cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Review Tax Strategies to Ensure that Retirement Years are 'Golden'

After the ACT, it is important for financial planners to rethink the various strategies in helping their clients create a retirement fund to maintain their lifestyle while in retirement. The model that the authors have developed can help to quantify the many variables that have to be taken into account in determining the most effective way to create a retirement fund. The focus of the author's model is on the average withdrawal that can be made on an after-tax basis. Beyond quantifying as many variables as possible, there are several unknown factors that will affect the planning for investments such as future changes in the tax law, introductions of new financial products, and an individual's ability to save money in the future. The following is a summary of the advantages of investment vehicles to maximize average withdrawals after taxes while in retirement: Roth IRA - when an individual is in a higher tax bracket in year of distribution - no required distribution - 100% exclusion for state income tax purposes - minimizes tax burden on social security benefits - effectively shelters more income in contrast to a regular IRA 401(k) Plan - employer match - when an individual is in a lower tax bracket in year of distribution - high income tax state rate while contributing to plan; low income tax state rate when receiving distributions 403(b) Plan and Regular IRA - when an individual is in a lower tax bracket in year of distribution - high income state rate while contributing to plan; low income tax state rate when receiving distributions Taxable Account - no required distribution - no contribution limits - minimizes tax burden on social security benefits - utilize capital loss deduction - step-up in basis of property in the hands of heirs
Spectroscopic Studies of Chemical Reactions and Dynamics in Sol-Gel Matrices

The synthesis of sol-gel glasses containing organic and organometallic molecular dopants has been well established as an approach for creating new optical materials. Some of these properties are dependent upon chemical reactions which occur in porous xerogel matrices during the sol-gel process or when encapsulated molecules are exposed to other molecules in solution. In this paper, the study of two different types of chemical reactions in the pores of xerogel matrices is reported. In one case copper phthalocyanine is used to characterize dimerization within the pores. The results show that dimer formation is most likely to occur towards the end of the drying stage as the dye concentration in the pores increases from solvent evaporation. A second example involves the use of a pump-probe technique to determine the rate of proton recombination inside the pores of silica monoliths. The behavior of sols and gels is similar to aqueous solution while recombination of protons in the xerogel seems to be affected by the walls of the pores.
Winter Habitat Characteristics of Emei Shan Liocichla at Emei Mountain in China

A basic understanding of habitat selection is necessary for conservation of rare endemic birds. The Emei Shan Liocichla( Liocichla omeiensis) is a rare babbler endemic to the mountains of southwest China.During three winters from 2010 to 2013,we conducted investigations on winter habitat characteristics of Emei Shan Liocichla at the Emei Mountain in Sichuan Province,China with line transect and sampling methods. 26transects were set up along roads,ridges and trails,with a total length of 70 km. We found that Emei Shan Liocichla mainly inhabited the edges of evergreen broadleaf forest,with the elevations ranged from 500 m to 1300 m. We established a total of 47 used samples and 25 control samples,respectively. χ2test showed that Emei Shan Liocichla preferred the sunny slope. The tests of differences of the variables between the used and control samples indicated that Emei Shan Liocichla used the habitats with less and lower trees,denser shrubs,herbs,bamboo and lianes,larger total cover of vegetation,and closer to the forest edge in lower altitude. The results of step discriminant analysis showed that cover of shrubs,cover of herbs,cover of bamboo and distance to forest edge were critical factors to discriminate the used and control samples,with the resolution reliability of87. 5%. We suggested that winter habitat selection by Emei Shan Liocichla be mainly related to food and concealment.
Effects of Clove Oil as a Euthanasia Agent on Blood Collection Efficiency and Serum Cortisol Levels in Danio rerio

Zebrafish are an important laboratory animal model for biomedical research and are increasingly being used for behavioral neuroscience. Tricaine methanesulfonate (MS222) is the standard agent used for euthanasia of zebrafish. However, recent studies of zebrafish behavior suggest that MS222 may be aversive, and clove oil might be a possible alternative. In this study, we compared the effects of MS222 or clove oil as a euthanasia agent in zebrafish on the volume of blood collected and on serum levels of cortisol. Greater amounts of serum could be collected and lower serum levels of cortisol were present in fish euthanized with clove oil compared with equipotent dose of MS222. Euthanasia with clove oil did not blunt the expected elevation of serum cortisol levels elicited by an acute premortem stress. According to our findings, clove oil is a fast-acting agent that minimizes the cortisol response to euthanasia in zebrafish and allows the collection of large volumes of blood postmortem. These results represent a significant refinement in euthanasia methods for zebrafish.
The future of the profession.

