cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Operon prediction without a training set

Motivation: Annotation of operons in a bacterial genome is an important step in determining an organism's transcriptional regulatory program. While extensive studies of operon structure have been carried out in a few species such as Escherichia coli, fewer resources exist to inform operon prediction in newly sequenced genomes. In particular, many extant operon finders require a large body of training examples to learn the properties of operons in the target organism. For newly sequenced genomes, such examples are generally not available; moreover, a model of operons trained on one species may not reflect the properties of other, distantly related organisms. We encountered these issues in the course of predicting operons in the genome of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (B.theta), a common anaerobe that is a prominent component of the normal adult human intestinal microbial community. Results: We describe an operon predictor designed to work without extensive training data. We rely on a small set of a priori assumptions about the properties of the genome being annotated that permit estimation of the probability that two adjacent genes lie in a common operon. Predictions integrate several sources of information, including intergenic distance, common functional annotation and a novel formulation of conserved gene order. We validate our predictor both on the known operons of E.coli and on the genome of B.theta, using expression data to evaluate our predictions in the latter. Availability: The software is available online at http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jbuhler/research/operons Contact: jbuhler@cse.wustl.edu
A Typology of Substance Use Among Pregnant Teens in the United States

Objectives Previous research suggests that, in general, youth who become pregnant during their teenage years tend to report elevated levels of substance use prior to conception and substantial reductions in use during pregnancy. While such studies provide insight into aggregate patterns of adolescent substance use in relation to pregnancy, they may have the unintended effect of masking the behavioral heterogeneity of pregnant teens. Methods The present study employs data from a large, population-based study of adolescents in the United States. We employ latent class analysis to identify subgroups of pregnant adolescents (ages 12–17; n = 810) on the basis of variables measuring the past 12-month and past 30-day use of an extensive array of substances. Results Results revealed a four class solution. Classes were identified as Class 1: Abstainers (n = 344, 42.47 %), Class 2: Drinkers (n = 303, 37.41 %), Class 3: Alcohol and Cannabis Users (n = 77, 9.51 %), and Class 4: Polydrug Users (n = 86, 10.62 %). The Abstainers class had the highest proportion of Hispanic youth (34.3 %) as well as the highest proportion of youth residing in households earning less than $20,000 per year (44.2 %). The Polydrug Users class had the highest proportion of youth who were in late adolescence (75.58 %), non-Hispanic white (54.65 %), high-income (13.95 %), and in their first trimester of pregnancy (58.33 %). Conclusions for Practice Findings point to an important degree of heterogeneity among pregnant teens and may have implications for the development of interventions designed for youth exhibiting disconcerting patterns of substance use prior to pregnancy.
Analysis of Soft Error Mitigation Techniques for Register Files in IBM Cu-08 90nm Technology

Soft errors are a major reliability concern for today's nanometer technologies. The errors in register files in Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) can quickly spread to various parts of the system and result in data corruption which may go unnoticed. Single Error Correction (SEC) Hamming code and Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) provide a high-level mitigation solution for soft errors. The experimental results presented in this work for a 64-bit wide, 32-word entry register file, synthesized for IBM Cu-08 (90nm) standard cell ASIC technology, show that TMR is a better solution for latency sensitive ASIC applications. This technique increases the read access time by only 17% but incurs 204% area penalty. Whereas SEC applied on the 64-bit word size incurs 129% increase in read access time with area penalty only about 22%. This large read access penalty for applying SEC on wide words makes it necessary to partition the word into smaller block sizes before applying SEC. The design space explored in this work, for various combinations of word and block sizes, shows that Hamming code provides a reasonable spectrum of choice to trade-off between area and latency of fault-tolerant register files.
Relation between Plasma Leptin Concentration and Body Fat, Gender, Diet, Age, and Metabolic Covariates*

We measured plasma leptin concentrations by RIA in 204 normal weight and obese subjects, aged 18-80 yr, using full-length recombinant human leptin as a standard. Fasting levels between 1.2-97.9 ng/mL were observed. The plasma leptin concentration was highly correlated with percent body fat (r = 0.710; P < 0.0001) and was 3 times as high in women as in men (17.1 vs. 5.8 ng/mL; P < 0.0001). Circulating leptin was inversely related to age and was reduced 53% in subjects over age 60 yr. A statistical model containing percent body fat, gender, and age accounted for 65% of the variance in plasma leptin levels. Leptin was not independently related to abdominal fat distribution, plasma lipids and lipoproteins, chronic energy intake, diet composition, plasma insulin, or maximum oxygen consumption. However, plasma leptin was reduced by 26% in 5 obese subjects who consumed a 1000-Cal diet for 10 days (P = 0.004). We conclude that circulating leptin rises continuously with increasing adiposity. Gender, age, and short term caloric restriction may be important secondary regulators of plasma leptin.
Solution of a system of linear delay differential equations using the matrix Lambert function

