cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sediment-Porewater Partitioning, Total Sulfur, and Methylmercury Production in Estuaries

Mercury (Hg) speciation and the activity of Hg(II)-methylating bacteria are responsible for the rate of methylmercury production and thus bioaccumulation in marine foodwebs. Factors affecting porewater partitioning (Kd) and methylation of Hg(II) were examined at 11 sites in sediment of 4 biogeochemically diverse estuaries in the Northeast U.S. In Long Island Sound, 88% of total mercury (HgT) log Kd variability was described by porewater dissolved organic carbon concentration and sediment total sulfur (S) content. Whereas across all estuaries, regression analyses showed that S alone drives about 70% of Kd variability and 50% of changes in methylation rates; and the inclusion of DOC and sulfides did not improve the prediction. Thus, we demonstrated that S is a better predictor of HgT log Kd than the sediment organic matter across multiple estuaries, and while organic matter and S are interchangeable in small-scale studies, on a larger scale, sediment S content is the simplest and most effective variable to measure.
Coagulation abnormalities in patients undergoing myocardial revascularization

One hundred patients were screened for hypercoagulability preoperatively and on the third, seventh, tenth, fourteenth, and twenty-first days postoperatively. Patients found to have hypercoagulability were treated with heparin, aspirin, and Coumadin. When the abnormality was present preoperatively, treatment was continued for the duration of the patient’s life. Those patients in whom abnormalities developed postoperatively were given anticoagulants until cardiac catheterization 6 months following their operation. Twenty-four of the 100 patients had no coagulation abnormalities preoperatively or postoperatively. Fifteen patients were found to have abnormality prior to operation. Their predominant abnormality was low antithrombin III activity. Sixty-one patients became hypercoagulable postoperatively. Predominant abnormality in this group of patients was increased thrombin generation and increased platelet adhesiveness. Evaluation of patients in this study group revealed a decrease in the incidence of pulmonary embolism, an increase in the patency of vein grafts, and the elimination of anticoagulant therapy in 24 percent of the patients.
Diel Rhythms in Monochamus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae): Production of and Response to a Male-Produced Aggregation Pheromone.

Recent research has shown that several species in the genus Monochamus, including Monochamus scutellatus scutellatus (Say) and Monochamus notatus (Drury), a close congener, are attracted to an aggregation pheromone, monochamol, but only M. s. scutellatus produces it. Investigations were conducted to determine if there is a diel rhythm in production of monochamol or response to monochamol + host attractants in field trials by M. s. scutellatus and M. notatus to prevent cross attraction with each other. Volatiles were collected from males and females of M. s. scutellatus and M. notatus every 8 h and analyzed by coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Traps baited with monochamol and the host volatiles α-pinene and ethanol were checked every 8 h in field tests. Only male M. s. scutellatus produced the pheromone, and did so in similar quantities during each 8-h time interval assessed, suggesting there is no diel rhythm in pheromone production. In field tests conducted in early to mid-July, significantly more M. s. scutellatus were captured during morning hours, and significantly more M. notatus were caught during afternoon or early evening hours, suggesting temporal partitioning of flight or in their response to the pheromone lures when both species are present. A temporal switch occurred later in the seasonal flight period (mid-August) when densities of M. s. scutellatus were low; all M. notatus and only one M. s. scutellatus were caught during morning hours. This suggests a temporal separation in mate location behavior when both species are abundant and using the same host to avoid interspecific mating.
Progression of EGFR-Mutant Lung Adenocarcinoma is Driven By Alveolar Macrophages

Purpose: Lung adenocarcinomas with mutations in the EGFR have unprecedented initial responses to targeted therapy against the EGFR. Over time, however, these tumors invariably develop resistance to these drugs. We set out to investigate alternative treatment approaches for these tumors. Experimental Design: To investigate the immunologic underpinnings of EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma, we utilized a bitransgenic mouse model in which a mutant human EGFR gene is selectively expressed in the lungs. Results: EGFR oncogene–dependent progression and remission of lung adenocarcinoma was respectively dependent upon the expansion and contraction of alveolar macrophages, and the mechanism underlying macrophage expansion was local proliferation. In tumor-bearing mice, alveolar macrophages downregulated surface expression of MHC-II and costimulatory molecules; increased production of CXCL1, CXCL2, IL1 receptor antagonist; and increased phagocytosis. Depletion of alveolar macrophages in tumor-bearing mice resulted in reduction of tumor burden, indicating a critical role for these cells in the development of EGFR-mutant adenocarcinoma. Treatment of mice with EGFR-targeting clinical drugs (erlotinib and cetuximab) resulted in a significant decrease in alveolar macrophages in these mice. An activated alveolar macrophage mRNA signature was dominant in human EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinomas, and the presence of this alveolar macrophage activation signature was associated with unfavorable survival among patients undergoing resection for EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. Conclusions: Because of the inevitability of failure of targeted therapy in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), these data suggest that therapeutic strategies targeting alveolar macrophages in EGFR-mutant NSCLC have the potential to mitigate progression and survival in this disease. Clin Cancer Res; 23(3); 778–88. ©2016 AACR.
Helicobacter pylori : Future Direction in Research

