cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tumor suppressor function of Rab25 in triple-negative breast cancer

Rab proteins are a group of ubiquitously expressed proteins that are responsible for intracellular transport of vesicles. Recent evidence has shown that certain Rab proteins are involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. We have recently shown that Rab25 is lost in a large fraction of breast cancer samples, particularly those derived from hormonally insensitive tumors. We have further investigated the role of Rab25 by re-expressing Rab25 in tumorigenic cell lines and measuring the impact on tumor formation as well as on various molecular pathways through PCR array analysis. In vivo tumor growth of cell lines with re-expressed Rab25 was markedly suppressed. Our data suggest that Rab25 acts through multiple pathways to enhance apoptosis and to suppress angiogenesis and invasion by modulating VEGF-A and VEGFR-1 expression. These findings suggest that Rab25 represents a novel class of cellular modulators that can influence both tumor initiation and the progression of the established tumors, thus ultimately affecting the biology of the malignant disease.
Mechanical analysis and reliability enhancement of a Proximity Communication flip chip package

Proximity Communication is a technology that enables high-bandwidth chip-to-chip signaling using dense arrays of metal pads that are capacitively coupled to the corresponding pads on the neighboring chip. To successfully deploy Proximity Communication requires limiting chip x-y misalignment and separation to be less than 8 µm and maintaining these tolerances over many temperature cycles. This paper examines these requirements in light of test results and detailed mechanical modeling to both understand the performance of existing package designs and to identify design modifications that lead to improved performance.
Autistic Human Rights-A Proposal

Autism and related disorders are increasingly discussed in disability literature as the field is more confidently discussing intellectual and developmental impairments. The current paper describes how autism is considered within critical issues in the disability literature with a special focus on disability definition and politics of identity. These issues are central to discussions of human rights from a disability perspective, one which autism is uniquely situated to address. Definitions and traits of autism are related to physical, intellectual, and psychiatric differences making this diagnostic or identity category well suited to address to the issues of all disabilities groups. Using autism as a basis, a model for human rights is built around the interconnected traits of interdependence, individuality, and a consideration for the sphere of human diversity. Though developed around autism, the paper shows how the model is applicable to all states of being and addresses major disability issues. Keywords: Neurodiversity, Human Rights, Autism, Disability Studies
Germination rate studies of soybean under static and low-frequency magnetic fields

A Helmholtz coil was designed and characterized to study the effects of magnetic fields on the germination rate of soybeans. The coil provides a uniform field in a large area such that all the seeds are equally exposed to radiation. An in-house computer code was developed to study the field intensity, specifically the cross-sectional area of uniform field. Experimental results indicate that soybeans grown under static low intensity and super low frequency magnetic fields show improved growth and germination rates when compared to those in the control group. Soybean has potential applications as a renewable energy source for biofuels.
Cyber threat trees for large system threat cataloging and analysis

The implementation of cyber threat countermeasures requires identification of points in a system where redundancy or other modifications are needed. Because large systems have many possible threats that may be interdependent, it is crucial that such threats be cataloged in a manner that allows for efficient representation and ease of analysis to identify the most critical threats. To address this problem, we model large system threats by conceptually representing them as a Cyber Threat Tree implemented as a directed graph known as a Multiple-Valued Decision Diagram (MDD). The cyber threat tree structure improves upon both the classical fault tree and attack tree structures by expanding the representation of possible system threats. This cyber threat tree model is incorporated into an existing MDD software package to help identify and catalog possible system threats. We have also developed a new formal language, CyTML, which is used to represent cyber threat trees.
The fine structure of testicular interstitial cells in mice

The testicular interstitial cells of mice contain an abundant agranular endoplasmic reticulum occurring as a network of interconnected tubules. Unusual features of the reticulum are occasional extensive whorls of concentric membranes and the occurrence of bundles of parallel double-walled tubules. The mitochondria have tubular cristae and are occasionally very large. In contrast to the interstitial cells of other species that have been described, the mouse interstitial cells show a segregation of the cytoplasm into areas of dense agranular reticulum and other areas where the agranular reticulum is relatively sparse. The latter areas contain scattered cistenae of granular reticulum, many free ribosomes in clusters, mitochondria, lipid droplets and small granules. The mitochondria and lipid droplets are often encircled by cisternae of the reticulum. Biochemical evidence from other laboratories, taken with the present results, indicates that the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum in mouse interstitial cells are the site of the enzymes that mediate the synthesis of testosterone from progesterone. There is also an indication that cholesterol biosynthesis is associated with the agranular reticulum. The membranes of the agranular reticulum may also serve as a reservoir for the storage of cholesterol.
Large-aperture multiple quantum well modulating retroreflector for free-space optical data transfer on unmanned aerial vehicles

