cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Safety of magnetic resonance imaging in patients with legacy pacemakers and defibrillators and abandoned leads

Background During magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), abandoned leads may act as antennae that result in tissue heating and arrhythmia induction. Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of MRI in patients with abandoned leads, with the addition of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) assessment to screen for myocardial damage. Methods We reviewed our prospectively collected database of patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) undergoing MRI between 2008 and 2017 at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, and selected patients who had abandoned leads. We compared the adverse events in this population with an age, sex, and site of MRI–matched cohort of patients selected from this database. We evaluated paired (before/after) cTnT values using MRI in these patients. Results Of 952 patients, 80 (8.4%) underwent 97 MRI scans with CIEDs in situ with 90 abandoned leads in place during the scans. The median age was 66 years (interquartile range 22.3 years) 66.1 years (interquartile range, Q1,Q3: 53.6, 75.9) with 66.3% (53 patients) men. There was no clinical or electrical evidence of CIED dysfunction, arrhythmias, or pain. Paired samples for the measurement of cTnT values were available in 40 patients undergoing 44 MRI examinations. The mean difference between the pre- and postimaging values was −0.002 ± 0.006 ng/mL (interquartile range 0). There was no difference after adjustment for total number of leads per patient and total number of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator coils. Conclusion There was no evidence of myocardial injury as measured by paired cTnT. The risk of MRI with abandoned leads appears low, suggesting a favorable risk-benefit profile in patients with CIEDs and abandoned leads who are considered for MRI.
Final test results for the ground operations demonstration unit for liquid hydrogen

Described herein is a comprehensive project-a large-scale test of an integrated refrigeration and storage system called the Ground Operations and Demonstration Unit for Liquid Hydrogen (GODU LH2), sponsored by the Advanced Exploration Systems Program and constructed at Kennedy Space Center. A commercial cryogenic refrigerator interfaced with a 125,000 liter liquid hydrogen tank and auxiliary systems in a manner that enabled control of the propellant state by extracting heat via a closed loop Brayton cycle refrigerator coupled to a novel internal heat exchanger. Three primary objectives were demonstrating zero-loss storage and transfer, gaseous liquefaction, and propellant densification. Testing was performed at three different liquid hydrogen fill-levels. Data were collected on tank pressure, internal tank temperature profiles, mass flow in and out of the system, and refrigeration system performance. All test objectives were successfully achieved during approximately two years of testing. A summary of the final results is presented in this paper.
Adolescent and parent perspectives on medical decision-making for chronic illness.

Introduction The objective of the study was to assess correlates of adolescent and parent perceptions of their involvement in medical decision-making (MDM). Method Study participants included 28 pairs of pediatric patients with chronic rheumatologic illnesses and their parents presenting to an outpatient rheumatology clinic. Participants completed measures assessing perceptions of MDM involvement, health consciousness, and decisional conflict. Results Adolescent health consciousness correlated positively with parent health consciousness and adolescent-valuing involvement. There was a significant positive correlation between adolescents-valuing involvement in medical decisions and perception of actual involvement. Adolescents who perceived themselves as more involved in their care reported less decisional conflict. Parents who wanted to participate in MDM reported greater actual involvement. Discussion Adolescents who value participation in MDM reported higher levels of actual participation, suggesting their preferences may be considered by providers. Greater engagement in MDM was related to lower decisional conflict for adolescents, suggesting that including adolescents in the MDM process does not necessarily result in confusion or distress. (PsycINFO Database Record
Segregation-affected yielding and stability in nanotwinned silver by microalloying

Small-scale mechanics of solute atom segregation and incipient plasticity in nanotwinned Ag containing trace concentrations of Cu were studied by using large-scale hybrid Monte Carlo and molecular-dynamic simulations. It is found that solute Cu atoms are segregated concurrently to grain boundaries and intrinsic twin-boundary kink-step defects during thermal annealing. Low Cu dopant contents below 1 at. % are predicted to substantially increase twin stability in nanotwinned Ag, accompanied with a pronounced rise in yield strength at 300 K. Incipient plasticity is associated with kink-step migration, grain-boundary sliding, and dislocation nucleation from grain boundaries and twin-boundary defects, which are affected by doping. Cu-dependent yield strengthening in doped nanotwinned Ag is shown to correlate with the critical stress required to initiate crystal slip emitted from grain boundaries and twin-boundary defects. These findings provide fundamental insight into the roles of twin-boundary imperfections on plastic yielding, and offer clues to further extend the extraordinary stability and strength of nanotwinned metals by microalloying.
Using gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) to measure varying odorant-specific sensory deficits (OSDs)

