cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Developing a More Holistic Approach to Water Management in the United States

Americans have generally treated water, just like land and other natural resources, as a commodity for human use, manipulation, and degradation. Little thought or significance, at least until relatively recently, was attached to the adverse environmental impact of reduced stream flows and the damage caused by hydrologic modifications such as dams and by various development activities that disrupt and pollute aquatic habitats. The United States, therefore, faces the difficult challenge of trying at a late date to bring together three separate, but inextricably connected, disciplines, one focusing on water use, one on water quality, and yet another focusing on development and land use. The challenge is daunting, especially in light of both existing water uses and anticipated growth in the demand for water. Complicating the situation is a fragmented approach to law and regulation. Water quantity law is state-driven, while water pollution law is primarily federal in origin, with the exception of non-point source pollution, which is primarily the responsibility of state government. Land use management, on the other hand, is generally a question for local government. After exploring the regimes that govern water use, water quality and land use, the article discusses a number of approaches for trying to integrate these regulatory schemes into a mechanism that can better protect the integrity of our aquatic systems, while also meeting most human needs. Perhaps the most important aspect of the analysis lies in its attempt to connect, in terms of law and institutions, the symbiotic relationship between land use and water. Although that relationship has long been ignored, it is essential to conceive of a river and other freshwater systems as part of a larger interdependent ecosystem linking all land and aquatic features in a particular watershed.
Analysis on hygienic indices for panax notoginseng products in Yunnan Province

Objective:To investigate the hygienic quality of panax notoginseng products during past years in Yunnan Province to provide a sound basis for improving product quality.Methods: Data of panax notoginseng products detecting from 2005 to 2009 in Yunnan Province were collected and analyzed.Detecting method was according to GB/T5009 and related standards.Results: A total of 115 samples were detected.Both pesticide and microorganism indices are qualified.Pb,Hg,and Cd had been detected in some samples,but their contents were under the limit value.The qualified rate of As for panax notoginseng raw materials and extractives were 61.8% and 80.4% respectively.Conclusion: The cultivation of panax notoginseng should be following the GAP standard.Arsenical pesticides should be hardly using to prevent arsenic pollution.The eating of panax notoginseng raw materials should be deceased,and substituted by extractives.
A model on network intrusion detection of conditional random fields based on feature groups

Conditional Random Fields(CRFs) theory is combined with the features of connection data sequence in network,which is introduced into network intrusion detection(NID).An NID method based upon feature grouping CRFs is presented in this paper.This method uses the advantages of the CRFs model which can mark and cut sequence data.And the method used not only various connection information of connection sequence but also relativity among the attribute groups and the attributes in data sequences to detect the abnormal activities.Further,the work process of the model is discussed.The comparison between the detective conclusion of the method toward KDD cup 1999 dataset and that of other test methods,it shows that the proposed method can improve many statistical indexes effectively in NID.
Home Screening for Hematuria: Results of a Multi-Clinic Study

AbstractThe majority of urinary tract tumors cause bleeding in the urine. A program designed to detect hematuria before it is grossly apparent may contribute to earlier detection and more successful treatment of these malignancies. To test this hypothesis a hematuria home screening study was conducted. A total of 1,340 healthy men 50 years old or older used chemical reagent strips for 14 consecutive days to test the urine. Of the men 283 (21.1%) had at least 1 episode of hematuria. Of the 192 hematuria positive men who received a complete urological evaluation 16 (8.3%) had urological cancers and 47 (24.5%) had other hematuria-causing diseases that required immediate treatment. The quantity and frequency of hematuria were not related to disease severity. A hematuria home screening regimen is feasible and economical, and may promote the early detection of urinary tract cancers and other diseases in men more than 50 years old.
Common Laboratory Values and Unit Conversion

Note: normal ranges are provided for general reference only. The normal values for individual institution may vary significantly due to assay used and population tested. An excellent resource is the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 10th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2007
Pituitary insufficiency: a clue to the diagnosis of sellar tumors.

Pituitary insufficiency indicates disease in the region of the sella turcica and hypothalamus. Tumors of this region may cause pituitary insufficiency.A finding such as diabetes insipidus, or even amenorrhea, should alert the physician to the possibility of a pituitary tumor. Diagnosis may require such additional evidence as visual-field or x-ray changes.
Immunopathologic mechanisms of renal disease.

