cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of Inhaled Levalbuterol Compared to Albuterol in Horses with Recurrent Airway Obstruction.

Background The (R)-enantiomer of racemic albuterol (levalbuterol) has bronchodilatory properties whereas the (S)-enantiomer causes adverse effects in human airways, animal models, and isolated equine bronchi. Levalbuterol is commercially available and improves pulmonary function of asthmatic patients with a longer duration of effect than albuterol. Objective To determine the dose at which inhaled levalbuterol produces maximal bronchodilatory effect (EDmax) and determine its duration of action in recurrent airway obstruction (RAO)-affected horses in comparison to racemic albuterol. Animals Nine horses with inducible and reversible RAO. Methods Randomized, crossover trial. Horses were challenged with moldy hay to induce airway obstruction. Horses were treated with nebulized albuterol or levalbuterol chosen randomly. Pulmonary function testing (PFT) was measured before and for up to 3 hours after bronchodilatation challenge. Maximum change in transpulmonary pressure (DPmax) was measured to assess the dose effect and duration of action of each drug. After a 24 hours washout period, the bronchodilatation challenge was repeated with the second bronchodilator. Results The duration of effect was 60 minutes for albuterol and 120 minutes for levalbuterol. The dose of bronchodilator EDmax was not significantly different between albuterol and levalbuterol (EDmax = 125.0 [125–125 μg] and EDmax = 188 [125–188 μg] respectively; P = .068). The magnitude of bronchodilatation was not significantly different between the 2 treatments (61.1 and 59.9% decrease in DPmax for albuterol and levalbuterol respectively; P = .86). Conclusions and clinical importance Levalbuterol is as effective a bronchodilator as albuterol; although levalbuterol lasts twice as long as albuterol, its duration of action is still too short to make it practical for RAO treatment.
In situ phosphorylation of vas deferens tyrosine hydroxylase during hypogastric nerve stimulation

Increased catecholaminergic activity in vivo, following stress or administration of catecholamine receptor blocking agents, is associated with activation of tyrosine hydroxylase (Zivkovic et al. 1974; Lovenberg and Bruckwick, 1975; Masserano and Weiner, 1979). Stimulation of cate-cholaminergic neurons in vitro in various intact tissue preparations, when these tissues are either exposed to elevated potassium concentrations or subjected to field stimulation or stimulation of the nerves innervating the tissue, is also associated with activation of tyrosine hydroxylase (Morgenroth et al. 1974; Weiner et al. 1977, 1978; Weiner, 1979). In most of the reported studies, the activation of tyrosine hydroxylase is attributable to an enhancement of the affinity of the enzyme for pterin cofactor or a reduction in the affinity of the enzyme for end-product inhibitor.
Ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy of energy funneling in the dendrimeric nanostar

A theoretical description of pump-probe, time- and frequency-gated fluorescence and three pulse echo spectroscopies of molecular dendrimers based on the Redfield equations for the density matrix provides insight into their complex excitonic dynamics.
Epilogue — The Diver Requiem ‘“Good-bye, my father — good-bye, all my fathers”’

After the brilliant success and remarkable reception of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald struggled for nearly nine years to complete his next novel. Finally, Tender Is the Night was ready for serialization in Scribner’s Magazine from January to April 1934. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald came to feel that the serialization was a mistake. Although his friends, such as John Peale Bishop and Edmund Wilson, seemed favorably inclined toward the magazine form, Fitzgerald soon made major changes in the book version because he thought the installments ruined the novel’s continuity and fostered a negative critical preconception of it. Thus, as James R. Mellow notes, ‘From the beginning, the critics treated Tender Is the Night as a flawed novel’.1 Aside from concern for technical problems, critics such as Philip Rahv read the novel from the perspective of the radical politics and Marxism of the 1930s, thereby seeing it as a study of the degenerate rich whose lives and loves seemed irrelevant to the great social and economic issues of the depression.2 Accordingly, the novel did not give Fitzgerald the professional or personal boost he desperately needed during this stage of his life. In a relatively brief period of time, many of these readers, most notably Hemingway, came to revise dramatically their opinion of the novel. But praise for the work came too late to be of significant help to Fitzgerald, who ultimately revised the novel so that the world now has two versions of it in addition to the magazine installments.
Endothelial Injury Is Common in Antiphospholipid-Positive Patients but Risk of Thrombosis Depends on Platelet Activation.

