cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Validating the Construct of Word in Applied Corpus-based Vocabulary Research: A Critical Survey

Corpus-based vocabulary research has had a profound impact on English language education, and there is abundant evidence that this will remain the case for the foreseeable future. Perhaps the greatest challenge of such research is the determination of what constitutes a Word for counting and analysis purposes. Decisions in this regard have important ramifications not only for the lexical findings themselves, but also for the pedagogical theories and practices that derive from them. This article surveys several fields of study in order to discuss this dilemma, with a particular focus on three problematic areas relating to computer-processed corpora: (a) morphological relationships between words, (b) homonymy and polysemy, and (c) multiword items. The article concludes with recommendations for assessing the validity of the Word construct in applied corpus-based vocabulary research.
Obsessive-compulsive symptoms: the contribution of obsessional beliefs and experiential avoidance.

Abstract Experiential (emotional) avoidance (EA), a core concept in acceptance and commitment therapy, involves an unwillingness to endure upsetting emotions, thoughts, memories, and other private experiences; and is hypothesized to play a role in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study examined how well EA, relative to traditional cognitive–behavioral theoretical constructs such as dysfunctional core beliefs about intrusive thoughts, predicts obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms. A sample of 353 non-clinical participants completed measures of EA, core “obsessive” beliefs, and OC symptoms. Individuals reporting greater levels of OC symptoms endorsed more obsessive beliefs and EA relative those with lower levels of OC symptoms, even when accounting for general levels of psychological distress. Among those with more OC symptoms, EA did not show relationships with obsessive beliefs. Moreover, EA did not add significantly to the prediction of OC symptom dimensions over and above the contribution of general distress and obsessive beliefs. Obsessive beliefs, meanwhile, contributed significantly to the prediction of OC checking and obsessing symptoms after accounting for EA. It appears the construct of EA is too general to explain OC symptoms over and above cognitive–behavioral constructs such as core obsessive beliefs, which are more specific.
Identification of major factors associated with failed clinical molecular oncology testing performed by next generation sequencing (NGS).

Abstract Purpose DNA analysis by NGS has become important to direct the clinical care of cancer patients. However, NGS is not successful in all cases, and the factors responsible for test failures have not been systematically evaluated. Materials and methods A series of 1528 solid and hematolymphoid tumor specimens was tested by an NGS comprehensive cancer panel during 2012–2014. DNA was extracted and 2×101 bp paired-end sequence reads were generated on cancer-related genes utilizing Illumina HiSeq and MiSeq platforms. Results Testing was unsuccessful in 343 (22.5%) specimens. The failure was due to insufficient tissue (INST) in 223/343 (65%) cases, insufficient DNA (INS-DNA) in 99/343 (28.9%) cases, and failed library (FL) in 21/343 (6.1%) cases. 87/99 (88%) of the INS-DNA cases had below 10 ng DNA available for testing. Factors associated with INST and INS-DNA failures were site of biopsy (SOB) and type of biopsy (TOB) (both p Conclusions Pre-analytical causes (INST and INS-DNA) accounted for about 90% of all failed cases; independent of test design. Clinical setting; site and type of biopsy; and number of cores used for testing all correlated with failure. Accounting for these factors at the time of tissue biopsy acquisition could improve the analytic success rate.
On the assignment of fitness to parents and offspring: Whose fitness is it and when does it matter?

There has been a long-standing conceptual debate over the legitimacy of assigning components of offspring fitness to parents for purposes of evolutionary analysis. The benefits and risks inherent in assigning fitness of offspring to parents have been given primarily as verbal arguments and no explicit theoretical analyses have examined quantitatively how the assignment of fitness can affect evolutionary inferences. Using a simple quantitative genetic model, we contrast the conclusions drawn about how selection acts on a maternal character when components of offspring fitness (such as early survival) are assigned to parents vs. when they are assigned directly to the individual offspring. We find that there are potential shortcomings of both possible assignments of fitness. In general, whenever there is a genetic correlation between the parental and direct effects on offspring fitness, assigning components of offspring fitness to parents yields incorrect dynamical equations and may even lead to incorrect conclusions about the direction of evolution. Assignment of offspring fitness to parents may also produce incorrect estimates of selection whenever environmental variation contributes to variance of the maternal trait. Whereas assignment of offspring fitness to the offspring avoids these potential problems, it introduces the possible problem of missing components of kin selection provided by the mother, which may not be detected in selection analyses. There are also certain conditions where either model can be appropriate because assignment of offspring fitness to parents may yield the same dynamical equations as assigning offspring fitness directly to offspring. We discuss these implications of the alternative assignments of fitness for modelling, selection analysis and experimentation in evolutionary biology.
Campus and College Victim Responses to Sexual Assault and Dating Violence Disclosure, Service Utilization, and Service Provision

