cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electrical Signatures of Contact Degradation for c-Si Solar Cells

There is a vast literature on the reliability of solar cells that empirically correlates the stress factors (e.g. moisture, voltage) to degradation mechanisms (e.g. corrosion, PID) to module electrical signatures (e.g. series/shunt resistances). In this paper, we use the illustrative example of moisture- and stressinduced contact degradation to show that the perceived empirical correlations can be misleading, if not completely wrong. By interpreting the spatially-resolved voltage-maps and terminal I-V characteristics obtained from cell simulator Griddler, we positively correlate the series resistance increase to the broken tabbing points. Remarkably, however, it is easy to misattribute finger corrosion to PID because it appears as a fake shunt in the terminal I-V characteristics. The underlying physical principle suggests two new characterization techniques to distinguish real vs. fake shunts. Our novel use of cell simulator opens up a new avenue for predictive reliability modeling of solar cells.
Young Adult Depression and Anxiety Linked to Social Media Use: Assessment and Treatment

Studies suggest that more 30% of college students are currently depressed. A small but growing body of literature suggests that young adults’ social media use correlates with their depressive and anxious symptomology. As many as 90% of young adults use social media currently, compared to just 12.5% in 2005. Further, more than a quarter of college students report spending at least six hours per week on social media, compared to only 18.9% in 2007. Smartphone use within young adult populations also is extremely high: estimates of undergraduate smartphone ownership appear to be as high as 97%. Collectively, these trends suggest that social media and smartphones play an integral role in the routines and culture of young adults. The authors present the existing research linking social media use with depression and anxiety and utilize a case study to illuminate the relationship between young adult depression, anxiety, and social media use. The article provides clear recommendations for the assessment and treatment of social media use in depressed and anxious young adults.
Novel Deep-Learning-Based Spatial-Spectral Feature Extraction For Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Applications

Hyperspectral remote sensing presents a unique Big Data research paradigm through its rich data collected as hundreds of spectral bands which embodies vital spatial and spectral information about the underlying terrains. Typical hyperspectral data analysis methods are often based on spectral information. Although there has been prior efforts in literature for incorporation of spatial, spectral, contextual and other forms of information to improve the classification performance of hyperspectral data analysis, this additional information extraction and knowledge discovery process comes at the expense of increased computation and memory requirements. Therefore, the caveats of large scale data analysis such as increased computation, transmission and memory requirements presents a major impediment to efficient automation and classification performance of hyperspectral data analysis methods. In this respect, this paper presents a novel deep learning-based hyperspectral data analysis model, which provides an efficient means for automation and extraction of the spatial and spectral information present in the hyperspectral data compared to conventional spatial-or spectral information-only based methods. In this work, the concept of Gabor filtering is used for spatial feature extraction along with sparse random projections for computationally efficient spectral feature extraction and dimensionality reduction purposes. A convolutional neural network based supervised classification is then performed to validate the performance of the proposed method with respect to conventional spatial-spectral information extraction methods. Experimental results reveal that the proposed hyperspectral data analysis model outperforms the conventional spectral-spatial feature extraction techniques compared.
National U.S. time-trends in opioid use disorder hospitalizations and associated healthcare utilization and mortality.

Background The opioid epidemic is a major public health crisis in the U.S. Contemporary data on opioid use disorder (OUD) related hospitalizations are needed. Our objective was to assess whether OUD hospitalizations and associated mortality are increasing over time and examine the factors associated healthcare utilization and mortality. Methods and findings We examined the rates of OUD hospitalizations and associated mortality using the U.S. National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from 1998–2016. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression assessed the association of demographic, clinical and hospital characteristics with inpatient mortality and healthcare utilization (total hospital charges, discharge to a rehabilitation facility, length of hospital stay) during the index hospitalization for opioid use disorder. We calculated the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). We estimated 781,767 OUD hospitalizations. The rate of OUD hospitalization and associated mortality (/100,000 overall NIS hospitalizations) increased from 59.8 and 1.2 in 1998–2000 to 190.7 and 5.9 in 2015–16, respectively. In the multivariable-adjusted analysis, the following factors were associated with worse outcomes; compared to age 3 days, slightly higher risk of discharge to a rehabilitation facility. Higher Deyo-Charlson score was associated with higher hospital charges, length of hospital stay, and inpatient mortality. Women had lower odds of inpatient mortality than men and blacks had lower odds of mortality than whites. Conclusions Rising OUD hospitalizations from 1998 to 2016 and increasing associated inpatient mortality are concerning. Certain groups are at higher risk of poor utilization outcomes and inpatient mortality. Resources and healthcare policies need to focus on the high-risk group to reduce mortality and associated utilization.
Highly Potent and Selective N-Aryl Oxamic Acid-Based Inhibitors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase B.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Mtb protein tyrosine phosphatase B (mPTPB) is a virulence factor required for Mtb survival in host macrophages. Consequently, mPTPB represents an exciting target for tuberculosis treatment. Here, we identified N-phenyl oxamic acid as a highly potent and selective monoacid-based phosphotyrosine mimetic for mPTPB inhibition. SAR studies on the initial hit, compound 4 (IC50 = 257 nM), resulted in several highly potent inhibitors with IC50 values lower than 20 nM for mPTPB. Among them, compound 4t showed a Ki of 2.7 nM for mPTPB with over 4500-fold preference over 25 mammalian PTPs. Kinetic, molecular docking, and site-directed mutagenesis analyses confirmed these compounds as active site-directed reversible inhibitors of mPTPB. These inhibitors can reverse the altered host cell immune responses induced by the bacterial phosphatase. Furthermore, the inhibitors possess molecular weights 0.43, and good aqueous solubility and metabolic stability, thus offering excellent starting points for further therapeutic development.
Diffraction-free space–time light sheets