1. Elizabeth Kenimer Leibach, Ed.D., M.S., MLS(ASCP)CM, SBBCM[⇑][1] 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 1. Address for Correspondence: Elizabeth Kenimer Leibach, Ed.D., M.S., MLS(ASCP)CM, SBBCM, Senior Service Fellow, Evidence-based Laboratory Medicine Project Lead, Laboratory Research and Evaluation Branch, Division of Laboratory Science and Standards, Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, eleibach{at}cdc.gov Options for ordering and utilizing diagnostic laboratory testing are burgeoning. It is estimated that more than 10,000 diagnostic laboratory tests are available to providers to aid in diagnosis and treatment. Further, spending for in vitro diagnostics represents 2-3% of the U.S. gross domestic product.1 With the emergence of testing capability in the genome, and the promise of personalized, designer laboratory medicine, numbers of tests and their costs are increasing daily. Unfortunately, the services delivery gap between analytic accuracy (laboratorians' providing valid, actionable test results) and medical meaningfulness (providers' understanding of what to do with them) is growing larger, too. Issues related to re-interpretation of diagnostic laboratory information produced by older generations of technology in light of information from new, more sensitive and specific generations are increasing, also, because of the rapid advancement of technology and computerization. With the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department announcement, September 12, 2011, , that HHS, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) intend to amend the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988 to allow patients direct access to their test results, the stakes have become even higher in the challenge to provide quality laboratory information at reasonable costs.2 As discussed extensively in the professional literature, a new practice role is needed to address this gap in services delivery in laboratory medicine (LM).3.4,5 While other members of the LM team, i.e., pathologists and specialty Ph.D. scientists, focus on medical and analytic issues, respectively, this new practice role… [1]: #corresp-1
Variability in the Expression of the O(H) Antigen in Human Transitional Epithelium

AbstractIn many organs the so-called blood group antigens A, B and 0(H) are constituents of the surface of normal epithelial cells. Deletion of these antigens in cases of carcinoma may serve as a clinically useful tumor marker, especially in cases of carcinoma of the bladder. Further progress is hampered by uncertainty concerning the detectability of A, B and H tissue isoantigens on normal urothelium in tissue sections. We examined the expression of these tissue isoantigens on normal ureteral urothelium obtained at autopsy from 68 adults using the specific red cell adherence test and found that they were not detectable in normal urothelium from a significant fraction of individuals in blood group O and that results in blood groups A, B and AB also were somewhat variable. The variability did not appear related to the secretor status or postmortem interval. Our results suggest that the current specific red cell adherence test may not be suitable for detecting deletion of tissue isoantigens in bladder tumor ...
PREFACE TO VOLUME III

This volume deals with quantum field theories that are governed by supersymmetry, a symmetry that unites particles of integer and half-integer spin in common symmetry multiplets. These theories offer a possible way of solving the ‘hierarchy problem,’ the mystery of the enormous ratio of the Planck mass to the 300 GeV energy scale of electroweak symmetry breaking. Supersymmetry also has the quality of uniqueness that we search for in fundamental physical theories. There is an infinite number of Lie groups that can be used to combine particles of the same spin in ordinary symmetry multiplets, but there are only eight kinds of supersymmetry in four spacetime dimensions, of which only one, the simplest, could be directly relevant to observed particles. These are reasons enough to devote this third volume of The Quantum Theory of Fields to supersymmetry. In addition, the quantum field theories based on supersymmetry have remarkable properties that are not found among other field theories: some supersymmetric theories have couplings that are not renormalized in any order of perturbation theory; other theories are finite; and some even allow exact solutions. Indeed, much of the most interesting work in quantum field theory over the past decade has been in the context of supersymmetry.
How Parents Read Counting Books and Non-numerical Books to Their Preverbal Infants: An Observational Study.

Studies have stressed the importance of counting with children to promote formal numeracy abilities; however little work has investigated when parents begin to engage in this behavior with their young children. In the current study, we investigated whether parents elaborated on numerical information when reading a counting book to their preverbal infants and whether developmental differences in numerical input exist even in the first year of life. Parents and their 5-10 month old infants were asked to read, as they would at home, two books to their infants: a counting book and another book that did not have numerical content. Parents’ spontaneous statements rarely focused on number and those that did consisted primarily of counting, with little emphasis on labeling the cardinality of the set. However, developmental differences were observed even in this age range, such that parents were more likely to make numerical utterances when reading to older infants. Together, results are the first to characterize naturalistic reading behaviors between parents and their preverbal infants in the context of counting books, suggesting that although counting books promote numerical language in parents, infants still receive very little in the way of numerical input before the end of the first year of life. While little is known regarding the impact of number talk on the cognitive development of young infants, the current results may guide future work in this area by providing the first assessment of the characteristics of parental numerical input to preverbal infants.
Analyzing Artificial Neural Networks and Dynamic Time Warping for spoken keyword recognition under transient noise conditions

