cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new species of big-headed, fanged dicroglossine frog (Genus Limnonectes ) from Thailand

A new species of the dicroglossine genus Limnonectes from eastern Thailand and its tadpole are described. Analysis of DNA sequence data from 2518 base-pairs of the mitochondrial 12S and 16S gene regions places the species within the complex of frogs currently referred to as Limnonectes kuhlii and demonstrates it to be a separate lineage (>18% sequence divergence from type-material of L. kuhlii from Java). The new species differs from L. kuhlii by having nuptial pads, a greater snout–vent length, and different relative finger lengths than specimens from Java. It has more extensive toe webbing, a different arrangement of nuptial pads, and a greater snout–vent length than Limnonectes laticeps. The new species, which lacks vocal slits, also can be distinguished from the morphologically similar Limnonectes namiyei from Japan, which possesses vocal slits.
Variations in bone mineral properties with age and disease.

The mineral component of bone has two primary functions – mechanical and homeostatic. Bone apatite crystals reinforce the collagenous matrix giving it strength and rigidity, while also serving as a storage repository for Ca, Mg, and inorganic phosphate ions. To serve these purposes, these bone mineral crystals have a relatively narrow range of sizes (~100 A), however these sizes, and the properties of the mineral in general, differ with tissue site as well as with age in health and disease. The mineral properties that vary include mineral composition, crystallite size and perfection, and crystallite orientation. Recent evidence 1 suggests that while bone mineral density (BMD) is correlated with bone strength and fracture risk 2 , it is not a sufficient predictor of whole bone mechanical properties. Currey suggested a series of equations relating measures of bone strength to parameters including geometry, architecture, and mineral content 3 . Similar components were found to contribute to both cortical and cancellous bone strength 4 . The equations were not perfect predictors of bone strength, and an additional unidentified term had to be added. Here, I would like to suggest that not only the amount of mineral, but also the properties of the mineral, as defined above, must be considered as factors contributing to bone mechanical strength. These properties, also referred to as bone quality 5 are generally referred to as intrinsic bone material properties. One example of how crystal properties can alter bone strength can be seen in the brittle bones of animals and people with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). In OI not only is the matrix defective, but the crystals are abnormally small, have abnormal compositions, and may be found outside the collagen matrix 6 . To validate the hypothesis that mineral properties as well as mineral content affect bone mechanical properties it will be critical to know both the mineral and mechanical properties of bones in health and disease. In this presentation I will review the methods for determining mineral crystal properties, selecting a few examples from studies of man and animals, discuss the limitations of these methods, and indicate how they support the hypothesis that bone mineral crystal properties are important contributors to bone mechanical strength. Methods for determining bone mineral crystal size and perfection and orientation have different spatial resolution and requirements for sample preparation. The “gold standard” is wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD requires tissue homogenization, hence the spatial resolution is moot, however XRD shows the only mineral phase in bone is a poorly crystalline apatite whose particle size and perfection (crystallinity) increases with tissue and individual age throughout most of life 7 . Diffraction with synchrotron radiation provides similar information but, by contrast, has a spatial resolution of ~ 7 Im, and shows the mineral crystals adjacent to the Haversian canal are less crystalline than those distant from the canal 8 . Small angle X-ray scattering
Behavior of Bottom Injection Bubbles in Liquid Under Elevated Pressures

The influences of vessel pressure,nozzle diameter and gas flowrate on bubble 's behavior,diameter and rising velocity were investigated through physical experiment. The results showed that the bubbles from larger diameter nozzle showflat shape and their shapes change obviously during their up-rising process under atmosphere pressure,while the bubbles showovalshaped and their shapes are stable in up-rising process under larger pressure. Gas flowrate has small effect on the bubble's diameter with large diameter nozzle under atmosphere pressure,but it can obviously increase the bubble 's diameter and pressure has little influence on bubble 's diameter from small nozzle. With lowgas flowrate and high pressure,the small bubbles can be obtained from the larger diameter nozzle. The difference of bubble's diameter with different flowrates in injecting gas with the large nozzle is small under 0. 1 ~ 0. 2 MPa pressure,while the difference becomes large when the pressure is increased to 0. 3 ~ 0. 4 MPa. Rising velocity of bubbles decreases with increase in pressure and the influence of pressure on bubble 's rising velocity is more obvious at large gas flowrate. The bubbles from the large nozzles usually have higher rising velocity. Under atmosphere,the gas flowrate has important effect on rising velocity of bubbles,but under pressure up to 0. 4 MPa,the nozzle diameter has more important effect on their velocity.
Does renotropin have a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension

