cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The acellular fraction of stored platelets promotes tumor cell invasion.

Background Transfusion of blood products is a potentially life-saving treatment to correct deficits of volume status or oxygen delivery. Increasingly it has been recognized that transfusions also transmit immunosuppressive factors including cytokines and lipid mediators. Platelets are ubiquitously present in blood transfusions and contain numerous growth factors that may contribute to tumor growth. We hypothesized that such growth factors released during routine platelet storage promote cancer invasion. Materials and methods Modified Boyden chamber transwell invasion assays were performed to determine if factors released into the plasma portion of stored platelets could induce tumor cell invasion. Results Soluble mediators from stored platelets induce invasion in two pancreatic cancer cell lines (MIA PaCA-2, Pan02) and one breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231). Additionally, we show that vascular endothelial growth factor is present in the acellular fraction of stored platelets and that inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor with bevacizumab reduces tumor cell invasion in vitro. Finally, we found that in vivo administration of this acellular fraction increases tumor angiogenesis. Conclusions Components in stored platelets can promote the invasion of multiple cancer cell lines in vitro. These results indicate that factors in platelets may mediate deleterious effects associated with transfusion in cancer patients.
“It’s not Where you Live, it’s How you Live”: How Young Women Negotiate Conflict and Violence in the Inner City:

To navigate inner-city neighborhoods, young women, though reluctant at times, are often encouraged to become known as able fighters for their own protection. Among peers, one’s reputation, once established, is an important social resource. The following narratives illustrate how two young women negotiate the context of violence they confront in their everyday lives.
Transcriptome Analyses to Investigate the Pathogenesis of RNA Splicing Factor Retinitis Pigmentosa

RNA-splicing factor retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is caused by mutations in components of the spliceosome. RP is an inherited blinding disorder characterized by late-onset retinal degeneration. Currently, mutations in five genes that encode components of the spliceosome have been identified to cause autosomal dominant RP. These are the pre-mRNA processing factors 3, 8, and 31 (PRPF3, 8, and 31), RP9, and SNRNP200. It is unknown how mutations in these ubiquitously expressed genes lead to retina-specific disease. It is hypothesized that mutations in these genes lead to aberrant splicing of pre-mRNA, which in turn causes retinal degeneration. To fully investigate this hypothesis requires the ability to accurately interrogate the transcriptomes of the affected tissue. The recent development of next-generation sequencing-based RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) makes these types of studies possible. This chapter will focus on the RNA splicing factor forms of RP and the application of RNA-seq to study the pathogenesis of these diseases.
Neural expression of the Xenopus homeobox gene Xhox3: evidence for a patterning neural signal that spreads through the ectoderm

The Xenopus laevis homeobox gene Xhox3 is expressed in the axial mesoderm of gastrula and neurula stage embryos. By the late neurula-early tailbud stage, mesodermal expression is no longer detectable and expression appears in the growing tailbud and in neural tissue. In situ hybridization analysis of the expression of Xhox3 in neural tissue shows that it is restricted within the neural tube and the cranial neural crest during the tailbud-early tadpole stages. In late tadpole stages, Xhox3 is only expressed in the mid/hindbrain area and can therefore be considered a marker of anterior neural development. To investigate the mechanism responsible for the anterior-posterior (A-P) regionalization of the neural tissue, the expression of Xhox3 has been analysed in total exogastrula. In situ hybridization analyses of exogastrulated embryos show that Xhox3 is expressed in the apical ectoderm of total exogastrulae, a region that develops in the absence of anterior axial mesoderm. The results provide further support for the existence of a neuralizing signal, which originates from the organizer region and spreads through the ectoderm. Moreover, the data suggest that this neural signal also has a role in A-P patterning the neural ectoderm.
Effect of Initial Eccentricities in Column Performance and Capacity

Section investigated was rolled H-section fabricated from ASTM A7 structural steel; eccentricity was created by milling out-of-square about weak axis bearing ends at partially riveted splice; capacity of column may be considered equal to that of identical unspliced column, provided that Euler critical is greater than yield point strength of material, and ends of column are partially restrained.
Plans and Goals in Understanding Episodes

People's judgments about important elements in narrative episodes were studied. Subjects chose the protagonisťs goal as most important, then actions, outcomes, complications, and lastly background and modifiers. A statemenťs importance correlated with its likelihood of recall and inclusion in a summary. Relating episodes to a Plan schema, further experiments found that readers take longer to comprehend an action in light of a goal the greater the “distance” between them in a goal hierarchy. Furthermore, the time to comprehend a character's action increases the more independent goals the reader is monitoring for that character.
What is the Borrowing Power of Your Balance Sheet

Using a simple model, this article demonstrates the process by which a secured bank lender determines how much your balance sheet might borrow.
'Not the UCLA Way' Might Get in the Way of Reeves Nelson’s Dreams

