cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Calcitonin therapy for central giant cell granuloma

Abstract Purpose: A number of alternative nonsurgical therapies have been advocated in recent years for the management of the central giant cell granuloma (CGCG). These include calcitonin injections, intralesional steroid injections and subcutaneous α-interferon injections. This report provides the results of calcitonin therapy. Materials and Methods: Ten patients received calcitonin therapy, 9 via subcutaneous injection and 1 via nasal spray, for the management of a CGCG. Patients were reviewed retrospectively Results: In 8 cases, the lesions resolved completely after 19 to 21 months of subcutaneous calcitonin treatment. In the ninth case, the lesion resolved on calcitonin treatment only to reappear 26 months later. The recurrence was treated with both repeated calcitonin and local enucleation. The tenth case with calcitonin (intranasal) treatment was abandoned due to poor patient compliance, and the patient ultimately underwent surgical treatment. Conclusion: Calcitonin treatment appears to be a viable option for the treatment of CGCGs but, because of the length of treatment time, should probably be reserved for multiple lesions, recurrent lesions, or particularly aggressive lesions. The exact mechanism of action of both calcitonin and other treatment modalities remains to be fully elucidated. The reported success of all such treatments raises questions about the natural history of this lesion. © 2003 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons J Oral Maxillofac Surg 61:649-653, 2003
Time costs associated with cervical cancer screening.

Objectives Time costs borne by women when undergoing cervical cancer screening have rarely been elucidated, although such costs may pose substantial barriers to care. The purpose of this project was to quantify the opportunity costs associated with cervical cancer screening in young women attending Planned Parenthood Clinics. Methods We conducted a self-report survey of 105 women from six clinics to measure travel, waiting, and exam times associated with cervical cancer screening. Respondents recorded their time of arrival and departure, length of time in the waiting room, age, income level, and hours per week they worked outside of the home. Time costs were valued three ways: through self-reported hourly wage, age- and gender-adjusted minimum earnings, and national age- and gender-adjusted hourly wages. Results Respondents were on average 24 years old, worked 29 hours per week outside the home, and earned less than $20,000 per year. Mean time for one-way travel was 18.7 minutes; waiting room time was 16.9 minutes; and exam time was 50.8 minutes. Time costs were estimated to be $14.08 per visit based upon the self-reported hourly wage; $16.46 per visit based upon age- and gender-adjusted minimum earnings; and $19.63 per visit based upon age- and gender-adjusted national wage rates. Conclusions Time costs associated with cervical cancer screening represent an important opportunity cost and should be considered in studies attempting to identify barriers to screening adherence. Our results indicate that time costs accounted for up to 25% of cervical cancer screening costs. Time costs should be identified, measured, valued, and included in cost-effectiveness analyses of cervical cancer screening.
Stimulation of the Expiratory Muscles Using Microstimulators

Respiratory complications constitute a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with spinal cord injury. These complications arise in part due to the loss of supraspinal control over the expiratory muscles and the resultant difficulties in clearing airway secretions effectively. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of lower thoracic spinal nerve stimulation using wireless microstimulators in activating the expiratory muscles. Studies were performed on nine anesthetized dogs. A thoracic laminectomy was performed on each dog, and was followed by spinal cord transection at T2. A total of 16 microstimulators (supplied by the Alfred Mann Foundation, Santa Clarita, CA) were inserted percutaneously into the bilateral intercostal nerves approximately 1 $\sim$ 3 cm distal to the neuroforamen from T7 to L1 in each dog. The stimulation parameters were: frequency of 20 Hz , pulse width of 200 $\mu{\rm s}$ , and stimulation burst of 2 s. The stimulation intensities were 3.78, 5.4, 8.1, and 10.8 mA. The pressure-generating capacity of the expiratory muscles was evaluated by the change in airway pressure $({\rm P}_{\rm aw})$ at functional residual capacity, which was produced by the microstimulators during airway occlusion. As a general trend, the expiratory pressure generated using the microstimulators increased with increasing intensity and the number of spinal nerves recruited. The maximal expiratory pressures generated from one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight pairs of spinal nerves were 8.4 $\pm$ 0.8, 12.2 $\pm$ 1.0, 14.6 $\pm$ 1.4, 17.8 $\pm$ 1.8, 23.0 <formula formulaty
Presynaptic Ca2+ Influx at a Mouse Central Synapse with Ca2+ Channel Subunit Mutations

