and severe mitral valve prolapse. Given her clinical features she was assessed for Marfan syndrome with the modified Ghent nosology systemic score and met diagnostic criteria. A FBN1 genetic test confirmed the diagnosis of Marfan syndrome discovering a frameshift mutation resulting in an inappropriate stop codon and peptide truncation. For patients presenting with heart failure at an atypical age without typical risk factors, rare conditions such as Marfan syndrome should be considered. Marfan syndrome can accurately and quickly be screened for and diagnosed using the systemic score from the modified Ghent nosology.
Simultaneous reassembly and procurement planning in assemble-to-order remanufacturing systems

Abstract Assemble-to-Order (ATO) remanufacturing systems deal with decision-making on the number and type of modules ready for reassembly, while managing a high degree of uncertainty in the quantity of incoming end-of-life products. Remanufacturers who adopt the waste stream system often passively accept an unpredictable amount of collected supply in their systems. Also, they often keep various items in their inventory for future reassembly purposes despite the parts depreciation which leverages part values in the second-hand market. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a graph-based optimization model for simultaneous reassembly and procurement planning with the aim of determining the type and number of parts that should be reassembled and procured, considering the market demand for both cores and subassemblies. This study articulates the problem employing a network flow graph and integer linear programming (ILP). In addition, the study suggests two key concepts: (1) disposal point, and (2) reassembly threshold. Considering recycling benefits and holding costs, the disposal point helps remanufacturers make proper decisions on the time that they have to dispose of parts that are stored in their inventory. The reassembly threshold makes remanufacturers recognize a tipping point for reassembly process cost where they have to keep parts rather than reassemble them. The application of the proposed method is illustrated using a smartphone example.
Selective sp3 C–H alkylation via polarity-match-based cross-coupling

The functionalization of carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds is one of the most attractive strategies for molecular construction in organic chemistry. The hydrogen atom is considered to be an ideal coupling handle, owing to its relative abundance in organic molecules and its availability for functionalization at almost any stage in a synthetic sequence. Although many C-H functionalization reactions involve C(sp3)-C(sp2) coupling, there is a growing demand for C-H alkylation reactions, wherein sp3 C-H bonds are replaced with sp3 C-alkyl groups. Here we describe a polarity-match-based selective sp3 C-H alkylation via the combination of photoredox, nickel and hydrogen-atom transfer catalysis. This methodology simultaneously uses three catalytic cycles to achieve hydridic C-H bond abstraction (enabled by polarity matching), alkyl halide oxidative addition, and reductive elimination to enable alkyl-alkyl fragment coupling. The sp3 C-H alkylation is highly selective for the α-C-H of amines, ethers and sulphides, which are commonly found in pharmaceutically relevant architectures. This cross-coupling protocol should enable broad synthetic applications in de novo synthesis and late-stage functionalization chemistry.
Language attitudes, generations, and identity in coastal Belize

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on a study of language attitudes and generational differences with respect to two varieties of Kriol, the Afro-Belizean language of Belize. We investigate attitudes toward Belize City Kriol and Punta Gorda Kriol with a special focus on differences across generations of Belizeans. We employed a verbal-guise test with 131 participants, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, and found that BC Kriol was in general rated more highly than PG Kriol among two generations of those surveyed. We attribute this among other things to the fact that BC Kriol is considered to be the more traditional variety, and that this tradition translates into status and prestige at a time when the newly independent country is faced with fashioning a postcolonial Belizean identity.
Uncovering the role of branched-chain amino acid transaminases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae isobutanol biosynthesis