Anti-GBM antibodies and glomerular deposition of circulating immune complexes are responsible for the immunopathogenesis of about 5 % and 75 % of human glomerulonephritides, respectively. Anti-GBM antibodies most frequently cause rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis accompanied in about half of the patients with pulmonary hemorrhage, the Goodpasture’s syndrome. Immune complexes cause a wide variety of glomerulonephritides, including diffuse and focal proliferative, membranous, membranoproliferative and rapidly progressive morphologic varieties often accompanied by nephrotic syndrome. Immunopathologic tubulo-interstitial renal injury can be caused by antibodies reacting with TBM or by deposition of immune complexes in tubulo-interstitial tissue. Immunofluorescence studies of renal tissue supplemented by detection of circulating anti-basement membrane antibodies and immune complexes are essential in differentiating the immunopathologic mechanisms of glomerular and tubular injury, and are necessary adjuncts in evaluating patients with glomerulo- and tubulo-interstitial nephritis.
Fruits and Fruit Products

The distinction between “fruit” and “vegetable” is completely arbitrary. Botanically, a fruit is that portion of a seed plant containing the reproductive bodies (seeds) together with any adhering or supporting structures. In other words, it is the ripened ovary of the plant. Popularly, a fruit is the edible, more or less sweet, pulpy portion of a plant, and the term is so used in this text. Under this definition, rhubarb (the petiole or leaf stem) is considered a fruit, while squash and tomato, technically fruits, are considered vegetables.
Crown structure and the distribution of epiphyte functional group biomass in old-growth Pseudotsuga menziesii trees.

Epiphyte functional groups (alectorioid lichens, cyanolichens, other lichens, and bryophytes) were sampled in nine old-growth, canopy-emergent, Pseudotsuga menziesii trees along a riparian corridor...
Protection against mammary tumor metastasis by inhibition of PKCα

B5 Important events during metastasis is breakdown of extracellular membrane, migration, adhesion and proliferation of cancer cells. Therefore, development of new pharmacological treatments inhibiting these different stage(s) of metastasis and the accompanying molecular events are greatly needed. Protein kinase C (PKC) α had been shown to be critical in all the stages of metastasis and its over-expression makes breast cancer cells to become more invasive and aggressive. The aim of the study was to determine the effects of PKCα on tumor metastasis in vivo. Female BalbC mice were semi-orthotopically injected with 4T1 mouse mammary cancer cells conjugated with luciferase at 6weeks of age. After 1 week, using subcutaneous osmotic pump, the animals were systemically infused with saline, control peptide TAT and αV5-3 (0.5ml/hr, i.e. 35 mg/kg/day). Each week, tumor volumes were measured and ongoing metastasis was monitored by whole-body imaging of luciferase activity. After 4 weeks of peptide treatment, mice were sacrificed. The effects of αV5-3 on lung and whole-body metastasis, lung adhesion, metallomatrix protease (MMP) activity, cell surface expression of CXCR4 (a major chemokine receptor on tumor cells that determines their site of metastasis) and beta1 integrin (known to interact with PKCα in breast cancer cells to direct motility of cancer cells) was studied. Also, inhibition of PKCβII and ϵ reduced migration and invasion of human breast cancer cells in vitro using isozyme-specific peptide inhibitors of PKCβII and ϵ. We found αV5-3 teatment reduced tumor metastasis after 4 weeks of treatment (P
Resource-Aware Optimization of Modular, Cascade Detection Systems

Detection systems in the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, unlike existing stovepipe ones, are envisioned to be a platform for multiple applications. As a result, the design for IoT systems often places strong emphasis on modularity, where components can be composed to form various applications. This modular constraint creates new challenges in finding the optimal trade-off between resource consumption and performance of detection systems. This work focuses on the problem of optimizing modular detection systems whose modules are cascade. The solution results in a dynamic-programming-based algorithm that can optimize cascade detection systems with an arbitrary number of modules. Simulation results on both synthetic and real data confirm the superiority of an optimized system against unoptimized ones.
Estimation of Left Ventricular Motion from Cardiac Gated Tagged MRI Using an Image-Matching Deformable Mesh Model

In this paper, we propose a deformable mesh model (DMM) method for left-ventricular (LV) motion-estimation from cardiac-gated tagged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). DMM starts by partitioning short-axis (SA) and long-axis (LA) images at end-diastole (ED) in a collection of non-overlapping mesh elements (triangles). Next, mesh elements are deformed attempting to track temporal changes in pixel intensities by minimizing an image-matching cost function from frame to frame. Finally, dense motion fields can be obtained at any frame from the displacement of mesh nodes, without any additional user interaction. For validation, 23 human tagged MRI studies were used, allocated as 7 normal, 9 hypertensive (HTN), and 7 with mitral regurgitation (MR). DMM end-systolic (ES) motion and strains were quantitatively compared to a “gold-standard” feature-based (FB) motion analysis method that includes manual tagline editing. DMM motion achieves subpixel average displacement error of SA landmarks with respect to FB. 3-D ES strains obtained from DMM correlate well with FB method ( $\rho $ ranging from 0.79 to 0.97). Finally, we show temporal curves for several DMM strain components, grouped according to the condition of patients (normal and diseased). These curves are qualitatively compared to a strain from unwrapped harmonic phase motion estimation algorithm. DMM produces robust temporal curves, which capture strain fluctuations reported in medical literature for HTN and MR conditions. This makes it a viable alternative to analyze motion from images at phases suffering from low contrast-to-noise ratio that may convey important information about the presence of certain cardiac pathologies.
Defining Disturbance for Microbial Ecology.

