cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Experimental Analysis of a Reduced Daily Bluegill Limit in Minnesota

Abstract The effect of a reduced daily limit (from 30 to 10 fish/d) on the size structure of bluegills Lepomis macrochirus in eight Minnesota lakes was measured with a controlled and replicated experiment. Bluegills from four treatment lakes (daily limit of 10 fish) and four control lakes (daily limit of 30 fish) were sampled in 2 years prior to regulation implementation and in the fourth and fifth years after regulation implementation. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to test for changes in two measures of size structure: mean length and 90th percentile length. The mean length of bluegills sampled in trap nets was significantly greater in treatment lakes than in control lakes at the end of the experiment. Bluegill 90th percentile lengths were higher during the postregulation period than the preregulation period, but not significantly so (although the P-value approached significance). Postregulation increases in length at maturity and growth rate were observed in the treatment lakes that ex...
Autophagy mechanism of right ventricular remodeling in murine model of pulmonary artery constriction

Although right ventricular failure (RVF) is the hallmark of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), the mechanism of RVF is unclear. Development of PAH-induced RVF is associated with an increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Increases in oxidative stress lead to generation of nitro-tyrosine residues in tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) and liberate active matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs). To test the hypothesis that an imbalance in MMP-to-TIMP ratio leads to interstitial fibrosis and RVF and whether the treatment with folic acid (FA) alleviates ROS generation, maintains MMP/TIMP balance, and regresses interstitial fibrosis, we used a mouse model of pulmonary artery constriction (PAC). After surgery mice were given FA in their drinking water (0.03 g/l) for 4 wk. Production of ROS in the right ventricle (RV) was measured using oxidative fluorescent dye. The level of MMP-2, -9, and -13 and TIMP-4, autophagy marker (p62), mitophagy marker (LC3A/B), collagen interstitial fibrosis, and ROS in the RV wall was measured. RV function was measured by Millar catheter. Treatment with FA decreased the pressure to 35 mmHg from 50 mmHg in PAC mice. Similarly, RV volume in PAC mice was increased compared with the Sham group. A robust increase of ROS was observed in RV of PAC mice, which was decreased by treatment with FA. The protein level of MMP-2, -9, and -13 was increased in RV of PAC mice in comparison with that in the sham-operated mice, whereas supplementation with FA abolished this effect and mitigated MMPs levels. The protein level of TIMP-4 was decreased in RV of PAC mice compared with the Sham group. Treatment with FA helped PAC mice to improve the level of TIMP-4. To further support the claim of mitophagy occurrence during RVF, the levels of LC3A/B and p62 were measured by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. LC3A/B was increased in RV of PAC mice. Similarly, increased p62 protein level was observed in RV of PAC mice. Treatment with FA abolished this effect in PAC mice. These results suggest that FA treatment improves MMP/TIMP balance and ameliorates mitochondrial dysfunction that results in protection of RV failure during pulmonary hypertension.
Loyalty, Diversity, and Colorblindness

This fall, the Supreme Court will address whether public colleges and universities may consider race in admissions for the first time since 2003, when it decided Grutter v. Bollinger. The Fifth Circuit case under review, Fisher v. Texas, upheld the University of Texas’ narrow consideration of race in undergraduate admissions. The panel opinions in Fisher stake out two competing narratives, one lending great deference to university administrators in their efforts to promote diversity and the other in favor of strict colorblindness in admissions. This Article argues that both diversity and colorblindness are important national aspirations and that Fisher should be understood primarily as conflict between the two. It frames this conflict as a clash between two deeply held loyalties to which the Supreme Court would desperately like to adhere, but which in this context and many others simply cannot coexist. Relying on literature on loyalty from the social sciences and humanities, this Article shows that conflicts between loyalties are often difficult for individuals to resolve, particularly when the loyalties are of meaningful importance. After showing that norms in favor of diversity and more widespread inclusion are now deeply entrenched in contemporary society — not only in education, but in the corporate and public sectors as well — this Article discusses Fisher in the loyalty context and argues that because many efforts aimed at promoting diversity (in both the private and public sector) could be rendered illegal pursuant to a reading of strict colorblindness into the Constitution, the Court should privilege diversity in this conflict of loyalties and continue to permit limited, good faith deviations from the colorblindness aspiration. The alternative, a privileging of strict colorblindness over race-conscious efforts aimed at diversification, has the potential to reverberate far beyond public school admissions and radically reshape society.
Visual Perspective Taking in Children: Further Ramifications of an Information-Processing Model