An approach for the analytical solution to systems of delay differential equations (DDEs) has been developed using the matrix Lambert function. To generalize the Lambert function method for scalar DDEs, we introduce a new matrix, Q when the coefficient matrices in a system of DDEs do not commute. The solution has the form of an infinite series of modes written in terms of the matrix Lambert functions. The essential advantage of this approach is the similarity with the concept of the state transition matrix in linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs), enabling its use for general classes of linear delay differential equations. Examples are presented to illustrate by comparison to numerical methods.
Organizational justice and stress: The mediating role of work-family conflict

This study examined the relationship between organizational justice and stress and whether work-family conflict was a mediator of the relationship. Distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational injustice were cast as stressors to explore their relationships with the stress levels of 174 faculty members employed at 23 U.S. universities. The results revealed that procedural and interpersonal justice had the strongest relationships with stress, and that these effects were mediated by work-family conflict. The presence of justice seemed to allow participants to better manage the interface of their work and family lives, which was associated with lower stress levels. These results were observed even when controlling for job satisfaction and the presence of organizational work-family policies.
Evaluation of the potential of Hyperion data to estimate wildfire hazard in the Santa Ynez front range, Santa Barbara, California

Wildfire hazard is a worldwide problem with enormous environmental, economic, and social costs. Better methods are needed to assess risk to more effectively manage natural resources. Current models need spatially explicit, timely, information about surface conditions. Meeting this need requires development of remotely sensed model inputs. Critical remotely sensed parameters needed for wildfire hazard assessment include surface reflectance, canopy water content, species composition and fuel state. Semiarid shrublands have been difficult to assess and monitor using multispectral satellite data because their spectral bands and wavelength locations are not sensitive to these input parameters, however, such inputs have been demonstrated using AVIRIS data. We compare near simultaneous acquisition of Hyperion (12/06/01) and AVIRIS (14/06/01) data for retrieval of surface reflectance. For both instruments, field spectra were acquired to support reflectance retrieval. Hyperion and AVIRIS spectra are similar in shape and albedo but SNR is 5 times higher in AVIRIS. Fuel condition was assessed using the endmember fractions from spectral mixture analysis, with Hyperion and AVIRIS providing similar fractions. Canopy water content was compared using the 1200 nm liquid water band and two water indices, the Water Index and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). Results show poor Hyperion performance relative to AVIRIS.
Lightning storms on Saturn observed by Cassini ISS and RPWS during 2004–2006

We report on Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) data correlated with Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) observations, which indicate lightning on Saturn. A rare bright cloud erupt at ∼35° South planetocentric latitude when radio emissions (Saturn Electrostatic Discharges, or SEDs) occur. The cloud consisting of few consecutive eruptions typically lasts for several weeks, and then both the cloud and the SEDs disappear. They may reappear again after several months or may stay inactive for a year. Possibly, all the clouds are produced by the same atmospheric disturbance which drifts West at 0.45 °/day. As of March 2007, four such correlated visible and radio storms have been observed since Cassini Saturn Orbit Insertion (July 2004). In all four cases the SEDs are periodic with roughly Saturn's rotation rate (h^(10)m^(39)), and show correlated phase relative to the times when the clouds are seen on the spacecraft-facing side of the planet, as had been shown for the 2004 storms in [Porco, C.C., and 34 colleagues, 2005. Science 307, 1243–1247]. The 2000-km-scale storm clouds erupt to unusually high altitudes and then slowly fade at high altitudes and spread at low altitudes. The onset time of individual eruptions is less than a day during which time the SEDs reach their maximum rates. This suggests vigorous atmospheric updrafts accompanied by strong precipitation and lightning. Unlike lightning on Earth and Jupiter, where considerable lightning activity is known to exist, only one latitude on Saturn has produced lightning strong enough to be detected during the two and a half years of Cassini observations. This may partly be a detection issue.
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE HUMAN MIRROR

(1976). ANOTHER LOOK AT THE HUMAN MIRROR. Annals of the Association of American Geographers: Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 486-486.
TOWARDS THE AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF ADJECTIVAL SCALES: CLUSTERING ADJECTIVES ACCORDING TO MEANING

In this paper we present a method to group adjectives according to their meaning, as a first step towards the automatic identification of adjectival scales. We discuss the properties of adjectival scales and of groups of semantically related adjectives and how they imply sources of linguistic knowledge in text corpora. We describe how our system exploits this linguistic knowledge to compute a measure of similarity between two adjectives, using statistical techniques and without having access to any semantic information about the adjectives. We also show how a clustering algorithm can use these similarities to produce the groups of adjectives, and we present results produced by our system for a sample set of adjectives. We conclude by presenting evaluation methods for the task at hand, and analyzing the significance of the results obtained.
Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Depression, Part IX: Confronting Predisposing Factors

Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help many depressed clients learn more effective ways of coping with problems in their lives. However, for many clients with chronic or recurrent depression, it can be helpful to examine the biological, psychological, and social/cultural factors that may predispose a person toward depressive episodes. In order to address possible biological predispositions, it is important to assess for a positive family history of depression, evaluate family members' response to previous treatments, and refer for medications when needed. In order to address possible psychological predispositions, it is useful to evaluate long-standing personality styles, identify negative events from childhood, examine the client's relationship with his or her parents, evaluate the history of abuse, and identify early loss experiences. Cultural factors may play an influential role in the etiology of depression, and can be useful to incorporate into a broad treatment plan. However, cultural factors are difficult to modify through individual psychotherapy. Hence, they are unlikely to play a central role in cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression. Overall, therapists working with depressed clients should be prepared to confront a broad range of biological, psychological, and environmental factors that can create or perpetuate a client's risk for depression.
Modifications of the Erythrocyte Membrane by Glutaraldehyde: Effect on Acetylcholinesterase

SummaryWhen erythrocytes are treated with glutaraldehyde they become resistant to hemolytic agents (water) and to mechanical stresses (sonication, freeze-thawing). These alterations are accompanied by the irreversible inactivation of acetylcholinesterase, an integral part of the erythrocyte membrane. Enzyme inactivation is dependent on concentration, pH, time and temperature. The reduction in activity is not associated with changes in substrate specificity, Km and pH profile. However, the residual acetylcholinesterase activity is more labile to denaturation by heat and urea than the normal enzyme.
Combustion of Aluminum, Aluminum Hydride, and Ice Mixtures

The combustion of nano-aluminum, alane, and ice mixtures is theoretically studied. A multi-zone theoretical framework is established by solving the energy equation in each zone and matching the temperature distribution and the heat flux at the interfacial boundaries. The effect of replacing a portion of nano-aluminum particles with micron-sized aluminum and alane particles is examined in the pressure range of 1-10 MPa and for an additive mass fraction of 25%. The addition of micron-sized alane particles results in lower flame temperatures due to the dehydrogenation reaction of alane particles prior to their ignition. The lower flame temperatures and the longer burning times of micron-sized alane particles is responsible for lower flame speeds of these mixtures. For bimodal aluminum-ice mixtures, the lower mass fraction of alumina causes an increase in the flame temperatures. However, the mixtures exhibit mildly lower flame speeds, in view of the longer burning times of micron-sized aluminum particles. The flame thickness of a bimodal mixture of aluminum particle mixtures is higher than that of mono-dispersed mixtures due to the prevalence of two distinct reaction zones. The model results are well supported by experimentally measured burning rates.
Analysis on Mumps Epidemiology in Jin chang City,Gansu During 2006—2012

OBJECTIVE To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of mumps in Jinchang City,Gansu during 2006 —2012 and provide scientific evidence for the prevention and control of mumps.METHODS Descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted on the cases of mumps during 2006—2012.RESULTS 1 931 mumps cases were reported in Jinchang City during 2006—2012.The annual average incidence of mumps was 59.44/100 000.Cases were distilbuted to every month,and mosfly focused on July and October.Mumps cases accounted for 86.84% of the total number of case under the age of 15,among them,5 to 9 years old group was 50.00%.The ratio between male and female was 1.99:1.CONCLUSION The children of 5～9 years old in Jinchang City have the highest incidence of the epidemic parotitis.MMR vaccine shuld be vaccined to the children of 5～9 years old.
Generalized Subgradients in Mathematical Programming

Mathematical programming problems, and the techniques used in solving them, naturally involve functions that may well fail to be differentiable. Such functions often have “subdifferential” properties of a sort not covered in classical analysis, but which provide much information about local behavior. This paper outlines the fundamentals of a recently developed theory of generalized directional derivatives and subgradients.
Policing Gangs in America: Conclusion and Implications

The purpose of this book has been to provide a detailed account of the realities and experiences of the police gang unit, and those who are in them. Furthermore, it was to understand the assumptions, issues, and problems that shape the police gang unit's response to the gang problem. The objective of the book, however, was not to denounce the police gang units understudy for their inadequacies, but, to understand how they respond to their community's gang problem, and the factors that might influence their response, with particular emphasis on the problems that may result from the performance of their duties. This final chapter summarizes and discusses the results from the study. In the first section of the chapter, we discuss the five principal findings of our research and their implications for policy makers. In the second section, we present our final thoughts and make recommendations for what we believe a more effective gang unit might look like. POLICE GANG UNITS AS AN INDIRECT RESPONSE TO AN OBJECTIVE PROBLEM All four cities had documentable gang problems at the time that their police departments decided to establish gang units. However, that decision in each police department occurred in response to political, public, and media pressure, and not to the objective reality of the gang problem. In other words, the creation of the gang units was an indirect rather than a direct response to local gang problems.
Beyond the Effects of Crowding: Situational and Individual Differences