Disturbance can profoundly modify the structure of natural communities. However, microbial ecologists’ concept of “disturbance” has often deviated from conventional practice. Definitions (or implicit usage) have frequently included climate change and other forms of chronic environmental stress, which contradict the macrobiologist’s notion of disturbance as a discrete event that removes biomass. Physical constraints and disparate biological characteristics were compared to ask whether disturbances fundamentally differ in microbial and macroorganismal communities. A definition of “disturbance” for microbial ecologists is proposed that distinguishes from “stress” and other competing terms, and that is in accord with definitions accepted by plant and animal ecologists.
Data Injection Attacks on Electricity Markets by Limited Adversaries: Worst-Case Robustness

Electricity markets consist of multiple look-ahead and real-time spot markets, across which energy price is generally volatile. Moreover, dispatch and pricing decisions in the real-time markets strongly hinge on the quality of the real-time state estimates, which are formed dynamically in order to delineate real-time information about operational state of the grid. Adversaries can leverage price volatility in conjunction with the dependence of the real-time markets on the state estimates in order to carry out profitable financial misconduct, e.g., via virtual bidding on the locational marginal prices. When the adversaries are omniscient (i.e., have full and instantaneous access to grid topology and dynamics), the attack strategies for maximizing financial profits are studied extensively in the existing literature. This paper focuses on limited adversaries who have only partial and imperfect information about the grid, and offers a framework for analyzing the attack strategies for limited adversaries and the associated confidence about profitable attacks. Specifically, adversaries’ information is considered to be within a measure of bounded error, and attack strategies are designed such that the adversaries are guaranteed a certain level of confidence to gain profit. Designing such attacks is investigated analytically and examined in the IEEE 14- and 118-bus systems.
Phosphazene-catalyzed desymmetrization of cyclohexadienones by dithiane addition

We report a desymmetrization of cyclohexadienones by intramolecular conjugate addition of a tethered dithiane nucleophile. Mild reaction conditions allow the formation of diversely functionalized fused bicyclic lactones. The products participate in facially selective additions from the convex surface, leading to allylic alcohol derivatives.
Health Risk Assessments, Family Health History, and Predictive Genetic/Pharmacogenetic Testing

Abstract Primary care, the first point of contact for patients, is in an ideal position to promote integration of genomic medicine in wider healthcare use. Most primary-care physicians spend a majority of their time treating chronic conditions. The discovery of genetic variations underlying these chronic diseases offers them the unprecedented opportunity to personalize disease prediction and treatment. In the electronic health record era, health risk assessments with an accurate family history, medication reconciliation, and physician decision support for genetic and pharmacogenetic testing using evidenced-based guidelines should be incorporated into health systems and clinical workflows. This chapter will discuss the importance of these innovations in transforming primary care.
Concepts in Metasurface Optics for Imaging Applications

We present methods to design optical elements using optimization. As a demonstration, we fabricate silicon metagratings that can split and bend light with record efficiencies. We envision that meta-optics will enable new modalities in imaging.
Laser and Light Fundamentals

The word LASER is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The theory was postulated by Albert Einstein in 1916. A brief description of each of those five words will begin to explain the unique qualities of a laser instrument.
Method to assess performance of scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) instruments and software

The Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) (Wang and Flagan 1990) is the most commonly used instrument for measuring size distributions of sub-0.5 µm aerosol particles. However, insufficient atten...
TosR-Mediated Regulation of Adhesins and Biofilm Formation in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT Uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains utilize a variety of adherence factors that assist in colonization of the host urinary tract. TosA (type one secretion A) is a nonfimbrial adhesin that is predominately expressed during murine urinary tract infection (UTI), binds to kidney epithelial cells, and promotes survival during invasive infections. The tosRCBDAEF operon encodes the secretory machinery necessary for TosA localization to the E. coli cell surface, as well as the transcriptional regulator TosR. TosR binds upstream of the tos operon and in a concentration-dependent manner either induces or represses tosA expression. TosR is a member of the PapB family of fimbrial regulators that can participate in cross talk between fimbrial operons. TosR also binds upstream of the pap operon and suppresses PapA production. However, the scope of TosR-mediated cross talk is understudied and may be underestimated. To quantify the global effects of TosR-mediated regulation on the E. coli CFT073 genome, we induced expression of tosR , collected mRNA, and performed high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). These findings show that production of TosR affected the expression of genes involved with adhesins, including P, F1C, and Auf fimbriae, nitrate-nitrite transport, microcin secretion, and biofilm formation. IMPORTANCE Uropathogenic E. coli strains cause the majority of UTIs, which are the second most common bacterial infection in humans. During a UTI, bacteria adhere to cells within the urinary tract, using a number of different fimbrial and nonfimbrial adhesins. Biofilms can also develop on the surfaces of catheters, resulting in complications such as blockage. In this work, we further characterized the regulator TosR, which links both adhesin production and biofilm formation and likely plays a crucial function during UTI and disseminated infection.
Lack of Standardized Informed Consent Practices and Medical Malpractice

