cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Update on atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia with a substantial effect on individual morbidity and mortality as well as healthcare expenditure. The management of AF is complex and fraught with many uncertain and contentious issues. We have seen substantial progress in AF management in the last two decades including better understanding of the epidemiology, genomics, monitoring, drug and non-pharmacological treatment of the arrhythmia, its complications and stroke risk reduction. In this review, we present a comprehensive discussion on AF with emphasis on most recent updates.
Hydrostatic versus non-hydrostatic modeling of tsunamis with implications for insular shelf and reef environments

Abstract Dispersion is known to separate frequency components and reduce the amplitude of tsunami waves in the open ocean. The present paper elucidates a reverse process, in which the dispersed wave components from trans-oceanic propagation of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami regroup over the insular shelves and reefs of Hawaii. The non-hydrostatic and hydrostatic modes of a nonlinear long-wave model describe the pertinent processes with and without dispersion using the same system of two-way nested grids for direct comparison. Both solutions have very similar amplitude spectra across the ocean and reproduce the dominant components of recorded surface elevations and currents in Hawaii despite their markedly different offshore waveforms. The hydrostatic solution shows early arrival of short-period signals from nonlinear scattering around the Hawaiian Islands and faster attenuation of the amplitude due to their local source. The short-period trailing waves from dispersion more effectively excite shelf and reef oscillations giving rise to better agreement with both the amplitude and phase of the recorded data. Even with larger offshore wave amplitude, a hydrostatic model trends to underestimate the surge elevation and current velocity at coastlines fronted by shallow reefs susceptible to resonance oscillations associated with edge waves.
Cloning and Characterization of a Gene for Extracellular Protease of Erwinia Carotovora Subsp. Carotovora

Erwiniacarotovora subsp. carotovora (Ecc) produces a number of extracellular degradative enzymes including pectate lyase, polygalacturonase, pectin lyase, phospholipase C, cellulase, and protease. The role and function of the enzymes in pathogenesis, individually or in concert, are not fully understood. In order to elucidate the importance of protease (PRT) and study its properties, we have isolated Ecc strain 71 DNA segments that specify protease. A gene bank was constructed in Escherichia coli (HB101) using chromosomal DNA of Ecc71, partially digested with PstI, cloned in the cosmid vector pHC79. Transductants were screened on nutrient gelatin agar for protease activity. After chloroform treatment of the assay plates, three Prt+ clones were identified by the presence of an opaque halo surrounding the colony. All were active on Azocasein or Azocoll, and detectable PRT activity was found to be entirely periplasmic. One clone (HB10l/pAKC216) was chosen for subsequent investigations. Subcloning of pAKC216 yielded pAKC217 which carried a 6 kb insert, with a single EcoRI site, that still encoded PRT. The protease has been partially purified from Ecc71 supernatant and HB10l/pAKC217 periplasmic fluid by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and column chromatography. We will present the findings of our investigations into the properties of the enzymes and their importance in pathogenesis.
IAMBIC AND TROCHAIC VERSE—MAJOR AND MINOR KEYS?

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses iambic and trochaic verse. The musical reference serves principally as analogy—for poetic meter obviously has to do with rhythm—with implications also for harmony. In contrast to music, in which the distinction between major and minor key signatures is a recognized fact, metricists have often asserted the virtual interchangeability of iambic and trochaic verse, that is, the trochaic line as a headless iambic and the iambic line as a trochaic with upbeat. Agreement seems limited to the fact that iambic verse has been the more dominant form in the Western verse traditions since the Renaissance and in this sense, it could be said to constitute the major mode. Trochaic verse is more highly governed than iambic. The descriptive differences between iambic and trochaic verse are consequences of the differing nature of the basic metrical relationships.
Global Dynamics of a Rapidly Forced Cart and Pendulum

In this paper, we study emergent behaviors elicited by applying open-loop, high-frequency oscillatory forcing to nonlinear control systems. First, we study hovering motions, which are periodic orbits associated with stable fixed points of the averaged system which are not fixed points of the forced system. We use the method of successive approximations to establish the existence of hovering motions, as well as compute analytical approximations of their locations, for the cart and pendulum on an inclined plane. Moreover, when small-amplitude dissipation is added, we show that the hovering motions are asymptotically stable. We compare the results for all of the local analysis with results of simulating Poincare maps. Second, we perform a complete global analysis on this cart and pendulum system. Toward this end, the same iteration scheme we use to establish the existence of the hovering periodic orbits also yields the existence of periodic orbits near saddle equilibria of the averaged system. These latter periodic orbits are shown to be saddle periodic orbits, and in turn they have stable and unstable manifolds that form homoclinic tangles. A quantitative global analysis of these tangles is carried out. Three distinguished limiting cases are analyzed. Melnikov theory is applied in one case, and an extension of a recent result about exponentially small splitting of separatrices is developed and applied in another case. Finally, the influence of small damping is studied. This global analysis is useful in the design of open-loop control laws.
3D step frequency GPR Asphalt pavement stripping detection: Case study evaluating filtering approaches