A recent Sports Illustrated report chronicling UCLA Men’s Basketball entitled, “Not the UCLA Way,” by George Dohrmann and published on March 5th, is an extensive account of the program chronicling the journey from Final Fours to a losing record. Dohrmann attributed the downfall to player behavior and Howland’s failure to discipline. Current and recently departed players were allegedly engaging in drinking, doing drugs, fighting with teammates, and disrespecting staff members.
Developing new products in the automotive industry: exploring the interplay between process clockspeed and supply chain integration

Accordingly to the clockspeed perspective, organizations’ responses to ever-increasing levels of industrial change determine their survival. In this perspective, we empirically examine the impact of supply chain integration and process clockspeed on the level of new product introductions in the Brazilian automotive industry. Our findings indicate that new product introductions are enhanced by either high levels of supply chain integration or increased process clockspeed, while a negative interaction was found between these two strategies and new product introduction levels.
Determining air cell location and embryo development in opaque shelled eggs

A novel method for determining air cell location, embryo development, and eggshell defects in opaque thickshelled eggs was tested. Results demonstrated that a camcorder with IR “Night Shot” function performed significantly better (P < 0.05) than unaided visual determination of air cell location in Emu eggs. In addition, the Mini DVC camcorder unit was as accurate as the heavier, non-portable, and more expensive traditional IR candling units. Commercial ratite producers, waterfowl biologists, and others working with opaque thickshelled eggs may benefit from this research.
Women Workers and Women at Home Are Equally Inactive: NHANES 2003–2006

ABSTRACTPurposeThe prevalence of female homemakers (those who stay at home to care for the home or family) has increased to 29%. Homemakers may be more active than employed women (EW). Limited data are available for domestic-related activity; therefore, the assessment of the activity levels of homem
Review on cybersickness in applications and visual displays

Cybersickness is an affliction common to users of virtual environments. Similar in symptoms to motion sickness, cybersickness can result in nausea, headaches, and dizziness. With these systems becoming readily available to the general public, reports of cybersickness have increased and there is a growing concern about the safety of these systems. This review presents the current state of research methods, theories, and known aspects associated with cybersickness. Current measurements of incidence of cybersickness are questionnaires, postural sway, and physiological state. Varying effects due to display and rendering modes, such as visual display type and stereoscopic or monoscopic rendering, are compared. The known and suspected application aspects that induce cybersickness are discussed. There are numerous potential contributing application design aspects, many of which have had limited study, but field of view and navigation are strongly correlated with cybersickness. The effect of visual displays is not well understood, and application design may be of greater importance.
The effects of ileocystoplasty on the development of renal failure in a rat model 5/6 nephrectomy.

AbstractWe examined the effects of ileocystoplasty on renal function and bone mineral content in 160 juvenile male Wistar-Furth rats with and without renal insufficiency induced by 5/6 nephrectomy. At intervals up to 20 weeks blood, bone and kidney samples were obtained with the animals under anesthesia and then they were sacrificed. Serum parameters of renal function and calcium metabolism were measured. Samples of bone were analyzed for calcium, magnesium and phosphorus content. At 20 weeks after 5/6 nephrectomy renal function was decreased by approximately half. The decrease in renal function and the changes in renal histology were identical in animals with and without ileocystoplasty. Bone mineral content in the animals with renal insufficiency with or without ileocystoplasty was not different from sham operated animals or from animals with an ileocystoplasty and normal renal function. These studies demonstrate that ileocystoplasty per se does not hasten the progression to renal failure or produce bon...
Simple Modifications for Signed Roots of Likelihood Ratio Statistics

SUMMARY In the context of inference about a scalar parameter in the presence of nuisance parameters, some simple modifications for the signed root of the log-likelihood ratio statistic R are developed that reduce the order of error in the standard normal approximation to the distribution of R from O(n- 1/2) to O(n- 1). Barndorff-Nielsen has introduced a variable U such that the error in the standard normal approximation to the distribution of R +R- R log(U/R) is of order O(n-3/2), but calculation of Urequires the specification of an exact or approximate ancillary statistic A. This paper proposes an alternative variable to U, denoted by T, that is available without knowledge of A and satisfies T= U+ Op(n 1) in general. Thus the standard normal approximation to the distribution of R +R'- log(T/R) has error of order O(n- 1), and it can be used to construct approximate confidence limits having coverage error of order O(n- 1). In certain cases, however, Tand Uare identical. The derivation of Tinvolves the Bayesian approach to constructing confidence limits considered by Welch and Peers, and Peers. Similar modifications for the signed root of the conditional likelihood ratio statistic are also developed, and these modifications are seen to be useful when a large number of nuisance parameters are present. Several examples are presented, including inference for natural parameters in exponential models and inference about location-scale models with type II censoring. In each case, the relationship between Tand U is discussed. Numerical examples are also given, including inference for regression models, inference about the means of log-normal distributions and inference for exponential lifetime models with type I censoring, where Barndorff-Nielsen's variable U is not available.
Conclusion: Knowledge, Power and Agency

