cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intrahypothalamic clonidine infusion prevents NaCl-sensitive hypertension

We have previously shown that dietary NaCl supplementation increases blood pressure and sympathetic nervous system activity in association with decreased norepinephrine release and increased alpha 2-adrenergic receptor number in the anterior hypothalamic area of salt-sensitive spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR-S) but not in salt-resistant spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR-R) or Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. Further, acute microinjection of clonidine into the anterior hypothalamic area produced depressor responses that were augmented by high salt feeding in SHR-S but not in SHR-R or WKY rats. The current study tested the hypothesis that chronic infusion of clonidine into the anterior hypothalamic area prevents salt-sensitive hypertension in SHR-S. Beginning at age 7 weeks, immediately before initiation of 1% or 8% salt diets, clonidine (2 ng/min) or saline vehicle was infused into the anterior hypothalamic area or femoral vein of male SHR-S via osmotic minipump for 20 days. In SHR-S fed an 8% salt diet, chronic microinfusion of clonidine into the anterior hypothalamic area offset the hypertensive effect of the dietary salt supplementation and reduced the enhancing effects of dietary salt on left ventricular weight and plasma norepinephrine levels. In contrast, chronic microinfusion of clonidine into the anterior hypothalamic area did not significantly affect any of these measures in 1% salt-fed SHR-S. Intravenous infusion of clonidine at the rate used for the anterior hypothalamic area infusion did not alter any of these measures in 8% salt-fed SHR-S.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A tagged memory technique for recovery from transient errors in fault tolerant systems

Recovery from transients is imperative to maintain necessary system reliability in the face of transient errors which have been estimated to occur at a rate of 5 to 100 times that of permanent failures. Excessive delays associated with recovery become a problem when as much as 512 Kbytes of RAM in the faulty processor must be restored while maintaining full functionality of 40-100 Hz iterative control algorithms. The authors introduce a hardware-assisted recovery technique which uses memory 'tags' to determine which memory segments need to be restored such that recovery can be performed incrementally without affecting real-time operational tasks. They also present experimental results of an implementation of this technique applied to a quad redundant processor with a partial code suite for an undersea vehicle. >
Functional Characterization and Expression Analysis of Members of the UDP-GalNAc:Polypeptide N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase Family from Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract Here we report the cloning and functional characterization of eight members of the UDP-GalNAc:polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase gene family from Drosophila melanogaster (polypeptide GalNAc transferase = pgant1–8). Full-length cDNAs were isolated from a Drosophila embryonic library based on homology to known ppGaNTases. Alignments with characterized mammalian isoforms revealed strong sequence similarities between certain fly and mammalian isoforms, highlighting putative orthologues between the species. In vitro activity assays demonstrated biochemical transferase activity for each gene, with three isoforms requiring glycosylated substrates. Comparison of the activities of Drosophila and mammalian orthologues revealed conservation of substrate preferences against a panel of peptide and glycopeptide substrates. Furthermore, Edman degradation analysis demonstrated that preferred sites of GalNac addition were also conserved between certain fly and mammalian orthologues. Semi-quantitative PCR amplification of Drosophila cDNA revealed expression of most isoforms at each developmental stage, with some isoforms being less abundant at certain stages relative to others. In situ hybridization to Drosophila embryos revealed specific staining of pgant5 and pgant6 in the salivary glands and pgant5 in the developing hindgut. Additionally, pgant5 and pgant6 expression within the egg chamber was restricted to the follicle cells, cells known to be involved in egg formation and subsequent embryonic patterning. The characterization reported here provides additional insight into the use of this model system to dissect the biological role of this enzyme family in vivo during both fly and mammalian development.
Power system control with disturbance-accommodation

One of the important control problems in the operation of an interconnected power system is load-frequency control (LFC). In this paper the LFC problem is investigated using a recent result in modern control theory known as disturbance-accommodation control (DAC). It is shown that the optimal accommodation of load disturbance can lead to significantly better performance than that of conventional controllers. It is further shown that the complete obsorption of all disturbance effects in the class of power systems considered is impossible. Nevertheless, the disturbance effects in system frequency can be cancelled completely. Simulation results are presented for the case of one area system and the data clearly demonstrate the degree of performance improvement made possible by a DAC controller.
Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava in a Man with Ventricular Fibrillation

A patient who had recurrent syncope and an episode of sudden cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation unassociated with acute myocardial infarction is presented. An isolated left superior vena cava was discovered during electrophysiologic study. Ventricular fibrillation was readily induced by programmed ventricular stimulation in the initial (off the drugs) and subsequent serial electropharmacologic testings. These findings suggest that ventricular fibrillation may be the cause of sudden death in patients with this congenital abnormality.
Determination of cholinesterase and acetylcholinesterase in amniotic fluid. Uses in prenatal diagnosis and quality control.