Spoken keyword recognition has been under the spotlight for the past several decades, but has gained significant attention in recent years due to the rapid increase in front-end technology applications for mobile and wearable computing. This work presents the trade-off in performance between Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) methodologies, implemented for this task under three different transient noise conditions (inside a car, in a pub, and outdoors), where no external noise reduction pre-processing is used. For this purpose, two types of recognition models were implemented: speaker dependent (SD) and speaker independent (SI). Experimental results show comparable high keyword recognition precision in SD models for both ANN and DTW using baseline data, i.e. no transient noise, but for the SI models, a significant drop in precision was observed for the case of DTW. Additional precision analyses present the results on how the different types of transient noise affect the recognition methodologies of interest. From the point of view of storage resources, both methodologies require comparable memory usage for the SD models, however, the SI model increases the memory needed with the DTW methodology. Lastly, time performance analysis showed a faster recognition time using the ANN methodology.
Optimal cure cycle parameters for minimizing residual stresses in fiber-reinforced polymer composite laminates:

The curing of a fiber-reinforced composite laminate in an autoclave generally induces residual stresses that may make the cured laminate curved. Here, we find optimal cure cycle parameters for asym...
Drift counteraction optimal control for deterministic systems and enhancing convergence of value iteration

Abstract The paper treats a class of optimal control problems for deterministic nonlinear discrete-time systems with the objective of maximizing the time or total yield until prescribed constraints are violated. Such problems are referred to as drift counteraction optimal control (DCOC) problems as the corresponding control policy may be viewed as optimally counteracting drift imposed by disturbances or system dynamics. We derive conditions for the existence of an optimal solution. The optimal control policy is characterized by the value function and a new algorithm based on proportional feedback is presented that obtains the value function faster than conventional dynamic programming algorithms. In addition, an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) approach using Gaussian process regression is formulated based on the new algorithm. Two numerical examples are reported, a time maximization problem for a van der Pol oscillator and a satellite life extension problem.
Amniotic fluid transcriptomics reflects novel disease mechanisms in fetuses with myelomeningocele.

Background Cell-free RNA in amniotic fluid supernatant reflects developmental changes in gene expression in the living fetus, which includes genes that are specific to the central nervous system. Although it has been previously shown that central nervous system–specific transcripts are present in amniotic fluid supernatant, it is not known whether changes in the amniotic fluid supernatant transcriptome reflect the specific pathophysiologic condition of fetal central nervous system disorders. In myelomeningocele, there is open communication between the central nervous system and amniotic fluid. Objectives The purpose of this study was to identify molecular pathophysiologic changes and novel disease mechanisms that are specific to myelomeningocele by the analysis of amniotic fluid supernatant cell-free RNA in fetuses with open myelomeningocele. Study Design Amniotic fluid supernatant was collected from 10 pregnant women at the time of the open myelomeningocele repair in the second trimester (24.5±1.0 weeks); 10 archived amniotic fluid supernatant from sex and gestational age–matched euploid fetuses without myelomeningocele were used as controls (20.9±0.9 weeks). Differentially regulated gene expression patterns were analyzed with the use of human genome expression arrays. Results Fetuses with myelomeningocele had 284 differentially regulated genes (176 up- and 108 down-regulated) in amniotic fluid supernatant. Known genes that were associated with myelomeningocele ( PRICKLE2 , GLI3 , RAB2 3, HES1 , FOLR1 ) and novel dysregulated genes were identified in association with neurodevelopment and neuronal regeneration (up-regulated, GAP4 3 and ZEB1 ) or axonal growth and guidance (down-regulated, ACAP1 ). Pathway analysis demonstrated a significant contribution of inflammation to disease and a broad influence of Wnt signaling pathways ( Wnt1 , Wnt5A , ITPR1 ). Conclusion Transcriptomic analyses of living fetuses with myelomeningocele with the use of amniotic fluid supernatant cell-free RNA demonstrated differential regulation of specific genes and molecular pathways relevant to this central nervous system disorder, which resulted in a new understanding of pathophysiologic changes. The data also suggested the importance of pathways that involve secondary disease, such as inflammation, in myelomeningocele. These newly identified pathways may lead to hypotheses that can test novel therapeutic targets as adjuncts to fetal surgical repair.
The Effects of Constant Light on Visually Guided Behavior

Adult, albino rats kept in continuous light have been shown to develop severe retinal degeneration. Both light and electron microscopic evidence has indicated that substantial destruction occurred in the receptor cell layer when low levels of light (less than 20 Ft-C) were used to produce the degeneration (1–10) and that both the receptor cell and pigment epithelial layers were seriously damaged when high levels of light (more than 100 Ft-C) were used to induce degeneration (11–13). Incandescent lighting was only slightly less effective than fluorescent lighting in producing light-induced, retinal degeneration (8). Spectral sensitivity studies have suggested that the shorter wavelengths of visible light produce the most damaging effects on the retina (14–16).
Giving Back in an Asian American Community in the South: An Intergenerational Perspective