Isobutanol and other branched-chain higher alcohols (BCHAs) are promising advanced biofuels derived from the degradation of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a particularly attractive host for the production of BCHAs due to its high tolerance to alcohols and prevalent use in the bioethanol industry. Degradation of BCAAs begins with transamination reactions, catalyzed by branched-chain amino acid transaminases (BCATs) located in the mitochondria (Bat1p) and cytosol (Bat2p). However, the roles that these transaminases play in isobutanol production remain poorly understood and obscured by conflicting reports in the literature. In this work, we elucidate the influence of BCATs on isobutanol production in two genetic backgrounds (CEN.PK2-1C and BY4741). In the process, we uncover and characterize two competing isobutanol pathways, which can be manipulated by overexpressing or deleting BAT1 or BAT2, and adding or removing valine from the fermentation media. We show that deletion of BAT1 alone increases isobutanol production by 14.2-fold over wild type strains in media lacking valine, and examine how interactions between valine and the regulatory protein Ilv6p affect isobutanol production. Compartmentalizing the five-gene isobutanol biosynthetic pathway in mitochondria of BAT1 deletion strains results in an additional 2.1-fold increase in isobutanol production in the absence of valine. While valine inhibits isobutanol production, it boosts 2-methyl-1-butanol production. This work clarifies the role of transamination activity in BCHA biosynthesis, and develops valuable strategies and strains for future optimization of isobutanol production.
T-Wave Morphology Analysis to Detect High Risk in Long-QT Syndrome.

See Article by Sugrue et al One of the most important gaps in knowledge in the management of patients with congenital long-QT syndrome (LQTS) is our poor ability to detect patients who will remain at risk of a cardiac event even after standard therapy has been initiated. The majority of LQTS patients will achieve adequate risk reduction with antiadrenergic (usually β-blocker) therapy and should not be subjected to the risks and complications of an implantable defibrillator. However, a small subset of patients will have a residual risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia. Very-high-risk patients can be easy to spot, especially if they have had an aborted cardiac arrest, or a very long QT interval and history of arrhythmic syncope. Conversely, patients with mild- to moderate-QT prolongation and no history of syncope rarely develop symptoms of syncope or cardiac arrest on β-blocker therapy. However, there are some patients who are more difficult to sort out. Among these are patients with variable but sometimes marked QT prolongation, patients with unexplained symptoms, …
Benign Sinus Disease

On PET/MR imaging, benign sinusitis appears as thickened mucosa with mild diffuse FDG uptake consistent with inflammation and infection. This is often detected incidentally on PET/MR imaging for other pathology.
Disseminated coccidioidomycosis-related cervical intramedullary lesion causing quadriplegia in an immunocompetent host.

A 41-year-old man with a history of crystal methamphetamine and alcohol abuse had progressive fever, nausea, headache, gait difficulties and seizures over 4 weeks while living in California and Mexico. He was diagnosed with meningitis, treated with antibacterials and discharged to a rehabilitation facility. One month later, he had recurrent symptoms with weakness of both arms and legs. Neuroimaging revealed extensive basilar pachymeningitis, leptomeningitis, hydrocephalus (figure 1A), cervical epidural enhancement (figure 1B) and a non-enhancing central cervical intramedullary lesion spanning C1 through C6 (figure 1C). He was started on fluconazole 800 mg daily due to his travel history, although a serum antibody test was …
Obesity and inflammatory bowel disease: diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Purpose of reviewThe review summarizes our current understanding of how obesity impacts diagnostic studies and therapies used in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as well as the safety and efficacy of medical and surgical weight loss therapies in the obese IBD patient.Recent findingsMany of the diagn
Trust-Building in a Patient Forum: The Interplay of Professional and Personal Expertise:

Online discussion forums for patients offer the benefits of community but the risks of misinformation. A physician-moderated forum may help to mitigate this tension. How do both the professional ex...
5 – Characters as the Units of Evolutionary Change

As evolutionary biologists, we would like to understand the history and predict the course ofevolution. This is a difficult task, as the complexity ofbiological entities is staggeringly high. The phenotype ofan organism can be described as a collection ofmany traits -limb length, bristle number, enzyme activity, hormone levels, etc. Furthermore, each of these traits will change through the life of an individual, making the task ofdescribing the phenotype one of infinite complexity. Clearly, ifwe need to consider an infinite number of phenotypes to understand evolution, We can make no progress. Turning to the genetic basis of the phenotype seems hardly better. The genotype ofa multicelhilar organism consists of 10 or more genes. Although the number ofgenes is at least finite, it is small improvement to argue that if only we knew the states of 10,000 genes in a population could we understand evolution. Two major complicating features of the genetic system are that it is polygenic and pleiotropic. Pleiotropy describes the fact that each gene influences many p~enotypic traits; it tells us that the fitness of genotypes at each locus will be dIfficult to predict, as it will depend on its effects on many phenotypes. Polygenic
The Endangered School District: The Promise and Challenge of Redistributing Control of Public Education

