cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of western drought on the water resources of Safford Valley, Arizona, 1940–1952

Records of precipitation, runoff in the Gila River, ground-water withdrawals for irrigation, and changes in ground-water level in Safford Valley, Arizona, provide a basis for noting the effect of wet and dry periods on the hydrologic cycle. An unusually wet period 1940–1941, was followed by a period of drought, l942–1952. The irrigable area is limited by natural causes, the area irrigated with surface water is effectively limited by court decree, and less than 1000 acres are irrigated exclusively from wells. Thus relatively little expansion in this irrigated area has occurred during the period concerned to obscure the climatic effects, although cultivation has been more intensive in recent years and the water demand has been correspondingly larger. The wet period of above-normal stream flow and ground-water levels provided a cushion that delayed and reduced the effects of the drought. As the ground-water-storage in the valley is relatively small, however, withdrawals of ground water as a supplemental supply for irrigation eventually lowered water levels sufficiently to reduce well yields. The concentration of dissolved mineral matter increased in the remaining ground water, making it less desirable for irrigation use than previously.
MINTABS: early experiences with a new paradigm for programming SIMD computers

A programming paradigm for massively parallel SIMD computers is described. The paradigm requires that each program be compiled into a special instruction set. Initially, the MINTABS software architecture's instruction set is used. A process is assigned to a processing element (PE) by storing its instructions and data at that PE. The control unit broadcasts a fixed control algorithm and the PEs use it to interpret their own program. Initial experiments have demonstrated an increase in throughput by a factor of more than 700 on an 8192-processor machine. The throughput also increases linearly with the number of processors. >
Crippling HIV one mutation at a time

Accumulating data suggest that not all human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1–specific immune responses are equally effective at controlling HIV-1 replication. A new study now demonstrates that multiple immune-driven sequence polymorphisms in the highly conserved HIV-1 Gag region of transmitted viruses are associated with reduced viral replication in newly infected humans. These data suggest that targeting these and other conserved viral regions may be the key to developing an effective HIV-1 vaccine.
Immunomodulation of Vascular Diseases: Atherosclerosis and Autoimmunity

The autoimmune disease atherosclerosis contributes to several vascular complications. Besides vascular cells, inflammatory cells occur prominently in atherosclerotic lesions; lymphocytes play a detrimental role in the initiation and progression of this common vascular disease. Recent discoveries have led to the identification of several important lymphocyte types within the atherosclerotic lesions. However, peripheral lymphocytes and those in the lymphoid organs both figure critically in the regulation of atherosclerotic lesion growth. Although the concept of atherosclerosis as an autoimmune disease is well known, the ways in which autoantigens and autoantibodies contribute to atherogenesis in human or even in animal models remains largely unknown. For example, autoantigen immunisation can either promote or attenuate atherogenesis in animals, depending on the antigen types and the routes and carriers of immunisation. This article summarises recent findings regarding lesion inflammatory cell types, autoantigens and autoantibody isotypes that can affect the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis from both human and animal studies.
Studying the Earth's environment from space-a curriculum workshop

The two biggest challenges facing pre-college and undergraduate educators in bringing satellite data into their classroom is the lack of a theoretical background and the lack of time to tailor currently available curriculum materials to their particular classroom application. The proposed 5-day curriculum workshop will provide teachers the background to interpret a wide variety of satellite imagery and the time to develop some of their own classroom-ready materials. The first two days of the workshop will be dedicated to providing a background on the principles of remote sensing, types of sensors, their application, and some of the various ocean/atmospheric processes currently studied from spaceborne instruments. Application of the background material discussed during the first two days will be provided on the third day through hands-on computer exercises on satellite data enhancements and interpretation. Participants will explore the World Wide Web for currently available curriculum materials on the fourth day, and the final day will provide the participants the opportunity to develop classroom materials presented/discovered during the previous sessions. At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will have been exposed to how remote sensing is used to study various aspects of the Earth's environment, and will have some classroom-ready materials.
Early developmental gene regulation in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus embryos in response to elevated CO2 seawater conditions

Ocean acidification, or the increased uptake of CO2 by the ocean due to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations, may variably impact marine early life history stages, as they may be especially susceptible to changes in ocean chemistry. Investigating the regulatory mechanisms of early development in an environmental context, or ecological development, will contribute to increased understanding of potential organismal responses to such rapid, large-scale environmental changes. We examined transcript-level responses to elevated seawater CO2 during gastrulation and the initiation of spiculogenesis, two crucial developmental processes in the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus . Embryos were reared at the current, accepted oceanic CO2 concentration of 380 microatmospheres (μatm), and at the elevated levels of 1000 and 1350 μatm, simulating predictions for oceans and upwelling regions, respectively. The seven genes of interest comprised a subset of pathways in the primary mesenchyme cell gene regulatory network (PMC GRN) shown to be necessary for the regulation and execution of gastrulation and spiculogenesis. Of the seven genes, qPCR analysis indicated that elevated CO2 concentrations only had a significant but subtle effect on two genes, one important for early embryo patterning, Wnt8 , and the other an integral component in spiculogenesis and biomineralization, SM30b . Protein levels of another spicule matrix component, SM50, demonstrated significant variable responses to elevated CO2. These data link the regulation of crucial early developmental processes with the environment that these embryos would be developing within, situating the study of organismal responses to ocean acidification in a developmental context.
Analysis of the interaction of free and bound microplasmas