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the intergenerational dynamics of “giving back” among immigrants in an Asian American community in the southern region of the United States. The paper is guided by the intergenerational ambivalence paradigm to explore dynamics between first and second generations in their community involvement. The study used the qualitative method of phenomenological approach to identify emerging themes that include (a) importance of ethnic organizations; (b) defined roles and responsibilities within the ethnic organizations that exist between first and second generations; and (c) the second generation wanting to give back and manage ethnic organizations differently from the first generation.
Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome and pregnancy

Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) is a rare but life-threatening condition that may be precipitated by pregnancy. The condition can be hard to diagnose since it mimics other thrombotic microangiopathies that are associated with pregnancy. Accurate and timely diagnosis is critical for effective treatment. In this review, we highlight pertinent clinical features of CAPS so that obstetricians will be able to recognize and treat the condition.
Nanoscale Structure–Property Relationships of Polyacrylonitrile/CNT Composites as a Function of Polymer Crystallinity and CNT Diameter

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites are used as precursors for ultrastrong and lightweight carbon fibers. However, insights into the structure at the nanoscale and the relationships to mechanical and thermal properties have remained difficult to obtain. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation with accurate potentials and available experimental data were used to describe the influence of different degrees of PAN preorientation and CNT diameter on the atomic-scale structure and properties of the composites. The inclusion of CNTs in the polymer matrix is favored for an intermediate degree of PAN orientation and small CNT diameter whereas high PAN crystallinity and larger CNT diameter disfavor CNT inclusion. The glass transition at the CNT/PAN interface involves the release of rotational degrees of freedom of the polymer backbone and increased mobility of the protruding nitrile side groups in contact with the carbon nanotubes. The glass-transition temperature of the composite increas...
Infraorbital Foramen and Pterygopalatine Fossa Location in Dry Skulls: Anatomical Guidelines for Local Anesthesia.

Purpose. The aim of the study was to locate the infraorbital foramen (IOF) in relation to the infraorbital margin (IOM) for proper injections of local anesthetics in skull specimens. Another aim was to determine the depth of needle penetration into pterygopalatine fossa through the greater palatine canal (GPC). Materials and Methods. 102 skull halves were used to measure the distances between (1) IOF and IOM and (2) IOF and alveolar ridge of maxilla at second premolar. Needles were inserted and bent at a 45° angle, passing through the GPC at the level of hard palate. The depth of the tip of needle emerging out of GPC into pterygopalatine fossa was measured. Results. The mean distance between IOF and IOM was mm on the right side and mm on the left. The mean distance between IOF and alveolar bone process of the maxilla at second premolar was mm on the right side and mm on the left. The mean depth of penetration of the needle into the pterygopalatine fossa was similar on both sides. Conclusions. Proper identification of IOF and pterygopalatine fossa is of great significance during local anesthesia injections, due to their close proximity to vital anatomic structures.
Pharmacological profiling of sigma 1 receptor ligands by novel receptor homomer assays.

Abstract The sigma 1 receptor (σ1R) is a structurally unique transmembrane protein that functions as a molecular chaperone in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and has been implicated in cancer, neuropathic pain, and psychostimulant abuse. Despite physiological and pharmacological significance, mechanistic underpinnings of structure-function relationships of σ1R are poorly understood, and molecular interactions of selective ligands with σ1R have not been elucidated. The recent crystallographic determination of σ1R as a homo-trimer provides the foundation for mechanistic elucidation at the molecular level. Here we report novel bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) assays that enable analyses of ligand-induced multimerization of σ1R and its interaction with BiP. Haloperidol, PD144418, and 4-PPBP enhanced σ1R homomer BRET signals in a dose dependent manner, suggesting their significant effects in stabilizing σ1R multimerization, whereas (+)-pentazocine and several other ligands do not. In non-denaturing gels, (+)-pentazocine significantly decreased whereas haloperidol increased the fraction of σ1R multimers, consistent with the results from the homomer BRET assay. Further, BRET assays examining heteromeric σ1R-BiP interaction revealed that (+)-pentazocine and haloperidol induced opposite trends of signals. From molecular modeling and simulations of σ1R in complex with the tested ligands, we identified initial clues that may lead to the differed responses of σ1R upon binding of structurally diverse ligands. By combining multiple in vitro pharmacological and in silico molecular biophysical methods, we propose a novel integrative approach to analyze σ1R-ligand binding and its impact on interaction of σ1R with client proteins.
Does Complement Have a Role in the Pathogenesis of Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disorder in which immune attack of the anagen follicle causes hair loss in approximately 2% of the population. Although the pathogenesis of AA has not been fully determined, most likely it is mediated by a variety of factors including cellular/humoral immunity and genetic predisposition. Researchers have been interested in the possible role of the complement pathway in AA since the 1970s. Given recent evidence suggesting that complement plays a role in many immunologic and inflammatory dermatologic diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus, bullous diseases, angioedema, lipodystrophy, and skin infections, it is likely that complement also contributes to AA pathogenesis. Although early serum studies and immunohistochemical staining have been unimpressive, recent genetics studies may provide evidence that complement does indeed contribute to AA. By determining if complement plays a role in AA, options for novel targeted treatments will become available for those patients with refractory disease.
A Memory Efficient Parallel All-Pairs Computation Framework: Computation – Communication Overlap