Diffraction-free optical beams propagate freely without change in shape and scale. Monochromatic beams that avoid diffractive spreading require two-dimensional transverse profiles and there are no corresponding solutions for profiles restricted to one transverse dimension. Here, we demonstrate that the temporal degree of freedom can be exploited to efficiently synthesize one-dimensional pulsed light sheets that propagate self-similarly in free space, with no need for nonlinearity or dispersion. By introducing programmable conical (hyperbolic, parabolic or elliptical) spectral correlations between the beam’s spatiotemporal degrees of freedom, a continuum of families of propagation-invariant light sheets is generated. The spectral loci of such beams are the reduced-dimensionality trajectories at the intersection of the light-cone with spatiotemporal spectral planes. Far from being exceptional, self-similar axial-propagation in free space is a generic feature of fields whose spatial and temporal degrees of freedom are tightly correlated. These ‘space–time’ light sheets can be useful in microscopy, nonlinear spectroscopy, and non-contact measurements. One-dimensional non-diffracting sheets of light are achieved without exploiting nonlinearity. Such light sheets may be exploited in microscopy and sensing applications.
African American adolescents with sickle cell disease: Support groups and psychological well-being

There has been little systematic study of the impact of support groups on the psychological well-being (PWB) of adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). Questionnaires, administered by group leaders of 12 SCD support groups, were completed and returned from 79 (80%) of the 99 African American adolescent SCD support group members recruited into this study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that PWB was best predicted by fewer physical symptoms and greater satisfaction with the group. To test a buffering hypothesis of social support, two 2 2 analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were computed to test the interaction of group satisfaction and (a) physical symptoms and (b) pain on PWB. Group satisfaction showed a main effect for each ANOVA. An interaction effect between pain and group satisfaction was detected, supporting a buffering hypothesis. This suggests that adolescents with SCD associate pain, but not physical symptoms, as high stressors. Professionals can enhance their effectiveness as providers of social and mental health services by understanding the role support groups play in the overall well-being of adolescents with SCD.
Less is More: Simplified State-Action Space for Deep Reinforcement Learning based HVAC Control

How do we optimize heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems for energy cost and occupant comfort? How do we accomplish this in an automated fashion that adapts with time with minimal human intervention? Answers to these questions have tremendous impact on building occupant comfort, building operating costs and, importantly, environmental footprint. Understandably, this topic has received considerable attention from experts both in the industry and the academia. Among these works, deep learning, specifically deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is emerging as a data-driven control strategy without requiring an explicit dynamic model of the system. Another advantage of DRL, when successfully developed, is that it can continue to learn and adapt as the building/HVAC characteristics change with time. DRL agents, however, are challenging to train. On one hand, they may need months or years of training data (sample inefficiency), potentially inconveniencing building occupants and incurring high energy costs for a long time. On the other hand, they may converge to local optima or simply do not converge. This paper highlights one strategy to mitigate some of these challenges. We show that the choice of state and action space is as important as the choice of DRL architectures and neural network training techniques. Specifically, we formulate the HVAC control problem as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP), build a DRL agent using Deep Q Networks (DQN) on a building simulator, and quantify gains over a widely adopted baseline heuristic method. Subsequently, we reformulate the original problem as a restricted POMDP by severely restricting the observation (state space) and action space, and build a DRL agent for the restricted POMDP. The performance gains from this DRL agent is double that of the original agent, implying that complex state and action spaces, while information rich, can lead to complex loss functions that could not be maneuvered well by a DRL agent. Our larger message is this: 'less' (state-action space) can be 'more', in the context of DRL training.
Electric Field Stimulation for the Functional Assessment of Isolated Dorsal Root Ganglion Neuron Excitability.