Stripping between hot mix asphalt layers can cause premature failure of pavements. Knowledge of the lateral location, depth and extent of stripping can affect the timing and type of pavement preservation, maintenance, or rehabilitation. Since subsurface stripping extent is important for maintaining the road network, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) uses forensic measures such as coring to make this evaluation typically. The destructive nature and lack of coverage provided by this accepted method makes finding nondestructive methods for detecting stripping of in-situ asphalt pavements an important need for MnDOT and many other agencies in the National Road Research Alliance (NRRA). The case study presented in this paper uses a DX1821 antenna to collect data at a frequency step of 20 MHz ranging from 50 MHz to 3050 MHz with a dwell time of 7.52 µs using a GeoScope Mk IV control unit on a full-scale asphalt pavement constructed on a National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) test track with built-in stripping. Signals from the known stripped and non-stripped locations were used to evaluate statistical and energy based approaches. It is shown that a maximum energy ratio method, an approach that has been successfully applied to acoustic emission applications in the past, can improve signal clarity for stripping detection using ground penetrating radar. The results are demonstrated in the ability to enhance the stripping indicators in both traditional impulse time-history data and C-scan depth slices when applied to step-frequency ground penetrating radar data. The effectiveness of the energy ratio-based method in detecting fabricated stripping makes it a promising method for scoping pavement projects for construction activities. By identifying the presence and extent of stripping, road owners will have information that can allow them to avoid misapplication of preservation techniques that do not address the root stripping problem thus minimizing premature failures, or avoid major rehabilitation in situations where the evaluated lack of stripping suggests a preservation or less costly alternative can be applied.
"Omic" investigations of protozoa and worms for a deeper understanding of the human gut "parasitome".

The human gut has been continuously exposed to a broad spectrum of intestinal organisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites (protozoa and worms), over millions of years of coevolution, and plays a central role in human health. The modern lifestyles of Western countries, such as the adoption of highly hygienic habits, the extensive use of antimicrobial drugs, and increasing globalisation, have dramatically altered the composition of the gut milieu, especially in terms of its eukaryotic “citizens.” In the past few decades, numerous studies have highlighted the composition and role of human intestinal bacteria in physiological and pathological conditions, while few investigations exist on gut parasites and particularly on their coexistence and interaction with the intestinal microbiota. Studies of the gut “parasitome” through “omic” technologies, such as (meta)genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, are herein reviewed to better understand their role in the relationships between intestinal parasites, host, and resident prokaryotes, whether pathogens or commensals. Systems biology–based profiles of the gut “parasitome” under physiological and severe disease conditions can indeed contribute to the control of infectious diseases and offer a new perspective of omics-assisted tropical medicine.
Calibration and Self-Calibration of Hexapod Machine Tools

Until recently, machine tools were largely constructed as serial kinematic chains connecting the workpiece to the tool. By far the largest majority of machine tools are of the Cartesian type, with two or three linear slides arranged in a mutually perpendicular fashion. This basic type of machine tool has been in widespread development and use for nearly 200 years. During that time, this machine configuration has become well understood and now represents a very mature technology. Continuous improvements in technology and manufacturing methods have led to the high levels of performance expected of modern machine tools.
Stacked Denoising Tensor Auto-Encoder for Action Recognition With Spatiotemporal Corruptions

Spatially or temporally corrupted action videos are impractical for recognition via vision or learning models. It usually happens when streaming data are captured from unintended moving cameras, which bring occlusion or camera vibration and accordingly result in arbitrary loss of spatiotemporal information. In reality, it is intractable to deal with both spatial and temporal corruptions at the same time. In this paper, we propose a coupled stacked denoising tensor auto-encoder (CSDTAE) model, which approaches this corruption problem in a divide-and-conquer fashion by jointing both the spatial and temporal schemes together. In particular, each scheme is a SDTAE designed to handle either spatial or temporal corruption, respectively. SDTAE is composed of several blocks, each of which is a denoising tensor auto-encoder (DTAE). Therefore, CSDTAE is designed based on several DTAE building blocks to solve the spatiotemporal corruption problem simultaneously. In one DTAE, the video features are represented as a high-order tensor to preserve the spatiotemporal structure of data, where the temporal and spatial information are processed separately in different hidden layers via tensor unfolding. In summary, DTAE explores the spatial and temporal structure of the tensor representation, and SDTAE handles different corrupted ratios progressively to extract more discriminative features. CSDTAE couples the temporal and spatial corruptions of the same data through a thorough step-by-step procedure based on canonical correlation analysis, which integrates the two sub-problems into one problem. The key point is solving the spatiotemporal corruption in one model by considering them as noises in either spatial or temporal direction. Extensive experiments on three action data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of our model, especially when large volumes of corruption in the video.
A high burden of comorbid conditions leads to decreased survival in breast cancer