My task is to synthesize the material of current knowledge, integrate the new information into what is known, and to identify areas that appear most productive for additional research. I envision research as occurring in two broad categories. The first category is forefront research, defined as efforts riding the crest of the current wave of technology and ideas; the second I term “puddle” research. This is research done after the wave is receded; even then we find small tidal pools full of interesting questions, by analogy starfish and urchins. It is often from such puddles that the impetus for the next wave of research comes. One form of research is not better than the other and most do both.
Workplace Safety and Health: Assessing Current Practices and Promoting Change in the Profession

Are the tried and true safety practices still effective in the changing workplace? Is there a better way of safeguarding employees from accidents and injuries? In short, why do you perform the safety activities that you do on a daily basis and do they produce the results necessary to keep your safety program and your company competitive in the glob
Semidehydroascorbate as a product of the enzymic conversion of dopamine to norepinephrine. Coupling of semidehydroascorbate reductase to dopamine-beta-hydroxylase.

Dopamine-β-hydroxylase, a copper monooxygenase, catalyzes the ascorbate-dependent hydroxylation of dopamine to norepinephrine. In the transfer of two electrons from ascorbate to dopamine-β-hydroxylase, the immediate product of enzyme reduction is not dehydroascorbate, as previously thought, but rather semidehydroascorbate, a free radical. Using the NADH-dependent semidehydroascorbate reductase preparation from rat liver microsomes, generation of semidehydroascorbate during dopamine-β-hydroxylation was observed. In the presence of catalytic amounts of ascorbate, a coupling of dopamine-β-hydroxylase to semidehydroascorbate reductase has been demonstrated: Regeneration of active cofactor is observed by the catalytic oxidation of NADH and formation of β-hydroxylated product; delayed addition of the reductase results in a decrease in the rate of NADH oxidation; and, with further delay, no oxidation of NADH is observed, indicating the lability of the free radical intermediate. At low rates of hydroxylation, a stoichiometric oxidation of NADH was obtained in the presence of the reductase during the formation of octopamine from tyramine. Semidehydroascorbate reductase was found in membrane fractions of the bovine adrenal medulla but not in the soluble fractions. Tyramine-dependent oxidation of NADH, inhibited by fusaric acid and stimulated by fumarate, can be observed using partially purified chromaffin vesicle membranes or large granular fraction membranes. These results are consistent with a role for semidehydroascorbate reductase in dopamine-β-hydroxylation through regeneration of the active cofactor, ascorbate.
Mast Cell Disease: Urticaria Pigmentosa

Nettleship and Tay first described urticaria pigmentosa in 1869. It was not until 1949 that Ellis described increased numbers of mast cells in several organs, demonstrating the systemic involvement of mastocytosis. Most cases of urticaria pigmentosa are caused by a point mutation of the proto-oncogene c-kit at codon 816. C-kit functions as a transmembrane protein and is involved in signaling cell division when bound to mast cell growth factor. Mutations in the 816 position result in abnormal proliferation of mast cells.
Performance Evaluation of Video Stream Transport over 2-Stage Hybrid Networks

With the current rising trend in wireless based systems, applications such as video on demand, remote monitoring and surveillance are now being used in greater abundance. Coupled with this growth comes the ongoing need for improved network performance. This paper investigates performance improvement for remote surveillance applications over hybrid 2-stage disordering networks. It specifically focuses on resequencing possibilities for video data. An adapted version of a proposed resequencing and batch aggregation procedure for distributed databases has been analyzed in this research to determine the effect on video transfer in 2-stage disordering hybrid networks. The main aim is to decrease delay and improve received video quality by forming ordered batches at a specialized gateway called a gateway controller, taking into account basic video data characteristics such as frame rates, types and sequences. Results show that with the integration of the adapted gateway controller delay, overheads and information loss can be decreased by up to 20%, 68% and 95% respectively.
Role of Institutions of Higher Education

This chapter explores the role of institutions of higher education in the creation of entrepreneurial ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa. It contends that universities and colleges can play a catalyst role in fostering entrepreneurship. They can do so through entrepreneurship education, research, and in establishing proof-of-concept centers, business incubators, and accelerators. Universities and colleges can also partner with the private sector to facilitate technology transfer and commercialization. The chapter contends that universities must play an important role in the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Solar energy conversion, storage, and release using an integrated solar-driven redox flow battery