The determination of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) has been shown to be as specific as alphafeto-protein (AFP) for the prenatal detection of open neural tube defects although AFP remains the method of choice. This paper describes a semi-automated technique for the analysis of acetylcholinesterase in amniotic fluid that: A) reduces the cost of the procedure; B) allows for a larger number of samples to be run at a time; and C) provides for more accurate and reproducible procedures and results. Six fetuses with neural tube defects (2 with gastroschisis and 3 where one twin was dead) were detected and found to have elevated AChE, TChE and 2 bands by electrophoresis. Quality control procedures using both pure enzyme and amniotic fluid with low and high levels of the enzyme are described. The analysis of 340 amniotic fluids of normal pregnancies indicates that the normal value for AChE is 5.17 ± 2.63 mU/ml (97% confidence interval for the mean 4.84-5.49 mU/ml. A group of 27 abnormal pregnancies provides evidence that fetal vomiting and regurgitation, fetal demise, multiple cysts syndrome, idiopathic IUGR, arthrogryposis multiplex, hydrocephaly (stenosis of aqueductus), trisomy 21, trisomy 18, hydronephrosis, pyloric stenosis, heart malformation, ectopia cordis and multiple gestation produce elevated levels of pseudocholinesterase (PChE) in amniotic fluid. The use of pseudocholinesterase levels in amniotic fluid for prenatal diagnosis is proposed and discussed in view of its elevated levels in abnormal pregnancies where AChE is normal. The normal values for PChE are 23.86 mU/ml (mean) and 5.83 for standard deviation. Electrophoretic analysis was performed on all samples with values higher than one standard deviation above the mean. The AChE band was found only in fetuses with open neural tube defects and pyloric stenosis.
4,6‐Dimethyl‐1‐Hepten‐4‐ol

4,6-Dimethyl-1-hepten-4-ol byproduct: tetraphenyltin product: 4,6-Dimethyl-1-hepten-4-ol reactant: Allyltriphenyltin Keywords: Grignard and related reactions; metalation reactions, lithium; metalation reactions, tin; allyllithium, preparation of; allyltriphenyltin, preparation of
Tone recognition with fractionized models and outlined features

Different feature extraction and tone modeling schemes are investigated on both speaker-dependent and speaker-independent continuous speech databases. Tone recognition features can be classified as detailed features which use the entire F0 curve, and outlined features which capture the main structure of the F0 curve. Tone models of different size, ranging from very simple one-tone-one-model tone models to complex phoneme-dependent tone models, have different abilities to characterize tone. Our experiments show two conclusions. First, the detailed information of the F0 curve is not necessary for tone recognition. The outlined features can, not only reduce the number of parameters, but also improve the accuracy of tone recognition. The proposed subsection average F0 and /spl Delta/F0 are shown to be effective outlined features. The second conclusion is that the one-tone-one-model scheme is not sufficient. Building phoneme-dependent tone models can highly improve the recognition accuracy, especially for speaker-independent data. Thus we suggest using fractionized models, trained with the outlined features, for tone recognition.
Multicultural Curriculum in Higher Education

Summary The persistence of cultural wars in academic disciplines and among populations within college and university campuses appears to he counterintuitive to the tradition of responsiveness to societal needs that is the hallmark of collegiate curriculum reform, especially throughout the twentieth century. Important issues in higher education's conversation over multiculturalism and the curriculum, ranging from reform of basic curricular requirements to the persistence of ethnic and gender studies programs, are discussed with an eye toward opportunities for effecting change in academic libraries.
Abomasal Cryptosporidiosis in Cattle

A 6-week-old calf and nine feedlot steers shed oocysts similar to Cryptosporidium murk-like oocysts.18 There were massive populations of this Cryptosporidium in the peptic glands of most of these animals. The oocysts were larger and more oval than the frequently reported type which is generated in the intestines of many animal species and thought to be similar to Cryptosporidium parvum. The pattern of shedding of this newly discovered Cryptosporidium in the steers was continuous over a period of months whereas the C. parvum- like oocysts cease to be shed 1 to several weeks after onset. The nature of the host-parasite interaction in abomasal cryptosporidiosis is yet to be determined. Morphologic changes that resulted from the interaction were an approximate 10% increase in abomasal mucosal thickness, widening of gland lumens in the middle region, and atrophy of epithelium in the same region. Cryptosporidiurn sp., a protozoan in the suborder, Eimeriorina, is similar in many respects to the coccid- ian, Eirneria sp., but much smaller. Recent reviewers have summarized most of the pertinent information about cryptosporidi~si s.~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cryptosporidial in- fection may be asymptomatic or associated with tran- sient, usually mild enteritis in man and many species of animals, but immunocompromised hosts suffer se- vere and prolonged infections. The respiratory tract may be infected in these hosts and in avian species. Other documented locations for the parasite include the conjunctival sac,Lo pancreatic du~t,~J~ gallbladder,7 and renal tubules.6 After discovery of cryptosporidia in mice, Tyzzer determined through feeding experiments that there were two species, C. rnuris affecting the peptic glands," and C. parvurn in the intestines.I6 The majority of recent reports of cases in man and animals have documented intestinal cryptosporidiosis. Infant mice subinoculated with oocysts from many species have contracted in- testinal cryptosporidi~sis,~~ so it seemed reasonable to some taxonomists to label the organism as C. parvurn.18 However, one taxonomist recently suggested the fol- lowing classification: C. crotali, reptiles; C. rneleagri- dis, avians; C. rnuris, mammals; C. nasorurn, fish.9 Others contested this classification, arguing that the oocyst generated in the intestine of mammals (Fig. 1) is morphologically similar to Tyzzer's C. parvurn, from mouse intestine, not C. murkL8 Further, they have described a larger oocyst (Fig. 1) in cattle feces18 that is more compatible with Tyzzer's description of C. rnuris. This report serves to announce a newly discov- ered location, the abomasum, for the generation of cryptosporidial oocysts in cattle, to present initial mor- phologic and diagnostic information, and to support the contention that the oocyst of this organism is more similar to Tyzzer's C. muris than to his C. parvurn.
A collaborative evaluation environment for credibility assessment of modeling and simulation applications