Background: Despite our most advanced medical and surgical treatment 40,000 women die from breast cancer each year. The aging population and their increasing burden of comorbidities may not be able to realize the full benefit of treatments due to a combination of the side effects and patient frailty. The aim of this study was to characterize the comorbidities of breast cancer patients and to determine if the number of comorbidities is a significant contributor to survival. Methods: A database including patients from the year 2002 to 2012 was created to include health comorbidities from the electronic medical record. Patients were classified into groups according to their number of comorbidities. Disease free and overall survival was calculated for each patient. A one-way analysis of variance was then performed to determine if there was a difference in survival. Results: A total of 279 patients were included: predominately African American (48.7%), female (98.6%) and late middle age (average age =56.1 years). The average number of comorbidities was 2.2 with hypertension and obesity being the most common. Significant differences were found in the number of comorbidities between African Americans (2.61) and Caucasians (1.78) (P Conclusions: The population of women who face breast cancer is heterogeneous with a wide variety of comorbidities, which negatively impact their survival.
What Makes Asian English Language Learners Tick

A number of empirically validated theories account for the relationships between factors of achievement motivation and academic performance. However, there is very little understanding of what Asian English language learners’ (ELLs’) motivational beliefs are in terms of their academic abilities or how much they value subject matters studied in schools compared to Non-Asian groups. This study examines both math achievement and motivational beliefs in science and math among non-Asian and Asian groups classified on the basis of their ELL status. The study uses data from a High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 that was undertaken in the United States. The final sample consisted of 13,175 native English-speaking students and 1180 ELLs. Two-way factorial ANOVA and standardized effect sizes were undertaken to examine mean differences among the groups. Asians’ group’s mean scores in math achievement were higher than their respective Non-Asian counterparts. In the context of achievement motivation, all Asian groups had a relatively higher level of competence, interest, and utility in both math and science than Non-Asian groups. While the Asian groups, in general, showed between-domain differences (math and science) with respect to their confidence in doing well, the Non-Asian groups indicated between-domain gap for the utility provided by math and science. Although part of the reason for American Asian ELLs’ higher math achievement in the U.S. could be attributed to their motivational beliefs, their attitudes toward the subject matters seem incongruous compared with Asian students in Asia.
Free-form shell analysis by a mixed-hybrid finite element approach

A novel finite element scheme is proposed for the linear elasto-static analysis of free-form thinwalled shells. On the basis of a modified version of the variational theorem due to Hellinger and Reissner, a doubly curved triangular element is developed with six degrees-of-freedom (three translations plus three rotations) per nodal point. For each element, separate trial functions are introduced in order to approximate the displacements and the stress resultants. It is shown that by properly choosing these interpolants, an element is obtained which (i) is capable of exactly representing the rigid body and constant strain modes; (ii) does not possess any spurious kinematic modes; (iii) fulfils C1 interelement continuity and (iv) satisfies exactly the interior domain static equilibrium conditions. Two representative examples have been solved in order to illustrate the advantages of the proposed scheme over existing ones.
Transferrin loss into the urine with hypochromic, microcytic anemia.

Anemia developing during the course of chronic renal disease is a frequent complication often necessitating periodic transfusion therapy. A number of etiologic factors have been implicated, including decreased production of erythropoietin; decreased erythrocyte life span secondary to uremia and splenomegaly; increased bleeding tendency due to platelet dysfunction; and acquired lack of folic acid and iron. This paper concerns the problem of acquired hypochromic, microcytic anemia secondary to heavy urinary loss of iron and transferrin in a child with the nephrotic syndrome. The patient had microcytic, hypochromic anemia with serum iron, 12 µ g. per dl. and a serum iron-binding capacity of 12 µ g. per dl. There was no evidence of major bleeding resulting in a chronic hemorrhagic anemia. Urinary iron was 64 µ g. per dl., with a urinary iron-binding capacity of 366 fig. per dl. Renal biopsy showed mesangio-proliferative glomerulonephritis. Evaluation of any patient with the nephrotic syndrome should include careful analysis of the various serum and urinary proteins and determination of serum and urinary iron and iron-binding capacity. This information would offer a more precise evaluation of the underlying cause of anemia in the nephrotic patient who may develop urinary loss of iron and transferrin and subsequent hypochromic, microcytic anemia.
Induced and spontaneous abortion in relation to risk of breast cancer (United States)

The relation of induced and spontaneous abortion to the risk of breast cancer is evaluated in a hospital-based case-control interview study conducted in three cities in the United States from 1985 through 1995. Cases were 1,803 women aged 25 to 64 years with newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer; controls were 4,182 women of the same ages admitted for conditions unrelated to reproductive factors. Other breast cancer risk-factors were controlled through multiple logistic regression. The reference for allanalyses was women who had never had an abortion, either induced or spontaneous. Among parous women, the relative risk (RR) estimate was 1.1 (95percent confidence interval [CI] = 0.9-1.5) for induced abortion overall, 1.0(CI = 0.7-1.4) for abortion before the first birth, and 1.3 (CI = 1.0-1.8)for abortion after at least one birth. Among nulliparous women, the relative risk estimate for induced abortion was 1.3 (CI = 0.9-1.9). There was no trend of increased risk with number of abortions, nor was there consistent evidence of an increased risk in any particular subgroup. Spontaneous abortion was not associated with increased risk of breast cancer, either among nulliparous women or among parous women. These findings provide little support for the hypothesis that induced abortion increases breast cancer risk overall or in particular subgroups.
Reducing fetal origins of childhood obesity through maternal smoking cessation during pregnancy: an intervention study.