Genetically encoded calcium indicators have proven useful for characterizing dorsal root ganglion neuron excitability in vivo. Challenges persist in achieving high spatial–temporal resolutions in vivo, however, due to deep tissue imaging and motion artifacts that may be limiting technical factors in obtaining measurements. Here we report an ex vivo imaging method, using a peripheral neuron-specific Advillin-GCaMP mouse line and electric field stimulation of dorsal root ganglion tissues, to assess the sensitivity of neurons en bloc. The described method rapidly characterizes Ca2+ activity in hundreds of dorsal root ganglion neurons (221 ± 64 per dorsal root ganglion) with minimal perturbation to the in situ soma environment. We further validate the method for use as a drug screening platform with the voltage-gated sodium channel inhibitor, tetrodotoxin. Drug treatment led to decreased evoked Ca2+ activity; half-maximal response voltage (EV50) increased from 13.4 V in untreated tissues to 21.2, 23.3, 51.5 (p < 0.05), and 60.6 V (p < 0.05) at 0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 µM doses, respectively. This technique may help improve an understanding of neural signaling while retaining tissue structural organization and serves as a tool for the rapid ex vivo recording and assessment of neural activity.
Introductions and evolutions of SARS-CoV-2 strains in Japan

Abstract COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in Japan on January 15th, 2020, soon after the pandemic originated in Wuhan, China. Subsequently, Japan experienced three distinct waves of the outbreak in the span of a year and has been attributed to new exogenous strains and evolving existing strains. Japan engaged very early on in tracking different COVID-19 strains and have sequenced approximately 5% of all confirmed cases. While Japan has enforced stringent airport surveillance on cross-border travelers and returnees, some carriers appear to have advanced through the quarantine stations undetected. In this study 30493 genomes sampled in Japan were analyzed to understand the strains, heterogeneity and temporal evolution of different SARS-CoV-2 strains. We identified 12 discrete strains with a substantial number of cases with most strains possessing the spike (S) D614G and nucleocapsid (N) 203_204delinsKR mutations. 155 distinct strains have been introduced into Japan and 39 of them were introduced after strict quarantine policy was implemented. In particular, the B.1.1.7 strain, that emerged in the United Kingdom (UK) in September 2020, has been circulating in Japan since late 2020 after eluding cross-border quarantine stations. Similarly, the B.1.351 strain dubbed the South African variant, P.1 Brazilian strain and R.1 strain with the spike E484K mutation have been detected in Japan. At least 14 exogenous B.1.1.7 sub-strains have been independently introduced in Japan as of late March 2021, and these strains carry mutations that give selective advantage including N501Y, H69_V70del, and E484K that confer increased transmissibility, reduced efficacy to vaccines and possible increased virulence. Furthermore, various strains, which harbor multiple variants in the PCR primers and the probe developed by National Institute of Infectious Disease (NIID), are emerging. It is imperative that the quarantine policy be revised, cross-border surveillance reinforced, and new public health measures implemented to mitigate further transmission of this deadly disease and to identify strains that may engender resistance to vaccines.
Systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis demonstrates analgesic effect of excitatory motor cortex non-invasive brain stimulation, which is inflated by small study and publication bias

This systematic meta-analysis evaluated the analgesic effect of excitatory motor cortex (M1) non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) in patients experiencing chronic neuropathic pain (CNP). Considering intervention groups with a median sample of 16.5 patients, we expected small-study and publication bias. We searched randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of high frequency (HF) (≥5 Hz) M1 rTMS and anodal M1 tDCS in patients with CNP, using PubMed and Web of Science, covering 1990 to 2019. Our search yielded 58 eligible studies. We calculated random effects models to obtain confidence and prediction intervals (PIs) of mean differences (MD) of analgesic effect. To assess small-study and publication bias, we created funnel plots, and trim-and-fill and Copas models. Excitatory M1 NIBS RCTs included 1246 patients in intervention and 1202 patients in sham groups across 58 studies. The MD was 0.92 with 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.70;1.14] and PI [−0.59;2.44]. Considering HF M1 rTMS studies, MD was 0.99 with 95%CI of [0.71;1.27] and 95%PI of [-0.61;2.58]. In anodal M1 tDCS, MD was 0.86 with 95%CI [0.48;1.25] and 95%PI of [-0.73;2.46]. In funnel plot analysis, 18/58 excitatory NIBS reports fell outside the funnel bounds. After trim-and-fill model imputation of missing studies, MD was 0.44 with 95%CI of [0.18;0.70]. The Copas model revealed, at a 0.5 probability of largest standard error study publication, MD was 0.535. Probability of 0.1 residual selection bias occurred at 0.52 probability of largest SE study publication. Copas model MD was 0.6 with 95%CI [0.46;0.75]. We found significant analgesia following excitatory M1 NIBS in patients with CNP. PIs encompass zero, indicating significant analgesia is not probable in 0.95 of future studies. Results support small-study and publication bias. Future studies should include larger sample sizes. Emphasis on null result publication and pre-publication registration is warranted. Neurosurgery Pain Research Institute, Postdoctoral Scholarship and other funds (TJM and FAL) NIH - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - R01NS107602 (FAL).
An Artificial Intelligence Approach for Automatic Delineation of Para-Aortic Clinical Target Volume.