All these folk are saying, ‘It was plague. We’ve had the plague here’. You’d almost think they expected to be given medals for it. But what does that mean — ‘plague’? Just life, no more than that.1
Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) of saw marks on bones

Abstract Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is a photographic method where a series of lighting details are captured to create an interactive digital image that, combined with associated software, enhances the surface details of an object. Primarily used in archaeological applications, RTI has been making a transition into forensic science. The ability to capture subtle color and surface variation details makes RTI potentially appealing for examining surface alterations such as tool impressions on bone. This study investigated whether RTI may be useful for preservation and analysis of saw marks on bones through a comparison of RTI photographs to traditional photographic counterparts. RTI was found to be excellent for visualizing tool mark on bones, though it was more successful in capturing shallow surface details versus deeper alterations. Time and file storage may be minor limitations, but overall RTI is relatively inexpensive, easy to perform, and effective for imaging alterations on bones.
Transient osteoporosis of the hip: review of the literature

Transient osteoporosis of the hip (TOH) is a temporary clinical condition of unknown etiology which usually resolves with conservative therapy though may be complicated by fracture or progression to avascular necrosis (AVN). TOH may be slightly more prevalent in men but when it occurs in women, it is most often seen in the latter part of pregnancy. Though fracture is a rare complication of TOH when it occurs, it is most often associated with TOH occurring in pregnancy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best method to diagnosis TOH. Low signal intensity on T1-weighted images, high signal intensity on T2-weighted images, and homogenous pattern of edema (the femoral head and/or neck) with normal subchondral area are in favor of TOH. A shortened course to recovery is reported by use of bisphosphonates, calcitonin, or teriparatide. Based on reported cases, core decompression is not superior to medical therapy. Transient osteoporosis of the hip, which often has no known etiology, usually resolves with conservative therapy but may predispose the patient to fracture or avascular necrosis. Diagnostic method of choice is magnetic resonance imaging. Bisphosphonates, calcitonin, or teriparatide are reported as a useful approach to reduce duration of recovery.
Thrombelastography Indicates Limitations of Animal Models of Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy

Abstract Background Thrombelastography (TEG) has been used to characterize the coagulation changes associated with injury and shock. Animal models developed to investigate trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) have failed to produce excessive bleeding. We hypothesize that a native TEG will demonstrate marked differences in humans compared with these experimental models, which explains the difficulties in reproducing a clinically relevant coagulopathy in animal models. Methods Whole blood was collected from 138 healthy human volunteers, 25 swine and 66 Sprague–Dawley rats before experimentation. Citrated native TEGs were conducted on each whole blood sample within 2 h of collection. The clot initiation (R-time, minutes), angle (degrees), maximum amplitude (MA; millimeter), and lysis 30 min after MA (LY30; percentage) were analyzed and contrasted between species with data represented as the median and 25 th to 75 th quartile range. Difference between species was conducted with a Kruskal–Wallis test with alpha adjusted with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (alpha = 0.016). Results Median R-time (clot initiation) was 14.65 min (IQR: 13.2-16.3 min) for humans, 5.7 min (4.9-8.8) for pigs, and 5.2 min (4.4-6) for rodents. Humans had longer R-times than both pigs ( P P P = 0.4439). Angle (fibrin cross-linking) was 42.3° (interquartile range [IQR]: 37.5-50.2) for humans, 71.7° (64.3-75.6) for pigs, and 61.8° (56.8-66.7) for rats. Humans had reduced angle compared with both pigs ( P P P = 0.6052). MA (clot strength) was 55.5 mm (IQR: 52.0-59.5) for humans, 72.5 mm (70.4-75.5) for pigs, and 66.5 mm (56.5-68.6) for rats. Humans had reduced MA compared with both pigs ( P P P = 0.0161). LY30 (fibrinolysis) was 1.5% (IQR: 0.975-2.5) for humans, 3.3% (1.9-4.3) for pigs, and 0.5% (0.1-1.2) for rats. Humans had a lesser LY30 than pigs ( P = 0.0062) and a greater LY30 than rats ( P P Conclusions Humans, swine, and rodents have distinctly different coagulation systems, when evaluated by citrated native TEG. Animals are hypercoagulable with rapid clotting times and clots strengths nearly 50% stronger than humans. These coagulation differences indicate the limitations of previous models of trauma-induced coagulopathy in producing coagulation abnormalities associated with increased bleeding. The inherent hypercoagulable baseline tendencies of these animals may result in subclinical biochemical changes that are not detected by conventional TEG and should be taken into consideration when extrapolated to clinical medicine.
Chronic rhinosinusitis severity is associated with need for asthma-related systemic corticosteroids.