Research on crowding represents one of many attempts on the part of the field of psychology to address issues born of a rapidly changing world. The issues most relevant to the study of crowding include overpopulation, rapid urbanization, and environmental deterioration. With the environmentalist movement of the late 1960’s as a forerunner, the field of psychology for­mally responded to the issue of overpopulation in 1970 (Bartz, 1970; Craik, 1970; Fawcett, 1970; Wohlwill, 1970). More comprehensive demographic data on population and urbanization growth-trends were available. With such data as an existential backdrop, psychologists contributed some useful research to further the understanding of crowding and population issues.
Rate of Cooling Alters Chip Color, Sugar Contents, and Gene Expression Profiles in Stored Potato Tubers

When stored at temperatures below 10 °C, potatoes accumulate sucrose and the reducing sugars glucose and fructose. This process, cold-induced sweetening, has been studied extensively because potatoes with elevated reducing sugar contents produce undesirable, dark-colored products and acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen, during high-temperature cooking. Potatoes in commercial storages are cooled slowly, but many research studies have used potatoes cooled rapidly. In this study, effects of cooling rate and variety on chip color, sugars, and gene expression were examined. Sucrose and reducing sugar contents were substantially lower in slowly cooled than in rapidly cooled tubers of ‘Snowden’ and “MegaChip’ for the first 11 weeks after cooling to 3 °C began. Differences in gene expression for VInv, β-amylase, SPS, AGPase and GBSS were observed between cooling treatments and varieties. Overall, the data showed that cooling rate, time in storage, and variety influenced multiple aspects of cold-induced sweetening.
Dietary total antioxidant capacity is inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular disease death of US adults

Although evidence strongly supports that antioxidant-rich diets reduce risk of chronic disease and mortality, findings from the previous studies on the effect of individual antioxidants on mortality have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and all-cause and disease-specific mortality in a representative sample of the US population. A total of 23,595 US adults aged 30 years and older in NHANES 1988–1994 and 1999–2004 were selected for this study. Dietary TAC was calculated from 1-day 24-h diet recall data at baseline and all-cause, cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality was assessed through December 31, 2011. During a mean follow-up of 13 years, deaths from all-cause, cancer and CVD were 7157, 1578, and 2155, respectively. Using cause-specific Cox proportional hazards models, inverse associations and linear trends were observed between dietary TAC and all-cause mortality [highest quartile (Q4) versus Q1 ref. HR 0.78; 95% CI 0.71–0.86], cancer mortality (Q4 versus Q1 ref. HR 0.75; 95% CI 0.60–0.93), and CVD mortality (Q4 versus Q1 ref. HR 0.83; 95% CI 0.69–0.99), respectively, after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, and total energy intake. The inverse association and linear trend still remained between dietary TAC and all-cause mortality (Q4 versus Q1 ref. HR 0.79; 95% CI 0.71–0.87) and CVD mortality (Q4 versus Q1 ref. HR 0.74; 95% CI 0.61–0.89) when further adjusted for relevant covariates. These findings support that antioxidant-rich diets are beneficial to reducing risk of death from all-cause and CVD.
The impact of non-genetic heterogeneity on cancer cell death.

The goal of cancer chemotherapy is to induce homogeneous cell death within the population of targeted cancer cells. However, no two cells are exactly alike at the molecular level, and sensitivity t...
The Spatial Concentration of Peacekeeping Personnel and Public Health During Intrastate Conflicts

The literature on the effectiveness of peacekeeping has been focused almost exclusively on conflict mitigation. This article expands the scope of this literature by developing a theory that explain...
Effects of CO2, CH4 and N2 on growth and nutrition of rice seedlings

Flooded soils, which accumulate gaseous products of anaerobic fermentation, are often associated with poor rice plant growth. In the present experiment the effects of CO2, CH4, N2, and air on rice seedling growth and nutrition were evaluated. Nutrient culture techniques were used to avoid secondary soil effects normally experienced.
Platinum Compounds: Key Ingredients in Ovarian Cancer Treatment and Strategies

Epithelial ovarian cancer and other cancer of Mullerian epithelial origin are adenocarcinomas with remarkable sensitivity to platinum drugs: the introduction of cisplatin revolutionized treatment approaches to this disease, and the development of carboplatin markedly enhanced the acceptance of these drugs by patients. In spite of this initial sensitivity, the majority of patients treated recur, and it may be most useful to understand reasons for the emergence of drug resistance. Clues may emerge from preclinical models and from studies in hereditary cancers, where defects in DNA repair likely predict for enhanced sensitivity to platinums. Future steps in improving the outcome from this disease, in addition to developing better methods for screening and detection, should involve understanding mechanisms of platinum cytotoxicity and resistance.
Divergent associations between ghrelin and neural responsivity to palatable food in hyperphagic and hypophagic depression.

