cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Surgical Approach for a Patient With Aortic Stenosis and a Frozen Mediastinum

41-YEAR-OLD MAN was admitted with a 6-month history of worsening angina, dizziness, and dyspnea on exertion. His past medical history was significant for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, diagnosed at age 5, for which he was subsequently treated with chemotherapy and mantle radiation. On admission, his physical examination was notable for an asymmetrical pectus excavatum localized to the upper half of his sternum, and he was noted to have a harsh, crescendo/decrescendo systolic ejection murmur in the right second intercostal interspace radiating to the carotid arteries. Electrocardiogram revealed left ventricular hypertrophy. Cardiac catheterization revealed a focal 10% stenosis in the proximal third of the left main coronary artery, and all other coronary vessels were angiographically normal. Additionally, he was noted to have a calcified aortic valve and severely calcified ascending aorta, with a peak left ventricle (LV)-to-aortic gradient of 50 mmHg and elevated left ventricular filling pressures. The aortic valve area was 0.7 cm 2 by the Gorlin formula. The LV ejection fraction was 45% to 50%. The patient also had mild pulmonary hypertension. Because of the extensive calcification of the ascending aorta, a preoperative computerized tomography scan was performed, which revealed LV hypertrophy and extensive calcification from the aortic valve extending throughout the aortic arch. The upper thoracic cavity was asymmetrically smaller on the left, and marked atrophy of the paraspinal muscles and chest wall musculature was noted. On the computed tomography scan after radiation therapy, fibrotic changes were seen throughout the anterior mediastinum. A magnetic resonance imaging study of the neck and thorax confirmed the presence of normal, nondistorted airway anatomy. The patient was brought to the operating room, and general anesthesia was induced with a combination of midazolam, fentanyl, sodium thiopental, and pancuronium. Hemodynamic monitoring consisted of a left radial artery catheter, an Oximetric, pulmonary artery catheter, and continuous transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) (Omniplane, Sonos 5500: HewlettPackard, Andover, MA). Because of the frozen mediastinum, surgical exposure for the procedure was via a left posterolateral thoracotomy. The results of the surgery are seen on the intraoperative TEE (Figs 1 and 2). What procedure was performed?
Microstructurally-based homogenization of electromagnetic properties of periodic media

Abstract A general method for homogenization of the electromagnetic properties of a heterogeneous periodic medium is developed, based on its microstructure. This method is inspired by micromechanics (Nemat-Nasser and Hori, 1999). Contrary to other conventional techniques, commonly used in electromagnetism to calculate the overall properties of composites, this microstructurally-based method does not require an explicit numerical solution of the Maxwell equations. We define the macroscopic field quantities as volume averages of the spatially variable fields, taken over a representative volume element (RVE), consisting of a unit cell of the periodic medium (Hill, 1963; Willis, 1981; Hashin, 1983; Nemat-Nasser, 1986). The boundary conditions are based on the Bloch representation of wave propagation in the heterogeneous media. Instead of explicitly solving the Maxwell equations, these equations are directly used in the averaging scheme. This distinguishes our method from others, where usually a known point-wise solution is used to obtain the average field quantities. The resulting constitutive relations therefore may be used to directly estimate the response of any heterogeneous periodic assembly of material constituents of given geometry and properties. To cite this article: A.V. Amirkhizi, S. Nemat-Nasser, C. R. Mecanique 336 (2008).
'HIV is an enemy of childbearers': the construction of local epidemiology in rural Malawi.

In the sub-Saharan African AIDS epidemic there is no shortage of formal messages about HIV distributed through health clinics, NGOs and the media. These messages, however, do not always address the issues that are of most importance for people living in the epidemic and learning how to navigate it safely. In rural Malawi, one message that has been absent concerns the implications of HIV for childbearing. Using data from in-depth interviews, this paper argues that rural Malawians socially constructed their own belief system and came to believe strongly that pregnancy and childbirth would negatively impact the disease progression of HIV-positive women. Through the recursive processes of selective observation, interpretation of formal public health messages and discussion within social networks, rural Malawians concluded that HIV and childbearing did not go together. In an uncertain world, social constructive processes such as these that are fluid and responsive to local circumstances are particularly import...
Magnolol induces apoptosis via inhibiting the EGFR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in human prostate cancer cells