Background: The association between antiphospholipids antibodies (APLA) and thrombosis is controversial. Positive APLA are frequently noted in patients without thrombosis. Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain how APLA might induce thrombosis. A leading hypothesis is that platelet activation is central to thrombosis in APLA positive patients, but endothelial injury is also widely proposed. We aimed to evaluate these two theories by measuring endothelial microparticles (EMP) and platelet microparticles (PMP), which are sensitive markers of endothelial and platelet activation respectively, in patients with positive APLA, with and without thrombosis to determine whether these biomarkers correlate with thombotic risk in this population. Study Subjects and Methods: We studied 80 patients referred to our clinic having positive APLA. Positive IgM or IgG against cardiolipin or β2 glycoprotein I were confirmed at least twice by ELISA. Sixty of them had a history of obstetric complications or thrombosis, including TIA, stroke, myocardial infarction, deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. The remaining 20 patients had positive APLA without history of thrombosis. We excluded all patients who had a thrombotic event within 90 days prior to obtaining the sample to avoid the possible effect of acute thrombus formation on EMP and PMP. We measured EMP, PMP, and P-selectin expression by flow cytometry. PMP were defined as CD31+/CD42+ particles and EMP were defined as CD62E+ particles Results: Levels of EMP were significantly higher in patients with thrombosis (681 counts/μL) compared to normal controls (195 counts/μL; p Conclusion: EMP are elevated in patients with positive APLA regardless of whether they had thrombosis or not. However, only APLA positive patients with thrombosis had elevated PMP. These results suggest that endothelial injury is widely present in APLA positive patients, but that risk of thrombosis depends mainly on platelet activation
Automated lighting system for park pathways

Smart park lighting has the potential to save energy and improve safety within the City of Charlottesville. Standard park lights remain lit throughout the night regardless of whether or not a user is present, which causes unnecessary energy waste. The City of Charlottesville has expressed an interest in retrofitting some of their park lights with an automated lighting control system. The automated system uses motion sensors to detect when users are on the path. The system turns the lights on when users are present, and turns the lights off otherwise. The goal of this project is to develop a long-term automated control system prototype for the City of Charlottesville's path lights and to test it in a City of Charlottesville park. First and foremost, the system needs to maintain the safety of path travelers while saving energy. Additionally, the system and installation need to be relatively low cost. Trenching between poles to lay the underground wiring is the biggest installation expense for standard light poles. To avoid additional trenching costs, the poles will communicate wirelessly with their neighbors to turn on the lights of surrounding poles. The automated lighting system uses passive infrared (PIR) sensors located on each light pole to detect users on the path. A microcontroller handles the control logic of reading the sensor and determining when a light is turned on or off and when to wirelessly tell neighboring poles to turn on. The lights remain on for a specified timeout period unless motion is detected again. Parameters such as the timeout period and the number of neighboring poles that turn on after motion is detected are wirelessly configurable via a laptop connected to a wireless transceiver. These parameters will be thoroughly tested to ensure sufficient lighting is provided to meet user safety needs. The final deliverable is a reproducible automated lighting prototype with wirelessly configurable parameters installed in a Charlottesville park.
Advaced Core-Shell Nanostructures for Electrocatalysis

The electrocatalytic performance of Pt-alloy catalysts is usually limited by the lack of long-term durability, primarily due to leaching of the non-noble element under the harsh electrochemical conditions. We find that cobalt-platinum core-shell nanostructures could sustain high catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction, demonstrating 8 times of improvement in catalytic activity versus commercial Pt catalysts and no more than 13% of loss after 30,000 potential cycles. The evolutions of nanoscale and surface structures over the course of extensive potential cycling were followed by combining electron microscopic elemental mapping and electrochemical studies of CO stripping. Atomistic simulations and density functional theory calculations suggest that the core-shell nanostructure could protect the non-noble metal from leaching under the "electrochemical annealing" conditions while maintaining the beneficial mechanisms of bimetallic systems for catalytic enhancement.
Psychiatric Training and Practice Under Managed Care

Today's psychiatry residents are facing many challenges that were unknown to their predecessors who received training before the managed care era. The author explores such challenges including the shift in treatment approach from psychoanalysis toward neurobiology, psychopharmacology, and cognitive and behavioral models of psychopathology and psychotherapy. Other demands that practitioners in training must deal with under managed care are accountability, loss of autonomy, and administrative burdens. Despite these challenges, managed care appears to have brought about positive changes in ways that psychiatry is practiced, such as standardization of credentialing and of authorization forms, and greater use of technology to improve administrative efficiency. Most importantly, systems of care necessarily involve people working together, not in isolation, which should be the central lesson of residency training and private practice under managed care.
The dawn of vaccines for cancer prevention

Heeding the adage “prevention is better than cure”, Olivera J. Finn proposes that vaccinating individuals who have pre-malignant lesions gives the immune system the upper hand and can prevent progression to cancer. An important role of the immune system is in the surveillance for abnormal or transformed cells, which is known as cancer immunosurveillance. Through this process, the first changes to normal tissue homeostasis caused by infectious or other inflammatory insults can be detected by the immune system through the recognition of antigenic molecules (including tumour antigens) expressed by abnormal cells. However, as they develop, tumour cells can acquire antigenic and other changes that allow them to escape elimination by the immune system. To bias this process towards elimination, immunosurveillance can be improved by the administration of vaccines based on tumour antigens. Therapeutic cancer vaccines have been extensively tested in patients with advanced cancer but have had little clinical success, which has been attributed to the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment. Thus, the administration of preventive vaccines at pre-malignant stages of the disease holds promise, as they function before tumour-associated immune suppression is established. Accordingly, immunological and clinical studies are yielding impressive results.
Miastenia gravis, o diagnóstico no olhar: relato de um caso