The existence of an organ-specific, circulating renal growth factor, renotropin, has been established through various bioassays. However, renotropin may be more than a growth factor. The pathogenesis of essential hypertension is unknown, although a humoral agent related to renal metabolism is believed to be responsible, at least in part. In parallel with the development of a renotropin assay, we have measured vasomotor and natriuretic serum activities. Our data suggest that renotropin possesses vasomotor and natriuretic properties. Through one or both properties, renotropin may play an important role in essential hypertension. This possibility is strengthened by observations that: a) many methods to produce experimental hypertension involve elevations of renotropin--a reduction of renal mass and/or prevention of compensatory growth; b) high renotropin activity has been demonstrated in genetically hypertensive rats (SHR); and c) sera containing high renotropic activity stimulate contraction of isolated rat aortic rings and influence organic anion and cation transport.
Palytoxin modulates cytosolic pH in human osteoblast-like Saos-2 cells via an interaction with Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase

Palytoxin (PTx) at nanomolar concentrations enhances the permeability of mammalian cell membranes to both Na+ and Ca2+. In basal human osteoblast-like Saos-2 cells, PTx (8 nM) caused a persistent decrease in cytosolic pH (pHi) of about 0.2 units, which required the presence of extracellular Ca2+ (Cae2+) and Na+ (Nae+). We acidified Saos-2 cells by incubation with nigericin to examine the action of PTx in cells with an activated Na+/H+ antiporter. Under these conditions, PTx increased the pHi without requiring Cae2+ or Nae+, and the alkalinization was unaffected by hexamethylene amiloride. We conclude that the PTx-induced rise in pHi did not involve the Na+/H+ antiporter. PTx increased the rate of 86Rb+ efflux. We propose that PTx induced alkalinization in nigericin-acidified cells by collapsing the K+ gradient. Exposure to ouabain had no effect on pHi, but it prevented the actions of PTx on PHi in both basal and nigericin-acidified cells. Ouabain-resistant mutant cells were less sensitive to PTx in extruding 86Rb+ than their ouabain-sensitive parents. We conclude that PTx interacts with the Na(+)-K(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase to regulate pHi in both basal and nigericin-acidified Saos-2 cells.
Narcissus after Aristotle: Love and Ethics in Le Roman de la Rose

Narcissus was always “after Aristotle,” as my chapter title seems unnecessarily to remind us, but the succession was reversed for the Latin Middle Ages, in which Ovid preceded the Philosopher by centuries, at least in terms of textual reception. There are any number of reasons why we might seek to find out what happens to Narcissus – Ovid's Narcissus along with his avatars, the self-reflexive, self-sacrificing protagonists of much love poetry – after Aristotle is fully returned to medieval discourse. Aristotle was, after all, no critic of self-love. In the thirteenth century, both philosophy and poetry grappled with shifting understandings of earthly and divine love, physical and intellectual pleasure, and human happiness. The Aristotelianism that came to dominate scholastic discourse in this period with the full translation and dissemination of most of the philosopher's works into Latin did not leave medieval understandings of love untouched. I concentrate below on the way that Aristotle's ethical writings transformed both poetic and philosophical understandings of love, taking as my focus the Roman de la Rose of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. An examination of thirteenth-century Aristotelianism in this light will allow us to add another facet to our reading of Jean's transformation of Guillaume's Rose , to the poetic legacy of the conjoined text, and also to our understanding of the developing traditions of vernacular love poetry.
Fine tuning II: objections

Introduction Design arguments from fine tuning come in a wide variety of flavors, but they all share some common ingredients. For starters, they all rest on the observation that the dimensionless parameters characterizing the laws of physics are ‘fine-tuned’ for life. Were we to dial in ever-so-slightly different values, so the story goes, we would find ourselves with a vastly different universe inhospitable to the likes of us. This fact of fine tuning cries out “conspiracy!” That’s a fine intuition, but an argument needs to make a rational case for such a claim. The typical fine-tuning argument makes this case in terms of probability or a related measure of how unlikely such a configuration would be given that the parameter values are the product of unintelligent chance. The result is overwhelming confidence in the design hypothesis. Every element of the typical fine-tuning argument has been called into question. Some take issue with the claims of fine tuning themselves, arguing that the laws are not so finely adjusted and thus there is nothing to explain. More mathematically minded objectors have challenged the use of probabilities in those forms of fine-tuning argument that appeal to likelihoods or specified complexity. Finally, there are philosophical objections that take issue with the metaphysics implicit in describing a problem of fine tuning in the first place. In order to see a puzzle, in order to recognize a potential conspiracy, the advocate of fine tuning requires us to adopt a package of metaphysical positions on the nature of physical laws and our knowledge of them. Under a family of Humean views of science, there is no fine-tuning problem. We’ll take up each of these sorts of objections below. In the next chapter, we’ll take a step back and see where our ride through two millennia of design arguments has landed us. The answer suggests that attempting to untangle our intuitions of design may yet have something vital to teach us about the universe, irrespective of the ultimate verdict on design arguments.
DNA Repair Gene Expression Levels as Indicators of Breast Cancer in the Breast Cancer Family Registry.