Abstract Applications of flavour chemistry rely on the idea that people perceive flavour similarly. Odorant-specific sensory deficits (OSDs) are a severe challenge to this notion, and their effects on flavour are not fully understood. OSDs have been studied since Amoore's formative work on specific anosmia [1]. These differences in odorant thresholds for individuals with an otherwise functioning sense of smell can be divided into two categories: stable and variable OSDs. Stable OSDs are likely due to genetically determined components of the transduction system, while variable OSDs are consistent with changes in either peripheral expression or central processing. Variable OSDs are characterised by a subjects' increase in sensitivity to some compounds with time or exposure. This is a well documented phenomenon in humans and other mammals that makes it difficult to measure stable OSDs at a single time [2–5]. The use of gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) to investigate the phenomenon of variable OSDs will be discussed.
How Well Does Agency Theory Explain Executive Compensation

As the share of all income going to the top 1 percent has risen over the past four decades, so has the share of top incomes coming from labor income relative to capital income. The rise in labor income is mainly due to the explosion in executive compensation over the same period?mostly because of the increase in executives being paid with stocks, options, and bonuses. The principal-agent model explains the reason for such compensation instead of a flat salary. Yet hundreds of papers in economics, finance, accounting, and management have reached no consensus on whether executive compensation is efficient or whether empirically it conforms to the prediction of the principal-agent theory. In this article, we argue that this lack of consensus is due to two issues: The first is a measurement issue, and the second is that the exact prediction of the principal-agent model depends on many objects unobservable to the econometrician. We illustrate how using theory-based estimation together with a model-motivated measure of total compensation can help overcome these issues. Finally, using a model-consistent measure of compensation and theory-based estimation, we conclude that executive compensation broadly conforms to the principal-agent theory; however, each situation and the variables used have to be carefully modeled, identified, and estimated.
Alcohol Outlets, Neighborhood Retail Environments, and Pedestrian Injury Risk.

BACKGROUND Alcohol outlet density has been associated with increased pedestrian injury risk. It is unclear whether this is because alcohol outlets are located in dense retail areas with heavy pedestrian traffic or whether alcohol outlets contribute a unique neighborhood risk. We aimed to compare the pedestrian injury rate around alcohol outlets to the rate around other, similar retail outlets that do not sell alcohol. METHODS A spatial analysis was conducted on census block groups in Baltimore City. Data included pedestrian injury emergency medical services (EMS) records from January 1, 2014 to April 15, 2015 (n = 848); locations of alcohol outlets licensed for off-premise (n = 726) and on-premise consumption (n = 531); and corner (n = 398) and convenience stores (n = 192) that do not sell alcohol. Negative binomial regression was used to determine the relationship between retail outlet count and pedestrian injuries, controlling for key confounding variables. Spatial autocorrelation was also assessed and variable selection adjusted accordingly. RESULTS Each additional off-premise alcohol outlet was associated with a 12.3% increase in the rate of neighborhood pedestrian injury when controlling for convenience and corner stores and other confounders (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.123, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.065, 1.184, p < 0.001). The attributable risk was 4.9% (95% CI = 0.3, 8.9) or 41 additional injuries. On-premise alcohol outlets were not significant predictors of neighborhood pedestrian injury rate in multivariable models (IRR = 0.972, 95% CI = 0.940, 1.004, p = 0.194). CONCLUSIONS Off-premise alcohol outlets are associated with pedestrian injury rate, even when controlling for other types of retail outlets. Findings reinforce the importance of alcohol outlets in understanding neighborhood pedestrian injury risk and may provide evidence for informing policy on liquor store licensing, zoning, and enforcement.
An Ultralow-Power RF Wireless Receiver With RF Blocker Energy Recycling for IoT Applications

A wireless RF receiver system suitable for Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications is presented. The system is able to simultaneously harvest energy from out-of-band blockers with normal receiver operation; thus, the battery life for IoT applications can be extended. The system has only a single antenna for simultaneous RF energy harvesting and wireless reception. The receiver is a mixer-first quadrature receiver to tolerate large unavoidable blockers. The system is implemented in 180-nm CMOS technology and operates at a 900-MHz industrial, scientific, and medical band. The receiver gain is 41.5 dB. Operating from a 1-V supply, the receiver core consumes 430 $\mu \text{W}$ . Furthermore, this power can be reduced to $220~\mu \text{W}$ in the presence of a large blocker ( ${\approx} 0$ dBm) by the power provided by the blocker RF energy harvesting where the power conversion efficiency is 30%.
New Developments of Chinese Government Publications and Library Collections

Chinese government publications constitute a significantly large portion of print and digital information output in China. This material genre is critical to the operation of the country, to people’s lives, and therefore, is important to research and scholarly work. Overseas scholars rely heavily on libraries to access and use Chinese government publications, however, collecting this type of materials has been a challenge since the scope of Chinese government publications has not been clear, and the collecting channels have been limited. This paper intends to discuss the scope of Chinese government publications, its availability in digital format, the types of publications library normally collects, and opportunities and challenges in collecting them.
The perception of procedural vascular laser pain and discrepancies amongst patients, physicians, and industry.