We have conceptualized and demonstrated a device that combines the functions of a solar photovoltaic cell and a redox flow battery, which we call the solar flow battery (SFB). Our lab-scale device is based on a crystalline n-WSe2 light absorber, carbon auxiliary electrodes, an iodide positive electrolyte, and an anthraquinone sulfonate negative electrolyte. We have designed a two-compartment flow cell and used it to independently characterize the electrochemical properties of the electrolytes, the photoelectrochemical properties of the n-WSe2 absorber, and the charge–discharge performance of the full SFB. Our WSe2-based SFB is as simple to construct as a water-splitting photoanode assembly, but it exhibits markedly higher energy conversion efficiency and also accommodates time-shifted recovery of the stored energy as electricity.
LONG TERM MORTALITY RATES OF U.S. VETERANS WITH BUNDLE BRANCH BLOCKS PRESENTING FOR CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY

Background: The evidence for left bundle branch block (LBBB) or right bundle branch block (RBBB) being a better predictor of mortality is inconsistent. A retrospective analysis was conducted to determine if BBB is an independent risk factor for mortality in a cohort of U.S. Veterans with
Automatic color correction for 3D reconstruction of underwater scenes

Mapping of underwater environments is a critical task for a range of activities from monitoring coral reef habitats to surveying submerged archaeological sites. While recent advances in methods for terrestrial mapping can achieve dense 3D reconstructions of scenes in real-time, there remains the challenge of transferring these methods to the underwater domain due to characteristic effects on propagation of light through the water column that violate the brightness constancy constraint used in terrestrial techniques. Current state-of-the-art methods for underwater 3D reconstruction exploit a physical model of light propagation underwater to account for such range-dependent effects as scattering and attenuation; however, these methods necessitate careful calibration of attenuation coefficients required by the physical model, or rely on rough estimates of these coefficients from prior lab experiments. The main contribution of this paper is to develop a novel method to achieve simultaneous estimation of attenuation coefficients for color correction during structure recovery of an underwater scene by integrating this estimation directly into the bundle adjustment step, which performs non-linear optimization. To validate the proposed method, an artificial scene is submerged in a pure water tank and surveyed with a stereo camera platform to simulate an underwater robotic survey in a controlled environment. The target structure is imaged in air with an RGB-D sensor to provide ground truth structure and color, and a color calibration board is place in the scene for further reference. Results show that the proposed method can automatically estimate a water-column aware model for color correction of underwater images simultaneously to 3D reconstruction of the submerged scene.
Improving Research Outcomes Leveraging Digital Libraries, Advanced Computing, and Data

With the advancements in data driven research ushered in with the "Big Data" era, many research fields from astrophysics to genomics have discovered previously impossible outcomes including exoplanet detection and precision medicine. As with many other rapid changes, challenges are emerging now in extending the reach of these technologies to less computationally savvy fields that often have even more challenging computational problems to address. In this talk, I will explore some of the ways the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and others are creating environments to simplify onboarding new communities both through simple yet powerful user interfaces that feature the ability to preserve and publish data, computational workflows, and outcomes as linked yet separate entities. By linking, preserving, and making discoverable these entitles, researchers new to these computational capabilities can more easily understand them often in a research context with which they are already familiar. By then seeing the details of how a result came from the data, they can more easily build upon the work of others or even begin new workflows tuned to their own research needs. I will talk out our collaboration with publishers and libraries to not only preserve and expose the links between these digital entities but allow for their recall into computational environments to either reproduce previous results or extend the research through additional data and/or new computational methods.
Towards a framework for executable systems modeling: an executable systems modeling language (ESysML)

The Systems Modeling Language (SysML), which is the de-facto modeling standard in the systems engineering community, consists of a number of independently derived methodologies (i.e. state charts, activity diagrams etc.) which have been co-opted into a single modeling framework. This and the lack of an overarching meta-model that specifies relationships and rules governing the various language constructs precludes their uniform application across diagram types. This has resulted in a large unwieldy and at best semi-formal language specification, with adverse implications for interoperability of modeling tools and model execution. This paper presents an executable language that re-factors the SysML language schema and offers an equivalent textual syntax for model specification in tandem with the existing graphical syntax. This is aimed at supporting the development of time based simulation models useful for decision support and architecture verification and validation in systems engineering.
Effects of blind spot monitoring systems on police-reported lane-change crashes.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of blind spot monitoring systems in preventing police-reported lane-change crashes.Methods: Poisson regression was used to co...
Use of butyl phosphate in steel analyses

Abstract The analysis of steel is simplified in a large measure by the removal of iron prior to the determination of a number of constituents. This report deals with the extraction of iron as the thiocyanate complex with n-butyl phosphate. The condition for optimal iron extraction were investigated. It was found that at a thiocyanate to iron ratio of 6 : 1, removal of iron by the ester is 97.5 % using one extraction. This technique was successfully applied to the determination of aluminum in steel.
Environmental Programming to Foster Competence and Prevent Mental Retardation in Infancy