Aim: The expression level of DNA repair-related genes and their association with breast cancer status among participants of the New York site of the Breast Cancer Family Registry was investigated. Materials and Methods: RNA from mononuclear cells in 194 sister sets (n=475 women) were assayed for ATM, BRCA1, MSH2, MUTYH and XPC gene expression levels and analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results: Individuals with decreased ATM and MSH2 expression had significantly higher odds for breast cancer compared to individuals with higher levels of expression (odds ratio (OR)=1.1, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.02, 1.18) and (OR=1.90, 95% CI=1.21, 2.97), respectively. Upon stratifying the GEE model, reductions in ATM and MSH2 expression levels was heightened among women with an extended family history (FH) of breast cancer. Conclusion: Reduced expression of ATM and MSH2 compromises DNA repair capacity and, thereby, increases breast cancer prevalence.
Selective arterial clamping does not improve outcomes in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy: a propensity-score analysis of patients without impaired renal function.

Objectives To assess the benefit of selective arterial clamping (SAC) as an alternative to main renal artery clamping (MAC) during robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) in patients without underlying chronic kidney disease (CKD). Patients and Methods Our study cohort comprised 665 patients without impaired renal function undergoing MAC (n = 589) or SAC (n = 76) during RAPN from four medical institutions in the period 2008–2015. We compared complication rates, positive surgical margin (PSM) rates, and peri-operative and intermediate-term renal functional outcome between 132 patients undergoing MAC and 66 undergoing SAC after 2-to-1 nearest-neighbour propensity-score matching for age, sex, body mass index, RENAL nephrometry score, tumour size, baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and warm ischaemia time (WIT). Results In propensity-score-matched patients, PSM (5.7 vs 3.0%; P = 0.407) and complication rates (13.8 vs 10.6%; P = 0.727) did not differ between the MAC and SAC groups. The incidence of acute kidney injury for MAC vs SAC (25.0 vs 32.0%; P = 0.315) within the first 30 days was similar. At a median follow-up of 7.5 months, the percentage reduction in eGFR (−9.3 vs −10.4%; P = 0.518) and progression to CKD ≥ stage 3 (7.2 vs 8.5%; P = 0.792) showed no difference. Conclusions Our study findings show no difference in PSM rates, complication rates or intermediate-term renal functional outcomes between patients with unimpaired renal function who underwent SAC vs those who underwent MAC. When expected WIT is low, the routine use of SAC may not be necessary. Further studies will need to determine the role of SAC in patients with a solitary kidney or with significantly impaired renal function.
Student Page: Student Helps Plan Central District Convention

(1971). Student Page: Student Helps Plan Central District Convention. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 79-80.
Translation and pilot testing of a measure to assess hypertension self-care activities among Hispanics.

ABSTRACTObjective: Hispanics in the US have high rates of uncontrolled hypertension in comparison to non-Hispanic whites. This pilot study reports on the translation of a validated measure, the Hypertension Self-Care Activity Level Effects (H-SCALE), for use with Spanish speakers. The H-SCALE assesses Hispanics’ adherence to lifestyle activities that contribute to primary and secondary risk reduction of high blood pressure.Design: Cross-sectional data were collected from Hispanic primary care patients attending a free health clinic in Charlotte, NC. We performed basic psychometric tests and calculated descriptive statistics to assess adherence rates to recommended hypertension self-care behaviors.Results: Participants were primarily female, under age 50 and had a high-school education or less; 48% were from Mexico. Internal consistency of all H-SCALE subscales was acceptable to good. Most participants were non-smokers (80%) and alcohol abstainers (85%). Participants had low adherence to weight management ...
Inelastic final-state interaction

Two-channel final-state interaction problem is exactly solved and applied to the B meson decay.
Voter Psychology and the Carbon Tax

Economists across the political spectrum argue that a carbon tax is the most effective and economically efficient policy for addressing climate change. Voters, however, strongly oppose the carbon tax and instead favor “green” subsidies and command-and-control regulations. If carefully designed, these policies might complement a carbon tax, but by themselves, they will make global warming mitigation incredibly expensive and perhaps even infeasible. Moreover, if poorly designed, subsidies and regulations can be counterproductive. This Article argues that the public dislikes the carbon tax because the tax possesses attributes that make it psychologically unappealing relative to other climate policy instruments. The Article also argues that even if carbon tax proponents eventually persuade voters to accept a carbon tax, voters are biased in favor of particular design features that would make the tax less efficient. The Article discusses ways to overcome the problems that voter psychology creates. These include a communications strategy designed to combat voter bias and the controversial proposition that bureaucrats, who are somewhat insulated from public pressure, might adopt a carbon tax administratively. The Article also contributes to the burgeoning literature on how voter psychology affects the law and public policy.
Addressing the Needs of LGBT Patients.