Summary form only given. Interactions between low temperature microplasmas bound to quasi-ellipsoidal cavities and free, columnar filaments produced by a parallel plate dielectric barrier discharge structure have been observed. The microplasma array comprises of two microcavities etched into the interior surfaces of two glass plates separated by 80 μm, each with a major axis of 700 ± 50 μm and a minor axis 230 ± 20 μm. Stable glow discharges were produced at Ne gas pressures of 300 - 760 Torr. Diffused and free columnar microplasmas that surrounded the microcavity plasma had a mean diameter of 136 ± 10 μm and separation (pitch) of 485 ± 60 μm, respectively. Optical images of free microplasmas interacting with two microcavities with ~700 μm diameter show microplasmas confined at the perimeters of the microcavities as well as between them along a bisecting line.
The Legal Profession in the Year 2050

This essay is part of a symposium addressing issues that will be faced by the legal profession in the coming session. The brief piece speculates about, and makes predictions relating to, the state of the legal profession in the year 2050.
Overview of Genetically Engineered Mouse Models of Distinct Breast Cancer Subtypes

Advances in the screening of new therapeutic options have significantly reduced the breast cancer death rate over the last decade. Despite these advances, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among women. This is due in part to the complexity of the disease, which is characterized by multiple subtypes that are driven by different genetic mechanisms and that likely arise from different cell types of origin. Because these differences often drive treatment options and outcomes, it is important to select relevant preclinical model systems to study new therapeutic interventions and tumor biology. Described in this unit are the characteristics and applications of validated genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of basal-like, luminal, and claudin-low human subtypes of breast cancer. These different subtypes have different clinical outcomes and require different treatment strategies. These GEMMs can be considered faithful surrogates of their human disease counterparts. They represent alternative preclinical tumor models to cell line and patient-derived xenografts for preclinical drug discovery and tumor biology studies.
Judgmental Decisions: A Study of Interactions Among Group Membership, Group Functioning, and the Decision Situation

In an experimental investigation of judgmental decision making (JDM) strong interactions are found among membership types (experts, representatives, coworkers), group functioning (interacting, nomi...
The Study of Pyrolytic Products of Polymer Materials by Mass Spectrometry IV Mass Spectrometry of Pyrolytic Products of Polyvinyl Alcohol and Polyvinyl Chloride

Mass spectrometric quantitative analysis on the gaseous and volatile products formed by yrolysis of polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl chloride in a vessel containing the calibrated amounts of air at various temperatures was studied. The pyrolytic products were hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, lower hydrocarbons and others. Similar experiments were also carried out for the synthetic fibers, and the main components of the gaseous and volatile products formed by pyrolysis were identified. No marked difference in the composition and amounts of the gaseous and volatile products at each pyrolytic temperature between polyvinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride fiber was observed.
Cloaking at Optical Wavelengths

A design for a cloak based on coordinate transformation at optical wavelengths is presented. A possible realization is proposed and the design performance is studied using finite element method simulations.
Dual Stimuli–Dual Response Nanoassemblies Prepared from a Simple Homopolymer

A dual stimuli responsive nanogel–polyelectrolyte complex based on electrostatic coating has been developed. The nanoassembly is designed to elicit two disparate responses (viz., surface property change and guest encapsulation stability) from two different stimuli (viz., pH and redox variations). The components of the nanogel and the polyelectrolyte have been conveniently achieved from a simple homopolymer, poly(pentafluorophenylacrylate).
Patient compliance at one year and two years after heart transplantation.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this report is to determine the extent of difficulty following and self-reported compliance with prescribed activities at 1 year after heart transplantation, identify postoperative predictors of compliance at 1 year after transplantation, and compare difficulty following and compliance with the therapeutic regimen at 1 year versus 2 years after transplantation. METHODS Data were collected from a nonrandom sample of 120 adult patients 1 year after heart transplantation and 76 of 120 patients 2 years after transplantation. Patients were 83% male, mean age 54 years, 86% were married, 28% were employed, and 91% were in NYHA class I at 1 year after transplantation. Data were collected from the Assessment of Problems with the Heart Transplant Regimen, Quality of Life Index, Heart Transplant Symptom Checklist, Sickness Impact Profile, Heart Transplant Stressor Scale, Jalowiec Coping Scale, Social Support Index, Heart Transplant Intervention Scale, Rating Question Form, and chart review. Data were analyzed via frequencies, multiple regression, paired t-tests, and the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test. RESULTS At both 1 year and 2 years after transplantation, patients had almost no difficulty following the heart transplantation regimen and complied almost all of the time with taking medications, attending clinic, and completing scheduled tests. Patients complied less with following a diet, exercising, and taking their vital signs. Predictors of compliance at 1 year after heart transplantation differed by prescribed activity, explaining from 13% to 52% of variance (p < or = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate the need to continue the study of heart transplant recipient compliance longitudinally for individual prescribed activities and provide evidence and direction for the development of interventions to enhance patient compliance.
Application and Value-added Specialty Product Development of Oriented Strand Board

