cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinical and experimental studies on treating infantile pneumonia with Feiyan Mixture

OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of Feiyan Mixture (FYM) in treating infantile pneumonia and its mechanism. METHODS One hundred and twenty-eight patients were treated with FYM, the effect was observed and compared with those treated with antibiotics as control. Systematic clinical observation and animal experimental studies on the FYM were carried out. RESULTS The effective rates of FYM and antibiotics were 89.0% and 94.73% respectively and no significant difference was found between two groups, chi 2 = 2.838, P > 0.05. Experimental study showed that FYM was effective in anti-inflammation, antitussiveness, expectoration and spasmolysis. CONCLUSIONS FYM has obvious effect of anti-inflammation, antitussiveness, expectoration and spasmolysis.
Effect of renin on extrarenal erythropoietin production

Extracts containing renal erythropoietic factor (REF) and others which contain renin reportedly enhance erythropoietin (Ep) titers in the plasma of hypoxic nephrectomized rats. Studies reported here were designed to elucidate the mechanism by which renin increases Ep production in the anephric rat. Injection of a renal extract containing renin significantly raised the blood pressure of anephric rats, and when it was injected just prior to exposure to hypoxia and 15 hour postnephrectomy, the resultant plasma Ep level exceeded that observed in rats exposed to the same hypoxic conditions immediately postnephrectomy. In contrast rats made hypoxic 15 hours after nephrectomy, but not given renin, had plasma Ep levels which were lower than those of anephric rats made hypoxic immediately postoperatively. When renin was injected immediately after nephrectomy or into normal rats, it failed to stimulate Ep production. When diazoxide was injected with the renin extract into hypoxic nephrectomized rats, the vasopressor effect of renin was abolished for 4 hours, and the plasma Ep levels were significantly lower than those of hypoxic nephrectomized animals injected only with renin, Injection of angiotensin II into anephric, hypoxic rats had an effect comparable to that of renin on extrarenal Ep roduction. REF was not detectable in the renin preparation. These results are best explained by the concept that renin and angiotensin increase extrarenal Ep production by causing vasoconstriction and consequently hypoxia in extrarenal sites of Ep production. Also of interest is the finding that plasma EP levels of rats, injected with renin and made hypoxic 15 hours postnephrectomy, are higher than those previously reported to occur in anephric rats.
MR features of nerve disorders at the elbow.

SUMMARY In conclusion, MR imaging is a useful method for evaluating nerve disease at the elbow. It can portray the normal anatomy and identify unsuspected space-occupying masses. Severe intrinsic nerve disease can be depicted. MR imaging may play a role in narrowing the differential clinical diagnosis of nerve disease, such as in the case of radial nerve entrapment mimicking refractory lateral epicondylitis. Despite its obvious contributions, however, the accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of MR imaging in elucidating nerve disease at the elbow remain unknown. Future prospective studies with surgical correlation in a large patient population are necessary to further illuminate this point.
Aligning Animal Models of Clinical Germinal Matrix Hemorrhage, From Basic Correlation to Therapeutic Approach.

Background Germinal matrix hemorrhage is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity from prematurity. This brain region is vulnerable to bleeding and re-bleeding within the first 72 hours of preterm life. Cerebroventricular expansion of blood products contributes to the mechanisms of brain injury. Consequences include lifelong hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability. Unfortunately little is known about the therapeutic needs of this patient population. Objectives This review discusses the mechanisms of germinal matrix hemorrhage, the animal models utilized, and the potential therapeutic targets. Conclusion Potential therapeutic approaches identified in pre-clinical investigations include corticosteroid therapy, iron chelator administration, and transforming growth factor-β pathway modulation, which all warrant further investigation. Thus, effective preclinical modeling is essential for elucidating and evaluating novel therapeutic approaches, ahead of clinical consideration.
Laparoscopy: its selected use in patients with unilateral nonpalpable testis after human chorionic gonadotropin stimulation.

AbstractLaparoscopy has been used to help evaluate patients with a unilateral nonpalpable testis. This procedure can be performed quickly just before exploration with the patient under the same anesthetic. With laparoscopy it has been possible to localize either a testis or the course of the spermatic vessels in 100 per cent of the patients. Preoperative knowledge of testis location is helpful to plan the location of the incision as well as the type of repair. The incidence of vanishing testis in our series is much higher than that reported previously. This difference is attributed to a careful examination with the patient under anesthesia and preoperative treatment with human chorionic gonadotropin, which made many testes palpable. These results indicate that laparoscopy can be performed safely and quickly, and that it is helpful to manage patients with a unilateral nonpalpable testis.
Pyrolysis of Biomass for Aviation Fuel

