cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flecainide Toxicity: A Case Report and Systematic Review of its Electrocardiographic Patterns and Management

In the setting of flecainide toxicity, supraventricular tachycardia can manifest as a bizarre right or left bundle branch block, sometimes with a northwest axis, and can easily be mistaken for ventricular tachycardia leading to inappropriate therapy. We conducted a comprehensive literature review for cases of flecainide toxicity. We found 21 articles of flecainide toxicity in adult patients in which 22 ECG tracings were published. In patients with flecainide toxicity and QRS duration ≤ 200 ms, the ECGs were more likely to show RBBB, visible P waves (p = 0.03), and shorter QT (p = 0.02) and QTc intervals (p = 0.004). With QRS duration > 200 ms, the ECGs were more likely to show LBBB, loss of P waves, a northwest axis (p = 0.01), and longer QT and QTc intervals. Deaths were reported only in patients with QRS duration >200 ms, and the outcome of death or requirement for mechanical circulatory support was more prevalent in patients with a QRS duration > 200 ms [2/13 (15.4 %) vs. 6/10 (60 %), p = 0.04]. In patients with access to the medication, flecainide toxicity should be suspected with: (1) broad QRS, (2) RBBB morphology with QRS ≤ 200 ms; RBBB or LBBB morphology with QRS ≥ 200 ms (3) HR out of proportion to the degree of hemodynamic instability. The duration of the QRS interval is prognostic, with mortality and the requirement for mechanical circulatory support being more common in patients with a QRS > 200 ms.
Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes over Complex Terrain

This chapter describes the application of a variety of remote sensors to complex terrain studies, including sodars, lidars (aerosol mapping and Doppler), clear-air radars and wind profilers, and optical crosswind sensors. It outlines sensor characteristics relevant to operation in complex terrain settings and examines the origin of turbulence microstructure in complex terrain flows, a significant factor in the use of clear-air radars and sodars. It also summarizes the major programs that have made extensive use of remote sensors and promoted their integration with conventional in-situ instruments. Examples and case studies from these programs are then provided including observations of the initiation and destruction of drainage winds. The behavior of quasi-steady drainage winds and their irregularities during marine layer intrusions, seiches, waves, and strong ambient winds are also described. Recent results are presented that extend the use of Doppler lidar in channeled and merging valley flows as well as in the observation of large-scale mountain-plain circulations. The integration of remote and in-situ sensors in a major transport and dispersion study yields further examples of how different measurement methods can complement each other. Future directions in the study of complex terrain processes are suggested that can take advantage of newly developing remote sensors especially in application to larger-scale mountain-valley circulations.
The Inflammatory Environment and Its Effects on Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are connective tissue cells with stem cell properties and an ability to regulate immune responses. These crucial features make them ideal candidates for treating several diseases where enhancement of tissue regeneration and suppression of inflammation is needed. After harvesting MSCs, they can be used as cell therapy to treat hypoxia-mediated tissue injury; autoimmune, allergic, or septic inflammation; fibrotic processes; and even cancers. One of the most important reasons why MSCs are so successful in treating such a variety of illnesses is their ability to recognize various environmental clues specific to certain disease pathologies. MSCs have a cellular machinery that can sense and react to hypoxia, tissue damage–derived molecular patterns, pathogen-associated molecular patterns, inflammatory cytokines, and various drugs. All these environmental effects together will stimulate or inhibit MSCs, influencing their basic cell biology and ultimately determining if their presence in a given niche is beneficial or detrimental.
MNGO-15TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS IS AN INDEPENDENT RISK FACTOR FOR PERIOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS IN PATIENTS SURGICALLY TREATED FOR MENINGIOMA

OBJECTIVES: Increased risk of perioperative complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) has previously been noted with regard to a number of different operations. We sought to study the relative rates of perioperative complications after the surgical resection of a meningioma based on a pre-existing diagnosis of diabetes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on 259 patients who underwent a primary meningioma resection at our institution between 2001-2013. The medical record was reviewed to identify a pre-existing diagnosis of type 2 DM and to obtain patient age, body mass index (BMI), and preoperative Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scores. Components of perioperative complications included duration of postoperative hospital stay, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, perioperative changes in KPS scores, and any postoperative emergency department (ED) presentation within 90 days of the operation. Variables associated with perioperative complications in a univariate analysis were included in the multivariate Standard Least Squares model. RESULTS: Average postoperative hospital and ICU stays were respectively 7.6 and 6.0 days amongst diabetics compared to 4.7 and 2.9 days amongst non-diabetics. The mean perioperative KPS score change in diabetics was -2.7 compared to +5.6 in non-diabetics. 48.4% of diabetic patients presented to the ED postoperatively compared to 19.1% of non-diabetics. In the multivariate model, diabetics were found to have significantly longer durations of postoperative hospital and ICU stays, poorer performance status changes, and increased risk of postoperative ED presentation than non-diabetics independent of patient age, pre-operative KPS, and BMI (p = 0.036,p = 0.0006,p = 0.0003, and p = 0.0011 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with pre-existing diagnoses of type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of lengthier hospital and ICU stays during their operative hospital admission and postoperatively present to the ED at a higher rate than non-diabetics. Further studies are needed to elucidate the optimal perioperative management of diabetic patients surgically treated for meningioma.
Fumarate mediates a chronic proliferative signal in fumarate hydratase-inactivated cancer cells by increasing transcription and translation of ferritin genes