All-Pairs problems require each data element in a set of N data elements to be paired with every other data element for specific computation using the two data elements. Our framework aims to address recurring problems of scalability, distributing equal work load to all nodes and by reducing memory footprint. We reduce memory footprint of All-Pairs problems, by reducing memory requirement from \(N/\sqrt{P}\) to 3N/P. A bio-informatics application is implemented to demonstrate the scalability ranging up to 512 cores for the data set we experimented, redundancy management, and speed up performance of the framework.
Characterization of Spatiotemporal Coupling with a Hyperspectral Hartmann Wavefront Sensor

A broadband optical source is directly characterized using a Hartmann wavefront sensor implemented with a custom hyperspectral camera, yielding the accurate experimental characterization of radial group delay and pulse-front tilt.
Increased Long-term Dietary Fiber Intake Is Associated With a Decreased Risk of Fecal Incontinence in Older Women.

Background & Aims Fiber supplements are frequently used as treatment for fecal incontinence (FI), but little is known about the role of dietary fiber in the prevention of FI. Methods We performed a prospective study to examine the association between long-term dietary fiber intake and risk of FI in 58,330 older women (mean age, 73 years) in the Nurses' Health Study who were free of FI in 2008. Energy-adjusted long-term dietary fiber intake was determined using food frequency questionnaires starting in 1984 and updated through 2006. We defined incident FI as at least 1 liquid or solid FI episode per month during the past year during 4 years of follow-up using self-administered biennial questionnaires. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CIs for FI according to fiber intake, adjusting for potential confounding factors. Results During 193,655 person-years of follow-up, we documented 7,056 incident cases of FI. Compared with women in the lowest quintile of fiber intake (13.5 g/day), women in the highest quintile (25 g/day) had an 18% decrease in risk of FI (multivariable hazard ratio, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.76–0.89). This decrease appeared to be greatest for risk of liquid stool FI, which was 31% lower in women with the highest intake of fiber compared with women with the lowest intake (multivariable hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.62–0.75). Risk of FI was not significantly associated with fiber source. Conclusions In an analysis of data from almost 60,000 older women in the Nurses' Health Study, we found higher long-term intake of dietary fiber was associated with decreased risk of FI. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms that mediate this association.
Comparing the long-term outcomes among patients with stomach and small intestine gastrointestinal stromal tumors: An analysis of the National Cancer Database.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common sarcoma arising from the gastrointestinal tract. Data regrading long-term prognosis based on tumor location (stomach vs small intestine) are mixed, so we aimed to analyze their outcomes using a large national oncology database. METHODS The National Cancer Database was queried for cases of stomach and small intestine GIST between the years 2004 and 2014. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and factors related to survival were compared using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS Of 18 900 total patients, those with small intestine GIST had larger median tumor size (6.2 cm; interquartile range [IQR], 3.8 to 10.0 vs stomach: 5.0 cm; IQR, 3.0 to 9.0; P < 0.001) and a higher incidence of tumors with ≥5 mitoses/50 HPF (29.3% vs stomach: 24.2%; P < 0.001). Unadjusted median overall survival (OS) was longer for patients with stomach GIST (10.3 years) as compared to small intestine GIST (9.4 years) (P = 0.01). After controlling for patient and tumor-related factors, however, OS did not differ between stomach and small intestine GIST (hazard ratio, 1.19; 95% confidence interval, 0.88 to 1.61; P = 0.26). CONCLUSIONS Patients with small intestine GIST more commonly have larger, high mitotic rate tumors, but despite these worse prognostic features, tumor location did not independently impact OS.
Institutional cohort study of HIV-positive patients with lung cancer: Implications for screening?

e13582Background: Patients (Pts) with HIV are twice as likely as the general population to be diagnosed with lung cancer. We aimed to study the epidemiological, clinical and pathological characteri...
Segmentation of High-Cost Adults in an Integrated Healthcare System Based on Empirical Clustering of Acute and Chronic Conditions