Negative interactions with the health care system are a major barrier to medical care for women who have sex with women. Clinicians should train office staff about health concerns unique to LGBT communities and the importance of maintaining confidentiality about sexual orientation and identity.
Application of Acoustoelasticity to Evaluate Nonlinear Modulus in Ex Vivo Kidneys

Currently, dynamic elastography techniques estimate the linear elastic shear modulus of different body tissues. New methods that investigate other properties of soft tissues such as anisotropy, viscosity, and shear nonlinearity would provide more information about the structure and function of the tissue and might provide a better contrast than tissue stiffness and hence provide more effective diagnostic tools for some diseases. It has previously been shown that shear wave velocity in a medium changes due to an applied stress, a phenomenon called acoustoelasticity (AE). Applying a stress to compress a medium while measuring the shear wave velocity versus strain provides data with which the third-order nonlinear shear modulus $A$ can be estimated. To evaluate the feasibility of estimating $A$ , we evaluated ten ex vivo porcine kidneys embedded in 10% porcine gelatin to mimic the case of a transplanted kidney. Under assumptions of an elastic incompressible medium for AE measurements, the shear modulus was quantified at each compression level and the applied strain was assessed by measuring the change in the thickness of the kidney cortex. Finally, $A$ was calculated by applying the AE theory. Our results demonstrated that it is possible to estimate a nonlinear shear modulus by monitoring the changes in strain and ${\mu }$ due to kidney deformation. The magnitudes of $A$ are higher when the compression is performed progressively and when using a plate attached to the transducer. Nevertheless, the values obtained for $A$ are similar to those previously reported in the literature for breast tissue.
Motivations and Expectations of Peer Mentors Within Inclusive Higher Education Programs for Students With Intellectual Disability

Although peer mentors play a prominent role in supporting higher education experiences for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), little is known about these college student...
Banach Spaces and Differential Calculus

Manifolds have enough structure to allow differentiation of maps between them. To set the stage for these concepts requires a development of differential calculus in linear spaces from a geometric point of view. The goal of this chapter is to provide this perspective.
The New Realities of the Communications Marketplace

The convergence of digital technologies is quickly and irrevocably redrawing the map of our industry. It also has altered fundamentally the assumptions that underlie the Communications Act of 1934. Sixty years ago, it was reasonable to assume that, because telephone companies were essentially monopolistic in nature, government regulation was needed to act as a surrogate for market forces in assuring universal telephone service and maintaining reasonable prices.
EVOLUTION OF AVIAN OVOMUCOIDS

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the evolution of avian ovomucoids, the preliminary amino acid sequence of Japanese quail, and the composite sequence of the region surrounding the connecting peptide between second and third domains. Limited studies were carried out on the question of whether the three domains in ovomucoids interact or are independent. The results, not yet as quantitative, suggest complete independence. The most important result is that the inhibitory activity of entire ovomucoids is the same as of their separated domains. The chapter presents the partial sequences of ovomucoid domains. The third domains show the truly amazing P1 variability. The one with Lys inhibits trypsin. The ones with Met and Leu typically inhibit bovine chymotrypsin A, porcine chymotrypsin C, Streptomyces griseus proteinases A and B, porcine elastase and subtilisin (except for scaled quail which does not inhibit subtilisin). In addition, duck third domain, but none of the others tested, inhibits a lytic proteinase from Myxobacter.
Cytomegalovirus Infection After Solid Organ Transplantation

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is usually latent and subclinical. In the transplant recipient, immunodeficiency and allograft reactions modify infections such that they become clinically significant. Primary infection and reinfections by CMV largely transmitted by the transplanted organ or tissue may be more symptomatic than reactivation infections. Immunopathology, perhaps influenced by allograft reactions, may further exacerbate the clinical picture, as in the example of CMV pneumonitis in marrow and lung recipients. More precise diagnosis of modalities of infection are essential because effective preventive and therapeutic measures for CMV are within reach.
Structural Variant Breakpoint Detection with novoBreak

Structural variations (SVs) are an important type of genomic variants and always play a critical role for cancer development and progression. In the cancer genomics era, detecting structural variations from short sequencing data is still challenging. We developed a novel algorithm, novoBreak (Chong et al. Nat Methods 14:65-67, 2017), which achieved the highest balanced accuracy (mean of sensitivity and precision) in the ICGC-TCGA DREAM 8.5 Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge. Here we describe detailed instructions of applying novoBreak ( https://github.com/czc/nb_distribution ), an open-source software, for somatic SVs detection. We also briefly introduce how to detect germline SVs using novoBreak pipeline and how to use the Workflow ( https://cgc.sbgenomics.com/public/apps#ZCHONG/novobreak-commit/novobreak-analysis/ ) of novoBreak on the Seven Bridges Cancer Genomics Cloud.
Assessing potential winter weather response to climate change and implications for tourism in the U.S. Great Lakes and Midwest

