cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Health of Children Adopted From China

Objective. Since 1989, American parents have adopted 18 846 Chinese children. This study assesses the health and developmental status of these children after their arrival in the United States. Patients and Methods. A total of 452 children (443 girls) in 2 groups were evaluated. The clinic group children ( n = 192) included all Chinese adoptees seen in an international adoption clinic between 1991 and 1998. The travel group comprised 260 of 325 Chinese children placed by a single Massachusetts adoption agency between 1991 and 1996 whose adoptive parents and American physicians responded to mailed questionnaires. One hundred ninety-one of the travel group children were cared for by 1 of us (N.W.H.) during the adoption process in China. Results. Growth and developmental delays were frequent in the clinic group. Z scores ≤−2 were found in 39% of children for height, 18% for weight, and 24% for head circumference. The duration of orphanage confinement was inversely proportional to the linear height lag ( r = .9), with a loss of 1 month of height age for every 2.86 months in the orphanage. Of the children, 75% had significant developmental delay in at least 1 domain: gross motor in 55%, fine motor in 49%, cognitive in 32%, language in 43%, social–emotional in 28%, activities of daily living in 30%, and global delays in 44%. The incidence of medical problems was similar in both groups of children (travel group and clinic group). Overall, among the 452 children, elevated lead levels were found in 14%, anemia in 35%, abnormal thyroid function tests in 10%, hepatitis B surface antigen in 6%, hepatitis B surface antibody in 22%, intestinal parasites (usually Giardia ) in 9%, and positive skin test results for tuberculosis in 3.5%. One child each had hepatitis C exposure and congenital syphilis. No child had human immunodeficiency virus infection. Unsuspected significant medical diagnoses, including hearing loss, orthopedic problems, and congenital anomalies, were found in 18% (81/452) of the children. Conclusions. Chinese adoptees display a similar pattern of growth and developmental delays and medical problems as seen in other groups of internationally adopted children. An exception is the increased incidence of elevated lead levels (overall 14%). Although serious medical and developmental issues were found among the children, overall their condition was better than expected based on recent publicity about conditions in the Chinese orphanages. The long-term outcome of these children remains unknown. China, adoption, orphanage, institutionalized child.
USEPA Efforts in Harmonization of Acute Toxicity Test Guidelines with OECD

The USEPA, as a member of the OECD, is involved in the review of OECD guidelines and OECD's plans for revisions. The guidelines reviewed to date include: acute oral toxicity, eye and dermal irritation/corrosion, and skin sensitization. The revisions to the guidelines have emphasized reductions in animal usage in lab testing, and refinements which reduce/eliminate pain and suffering of animals. Screening methods, such as use of structure-activity relationships and physicochemical properties of test substances, which would eliminate chemicals that did not require animal testing, or sharply reduce the number of animals required for testing, were also recommended for some guidelines. In vitro methods were also examined as screens to eliminate severely toxic chemicals, but most of these methods still require further development and validation. The proposed revisions are discussed in detail in this report. This report has been reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pollution Prevention and ...
Sexual harassment in the Marines, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and perceived health: Evidence for sex differences†

Sex differences and pretrauma functioning have been understudied in examinations of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) and health. This study examined relationships between sexual harassment and assault in the military (MST), PSS, and perceived physical health when accounting for pre-MST PSS, pre-MST health, and current depression. Relationships were examined separately in 226 female and 91 male Marines endorsing recent MST (past 6 months). MST predicted increased PSS for women and especially men. For men, higher levels of MST were associated with worse perceived physical health, whereas for women, lower levels of MST were associated with worse perceived health. For men with MST, there was some evidence for the association being partially mediated by PSS, but no mediation was found in women.
Sidestepping Intractable Inference with Structured Ensemble Cascades

For many structured prediction problems, complex models often require adopting approximate inference techniques such as variational methods or sampling, which generally provide no satisfactory accuracy guarantees. In this work, we propose sidestepping intractable inference altogether by learning ensembles of tractable sub-models as part of a structured prediction cascade. We focus in particular on problems with high-treewidth and large state-spaces, which occur in many computer vision tasks. Unlike other variational methods, our ensembles do not enforce agreement between sub-models, but filter the space of possible outputs by simply adding and thresholding the max-marginals of each constituent model. Our framework jointly estimates parameters for all models in the ensemble for each level of the cascade by minimizing a novel, convex loss function, yet requires only a linear increase in computation over learning or inference in a single tractable sub-model. We provide a generalization bound on the filtering loss of the ensemble as a theoretical justification of our approach, and we evaluate our method on both synthetic data and the task of estimating articulated human pose from challenging videos. We find that our approach significantly outperforms loopy belief propagation on the synthetic data and a state-of-the-art model on the pose estimation/tracking problem.
Mass-spectrometry assisted heavy-atom derivative screening of human FcγRIII crystals