Abstract Forty children between ages 6 and 8 were administered a set of spatial perspective tasks. On half of the items, children responded by rotating a duplicate of the target display; on the remainder, children reconstructed the displays to correspond to a perspective view. The displays differed as to whether they contained marked or unmarked objects. On the basis of an information-processing analysis of these tasks, we predicted that the response-type variables and stimulus variables would interact in known ways. Analysis of variance results revealed a good fit with the hypothesized outcomes. Main effects were detected for age, which favored older children, and for display, which favored unmarked objects; the rotation task proved easier. Significant interactions revealed that task demands increasing task difficulty were more problematic in the construction task than in the rotation task, as predicted.
Input shaper design in convex optimization framework with frequency domain constraints

This paper demonstrates a method of introducing frequency domain constraints into the design of input shapers within a convex optimization framework. The magnitude bounds in the frequency domain are approximated to produce a set of linear constraints at discrete frequency points. The error bounds due to such approximation are easy to compute. This technique is applied to automated highway systems by including ride quality as an explicit frequency domain constraint.
On wavelet decomposition of uncertain time series data sets

In this paper, we will explore the construction of wavelet decompositions of uncertain data. Uncertain representations of data sets require significantly more space, and it is therefore even more important to construct compressed representations for such cases. We will use a hierarchical optimization technique in order to construct the most effective partitioning for our wavelet representation. We explore two different schemes which optimize the uncertainty in the resulting representation. We will show that the incorporation of uncertainty into the design of the wavelet representations significantly improves the compression rate of the representation. We present experimental results illustrating the effectiveness of our approach.
Defining the role of the academic neurohospitalist in residency education.

Objective:We sought to better understand the potential impact of the burgeoning neurohospitalist model of inpatient care on education of neurology residents and to better define possible roles for “neurohospitalists” in residency education.Method:We designed a brief qualitative open-ended survey directed toward academic leaders in neurology and distributed it by e-mail to every academic neurology department in the United States and Canada.Results:Of 83 respondents, 36 (43%) had an active neurohospitalist program and only 10% felt certain they would not have 1 within the next 5 years. All respondents expected to have residents continue to be involved with inpatient care. The main perceived advantage for resident education associated with neurohospitalists was inpatient care expertise, and the main expected disadvantage was decreased exposure to subspecialty attendings. The majority anticipated positive impact on all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies predominantly based ...
Development of food allergies in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease treated with gastric acid suppressive medications.

Background The prevalence of food allergy has steadily increased, especially in children. Reflux disease, a very common problem in children, is often treated with gastric acid suppressive (GAS) medications which may alter the processing of food allergens, thereby affecting oral mucosal tolerance. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine if use of GAS medications is associated with the occurrence of food allergies in children. Methods Using a large national commercial insurance database, we identified 4724 children aged 0–18 yrs who were diagnosed with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) and treated with GAS medications between January 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009. We then matched 4724 children with GERD not treated with GAS medications and 4724 children without GERD and not treated with GAS medications, at a 1:1 ratio, on age, gender and number of atopic risk factors. Patients were followed for 12 months. Results In comparison to the referent (children without GERD who received no GAS medications), children with GERD who were treated with GAS were more likely to be diagnosed with a food allergy (Hazard ratio (HR): 3.67, 95% CI 2.15–6.27), as were children with GERD diagnosis but who were not treated with GAS medications (HR: 2.15, 95% CI: 1.21–3.81). A direct comparison of the two GERD cohorts showed that children with GERD who were treated with GAS had a greater risk of food allergy than those with GERD who were untreated (HR, 1.68, 95%CI, 1.15–2.46). Conclusion Treatment with GAS medications is associated with the occurrence of food allergy, an effect not apparently related to a diagnosis of GERD alone.
Plasma corticosterone increases during migratory restlessness in the captive white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli.

Plasma corticosterone increases during the period of spring migration in a variety of bird species. Long-distance migrants show elevations in corticosterone specifically in association with the stage of flight, suggesting that corticosterone may support flight-related processes, for example, locomotor activity and/or energy mobilization. The pattern of corticosterone secretion as it relates to migratory flight has hitherto not been clearly described in migrants that frequently interrupt flight to refuel, for example, the Gambel's white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). The Gambel's white-crowned sparrow fuels by day and expresses peak migratory activity during the first few hours of night. To determine if plasma corticosterone increases in association with the stage of migratory flight also in this short-bout migrant, we induced captive white-crowned sparrows to enter into the migratory condition by placing photosensitive birds on long days (16L:8D) and then evaluated birds for plasma corticosterone and locomotor activity during four time points of the day. Patterns found in long-day birds were compared to those observed in short-day controls (8L:16D). Differences in energy metabolism as determined from plasma metabolites were also evaluated. We found that locomotor activity and corticosterone were significantly elevated at the onset of the dark period, but only in long-day birds. Plasma β-hydroxybutyrate (a ketone body) was also elevated. Thus, findings suggest that plasma corticosterone and ketogenesis increase in association with migratory restlessness in a short-bout migrant. In fact, corticosterone may play a regulatory role, because it shows a trend to increase already before night-time activity.
Controversies in the follow-up and management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer is a common malignancy with an apparent increasing incidence and a wide spectrum of clinical behavior and therapeutic responsiveness. Recent advances in diagnosis, primary treatment, and long-term monitoring have led to enhanced detection of primary and recurrent disease and improvements in therapy. Controversy still surrounds several issues: the most accurate predictive staging system and histological subclassification scheme, optimal preoperative assessment and surgical extent, appropriate use of radioiodine for remnant ablation, goal for thyrotropin-suppressive thyroid hormone therapy, best practices in immediate postoperative and long-term monitoring, and approach to the patient with thyroglobulin evidence of residual disease. In this paper, recent data related to these controversial issues are critically reviewed. Endocrine-Related Cancer (2004) 11 97‐116
The Logistic Random Field — A convenient graphical model for learning parameters for MRF-based labeling