Germ line mutations of the gene encoding the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzyme fumarate hydratase (FH) cause a hereditary cancer syndrome known as hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC). HLRCC-associated tumors harbor biallelic FH inactivation that results in the accumulation of the TCA cycle metabolite fumarate. Although it is known that fumarate accumulation can alter cellular signaling, if and how fumarate confers a growth advantage remain unclear. Here we show that fumarate accumulation confers a chronic proliferative signal by disrupting cellular iron signaling. Specifically, fumarate covalently modifies cysteine residues on iron regulatory protein 2 (IRP2), rendering it unable to repress ferritin mRNA translation. Simultaneously, fumarate increases ferritin gene transcription by activating the NRF2 (nuclear factor [erythroid-derived 2]-like 2) transcription factor. In turn, increased ferritin protein levels promote the expression of the promitotic transcription factor FOXM1 (Forkhead box protein M1). Consistently, clinical HLRCC tissues showed increased expression levels of both FOXM1 and its proliferation-associated target genes. This finding demonstrates how FH inactivation can endow cells with a growth advantage.
Observation after a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with melanoma.

9033 Background: The therapeutic benefit of completion lymph node dissection (CLND) in melanoma patients with a positive sentinel lymph node (SLN) remains unknown. This study describes the natural history of selected patients undergoing nodal observation (no-CLND) after a positive SLN biopsy and compares outcomes with those undergoing immediate CLND. Methods: A prospective database was used to identify melanoma patients with a positive SLN biopsy from 1994 to 2012. Patient and tumor characteristics, reasons for not undergoing CLND, patterns of initial recurrence, and melanoma-specific survival data were analyzed. Results: Of 4319 patients undergoing SLN biopsy, 505 (12%) had a positive SLN. 170 (34%) patients underwent nodal observation and 335 (66%) had an immediate CLND. Patients in the no-CLND group were older (65 vs. 56 years, p<0.001) and more likely to have lower extremity lesions (43% vs. 30%, p=0.004). There were no differences in tumor thickness, Clark level of invasion, presence of ulceration, o...
Loss of XBP1 accelerates age-related decline in retinal function and neurodegeneration

Aging is the strongest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases and extended age results in neuronal degeneration and functional decline in the visual system. Among many contributing factors to age-related deterioration of neurons is an insufficient activation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in response to cellular stress. X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) is a major component of the UPR and is essential for maintaining protein homeostasis and reducing cellular stresses. Herein, we investigate the role of XBP1 in maintaining morphological and functional integrity in retinal neurons during adulthood and the early stages of aging. The basal and induced levels of XBP1 activation in the retina were measured in young adult and aged mice. Conditional knockout (cKO) of XBP1 in retinal neurons was achieved by crossing XBP1 floxed mice with a retina specific Cre-recombinase line (Chx10-Cre). Retinal morphology, neuronal populations including photoreceptors, bipolar cells, and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), synaptic structure, and microglial activation were examined with immunohistochemistry and staining of retinal sections. Retinal function was evaluated with light-adapted (photopic) and dark adapted (scotopic) electroretinograms. Retinal mitochondrial function and metabolism was assessed by Seahorse XFe24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer. The retinas of aged wild type (WT) mice display a significantly reduced basal level of Xbp1s and compromised activation of ER stress response. In XBP1 cKO mice, significant structural degeneration of the retina, evidenced by thinning of retinal layers and a loss of RGCs, and functional defects indicated by diminished photopic and scotopic ERG b-waves are observed at the age of 12–14 months. Furthermore, discontinuous and disorganized synaptic laminae, colocalized with activated microglia, in the inner plexiform layer is found in the XBP1 cKO retinas. In addition, cKO mice demonstrate a significant increase in ectopic synapses between bipolar cells and photoreceptors, which is strikingly similar to WT mice at 20–24 months of age. These changes are associated with defective retinal glycolysis while mitochondrial respiratory function appears normal in the cKO retina. XBP1 cKO mice at 12–14 months of age show significant structural, functional, and metabolic deficits that closely resemble WT mice twice that age. Our findings suggest that the absence of XBP1, a critical component of the UPR, accelerates age-related retinal neurodegeneration.
Object lessons: Using trans porn in class to explore gender fluidity

Gender categories and gender fluidity can be explicitly performed and demonstrated in sexually explicit media such as pornography. In this class lesson, a rhetoric/performance studies class on porn...
Mice lacking galectin-3 ( Lgals3 ) function have decreased home cage movement