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is highly prevalent in patients with asthma. However, no study has evaluated the effect of CRS severity on asthma-related oral corticosteroid use - a marker of poor asthma control and prognosis. We therefore sought to evaluate the association between CRS severity and asthma-related oral corticosteroid use. Methodology Prospective cross-sectional study of 110 adult asthmatic CRS patients. CRS severity was measured using the 22-item Sinonasal Outcomes Test (SNOT-22) and Lund-Kennedy endoscopy score. Number of asthma-related courses of oral corticosteroids in the past year was queried at enrollment. Association was sought between metrics for CRS severity and asthma-related oral corticosteroids use in the last year. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves defined whether SNOT-22 or endoscopy scores could be used for detecting asthma-related oral corticosteroid use. Results The mean SNOT-22 score was 44.9 (standard deviation [SD] : 23.3) and mean endoscopy score was 4.1 (SD: 3.0). The mean number of asthma-related oral corticosteroid courses taken in the last year was 1.1 (SD: 1.9). SNOT-22, but not endoscopy score, was associated with requiring at least one course of asthma-related oral corticosteroids in the last year (odds ratio = 1.03, 95%CI: 1.02 - 1.06, p=0.003), which translates to an odds ratio of 2.0 for a 21-point increase in SNOT-22. ROC analysis identified equally optimal SNOT-22 scores of greater than 32 (sensitivity: 88.1%, specificity: 41.2%) or greater than 65 (sensitivity: 38.1%, specificity: 91.2%) for detecting the need for at least one course of oral corticosteroids within the past year. Conclusions CRS symptom severity is associated with past asthma-related oral corticosteroid use. SNOT-22 scores may be used as a versatile tool to screen for past asthma-related oral corticosteroid use in asthmatic CRS patients - i.e. those at greatest risk from their asthma - with either high sensitivity or high specificity.
Imitation as Flattery: How TV News Parody’s Media Criticism Can Influence Perceived News Media Importance and Media Trust:

This study explores how exposure to news parody commentary and perceived news media importance (PNMI) can influence trust in the press. A two-wave experiment (N = 331) exposed participants to news ...
Machiavelli and the Double Politics of Ambition

This article explores the early modern political science of vice by setting out Machiavelli’s treatment of ambition, which can be harnessed but never finally tamed. Even though ambition always aspi...
Mothers at a Loss: Identity and Mourning in La Sconosciuta and Milyang

In this chapter, Pascuzzi analyzes the relationship among motherhood, mourning, and identity in the films La sconosciuta and Milyang by looking at the characters of two mothers who are confronted by different yet equally devastating forms of loss. The chapter first establishes a comparison between the social and cultural circumstances of the Italian economic miracle and the modernization and democratization of South Korea in order to describe their influence in the recalibration of a number socially sanctioned expectations associated with motherhood and with womanhood at large, focusing on the protagonists as two single, financially independent women claiming motherhood as an extension of their selfhood, and then moves to argue that these films mobilize a portrayal of mourning in order to describe a process that not only entails the confrontation and the rationalization of a loss or a death, but more accurately entails the confrontation and the rationalization of the loss of one’s identity as a result of that loss or death.
A model of trade restrictiveness index: Its application and implications in public procurement

Public procurement is characterized as a distorted market which grants limited access to foreign suppliers and contractors. However, the different impediments existing within the public procurement policies and their relative significance in restricting effective international competition are not very well known. This paper, through the process of developing a model of Trade Restrictiveness Index, identifies weighs and scales 17 impediments existing within the public procurement policies. The paper also reveals that implicit restriction which emanates mainly from lack of transparency imposes a greater level of restriction in the market. In a final application of the model, comparison of the public procurement policies of selected Common Market for Eastern and Southern African (COMESA) countries, has shown that with a rated index of 1, the procurement policies of Kenya and Uganda are rated as most restrictive while Rwandaʼs is found to be least restrictive.
Reactor for tracking catalyst nanoparticles in liquid at high temperature under a high-pressure gas phase with X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Structure of catalyst nanoparticles dispersed in liquid phase at high temperature under gas phase of reactant(s) at higher pressure (≥5 bars) is important for fundamental understanding of catalytic reactions performed on these catalyst nanoparticles. Most structural characterizations of a catalyst performing catalysis in liquid at high temperature under gas phase at high pressure were performed in an ex situ condition in terms of characterizations before or after catalysis since, from technical point of view, access to the catalyst nanoparticles during catalysis in liquid phase at high temperature under high pressure reactant gas is challenging. Here we designed a reactor which allows us to perform structural characterization using X-ray absorption spectroscopy including X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy to study catalyst nanoparticles under harsh catalysis conditions in terms of liquid up to 350 °C under gas phase with a pressure u...
Dynamics of Lymphocyte Reconstitution After Hematopoietic Transplantation During Chronic Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Infection