Abstract Background The neurobiological mechanisms involved in divergent appetitive phenotypes in major depressive disorder (MDD) are not well understood, although recent data suggest disruption in mesolimbic reward circuitry. Ghrelin, an orexigenic hormone, has been shown to modulate the reward circuitry. We aimed to investigate the relationship between acylated ghrelin levels and the neural response to food stimuli in individuals with hyperphagic and hypophagic MDD in remission. Methods Women with hyperphagic MDD (n = 10), hypophagic MDD (n = 18), and healthy controls (HC; n = 18) underwent fMRI scanning during which they viewed images of food. The fMRI session was followed by a standardized meal, appetite ratings, and serial blood draws. Results In individuals with hyperphagic MDD, greater change in acylated ghrelin in response to a meal was associated with increased BOLD response to high-calorie food in the bilateral ventral tegmental area and left hypothalamus. In contrast, negative associations were observed between acylated ghrelin AUC and BOLD activity in the right hypothalamus in the hypophagic MDD group. Limitations Unbalanced group sizes with a relatively small sample in the hyperphagic MDD group. Conclusions In the absence of differences in absolute ghrelin levels between the hyperphagic MDD and HC groups, results in hyperphagic MDD might suggest a ghrelinergic signaling mechanism for increased appetite during an MDD episode in this group. Our findings shed light on interactions between appetite hormones and mesolimbic circuitry which could contribute to development of therapeutic targets for opposing appetite phenotypes in depression.
Neuronal (pro)renin receptor regulates deoxycorticosterone-induced sodium intake

Increased sodium appetite is a physiological response to sodium deficiency; however, it has also been implicated in disease conditions such as congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and salt-sen...
The design and development of Branch Bot: a branch-crawling, caterpillar-inspired, soft robot

A soft climbing robot has the potential to access locations such as wiring ducts and tree canopies that are unreachable by humans and traditional rigid robots. In addition, a soft robot is robust a...
Extended Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis After Surgery for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Surgical patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) bring unique risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE), including Virchow’s triad of inflammation-associated hypercoagulability, stasis (ex. bed-rest from fatigue between frequent trips to the bathroom, prolonged operations), and the obvious trauma of surgery [1–3]. In this population, we are all aware that VTE includes not only lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), but for IBD patients we must also keep in mind upper-extremity DVT related to central access for enteral nutrition, post-operative portomesenteric vein thrombosis (PMVT), and rarely cerebral venous sinus thrombosis [4, 5]. All of these can present silently or symptomatically, both before and after surgery.
The Impact of Substance Abuse on Heart Failure Hospitalizations.

Abstract Background The burden of substance abuse among patients with heart failure and its association with subsequent emergency department visits and hospital admissions are poorly characterized. Methods We evaluated the medical records of patients with a diagnosis of heart failure treated at the University of California–San Diego from 2005 to 2016. We identified substance abuse via diagnosis codes or urine drug screens. We used Poisson regression to evaluate the incidence rate ratios (IRR) of substance abuse for emergency department visits or hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of heart failure, adjusted for age, sex, race, medical insurance status, and medical diagnoses. Results We identified 11,268 patients with heart failure and 15,909 hospital encounters for heart failure over 49,712 person-years of follow-up. Substance abuse was diagnosed in 15.2% of patients. Disorders such as methamphetamine abuse (prevalence 5.2%, IRR 1.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.85-2.07), opioid use and abuse (8.2%, IRR 1.54, 95% CI 1.47-1.61), and alcohol abuse (4.5%, IRR 1.51, 95% CI 1.42-1.60) were associated with a greater number of hospital encounters for heart failure, with associations that were comparable to diagnoses such as atrial fibrillation (37%, IRR 1.78, 95% CI 1.73-1.84), ischemic heart disease (24%, IRR 1.67, 95% CI 1.62-1.73), and chronic kidney disease (26%, IRR 1.57, 95% CI 1.51-1.62). Conclusions Although less prevalent than common medical comorbidities in patients with heart failure, substance-abuse disorders are significant sources of morbidity that are independently associated with emergency department visits and hospitalizations for heart failure. Greater recognition and treatment of substance abuse may improve outcomes among patients with heart failure.
How much do college students with ADHD benefit from retrieval practice when learning key-term definitions?

Abstract Undergraduate students with ADHD may benefit from retrieval practice but may have difficulty using this strategy consistently. We examined whether undergraduates with ADHD benefit as much as non-ADHD students from self-regulated retrieval practice and retrieval practice to criterion. Students with ADHD (n = 58) and without (n = 121) learned key term definitions by studying, practicing retrieval, and judging the accuracy of their responses using a computer interface. One group self regulated their learning; the other learned items to criterion of three correct retrievals. After one week, recall and recognition were as high for students with ADHD as those without ADHD, regardless of whether students regulated their learning or were forced to achieve criterion. Among those who regulated their learning, students with and without ADHD used retrieval practice and feedback to a similar degree. Results support recommending retrieval practice to criterion for college students with and without ADHD.
Nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Gle1 impacts DDX1 at transcription termination sites.