Galectins are a large family of proteins evolved to recognize specific carbohydrate moieties. Given the importance of pattern recognition processes for multiple biological tasks, including CNS development and immune recognition, we examined the home cage behavioral phenotype of mice lacking galectin-3 (Lgals3) function. Using a sophisticated monitoring apparatus capable of examining feeding, drinking, and movement at millisecond temporal and 0.5 cm spatial resolutions, we observed daily behavioral patterns from 10 wildtype male C57BL/6J and 10 Lgals3 constitutive knockout (Lgals3−/−; both cohorts aged 2–3 months) mice over 17 consecutive days. We performed a second behavioral assessment of this cohort at age 6–7 months. At both ages, Lgals3−/− mice demonstrated less movement compared to wildtype controls. Both forward locomotion and movement-in-place behaviors were decreased in Lgals3−/− mice, due to decreased bout numbers, initiation rates, and durations. We additionally noted perturbation of behavioral circadian rhythms in Lgals3−/− mice, with mice at both ages demonstrating greater variability in day-to-day performance of feeding, drinking, and movement (as assessed by Lomb-Scargle analysis) compared to wildtype. Carbohydrate recognition tasks performed by Lgals3 may be required for appropriate development of CNS structures involved in the generation and control of locomotor behavior.
The Unoriginal Mao

This chapter demonstrates how all of the principles of insurgency that Mao outlines in his writings were used in prior uprisings. This includes multiple high-profile conflicts that involved all of the ideas later articulated by Mao, including the Maccabean Revolt and the American Revolutionary War, which serve as case studies in the chapter. Similarly, the chapter explains how all of Mao’s teachings were articulated by earlier theorists, with Lenin supplied as a case study. Finally, the chapter shows that Mao was fully cognizant of these past conflicts and theorists, and likely drew upon their experiences and arguments when formulating his own teachings. Consequently, Mao was not an innovator of new approaches to insurgency, but merely a replicator of previously piloted ideas.
Long-Term and Short-Term Measures for Coping with Drought

Drought-induced shortages of water supply have adverse impacts on human activities and ecological systems. A number of measures can be undertaken to avoid or lessen such impacts. Both long-term and short-term measures, which are aimed toward increasing supply or reducing demand, should be considered. This chapter provides a review of alternative approaches for protecting the established uses of water against future droughts and summarizes the practice and status of drought protection and preparedness in the United States.
Predicting Parameters of a Weibull Function for Modeling Diameter Distribution

The Weibull function has been widely used to characterize diameter distribu- tions in a forest stand. Methods have been developed to predict the Weibull parameters, either directly or indirectly, from stand age, density, and dominant height. In this study, four existing methods and two new methods of obtaining the Weibull parameters were evaluated using data from a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. While both new methods performed well, one of them produced consistently better goodness-of-fit statistics than those from the existing methods. FOR .S CI. 50(5):682-685.
Life after LEAD: A Retrospective Analysis of What Members Learned from A Collegiate Disability Awareness Group.

Interactional diversity, defined as informal engagement with diverse peers that occurs outside of the classroom, is one way for colleges and universities to facilitate connections between and among students (Bowman, 2010). Little is known, however, about the enduring effects of interactional diversity, particularly as it relates to disability. LEAD, an institutional, undergraduate disability awareness group, provides context for the exploration of interactional diversity and disability. The purpose of this retrospective, qualitative study was to understand what 17 LEAD alumni believed they learned as a result of their interactions with peers with disabilities. The results of this research highlight the potential of collegiate disability awareness groups and their importance as a possibility for promoting interactional diversity.
Qur'anic Covenants Reconsidered: mīthāq and ʿahd in Polemical Context

This article examines the Qur'an's use of 'covenant' (Arabic ʿahd and mīthāq). Recent scholarly attention to covenants in the Qur'an has hitherto largely hinged on modern questions of inclu...
A Type - 1 Imbalanced Bivariate Poisson Distribution Demystifies Patient’s Phobia Visiting Physician Often and Its Implications

In this article, a new bivariate Poisson distribution, called the type-1 imbalanced bivariate Poisson distribution, is introduced for dependence modeling among the random number of visits made by a patient and the number of prescriptions written by a physician. By utilizing the proposed model, the article discovers patterns on the implications of the over-visits made by the patients. This new discrete bivariate Poisson probability mass function is quite interesting and useful to the healthcare researchers. Its statistical properties are derived. The concepts and methodology around its imbalance parameter, $$ \phi $$ , are constructed and illustrated using the Australian Health Survey data for 1997–1998. The data analytic results in the illustration demystify the implications when the patients make more visits to the physician.
Uneven terrain exacerbates the deficits of a passive prosthesis in the regulation of whole body angular momentum in individuals with a unilateral transtibial amputation