Genetic alterations in Ca2+ channel subunits can be used to study the interaction among channel subunits and their roles in channel function. P/Q- and N-type Ca2+ channels reside at the presynaptic terminal and control the release of neurotransmitter at mammalian central synapses. We used fluorescence imaging techniques to investigate presynaptic Ca2+currents and neurotransmitter release at hippocampal Schaffer collateral synapses in both tottering ( tg , α1A subunit) and lethargic ( lh , β4 subunit) mutant mice. Application of selective toxins revealed a large reduction in presynaptic P/Q-type Ca2+ transients, from 39% of total in +/+ mice to 6% in tg/tg mice, whereas the proportion of N-type increased from 35 to 68%, respectively. Neurotransmitter release in the tg/tg mutant relied almost exclusively on N-type channels, as shown by the complete blockade of synaptic transmission with ω-conotoxin GVIA. Remarkably, loss of β4, a subunit predicted to regulate the subcellular targeting and modulation of both P/Q- and N-type channels, resulted in no significant difference in the ratio of Ca2+ channel subtypes or Ca2+dependence of neurotransmitter release in lethargic mice. G-protein-mediated inhibition of Ca2+ channels was also unaltered. These results indicate that a profound decrease in presynaptic P/Q-type currents leads to dependence of neurotransmitter release on N-type channels. In contrast, absence of β4appears not to compromise either P/Q- or N-type channel function at this hippocampal synapse, implicating rescue of presynaptic Ca2+ currents by other available β subunits. The present study reveals compensatory molecular mechanisms in the regulation of presynaptic Ca2+ entry and neurotransmitter release.
Dual-Gate MESFET Variable-Gain Constant-Output Power Amplifier

The use of a dual-gate GaAs FET as a broad-band variable gain and constant output power amplifier is described. A five-stage variable gain-constant output power amplifier has been realized which provides a constant output power of 3 dBm (/spl plusmn/2 dB) for a large dynamic range of input power of -45 dBm to 0 dBm over the 4-8-GHz band. The amplifier uses a feed-forward AGC circuit for preadjusting the gain of the amplifier stages depending upon the strength of the signal at the output of preceding stages. The amplifier has the capability of detecting two or more simultaneous RF pulses having different amplitudes and separated by more than 15-ns time intervals. Also it preserves any amplitude modulation of the individual pulse.
Interferometric SAR coherence classification utility assessment

The classification utility of a dual-antenna interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) is explored by comparison of maximum likelihood classification results for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) intensity images and IFSAR intensity and coherence images. The addition of IFSAR coherence improves the overall classification accuracy for classes of trees, water, and fields. A threshold intensity-coherence classifier is also compared to the intensity-only classification results.
'Text' as an object of metalinguistic knowledge: a study in literacy development:

Signs of literacy appear in behaviours of young children reared in a literate culture long before they are reading and writing conventionally. In this article, children's abilities to create 'text' are investigated through data from longitudinal studies of literacy acquisition. Two types of tasks were used: story dictations and storybook 'readings.' Speech and non- verbal behaviours were examined for indications that children were able to separate their speech utterances under these conditions into two categories: a textual entity and comments referring to or separate from that entity. Two scales for judging the quality of the created text were presented and bases for judgments about non-text utterances were described. Results indicated that as children increase in emergent literacy, their speech utterances can be judged to fall into these two categories. Children also increase in ability to refer to written texts and textual speech through metalinguistic labels and indirect linguistic means. The ability ...
Sea-change or change challenge? Health information access in developing countries: The U.S. National Library of Medicine experience.

