cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Consolidation therapy of multiple myeloma with thalidomide–dexamethasone after intensive chemotherapy

Abstract Background After myeloablative therapy for multiple myeloma, progression-free survival is shorter for disease in partial remission rather than complete remission. In an attempt to induce more frequent complete remission, we assessed thalidomide–dexamethasone in patients with stable partial remission after intensive therapy. Patients and methods Twenty-one patients with multiple myeloma were identified with disease in stable partial remission after prior intensive therapy. Thalidomide–dexamethasone was given within 15 months after intensive therapy provided myeloma protein production had been reduced by >75% to a constant level for at least 4 months. Thalidomide was begun at a dose of 100 mg each evening, with increments of 50 mg every 7 days to a maximum of 300 mg. Dexamethasone was given concurrently in a dose of 20 mg/m2 each morning for 4 days on days 1–4, 9–12 and 17–20, with resumption on day 35. The combination was continued for at least 3 months and patients with marked reduction of myeloma were maintained on thalidomide alone until disease progression. Results Marked further reduction of myeloma by at least 90% occurred in 12 patients (57%), including four (19%) with disease converted to complete remission. Disease has progressed in six of21 patients, whose median total remission was 22 months. Common side effects of constipation, fatigue, paresthesias and dry skin were mild, dose-related and reversible. Conclusions The combination of thalidomide–dexamethasone reduced tumor mass markedly in 57% of patients with stable, residual disease after myeloablative therapy. Such an effect may produce longer disease-free survival and/or preserve tumor sensitivity to later retreatment with previously effective drugs.
Using search queries for malaria surveillance, Thailand.

Background: Internet search query trends have been shown to correlate with incidence trends for select infectious diseases and countries. Herein, the first use of Google search queries for malaria surveillance is investigated. The research focuses on Thailand where real-time malaria surveillance is crucial as malaria is re-emerging and developing resistance to pharmaceuticals in the region. Methods: Official Thai malaria case data was acquired from the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2005 to 2009. Using Google correlate, an openly available online tool, and by surveying Thai physicians, search queries potentially related to malaria prevalence were identified. Four linear regression models were built from different sub-sets of malaria-related queries to be used in future predictions. The models’ accuracies were evaluated by their ability to predict the malaria outbreak in 2009, their correlation with the entire available malaria case data, and by Akaike information criterion (AIC). Results: Each model captured the bulk of the variability in officially reported malaria incidence. Correlation in the validation set ranged from 0.75 to 0.92 and AIC values ranged from 808 to 586 for the models. While models using malaria-related and general health terms were successful, one model using only microscopy-related terms obtained equally high correlations to malaria case data trends. The model built strictly of queries provided by Thai physicians was the only one that consistently captured the well-documented second seasonal malaria peak in Thailand. Conclusions: Models built from Google search queries were able to adequately estimate malaria activity trends in Thailand, from 2005–2010, according to official malaria case counts reported by WHO. While presenting their own limitations, these search queries may be valid real-time indicators of malaria incidence in the population, as correlations were on par with those of related studies for other infectious diseases. Additionally, this methodology provides a cost-effective description of malaria prevalence that can act as a complement to traditional public health surveillance. This and future studies will continue to identify ways to leverage web-based data to improve public health.
Correlations of Grade Point Averages at a Rural College with Reports of Abuse in Rural Families

The possible influences of intrafamilial conflict and emotional physical, and sexual abuse were examined in relation to academic achievement in college. 135 students of a small private university in a rural setting responded to a questionnaire. Reported histories of sexual abuse and physical abuse by family members wee associated with lower mean grade point averages. Individuals who reported occasional emotional abuse had a lower mean grade point average than those who reported frequent or no emotional abuse. Treatment implications and directions for research should be considered. Language: en
Demythologization and Demystification of African Initiation Rites: A Positive and Meaningful Educational Aspect Heading for Extinction

The purpose of this article is to delineate those things that have led to the distortion of the rites of passage performed by Africans. The rites constitute the very soul of the educational process for African youth. For Africans, the mystification and mythologization of initiation rites through cultural domination by missionaries, colonialists, and neocolonialists have reduced this educational tool to merely the trimming of genitals and other strange savage practices. Distortions of these culturally based practices have almost led to their extinction. Many Africans have been alienated from their cultures and coerced to adopt the Western type of education. Most Africans have been deprived in their youth of the understanding and teaching of the fundamentals of their society, thus exposing them to cultural genocide and lower levels of self-esteem (Lamb, 1987; Mazrui, 1986). Demystification means to remove the mystery. In this case, demythification means to remove the mystery from the rites of passage. Demythologization means to divest of mythological forms in order to uncover underlying meaning of the concept of rites of passage. As Africans and African Americans begin to introduce and reintroduce these cultural concepts, the goal is to avoid mistakes made in the past. That is, Western cultural perspectives in educa-
STEP: Sequentiality and Thrashing Detection Based Prefetching to Improve Performance of Networked Storage Servers