After sexual assault or dating violence occurs, a college victim may disclose the event to formal and informal sources as well as seek services. The current review explores empirical research on formal disclosure, informal disclosure, service utilization, and service provision among college students. Forty-five empirical articles and reports that met certain criteria were reviewed. Overall, rates of informal disclosure were considerably higher than rates of formal disclosure. Characteristics of the incident, victim, and offender were associated with disclosure. Rates of service utilization were varied but appear to be low among those victimized in the past year. When services were used, physical and mental health services were most often utilized. Available services, policies for dating violence and sexual assault, and judicial processes varied according to the type of institution, and indicate several areas for improvement. A number of research, practice, and policy implications emerge from this critical review of the literature.
Development in context: the timely emergence of eco-devo

Ecological development or 'eco-devo' examines the mechanisms of developmental regulation in real-world environments, providing an integrated approach for investigating both plastic and canalized aspects of phenotypic expression. This synthetic discipline brings a current understanding of environmentally mediated regulatory systems to studies of genetic variation, ecological function and evolutionary change. Eco-devo is emerging at a critical point in time, as researchers try to understand and predict the future of organisms in a changing world. Precise knowledge of the external and internal environmental cues, signaling pathways and genetic elements implicated in developmental outcomes will provide key insights to the immediate tolerance and potential evolutionary resilience of organisms to the altered physical and biotic conditions created by human activities.
Identification of high-risk residents.

Abstract %Background. Identification of high-risk residents allows remediation and support for administrative action when necessary. This study characterizes differences in documentation of marginally performing residents in a general surgery residency. Methods. High-risk residents were identified by the former program director. Twenty-four of one hundred fifteen residents over a 10-year period had one to four problematic areas: cognitive, synthetic, family/health, and interpersonal skills. Outcomes included finished (18), voluntary withdrawal (1), and involuntary withdrawal (5). A case–control study matching controls to cases by date of entry into the training program was used. Records were reviewed for demographics, preentry qualifications, American Board of Surgery In-Training Exam (ABSITE) scores, letters of complaint or praise, events of counseling, and monthly ratings. The records of 48 residents were reviewed. Ward evaluations were on eight categories with a 5-point Leikert scale (3—unacceptable to 7—outstanding). The evaluation score assigns points only to low ratings. High scores represent progressively poorer performance. A Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to compare the cases and controls for continuous variables. The McNemar test was used in comparisons of categorical data with binary outcomes. Exact P values are reported. Results. Objective data were similar for both groups. Study residents tended to score higher on monthly evaluations at Year 2 and by Year 3 this achieved significance (0.026). Study residents were more likely to have negative faculty letters (0.016) and events of counseling by a faculty member (0.017) and the program director (0.005). Conclusions. Identification of residents at risk should begin as early as possible during training. A combination of faculty evaluations and evidence of letters of counseling can detect high-risk residents. Programs may use such indicators to support decisions regarding remedial work or administrative action.
Multiple Benefits Derived from a Peer Teacher Program in Two Undergraduate Microbiology Lab Courses

A peer teaching program was implemented to alleviate the problem of a limited number of lab instructors attempting to teach large numbers of students in two different undergraduate microbiology lab courses. The benefit of having peer teachers was immediately obvious to the lab instructors, faculty and staff who were responsible for conducting the labs, but it was soon evident that there were also benefits for everyone else involved in the program. The students enrolled in the labs reported that having peer teachers in the lab enhanced their learning, and they felt comfortable receiving help from a peer teacher who had recently completed the course. The peer teachers discovered that they gained valuable experience and confidence while teaching other students, and they appreciated the chance to gain hands-on experience. The lab instructors received the qualified help they needed in order to give more individual attention to the large numbers of students in the labs. The feedback from this program has been positive from everyone involved.
A visually oriented architectural fault simulation environment for WSI

A visually oriented fault simulation environment for WSI architectures based on behavioral simulation of parallel message passing processors and switch-level fault simulation of selected processors is described. The environment was implemented by interfacing the CHAMP switch-level simulator with the OODRA behavioral simulator. The simulation environment was used to measure the fault coverage for a digital adaptive beamforming architecture with a synthetic workload. Fault coverage variation with input set size and array location was investigated. The rate at which faults produce errors in the architecture was also measured. >
Link spamming Wikipedia for profit

Collaborative functionality is an increasingly prevalent web technology. To encourage participation, these systems usually have low barriers-to-entry and permissive privileges. Unsurprisingly, ill-intentioned users try to leverage these characteristics for nefarious purposes. In this work, a particular abuse is examined -- link spamming -- the addition of promotional or otherwise inappropriate hyperlinks. Our analysis focuses on the wiki model and the collaborative encyclopedia, Wikipedia, in particular. A principal goal of spammers is to maximize exposure, the quantity of people who view a link. Creating and analyzing the first Wikipedia link spam corpus, we find that existing spam strategies perform quite poorly in this regard. The status quo spamming model relies on link persistence to accumulate exposures, a strategy that fails given the diligence of the Wikipedia community. Instead, we propose a model that exploits the latency inherent in human anti-spam enforcement. Statistical estimation suggests our novel model would produce significantly more link exposures than status quo techniques. More critically, the strategy could prove economically viable for perpetrators, incentivizing its exploitation. To this end, we address mitigation strategies.
Evaluation of association tests for rare variants using simulated data sets in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 data