We observed that treatment of prostate cancer cells for 24 h with magnolol, a phenolic component extracted from the root and stem bark of the oriental herb Magnolia officinalis, induced apoptotic cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner. A sustained inhibition of the major survival signal, Akt, occurred in magnolol-treated cells. Treatment of PC-3 cells with an apoptosis-inducing concentration of magnolol (60 microM) resulted in a rapid decrease in the level of phosphorylated Akt leading to inhibition of its kinase activity. Magnolol treatment (60 microM) also caused a decrease in Ser((136)) phosphorylation of Bad (a proapoptotic protein), which is a downstream target of Akt. Protein interaction assay revealed that Bcl-xL, an anti-apoptotic protein, was associated with Bad during treatment with magnolol. We also observed that during treatment with magnolol, translocation of Bax to the mitochondrial membrane occurred and the translocation was accompanied by cytochrome c release, and cleavage of procaspase-8, -9, -3, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Similar results were observed in human colon cancer HCT116Bax(+/-) cell line, but not HCT116Bax(-/-) cell line. Interestingly, at similar concentrations (60 microM), magnolol treatment did not affect the viability of normal human prostate epithelial cell (PrEC) line. We also observed that apoptotic cell death by magnolol was associated with significant inhibition of pEGFR, pPI3K, and pAkt. These results suggest that one of the mechanisms of the apoptotic activity of magnolol involves its effect on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mediated signaling transduction pathways.
Formation and Breakup of Bubbles and Drops

In this chapter we are concerned with the mechanisms and the underlying physics of the formation and breakup of bubbles and drops. The mechanisms for formation and breakup (or collapse) are fundamentally different depending on whether the processes involve phase change or not. In this context, we will discuss many processes which do not involve phase transitions, and two important processes which do involve phase change — bubble nucleation and droplet nucleation. Studies of formation and breakup are relevant to many important engineering applications. Most direct-contact heat and/or mass exchange equipment employ bubbles or drops in a suitable environment in order to enhance the rate of transport between the phases. The nucleation process for bubbles or droplets has to be understood to gain insight into boiling or condensation phenomena.
The Healthy Aging Group: A Proposed Treatment Model for Societal & Individual Aging Empowerment

A number of unique physical, psychological, and social factors affect individuals as they achieve late life including, unfortunately, societally imposed, and internalized ageism. Women face a unique challenge in this regard, as this “-ism” often intersects with and compounds lifelong disempowering social forces (Rosenthal, 1990; Saucier, 2004). Furthermore, a majority of caregivers are women, which places additional burdens on this group. The current article proposes a time-limited, skills-based cognitive-behavioral treatment model based on feminist principles that targets the myths and misconceptions regarding aging in order to improve quality of life and decrease depressive symptoms in older adults and their caregivers.
The cumulative effects of life event, personal and social resources on subjective well-being of elderly widowers

A multidimensional Life Stress Model was used to test the independent contributions of background characteristics, personal resources, life event, and environmental influences on 200 widowers' levels of well-being, measured by the Affect Balance Scale. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that environmental resources were unrelated to negative affect which is influenced more by the life event and personal resource variables. The environmental resource variables, particularly interactions with friends and neighbors, mostly influenced positive affect. The explanatory model for well-being included multiple variables and explained 33 percent of the variance. Although background characteristics had the greatest impact, absence of hospitalization, higher mastery, higher self-esteem, contacts with friends, and interaction with neighbors enhanced well-being. The results support previous speculations on the importance of positive exchanges for positive affect. African-American widowers showed higher levels of well-being than Caucasian widowers did. The results advance knowledge about differences among elderly men.
Lipid Patterns and Atherogenesis in Cholesterol-Fed Chickens

Summary1) The degree of atheromatosis in the thoracic aortas and brachiocephalic arteries has been compared with plasma lipid pattern in 255 cholesterol-fed cockerels. Correlation was good with all determined variables except α-lipoprotein cholesterol concentration. It was best with logarithms of total cholesterol and β-liproprotein cholesterol concentrations, and with arithmetic α /α + β cholesterol ratio. 2) General conclusions drawn from determined regressions are valid for population as a whole. Thus, a treatment which lowers the plasma cholesterol of cholesterol-fed cockerels may be expected to retard plaque formation also. For individual birds, however, estimation of lesion score from plasma lipid pattern is an unsatisfactory procedure. The observed variance of the data can also be used to calculate the reliability of the cholesterol-fed cockerel as an experimental animal.
Light, Eyes and Vision

The structure and function of the eye are overviewed. This is followed by developing the basics of imaging of light with lenses, and these are used to show how sources are imaged onto the eye retina. Several optical characteristics of the eye and vision are discussed, including accommodation, visual acuity and depth of field, along with modes of imperfect vision and how to correct them with eyeglasses and contact lenses. The relation of the image formed on your retina to what you actually perceive is then analyzed in terms of its brightness and color.
Renal Autotransplantation for Upper Ureteral Stenosis

AbstractIn 2 cases of irreparable upper ureteral damage autotransplantation of the kidney with pelvioure-teral anastomosis proved to be a satisfactory alternative to nephrostomy drainage or nephrectomy.
Strategic and Extensive Form Games