The ambiguity about and lack of uniformity in informed consent practices does not lend itself to the kind of shield from malpractice liability that exists in some more concrete, standardizable aspects of medical practice.
The Problem of “Political” Offences

Chile, 1851. After a military uprising in 1851, one of the persons involved received asylum in the United States legation in Santiago. The Chilean definition of a political offence was extremely interesting in this case. It depends as much upon the conditions of the society in which it occurred as the nature of the offence itself. Under certain conditions the minister would be justified in sheltering persons implicated in revolutionary movements. These conditions were described as follows.
Heterosexual Risk for HIV Among Puerto Rican Women: Does Power Influence Self-Protective Behavior?

Lack of power in relationships has been offered as an explanation for why women do not always engage in safer sex behavior with male partners. However, few studies have empirically tested the association between power and self-protective behavior. Causal modeling procedures were used to examine the interrelations of seven measures of power and to examine the effects of power on women's HIV-related communication and condom use with male partners. Power was measured by education, employment, decision making, perceived alternatives to the relationship, commitment to the relationship, investment in the relationship, and absence of abuse in the relationship. The sample comprised 187 Puerto Rican women, aged 18–35 years, attending a comprehensive health clinic in the Bronx, New York, who were at risk for heterosexual transmission of HIV. Women who were currently employed and those who were more committed to their relationships reported less HIV-related communication. Condom use was predicted by shorter length of the relationship, more education, current employment, less investment in the relationship, and more HIV-related communication.
Plant’s Adaptive Mechanisms under Arsenic Pollution

Metals/metalloids such as arsenic (As), cadmium, lead, and mercury are nonessential elements. High tissue concentrations of all these metals constitute stress and are proven to be toxic to plants. When the metal concentration in plant tissues exceeds tolerant levels, several vital plant processes such as photosynthesis, transpiration, nitrogen fixation (in leguminous plants), and carbohydrate metabolism are disrupted. Other metabolic disturbances include disruption of crucial biomolecules such as enzymes, damage to the cytoplasmic membrane, hindering functional groups of important cellular molecules, and the disruption of plant homeostasis by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS). Arsenite and arsenate produce ROS such as superoxides or peroxides in plants on exposure. ROS can damage amino acids, nucleic acids, proteins, or lipids which compromise the cellular function and can even cause cell death in plants. Moreover, As consumption is proven to be highly toxic to both animals and humans. Many plants are used as food sources around the globe. Hence, it is imperative to develop remediation measures for combating metal toxicity. Research studies have unraveled the physiology of how plants adapt when presented with elevated levels of As. The plants are highly susceptible to accumulate, uptake, and transport As to the higher levels which become toxic for the plants. In this chapter plants’ tolerance mechanisms particular to As stress will be discussed. These mechanisms include metal hyperaccumulation, modification of the uptake system, and adaptation via other organisms, chelation, and precipitation.
Racial differences in long-term adjuvant endocrine therapy adherence and mortality among Medicaid-insured breast cancer patients in Texas: Findings from TCR-Medicaid linked data

There are racial/ethnic disparities in breast cancer mortality may be attributed to differences in receipt of adjuvant cancer treatment. Our purpose was to determine whether the mortality disparities could be explained by racial/ethnic differences in long-term adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET). We conducted a retrospective cohort study with the Texas Cancer Registry and Medicaid claims-linked dataset of women (20-64 years) diagnosed with local and regional breast cancer who filled a prescription for AET from 2000-2008. Adherence to AET was measured at three time points (1-, 3-, and 5-year adherence) using a value for the percentage of medication filled for each period divided by the total number of possible prescriptions prescribed (Medication Possession Ratio, MPR). We created a binary variable of adherence (MPR≥80%). We performed multivariable logistic regressions to assess racial differences for the odds of AET adherence and Cox proportional hazard models to determine the risk of mortality adjusting for potential confounding variables of SES, comorbidities, tumor prognostic factors, and other cancer treatment. Of the 1,497 women with breast cancer who initiated AET, 56.9%, 42.3%, and 33.3% were adherent for 1, 3, and 5-years, respectively. Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic whites did differ in the proportion that were adherent to 5-years of AET. In the adjusted analysis for long-term adherence to AET, Hispanics did not have a significantly increased risk of death compared to non-Hispanic white patients (HR: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.58-2.21). However, black compared to non-Hispanic white patients had significantly lower odds of three-year adherence (OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.28-0.73). After controlling for 5-year adherence to AET, the risk of death for black compared to non-Hispanic white patients was 12% lower (HR: 1.90; 95% CI: 1.03-3.51) and in the fully adjusted model, the disparity was reduced and no longer significant (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 0.94-3.66). Long-term adherence in the Medicaid population is suboptimal and racial/ethnic differences in AET adherence may partially explain disparities in mortality. This study underscores the critical need to ensure long-term adherence to AET for all racial/ethnic groups to decrease disparities in mortality.
Applying Functional Genomics to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 20 genomic regions associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) susceptibility. However, the functional genetic variants within these COPD GWAS loci remain largely unidentified, thus limiting translation of these GWAS discoveries to new disease insights. Whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing studies have the potential to identify rare genetic determinants of COPD. Efforts to understand the biological effects of novel COPD genetic loci include gene-targeted murine models, integration of additional omics data (including transcriptomics and epigenetics), and functional variant identification. COPD genetic determinants likely act through biological networks, and a variety of network-based approaches have been used to gain insights into COPD susceptibility and heterogeneity.
Space-Efficient and Dynamic Caching for D2D Networks of Heterogeneous Users