We describe progress in the development of a multiple quan- tum well modulating retroreflector, including a description of recent dem- onstrations of an infrared data link between a small rotary-wing un- manned airborne vehicle and a ground-based laser interrogator using the device designed and fabricated at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Modulating retroreflector systems couple an optical retroreflector, such as a corner cube, and an electro-optic shutter to allow two-way optical communications using a laser, telescope, and pointer-tracker on only one platform. The NRL modulating retroreflector uses a semiconductor-based multiple quantum well shutter capable of modula- tion rates greater than 10 Mbps, depending on link characteristics. The technology enables the use of near-infrared frequencies, which is well known to provide covert communications immune to frequency allocation problems. This specific device has the added advantage of being com- pact, lightweight, covert, and requires very low paper. Up to an order of magnitude in onboard power can be saved using a small array of these devices instead of the radio frequency equivalent. In the described dem- onstration, a Mbps optical link to an unmanned aerial vehicle in flight at a range of 100 to 200 feet is shown. Near real-time compressed video was also demonstrated at the Mbps level and is described. © 2001 Society of
Effects of cognitive aging on credibility assessment of online health information

Results from a study comparing how different Web contents and features influence younger and older adults' credibility assessment are reported. Results were in general consistent with the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasive communication. It was found that cognitive aging differentially influences the processing of central arguments and peripheral cues (web features such as layouts, third-party endorsement). Specifically, older adults were in general worse at distinguishing between strong and weak arguments, and this effect was moderated by cognitive abilities and motivation for cognition. Results will be useful for informing designs that facilitate credibility assessment of health information for older adults.
Drowsy Drivers - Medical Implications of Highway Traffic Safety

The estimates of the contribution of drowsiness and fatigue to the number of road crashes is often neglected considerably, due both to under-reporting of these factors by drivers, and technical difficulty in investigating the problem. Preventing and treating the reasons for falling asleep behind the wheel may have considerable contribution in traffic safety. Therefore the licensing authorities in co-operation with the medical profession should attend more closely to the issue of sleep related disorders and their implications for driving in cases with notoriously high risk. The police and other enforcement authorities need appropriate knowledge and procedures to detect drivers at risk of falling asleep while driving. Considering the increasing number of road traffic accidents day per day, it is a need of the hour to detect drivers possibly at risk, and to take appropriate precautions in terms of education, advice and treatment regimes, as well as restrictions on licensing.
Prediction of Post-High School Labor Force Decisions

The present study investigates the utility of employing an interdisciplinary set of variables to predict labor force decisions. Comparisons of demographic, economic, high school experience, and psychological-motivational variables indicated that the best prediction of the post-high school plans of 1,074 high school seniors resulted from high school experience variables. However, a combination of the four sets of variables resulted in substantial improvement over any single set of predictors. It is suggested that laborforce behavior can be better understood and predicted if a multidisciplinary approach is utilized.
Integrating multiple sources of knowledge into designer-soar, an automatic algorithm designer

Designing algorithms requires diverse knowledge about general problem-solving, algorithm design, implementation techniques, and the application domain. The knowledge can come from a variety of sources, including previous design experience, and the ability to integrate knowledge from such diverse sources appears critical to the success of human algorithm designers. Such integration is feasible in an automatic design system, especially when supported by the general problem-solving and learning mechanisms in the Soar architecture. Our system, Designer-Soar, now designs several simple generate-and-test and divide-and-conquer algorithms. The system already uses several levels of abstraction, generalizes from examples, and learns from experience, transferring knowledge acquired during the design of one algorithm to aid in the design of others.
Postglacial Uplift in Western New England: Geologic Evidence for Delayed Rebound

Elevation data from the Connecticut Valley area in western New England provide the first field evidence that suggests a significant delay to crustal rebound in response to unloading of the late-Wisconsinan Laurentide ice sheet. Precisely measured altitudes of topset/foreset contacts in deltas that were sequentially constructed in glacial Lake Hitchcock over a period of at least 2000 years and over a distance of 245 km show a time-transgressive and straight-line profile of tilted uplift with a gradient of 0.9 m/km up to the N20.5W-N21W. Ice retreat in the area covered by the profile occurred between approximately 16,500 B.P. and 14,000 B.P., during which ice retreated twice as fast over the northern half as over the southern half. The lake was controlled at a stable level by a bedrock-floored spillway for all of this time.
Chemical constituent influence on ionizing radiation treatment of a wood–plastic composite

Abstract A dose range of 0–200 kGy was used to irradiate polyethylene-based wood plastic composite (WPC) specimens. An evaluation of mechanical properties in bending resulted in an increase in ultimate strength, but little effect to stiffness. The bending test results were compared to previous testing in order to examine reproducibility. Hardness tests were also conducted, revealing an increase at a dose range of 0–250 kGy.
Dose-response relationship between intensity of exercise and cognitive performance in individuals with Down syndrome: a preliminary study.