Uneven ground is a frequently encountered, yet little-studied challenge for individuals with amputation. The absence of control at the prosthetic ankle to facilitate correction for surface inconsistencies, and diminished sensory input from the extremity, add unpredictability to an already complex control problem, and leave limited means to produce appropriate corrective responses in a timely manner. Whole body angular momentum, L, and its variability across several strides may provide insight into the extent to which an individual can regulate their movement in such a context. The aim of this study was to explore L in individuals with a transtibial amputation, when challenged by an uneven surface. We hypothesized that, similar to previous studies, sagittal plane L would be asymmetrical on uneven terrain, and further, that uneven terrain would evoke a greater variability in L from stride to stride in individuals with amputation in comparison to unimpaired individuals, due to a limited ability to discern and correct for changing contours beneath the prosthetic foot. We examined sagittal plane L in ten individuals with a unilateral transtibial amputation and age- and gender- matched control participants walking on flat (FT) and uneven (UT) treadmills. The average range of L in the first 50% of the gait cycle (LR), the average L at foot contact (LC) and their standard deviations (vLR, vLC) were computed over 60 strides on each treadmill. On both surfaces we observed a higher LR on the prosthetic side and a reduced LC on the sound side (p < 0.001) in the amputee cohort, consistent with previous findings. UT invoked an increase in LC (p = 0.006), but not LR (p = 0.491). vLR, and vLC were higher in individuals with amputation (p < 0.001, p = 0.002), and increased in both groups on UT (p < 0.001). These findings support previous assertions that individuals with amputation regulate L less effectively, and suggest that the deficits of the prosthesis are exacerbated on uneven terrain, potentially to the detriment of balance. Further, the results indicate that a greater demand may be placed on the unaffected side to control movement.
Mobile Phone Access and Preference for Technology-Assisted Aftercare Among Low-Income Caregivers of Teens Enrolled in Outpatient Substance Use Treatment: Questionnaire Study.

Background: Improvements in parenting practices can positively mediate the outcomes of treatment for adolescent substance use disorder. Given the high rates of release among adolescents (ie, 60% within 3 months and 85% within 1 year), there is a critical need for interventions focused on helping parents achieve and maintain effective parenting practices posttreatment. Yet, research suggests that engaging parents in aftercare services is difficult, partly due to systemic-structural and personal barriers. One way to increase parent use of aftercare services may be to offer mobile health interventions, given the potential for wide availability and on-demand access. However, it remains unclear whether mobile phone–based aftercare support for caregivers of substance-using teens is feasible or desired. Therefore, formative work in this area is needed. Objective: This study aims to determine the feasibility and acceptability of mobile phone–based aftercare support in a population of caregivers with teens in treatment for substance use. Methods: Upon enrollment in a treatment program, 103 caregivers completed a mobile phone use survey, providing information about mobile phone ownership, access, and use. Caregivers also provided a response to items assessing desire for aftercare services, in general; desire for mobile phone–based aftercare services specifically; and desire for parenting specific content as part of aftercare services. Research assistants also monitored clinic calls made to caregivers’ mobile phones to provide an objective measure of the reliability of phone service. Results: Most participants were mothers (76.7%) and self-identified as Hispanic (73.8%). The average age was 42.60 (SD 9.28) years. A total of 94% of caregivers owned a mobile phone. Most had pay-as-you-go phone service (67%), and objective data suggest this did not impede accessibility. Older caregivers more frequently had a yearly mobile contract. Further, older caregivers and caregivers of adolescent girls had fewer disconnections. Bilingual caregivers used text messaging less often; however, caregivers of adolescent boys used text messaging more often. Although 72% of caregivers reported that aftercare was needed, 91% of caregivers endorsed a desire for mobile phone–based aftercare support in parenting areas that are targets of evidence-based treatments. Conclusions: The results suggest that mobile phones are feasible and desired to deliver treatments that provide support to caregivers of teens discharged from substance use treatment. Consideration should be given to the age of caregivers when designing these programs. Additional research is needed to better understand mobile phone use patterns based on a child’s gender and among bilingual caregivers.
Least Squares Estimation

In Chap. 1 we learned how to solve a system of linear equations. All of the systems were square (i.e., the number of equations equaled the number of unknowns) and each system had an exact solution. Systems like these do not characterize most statistical analyses. Instead, we deal with rectangular systems (more equations than unknowns) for which an exact solution does not exist. Such systems are called overdetermined linear systems, and in this chapter you will learn how to solve them and become familiar with their role in a linear regression model.
The Role of Pediatric Trauma Centers in Disaster Preparation

Disasters, both natural and manmade, are becoming more common. Children often compose up to 30% of those individuals injured in a disaster. The level of preparedness for a surge of pediatric patients after a disaster is variable. Pediatric trauma centers need to be able to take care of multiple children and adults and assist other centers with the care of children. A disaster plan with associated training should be instituted at all hospitals. Collaboration across multiple facilities and agencies is essential in planning. Additionally, it is the duty of medical professionals to train the public in disaster preparedness. Learning through the experiences of others is perhaps the most powerful means of education. A case study of how one hospital handled the deadliest shooting in US history can teach us many lessons.
It's about time: Transfusion effects on postinjury platelet aggregation over time