Rapid infant weight gain predicts childhood obesity. We aimed to estimate effect size and identify critical timing for intervention-assisted smoking cessation during pregnancy to impact infant weight gain. We followed 25 mother–infant dyads in the UB Pregnancy and Smoking Cessation Study (Buffalo, NY, USA). Maternal smoking status was biochemically verified and monitored through pregnancy. Birth weight and length were extracted from birth records. Research staff measured infant weight and length at 2 weeks and monthly from 1 to 12 months of age. Mixed models were used to fit infant BMI-for-age z-score (ZBMI) trajectories. We found infants of quitters had lower ZBMI gain from birth to 12 months (mean ± SD, 1.13 ± 1.16) than infants of persistent smokers (2.34 ± 1.40; p = 0.035), with Cohen’s d effect size being large (0.96). The infant ZBMI gain from birth to 12 months was low (<0.47) if smoking cessation was initiated between 15 and 27 weeks of pregnancy, but started to increase if quitting at 28 weeks (0.65) and accelerated with time (e.g., 3.16 if quitting at 36 weeks). We concluded maternal smoking cessation during pregnancy may reduce fetal origins of obesity through reducing infant weight gain, especially if quitting smoking by 27 weeks of pregnancy.
Modified Use of InTeGrate Curriculum in the Sustainability General Education Program at California State University, Chico

As part of an Implementation Project, InTeGrate materials were adopted by faculty who teach courses in the Sustainability Pathway, a program of the general education (GE) curriculum at California State University, Chico. Units were selected from InTeGrate modules to best suit the learning goals of courses and the student learning outcomes (SLOs) of the GE program. Faculty collaborated in the selection and use of curriculum materials during the 2-year project. In some cases, InTeGrate materials were used as written, but in other cases, units were modified to support new and existing course activities. Where entire units didn’t work for their course, they were able to incorporate data and other resources from units to enhance their course activities. Faculty involved in the project report that materials are important and that activities are useful to their courses. The Implementation Project allowed faculty in the Sustainability Pathway to work together, when they otherwise had not done so previously, and also resulted in the use of high-quality, student-centered course activities.
Improved Common Mode Noise Models for Three Level T-Type Neutral Point Clamped Converters

Three level $T$ -type based converter (3LT2C) is becoming an attractive option in several grid connected power electronic applications as it offers several advantages like high efficiency, lower active component count compared to other three level converters and superior output ac voltage quality. Common mode (CM) based noise modeling for 3LT2C has not been thoroughly explored in literature. This work presents an improved CM noise model for a grid connected 3LT2C with an LCL filter. It is shown that the 3LT2C has two high frequency CM noise sources which are responsible for ground leakage current injection. The effect of both CM noise sources on the overall CM model has been examined under different switching frequencies using sine triangle pulse width modulation (SPWM). Along with detailed analysis, extensive simulation results have been provided to validate the presented CM noise model.
Reduced length of stay and 30-day readmission rate on an inpatient vascular surgery service.

As the cost of care for patients with specific diagnoses becomes fixed, hospitals must develop systems to reduce length of stay and optimize the use of hospital resources while maintaining a high quality of care. The goal of this study is to evaluate the implementation and efficacy of a system designed to reduce average length of stay on a vascular surgery service. To effectively reduce the average length of stay in our center, we restructured patient rounds, implemented multidisciplinary rounds, introduced clinical pathways to postoperative care, and expanded outpatient management of postoperative patients. A total of 1697 adult vascular surgery patients discharged while under the medical direction of a vascular surgeon between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2016, were included in the study. Improving communication with critical staff and using procedural space outside of the main operating rooms led to a 2.8-day reduction in the length of stay (10.8 vs 8.0, P
Identifying Predictive Causal Factors from News Streams

We propose a new framework to uncover the relationship between news events and real world phenomena. We present the Predictive Causal Graph (PCG) which allows to detect latent relationships between events mentioned in news streams. This graph is constructed by measuring how the occurrence of a word in the news influences the occurrence of another (set of) word(s) in the future. We show that PCG can be used to extract latent features from news streams, outperforming other graph-based methods in prediction error of 10 stock price time series for 12 months. We then extended PCG to be applicable for longer time windows by allowing time-varying factors, leading to stock price prediction error rates between 1.5% and 5% for about 4 years. We then manually validated PCG, finding that 67% of the causation semantic frame arguments present in the news corpus were directly connected in the PCG, the remaining being connected through a semantically relevant intermediate node.
A Retrospective Analysis of the Safety and Efficacy of Opioid-free Anesthesia versus Opioid Anesthesia for General Cesarean Section