Credibility assessment of modeling and simulation (M&S) applications is becoming increasingly more important as M&S applications are used more and more for complex system design evaluation, M&S-based acquisition, problem solving, military training, and critical decision making. M&S credibility assessment is a very complex process, involves the measurement and evaluation of hundreds of qualitative and quantitative elements, mandates subject matter expert evaluation, and requires the integration of disparate measurements and evaluations. Planning and managing such measurements and evaluations require a unifying methodology and should not be performed in an ad hoc manner. We have developed such a methodology, which can be used for credibility assessment of any kind of M&S application. To provide computer-aided assistance in applying our methodology and to enable collaborative evaluations by geographically dispersed people, we have developed a Web-based client/server software system. This tutorial introduces our software system, which can be used at or .
Evaluating your nursing collection: a quick way to preserve nursing history in a working collection.

Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing in 1859 [1] heralded the beginning of modern nursing. Nurses in the nineteenth century had not yet achieved professional credibility, therefore, many of the early texts were written by physicians. When nurses began to publish books, librarians and nurses did not always recognize their value, and many were discarded. For example, of the historical items mentioned by Allen [2], only one copy of both Makers of Nursing History (1928) by Pennock and Nursing Ethics (1900) by Isabel Hampton Robb can be found in Ohio. It is vital that libraries now recognize and preserve the important works of nurses so that nursing students of the future have them available, both as historical background and as a basis for comparison with current nursing issues. Many books of value to the history of nursing often exist in small nursing collections and should not be discarded without much thought. The significance of many publications can be determined only in retrospect, after their full impact has been appreciated. Meanwhile, it falls to librarians who manage nursing collections to make the best decisions about what to keep, both for current and future users of the collection. On the other hand, shelf space is a problem for many academic libraries, and weeding is necessary to maintain a workable and usable nursing collection that contains up-to-date clinical information. While the collection development policies and space limitations of each library will determine how much historical material librarians will acquire and which books they will withdraw, this article proposes some basic criteria for deciding which history-related materials to keep in nursing collections and what to withdraw and offers a bit of guidance on what to purchase.
Gene expression in single cells of Bacillus subtilis: evidence that a threshold mechanism controls the initiation of sporulation.

Early during endospore formation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, two distinct cell types are formed. The initiation of this developmental pathway requires several physiological conditions (e.g., nutrient deprivation) and is controlled by the Spo0A transcription factor. We have found that in a culture of sporulating cells, there are two subpopulations, one that has initiated the developmental program and activated the expression of early developmental genes and one in which early developmental gene expression remains uninduced. We measured the expression of developmental (spo) genes in single cells of B. subtilis by using spo-lacZ fusions. Cells containing a spo-lacZ fusion were stained with a dye that fluoresces upon hydrolysis by beta-galactosidase, and the fluorescence in individual cells was measured with a flow cytometer. For Spo+ cells, we found that the proportion of the population expressing early developmental genes correlates well with the fraction of the population that eventually produces spores. In addition, mutations that cause a decrease in the amount of activated (phosphorylated) Spo0A transcription factor cause a decrease in the size of the subpopulation expressing early developmental genes that are directly activated by Spo0A approximately P. Again, the size of the subpopulation correlates well with the fraction of cells that produce spores. These results indicate that a threshold level of activated Spo0A (Spo0A approximately P) or of a component of the phosphorylation pathway must accumulate to induce sporulation gene expression and that most of the cells that are able to induce the expression of early genes that are directly activated by Spo0A approximately P go on to produce mature spores.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Development of Improved TCAS II Surveillance and Interference Limiting Functions

This paper describes the development and validation of improved TCAS II intruder surveillance tracking and interference limiting algorithms. Improvements in interference limiting were prompted by t...
Small Cell Carcinoma of the Nose and Paranasal Sinuses

Primary small cell carcinoma of the nose and paranasal sinuses is rare. This tumor appears to behave differently from the pulmonary small cell tumor, with propensity for local recurrence rather than early distant spread. Two new cases will be presented.
American Society of Biomechanics Clinical Biomechanics Award 2015: MRI assessments of cartilage mechanics, morphology and composition following reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament.