Pyrolysis, the breaking down of organic material using heat and the absence of oxygen, is a method that has been widely researched for the production of liquid fuels. In this chapter, we review the feedstocks typically used for pyrolysis, the properties and the composition of the liquid fraction (termed ‘bio-oil’) obtained, the studies in which pyrolysis has been used in an attempt to increase the bio-oil yield, and how the bio-oil has been upgraded to fuel-like molecules. We also discuss the viability of pyrolysis to produce jet fuel hydrocarbons.
Self-control and impulsiveness in preschool children

Eleven girls and nine boys, aged 41–59 months, chose repeatedly, under controlled laboratory conditions, between one sticker available immediately and three stickers available after 30 s. On the average, the children chose the immediate one sticker more often than the three delayed stickers (i.e., they more often demonstrated impulsiveness than self-control). The boys showed significantly more impulsiveness than did the girls. These data are consistent with other data collected using related procedures and preschool children, but they are in contrast to those collected using procedures very similar to those used here but with adult humans, who tend to show self-control. This research establishes a methodology and points to future directions for quantitative examination of the determinants of self-control in preschool-aged subjects.
Survival After Orthotopic Heart Transplantation in Patients Undergoing Bridge to Transplantation With the HeartWare HVAD Versus the Heartmate II

Background Our objective was to determine whether the choice of a HeartWare HVAD as opposed to a Heartmate II left ventricular assist device (HMII LVAD), impacts survival after heart transplantation after controlling for patient, donor, and center characteristics. Methods We queried the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database, which has recently made pretransplantation device duration available, for all adult patients undergoing bridge to transplantation (BTT) between January 2011 and March 2016. Recipient, donor, and transplant-specific characteristics were compared between patients receiving either device. Unadjusted survival was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Risk-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to determine the independent impact of device selection on mortality. Results Three thousand three hundred fifty-six patients who received the HMII and 1,051 patients who received the HVAD met inclusion criteria. Patients who received the HMII had a longer mean duration of VAD support (HMII, 429 days versus HVAD, 314 days; p Conclusions Among patients who received a BTT LVAD and then received a heart transplant, no survival differences were seen between patients initially implanted with an HVAD versus an HMII.
A photometric study of the peculiar and potentially double ringed, non-barred galaxy: PGC 1000714

We present a photometric study of PGC 1000714, a galaxy resembling Hoag's Object with a complete detached outer ring, that has not yet been described in the literature. Since the Hoag-type galaxies are extremely rare and peculiar systems, it is necessary to increase the sample of known objects by performing the detailed studies on the possible candidates to derive conclusions about their nature, evolution, and systematic properties. We therefore performed surface photometry of the central body by using the archival near-UV, infrared data and the new optical data (BVRI). This current work has revealed for the first time an elliptical galaxy with two fairly round rings. The central body follows well a r^(1/4) light profile, with no sign of a bar or stellar disc. By reconstructing the observed spectral energy distribution, we recover the stellar population properties of the central body and the outer ring. Our work suggests different formation histories for the galaxy components. Possible origins of the galaxy are discussed, and we conclude that a recent accretion event is the most plausible scenario that accounts for the observational characteristic of PGC 1000714.
Inhibition of Cytokine Receptor gp130 Signaling in Breast Cancer Cells Markedly Suppresses Secretion of Tissue Factor-Expressing Tumor Microparticles.

Abstract gp130 is the common signaling receptor subunit for the IL-6 family of cytokines. We have previously shown that expression of a dominant negative (DN) gp130 inhibitory protein in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells decreased tumor invasion and angiogenesis in an orthotopic animal model (Cancer Research 64:6924, 2004). In order to better understand the molecular mechanisms of this decreased malignancy, we determined global MDA-MB-231 gene expression in the presence of DN gp130. RNA was obtained from multiple independent single cell clones of MDA-MB-231 cells expressing either DN gp130 (n=5) or vector-only (n=5). Each clone was studied using Affymetrix U133A chips containing >22,000 genes. We identified 237 genes that were up- or down-regulated in the presence of DN gp130 at least 2-fold with p
Sexual networks and infection transmission networks among men who have sex with men as causes of disparity and targets of prevention.