Previous approaches to caching for Device-to-Device (D2D) communication cache popular files during off-peak hours. Since the popularity of content may evolve quickly or be unavailable in advance, we propose a flexible approach to cellular device caching where files are cached or uncached dynamically as file popularity evolves Dynamic caching motivates a space-efficient optimization problem Minimum File Placement (MFP), which is to cache a single file in the least amount of cache space to ensure a specified cache hit rate. In order to estimate the future cache hit rate, we use historical heterogeneous contact and request patterns of the devices. We present a bicriteria greedy algorithm for MFP and incorporate this algorithm into a dynamic approach to caching from a library of files with evolving popularity distribution. In an extensive experimental evaluation, we analyze the effectiveness of our approach to mobile device caching and demonstrate its advantages over other static contact-pattern-aware caching and alternative dynamic approaches.
Of brains and Borromean knots: A Lacanian meta-neuropsychology

Meta-psychological bridges between neuroscience and psychoanalysis have focused on Freud’s structural model [Kaplan-Solms & Solms, 2002. Clinical studies in neuro-psychoanalysis: Introduction to a ...
Single-center experience with use of letermovir for CMV prophylaxis or treatment in thoracic organ transplant recipients.

Background Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common in thoracic organ transplant recipients. Valganciclovir and ganciclovir are used for both prophylaxis and treatment of this infection, but intolerance and treatment failure are common. Letermovir has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of CMV infection when used for prophylaxis in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. However, there are no data on its efficacy in thoracic organ transplantation. Methods We examined the use of letermovir for either CMV prophylaxis (primary and secondary) or treatment in heart and lung transplant recipients at our institution from February 1, 2018, through December 31, 2018. Results Nine total patients received letermovir at our institution (8 lung transplant, 1 heart transplant) during the study period. Letermovir was prescribed for CMV prophylaxis in eight patients (primary prophylaxis in two patients and secondary prophylaxis in 6 patients), and for treatment of CMV DNAemia in two cases. One patient received letermovir for both secondary prophylaxis and treatment on separate occasions. Three out of 8 (37.5%) patients receiving letermovir for prophylaxis developed CMV DNAemia during prophylaxis. One patient treated for CMV disease had clinical failure with a sharp rise in serum CMV DNA PCR. The other patient treated for low-grade CMV DNAemia initially had a slight rise in CMV DNA PCR, but has since had a sustained response. No major side effects were experienced, and 2 patients reported minor side effects. Conclusion Letermovir was well tolerated with only minor side effects reported; however, the rate of development of CMV DNAemia on prophylaxis was considerable. Further study of the dosing and efficacy of letermovir for CMV prophylaxis or treatment in thoracic organ transplant recipients is warranted.
Capturing discrete complete staging elements in EPIC for new and progressing breast (B) and prostate (P) cancer patients: A quality training program pilot.

117Background: Staging is a fundamental quality metric. Entry of discrete elements of staging in the EHR supports & improves efficiencies for clinical notes, therapy summaries, survivorship plans, ...
Urinary Biomarkers of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Are Elevated in Obese Children and Correlate with a Marker of Endothelial Dysfunction