Purpose/Objective(s) Treatment of metastatic para-aortic lymph nodes (PAN) is critical for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) control. However, the clinical target volume (CTV) delineation for the para-aortic region is tedious and time-consuming even for a well-trained radiation oncologist. In this study, we trained a deep learning (DL) segmentation network that led to automatic and accurate PAN-CTV delineation. Materials/Methods We retrospectively collected 47 radiotherapy planning CTs of LACC patients. For each planning CT, the Aorta, Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) and PAN-CTV were manually delineated for radiotherapy treatment planning for the elective para-aortic region from the left renal vein to the aortic bifurcation. The PAN-CTV was prophylactically contoured (ignoring gross para-aortic nodes) according to the recent Small et al. (2020) consensus guidelines. For each CT set, the spine structures were automatically delineated using threshold- and morphology-based segmentation. Then, all CTs were registered to a common reference frame based on the delineated spine structures and cropped to dimensions of 15 cm x 15 cm x 20 cm centered along the spine. A U-Net-based DL segmentation network was developed and trained to automatically segment Spine, Aorta, IVC, and PAN-CTV in the registered and cropped region. The segmented structures were converted into DICOM RTStruct with the original CT association. Results We used 32 CTs for training, 8 for validation, and 7 for testing. The Dice coefficient (DC) and Hausdorff distance (HD95) were used as the evaluation metrics. The mean (std) DC of PAN-CTV for training, validation and test sets were 0.911 (0.027), 0.757 (0.046) and 0.755 (0.073), respectively. The mean (std) HD95 of PAN-CTV for training, validation and test sets were 2.39 (2.77) mm, 10.12 (6.83) mm and 8.42 (4.52) mm, respectively. All testing PAN-CTVs were visually checked by an attending radiation oncologist specializing in gynecologic malignancies and deemed clinically acceptable. Conclusion An Artificial Intelligence approach comprised of registration and DL network was developed and validated for automatic segmentation of Spine, Aorta, IVC, and PAN-CTV in LACC. Registration was used to improve the boundary definition of the virtual structure, PAN-CTV, for DL segmentation without human intervention. This approach could facilitate efficient workflow and allow for optimal dose delivery to the involved nodal basins in LACC. Author Disclosure W. Chi: None. P. D'Cunha: None. M. Chen: None. L. Ma: None. M. Kazemimoghadam: None. Z. Yang: None. X. Gu: None. K.V. Albuquerque: Research Grant; Astra Zeneca. Honoraria; ACR, ARRT. Travel Expenses; ACR, ARRT, ASCO.W. Lu: None.
The PhysarumPhysarum Cell Cycle

Various aspects of the synchronous nuclear division cycle in Physarum polycephalum have been reviewed in detail recently (Holt, 1980; Tyson, 1982; Schedl et al., 1984b). In this chapter we shall concentrate on research published since 1982, particularly on reports discussed at the Workshop.
Gaussianizing Transformations for ICA

Nonlinear principal components analysis is shown to generate some of the most common criteria for solving the linear independent components analysis problem. These include minimum kurtosis, maximum likelihood and the contrast score functions. In this paper, a topology that can separate the independent sources from a linear mixture by specifically utilizing a Gaussianizing nonlinearity is demonstrated. The link between the proposed topology and nonlinear principal components is established. Possible extensions to nonlinear mixtures and several implementation issues are also discussed.
Object-Oriented Data Management and Distribution for Real-Time Command and Control Systems

This paper describes requirements and a proposed design for object-oriented data management and distribution services for real-time command and control systems. These systems are used to manage situation awareness information in a military environment. They exhibit both soft and hard real-time characteristics. In the past, these systems have been especially difficult to build and maintain, due to their complexity and the general lack of commercial solutions.
‘Mushrooms’ in an early renaissance painting: ‘Uccello's The Hunt in the Forest’