HIV and other STIs spread via people's sexual connections across time and space. Transmission speed and trajectory through a population may be hastened or hindered by features of the underlying sexual network itself and the individuals who compose the network. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by STI.1 ,2 This disparity may be partly explained by three related concepts: (1) MSM networks are composed of individuals with higher behavioural risks (composition effects); (2) MSM network geometry predisposes MSM networks to higher levels of infection (network geometry) and (3) MSM demographic mixing patterns facilitate STI spread between groups (network topology). Here, we describe these three unique aspects of MSM networks and examine MSM sexual networks through a lens focused on two modern aspects of sexual partner recruitment—meeting partners during travel and through the internet and cellphone-based applications. MSM may have worse network-level infection outcomes (ie, endemic prevalence, probability of epidemic takeoff) simply because MSM networks are composed of individuals with riskier individual-level risk factors. While numerous studies have described MSM sexual risk behaviour in isolation, the literature making direct comparisons of behaviour between MSM and exclusively heterosexual men is more limited. In two population-based surveys making this direct comparison, MSM had more recent sexual partners,2 ,3 more concurrent sexual partnerships2 and more condomless sex with two or more partners in the past year2 than heterosexual men. Network transitivity relates to the proportion of closed triadic loops in a given network—in other words, how often are an individual's sex partners also sex partners with each other, thus forming a closed loop.4 This arrangement is impossible in exclusively …
Immunoregulation in multiple sclerosis.

Publisher Summary The loss of suppressor cells with disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) cannot itself explain the specificity of white matter injury. An entire subset of regulatory T-cells is decreased, representing thousands of clones, each with a unique idiotype and clonally restricted specificity. If T-cell subset changes play a primary role in the pathogenesis of MS, one possible explanation for the specificity of injury is that the loss of suppressor influence on the immune system allows previously primed cells that have specificity for CNS white matter to escape immune regulation, migrate to the CNS, and cause injury. The specific immune mechanisms that are activated following a loss of T-suppressor cells may be determined by a combination of prior environmental exposure and an individual's immune response genes. This may explain why a loss of suppressor cells might result in MS in some people and lupus in others.
Sulfated polysaccharides inhibit leukocyte rolling in rabbit mesentery venules.

Before firm adhesion, leukocytes roll slowly along the walls of small venules at velocities ranging from 0.7 to 36% of mean blood flow velocity. To investigate the nature of the adhesive process un...
Safety of mTOR inhibitor continuation in pediatric heart transplant recipients undergoing surgical procedures.

mTOR inhibitors have been associated with SWC when used in the perioperative period. Limited literature is available to guide providers in managing chronic mTOR inhibitor use in the perioperative period, especially in the pediatric setting. The primary aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of SWC with mTOR inhibitor continuation during the perioperative period for major surgeries. Heart transplant recipients ≤25 years old at the time of primary heart transplant receiving sirolimus maintenance therapy during a surgical procedure and within the study period were included. Surgeries identified within the study period included otolaryngology procedures (46.2%), such as tonsillectomies with or without adenoidectomies, cardiac surgeries (30.8%) including a sternal revision, pulmonary vein repair, and pacemaker placement in two patients, orthopedic surgeries (15.4%) including a posterior spinal fusion and an Achilles tendon lengthening with ankle and subtalar joint release, and a neurosurgery (7.7%), which was a ventriculoperitoneal shunt revision. Thirteen surgical encounters were examined. One SWC was observed, an infected pacemaker requiring systemic antibiotics and removal of the device. The results of this study suggest that sirolimus may be continued in the perioperative period based on the low rate of SWC observed.
Immunological aspects of cation transport in sheep red cells.

The possibility that membrane surface antigens are structurally related to or part of membrane constituents participating in transport of ions or substrates across membranes invites the use of antibodies against these antigens to investigate the molecular basis of membrane transport processes. Table 1 summarizes some of the uses of immunological techniques in such investigations.
Benchmarking Deep Learning Frameworks with FPGA-suitable Models on a Traffic Sign Dataset

We benchmark several widely used deep-learning frameworks for performing deep-learning-related automotive tasks (e.g., traffic sign recognition) that need to achieve realtime and high accuracy results with limited resources available on embedded platforms such as FPGAs. In our benchmarks, we use various input image sizes on models that are suitable for FPGA deployment, and investigate the training speed and inference accuracy of selected frameworks for these different sizes on a popular traffic sign recognition dataset. We report results by running the frameworks solely on the CPU as well as by turning on GPU acceleration. We also provide optimizations we apply to fine-tune the performance of the frameworks. We discover that Neon and MXNet deliver the best training speed and inference accuracy in general for all our test cases, while Tensorflow is always among the frameworks with the highest inference accuracies. We also observe that on the particular dataset we tested on (i.e., GTSRB), the image size of the region of interest does not necessarily affect the inference accuracy, and that using deep models, e.g., ResNet-32, which have longer training times, might not provide improvements to inference accuracy.
Tick-borne disease risk in a forest food web.