State-of-the-art networked storage servers are equipped with increasingly powerful computing capability and large DRAM memory as storage caches. However, their contribution to the performance improvement of networked storage system has become increasingly limited. This is because the client-side memory sizes are also increasing, which reduces capacity misses in the client buffer caches as well as access locality in the storage servers, thus weakening the caching effectiveness of server storage caches. Proactive caching in storage servers is highly desirable to reduce cold misses in clients. We propose an effective way to improve the utilization of storage server resources through prefetching in storage servers for clients. In particular, our design well utilizes two unique strengths of networked storage servers which are not leveraged in existing storage server prefetching schemes. First, powerful storage servers have idle CPU cycles, under-utilized disk bandwidth, and abundant memory space, providing many opportunities for aggressive disk data prefetching. Second, the servers have the knowledge about high-latency operations in storage devices, such as disk head positioning, which enables efficient disk data prefetching based on an accurate cost-benefit analysis of prefetch operations. We present STEP - a Sequentiality and Thrashing dEtec- tion based Prefetching scheme, and its implementation with Linux Kernel 2.6.16. Our performance evaluation by replaying storage performance council (SPC) 's OLTP traces shows that server performance improvements are up to 94% with an average of 25%. Improvements with frequently used Unix applications are up to 53% with an average of 12%. Our experiments also show that STEP has little effect on workloads with random access patterns, such as SPC Web-search traces.
M Protein-Associated Adherence of Streptococcus pyogenes to Epithelial Surfaces: Prerequisite for Virulence

Virulent strains of Streptococcus pyogenes containing M protein were found to adhere well to human cheek epithelial cells in vitro, whereas an avirulent M - mutant strain adhered feebly. Pretreatment of M + strains with trypsin to remove their M protein surface coating or reacting them with type-specific antiserum markedly impaired their abilities to attach to epithelial cells. Electron microscopy revealed that the attachment of an M + strain to germfree rat epithelial cells was mediated by a fuzzy surface structure previously shown to contain M protein. When mixtures of streptomycin-resistant M + and M - strains were introduced into the mouths of mice, the proportions of the M + strain increased on tongue and cheek surfaces relative to its M - mutant. These data indicate that the surface fuzz of S. pyogenes which contains M protein functions in the attachment of the organism to epithelial surfaces, thereby permitting its colonization.
Factors to Consider in Breast Reconstruction

Women considering breast ablative therapy are confronted with a variety of decisions that include the type of mastectomy (partial, total, skin sparing, nipple areolar sparing), the type of reconstruction (prosthetic, autologous, oncoplastic) and the need for adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy, radiation). The parameters for each are multifactorial and require significant thought and counseling. Therapeutic options are essentially individualized and dependent upon a variety of factors such as tumor size and location, lymph node involvement, comorbidities, expectations and body characteristics. The role of reconstructive surgery is now well appreciated and an integral component of the multidisciplinary care of the patient and is influenced by the opinions and recommendations of surgical, medical and radiation oncologists. This manuscript will review the role of reconstructive surgery and the many factors to consider.
Changes in women’s interpersonal styles across the menstrual cycle

Past research suggests that women alter their behaviors during periods of high fertility to attract mates. Consistent with this notion, the current research examined the interpersonal style, as defined by the interpersonal circumplex, men tend to find most attractive in potential mates and the change in women’s interpersonal styles across the menstrual cycle. In Study 1, a sample of 101 single men reported the interpersonal style they found most attractive in a potential mate. In Study 2, a sample of 86 women reported their interpersonal styles during each day of their menstrual cycle. Results indicated that men tended to prefer mates who were interpersonally warm and that women tended to become more interpersonally warm during periods of high fertility.
Vitamin C and risk of coronary heart disease in women

OBJECTIVES Our objective was to prospectively examine the relation between vitamin C intake and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women. BACKGROUND Results from prospective investigations of the relation between vitamin C intake and risk of CHD have been inconsistent. The lack of clear evidence for a protective association despite a plausible mechanism indicates the need to evaluate further the association between vitamin C intake and risk of CHD. METHODS In 1980, 85,118 female nurses completed a detailed semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire that assessed their consumption of vitamin C and other nutrients. Nurses were followed up for 16 years for the development of incident CHD (nonfatal myocardial infarction and fatal CHD). RESULTS During 16 years of follow-up (1,240,566 person-years), we identified 1,356 incident cases of CHD. After adjustment for age, smoking, and a variety of other coronary risk factors, we observed a modest significant inverse association between total intake of vitamin C and risk of CHD (relative risk [RR] = 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57 to 0.94). Among women who did not use vitamin C supplements or multivitamins, the association between intake of vitamin C from diet alone and incidence of CHD was weak and not significant (RR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.59 to 1.26). In multivariate models adjusting for age, smoking, and a variety of other coronary risk factors, vitamin C supplement use was associated with a significantly lower risk of CHD (RR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.86). CONCLUSIONS Users of vitamin C supplements appear to be at lower risk for CHD.
Mandatory Arbitration of International Tax Disputes: A Solution in Search of a Problem