A heavy-atom screening method aided by mass spectrometry is described here. Using mass spectrometry, several heavy-atom compounds have been screened in order to obtain potential phasing derivatives for the crystals of a human immunoglobulin Fc receptor, FcγRIII. Of these, HgCl2, trimethyllead acetate (TMLA), KAu(CN)2, K2PtCl4 and PbAc2 reacted with FcγRIII in solution, whereas KAuCl4, ethylmercuric thiosalicylate (EMTS) and Na2WO4 did not. To validate the mass-spectrometry results, these heavy-atom compounds were also used to soak crystals of FcγRIII and crystallographic data were collected after soaking. The calculated Riso indicated that HgCl2, TMLA, K2PtCl4 and PbAc2 were likely to form derivatives, whereas KAu(CN)2 and Na2WO4 were not. The anomalous difference Patterson maps calculated for the HgCl2 and TMLA derivative data sets were of good quality and can readily be interpreted by hand. In general, the number of binding sites obtained from the crystallographic phase refinement of the derivatives agrees with those obtained from the mass spectrometry, suggesting that mass spectrometry can be applied for rapid searching of suitable heavy-atom derivatives for X-ray crystallography.
Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags From Two Starvation, Time-of-Day-Specific Libraries of Neurospora crassa Reveals Novel Clock-Controlled Genes

In an effort to determine genes that are expressed in mycelial cultures of Neurospora crassa over the course of the circadian day, we have sequenced 13,000 cDNA clones from two time-of-day-specific libraries (morning and evening library) generating approximately 20,000 sequences. Contig analysis allowed the identification of 445 unique expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and 986 ESTs present in multiple cDNA clones. For approximately 50% of the sequences (710 of 1431), significant matches to sequences in the National Center for Biotechnology Information database (of known or unknown function) were detected. About 50% of the ESTs (721 of 1431) showed no similarity to previously identified genes. We hybridized Northern blots with probes derived from 26 clones chosen from contigs identified by multiple cDNA clones and EST sequences. Using these sequences, the representation of genes among the morning and evening sequences, respectively, in most cases does not reflect their expression patterns over the course of the day. Nevertheless, we were able to identify four new clock-controlled genes. On the basis of these data we predict that a significant proportion of the expressed Neurospora genes may be regulated by the circadian clock. The mRNA levels of all four genes peak in the subjective morning as is the case with previously identified ccgs.
Measurement of the Salt-Dependent Stabilization of Partially Open DNA by Escherichia coli SSB Protein

The rezipping force of two complementary DNA strands under tension has been measured in the presence of Escherichia coli single-strandedbinding proteins under salt conditions ranging from 10– to 400mM NaCl. The effectiveness of the binding protein in preventing rezipping is strongly dependent on salt concentration and compared with the salt dependence in the absence of the protein. At concentrations less than 50mM NaCl, the protein prevents complete rezipping of j-phage on the 2-s timescale of the experiment, when the ssDNA is under tensions as low as 3.5±1 pN. For salt concentrations greater than 200mM NaCl, the protein inhibits rezipping but cannot block rezipping when the tension is reduced below 6±1.8 pN. This change in effectiveness as a function of salt concentration may correspond to salt-dependent changes in binding modes that were previously observed in bulk assays.
Woody biomass policies and location decisions of the woody bioenergy industry in the southern United States.

Woody biomass for bioenergy production has been included in relatively few renewable energy policies since the 1970s. Recently, however, several states have implemented a variety of new woody biomass policies to spur the establishment of new bioenergy industry. Establishing new woody biomass-based facilities in a specific state is affected by a number of factors such as the strength of these new policy incentives, resource availability, business tax climate, and the available labor force. This study employs a conditional logit model (CLM) to explore the effects of woody biomass policies on the siting decisions of new bioenergy projects relative to some of these other state attributes. The CLM results suggest that state government incentives are significantly related to state success in attracting new plants. The results have substantial implications regarding woody biomass policies and the creation of a new bioenergy industry.
Adaptive Network Coding for Heterogeneous Peer-to-Peer Streaming Systems

In this paper, we propose a scheme to apply network coding to heterogeneous peer-to-peer media streaming systems. As most peers in a peer-to-peer media streaming system are individual computers connected to the Internet through access links with heterogeneous link capacities, it is desirable to design an adaptive scheme to make efficient use of the bandwidth of the access links. We propose an adaptive network coding scheme for heterogeneous peer-to-peer streaming systems. The media content is encoded into multiple stripes. The peers select one or more stripes to subscribe based on their own download bandwidths. For each stripe, a subgraph is constructed such that the coding probability is maximized. In addition, we propose an overlay topology construction algorithm which takes both upload bandwidth and download bandwidth into consideration. We compare our scheme with another recently proposed scheme called LION through simulations. Our simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves higher satisfaction and better throughput than LION with or without churn.
The effects of throttle body injection on fuel/air distribution in a spark ignition engine