Changes to the community ecology of hosts for zoonotic pathogens, particularly rodents, are likely to influence the emergence and prevalence of zoonotic diseases worldwide. However, the complex interactions between abiotic factors, pathogens, vectors, hosts, and both food resources and predators of hosts are difficult to disentangle. Here we (1) use 19 yr of data from six large field plots in southeastern New York to compare the effects of hypothesized drivers of interannual variation in Lyme disease risk, including the abundance of acorns, rodents, and deer, as well as a series of climate variables; and (2) employ landscape epidemiology to explore how variation in predator community structure and forest cover influences spatial variation in the infection prevalence of ticks for the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, and two other important tick-borne pathogens, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti. Acorn-driven increases in the abundance of mice were correlated with a lagged increase in the abundance of questing nymph-stage Ixodes scapularis ticks infected with Lyme disease bacteria. Abundance of white-tailed deer 2 yr prior also correlated with increased density of infected nymphal ticks, although the effect was weak. Density of rodents in the current year was a strong negative predictor of nymph density, apparently because high current abundance of these hosts can remove nymphs from the host-seeking population. Warm, dry spring or winter weather was associated with reduced density of infected nymphs. At the landscape scale, the presence of functionally diverse predator communities or of bobcats, the only obligate carnivore, was associated with reduced infection prevalence of I. scapularis nymphs with all three zoonotic pathogens. In the case of Lyme disease, infection prevalence increased where coyotes were present but smaller predators were displaced or otherwise absent. For all pathogens, infection prevalence was lowest when forest cover within a 1 km radius was high. Taken together, our results suggest that a food web perspective including bottom-up and top-down forcing is needed to understand drivers of tick-borne disease risk, a result that may also apply to other rodent-borne zoonoses. Prevention of exposure based on ecological indicators of heightened risk should help protect public health.
Effect of iodide-deficiency on rat mammary gland

When rats are kept iodide-deficient, atrophy and necrosis takes place in the mammary gland and areas of dysplasia and atypia are seen. Administration of estradiol to iodide-deficient rats stimulates cell division in the gland and leads to the formation of alveoli. Continued stimulation by estradiol produces changes in the newly-formed alveolar cells. Their nucleoli are altered and show a separation of components. Ribosomes and lipid droplets increase and the cells synthesize large vacuoles containing protein. The secretion of great quantities of this material into areas of the tissue where regressive changes have occurred undoubtedly contributes to the formation of cysts within the gland. The present findings indicate that iodide-deficiency alters the structure and function of mammary gland alveolar cells and makes them highly sensitive to stimulation by estradiol.
AIDS: meeting the needs through therapeutic recreation.

As the number of people with AIDS (PWA) continue to increase, so will the demand for therapeutic recreation professionals to design specific programs to meet these needs. After reviewing the epidemiology, transmission and spectrum of HIV infection the author describes the objectives, programs and activities of a therapeutic recreation program for PW A's sponsored by the Gay Men's Health Crisis. Marketing strategies and program plans for three core activities are highlighted: stress reduction, nutrition and volunteering.
Graves’ Disease with Ophthalmopathy Following Radiotherapy for Hodgkin’s Disease

ABSTRACT The number of patients achieving long-term survival following neck irradiation for Hodgkin’s disease and other malignancies is increasing. Paralleling this increase in survivors is the development of late complications of the therapy itself. Eleven patients have previously been reported who developed Graves’ ophthalmopathy 18 months to seven years after receiving neck radiotherapy for nonthyroidal malignancies. The seven patients who had HLA typing were all HLA-B8 negative, despite the reported association of the HLA-B8 antigen with Graves’ disease. A patient who is HLA-B8 positive who developed Graves’ ophthalmopathy and hyperthyroidism nine years after receiving mantle radiotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease is reported. It is recommended that Graves’ disease be included among the thyroid diseases that receive consideration during follow-up of patients who have received mantle radiotherapy.
Neovascularization grading methods in a rat model of retinopathy of prematurity.