Game theory is a collection of models designed to understand situations in which decision-makers interact. This article discusses models that focus on the behaviour of individual decision-makers. These models are sometimes called ‘non-cooperative’.
Embryotoxicity of Ultrasound Exposure at Ten or Twelve Days of Gestation in the Rat

Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that exposure of rat embryos to sufficiently high intensities of 0.7 or 3.2 MHz continuous wave ultrasound at 9 days of gestation (d.g.) is embryotoxic. The embryotoxic effects included increases in prenatal mortality with increasing intensity and a variety of malformations, especially hydrocephaly, exencephaly, anophthalmia, and anomalies of the face, heart and great vessels. A few of the fetuses surviving exposure at the highest intensities also had skeletal malformations. The type of malformations induced by ionizing radiation is dependent on the time of gestation at exposure, which has resulted in a concept of “critical periods”. Experiments in progress suggest that there are similar stage-dependent changes in the sensitivity to the induction of specific malformations associated with exposure to ultrasound.
Channel hot-carrier induced oxide charge trapping in NMOSFET'S

Localized oxide charge trapping in N-channel MOSFETs caused by channel-hot-carrier (CHC) injection has been studied by the use of a modified charge-pumping technique. Depending on the CHC injection conditions, trapping of either positive or negative oxide charge, along with an increase in the interface-trap density, has been measured by this technique with excellent sensitivity. Evidence for the dynamic evolution of the damage location during DC CHC stressing is presented. The technique can also be readily extended to P-channel MOSFETs, as demonstrated by an example. >
Written in bone: young bone makes young blood

Ageing of bone marrow haematopoietic stem cells has been mostly associated with cell‐intrinsic mechanisms. New findings published in The EMBO Journal now show that reduced levels of the secreted matrix protein osteopontin in old bone marrow stroma cause ageing‐associated features in HSCs. In line, old HSCs are functionally rejuvenated by interaction with protease‐cleaved osteopontin fragment, and perform like young blood stem cells in vivo .
Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio's performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth.
Mountain-bodies, experiential wisdom: the Kallawaya cosmovisión and climate change adaptation

AbstractIn an era of climate catastrophe, it is critical to engage with adaptation. However, it is equally necessary to examine the ways in which climate change adaptation is deployed in development practice. This paper will first outline the constellation of international and national climate realities, and their itinerant policies, that inform Bolivia’s climate politics. After setting the stage for climate change in the region, this paper will examine the Kallawaya cosmovision. Then, using political ontologies as a conceptual springboard, this paper will look at the various frictions and resonances that exist between these ecological world views.
UNUSUAL COMPLICATION OF PERMANENT PACEMAKER (PPM)

Permanent pacemaker implantation is a common procedure with a low complication risk. However, congenital heart anomalies can lead to devastating and unusual complications. Partial anomalous pulmonary vein return (PAPVR) is rare anomaly in which a pulmonary vein (PV) drains into right atrium or
Genetic Testing Preferences of Individuals in Families with Essential Tremor.

Background: The search for essential tremor (ET) genes is active, and it is only a matter of time before genetic tests become available. Genetic testing preferences in families have been studied in numerous other neurological disorders but there are no published data about ET. Methods: We surveyed 34 ET probands and their relatives (43 affected, 28 unaffected) enrolled in our Family Study of Essential Tremor to assess their interest in genetic testing. We examined whether clinical factors influenced their interest in testing. Clinical utility (“Your physician will be able to use the information obtained to improve your care”) and penetrance (“How likely an individual who carries an ET gene is to develop ET”) were defined for participants. Results: Interest in genetic testing was high in ET families (90/105 [85.7%]). There was a significant difference between affected (including probands and affected relatives) and unaffected relatives in terms of their interest in genetic testing, with the former being more interested (70/77 [90.9%] vs. 20/28 [71.4%] p = 0.04). Participants were more likely to want testing in the scenarios with high clinical utility; disease penetrance was not a determining factor (all p < 0.05). Sixteen hypothetical factors were identified that might influence a participant’s decision to undergo genetic testing for ET. Discussion: Interest in genetic testing was high in ET families. While genetic testing is not currently available for ET, the hunt for ET genes is ongoing, and this is a highly familial disorder. Understanding genetic testing preferences will greatly aid clinicians once a genetic test becomes available.
Characterization of the Glucocorticoid Receptor in Children Undergoing Cardiac Surgery