Background The inherent subjectivity of pain perception makes pre-procedural pain counseling especially challenging. Setting the wrong pain expectations will negatively impact the patient's experience and affect their physiologic and emotional state. Best practices for sourcing pain related information about a given procedure, however, remains understudied. This retrospective study explores the accuracy of industry materials for describing procedural pain in a clinical trial when compared to subject reported pain scores from the same clinical trial. Methods Median and mode pain scores were collected from the data of a past clinical trial investigating a dual wavelength laser used for 4 different types of treatments. Industry provided materials were reviewed to ascertain language regarding procedural pain. The principal investigator was interviewed about setting pain expectations during the trial. Subject-reported pain scores and verbal pain descriptors were transferred to validated pain scales, the Numerical Rating Scale and the Verbal Rating Scale, for comparison. Results A total of 85 procedural pain scores were collected from 22 subject charts. The average procedural pain scores for 3 of 4 treatment types reported by subjects were translated to entirely different verbal and numerical categories of pain than that described by industry materials. Conclusions Industry materials failed to capture the range of procedural pain scores reported by subjects for 3 of 4 treatment types in a clinical trial setting. When counseling patients on procedural pain, physicians should take extra care to not mislead patients and cause undue physiological or emotional stress.
Uncertainty Quantification for RANS Predictions of Wind Loads on Buildings

Computational fluid dynamics simulations to calculate wind pressure loads on buildings can be strongly influenced by uncertainty in the inflow boundary conditions and the turbulence model. In the present work we investigate these uncertainties in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes predictions for wind pressure coefficients of a high-rise building, and compare the results to wind tunnel measurements. The uncertainty in the inflow boundary condition is characterized using three uncertain parameters, the reference velocity, roughness length and model orientation, and propagated to the quantities of interest using a non-intrusive polynomial chaos expansion approach. The results indicate that the uncertainty in the inflow conditions is non negligible, but insufficient to explain the discrepancy with the wind tunnel data, in particular where flow separation occurs. The uncertainty related to the turbulence model is investigated by introducing perturbations in the Reynolds stress tensor. The results confirm that the turbulence model form uncertainty is dominant near the separation region that forms downstream of the windward building edge.
Depsipeptide Aspergillicins Revealed by Chromatin Reader Protein Deletion

Expression of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in filamentous fungi is highly regulated by epigenetic remodeling of chromatin structure. Two classes of histone modifying proteins, writers (which place modifications on histone tails) and erasers (which remove the modifications), have been used extensively to activate cryptic BGCs in fungi. Here, for the first time, we present activation of a cryptic BGC by a third category of histone modifying proteins, reader proteins that recognize histone tail modifications and commonly mediate writer and eraser activity. Loss of the reader SntB (Δ sntB) resulted in the synthesis of two cryptic cyclic hexa-depsipeptides, aspergillicin A and aspergillicin F, in the fungus Aspergillus flavus. Liquid chromatography, high resolution mass spectrometry, and NMR analysis coupled with bioinformatic analysis and gene deletion experiments revealed that a six adenylation (A) domain nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS, called AgiA) and O-methyltransferase (AgiB) were required for metabolite formation. A proposed biosynthetic scheme illustrates the requirement for unusual NRPS domains, such as a starting condensation domain and a thiolesterase domain proposed to cyclize the depsipeptides. This latter activity has only been found in bacterial but not fungal NRPS. The agi BGC-unique to A. flavus and some closely related species (e.g., A. oryzae, A. arachidicola)-is located next to a conserved Aspergillus siderophore BGC syntenic to other fungi.
Testimony, Online Privacy And The Role Of The New York State Legislature In Its Oversight

Written testimony for New York State Senate Hearing, "Online Privacy And The Role Of The New York State Legislature In Its Oversight," before the Committee On Consumer Protection & the Committee Internet And Technology (June 4th, 2019).
Digital Transformation from Day One

We redesigned our technology onboarding for new hires using UX and design thinking tools to engage new employees through just-in-time communication, while developing a personal relationship. Beyond welcoming new employees, these changes enabled us to encourage good tech habits and to promote digital transformation concepts from day one.The poster will feature a brief overview of our onboarding relationship management for new hires across our multi-campus university. We will include a sample of our just-in-time communication plan and new hire face-to-face meeting checklist.New hires who have benefitted from this revised process report fewer tickets and feel more comfortable with our technology services and systems than those hired before our process began. We plan to engage attendees by asking them about their strategies for tech onboarding and welcoming their questions and discussions about our process.
From Face Time to Flex Time: The Role of Physical Space in Worker Temporal Flexibility:

Despite the great potential for flexible work policies to increase worker temporal flexibility—the extent to which workers control when and where their work tasks are completed—organizational schol...
Improving detection of acoustic sources by coiling fiber optic cable

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems using fiber optic (FO) cables are becoming commonplace in many perimeter security applications. They have the advantage of cost-effectively covering large geographic expanses without temporal or spatial gaps. Recent technology advances in commercial DAS systems have significantly improved system sensitivity and the ability to generate time-harmonic waveforms similar to microphones and geophones. These waveforms can be saved at regular channel intervals along the length of the cable. Relative to microphones and geophones, there are a number of DAS limitations, including generally lower system sensitivity, random signal fading,1 and strong longitudinal radiation pattern effects. The latter limits DAS systems for detecting seismic-acoustic waves propagating perpendicular to the cable. In this paper, we investigate the use of coiled bundles of FO cable. We show that coherently stacking channel waveforms in coils improves signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by a root mean square (RMS) factor of 6 relative to noise in unstacked channels, and that the coils generate a more omnidirectional radiation pattern relative to straight cable segments. However, this is at the expense of decreased signal power and more complex installation methods. These developments are incremental steps in enhancing our ability to use DAS FO systems for tracking ground and air vehicles. In our test, we used a commercially available FO DAS system configured to monitor ground vehicles and low-flying aircraft. The experiment was conducted in the deep sandy soils of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.2 The two primary DAS components were a laser interrogator unit (IU) and acoustically sensitive FO cable (both manufactured by OptaSense). For redundancy, we used an additional IU from the Naval Research Laboratory. We buried 3,000 m of FO cable at an approximate 30 cm depth, collecting 2,900 channels of strain time series data. We constructed four arrays by coiling cable in discrete bundles. A single bundle could contain 16-24 m of cable wound on a 20 cm diameter jig. Across the entire emplacement, we made roughly 100 such bundles (i.e. 2/3 of the buried cable was wound into coils). As a result, the sensor covered a straight-line distance of approximately 1,000 m. This paper focuses exclusively on the FO array design and installation, as well as the processing methods and benefits of using coiled arrays. Our results indicate that these methods have significant merit for enhancing DAS air and ground vehicle detection and tracking
Analysis of human intestinal nematode infections in Nanjing City from 2006 to 2015

OBJECTIVE To analyze the epidemiological situation of human intestinal nematode infections in Nanjing City from 2006 to 2015, so as to provide the reference for formulating prevention and control measures. METHODS The surveillance data of human intestinal nematode infections in Nanjing City from 2006 to 2015 were collected and analyzed statistically. RESULTS From 2006 to 2015, 98 804 person-times of residents were surveyed in Nanjing City, and 465 person-times of residents were detected with intestinal nematode infections. The highest infection rate was in 2006 (1.97%), and the lowest in 2013 and 2015 (both 0.05%). Moreover, the positive rate of human intestinal nematode infections showed a significantly declining trend in total ( χ2 = 552.19, P < 0.001). Meanwhile, the numbers of Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm and Trichuris trichura cases were 329, 98 and 25 respectively, and the infection rates were 0.33%, 0.10% and 0.03% respectively. Among them, 443 cases had mild infection intensity (98.66%). There were 462 cases of single-infection (99.35%), and 3 of co-infection of two parasites (0.65%). From 2006 to 2015, 92 539 person-times of children under 12 years old were surveyed for Enterobius vermicularis infection and 352 cases were detected with E. vermicularis infection. Moreover, the positive rate showed a significantly decreasing trend in total (χ2 = 147.94, P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS The control effect of human intestinal nematode infections in Nanjing City is remarkable. However, the surveillance and health education in key groups still should be strengthened, and the prevention and control programs should be adjusted promptly to further consolidating the effectiveness of intestinal nematode disease prevention and control.
高敏肌钙蛋白争论的十个要点

2000年和2007年，美国心脏病学院（American College of Cardiology，ACC）/欧洲心脏病学会(European Society of Cardiology，ESC)/美国心脏病学会基金会(American College of Cardiology Foundation，ACCF)/美国心脏协会（American Heart Association，AHA）/ 世界心脏联盟(World Heart Federation，WHF)等国际心脏病学术组织先后提出了对心肌梗死的重新定义，建议使用心肌肌钙蛋白（cTn）作为急性心肌梗死（acute myocardial infarction，AMI）的主要诊断指标之一，并以cTn第99百分位值及其动态变化作为主要判断标准。cTn在临床决策中的作用越来越受到重视。随着cTn检测技术的不断更新，也引发了临床以及其检测实验室对于如何评价性能优良的cTn检测方法、如何正确使用cTn等问题展开热烈讨论。在2012年美国AACC年会期间，我们特邀美国临床化学家Alan WU教授对cTn临床应用中的一些热议问题作了专家点评。
Spatiality at the Cyber-Margins: Black-Oriented Blogs and the Production of Territoriality Online:

This essay analyzes the challenges African American–oriented blogs must confront in terms of spatiality, specifically that associated with racial trolling. I argue that racial trolling, which encom...
Tilted fluctuation electron microscopy

Fluctuation electron microscopy (FEM) is a scanning nanodiffraction-based method that offers a unique approach to characterizing nanometer-scale medium-range order (MRO) in disordered materials. In addition to determining the degree of MRO, careful analysis of scanning nanodiffraction data can also be used to determine strain in thin film amorphous samples. We applied FEM to characterize the strain and MRO of magnetron sputtered amorphous tantalum (a-Ta) thin films over a range of tilt angles from 0 ° to 45 ° in order to measure any deviations between the in-plane and out-of-plane strain and MRO. We validate our approach using electron diffraction simulations of FEM experiments for a-Ta. We measure anisotropic strain in the simulated a-Ta diffraction patterns and find that the experimental a-Ta is isotropically strained within the accuracy of our method. Our approach provides a workflow for acquiring tilted scanning nanodiffraction data, determining the relative strain and ordering as a function of in- and out-of-plane directions, and removing any artifacts induced in FEM data due to strain. We also describe some limitations of the tilted FEM method when applied to thin films with very low strains.
A torsion-based rheometer for measuring viscoelastic material properties

Rheology and the study of viscoelastic materials is an integral part of engineering and the study of biophysical systems however the cost of a rheometer is only feasible for colleges, universities and research laboratories. Even if a rheometer can be purchased it is bulky and delicately calibrated limiting its usefulness to the laboratory itself. The design presented here is less than a tenth of the cost of a professional rheometer and portable making it the ideal solution for high school students as a way to introduce viscoelasticity at a younger age as well as for use in the field for obtaining preliminary rheological data.
Help me help myself: examining an electronic mental health self-monitoring system in college students

The high prevalence of mental illness in college students results in adverse consequences that have led to developing prevention programs, with the potential of self-monitoring (SM) to reduce symptomatology. SM as indicated in this study intends to help individuals set goals, increase self-regulation, and provide awareness of personal psychological difficulties along with available support networks. In two studies, an electronic monitoring system was first tested on a bi-weekly basis (SM-B; N = 100), then implemented on a weekly basis (SM-W; N = 186). Monitoring was shown to be feasible in the pilot and showed promising reductions in stress and anxiety in the SM-B condition. While there were reductions in symptoms across experimental and control groups, SM-W significantly reduced anxiety and stress compared with controls. These studies support that implementation of a basic electronic monitoring and feedback system could help protect against mental health degradation over the course of a student’s time in college. Important implications for prevention of psychological distress in college students are discussed.
Rapid rise in the cost of targeted cancer therapies for Medicare patients with solid tumors from 2006 to 2015

Abstract Background Inflation-adjusted cancer costs in the United States have increased 40% in the last decade, leading to increasing financial burden on both payers and patients. Patients under 65 show substantial increases in utilization of expensive targeted therapy anticancer agents; however, patients aged 65+ account for the majority of new malignancies. Utilization and cost trends for these emerging agents have not been examined in detail in the Medicare population. Patients and methods Retrospective prevalent cohort analysis of patients 65+ with any stage of invasive lung, breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer, receiving systemic therapy drawn from the United States Medicare 5% fee-for-service sample claims (2005–2015). Yearly trends in utilization and associated costs were modeled with adjustment for inflation, demographics, and comorbidities. Results Among Medicare beneficiaries with fee-for-service and Part D enrollment who were receiving some type of systemic anticancer therapy, there were 9230 patients with colorectal, 32,738 patients with breast, and 16,278 patients with lung cancers identified from 2006 to 2015, and 19,295 patients with prostate cancer from 2009 to 2015. The share of cancer costs to Medicare attributable to targeted therapies, increased dramatically for prostate cancer (1.7% to 19.4%), lung cancer (6.7% to 19.4%), colorectal cancer (11.7% to 22.2%), and breast cancer (15.8% to 25.5%). Although the proportion of patients receiving targeted therapies remained stable, mean per-patient cancer costs increased dramatically from 2006 to 2015 for patients with lung or prostate cancer receiving targeted therapy and for patients with breast cancer receiving non-hormonal targeted therapies. Targeted agents for these cancers showed substantial inflation-adjusted price growth over this time period.
Multi-institutional Study of Self-Efficacy within Flipped Chemistry Courses