Introduction: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune neurologic disease, which affects the postsynaptic structures of the neuromuscular junction, characterized by localized or generalized weakness and muscle fatigue. Case description: 31-year-old woman, without significant past medical history, reports difficulty in completely closing both eyelids and discomfort in the anterior cervical region, with onset one month ago. Physical examination revealed apparent exophthalmos, and the hypothesis of thyroid pathology was initially considered. A week later, in addition to the initial complaints, the patient also reported nasal voice and facial discomfort that worsened at the end of the day. A CT scan of the paranasal sinuses was requested to exclude the presence of sinusitis or space occupying lesion. The following week, the patient maintained the same symptoms but, after careful examination, it was verified that the patient also presented with blurred vision, facial paresthesia and dysphagia. The presence of an intracranial space occupying lesion was excluded by magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and then the hypothesis of a neuromuscular disease, namely MG, was considered. The patient was referred to a neurologist. The electromyography with repetitive nerve stimulation and the search for anti-AChR antibodies corroborated this diagnostic hypothesis. The initial response to pyridostigmine was poor, with a negative impact on the patients’ quality of life. However, after successive adjustments, her clinical status has significantly improved and she is currently clinically stable with only minor limitations. Due to the chronic nature of the disease and the risk of fluctuations both in clinical evolution and response to treatment, the patient has regular follow-up appointments. Discussion: This case report presented a great diagnostic challenge. It reflects the importance of anamnesis, high level of suspicion (due to theoretical knowledge and clinical experience), and of continuity and transitions of care.
Mouse Cre Models for the Study of Bone Diseases

Transgenic Cre lines are a valuable tool for conditionally inactivating or activating genes to understand their function. Here, we provide an overview of Cre transgenic models used for studying gene function in bone cells and discuss their advantages and limitations, with particular emphasis on Cre lines used for studying osteocyte and osteoclast function. Recent studies have shown that many bone cell-targeted Cre models are not as specific as originally thought. To ensure accurate data interpretation, it is important for investigators to test for unexpected recombination events due to transient expression of Cre recombinase during development or in precursor cells and to be aware of the potential for germ line recombination of targeted genes as well as the potential for unexpected phenotypes due to the Cre transgene. Although many of the bone-targeted Cre-deleter strains are imperfect and each model has its own limitations, their careful use will continue to provide key advances in our understanding of bone cell function in health and disease.
Development of Higher Brain Functions: Birth Through Adolescence

The bane of pain in understanding the healthy, normal, developing brain lay vainly in the unfolding story of life’s unfinished experiment as to what we know and do not know regarding ‘‘what’s going on age-wise’’ and how mapping structure onto function looks from birth through adolescence. Higher cortical functions in humans, birth through adolescence, proceed in defined age-related changes that influence structure–function relationships. In a five-year NIH-funded, multi-center project on ‘‘Normal (healthy) Brain Development (birth through 18),’’ findings from this report released in July 2006 are now available to the public via Brain Imaging Resource Network, which contains a comprehensive database on 500 human children with information collected from a wide variety of sources, e.g., MRI, neural, cognitive, intellectual, behavioral, and social demographic variables. Significant limitations in our knowledge exist as to the processes involved in the normal developing human brain with respect to neurophysiological, neurochemical, neuroanatomical, metabolic, and other related neuroscience disciplines. Attempts have been made to correlate anatomical and behavioral data in a direct manner, leading to a surfeit of postulations in the literature against a shortage of supporting data for known brain–behavior relationships in children (Taylor, Fletcher, & Satz, 1984). Much emphasis tends to be placed on proposed neural mechanisms and theories accounting for changes regarding development of the human central nervous system (CNS) versus description of changes taking place with respect to normal development of the human brain.Major difficulties exist in drawing fixed conclusions because each human brain is unique with respect to its molecular blueprint, cellular differentiation pattern, acculturation factors, and neural growth patterns (Cooke, 1980; McConnell, 1991). Luria (1969a, personal communication, 1977) stressed that what was lacking in the area of clinical child neuropsychology was an integrative scheme outlining a conceptual blueprint of normal brain development with concomitant motor, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive processes involved in children’s higher cortical functions. During the past 10 years, however, neuroimaging and brain metabolism (MRI, MRS, FMRI, MegEEG, MSI, PETT imaging) technologies are producing quantitative means of mapping human brain function onto brain structure (Kreis, Ernst, & Ross, 1993; Raichle, 1987; Raichle et al., 1994; Reynolds, McCormick, Roth, Edwards, & Wyatt, 1991; Stehling, Turner, & Mansfield, 1991; Tzika, Vigneron, Ball, Dunn, & Kirks, 1993). LAWRENCE V. MAJOVSKI AND DAVID BREIGER Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98104–2499.
Calcium signaling defects underlying salivary gland dysfunction