Oriented strand board (OSB) is an environmentally friendly structural composite material that meets the criteria of sustainable development. This paper reviews some basic features and current situation of the product with an emphasis on the utilization of OSB in residential wood frame construction and other industries. Value-added specialty products of OSB, which were developed to expand the application of OSB, were discussed as well.
General anesthesia in a patient with cleidocranial dysplasia.

Cleidocranial dysplasia (CD) is a rare disorder that involves developmental abnormalities of bony structures. CD is characterized as an autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia with a variety of clinical manifestations; most commonly supernumerary teeth, brachycephalic skull, short stature, and hypoplastic or aplastic clavicles. In a systematic review of a study population comparing CD individuals with non-affected relatives as controls, scoliosis and upper respiratory complications (including recurrent sinus infections, collapsing nasal passages, sleep apnea, and wheezing) were noted to be significantly increased in CD individuals in comparison with controls1. Other possible manifestations of CD that involve upper airway structures include maxillary hypoplasia, high vaulted palate, and palatal clefting2. The variety of CD associated structural abnormalities can potentially pose challenges to anesthetic management; however, there is limited literature describing anesthetic implications of CD patients undergoing surgery. Potential difficulties for airway management and neuraxial placement are described in the anesthetic management of a patient with CD who underwent a variety of obstetrical procedures3. We present our approach to airway assessment and anesthetic management of a patient with CD undergoing a general surgical procedure.
Phase 1B study of vemurafenib in combination with irinotecan and cetuximab in patients with BRAF-mutated advanced cancers and metastatic colorectal cancer.

3516 Background: BRAF V600 mutations, present in 5-10% of patients (pts) with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), are considered poor prognostic markers, and <10% of BRAF-mutated mCRC pts respond ...
Case 35-2016. A 62-Year-Old Man with Dysphagia.

A 62-year-old man presented with metastatic esophageal adenocarcinoma. Two months earlier, imaging revealed a distal esophageal mass and enlarged lymph nodes; biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma that had metastasized to the lymph nodes. Management decisions were made.
BETTER UTILIZATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS THROUGH IMPROVED AND NEW HANDLING AND PROCESSING CONCEPTS1

Some of the recent developments of our laboratory include: (a) CO2 in refrigerated seawater (RSW) as a preservative; (b) separation of crabmeat from shell by centrifuge; and (c) separation of meat from skin and bones by machine. (a) Addition of CO2 to the conventional RSW system, which is used aboard the vessel and at processing plants ashore, results in a system with the advantage of inhibition of microbial growth when compared to the original system. The CO2 in RSW system has been shown to be effective in maintaining the quality of salmon, rockfish, halibut, and shrimp, at higher levels than the conventional RSW system or ice. (b) Through use of a method involving centrifugation, it has been demonstrated that up to 15–20% of crab waste can be recovered as crabmeat. Separation of crabmeat from shell by a machine specifically designed for this purpose is being evaluated currently. (c) By machine separation, it has been shown that yields of edible flesh up to 49% and 46% can be achieved for Pacific hake an...
Abstract 3800: Targeting PI3K signaling pathway for therapeutic enhancement of verteporfin-mediated photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) induces cell injury and death through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after light activation. Verteporfin is a photosensitizer that has been approved for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and is under investigation for targeting tumor vasculature for therapy. Being primarily localized in mitochondria, verteporfin-mediated PDT induced a rapid apoptotic cell death in SVEC mouse endothelial cells by activating mitochondria-initiated cell death pathways. However, activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway was also observed after verteporfin-PDT, especially at a sub-lethal dose. Furthermore, activation of PI3K signaling was correlated with cell growth after PDT. Thus, the goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that therapeutic outcome of verteporfin-PDT can be enhanced by targeting PDT-induced pro-survival PI3K signaling pathway. We found that PI3K-mTOR pathway inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 (BEZ235) significantly inhibited PDT-induced PI3K signaling activation and combination of BEZ235 and verteporfin-PDT resulted in more cell apoptosis and greater inhibition in cell proliferation in SVEC cells. The combination therapy led to significantly more tumor growth inhibition than each individual treatment in the PC-3 prostate tumor model. Examination of tumor samples for PI3K signaling activity and functional vasculature revealed that the combination treatment caused more inhibition in PI3K signaling and reduction in functional blood vessels than verteporfin-PDT or BEZ235 treatment alone. These results indicate that targeting pro-survival PI3K signaling pathway is an effective approach for enhancing tumor response to verteporfin-PDT. Citation Format: Daniel E. Kraus, Pratheeba Palasuberniam, Bin Chen. Targeting PI3K signaling pathway for therapeutic enhancement of verteporfin-mediated photodynamic therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3800. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3800
Improving Post-Operative Positioning Compliance: A Novel Device