High-cost patients are a frequent focus of improvement projects based on primary care and other settings. Efforts to characterize high-cost, high-need patients are needed to inform care planning, but such efforts often rely on a priori assumptions, masking underlying complexities of a heterogenous population. To define recognizable subgroups of patients among high-cost adults based on clinical conditions, and describe their survival and future spending. Retrospective observational cohort study. Within a large integrated delivery system with 2.7 million adult members, we selected the top 1% of continuously enrolled adults with respect to total healthcare expenditures during 2010. We used latent class analysis to identify clusters of alike patients based on 53 hierarchical condition categories. Prognosis as measured by healthcare spending and survival was assessed through 2014 for the resulting classes of patients. Among 21,183 high-cost adults, seven clinically distinctive subgroups of patients emerged. Classes included end-stage renal disease (12% of high-cost population), cardiopulmonary conditions (17%), diabetes with multiple comorbidities (8%), acute illness superimposed on chronic conditions (11%), conditions requiring highly specialized care (14%), neurologic and catastrophic conditions (5%), and patients with few comorbidities (the largest class, 33%). Over 4 years of follow-up, 6566 (31%) patients died, and survival in the classes ranged from 43 to 88%. Spending regressed to the mean in all classes except the ESRD and diabetes with multiple comorbidities groups. Data-driven characterization of high-cost adults yielded clinically intuitive classes that were associated with survival and reflected markedly different healthcare needs. Relatively few high-cost patients remain persistently high cost over 4 years. Our results suggest that high-cost patients, while not a monolithic group, can be segmented into few subgroups. These subgroups may be the focus of future work to understand appropriateness of care and design interventions accordingly.
Foveal amplitudes of multifocal electroretinograms are larger following full-field electroretinograms.

The clinical standards for multifocal electroretinograms (mfERG) call for adaption to normal room lighting before the mfERG begins. They specify that any assessments where bright lights are used, should be done after the mfERG to prevent excess stimulation of retinal cells. However, full-field electroretinograms (FFERG) are performed prior to mfERGs in some clinical settings. It is unclear from the literature whether the FFERG has an impact on the mfERG. This study seeks to examine the effect of the FFERG on the mfERG when performed sequentially. Thirty young healthy subjects (age 27.1 ± 3.5 years) were included. Patients reported for two visits and were fully dilated at both visits. At visit one, a FFERG was recorded (VERIS 6.2) using our clinical protocol which includes an ISCEV standard flash sequence; each flash condition was repeated 4–6 times. Following the FFERG, an mfERG was recorded using a 4-min m-sequence at near 100% contrast. At visit two, only the mfERG was recorded. A Burian–Allen contact lens electrode filled with celluvisc was used for all recordings. The two mfERGs were compared for foveal, peripheral, and overall implicit time (IT) and amplitudes (amp). Paired t tests were used to evaluate the data. Coefficient of variation and Bland–Altman analysis was also reported for this patient group. There was a small but statistically significant difference in foveal amplitudes (amp) (p = 0.004) wherein the amp was larger following the FFERG stimuli. The mean difference was 11.1 nV/deg2 (100.9 nV vs 89.8 nV). There was no difference in foveal IT (p = 0.66). There was no difference in overall IT or amp when averaging the entire eye (p = 0.44 amp and p = 0.54 IT) or just evaluating the periphery (p = 0.87 amp and p = 0.051 IT). Bland–Altman analysis found a coefficient of repeatability overall was 1.57 ms (IT) and 10.7 nV/deg2 (amp). The difference in foveal amplitude is likely the result of a small long-term cone adaptation, but further studies are needed. While it is statistically significant, the small difference is unlikely to be clinically important. These results should help increase clinical confidence in mfERG results when recorded following a FFERG.
Correlation of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and School Free and Reduced Lunch Eligibility as a Measure of Socioeconomic Status

To determine whether a correlation exists between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (SSB) and school free and reduced lunch (FRL) eligibility as a measure of socioeconomic status (SES). In January 2016, a modified version of the Bev 15 survey was anonymously administered to 5th and 6th grade students in 14 Chicago suburban public elementary schools. Students were asked to recall and record their beverage intake over the last 24 h for five predefined beverage groups [SSB, real fruit juice (RFJ), diet or sugar free beverages, milk, and water]. Concurrently, data regarding FRL eligibility for each of the 14 schools was obtained from the Illinois State Board of Education website. Mean student consumption of the five beverage categories in each school was correlated with the school’s respective FRL status. A total of 1389 student surveys were used for analysis. FRL eligibility ranged from 16 to 64% in the 14 schools. There was a significant correlation between school FRL eligibility and consumption of SSB (p = 0.001), RFJ (p = 0.004) and diet or sugar-free beverage (p = 0.04). There was no significant correlation between FRL eligibility and consumption of water (p = 0.5), and milk (p = 0.2). This study shows that consumption of SSB highly correlates with school FRL eligibility, which can be a measure of SES. These findings reinforce the idea that there is a link between lower SES and unhealthy behaviors pertaining to dietary choices. Knowing this relationship between SSB consumption and FRL eligibility, specific schools can be targeted to reduce SSB consumption and its negative health consequences.
Bringing SEC Comment Letters into the Classroom