We evaluate four association tests for rare variants—the combined multivariate and collapsing (CMC) method, two weighted-sum methods, and a variable threshold method—by applying them to the simulated data sets of unrelated individuals in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 (GAW17) data. The family-wise error rate (FWER) and average power are used as criteria for evaluation. Our results show that when all nonsynonymous SNPs (rare variants and common variants) in a gene are jointly analyzed, the CMC method fails to control the FWER; when only rare variants (single-nucleotide polymorphisms with minor allele frequency less than 0.05) are analyzed, all four methods can control FWER well. All four methods have comparable power, which is low for the analysis of the GAW17 data sets. Three of the methods (not including the CMC method) involve estimation of p-values using permutation procedures that either can be computationally intensive or generate inflated FWERs. We adapt a fast permutation procedure into these three methods. The results show that using the fast permutation procedure can produce FWERs and average powers close to the values obtained from the standard permutation procedure on the GAW17 data sets. The standard permutation procedure is computationally intensive.
Conservatively treated glassy cell carcinoma of the cervix

Very little data about the conservative treatment of early stage glassy cell cervical cancer have been reported. A 30-year old patient, nulligravida was admitted to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit of the Catholic University of Campobasso for irregular post-coital vaginal bleeding. The patients was staged as having FIGO stage IB1 (tumor diameter = 2 cm) squamous cervical cancer. After extensive counseling of the patient and her family, laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy and cold knife conization were performed. The final diagnosis was FIGO Stage IB1 glassy cell carcinoma. Currently, after a follow-up of 38 months, she has no evidence of disease. We reported a case of early stage glassy cell cancer patient, who was conservatively treated by conization and laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy.
STEROL METHYLTRANSFERASE 1 Controls the Level of Cholesterol in Plants

The side chain in plant sterols can have either a methyl or ethyl addition at carbon 24 that is absent in cholesterol. The ethyl addition is the product of two sequential methyl additions. Arabidopsis contains three genes— sterol methyltransferase 1 ( SMT1) , SMT2, and SMT3— homologous to yeast ERG6 , which is known to encode an S -adenosylmethionine‐ dependent C-24 SMT that catalyzes a single methyl addition. The SMT1 polypeptide is the most similar of these Arabidopsis homologs to yeast Erg6p. Moreover, expression of Arabidopsis SMT1 in erg6 restores SMT activity to the yeast mutant. The smt1 plants have pleiotropic defects: poor growth and fertility, sensitivity of the root to calcium, and a loss of proper embryo morphogenesis. smt1 has an altered sterol content: it accumulates cholesterol and has less C-24 alkylated sterols content. Escherichia coli extracts, obtained from a strain expressing the Arabidopsis SMT1 protein, can perform both the methyl and ethyl additions to appropriate sterol substrates, although with different kinetics. The fact that smt1 null mutants still produce alkylated sterols and that SMT1 can catalyze both alkylation steps shows that there is considerable overlap in the substrate specificity of enzymes in sterol biosynthesis. The availability of the SMT1 gene and mutant should permit the manipulation of phytosterol composition, which will help elucidate the role of sterols in animal nutrition.
Viewing Context Adaptive On-Chip Video Memory

With the rapid development of portable devices, it becomes more and more popular for people to watch videos by mobile phones. As people are enjoying to watch videos anytime and anywhere, experience and battery life are two major concerns. This paper presents a viewing context adaptive on-chip video memory design methodology to prolong the battery life of portable devices, while maintaining the viewing experience of users. We developed a model for mobile videos in different luminance contexts and based on it, implemented a low-cost low-power video memory. Our results show that up to 32.6% power savings can be achieved, while maintaining almost the same perception quality, as compared to the conventional SRAM.
Does the Chief Justice Make Partisan Appointments to Special Courts and Panels

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has the exclusive and independent power to appoint federal judges to various special courts and panels, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the court that oversees all domestic surveillance for national security, including domestic data collection by the National Security Agency (NSA). This article examines the propensity of Chief Justices to appoint co-partisan judges to these panels. Such appointments may serve to produce decisions and policies that align with the Chief Justice's preferences. I use computational simulations to model the appointment decisions made by Chief Justices. I find that there is less than a 1 percent chance that a neutral Chief Justice would appoint as many Republicans to the FISC as have been appointed in the last 36 years. I further show that the Chief Justice is not selecting appointees on other observable judicial characteristics, such as age, experience, gender, senior status, or caseload. These results have important implications for the creation of judicial institutions, the internal politics of the judiciary, legislative delegation, and the powers and oversight of the national security state.
How many secondary carbocations are involved in the biosynthesis of avermitilol

Quantum chemical calculations were used to assess the viability of proposed secondary carbocations as intermediates in the biosynthesis of avermitilol. One, a cyclopropylcarbinyl cation, was found to be a true minimum, while another, a simple secondary cation, was found to exist only as part of a transition structure for water capture.
The Virostatic and Virucidal Action of α-Haloacylamides on Vaccinia Virus in Vitro.