Objectives Postoperative administration of corticosteroids is common practice for managing catecholamine refractory low cardiac output syndrome. Since corticosteroid activity is dependent on the glucocorticoid receptor, we sought to characterize glucocorticoid receptor levels in children undergoing cardiac surgery and examined the association between glucocorticoid receptor levels and cardiovascular dysfunction. Design Prospective observational cohort study. Setting Large, tertiary pediatric cardiac center. Subjects Children undergoing corrective or palliative cardiac surgery. Interventions None. Measurements and main results A prospective observational cohort study was conducted in 83 children with congenital heart disease. Total glucocorticoid receptor levels were measured in the peripheral WBCs using flow cytometry. In addition, blood samples were collected for total cortisol levels. The primary outcome studied was the time to being inotrope free. An increase in glucocorticoid receptor level from postoperative day 1 to postoperative day 3 was associated with a longer time to being inotrope free (hazard ratio, 0.49 [0.29-0.81]; p = 0.01) in the univariate analysis. This association remained significant after adjusting for age, weight, cardiopulmonary bypass time, cross clamp time, Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery-1 score, and postoperative steroid use (hazard ratio, 0.53 [0.29-0.99]; p = 0.05). Postoperative day 3 glucocorticoid receptor level showed a trend to have longer time to being inotrope free (hazard ratio, 0.66 [0.42-1.02]; p = 0.0.06). The cortisol levels minimally increased during the study duration and did not correlate with glucocorticoid receptor levels. Conclusions Increasing glucocorticoid receptor levels in peripheral WBCs of children undergoing cardiac surgery are associated with a longer time to being inotrope free. Cortisol levels minimally increased during the study duration. These results suggest that exposure to high-dose perioperative corticosteroids may suppress the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis leading to increase in glucocorticoid receptor levels in response to a low cortisol environment. Further studies are required to better delineate the interplay between glucocorticoid receptor levels, cortisol levels, corticosteroid exposure, and postoperative inotropic requirements.
Sources of Polarized Negative Ions: Progress and Prospects

I have been asked to present a summary of recent progress in the art of producing beams of polarized ions. The special interest in negative, ions arises from the great advantage which they have over positive ions for insertion into synchrotrons, since negative ions readily permit multiturn injection. My discussion will be limited to negative ions of hydxogen and deuterium, because I assume that heavier ions are of no current concern to high-energy physics. Deuterium ions are of interest for those high-energy accelerators in which depolarizing resonances prevent acceleration of protons. For deuterons, depolarization is less of a problem1) because the deuteron has a much more favorable g-factor than the proton.
High-efficiency chiral meta-lens

We present here a compact metasurface lens element that enables simultaneous and spatially separated imaging of light of opposite circular polarization states. The design overcomes a limitation of previous chiral lenses reliant on the traditional geometric phase approach by allowing for independent focusing of both circular polarizations without a 50% efficiency trade-off. We demonstrate circular polarization-dependent imaging at visible wavelengths with polarization contrast greater than 20dB and efficiencies as high as 70%.
Cyto-immunological studies of guinea pig sperm antigens

Antigenic localization in guinea pig epididymal sperm and testicular imprints as well as in viable, motile guinea pig epididymal sperm was studied by means of fluorescent labelled antibody techniques. Globulins from rabbits and chickens immunized with guinea pig epididymal sperm were used in the direct procedure while sera from sheep and fowl injected with rabbit globulins were used in the indirect procedure. The main findings were: 1) spermatozoa from the distal portion of the epididymis displayed brilliant fluorescent acrosomes and less intensely stained midpieces and principal pieces when treated as dried smears in both the direct and indirect methods; 2) testicular spermatozoa were similarly stained but whereas in epididymal spermatozoa the whole acrosome stained intensely, the testicular spermatozoal acrosome displayed intense fluorescence of the inner acrosome; 3) protoplasmic droplets fluoresced strongly; 4) cross-reactivity was observed between human and guinea pig sperm but not between rat and guinea pig sperm, indicating an antigenic relationship between human and guinea pig but not between guinea pig and rat; 5) treatment of viable, motile guinea pig spermatozoa with fluorescent globulins resulted in agglutination and immobilization as well as formation of antigen-antibody aggregates adherent to the cell membrane of the head, midpiece and principal piece; the formation of such fluorescent aggregates in the medium surrounding the treated motile sperm was indicative of leaching of antigenic material from the sperm cells.
Conclusion: Toppling the Silos

Recognizing the interrelationships among different forms of victimization and perpetration provides a promising opportunity to develop more powerful theories of interpersonal violence and more effective approaches to prevention and intervention. Considerable, even remarkable, progress has been made in the last 50 years in establishing violence as a major social problem. Many formerly hidden and taboo types of violence, such as child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and intimate partner violence, are now recognized as serious public health problems and not the aberrant behavior of a deviant few. The study of each of these types of violence has led to important insights and interventions that have helped countless adults and children. There are hopeful indicators that several forms of violence are on the decline, as are attitudes endorsing violent solutions to a wide range of stressful interpersonal situations.
Yes to Nondiscrimination, No to New Forms of Criminal Liability: A Response to Collins, Leib, and Markel