BACKGROUND Impaired postinjury platelet aggregation is common, but the effect of transfusion on this remains unclear. Data suggest that following injury platelet transfusion may not correct impaired platelet aggregation, and impaired platelet aggregation may not predict the need for platelet transfusion. We sought to further investigate platelet aggregation responses to transfusions, using regression statistics to isolate the independent effects of transfusions given in discrete time intervals from injury on both immediate and longitudinal platelet aggregation. We hypothesized that platelet aggregation response to platelet transfusion increases over time from injury. METHODS Serial (0-96 hours) blood samples were collected from 248 trauma patients. Platelet aggregation was assessed in vitro with impedance aggregometry stimulated by adenosine diphosphate, collagen, and thrombin receptor-activating peptide-6. Using regression, transfusion exposure was modeled against platelet aggregation at each subsequent timepoint and adjusted for confounders (Injury Severity Score, international normalized ratio (INR), base deficit, platelet count, and interval transfusions). The expected change in platelet aggregation at each timepoint under the intervention of transfusion exposure was calculated and compared with the observed platelet aggregation. RESULTS The 248 patients analyzed were severely injured (Injury Severity Score, 21 ± 19), with normal platelet counts (mean, 268 × 10/L ± 90), and 62% were transfused in 24 hours. The independent effect of transfusions on subsequent platelet aggregation over time was modeled with observed platelet aggregation under hypothetical treatment of one unit transfusion of blood, plasma, or platelets. Platelet transfusions had increasing expected effects on subsequent platelet aggregation over time, with the maximal expected effect occurring late (4-5 days from injury). CONCLUSION Controversy exists on whether transfusions improve impaired postinjury platelet aggregation. Using regression modeling, we identified that expected transfusion effects on subsequent platelet aggregation are maximal with platelet transfusion given late after injury. This is critical for tailored resuscitation, identifying a potential early period of resistance to platelet transfusion that resolves by 96 hours. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic, level V.
L’Union Fait La Force: Black Soldiers in the Great War

ABSTRACTThough the Great War is imagined and discussed as a European conflagration, an epic showdown between white Europeans, the simple fact remains that from the first, European battlefields mirr...
Hydrogeomorphic controls on soil carbon composition in two classes of subalpine wetlands

Wetlands play a vital role in terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration, but the sensitivity of their C stocks to disturbance remains uncertain, requiring enhanced understanding of the processes that govern C storage and removal. The unique conditions in wetlands from different hydrogeomorphic (HGM) classes likely regulate the cycling, storage and vulnerabilities of wetland soil C stocks. To determine how differences in hydrogeomorphic setting influence soil organic carbon (SOC) processing, we compared C content and composition between depressional and slope wetlands located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Isolated depressional wetlands were characterized by seasonally declining water tables, slow discharge, high clay content, and thick organic horizons. Slope wetlands received perennial groundwater inputs and had coarser soil textures and thinner organic horizons. Seasonal snowmelt inputs coupled with low hydrologic discharge and higher clay content in depressional wetlands were predicted to sustain anoxic conditions, leading to high SOC content and chemically reduced C compounds. Depressional wetland soils had higher SOC content at depth and higher porewater DOC concentrations compared to slope wetland soils. Solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated that aliphatic compounds were the dominant SOC component in depressional wetlands compared to aromatic C forms in the slope wetlands. The higher prevalence of aliphatic carbon in depressional wetland soils suggests that stored SOC is protected by anaerobic conditions to a greater extent than in the slope wetlands, and that this SOC may be more vulnerable to drying and oxic conditions associated with wetland drainage and climate change.
A Computational Study of a Spatially Continuum Mean Field Model Capturing Loss of Consciousness and the Emergence of Alpha and Gamma Rhythmic Activity in the Neocortex

In this paper, we analyze the spatio-temporal mean field model developed by Liley et al. [1] in order to advance our understanding of the wide effects of pharmacological agents and anesthetics. Specifically, we use the spatio-temporal mean field model in [1] for capturing the electrical activity in the neocortex to computationally study the emergence of aand -ϒ-band rhythmic activity in the brain. We show that a oscillations in the solutions of the model appear globally across the neocortex, whereas ϒ oscillations can emerge locally as a result of a bifurcation in the dynamics of the model. We solve the dynamic equations of the model using a finite element solver package and show that our results verify the predictions made by bifurcation analysis.
More Bored Today Than Yesterday? National Trends in Adolescent Boredom From 2008 to 2017.