SummarySeveral chloro- and bromoacylamides were demonstrated to inhibit multiplication of the vaccinia virus in chick embryonic tissue. 5-Dichloroamidouracil was found to be inhibitory whereas 5-fluoroacetamidouracil was inactive.
Characterization of Pecvd Sin Films by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) silicon nitride films deposited on both GaAs and Si substrates have been characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The results indicate that such films consist of three constituents: Si3N4, voids, and amorphous silicon (α-Si). In addition, it is also observed that for typical deposition conditions there is an intervening layer of α-Si (on the order of 50–100 A) between the nitride film and the semiconductor substrate. The thickness of this a-Si layer is found to depend on both the stoichiometry and the growth time of the nitride layer, leading to the conclusion that it is a result of excess Si diffusing from the growth surface through the nitride layer.
Observation of Combined Acitretin Capsule and Xiaoyin Granule Therapy for 60 Patients with Psoriasis Vulgaris

Objective To explore curative effect of combined acitretin capsule and Xiaoyin granule therapy for psoriasis vulgaris.Methods Select a clinical diagnosis of psoriasis vulgaris 120 patients were randomly divided into observation group and control group 60 cases observed the group oral Avi A capsule 10 mg,3 times/d qd for 45 d later reduced to 10 mg,2 times/d,and eliminate silver particles 3.5 g,3 times/d,a course of 3 months.The control group was treated with Avi A capsule usage ibid.Results After a course of treatment,Observation Group showed a remarkably better result than Control Group,with significant difference(P0.05).Conclusion Combined acitretin capsule and Xiaoyin granule therapy is significantly effective for psoriasis vulgaris.So,it is a choice for treating the disease.And this needs further observation and investigation.
Scientific evidence and research in primary care.

The key areas of scientific research in general internal medicine are (1) prevention; (2) the natural history of common illnesses; (3) improving the outcomes and efficiency of the health care system and (4) orphan diseases. Disease prevention is at the top of the list because of the enormous role preventable causes play in morbidity and mortality, above all tobacco. Research in this field is difficult because it touches such questions as individual behaviour and personal choice. Research in the natural history of common illnesses is critical to informed patient decision making. Recent studies show that procedures thought to be safe bear a high percentage of complications, when viewed from the generalist's point of view: high incidence of strokes after elective coronary bypass surgery; higher mortality rates among patients having had pulmonary catheterization; high incidence of incontinence and impotence after transurethral resection of the prostate. A third area for research in primary care is how to improve outcome and efficiency through improvements in the health care delivery system. This field touches the problem of unnecessary surgical interventions and inappropriate prescription of antibiotics. Orphan diseases in this context are conditions no speciality wants to study, such as dementia and low back pain. The most important obstacle for research in the field of general internal medicine is funding. It is much easier to be funded for research in high profile conditions, like heart disease, cancer and AIDS. A second barrier to research relates to the role of special interest groups in influencing not only funding but also policy. Important examples were the pressure on consensus conference decisions on the role of spinal fusion surgery for low back pain and on the question whether women between 40 and 50 should have annual mammography. For generalist research to be fruitful it is of outmost importance to have an adequate intellectual infrastructure, i.e. support by epidemiologists, biostatisticians, economists and research methodologists.
Microbial Reconstitution Reverses Maternal Diet-Induced Social and Synaptic Deficits in Offspring

Maternal obesity during pregnancy has been associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in offspring. Here, we report that maternal high-fat diet (MHFD) induces a shift in microbial ecology that negatively impacts offspring social behavior. Social deficits and gut microbiota dysbiosis in MHFD offspring are prevented by co-housing with offspring of mothers on a regular diet (MRD) and transferable to germ-free mice. In addition, social interaction induces synaptic potentiation (LTP) in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of MRD, but not MHFD offspring. Moreover, MHFD offspring had fewer oxytocin immunoreactive neurons in the hypothalamus. Using metagenomics and precision microbiota reconstitution, we identified a single commensal strain that corrects oxytocin levels, LTP, and social deficits in MHFD offspring. Our findings causally link maternal diet, gut microbial imbalance, VTA plasticity, and behavior and suggest that probiotic treatment may relieve specific behavioral abnormalities associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
Aprepitant (Emend®) Significantly Increases Sirolimus Levels In Patients Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell transplantation.