The idea of arranging environmental encounters in the care of infants to promote competence and good character is as old as the classical thought of the Greeks. In the Laws (Book VII, 788ff), Plato has his Athenian stranger contend that lawgivers should stress the importance of nurture and education in achieving citizens with characters appropriate for the good of the state. On the other hand, this idea is also new. From the time of Plato until the beginning of the twentieth century, exceedingly few of the philosophers who concerned themselves with education and the development of moral character considered nurture and experience during infancy and early childhood to be of significance in the adult outcome of human development. Aries (1960) has described the gradual discovery through the centuries of childhood in the institutional practices of the family and the school. This evolving discovery has continued into the twentieth century, as the age when causal significance attributed to the environments encountered has been extended downward to birth and even to the emotional and nutritional state of the maternal host at conception and during gestation (see Hunt, 1969, Chap. 7).
Material Corrosion in High Temperature Aqueous Solutions in Power Generating Systems

The corrosion of structural materials in high temperature aqueous environments is reviewed with reference to problems encountered in the nuclear and geothermal power industries. Emphasis is placed on identifying the causes and remedial measures for: (1) Pitting of stainless steels in geothermal brines, (2) Intergranular stress corrosion cracking of Type 304 SS under simulated Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) heat transport circuit conditions, and (3) Irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking of in-core components in water cooled nuclear reactors. Experimental methods for investigating these phenomena are described and various experimental results are reviewed to indicate the mechanisms of the corrosion processes. Particular attention is paid to the use of electrochemical techniques for studying corrosion processes in high temperature aqueous systems because they have contributed greatly to the development of remedial measures. Finally, we comment on the institutional problems facing corrosion science and engineering, particularly in the nuclear industry where our failure to properly consider the impact of corrosion phenomena has extracted an enormous price from reactor operators and consumers and has contributed significantly to the public’s mistrust of nuclear power.
Use of Pancreas-Specific Antigen in Immunodiagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

The identification, purification, and characterization of pancreas-specific antigen (PaA), the expression of PaA in pancreas tumor cell lines, and the immunodiagnostic potential of PaA in pancreatic cancer are described.
Use and perceptions of alternative economic activities among smallholder coffee farmers in Huehuetenango and El Quiché departments in Guatemala

In the past two decades, Mesoamerican smallholder coffee farmers have had to confront several stressors and shocks, such as price crises and natural disasters, with debilitating impacts on the viab...
Considering Conversion: The Aftermath of Oral Contraceptives

In Humanae vitae, Pope Paul VI predicted conjugal infidelity and a loss of respect for women as grave societal consequences through severing the once-connected unitive and procreative goods of conjugal love by using artificial birth control. Almost sixty years after the Food and Drug Administration approved the artificial birth control pill for contraceptive use, these predictions have grown roots. Unfortunately, turning our backs on God's plan for sexuality has disrupted our planet beyond the moral realm and affects the health of women, the health of society, and the health of wildlife in profound and tangible ways. Conversion refers to a change of heart, mind, and behavior concerning the stewardship of the body and creation. As opposed to artificial birth control, no known environmental or personal health risks exist in relation to natural family planning methods. Evangelization with subsequent conversion offers hope in overcoming these concerns surrounding artificial birth control pills, concerns which contribute to maladies in the female body, in society, and in nature. Too many wrestle against Catholic Church teaching prohibiting artificial birth control for birth regulation. However, because humans always have the power of choice in moral acts, our culture is not held captive by the current negative consequences that Pope Paul IV's predicted in Humanae vitae. As mindful stewards of our bodies and of the created world, we have the option of conversion toward truth, which continually beckons and invites.
Developing a Rubric for Evaluating Reading Applications for Learners With Reading Difficulties

Tablet devices, as assistive and instructional technologies, can be highly effectual pedagogical tools with multifaceted benefits, such as the ability to integrate multimedia and the ability to tra...
Influence of surrounding land-use on mussel growth and glycogen levels in the St. Croix and Minnesota River Basins

Freshwater mussels face threats from climate change and changing land use that are dramatically altering their habitat. The health of mussel populations and the state of current and past environmental conditions can be monitored by measuring mussel growth and glycogen levels. In this study, we measured growth and glycogen levels in mussels from two small river basins impacted by different land uses. The Snake River in the St. Croix Basin, Minnesota, had low levels of suspended sediments and was surrounded mostly by forest and some developed land. The Chippewa, Cottonwood, and Le Sueur rivers in the Minnesota River Basin had significantly higher annual suspended sediment loads and highly agricultural basins. Mussel growth was highest in the Le Sueur and Cottonwood rivers followed by the Chippewa and the Snake rivers. Mussels in the Minnesota Basin rivers all had higher mussel foot glycogen concentrations than the Snake River. These patterns were similar for two mussel species, suggesting that environmental conditions are likely determining levels of growth. Although agriculture had a negative effect on mussel population abundance and diversity, it had a positive effect on growth and glycogen levels.
Phase II Evaluation of Clinical Coding Schemes: Completeness, Taxonomy, Mapping, Definitions, and Clarity