Obesity is a state of chronic low-level inflammation closely associated with oxidative stress. Childhood obesity is associated with endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and oxidative stress markers individually. This study was aimed at determining the association between the biomarkers of inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction in urine samples of healthy, overweight, and obese children. Eighty-eight elementary school children aged between 6 and 10 years participated in this study. Anthropometric measurements were measured using WHO recommendations. The biomarkers of low-grade inflammation such as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP); oxidative stress markers such as 8-isoprostane and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG); and endothelin-1 (ET-1) were analyzed in urine samples. The area under the curve (AUC) by the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) was analyzed to identify the best urinary biomarker in childhood obesity. Linear regression and Pearson correlation were analyzed to determine the association between the parameters. The obese participants have significantly increased levels of CRP, AGP, IL-6, and 8-isoprostane compared to normal-weight participants. The overweight participants had significantly increased levels of ET-1 and 8-OHdG but not the obese group compared to the NW group. The AUC for urinary CRP (AUC: 0.847, 95% CI: 0.765-0.930; p < 0.0001) and 8-isoprostane (AUC: 0.857, 95% CI: 0.783-0.932; p < 0.0001) showed a greater area under ROC curves compared to other inflammatory and oxidative markers. The urinary CRP and 8-isoprostane significantly correlated with the obesity measures (body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to- height ratio) and ET-1, inflammatory, and oxidative markers. The increased urinary inflammatory markers and 8-isoprostane can serve as a noninvasive benchmark for early detection of the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Quality of Care for Renal Masses: The Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative—Kidney Mass: Identifying & Defining Necessary Evaluation & Therapy (MUSIC-KIDNEY)

AbstractIntroduction:We describe the establishment of the Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative—Kidney mass: Identifying and Defining Necessary Evaluation and therapY (MUSIC-KIDNEY)...
Prioritized Dietary Supplement Information Needs of 307 NCAA Division I Student Athletes.

Abstract Objective To evaluate dietary supplement information needs among collegiate athletes. Methods Three hundred seven (n = 154 male; n = 153 female) student athletes participating in a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I team completed a dietary supplement survey. Qualitative coding addressed open-ended responses, and chi-square test of independence explored differences among athlete subgroups. Results Five themes representing athletes’ information needs included quality/composition (53.5%; n = 77), general information (31.9%; n = 46), nutrition information (30.6%; n = 44), performance (18.8%; n = 27), and body composition (13.2%; n = 19). Athletes with “no” or “minimal” (n = 63), vs “moderate” or “strong” (n = 195), perceived knowledge of supplement safety were more likely to list a question about supplement quality or composition (34.9% [n = 22/63] vs 21.5% [n= 42/195]; P = .03; chi-square = 4.6). Conclusions and Implications Further research is needed to corroborate findings to inform educational efforts and promote safe and effective use of dietary supplements by student athletes.
Molecular genetic changes in benign colorectal tumors synchronous with microsatellite unstable carcinomas do not support a field defect.

BACKGROUND A colorectal cancer may develop through a particular molecular genetic pathway, raising the question of whether the particular molecular changes are random, or are unique to the particular segment of colon. We wanted to determine whether molecular changes found within a colorectal cancer might also be detected in separate adenomas and polyps removed from the same area of colon at surgery. Microsatellite instability was chosen as a marker for a pathway of colon carcinogenesis. METHODS We studied a total of 46 primary colorectal cancers with microsatellite instability and 77 synchronous adenomas and polyps. All tumors were evaluated for microsatellite instability, BRAF and KRAS mutations, and methylation using standard polymerase chain reaction based methods. RESULTS Forty-nine benign tumors did not follow a pathway similar to that of their 31 synchronous primary cancers. For two distinct subsets of the microsatellite unstable colorectal cancers, those with acquired methylation and BRAF mutation, and those without methylation suggestive of an underlying germ line mutation, the molecular changes in the majority of their synchronous benign tumors were different from the colorectal cancer. CONCLUSIONS These differences suggest a stochastic process within the colon regarding the particular molecular carcinogenic pathways followed by the synchronous tumors, rather than a 'field defect' within the colon segments. Variability in molecular findings was present for colorectal cancers arising from acquired methylation, as well as those cancers suggestive of a germ line origin.
David Oliver: Was the prime minister justified in blaming care homes for poor covid-19 practice?

On 6 July the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, told journalists that “too many care homes didn’t really follow procedures” during the covid-19 pandemic, arguably implying that this fuelled the spread of the virus.1 The reaction from the health and social care sector was swift and condemnatory.2 On 7 July the health secretary, Matt Hancock, refused to apologise in the House of Commons and claimed that “the PM was explaining that because asymptomatic transmission was not known about, the correct procedures were therefore not known.” Was there any substance to Johnson’s inflammatory remarks? The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported 19 394 covid-19 related deaths of care home residents in England and Wales from 2 March to 12 June—29.3% of all deaths of care home residents in that period.3 And 56% …
A summary of the special issue on remote sensing of land change science with Google earth engine