Graphical models are fundamental tools for modeling images and other applications. In this paper, we propose the logistic random field (LRF) model for representing a discrete-valued graphical model. The LRF model is based on an underlying quadratic model and a logistic function. The chief advantages of the LRF are its convenience and flexibility. The quadratic model makes inference easy to implement using standard numerical linear algebra routines. This quadratic model also allows the log-likelihood of the training data to be differentiated with respect to any parameter in the model, enhancing the flexibility of the LRF model. To demonstrate the usefulness of this model we use it to learn how to segment objects, specifically roads, horses, and cows. In addition, we demonstrate the flexibility of the LRF model by incorporating super-pixels. We then show that the LRF segmentation model produces segmentations that are competitive with recently published results.
Automatically acquiring a semantic network of related concepts

We describe the automatic construction of a semantic network1, in which over 3000 of the most frequently occurring monosemous nouns2 in Wikipedia (each appearing between 1,500 and 100,000 times) are linked to their semantically related concepts in the WordNet noun ontology. Relatedness between nouns is discovered automatically from co-occurrence in Wikipedia texts using an information theoretic inspired measure. Our algorithm then capitalizes on salient sense clustering among related nouns to automatically disambiguate them to their appropriate senses (i.e., concepts). Through the act of disambiguation, we begin to accumulate relatedness data for concepts denoted by polysemous nouns, as well. The resultant concept-to-concept associations, covering 17,543 nouns, and 27,312 distinct senses among them, constitute a large-scale semantic network of related concepts that can be conceived of as augmenting the WordNet noun ontology with related-to links.
T lymphocyte engineering with cytokine nanogels for enhanced cancer immunotherapy

Meeting abstracts Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) with autologous tumor-reactive T cells is a promising strategy in cancer immunotherapy, but treatment of solid tumors is limited by the rapid decline in function of the transplanted T cells. In order to maintain high numbers of viable antigen-specific
The Protein O -glucosyltransferase Rumi Modifies Eyes Shut to Promote Rhabdomere Separation in Drosophila

The protein O-glucosyltransferase Rumi/POGLUT1 regulates Drosophila Notch signaling by adding O-glucose residues to the Notch extracellular domain. Rumi has other predicted targets including Crumbs (Crb) and Eyes shut (Eys), both of which are involved in photoreceptor development. However, whether Rumi is required for the function of Crb and Eys remains unknown. Here we report that in the absence of Rumi or its enzymatic activity, several rhabdomeres in each ommatidium fail to separate from one another in a Notch-independent manner. Mass spectral analysis indicates the presence of O-glucose on Crb and Eys. However, mutating all O-glucosylation sites in a crb knock-in allele does not cause rhabdomere attachment, ruling out Crb as a biologically-relevant Rumi target in this process. In contrast, eys and rumi exhibit a dosage-sensitive genetic interaction. In addition, although in wild-type ommatidia most of the Eys protein is found in the inter-rhabdomeral space (IRS), in rumi mutants a significant fraction of Eys remains in the photoreceptor cells. The intracellular accumulation of Eys and the IRS defect worsen in rumi mutants raised at a higher temperature, and are accompanied by a ∼50% decrease in the total level of Eys. Moreover, removing one copy of an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone enhances the rhabdomere attachment in rumi mutant animals. Altogether, our data suggest that O-glucosylation of Eys by Rumi ensures rhabdomere separation by promoting proper Eys folding and stability in a critical time window during the mid-pupal stage. Human EYS, which is mutated in patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa, also harbors multiple Rumi target sites. Therefore, the role of O-glucose in regulating Eys may be conserved.
Regulation of transcription of the cell division gene ftsA during sporulation of Bacillus subtilis