Abstract Study Region Eight U.S. states bordering the North American Laurentian Great Lakes. Study Focus Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model simulations, based on data from an ensemble of atmospheric-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), were used to quantify potential climate change impacts on winter weather and hydrology in the study region and understand implications for its tourism sector. New Hydrologic Insights for the Region By the 2080s, climate change could result in winters that are shorter by over a month, reductions of over a month in days with snow depths required for many kinds of winter recreation, declines in average holiday snow depths of 50 percent or more, and reductions in the percent area of the study region that would be considered viable for winter tourism from about 22 percent to 0.3 percent. Days with temperatures suitable for artificial snowmaking decline to less than a month annually, making it potentially less feasible as an adaptation strategy. All of the region's current ski resorts are operating in areas that will become non-viable for winter tourism businesses under a high emissions scenario. Given the economic importance of the winter tourism industry in the study region, businesses and communities should consider climate change and potential adaptation strategies in their future planning and overall decision-making.
Novel ImPACT validity indices in collegiate student-athletes with and without histories of ADHD or academic difficulties.

AbstractObjective: Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) assesses neurocognitive functioning in sports-related concussion. Previous work demonstrates ImPACT’s validity...
Hold Your Ground: Threats to Soil Function in Northern Great Plains Grazing Lands

On the Ground • Many soils throughout the northern Great Plains (NGP) of North America possess attributes that support the successful delivery of multiple ecosystem services from grazing lands. • Anticipated changes in climate and land use in the region, however, suggest delivery of these services could be compromised in the future because of an increase in threats to soil function. These threats include soil organic matter decline, reduced physical stability, soil erosion, compaction, localized nutrient accumulation, acidification, and salinization. • Adaptive management to conserve existing soil functions in grazing lands is necessary and includes: 1) judicious management of forage resources, 2) strategic application of management to modify vegetation composition or soil conditions, and 3) use of restoration and conservation practices known to maintain vegetation cover and protect soil. • Management approaches to conserve soil functions in NGP grazing lands will likely require considerable adaptive capacity by land managers. Successful application of management will require timely information about soil and vegetation conditions to guide land-use decisions.
Cyanobacteria-Rich Diet Reduces Growth Rates of the Hyacinth Siltsnail Floridobia floridana (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae)

The freshwater gastropod genus Floridobia comprises 13 species in Florida, 11 of which are endemic to unique freshwater springs. Recent overgrowth of mat-forming filamentous algae and cyanobacteria in Florida spring runs could negatively impact growth, reproduction, and ultimately, the persistence of these native snail species. To determine the effect of nuisance cyanobacteria on siltsnail growth, we fed a cosmopolitan species, Floridobia floridana, diets composed of algae commonly found in Florida springs. Diets consisted of a) the cyanobacteria Lyngbya sp., b) a non-cyanbacteria control consisting of the eukaryotic yellow-green alga Vaucheria sp., and c) a mixture of both species. We predicted snails fed Lyngbya would have reduced growth due to low highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) content. Snails fed Vaucheria were predicted to have an intermediate growth rate, and the highest growth was predicted for the mixed diet because multi-algal diets typically provide superior nutrition for grazers. Snails in all treatments were fed equal carbon content weekly for a period of 15 weeks. At the conclusion of the study, snails fed Lyngbya or Vaucheria had reduced relative growth rates compared to those fed the mixed diet (p = 0.0002). Reduced growth rates most likely resulted from poor nutritional content of Lyngbya, although cyanobacteria cell morphology may have also played a role. Our study suggests that though Vaucheria may provide adequate nutrition, continued increases in the standing crop of cyanobacteria in Florida springs could threaten the persistence of endemic siltsnails. Efforts to preserve the integrity of these springs should therefore focus on limiting cyanobacteria blooms.
Bivariate spatial analysis of temperature and precipitation from general circulation models and observation proxies

Abstract. This study validates the near-surface temperature and precipitation output from decadal runs of eight atmospheric ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) against observational proxy data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis temperatures and Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) precipitation data. We model the joint distribution of these two fields with a parsimonious bivariate Matern spatial covariance model, accounting for the two fields' spatial cross-correlation as well as their own smoothnesses. We fit output from each AOGCM (30-year seasonal averages from 1981 to 2010) to a statistical model on each of 21 land regions. Both variance and smoothness values agree for both fields over all latitude bands except southern mid-latitudes. Our results imply that temperature fields have smaller smoothness coefficients than precipitation fields, while both have decreasing smoothness coefficients with increasing latitude. Models predict fields with smaller smoothness coefficients than observational proxy data for the tropics. The estimated spatial cross-correlations of these two fields, however, are quite different for most GCMs in mid-latitudes. Model correlation estimates agree well with those for observational proxy data for Australia, at high northern latitudes across North America, Europe and Asia, as well as across the Sahara, India, and Southeast Asia, but elsewhere, little consistent agreement exists.
A Novel Model for Advancing Sexual Assault Education and Prevention on Campus.