An early Renaissance painting of a hunt by Paolo Uccello depicts a large number of objects most likely to be mushrooms on a forest floor. The putative mushrooms do not suggest any strong symbolism and the hunters and their entourage do not appear to pay any attention to them.
Psychotropic drugs (2). Interaction between monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors and other substances.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) in clinical use have an irreversible action on MAO, and this persists until the enzyme has been resynthesized. The effects of small daily doses of MAOI are therefore cumulative. The biochemical effects of these drugs will involve several substrates of MAO, e.g. dopamine, tyramine, serotonin and, to a lesser extent, noradrenaline and adrenaline.MAO probably regulates the metabolism of catecholamines and serotonin in tissues, while catechol-O-methyltransferase is responsible for the metabolism of circulating noradrenaline and adrenaline.Certain pharmacological effects of MAOI are related to the accumulation of monoamines in various tissues that follows the decrease of intraneuronal deamination. Among these effects are reversal of the reserpine syndrome in animals and augmentation of the pharmacological action of monoamines. Other effects are unrelated to the inhibition of MAO, e.g. immediate desynchronization of EEG and initial pressor effects.MAOI may potentiate or change the action of several other drugs and even certain foods. The mechanisms involved are usually reasonably predictable from animal experiments. Substrates of MAO, e.g. dopamine and tyramine, evoke augmented and prolonged effects in patients treated with MAOI. This is partly due to an impaired metabolism of the circulating amines. In addition, inhibition of intestinal and hepatic MAO largely increases the absorption of tryamine from cheeses and other foods. Usually innocuous amounts of tyramine may therefore cause hypertensive reactions in patients treated with MAOI. Indirectly acting sympathomimetic amines, such as amphetamines, ephedrine and MAOI with amphetamine-like properties, can be potentiated, because they may release increased amounts of nor-adrenaline from sympathetic nerve endings after MAO inhibition. The effects of any amine, whether a substrate of MAO or not, may be enhanced by MAO inhibitors producing postganglionic block. This is due to ;denervation' supersensitivity of adrenergic receptors.Harmful pharmacological interaction is also possible between MAO inhibitors and agents which release (reserpine) or replete (amine precursors, e.g. L-DOPA in broad beans) monoamines centrally and peripherally. Drugs that sensitize adrenergic and tryptaminergic receptors to the action of monoamines, e.g. imipramine-like compounds, may be greatly potentiated by MAO inhibitors. The anti-hypertensive effects of thiazides and ganglion-blocking agents may be enhanced by MAOI. A few drugs are known to exert prolonged effects in occasional patients treated with MAOI, e.g. pethidine, phenothiazines and pentobarbital. MAOI may possibly decelerate the metabolism of these compounds by a nonspecific inhibition of liver microsomal enzymes. Finally, a great number of agents have been found empirically to evoke augmented effects after inhibition of MAO, e.g. insulin and anti-Parkinson drugs.
Governance Failures of the Enron Board and the New Information Order of Sarbanes-Oxley

This paper argues that the principal governance failure of the Enron board was to approve a disclosure policy that made the firm's financial results substantially opaque to public capital markets, despite also approving a compensation strategy that made managerial payoffs highly sensitive to stock price changes and despite its unwillingness to engage in intense monitoring of business results and financial controls. In comparable circumstances of constrained monitoring by public markets, LBO firms and venture capitalists undertake a vigorous monitoring role. Important provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act can be seen as correcting for a public board's probable inability to adequately monitor a complex corporate finance strategy, "corrective disclosure." But the Act also seems to contemplate immediate disclosure of material business developments even in circumstances where premature disclosure may well sacrifice shareholder value for very little gain in capital market efficiency. The paper criticizes such "price-perfecting disclosure." A further consequence of the Act's disclosure regime may be to shift governance authority away from management and the board toward shareholders, including in the case of hostile takeovers.
Combined use of SLO microperimetry and OCT for retinal functional and structural testing

This study compared SLO microperimetry scotoma size measurements with the sizes of lesions assessed with OCT in the areas of scotoma. SLO microperimetry was performed on eight patients to assess the location and extent of scotoma areas. An SLO microperimetry master image was used to localize the scotoma areas in the real time OCT fundus image and to center OCT cross scans on the areas of scotoma. The sizes of the morphological changes measured by OCT were compared with the scotoma size measurements. In each patient, OCT revealed a morphological change located in the area of scotoma. Scotoma sizes ranged from 465 to 3180 μm horizontally and from 570 to 2550 μm vertically. The corresponding lesion sizes ranged from 461 to 2660 μm horizontally and from 523 to 2282 μm vertically. The average difference between SLO and OCT measurements was 2.4% horizontally and 4.9% vertically. There were significant correlations between horizontal and vertical SLO and OCT measurements (Horizontal: R sq=0.955, P<0.0001; Vertical: R sq=0.898, P=0.0003). SLO microperimetry scotoma size measurements and OCT lesion size measurements are similar to each other. Combining retinal functional testing with morphological testing provides information about the underlying causes of scotoma.
Soy Protein for Milk Replacers

Abstract Fully-cooked soy flour contains an inactive form of trypsin inhibitor that is converted to an active form in the pH range of 7 to 9. This inhibitor can be destroyed by heating the soy flour in water, but the extent of destruction appears to be partially dependent on the concentration of flour in the water. The presence of trypsin inhibitor in fully-cooked soy flour is offered as a possible explanation for the observation that newborn calves often do not perform well on milk replacers containing large quantities of this product.
Analysis of scuffing temperatures with considerations of wear

A technique for evaluating the steady-state interface temperature of a sliding system is presented. This analysis assumes that the temperature is affected by wear at the sliding interface. As shown, the steady-state temperature is dependent upon the convective heat transfer coefficient, and the friction coefficient. A peak interface temperature appears to occur after a finite time, and this interface temperature decreases as wear progresses
Hospital Performance, the Local Economy, and the Local Workforce: Findings from a US National Longitudinal Study