Introduction While uncommon for cesarean delivery, general anesthesia may be patient requested or necessary due to maternal contraindication. Traditionally, opioids are used as a part of the general anesthetic. Because of their associated complications, it is standard to limit opioid use and fetal narcotic exposure during cesarean delivery. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the feasibility of multi-modal opioid-free general anesthesia for cesarean delivery. Methods Electronic medical records were obtained for patients receiving general anesthesia for cesarean delivery of live pregnancies through 2017 at our tertiary care facility. Post-operative pain was estimated using a 10-cm visual analogue scale and by calculating postoperative narcotic requirements in milligram morphine equivalents (MME) over three-time periods: during post-anesthesia recovery in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), the first 24 hrs after PACU discharge, and 24-48 hrs after PACU discharge. Apgar scores were also obtained to quantify neonatal effects of the general anesthetic. Results Eight of 17 patients (47.06%) received opioid-free anesthesia (OFA), and nine of 17 patients (52.94%) received anesthesia with opioids (OA). No significant difference was found between groups in terms of postoperative mean Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain score over each time period. Similarly, no significant difference was found between groups in terms of postoperative narcotics requirement at all study points. Apgar scores were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion The OFA group displayed equivalent analgesia to the OA group in terms of self-reported VAS pain scores and postoperative MME. A larger prospective study is recommended to fully evaluate OFA for cesarean delivery.
Quantitative Correlations for the Durability of Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks in Humid SO2

The use of nanoporous zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) - a subclass of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) - in separation processes can be negatively affected by the presence of acid gases such ...
Music Therapy as a Potential Intervention for Sleep Improvement

Sleep deficiency is linked to chronic health problems, such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression. Healthcare practitioners are increasingly paying close attention to sleep and its impact on health and wellness as a measure of critical vitality. Sleep's impact on neurologic function, and cognitive endurance affect capacity throughout the lifespan. This article will address recent findings related to the potential of music to induce sleep in illness and wellness. Music therapy research findings and its efficacy as a potent cost-effective intervention will be highlighted.
If Childish Gambino Cares, I Care: Celebrity Endorsements and Psychological Reactance to Social Marketing Messages:

Background:Increasingly, celebrities are used as spokespeople for nearly all types of marketing. Endorsements can build positive celebrity-brand associations, resulting in favorable brand, product,...
Assessing Land Use–Land Cover Change and Its Impact on Land Surface Temperature Using LANDSAT Data: A Comparison of Two Urban Areas in India

The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal changes in land use and patterns of vegetation and its impacts on land surface temperature (LST) in two Indian cities. Specifically the motivation behind this study is to examine whether a correlation exists between these parameters for the two cities. Indian cities are facing tremendous pressures of rapid urbanization altering the country’s land use patterns. This in turn has significantly altered the country’s land surface temperature over the years. This study investigates the changes in the land use, land cover and surface temperature in two Indian cities of Surat and Bharuch over a period of 2 decades using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS datasets. The study also examines changes in vegetation pattern during this period using a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and investigates the correlation between LST and NDVI. Additionally, the study examines the spatial patterns of LST by mapping the directional profiles of LST. Results of the study reveal that over time both the cities have witnessed a dramatic growth in built-up area, systematic reduction in green space and increase in LST. There is 85% increase in built-up area in Surat in the past 2 decades and 31% increase in built-up area in Bharuch during the same period. At the same time, mean surface temperature in Surat has shown an increase of 2.42 °C per decade while in Bharuch the mean surface temperature has increased by 2.13 °C per decade. Moreover, examination of correlation between LST and NDVI showed a negative relation between the two parameters. Directional profiles showed a continued increase in temperature from 2008 to 2016 from North to South direction Surat indicating an increased urbanization in that direction. Also, new peaks were observed in the profile of Surat for 2008 and 2016 in the north–south direction indicating urban expansion particularly in the southern part of the city. Moreover, substantial growth has taken place in the central part of the city and along the banks of the rivers Tapi and Narmada. This study will be helpful in investigations that address the challenges of urbanization in Surat and Bharuch by assisting local government officials, land management professionals and planners to determine areas where growth must be curbed to avoid further environmental degradation thereby assisting in systematic urban planning practices.
Comparison of Atherectomy to Balloon Angioplasty and Stenting for Isolated Femoropopliteal Revascularization