This Essay responds to a new article by Jennifer Collins, Ethan Leib, and Dan Markel, Punishing Family Status, 89 B.U. L. Rev. _ (2008). Among other things, Collins et al. offer a new normative framework for determining when and how the criminal law may appropriately be used to promote voluntary care-giving relationships. This Essay argues that their framework is misconceived in two respects. First, voluntariness does not offer a persuasive foundation for criminal enforcement of care-giving responsibilities. The voluntary assumption of responsibilities later neglected has not generally been regarded as either necessary or sufficient as a basis for criminal liability, and the type of voluntariness upon which Collins and her coauthors rely actually provides little support for the possible expansion of criminal liability contemplated by their framework. Second, criminal law is generally a poor device for promoting changes in private behavior and raising the status of traditionally marginalized groups (a central aim of Collins and her coauthors). Indeed, in light of the vast gap between the scope of the criminal law and the resources available to police and prosecutors, changes in formal law may prove counterproductive with respect to the normative ends that Collins et al. seek to achieve. A draft of Punishing Family Status can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1120877 A draft of the reply to this response essay can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1261563
Navigating Extracted Data with Schema Discovery.

Open Information Extraction (OIE) is a recently-introduced type of information extraction that extracts small individual pieces of data from input text without any domainspecific guidance such as special training data or extraction rules. For example, an OIE system might discover the triple Frenzy, year, 1972 from a set of documents about movies. Because OIE is domain-independent, it promises to help users when they have a corpus of structured data, but that structure is unknown, such as when browsing a novel domain or formulating a query. We can describe the structure to the user by displaying a relational schema that fits the extracted data. Unfortunately, the extractions do not carry full schema information: we have extracted values, but not the correct relations, their rows, or their columns. In response we propose TGen, an algorithm for schema discovery, which automatically derives a high-quality relational schema for the extracted data. Different applications have different schema-design requirements, which can be encoded as input to TGen. We show that our data-mining approach runs in minutes on millions of documents while still resulting in schemas that are useful for exploring unfamiliar data or for composing queries over extracted data.
Philosophy, Medicine, and Healthy Sexuality

‘Healthy sexuality’ is a chameleon concept. On the one hand, it seems that nothing could be easier to understand, or that there is nothing to be understood. The concept of ‘healthy sexuality’ does not arise naturally in our biographies. We learn at our mothers’ knees (or nearby) what is right, decent, proper sexual behavior. She uses the language of morals, not the language of health. So there is nothing to be understood. When health is mentioned at all, we are told to keep our body parts clean and we learn about venereal disease. So ‘healthy sexuality’ is easily understood in terms of soap and penicillin.
Design of a Reconfigurable 3D Pixel-Parallel Neuromorphic Architecture for Smart Image Sensor

Power reduction and speed-up of image processing algorithms remain of high interest as image resolutions continue to increase. Neuromorphic-circuits are inspired by the nervous system aiming to reduce power consumption and speed-up. This paper presents a neuromorphic smart image sensor designed by the pixel-parallel 3D hierarchical architecture with an on-chip attention module. The module dynamically detects regions with relevant information and produces a feedback path to sample those regions at high speed. On the other hand, by sampling non-relevant regions with a low-speed, the sensor can reduce redundancy and enable high-performance computing by ensuring low-power operation. The image sensor is comprised of several hierarchical planes and each plane has small and independent reconfigurable computational units (XPU). In each plane, all XPUs operate in parallel with a different operating speed which gives a pixel-parallel architecture. When the raw image passes through the hierarchical planes, necessary image processing algorithms are performed in parallel on different planes at a variable clock rate for saving power and reducing redundancy. The goal of this work is to prototype the focal plane image sensor which emulates the brain features. The results show that the prototype achieves remarkable power saving and speed-up at different stages.
Iterative Thresholding Algorithm for Sparse Inverse Covariance Estimation

The l1-regularized maximum likelihood estimation problem has recently become a topic of great interest within the machine learning, statistics, and optimization communities as a method for producing sparse inverse covariance estimators. In this paper, a proximal gradient method (G-ISTA) for performing l1-regularized covariance matrix estimation is presented. Although numerous algorithms have been proposed for solving this problem, this simple proximal gradient method is found to have attractive theoretical and numerical properties. G-ISTA has a linear rate of convergence, resulting in an O(log e) iteration complexity to reach a tolerance of e. This paper gives eigenvalue bounds for the G-ISTA iterates, providing a closed-form linear convergence rate. The rate is shown to be closely related to the condition number of the optimal point. Numerical convergence results and timing comparisons for the proposed method are presented. G-ISTA is shown to perform very well, especially when the optimal point is well-conditioned.
Proinflammation, profibrosis, and arterial aging.