Abstract To embrace the burgeoning land change science studies that exploit public-domain cloud-computing platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE), for the first time, we organized a special issue entitled “Remote Sensing of Land Change Science with Google Earth Engine” in the journal “Remote Sensing of Environment”. This paper serves as a summary to a collection of 19 papers that have been published since the inception of the special issue in November 2017. In particular, we summarized their contributions with regard to two perspectives: what new themes of questions are articulated, what contributions have been made. Taking account of the disciplinary difference, we carried out the summary separately in two major science domains: Remote Sensing of Environment (RSE), i.e., naturally-induced land change, and Remote Sensing of Society (RSS), i.e., human-induced land change. Furthermore, we presented a historical review of the developments of GEE-relevant studies published before our special issue. Finally, we provided a future prospect on how GEE will continue to evolve to further the study of land change science.
Primate lentiviruses require Inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) or inositol pentakisphosphate (IP5) for the production of viral particles

Inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) potently stimulates HIV-1 particle assembly in vitro and infectious particle production in vivo. However, knockout cells lacking inositol-pentakisphosphate 2-kinase (IPPK-KO), the enzyme that produces IP6 by phosphorylation of inositol pentakisphosphate (IP5), were still able to produce infectious HIV-1 particles at a greatly reduced rate. HIV-1 in vitro assembly can also be stimulated to a lesser extent with IP5, but until recently, it was not known if IP5 could also function in promoting assembly in vivo. Here we addressed whether there is an absolute requirement for IP6 or IP5 in the production of infectious HIV-1 particles. IPPK-KO cells expressed no detectable IP6 but elevated IP5 levels and displayed a 20-100-fold reduction in infectious particle production, correlating with lost virus release. Transient transfection of an IPPK expression vector stimulated infectious particle production and release in IPPK-KO but not wildtype cells. Several attempts to make IP6/IP5 deficient stable cells were not successful, but transient expression of the enzyme multiple inositol polyphosphate phosphatase-1 (MINPP1) into IPPK-KOs resulted in near ablation of IP6 and IP5. Under these conditions, we found that HIV-1 infectious particle production and virus release were essentially abolished (1000-fold reduction) demonstrating an IP6/IP5 requirement. However, other retroviruses including a Gammaretrovirus, a Betaretrovirus, and two non-primate Lentiviruses displayed only a modest (3-fold) reduction in infectious particle production from IPPK-KOs and were not significantly altered by expression of IPPK or MINPP1. The only other retrovirus found to show a clear IP6/IP5 dependence was the primate (macaque) Lentivirus Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, which displayed similar sensitivity as HIV-1. We were not able to determine if producer cell IP6/IP5 is required at additional steps beyond assembly because viral particles devoid of both molecules could not be generated. Finally, we found that loss of IP6/IP5 in viral target cells had no effect on permissivity to HIV-1 infection.
Special education teachers of color and their beliefs about dis/ability and race: Counter-stories of smartness and goodness

Teacher beliefs about race and dis/ability1 are important in understanding how teachers educate and support students of color with dis/abilities. This is particularly critical because of the overre...
Abstract TP312: Developing a Mobile Application for Stroke Informal Caregivers

Background: Following stroke, many survivors require assistance with activities of daily living from untrained individuals. These informal caregivers assume multiple new responsibilities, which can...
Optimization of PointPillars (A Deep Learning Network for LiDAR-based 3D Object Detection) on Intel Platform

This paper introduces how to optimize the PointPillars, a network for the deep-learning-based object detection in 3D point clouds, on the 11th-Generation Intel® CoreTM Processors (Tiger Lake) by using the Intel® Distribution of OpenVINOTM Toolkit. The throughput requirement for the use cases of transportation infrastructure (e.g., 3D point clouds generated by the roadside Lidars) is 10 frames per second. In comparison with the existing solutions that we are aware of, our solution can achieve the throughput of 11.1 FPS and the latency of 154.7 ms on Intel® CoreTM processors with much lower cost and much lower power consumption.
Experiences With General Education: How Sense of Community Shapes Students’ Perceptions:

General education (GE) classes are designed to reflect the mission and goals of the university and to help students become more well-rounded, career-ready, and civically-minded post-graduation. Stu...
What Is the Primary Language

This paper includes results of the research on the structure of the Primary Language of the human brain (as introduced by J. von Neumann in 1957). Two components have been investigated, Linguistic Geometry (LG) and the Algorithm of Discovery. I suggest that both components are mental realities “hard-wired” in the human brain. LG is a formal model of human reasoning about armed conflict, an evolutionary product of millions of years of human warfare. It was rediscovered via research on modeling and generalization of the human expert approach to playing chess and applied successfully to modern warfare. Experiences of development of LG have been instructive for discovering the Algorithm of Discovery, the foundation of all the discoveries throughout the history of humanity. This Algorithm is based on multiple thought experiments, which manifest themselves and are controlled by the mental visual streams.
Procesos transnacionales en el salar de Atacama-norte de Chile. Los impactos de la minería y el turismo en las comunidades indígenas atacameñas