Salivary glands secrete saliva, a mixture of proteins and fluids, which plays an extremely important role in the maintenance of oral health. Loss of salivary secretion causes a dry mouth condition, xerostomia, which has numerous deleterious consequences including opportunistic infections within the oral cavity, difficulties in eating and swallowing food, and problems with speech. Saliva secretion is regulated by stimulation of specific signaling mechanisms within the acinar cells of the gland. Neurotransmitter-stimulated increase in cytosolic [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) in acinar cells is the primary trigger for salivary fluid secretion from salivary glands, the loss of which is a critical factor underlying dry mouth conditions in patients. The increase in [Ca2+]i regulates multiple ion channel and transport activities that together generate the osmotic gradient which drives fluid secretion across the apical membrane. Ca2+ entry mediated by the Store-Operated Ca2+ Entry (SOCE) mechanism provides the essential [Ca2+]i signals to trigger salivary gland fluid secretion. Under physiological conditions depletion of ER-Ca2+ stores is caused by activation of IP3R by IP3 and this provides the stimulus for SOCE. Core components of SOCE in salivary gland acinar cells are the plasma membrane Ca2+ channels, Orai1 and TRPC1, and STIM1, a Ca2+-sensor protein in the ER, which regulates both channels. In addition, STIM2 likely enhances the sensitivity of cells to ER-Ca2+ depletion thereby tuning the cellular response to agonist stimulation. Two major, clinically relevant, conditions which cause irreversible salivary gland dysfunction are radiation treatment for head-and-neck cancers and the autoimmune exocrinopathy, Sjogren's syndrome (pSS). However, the exact mechanism(s) that causes the loss of fluid secretion, in either condition, is not clearly understood. A number of recent studies have identified that defects in critical Ca2+ signaling mechanisms underlie salivary gland dysfunction caused by radiation treatment or Sjogren's syndrome (pSS). This chapter will discuss these very interesting and important studies.
Effect of Dextroamphetamine on Poststroke Motor Recovery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance Data from animal models show that the administration of dextroamphetamine combined with task-relevant training facilitates recovery after focal brain injury. Results of clinical trials in patients with stroke have been inconsistent. Objectives To collect data important for future studies evaluating the effect of dextroamphetamine combined with physiotherapy for improving poststroke motor recovery and to test the efficacy of the approach. Design, Setting, Participants This pilot, double-blind, block-randomized clinical trial included patients with cortical or subcortical ischemic stroke and moderate or severe motor deficits from 5 rehabilitation hospitals or units. Participants were screened and enrolled from March 2001 through March 2003. The primary outcome was assessed 3 months after stroke. Study analysis was completed December 31, 2015. A total of 1665 potential participants were screened and 64 were randomized. Participants had to begin treatment 10 to 30 days after ischemic stroke. Data analysis was based on intention to treat. Interventions Participants were allocated to a regimen of 10 mg of dextroamphetamine (n = 32) or placebo (n = 32) combined with a 1-hour physical therapy session beginning 1 hour after drug or placebo administration every 4 days for 6 sessions in addition to standard rehabilitation. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the difference between groups in change in Fugl-Meyer motor scores from baseline to 3 months after stroke (intention to treat with dextroamphetamine). Secondary exploratory measures included the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Canadian Neurological Scale, Action Research Arm Test, modified Rankin Scale score, Functional Independence Measure, Ambulation Speed and Distance, Mini-Mental State Examination, Beck Depression Inventory, and Stroke Impact Scale. Results Among the 64 patients randomized to dextroamphetamine vs placebo (55% men; median age, 66 years; age range, 27-91 years), no overall treatment-associated difference in the mean (SEM) change in Fugl-Meyer motor scores from baseline to 3 months after stroke was noted (−18.65 [2.27] points with dextroamphetamine vs −20.83 [2.94] points with placebo;P = .58). No overall treatment-associated differences in any of the study’s secondary measures and no differences in subgroups based on stroke location or baseline severity were found. No adverse events were attributed to study treatments. Conclusions and Relevance Treatment with dextroamphetamine combined with physical therapy did not improve recovery of motor function compared with placebo combined with physical therapy as assessed 3 months after hemispheric ischemic stroke. The studied treatment regimen was safe. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:NCT01905371
Therapists' Adaptations to an Intervention to Reduce Challenging Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Publicly Funded Mental Health Services.