Background Pay-for-performance is an increasingly popular approach to improving health care quality, and the US government will soon implement pay-for-performance in hospitals nationwide. Yet hospital capacity to perform (and improve performance) likely depends on local resources. In this study, we quantify the association between hospital performance and local economic and human resources, and describe possible implications of pay-for-performance for socioeconomic equity. Methods and Findings We applied county-level measures of local economic and workforce resources to a national sample of US hospitals (n = 2,705), during the period 2004–2007. We analyzed performance for two common cardiac conditions (acute myocardial infarction [AMI] and heart failure [HF]), using process-of-care measures from the Hospital Quality Alliance [HQA], and isolated temporal trends and the contributions of individual resource dimensions on performance, using multivariable mixed models. Performance scores were translated into net scores for hospitals using the Performance Assessment Model, which has been suggested as a basis for reimbursement under Medicare's “Value-Based Purchasing” program. Our analyses showed that hospital performance is substantially associated with local economic and workforce resources. For example, for HF in 2004, hospitals located in counties with longstanding poverty had mean HQA composite scores of 73.0, compared with a mean of 84.1 for hospitals in counties without longstanding poverty (p<0.001). Hospitals located in counties in the lowest quartile with respect to college graduates in the workforce had mean HQA composite scores of 76.7, compared with a mean of 86.2 for hospitals in the highest quartile (p<0.001). Performance on AMI measures showed similar patterns. Performance improved generally over the study period. Nevertheless, by 2007—4 years after public reporting began—hospitals in locationally disadvantaged areas still lagged behind their locationally advantaged counterparts. This lag translated into substantially lower net scores under the Performance Assessment Model for hospital reimbursement. Conclusions Hospital performance on clinical process measures is associated with the quantity and quality of local economic and human resources. Medicare's hospital pay-for-performance program may exacerbate inequalities across regions, if implemented as currently proposed. Policymakers in the US and beyond may need to take into consideration the balance between greater efficiency through pay-for-performance and socioeconomic equity. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary
In vitro uptake of organic ions by renal cortical tissue of rats treated acutely with 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid.

Abstract The effect of 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) on renal cortical function has been studied in male adult rats. Significant decreases in organic acid and organic base transport were measured when rats were pretreated with 2,4,5-T 24 hr before in vitro analysis of renal function. Experiments in which injections of p-aminohippurate were given showed no effect on organic acid or organic base transport by renal cortical slices. The data are interpreted to mean that pretreatment with 2,4,5-T has a depressive influence on the transport of some organic ions. Adult animals which were treated daily with 2,4,5-T accumulated a large body store of this herbicide during the first 6 days of administration. However, by 9 days the animals excreted essentially the dose of 2,4,5-T administered, and by 16 days the herbicide accumulated during the first 6 days had been almost totally eliminated. This chronic excretion pattern may explain why only moderate toxicity has been reported for this herbicide.
Notes on the Biology, Ecology, and Damage of Platynota stultana on Grapes

A leaf roller, Platynota stultana Walsingham, has become an important pest of grapes in the San Joaquin Valley, California. It infested a large acreage during 1969-70 and 1970-71 growing seasons and caused serious economic losses. There were 5 overlapping generations during 1970. Unpicked grape bunches, decayed bunches on the ground, dried grape “mummies” left in the vineyards, and dried leaves underneath vines provide ideal overwintering sites and a reservoir of overwintering larvae for reinfesting vineyards. Larvae feed on leaves, flowers, and fruit; feeding early in the season causes cavities and scars on the berries, later in the season feeding breaks the berry’s skin and allows yeast and fungi to initiate bunch rot which causes substantial reduction in yield.
Abstract 3336: The role of Notch signaling in esophageal adenocarcinoma

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Background: The Notch signaling pathway plays a critical role in embryonic development and carcinogenesis. Aberrant Notch signaling has been linked to a wide variety of cancers. Activation of Notch pathway can either suppress or promote tumors depending on the cell type and context. However, the role of the Notch pathway in the pathogenesis and development of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is poorly understood. Objective: Elucidate the role of NOTCH signaling pathway in EAC. Methodology: In this study, the expression of Notch components in EAC tissues, matched non-tumor esophageal mucosa and normal esophagus tissues, EAC cell lines (FLO-1, JH-EsoAd1, OE19 and OE33) and 3 primary esophageal normal epithelial cells were assessed by quantitative RT- PCR, western blot analysis, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. The effect of blocking as well as ectopic activation of the Notch pathway on the proliferation, colony formation, and gene expression were also characterized. Results: The aberrant activation of Notch signaling was observed in human EAC clinical samples. Expression of most Notch pathway components was elevated in EAC. The expression of activated NOTCH1 also associated with the differentiation grade of EAC. We found that blocking Notch activity by gamma-secretase inhibitors(GSI) affects the proliferation and/or survival of EAC cell lines and human EAC samples ex vivo cultures. In contrast, this effect was not observed in human esophageal epithelial cell line, Het-1A. However, we observed that activation of Notch signaling by NOTCH1icd could promote colony formation in Het-1A cells. Conclusions: Our results showed that Notch signaling promotes the growth and pathogenesis of EAC. Therefore, Notch signaling pathway could be a promising therapeutic target for treatment of human EAC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3336. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3336
Toxicity of Rotenone to Giant River Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Abstract Aquaculturists have often suffered predation losses in the production of freshwater giant river prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii due to the presence of wild fish species in culture ponds. The piscicide rotenone is widely used to remove undesirable fish species from ponds. Although evidence in the technical literature suggests that crustaceans generally have a higher tolerance to rotenone than fish, there are currently no data on the acute or chronic toxicity of rotenone to juvenile freshwater prawns. In this study, two static acute-toxicity bioassays (96 h) were conducted using Prentox Prenfish (5% active ingredient) rotenone to determine the median lethal concentration (LC50) for juvenile freshwater prawns (average weight = 0.55 g, SD = 0.25; length = 41.43 mm, SD = 6.45). In bioassay 1, prawns were exposed to rotenone concentrations of 1.0, 3.0, 5.0, and 10.0 mg/L. In bioassay 2, prawns were exposed to rotenone concentrations of 2.2, 3.6, 6.0, 10.0, and 16.7 mg/L. All rotenone concentrations use...
Allocating Lobbying Resources between Collective and Private Rents