Objective: To compare three potential sources of controlled clinical terminology (READ codes version 3.1, SNOMED International, and Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) version 1.6) relative to attributes of completeness, clinical taxonomy, administrative mapping, term definitions and clarity (duplicate coding rate). Methods: The authors assembled 1929 source concept records from a variety of clinical information taken from four medical centers across the United States. The source data included medical as well as ample nursing terminology. The source records were coded in each scheme by an investigator and checked by the coding scheme owner. The codings were then scored by an independent panel of clinicians for acceptability. Codes were checked for definitions provided with the scheme. Codes for a random sample of source records were analyzed by an investigator for “parent” and “child” codes within the scheme. Parent and child pairs were scored by an independent panel of medical informatics specialists for clinical acceptability. Administrative and billing code mapping from the published scheme were reviewed for all coded records and analyzed by independent reviewers for accuracy. The investigator for each scheme exhaustively searched a sample of coded records for duplications. Results: SNOMED was judged to be significantly more complete in coding the source material than the other schemes (SNOMED* 70%; READ 57%; UMLS 50%; *p <.00001). SNOMED also had a richer clinical taxonomy judged by the number of acceptable first-degree relatives per coded concept (SNOMED* 4.56; UMLS 3.17; READ 2.14, *p <.005). Only the UMLS provided any definitions; these were found for 49% of records which had a coding assignment. READ and UMLS had better administrative mappings (composite score: READ* 40.6%; UMLS* 36.1%; SNOMED 20.7%, *p <. 00001), and SNOMED had substantially more duplications of coding assignments (duplication rate: READ 0%; UMLS 4.2%; SNOMED* 13.9%, *p <. 004) associated with a loss of clarity. Conclusion: No major terminology source can lay claim to being the ideal resource for a computer-based patient record. However, based upon this analysis of releases for April 1995, SNOMED International is considerably more complete, has a compositional nature and a richer taxonomy. It suffers from less clarity, resulting from a lack of syntax and evolutionary changes in its coding scheme. READ has greater clarity and better mapping to administrative schemes (ICD-10 and OPCS-4), is rapidly changing and is less complete. UMLS is a rich lexical resource, with mappings to many source vocabularies. It provides definitions for many of its terms. However, due to the varying granularities and purposes of its source schemes, it has limitations for representation of clinical concepts within a computer-based patient record.
Skill acquisition and gaze behavior during laparoscopic surgical simulation

Background: Experts consistently exhibit more efficient gaze behaviors than non-experts during motor tasks. In surgery, experts have been shown to gaze more at surgical targets than surgical tools during simple simulations and when watching surgical recordings, suggesting a proactive control strategy with greater use of feedforward visual sampling. To investigate such expert gaze behaviors in a more dynamic and complex laparoscopic surgery simulation, the current study measured and compared gaze patterns between surgeons and novices who practiced extensively with laparoscopic simulation. Methods: Three surgeons were assessed in a testing visit and five novices were trained and assessed (at pre-, mid-, and post-training points) in a 5-visit protocol on the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery peg transfer task. The task was adjusted to have a fixed action sequence to allow recordings of dwell durations based on pre-defined areas of interest (AOIs). Individualized learning curves of novices were analyzed using an inverse function model, and group-level differences were tested using analysis of variance on both behavioral performance and dwell duration measures. Results: Trained novices were shown to reach more than 98% (M = 98.62%, SD = 1.06%) of their behavioral learning plateaus, leading to equivalent behavioral performance to that of surgeons. Despite this equivalence in behavioral performance, surgeons continued to show significantly shorter dwell durations at visual targets of current actions and longer dwell durations at future steps in the action sequence than trained novices (ps 2). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that, whereas novices can train to match surgeons on behavioral performance, their gaze pattern is still less efficient than that of surgeons, suggesting that eye-tracking metrics might be more sensitive than behavioral performance in detecting surgical expertise. Such insight can be applied to develop training protocols so non-experts can internalize expert gaze templates to accelerate learning.
Associations between historical redlining and birth outcomes from 2006 through 2015 in California.