Bone marrow transplantation is a treatment for various cancers and genetic diseases, and the only case of a cured HIV infection involved the use of this clinical procedure, highlighting the potential use of this therapy for curing many chronic diseases. However, little is known about how chronic viral infection influences lymphocyte reconstitution after bone marrow transplantation. To address this, we infected mice with chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, and performed bone marrow transplantation to assess lymphocyte reconstitution. Interestingly, we observed that adoptively transferred marrow cells exhibited preferential B cell differentiation in chronically infected mice. Moreover, donor marrow cells that were adoptively transferred into chronically infected mice differentiated into virus-specific CD8 T cells that were able to expand after PD-L1 blockade. Taken together, our data show that chronic viral infection induces a biased differentiation of bone marrow stem cells into B cells, and that exhausted virus-specific CD8 T cells generated de novo in this setting are rescuable by PD-1 blockade. These data contribute to the understanding of how chronic viral infection impacts lymphocyte reconstitution, and may provide valuable information to improve current hematopoietic transplantation regimens in chronically infected hosts.
Study protocol, randomized controlled trial: reducing symptom burden in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction using ubiquinol and/or D-ribose.

Heart failure (HF), the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the US, affects 6.6 million adults with an estimated additional 3 million people by 2030. More than 50% of HF patients have heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF). These patients have impaired cardiac muscle relaxation and diastolic filling, which investigators have associated with cellular energetic impairment. Patients with HFpEF experience symptoms of: (1) fatigue; (2) shortness of breath; and (3) swelling (edema) of the lower extremities. However, current HF guidelines offer no effective treatment to address these underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms. Thus, we propose a biobehavioral symptom science study using ubiquinol and D-ribose (therapeutic interventions) to target mitochondrial bioenergetics to reduce the complex symptoms experienced by patients with HFpEF. Using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, the overall objective is to determine if administering ubiquinol and/or D-ribose to HFpEF patients for 12 weeks would decrease the severity of their complex symptoms and improve their cardiac function. The measures used to assess patients’ perceptions of their health status and level of vigor (energy) will be the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and Vigor subscale of the Profile of Mood States. The 6-min walk test will be used to test exercise tolerance. Left ventricular diastolic function will be assessed using innovative advanced echocardiography software called speckle tracking. We will measure B-type natriuretic peptides (secreted from ventricles in HF) and lactate/ATP ratio (measure of cellular energetics). Ubiquinol (active form of Coenzyme Q10) and D-ribose are two potential treatments that can positively affect cellular energetic impairment, the major underlying mechanism of HFpEF. Ubiquinol, the reduced form of CoQ10, is more effective in adults over the age of 50. In patients with HFpEF, mitochondrial deficiency of ubiquinol results in decreased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis and reduced scavenging of reactive oxygen species. D-ribose is a substrate required for ATP synthesis and when administered has been shown to improve impaired myocardial bioenergetics. Therefore, if the biological underpinning of deficient mitochondrial ATP in HFpEF is not addressed, patients will suffer major symptoms including lack of energy, fatigue, exertional dyspnea, and exercise intolerance. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03133793 ; Data of Registration: April 28, 2017.
Wind erosion: Processes and prediction.

Conditions conducive to wind erosion exist when the soil is loose, dry, and finely granulated; the soil surface is smooth and vegetative cover is sparse or absent; the susceptible area is sufficiently large; and the wind is strong and turbulent enough to move soil. Those conditions often prevail in semiarid and arid climates, for example west of the 99th meridian in the USA. The many problems researchers face in determining effects of erosion on crop productivity are represented by Fig. 10-1. A host of interactions determines crop production or yield. One way to isolate the effects of erosion in this complex crop-production system is to translate the problem from practical terms to basic concepts at the process level, where research is performed. Even though wind erosion damages soil, crops, and the environment, we will omit any discussion of environmental damages, other than to cote that future experimental research and modeling should include such impacts on crop yields. In this paper, wind erosion will be linked to productivity through its alteration of surface-soil properties and/or soil depth. This alteration must then be linked to other factors that influence the growth and development of crops.
Calcium-Sensing Receptor and Magnesium

Divalent cation metabolism is a complex process involving the coordinated function of several organ systems and endocrine glands. The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) plays a central role for the homeostasis of both calcium and magnesium as it mediates not only the level of parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion from the parathyroid, but also directly regulates the rate of divalent cation re-absorption in the kidney. Moreover, its expression in intestinal and bone cells suggests a role in all of the organs involved in maintaining systemic calcium and magnesium homeostasis. Several deactivating as well as activating CaSR mutations have been identifi ed leading to hereditary hyperparathyroidism and autosomal-dominant hypocalcemia (ADH), respectively. Furthermore, the Bartter-like phenotype observed in patients with activating CaSR mutations demonstrates a functional link between renal calcium and magnesium handling and urine concentrating mechanism. This review focuses on the role of the CaSR for body magnesium homeostasis with special respect to renal magnesium handling and summarizes the diverse biological functions of the CaSR in regulating divalent mineral metabolism.
Functions, Subprograms, and Subroutines