One constant in American public education reform has been the existence of a single local entity – the school district – with operational responsibility. In some places, that is changing. Fueled by undercurrents in education reform such as the embrace of broader school choice and an increase in state involvement in local education, as well as federal political alignment supporting these undercurrents, some communities are embracing a radical structural reform that redistributes operational control across a series – or portfolio – of autonomous entities.In such communities – typically large, urban school systems serving a student population that is largely poor and made up of minority students – the term “district” no longer applies. The broad, district-wide authority of a school board and superintendent is being dispersed to a variety of operators, including state education departments, private (i.e., charter school) operators, and the preexisting district itself. Each operator enjoys substantial or even total independence from other operators, generating an autonomy that has not existed within the traditional district structure. The Endangered School District describes the causes and ramifications of such a substantial departure from the traditional district model and offers case studies from two communities – New Orleans, LA, and Memphis/Shelby County, TN – at the epicenter of urban education reform. Building on scholarship evaluating the theory of expanded school choice and operational autonomy, these case studies help demonstrate the practical challenges of applying these theories beyond isolated schools to entire educational communities.There is great disagreement about the wisdom of transitioning toward a portfolio model for public education. The Endangered School District simply accepts the development as the emerging trend that it is and offers insight from two communities for making the most of such a radical structural change.First, the article describes the undercurrents that are enabling the portfolio strategy and the ramifications – administrative, legal and philosophical – of moving away from the traditional district model. After introducing the case studies, the article next examines the respective new models in depth in order to evaluate whether either can deliver as a strategy to increase educational opportunities for students. Specifically, the article identifies the dangers that these structural reforms may simply reorganize the stratified educational systems they seek to eliminate or that they may not be financially, legally, or politically sustainable over time and on such a large scale. Rather than merely identifying these challenges, the article then goes on to identify legal structures – such as state laws or bilateral agreements between public school authorizers and public school operators or even among operators themselves – that can help minimize these risks.
Production of Hydrogen and Methanol via Biomass Gasification

Methanol and hydrogen are gaining increasing attention as possible future vehicle fuels. Biomass is an attractive feedstock for the production of these fuels, because its use would contribute little or no net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere when the biomass is grown renewably. Production of either fuel from biomass begins with thermochemical gasification. Partial-oxidation biomass gasifiers, such as fluidized-bed systems, are derived from coal gasifier designs. Indirectly-heated gasifiers are being developed specifically to take advantage of the unique properties of biomass relative to coal. Using process-simulation software and pinch analysis, we modeled the production of methanol and hydrogen from biomass. We investigated a variety of different gasifier designs to help illuminate the important role gasification plays in the overall efficiency of the plant. Indirectly-heated gasifier designs, such as that of the Battelle-Columbus Laboratory, give substantially better overall thermodynamic performance than partial oxidation gasifiers, such as fluidized-bed designs like that of the Institute of Gas Technology. The efficiency of producing hydrogen is higher than for methanol with either gasifier design. The total cost of producing either fuel is lowest for the indirectly-heated gasifiers. Hydrogen costs are about 20% lower than methanol costs due to the simpler equipment downstream of the gasifier and to the higher efficiency. Without considering environmental externalities, methanol and hydrogen from biomass would not be less costly than these fuels produced from natural gas at prevailing gas prices. However, the biomass-based fuels would be less costly than for coal-based production. Biomass appears to be the only renewable feedstock from which methanol can be made. Of the options for making hydrogen from renewable sources, biomass appears to be the lowest cost one at the scale considered here.
A-Resultants and Chow Polytopes of Toric Varieties

We begin, starting with resultants, to apply the general formalism of Part I to discriminants and resultants associated with toric varieties. The treatment of discriminants is left for the next chapter.
Macrostructure in Discourse Comprehension, Psychology of