Abstract Background The pathogenesis of osteoarthritis following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is currently unknown. The study purpose was to leverage recent advances in quantitative and dynamic MRI to test the hypothesis that abnormal joint mechanics within four years of reconstruction is accompanied by evidence of early compositional changes in cartilage. Methods Static MR imaging was performed bilaterally on eleven subjects with an ACL reconstruction (1–4 years post-surgery) and on twelve healthy subjects to obtain tibial cartilage thickness maps. Quantitative imaging (mcDESPOT) was performed unilaterally on all subjects to assess the fraction of bound water in the tibial plateau cartilage. Finally, volumetric dynamic imaging was performed to assess cartilage contact patterns during an active knee flexion–extension task. A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to test for the effects of surgical reconstruction and location on cartilage thickness, bound water fractions, and contact across the medial and lateral tibia plateaus. Findings No significant differences in cartilage thickness were found between groups. However, there was a significant reduction in the fraction of water bound by proteoglycan in the ACL reconstructed knees, most notably along the anterior portion of the medial plateau and the weight-bearing lateral plateau. During movement, reconstructed knees exhibited greater contact along the medial spine in the medial plateau and along the posterior aspect of the lateral plateau, when compared with their healthy contralateral knees and healthy controls. Interpretation This study provides evidence that abnormal mechanics in anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed knees are present coincidently with early biomarkers of cartilage degeneration.
Conformational control in the population of the triplet state and photoreactivity of nitronaphthalene derivatives.

Nitronaphthalene derivatives (NNDs) are among the most abundant volatile nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in the Earth’s atmosphere. Investigations of the atmospheric degradation processes show that photolysis is the major degradation pathway under ambient conditions. In this contribution, we present photochemical measurements and quantum-chemical calculations of three major NNDs. It is shown that the magnitude of the photodegradation and triplet quantum yields in 1-nitronaphthalene (1NN), 2-methyl-1-nitronaphthalene (2M1NN), and 2-nitronaphthalene (2NN) are inversely related to each other. In accord with a recent time-resolved and computation study (J. Phys. Chem. A 2013, 117, 6580) and in order to explain this striking observation we propose that these photochemical yields are largely controlled by (1) the conformational heterogeneity of the nitro-aromatic torsion angle, (2) the energy gap (spin–orbit coupling interaction) between the excited singlet state and the receiver triplet state, and...
FESIN workshops at ESA—the mycelial network grows

Keywords FESIN.ESA.Fungi.EnvironmentalsamplingThe first large public meeting of the Fungal EnvironmentalSampling and Informatics Network (FESIN: http://www.bio.utk.edu/fesin/title.htm) took place at the EcologicalSociety of America (ESA) meetings in Milwaukee thissummer. Last year’s meetings at the Mycological Society ofAmerica (MSA) and ESA meetings were mostly informa-tional, highlighting future activities of this NSF-sponsoredresearch coordination network. A joint meeting betweenFESIN and the User-friendly Nordic ITS Ectomycorrhizalgroup (UNITE) also occurred last year to spearheadresearch proposals, and discuss pros and cons of currentmethods for analyzing fungal communities (Bruns et al.2008). This year’s meeting included 2 days of preconferenceworkshops that are summarized below. In addition, JeriParrentandBetsyArnoldorganizedaFESIN-sponsoredoralsession entitled ‘Frontiers in the Ecology of Plant–FungalInteractions,’ held during the main ESA meeting. Thissession brought together mycologists and ecologists in astanding-room-only series of eleven talks (see authors andabstracts at http://eco.confex.com/eco/2008/techprogram/S2894.HTM).The 2008 FESIN meeting was a big success judged bylevel of attendance, composition of attendees, and directfeedback that the organizers received. Ninety peopleattended the workshops; of these, 58% were either graduatestudents or postdocs. A show of hands revealed that overhalf of those attending had never been to an ESA meetingbefore; an equal number had never attended a MSAmeeting. This was great news given that one of the goalsof FESIN is to increase connections between ecologists andmycologists and to bring new people and ideas into thegrowing field of fungal ecology.Jeri Parrent, Kitty Gehring, Karen Hughes, BetsyArnold, and Tom Bruns organized the preconferenceworkshops. The goal of Saturday’s workshop was tointroduce appropriate molecular techniques to ecologistswho are just beginning to work on fungi, and to introducenew methodological advances to those already familiar withthe basics. The first set of talks by Mary Berbee, JeriParrent, Ian Dickie, and Shannon Schechter introducedFungi as a group, the suite of major molecular techniquesused to study them, and specialized problems associatedwith studying arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Then, AriJumpponen, Cedar Hesse, and Jason Stajich described high-throughput sequencing for studying fungal communities, andprovided an up-to-date perspective on bioinformatics tools.Brendan Bohannan and Ian Alexander addressed the prob-lemsofsamplinghyper-diversecommunitiesthatexhibithighspatial–temporalvariation,andChrisSchadtdiscussedtheuseof functional gene arrays to study the “process” level ofcommunities.Sunday’s workshop focused on the strengths, weak-nesses, and opportunities offered by public sequence
Outbreak of waterborne infectious diarrhea associated with Norovirus in community