Many commentators have addressed the question of resolution of international tax disputes through various alternative mechanisms. The most debated question is whether or not to introduce mandatory arbitration into the bilateral tax treaty network and if yes, how can this be accomplished. From a first glance at the extensive literature that exists in this field, it appears as if an additional contribution is not an easy task to fulfill. Nevertheless, recent developments deserve further investigation, namely, the recent efforts by the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation ("OECD") to include a provision addressing mandatory and binding arbitration in its Model Convention and the recently ratified protocols by the United States with Germany, Belgium and Canada which, inter alia, brought the inclusion of such a clause to the Double Tax Treaties (DTTs). I wish to examine these proposals and predict the probability of their success.
Kidney Stones as an Underrecognized Clinical Sign in Pediatric Cushing Disease

Objective To investigate the prevalence of kidney stones in a population of children with Cushing disease (CD) and to compare it with the prevalence of kidney stones in healthy children. Study design Clinical and biochemical data from 139 pediatric patients with CD (68 females, 71 males) were analyzed retrospectively. Computed tomography scans were reviewed for kidney stones. Results Among 139 patients, 27 with CD (19.4%) had either radiographic evidence and/or a history of kidney stones. Those with kidney stones had higher urine free cortisol ( P = .008) and transsphenoidal surgery at an older age ( P = .007). The average urinary calcium/creatinine ratio was elevated in patients with CD (0.22 ± 0.11). The prevalence of kidney stones was higher in children with CD than in normal children (19.42% vs 1.0%; P Conclusion Our results illustrate that kidney stones are an underestimated complication of pediatric CD, especially when compared with the prevalence of nephrolithiasis in the general pediatric population. Long-term consequences for kidney function are not known and need to be studied.
Chronic vs. acute hemodynamic effects of atrial natriuretic factor in conscious rats

The present study was designed to examine acute (2 h) and chronic (5 day) effects of pathophysiological elevations of plasma atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in conscious normotensive rats. Acute infusion of ANF (100 ng.kg-1.min-1; n = 15) resulted in a decrease in mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 5 +/- 3 mmHg, which was associated with a 23 +/- 4% decrease in cardiac output (CO) and a 27 +/- 6% increase in total peripheral resistance (TPR). Hematocrit increased from 41.9 +/- 0.7 to 46.0 +/- 0.6%, which is suggestive of vascular volume contraction. Chronic infusion of ANF (n = 9) produced a significant fall in MAP from a control value of 114 +/- 2 to 100 +/- 3 and 99 +/- 2 mmHg on days 1 and 5, respectively. CO decreased significantly (27 +/- 2%) and TPR increased (21 +/- 5%) on day 1; neither variable was significantly different from control on day 5. Plasma immunoreactive ANF levels were significantly elevated during acute (791 +/- 76 pg/ml) and chronic (626 +/- 202 pg/ml) ANF infusion compared with control values of approximately 100 pg/ml. The results indicate that elevations in plasma ANF within the pathophysiological range can significantly alter systemic hemodynamics, initially mediated by a decrease in CO. Autoregulatory phenomena may counteract these hemodynamic effects, returning CO to control levels and reducing TPR when the elevations in plasma ANF are chronically sustained.
Effects of UV-B on Environmental Preference and Egg Parasitization by Trichogramma Wasps (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

Abstract The intensity of ultraviolet (UV) radiation varies widely in space, both across the globe and over small spatial scales (a few millimeters), depending on patterns of light and shade. Gradients of UV radiation can control the movement of organisms on landscapes and how the organisms perform. It is likely that insects are at high risk from UV radiation because of their small size; radiation may penetrate significantly deeper into insect tissues than into larger organisms, thereby disproportionately affecting their performance. We investigated the effects of UV radiation on the behavior and parasitism success of the agriculturally important egg parasitoid wasp, Trichogramma spp. We found that Trichogramma preferred to move toward higher intensities of UV-B radiation and parasitized more eggs in areas with higher UV-B radiation. However, higher UV-B radiation reduced the number of adult wasps emerging from host eggs. Trichogramma reproductive behavior may, therefore, be maladaptive depending on envi...
Semi-supervised Subspace Co-Projection for Multi-class Heterogeneous Domain Adaptation