Background Cognitive performance has been shown to be relevant to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease in individuals with Down syndrome. This study was aimed at investigating the dose–response relationship between acute exercise intensity and cognitive performance in this population. Methods In the current study, we measured information processing speed and two aspects of executive function (i.e. attention shifting and inhibitory control). Participants were assigned to high-intensity exercise (i.e. 75–85% of predicted maximum heart rate) (N = 6), moderate-intensity exercise (i.e. 50–75% of predicted maximum heart rate) (N = 6) or attentional control (N = 6) groups. Two exercise groups walked on a treadmill using an incremental intensity walking protocol, and the attentional control group watched a video for 20 min. Measures of information processing speed and executive function were tested pre-intervention and post-intervention. Results Our results indicated that the performance in choice reaction time test was impaired in the high-intensity exercise, whereas improved performance was observed in the moderate-intensity exercise. However, moderate-intensity and high-intensity exercises were beneficial for inhibitory control aspect of executive function. Further, inconsistent with previous studies, a quadric trend was seen in information processing speed, and a liner trend was evident in inhibitory control. Conclusions Future research is needed to examine with a larger sample size, and more physiological measures are necessary to explore the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between exercise intensity and cognitive performance in individuals with Down syndrome.
Comparison of 6-Mercaptopurine and Busulfan in Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia

The relative effectiveness of 6-MP and busulfan for the achievement and maintenance of control of chronic granulocytic leukemia over a period of 12 weeks has been studied. In a randomized study, 15 patients received 6-MP and 9 busulfan. In addition, results of a similar study in which 31 patients were treated with busulfan were combined with the current study. Sequential studies in which patients received more than one course of study were made in 11 patients so that altogether 62 studies were completed in 49 patients. 6-MP produced "good" or "excellent" responses in only 5 (33 per cent) of 15 trials, whereas, 42 (89 per cent) of 47 trials using busulfan responded to this degree. Busulfan is superior to 6-MP for the over-all control of chronic granulocytic leukemia during a 12-week course of study. Not only are the results obtainable with 6-MP inferior to those with busulfan, but 6-MP is also more difficult to use. Busulfan in the dosage used reduces the granulocyte count somewhat more slowly than does 6-MP, but the effect is more prolonged. The escape of the granulocytes from depression by 6-MP is very rapid. The reduction of platelet counts from abnormally high levels to normal is more effectively achieved with busulfan than with 6-MP since, in doses sufficient to reduce the granulocyte count, the latter drug is less likely to affect the level of platelet counts than is busulfan. It may be possible to exploit these differences occasionally. If a patient becomes difficult to control with busulfan because of thrombocytopenia, 6-MP may offer control with greater safety. In patients whose marrow function is especially susceptible to depression with busulfan, 6-MP may offer the safety valve of a more rapid escape from overtreatment. In general, 6-MP is not recommended for the routine management of chronic granulocytic leukemia prior to the development of the blast stage.
Effects of Inlet Distortion on Cavity Ignition in Supersonic Flow

The effects of inflow distortion on ignition within a cavity based flameholder in a supersonic flow were investigated experimentally. A canonical form of distortion was established by forming a shock with a wedge in a Mach 3 freestream and impinging upstream and over a cavity. The cavity was both actively and passively fueled with injection from the cavity closeout ramp and through an upstream jet along the streamwise centerline, respectively. Two ignition devices were used to provide different forms of energy deposition: a spark discharge and a pulse detonator. The sensitivity of each ignition device was determined by varying the cavity fueling rates. The spark discharge provided a passive means of ignition that was heavily dependent on the flowfield, and therefore was much more sensitive to the effects of distortion. The pulse detonator was more forgiving, allowing for ignition success across a wide range of fueling conditions. The investigation emphasized that careful placement of an energy deposition device, especially a passive one, is required to provide a robust ignition solution across a range of fueling and inflow distortion conditions.
Remission of disseminated lupus erythematosus induced by adrenocorticotropin.

SummaryTwo patients with classical disseminated lupus erythematosus were given three separate courses of injections of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). In each case, there was temporary, striking clinical improvement and fading of the skin lesions, accompanied by the expected signs of increased adrenal cortical activity. These results suggest that continued administration of ACTH or Compound E may be of benefit in lupus erythematosus.
340 A NOVEL MANDIBULOFACIAL DYSOSTOSIS SYNDROME ASSOCIATED WITH A DE NOVO TRANSLOCATION.