This instructional resource provides a detailed look at using SEC comment letters in the accounting classroom. An SEC comment letter is the first step in a conversation between the SEC and a public company filer. The SEC asks for more explanation about the company’s reporting choices, and the company carefully responds to the SEC after considering the nature of the request. On the whole, correspondence between the SEC and companies can be extremely interesting to read, and very useful for keeping current with financial reporting developments (and gaining expertise). This article describes general methods for using SEC comment letters in the classroom, and provides detailed examples in the form of eight specific case studies. Each case or example relates to a communication between the SEC and a single company. Accounting instructors can benefit by using the eight cases developed in the paper, or by using the resources and methods described to create their own evolving set of cases.
Study on Three-Dimensional Data Acquisition of Crop Grains.

The rapid, efficient and non-destructive 3D morphological data acquisition of plants are great significance to the study of digital plant, functional structural plant model and crop phenotype. This paper discusses 3D data acquisition methods for smaller plant organs, which take maize grain as an example. Smartscan and Micro-CT scanning can be used to obtain the morphological data of the grains. The efficiency, accuracy, processing of data in two scanning ways are compared and analyzed. The results shows that the Micro-CT is more suitable for obtaining information of internal structure of maize grain. While grain morphology in SmartScan can get better visualization than Micro-CT, and the former one can also obtain image texture information. These two kinds of methods for volume measurement have good consistency except for Denghai 605. The study will provide theoretical basis for obtaining 3D data of plant organs at smaller scales.
History of Child Abuse: A Key Variable in Client Response to Short-Term Treatment:

A family service counseling program was studied to assess the efficacy of short-term treatment. Previous research indicating effectiveness of short-term treatment did not control for a history of c...
Children lose confidence in their potential to “be scientists,” but not in their capacity to “do science”

Over the course of middle childhood, children's interest and beliefs about their own capacities for success in science often decline. This pernicious decline is especially evident among underrepresented groups, including girls, members of some racial and ethnic minorities, and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The present research (N = 306, ages 6-11) found that while children lose interest and feelings of efficacy about their potential to "be scientists" across middle childhood, they maintain more robust interest and efficacy about "doing science." These patterns were confirmed in both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses; effects were stable or increased across time and age. Mediation analyses revealed that the positive effect of action framing is partially accounted for by children's views that the group of people who do science is more inclusive than the category of scientists. These findings suggest that using action-focused language to encourage children in science is more inclusive and may lead to more science engagement across middle childhood than language that emphasizes scientists as an identity category. Implications for educational practices will be discussed.
Strategies to effect change in the ICU.

Purpose of review To provide an update on implementation efforts in the care of critically ill patients, with a focus on work published in the last 2 years. Recent findings Only half of surveyed members of the multidisciplinary care team in the ICU were aware of the Choosing Wisely campaign, and of those that were, approximately one-third reported no implementation of the recommendations. Barriers to implementation of the ABCDE bundle extend to beyond patient-level domains, and include clinician-related, protocol-related, and other domains. Prospective audit and feedback approaches have demonstrated moderate success for improving the quality of antibiotic prescription practices in the ICU. Summary Clinical research in intensive care has moved beyond simple discovery and dissemination. Best practices must be applied to effect change in ICU care, requiring the application of principles from implementation science. Future work should move beyond simple before-after evaluations to provide a stronger case for causal inference following implementation efforts.
A Feature-Based Approach to Classifying Summertime Potential Vorticity Streamers Linked to Rossby Wave Breaking in the North Atlantic Basin

AbstractThis study examines climatological potential vorticity streamer (PVS) activity associated with Rossby wave breaking (RWB), which can impact TC activity in the subtropical North Atlantic (NA...
Using Case Study Methodology to Explore the Role of Discrimination in Workplace Incivility

Exclusionary behaviors can be detrimental to the health and well-being of faculty in the workplace. When colleagues are judged by their peers because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, their gender, or who they choose to love (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, or questioning), affected faculty are left emotionally and physically vulnerable. Institutions of higher learning must set standards of zero tolerance for faculty-to-faculty incivility. With standards taken from each faculty discipline, codes of conduct can be implemented not only at a departmental level, but also throughout the educational system.
Hume’s Problem Solved: The Optimality of Meta-Induction: by Gerhard Schurz, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2019, 386pp., $60.00, £50, ISBN: 9780262039727

Gerhard Schurz’s new book is an ambitious attempt to solve Hume’s problem of induction by techniques developed in computational learning theory. The book advances two major theses. The first is neg...
Seasonal Occurrence, Horizontal Movements, and Habitat Use Patterns of Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the Gulf of Mexico