Heterogeneous domain adaptation aims to exploit labeled training data from a source domain for learning prediction models in a target domain under the condition that the two domains have different input feature representation spaces. In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised subspace co-projection method to address multi-class heterogeneous domain adaptation. The proposed method projects the instances of the two domains into a co-located latent subspace to bridge the feature divergence gap across domains, while simultaneously training prediction models in the co-projected representation space with labeled training instances from both domains. It also exploits the unlabeled data to promote the consistency of co-projected subspaces from the two domains based on a maximum mean discrepancy criterion. Moreover, to increase the stability and discriminative informativeness of the subspace co-projection, we further exploit the error-correcting output code schemes to incorporate more binary prediction tasks shared across domains into the learning process. We formulate this semi-supervised learning process as a non-convex joint minimization problem and develop an alternating optimization algorithm to solve it. To investigate the empirical performance of the proposed approach, we conduct experiments on cross-lingual text classification and cross-domain digit image classification tasks with heterogeneous feature spaces. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method on these heterogeneous domain adaptation problems.
Removal mechanisms of endocrine disrupting compounds (steroids) during soil aquifer treatment.

The objective of this study was to determine the primary removal mechanisms of endocrine disruptors such as steroidal hormones present in reclaimed water, specifically 17b-estradiol, estriol, and testosterone, during groundwater recharge via soil aquifer treatment (SAT). Steroidal hormones were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Bench-scale studies and laboratory-scale soil column experiments were employed to determine what mechanisms (i.e., adsorption, biodegradation, photolytic degradation) dominate the removal of the three compounds of interest during SAT. Findings of these studies revealed that the dominating removal mechanism for the compounds of interest during SAT is adsorption to the porous media matrix and additional attenuation to below the detection limit occurred in the presence of bioactivity. This additional removal occurred regardless of dominating redox conditions (aerobic vs. anoxic) or the type of organic carbon matrix present (hydrophobic acids, hydrophilic carbon vs. colloidal carbon).
Management of peripheral nerve injuries.

Characteristic sensory and motor deficits arising from injuries of various peripheral nerves assist in localizing the damage. The lesion should be investigated surgically if there is doubt as to whether division of a nerve is complete or incomplete. Successful surgical repair depends on proper initial management, meticulous surgical technic, and vigorous rehabilitation.
EXPLORER: Changing the molecular imaging paradigm with total-body PET/CT (Conference Presentation)

Positron emission tomography (PET) is the highest sensitivity technique for human whole-body imaging studies. However, current clinical PET scanners do not make full use of the available signal, as they only permit imaging of a 15-25 cm segment of the body at one time. Given the limited sensitive region, whole-body imaging with clinical PET scanners requires relatively long scan times and subjects the patient to higher than necessary radiation doses. The EXPLORER initiative aims to build a 2-meter axial length PET scanner to allow imaging the entire subject at once, capturing nearly the entire available PET signal. EXPLORER will acquire data with ~40-fold greater sensitivity leading to a six-fold increase in reconstructed signal-to-noise ratio for imaging the total body. Alternatively, total-body images with the EXPLORER scanner will be able to be acquired in ~30 seconds or with ~0.15 mSv injected dose, while maintaining current PET image quality. The superior sensitivity will open many new avenues for biomedical research. Specifically for cancer applications, high sensitivity PET will enable detection of smaller lesions. Additionally, greater sensitivity will allow imaging out to 10 half-lives of positron emitting radiotracers. This will enable 1) metabolic ultra-staging with FDG by extending the uptake and clearance time to 3-5 hours to significantly improve contrast and 2) improved kinetic imaging with short-lived radioisotopes such as C-11, crucial for drug development studies. Frequent imaging studies of the same subject to study disease progression or to track response to therapy will be possible with the low dose capabilities of the EXPLORER scanner. The low dose capabilities will also open up new imaging possibilities in pediatrics and adolescents to better study developmental disorders. This talk will review the basis for developing total-body PET, potential applications, and review progress to date in developing EXPLORER, the first total-body PET scanner. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Heterogeneity of chemokine cell-surface receptor expression in triple-negative breast cancer.