Publicly funded mental health services play an important role in serving children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research indicates a high likelihood of adaptations when therapists deliver evidence based practices to non-ASD populations, though less is known about therapists’ use of adaptations for children with ASD receiving mental health services. The current study uses a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach to characterize the types and reasons therapists adapted a clinical intervention [An Individualized Mental Health Intervention for Children with ASD (AIM HI)] for delivery with clinically complex children with ASD served in publicly funded mental health settings and identify therapist characteristics that predict use of adaptations. The most common adaptations were characterized as augmenting AIM HI and were done to individualize the intervention to fit with therapeutic style, increase caregiver participation, and address clients’ and caregivers’ needs and functioning. No therapist characteristics emerged as significant predictors of adaptations. Results suggest that therapists’ adaptations were largely consistent with the AIM HI protocol while individualizing the model to address the complex needs of youth with ASD.
Data-driven Research Method For Power System Stability Detection

Energy security is vital to the national welfare and the livelihood of the masses. As the most important link in the energy transfer chain, the security of power system operation is of great significance. For a long time, how to improve the knowledge of power system——one of the most complicated artificial system——has always been the goal and motivation of electronic engineers. This paper firstly summarizes the cognitive method of general physical system and power system, teases out their inner link and mapping relationship. With the population of WAMS in power grid, a new idea about taking advantages of WAMS data for stability detection, data-driven research method is purposed. This paper reviews on the classification, development and status quo of all kinds of data-driven methods. In view of the ambiguity in the internal of data-driven methods, this paper summarizes all kinds of technique routes and a clear frame of data-driven method is sorted out.
An integrated quantitative-qualitative study to monitor the utilization and assess the perception of hydrogen fueling stations

Abstract Zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) adoption is one of the critical solutions to decarbonize the transportation sector. Among the ZEV fleet in the US, battery electric vehicles (BEV) have been leading the market penetration. However, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) have also been increasingly adopted in recent years. Although both technologies have challenges with infrastructure, unlike BEVs that have multiple venues for charging (home, work or public), FCEVs rely solely on fueling at public hydrogen stations, and their availability is a significant factor before the vehicle purchase. Therefore, for the success of FCEV adoption, a need to monitor and understand the driver satisfaction of these stations is extremely critical. This research project introduces a quantitative-qualitative approach for continuous monitoring of hydrogen stations based on the station utilization patterns and to assess their preferability based on driver experiences. To illustrate a proof-of-concept, we collected the hourly utilization data of all the hydrogen fueling stations in California for three months. The time-series data was used to develop a capacity-independent term called “Normalized Relative Utilization Index” (NRUI) that encapsulates the utilization pattern of each station to a single metric. We spatially regressed this metric over the number of FCEVs present in the neighborhood to deduce the relationship. We designed a survey to obtain the refueling experiences of FCEV drivers, where about 100 participants responded with their station preferences. Their answers were used to validate the quantitative approach and identify a “Satisfactory Utilization Range” (SUR) of stations which are preferred by most drivers. Though this project illustrates the analysis of data collected over a small period, this approach is easily scalable with new station installations and can be implemented as a continuous monitoring system with real-time station utilization data. We believe this demand-focused approach could complement the existing supply-side monitoring methods on station performance to provide a smoother fueling experience to drivers. We are also releasing the hourly station capacity dataset that was collected as a part of this study to the research community.
Biblical Commentary and Translation in Later Medieval England: Experiments in Interpretation

Drawing extensively on unpublished manuscript sources, this study uncovers the culture of experimentation that surrounded biblical exegesis in fourteenth-century England. In an area ripe for revision, Andrew Kraebel challenges the accepted theory (inherited from Reformation writers) that medieval English Bible translations represent a proto-Protestant rejection of scholastic modes of interpretation. Instead, he argues that early translators were themselves part of a larger scholastic interpretive tradition, and that they tried to make that tradition available to a broader audience. Translation was thus one among many ways that English exegetes experimented with the possibilities of commentary. With a wide scope, the book focuses on works by writers from the heretic John Wyclif to the hermit Richard Rolle, alongside a host of lesser-known authors, including Henry Cossey and Nicholas Trevet, and many anonymous texts. The study provides new insight into the ingenuity of medieval interpreters willing to develop new literary-critical methods and embrace intellectual risks.
Work Environment and its Influence on Productivity Levels among Extension Officers in the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya

From a broad perspective, a work environment can be defined as the location in which a task is performed. However, from an employment perspective, the work environment entails the physical geographical location of the job as well as its immediate surroundings (typically the tools and equipment required for the performance of the different tasks required for the job, work processes and procedures, quality of the air, noise level and any additional perks). As known, the work environment in an organization plays a crucial role in determining the productivity levels of its workforce and the organizationâ€™s ability to sustain these productivity levels and retain its workforce and may determine, how well the employees get along with the organization, the employeesâ€™ error rate/s and level of innovation and collaboration with other employees, levels of absenteeism, and ultimately, the duration of time the employee choose to stay with the organization. The purpose of this study was to determine how productivity levels among extension officers in the Ministry of Agriculture, Kilifi District have been influenced by their work environment. This was a case study which sought to identify the effects of the work environment with an aim of opening doors for further research on the same and recommending strategies for addressing the problems to ensure that the country (Kenya) becomes (once again) self sufficient in food production. At the time of the study, there were a total of 45 extension officers in Bahari District, which had just been annexed from Kilifi District. Due to the small number of officers, a census was done and all officers involved in a focus group discussion for triangulation purposes. This is because it was only through a census that more comprehensive and accurate information could be gotten. The data collected was analyzed for any causal-effect relationships, correlations and variances, by use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), and the results presented in pie charts and tables to give a picture of the research findings at a glance. The findings on how the work environment influences extension officersâ€™ productivity in the Ministry of Agriculture showed that extension officers feel that their work environment is not conducive to provide for job enjoyment and consequently enable them become productive in their work. It is thus safe to conclude at this point that, an overwhelming majority of the extension officers in the Ministry of Agriculture are not satisfied with their work environment, citing lack of sufficient work infrastructure, a large work area and a poor supervision system as their main reasons for dissatisfaction with the general work environment.
LEADLESS PACEMAKER INSERTION COMPLICATED BY RIGHT VENTRICULAR PSEUDOANEURYSM

Leadless pacemakers have been developed in recent years to avoid the need for transvenous leads in patients with contraindications to traditional pacemakers. They are noted to have similar safety profiles to that of transvenous systems with low rates of complications. This case presents a patient
Analytical Model for LTE Downlink Scheduler with D2D Communication for Throughput Estimation

Device-To-Device (D2D) communication is expected to be an essential component of the next generation cellular network. Although this promising technology has already demonstrated its ability to increase network throughput. The need for an accurate, fast- computing model of throughput estimation is essential. In this paper, an analytical model for LTE (Long Term Evolution) scheduler- supported D2D communication is presented. The model is based on two-dimensional Continues- Time Markov Chain and is utilized for estimating network throughput. Also, a closed formula is obtained for determining the expected number of D2D users in dedicated and reuse modes. Two scheduled algorithms, Round Robin and Max signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, were used for estimating throughput. Analytical model results were closely aligned with simulations and demonstrated that the analytical model is very accurate and time efficient.
Static growth alters PrrF- and 2-alkyl-4(1H)-quinolone regulation of virulence trait expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that is frequently associated with both acute and chronic infections, the latter of which are often polymicrobial. P. aeruginosa possesses a complex regulatory network that modulates nutrient acquisition and virulence, but our knowledge of these networks is largely based on studies with shaking cultures, which are not likely representative of conditions during infection. Here, we provide proteomic, metabolic, and genetic evidence that regulation by iron, a critical metallo-nutrient, is altered in static P. aeruginosa cultures. We identified type VI secretion as a target of iron regulation in P. aeruginosa in static but not shaking conditions, and we present evidence that this regulation occurs via PrrF sRNA-dependent production of 2-alkyl-4(1H)-quinolone metabolites. We further discovered that iron-regulated interactions between P. aeruginosa and a Gram-positive opportunistic pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, are mediated by distinct factors in shaking versus static bacterial cultures. These results yield new bacterial iron regulation paradigms and highlight the need to re-define iron homeostasis in static microbial communities.
TYPE 2 ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI WITH DOUBLE-PEAKED [O III] LINES. II. SINGLE AGNs WITH COMPLEX NARROW-LINE REGION KINEMATICS ARE MORE COMMON THAN BINARY AGNs*

Approximately 1% of low-redshift (z 0.3) optically selected type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) show a double-peaked [O III] narrow emission line profile in their spatially integrated spectra. Such features are usually interpreted as either due to kinematics, such as biconical outflows and/or disk rotation of the narrow line region (NLR) around single black holes, or due to the relative motion of two distinct NLRs in a merging pair of AGNs. Here, we report follow-up near-infrared (NIR) imaging and optical slit spectroscopy of 31 double-peaked [O III] type 2 AGNs drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) parent sample presented in Liu et al. The NIR imaging traces the old stellar population in each galaxy, while the optical slit spectroscopy traces the NLR gas. These data reveal a mixture of origins for the double-peaked feature. Roughly 10% of our objects are best explained by binary AGNs at (projected) kpc-scale separations, where two stellar components with spatially coincident NLRs are seen. ~50% of our objects have [O III] emission offset by a few kpc, corresponding to the two velocity components seen in the SDSS spectra, but there are no spatially coincident double stellar components seen in the NIR imaging. For those objects with sufficiently high-quality slit spectra, we see velocity and/or velocity dispersion gradients in [O III] emission, suggestive of the kinematic signatures of a single NLR. The remaining ~40% of our objects are ambiguous and will need higher spatial resolution observations to distinguish between the two scenarios. Our observations therefore favor the kinematics scenario with a single AGN for the majority of these double-peaked [O III] type 2 AGNs. We emphasize the importance of combining imaging and slit spectroscopy in identifying kpc-scale binary AGNs, i.e., in no cases does one of these alone allow an unambiguous identification. We estimate that ~0.5%-2.5% of the z 0.3 type 2 AGNs are kpc-scale binary AGNs of comparable luminosities, with a relative orbital velocity 150 km s–1.
The rise and reach of humility in clinical supervision: reactions to McMahon (2020), Jones and Branco (2020), Gutierrez et al. (2020), and Beinart (2020)