Texts have a horizontal organization, or microstructure, corresponding to the relationships between successive sentences in a text. Texts also have a vertical organization, or macrostructure, corresponding to the hierarchical organization of text content around its main ideas, or macropropositions. As the source of a text's global coherence, the process of constructing a representation of a text's macrostructure is central to the process of text comprehension. It consists, first, of identifying and representing macropropositions as they are encountered during reading and, second, of determining the relations among the macropropositions. These processes are guided by a variety of explicit signals and syntactic cues, as well as the reader's knowledge of how macrorelevant information is conventionally distributed within a text. In addition, processing depends heavily on the reader's semantic knowledge to construct macropropositions that are only implied in the text, and also to identify hierarchical relations among macropropositions expressed or implied by the author.
The local linearization method in transonic flow theory.

Considerable progress has been made in recent years in solving the important, but elusive, theoretical problem of transonic flow past thin wings and slender bodies (see refs. 1 and 2 for recent reviews). The basic foundations for this progress were essentially completed nearly a decade ago with the demonstration that the results indicated by the small disturbance theory of inviscid transonic flow were in strikingly good agreement with wind-tunnel observations. The theoretical results available at that time had been determined in the years immediately preceding and were of two types, both essentially exact in nature. There were a number of special solutions obtained by application of the hodograph method for two-dimensional flows past simple shapes, principally thin wedges and slightly inclined flat plates. There were, in addition, a number of relations between solutions such as the transonic similarity rules that relate the flows past families of affinely related thin wings or slender bodies of revolution and the equivalence rule that relates the flow around a slender wing and/or body configuration of arbitrary cross section to that around an equivalent body of revolution having the same longitudinal distribution of cross-section area.
Resurgence of specialized shade coffee cultivation: Effects on pollination services and quality of coffee production

Abstract Since the early 2000s, there has been a resurgence in shade coffee production on the island of Puerto Rico. The newly restored specialized shade canopy consists of four native tree species, three of which are nitrogen fixers, and is intended to provide 30% shade cover once the trees are matured. Though much is known about the benefits of rustic and traditional shade plantations to coffee production, there is little information available for specialized shade plantations. Here, we investigate the ways in which fruit set, seed predation, bean weight, proportion of peaberries (i.e., malformed fruits), and beverage quality differ between sun and specialized shade plantations of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora. Additionally, to assess whether coffee plants were pollen limited, we conducted a pollen supplementation experiment in which we compared pollen deposition and berry production on hand-pollinated branches to those of naturally, open-pollinated ones. We found that there was no evidence of pollen limitation on fruit set between sun and specialized shade plantations of C. arabica or C. canephora. We found that specialized shade benefits the proportion of C. arabica fruit set, without compromising bean weight or the proportion of peaberries produced. In comparison, C. canephora showed no improvement in the proportion of fruits set with specialized shade; however, beans from open-pollinated flowers weighed more in specialized shade than sun. Beverage quality was marginally better under shade, and for hand-pollinated flowers. Our results add to the limited body of work investigating the benefits of specialized shade coffee plantations on ecosystem services.
Couples' employment after spousal kidney donation.

We used data from the United Network for Organ Sharing registry of living kidney donors and recipients to identify correlates of paid employment among couples following spousal living donat...
ABAQUS analysis of the SiC cladding fuel rod behavior under PWR normal operation conditions