Introduction: Tumor heterogeneity is a well-established concept in cancer research. In this paper, we examine an additional type of tumor cell heterogeneity - tumor cell-surface receptor heterogeneity. Methods: We use flow cytometry to measure the frequency and numbers of cell-surface receptors on triple negative breast cancer cell lines. Results: We find two distinct populations of human triple-negative breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 when they are grown in culture, one with low surface levels of various chemokine receptors and a second with much higher levels. The population with high surface levels of these receptors is increased in the more metastatic MDA-MB-231-luc-d3h2ln cell line. Conclusion: We hypothesize that this high cell-surface receptor population is involved in metastasis. We find that the receptor high populations can be modulated by tumor conditioned media and IL6 treatment indicating that the tumor microenvironment is important for the maintenance and sizes of these populations.
A FIRST LOOK AT NATURAL MENTORING AMONG PREADOLESCENT FOSTER CHILDREN

This study describes natural mentoring among preadolescent children placed in out-of-home care and examines the association between natural mentoring and demographic, maltreatment, placement, and psychosocial characteristics. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 263 children and their out-of-home caregivers were analyzed. Caregivers rated children's social skills, and children reported on their perceived opportunities and attachment to peers and adults, including natural mentors. About half the sample endorsed having natural mentors, with school personnel being the most common type of mentor. Children with natural mentors were older, more likely to be living in congregate care, and had stronger attachment to friends. Marginally significant findings suggested that children with natural mentors had been in out-of-home care for fewer months, and children who were sexually abused were less likely to have natural mentors with whom they had current contact. Future research is needed that examines the longitudinal course of natural mentoring among this population. Language: en
An inquiry-based acoustic signal processing lab module for introducing digital communications

We study the use of an inquiry-based lab to introduce communication systems to undergraduate electrical engineering students with prior knowledge in signals and systems. The students are not provided with an explicit list of procedures to follow, but are prompted to design and build a complete end-to-end wireless acoustic digital transceiver on their own, using inexpensive off-the-shelf components, before they have had any exposure to analog or digital radio concepts. Qualitative evaluation suggests this process of discovery, problem solving, and experimentation provides context to students when theoretical and abstract communication systems concepts are subsequently introduced in lecture. Survey results are provided which suggest this open-ended, hands-on approach is an effective teaching and learning technique for introducing communication systems, and several possible extensions of this approach are discussed.
Self-reported executive functioning competencies and lifetime aggression

ABSTRACTNeuropsychological research can be advanced through a better understanding of relationships between executive functioning (EF) behavioral competencies and the expression of aggressive behavior. While performance-based EF measures have been widely examined, links between self-report indices and practical real-life outcomes have not yet been established. Executive Functioning Index subscale scores in this sample (N = 579) were linked to trait hostility (Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire), aggression in the natural environment (Lifetime Acts of Violence Assessment), and conduct disorder symptoms prior to age 15. Significant associations were found between all of the EFI subscales (Motivational Drive, Organization, Strategic Planning, Impulse Control, and Empathy), trait aggression, and conduct disturbance. Lifetime acts of aggression were predicted by all but Organization scores. Physical injuries inflicted on other(s) were 2 to 4 times more likely to occur among respondents generating low (z < −1)...
Ethics, Justice, and the Social Determinants of Health

As noted in the Introduction, in order to evaluate the ethical implications of the issue at hand, the epidemiologic evidence base regarding the social determinants of health must be laid out in sufficient detail. This first chapter offers a broad overview of some of this evidence in order to lay the groundwork needed to draw out many of the key ethical issues that arise in evaluating and ordering public health priorities based on the social determinants of health.
Regulatory role of thiol isomerases in thrombus formation.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: The protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) family of thiol isomerases are intracellular enzymes known to catalyze the oxidation, reduction and isomerization of disulfide bonds duri...
Canonical Projectile Problem: Finding the Escape Velocity of the Earth

The escape velocity of the Earth is calculated using an idealized projectile model that allows for the determination of projectile velocity as a function of its altitude. In order to obtain an approximate solution for projectile altitude as a function of time which cannot be determined by an exact solution the concept of regular perturbation theory in ordinary differential equations is introduced as a pastoral interlude. Then a regular perturbation expansion is performed on the model to obtain the desired asymptotic solution of altitude as a function of time when the initial projectile velocity is much less than that of the escape velocity. An energy argument making use of the fact that gravity acts as a conservative force for this canonical model is also introduced to examine this phenomenon in more detail. The problems extend these analyses to the rest of the solar system planets and to two other canonical projectile problems that are nonconservative.
Short-term increase in discs’ apparent diffusion is associated with pain and mobility improvements after spinal mobilization for low back pain

Pain perception, trunk mobility and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) within all lumbar intervertebral discs (IVDs) were collected before and shortly after posterior-to-anterior (PA) mobilizations in 16 adults with acute low back pain. Using a pragmatic approach, a trained orthopaedic manual physical therapist applied PA mobilizations to the participants’ spine, in accordance with his examination findings. ADCall was computed from diffusion maps as the mean of anterior (ADCant), middle (ADCmid), and posterior (ADCpost) portions of the IVD. After mobilization, pain ratings and trunk mobility were significantly improved and a significant increase in ADCall values was observed. The greatest ADCall changes were observed at the L3-L4 and L4-L5 levels and were mainly explained by changes in ADCant and ADCpost, respectively. No significant changes in ADC were observed at L5-S1 level. The reduction in pain and largest changes in ADC observed at the periphery of the hyperintense IVD region suggest that increased peripheral random motion of water molecules is implicated in the IVD nociceptive response modulation. Additionally, ADC changes were observed at remote IVD anatomical levels that did not coincide with the PA spinal mobilization application level.
Out-of-the-groove transport of lipids by TMEM16 and GPCR scramblases