Teachers of psychology have been called to both educate college students about interpersonal violence (e.g., sexual assault) and use service learning. However, few models exist for how teachers may...
Assessing Health Impacts of Conventional Centralized and Emerging Resource Recovery-Oriented Decentralized Water Systems

Energy shortage and climate change call for sustainable water and wastewater infrastructure capable of simultaneously recovering energy, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting public health. Although energy and greenhouse gas emissions of water and wastewater infrastructure are extensively studied, the human health impacts of innovative infrastructure designed under the principles of decentralization and resource recovery are not fully understood. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study assesses and compares the health impacts of three representative systems by integrating life cycle and microbial risk assessment approaches. This study found that the decentralized system options, such as on-site septic tank and composting or urine diverting toilets, presented much lower life cycle cancer and noncancer impacts than the centralized system. The microbial risks of decentralized systems options were also lower than those of the centralized system. Moreover, life cycle cancer and noncancer impacts contributed to approximately 95% of total health impacts, while microbial risks were associated with the remaining 5%. Additionally, the variability and sensitivity assessment indicated that reducing energy use of wastewater treatment and water distribution is effective in mitigating total health damages of the centralized system, while reducing energy use of water treatment is effective in mitigating total health damages of the decentralized systems.
Is Next-Generation Sequencing Alone Sufficient to Reliably Diagnose Gliomas?

The power and widespread use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in surgical neuropathology has raised questions as to whether NGS might someday fully supplant histologic-based examination. We therefore sought to determine the feasibility of relying on NGS alone for diagnosing infiltrating gliomas. A total of 171 brain lesions in adults, all of which had been analyzed by GlioSeq NGS, comprised the study cohort. Each case was separately diagnosed by 6 reviewers, based solely on age, sex, tumor location, and NGS results. Results were compared with the final integrated diagnoses and scored on the following scale: 0 = either wrong tumor type or correct tumor type but off by 2+ grades; 1 = off by 1 grade; 2 = exactly correct. Histology alone was treated as a seventh reviewer. Overall reviewer accuracy ranged from 81.6% to 94.2%, while histology alone scored 87.1%. For glioblastomas, NGS was more accurate than histology alone (93.8%-97.9% vs 87.5%). The NGS accuracy for grade II and III astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma was only 54.3%-84.8% and 34.4%-87.5%, respectively. Most uncommon gliomas, including BRAF-driven tumors, could not be accurately classified just by NGS. These data indicate that, even in this era of advanced molecular diagnostics, histologic evaluation is still an essential part of optimal patient care.
Autoimmune Connective Tissue Diseases

Autoimmune connective tissue diseases (CTDs), including lupus, dermatomyositis, and others, are dermatological and systemic diseases which can be affected by and can affect pregnancy. There are no consensus guidelines for treating cutaneous CTDs in pregnancy, and many of the CTDs have not been studied in the context of pregnancy due to their rarity. Dermatomyositis tends to stabilize or improve during pregnancy and flare post-partum. Cutaneous lupus can flare during pregnancy, but pre-conception disease control reduces risks in pregnancy. In CTDs, the amount of disease activity mirrors risks to the fetus, with disease control for 6 months prior to conception being an indicator for favorable outcomes.
On the epistemic significance of practical reasons to inquire

In this paper I explore the epistemic significance of practical reasons to inquire. I have in mind the range of practical reasons one might have to do such things as collect (additional) evidence, consult with various sources, employ certain methods or techniques, double-check one’s answer to a question, etc. After expanding the diet of examples in which subjects have such reasons, I appeal to features of these sorts of reason in order to question the motivation for pragmatic encroachment in epistemology. Once we reject pragmatic encroachment, it can seem that we are forced to treat practical reasons to inquire as having no distinctly epistemic significance. This is not so; I conclude by sketching an alternative account of what the epistemic significance of such reasons might be.
The Hot Interstellar Medium of Normal Elliptical Galaxies. II. Morphological Evidence for Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback

We report on the discovery of a new quantitative relationship between X-ray gas morphology and radio and X-ray AGN luminosities in normal elliptical galaxies. This is the second paper in a series using data on 54 objects from the Chandra public archive and builds on the findings of Paper I, which demonstrated that hydrostatic equilibrium in elliptical galaxies holds, at best, only approximately and that the shape of the X-ray isophotes is unrelated to the shape of the gravitational potential. Instead, the gas is almost always asymmetrically disturbed. In this paper we quantify the amount of asymmetry and study its correlation with other galaxy properties. We also determine radio powers and derive X-ray AGN luminosities for our galaxy sample. We find that the amount of asymmetry in the gas is correlated with both measures of AGN activity, in the sense that the hot gas is more disturbed in galaxies with higher radio and X-ray AGN luminosities. We find no evidence that galaxy density has significant effects on gas morphology. We do, however, find evidence for a correlation between gas asymmetry and the presence of hot ambient gas, which we interpret as a signature of hydrodynamic interactions with an external ambient medium. Surprisingly, the AGN-morphology connection persists all the way down to the weakest AGN luminosities in rather X-ray-faint galaxies. This is strong morphological evidence that supports the general importance of AGN feedback, even in normal elliptical galaxies.
Assessing urban ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure: Golf courses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area