Abstract-The effects of throttle body injection on fuel spray atomization are examined in terms of their impact on fuel/air distribution in multi-cylinder engines. From exhaust product measurements of individual cylinders in a four cylinder engine, cylinder-to-cylinder uniformity of fuel/air ratio is shown to vary substantially with engine operating conditions. For example, cylinder-to-cylinder variations in fuel/air ratio ranged from 3% at light loads to nearly 15% at wide open throttle. In contrast, substantially different fuel injectors had little impact on the fuel/air distribution. These trends correlated well with previous measurements of throttle body injection systems where throttle position and air flowrate were shown to dominate the spray quality (in terms of drop size and spatial uniformity) and injector effects were of secondary importance. The improved uniformity of fuel/air distribution for light load conditions can be directly attributed to increased air velocity past the nearly closed thro...
The right stuff: evidence for an ‘optimal’ genome size in a wild grass population

The immense variation exhibited in plant genome size is remarkable. In ﬂowering plants alone, the observed variation in genome size (i.e. the total amount of DNA in an unreplicated nucleus) is huge, ranging from 0.630 Gbp (billion base pairs) to almost 125 Gbp – a difference of nearly 2000-fold. However, despite this immense variation, the cumulative distribution of genome sizes in plants is signiﬁcantly skewed towards smaller sizes. A natural corollary is that the skewed distribution is an indication of large genomes being disadvantageous (Knight et al., 2005). It has long been proposed that genome size has measurable phenotypic and ecological consequences which are mediated through its effect on cellular parameters (such as nuclear volume, meiotic and mitotic duration, and cell size), leading some to suggest that genome size can have a nongenic role in the functioning of an organism (Bennett, 1972).
Boosting timestamp-based transactional memory by exploiting hardware cycle counters

Time-based transactional memories typically rely on a shared memory counter to ensure consistency. Unfortunately, such a counter can become a bottleneck. In this article, we identify properties of hardware cycle counters that allow their use in place of a shared memory counter. We then devise algorithms that exploit the x86 cycle counter to enable bottleneck-free transactional memory runtime systems. We also consider the impact of privatization safety and hardware ordering constraints on the correctness, performance, and generality of our algorithms.
Robotic radical cystectomy and intracorporeal urinary diversion: The USC technique

Introduction: Radical cystectomy is the gold-standard treatment for muscle-invasive and refractory nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer. We describe our technique for robotic radical cystectomy (RRC) and intracorporeal urinary diversion (ICUD), that replicates open surgical principles, and present our preliminary results. Materials and Methods: Specific descriptions for preoperative planning, surgical technique, and postoperative care are provided. Demographics, perioperative and 30-day complications data were collected prospectively and retrospectively analyzed. Learning curve trends were analyzed individually for ileal conduits (IC) and neobladders (NB). SAS ® Software Version 9.3 was used for statistical analyses with statistical significance set at P Results: Between July 2010 and September 2013, RRC and lymph node dissection with ICUD were performed in 103 consecutive patients (orthotopic NB=46, IC 57). All procedures were completed robotically replicating the open surgical principles. The learning curve trends showed a significant reduction in hospital stay for both IC (11 vs. 6-day, P Conclusions: Robotic radical cystectomy with totally ICUD is safe and feasible. It can be performed using the established open surgical principles with encouraging perioperative outcomes.
Single-Channel AutoAnalyzer Adapted for Multiple Tests without Manifold Changes

A different approach to continuous-flow analysis is described, in which the initial reagent concentration is adjusted to fit a prefixed manifold while still providing optimum concentrations of the reactants in the mixing coils. A single-channel AutoAnalyzer so designed can perform multiple tests without the need to change manifolds. The system was assembled from a Technicon Sampler II and Pump II, a Gilford 300 N spectrophotometer, and a Varian recorder. Results for calcium, uric acid, glucose, phosphorus, chloride, urea nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, analyzed on this instrument at a speed of 60 samples/ h, compare favorably with those obtained with the AutoAnalyzer 12/60 and 6/60. The instrument is not restricted to certain methodologies and, in addition, can be used manually or for kinetic reactions
Maxed Out College Students: A Call to Limit Credit Card Solicitations on College Campuses