This chapter describes the way in which someone can write their own functions. The FORTRAN functions are used the same way as algebraic functions. The rule for forming the function name is the same as for forming a variable: on most systems, it can consist of up to 6 letters or digits and the first character should be a letter. A statement function should come after DIMENSION and type declaration statements but might precede a DATA statement. When a function is evaluated in the program, the value of the variable used as the argument is important. The name of the variable used as the argument is immaterial as long as it is the same mode as the mode of the argument used in the definition of the function. The argument of the function used in the definition of the function is called a dummy argument.
Early Biochemical Responses of the Neutrophil to Chemoattractants

Chemotactic factors act on neutrophils to induce a displacement of bound intracellular calcium resulting in a transient increase in free cytoplasmic calcium. The increased calcium activates a phospholipase, releasing arachidonic acid. The lipoxygenase system of the neutrophil metabolizes the arachidonic acid to yield products that increase the neutrophil membrane permeability to calcium. In the presence of external calcium, the increased permeability results in an influx of calcium into the cell. Under many circumstances, the increase in free cytoplasmic calcium ultimately results in the various neutrophil responses induced by chemotactic factors. Under other circumstances, however, the above scheme appears not to be implicated or is involved only to a limited extent in neutrophil responses.
Picosecond X-Ray Sources

Publisher Summary The chapter provides an overview of short-wavelength light pulses with a duration of less than a picosecond, which can be produced by focusing high-intensity, ultrafast laser pulses onto a solid. The intense, ultrafast laser pulses are absorbed by plasma formed inside the surface of the solid before ablation occurs. The resulting short-wavelength emission spectrum is characteristic of a high-temperature, short-lived, high-density plasma. In a study mentioned in the chapter, the importance of using low prepulse energy for the production of short pulse x-rays from laser-produced plasmas was demonstrated. Energy deposited before the arrival of the short pulse can cause ionized material to be ablated, leading to the formation of lower density plasma in front of the solid surface. Ultrashort laser pulse absorbs in that lower density region and can lead to relatively long x-ray emission times. The short-pulse laser is coupled into solid or near-solid density plasma with an associated high, metal-like reflectivity. At high electron densities, ionization depression reduces the number of bound levels to the first few excited levels and Stark broadening is severe; this can lead to rapidly varying line broadenings. Continuum emission is expected to dominate until the plasma cools and expands. Resonance line emission from long lived states has been observed to radiate for tens of picoseconds longer than the short pulse integrated emission observed using the streak camera.
Taming of tetranitroethane: a promising precursor for high performance energetic ingredients

The stabilization of nitrogen-rich or oxygen-rich energetic molecules is an ongoing challenging study in the field of energetic materials. Now we describe the stabilization of tetranitroethane by various transformations to metal complexes, nitrogen rich salts, and ionic complexes with ammonium oxide. These newly prepared energetic compounds are characterized by IR and NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis was used to obtain further structural confirmation of 10, 11, 12, and 14. The safety parameters associated with impact and friction sensitivities were investigated using BAM (Bundesanstalt fur Materialforschung und-prufung) methods. In addition, detonation performances, e.g., detonation velocity, detonation pressure, and specific impulse, were calculated using the Explo5 program (version 6.01), which gives rise to a significant assessment of the application potential of tetranitroethane derivatives as high performance energetic ingredients.
Improvisation in the Time of Disaster

iStock/danikancilLibrary shelves are filled with stories about disasters and how to cope and enhance the chance of survival in the face of a wide range of so-called natural hazards. Such hazards in...
Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients' Experiences With Treatment Decision-making.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer generally want to engage in decision-making but are not always able to do so. We evaluated cancer treatment decision-making among AYAs, including decisional engagement and regret. METHODS: We surveyed 203 AYA patients with cancer aged 15 to 29 (response rate 74%) treated at a large academic center and their oncologists. Patients were approached within 6 weeks of diagnosis and asked to report decision-making preferences and experiences (Decisional Roles Scale) and the extent to which they regretted their initial treatment decision (Decisional Regret Scale) assessed at baseline and 4 and 12 months later. RESULTS: A majority of AYAs (58%) wanted to share responsibility for decision-making with oncologists; half (51%) preferred limited involvement from parents. Although most AYAs held roles they preferred, those who did not reported holding more passive roles relative to oncologists (P CONCLUSIONS: Nearly one-fourth of AYA patients expressed regret about initial treatment decisions. Although some AYAs have unmet needs for decisional engagement, attributes of the patient-oncologist relationship, including trust and mutual understanding, may be most protective against regret.
Comparison of the Place Value Understanding of Montessori Elementary Students