PURPOSE. The method of counting cell nuclei above the internal limiting membrane in histologic sections is considered the standard when quantifying neovascularization (NV) in rodent oxygeninduced retinopathy (OIR). An alternative, more rapid method of counting clock hours in flatmounted adenosine diphosphatase (ADPase)‐stained rat retinas is analogous to clinically scoring retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). In the present study, the validity of counting clock hours was evaluated by a direct comparison of these techniques. The intereye correlation of NV score and retinal vascular area were also studied. METHODS. Newborn Sprague‐Dawley rats were exposed to cycles of O2 (80 ‐10%) for 7 days, followed by 5 days of room air recovery. Preretinal NV was quantified by three masked observers counting clock hours in flatmounted ADPase-stained retinas of both eyes. Retinal vascular and total retinal areas were calculated using computer-assisted analysis. Representative retinas that had been scored positive (n 5 10) and negative (n 5 3) for NV and room air control retinas (n 5 3) were embedded in paraffin. Each entire peripheral retinal quadrant was serially sectioned at 6 mm and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Nuclei above the internal limiting membrane were then counted in a masked manner. The total number of nuclei counted per retina was defined as the nucleus count (704 ‐938 sections per retina; 12,900 sections). Correlations were evaluated using Spearman rank coefficients. RESULTS. The nucleus count was 0 to 44 in room air control retinas, 0 to 40 in negative OIR retinas, and 250 to 5634 in positive OIR retinas. The nucleus count was highly correlated with the clock hour score (rs 5 0.95, P 5 0.0001). For the paired retinas, there was a significant correlation between right and left eyes in the severity of NV (clock hours; rs 5 0.76, P 5 0.0001) and the ratio of retinal vascular area to total retinal area (rs 5 0.81, P 5 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS. The more rapid method of counting clock hours in flatmounted ADPase-stained retinas is valid for quantifying NV in rat models of ROP. Incidence and severity of NV and vascularized areas were similar between left and right eyes, which permits the use of paired retinas for complementary research techniques. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2000;41:887‐ 891)
An investor sentiment reward-based trading system using Gaussian inverse reinforcement learning algorithm

Abstract Investor sentiment has been shown as an important factor that influences market returns, and a number of profitable trading systems have been proposed by taking advantage of investor sentiment signals. In this paper, we aim to design an investor sentiment reward-based trading system using Gaussian inverse reinforcement learning method. Our hypothesis is that while markets interact with investor’s sentiment, there exists an intrinsic mapping between investor’s sentiment and market conditions revealing future market directions. We propose an investor sentiment reward based trading system aimed at extracting only signals that generate either negative or positive market responses. Such a reward extraction mechanism is based not only on market returns but also market volatility representing a succinct and robust feature space. The back-test results show that the proposed sentiment reward-based trading system is superior to various benchmark strategies on S&P 500 index and market-based ETFs as well as few other existing news sentiment-based trading signals. Moreover, we find that sentiment reward trading system is much more effective in a volatile market, but it is sensitive to transaction costs.
Relationship of Cigarette Smoking and Alcohol Consumption to Incidence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in a Prospective Cohort Study of Black Women.

Objective Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects black women more frequently than other racial/gender groups. In past studies, largely consisting of white and Asian cohorts, cigarette smoking was associated with increased SLE risk, and moderate alcohol consumption was associated with decreased SLE risk. The aim of this study was to assess associations of smoking and alcohol consumption with the risk of incident SLE among black women, using data from a long-term, prospective, follow-up study. Methods The Black Women's Health Study enrolled 59,000 black women in 1995 and collected data on demographics, health status, and medical and lifestyle variables. Follow-up questionnaires that were given every 2 years identified incident disease and updated risk factors. Cases of incident SLE that met the American College of Rheumatology revised criteria for SLE as updated in 1997 were confirmed through medical record review. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for associations of cigarette smoking and alcohol intake with incidence of SLE. Results A total of 127 incident SLE cases from 1995 to 2015 (mean age 43 years at diagnosis) were confirmed. Compared to never smokers, the risk of SLE among ever smokers was elevated, but not significantly (HR 1.45 [95% CI 0.97-2.18]). Risk was similar for current and past smoking and increased nonsignificantly with increasing pack-years. The HR was 0.71 (95% CI 0.45-1.12) for current drinking relative to never drinking, with a HR of 0.43 (95% CI 0.19-0.96) for ≥4 drinks/week. Conclusion Findings from this large study of SLE risk among black women are consistent with previous results from studies in other populations of increased risk of SLE associated with cigarette smoking and decreased risk with moderate alcohol consumption.
Influence of Microbubble Size and Pulse Amplitude on Hepatocyte Injury Induced by Contrast-Enhanced Diagnostic Ultrasound.

Abstract Recent research has found that contrast-enhanced diagnostic ultrasound (CEDUS) has the potential to induce localized injury in the liver, with clearly observable effects for contrast agent doses higher than the recommended dose and maximal mechanical index values. This study was undertaken to assess effects with intermittent exposure at lower contrast doses of infusion and at reduced output to determine thresholds. In addition, microbubble (MB) suspensions with enhanced content of larger MBs were tested. Exposure from a phased array probe (GE Vivid 7 Dimension, GE Vingmed Ultrasound, Horten, Norway) was applied at 1.6 MHz and 1-s intermittent frame trigger for 10 min with infusion of MB suspension with normal (1.8 µm), medium (3.1 µm) and large (5.3 µm) mean MB diameters. The bio-effect endpoint was the count of hepatocytes stained with Evans blue dye in frozen sections. For the normal MBs, the count increased for clinically relevant infusion dosages, but leveled off above 20 µL/kg/min. The evidence of injury declined with time from 30 min to 4 h and was lacking at 24 h. The exposure thresholds in terms of peak rarefactional pressure amplitude, divided by the square root of frequency (in situ mechanical index) were 1.7, 1.3 and 1.2 for the normal-, medium- and large-sized MB suspensions. The enhanced efficacy for larger MBs lends support to the two-criterion model for cavitational microvascular injury during CEDUS. Overall, CEDUS in liver appears to have markedly less potential for induction of tissue injury than has been reported in other tissues, which indicates a satisfactory safety profile for CEDUS using recommended parameters in normal liver.
Diagnosis of Open-Phase Faults for a Five-Phase PMSM Fed by Closed-Loop Controlled Drives Using a Pendulous Oscillation Phenomenon