Distraught over mounting debt and an inability to pay her bills, 18-year-old freshman Mitzi Pool hanged herself in her dorm room at the University of Central Oklahoma. She had spread out on her bed, her checkbook and the bills for three credit cards she had maxed out to $2,500. How does a college freshman barely old enough to vote, end up with three credit cards and insurmountable debt? In their first week at school, students like Mitzi can expect to receive an average of eight credit card solicitations, and nearly half of all students report receiving applications on a daily basis. With free food and merchandise sporting the college's logo, credit card companies lure students into applying for credit cards even though the students are usually unemployed or low-income workers. By the time they leave school, a majority of students will have multiple credit cards. Johnson conducted a survey of Ohio State students and found that about one fifth (21.4 percent) would consider harmful options in the face of uncontrollable debt, including substance abuse and suicide. Most in the survey reported that they were not aware that a damaged credit history could have long-term consequences, including denial of employment. Based on her analysis of research on students' credit card usage, Johnson finds that many students are not using credit cards wisely. Johnson's article also looks at how universities have responded to the dramatic increase in on-campus soliciting of students and finds that while some have banned on-campus solicitations from credit card companies and have taken other measures, not enough is being done in the area of teaching responsible credit usage. A growing trend among universities is for them to enter into lucrative contracts with a single credit card company and allow that company to be the only one with exclusive on-campus marketing privileges. For example, the University of Tennessee signed a contract obligating First USA to pay the school $16.5 million over seven years in exchange for exclusive on-campus marketing rights and for exclusive access to the names and addresses of alumni, associates and students. Johnson concludes that legislators should ban credit card companies from soliciting on campuses and in the absence of a ban, prohibit them from offering free merchandise and other material incentives to students. Moreover, universities should institute programs to educate their students on responsible credit practices. "University administrators and lawmakers must provide the kind of education that enables students to make financially wise decisions and protect their credit history - the asset or liability that will follow them the rest of their lives," Johnson writes.
Feeding status affects in vivo prosucrase.isomaltase processing in rat jejunum.

Fed and fasted (18 h) adult male rats received a primed constant infusion of [3H]leucine for 15 to 180 min. Prosucrase-isomaltase (pro-SI) and sucrase were isolated from mixed jejunal mucosal membranes by immunoprecipitation and separated from one another by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under denaturing and reducing conditions. The rate at which pro-SI was processed to sucrase was calculated on the assumption that the steady-state specific radioactivity of leucine in pro-SI defined the pool of amino acids used in the formation of brush border sucrase. At isotopic steady state, pro-SI achieved a specific radioactivity that was higher than that of mucosal free leucine in both feeding groups. The relationship between the isotopic equilibrium of the free amino acid pools and pro-SI was sensitive to feeding status; the specific radioactivity of pro-SI was 25 and 55% (P less than 0.05) of the blood specific radioactivity in fed and fasted animals, respectively. The fractional rate of pro-SI processing tended to be higher (P less than 0.07) in fed (407%/d) than in fasted animals (274%/d). We conclude that the general mucosal free amino acid pool is not the amino acid pool from which pro-SI is synthesized and that the rate of pro-SI processing from the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi membranes to the brush border membrane is sensitive to the feeding status of the animal.
Palatal mucormycosis in patients with hematologic malignancy and stem cell transplantation

We present two patients with acute myelogenous leukemia who developed palatal mucormycosis, as well as a review of 15 well described reported cases of the same condition in patients who had hematologic malignancy and had undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Early diagnosis of palatal mucormycosis requires high suspicion of the disease along with a thorough oral examination. Mucormycosis is a devastating disease with a high mortality rate, thereby stressing the importance for early appropriate antifungal therapy in immunocompromised patients with palatal lesions while awaiting the results of histopathology and cultures.
Adaptive Tracking Control of Linear Systems with Unknown Delays and Persistent Disturbances (or Who You Callin' Retarded?)

In this paper, we develop a Direct Model Reference Adaptive Tracking Controller for linear systems with unknown delays, sometimes known as retarded equations. This controller can also reject bounded disturbances of known wave form but unknown amplitude, e.g. steps or sinusoids. We prove that the controller produces global asymptotic tracking with bounded controller gains when the delay-free open-loop plant is almost strictly positive real (equivalently, is minimum phase and has CB positive definite) and the internal delay terms satisfy a linear matrix inequality. The adaptive controller has no knowledge of the delay. An illustrative example is provided.
Analysis of Excess Wake Vortex Separation on Arrival Delay

An analysis is performed to estimate the delay in the terminal area due to excess leading/trailing aircraft wake vortex spacing. This analysis makes use of a large database of recorded traffic from early 2010 at several of the busiest Terminal Radar Approach Control Facilities (TRACONs) in the United States. To facilitate delay estimates, two arrival compression models are developed and applied to the recorded arrival traffic. A key feature of the compression modeling is the use of just two discrete points in the trajectory: TRACON entry and runway threshold crossing, eliminating the need for the resource intensive procedure of trajectory reconstruction. The analysis has two parts and each part focuses on two runways that are dedicated entirely to arrivals: KATL 27L and KDEN 35R. The first part is a sensitivity study exploring two strategies for compressing the arrivals: path reduction with original average true airspeeds and path reduction with (often times) faster average true airspeeds. This sensitivity study results in a range of delay savings on the order of tens of seconds per flight. The rest of the analysis uses the path compression model (original average true airspeeds), showing the uneven variation of daily delay savings at KATL 27L. Cumulative distribution functions capture the excess spacing reductions. They show a 10% increase (relative to the observed excess spacing) in arrivals landing with an excess spacing of 0.5 nmi or less at KATL 27L and a 25% increase at KDEN 35R.
Methyl (E)-6-Nonenoate: a New Mediterranean Fruit Fly Male Attractant