Abstract Silicon Carbide (SiC) cladding is anticipated to be superior to zirconium-based cladding with regard to tolerating light water reactor (LWR) accidents, but it is also crucial that the cladding performance under normal operation conditions be well understood. This paper focuses on the modeling of thermomechanical behavior of a two-layer SiC cladding in Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel rod under normal operation conditions. For this purpose, a set of ABAQUS subroutines has been written to incorporate material properties and behavior models of Chemical Vapor Deposited (CVD) monolithic SiC, Chemical Vapor Infiltration (CVI) SiCf/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) and UO2. Especially, apart from UO2 irradiation behaviors and fuel rod phenomena models (gas pressure, gap heat transfer, etc.) which have been extensively studied, an alternative swelling model of SiC dedicated for transient simulation and a pseudo-ductile behavior model of CVI SiCf/SiC have been implemented. Both models are important for conducting best estimate analysis of the fuel rod in-pile behavior. Then after benchmarking with the BISON fuel performance analysis code, the ABAQUS model is applied to a downscaled PWR fuel rod with two-layer SiC cladding design, considering different cladding thicknesses and covering the conditions of simple constant power levels, power ramps, power operation mode, reactor hot standby and cold shutdown. The effect of swelling differential between CVD SiC and CVI SiCf/SiC is also discussed. With the help of finite element analysis (FEA), the tightly coupled thermomechanical behavior of SiC cladding fuel rod can be well studied.
Novel insights into the role of aberrantly expressed MNX1 (HLXB9) in infant acute myeloid leukemia

Almost two decades ago, the molecular characterization of a t(7;12)(q36;p13) chromosomal translocation in very young children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and poor outcome identified a fusion mRNA potentially encoding for a chimeric protein that contains the pointed (PNT) and ETS domains of the
EVALUATION OF COMPLEX LOGARITHMS AND RELATED FUNCTIONS WITH INTERVAL ARITHMETIC

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the evaluation of complex logarithms and related functions with interval arithmetic. It presents a general algorithm that was suggested by Gauss in 1800. However, the algorithm bears the name of Borchardt who rediscovered and published it in 1880. Carlson, 1972, coupled Borchardts algorithm with Richardson extrapolation to obtain a viable technique for programmed computation. The chapter presents a complex version of Carlson's treatment under the assumption that the four operations of complex arithmetic and the principal complex square root are available; the latter is the single-valued function whose range is + = {x + iy : x > 0 or x = 0 with y ≥ 0}.
Trends in the medical supply of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues: United States, 2006 to 2017

Fentanyl is an important opioid for pain management, but also has exceptional potential for misuse. Seven states have implemented opioid prescribing laws. The objectives of this study were to: 1) characterize the temporal pattern of fentanyl, fentanyl analogue, and other opioid use over the past decade, and 2) determine whether opioid prescribing laws impacted fentanyl use in the US. Drug weights were obtained from the US Automated Reports of Consolidated Orders System (June 2018), a comprehensive publically available resource, from 2006 to 2017 for fentanyl, sufentanil, remifentanil, alfentanil, other prescription opioids, and analyzed by presence of a state opioid prescribing law. Fentanyl, corrected for population, was reduced from 2016 to 2017 (-17.9%) and these decreases significantly exceeded the changes in hydrocodone (-12.3%), oxycodone (-10.1%), morphine (-13.3%), or codeine (-8.8%). Fentanyl showed a particularly large decline in Maine, a state with a strong opioid prescribing law. There was a 3.5 fold difference in fentanyl (μg per capita) in Alaska (488.2) relative to Oregon (1718.4). Hospital use of remifentanil and sufentanil tripled from 2006 to 2017. Although all states experienced a 2016 to 2017 decline in fentanyl, and this reduction was larger than many other prescription opioids, the rate of decline varied over three-fold between states. Strong state laws may account for a portion of the variance in fentanyl and other opioid reductions. The population health risks of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues warrants ongoing vigilance.
Measurement of Gait and Postural Control in Aging

Proper gait and postural stability are important factors for maintaining quality of life and performing activities of daily living with ease in older adults. Dysfunction with these motor abilities may increase the risk of falls and lead to more frequent hospitalizations. To assess gait and posture in the aging population, the appropriate variables need to be identified first. The tools and equipment to measure these variables can then be determined. For example, spatiotemporal parameters can be used to characterize gait. To quantify these parameters, timing mats, wearable inertial sensors, motion capture, force plates, and optical sensors may be used. Motion capture and force plates can also be used to measure the kinematics and kinetics of gait. To assess posture, body-worn sensors, force plates, and other specialized equipment can be used to determine acceleration patterns of the torso, center-of-pressure kinematics, or a combination of the two, respectively. Validated clinical assessments, including questionnaires and ordinal scales, can be used to further characterize gait, posture, and balance in older adults. Finally, data analysis strategies, often combined with validated tools and equipment, can be implemented in an attempt to further describe the underlying mechanisms of gait and postural control. These strategies include power spectral analysis, principal component analysis, gait variability, stabilogram-diffusion analysis, and the pinned-polymer model and fluctuation-dissipation theorem applied to postural control. With this information, the healthcare practitioner may be more aware of the measurement tools and strategies to monitor changes in gait and posture in the aging population.
Anaplastic glioneuronal tumor with KIAA1549/BRAF fusion