Schools following the Montessori philosophy use individual and small-group teaching methods and hands-on, concrete materials. This study investigated the understanding of place value concepts and a...
Human CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/- Facilitating Cells Facilitate Homing and Engraftment of Human HSC in Vivo

Abstract 4093 Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation has become a common procedure for treatment of hematopoietic malignancies and autoimmune disease. Despite significant advances in HSC transplantation, the morbidity and mortality of ablative conditioning and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remain limitations to application in the clinic. However, these risks can be overcome through less toxic nonmyeloablative conditioning and cell depletion strategies to remove GVHD causing-cells while retaining engraftment enhancing-tolerogeneic cells. We were the first to discover CD8+/TCR− graft facilitating cells (FC) in mouse bone marrow. The addition of as few as 30,000 FC to 10,000 HSC significantly enhances engraftment of HSC in allogeneic recipients without causing GVHD. FC also potently enhance engraftment of limiting numbers of syngeneic HSC. Human CD8+/TCR- FC comprised 1.1% ± 0.27% of total G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (mPBMC). In the CD8+/TCR- FC, 48% of cells expressed CD3e+, 43% were FoxP3+, 43% were CD11c+, 19% were CD19+, and 30% were HLA-DR+. Approximately 55% of FC are also CD56dim/-, and the remaining population is CD56bright. The morphology of human CD8+/TCR− FC with Wright-Giemsa staining under light microscopy suggested that the human FC population is heterogeneous. Here we evaluated if human FC enhance human HSC or progenitor homing to bone marrow of NOD/SCID/IL-2rγnull (NSG) mouse recipients. CD45+CD34+ HSC and CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/-FC were sorted from mPBMC. NSG recipients were conditioned with 1100 cGy of total body irradiation (TBI). 24 hours after TBI, 100,000 HSC with or without 300,000 CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/- FC were transplanted into conditioned NSG recipients. Recipients were euthanized 16 hours after transplantation. Bone marrow was harvested from femurs and tibias of recipients and plated in Colony Forming Culture (CFC) Assays. Recipients of HSC plus FC generated significantly more colony formation (colonies = 110) compared with HSC alone (colonies = 65) (P = 0.011), suggesting that CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/- FC enhanced homing of HSC or progenitors to bone marrow. To test if human CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/- FC facilitate engraftment of human HSC in NSG mice, 300,000 CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/- FC were mixed with 100,000 HSC and transplanted into NSG recipient mice conditioned with 325 cGy TBI. Mice that received HSC alone served as controls. At 30 days after transplantation, PBL typing showed that 34% (10 of 29) recipients of HSC alone engrafted. In contrast, 78% of recipients (n = 23) of HSC plus CD8+/TCR−/CD56dim/- FC engrafted, and donor chimerism in PB was 1.1% ± 0.8% and 4.1% ± 1.3% (P Disclosures: Bozulic:Regenerex, LLC: Employment. Ildstad:Regenerex, LLC: Equity Ownership.
Efficacy of systemic treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) guided by comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP).

63Background: Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) has been used to guide treatment selection in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). This study sought to determine if genomic alterations guide...
Developing implicit bias awareness in the communication classroom: From Project Implicit to Jane Elliott's Brown Eye Blue Eye

Communication courses enhance learning through engaging diverse perspectives. However, students’ unawareness of diverse perspectives can inhibit communication effectiveness and classroom engagement...
HDL Code Optimizations: Impact on Hardware Implementations and CAD Tools

With the dramatic increase in utilization of FPGAs for hardware designs in various application domains, CAD tools play a vital role in the development and implementation of FPGA-based designs. Although CAD tools are typically designed to optimize FPGA-based designs to enhance certain performance metrics during the synthesis-to-implementation process, in this work, we illustrate that CAD tools are susceptible to HDL coding style; thus, minor difference in HDL constructs/codes, lead to significantly different final hardware implementations, which in turn impacts the area-efficiency and speed-performance. By utilizing simple hardware circuitry, we analyze and demonstrate the impact of "code optimizations", i.e., how the "code optimizations" (i.e., varying HDL constructs/codes) impact the way the FPGA-based CAD tools, and their associated algorithms/techniques, interpret and implement the final hardware circuitry on the FPGA. Our experimental results and analysis ascertain that by performing minor modifications to the HDL constructs/codes (with minor "code optimizations"), we can significantly enhance certain performance metrics of the corresponding hardware implementations in terms of area-efficiency and speed-performance, without changing the underlying hardware circuitry.
Snow Albedo and Radiative Transfer: Theory, Modeling, and Parameterization