Author(s): Nardone, Anthony L; Casey, Joan A; Rudolph, Kara E; Karasek, Deborah; Mujahid, Mahasin; Morello-Frosch, Rachel | Abstract: BackgroundDespite being one of the wealthiest nations, disparities in adverse birth outcomes persist across racial and ethnic lines in the United States. We studied the association between historical redlining and preterm birth, low birth weight (LBW), small-for-gestational age (SGA), and perinatal mortality over a ten-year period (2006-2015) in Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco, California.MethodsWe used birth outcomes data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2015. Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) Security Maps developed in the 1930s assigned neighborhoods one of four grades that pertained to perceived investment risk of borrowers from that neighborhood: green (grade A) were considered "Best", blue (grade B) "Still Desirable", yellow (grade C) "Definitely Declining", and red (grade D, hence the term "redlining") "Hazardous". Geocoded residential addresses at the time of birth were superimposed on HOLC Security Maps to assign each birth a HOLC grade. We adjusted for potential confounders present at the time of Security Map creation by assigning HOLC polygons areal-weighted 1940s Census measures. We then employed propensity score matching methods to estimate the association of historical HOLC grades on current birth outcomes. Because tracts graded A had almost no propensity of receiving grade C or D and because grade B tracts had low propensity of receiving grade D, we examined birth outcomes in the three following comparisons: B vs. A, C vs. B, and D vs. C.ResultsThe prevalence of preterm birth, SGA and mortality tended to be higher in worse HOLC grades, while the prevalence of LBW varied across grades. Overall odds of mortality and preterm birth increased as HOLC grade worsened. Propensity score matching balanced 1940s census measures across contrasting groups. Logistic regression models revealed significantly elevated odds of preterm birth (odds ratio (OR): 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00-1.05), and SGA (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00-1.05) in the C vs. B comparison and significantly reduced odds of preterm birth (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.91-0.95), LBW (OR: 0.94-95% CI: 0.92-0.97), and SGA (OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.92-0.96) in the D vs. C comparison. Results differed by metropolitan area and maternal race.ConclusionSimilar to prior studies on redlining, we found that worsening HOLC grade was associated with adverse birth outcomes, although this relationship was less clear after propensity score matching and stratifying by metropolitan area. Higher odds of preterm birth and SGA in grade C versus grade B neighborhoods may be caused by higher-stress environments, racial segregation, and lack of access to resources, while lower odds of preterm birth, SGA, and LBW in grade D versus grade C neighborhoods may due to population shifts in those neighborhoods related to gentrification.
Novel computational approaches for border irregularity prediction to detect melanoma in skin lesions

Medical image detection has been a rapidly growing field of study during the last few years. There are different challenges associated with it. Many works have been done in order to provide solutions for key challenges. This study of work is focused on melanoma detection by using Asymmetry, Border irregularity, Colour textures, and Diameter (ABCD) feature along with proposing two new approaches for border irregularity detection. The proposed two new approaches are distance difference method and gradient method, which follows the main concept as traversing along the continuous borderline of the lesion. Further, this study varies from the existing studies, since it has been taken counts of distances from the centroid to the borderline without considering the distance from the image border to the borderline of the lesion. It was able to achieve a classification rate of 79% and 78.5% using distance difference method and gradient method, respectively whereas the classification without the border irregularity feature achieved 78% of accuracy performing on PH2 dataset. Further, this study can be stated as most appropriate to classify non-melanoma rather than melanoma. It is contributed by generating simple computer science-based approaches rather than complex mathematical methods to detect border irregularity and makes the medical image detection easy.
Sources of Autogenous Bone Grafts in Pediatric Patients

SUMMARY A rational approach to selection of donor sites for autogenous bone grafts in the pediatric patient is presented in this article. Recommendations regarding the usefulness of these various sites based on the expected quantity and quality of bone at various stages of development are made. The potential morbidity of different techniques is reviewed, with particular attention to any increased morbidity in the pediatric population, such as growth alteration.
Reoperation Rates Following Total Ankle Arthroplasty Versus Ankle Arthrodesis for Posttraumatic Indications.

Aims:This studied aimed to compare rates of reoperation for patients who received primary ankle arthrodesis (AA) versus total ankle replacement (TAR) for posttraumatic indications between 2010 and ...
Ablative radiotherapy for ultracentral lung cancers: Dosimetric, geometric, and volumetric predictors of outcomes and toxicity.

Abstract Background Ultracentral lung cancers arise near the proximal bronchial tree (PBT), trachea, or esophagus, and have been associated with worse outcomes and increased toxicity after radiotherapy. We sought to associate dosimetric and anatomic factors with oncologic outcomes and toxicities. Methods One-hundred ten patients treated with ablative, curative-intent radiotherapy for ultracentral, node-negative, non-small cell lung cancer were included. Dosimetric and geometric data obtained using custom software that calculated volumes of target structures and organs-at-risk and measured the shortest vector length between these volumes were associated with outcomes and toxicity. Results Common dose/fractionation schemes included 50 Gy in 5 fractions (57%), 60 Gy in 8 fractions (15%), and 48 Gy in 4 fractions (13%). Overall survival at 1, 2, and 5 years was 78%, 57%, and 32%, respectively. Factors significantly associated with death included endobronchial tumor, gross tumor volume (GTV) or planning target volume (PTV) contacting PBT, shorter distance from GTV to PBT or esophagus, volume of PBT receiving prescription dose, higher pericardium max dose, lung V20Gy, and mean lung dose. Local progression at 1, 2, and 5 years was 4%, 16%, and 21%. Factors associated with local progression were lower GTV minimum dose and higher GTV/PTV volume ratio. Acute and late grade 2 + toxicity was seen in 18% and 27%, respectively. Four patients (4%) had fatal toxicity. Conclusions Lower GTV minimum dose and smaller volumetric PTV expansions may increase risk of local progression, and should be balanced against normal tissue doses including pericardium maximum dose, lung V20Gy, and mean lung dose.
Refusal rates and waivers of informed consent in pragmatic and comparative effectiveness RCTs: A systematic review.