Active learning environments have been shown to be beneficial for student learning; however, including such activities can be limited by the class time available. One method that can provide more opportunities for active learning during face-to-face class time is the flipped learning approach. However, studies on the impacts of flipped learning environments on student motivation are limited. Therefore, in this multi-institutional study, general chemistry students enrolled in flipped courses at three institutions responded to measures of self-efficacy and self-regulatory strategies. The results from these measures were used to evaluate how students’ academic self-efficacy (ASE) and chemistry self-efficacy (CSE) changed over the term at each institution as well as to compare students’ CSE between the institutions. Evidence was found for scalar measurement invariance across all measures, such that latent means could be used to compare results over time and between the institutions. Overall, students at each institution showed a decrease in ASE over the term, although their CSE increased. Comparisons between the institutions showed that students at the Southeastern institution had a higher post CSE than students at the Western and Northwestern institutions. One salient difference between the institutions was the structure of the face-to-face class time, which suggests that there may be a relation between students’ post CSE scores and the structure of the course. However, other variables, such as the demographic profiles of the institutions, may have also played a role in the observed differences.
Avoiding Discrimination Litigation With Teachers With Disabilities: A Litigation Review:

Qualified teachers with disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To maintain legal compliance, principals must have an understanding of employment law, but often lac...
Adolescent Intermittent Ethanol (AIE) Enhances the Dopaminergic Response to Ethanol within the Mesolimbic Pathway during Adulthood: Alterations in Cholinergic/Dopaminergic Genes Expression in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell

A consistent preclinical finding is that exposure to alcohol during adolescence produces a persistent hyperdopaminergic state during adulthood. The current experiments determine that effects of Adolescent Intermittent Ethanol (AIE) on the adult neurochemical response to EtOH administered directly into the mesolimbic dopamine system, alterations in dendritic spine and gene expression within the nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh), and if treatment with the HDACII inhibitor TSA could normalize the consequences of AIE. Rats were exposed to the AIE (4 g/kg ig; 3 days a week) or water (CON) during adolescence, and all testing occurred during adulthood. CON and AIE rats were microinjected with EtOH directly into the posterior VTA and dopamine and glutamate levels were recorded in the AcbSh. Separate groups of AIE and CON rats were sacrificed during adulthood and Taqman arrays and dendritic spine morphology assessments were performed. The data indicated that exposure to AIE resulted in a significant leftward and upward shift in the dose-response curve for an increase in dopamine in the AcbSh following EtOH microinjection into the posterior VTA. Taqman array indicated that AIE exposure affected the expression of target genes (Chrna7, Impact, Chrna5). The data indicated no alterations in dendritic spine morphology in the AcbSh or any alteration in AIE effects by TSA administration. Binge-like EtOH exposure during adolescence enhances the response to acute ethanol challenge in adulthood, demonstrating that AIE produces a hyperdopaminergic mesolimbic system in both male and female Wistar rats. The neuroadaptations induced by AIE in the AcbSh could be part of the biological basis of the observed negative consequences of adolescent binge-like alcohol exposure on adult drug self-administration behaviors.
Data-centric approach to improve machine learning models for inorganic materials.

Pandey et al. (2021) demonstrate the importance of diversifying training data to make balanced predictions of thermodynamic properties for inorganic crystals.
Reverse Area and Gradient Mismatch: The Discordance of a Large Valve Area and High Gradients

In previous chapters, we have defined “Area/gradient match” or concordance as present when criteria for AS severity is met by both gradient (∆P) and area variables. Clinical decision making in these cases is rather straightforward and referral for aortic valve replacement, in the appropriate clinical circumstance, is the rule.
Move the Cemetery

and important thing wThen the people of Los Ricos first demanded it. The government was going to flood their ancient valley w7ith a new7 dam, and their village was being sacrificed for the greater benefit of the w7hole country. In new shirts and sombreros bought specially for the occasion, the men had made the long trip to the capital to demand from the government, w7ith a bravado they didn't really feel, "Move the cemetery, or we w7on't go." It had seemed a reasonable request from people that were being uprooted and moved to a new7 location miles away from their familiar hills. To the villagers' surprise, the officials readily agreed, "OK, we'll move it." Now7 that the wrorkers had arrived and begun the project, everyone became a little uneasy. First of all, the workers had only brought simple digging tools and a flat-bed truck. No one had thought that the wooden boxes would be rotted. No one had expected to deal personally with the remains of the ex-citizens of Los Ricos. The villagers resented the thought of having to be confronted with how7 much their former friends and relatives had changed. The w7orkers thought it unlucky to be disturbing the spooky relics. The corpses themselves, writh their exposed white jawbones and teeth, seemed to be grinning mischievously at the discomfort they created. Only Don Emi lio, the oldest man in the village, was unperturbed as he came to watch the daily progress. Don Emilio was old and his memory was very bad. Because he often couldn't remember where he was or what he was supposed to be doing, he was quiet much of the time and people thought him wise. As happens with old people, his memory often failed him about recent occurrences but the events of his youth stayed clear and precise in his mind. He could still see the promises shining in the eyes of the young girls he had known and feel the rock toughness in the body that had made other men give him room. Since he preferred the vital world of his memories to the slow moving, stiff jointed one of the present, he spent most of his time there. But the activity in the cemetery brought him out every day. When they'd arrived in their truck a few7 days before, the village welcomed the three men and tried to make them comfortable. But, as the people became uneasy about the project, they became colder to them, finally avoiding them altogether. Now7 the people had begun to wear
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Latent versus Active Labor Hospital Admission for Medically Low-Risk, Term Women.