Health professionals in developing countries want access to information to help them make changes in health care and contribute to medical research. However, they face challenges of technology limitations, lack of training, and, on the village level, culture and language. This report focuses on the U.S. National Library of Medicine experience with access: for the international medical/scientific community to health information which has been published by researchers in developing countries; for scientists and clinicians in developing countries to their own literature and to that of their colleagues around the world; for medical librarians who are a critical conduit for students, faculty, researchers, and, increasingly, the general public; and for the front line workers at the health center in the village at the end of the line. The fundamental question of whether or not information communication technology can make a difference in access and subsequently in health is illustrated by an anecdote regarding an early intervention in Africa in 1992. From that point, we examine programs to improve access involving malaria researchers, medical journal editors, librarians, and medical students working with local health center staff in the village. Although access is a reality, the positive change in health that the information technology intervention might produce often remains a mirage. Information and technology are not static elements in the equation for better access. They must function together, creating a dialectic in which they transform and inform one another and those whom their combination touches. African Health Sciences 2011; 11(3): 457 - 463
Applications of technology at the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), protects the wreck of the famous Civil War ironclad warship USS Monitor. Recent research has revealed that the Monitor is deteriorating at an alarming rate causing NOAA to initiate an aggressive program of applying ocean technology to the problems of protecting the Monitor.
Migratory TCP: connection migration for service continuity in the Internet

Today's Internet services are commonly built over TCP, the standard Internet connection-oriented reliable transport protocol. The endpoint naming scheme of TCP, based on network layer (IP) addresses, creates an implicit binding between a service and the IP address of a server providing it, throughout the lifetime of a client connection. This makes a TCP client prone to all adverse conditions that may affect the server endpoint or the internetwork in between, after the connection is established: congestion or failure in the network, server overloaded, failed or under DoS attack. Studies that quantify the effects of network stability and route availability demonstrate that connectivity failures can significantly impact Internet services. As a result, although highly available servers can be deployed, sustaining continuous service remains a problem. We propose cooperative service model, in which a pool of similar servers, possibly geographically distributed across the Internet, cooperate in sustaining a service by migration of client connections within the pool. The control traffic between servers, needed to support migrated connections, can be carried either over the Internet or over a private network. From client's viewpoint, at any point during the lifetime of its service session, the remote endpoint of its connection may transparently migrate between servers.
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drug delivery.

SummaryThe complex pharmacokinetics that promote transit of a drug from ingestion to elimination are characterized by variability. The rate and degree to which a drug undergoes absorption, distribution, biotransformation and excretion are a result of both endogenous and exogenous factors, some of which can be predicted, many of which cannot. One of the greatest problems associated with conventional drug formulations has been the dose-related appearance of side-effects that often accompany the initial surge of drug release. Drugs with short half-lives or narrow therapeutic ratios may alternately produce overmedication and undermedication in a patient. Innovations in drug form design have resulted in a new precision-release formulation that permits zero-order steady state drug release. Sodium indomethacin trihydrate (‘Osmosin’) is the first drug to be contained within this new precision-release formulation which approaches the objective of delivering drugs at a therapeutically optimal rate.
Experimental Verification of McKee Formula

Seventy RSC single-wall 200# corrugated boxes, of seven different sizes from the same manufacturer, were compressed. Actual box compression strengths were compared with those computed using the McKee formula. The ratios of side-loading to top-loading box compression strengths for 3”x3”x3”, 5”x5”x5”, and 7”x7”x7” were found to be 30%, 46%, and 62% below those derived from the formula, while the box compression strengths (top loading) were 18%, 45%, and 63% higher. Bigger boxes yielded wider discrepancy between the actual compression strength value and that predicted by the McKee formula. A similar conclusion was made with three other box sizes with the same height (4”x4”x12”, 5”x5”x12”, and 6”x6”x12”). The effect of box height (which is not included in McKee formula) on its compression strength was also investigated using three box sizes, 5”x5”x5”, 5”x5”x12”, and 5”x5”x48”. As expected, the box became weaker as the height increased due to the wall buckling. The compression strength dropped 62% from the 5” to 48” box heights. Overall, the box compression strengths (BCT) predicted by the McKee formula were off anywhere from 50.48% overestimate for the 5”x5”x48” box size to 69.36% underestimate for the 6”x6”x12” box size.
AKR1B10: a new diagnostic marker of non-small cell lung carcinoma in smokers.