Objective To investigate the cause of an outbreak of infectious diarrhea in a town of Meizhou City and propose countermeasures for control of the outbreak. Methods We screened the cases according to the case definition,described the epidemiological characteristics,investigated the habits of drinking water and eating meals,and analyzed the possible exposure factors by carrying out retrospective cohort study. Then we collected clinical specimens,including stool specimens,rectal swabs,and vomitus of part patients,and water samples from waterworks including source water,finished water and tap water, mountain spring,and wells for microbiological and etiological detection. Results From October 20 to 28 in 2012,a total of 131 patients with infectious diarrhea were found in the town,with an attack rate of 0. 7%( 131 /18 597). The initial case occurred at 23∶ 00 pm on October 20,and the peak occurred from October 21 to 22,accounting for 80. 2%( 105 /131) of total cases. The main clinical symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea. The gender ratio was 0. 7 ∶ 1,and the main occupations were farmers( 38. 9%), students( 23. 7%),and scattered children( 14. 5%). 13 villages were involved,and the top five villages in incidence were A( 30 cases,attack rate 2. 7%),B( 24,0. 8%),C( 21,1. 3%),D( 18,1. 4%), and E( 10,1. 5%). 88. 5%( 116 /131) cases used centralized water supply. The attack rate in eight villages with centralized water supply( 1. 0%,116 /11 135) was higher than that in villages only using decentralized water supply( 0. 2%,15 /7 462),and the relative risk( RR) was 5. 2( 95% CI: 3. 0- 8. 9). There were three waterworks in the town. The X waterworks provided water supply for 6 villages of A,B, C,D,E,and H,where the attack rate was 1. 3%( 106 /8 166). Y and Z waterworks only supplied their own villages,where the attack rates were 0. 4%( 9 /2 149) and 0. 1%( 1 /820),respectively. The results of retrospective cohort study indicated that using water from the X waterworks was a risk factor( RR = 6. 5, 95% CI: 3. 8- 11. 1). A total of 12 clinical specimens and 15 water samples were tested. 8 clinical specimens,including 2 stool specimens,5 rectal swabs,and 1 vomitus were positive for Norovirus nucleic acid, 8 water samples from X waterworks,including 1 source water,2 finished water and 5 tap water from pipe network were positive for total coliform group and thermotolerant coliform bacteria,and 7 water samples from X waterworks,including 1 finished water,3 tap water from pipe network and 3 source water,and 1 well water were negative for Norovirus nucleic acid. Conclusion The outbreak of infectious diarrhea occurred in a town of Meizhou City was waterborne and may be caused by Norovirus. We suggest that the relevant departments strengthen monitoring and supervision of centralized water supply in rural areas to ensure the drinking water safety.
A Practical Guide to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a challenging autoimmune disease of interest to general pediatricians because the wide variety of its manifestations makes it a necessary part of the differential diagnosis for children and adolescents with many different presenting complaints. It is also of great interest to basic scientists and specialists because it provides key insights into the function of the immune system. This article reviews the diagnosis, special considerations, and treatment of this disorder.
Timing variation in an analytically solvable chaotic system

Abstract We present analytic solutions for a chaotic dynamical system that do not have the regular timing characteristic of recently reported solvable chaotic systems. The dynamical system can be viewed as a first order filter with binary feedback. The feedback state may be switched only at instants defined by an external clock signal. Generalizing from a period one clock, we show analytic solutions for period two and higher period clocks. We show that even when the clock ‘ticks’ randomly the chaotic system has an analytic solution. These solutions can be visualized in a stroboscopic map whose complexity increases with the complexity of the clock. We provide both analytic results as well as experimental data from an electronic circuit implementation of the system. Our findings bridge the gap between the irregular timing of well known chaotic systems such as Lorenz and Rossler and the well regulated oscillations of recently reported solvable chaotic systems.
Faculty and Staff Perceptions of Stress, Efficacy, Personality, and Health Practices During Implementation of Comprehensive Educational Change at One Secondary School