Purpose : The use of intraocular gas for repair of retinal detachments and macular holes is a mainstay of vitreoretinal surgery. Post-operatively, the patient is positioned so that the gas bubble is in apposition to the retinal pigment epithelium. In order to ensure correct position of the gas bubble against these breaks, patients are instructed in specific postoperative positioning of their head. In spite of instructing patients on the importance of proper head positioning after use of intraocular gas, numerous studies have shown patients are not compliant with the prescribed regimen. Our novel positioning device provides real time alerts when the bubble is out of position in the eye and allows patients to correct their position.
Provence as a personal poetry

(1997). Provence as a personal poetry. Sites: The Journal of Twentieth-Century/Contemporary French Studies revue d'etudes francais: Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 589-597.
Patient-Specific Modeling of Deep Brain Stimulation

Abstract Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established clinical therapy for a wide range of neurological disorders and constantly under investigation for increasing indications. Yet even after decades of clinical success, explicit understanding of the underlying brain response to DBS and subsequent scientific definition of the therapeutic mechanisms of action remain elusive. In addition, it is presently unclear which electrode designs and stimulation paradigms are optimal for maximum therapeutic benefit and minimal side effects with DBS. Detailed patient-specific computer modeling of DBS represents a powerful technique to enhance understanding of the effects and mechanisms of DBS, as well as enabling virtual testing grounds for new stimulation strategies. This chapter summarizes the fundamentals of neurostimulation modeling, presents some scientific contributions of computer models to the field of DBS, and demonstrates an application of DBS modeling tools to augment the clinical utility of DBS.
Heavy Metals Mobility/Immobility in Environmental Media

Chemical elements are mobilized by physical, chemical and biological vectors. Elements move in solution as cations, anions and ionic complexes. They incorporate into solid inorganic phases (e.g., sediment, suspended sediment, particulates from natural or anthropogenic emissions) or are absorbed/adsorbed by them. The same is true for solid, perhaps vital, organic phases (e.g., soft and hard parts of organisms, particulate organic carbon). In these modes the chemical elements are transported to depositional environments on land or in water bodies by water, wind and glacial ice following surface drainage, aquifer flowpaths, and wind driven water and atmospheric currents. Mobilized heavy metals in an element assemblage can be carried to an environment in concentrations significantly higher than natural levels in speciated forms. If these are bioavailable, they will be toxic to life forms if bioaccumulated over a period of time. When this scenario is met, the metals pose a threat to basic links in an ecosystem foodweb as well as to environmental niches and the ecosystem they comprise.
Modern Approaches in Probiotics Research to Control Foodborne Pathogens

Foodborne illness is a serious public health concern. There are over 200 known microbial, chemical, and physical agents that are known to cause foodborne illness. Efforts are made for improved detection, control and prevention of foodborne pathogen in food, and pathogen associated diseases in the host. Several commonly used approaches to control foodborne pathogens include antibiotics, natural antimicrobials, bacteriophages, bacteriocins, ionizing radiations, and heat. In addition, probiotics offer a potential intervention strategy for the prevention and control of foodborne infections. This review focuses on the use of probiotics and bioengineered probiotics to control foodborne pathogens, their antimicrobial actions, and their delivery strategies. Although probiotics have been demonstrated to be effective in antagonizing foodborne pathogens, challenges exist in the characterization and elucidation of underlying molecular mechanisms of action and in the development of potential delivery strategies that could maintain the viability and functionality of the probiotic in the target organ.
Analysis of the Caratheodory Interpolation Problem