Three distinct 5' ends of ftsA mRNA were identified by S1 mapping and by primer extension analysis. These are thought to represent three transcription start sites. The transcripts from the downstream and upstream sites were detected throughout growth. The transcript from the middle site was not detected during exponential growth but was detected within 30 min of the start of sporulation, when it was the predominant transcript. Insertion of a cat cassette in the middle promoter, ftsAp2 (p2), did not affect vegetative growth but prevented postexponential symmetrical division and spore formation. Transcription from p2 was dependent on RNA polymerase containing sigma H, and promoter p2 resembled the consensus sigma H promoter. Transcription from p2 did not require expression of the spo0A, spo0B, spo0E, spo0F, or spo0K loci. Northern (RNA) blot analysis indicated that ftsA is cotranscribed with the adjacent ftsZ gene. Multiple promoters provide a mechanism by which essential vegetative genes can be subjected to sporulation control independent of control during vegetative growth. In the case of ftsA,Z, the promoters provide a mechanism to permit septum formation in conditions of nutrient depletion that might be expected to shut down the vegetative division machinery.
Estimating Divergence Parameters With Small Samples From a Large Number of Loci

Most methods for studying divergence with gene flow rely upon data from many individuals at few loci. Such data can be useful for inferring recent population history but they are unlikely to contain sufficient information about older events. However, the growing availability of genome sequences suggests a different kind of sampling scheme, one that may be more suited to studying relatively ancient divergence. Data sets extracted from whole-genome alignments may represent very few individuals but contain a very large number of loci. To take advantage of such data we developed a new maximum-likelihood method for genomic data under the isolation-with-migration model. Unlike many coalescent-based likelihood methods, our method does not rely on Monte Carlo sampling of genealogies, but rather provides a precise calculation of the likelihood by numerical integration over all genealogies. We demonstrate that the method works well on simulated data sets. We also consider two models for accommodating mutation rate variation among loci and find that the model that treats mutation rates as random variables leads to better estimates. We applied the method to the divergence of Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans and detected a low, but statistically significant, signal of gene flow from D. simulans to D. melanogaster.
A Numerical Investigation of the Gulf Stream and Its Meanders in Response to Cold Air Outbreaks

The three-dimensional Princeton Ocean Model is used to examine the modification of the Gulf Stream and its meanders by cold air outbreaks. Two types of Gulf Stream meanders are found in the model. Meanders on the shoreward side of the Gulf Stream are baroclinically unstable. They are affected little by the atmospheric forcing because their energy source is stored at the permanent thermocline, well below the influence of the surface forcing. Meanders on the seaward side of the stream are both barotropically and baroclinically unstable. The energy feeding these meanders is stored at the surface front separating the Gulf Stream and the Sargasso Sea, which is greatly reduced in case of cold air outbreaks. Thus, meanders there reduce strength and also seem to slow their downstream propagation due to the southward Ekman flow. Heat budget calculations suggest two almost separable processes. The oceanic heat released to the atmosphere during these severe cooling episodes comes almost exclusively from the upper water column. Transport of heat by meanders from the Gulf Stream to the shelf, though it is large, does not disrupt the principal balance. It is balanced nicely with the net heat transport in the downstream direction.
Effects of Prolonged Freezing and Supercooling on Body Composition, Pupariation, and Adult Emergence of Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Freeze tolerance and enhanced supercooling ability (freeze avoidance) are distinct adaptations in insects facilitating survival of subfreezing temperatures. It has been suggested that freeze tolerance has advantages over freeze avoidance with respect to certain aspects of insect ecophysiology. Third instars of the gall fly Eurosta solidaginis Fitch were kept either frozen or supercooled at −5°C for 10 wk. Supercooled larvae lost 26% of their wet weight and frozen larvae lost 14% of wet weight, mostly as a result of water loss during the treatments. Moreover, although supercooled larvae lost more water than did frozen larvae, lipid content was stable throughout both treatments. Freeze-treated larvae were 50% more likely than supercool-exposed larvae to survive to pupariation and adult emergence. E. solidaginis larvae survived prolonged freezing better than they endured prolonged supercooling, but it remains to be clarified whether or not this effect can be attributed to differences in water retention.
Class Malacostraca, Order Decapoda

Abstract The order Decapoda includes about 15,000 species of shrimps, crayfish, lobsters, and crabs that belong to four out of the 10 infraorders of Malacostracan crustaceans. This chapter focuses on the approximately 3,000 species of freshwater decapods worldwide that includes over 760 species of caridean freshwater shrimps, 644 species of freshwater crayfish (Astacidea), 1,450 species of brachyuran freshwater crabs, and 75 species of anomuran freshwater crabs (aeglids, porcelain crabs, and hermit crabs). The chapter discusses the latest studies on their evolutionary relationships and higher classification, and covers morphological, physiological, and behavioral diversity, as well as ecological importance and life history. The range of freshwater habitats around the world where these decapods are found includes both surface waters and subterranean burrows and caves. Crayfish and anomuran freshwater crabs are predominantly found in temperate waters at mid- and low latitudes, brachyuran freshwater crabs are restricted to warm water habitats, while the freshwater shrimps occur in both tropical and temperate fresh waters. The chapter ends with a discussion of how to collect, culture, and preserve freshwater decapods.
William Boyce’s “Solemn Dirge” in Garrick’s Romeo and Juliet Production of 1750