FACULTY AND STAFF PERCEPTIONS OF STRESS, EFFICACY, PERSONALITY, AND HEALTH PRACTICES DURING IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AT ONE SECONDARY SCHOOL by Virginia Mae Lonser Chair: Larry D. Burton ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH DissertationOF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University School of Education Title: FACULTY AND STAFF PERCEPTIONS OF STRESS, EFFICACY, PERSONALITY, AND HEALTH PRACTICES DURING IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AT ONE SECONDARY SCHOOL Name of researcher: Virginia Mae Lonser Name and degree of faculty chair: Larry D. Burton, Ph.D. Date completed: April 2016 Problem Private faith-based schools have experienced a severe drop in enrollment over the past few years contributing to perceptions of job insecurity. Especially in the realm of residential secondary education has this observation been true. This descriptive case study investigated perceptions of stress of secondary-school faculty and staff involved with a school-based systemic change implementation in an attempt to turn around the attenuation in enrollment. Method This research study followed a bounded mixed-methods case design using data collected as participant observations of the 24 residential secondary-school faculty and staff and tests were performed to show relationships between variables. Tools were selected in an attempt to specify stress symptoms, Efficacy Beliefs, Personality Type, and Health Practices, which might identify and/or contribute to stresses devolving on faculty and staff: Derogatis’s Brief Symptom Inventory, Gibson and Dembo’s Teacher Efficacy Scale, Myers-Briggs’ Personality Type Indicator-Form M, and Pender’s Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II. The Brief Symptom Inventory was administered at three intervals during one academic year. Results Although the population studied was small and predominantly White, Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics were represented. The other demographics were surprisingly evenly spread on the basis of age, gender, education, and experience. Fifty-one statistically significant correlations were discovered between stress symptoms and the other parameters of the study. Similar to other studies related to teacher stress, selfreported stress levels were elevated in spite of efforts to compensate by changes in lifestyle. After the initial testing at Time 1, two personality types indicated statistically significant correlation with elevated stress at Time 2. These changes evaporated at Time 3. The data suggested an attempt to conceal or deny stress symptoms by some participants. Major findings are the shared planning of the innovation and its implementation resulted in buy-in and teacher engagement, teacher collaboration, and teacher initiation of learning opportunities with administration, which appeared to result in a reduction of teacher stress.
Índice de alfabetismo financiero, la cultura y la educación financiera

En el curso de las ultimas decadas los servicios financieros se han extendido y complejizado significativamente a nivel global y Bolivia no es la excepcion. Esto implica un desafio para los individuos que desean acceder a dichos servicios financieros, que lo hagan de forma correcta sin comprometer su bienestar economico. La investigacion pretende desarrollar una metodologia de calculo del alfabetismo financiero, utilizando el analisis de componentes principales y estructuras factoriales, realizando el analisis de fiabilidad con el estadistico Alpha de Cronbach. La evidencia empirica demuestra que la mayoria de los bolivianos no entienden los conceptos financieros basicos y avanzados. Por lo tanto, su alfabetismo financiero es bajo. La investigacion sugiere en sus conclusiones incorporar el alfabetismo financiero en los curriculos escolares, incentivando la educacion financiera, a fin de reducir las brechas en el alfabetismo financiero de los individuos.
ASONAM 2016 keynotes: Ideas and inventions

Science's knowledge base is expanding rapidly, but the breakthrough paper rate is narrowing and scientists take longer to make their first discoveries. Breakthroughs are related to how information is recombined, yet it remains unclear how scientists and inventors forage the knowledge base in search of tomorrow's highest impact ideas. Studying 28 million scientific papers and 5 million U.S. patents, we uncover 2 major findings. First, we identify “Darwin's Conjecture,” which reveals how conventional and novel ideas are balanced within breakthrough papers. Second, we find an “information hotspot.” The hotspot is that cluster of papers of a certain age distribution in the knowledge base that best predict tomorrow's hits. Together, works that combine knowledge according to Darwin's Conjecture or forage in the hotspot double their odds of being in the top 5% or better of citations. These patterns result in over 250 scientific and technology fields, are increasingly dominant, and outperform other predictors of impact, suggesting a universal link between the age of information and scientific discovery.
The distal consequences of physical and emotional neglect in emerging adults: A person-centered, multi-wave, longitudinal study

Despite being the most prevalent form of child maltreatment, the correlates and consequences of neglect are poorly understood, particularly during early adulthood. The present multi-wave, longitudinal study sought to address this gap in this literature by examining physical and emotional neglect in emerging adults in a diverse community sample. 580 adolescents (AgeMean=18.25; AgeSD=0.59; 58.3% female; 31% Hispanic, 28.9% Caucasian; 26.2% African-American; 13.9% other) completed self-report measures for child maltreatment at baseline, and measures for depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and substance use every year for three years. For our analyses, we used both variable-centered (mixed-level modeling) and person-centered (latent profile analysis) analyses to best understand a) how physical and emotional neglect relate to other forms of maltreatment and b) to determine physical and emotional neglect's unique impact on prospective mental health functioning. Our person-centered analyses revealed that a three-profile model provided the best solution for our data ("No Trauma," "Abuse", and "Neglect"). In longitudinal analyses, the "the neglect" group had significantly elevated scores compared to the "no trauma" group on all outcomes except alcohol use (p<0.01). Results from our variable-centered analyses showed comparable findings between physical and emotional neglect, with higher scores corresponding to elevated symptoms of depression, PTSD, illicit substance use, and cigarette use over time (p<0.01). In conclusion, our results suggest that early neglect-exposure poses a risk for the subsequent development of internalizing symptoms and substance use behaviors among emerging adults.
Microsatellite Markers for Red Drum, Sciaenops ocellatus