Treacher Collins syndrome is the prototypical mandibulofacial dysostosis syndrome, but other mandibulofacial dysostosis syndromes have been described. We report an infant with mandibulofacial dysostosis with an apparently balanced de novo 46,XX,t(2;17)(q31;q24) translocation. This 4-month-old girl was the product of a dizygotic twin gestation conceived through intracytoplasmic sperm injection. The twin was unaffected. The affected girl presented with severe lower eyelid colobomas requiring skin grafting, malar and mandibular hyoplasia, bilateral microtia and hearing loss, bilateral choanal stenosis, cleft palate without cleft lip, several oral frenula of the upper lip/gum, and micrognathia requiring tracheostomy. A CT scan of the temporal bones revealed bilateral osseous external auditory canal atresia with associated hypoplasia of the middle ear cavity, dysplasia of the ossicles, and oval window atresia. The limbs were normal. Chromosome analysis at the 650-band level showed a 46,XX,t(2;17)(q31;q24) karyotype. Sequencing of the entire TCOF1 coding region did not show evidence of a sequence variation. Genomic microarray analysis using a 1 Mb human BAC chip did not identify a cryptic imbalance. The facial features are consistent with a mandibulofacial dysostosis that resembles Treacher Collins syndrome, but several features, including the oral frenula, nasal configuration, and severe lower lid ablepharon, are distinctive. The vast majority of individuals with classic Treacher Collins syndrome have mutations in the TCOF1 gene encoding treacle. The lack of an identifiable TCOF1 mutation suggests that this is a provisionally unique mandibulofacial dysostosis syndrome. Treacher Collins syndrome is not typically thought to be genetically heterogeneous, but a small percentage of individuals do not have TCOF1 mutations. The apparently balanced de novo t(2;17)(q31;q24) translocation provides a clue for potential loci for atypical and TCOF1 mutation-negative cases of Treacher Collins syndrome. We hypothesize that disruption of a gene(s) at the 2q and/or 17q breakpoint regions produced the described phenotype in this patient.
Quo Vadis: PET and Single-Photon Molecular Breast Imaging.

This supplement to The Journal of Nuclear Medicine on breast cancer imaging comprehensively addresses the current status of both PET and single-photon imaging of the breast and of localized and metastatic breast cancer. I was asked to introduce the supplement with a commentary that not only looks
The Belgian—Dutch Clinical Pathway Network

In 2000, the Centre for Health Services & Nursing Research, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium, launched the Belgian—Dutch Clinical Pathway Network. This is a joint effort by both Belgian and Dutch hospitals to implement clinical pathways in the organisation of their practice. This article describes why the network was started, the core objectives and the organisation of the network.
Prediction of Band-Limited Signals from Past Samples and Applications to Speech Coding

This chapter is concerned with the prediction of the next value of a bandlimited signal from its past, uniformly-sampled or periodic nonuniformlysampled discrete values. The idea of a next value assumes a pattern of sampling that is not completely arbitrary, but has a periodic pattern. In addition to past samples that are uniformly-spaced, nonuniform but periodic sampling will be considered here, and each of these patterns will be related to the Nyquist criterion.
Diabetes Is Devastating, and Insulin Is a Death Sentence: Provider Perspectives of Diabetes Self-Management in Arab-American Patients

IN BRIEF The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine providers' perspectives on cultural barriers and facilitators to diabetes self-management (DSM) in Arab Americans to identify factors to enhance DSM education in the Arab-American community. The main barriers to DSM from the providers' perspective were the disease itself and patients' denial or refusal to recognize it, reflecting the stigma of the disease. Cultural aspects also included overlapping themes that both facilitated and presented barriers to DSM. These results suggest that DSM education for Arab Americans will be most effective if developed and delivered in a manner consistent with the cultural facilitators and barriers noted by providers.
On thin ice: Hockey Night in Canada and the future of national public service media

This article considers the implications of rising sports rights fees and emerging digital media technologies for legacy public service broadcasters. I argue that, while the Hockey Night in Canada sublicensing agreement with Rogers prompted a significant amount of criticism of the CBC at the time, it is consistent with the broader history of the program. Furthermore, the situation is most significant in that it exposes the tensions between the CBC and the marketplace as manifested in CBC-TV. I suggest that this deal illustrates that the CBC should exit the commercial television marketplace. I conclude by suggesting that the CBC should shift its focus toward a renewed emphasis on noncommercial programming in areas often neglected by the commercial media. This approach could potentially provide a model for how legacy public service media institutions might reassert their civic and cultural value in an increasingly convergent and commercialized mediascape.
Using machine learning to classify temporal lobe epilepsy based on diffusion MRI.