Objective To assess the outcomes and costs of hospital admission during the latent versus active phase of labor. Latent labor hospital admission has been consistently associated with elevated maternal risk for increased interventions, including epidural anesthesia and cesarean delivery, longer hospital stay, and higher utilization of hospital resources. Methods A cost-effectiveness model was built to simulate a theoretic cohort of 3.2 million term, medically low-risk women either being admitted in latent labor (< 4 cm dilation) or delaying admission until active labor (≥ 4 cm dilation). Outcomes included epidural use, mode of delivery, stillbirth, maternal death, and costs of care. All probability, cost, and utility estimates were derived from the literature, and total quality-adjusted life years were calculated. Sensitivity analyses and a Monte Carlo simulation were used to investigate the robustness of model assumptions. Results Delaying admission until active labor would result in 672,000 fewer epidurals, 67,232 fewer cesarean deliveries, and 9.6 fewer maternal deaths in our theoretic cohort as compared to admission during latent labor. Additionally, delaying admission results in a cost savings of $694 million annually in the United States. Sensitivity analyses indicated the model was robust within a wide range of probabilities and costs. Monte Carlo simulation found that delayed admission was the optimal strategy in 76.79 percent of trials. Conclusion Delaying admission until active labor is a dominant strategy, resulting in both better outcomes and lower costs. Issues related to clinical translation of these findings are explored.
Modeling of acoustic wave dissipation in gas hydrate–bearing sediments

[1] Recent sonic and seismic data in gas hydrate–bearing sediments have indicated strong waveform attenuation associated with a velocity increase, in apparent contradiction with conventional wave propagation theory. Understanding the reasons for such energy dissipation could help constrain the distribution and the amounts of gas hydrate worldwide from the identification of low amplitudes in seismic surveys. A review of existing models for wave propagation in frozen porous media, all based on Biot's theory, shows that previous formulations fail to predict any significant attenuation with increasing hydrate content. By adding physically based components to these models, such as cementation by elastic shear coupling, friction between the solid phases, and squirt flow, we are able to predict an attenuation increase associated with gas hydrate formation. The results of the model agree well with the sonic logging data recorded in the Mallik 5L-38 Gas Hydrate Research Well. Cementation between gas hydrate and the sediment grains is responsible for the increase in shear velocity. The primary mode of energy dissipation is found to be friction between gas hydrate and the sediment matrix, combined with an absence of inertial coupling between gas hydrate and the pore fluid. These results predict similar attenuation increase in hydrate-bearing formations over most of the sonic and seismic frequency range.
DOPAMINERGIC GENES AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews several recent cases in which transgenic mouse and human data provide increasingly compelling evidence that variants in genes important for dopaminergic neurotransmission are strong candidates to contribute to interindividual differences in drug abuse vulnerabilities. Studies of cocaine's primary site for reward and reinforcement in the brain have focused on the dopamine transporter (DAT). In studying this transporter, the effects of several mutations on transporter function have been characterized. To model the effects that a DAT gene variant might have on drug abuse phenotypes, the researchers have constructed transgenic animals that express this DAT variant in catecholaminergic neurons. In these animals, although baseline locomotor activities are altered, cocaine induces virtually no excess locomotion. Vesicular monoamine stores accumulated by normal vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2) function may play significant roles in the locomotor stimulation and/or the behavioral reward produced by amphetamines. Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) is expressed in dopaminergic brain regions, where its activity provides a major pathway by which extraneuronally released dopamine is inactivated. Significant differences in the distributions of both COMT genotypes and allele frequencies between controls and substance abusers have been identified. The data suggest that high COMT activities might contribute to the genetic underpinnings of drug abuse vulnerability. Thus the chapter supports potentially prominent roles for dopaminergic gene variants in contributing to individual differences in vulnerability to drug abuse. However, other genes are quite likely also to be involved.
Supplemental and Highly Elevated Tocopherol Doses Differentially Regulate Allergic Inflammation: Reversibility of α-Tocopherol and γ-Tocopherol’s Effects