HE theatrical season in the fall of I750 regaled the London public with a spectacle rarely before witnessed. Both leading theatres of the town were presenting the same play. At Covent PlyW Garden, Spranger Barry and Mrs. Cibber were performing the leading roles in Romeo and Juliet; at Drury Lane, David Garrick and Miss Bellamy were enacting the same roles. The public, always enjoying a good fight, watched this theatrical skirmish with great relish and partisan enthusiasm. For this was no ordinary contest. To one observant critic, commenting upon the event some years later, it was "more than a clash of stars, it was a battle of planets".' Each camp had its passionate supporters, proclaiming the excellence of one idol, and bitterly condemning the inadequacy of the other. "Tle admirers of Garrick would allow no merit to Barry, and the friends of Barry affected that Garrick mistook the character". 2 The prologues, epilogues, and occasional pieces delivered in both theatres, as well as contributions by impassioned enthusiasts to the monthly magazines,3 added fuel to the fire. The spirit of these correspondents can be judged from the following two: One is addressed
Molecular insights into water vapor absorption by aqueous lithium bromide and lithium bromide/sodium formate solutions

Abstract Aqueous lithium bromide (LiBr) solutions are commonly-employed as liquid desiccants, largely due to their low water vapor pressure at concentrations suitable for applications such as absorption refrigeration. However, LiBr-based desiccants have drawbacks such as corrosivity, crystallization at high concentrations, and high energy inputs to regenerate the absorbent. It was recently shown that adding formate salts (e.g., NaCOOH) into the LiBr + H 2 O mixture could mitigate disadvantages while maintaining most advantages, but these experimental findings were unable to elucidate the driving forces at the molecular level. Detailed knowledge of the molecular interactions that underpin absorption phenomenon in both traditional and newly developed ternary working fluids (e.g., LiBr + NaCOOH + H 2 O) is still incomplete. The present molecular modeling study of water vapor absorption by LiBr and LiBr + NaCOOH investigated the water vapor absorption kinetics, enabling the analysis of ionic clustering and hydrogen-bonding characteristics. Molecular simulations of LiBr + H 2 O compositions demonstrated that increasing the LiBr concentration enhances the absorption rate while decreasing the liquid–vapor interfacial thickness of the LiBr + H 2 O layer. The most interesting finding was the strong interaction between Li + and COOH − which may enable the ternary mixture to accommodate more water molecules as a result of Li + –COOH − clustering compared to compositions containing only LiBr and H 2 O. Despite an increase in water vapor absorption capacity it was found that adding NaCOOH decreased the water vapor absorption rate. Elucidating the molecular origin that affects the performance of liquid desiccants upon addition of formate salts is a first step toward the rational design of new working fluids for liquid desiccant-related applications.
An axiomatization of wait-freedom and low-atomicity

The concepts of wait-freedom and low-atomicity in concurrent shared-variable programs are explored in the frameworks of temporal logic and UNITY. With the help of some new primitives, axioms for these concepts are presented. Later, these axioms are used to prove the impossibility of distributed consensus.
THE WAY I SEE IT: Publish or perish?

L'auteur se penche sur le desir des professionnels des bibliotheques d'enseignement superieur americaines d'utiliser les publications dans leur promotion et leur titularisation, a l'instar du corps enseignant. Selon lui, si les publications sont utiles, elles ne sont pas obligatoires, et les bibliothecaires doivent demeurer des generalistes pour conserver leur role de mediateur entre usagers et collections.
Weight gain in pregnancy and child weight status from birth to adulthood in the United States

SummaryBackground High weight gain in pregnancy has been associated with child adiposity, but few studies have assessed the relationship across childhood or in racially/ethnically diverse populations. Objectives The objectives of the study are to test if weight gain in pregnancy is associated with high birthweight and overweight/obesity in early, middle and late childhood and whether these associations differ by maternal race/ethnicity. Methods Mother-child dyads (n = 7539) were included from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a nationally representative cohort study in the USA (1979–2012). Log-binomial regression models were used to analyse associations between weight gain and the outcomes: high birthweight (>4000 g) and overweight/obesity at ages 2–5, 6–11 and 12–19 years. Results Excessive weight gain was positively associated, and inadequate weight gain was negatively associated with high birthweight after confounder adjustment (P < 0.05). Only excessive weight gain was associated with overweight in early, middle and late childhood. These associations were not significant in Hispanics or Blacks although racial/ethnic interaction was only significant ages 12–19 years (P = 0.03). Conclusions Helping pregnant women gain weight within national recommendations may aid in preventing overweight and obesity across childhood, particularly for non-Hispanic White mothers.
Validation of the Learning Progression-based Assessment of Modern Genetics in a college context