Background It is common for patients diagnosed with medial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) to have extrahippocampal damage. However, it is unclear whether microstructural extrahippocampal abnormalities are consistent enough to enable classification using diffusion MRI imaging. Therefore, we implemented a support vector machine (SVM)-based method to predict TLE from three different imaging modalities: mean kurtosis (MK), mean diffusivity (MD), and fractional anisotropy (FA). While MD and FA can be calculated from traditional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), MK requires diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI). Methods Thirty-two TLE patients and 36 healthy controls underwent DKI imaging. To measure predictive capability, a fivefold cross-validation (CV) was repeated for 1000 iterations. An ensemble of SVM models, each with a different regularization value, was trained with the subject images in the training set, and had performance assessed on the test set. The different regularization values were determined using a Bayesian-based method. Results Mean kurtosis achieved higher accuracy than both FA and MD on every iteration, and had far superior average accuracy: 0.82 (MK), 0.68 (FA), and 0.51 (MD). Finally, the MK voxels with the highest coefficients in the predictive models were distributed within the inferior medial aspect of the temporal lobes. Conclusion These results corroborate our earlier publications which indicated that DKI shows more promise in identifying TLE-associated pathological features than DTI. Also, the locations of the contributory MK voxels were in areas with high fiber crossing and complex fiber anatomy. These traits result in non-Gaussian water diffusion, and hence render DTI less likely to detect abnormalities. If the location of consistent microstructural abnormalities can be better understood, then it may be possible in the future to identify the various phenotypes of TLE. This is important since treatment outcome varies dependent on type of TLE.
Graphics processing unit accelerated phase field dislocation dynamics: Application to bi-metallic interfaces

Abstract We present the first high-performance computing implementation of the meso-scale phase field dislocation dynamics (PFDD) model on a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based platform. The implementation takes advantage of the portable OpenACC standard directive pragmas along with Nvidia's compute unified device architecture (CUDA) fast Fourier transform (FFT) library called CUFFT to execute the FFT computations within the PFDD formulation on the same GPU platform. The overall implementation is termed ACCPFDD-CUFFT. The package is entirely performance portable due to the use of OPENACC-CUDA inter-operability, in which calls to CUDA functions are replaced with the OPENACC data regions for a host central processing unit (CPU) and device (GPU). A comprehensive benchmark study has been conducted, which compares a number of FFT routines, the Numerical Recipes FFT (FOURN), Fastest Fourier Transform in the West (FFTW), and the CUFFT. The last one exploits the advantages of the GPU hardware for FFT calculations. The novel ACCPFDD-CUFFT implementation is verified using the analytical solutions for the stress field around an infinite edge dislocation and subsequently applied to simulate the interaction and motion of dislocations through a bi-phase copper-nickel (Cu–Ni) interface. It is demonstrated that the ACCPFDD-CUFFT implementation on a single TESLA K80 GPU offers a 27.6X speedup relative to the serial version and a 5X speedup relative to the 22-multicore Intel Xeon CPU E5-2699 v4 @ 2.20 GHz version of the code.
A different type of dirty work: Hidden taint, intersectionality, and emotion management in bureaucratic organizations

ABSTRACTThis study explores the intersectionality among identity markers, such as gender, race, and class, and emotion management in two bureaucratic organizations – municipal courtrooms and airport security checkpoints. We name and explore a new type of dirty work called “hidden taint,” which we describe as a larger, encompassing category of dirty work that involves the experience and dynamic co-construction of taint. Utilizing qualitative methods including participant observation and interviews, we compare how hidden taint is experienced in each bureaucratic context. The results focus on the relationship between (1) hidden taint and the co-construction of emotion norms and (2) hidden taint and power dynamics. This study extends communication theory by naming and describing hidden taint as a new type of dirty work, extending literature on emotion management and intersectionality by exploring their connection to dirty work in occupations with varying levels of prestige, and detailing how emotion managemen...
From Strikes to Lockouts: Consequences of the Shift in the Balance of Power from the Players’ Union to the Owners in the National Hockey League

The development of a players’ union in the National Hockey League lagged behind the organization of unions in the other American major team-sport leagues by a decade. Moreover, the union leadership was ineffectual until Bob Goodenow succeeded Alan Eagleson as the head of the NHLPA in 1992. Under Goodenow the players used strikes and the threat of strikes to leverage mobility rights including unrestricted free agency and salary arbitration, all of which substantially and steadily increased salaries and the players’ share of revenue for more than ten years. In 1995 ownership locked out the players, a radical move at the time as it was the first owner-initiated work stoppage to cancel scheduled games. The lockout enabled owners to roll back some of the mobility concessions gained by the union. Yet, the league was unable to implement a desired salary cap and player salaries continued to grow. Nine years later a second lockout resulted in the cancelation of the entire 2004–2005 season. The outcome this time was very favorable to owners including a hard salary cap and a limit on individual player salaries. In this chapter the NHL eras before and after the salary cap are compared. Competitive balance and payroll dispersion across teams are examined empirically through means tests. The analysis indicates that the players’ share of revenue is much lower under the salary cap and that payroll dispersion across clubs has diminished. The results also show a significant improvement over three different dimensions of competitive balance. Finally, it is anticipated that owners will continue to leverage their bargaining position and gain more concessions.
In the Land of Plenty