We have reported that supplemental doses of the α- and γ-tocopherol isoforms of vitamin E decrease and increase, respectively, allergic lung inflammation. We have now assessed whether these effects of tocopherols are reversible. For these studies, mice were treated with Ag and supplemental tocopherols in a first phase of treatment followed by a 4-wk clearance phase, and then the mice received a second phase of Ag and tocopherol treatments. The proinflammatory effects of supplemental levels of γ-tocopherol in phase 1 were only partially reversed by supplemental α-tocopherol in phase 2, but were completely reversed by raising α-tocopherol levels 10-fold in phase 2. When γ-tocopherol levels were increased 10-fold (highly elevated tocopherol) so that the lung tissue γ-tocopherol levels were equal to the lung tissue levels of supplemental α-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol reduced leukocyte numbers in the lung lavage fluid. In contrast to the lung lavage fluid, highly elevated levels of γ-tocopherol increased inflammation in the lung tissue. These regulatory effects of highly elevated tocopherols on tissue inflammation and lung lavage fluid were reversible in a second phase of Ag challenge without tocopherols. In summary, the proinflammatory effects of supplemental γ-tocopherol on lung inflammation were partially reversed by supplemental levels of α-tocopherol but were completely reversed by highly elevated levels of α-tocopherol. Also, highly elevated levels of γ-tocopherol were inhibitory and reversible in lung lavage but, importantly, were proinflammatory in lung tissue sections. These results have implications for future studies with tocopherols and provide a new context in which to review vitamin E studies in the literature.
Analysis of provider specialties in the treatment of patients with clinically diagnosed back and joint problems.

Rationale, aims and objectives Although several studies have compared patient outcomes by provider specialty in the treatment of back and joint pain, little is known about the cost-effectiveness of improving patient outcomes across specialties. This study uses a large-scale, nationally representative database to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of being treated by specific provider specialists for back and joint pain in the United States. Method The 2002–2012 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys were used to examine patients diagnosed with back and/or joint problems seeking treatment from doctors (internal medicine, family/general, osteopathic medicine, orthopaedics, rheumatology, neurology) or other providers (chiropractor, physical therapist, acupuncturist, massage therapist). A total of 16 546 respondents aged 18 to 85 and clinically diagnosed with back/joint pain were examined. Self-reported measures of physical and mental health and general quality of life (measured by the EuroQol-5D) were compared with average total costs of treatment across medical providers. Results Total annual treatment costs per person ranged from $397 for family/general doctors to $1205 for rheumatologists. Cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that osteopathic, family/general, internal medicine doctors and chiropractors and massage therapists were more cost-effective than other specialties in improving physical function to back pain patients. For mental health measures, family/general and orthopaedic doctors and physical therapists were more cost-effective compared with other specialties. Similar to results on physical function, family/general, osteopathic and internal medicine doctors dominated other specialties. However, only massage therapy was cost-effective among non-doctor providers in improving quality of life measures. Conclusions Patients seeking care for back and joint-related health problems face a wide range of treatments, costs and outcomes depending on which specialist provider they see. This study provides important insight on the relationship between health care costs and patients' perceived physical and mental health status from receiving treatment for diagnosed back/joint problems.
RF-DNA: Radio-Frequency Certificates of Authenticity

A certificate of authenticity (COA) is an inexpensive physical object that has a random and unique multidimensional structure Swhich is hard to near-exactly replicate. An inexpensive device should be able to scan object's physical "fingerprint," i.e., obtain a set of features in the form of a multidimensional signal x that pseudo-uniquely represents S. For a given "fingerprint" x and without access to S, it should be computationally difficult to construct an object of fixed dimensions with a "fingerprint" y which is at a bounded proximity from x according to a standardized distance metric. We introduce objects that behave as COAs in the electromagnetic field. The objective is to complement RFIDs so that they are physically, not only digitally, unique and hard to replicate. By enabling this feature, we introduce a tag whose information about the product can be read within a relative far-field, and also whose authenticity can be reliably verified within its near-field. In order to counterfeit a tag, the adversary faces two difficulties --- a computational and a manufacturing one. The computational difficulty stems from the hardness of solving linear inverse problems in the electromagnetic field. In order to create an actual tag, the adversary must also manufacture a multidimensional object with a specific three-dimensional topology, dielectric properties, and conductivity.
The self organizing neural network algorithm: adapting structure for optimum supervised learning

An algorithm called the self-organizing neural network (SONN) is described, and its use as a supervised learning architecture is demonstrated. The algorithm constructs a network, chooses the neuron functions, and adjusts the weights. The final network structure is optimal in the sense that it uses simulated annealing in the model search. The results (number of weights, complexity of the final structure, computer time, and model accuracy) are compared to the back-propagation algorithm. They show that SONN constructs a simpler, more accurate model, requiring fewer training data and epochs. >