In this chapter we present the Schur method for solving the Caratheodory interpolation problem. This method relies on a sequence of numbers, known as the Schur numbers associated with the data for the interpolation problem. It is shown that unique solutions to the Caratheodory interpolation problem are connected with Blaschke products and stable polynomials. As an application we obtain the Jury test for the stability of a polynomial. Next, we give the Schur representation for the set of all solutions to the Caratheodory interpolation problem. The part specified by the data in this representation is a fractional transformation with polynomial coefficients. We introduce elementary techniques from operator theory to give some interesting geometric interpretations of these polynomials coefficients. Using these techniques we also prove that the Caratheodory interpolation problem is solvable if and only if a certain matrix is a contraction. From this we obtain the Schur-Cohn test for the stability of a polynomial. However, due to the importance of Schur numbers in applications, we also present whenever possible several algorithms to recursively compute the Schur numbers from the data (inverse algorithms). It will be easy for the reader to convert these algorithms to recursively compute the data from the Schur numbers (direct algorithms).
High resolution magnetic field measurements in hydrogen and helium plasmas using active laser spectroscopy

Passive spectroscopic measurements of Zeeman splitting have been used reliably to measure magnetic fields in plasmas for decades. However, a requirement is that the field magnitude must be sufficiently strong to be resolved over Doppler and instrument broadening (typically >10 000 G). A diagnostic for measuring magnetic fields spectroscopically well below this limit (>20 G) with high sensitivity has been developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The diagnostic relies on measuring a high resolution spectral profile using Doppler-free saturation spectroscopy (DFSS) and then fitting the spectrum to a quantum mechanical model. DFSS is an active, laser based technique that greatly reduces the influence of Doppler broadening and eliminates instrument broadening. To date, the diagnostic has been successfully employed to measure the magnetic field in magnetized (550-900 G), low-temperature (5-10 eV), low-density (1010–1012 cm−3), hydrogen and helium plasmas in the 5-200 mTorr pressure range using a low power (25 mW) diode laser. Implementing an approximate crossover resonance model, the measurements are shown to be accurate within 5 G for helium and 83 G for hydrogen. The accuracy in hydrogen can be improved to 39 G if the crossover resonances are neglected. A more robust crossover model can decrease this error to <1 G.
Ultralow-Power Radio Frequency Beamformer Using Transmission-Line Transformers and Tunable Passives

A simple, low-loss technique for radio frequency (RF) beamforming is realized by serially combining the antennas in an array using transmission-line transformers (without magnetic components) incorporated into the feed line and a programmable admittance placed in shunt across each antenna’s feed port. Utilizing the feed structure for signal combining eliminates the need for additional RF combining structures. Furthermore, taking advantage of the symmetry inherent in a phased array, we propose a new method for passive phase shifting that only requires one tunable element per antenna. The beamformer, which requires zero active power, is demonstrated on an FR4 printed circuit board with a linear, two-element, array of half-wave dipoles at 2.05 GHz using a digitally tunable capacitor as the programmable admittance. A loss in array gain of 1.07 dB is realized when compared to an identical array with ideal phase combining.
Deciphering the complex interplay between microbiota, HPV, inflammation and cancer through cervicovaginal metabolic profiling

Abstract Background Dysbiotic vaginal microbiota have been implicated as contributors to persistent HPV-mediated cervical carcinogenesis and genital inflammation with mechanisms unknown. Given that cancer is a metabolic disease, metabolic profiling of the cervicovaginal microenvironment has the potential to reveal the functional interplay between the host and microbes in HPV persistence and progression to cancer. Methods Our study design included HPV-negative/positive controls, women with low-grade and high-grade cervical dysplasia, or cervical cancer (n = 78). Metabolic fingerprints were profiled using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Vaginal microbiota and genital inflammation were analysed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and immunoassays, respectively. We used an integrative bioinformatic pipeline to reveal host and microbe contributions to the metabolome and to comprehensively assess the link between HPV, microbiota, inflammation and cervical disease. Findings Metabolic analysis yielded 475 metabolites with known identities. Unique metabolic fingerprints discriminated patient groups from healthy controls. Three-hydroxybutyrate, eicosenoate, and oleate/vaccenate discriminated (with excellent capacity) between cancer patients versus the healthy participants. Sphingolipids, plasmalogens, and linoleate positively correlated with genital inflammation. Non-Lactobacillus dominant communities, particularly in high-grade dysplasia, perturbed amino acid and nucleotide metabolisms. Adenosine and cytosine correlated positively with Lactobacillus abundance and negatively with genital inflammation. Glycochenodeoxycholate and carnitine metabolisms connected non-Lactobacillus dominance to genital inflammation. Interpretation Cervicovaginal metabolic profiles were driven by cancer followed by genital inflammation, HPV infection, and vaginal microbiota. This study provides evidence for metabolite-driven complex host-microbe interactions as hallmarks of cervical cancer with future translational potential. Fund Flinn Foundation (#1974), Banner Foundation Obstetrics/Gynecology, and NIH NCI (P30-CA023074).
Sickle Cell Disease, More Than Just Pain: The Mediating Role of Psychological Symptoms.