Several synthesized formulations of substances indentified from volatiles of male Ceratitis Capitata (Wiedemann) were highly attractive to these males in field evaluations. In treatments exposed in Steiner plastic traps or in delta-shaped Jackson cardboard traps, methyl ( E )-6-nonenoate, the least complex of the formulations tested, was as attractive to males as trimedlure, the current standard lure for male Mediterranean fruit flies. Both substances remained attractive much longer when they were applied to cotton wicks placed in perforated polyethylene vial stoppers than when they were placed on cotton wicks not contained in vials. Neither the Z-isomer nor any of 3 positional isomers of methyl ( E )-6-nonenoate tested was attractive to either sex of Mediterranean fruit flies in laboratory bioassays.
In Situ Measurements of Hydrogen Flux, Surface Coverage, Incorporation and Desorption During Magnetron Sputter-Deposition of A-SI:H

High quality a-Si:H films are deposited by d.c. magnetron reactive sputtering of a Si target in an (Ar + H2) plasma. This paper reports the first comprehensive understanding of the growth process. The incident flux, surface H coverage, H2 release, and bulk H incorporation are determined using four in situ, real time techniques: double modulation mass spectroscopy, isotope replacement experiments, reflection absorption infra-red spectroscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. In addition, the sputtered particle transport is simulated using Monte-Carlo techniques. For conditions which produce electronic quality a-Si:H, the total H flux arriving at the surface varies between 0.5 - 2 times the depositing Si flux; approximately half of this flux appears to reflect from the surface without interaction. The growth surface has excess H varying between 0.5 - 2 x 1015/cm2, and this surface H coverage is uniquely related to the bulk H incorporation.
Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) and hepatic veno-occlusive disease: Take two acetaminophen, and ...

Gemtuzumab Ozogamicin (Mylotarg) and hepatic veno-occlusive disease: take two acetaminophen, and . . .
The role of cerebral cortex in the generation of voluntary saccades: a positron emission tomographic study

The purpose of this study was to define the location and behavior of cerebral structures within the normal human brain that participate in the generation of voluntary saccadic eye movements. Change...
Evaluating the Implementation of the "Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence" in Early Childhood Classrooms.

We conducted a potential efficacy trial examining the effects of classroom-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Young Children’s Social-Emotional Competence on teachers’ implementation of Pyramid Model practices and children’s social-emotional skills and challenging behavior. Participants were 40 preschool teachers and 494 children. Using a randomized controlled design, 20 teachers received a professional development (PD) intervention to support their implementation of the practices. The 20 teachers in the control condition received workshops after all study-related data were collected. Teachers who received PD significantly improved their implementation of Pyramid Model practices relative to control teachers. Children in intervention teachers’ classrooms were rated as having better social skills and fewer challenging behaviors relative to children in control teachers’ classrooms. Exploratory analyses showed that children at elevated risk for behavior disorders in intervention teachers’ ...
Effect of Polyphosphates in Combination with Nitrite-Sorbate or Sorbate on Clostridium botulinum Growth and Toxin Production in Chicken Frankfurter Emulsions

Sodium nitrite, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate and polyphosphates (sodium acid pyrophosphate, SAPP; sodium hexametaphosphate, SHMP; and sodium tripolyphosphate, STPP) were tested at similar preadjusted (before cooking) pH levels (in the range of pH 5.78 to 6.19 after cooking) to determine effective combinations capable of controlling Clostridium botulinum growth and toxin production in mechanically deboned chicken meat frankfurter emulsions incubated at 27°C. In combination with low levels of nitrite (40 ppm), potassium sorbate (0.26%, pH 6.06) was more effective than sorbic acid (0.20%, pH 6.03) in delaying toxin production (>27 d vs. 6 d) and in controlling growth. In formulations containing combinations of nitrite (40 ppm) and sorbic acid (0.20%) or nitrite (40 ppm) and potassium sorbate (0.26%), the addition of polyphosphates (0.4%) resulted in a greater delay of toxin production (8 to 25 d for nitrite-sorbic acid-SAPP vs. 28 d for nitrite-potassium sorbate-SAPP) at similar pH levels. Under these conditions, SAPP delayed production of detectable toxin longer (25 d) than did either SHMP (6 to 11 d) or STPP (4 to 14 d). The addition of polyphosphates to nitrite-free emulsions containing sorbic acid (0.20%) or potassium sorbate (0.26%) did not delay the development of botulinal toxin when the pH was essentially equivalent in the range of 5.78 to 6.07.
Enhanced eye gaze direction classification using a combination of face detection, CHT and SVM