ABSTRACTBuilding upon a methodologically diverse research foundation, we adapted and validated the Learning Progression-based Assessment of Modern Genetics (LPA-MG) for college students’ knowledge of the domain. Toward collecting valid learning progression-based measures in a college majors context, we redeveloped and content validated a majority of a previous version of the LPA-MG which was developed for high school students. Using a Rasch model calibrated on 316 students from 2 sections of majors introductory biology, we demonstrate the validity of this version and describe how college students’ ideas of modern genetics are likely to change as the students progress from low to high understanding. We then utilize these findings to build theory around the connections college students at different levels of understanding make within and across the many ideas within the domain.
Part 3. Piston Gages

The early seventeenth century was a time of great progress in science and it is perhaps not surprising that the great contemporaries Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, and many others devoted some of their time to the study of the properties of the atmosphere. In 1644 Torricelli described his famous measurement of atmospheric pressure in a letter50 to his friend Michelangelo Ricci. Within 25 years followed the famous experiments by Pascal and Perier (1648), Guericke (1672) and Boyle (1669). One hundred years later, in 1764, James Watt began to lay the foundation for the Steam Tables by making the first careful measurements of the properties of steam. During this time mercury manometers were used to determine pressure. About 1800 Richard Trevithik built the first high pressure steam engine which proved to be much more efficient than Watt’s and Newcomen’s machines; from then on new types of gages were required to cover the pressure range of interest for industrial applications. In 1846 the German railway engineer Schinz34 had discovered that a curved tube of elliptical cross section would change its curvature when subjected to internal pressure and by 1848 steam pressure gages based on this principle were in use on locomotives in Germany19. In 1847 both Schinz46 and Bourdon6 patented devices which are now universally known as Bourdon gages. In 1846 Galy-Cazalat20 described the first piston manometer, a combination of mercury manometer and hydraulic multiplier.
OR49 Detecting chimerism following lung transplant with graft vs. host disease

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major post-transplant complication, but is rarely found in solid organ transplant. A 50 year old male presented with skin rash and GI symptoms consistent with GVHD two months after a lung transplant, and skin and gastrointestinal biopsies were performed that confirmed the diagnosis. Subsequently, we evaluated a peripheral blood sample (PBL) from the patient for the percentage T cells and B cells expressing donor HLA antigens. A previously described method was used to determine the donor’s typing by SSP (Hahn, 2000). In order to determine the relative amount of donor cells that were present in the recipient, crossmatches were carried out using cells acquired from PBL and biopsy samples of the recipient’s colon. Cells from the colon biopsy were then isolated using a tissue grinder often utilized for spleen lymphocyte isolation. After washing, the cells were re-suspended in McCoy’s 5A Medium and used untreated for a flow crossmatch. During flow crossmatch the cells were incubated with serum (negative control, positive control, the patient’s own serum, and donor specific anti-HLA A1 serum), washed, and later stained with CD3 and CD19 for T-cells and B-cells respectively. The HLA-A1 antigen was solely donor specific, therefore, if there were any HLA-A1 positive cells present in the PBL or biopsy, the donor T-cells/B-cells would deviate from the negative control. This method allows for measurement of live cells that are donor derived, which can be assessed before and after treatment to determine efficacy. The crossmatch performed before treatment displayed a deviation in the T-cells when incubated with anti-HLA-A1 serum that was then measured as 5% of the total T-cells gated. Therefore, 5% of the CD3+ T cell population in the colon was of donor origin. After treatment with solumedrol, another colon biopsy was performed and the crossmatch showed 0% of the CD3+ T-cells were donor derived. As a result, the crossmatch showed the treatment was working and the patient’s symptoms had resolved. A follow-up PBL crossmatch 355 days post-transplant was performed and found 22% donor HLA-A1 expressing CD3+ T cells suggesting the transplanted lung can act as a reservoir for donor T cells or a semi-indirect recognition pathway may present donor HLA on recipient T cells.
Surface Studies of Multicomponent Silicate Glasses: Quantitative Analysis, Sputtering Effects and the Atomic Arrangement

An ‘ideal’ glass surface can be created by fracturing bulk, homogeneous, microstructure-free glass in an ultra-high vacuum environment. In the absence of any atomic rearrangement ahead of or behind the advancing crack tip, the resulting fracture surface will exhibit the bulk composition of the glass. The surface monolayer will, of course, possess a high concentration of reactive, dangling bonds. This is in contrast to a ‘real’ glass surface which may have been created or treated in the presence of gaseous species, in contact with liquid and/or solid phases, and in many instances, while the glass itself is in the liquid state. Adsorption, contamination, volatization, thermal segregation, leaching, hydration, chemical reactions, and structural transformations can modify, significantly, the outermost atomic layers of the glass. Thus, the composition and structure of a ‘real’ glass surface can be very different from that of the bulk glass. In addition to the concentration gradients associated with the compositional and structural differences between the surface and bulk, the ‘real’ glass surface can be covered to varying degrees with adsorbed species and other reaction products.
DSM-5 Insomnia and Short Sleep: Comorbidity Landscape and Racial Disparities.