We uncovered a nuclear role for human Gle1 in coordinating transcription termination. When nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Gle1 is disrupted, nascent mRNA transcripts are elongated. Gle1 colocalizes...
What is the Value of Data Value in Practical Security Applications

Data value (DV) is a novel concept that is introduced as one of the Big Data phenomenon features. While continuing an investigation of the DV ontology and its relationship with the data quality (DQ) on the conceptual level, this paper researches possible applications and use of the DV in the practical design of security and privacy protection systems and tools. We present a novel approach to DV evaluation that maps DQ metrics into DV value. Developed methods allow DV and DQ use in a wide range of application domains. To demonstrate DQ and DV concept employment in real tasks we present two real-life scenarios. The first use case demonstrates the DV use in crowdsensing application design. It shows up how DV can be calculated by integrating various metrics characterizing data application functionality, accuracy, and security. The second one incorporates the privacy consideration into DV calculus by exploring the relationship between privacy, DQ, and DV in the defense against web-site fingerprinting in The Onion Router (TOR) networks. These examples demonstrate how our methods of the DV and DQ evaluation may be employed in the design of real systems with security and privacy consideration.
mMobile: Building a mmWave Testbed to Evaluate and Address Mobility Effects

Beamforming methods need to be critically evaluated and improved to achieve the promised performance of millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G NR in high mobility applications like Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication. Conventional beam management methods developed for higher frequency applications do not directly carry over to the 28 GHz mmWave regime, where propagation and reflection characteristics are vastly different. Further, real system deployments and tests are required to verify these methods in a practical setting. In this work, we develop mMobile, a custom 5G NR compliant mmWave testbed to evaluate beam management algorithms. We describe the architecture and challenges in building such a testbed. We then create a novel, low-complexity beam tracking algorithm by exploiting the 5G NR waveform structure and evaluate its performance on the testbed. The algorithm can sustain almost twice the average throughput compared to the baseline. We also release our outdoor mobility dataset that can be used to improve mobility management further.
What might it cost to increase soil organic carbon using no-till on U.S. cropland?

Existing research provides estimates of the biophysical potential for increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stock, however additional research is needed to enhance our understanding of the economic potential for agricultural soils to offset or help reduce CO2 emissions. This study derives the marginal cost to increase SOC sequestration by combining SOC sequestration potential estimates developed using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) factors with an existing payment scheme that was designed to increase no-till (NT) adoption on U.S. cropland. The marginal costs of increasing SOC is a function of the amount of SOC that could be increased through NT and the expected cost to landowners of changing management to use NT. The variability in SOC sequestration rates due to different land-use, management histories, climate, and soils, combined with the 48 unique payment rates to adopt NT, yield over 5,000 unique marginal cost values for increasing SOC sequestration. Nearly 95 percent of the biophysical potential SOC sequestration increase on U.S. cropland (2802 Tg CO2 from 140.1 Tg CO2 year−1 for 20 years) could be captured for less than $100 Mg−1 CO2. An estimated 64 to 93 percent of the biophysical potential could be captured for less than the low and high estimated costs to capture CO2 for geologic storage of $36.36 to $86.06 Mg−1 CO2, respectively. Decreasing tillage intensity through adoption of no-till agriculture offers a cost-effective way to offset a portion of increasing global CO2 emissions. This research demonstrates that increasing SOC stocks through NT adoption can offset CO2 emissions at a lower cost than some other options for preventing CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
Trends in inpatient discharges with drug or alcohol admission diagnoses to a skilled nursing facility among older adults, New York City 2008-2014

Recent research shows an increase in drug and alcohol-related hospitalizations in the USA, especially among older adults. However, no study examines trends in discharges to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) after a drug or alcohol-related hospitalization. Older adults are more likely to need post-hospital care in a SNF after a hospitalization due to an increased presence of chronic diseases and functional limitations. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate trends in drug or alcohol-related hospitalizations with discharge to a SNF among adults age 55 and older. We analyzed data from New York State’s Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System to calculate the number of cannabis, cocaine, opioid, and alcohol-related hospitalizations in New York City that resulted in discharge to a SNF from 2008 to 2014 among adults age 55 and older. Using New York City population estimates modified from US Census Bureau, we calculated age-specific rates per 100,000 adults. Trend tests were estimated using joinpoint regressions to calculate annual percentage change (APC) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and stratified by adults age 55–64 and adults age 65 and older. During the study period, among adults age 55–64, there were significant increases in cocaine, cannabis, and opioid-related hospitalizations that resulted in discharge to a SNF. For adults ≥ 65 years, there were sharp increases across all substances with larger increases in opioids (APC of 10.66%) compared to adults 55–64 (APC of 6.49%). For both age groups and among the four substances, alcohol-related hospitalizations were the leading cause of discharge to a SNF. We found an increase in hospital discharges to SNFs for patients age 55 and older admitted with alcohol or drug-related diagnoses. Post-acute and long-term care settings should prepare to care for an increase in older patients with substance use disorders by integrating a range of harm reduction interventions into their care settings.
Translanguaging outside the academy: Negotiating rhetoric and healthcare in the Spanish Caribbean

Cecilia Shelton opens her 2019 autoethnographic article with an invitation for readers to question “What might more attention to bodies offer the study of technical and professional communication?”...
POMPEY, VENUS AND THE POLITICS OF HESIOD IN LUCAN'S BELLVM CIVILE 8.456–9