Automatic estimation of eye gaze direction is an interesting research area in the field of computer vision that is growing rapidly with its wide range of potential applications. However, it is still a very challenging task to implement a robust eye gaze classification system. This paper proposes a robust eye detection system that uses face detection for finding the eyes region. The Circular Hough Transform (CHT) is used for locating the center of the iris. The parameters of the Circular Hough Transform are dynamically calculated based on the detected face information. A new method for eye gaze direction classification using Support Vector Machine (SVM) is introduced and combined with Circular Hough Transform to complete the task required. The experiments were performed on a database containing 4000 images of 40 subjects from different ages and genders. The algorithm achieved a classification accuracy of up to 92.1%.
RARE-23TWO CASES OF RARE INTRASPINAL POORLY DIFFERENTIATED NEUROENDOCRINE TUMOR WITH EXCELLENT RESPONSES TO RADIATION THERAPY.

We describe two unusual cases of poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumor of the spinal cord and leptomeninges. A 61-year-old woman developed rapidly progressive lower extremity paraparesis and sensory deficits. MRI revealed an intradural extramedullary mass levels arising from the conus extending from T12-S3, in multiple foramina, with extensive craniospinal leptomeningeal dissemination. Debulking revealed a poorly differentiated neoplasm characterized by nuclear molding and a high mitotic rate with immunohistochemical positivity for neuroendocrine markers (CD56, chromogranin, synaptophysin). Hematopoietic markers, keratin, GFAP, S100, and CD99/MIC2 were negative, and EWSR1 gene was intact by FISH. She received craniospinal irradiation of 39.6Gy in 22 fractions with a 5.4Gy boost followed by temozolomide. She remains clinically stable nineteen months since presentation, and MRI shows dramatic improvement with small remnants of enhancement at the cauda equina and thoracic thecal sac. The second case is a 65-year-old man with two months of progressive lower extremity paraparesis. He became non-ambulatory with a KPS of 40. MRI revealed an expansile intramedullary cervical cord lesion and diffuse neuroaxial leptomeningeal enhancement. Biopsy revealed a small round blue cell tumor with a markedly elevated proliferative index. Immunostaining showed diffuse positivity for CD56 and CD99/MIC2, while stains for CD45 and keratin were negative. EWSR1 and FUS genes were intact. He received craniospinal irradiation with a boost to bulky disease. His exam improved greatly and he was ambulatory four weeks after radiation with a KPS of 90. One year after radiation, he has little residual radiographic disease with an unchanged examination. For both cases, no alternative primary source was identified. Cauda equine paragangliomas have been the principal intraspinal neuroendocrine tumors described to date; we have been unable to identify other reports of primary intraspinal high grade poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumors. Remarkably, despite extensive disease and poor performance status both our patients had excellent responses to radiation.
Expression Profile of the Integrin Receptor Subunits in the Guinea Pig Sclera

ABSTRACTPurpose: The ocular dimensional changes in myopia reflect increased scleral remodeling, and in high myopia, loss of scleral integrity leads to biomechanical weakening and continued scleral creep. As integrins, a type of cell surface receptors, have been linked to scleral remodeling, they represent potential targets for myopia therapies. As a first step, this study aimed to characterize the integrin subunits at the messenger RNA level in the sclera of the guinea pig, a more recently added but increasingly used animal model for myopia research.Methods: Primers for α and β integrin subunits were designed using NCBI/UCSC Genome Browser and Primer3 software tools. Total RNA was extracted from normal scleral tissue and isolated cultured scleral fibroblasts, as well as liver and lung, as reference tissues, all from guinea pig. cDNA was produced by reverse transcription, PCR was used to amplify products of predetermined sizes, and products were sequenced using standard methods.Results: Guinea pig scleral ...
Relationships of Marsh Soil Strength to Belowground Vegetation Biomass in Louisiana Coastal Marshes

Wetland plants are subject to a range of physical stresses (e.g. inundation, salinity) that affect their productivity or health, which in turn may translate into wetland soils that vary in resistance to physical perturbations in the coastal setting. A primary goal of this study was to test a newly developed instrument designed to measure in-situ resistance to shear failure (soil strength) of marsh soils. The Wetland Soil Strength Tester (WSST) was used at 11 marsh types in coastal Louisiana, where soil bulk density ranged from organic to mineral (0.02–1.24 g cm−3). Based on analyses of live and dead components of both above and belowground biomass, live belowground biomass explained the most variation in marsh soil strength among the vegetation types. The WSST was capable of detecting in-situ live root biomass differences for 8 of 11 marsh types, where only the young deltaic marsh types were not significant. For all the sample plots (n = 227), an increase of 10-Nm soil strength corresponded to an increase of 200 g m−2 of live belowground biomass (R2 = 0.35, p < 0.0001). WSST measurements, combined with other monitoring data, may help in the assessment of wetland condition.
Chapter 9 - Thrombin receptors