How do firms allocate their lobbying resources among their political goals? The authors approach this question using a game-theoretic model that integrates three concepts from the lobbying literature: the distinction between private and collective rents, the competition for a rent, and the impacts of political institutions. The model indicates how competition and political institutions affect lobbying expenditures and expected net returns for private and collective lobbying. The outcomes predicted differ with those of past formal models and produce the counterintuitive expectation that competition typically reduces expenditures. The authors test the model’s predictions by examining the lobbying decisions of sixty-two firms.
Sexual experience alters D1 receptor-mediated cyclic AMP production in the nucleus accumbens of female Syrian hamsters.

Drugs of abuse produce long-term changes in dopamine neurotransmission and receptor-effected intracellular signaling. Similar changes in neuronal activity are mediated by motivated behaviors. To explore cellular mechanisms underlying these neuroadaptations following sexual experience, cyclic AMP accumulation following stimulation of D1 dopamine receptors, G-proteins, and adenylate cyclase was compared in the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus of sexually naive and experienced female hamsters following sexual behavior. Direct stimulation of adenylate cyclase with forskolin or indirectly by activation of G-proteins with Gpp(NH)p produced dose-dependent increases in the formation of cyclic AMP in the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus, with no effects of sexual experience on these measures. Specific D1 receptor stimulation increased Gpp(NH)p-induced adenylate cyclase activity in the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus of all animals. Interestingly, this stimulation was further enhanced only in membranes from the nucleus accumbens, but not from the caudate nucleus, of sexually experienced hamsters compared to the response of naive females. These results demonstrate that sexual behavior experience can sensitize mesolimbic dopamine pathways and that this sensitization occurs through an increase in D1 receptor–mediated signaling. Synapse 53:20–27, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Mutants in phototaxis of Dictyostelium discoideum.

ONE of the more interesting behavioural characteristics of the cellular slime mould, Dictyostelium discoideum, involves the concerted migration of thousands of amoebae in a pseudoplasmodium or slug towards light. There have been several studies of the phenomenon, and the action spectrum for phototaxis has been shown1–4 to have peaks at 425 and 550 nm. The biochemical process by which light energy controls the direction of movement, however, remains unknown. Moreover, the mechanism of locomotion which can carry a 1 mm long slug for several centimetres in a period of 2–3 days is unclear, but seems to involve more than directed amoeboid motion of the individual cells. Because the amoebae in a slug move through a casing of slime secreted as a viscous fluid by the tip cells5, it seems probable that both the extent and the direction of migration would be dependent on the rate of formation of slime casing. Because further biochemical analysis might benefit from the availability of mutants which lack the phototactic response, conditions which would make it possible to select such mutant strains were developed.
Morbidity in live liver donors: Standards-based adverse event reporting further refined

Hypothesis The true extent of morbidity among live liver donors remains poorly understood. In this unique and often high-profile area of surgery, the development of standards for defining and reporting complications would foster a better understanding of the incidence and magnitude of such adverse events (AEs). Design Retrospective review of AEs among live liver donors. Setting University-affiliated teaching hospital. Patients and Methods Of 202 individuals undergoing evaluation for live liver donation, 42 (20.8%) proceeded to surgery. Thirty-four underwent a right lobectomy without the middle hepatic vein; 3, a left lateral segmentectomy. Any event causing a deviation from a patient’s ideal course was considered an AE and subsequently classified according to a derived framework. Morbidity was defined as 1 or more AEs. Main Outcome Measures Incidence, timing, type, severity, and impact of AEs. Results No deaths or significant hepatic dysfunction occurred. In 5 (12%) of the 42 donors, the hepatectomy was aborted for anatomic reasons before parenchymal transection. Eight (22%) of the remaining 37 experienced 11 AEs, of which 10 completely resolved, whereas 1 AE (3%) resulted in a permanent disability (brachial plexopathy). The overall incidence of AEs was 0.30 per case. Ten (91%) of the 11 AEs presented within the first postoperative month. Conclusions Most live liver donations are uncomplicated or do not lead to permanent consequence. The adoption of a standards-based classification framework for AEs in live liver donors would allow for an inclusive, consistent, and universally applicable method to collect, analyze, and report donor morbidity.
Fast online synthesis of generally programmable digital microfluidic biochips