Abstract Abstract 1311 Drug interactions are common with immunosuppressive agents used during the process of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT). Aprepitant (Emend®) (APR), a selective antagonist of substance P/neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptors, is a novel antiemetic agent that is increasingly used for patients undergoing HCT. APR is both a substrate and a moderate inhibitor of human cytochrome P450 (CYP450), specifically CYP3A4. Use of APR presents a potential for interactions with immunosuppressive medications. Tacrolimus and sirolimus are immunosuppressive agents commonly used for prevention and treatment of graft versus host disease (GVHD) in patients undergoing allogeneic HCT. These two drugs are substrates for CYP3A4 isoenzyme and hence agents that are known to inhibit CYP3A4 may increase bioavailability of these immunosuppressants. We retrospectively examined the effect of oral APR on serum tacrolimus/sirolimus drug levels in 14 consecutive patients (APR treated group) and compared these data to 71 consecutive control patients (control group) who did not receive APR during conditioning for allogeneic stem cell transplant. Patients for both groups were identified and selected for analysis from a prospective observational research database. All patients underwent reduced-intensity Allo HCT using fludarabine and melphalan conditioning regimen from May 2008 to July 2009 at City of Hope National Medical Center. Oral APR was administered as125 mg on day -4 and 80 mg on days -3 and -2 of HCT process. The first dose of APR was given on the same day as melphalan (day -4). Tacrolimus (0.02 mg/kg/day) and sirolimus (12 mg loading dose, followed by 4 mg/day) were started on day -3; doses were subsequently adjusted to maintain drug levels of 5–10 ng/ml. Baseline characteristics were similar for patients in both groups in terms of age, gender, donor type, stem cell source and GVHD prophylaxis regimen. Drug levels were monitored twice a week; the median number of drug levels tested over the first 30 days post-HCT were 8 for APR group and 8.5 for the control group. The post-loading sirolimus levels (drawn 1 to 3 days after loading dose) were significantly higher in APR group (29.2 vs. 13.5 ng/ml, p=0.003, Table), while the levels were not different for tacrolimus (9.2 vs. 8.6 ng/ml, p=0.13). There was a trend for higher median tacrolimus levels over the first 30 days for the patients in the Control group (8.2 vs. 7.3 ng/ml, p=0.05). In response to elevated post-loading sirolimus levels, clinicians drastically reduced the sirolimus dose which led to sub-therapeutic sirolimus levels ( Disclosures: Off Label Use: tacrolimus and sirolimus for GVHD prophylaxis (off-label use).
Legg-Perthes disease. Long-term follow-up of thirty-six patients.

Thirty-six patients with Legg-Perthes disease were examined thirty to fortyeight years after the onset of symptoms. The average length of follow-up was 36.3 years. The typical patient had mild limp, minimum shortening, absent or mild hip pain, and minimum or no functional impairment with respect to his job and activities of daily living. Symptoms and functional impairment did not seem to increase with increasing age and length of follow-up.
Proof Without Words: The Maximum Sum of Inradii

SummaryUsing the Japanese theorem on cyclic polygons, we visually show that the sum of inradii in a triangulation of a regular polygon approaches the diameter of the circumcircle as the number of s...
Adsorption Equilibrium and Modeling of Water Vapor on Reduced and Unreduced Silver-Exchanged Mordenite

This work is related to the removal of tritiated water and radioactive iodine from off-gases released during spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Specifically, it is focused on the adsorption equilibrium of water on reduced silver mordenite (Ag0Z), which is the state-of-art solid adsorbent for iodine retention in the off-gas treatment. As the off-gases contain different gas species, including iodine and water, Ag0Z would take up iodine and water simultaneously during the adsorption process. Therefore, understanding the adsorption of water on Ag0Z is important and necessary for studying the performance of Ag0Z in off-gas treatment processes. The isotherms of water (nonradioactive water) on Ag0Z were obtained at temperatures of 25, 40, 60, 100, 150, and 200 °C with a continuous-flow adsorption system. The data were analyzed using the Heterogeneous Langmuir and generalized statistical thermodynamic adsorption (GSTA) models, and thermodynamic parameters of the isotherms were obtained from both models. Both models...
Estimated Splash and Training Wall Height Requirements for Stepped Chutes Applied to Embankment Dams

AbstractAging embankment dams are commonly plagued with insufficient spillway capacity. To provide increased spillway capacity, stepped chutes are frequently applied as an overtopping protection sy...
Patterns in Economics Journal Acceptances and Rejections

This study surveyed a sample of authors of articles published in Economics journals to gain insight into their experiences in submitting their manuscripts for publication. We explored factors related to receiving a desk rejection (rejection by editor without the article being sent out for review by referees). We also examined characteristics linked to whether authors were asked by the journal publishing the article to make extensive revisions prior to acceptance. In addition, we studied whether, after rejection, authors were likely to make substantial revisions prior to submission to another journal. Characteristics considered included respondent’s academic rank and prior publishing history at a particular journal, presence of coauthors, authors’ genders, and journal rank.JEL Classifications: A140, J16
Marrow Stimulation: Microfracture, Drilling, and Abrasion