Objectives Perceived stress is associated with sickle cell disease (SCD) pain; however, little is known about psychological mechanisms that may clarify this link among adult patients. This study explored whether anxiety and depression symptoms explained the relation between perceived stress and SCD pain episode frequency among 70 African-American adults (51.4% women, mean age 35.6 years). Methods Participants completed measures of perceived stress, pain, and psychological symptoms in an outpatient clinical setting. Results A serial multiple mediation model showed that psychological symptoms collectively reduced the association between perceived stress and SCD pain frequency (b = 0.116, P = 0.141). However, only the indirect effect of stress on pain frequency through anxiety symptoms was significant (b = 0.089). Conclusions Anxiety but not depression symptoms best explain the association between stress and SCD pain. Further research is needed to identify the specific components of negative affect that drive the experience of SCD pain.
Discovery of GlyT2 Inhibitors Using Structure-Based Pharmacophore Screening and Selectivity Studies by FEP+ Calculations

In recent years, mammalian Glycine transporter 2 (GlyT2) has emerged as a promising target for the development of compounds against chronic pain states. In our current work, we discovered a new set of promising hits that inhibit the glycine transporter at nano- and micromolar activity and have excellent selectivity over GlyT1 (as shown by in vitro studies) using a newly designed virtual screening (VS) protocol that combines a structure-based pharmacophore and docking screens with a success rate of 75%. Furthermore, the free energy perturbation calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) studies revealed the GlyT2 amino acid residues critical for the binding and selectivity of both Glycine and our Hit1 compound. The FEP+ results well-matched with the available literature mutational data proving the quality of the generated GlyT2 structure. On the basis of these results, we propose that our hit compounds may lead to new chronic pain agents to address unmet and challenging clinical needs.
The dihydrogenation of digoxin

1. Digoxin is converted to cardioinactive reduced metabolites in vivo and in vitro by the human gut flora. 2. The bioavailability of digoxin preparations and metabolism by this pathway are inversely correlated. 3. Normal volunteers and patients tend to remain “in category” as metabolizers or non-metabolizers. 4. Digoxin inactivation is mediated by Eubacterium lentum, a normal inhabitant of the colonic flora. 5. DRP formation occurs predominantly in the cecum in rats. 6. DRP-forming E. lentum can be recovered in high concentration from the gut flora of metabolizers and about 40% of nonmetabolizers. 7. Infants do not metabolize digoxin by this pathway. 8. Bangladeshis and Americans differ in their tendency to reduce digoxin, regardless of their current place of residence. 9. Underdigitalization, or digitalis toxicity, may result from alterations in the intestinal flora. However, the frequency of these clinical events remains to be established.
The state of discovery-driven neuroscience research and experimental organism usage in the United States

ABSTRACT Purely discovery-driven biological research “…performed without thought of practical ends…” establishes fundamental conceptual frameworks for technological and medical breakthroughs that often occur many years later. Despite the critical importance of discovery-driven research for scientific progress, there is increasing concern that it is increasingly less favored by funding agencies than research with explicit goals of application and innovation, resulting in a decline in discovery-driven research output. This in turn appears to promote the use of genetically modified organisms (those with advanced molecular toolkits for gene manipulation and visualization) for which genetic models of human disease can be studied at molecular and cellular resolution using state of the art methodology, and to discourage use of other experimental organisms that provide necessary evolutionary context. This field of neuroscience encompasses both applied and discovery-driven research, providing an opportunity to empirically determine whether funding and publication rates for the latter have indeed declined. Additionally, the diversity of experimental organisms traditionally employed in neuroscience research provides a means to quantify changes in use of study organisms that lack genetic tools over time. In particular, the basic research field of neuroethology is characterized by its distinct approach to selection of study organisms based on their adaptive behaviors, evolutionary history, and suitability for answering the question of interest, providing a stronger basis for the assumption that findings reflect fundamental concepts of nervous system function and behavior. A 30-year analysis of National Science Foundation (NSF) funding of neuroethology research finds that the agency has funded progressively fewer researchers with smaller average award amounts, with a decline in awards for research on non-genetically modified organisms. Neuroscience funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows the same trend but also increasing support for genetically modified organisms. The same pattern is observed in the neuroscience literature but occurs prior to changes in funding, suggesting that the shift to genetically modified organisms was likely initiated by researchers but may potentially have been later reinforced by funding agency and journal publisher preferences.
Are Gay Bars Closing? Using Business Listings to Infer Rates of Gay Bar Closure in the United States, 1977–2019:

Widespread alarm over gay bar closures in the United States has occurred in a vacuum of data. This visualization depicts changes in gay bar listings from the only national guidebook of LGBT places,...
Toward human-centric deep video understanding