Aging is a major risk factor for quintessential cardiovascular diseases, which are closely related to arterial proinflammation. The age-related alterations of the amount, distribution, and properties of the collagen fibers, such as cross-links and degradation in the arterial wall, are the major sequelae of proinflammation. In the aging arterial wall, collagen types I, II, and III are predominant, and are mainly produced by stiffened vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) governed by proinflammatory signaling, leading to profibrosis. Profibrosis is regulated by an increase in the proinflammatory molecules angiotensin II, milk fat globule-EGF-VIII, and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) signaling and a decrease in the vasorin signaling cascade. The release of these proinflammatory factors triggers the activation of matrix metalloproteinase type II (MMP-2) and activates profibrogenic TGF-β1 signaling, contributing to profibrosis. The age-associated increase in activated MMP-2 cleaves latent TGF-β and subsequently increases TGF-β1 activity leading to collagen deposition in the arterial wall. Furthermore, a blockade of the proinflammatory signaling pathway alleviates the fibrogenic signaling, reduces profibrosis, and prevents arterial stiffening with aging. Thus, age-associated proinflammatory-profibrosis coupling is the underlying molecular mechanism of arterial stiffening with advancing age.
Anatomical correlates of face patches in macaque inferotemporal cortex

Primate brains typically have regions within the ventral visual stream that are selectively responsive to faces. These face patches are located in similar parts of macaque inferotemporal (IT) across individuals though correspondence with particular anatomical features has not been previously reported. Here, using high resolution functional and anatomical imaging, we show that small "bumps" along the lower bank of the superior temporal sulcus are predictive of the location of face-selective regions. Recordings from implanted multi-electrode arrays verified that these bumps contain face-selective neurons. These bumps were present in monkeys raised without seeing faces and that lack face patches, indicating that these anatomical landmarks are predictive, of but not sufficient for, the presence of face selectivity. These bumps are found across primate species, indicating common evolutionary developmental mechanisms.
Fates and fingerprints of sulfur and carbon following wildfire in economically important croplands of California, U.S.

Abstract Sulfur (S) is widely used in agriculture, yet little is known about its fates within upland watersheds, particularly in combination with disturbances like wildfire. Our study examined the effects of land use and wildfire on the biogeochemical “fingerprints,” or the quantity and chemical composition, of S and carbon (C). We conducted our research within the Napa River Watershed, California, U.S., where high S applications to vineyards are common, and ~ 20% of the watershed burned in October 2017, introducing a disturbance now common across the warmer, drier Western U.S. We used a laboratory rainfall experiment to compare unburned and low severity burned vineyard and grassland soils. We then sampled streams draining sub-catchments with differing land use and degrees of burn and burn severity to understand combined effects at broader spatial scales. Before the laboratory experiment, vineyard soils had 2–3.5 times more S than grassland soils, while burned soils—regardless of land use—had 1.5–2 times more C than unburned soils. During the laboratory experiment, vineyard soil leachates had 16–20 times more S than grassland leachates, whereas leachate C was more variable across land use and burn soil types. Unburned and burned vineyard soils leached S with δ34S values enriched 6–15‰ relative to grassland soils, likely due to microbial S processes within vineyard soils. Streams draining vineyards also had the fingerprint of agricultural S, with ~2–5 fold higher S concentrations and ~ 10‰ enriched δ34S-SO42− values relative to streams draining non-agricultural areas. However, streams draining a higher fraction of burned non-agricultural areas also had enriched δ34S values relative to unburned non-agricultural areas, which we attribute to loss of 32S during combustion. Our findings illustrate the interacting effects of wildfire and land use on watershed S and C cycling—a new consideration under a changing climate, with significant implications for ecosystem function and human health.
Climate as a driver of change in U.S. forests

Climate exerts a major influence on the productivity, distribution, composition, and structure of forests. Temperatures are increasing globally, and these widespread temperature increases are resulting in local changes in temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events across the continental United States. Changes have varied by region, and many of these regional differences will continue in the coming decades. The western United States has been experiencing an increase in drought, wildfire, and mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) damage that is leading to losses in productivity. In the Midwest and East, increased heavy rain events and decreased winter severity have altered forest hydrology and induced range shifts for trees and biological stressors. The east coast is experiencing rising sea levels that threaten coastal forests with flooding and increased salinity. This region could also be subject to more severe hurricanes and other tropical storms in the coming decades. Climate change impacts may affect forest management operations, reduce windows of opportunity to conduct prescribed burns and harvest, or necessitate changes in timing of those activities. Direct and indirect effects of climate change on the Nation’s forests will influence the benefits that they provide, such as timber and nontimber forest products, recreation opportunities, clean water, and cultural values, in the coming decades. Climate change also presents opportunities to manage forests for increased carbon sequestration and develop strategies to adapt to change, which can help reduce the magnitude of some of these impacts.
Galaxy Deblending using Residual Dense Neural networks