Focal cartilage lesions of the knee are commonly encountered in orthopedic sports medicine. Microfracture is a reparative surgical technique with favorable short-term patient outcomes and is relatively easy to perform. Recently, there has been a shift towards restorative procedures as they seem to have a more favorable long-term outcome compared to microfracture.
Ubiquitin ligases and posttranslational regulation of energy in the heart: The hand that feeds

Heart failure (HF) is a costly and deadly syndrome characterized by the reduced capacity of the heart to adequately provide systemic blood flow. Mounting evidence implicates pathological changes in cardiac energy metabolism as a contributing factor in the development of HF. While the main source of fuel in the healthy heart is the oxidation of fatty acids, in the failing heart the less energy efficient glucose and glycogen metabolism are upregulated. The ubiquitin proteasome system plays a key role in regulating metabolism via protein-degradation/regulation of autophagy and regulating metabolism-related transcription and cell signaling processes. In this review, we discuss recent research that describes the role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) in regulating metabolism in the context of HF. We focus on ubiquitin ligases (E3s), the component of the UPS that confers substrate specificity, and detail the current understanding of how these E3s contribute to cardiac pathology and metabolism. © 2017 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 7:841-862, 2017.
A Critique of BEAT Critiques

Of all the new base-broadening rules enacted in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, none has been subject to more complaints than the BEAT. The essay argues, that while there is much to improve about the BEAT, a significant part of the criticism against it is unwarranted. Many of the critiques make use of unlikely hypothetical business structures to demonstrate supposed failures in the operation of the new law. Many of the hypotheticals used, however, are either irrelevant (as they assume business structures that no taxpayers would reasonably use) or extremely rare. In other instances the examples used are more realistic, but the complaints are made against the successful operation of the law as intended.
Mechanistic control of a galvanic replacement reaction on cuprous oxide

Galvanic replacement (GR) reactions are a versatile approach to fabricating hierarchically structured functional nanomaterials for catalytic, plasmonic, and sensing applications. Most research efforts aim to identify chemical strategies to control the resultant morphology of GR deposition on metallic nanoparticle seeds. Recently, GR has become a method of interest for fabricating heterogeneous interfaces for these applications. Here, we study the chemical mechanism for the GR reaction of AuCl4− on Cu-based thin films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and structural characterization show that, while the GR reaction proceeds through the direct dissolution of Cu and reduction of AuCl4− on Cu, the reaction on Cu2O results in the solid-state formation of CuO at the interface which passivates the interface from further Au deposition. As a result, the chemistry and morphology of Au deposited on Cu2O is limited by the rate of CuO dissolution in the background acidic electrolyte. To explain the observed differences between the GR reaction of AuCl4− on Cu and Cu2O interfaces, we propose a new mechanism for the GR reaction on Cu2O surfaces where disproportionation is the limiting intermediate reaction which can be mediated by AuCl4− concentration and by the photoelectrochemical generation of Cu nanoparticles throughout the bulk of the Cu2O. Consequently, the hierarchical structure of the GR deposition of Au can be chemically controlled on Cu2O films. More generally, this highlights how the details of the chemical kinetics at the reaction interface can be exploited to tailor the resulting nanostructure of metals deposited via GR reactions.
Quantum-Mechanical Limitations on Device Performance

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of the quantum-mechanical limitations on device performance. Fundamental limit is the extremal value of some critical parameter that is permitted by basic physical laws. In the future, as computer technology approaches its limiting performance, the rate of obsolescence will slow and the technology will become sufficiently reliable that depreciation costs drop to relatively low values. If standard software packages are developed and input-output methods are improved, the same thing could happen to software and other recurrent costs for standard computations. In this limit, the major cost of computation might be the energy cost. As the dollar cost of energy is a monotonically increasing function of time, the ability to place a lower limit on the energy consumption necessary to perform a computation leads directly to a lower limit on the dollar cost of performing that computation. The primary obstacle to carrying out this cost analysis is determination of N c , which is defined as the minimum number of logic operations necessary to perform a computation. This is the goal of the modern theory of mathematical complexity and advances in that field will probably permit such an analysis to be made in the future when it becomes a critical issue. The second complication, which is intrinsically quantum mechanical in nature, is that the energy-error-probability trade-off depends on the total time allowed for the computation if that time is sufficiently short. The quantum limits on the minimum power-delay product surpass the thermodynamic limitations at clock rates in the range 10–1000 GHz and increase linearly with clock frequency after that. This means that quantum mechanics imposes an additional energy penalty on very fast computations with a given confidence level.
Comparison of cigarette, little cigar, and waterpipe tobacco smoke condensate and e-cigarette aerosol condensate in a self-administration model.