People are the very heart of our daily work and life. As we strive to leverage artificial intelligence to empower every person on the planet to achieve more, we need to understand people far better than we can today. Human–computer interaction plays a significant role in human-machine hybrid intelligence, and human understanding becomes a critical step in addressing the tremendous challenges of video understanding. In this paper, we share our views on why and how to use a human centric approach to address the challenging video understanding problems. We discuss human-centric vision tasks and their status, highlighting the challenges and how our understanding of human brain functions can be leveraged to effectively address some of the challenges. We show that semantic models, view-invariant models, and spatial-temporal visual attention mechanisms are important building blocks. We also discuss the future perspectives of video understanding.
Confirmation of 123I-FP-CIT SPECT Quantification Methods in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders

Rationale: To conduct a retrospective study comparing three 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT quantitative methods in patients with neurodegenerative syndromes as referenced to neuropathological findings. Methods:123I-FP-CIT-SPECT and neuropathological findings among patients with neurodegenerative syndromes from the Mayo Alzheimer9s Disease Research Center and Mayo Clinic Study of Aging were examined. Three 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT quantitative assessment Methods: MIMneuro (MIM Software Inc.), DaTQUANT (GE Healthcare), and manual region of interest (ROI) creation on an Advantage Workstation (GE Healthcare) were compared to neuropathological findings describing the presence or absence of Lewy body disease (LBD). Striatum to background ratios (SBRs) generated by DaTQUANT were compared to the calculated SBRs of the manual method and MIMneuro. The left and right SBRs for caudate, putamen and striatum were evaluated with the manual method. For DaTQUANT and MIMneuro the left, right, total and average SBRs and z-scores for whole striatum, caudate, putamen, anterior putamen, and posterior putamen were calculated. Results: The cohort included 24 patients [20 (83%) male, aged 75.4 +/- 10.0 at death]. The antemortem clinical diagnoses were Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADem, N = 6), probable dementia with Lewy bodies (pDLB, N = 12), mixed ADem/pDLB (N = 1), Parkinson’s disease with mild cognitive impairment (N = 2), corticobasal syndrome (N = 1), idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) (N = 1) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (N = 1). Seventeen (71%) had LBD pathology. All three 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT quantitative methods had area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) values above 0.93 and up to 1.000 (p<0.001) and showed excellent discrimination between LBD and non-LBD patients in each region assessed, p<.001. There was no significant difference between the accuracy of the regions in discriminating the two groups, with good discrimination for both caudate and putamen. Conclusion: All three 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT quantitative methods showed excellent discrimination between LBD and non-LBD patients in each region assessed, using both SBRs and z-scores.
Bridging Mixture Density Networks with Meta-Learning for Automatic Speaker Identification

Speaker identification answers the fundamental question "Who is speakingƒ" The identification technology enables various downstream applications to provide a personalized experience. Both the prevalent i-vector based solutions and the state-of-the-art deep learning solutions usually treat all users equally, with no distinctions between new users and existing users, during the training process. We notice that a good many new users start with limited labeled training data, which often results in inferior predicting performance of recognizing users’ voices. To alleviate the disadvantage caused by training data deficiency, we propose a Mixture Density Network- based Meta-Learning method (MDNML) for speaker identification. MDNML emphasizes the expeditious process of learning to recognize new users where each has only a few seconds of labeled data.We conduct experiments on the LibriSpeech dataset and compare MDNML with four state-of-the-art baseline methods. The results conclude that MDNML achieves higher accuracy in recognizing new users with limited labeled utterances than all baseline methods. Our proposed solution significantly expedites the learning by transferring the knowledge learned from the existing user base through gradient-based meta-learning. We consider our work to be a steppingstone for more sophisticated meta-learning frameworks for accelerating voice recognition. Furthermore, we discuss a strategy for enhancing the accuracy by incorporating the notion of household-based acoustic profiles with MDNML.
UWB ranging aided pedestrian geolocation with GPB-based Filtering for LoS and NLoS Measurement processing

This paper considers the global localization of a pedestrian via an ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging aided inertial navigation system (INS) and aims to address the challenges involved in proper processing of UWB range measurements. Even though UWB offers a decimeter level accuracy in line-of-sight (LoS) ranging, its accuracy degrades significantly in non-line-of-sight (NLoS). This drop in accuracy is due to a significant unknown positive bias in the NLOS range measurements. Therefore, the measurement models used in UWB LoS and NLoS ranging conditions are different, and proper processing of NLoS measurements requires a bias compensation measure. Previous work on bias compensation for UWB ranging that is used to aid an INS based localization assumes that the LoS and NLoS measurements are identified and distinguished from each other with absolute certainty. However, in practice, this assumption is hard to satisfy, and identifiers that determine the type of UWB range measurements deliver their results with only some level of certainty. To take into account the probabilistic nature of the NLoS identifiers, in this paper, we propose an adaptive localization based on the first-order generalized pseudo Bayesian (GPB) method to seamlessly handle the measurement model switching between LoS and NLoS UWB range measurements. The effectiveness of our proposed method is demonstrated via an experiment for pedestrian geolocation using a shoe-mounted INS system aided by UWB range measurements with respect to beacons with known locations.
P153 A Homeless Health and Wellness Study