Study objectives We estimated rates of cardiometabolic disease, pain conditions, and psychiatric illness associated with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) insomnia disorder (current and in remission) and habitual short sleep (fewer than 6 h), and examined the roles of insomnia and short sleep in racial disparities in disease burden between black and non-Hispanic white Americans. Methods This epidemiological survey study was cross-sectional. The community-based sample consisted of 3,911 subjects (46.0 y ± 13.3; 65.4% female; 25.0% black) across six sleep groups based on DSM-5 insomnia classification (never vs. remitted vs. current) and self-reported habitual sleep duration (normal vs. short). Vascular events, cardiometabolic disease, pain conditions, and psychiatric symptoms were self-reported. Results Short sleeping insomniacs were at elevated risk for myocardial infarction, stroke, treated hypertension, diabetes, chronic pain, back pain, depression, and anxiety, independent of sex, age, and obesity. Morbidity profiles for insomniacs with normal sleep duration and former insomniacs, irrespective of sleep duration, were similar with elevations in treated hypertension, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. Regarding racial disparities, cardiometabolic and psychiatric illness burden was greater for blacks, who were more likely to have short sleep and the short sleep insomnia phenotype. Evidence suggested that health disparities may be attributable in part to race-related differences in sleep. Conclusions Insomnia disorder with short sleep is the most severe phenotype of insomnia and comorbid with many cardiometabolic and psychiatric illnesses, whereas morbidity profiles are highly similar between insomniacs with normal sleep duration and former insomniacs. Short sleep endemic to black Americans increases risk for the short sleep insomnia phenotype and likely contributes to racial disparities in cardiometabolic disease and psychiatric illness.
Small Bowel Angioedema Secondary to Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors

Small bowel angioedema induced by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors is a rare clinicopathologic entity. It frequently poses a diagnostic challenge and is often not recognized before surgical exploration. The present study illustrates that clinical awareness for this condition and adequate use of radiologic investigations can help make the correct diagnosis of ACE inhibitor-associated angioedema, thus avoiding the cost and morbidity associated with unnecessary interventions.
Novel RNA polymerase inhibitor found in soil extracts provides hope for future antibacterial drugs

Richard H Ebright talks to Rachel Coleby, Commissioning Editor: Ebright is at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ, USA), where he performs research on the structure, mechanism, and regulation of bacterial transcription and on antibacterial drug discovery targeting bacterial transcription. He has received research awards, including the Searle Scholar Award, the Walter J Johnson Prize, the Schering-Plough Award of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Waksman Award of the Theobold Smith Society, the MERIT Award of the National Institutes of Health, and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Science. He has more than 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals and more than 30 issued and pending patents.
The Anamorphic Politics of Climate Change

“Anthropocene” defines a new era marking the impact of human activity on the Earth’s climate, yet its gaze tends to view the phenomenon as holistic rather than a sum of scientifically examinable parts. The resulting climate of anxiety is breeding resignation rather than resistance. Focusing on deep time and humanity’s fleeting existence, sections of the Left derive enjoyment from the prospect of extinction, as if by embracing our guilt we are somehow let off the hook when we stop trying. The end result is a diminished capacity for imagining human subjectivity, limiting individual involvement to observation, victimisation and survival, as opposed to perceiving complicity with the industrial machines speeding global warming. This chapter suggests that approaching climate change anamorphically may be the key to liberating us from an illusory anthropocenic whole, and move us towards collective action and strategic engagement with the effects of climate change.
Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Radiofrequency Ablation Versus Argon Plasma Coagulation for Treatment of Gastric Antral Vascular Ectasia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although argon plasma coagulation (APC) is the current standard endoscopic treatment for gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE), radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has emerged as an attractive alternative. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of RFA and APC in the treatment of GAVE. MATERIALS AND METHODS Searches of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases along with major gastroenterology annual meetings were performed through March 2017. Measured outcomes for comparative effectiveness and safety including improvement in hemoglobin levels, transfusion dependence, number of treatment sessions, complications, follow-up, and author-reported endoscopic success were compared among RFA and APC studies. RESULTS In total, 24 studies (n=508) involving APC and 9 studies (n=104) on RFA were included. Mean age of patients included was comparable in both groups (65.33±7.80 y for APC vs. 66.96±6.23 y for RFA; P=0.98). Pooled mean follow-up was significantly longer for APC compared with RFA (19.52±13.11 vs. 7.43±3.72 mo; P<0.001). In total, 47% of RFA patients were refractory to previous treatment with APC. RFA required fewer mean treatment sessions compared with APC (2.10 vs. 3.39, respectively; P<0.001). RFA resulted in fewer and less severe complications as compared with APC (1.92% vs. 5.12%, respectively; P<0.001). Although the reported endoscopic success was better with RFA compared with APC (97% vs. 66%; P<0.001), the posttreatment pooled hemoglobin increase and reduction in transfusion dependence was higher for APC compared with RFA [weighted mean difference 3.10 g/dL (95% confidence interval, 2.92-3.28) vs. 1.95 g/dL (95% confidence interval, 1.62-2.26); P<0.001; and 88% vs. 66%; P<0.001, for APC and RFA, respectively]. CONCLUSIONS There is limited long-term data on RFA for GAVE; however, available evidence suggests RFA has a comparable efficacy and tolerability compared with APC. In addition, RFA seems to be effective for APC-refractory GAVE patients. Future controlled trials are needed to directly compare treatment efficacy, long-term durability, safety, and cost-effectiveness between these interventions.
Woman and Education