En este paper analizamos los procesos de globalizacion transnacional en el contexto interetnico y multicultural de la region del salar de Atacama-norte de Chile; asimismo, los impactos de las industrias de la mineria y el turismo en la configuracion de complejos culturales transnacionales en una zona geopolitica y economica estrategica. El trabajo entrecruza diversos niveles de analisis –discursos y practicas-, y de agentes locales –indigenas y no indigenas-, regionales, nacionales y transnacionales, asi como tambien heterogeneas escalas –comunidad, empresas, estado-, que dan cuenta de relaciones dinamicas y cambiantes en torno al control de los recursos naturales y culturales. Este trabajo tambien se refiere al nuevo contexto que plantea el neoliberalismo en el Chile posnoventa y las contradicciones de su politica medioambiental y multicultural en contextos etnicos especificos.
The Mucosal Immune Response

1 Introduction 2 The Innate Mucosal Defense System 3 The Mucosal Epithelium Bridges Innate with Acquired Mucosal Immunity 4 An IEL–IEC Intranet 5 Inductive and Effector Lymphoepithelial Sites of the Mucosal Immune System 6 Mucosal T Cells and Cytokines 7 Induction of Mucosal Immunity and Vaccines 8 Mucosally-Induced Tolerance 9 Conclusions 10 Acknowledgments Keywords: mucosal immune response; innate mucosal defense system; mucosal epithelium bridging innate with acquired mucosal immunity; IEL and IEC crosstalk at intestinal mucosal barrier; mucosal immune system inductive and effector lymphoepithelial sites; cytokine and chemokine responses to mucosal pathogens; mucosally-induced tolerance; mucosal immunity and vaccine induction
Genome‐wide association genetics of an adaptive trait in lodgepole pine

Pine cones that remain closed and retain seeds until fire causes the cones to open (cone serotiny) represent a key adaptive trait in a variety of pine species. In lodgepole pine, there is substantial geographical variation in serotiny across the Rocky Mountain region. This variation in serotiny has evolved as a result of geographically divergent selection, with consequences that extend to forest communities and ecosystems. An understanding of the genetic architecture of this trait is of interest owing to the wide-reaching ecological consequences of serotiny and also because of the repeated evolution of the trait across the genus. Here, we present and utilize an inexpensive and time-effective method for generating population genomic data. The method uses restriction enzymes and PCR amplification to generate a library of fragments that can be sequenced with a high level of multiplexing. We obtained data for more than 95,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms across 98 serotinous and nonserotinous lodgepole pines from three populations. We used a Bayesian generalized linear model (GLM) to test for an association between genotypic variation at these loci and serotiny. The probability of serotiny varied by genotype at 11 loci, and the association between genotype and serotiny at these loci was consistent in each of the three populations of pines. Genetic variation across these 11 loci explained 50% of the phenotypic variation in serotiny. Our results provide a first genome-wide association map of serotiny in pines and demonstrate an inexpensive and efficient method for generating population genomic data.
The Government's Increasing Reliance on — And Abuse of — The Deliberative Process Evidentiary Privilege: '[T]he Last Will Be First'

This article discusses the deliberative process that government entities can invoke to deny citizens and litigants access to documents reflecting the development of public policies.The deliberative process privilege was the last major government privilege recognized by the American. The first case enunciating the doctrine is a 1958 decision of the Court of Claims. Yet, today the doctrine is the most frequently invoked government privilege; it is now the first privilege that government agencies resort to when citizens or opposing litigants want to discover documents chronicling the development of the agencies’ policies. For example, in the past two years alone the federal government has invoked the privilege to deny citizens access to information about such controversies as the D.E.A.’s Fast and Furious gun program, the government’s bailouts of the finance industry, enhanced interrogation of terrorists, and the proposed Keystone pipeline from Canada. As Part II of the enclosed article explains, since 1958 the courts have dramatically expanded the scope of the privilege. When the privilege was initially recognized the privilege, the privilege has a modest scope: Federal court applied the privilege to shield pre-decisional documents reflecting communications between government officials about policy deliberations. Today many state courts also recognize the privilege, the courts have blurred the distinction between pre- and post-decisional documents, the privilege has sometimes been applied to protect factual information as well as deliberations, and many courts now extend the privilege to certain communications between government officials and private individuals and entities. The courts have been so willing to broaden the privilege that it is no wonder that the deliberative process doctrine has become the first privilege the government usually cites as a justification to block public access to information.Part III of this article discusses the new "hot button" controversy over the scope of the privilege. Perhaps emboldened by the court’s past willingness to expand the doctrine, the Justice Department is now arguing that the concept of "deliberations" now includes government officials’ discussions about how to respond to media inquiries about and coverage of public policies. The thesis of this article is that the courts should reject the government’s attempt to extend the privilege in this manner. The article contends that if the courts embraced the government’s argument, the courts would enable the government to convert a policy tool into a political tool. The courts’ tendency to expand the privilege imperils the transparency of government policy-making, and the courts ought to refuse to take the next step currently being urged by the government.