Thrombin is a multifunctional serine protease that is distinctly unique among coagulation proteins, possessing both procoagulant and anticoagulant properties.1 These properties bestow upon thrombin a critical role in the regulation of normal hemostasis and exaggerated thrombosis. The precursor protein prothrombin is synthesized exclusively in the liver as an inactive zymogen with a tightly regulated plasmatic concentration of 100 μg/mL and a circulating half-life of about 72 hours. 2 The conversion of prothrombin to its 38-kD active protease (α-thrombin) requires the assembly of a prothrombinase complex comprised of prothrombin, coagulation factor Xa, and the active cofactor Va on the surface of a cellular phospholipid membrane requiring calcium ions (see Chapter 19). 3,4 α-thrombin contains a typical active site catalytic triad composed of histidine 365, aspartic acid 419, and serine 527 that are in close proximity and responsible for the charge relay system evident in all serine proteases. 5 An anion binding exosite confers binding specificity to various thrombin substrates. 6 Although thrombin substrate specificity is similar to that of trypsin for small peptides, thrombin's action on larger proteins is more highly selective.7-9 Virtually all thrombin substrates contain an arginine or lysine adjacent to the sessile bond, a representative cleavage site containing the consensus X-Pro-Arg-࢑X. 7 Known thrombin substrates include coagulation factor VIII, factor V, and factor XIII10-13; critical cleavages of fibrinogen at Arg 16 -Gly 17 within the Aα-chain and Arg 14 -Gly 15 within the Bβ-chain regulate fibrin polymerization and stabilization of the fibrin clot. 7
Harnessing regenerative and immunomodulatory properties of mesenchymal stem cells in transplantation medicine

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an ubiquitous type of cell present in almost all human tissues. Clinical utilization of these cells was initially based on their bone marrow (BM) supportive activity and the ability to repair bone and cartilage. However, more recent data indicate that MSCs modulate immunological responses through their interactions with various immune cells and participate in tissue repair via paracrine effects, such as secretion of cytokines and growth factors. Currently, MSCs derived from BM, and to a lesser extent from other tissues, are being investigated in a wide variety of clinical trials, including in the field of solid organ transplantation. Numerous desirable properties of MSCs such as their ease of ex vivo production, impressive record of safety in a wide variety of clinical scenarios, and intriguing tissue regenerative and immunomodulatory properties combined with the promising results reported so far make them a prime candidate for further investigation.
Neurotransmitters and Calcium During Hypoxia

An interaction of calcium homeostasis and neutrotransmitter metabolism may underlie deficits induced by hypoxia and ischemia. Both in vitro and in vivo results suggest that altered calcium homeostasis has an integral role in hypoxic/ischemic induced cell damage. Cause-effect relations to cell damage in vivo are difficult to determine because so many variables change simultaneously. In addition, the changes in calcium homeostasis differ between presynaptic and postsynaptic processes and these are also difficult to distinguish in vivo. Thus, the studies on calcium that are described here emphasize in vitro approaches. Similarly, numerous studies suggest that altered neurotransmitter metabolism accompanies hypoxia/ischemia. The precise role of neurotransmitters in the production of hypoxic/ischemic induced tissue damage is not well documented. Much of the research on the role of neurotransmitters in ischemic cell damage has emphasized their postsynaptic action. The present studies concentrate on the presynaptic changes that lead to increased extracellular concentrations of these neurotransmitters during hypoxia/ischemia. The interaction of calcium homeostasis with neurotransmitter metabolism appears important to hypoxic-induced alterations.
Spillover Effects on Caregivers’ and Family Members’ Utility: A Systematic Review of the Literature

A growing body of research has identified health-related quality-of-life effects for caregivers and family members of ill patients (i.e. ‘spillover effects’), yet these are rarely considered in cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs). The objective of this study was to catalog spillover-related health utilities to facilitate their consideration in CEAs. We systematically reviewed the medical and economic literatures (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and EconLit, from inception through 3 April 2018) to identify articles that reported preference-based measures of spillover effects. We used keywords for utility measures combined with caregivers, family members, and burden. Of 3695 articles identified, 80 remained after screening: 8 (10%) reported spillover utility per se, as utility or disutility (i.e. utility loss); 25 (30%) reported a comparison group, either population values (n = 9) or matched, non-caregiver/family member or unaffected individuals’ utilities (n = 16; 3 reported both spillover and a comparison group); and 50 (63%) reported caregiver/family member utilities only. Alzheimer’s disease/dementia was the most commonly studied disease/condition, and the EQ-5D was the most commonly used measurement instrument. This comprehensive catalog of utilities showcases the spectrum of diseases and conditions for which caregiver and family members’ spillover effects have been measured, and the variation in measurement methods used. In general, utilities indicated a loss in quality of life associated with being a caregiver or family member of an ill relative. Most studies reported caregiver/family member utility without any comparator, limiting the ability to infer spillover effects. Nevertheless, these values provide a starting point for considering spillover effects in the context of CEA, opening the door for more comprehensive analyses.
Ultratrace Metal Analysis by Mass Spectrometry of Volatile Metal β-Diketonates