We present a new neural network approach for deblending galaxy images in astronomical data using Residual Dense Neural network (RDN) architecture. We train the network on synthetic galaxy images similar to the typical arrangements of field galaxies with a finite point spread function (PSF) and realistic noise levels. The main novelty of our approach is the usage of two distinct neural networks: i) a \emph{deblending network} which isolates a single galaxy postage stamp from the composite and ii) a \emph{classifier network} which counts the remaining number of galaxies. The deblending proceeds by iteratively peeling one galaxy at a time from the composite until the image contains no further objects as determined by classifier, or by other stopping criteria. By looking at the consistency in the outputs of the two networks, we can assess the quality of the deblending. We characterize the flux and shape reconstructions in different quality bins and compare our deblender with the industry standard, \texttt{SExtractor}. We also discuss possible future extensions for the project with variable PSFs and noise levels.
Yield of Repeat Endoscopy in Barrett’s Esophagus with No Dysplasia and Low-Grade Dysplasia: A Population-Based Study

The yield of early repeat endoscopy in patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is not well established. To determine how often early repeat endoscopy detected missed dysplasia or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) in a population-based cohort of patients with BE. Secondary aims were to identify risk factors for missed dysplasia/EAC and compare detection of prevalent versus incident HGD/EAC. A population-based cohort of BE subjects in Olmsted County, MN, was studied. Patients with initial non-dysplastic BE or low-grade dysplasia (LGD) who underwent repeat endoscopy within 24 months were included. Those with a worse histologic diagnosis on repeat endoscopy were considered to have missed dysplasia/EAC. Baseline characteristics among patients with and without missed dysplasia/EAC were compared. The absolute numbers of asymptomatic prevalent or missed, and incident HGD/EAC in the entire cohort were ascertained. Of 488 BE cases, 210 were included for the primary aim of this study. Repeat endoscopy revealed four HGD/EAC (1.9 %) and 16 LGD (8.8 %) for a combined miss rate of 9.5 %. Long-segment BE (LSBE) and lack of PPI use were predictors of missed dysplasia/EAC (P = 0.008), but adherence to biopsy protocol was not. Increased prevalent HGD/EAC (n = 30) rather than incident HGD/EAC (n = 22) was identified during a median 4.8 years of follow-up in this cohort. Dysplasia/EAC is commonly missed at initial BE diagnosis, particularly in patients with LSBE and no PPI use. Efforts should be made to enhance the sensitivity of detecting dysplasia/neoplasia around the time of initial BE diagnosis.
Socioeconomic factors and breast cancer in black and white Americans

The incidence of breast cancer in the US is known to be higher among white than black women and among women of higher socioeconomic status (SES), but once a woman, either black or white, has the disease, she is more likely to have a recurrence and to die of breast cancer if she is of lower socioeconomic status. Explanations for these observed differences are varied and inconsistent making it clear that these reported differentials are not sufficiently understood. In understanding breast cancer in a multicultural setting, delay in diagnosis, follow-up, and treatment are frequently the focus of attention. However these factors do not sufficiently explain the observed differences between blacks and whites. A review of recent literature reveals an increasing focus on the role of SES in breast cancer etiology, and progression; however, the confounding of SES with race/ethnicity (black vs. white) contributes to the insufficient understanding of the effect of these two factors. This report will focus on the interplay between race/ethnicity and SES and their relative effects upon analyses of survival from breast cancer. Findings are based on prospective clinical trial data. SES factors have been associated with most of the known or suspected risk factors for breast cancer incidence and progression. In addition to race/ethnicity, SES is also associated with diet, lifestyle factors, physical characteristics, and tumor characteristics. Without controlling for other risk factors, the ratios of risk for blacks with respect to whites for disease-free survival and overall survival were 1.30 (95% CI: 1.04-1.61) and 1.42 (95% CI: 1.15-1.76), respectively. However, after controlling for patient risk factors, such as the number of positive lymph nodes, tumor diameter, estrogen receptor status and socioeconomic factors, these differences decrease and are not statistically significant. Socioeconomic status is associated both with race/ethnicity and estrogen receptor status. A loglinear analysis demonstrates that the apparent association of race/ethnicity with estrogen receptor status is mediated by socioeconomic status. An implication of this finding is that environmental and lifestyle components rather than genetic factors associated with race may explain the observed differentials between black and white breast cancer patients. Knowledge of environmental factors associated with SES have the potential for providing important clues about the prevention and control of breast cancer.
Operating Systems of the 90s and Beyond (with Emphasis on Multiprocessing)