Pompey does not accept defeat at Pharsalus. Rather, in an effort to gain support from powers beyond Rome, he makes for Egypt and, unbeknownst to him, his decapitation. As narrated in Lucan's Bellum ciuile, after deliberating in Cilicia with his senatorial advisers (8.259–455), Pompey stops at the island of Cyprus (8.456–9):tum Cilicum liquere solum Cyproque citatasimmisere rates, nullas cui praetulit arasundae diua memor Paphiae, si numina nascicredimus aut quemquam fas est coepisse deorum. Then they left the Cilician soil and steered their vessels in haste for Cyprus—Cyprus which the goddess, mindful of Paphian waves, prefers to any of her shrines (if we believe that deities have birth, or if it is lawful to hold that any of the gods had a beginning).In Lucan, Pompey's trip to Cyprus is brief and includes a somewhat curious reference to Venus (diua), her origins (undae … Paphiae) and the birth of the gods. Other authors also record Pompey's visit to Cyprus, although the details vary. Some, including Julius Caesar, set his deliberations not in Cilicia but on Cyprus itself (Caes. BCiu. 3.102.3.1–8.1; cf. Plut. Vit. Pomp. 77.1.1–2.1). Others, it seems, provide few if any details of Pompey at the island, for example the scanty evidence from Livy, Per. 112.1–10.
Consumers' experience with and attitudes toward direct-to-consumer prescription drug promotion: a nationally representative survey.

The way consumers get and seek health information reflects the current information landscape. To gather updated insights on consumer experiences with and attitudes towards direct-to-consumer (DTC) ...
Consumer Awareness and Comfort with Resident-run Cosmetic Clinics: A Crowdsourcing Study.

Background Resident cosmetic clinics (RCCs) are the training modality of choice among both residents and faculty and are a mainstay at most residency programs.1-4 Despite this, knowledge of RCCs among plastic surgery consumers remains untested. We hypothesize that the public would be aware of and receptive to RCCs. Methods Participants with prior cosmetic procedures or interest in future cosmetic procedures were recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk and asked to complete a survey in September 2020. First, prior awareness of RCCs was assessed. After a brief description of RCCs, perceptions of safety and preferences for care were assessed. Results After screening for quality, 815 responses were included. Forty-five percent of consumers were aware of RCCs. Seventy-six percent of consumers believed that RCCs were just as safe as attending clinics and 65% were comfortable receiving care from fourth-year residents or higher. Belief in RCC safety was associated with 4.8 times higher odds of feeling comfortable receiving care at an RCC [95% confidence interval (3.3-7.1), P < 0.001]. When given a hypothetical choice between residents and attendings in two scenarios, 46% of consumers chose residents for abdominoplasty and 60% chose residents for Botox injections. Belief in RCC safety was associated with choosing a resident or being indifferent in both scenarios. Conclusions Consumer preference regarding RCCs has largely been untested. This study shows that belief in RCC safety influences consumers' perceived comfort with receiving care at an RCC. This knowledge can help guide RCC practice and maximize learning opportunities for surgeons-in-training.
Caregiver Intervention Implementation Fidelity: An Empirical Investigation of a Multidimensional Model:

The extant literature on implementation fidelity has found mixed evidence for empirically establishing the dimensionality of implementation fidelity. The current study aims to add to this growing b...
Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Is an Independent Risk Factor for Complications and Readmissions After Total Joint Replacements

This study examined the risk for postoperative complications, reoperations, and readmissions for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), and patients without diabetes undergoing total joint replacements (TJRs). The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried for all primary TJRs in 2015. The study identified 78,744 TJRs (84.1% nondiabetic patients, 12.0% NIDDM, and 3.9% IDDM). Multiple logistic regression models identified IDDM as an independent risk factor for increased blood loss, myocardial infarctions, pneumonia, renal insufficiency, urinary tract infections, and readmissions when compared with both NIDDM and nondiabetics. Risk for wound complications and reoperations were comparable between all three groups. IDDM increases the risk for medical complications and readmissions after TJRs. Physicians must counsel patients on the increased risks associated with IDDM before elective surgery and provide appropriate medical support for these patients. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 27(4):294-298, 2018).
Effects of Hormones

Women receive hormone preparations for a variety of reasons, including birth control and treatment for abnormal uterine bleeding, perimenopausal and postmenopausal symptoms, endometriosis, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrioid carcinoma, breast carcinoma, and certain types of infertility. Usually the exogenous hormone is some form of progestin, but estrogenic and even androgenic hormones are used for some disorders. Since the endometrium has estrogen and progesterone receptors, it shows the effects of these hormones.
Chronic TLR4 stimulation selectively cripples human lymphopoiesis (HEM3P.286)