Glioneuronal tumors are usually low-grade and have favorable prognosis. The anaplastic glioneuronal tumor with KIAA1549/BRAF fusion has not yet been documented. This article reports a case of glioneuronal tumor with anaplasia and KIAA1549/BRAF fusion to illuminate the importance of KIAA1549/BRAF fusion in high-grade glioneuronal tumors. A ten-year-old boy presented with one year of headache and three months of blurry vision and proptosis. Ophthalmologic evaluation revealed bilateral papilledema. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a large mixed cystic and solid mass in the left frontal lobe of cerebrum. Histologic analysis demonstrated a neoplasm with pseudopapillary growth pattern, focal necrosis, microcalcification, and brisk mitotic activity with a high Ki67 labeling index of focally up to 20%. Immunohistochemical assessment identified a mixed glial and neuronal neoplastic cell population. Molecular studies revealed a KIAA1549/BRAF fusion. The histological and molecular changes are consistent with an anaplastic glioneuronal tumor with KIAA1549/BRAF fusion. In view of the fact that the effective, targeted therapies for the tumors with KIAA1549/BRAF fusion are available, detection of KIAA1549/BRAF fusion for high-grade glioneuronal tumors is clinically helpful.
An Interaction Taxonomy of Human–Agent Teaming in Next Generation Combat Vehicle Systems

Next Generation Combat Vehicles (NGCVs) are incorporating more advanced technology which will enable humans and intelligent artificial agents to team up on the battlefield. Effective system design and evaluation for these human–agent teams require an understanding of individual and team tasks in the context of larger-scale operations. Previous taxonomies of human–automation interaction and human–agent teaming have been proposed, however, there is a lack of work focused on team interactions in the military domain and the teamwork dynamics required for our purposes are not captured. Unstructured interviews with subject matter experts, manuals, and relevant literature were synthesized, and a task analysis was conducted to develop a novel interaction taxonomy approach consisting of three primary categories, each with multiple dimensions: task, team composition, and communication. This taxonomy may generalize into human–agent teaming within a variety of NGCV crews and serve as a model for characterizing human–agent team interactions in other domains.
How Students Use Statistical Computing in Problem Solving

As the demand for skilled data scientists has grown, university level statistics and data science courses have become more rigorous in training students to understand and utilize the tools that the...
An untold story: A unifying narrative of the discipline of occupational science

Occupational science has evolved into a globally situated academic discipline that is generating knowledge related to individuals and their lived experience and occupations, and their communities’ ...
Art Criticism in the Contracted Field1

Just over a decade-and-a-half ago, a roundtable discussion published in the pages of October worried that the periodic renewal of critical discourses had slowed to a standstill and that art criticism was faced with obsolescence. Such an obsolescence should be understood in a broadly Hegelian manner: the danger is not that art criticism would disappear from the cultural field, but that it will continue—although drained of its previous necessity. Such fears perhaps run the risk of exaggeration, yet this paper shall suggest that there seems a sense in which the field of art criticism has contracted in recent years. Self-reflexivity in art and the popularization of “para-curatorial” approaches, for instance, often underpin the artwork discursively before the arrival of art criticism upon the scene. To be sure, such circumstances are viewable positively as interdisciplinary dialogical opportunities, but the negative flipside here is that art criticism’s potential contribution becomes increasingly minimized. From another angle, critics such as Isabelle Graw have contended that the economic-cultural regime of post-Fordism, with its attention on intellectual labor and knowledge production, might actually hold possibilities for the contemporary art critic—but even here, I shall argue, art criticism becomes contracted, albeit in the other meaning of the word.
Machiavellianism: Past, Present, and Future of the Construct

Machiavellianism is an element of dark leadership, which has received increasing research attention. Despite past theoretical and empirical work, in this review, we identify problems with the conce...
Retrospective Review of Patients With Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices Treated With Spot Scanning Proton Therapy.