Snow is a critical component of the Earth climate and water systems, affecting surface water and energy fluxes and balance. Due to its strong ability to reflect sunlight, surface snow has significant positive feedback to the atmosphere (snow albedo feedback), resulting in enhanced climate change over high mountains and polar regions. Thus, it is important to accurately compute snow albedo in the solar spectrum. In the past decades, many theoretical and modeling approaches have been developed for snow radiative transfer and albedo calculations, with many important scientific advances on this topic. This chapter firstly reviews several widely-used theories and models for snow radiative transfer problems and then summarizes computational methods and major features of snow single-scattering properties that are required for radiative transfer calculations. Furthermore, a number of commonly-used snow albedo parameterizations developed for application in climate and weather models are presented. Finally, current challenges and future research directions are discussed.
Outcomes Following Discontinuation of Warfarin in Heartmate 3 Patients: A Multi-Center Review

Purpose Bleeding complications during left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support pose anticoagulation challenges as risk of discontinuation of anticoagulation, even in the setting of bleeding, may pose an increased risk of subsequent LVAD hemolysis or thrombosis. We assessed whether discontinuation of anticoagulation in HM3 patients whose bleeding concerns preventing anticoagulation would adversely impact outcomes. Methods This multi-center, retrospective review included HeartMate 3 patients implanted between November 2016 and July 2019 for whom warfarin was discontinued. Patient characteristics, reason for anticoagulation discontinuation and subsequent adverse events were collected for all patients. The primary outcome was incidence of pump thrombosis. Secondary outcomes included bleeding events and overall survival. Results Ten patients were analyzed (80% male, 70% ischemic cardiomyopathy and 80% destination therapy). Preopertively, three patients required warfarin and 3 had a prior history of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Reasons for anticoagulation discontinuation post HM3 placement included: GIB (N=5), hemorrhagic CVA (N=3), gross hematuria (N=1), hemothorax (N=1), and allergy (N=1). Four patients had concomitant Aspirin discontinuation. Time supported with HM3 off anticoagulation ranged from 69 to 961 days, representing 4,869 patient-days in total (Figure 1A). During this follow-up time, one patient experienced an embolic CVA attributed to left atrial appendage clot with subsequent hemorrhagic transformation, and one patient required device exchange for thrombosis. Bleeding also remained a common adverse event (N=5) despite the lack of anticoagulation. Conclusion These data highlight the complicated hemocompatibility challenges associated with long-term LVAD support in a sub-group of patients. Discontinuation of both Aspirin and Warfarin can be considered in a select group of HM3 patients, but with judicious monitoring for early signs of adverse events.
Effects of supplementation containing rumen by-pass protein on parasitism in grazing lambs

Abstract Parasitic gastro-intestinal nematodes (GIN) are a serious challenge to sustainable small ruminant health and performance on pasture. Management practices including protein supplementation can help mitigate the deleterious effects of GIN and sustain livestock performance. We postulated that a combination of protein supplementation and grazing management would suppress GIN infection and contribute to marketable lamb gain in organic and conventional production systems. Objectives were to determine if performance and GIN infection of weaned lambs on pasture were influenced by 1) protein supplementation; 2) protein supplement source that included rumen undegradable protein (RUP) with the addition of a fish oil treatment to address energy concentration in the feed supplement; and 3) protein supplementation with RUP based on body mass and grazing interval duration. We found that lambs supplemented with RUP had increased BW and PCV, and reduced FEC and FAMACHA© scores. Body weight gains increased as the corn-fishmeal supplement was increased from 1 % to 2 % BW. Parasitized lambs may have increased dietary protein requirements that can be met in part by provision of RUP in the form of fish meal. Our work demonstrates the practical success of improved animal performance with protein supplementation based on body weight, and the importance of protein supplement source. The RUP supplement, such as fish meal, appears to have significant bearing on immunological responses as inferred from observed changes in FEC associated with the target GIN, H. contortus.
Elexacafator/tezacaftor/ivacaftor resolves subfertility in females with CF: A two center case series.

Infertility and subfertility are commonly faced by females with cystic fibrosis (FwCF) and resulting in decreased contraceptive use and increased utilization of reproductive technologies. Elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor (ETI) is a CFTR modulator that affects common causes of subfertility. Two CF centers conducted a retrospective chart review on females with CF who were receiving ETI and became pregnant. We analyzed obstetrical-gynecological history, genotype, and clinical response to ETI therapy. Fourteen FwCF on ETI became pregnant. Half (7) of the FwCFs were previously attempting to conceive, but only three were using contraceptives. Four FwCF had a history of infertility; two were reconsidering use of reproductive technologies (IUI). Patients achieved conception at mean 8 weeks after initiating ETI. ETI may lessen CF-associated factors that affect fertility; however, its exact mechanism is unknown. This warrants counseling on contraceptive use and family planning prior to initiation of therapy and at routine intervals while utilizing ETI.