What follows are my reactions to the humility publications authored by McMahon (2020), Jones and Branco (2020), Gutierrez et al. (2020), and Beinart (2020). I (a) heartily embrace McMahon’s (2020) ...
Population-based survival of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck over four decades.

Abstract Objectives Clinical trials have reported increases in the survival of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) from 25% in 1970 to 73% in 2001. The purpose of this study was to examine whether survival of pediatric patients with RMS of the head and neck improved at the US population level. Methods A population-based cohort of patients with rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck aged 0–19 years in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry from 1973 to 2013 was queried. The cumulative incidence competing risks (CICR) method was used to estimate risk and survival trends. Results 718 cases were identified for analysis. Survival rates at 1-, 5-, and 10-years after diagnosis were 91.2%, 73.2%, and 69.4% respectively. Survival rates at 1 year after diagnosis increased from 82.6% to 93.1% during the study period. In the subdistributional hazard analysis, there was a significantly improved disease-specific risk of death in the first year after diagnosis. Overall risk of death did not improve significantly. Favorable prognostic factors included age Conclusions Disease-specific survival in the first year following diagnosis improved, but the change in overall survival at the population level was not statistically significant. These findings should be interpreted in light of the inclusion of patients with distant metastasis at diagnosis, who have poor prognoses, together with the limited statistical power afforded in studies of rare diseases.
Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet's "Impression, sunrise".

Troxler fading, the perceptual disappearance of stationary images upon sustained fixation, is common for objects with equivalent luminance to that of the background. Previous work showed that variations in microsaccadic rates underlie the perceptual vanishing and intensification of simple stimuli, such as Gabor patches. Here, we demonstrate that microsaccade dynamics also contribute to Troxler fading and intensification during the viewing of representational art. Participants fixated a small spot while viewing either a Gabor patch on a blank background, or Monet’s painting “Impression, Sunrise.” They continuously reported, via button press/release, whether the Gabor patch, or the sun in Monet’s painting, was fading versus intensifying, while their eye movements were recorded with high precision. Microsaccade rates peaked before reports of increased visibility, and dropped before reports of decreased visibility or fading, both when viewing Gabor patches and Monet’s sun. These results reveal that the relationship between microsaccade production and the reversal and prevention of Troxler fading applies not only to the viewing of contrived stimuli, but also to the observation of “Impression, Sunrise.” Whether or not perceptual fading was consciously intended by Monet, our findings indicate that observers’ oculomotor dynamics are a contributor to the cornerstone of Impressionism.
Corporate Lending: Market Exhibits Buoyancy

Corporate lending market exhibits buoyancy in early 2018. Nominal volumes of new loans issued to corporate borrowers is close to pre-crisis maximum. However, corporate lending remains low against economic activity. The quality of credit portfolios can not be assessed positively yet due to the resolution of major banks.
A Review of the Rationale and Advantages of Various Mixtures of Benzathine Penicillin G

Intramuscular benzathine (BZ) penicillin G has been accepted as the gold standard for treatment of patients with streptococcal pharyngitis since it was first introduced in 1952. Unfortunately, it has been associated with pain and tenderness at the site of injection. Efforts to lessen this by combining it with varied quantities of procaine (PC) penicillin G have been successful, decreasing the incidence of significant local reactions to 5% to 10%, little more than that seen with PC penicillin alone. A preparation containing 600,000 U BZ penicillin G and 600,000 U PC penicillin in 2 mL has been marketed since the mid-1950s as CR Bicillin 600/600 but the content of BZ penicillin G has been considered adequate only for children who weigh < 60 pounds. This prompted the evaluation of a preparation containing 900,000 U BZ penicillin G plus 300,000 U PC penicillin G in a 2-mL injection. Of 400 children with streptococcal pharyngitis 100 each received this preparation, 600,000 U BZ penicillin G alone in 1 mL, 1.2 million U BZ penicillin G alone in 2 mL or 600,000 U BZ penicillin G plus 600,000 U PC penicillin G in 2 mL. Clinical response was equal in all four groups; all patients were well in 36 to 48 hours. The two preparations containing PC penicillin G had significantly less severe local reactions and throat cultures were negative in all by 48 hours; it remained positive in some patients who received BZ penicillin G alone after 72 hours. The cure rate in patients receiving the 900, 000/300,000 combination of BZ and PC penicillin G was equal to that in patients who received 1.2 million U BZ penicillin G with these added advantages. This combination offers optimal parenteral treatment for streptococcal pharyngitis in all children who weigh < 140 pounds and it has been marketed for this purpose since 1976.
Client Server Computing on Message Passing Systems: Experiences with PVM-RPC