Purpose/Objective(s) There is limited data on the effects of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) on cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) such as pacemakers or defibrillators. Neutron scatter could affect CIED function and great caution needs to be taken when treating patients (pts) with CIEDs with IMPT. The purpose of this retrospective study was to review our experience treating CIED pts with IMPT. Materials/Methods We retrospectively reviewed 50 pts age ≥18 years with CIEDs underwent IMPT for esophageal (11), H&N (10), other GI (7), NSCLC (6), prostate (6), brain (3), and breast (2) cancers, 4 pts with sarcomas and 1 pt with metastatic disease to bone between June 2015 and July 2020 at our institution on this IRB approved study. Thirty-seven pts were male and the average age (range) was 74 years (25-91). CIED manufacturers were Medtronic (21), Boston Scientific (15), Abbott (10), Biotronik (3) and Sorin (1). Forty-three pts had pacemakers and 7 had defibrillators. Eight pts were pacemaker dependent. Prior to treating the first CIED pt with IMPT, a multidisciplinary team including radiation oncology, cardiology, anesthesiology and nursing was established to develop guidelines for safe treatment and monitoring before, during and after IMPT. We implemented a risk-based decision tree for monitoring during treatment based on CIED dependence and underlying heart rate. We report with descriptive statistics pt demographics, cancer diagnosis, dose and distance from CIED, and CIED events and outcomes (CIED malfunctions, resets, battery depletion). Results Thirteen pts had intensive monitoring of their CIED during IMPT and the remaining 37 pts had reduced monitoring. Overall, 619 fractions were analyzed. The median prescribed proton dose (range) of radiation was 50 GyRBE1.1 in 25 fractions (25-75 GyRBE1.1). 46 pts had zero proton dose to the CIED. Those who had dose to the CIED had an average dose of 0.85 GyRBE1.1 (range of 0.03-2.18 GyRBE1.1). The average distance from CIED was 16.4cm (range: 2.4- > 50cm). There were no major CIED events related to the IMPT. There were three pts who had pacemaker programming resets to manufacturer settings, and all three of these pts had Biotronik CIEDs. These three pts had 6, 1 and 3 resets, and their CIED were 4cm, 7cm and 9cm from the 80% isodose line, respectively. No clinical cardiac events were related to these resets, and the CIEDS were reprogrammed to original settings uneventfully. Routine CIED battery depletion occurred in 2 pts, one of whom underwent CIED replacement during treatment. Projected CIED battery longevity decreased by 1-4 yrs in five pts. Conclusion Treating pts with CIEDs undergoing IMPT seems to be safe as long as pts are carefully monitored. Infrequent CIED resets may occur. Frequent CIED monitoring may be associated with reduced projected CIED battery longevity. Long term outcomes will be reviewed and reported at the meeting.
Hydrocortisone and/or desiccated thyroid in physiologic dosage: XIV. Effects of thyroid hormone excesses on pressor activity and epinephrine responses

Abstract In experimental thyrotoxicosis induced in healthy adult volunteers by the administration of large dosages of purified desiccated thyroid (Proloid) up to 25 grains per day, increases in systolic blood pressure and tachycardia were accompanied by increases in the pressor activity (aortic strip assay) of urine. The suggestion that this increased pressor activity represents a potentiation of pressor amines by the thyroid hormone excess is supported by the demonstration that the systolic rise and tachycardia after epinephrine were greater during thyroid therapy than after withdrawal of the thyroid excess.
Algebraic topology and modular forms

Modular forms appear in many facets of mathematics, and have played important roles in geometry, mathematical physics, number theory, representation theory, topology, and other areas. Around 1994, motivated by technical issues in homotopy theory, Mark Mahowald, Haynes Miller and I constructed a topological refinement of modular forms, which we call {\em topological modular forms}. At the Zurich ICM I sketched a program designed to relate topological modular forms to invariants of manifolds, homotopy groups of spheres, and ordinary modular forms. This program has recently been completed and new directions have emerged. In this talk I will describe this recent work and how it informs our understanding of both algebraic topology and modular forms.
Investigation of temperature induced mechanical changes in supported bilayers by variants of tapping mode atomic force microscopy