Abstract With more than half the world’s population living in urban areas, most of people’s potential to receive ecosystem service benefits occurs in cities. However a straightforward, replicable approach to quantifying multiple urban ecosystem services has yet to emerge, so urban planning decisions often overlook the value nature could provide people. Urbanization is likely to increase development pressure on many forms of green spaces across cities, particularly for golf courses that represent a substantial part of urban areas in the United States. Here, we developed a replicable process to assess how the supply of three urban ecosystem services (urban cooling, stormwater nutrient retention, and pollinator abundance) change with alternative land uses, using golf course development in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota, USA as a case study. We developed a replicable framework to assess changes in urban ecosystem services and found that green infrastructure provided by golf courses provide an intermediate amount of services compared to five other land use options. Combining land cover with land use zoning data to parameterize existing ecosystem service models for urban use is an important advancement. Our study describes how to combine land use with land cover and provides insights for urban planners interested in exploring public consequences of land cover and land use changes in cities. The approach we’ve developed can be applied to land use change scenarios in other cities with comparable data and help integrate the value of nature into urban planning.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the formation of antibodies and immune complexes, which deposit in different organs leading to various clinical presentations. SLE commonly affects women of child-bearing age. Symptoms vary from mild skin or joint involvement to life-threatening organ damage. The disease usually has a relapsing and remitting course and the goal of treatment is disease remission to prevent further organ damage.
Evaluation of Clinical Outcomes After Introduction of a Dedicated Infectious Diseases-Critical Care Medicine Service in Critical Care Units.

Background Infection is a leading cause of admission to intensive care units (ICUs), with critically ill patients often receiving empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics. Nevertheless, a dedicated infectious diseases (ID) consultation and stewardship team is not routinely established. An ID-critical care medicine (ID-CCM) pilot program was designed at a 400-bed tertiary care hospital in which an ID attending was assigned to participate in daily rounds with the ICU team, as well as provide ID consultation on select patients. We sought to evaluate the impact of this dedicated ID program on antibiotic utilization and clinical outcomes in patients admitted to the ICU. Methods In this single-site retrospective study, we analyzed antibiotic utilization and clinical outcomes in patients admitted to an ICU during the postintervention period from January 1 to December 31, 2017, and compared it to antibiotic utilization in the same ICUs during the preintervention period from January 1 to December 31, 2015. Results Our data showed a statistically significant reduction in usage of most frequently prescribed antibiotics including vancomycin, piperacillin-tazobactam, and cefepime during the intervention period. When compared to the preintervention period there was no difference in-hospital mortality, hospital length of stay, and readmission. Conclusions With this multidisciplinary intervention, we saw a decrease in the use of the most frequently prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics without a negative impact on clinical outcomes. Our study shows that the implementation of an ID-CCM service is a feasible way to promote antibiotic stewardship in the ICU and can be used as a strategy to reduce unnecessary patient exposure to broad-spectrum agents.
California's New Student-Athlete Act May Set Off National Tsunami

California passing the Fair Pay to Play Act has forced the NCAA to rethink its amateurism model.
Description of the Family, Vegetative Morphology and Anatomy

Rhizomatous perennials, bisexual or monoecious. Culms herbaceous to somewhat lignified, erect. Leaf blades broad, with pseudopetioles, ligules membranous or a fringe of hairs. Inflorescences branched or unbranched, the floral units subtended by bracts. Perianth green to brown or absent. Stamens 6; style branches and stigmas 3. Pollen monoporate, with an annulus, with channels in the exine, lacking scrobiculi. Ovule 1. Embryo lateral, differentiated with clear root and shoot meristems enclosed by sheaths (coleorhiza and coleoptile), several embryonic leaves, and a lateral haustorial organ (scutellum). Fruit indehiscent, with one seed, the seed coat fused to the inner wall of the pericarp, the hilum linear. Mesophyll with fusoid cells and cells with invaginated cell walls, midrib complex. Epidermis with multicellular microhairs, with alternating long and short cells, the short cells developing silica bodies. Photosynthetic pathway C3.
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF ETHNIC IDENTITY IN FAMILY FUNCTIONING AMONG LOW-INCOME PARENTS

The majority of research on ethnic identity (EI) has highlighted its role in mitigating risks associated with racial discrimination; however, discrimination is only one of many stressors that ethnic minority individuals face. The current study examined the relationships between EI, emotional distress, and the parent–child relationship among ethnically diverse, low-income parents. Results indicated significant associations between EI and emotional distress, and EI and the parent–child relationship for African American parents, but not for their Latino or European American counterparts. Furthermore, when examined separately by gender, stronger EI buffered the impact of economic hardship on emotional distress for African American fathers. The current study provides preliminary evidence that EI plays an important role in the lives of ethnically diverse parents who are facing economic hardship. Methods for embracing and fostering EI may be valuable to incorporate into therapeutic services and strength-based intervention programming, especially when serving low-income African American individuals.
Public social welfare expenditures, fiscal year 1989.