In the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) form large aggregations at continental shelf-edge banks during summer; however, knowledge of movements once they leave aggregation sites is limited. Here we report on the seasonal occurrence of whale sharks in the northern GOM based on over 800 whale shark sightings from 1989 to 2016, as well as the movements of 42 whale sharks tagged with satellite-linked and popup satellite archival transmitting tags from 2008 to 2015. Sightings data were most concentrated during summer and fall often with aggregations of individuals reported along the continental shelf break. Most sharks (66%) were tagged during this time at Ewing Bank, a known aggregation site off the coast of Louisiana. Whale shark track duration ranged from three to 366 days and all tagged individuals, which ranged from 4.5 to 12.0 m in total length, remained within the GOM. Sightings data revealed that whale sharks occurred primarily continental shelf and shelf-edge waters (81%) whereas tag data revealed the sharks primarily inhabit continental slope and open ocean waters (91%) of the GOM. Much of their time spent in open ocean waters was associated with the edge of the Loop Current and associated mesoscale eddies. During cooler months, there was a net movement southward, corresponding with the time of reduced sighting reports. Several sharks migrated to the southwest GOM during fall and winter, suggesting this region could be important overwintering habitat and possibly represents another seasonal aggregation site in this region. The three long-term tracked whale sharks exhibited interannual residency, returning to the vicinity where they were originally tagged one year later. The broad-scale GOM-wide movements observed in this study demonstrate multi-national, cooperative efforts are needed to improve management of whale sharks in the region.
Immune-mediated neuromuscular complications of graft-versus-host disease

Introduction/aims We aimed to describe the clinical phenotype, histopathological findings and overall survival (OS) of the immune-mediated neuromuscular complications of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of adult patients presenting with immune-mediated neuromuscular complications of GVHD to Mayo Clinic, between April 2013 and July 2018.We collected clinical and laboratory characteristics, histopathological findings, response to treatment and survival data. Results We identified 20 patients with a mean age at presentation of 55 y. Mean time from transplant to neurological presentation was 14 mo. Myositis was the most common complication seen in 17 patients, manifesting with predominantly axial and/or proximal weakness. Eleven patients had a muscle biopsy showing diffuse perimysial, predominantly macrophagic infiltration in 10, 3 of them with perimysial perivascular lymphocytic collections, and endomysial and perimysial lymphocytic infiltration in 1. Only two patients had a neuropathic complication: one each with acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy and neuralgic amyotrophy. A single patient had a myasthenic syndrome presenting with fluctuating foot drop. Nineteen patients were treated and all responded to immunosuppressive agents; however, 11 had further GVHD flares requiring escalation of therapy. After a median follow-up of 83 mo, seven (35%) patients died: five from progressive GVHD and two from infections. The 5-y OS from time of transplant was 68%. Discussion Myositis is the most common immune-mediated neuromuscular complication of GVHD while peripheral neuropathy and myasthenic syndromes appear less common. The macrophage-predominant infiltration on muscle biopsy deserves further study to better clarify the role of macrophages in GVHD pathogenesis.
What is the Meaning of a Trademark

Trademark law in the United States is ostensibly about the regulation of proper names—or symbols that function as proper names—but it seems to take little account of naming theory as an intentional matter. In truth, trademark doctrine embodies, without saying so directly, the scholarly conversation about how to characterize a proper name. In that conversation, some contend that a name’s function as a name depends only on a recognized connection between the name and its referent, while others contend that a name’s function relies in some manner on descriptive qualities that may be associated with the bearer of the name—in other words, that a name “means” its description. In other words, to take a brief example, “George Washington” could be deemed to function as a name simply because it denotes a particular individual in a particular context; alternatively, its function as a name might depend on whether that individual embodies certain characteristics (such as being the first president of the United States). For trademarks, the comparable distinction is the difference between saying that trademarks, qua trademarks, communicate only “this is the product you want” and saying that they also necessarily communicate “here is some information about the kind of product it is.” Determining which of these should inform our understanding of trademark function can also inform our understanding of the proper scope of trademark law. In this chapter, I suggest that trademark validity should depend only on whether consumers understand a trademark to be functioning as a name and not on any other kind of communication that might accompany the mark, even though it is the case that trademarks do sometimes communicate non-source-identifying messages. That is, despite the canard that characterizes trademarks as adjectives modifying common nouns (as in “Ford automobile”), trademark doctrine should recognize what most speakers do: that trademarks are proper names, that recognizing their referent often depends on context, and that they can be used in metaphorical and other ways with no loss of their ability to serve as referents. In short, trademarks, like proper names, simply denote—they have no meaning or truth value. Recognizing this might enable us to reevaluate the scope of a number of validity doctrines in trademark law.