Abstract The pharmacological effects of tobacco products are primarily mediated by nicotine; however, research suggests that several non-nicotine tobacco constituents may alter the reinforcing effects of nicotine. This study evaluated the reinforcing effects of aqueous solutions of smoke/aerosol condensate from cigarettes, little cigars, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), and waterpipe tobacco in a self-administration procedure to determine if abuse liability of these tobacco products differed. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 64 total) were trained to self-administer intravenous nicotine (30 μg/kg/infusion) on a fixed ratio 5 schedule of reinforcement. Following nicotine dose-effect assessment (1, 7.5, 15, and 30 μg/kg/infusion), rats were given access to smoke/aerosol condensate derived from their assigned tobacco product. Rats responded for smoke/aerosol condensate containing 1, 7.5, 15, and 30 μg/kg/infusion nicotine, with the ratio of nicotine:non-nicotine constituents held constant across doses for each tobacco product. Responding for nicotine or smoke/aerosol condensate was also assessed on a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement. Cigarette, little cigar, and e-cigarette smoke/aerosol condensates shifted the nicotine dose-effect curve leftward, whereas waterpipe tobacco smoke condensate shifted the dose-effect curve rightward. Smoke/aerosol condensate from all tobacco products produced similar levels of responding compared to nicotine alone during the progressive ratio phase. Results suggest that non-nicotine constituents in cigarettes, little cigars, and e-cigarettes differentially enhance nicotine’s reinforcing potency. In contrast, waterpipe tobacco blunted nicotine’s reinforcing potency, suggesting that it may contain unique constituents that dampen nicotine’s reinforcing effects.
Evidence that social-economic factors play an important role in drug overdose deaths.

Abstract Background Drug overdose deaths in the United States increased from approximately 16,000 per year in 2001 to 41,000 per year in 2014. Although every US state witnessed an increase, the increases were much larger in some states than others. There was also variation as a function of race and ethnicity. Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for more than 80% of the deaths, and in some states their rates were about ten times greater per capita than Hispanic and Non-White rates. State and temporal differences provide an opportunity to evaluate explanations of what is driving drug overdose deaths. In this report, we evaluate the degree to which state level variation in opioid prescription rates and social-economic conditions explain state level variation in overdose death rates. Methods and data We used publicly available data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Opportunity Insights project. Results Legally prescribed opioids, social capital and work force participation accounted for 53–69% of the between-state variation in overdose deaths in Non-Hispanic Whites. Prescriptions and the two social economic measures accounted for about the same amounts of unique variation, but shared variation among the three independent variables was the strongest predictor of overdose deaths. Panel regression results of the year-to-year changes in overdose deaths were similar. However, the pattern of correlations for Hispanics and Non-Whites was quite different. Neither opioid prescriptions nor social capital were significant predictors of overdose deaths in the between-state and between-year Hispanic and Non-White regression analyses. Conclusions Common variation in opioid prescriptions rates, social capital, and work force participation proved the strongest predictor of drug overdose deaths in Non-Hispanic Whites. We discuss reasons why the same did not hold for the Hispanic/Non-White population.
Trigger and Data Acquisition

This chapter provides an introduction to the Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ) system in ATLAS. The trigger system is a crucial component of the experiment, responsible for selecting events of interest at a recording rate of approximately 1 kHz from up to 40 MHz of proton–proton collisions corresponding to 25 ns bunch spacing of the LHC. This chapter discusses the motivation for triggering, the subsystems of the trigger system, development of a trigger menu, acquisition of data for physics analyses, and instrumentation upgrades for Run 3 and beyond.
In Memoriam: Cynthia Symons

Cynthia ‘Cindy’ Wolford Symons died March 20, 2020 in Kent, Ohio. She was Professor Emerita from Kent State University. Cindy received her B.S. in Health and Physical Education from Lock Haven Univ...
Are We Harming Cancer Patients by Delaying Their Cancer Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has created an incredible strain on health systems worldwide. Accordingly, professional societies have recommended postponing elective surgeries to maintain capacity in health systems.1,2 Care of cancer patients poses a unique dilemma due to the current shift in priorities. Concerns about tumor progression, increased risk of emergent complications, and a reduction in survival contribute to a sense of urgency to provide expeditious care. Yet, recent reports suggest that cancer patients are at an increased risk of dying from COVID-19.3 The association of time interval from cancer diagnosis to definitive cancer surgery with risk of cancer specific outcomes is poorly understood. Addressing this question can triage cancer operations and help allay anxiety. Identifying a safe postponement strategy will also allow us to meet the capacity to react to the ongoing crisis.
Transcatheter Closure of Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava Draining to Pulmonary Vein: A Rare Entity.