Abstract Background Pragmatic and comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aim to be highly generalizable studies, with broad applicability and flexibility in methods. These trials also address recruitment issues by minimizing exclusions. The trials may also appeal to potential subjects because of lower risk and lower burdens of participation. We sought to examine rates of refusal and uses of waivers of informed consent in pragmatic and comparative effectiveness RCTs. Methods A systematic review of pragmatic and comparative effectiveness RCTs performed wholely or in part in the United States and first published in 2014 and 2017. Results 103 studies involving 105 discrete populations were included for review. Refusal data was collected for 71 RCTs. Overall, studies reported an average rate of 31.9% of potential subjects refused participation; on an individual basis, 38.4% of people asked to take part refused at some point during recruitment. 23 trials (22%) were performed, at least in part, with a waiver of informed consent, 7 (30%) of which provided any form of notice to subjects. Conclusions Overall refusal rates for pragmatic and comparative effectiveness RCTs appear roughly the same as other types of research, with studies reporting about a third of people solicited for participation refuse. Moreover, informed consent was waived in 22% (95% Binomial exact Confidence Interval 13.9–30.5%) of the trials, and further study is needed to understand when waivers are justified and when notice should be provided.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow

Maybe you only have 1000 units of some resource, but 10,000 people need the resource or would benefit from it. One question: why do you control the resource? Leave that aside for now. A second question: how should you allocate the resource? If you are a decision-maker in a health system, and if the resource has to do with medicine or public health, we are in the world of the ethics of scarce resource allocation decisions in healthcare. Munthe et al 1 note that the ‘operational norms that guide actual decision making in this area tend to be similar across health systems’ and include principles concerning need, prognosis, equal treatment and cost-effectiveness. Even with just these principles, there are hard questions of how they ought to be specified, operationalised and balanced against each other when they conflict. They do not focus on this. Instead, they identify a concern: paying attention only to these principles in making allocation decisions may lead decision-makers to miss ‘negative dynamics’ that result from their decisions. They aim to rectify this by suggesting a ‘sustainability’ principle that would sit alongside these other ethical principles, serving as a side-constraint that rules out certain allocation choices or as a distinct reason to be weighed in the decision-making calculus (or a reason to save or insure against negative dynamics). I agree that the downstream effects of our allocation decisions matter, …
Nitric oxide is induced and required for efficient Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus lytic replication.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is an oncogenic virus associated with several human malignancies. KSHV lytic replication promotes the spread of infection and progression of KSHV-associated malignancies; however, the mechanism regulating KSHV lytic replication remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of nitric oxide (NO) in KSHV lytic replication. In the TREx BCBL1-RTA KSHV lytic replication cell system, induction of KSHV lytic replication increased intracellular and extracellular NO. Chemical inhibition of NO production resulted in a lower level of KSHV lytic replication as shown by a reduced level of infectious virions, and decreased levels of viral lytic transcripts and proteins. In a second KSHV lytic replication system of iSLK-RGB-BAC16 cells, we confirmed that KSHV lytic replication increased NO production. Chemical inhibition of NO production resulted in reduced numbers of cells expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein and blue fluorescent protein, two reporters that closely track the expression of KSHV early and late genes, respectively. Consistent with these results, inhibition of NO production resulted in reduced levels of infectious virions, and viral lytic transcripts and proteins. Importantly, exogenous addition of a NO donor was sufficient to enhance the full KSHV lytic replication program. These results demonstrate that NO is required for efficient KSHV lytic replication, and NO plays a crucial role in the KSHV life cycle and KSHV-induced malignancies.
Priority Setting in Health Care: Disentangling Risk Aversion from Inequality Aversion

In this paper we introduce a tractable social welfare function that is rich enough to disentangle preferences towards risk in health outcomes from preferences towards health inequalities across individuals. Given this preference specification we evaluate how uncertainty over the severity of illness and over the effectiveness of treatments affects the optimal allocation of health care resources. We show that the way in which uncertainty affects the optimal allocation within our proposed specification may differ sharply from that in the standard utilitarian framework. We also derive explicit solutions for the optimal allocation under risk for the case of a “Rawlsian” society.
Vocal Fold Steroid Injection