Background The use of atherectomy for lower extremity revascularization is increasing despite concerning reports about its long-term safety and effectiveness. This study compares the outcomes of atherectomy to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and stenting for treatment of isolated femoropopliteal disease. Methods All patients undergoing endovascular treatment of isolated femoropopliteal lesions in the Vascular Quality Initiative (2009–2018) were identified. Patients with concomitant open surgery, acute limb ischemia, or iliac or tibial intervention were excluded. Patients were divided into 3 treatment groups: atherectomy with or without PTA, PTA alone, and stenting alone. Propensity matching was performed based on age, gender, race, ambulatory status, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, dialysis, prior inflow bypass and intervention, prior major ipsilateral amputation, indication, length of treated lesion, American Society of Anesthesiologists class, and Trans-Atlantic Society Consensus II classification. The perioperative and one-year outcomes of the matched groups were compared. Results A total of 10,007 cases of atherectomy, 22,000 cases of PTA, and 27,579 cases of stenting of isolated femoropopliteal disease were identified. After matching, there were 6,372 procedures in atherectomy and PTA groups, respectively. Atherectomy was associated with higher likelihood of technical success (98.3% vs. 97.5%; P In the second analysis, after matching, there were 6,877 procedures in the atherectomy and stenting groups, respectively. Atherectomy was associated with lower rate of dissection (3.7% vs. 8.2% Conclusions Atherectomy does not seem to confer any significant additional clinical benefit compared with balloon angioplasty or stenting. Further research is needed to justify its additional cost over other endovascular modalities.
Arteriovenous malformation presenting as traumatic subdural hematoma: A case report

Background Brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are congenital aberrant connections between afferent arteries and draining veins with no intervening capillary bed or neural parenchyma. Other than seizures, the most common initial presentation of AVM is hemorrhage, which is typically intraparenchymal, subarachnoid, or intraventricular, and very rarely subdural. Case description This patient is a 66-year-old male with a history of atrial fibrillation, chronically anticoagulated with apixaban, who presented through emergency services after a fall. On presentation, computed tomography (CT) of the head showed a small, 6 mm right subdural hematoma, and the patient was neurologically intact. The hematoma was evacuated by burr hole craniotomy and placement of a subdural drain 12 days after the initial presentation due to worsening headaches and further hematoma expansion. Two weeks postevacuation, the patient was readmitted for seizures, and at this time, CT angiography showed no intracranial vascular lesion. Approximately 1 month later, the patient was readmitted for decreased responsiveness, and CT head at this time found right frontal intraparenchymal hemorrhage. On subsequent catheter angiography, the right frontal AVM was discovered. It was treated with preoperative embolization followed by surgical resection. Postoperatively, the patient followed commands and tracked with his eyes. There was spontaneous antigravity movement of the right upper extremity, but still no movement of the left upper or bilateral lower extremities. Conclusion This case emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion for underlying vascular lesions when evaluating intracranial bleeding, even in the setting of traumatic history, particularly in cases of hematoma expansion.
The Overlooked Benefit of Consumer Showrooming for a Physical Retailer

One common view about consumers’ ability to do showrooming is that it hurts a physical retailer’s profit because it drives demand from the physical retailer to other e-retailers. Our study shows that such a view holds true when the supplier does not respond to consumers’ ability to do showrooming by updating the wholesale price for the physical retailer. If she does, she may either reduce or raise the wholesale price, of which the latter choice may exploit the physical retailer’s deterrence of showrooming. Interestingly, although consumer showrooming itself drives demand away from the physical retailer, it prevents the supplier from charging a higher wholesale price to drive demand away from the physical retailer when the supplier becomes more cost-efficient in salvaging returned products. Such supply-side benefit of consumer showrooming for the physical retailer – the salvage-loss-blocking effect – might eventually lead the physical retailer to be better off with consumer showrooming. Our study also identifies an adverse supply-side effect of consumer showrooming – the offline-improvement-exploitation effect – which hinders the physical retailer’s strategic incentive to reduce consumers’ offline shopping cost. It indicates that the supplier will capture all the benefit of reducing consumers’ offline shopping cost once the cost drops below a threshold. We show that the physical retailer can regain his benefit from reducing consumers’ offline shopping cost by replacing the wholesale contract with the agency contract – an example of mitigating the adverse effect of consumer showrooming by altering the supply chain contract.
Can a Theater Acting Intervention Enhance Inhibitory Control in Older Adults? A Brain-Behavior Investigation

Purpose: Studies of reactive and proactive modes of inhibitory control tend to show age-related declines and are accompanied by abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex. We explored which mode of inhibitory control would be more amenable to change and accrue greater benefits following engagement in a 4-week theater acting intervention in older adults. These gains were evaluated by performance on the AX-CPT task. We hypothesized that an increase in proactive control would relate to an increase in AY errors and a decrease in BX errors. In contrast, an increase in reactive control would be associated with a decrease in AY errors, no change in AY reaction time, and an increase in BX response time. Further, we posited that an increase in behavioral proactive control would accompany greater cue versus probe activity for previously identified regions in the prefrontal cortex. In contrast, an increase in behavioral reactive control would be accompanied by greater probe activation in these identified brain areas. Materials and Methods: The participants were 179 community-dwelling adults aged 60-89 years who were on average, college-educated. Participants were pseudo-randomly assigned to either an active-experiencing acting intervention condition (n = 93) or the active control condition (n = 86); participant assignment was subject to time of enrollment. Participants in both groups were trained by theater-actor researchers with expertise in acting interventions. In contrast to the active control participants who attended a course on theater acting, the acting-intervention group was required to consistently deploy proactive and reactive control mechanisms. Both groups met two times/week for 75-min for 4 weeks. Participant brain-behavioral performance on the AX-CPT task was evaluated prior to and after this four-week period. Results: No intervention effects were found in favor of proactive control. Behavioral evidence in favor of reactive control was weak. Brain-related benefits to reactive control was illustrated by greater probe-activation in Brodmann areas 6 and 8, relative to controls and pre-intervention. Conclusion: We found some evidence for improvements in reactive control via brain measures, attributed to engagement in the acting intervention.
Whitewashing psychedelics: racial equity in the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted mental health research and treatment