In this note, we document polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) primer pairs for 101 nuclear-encoded microsatellites designed and developed from a genomic library for red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Details of the genomic library construction, the sequencing of positive clones, primer design, and PCR protocols may be found in Karlsson et al. (2008). The 101 microsatellites (GENBA NK Accession Numbers EU015882-EU015982) were amplified successfully and used to genotype 24 red drum obtained from Galveston Bay, Texas (Table 1). A total of 69 of the microsatellites had an uninterrupted (perfect) dinucleotide motif, and 30 had an imperfect dinucleotide motif; one microsatellite had an imperfect tetranucleotide motif, and one had an imperfect and compound motif (Table 1 ). Sizes of the cloned alleles ranged from 84 to 252 base pairs. A ‘blast’ search of the GENBANK database indicated that all of the primers and the cloned alleles were unique (i.e., not duplicated).
Radius and Ulna Shaft Fractures

Various common injuries in the shoulder, humerus, and elbow are investigated in this section. Significant attention is paid not only to proper diagnostic examination and imaging, but also to optimal non-operative and operative treatment options to manage these conditions.
How to Keep the Story Going for Those Who Come After

“How to Keep the Story going for Those Who Come After,” is an experimental act of crafting an assemblage, cobbling together stories of otherworldly conversations/encounters, envisioning the production of knowledge as a process of arranging, organizing, and temporarily fitting together ideas and theories. Playfully unpacking the figuration of the salmon through its complex multiple contradictory identities, the author brings forth a deeper understanding of the entangled nature of the material and the discursive. The chapter is written diffractively in order to disrupt conventional historical forms of research narratives, instead holding together dispirit findings and presenting stories threaded through one another. Questioning the practices and processes of who, what and, why we teach, the author imagines the development of feral nomadic subjects able to hold together heteronymous ideas, beliefs, and theories in a generative society.
Travel for Abortion Services in Alabama and Delays Obtaining Care

Abstract Background In 2013, Alabama required women seeking abortion to have a consultation visit followed by a 24-hour waiting period. These requirements may adversely affect return for timely care among those traveling long distances for services. Methods Using de-identified billing data from two Alabama clinics for all abortion encounters in 2013, we calculated the distance traveled from women's residential zip code and the number of days between their in-person consultation and procedure visits. To assess the associations between distance traveled and return for an abortion visit and length of interval between visits, we used logistic and ordinal logistic regression, respectively. Results Of the 2,730 women attending a consultation visit, 58% traveled less than 25 miles one way to the clinic, 13% traveled 25 to 49 miles, 21% traveled 50 to 100 miles, and 8% traveled more than 100 miles. Overall, 19% of women did not return to either clinic for an abortion procedure after their consultation. Distance traveled was not associated with return for an abortion visit (odds ratio, 1.04; 95% confidence interval, 0.76–1.42). Among women who returned, 59% had less than 7 days, 29% had 7 to 13 days, and 12% had 14 or more days between their consultation and procedure visits. Compared with women traveling less than 25 miles, those traveling 50 to 100 miles had significantly longer intervals between visits (odds ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.56). Conclusions Although most women returned for their abortion procedure, many traveling long distances had a week or more between visits. Because delays may limit women's options for affordable abortion care, evidence-based policies should be adopted to facilitate women's timely receipt of services.
Implementing an interdisciplinary intergenerational program using the Cyber Seniors® reverse mentoring model within higher education

Intergenerational service-learning in higher education positively affects older adults and students, but little is known about the effectiveness of interdisciplinary, reverse mentoring programs that use technology as the medium of bringing generations together. This study describes an intergenerational service-learning program that utilizes reverse mentoring within higher education, the “Engaging Generations Program,” at a midsized public university in New England where students help older adults learn about technology, and students gain communication and teaching skills. In this article, we outline how the program was implemented, present quantitative data on participation outcomes for students and older adults and qualitative data from older adults, and discuss best practices. Analysis of pre/post surveys found that students’ attitudes toward aging improved (p < 0.01) and older adults interest in technology improved (p < 0.05) after program participation. Best practices identified included: mult...
Community–Clinical Linkages With Community Health Workers in the United States: A Scoping Review:

Despite the proliferation of community-clinical linkage (CCL) interventions with community health workers (CHWs), little is known about the components of these programs or how linkages are realized. In this scoping review, we synthesize evidence concerning the role of CHWs in creating and sustaining CCLs aimed at improving individual health outcomes. Our inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed articles that described a CHW intervention in the United States that used a CCL model. A total of 2,776 titles and/or abstracts were screened and 47 articles underwent full text review. Two independent reviewers rated the screened articles based on additional criteria including the CHW connection to community and evidence of linkage follow up rather than simple referral. For the 11 peer-reviewed articles included in the final review, we describe the CHW's relationship to the community, training, and role within the intervention, linkage, and outcomes. We used a standardized framework to determine commonalities in CHW roles across the interventions. CCLs with CHWs positively affect the delivery of both clinical care and community resources across a range of disease areas in a variety of contexts. To identify effective CCL models, additional information on CHW training, CCL follow-up methods, and the CHW role in CCLs is recommended.
Stellar photon correlation detection with the Southern Connecticut stellar interferometer