Phospholipid scramblases externalize phosphatidylserine to facilitate numerous physiological processes. Several members of the structurally unrelated TMEM16 and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) protein families mediate phospholipid scrambling. The structure of a TMEM16 scramblase shows a membrane-exposed hydrophilic cavity, suggesting that scrambling occurs via the ‟credit-card” mechanism where lipid headgroups permeate through the cavity while their tails remain associated with the membrane core. Here we show that afTMEM16 and opsin, representatives of the TMEM16 and GCPR scramblase families, transport phospholipids with polyethylene glycol headgroups whose globular dimensions are much larger than the width of the cavity. This suggests that transport of these large headgroups occurs outside rather than within the cavity. These large lipids are scrambled at rates comparable to those of normal phospholipids and their presence in the reconstituted vesicles promotes scrambling of normal phospholipids. This suggests that both large and small phospholipids can move outside the cavity. We propose that the conformational rearrangements underlying TMEM16- and GPCR-mediated credit-card scrambling locally deform the membrane to allow transbilayer lipid translocation outside the cavity and that both mechanisms underlie transport of normal phospholipids.
Phenazines in the Environment: Microbes, Habitats, and Ecological Relevance

Phenazines, the pigmented, redox-active metabolites produced by certain fluorescent pseudomonads, streptomycetes, and members of a few other bacterial genera, have long been recognized for their broad-spectrum antibiotic activity. Much has been learned in recent years about the synthesis of these compounds and the diverse roles they play in the physiology of the microorganisms that produce them, but surprisingly little is known about their presence and turnover in natural ecosystems or their significance in microbial habitats. Phenazine producers are found throughout nature in association with plant and animal hosts and in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats, and may reach sufficient numbers that the phenazines they produce can be extracted directly from environmental samples. This chapter focuses on recent reports that highlight the diversity of habitats from which phenazine producers have been recovered and the significance of the phenazines they produce in the ecosystems in which they reside.
Chronic pain in the perineum, groin, and genitalia.

(1988). Chronic Pain in the Perineum, Groin, and Genitalia. Hospital Practice: Vol. 23, No. 7, pp. 37-52.
Evolutionary perspectives of cytokines in pain

It is clear that the ability of an animal to detect and react appropriately to an aversive stimulus is of fundamental importance to its survival. This ability is as important to invertebrates as it is to vertebrates, a fact that is underscored by behavioral evidence for the display of nociceptive behaviors in invertebrates (reviewed in [1, 2]. For example, locomotion away from a noxious stimulus has been observed in the simplest animals (see Fig. 1) including protozoans [3], flatworms [4] and jellyfish [5]. Anemones (Anthozoa) display relatively sophisticated, nociceptive behaviors that can be modified by aversive environmental stimuli [6, 7]. Anthozoa have among the simplest nervous systems in the animal kingdom and it has been postulated that the first functional nociceptive responses are likely to have occurred in this group. The nociceptive behaviors of the more advanced invertebrate, the marine mollusc Aplysia californica, and their modification by a variety of stimuli have been studied extensively over the last two decades. Aplysia display a variety of nociceptive behaviors in response to noxious mechanical or electrical stimulation including local body withdrawal, ink and opaline release, and escape locomotion [8]. The relative simplicity and accessibility of the Aplysia nervous system for intracellular recording make it a very attractive model system to understand neuronal correlations underlying these nociceptive behaviors and their modification. Consequently Aplysia has emerged as a useful model system to understand fundamental mechanisms underlying nociceptive plasticity and it will be the focus of this review. It has been suggested that general similarities between patterns of nociceptive behavior observed in Aplysia and more complex animals (e.g. rats and humans) represent common behavioral adaptions to ubiquitous selection pressures such as escape from a source of bodily injury and optimization of recuperation [2].
Multi-wavelength speciation of high-temperature 1-butene pyrolysis