In the modern era of minimally invasive surgery and in-office procedures, vocal fold steroid injection (VFSI) is a valuable and indispensable tool for phonosurgeons in their gearbox. Clinical indications include vocal nodules, polyps, mucus retention cysts, Reinke’s edema, scar, and postoperative fibrosis. With the advancement of endoscopic technology, VFSI can be easily performed via trans-oral, trans-nasal, and percutaneous approaches. Adequate laryngeal anesthesia is the key to a smooth procedure, which also requires continual practice and great patience. Most adverse events after VFSI, including hematoma, deposition of triamcinolone, and vocal atrophy, are self-limited without irreversible sequel. Careful and precise placement of needle superficial to vocal ligament, and injecting minimal amount of steroid helps to avoid these adverse events. Adjuvant voice therapy is encouraged to lower the recurrence rate after VFSI.
Politics and Volunteering in Japan: A Global Perspective

1. Performing their civic duty: a theory of volunteer participation 2. Patterns of participation: volunteering around the world 3. Volunteering in Japan: not where you would expect 4. Practices that count: legitimizing, organizing, and funding volunteers 5. Engaged communities: the community voluntarism model 6. Cross-national volunteer participation: testing the community voluntarism model 7. Conclusion.
The function of the cervix in fertility.

Recent advances and new findings relative to the role of cervix in fertility are reported in this review. Cervical mucus which may include small amounts of endometrial tubal and possibly follicular secretions is produced at a rate of 20-60 mg/day in normal reproductive age women. This rate increases up to 700 mg/day during the immediate preovulation phase. To examine the physical properties of the cervical factor assessments should include determination of amount viscosity ferning spinnbarkeit cellularity pH and cultural studies if infection is suspected. The clinical evaluation of cervical mucus properties requires evaluation of the quality of the mucus its functional ability and its interaction with sperm since it now appears that sperm are stored in the cervix and are released continuously to the upper part of the reproductive tract; in addition present evidence indicates that cervical mucus acts as a barrier or trap for sluggish and abnormal sperms. In terms of infertility assessments postcoital tests are the most useful and if an adequate number of motile sperm are present in the endocervix favorable cervical factor is assumed and mucus can be ruled out as the cause of infertility.
Asymmetric cation nonstoichiometry in spinels: Site occupancy in Co 2 ZnO 4 and Rh 2 ZnO 4

Two cations $A$ and $B$ in ${A}_{2}B{\text{O}}_{4}$ spinels appear in precise 2:1 Daltonian ratio (``line compounds'') only at very low temperature. More typically, at finite temperature, they tend to become either $A$ rich or $B$ rich. Here we survey the experimentally observed stoichiometry asymmetries and describe the first-principles framework for calculating these. Defect calculations based on first principles are used to calculate the enthalpies of substitution of $A$ atom $\ensuremath{\Delta}H({A}_{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{d}}}$) and $B$ atom $\ensuremath{\Delta}H({B}_{{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{h}}}$) and determine their site occupancies leading to (non)-stoichiometry. In Co${}_{2}$ZnO${}_{4}$, the result of the calculation for site occupancy compares well with that measured via anomalous x-ray diffraction. Further, the calculated phase boundary also compares well with that measured via Rietveld refinement of x-ray diffraction data on bulk ceramic sintered samples of Co${}_{2}$ZnO${}_{4}$ and Rh${}_{2}$ZnO${}_{4}$. These results show that Co${}_{2}$ZnO${}_{4}$ is heavily Co nonstoichiometric above 500 ${}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$C, whereas Rh${}_{2}$ZnO${}_{4}$ is slightly Zn nonstoichiometric. We found that, in general, the calculated $\ensuremath{\Delta}H({A}_{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{d}}}$) is smaller than $\ensuremath{\Delta}H({B}_{{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{h}}}$), if the $A$-rich competing phase is isostructural with the ${A}_{2}B$O${}_{4}$ host, for example, ${A}_{2}A{\text{O}}_{4}$, whereas $B$-rich competing phase is not, for example, $B$O. This observation is used to qualitatively explain nonstoichiometry and solid solutions observed in other spinels.
An Investigation of Course Requirements and Student Motivation to Complete Required Readings

Many instructors note student failure to read required texts prior to attending class. This study investigated how instructor utilization of assigned readings interacts with student beliefs about the relationship between assigned readings and success in a course. Beginning-of-the-program teacher candidates were from a lower level undergraduate education class where quizzes were directly related to the reading material. End-of-the-program teacher candidates were from an upper level undergraduate education class where activities and discussions in this class were directly related to the reading material. Graduate-level practitioners were from a graduate class in special education where required online class discussions in this class were directly related to the reading material. Beginning-of-the-program teacher candidates and the graduate-level practitioners reported high rates of completing the required reading. Results from the end-of-the-program teacher candidate group were used to revise the course delivery.