This paper introduces an on-line open-phase fault diagnostic approach for five-phase permanent-magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) fed by closed-loop vector-controlled drives. Based on the concept of magnetic field pendulous oscillation (MFPO) phenomenon, typical operating characteristics under various faulty conditions are investigated for the PMSM drive system, including single-phase open fault, two-adjacent phase open fault, and two-nonadjacent phase open fault, respectively. Moreover, to reduce the implementation cost of the developed diagnostic method, a phase-locked loop (PLL) technique is adopted to overcome the fault masking difficulties associated with the compensation action of the closed-loop drives. In addition, original theoretical derivation of the proposed fault diagnostic technique is presented. This approach can effectively detect and identify various types of open-phase faults, as well as help localize the faulty phase.
Improved Crash Simulation of Impact-Loaded Interior Plastic Parts

Occupant safety is one of the most important considerations in the development of motor vehicles. In order to be able to fulfil the increased requirements in view of shorter cycle times and rising cost pressure, car manufacturers are intensifying the use of virtual development tools. An overview of the basic challenges in crash simulations of thermoplastics and an illustration of the advantages of an advanced simulation approach examined at the Ford Motor Company are presented.
A comparative analysis of rural and urban MSM depressive symptomology: the mediating effects of loneliness

Given the dearth of research exploring mental health differences between rural and urban men who have sex with men (MSM), we sought to examine differences in depressive symptomology and loneliness....
Optogenetic activation of short neuropeptide F (sNPF) neurons induces sleep in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract Sleep abnormalities have widespread and costly public health consequences, yet we have only a rudimentary understanding of the events occurring at the cellular level in the brain that regulate sleep. Several key signaling molecules that regulate sleep across taxa come from the family of neuropeptide transmitters. For example, in Drosophila melanogaster, the neuropeptide Y (NPY)-related transmitter short neuropeptide F (sNPF) appears to promote sleep. In this study, we utilized optogenetic activation of neuronal populations expressing sNPF to determine the causal effects of precisely timed activity in these cells on sleep behavior. Combining sNPF-GAL4 and UAS-Chrimson transgenes allowed us to activate sNPF neurons using red light. We found that activating sNPF neurons for as little as 3 s at a time of day when most flies were awake caused a rapid transition to sleep that persisted for another 2+ hours following the stimulation. Changing the timing of red light stimulation to times of day when flies were already asleep caused the control flies to wake up (due to the pulse of light), but the flies in which sNPF neurons were activated stayed asleep through the light pulse, and then showed further increases in sleep at later points when they would have normally been waking up. Video recording of individual fly responses to short-term (0.5–20 s) activation of sNPF neurons demonstrated a clear light duration-dependent decrease in movement during the subsequent 4-min period. These results provide supportive evidence that sNPF-producing neurons promote long-lasting increases in sleep, and show for the first time that even brief periods of activation of these neurons can cause changes in behavior that persist after cessation of activation. We have also presented evidence that sNPF neuron activation produces a homeostatic sleep drive that can be dissipated at times long after the neurons were stimulated. Future studies will determine the specific roles of sub-populations of sNPF-producing neurons, and will also assess how sNPF neurons act in concert with other neuronal circuits to control sleep.
L’Algérie et sa représentation parlementaire, 1848–1962: by Jacques Binoche, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2018, 204 pp., €20.50 (softcover), ISBN 978-2-343-15252-3

Professor Jacques Binoche presents a concise historical survey of Algerian colonial parliamentarians dating from Algeria’s administrative integration with France (1848) until its independence (1962...
Parental Perceptions of Year-Round School Environments

Year-round school is the organization of days within a school calendar year to provide students with regular breaks and instructional blocks. This study surveyed 502 parents to identify factors inf...
Pallid sturgeon seasonal habitat selection in a large free‐flowing river, the lower Mississippi River

Pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus (Forbes & Richardson, 1905, Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, 1905, 7, 37) are an endangered riverine sturgeon native to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and declining numbers have been attributed to multiple stressors, including habitat loss and alteration. The lower Mississippi River provides a useful context to assess pallid sturgeon habitat selection because, although altered for flood control and navigation, it provides a free‐flowing system with a diversity of habitats and a minimally altered hydrograph. A discrete choice model of data collected year‐round from two reaches for 3–5 years revealed changes in habitat selection across water temperatures and river stages representative of seasonal variation in habitat for 116 telemetry‐tagged pallid sturgeon. Natural bank, island tip, and secondary channel were positively selected and main channel, although frequently used, was avoided. The degree of selection varied among river stages, water temperatures, and reaches. Habitat selection appears to be strongly influenced by preference for locations with moderate depth (median 11.7 m; lower and upper quartiles 8.1 m and 16.3 m) and moderate current velocity (median 0.9 m/s; lower and upper quartiles 0.7 m/s and 1.2 m/s).
Iminodiacetic Acid as a Novel Metal-Binding Pharmacophore for New Delhi Metallo-β-lactamase Inhibitor Development.

The fungal natural product aspergillomarasmine A (AMA) has been identified as a noncompetitive inhibitor of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) that inhibits by removing ZnII from the active-site. The nonselective metal-chelating properties and difficult synthesis and derivatization of AMA have hindered the development of this scaffold into a potent and selective inhibitor of NDM-1. Iminodiacetic acid (IDA) has been identified as the metal-binding pharmacophore (MBP) core of AMA that can be leveraged for inhibitor development. Herein, we report the use of IDA for fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) of NDM-1 inhibitors. IDA (IC50 =120 μM) was developed into inhibitor 23 f (IC50 =8.6 μM, Ki =2.6 μM), which formed a ternary complex with NDM-1, as evidenced by protein thermal-shift and native-state electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) experiments. Combining mechanistic analysis with inhibitor derivatization, the use of IDA as an alternative AMA scaffold for NDM-1 inhibitor development is detailed.
Curiosity Journalism, or the First Decades of Newsgames:

As a veteran developer of newsgames and a coauthor of the book Newsgames: Journalism at Play, I revisits the origins, past promise, and current reality of the form. Like many other interventions in...
Crowdsourcing Virtual Reality Experiments using VRChat

Research involving Virtual Reality (VR) headsets is becoming more and more popular. However, scaling VR experiments is challenging as researchers are often limited to using one or a small number of headsets for in-lab studies. One general way to scale experiments is through crowdsourcing so as to have access to a large pool of diverse participants with relatively little expense of time and money. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to crowdsource VR experiments. We demonstrate that it is possible to implement and run crowdsourced VR experiments using a pre-existing massively multiplayer online VR social platform - VRChat. Our small (n=10) demonstration experiment required participants to navigate a maze in VR. Participants searched for two targets then returned to the exit while we captured completion time and position over time. While there are some limitations with using VRChat, overall we have demonstrated a promising approach for running crowdsourced VR experiments.
Automated Discovery of Network Cameras in Heterogeneous Web Pages

Reduction in the cost of Network Cameras along with a rise in connectivity enables entities all around the world to deploy vast arrays of camera networks. Network cameras offer real-time visual data that can be used for studying traffic patterns, emergency response, security, and other applications. Although many sources of Network Camera data are available, collecting the data remains difficult due to variations in programming interface and website structures. Previous solutions rely on manually parsing the target website, taking many hours to complete. We create a general and automated solution for aggregating Network Camera data spread across thousands of uniquely structured web pages. We analyze heterogeneous web page structures and identify common characteristics among 73 sample Network Camera websites (each website has multiple web pages). These characteristics are then used to build an automated camera discovery module that crawls and aggregates Network Camera data. Our system successfully extracts 57,364 Network Cameras from 237,257 unique web pages.
Sinusitis as a cause of Insidious headache in a pregnant woman: A case report:

BackgroundThe incidence of headaches during pregnancy is 35%. Although ruling out pre-eclampsia as a possible cause for headache is important in the pregnant population, acute sinusitis should rema...
Responsiveness of Inhaled Epoprostenol in Respiratory Failure due to COVID-19.

Background:Inhaled pulmonary vasodilators are used as adjunctive therapies for the treatment of refractory hypoxemia. Available evidence suggest they improve oxygenation in a subset of patients wit...
Autonomous drone charging stations: A survey

In modern and rapidly evolving society, as you drones are not only a means of entertainment but also a tool that we use in a variety of applications, such as precision farming, aerial photography and video, mapping, parcel transportations, search and rescue and in many other applications. In order for these applications to be successful, drones must constantly evolve, in terms of the autonomy of their flights, but also in the management of the energy they consume, in order to be able to travel long distances. Electric drones mostly use lithium polymer batteries (LiPo) for their power supply and their flight time depends on their battery capacity and is directly affected by its weight and ranges from 5 to 45 minutes with a full charge of its batteries. According to these time constraints the distances at which a drone can operate autonomously is narrow. In recent years, scientists, research teams and universities have developed drone charging systems that do not require human intervention. This paper presents a survey of drone charging stations that can be used in a variety of applications. The survey covers charging stations that use wired and wireless power transfer (WPT) methods, and compares their main elements and features.
Advancements in the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer.