Predicting the future of operating systems is a daunting task. The best I can hope to do is to extrapolate from their current trajectories and perhaps to guess at the influence of future advances at levels of computer systems both below and above the operating system itself. To make clear the context from which I am making this forecast, it should be noted that almost all of my recent work in this area has focused on multiprocessor systems. It is inevitable that my view is shaped by this experience. Changes in operating system structure and function come about because of pressures from various sources. One of these is changes in processor architecture. There are (at least) three current trends in processor architecture that have significant implications for operating systems: speed, increasing the severity of the memory bottleneck and the relative cost of kernel entry/exit
A Moving Base Robot

This paper introduces the concept of a moving base robot and presents the preliminary work on its kinematics and stability. The objective of a moving base is to give robots a semi-infinite work space. The stability criteria is shown to lead to infinite solution boundaries which means optimization can be applied.
The Diagnosis of Acute Congestive Heart Failure: Role of BNP Measurements

For the acutely ill patient presenting to the emergency department with dyspnea, an incorrect diagnosis could place the patient at risk for both morbidity and mortality. The stimulus for BNP release is a change in left-ventricular wall stretch and volume overload. A rapid whole blood BNP assay has recently approved by the FDA (Triage BNP Test, Biosite Inc, San Diego CA) that allows one to quickly evaluate the dyspneic patient, and set the stage for the recently completed multinational Breathing Not Properly (BNP) study. The Breathing Not Properly Multinational Study was a seven center, prospective study of 1586 patients who presented to the emergency department with acute dyspnea and had BNP measured with a point-of-care assay upon arrival. BNP was accurate in making the diagnosis of CHF and correlated to severity of disease. It could have reduced clinical indecision by 74%. Algorithms are being developed for use in the emergency room which takes into account other illnesses that might raise BNP levels. BNP levels should be extremely important in ruling out and diagnosing decompensated CHF, as long as baseline “euvolemic” BNP values are known. Finally, it is possible that use of BNP levels might not only be helpful in assessing whether or not a dyspneic patient has heart failure, but it my turn out to be useful in making both triage and management decisions.
FOSTERING BASIC PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS IN CHEMISTRY

A triangle divided in three parts was used to relate three variables, or two variables and a constant. Students learned to manipulate a given equation so that one of the variables is a product of the other two variables. Problems relating density, mass, and volume; speed of light, frequency and wavelength; gram, mole, and molar mass, molarity, moles and liters; and number of particles, Avogadro’s number, and mole were attempted using triangles. In addition, a special triangle was constructed to relate the variables and a constant of the ideal gas law equation, and was used to solve ideal gas law problems. This visual representation of the problem helped students to understand the factors that need to be considered and the operations that needed to be performed in the problem-solving process. Over the course of two years, the method was used in four different introductory chemistry classes that had a total of 87 students. More than 80% of the students who use triangles were able to arrive at the correct answers. A big percentage of students also liked using triangles to solve simple problems.
Computational methods for optimal linear-quadratic compensators for infinite dimensional discrete-time systems

An abstract approximation theory and computational methods are developed for the determination of optimal linear-quadratic feedback control, observers and compensators for infinite dimensional discrete-time systems. Particular attention is paid to systems whose open-loop dynamics are described by semigroups of operators on Hilbert spaces. The approach taken is based on the finite dimensional approximation of the infinite dimensional operator Riccati equations which characterize the optimal feedback control and observer gains. Theoretical convergence results are presented and discussed. Numerical results for an example involving a heat equation with boundary control are presented and used to demonstrate the feasibility of the method.
An Overview of σ-Hole Bonding, an Important and Widely-Occurring Noncovalent Interaction

σ-Hole bonding is a highly directional noncovalent interaction between a positive region on a covalently-bonded Group IV–VII atom and a negative site on another molecule, e.g., a lone pair of a Lewis base. The positive region reflects the electron deficiency in the outer lobe of the p-type orbital involved in the covalent bond and is along the extension of this bond. There is now considerable experimental and computational evidence for σ-hole bonding. Within a given group, and for a particular Lewis base, the strength of the interaction increases with the polarizability of the atom and the electron-withdrawing power of the remainder of the molecule. For Groups IV–VI, there can be more than one σ-hole on the atom. For a series of Group IV–VII molecules, we give computed values of the positive surface electrostatic potentials associated with the σ-holes, and we also present some calculated interaction energies with different Lewis bases. σ-Hole bonding is competitive with hydrogen bonding, but the two can also accompany each other. The positive σ-holes usually exist in conjunction with negative regions on the remainders of the atoms’ surfaces, so that interactions with electrophiles as well as nucleophiles are possible. It is, therefore, not valid to assign single global atomic charges in these instances. Examples of σ-hole bonding in molecular biology and crystal engineering are discussed.