MARGARET HAD BEEN working nine months at the New Life Food Cooperative when her husband came back to town. She hadn't been expect ing him; she had been trying not to expect anything from anyone. Sim plicity was her desire now: to care for her two children, to get enough sleep, to pay the rent. Her present life was such a surprise to her, so unimagined, that in her abashment she felt ignorant, remote from her own future. Many dozens of faces came up the stairs to the store each day, and it was her job to stay still and let their needs flow through her mind and into her fingertips; when she went to pick up her children each afternoon, joining these streams of people, she tried to keep herself compact, her own needs minimal. She felt peaceful on nights when she was able to go to bed at the same time as her children, especially when she might wake up at midnight and under stand that she had already slept for three or four hours and that a full passage of rest remained. As she went back to sleep, the undemanding night would seem to be caring for her, perceptibly, but beyond her knowledge. The afternoon that Sloan came up the stairs of the co-op, reports had been blowing in with customers of a bitter shift in the weather, a tempera ture drop of at least twenty degrees and a stupefying icy wind. Margaret had been listening to Mimi and John joking as they stacked away produce in the walk-in cooler about the coming of another ice age, not two thousand years hence, but now, brothers and sisters. Mimi, dressed in her usual plaid flannel shirt, her long hair braided, had been throwing twenty-five pound bags of organic carrots through the doorway to the lanky, down-vested figure of John, astride crates of lettuce and broccoli in the cooler's interior, and in their exuberance they seemed to Margaret exempt from catastrophe. She herself was at least ten years older than either of them, she had children, her father was dead, her education incomplete, her marriage a bewildering disappointment, yet she listened to them companionably. Never, before this job at the New Life, had she felt so comfortable and accepted. She liked the large upper room with its bins of grains and seeds, its shelves of herbs and spices and coolers of dairy products and fresh produce, she liked the section of useful, invigorating books, and she liked the people, Mimi and John, and Carl. "Yes, it's coming," said John. "This here cooler is nothing compared to what's coming." "Do you know what's really going to happen?" laughed Mimi. "We're all going to learn to lower our body temperatures and live forever." "Naw, we'll just change into something else," called John. Margaret rang up a customer and went back to stocking the herb jars. She heard Sloan's drawl before she saw him. 40
Gonadal Hormones during Sexual Differentiation in Vertebrates

It is generally agreed that, at least in mammals, sex chromosomes determine the sex of the individual. For “normal” sexual development, however, more is required than the mere presence of these chromosomes. It was recognized early in this century—and has been verified many times since—that chemical substances (hormones) of gonadal origin influence the development of the central nervous system and anlagen of the reproductive tract so that they are either masculine or feminine in character. The influence of gonadal hormones on target tissues is covered elsewhere in this volume. Here, we discuss and bring together what is known about the hormones that are secreted by the gonads during sexual differentiation in vertebrates. The so-called period of sexual differentiation in vertebrates varies from species to species. In long-gestation mammals, such as human beings, rhesus monkeys, and guinea pigs, sexual differentiation takes place prenatally. In species with short gestations, such as rats and mice, sexual development, especially of the central nervous system, continues into the neonatal period. In some species (e.g., some primates), the so-called critical period for hormone action on sexual differentiation is not known. In fact, the term critical period may not be a good one because it is too restrictive for hormone actions that may be longer in duration or for actions that vary in time span for different sexual functions.
Derivation and validation of a new score to predict long-term survival after sudden cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND There is insufficient information about the long-term prognosis of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors. We therefore derived a clinical score (Sudden Cardiac Arrest-mortality score, SCA-MS) that predicts long-term mortality in patients surviving to hospital discharge and validated it in an independent cohort of SCA survivors. METHODS A total of 1433 SCA survivors data were collected, who were discharged from the hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center between 2002 and 2012. The overall cohort was randomly divided into two near equal cohorts used for the derivation and validation of the SCA-MS, respectively. RESULTS The derivation cohort included 768 patients and identified serum potassium level>4.2 mg/dL at admission, the presence of atrial fibrillation at any time during the index hospitalization, and the presence of asystole or pulseless electrical activity as the initial documented rhythm as independent predictors of long-term mortality. Based on the multivariable modeling result, one point was assigned to each one of these variables to create the SCA-MS that ranged from 0 to 3. In the validation cohort, the SCA-MS was predictive of long-term mortality (hazards ratio = 1.69, 95% confidence interval 1.50-1.91, P < 0.001) per 1-point increment in the SCA-MS. CONCLUSIONS We describe a new clinical score that predicts long-term survival after SCA based on serum potassium levels at the admission, presence of atrial fibrillation, and documented rhythm of SCA.
What Is the Role of Hypotensive Resuscitation/Damage Control Resuscitation in Ruptured AAAs?

Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) have a high mortality. There have been few trials that examine the role of blood pressure management strategies prior to surgical repair of ruptured AAAs. Retrospective analyses have shown an association between higher volumes of crystalloid and colloid administration and mortality while controlling for key confounders. Permissive hypotension is a strategy used in trauma to avoid clot disruption, coagulopathy, hypothermia, and acidosis. International consensus guidelines recommend the use of permissive hypotension during the acute resuscitation of a patient with ruptured AAA, delaying aggressive fluid resuscitation until after surgical repair. A recommended approach for ruptured AAA management is (1) judicious fluid resuscitation targeting systolic blood pressure of 70–100 mmHg, (2) monitoring for impaired end-organ perfusion, and (3) emergent surgical intervention.
Abstract P018: Smoking and Cognitive Decline at Older Age: Using Surveillance and Imputation to Deal With Differential Mortality

Background: Smoking is a risk factor for vascular diseases and likely associated with cognitive decline. However, observed associations may be impacted by higher cohort attrition, particularly mort...
Online One-Stop Government

Open image in new window The concept of online one-stop government is aimed at simplifying access to governmental services. It implies a strong adoption of interoperability standards or standards for process integration amongst public administrations so that they are able to share data and integrate activities while complying with data privacy standards. The aim of this chapter is to outline the most important aspects of integrating digital public services into one-stop portals with a single access platform, where citizens and businesses can access the services they require based on a life-events approach. Network externalities, prototypical theoretical concepts, and research on determinants of adoption are introduced and discussed.
Abstract TMP108: Stroke Continuum of Care in a Diverse, Inner City Community: A Case Study

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the US. According to the AHA, system fragmentation is the most important barrier to helping stroke survivors recover with the least possible...
Soil Testing and Analysis of Nutrients for Crop Yield

With the surge of advent in various technologies, real time applications were put into practise. However, the habituals in the field of agriculture needs to be improved by a fence. This paper is based on monitoring the nutrients level of soil thus providing crop analysis. Various sensors like temperature and humidity along with pH meter are used. It obviously takes a long time, especially when monitoring the decreasing level of soil parameters. This practice is less efficient and needs a solution to improve efficiency. Raspberry Pi is used in confining the essentials and the information about soil, crop and environmental factors will be sent and updated to farmers through our proposed system methodology.
Overthrowing the Queen, telling stories of welfare in America: by Tom Mould, Bloomington, IN, University Press, 2020, x+367pp., £27.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0253-04803-5

Tom Mould’s Overthrowing the Queen aims to deconstruct the popular understanding of welfare and aid recipients in the United States since the 1970s, which originated from Ronald Reagan’s campaign i...
An observational study to develop a scoring system and model to detect risk of hospital admission due to COVID-19

Abstract Background COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented global health emergency The strains of such a pandemic can overwhelm hospital capacity Efficient clinical decision-making is crucial for proper healthcare resource utilization in this crisis Using observational study data, we set out to create a predictive model that could anticipate which COVID-19 patients would likely be admitted and developed a scoring tool that could be used in the clinical setting and for population risk stratification Methods We retrospectively evaluated data from COVID-19 patients across a network of 6 hospitals in northeastern Pennsylvania Analysis was limited to age, gender, and historical variables After creating a variable importance plot, we chose a selection of the best predictors to train a logistic regression model Variable selection was done using a lasso regularization technique Using the coefficients in our logistic regression model, we then created a scoring tool and validated the score on a test set data Results A total of 6485 COVID-19 patients were included in our analysis, of which 707 were hospitalized The biggest predictors of patient hospitalization included age, a history of hypertension, diabetes, chronic heart disease, gender, tobacco use, and chronic kidney disease The logistic regression model demonstrated an AUC of 0 81 The coefficients for our logistic regression model were used to develop a scoring tool Low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients were deemed to have a 3 5%, 26%, and 38% chance of hospitalization, respectively The best predictors of hospitalization included age (odds ratio [OR] = 1 03, confidence interval [CI] = 1 02?1 03), diabetes (OR = 2 08, CI = 1 69?2 57), hypertension (OR = 2 36, CI = 1 90?2 94), chronic heart disease (OR = 1 53, CI = 1 22?1 91), and male gender (OR = 1 32, CI = 1 11?1 58) Conclusions Using retrospective observational data from a 6-hospital network, we determined risk factors for admission and developed a predictive model and scoring tool for use in the clinical and population setting that could anticipate admission for COVID-19 patients
Mechanical, Structural, and Physiologic Differences in Human Elastic and Muscular Arteries of Different Ages: Comparison of the Thoracic Aorta to the Superficial Femoral Artery