The Southern Connecticut Stellar Interferometer (SCSI) is a portable optical intensity interferometer located on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut. Since its completion in 2016, the instrument has been used to take engineering data of bright stars. This paper will discuss the data collection and analysis methods, as well as the progress toward reliably measuring a significant stellar photon correlation. Vega has been the main star chosen for test observations to date because its diameter is well known by other methods, and it is not an extended source for the baselines used. The correlation peak in the processed data is compared to theoretical expectations. Given our expected sensitivity, a significant correlation peak is expected for small baselines (~2 m) to appear after a few hours of observation. So far, the observations indicate that the correlation peak is at the expected time delay, and the signal-to-noise ratio roughly scales as predicted.
Orphan drug designation and pharmacogenomics: options and opportunities.

The rapid increase in characterization and understanding of the human genome has had a major impact on the development of therapies for rare diseases. The “inborn errors of metabolism”, which are generally rare diseases, are beginning to realize new therapies based on an understanding of disease processes at the genetic level. Likewise, an understanding of acquired genetic errors, as seen in cancer, is allowing for targeted approaches to therapy that are revolutionizing, in many cases, both standards of care and prognosis. Since its inception, the Office of Orphan Products Development has been privileged to witness many of the successes and also the failures of pharmacogenomics as it relates to rare diseases. This approach, from a regulatory standpoint, often calls into question even basic assumptions about disease classification. Phenotypically homogeneous diseases are more frequently becoming ‘subsetted’ on the basis of genomics; conversely, overlap of therapeutic mechanisms of action is increasingly seen across seemingly diverse diseases. With the recent completion of sequencing of the human genome, as well as the increasing ease of DNA sequencing, the promise and challenge of the pharmacogenetic approach to treatment will be expected to play an increasingly important role in development of new therapies for both rare and common diseases.
Variability in opioid prescribing in veterans affairs emergency departments and urgent cares.

Abstract Objective The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the U.S., serving approximately 2.5 million Veterans in the Emergency Department/Urgent Care Centers (ED/UCC) each year. Variation in opioid prescribing by ED/UCC providers in the VHA is described. Methods This is an observational study using administrative data from the VHA Pharmacy Benefits Management Services database to assess ED/UCC providers' opioid prescribing rates between October 1st, 2014 to June 30th, 2017 in 121 U.S. facilities. The opioid prescribing rate was defined as the number of opioid prescriptions written by the provider divided by the number of patients discharged from the ED/UCC by that provider, by quarter. A regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between time and prescribing rates by provider. Results Overall, the national trend in median prescribing rates decreased by 25.5% (p value = 0.00) from 9.1% ([range 1.5%–25.6%] to 6.4% [range 0.8%–21.8%]). The greatest rates of decline occurred between January 1st, 2016 to June 30th, 2017. The rate of provider opioid prescribing demonstrated wide variability between facilities (range: 0.5% to 39.1%). The prescribing rate for ED/UCC providers ranged from 0.2% to 100%. Between June 2016 and May 2017, 24 VHA ED/UCC providers were the highest opioid prescribers nationally in at least two of the four quarters (22%–70%), with rates two- to three-fold higher than their peers. Conclusion ED/UCC providers in the VHA system nationally vary considerably in rates of opioid prescribing. A focused initiative tailored for ED/UCC providers is needed to decrease opioid prescribing variability.
Inflammation: A Proposed Intermediary Between Maternal Stress and Offspring Neuropsychiatric Risk.

During pregnancy, programming of the fetal central nervous system establishes vulnerabilities for emergence of neuropsychiatric phenotypes later in life. Psychosocial influences during pregnancy, such as stressful life events and chronic stress, correlate with offspring neuropsychiatric disorders and inflammation, respectively. Stress promotes inflammation, but the role of inflammation as a mediator between maternal psychosocial stress and offspring neuropsychiatric outcomes has not been extensively studied in humans. This review summarizes clinical evidence linking specific types of stress to maternal inflammatory load during pregnancy. We propose that inflammation is a mediator in the relationship between psychosocial stress and offspring neuropsychiatric outcomes, potentially influenced by poor maternal glucocorticoid-immune coordination. We present relevant experimental animal research supporting this hypothesis. We conclude that clinical and preclinical research supports the premise that stress-induced maternal immune activation contributes in part to prenatal programming of risk. Programming of risk is likely due to a combination of vulnerabilities, including multiple or repeated inflammatory events; timing of such events; poor maternal regulation of inflammation; genetic vulnerability; and lifestyle contributors.