The relationship between client-server distributed computing and message-passing parallel processing is explored in this work through an experimental RPC framework for the PVM system. The project investigates the potential for RPC to complement asynchronous message passing in PVM - both to expand the domain of applications, and to evaluate the effectiveness of client-server computing for traditional scientific and numerical problem solving. Our design is intuitive and straightforward, and enables servers and clients to be developed with a minimum of additional effort in terms of programming and logistics. Our experiences with early implementations of PVM-RPC indicate that the client-server model is reasonably compatible with message passing and scientific algorithms, and furthermore, that the RPC layer introduces little if any performance overhead into message passing systems. Furthermore, support for simple versions of useful features such as transparent failure resilience and automatic load balancing are facilitated in this model.
Sexual health and relationships after age 60

A commonly used phrase describing aging is "60 is the new 40". Although in many aspects of life this may be correct, in discussing sexual health, challenges to maintaining excellent sexual health become more common around age 60. Biological aging challenges physical sexual activity and responsiveness. We commence by briefly surveying the extensive coverage of 'normal' physiological aging. We primarily focus on issues that arise in distinct disease and or pathophysiological states, including gynecological and breast cancer, as well as those associated with partners of men who are either prostate cancer survivors or who have taken therapy for erectile dysfunction (ED). Regrettably, there is a very modest literature on sexual health and associated possible interventions in older patients in these cohorts. We discuss a variety of interventions and approaches, including those that we have developed and applied in a clinic at our host university, which have generally produced successful outcomes. The extended focus to sexual relationship dynamics in partners of men with either prostate cancer or ED in particular is virtually unexplored, yet is especially timely given the large numbers of women who encounter this situation. Finally, we briefly discuss cross-cultural distinctions in older couples' expectations, which exhibit remarkable variation.
Children Who Choose Not to Eat Meat: A Study of Early Moral Decision-making

Can young children frame their own choices in terms of moral considerations, particularly when those choices do not match the practices of immediate authority figures? To answer this question, we studied 6- to 10-year-old independent vegetarians—children who have elected to become vegetarians, despite being raised in non-vegetarian families. In Study 1, these children were asked about their reasons for not eating meat; their replies were compared with those made by vegetarian children from vegetarian families (family vegetarians) and non-vegetarian children from nonvegetarian families (non-vegetarians). Unlike the other two groups, independent vegetarians universally focused on the suffering that meat eating implies for animals but, surprisingly, they did not condemn others for meat eating. Study 2 attempted to explain this tolerance by examining if children focus on whether an individual has made a commitment to not eating meat.All three groups of children condemned meat eating by morally committed vegetarians, but not by those who have made no such commitment. The two studies show that independent vegetarians are committed to not eating meat on moral grounds and judge that it would be wrong to break that commitment. Nevertheless, like non-vegetarian children, they remain tolerant toward people who have made no such commitment.
Penetration of Cultured Mouse Fibroblasts (L Cells) by Rickettsia prowazeki

The association of Rickettsia prowazeki with L cells was examined by using a novel radioactive assay in which [alpha-(32)P]ATP-labeled rickettsiae were incubated with L-cell monolayers. Rickettsial association with the monolayer involved adherence and internalization steps that could be experimentally distinguished. Since R. prowazeki but not L cells possess an ATP-ADP obligate exchange transport system, addition of excess unlabeled ATP resulted in exchange of the labeled ATP from external, adherent rickettsiae but not from internalized rickettsiae. Rickettsial association was temperature dependent and was a linear function of both time and concentration. More than 90% of the biologically active rickettsiae associated with L cells was internalized. Rickettsial internalization required active participation of both rickettsiae and L cells; inactivation of either greatly reduced internalization. Rickettsial adherence to poisoned L cells was a saturable function of time and concentration. Adherence showed less temperature dependence than did internalization, but like rickettsial internalization, the extent of adherence was extremely low at 0 degrees C. The rate and extent of adherence by inactivated and native rickettsiae to inactivated L cells were similar. Although inactive rickettsiae adhered to active and inactive L cells to a similar extent, inactive rickettsiae were internalized poorly by active L cells. These data form the basis for the hypothesis that R. prowazeki are internalized by the host cell through a process of "induced phagocytosis" and that inactivated rickettsiae adhere to the host cell differently from native rickettsiae, failing to trigger the endocytosis mechanism.