The years from 1965 to 1976 were a period of great expansion in social welfare expenditures under public law. The entry of the Federal Government into the fields of health care and education was responsible for much of the growth in the first part of this period; high inflation produced increased spending in the later years. From 1977 to 1987, the rate of growth in social welfare spending slowed considerably. In fact, since 1983 the dominant characteristic of such expenditures has been their stability. Although the amount of money spent was higher in each year, little change occurred in the relative size or the apportionment of the funds. The 1987 expenditures continued this pattern. The total amount spent, $834.4 billion, represented an increase of 6.6 percent over the previous year. This amount equaled 18.8 percent of the gross national product. In constant dollar terms, the increase from 1986 to 1987 was 1.7 percent. The Federal Government provided 60-62 percent of all social welfare funding from 1980 to 1986. In 1987, this share fell slightly--to 59.9 percent. The programs for social insurance, public aid, veterans, and housing were primarily Federally funded, while education was largely a State and local responsibility. Governments at all levels spent 53.4 percent of their funds for social insurance purposes in 1987, slightly more than in 1986. However, the experience at different levels of government varied considerably. Federal spending increased 2 percent as a percent of all Federal expenditures, while State and local spending decreased about 1 percent.
Effect of Temperature, Relative Humidity, and Suspending Menstrua on the Resistance of Listeria monocytogenes to Drying.

The ability of Listeria monocytogenes to survive dehydrated storage at different temperatures (5 vs. 25°C) and relative humidities (75, 59, 35, 14, and 1%) when suspended in different menstrua was studied. L. monocytogenes survived longer when held at 5°C compared to 25°C, and when suspended in beef extract, glycerol, Karo syrup, skim milk, and canned milk compared to distilled water. The contribution of relative humidity to survival was less clear, though survival tended to be longer at the lower relative humidities. At 5°C when suspended in beef extract and held at relative humidities of 59% and below, there was less than a 2 log10 decline in the viable population (starting count ca. 105/coverslip). L. monocytogenes was not injured during drying or storage at the various relative humidities. In addition, based on the Listeria selective media evaluated, these Listeria media permitted quantitative recovery of the organism dried on surfaces. These results suggested that once L. monocytogenes has contaminated a food processing plant, it can persist for long periods in the plant environment if the temperature is low and the organism is protected by various food components.
Isolation and identification of genes activating UAS2-dependent ADH2 expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Two cis-acting elements have been identified that act synergistically to regulate expression of the glucose-repressed alcohol dehydrogenase 2 (ADH2) gene. UAS1 is bound by the trans-activator Adr1p. UAS2 is thought to be the binding site for an unidentified regulatory protein. A genetic selection based on a UAS2-dependent ADH2 reporter was devised to isolate genes capable of activating UAS2-dependent transcription. One set of UAS2-dependent genes contained SPT6/CRE2/SSN20. Multicopy SPT6 caused improper expression of chromosomal ADH2. A second set of UAS2-dependent clones contained a previously uncharacterized open reading frame designated MEU1 (Multicopy Enhancer of UAS2). A frame shift mutation in MEU1 abolished its ability to activate UAS2-dependent gene expression. Multicopy MEU1 expression suppressed the constitutive ADH2 expression caused by cre2-1. Disruption of MEU1 reduced endogenous ADH2 expression about twofold but had no effect on cell viability or growth. No homologues of MEU1 were identified by low-stringency Southern hybridization of yeast genomic DNA, and no significant homologues were found in the sequence data bases. A MEU1/β-gal fusion protein was not localized to a particular region of the cell. MEU1 is linked to PPR1 on chromosome XII.
The magic of television: Thinking through magical realism in recent TV

After decades in which television has been marked as more banal than bewitching, recalling the "magic of television" is more likely to evoke a sense of wonder for the perceived innocence of an earlier televisual audience than for television itself. With TV offered on demand, captured with DVRs, downloaded or watched streaming on the Web, purchased as DVD sets, miniaturized for private screenings, jumbo-sized for public spectacles, monitored in closed circuits, and accessed for open forums, once-mysterious television flows have flowed to new media forms, giving TV an appearing/disappearing, now-you-see-it/now-you-don't magical act of its own. Has TV disappeared, or has it multiplied—redoubled each time it's sawed in half, replicating like rabbits pulled out of a hat? Is it still TV or something else when programs are screened (as if through a magic curtain) via today's delivery systems?