Elastic and muscular arteries differ in structure, function, and mechanical properties, and may adapt differently to aging. We compared the descending thoracic aortas (TA) and the superficial femoral arteries (SFA) of 27 tissue donors (average 41±18 years, range 13-73 years) using multi-ratio planar biaxial testing, constitutive modeling, and bidirectional histology. Both TAs and SFAs increased in size with age, but the TAs thickened 6-fold and widened 3-fold faster than the SFAs. Both arteries remodeled outward and accumulated compressive radial strains. Circumferential opening angle did not change in the TA, but increased 2.4-fold in the SFA. Young TAs were relatively isotropic, but the anisotropy increased with age due to longitudinal stiffening. SFAs were 51% more compliant longitudinally irrespective of age. Older TAs and SFAs were stiffer, but the SFA stiffened 5.6-fold faster circumferentially than the TA. Physiologic stresses decreased with age in both arteries, with greater changes occurring longitudinally. TAs had larger circumferential, but smaller longitudinal stresses than the SFAs, larger cardiac cycle stretch, 36% lower circumferential stiffness, and 8-fold more elastic energy available for pulsation. TAs contained elastin sheets separated by smooth muscle cells (SMCs), collagen, and glycosaminoglycans, while the SFAs had SMCs, collagen, and longitudinal elastic fibers. With age, densities of elastin and SMCs decreased, collagen remained constant due to medial thickening, and the glycosaminoglycans increased. Elastic and muscular arteries demonstrate different morphological, mechanical, physiologic, and structural characteristics and adapt differently to aging. While the aortas remodel to preserve the Windkessel function, the SFAs maintain higher longitudinal compliance.
Turkey’s dealing with the Syrian Kurds (Part II)

This wide-ranging survey of the Kurds in Syria will evaluate the mid-term fall-out of the suddenly announced US withdrawal on October 7, 2019. It concludes that 1. The US dishonorably deserted its Syrian Kurdish ally, 2. Alienated future allies who would no longer trust it, 3. Allowed some of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) prisoners incarcerated by YPG guards to escape and potentially revive the genocidal jihadist organization, 4. Rewarded Turkish aggression, 5. Handed the murderous, but badly taxed Assad regime new life, 6. Facilitated Iran’s drive to the Mediterranean and potential threat to Israel, and, maybe most of all, 7. Empowered Russia as the ultimate arbitrator of the Syrian imbroglio to the detriment of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Deferred-Load Mutual Funds: Duds or Divine?

Previous research suggests that deferred-load mutual funds should, all else being equal, be able to attain better long-term performance than front-load or no-load mutual funds. The reason for this is that deferred- load funds can dissuade redemptions better than these other funds and hence can hold less cash while at the same time holding greater amounts of relatively illiquid (and hence higher performing) assets. In this paper we examine whether this is true using a sample that is robust to survivorship bias, examines a long (six year) out-of-sample time horizon and, in general, is much more comprehensive than any other sample used in previous research. Our results indicate that rather than performing better than no-load funds, deferred-load funds show no ability to outperform no-load funds and the point estimates indicate, if anything, deferred- load funds perform worse than no-load funds. As to why we find such results we have two very plausible explanations. First, as is well known, deferred-load funds have much higher expense ratios than other types of funds. Second, and more interestingly, we find that the compositional advantages of deferred-load funds as predicted by others simply do not exist during our out-of-sample period. That is, deferred- loads after about 1995 do not hold less cash nor hold more illiquid assets than similar front- or no-load funds. We speculate that the reason for this is likely due to the amazing rise in multiple share classes that took place after the SEC implemented rule 18f-3 in February 1995 that specifically allowed the practice of multiple share classes.
Enterococcus gallinarum Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in an HCV Cirrhotic

We present the case of a 60-year-old Caucasian male with history of hepatitis C viral cirrhosis with portosystemic encephalopathy and ascites with evidence of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) with absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 944 cells/µL blood. Despite adequate treatment, the abdominal pain and elevated creatinine continued to persist. Initial ascites fluid cultures returned back positive for growth of Enterococcus gallinarum. Empiric antibiotics were then substituted with ampicillin/sulbactam. Our case of Enterococcus gallinarum causing SBP is only the seventh case reported in the literature to date.
Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli O104:H4: An Emerging Pathogen with Enhanced Virulence

Pathogenic Escherichia coli are genetically diverse and encompass a broad variety of pathotypes, such as enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) or enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), which cause distinct clinical syndromes. The historically large 2011 German outbreak of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), caused by a Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) of the serotype O104:H4, illustrated the emerging importance of non-O157 STEC. STEC O104:H4, with features characteristic of both enteroaggregative E. coli and enterohemorrhagic E. coli, represents a unique and highly virulent pathotype. The German outbreak both allowed for the evaluation of several potential therapeutic approaches to STEC-induced HUS and emphasizes the importance of early and specific detection of both O157 and non-O157 STEC.
Tight closure and its applications

Acknowledgements Introduction Relationship chart A prehistory of tight closure Basic notions Test elements and the persistence of tight closure Colon-capturing and direct summands of regular rings F-rational rings and rational singularities Integral closure and tight closure The Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity Big Cohen-Macaulay algebras Big Cohen-Macaulay algebras II Applications of big Cohen-Macaulay algebras Phantom homology Uniform Artin-Rees theorems The localization problem Regular base change Appendix 1: The notion of tight closure in equal characteristic zero (by M. Hochster) Appendix 2: Solutions to the exercises Bibliography.