Abstract Species time-history measurements provide important kinetics targets for the development and validation of detailed reaction models. Here, a multi-wavelength, multi-species laser absorption strategy is demonstrated that provides high-bandwidth species time-histories during 1-butene pyrolysis behind reflected shock waves. Measured shock tube absorbance traces at nine wavelengths were used to resolve nine species mole fractions in the pyrolysis of 5% 1-butene in argon at 1300 K, 1.8 atm. In addition to existing sensors for 1-butene, methane, ethylene, 1,3-butadiene, propene, allene, benzene, and cyclopentadiene, a new laser absorption sensor for ethane at 3.3519 µm was developed by measuring cross-sections of ethane and of expected major interferers. Additional measurements to complete a square absorption cross-section matrix were also performed that enabled the simultaneous solution of species mole fractions from absorbance time-histories under appropriate physical system constraints. Measured time-histories of the nine product species were also compared with existing flow-reactor-based kinetic mechanisms. The demonstrated method has further application potential in the speciation of larger, more complex fuels.
DNA Repair Fidelity in Stem Cell Maintenance, Health, and Disease

Stem cells are a sub population of cell types that form the foundation of our body, and have the potential to replicate, replenish and repair limitlessly to maintain the tissue and organ homeostasis. Increased lifetime and frequent replication set them vulnerable for both exogenous and endogenous agents-induced DNA damage compared to normal cells. To counter these damages and preserve genetic information, stem cells have evolved with various DNA damage response and repair mechanisms. Furthermore, upon experiencing irreparable DNA damage, stem cells mostly prefer early senescence or apoptosis to avoid the accumulation of damages. However, the failure of these mechanisms leads to various diseases, including cancer. Especially, given the importance of stem cells in early development, DNA repair deficiency in stem cells leads to various disabilities like developmental delay, premature aging, sensitivity to DNA damaging agents, degenerative diseases, etc. In this review, we have summarized the recent update about how DNA repair mechanisms are regulated in stem cells and their association with disease progression and pathogenesis.
Freeform Optical Surfaces for Field Biased and Decentered Aperture Reflective Optical Design

A decentered Zernike overlay is utilized in the design of a field biased off-axis wide field of view reflective imager and the optical performance with this surface type is compared to a conic only solution.
Contested Spaces: Intimate Segregation and Environmental Gentrification on Chicago's 606 Trail

AbstractThe 606, a greenway in Chicago, has been lauded as a transformative revitalization project that provides diverse benefits and connects communities. However, the greenway has become a source...
Cytomegalovirus retinitis after treatment with topical difluprednate in an aphakic eye of an immunocompetent patient.

Abstract Purpose To report a case of an immunocompetent 64-year-old man who developed cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis after using topical difluprednate. Observations A 64-year-old man with type 2 diabetes developed hemorrhagic retinitis while using topical difluprednate after penetrating keratoplasty. Polymerase chain reaction of the vitreous was positive for CMV DNA. Complete blood count was within normal limits and 4th generation human immunodeficiency virus assay was negative. The retinitis resolved with oral valgancyclovir and intravitreal foscarnet injections. Conclusion and importance CMV retinitis may occur after topical difluprednate in an immunocompetent patient.
Imaging and Treatment of Complications of Abdominal and Pelvic Mesh Repair

Surgical mesh is used most frequently for tension-free repair of abdominal wall hernias in adults, because the rate of hernia recurrence is lower with mesh than with primary soft-tissue repair. Since the introduction of polypropylene mesh in the middle of the 20th century, many mesh materials and configurations for specific surgical procedures have been developed. In addition to abdominal wall hernia repair, mesh may be used for repair of diaphragmatic hernias, urinary incontinence in women (female slings), genitourinary prolapse (vaginal mesh and sacrocolpopexy), rectal prolapse (rectopexy), and postprostatectomy male urinary incontinence (male slings). General mesh repair complications include chronic pain; fluid collections such as seromas, hematomas, and abscesses; adhesions that may lead to intestinal blockage; erosion into solid or hollow viscera including enterocutaneous fistulizing disease; and mesh failure characterized by mesh shrinkage, detachment, and migration with repair malfunction. Several mesh complications are often diagnosed with imaging, primarily with CT and less frequently with MRI and US, despite variable mesh visibility at imaging. This article reviews the common surgical mesh applications in the abdomen and pelvis, discusses imaging of mesh repair complications, and provides complication treatment highlights.©RSNA, 2020.
Varying the Beamwidth of Hybrid Beamforming for mmWave Communications

Availability of large array usage in millimeter wave communications gives the opportunity to create narrow beams that yield to high antenna gains. However, in some cases, wider beams are of interest in order to increase the coverage area or reduce the outages caused by the channel variations. To address this need, beam broadening approaches with no increase in the hardware complexity have been described without studying the implementation difficulties. This paper proposes a simplified broadening model while adopting a strategy in which neighbor beams are concatenated to create a wider beam dividing the antenna into subarrays. The beamwidth and power loss analysis along with the beam broadening bounds in the design parameters are expressed in detail. Next, introduced broadening model is integrated to the hybrid beamforming system without changing its hardware structure. Simulation results that verify the analytical expressions for both broadening system and its hybrid beamforming implementation are provided.
Review of Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies, by Nader Hashemi, Oxford University Press