Summary Tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an invaluable technique for examining topographical features of biological materials in solution, and there has been a growing interest in developing techniques to provide further compositional contrast and information concerning surface mechanical properties. Phase shifts, cantilever response at higher harmonic frequencies of the drive, and time-resolved tip/sample force reconstruction have all been shown to provide additional compositional contrast of surfaces, as compared to basic tapping mode AFM imaging. This study aimed to demonstrate the relative ability of these different imaging techniques to detect temperature induced changes in the elastic modulus of supported total brain lipid extract (TBLE) bilayer patches on mica. To aid in direct comparison between the different imaging techniques, all required data was obtained simultaneously while capturing traditional tapping mode AFM topography images. While all of the techniques were able to provide compositional contrast consistent with known temperature-induced changes in the bilayer patch, interpretation of the resulting contrast was not always straightforward. Phase imaging suffered from contrast inversion. Individual harmonics responded in a variety of ways to the temperature-induced changes in elastic modulus of the bilayer. The maximum tapping force (or peak force) associated with imaging the bilayer correctly reflected the changes in elastic modulus of the lipid bilayer. Importantly, as the required data can be obtained simultaneously, combining these different imaging techniques can lead to a more complete understanding of a sample's mechanical features. SCANNING 37:23–35, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Gut Commensal Immunomodulatory Factors: Identification and Structure-Function Studies

Contribution of commensal microbiota to the host immune maturation gathers significant interests, however, their underlying mechanisms are remained to be investigated. We have focused on Bacteroide...
DILEPTON PRODUCTION IN HADRONIC COLLISIONS

Quarks play a central part in particle physics. They were introduced as three fundamental, irreducible building blocks whose combinations reproduced the vast spectroscopy and static properties of hadronic states. Here we are concerned with the extension of the quark concept to collisions: the quark–parton model provides a description of the weak, electromagnetic and strong scattering processes.
Application of the Smith Chart to General Impedance Transformations

The Smith Chart is not generally used for making impedance calculations when the characteristic impedance of the two terminal-pair network involved is anything but a real number because normalization of some terminating impedances to the complex characteristic impedance may result in a normalized impedance whose real part is negative, and a "propagation constant" whose magnitude is greater than one, even though no active elements are involved in the network. This paper shows how impedances may be calculated using the Smith Chart and associated techniques in much the same manner, and almost as conveniently, as for lossless transmission lines, even though the network may be unsymmetrical, and have complex image impedances and propagation constant. The calculations are mathematically rigorous and simple using the Smith Chart only for converting back and forth between the complex numbers ? in polar form and Z in rectangular form where ? and Z are related by the mathematical expression Z- Z+ 1 No physical interpretation of these numbers is made during the computation as no such interpretation is necessary or useful as far as the method is concerned and may even confuse the main issue, that of a simple solution to a heretofore complex problem.
Spectroscopic approaches to elucidating novel iron-sulfur chemistry in the "radical-Sam" protein superfamily.

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), electron−nuclear double resonance (ENDOR), and Mossbauer spectroscopies and other physical methods have provided important new insights into the radical-SAM superfamily of proteins, which use iron−sulfur clusters and S-adenosylmethionine to initiate H atom abstraction reactions. This remarkable chemistry involves the generation of the extremely reactive 5‘-deoxyadenosyl radical, the same radical intermediate utilized in B12-dependent reactions. Although early speculation focused on the possibility of an organometallic intermediate in radical-SAM reactions, current evidence points to novel chemistry involving a site-differentiated [4Fe−4S] cluster. The focus of this forum article is on one member of the radical-SAM superfamily, pyruvate formate-lyase activating enzyme, and how physical methods, primarily EPR and ENDOR spectroscopies, are contributing to our understanding of its structure and mechanism. New ENDOR data supporting coordination of the methionine moiety of...