Derived from follicular epithelial cells, differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) accounts for the majority of thyroid malignancies. The threefold increase in DTC incidence over the last three decades ...
Simulation and R&D: Knowing and Making

This chapter of Animating Unpredictable Effects charts the development of the software tools used to create uncanny simulation-based digital animations, drawing a genealogy that starts with nineteenth century mathematics, which were transformed into management and prediction tools by private and military R&D between the 1940s and 1980s. Through this, the chapter identifies a connection between these animation tools and simulation tools used in fields as diverse as meteorology, nuclear physics, and aeronautics that create unpredictability through stochastic or dynamic simulation. Using this information, the chapter offers a theoretical framework for understanding how fictional simulations in animation and visual effects make meaning through “knowing how” as opposed to cinema’s tradition approach of “knowing that,” leveraging concepts from the history of science.
Joint VSWIR-TIR retrievals of earth's surface and atmosphere

Abstract Remote spectroscopy of terrestrial ecosystems generally falls into one of two categories: UV, Visible and ShortWave InfraRed (VSWIR) methods measuring reflected solar illumination, and Thermal InfraRed (TIR) methods measuring radiation emitted from the Earth's surface. Both interpret the measured radiance with inversion algorithms that estimate surface reflectance, emissivity, surface temperatures, and the atmospheric state. However, the two regimes have traditionally used independent inversion methods. Here we present the first simultaneous inversion of the upwelling radiance spectrum from the UV through the VSWIR and the Thermal Infrared. Maximum A Posteriori estimation determines the surface and atmosphere state that is most consistent with measured radiance across the entire range. We find that the complementary information in the two intervals improves estimates of atmospheric properties, surface emissivity, and surface temperature. Posterior uncertainty is 40% lower in surface temperature and 60% in air temperature. Spurious correlations between atmospheric and surface state are also reduced, with 90% lower correlated uncertainty between total column water vapor and both surface and air temperature. Temperature-emissivity separation also improves, with a 33% reduction in correlated posterior uncertainty between the parameters. We demonstrate the method on coincident data from the Classic Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-C) operating in the VSWIR range, and the Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) in the TIR range, during flights on NASA's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft. Measurements spanning 0.4 to 12 microns can improve estimates of surface and atmospheric properties, significantly advancing studies in terrestrial ecosystems, geology, agriculture, and urban management.
The Dynamics of the Contemporary Law School Classroom: Looking at Laptops Through a Learning Style Lens

The Millennial Generation is at ease with modern technology and with juggling multiple tasks. Many of them, however, come to law school less prepared in other ways for the rigor of legal education. Their learning styles, visual orientation, short attention spans, and previous learning experiences make them less suited for the focused and reflective thinking that are critical to learning legal analysis and linear reasoning. Research strongly suggests that some learning styles are more compatible than others with the discipline of analytical thinking and the demands of legal education. Students with learning styles less compatible with law school expectations face significant challenges even under the best of circumstances. This article suggests that the use of laptops in the classroom may exacerbate the challenges these students already face.The article addresses the laptop issue in the context of learning styles and the dynamics of the learning process. It briefly discusses the history of the laptop issue, traces a significant body of research over the last several decades documenting the distracting effect of laptops even when used in connection with classroom activities, and presents the results of the author's experimentation with a no-laptop policy in his first-year Property course. The author does not suggest removing laptops from the law school experience entirely, but recommends that professors of first-year doctrinal courses consider the adoption of a no-laptop policy for their classes.
The interaction of polypeptide components of human high density serum lipoprotein with detergents.

Abstract The cationic detergent tetradecyltrimethylammonium ion interacts with four binding sites on the surface of AI polypeptide from human serum high density lipoprotein and 10 sites on the AII polypeptide with association constants of 2 x 104 and 1 x 104 liters per mole, respectively. The sites on AI appear to be primarily hydrophobic in that the anionic detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate binds to the same number of sites with the same association constant as the cationic amphiphile. Cooperative binding and a concomitant protein conformational change at higher free concentrations of ligand (g 10-4m) are observed for both AI and AII with these two detergents as well as with deoxycholate. It is suggested that this altered protein state may differ from those observed for water-soluble proteins in high concentrations of tetradecyltrimethylammonium ion or dodecyl sulfate.