We introduce an online synthesis flow for digital microfluidic biochips, which will enable real-time response to errors and control flow. The objective of this flow is to facilitate fast assay synthesis while minimally compromising the quality of results. In particular, we show that a virtual topology, which constrains the allowable locations of assay operations such as mixing, dilution, sensing, etc., in lieu of traditional placement, can significantly speed up the synthesis process without significantly lengthening assay execution time.
Toddlers Activate Lexical Semantic Knowledge in the Absence of Visual Referents: Evidence from Auditory Priming

Language learners rapidly acquire extensive semantic knowledge, but the development of this knowledge is difficult to study, in part because it is difficult to assess young children's lexical semantic representations. In our studies, we solved this problem by investigating lexical semantic knowledge in 24-month-olds using the Head-turn Preference Procedure. In Experiment 1, looking times to a repeating spoken word stimulus (e.g., kitty-kitty-kitty) were shorter for trials preceded by a semantically related word (e.g., dog-dog-dog) than trials preceded by an unrelated word (e.g., juice-juice-juice). Experiment 2 yielded similar results using a method in which pairs of words were presented on the same trial. The studies provide evidence that young children activate of lexical semantic knowledge, and critically, that they do so in the absence of visual referents or sentence contexts. Auditory lexical priming is a promising technique for studying the development and structure of semantic knowledge in young children.
Magnetically labeled cells can be detected by MR imaging

To determine the feasibility of MR imaging of magnetically labeled cells, different cell lines were labeled with monocrystalline iron oxide (MION) particles. Phantoms containing MION labeled cells were then assembled and imaged by MR at 1.5 T using T1-weighted and T2-weighted pulse sequences. MION uptake ranged from 8.5 x 10(4) to 2.9 x 10(5) particles/cell for tumor cells (9L and LX1, respectively) to 1.5 x 10(6) to 4.8 x 10(8) particles/cell for "professional phagocytes" (J774 and peritoneal macrophages, respectively). On the T1-weighted images, cell-internalized MION appeared hyperintense relative to agar and similar to MION in aqueous solution. On T2-weighted images, signal intensity varied according to concentration of MION within cells. Cell-internalized MION caused similar MR signal changes of cells as did free MION; however, at a dose that was an order of magnitude lower, depending on the pulse sequence used. The detectability of MION within cells was approximately 2 ng Fe, which corresponded to 10(5) tumor cells/well or 5 x 10(3) macrophages/well. We conclude that a variety of cells can be efficiently labeled with MION by simple incubation. Intracellular labeling may be used for MR imaging of in vivo cell tracking.
Fiscal News, State Budget Rules, and Tax-Exempt Bond Yields☆

Abstract This paper investigates how state fiscal institutions such as balanced-budget rules and restrictions on state debt issuance mediate the bond market reaction to state fiscal news. We analyze data on the yields of bonds issued by different states, as reported in the “Chubb Relative Value Survey,” along with data on state budget forecasts for the period 1988–1998. We find that unexpected deficits are correlated with higher state bond yields. This effect is smaller for states with tight antideficit rules than for states without these fiscal rules. Unexpected deficits have a particularly large effect in raising bond yields of states with tax limits. These results suggest that bond market participants view fiscal institutions as relevant in assessing the risk characteristics of tax-exempt bonds and that the economic significance of these institutions depends on the state's economic and fiscal circumstances.
On the paradox of the question

(I will understand the goodness of a question to be measured by how much the human race would bene t from having it answered. Note that it’s unclear why Q4 should count as just one question, given that in Markosian’s story, ‘what is the best question to ask, and what is its answer?’ didn’t count as just one question. But no need to settle this matter of question counting; we can restate the puzzle: let the philosophers be granted 15 seconds in which to ask questions (in English).) In response to Q4, the angel answers: ‘it is the ordered pair consisting of the question you just asked, and the answer I am now giving’—that is,
Study of Aluminum Films. I. Optical Studies of Reflectance Drops and Surface Oscillations on Controlled-Roughness Films

Ultrahigh-vacuum near-normal-incidence ultraviolet reflectance measurements on aluminum films of known rms surface roughness have confirmed recent theories of roughness-aided coupling to surfaceplasmons in free-electron-like metals and of roughness-induced light scattering. The notable success of these theories allowed the separation of experimentally observed reflectance drops into surface-plasmon-induced and scattered-light-induced components. These confirmed theories were combined with reflectance measurements to yield the surface-roughness spectra of the films studied over a spatial-frequency (wave-number) range of \ensuremath{\le} 1.4 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ ${\mathrm{\AA{}}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. This is believed to be the first example of the use of both surface-plasmon-induced and scattered-light-induced reflectance effects for the determination of the surface-roughness spectra.