Nineteenth-century French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that the relationship between religion and democracy in the West was the “great problem of our time.” While arguably it may be less significant in the West now, it is altogether a different matter in the Muslim world.Canadian political scientist Nader Hashemi’s book tackles the question in historical and comparative perspective, and proposes fresh ideas on reconciling the tensions among Islam, secularism and liberal democracy. His relatively short work – a revised doctoral dissertation – argues boldly for a fundamental rethinking of the relationship that de Tocqueville presciently identified as problematic. The fresh ideas and possibilities for debate make this book a must read for anyone interested in global politics. Though at times they are highly theoretical, Hashemi makes his views accessible by setting out a road map of what he proposes to argue, then summarizing his arguments and conclusions at the end of each chapter.Hashemi’s book is undoubtedly a weighty contribution on the question of Islam and democracy, one of the “great problems of our time.”
Lyric Returns in Recent Black British Poetry

This essay considers some reasons for lyric’s return in black British poetics by first taking a broad look at the field, and then by attending to the work of several poets writing since the 1990s but publishing most visibly since the millennium – ranging from an innovative writer acclaimed even by the mainstream, Patience Agbabi, to one whose work has been so new in texture, tone and project that it still evades most poetic maps, D. S. Marriott. It argues that lyric in the general sense of being ‘the genre of personal expression’, which American lyric theorists Virginia Jackson and Yopie Prins rightly critique as a twentieth-century invention, has long been interrogated in raced poetry in the UK for its tacit collation of personal and universal – a collation which ironically makes lyric the least personal of genres, in a sense (or in theory). And in fact, recent re-readings of modern aesthetics argue that the really personal was never welcome in New Criticism. So, after postmodernism’s thorough-going investigations of how language overwrites the universalized lyric subject, post-postmodern lyric investigations of subjectivities neglected in such studies are proving increasingly necessary in black British poetry. And in particularly the work of D. S. Marriott, where they point up what even the finest postmodern critiques both missed and disavowed precisely by not taking lyric’s definition at its word – i.e., by not taking lyric “personally” enough.
Hispanic ethnicity is associated with prolonged clearance of high dose methotrexate and severe nephrotoxicity in children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Methotrexate, a competitive inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase, is an integral part of treatment for childhood leukemia. High-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) significantly improves survival in NCI-Rome...
Abstract IA04: Molecular alterations in variant morphology

Bladder cancer can be divided into several major subtypes that include urothelial carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma. Urothelial carcinoma, the most common form of bladder cancer, is further subdivided into numerous histologic variants based on distinct morphologic features. While histologic characterization remains the most important factor in diagnosis and patient management, emerging molecular data across bladder cancer subtypes and variants may potentially alter how bladder cancer is classified. Large scale -omic analytics have uncovered unique signatures within major bladder cancer subtypes. In addition, molecular groupings and unique single-gene alterations have been identified within urothelial carcinoma and its many morphologic variants, including plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma and micropapillary urothelial carcinoma. We will review molecular alterations in major categories of bladder cancer and urothelial carcinoma variants. Many of these molecular alterations could potentially be used in revised classification, diagnosis, and therapy of bladder cancer. Citation Format: Donna E. Hansel. Molecular alterations in variant morphology [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Bladder Cancer: Transforming the Field; 2019 May 18-21; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(15_Suppl):Abstract nr IA04.
Preface and Introduction to the Second Edition of the Oxford Guide to Treaties

This Preface and Introduction introduces readers to the Second Edition of the Oxford Guide to Treaties, an award-winning volume that provides a comprehensive review of the rules and practices surrounding the making, interpretation, and operation of these instruments. The Preface explores the Dickensian state of modern treaties – it is the best of times and it is the worst of times. It offers evidence for both the dominance of treaties within the current international legal order and their decline given the reduction in new treaty-making and rising withdrawals from existing instruments. The Introduction situates treaties within the international legal order and offers a framework for the remainder of the volume. Leading experts provide essays designed to introduce the law of treaties and offer practical insights into how treaties actually work. Foundational issues are covered, including what treaties are and when they should be used, alongside detailed analyses of treaty formation, application, interpretation, and exit. Special issues associated with treaty theory, alternatives, effectiveness, and dynamic interpretation are new to this second edition while all the first edition’s chapters have been fully updated and revised. These scholarly treatments are complimented by a new set of over 400 model treaty clauses. Real examples illustrate the approaches treaty-makers can take on topics such as entry into force, languages, reservations, and amendments. The Second Edition of the Oxford Guide to Treaties thus provides an authoritative reference point for anyone involved in the creation, interpretation, or application of treaties and other forms of international agreement.