Abstract Purpose Boredom is an accepted part of adolescence. Developmental and contextual factors are likely to conspire to increase boredom during adolescence, which, in turn, relates to health risk behaviors. However, literature is lacking in the developmental course of boredom across adolescence as well as historical variation in boredom. The present study used multicohort nationally representative samples of U.S. secondary school students to identify historical trends and grade level differences in boredom overall and by sex. Methods The present study includes 8th, 10th, and 12th graders from 2008 to 2017 who completed the Monitoring the Future self-report survey (n = 106,784). Joinpoint was used to identify historical trends in boredom and linear regression to identify grade level differences. Results Boredom increased historically both across and within grades with girls generally demonstrating greater increases than boys. Across grade, boredom appears to peak in 10th grade for boys and decrease across grade for girls. Conclusions Study findings indicate boredom has been increasing among adolescents over the past several years, with greater increases among girls. Increases may be concomitant with recent increases in mental health difficulties, suggesting that the overarching psychosocial profile of U.S. adolescents is becoming less optimal. Findings also suggest boredom peaks in 10th grade overall although when analyzing separately by sex, girls' boredom declines from 8th to 12th grade. It is clear that boredom is a worthy target for intervention both in clinical and prevention contexts.
Unsupervised Discriminative Dimension Reduction for Hyperspectral Chemical Plume Segmentation

We propose a novel algorithm for unsupervised segmentation of hyperspectral imagery (HSI). Representative cluster modes are learned through the diffusion geometry of the HSI, which is highly invariant to non-linearities present in HSI clusters. Mode detection is followed by partial least squares regression to project the data onto a low-dimensional space that discriminates between the learned modes and to assign labels in the low-dimensional space. We evaluate this method for unsupervised chemical plume segmentation in HSI, showing it performs competitively versus benchmark and state-of-the-art unsupervised learning techniques.
Learning Efficient Representation for Intrinsic Motivation.

Mutual Information between agent Actions and environment States (MIAS) quantifies the influence of agent on its environment. Recently, it was found that the maximization of MIAS can be used as an intrinsic motivation for artificial agents. In literature, the term empowerment is used to represent the maximum of MIAS at a certain state. While empowerment has been shown to solve a broad range of reinforcement learning problems, its calculation in arbitrary dynamics is a challenging problem because it relies on the estimation of mutual information. Existing approaches, which rely on sampling, are limited to low dimensional spaces, because high-confidence distribution-free lower bounds for mutual information require exponential number of samples. In this work, we develop a novel approach for the estimation of empowerment in unknown dynamics from visual observation only, without the need to sample for MIAS. The core idea is to represent the relation between action sequences and future states using a stochastic dynamic model in latent space with a specific form. This allows us to efficiently compute empowerment with the "Water-Filling" algorithm from information theory. We construct this embedding with deep neural networks trained on a sophisticated objective function. Our experimental results show that the designed embedding preserves information-theoretic properties of the original dynamics.
Innovations in the Surgical Management of Nephrolithiasis

Innovations in technology and surgical approach have rapidly changed the landscape of endourology, which has been a discipline particularly adept at advancing the status quo. Within the span of 50 years, urologists have gone from treating stones with open surgery to utilizing digital flexible ureteroscopes and advanced percutaneous access techniques. This chapter addresses the latest advances and trends in ureteroscopy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) with the goal of providing the reader with knowledge for application in current practice and expectations for future advances. Within ureteroscopy, the Moses Ho:YAG laser has emerged as a new standard while the thulium fiber has shown early promise. Modern single-use ureteroscopes have demonstrated similar operative characteristics to reusable ureteroscopes and give the urologist a valuable tool worth considering, especially for providers with low ureteroscopy volume or cases with anticipated high-wear. In PCNL, there has been a renewed interest in alternative patient positioning to the classic prone position. Modified supine positioning allows for endoscopic combined intrarenal surgery (ECIRS) which provides unique advantages at the expense of increased cost. In addition to increased use of ultrasound, percutaneous access technique is currently undergoing many exciting developments utilizing real-time 3D tracking software. Lastly, miniaturized PCNL systems are becoming increasingly popular with some results showing reduced morbidity and similar efficacy compared to conventional PCNL; however, well designed trials are lacking and their specific use-case scenarios remain to be well defined.
“I’m Not an Expert, But…”: Perspectives on Aquatic Management for LGBTQ Participants:

The purpose of this study was to examine the initiatives that current aquatic managers in campus recreation are implementing to create environments that are inclusive to lesbian, gay, bisexual, tra...
The roles of mental illness disclosure and disclosure strategies on well-being among college students.