The synthesis and characterization of several β-diketonates,1–4 principally those of fluorinated derivatives of acetylacetone, has permitted a new method of trace analysis by conventional mass spectrometry. Conventional mass spectrometry has been severely limited for trace analysis of metals by the volatility of metal compounds which may be formed quantitatively. The more recently developed spark-source mass spectrometers are capable of vaporizing the most refractory metals and metal compounds. However, quantitative results are extremely difficult to obtain due to the wide range of kinetic energies of the ions produced in the spark source. Also samples must either be fabricated as conducting electrodes for the source, or mixed and compacted with a conducting material such as graphite, thereby introducing errors of mixing and contamination.
Response to letter to editor regarding Results of histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular clonality testing of small intestinal biopsy specimens from clinically healthy client‐owned cats

Author(s): Marsilio, Sina; Ackermann, Mark R; Lidbury, Jonathan A; Suchodolski, Jan S; Steiner, Jorg M
Breakthrough Moments: Genome Editing and Organoids.

Six years ago, Schwank et al. (2013) adapted CRISPR-Cas9 and organoid technology to repair genetic diseases in patient-derived tissues. We shine a spotlight on how this work has inspired the development of tools to study and correct genetic diseases in experimental systems, with the ultimate goal of treating human disease.
Effects of downslope walking on Soleus H-reflexes and walking function in individuals with multiple sclerosis: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND Downslope walking (DSW) is an eccentric-based exercise intervention that promotes neuroplasticity of spinal reflex circuitry by inducing depression of Soleus Hoffman (H)-reflexes in young, neurologically unimpaired adults. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of DSW on spinal excitability (SE) and walking function (WF) in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). METHODS Our study comprised two experiments on 12 PwMS (11 women; 45.3±11.8 years). Experiment 1 evaluated acute effects of a single 20-minute session of treadmill walking at three different walking grades on SE, 0% or level walking (LW), - 7.5% DSW, and - 15% DSW. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of 6 sessions of DSW, at - 7.5% DSW (with second session being - 15% DSW) on SE and WF. RESULTS Experiment 1 showed significantly greater acute % H-reflex depression following - 15% DSW compared to LW (p = 0.02) and - 7.5% DSW (p = 0.05). Experiment 2 demonstrated significant improvements in WF. PwMS who showed greater acute H-reflex depression during the - 15% DSW session also demonstrated greater physical activity, long-distance WF, and the ability to have greater H-reflex depression after DSW training. Significant changes were not observed in regards to SE. CONCLUSIONS Though significant changes were not observed in SE after DSW training, we observed an improvement in WF which merits further investigation of DSW in PwMS.
Flow Diversion for Intracranial Aneurysm Treatment: Trials Involving Flow Diverters and Long-Term Outcomes

Flow diverters (FDs) have changed the management of brain aneurysms; not only for complex aneurysms (giant, fusiform and blister) refractory to conventional therapies, but also for unruptured lesions previously managed by traditional surgical or coil-based endovascular methods. Since 2011 when the PipelineTM Embolization Device (Medtronic) was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for adults with large or giant wide-neck intracranial aneurysms of the internal carotid artery proximal to the posterior communicating segment, the role of flow diversion for aneurysm treatment has expanded-supported by favorably low complication and high cure rates compared with alternative treatments. Here we review the key clinical trials and the long term outcomes that have demonstrated safety and efficacy of minimized porosity endoluminal devices in the treatment of cerebral aneurysms.
Timing of Lateral Lumbar Interbody Subsidence: Review of Exclusive Intraoperative Subsidence.

Background All interbody fusions are associated with a risk of subsidence. In the case of lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF), an interbody device that spans the apophyseal rings reduces subsidence. Small interbody device size, aggressive end plate preparation, and poor bone quality are contributors to subsidence. The goal of this study was to analyze the perioperative morbidity, particularly the timing of subsidence (intraoperative vs. postoperative), associated with transpsoas LLIF. Methods A retrospective review of consecutive LLIF cases was performed. Perioperative complications were reviewed. Intraoperative fluoroscopy and postoperative radiography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging were reviewed. Results Seventy-seven consecutive patients (39 men; mean [range] age, 66.2 [46–86] years) were identified. Subsidence occurred in 3 patients (4%) and was found to occur exclusively in the intraoperative setting. Anterior thigh paresthesias lasting longer than 24 hours occurred in 2 patients (3%). No femoral nerve injuries manifesting as weakness were observed. No visceral, vascular, or ureter injuries were identified. Conclusions As LLIF becomes more common, it is important to better understand common complications, such as subsidence, and the specific rates at which they occur. A unique finding of exclusive intraoperative subsidence was observed. The use of cage size to obtain segmental lordotic correction and indirect decompression must be weighed against the potential risk of subsidence.