Long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs) must replenish all immune cells lost due to natural turnover, inflammation or injury throughout lifetime. Our recently published data demonstrate that following chronic, low-dose TLR4 agonist stimulation, murine HSCs hyperproliferate, preferentially undergo myeloid-specific differentiation and exhibit compromised self-renewal. However, the impact to human LT-HSC function in vivo has not been established. Here we reconstituted NSG mice with human CD34+ HSCs derived from 3 different donors, and tracked hematopoiesis. Following chronic, low-dose exposure to the TLR4 agonist lipopolysaccharide (LPS), human bone marrow CD34+ HSCs were decreased ~2-fold while downstream CLPs and pro-B cells were dramatically reduced about 90%. In spleen and peripheral blood the percentage of CD19+ B cells was decreased 2-4-fold while CD56+ NK and CD3+ T were proportionately increased. Myeloid cells were largely unaffected. These findings are potentially important because TLR4 on HSCs is activated by two ligands, LPS and dietary fatty acids that are commonly elevated in diseases of chronic inflammation as well as in diet-induced obesity. Our studies may provide a previously unrecognized mechanism of human HSC exhaustion and/or compromised hematopoiesis in patients suffering from these chronic conditions.
Kangaroo Rats Remodel Burrows in Response to Seasonal Changes in Environmental Conditions

Burrow architecture enhances important animal functions such as food storage, predator avoidance, and thermoregulation. Occupants may be able to maximize fitness by remodeling burrows in response to seasonal changes in climate and predation risk. My objective was to examine how banner-tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis) modify the number of burrow entrances in response to seasonal conditions. For 3 yr, I monitored fluctuations in number of burrow entrances in kangaroo rat mounds. Individual kangaroo rats continually remodeled mounds in response to seasonal conditions. Compared to summer, mounds in winter had approximately 50% fewer entrances and plugged entrances were common. Monthly differences in number of entrances were closely linked with seasonal changes in soil temperature and precipitation. Number of entrances decreased as soil temperature and precipitation declined. Changes in burrow entrances likely reflect seasonal differences in the relative importance of burrow functions. Fewer burrow entrances during winter would create a warmer microclimate by reducing convective heat loss in mounds, resulting in thermoregulatory savings for occupants. During the summer, thermoregulatory costs of kangaroo rats are low, but risk of seed cache spoilage and predation from snakes increases. Adding burrow entrances after large summer rainfall events would increase the evaporation rate within mounds, reducing spoilage of seed caches. More burrow entrances would also reduce predation risk in the summer by providing additional escape routes.
Radiochemical determination of technetium-99.

Abstract A procedure has been developed for the determination of 99 Tc in vegetation, by use of 95m Tc as an internal tracer. The samples are wet-ashed, without significant loss of Tc. The Tc is separated from most other radionuclides by precipitation with calcium carbonate, and is purified by anion-exchange chromatography and electro-deposition. The radiochemical yield of Tc is determined by Ge(Li) gamma-ray spectrometry of the 204-keV photon peak of the 95m Tc internal tracer, and the 99 Tc activity is determined by counting its 0.292-MeV beta-particles with a scintillation counter. The detection limit for 99 Tc in a sample weighing about 10 g is 0.1 pCi for a 3000-min count.
Prevention of Apoptosis by Bcl-2: Release of Cytochrome c from Mitochondria Blocked

Bcl-2 is an integral membrane protein located mainly on the outer membrane of mitochondria. Overexpression of Bcl-2 prevents cells from undergoing apoptosis in response to a variety of stimuli. Cytosolic cytochrome c is necessary for the initiation of the apoptotic program, suggesting a possible connection between Bcl-2 and cytochrome c, which is normally located in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Cells undergoing apoptosis were found to have an elevation of cytochrome c in the cytosol and a corresponding decrease in the mitochondria. Overexpression of Bcl-2 prevented the efflux of cytochrome c from the mitochondria and the initiation of apoptosis. Thus, one possible role of Bcl-2 in prevention of apoptosis is to block cytochrome c release from mitochondria.
The alpha-herpesviruses: molecular pathfinders in nervous system circuits

Several neuroinvasive viruses can be used to study the mammalian nervous system. In particular, infection by pseudorabies virus (PRV), an α-herpesvirus with broad host range, reveals chains of functionally connected neurons in the nervous systems of a variety of mammals. The specificity of PRV trans-neuronal spread has been established in several systems. One attenuated strain, PRV-Bartha, causes a reduced inflammatory response and also spreads only from infected post- to pre-synaptic neurons. We review the basics of PRV tracing and then discuss new developments and novel approaches that have enabled a more detailed understanding of the architecture of the nervous system. As questions and techniques evolve in the field of neuroscience, advances in PRV tracing will certainly follow.
Maximum and minimum sets for some geometric mean values

Ifvr is ther-dimensional volume of ther-simplex formed byr+1 points taken at random from a compact setK in ℝ n , withr≤n, andh is a (strictly) increasing function, then the (unique) compact set that gives the minimum expected value ofh o vr, is proved to be the ellipsoid (whenr=n) and the ball (whenr<n) almost everywhere. This result is established by using a single integral inequality for centrally symmetric quasiconvex functions integrated over compact rectangles.