To examine how the degree of mental illness disclosure and disclosure strategies are associated with psychological and physical well-being among college students. Participants: Participants were 18...
Management of Nerve Dysfunction after First Rib Resection

The brachial plexus, phrenic nerve, and long thoracic nerve are in close proximity to the anterior and middle scalene muscles and the first rib, which are surgically excised for decompression of neurogenic, venous, and arterial thoracic outlet syndrome. Nerve injury is a relatively rare complication, occurring in approximately 1% of cases, but can cause hemidiaphragm paralysis, winging of the scapula, or significant motor and/or sensory deficits to the upper extremity. Given the functional importance of the upper extremity, nerve injury can carry substantial morbidity, and knowledge of nerve anatomy and care during thoracic outlet syndrome surgery is of critical importance. This chapter reviews anatomy of the thoracic inlet, the incidence of nerve injury, and its management.
Multipole interaction in spectral line broadening by plasmas

Abstract A long-standing ambiguity in spectral line broadening theory related to the electric field divergence in the quadrupole term of the screened Coulomb radiator-plasma interaction is examined. This is accomplished with multipole expansions from a Taylor series as well as a partial wave analysis of the screened Coulomb interaction. It is explicitly shown that the two approaches agree up to the octupole term for an effective radiator size small compared to the plasma screening length. Furthermore, the ambigous corrections are confirmed appearing naturally in both methods. For higher multipoles the agreement is demonstrated numerically with a computer program using exact arithmetic.
Cross-Cultural Considerations with Korean American Clients: A Perspective on Psychological Assessment

Korean Americans as a group have one of the more recent immigration histories compared to other ethnic groups. As such, their familiarity with and assimilation into American culture is important to consider in understanding the contributions of beliefs, values, and family dynamics into the psychological well-being and mental health for Korean Americans. This chapter focuses on unique aspects within and among Korean Americans relevant to assessing this population. The socio-historical immigration history of Korean Americans is first briefly reviewed followed by a discussion of distinctive facets of acculturation and depression, acculturation and family structure and the subpopulation of Korean adoptees. The chapter then examines the presentation of depression (and expression of emotion), substance use and abuse, rates of suicide, major mental illness, culture-bound syndromes specific to Korean Americans and the underutilization of mental health for this population. The chapter concludes with a case example of a Korean American female with questions to help psychologists consider Korean values, beliefs, racial identity/acculturation, and family dynamics in the conceptualization and treatment in psychotherapy. While this chapter is not exhaustive of all considerations for working with Korean Americans, it serves as a foundation on which to build a working conceptualization in a psychologist’s work with Korean Americans.
Optimizing the Noise Performance of Multielectrode Image Charge Detectors Constructed on Printed Circuit Boards

In image charge sensing applications, a tradeoff exists between minimizing detector capacitance for improved amplifier noise performance and adding repeated sensing stages for noise improvement through averaging of repeated signals. In order to understand this tradeoff, the link between image charge detector geometry and capacitance is studied through finite element analysis. This knowledge is then used to present a novel method for determining the relevant detector parameters such that the system noise performance for a given amplifier is optimized. This method is independent of specific amplifier parameters. We find that the optimum noise performance does not lie in simply arbitrarily increasing the number of sensing stages, but depends on the amount of parasitic input capacitance to the amplifier. The greater the parasitic capacitance, the greater the number of stages for the optimum detector. The optimum number of stages is also highly dependent on the detector geometry.
Energy intensity: Deindustrialization, composition, prices, and policies in U.S. states

Abstract This paper uses the historical experience of U.S. states to examine the reasons why energy intensity has declined in some places more than in others. In aggregate, U.S. energy per dollar of GDP declined 34 percent between 1997 and 2018, but across states the decline varied from 9 percent in Iowa to 52 percent in Washington State. I show that none of this variation is explained by either deindustrialization or the changing composition of states’ industrial sectors. Although some U.S. state policies are significantly correlated with these changes, they are not correlated in a way that explains the changing overall state energy intensities. Energy intensity declines do not appear to be a result of leakage to other states or countries and have not been associated with slower economic growth.
The Psychotopology of Climate

In light of recent criticism of data visualizations within Anthropocene discourse, this chapter considers the social and political implications of one of the most widespread scientific images associated with public awareness of climate change: the line graph. Focusing on the geometric form of the line graph, I argue that the line graph serves to obscure the social relations at the core of the climate crisis in part due to the mapping of its data within the Euclidean space of the Cartesian plane. Against such a framework of time and space, I propose that topological approaches in Lacanian psychoanalysis offer an alternative spatio-temporal modality for thinking about climate change, which convey the significance of political relation in place of the generalised humanity of Anthropocene discourse.
Mindfulness Interventions for Disease Distress Symptomatology in Cancer: Review and Results

During cancer treatment, individuals feel discomfort, which is likely to be compounded by pain at some time. Poor pain control is common among those with cancer, and the primary medical treatment is the prescription of opioid medications. The purpose here was to provide a review as well as to investigate the efficacy of a modified eight-week mindfulness-based intervention on the pain-related factors of pain anxiety, pain catastrophizing, symptoms of distress, and fatigue in 57 women diagnosed with breast cancer and consequent pain. As predicted, statistical analyses of pre-post scores revealed significant improvements for pain anxiety and pain catastrophizing following the eight-week intervention. Also, symptoms of distress and fatigue improved significantly pre-to-post in this group of women. These preliminary findings are encouraging, yet they must be viewed with caution until further research is conducted in this area. Hopefully, this line of research eventually will be able to provide options other than narcotics to those in pain. The bottom line is that individuals living with a life-threatening disease need complementary medicine options other than narcotics to help them deal with their pain and suffering.
Hypertension Knowledge among Adult African-Americans in the Cape Fear Region of North Carolina