Growing research on potential therapeutic applications of highly restricted Schedule I hallucinogens, including the ‘classic psychedelic’ psilocybin, and the entactogen 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphet...
Co-Targeting Plk1 and DNMT3a in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Because there is no effective treatment for late-stage prostate cancer (PCa) at this moment, identifying novel targets for therapy of advanced PCa is urgently needed. A new network-based systems biology approach, XDeath, is developed to detect crosstalk of signaling pathways associated with PCa progression. This unique integrated network merges gene causal regulation networks and protein-protein interactions to identify novel co-targets for PCa treatment. The results show that polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) and DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3a)-related signaling pathways are robustly enhanced during PCa progression and together they regulate autophagy as a common death mode. Mechanistically, it is shown that Plk1 phosphorylation of DNMT3a leads to its degradation in mitosis and that DNMT3a represses Plk1 transcription to inhibit autophagy in interphase, suggesting a negative feedback loop between these two proteins. Finally, a combination of the DNMT inhibitor 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza) with inhibition of Plk1 suppresses PCa synergistically.
POST-ISCHEMIC PATHOPHYSIOLOGY IN THE GERBIL BRAIN - CHANGES OF EXTRACELLULAR K+ AND CA++

It is increasingly recognized that following temporary ischemia cerebral tissue damage may further progress. A protracted development of ischemic injury has been described as “maturation” phenomenon (Ito et al., 1975; Klatzo, 1975). One of its features appears to be the direct relationship between the intensity of the insult and the rate of maturation. A similar relationship has also been observed following recirculation employing biochemical and other parameters (Klatzo, 1975). Irrespective of unequivocal evidence indicating progression of ischemic tissue damage after recirculation, it remains largely obscure which factors are essential and which are merely coincidental. It is also apparent that the selective vulnerability of various brain tissue elements may considerably influence post-ischemic pathology. In order to obtain further insight into the role of the different factors operative in post-ischemic pathophysiology, a model of short-lasting cerebral ischemia was used in which a protracted unfolding of various pathophysiological events could be expected.
Death from below: Investigation of inhibitory factors in bloom development during a wastewater effluent diversion

Abstract Eutrophication of coastal waters is an urgent and globally increasing problem. A significant source of nutrients to Southern California coastal waters is direct discharge of secondarily treated wastewater effluent from regional Publicly Owned Treatment Works. The planned diversion of treated wastewater from the Orange County Sanitation District's main (5-mile) pipe to a shallow 1-mile pipe off Huntington Beach, CA in autumn 2012 provided an unprecedented opportunity to monitor the response of the coastal phytoplankton community to a major anthropogenic loading event. Despite the continuous release of approximately 11.07 × 106 m3 of effluent containing 1743 μM ammonium, there was virtually no detectable change in phytoplankton biomass, in striking contrast to the harmful algal bloom dominated community that quickly developed in response to a comparable diversion in Santa Monica Bay in 2006. Field and laboratory studies demonstrate that disinfection byproducts associated with enhanced dechlorination were present in the discharged water, and that these compounds had a strong inhibitory impact on phytoplankton photophysiology and growth, lasting 24 h for photosynthetic performance and at least 3 d for growth, assessed as change in chlorophyll. Thus, the perhaps fortuitous unintended consequence of enhanced chlorination was the production of inhibitory compounds that suppressed the potential phytoplankton response over a large swath of the continental shelf during the diversion.
A case of chronic osteomyelitis due to arcanobacterium hemolyticum

We report here a case of chronic osteomyelitis, which appeared to be tubercular, from the clinical, radiological and histopathological points of view. But on culture an unusual bacterium, Arcanobacterium hemolyticum, was isolated and the patient responded to treatment with clindamicin, prescribed in accordance to the sensitivity reports.
Verbal Learning Deficits in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression

Verbal learning and memory deficits are frequently reported in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but may be a product of its psychiatric comorbidities, especially major depressive disorder (MDD). To evaluate this hypothesis, 25 medication-free patients with PTSD and comorbid MDD were compared to 148 medication-free patients with equally severe MDD alone and to 96 nonpatients on a measure of verbal learning and memory. Additional measures of attention, working memory, and executive function were administered to evaluate their contribution to verbal memory impairment. Patients with comorbid PTSD and MDD demonstrated the greatest deficit in verbal learning compared to both MDD patients and nonpatients (omnibus effect sizes ranged d = 0.41 to 0.50), one that was not accounted for by other cognitive deficits. Findings suggest that a current diagnosis of PTSD makes a contribution to verbal learning deficits beyond the effect of depression alone. Traditional and Simplified Chinese Abstracts by AsianSTSS 標題：創傷後壓力症和抑鬱症的語言學習缺失 撮要：創傷後壓力症(PTSD) 多有語言學習和記憶的缺失，但亦可能是精神病的共病所致，特別是抑鬱症(MDD)。25名未曾服藥的PTSD和MDD共病病者對照148名未服藥的同樣嚴重抑鬱病人及96名非患病者，採用語言學習和記憶量度來評估此假說。專注力、工作記憶和執行力的量度進一步評核它們對語言記憶受損的影響。PTSD和MDD共病的病人對比MDD病人和非患病者(綜合有效值從d = .41至.50)，患有最嚴重的語言學習缺失，而其他認知缺失未能解釋此現象。結論指出現存PTSD診斷對語言學習缺失的影響不只限於抑鬱症影響而已。 标题：创伤后压力症和抑郁症的语言学习缺失 撮要：创伤后压力症(PTSD) 多有语言学习和记忆的缺失，但亦可能是精神病的共病所致，特别是抑郁症(MDD)。25名未曾服药的PTSD和MDD共病病者对照148名未服药的同样严重抑郁病人及96名非患病者，采用语言学习和记忆量度来评估此假说。专注力、工作记忆和执行力的量度进一步评核它们对语言记忆受损的影响。PTSD和MDD共病的病人对比MDD病人和非患病者(综合有效值从d = .41至.50)，患有最严重的语言学习缺失，而其他认知缺失未能解释此现象。结论指出现存PTSD诊断对语言学习缺失的影响不只限于抑郁症影响而已。
Utilizing next‐generation sequencing to study homeologous polymorphisms and herbicide‐resistance‐endowing mutations in Poa annua acetolactate synthase genes

BACKGROUND Detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to herbicide resistance in non-model polyploid weed species is fraught with difficulty owing to the gene duplication and lack of reference sequences. Our research seeks to overcome these obstacles by Illumina HiSeq read mapping, SNP calling and allele frequency determinations. Our focus is on the acetolactate synthase (ALS) gene, the target site of ALS-inhibiting herbicides, in Poa annua, an allotetraploid weed species originating from two diploid parents, P. supina and P. infirma. RESULTS ALS contigs with complete coding regions of P. supina, P. infirma and P. annua were assembled and compared with ALS genes from other plant species. The ALS infirma-homeolog of P. annua showed higher levels of nucleotide sequence variability than the supina-homeolog. Comparisons of read mappings of P. annua and a simulated P. supina × P. infirma hybrid showed high resemblance. Two homeolog-specific primer pairs were designed and used to amplify a 1860 bp region covering all resistance-conferring codons in the ALS gene. Four P. annua populations, GN, RB, GW and LG, showed high resistance to two ALS inhibitors, bispyribac-sodium and foramsulfuron, and two populations, HD and RS, showed lower resistance in the rate–response trial. Mutations conferring Trp-574–Leu substitution were observed in the infirma-homeolog of GN and RB and in the supina-homeolog of GW and LG, but no resistance-conferring mutation was observed in the two populations of lower resistance, HD and RS. CONCLUSION In this study we have demonstrated the use of NGS data to study homeologous polymorphisms, parentage and herbicide resistance in an allotetraploid weed species, P. annua. Complete coding sequences of the ALS gene were assembled for P. infirma, P. supina, infirma-homeolog and supina-homeolog in P. annua. A pipeline consisting of read mapping, SNP calling and allele frequency calculation was developed to study the parentage of P. annua, which provided a new perspective on this topic besides the views of morphology, karyotype and phylogeny. Our two homeolog-specific primer pairs can be utilized in future research to separate the homeologs of the ALS gene in P. annua and cover all the codons that have been reported to confer herbicide resistance. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry
Characterization of signaling complexes at the T-cell antigen receptor.

Engagement of the T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) induces the assembly of signaling complexes comprised of adapter molecules and enzymes. We use multiple approaches in our characterization of these complexes and the process of signal transduction mediated by the TCR. Our genetic approach is the study of mutations in a critical adapter molecule, LAT. Some of these mutations lead to an interesting lympho-proliferative disorder. Signaling complexes can be studied in vitro using biochemical and biophysical methods to determine the rules of signal complex formation. Finally, we visualize the formation and fate of multi-protein complexes at the site of TCR activation. To do so, we express various fluorescently-tagged signaling proteins in T cells and observe clusters of molecules containing the TCR and important adapters and enzymes. Direct imaging of signaling molecules has revealed the highly dynamic nature of molecular interactions at the TCR.