The question of how and why Edith Stein, whose work had been predominantly speculative, spoke and wrote about the philosophy of woman and the philosophy of education can be answered only in the light of conditions in German society at the time and of her own personal experiences in the role of philosopher and educator. In one of her first lectures on the subject, which was presented to the educational committee of the Federation of German Catholic Women in November 1930 at Berndorf on the Rhine,1 it is evident that she was responding to the current desperate situation of German education, which she described as a shambles, calling for complete demolition and reconstruction from the ground up. She was not alone in this view; on all sides there were calls for educational reform, and the problems plaguing women’s education were seen as part and parcel of the general crisis.
Applying Sparse Machine Learning Methods to Twitter: Analysis of the Change in Pap Smear Guidelines

Background Social networking websites have fundamentally changed the way in which we communicate; two-thirds of adults on the Internet now use online social networking sites like Twitter. Although we know from previous work that individuals discuss health issues in online social media, it is often difficult to synthesize the vast amounts of textual data available. Objective We sought to use machine learning to summarize real-world Twitter discussions about cervical cancer, with the goals of 1) providing insight into individuals’ opinions and decision-making processes for cancer screening, and 2) understanding if these tools could detect changes in cancer discussion topics over time. Methods We applied methodologies from statistics, known as sparse machine learning algorithms, to U.S. Twitter messages about cervical cancer. We focused our searches in the first half of 2012, when there was a major change in the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines for Pap smear screening – announcing a recommendation for screening every three years rather than yearly for those at low-risk. We analyzed all tweets containing “cervical cancer,” “pap smear,” and “pap test” in the first six months of the year, splitting the search into two time periods before and after the March USPSTF announcement: 1) January 1-March 13, 2012, and 2) March 14-June 30, 2012. The machine learning results were short lists of terms that identified messages more representative of one time period over the other. We also pulled down full Twitter messages to provide context for these terms. Results There were 2,549 messages about cervical cancer in the baseline period and 4,673 in the follow-up period. Terms in the baseline period included “information,” “study shows,” and “having sex,” while those in the follow-up period included “need,” “don’t need” and “new guidelines.” Although these terms gave indication that there were a substantial number of Twitter discussions about the new screening guidelines in the follow-up period, this was even more evident when examining full Twitter messages. In the follow-up period, there were many tweets referencing the new recommended screening intervals, such as, “New Pap guidelines! YAY! Under Age 21: no pap smear, no [human papillomavirus] HPV testing. Age 21-29 Pap every 3 years.” Conclusions We demonstrated that machine learning tools can be applied to cervical cancer prevention and screening discussions on Twitter. This method allowed us to demonstrate that there is significant publicly available dialogue about cervical cancer screening on social media sites. Moreover, we were able to detect shifts in public discussions about the change in cervical cancer screening guidelines. However, additional insight provided by examining full messages gave increased context to the discussions – suggesting mixed methods approaches (i.e., combining machine learning with qualitative analyses) might be most fruitful in future work. []
Entangled histories of plague ecology in Russia and the USSR.

During the mid-twentieth century, Soviet scientists developed the “natural focus” theory–practice framework to explain outbreaks of diseases (such as bubonic plague) endemic to wild animals and transmitted to humans. Focusing on parasitologist-physician Evgeny N. Pavlovsky and other field scientists’ work in the Soviet borderlands, this article explores how the natural focus framework’s concepts and practices were entangled in political as well as material ecologies of knowledge and practice. We argue that the very definition of endemic plague incorporated both hands-on materialist experience (including the identification of microbes/pathogens, insects/vectors, and mammals/reservoirs) and ideological concepts that supported Soviet colonization (“improving” hinterlands, “controlling natural focuses of disease,” and “sanitizing” landscapes). Theorizing and fighting plague assisted with the goals of controlling and improving landscapes and peoples in southern Russia and Central Asia. The history of the natural focus framework illustrates how Soviet disease ecology co-developed with the needs of local and central political powers in the Soviet borderlands.