Background: The control of hypertension requires awareness, and monitoring of the disease through screening. Aim: The present study was undertaken to explore the knowledge of middle-aged and older African-Americans about hypertension, and to understand steps they are taking to prevent hypertension and its related consequences. Method: A qualitative research strategy with five focus groups of ten adults 55-83 years old each recruited through purposive sampling procedures participated in this study. Results: Seventy six percent of participants were not adequately informed about the nature of hypertension and stroke, although all participants were aware of risks for the disease posed by factors including the consumption of foods high in saturated fat, and lack of exercise. Conclusion: Lack of adequate knowledge about hypertension, related diseases, and perceived barriers to screening may hinder adequate control of the disease among this group.
Our First Unisex President?: Black Masculinity and Obama’s Feminine Side

People often talk about the significance of Barack Obama’s status as our first black President. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, however, a newspaper columnist declared, “If Bill Clinton was once considered America’s first black president, Obama may one day be viewed as our first woman president.” That statement epitomized a large media discourse on Obama’s femininity. In this essay, I thus ask how Obama will influence people’s understandings of the implications of both race and gender. To do so, I explicate and apply insights from the fields of identity performance theory, critical race theory, and masculinities studies. With respect to race, the essay confirms my prior theory of “bipolar black masculinity.” That is, the media tends to represent black men as either the completely threatening and race-affirming Bad Black Man or the completely comforting and assimilationist Good Black Man. For Obama, this meant he had to avoid the stereotype of the angry black man. Meanwhile, though, the association of the Presidency with the hegemonic form of masculinity presented difficulties for Obama. He was regularly called upon to be more aggressive in responding to attacks and more masculine in general. As a result, Obama could not be too masculine because that would have triggered the Bad Black Man stereotype but he could not be too feminine because that would have looked unpresidential. Obama solved that dilemma by adopting a “unisex” style. He was a candidate who was designed to be suitable to either gender. I believe Obama’s unisex performance on the world’s biggest stage suggests that we are all more free to perform our race and our gender as we see fit than we had previously believed.
Brief report: a randomized controlled trial of Synera versus lidocaine for epidural needle insertion in labouring parturients.

Purpose: Skin infiltration with lidocaine, although brief, can be very stressful, painful, and may perpetuate anxiety. Synera™, a local anesthetic patch, which contains an oxygen-activated heating component to enhance the delivery of a eutectic mixture of lidocaine (70 mg) and tetracaine (70 mg), has provided analgesia for minor, dermatological procedures. We hypothesized that the analgesic effect of Synera™, for pain in labouring parturients, would be superior to the traditional infiltration of lidocaine prior to epidural needle insertion.
Threonine deaminase from Salmonella typhimurium. II. The subunit structure.

Abstract Purified threonine deaminase of Salmonella typhimurium was found to be monodisperse and to have a molecular weight of 194,000. The protein, in 6 m guanidine HCl and 0.1 m β-mercaptoethanol, dissociates into polypeptide chains of molecular weight 48,500. Tryptic peptide analysis implies that the four component chains of the native enzyme are of identical amino acid sequence. l-Isoleucine and l-valine, which are allosteric effectors of this enzyme, have no effect on the sedimentation properties and do not produce detectable changes in the optical rotatory dispersion curve of the native enzyme.
A model of small-scale turbulence for use in the PPM gas dynamics scheme

A model for unresolved, small-scale turbulent motions has been developed and implemented in the PPM gas dynamics code. The motivation for the model, the use of very large-scale simulation data in determining the model formulae and parameters, and validation tests of the model in the PPM code are described.
Secretion from Animal Cells

Introduction Protein Translocation into the Endoplasmic Reticulum Targeting to the Endoplasmic Reticulum Translocation into the ER Posttranslational Modifications within the Secretory Pathway Protein Folding and Catalysts of Protein Folding in the ER Asparagines and Serine/Threonine-Linked Glycosylation Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Anchor Addition Gamma-Carboxylation of Glutamic Acid Residues β-Hydroxylation of Amino Acids: Aspartic acid, Asparagine, Lysine, and Proline Sulfation of Tyrosine Residues Proteolytic Processing of Precursor Polypeptides Vesicular Protein Transport Protein Retention and Degradation in the ER Acknowledgments Bibliography Keywords: disulfide bond formation; endoplasmic reticulum; glycosylation; Golgi apparatus; posttranslational modification; protein chaperones; protein folding; protein trafficking; proteolytic processing; tyrosine sulfation