Background Utah State University Extension, Brigham Young University, the Utah Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed), and a local homeless resource center, the Food and Care Coalition (FCC), have partnered to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a nutrition and physical activity program aimed to improve behaviors of adults experiencing or transitioning out of homelessness. Objective Formative research was conducted to identify factors influencing healthy food and physical activity choices among people experiencing or transitioning out of homelessness in Utah. The information obtained was used to modify an adult nutrition education curriculum, Create Better Health, for this specific population. Study Design, Setting, Participants Trained research assistants conducted semi-structured, in-person interviews with key stakeholders at the FCC. Nine interviews were conducted with FCC's administration/staff (n = 4) and transitional housing residents (n = 5). Interviews lasted about 60 minutes and were audio-recorded and transcribed. Questions included topics of interest for nutrition classes, the structure of transitional housing units, challenges to healthy eating and physical activity, influences on food choices, and local healthy food access. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Transcriptions were independently coded by 4 reviewers with expertise in nutrition, exercise science, and health education. Codes were then compared to identify patterns and overarching themes. Data was used to tailor the Create Better Health curriculum. Results Preliminary analysis identified emergent themes including: how residents obtain food; barriers to healthy eating, exercise, and obtaining food; food preparation resources and living environment; and ideas for effective program implementation. Conclusions Formative evaluation is essential to developing effective programming to improve behaviors of specific populations, including those transitioning out of homelessness. Improving dietary and physical activity behaviors may help individuals build a foundation of wellness.
Unifying framework for the diffusion of microscopic particles in mucus

Mucus is a fluid that protects animals against pathogens while promoting interactions with commensal microbes. Changes in the diffusivity of particles in mucus alter viruses infectivity, the efficiency of bacterial pathogens to invade a host, and the effectivity of drug delivery. Multiple physicochemical properties modulate the diffusion of microscopic particles in mucus, but their combined effect is unclear. Here, we analyzed the impact of particle size, charge, chemistry, anomalous diffusion exponent, and mucus composition in the diffusivity of particles from 106 published experiments. We used a time window sampling of one second to define a consistent, effective diffusion across experiments. The effective diffusion spanned seven orders of magnitude from 10-5 to 102 {micro}m2/s. The anomalous exponent was the strongest predictor among all variables tested. It displayed an exponential relationship with the effective diffusion that explained 90% of the empirical data variance. We showed that the relationship and dominance of the anomalous diffusion exponent resulted from a general mathematical relationship obtained from first-principles for any subdiffusion mechanism. Our derivation demonstrated that the generalized diffusion coefficient is not a measurable physical quantity and must be replaced by the length and time scales associated with the underlying mobility mechanisms. This led us to a fundamental reformulation of the classic subdiffusion equation, which calls for a reinterpretation of anomalous diffusion in physical systems. We also discussed how our results impact the characterization of microscopic particle diffusion in mucus and other hydrogels.
Pain Management and the Urology Patient

Pain is a universal and subjective phenomenon that affects all people at some point, and includes several dimensions. Sensory, cognitive, and emotional components to pain all play a role in a patient’s presentation and influence the success and failure of treatments. The pain experience and its appraisal by the individual patient are subjective, and may not be consistent with objectively gathered examination data. As many GU patients may undergo surgery, providers need to be aware of risk factors that can place an individual at risk for development of persistent or chronic pain after surgery.
Maternal Peripartum Antibiotic Exposure Worsens Experimental Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Purpose: Recent reports indicate that early antibiotic exposure may worsen the severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very low birthweight infants. The mechanisms mediating worsened outcomes are unknown, but antibiotic exposure directly perturbs the intestinal microbiome stability and emerging evidence suggests the intestinal microbiota may influence systemic inflammation. Accordingly, we investigated if alteration of the intestinal microbiota altered the development of hyperoxic lung injury in neonatal mice. Methods: We created a two-exposure model that randomized pregnant C57BL/6J mice on the tenth day of gestation to maternal antibiotic treatment (penicillin 500mg/L, MAT) or control. After birth, newborn offspring were randomized to hyperoxia (FiO2 0.85 or 0.60) or FiO2 0.21 for 14 …
Analysis of Learning Modalities Towards Effective Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education Design

Cybersecurity education is a critical component of today’s computer science and IT curriculum. To provide for a highly effective cybersecurity education, we propose using machine-learning techniques to identify common learning modalities of cybersecurity students in order to optimize how cybersecurity core topics, threats, tools and techniques are taught. We test various hypothesis, e.g. that students of selected VARK learning styles will outperform their peers. The results indicate that for the class assignments in our study preference of read/write and kinesthetic modalities yielded the best results. This further indicates that specific learning instruments can be tailored for students based on their individual VARK learning styles