We describe a patient with recurrent embolic strokes who was found to have a persistent left superior vena cava draining into a pulmonary vein. Transcatheter placement of a vascular plug resulted in successful occlusion of the superior vena cava. Repeat bubble study on follow-up imaging was negative for a right-to-left shunt. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).
Stress and Symptom Burden in Oncology Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract Context No information is available on oncology patients' level of stress and symptom burden during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Objectives To evaluate for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics, levels of social isolation and loneliness, and the occurrence and severity of common symptoms between oncology patients with low vs. high levels of COVID-19 and cancer-related stress. In addition, to determine which of these characteristics were associated with membership in the high-stressed group. Methods Patients were 18 years and older; had a diagnosis of cancer; and were able to complete an online survey. Results Of the 187 patients in this study, 31.6% were categorized in the stressed group (Impact of Event Scale—Revised [score of ≥24]). Stressed group's Impact of Event Scale—Revised score exceeds previous benchmarks in oncology patients and equates with probable post-traumatic stress disorder. In this stressed group, patients reported occurrence rates for depression (71.2%), anxiety (78.0%), sleep disturbance (78.0%), evening fatigue (55.9%), cognitive impairment (91.5%), and pain (75.9%). Symptom severity scores equate with clinically meaningful levels for each symptom. Conclusion We identified alarmingly high rates of stress and an extraordinarily high symptom burden among patients with cancer, exceeding those previously benchmarked in this population and on par with noncancer patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely impact cancer care for an indefinite period, clinicians must exhibit increased vigilance in their assessments of patients' level of stress and symptom burden. Moreover, an increase in referrals to appropriate supportive care resources must be prioritized for high-risk patients.
Science Communication Training in North America: Preparing Whom to Do What With What Effect?:

This study identifies key characteristics of current science communication training programs based in North America. We report findings from semistructured interviews conducted with science communi...
Upper Cretaceous teleostean otoliths from the Severn Formation (Maastrichtian) of Maryland, USA, with an unusual occurrence of Siluriformes and Beryciformes and the oldest Atlantic coast Gadiformes

Abstract The Upper Cretaceous teleost assemblage represented by otoliths from the Severn Formation (Maastrichtian) of Maryland (USA) is identified, and evaluated in the context of Upper Cretaceous otolith assemblages from the USA. Otoliths were analyzed from five localities, and the species diversity (richness and evenness) was assessed for all sites combined and individually. Examination of 2296 otoliths resulted in 32 taxa identified to at least the genus level. This represents one of the most diversified otolith assemblages known for the Cretaceous. The Severn Formation has a unique occurrence of Siluriformes (54.10% of total) and Beryciformes (25.95%), and possible factors for this preponderance are investigated. The Severn Formation also produced a small number of otoliths of the Gadiformes, which represents the earliest in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Percentage similarity measurements calculated for each of the sites varied from 65.68% to 4.30%. The variance of the similarity values are believed to be related to changes in the shallow marine environment including estuaries, deltas, freshwater input, and nutrient shifts. The beryciforms are thought to have been highly adapted to specialized environments, much like the perciforms of the Cenozoic, and the variances at different sites (from no specimens to 31.28%) may have been related to localized changes in the paleoenvironment. The percentage of beryciforms and siluriforms was also examined at eight other localities in the USA and pointed to an inverse relationship in their abundance. The Severn Formation otolith assemblage is a member of the Appalachian Community bioprovince. One new taxon is described as a putative polymixiiform: Severnichthys bourdoni gen. et sp. nov.
Frobenius distributions of elliptic curves in short intervals on average

For an elliptic curve $$E/{\mathbb {Q}}$$ , let $$a_p$$ denote the trace of its Frobenius endomorphism over $${\mathbb {F}}_p$$ , where p is a prime of good reduction for E. Hasse’s theorem asserts that $$|a_p| \le 2\sqrt{p}$$ . In this paper we establish average asymptotics for primes p for which $$a_p \in \left( 2\sqrt{p} - f(p), 2\sqrt{p}\right) $$ or $$a_p \in \left( c\sqrt{p} - f(p), c\sqrt{p}\right) $$ , where $$f(x) = o(\sqrt{x})$$ is a function satisfying mild growth conditions and $$0< c < 2$$ is a constant.
Worldviews in Politics, and the Failure of Liberalism

This chapter begins with further reflections on the role of religion in politics, and identifies some of the difficulties facing Robert Audi’s related principle of secular motivation (discussed in Chap. 7). Recognizing that the liberal solution to the problem of pluralism is occasionally looked upon with suspicion, we illustrate the problems with the views of Rawls and Audi further by a detailed case study of Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s religious arguments for civil rights in U.S. society. We then present an overall critical assessment of Rawls’ view, both in the light of and in contrast to our King analysis. The chapter then brings together our views on the role of religion in politics, arguing that all views presented in public political debates need to be reasonable, and providing an overview of what it means to be reasonable. We show, by means of discussion of various examples, that some religious conclusions can be presented according to the principles of public reason. We consider some possible problems as a way of further explaining the position defended in the chapter, and end with some additional reflections on liberalism.