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and non–small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) accounts for 80% of the cases. Even the most innovative therapeutic regimens do not increase overall 5-year survival rates for NSCLC to >15%. Early detection methods could lead to intervention
Working with Complexity in Integrated Behavioral Health Settings

This chapter provides a practical approach for understanding and dealing with patient “complexity” in a health care context. Complexity is defined as the interaction of patient, provider, and care delivery variables, which intermingle to create situations where usual treatments are not working—or not working as well as patients and clinicians are expecting. These situations can only be understood by looking at the complex interaction of those variables and adopting new models of understanding and implementing new care-giving strategies. The chapter begins with a review of different approaches to dealing with complexity within the USA and in Europe. A particular method and clinical checklist is described in detail. A “real world” application, the Complex Continuity Clinic, using this and other methods of engaging patients in complex situations, is outlined, with clinical examples. Finally, the important implications of a complexity approach to emerging health care reform is described, shedding light on how effective approaches that embrace complex biopsychosocial health issues can result in greater quality and reduced costs.
GEC-based multi-biometric fusion

In this paper, we use Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (GEC) to optimize the weights assigned to the biometric modalities of a multi-biometric system for score-level fusion. Our results show that GEC-based multi-biometric fusion provides a significant improvement in the recognition accuracy over evenly fused biometric modalities, increasing the accuracy from 90.77% to 95.24%.
The role of anger and hostility in essential hypertension and coronary heart disease.

A critical review of the literature pertaining to the role of anger and hostility in essential hypertension and coronary heart disease is presented. Psychodynamic, personality, and psychophysiological approaches are covered. Anger and hostility appear to play an important role in the development of hypertension, though the mechanism is not yet clearly specified. In the coronary heart disease literature, aggression is more commonly referred to than anger; recent evidence suggests, however, that hostility may be a highly significant component of the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern. The research reviewed is seen as providing support for the utility of emotion as a construct relevant to understanding psychophysiological mechanisms associated with cardiovascular disorders. Psychological and emotional factors have long been implicated in essential hypertension and coronary heart disease. The present review focuses specifically on the emotional complex of anger and hostility in the etiology and pathogenesis of these major cardiovascular disorders. Relations between anger and hostility and the cardiovascular disorders are comprehensively examined by drawing on the psychodynainic, personality, social psychological, and psychophysiological research literatures. In my view emotional behavior can serve as a basic construct linking psychological factors to pathophysiological processes. There is much definitional confusion regarding emotion, and no single comprehensive theory exists that has relevance to all aspects of the subject (Plutchik, 1980). For the purposes of this article, the term emotional behavior, following Plutchik (1980), refers to a complex sequence of reactions that include cognitive evaluations, subjective changes, physiological changes (autonomic arousal), and action tendencies with both instrumental and expressive qualities. The components of emotional behavior that are most often referred to here are hostility and anger.
Flow diverter stents for unruptured saccular anterior circulation perforating artery aneurysms: safety, efficacy, and short-term follow-up

Background Anterior circulation perforating artery aneurysms including anterior choroidal artery and lenticulostriate artery aneurysms are rare. Injury to these vessels can lead to severe debilitating symptoms. Objective To present a new approach to treatment using flow diversion technology. Methods Patients treated with a Pipeline embolization device (PED) for perforator artery aneurysms at our institution between June 2012 and May 2013 were identified and included in our retrospective analysis. We evaluated patient vascular risk factors; family history of aneurysms; aneurysm characteristics; National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) on admission; and angiography follow-up and patient clinical outcome at discharge, 6 months, and 1 year. Results We included four patients with a mean age of 59.8 years. Two patients had a positive family history of aneurysms. Patient vascular risk factors included smoking, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. All patients presented with a NIHSS and mRS of 0 on admission. Aneurysms were located at the anterior choroidal (n=2) or lenticulostriate artery (n=2) and were treated with a single PED. No periprocedural or postprocedural complications occurred. The patients were discharged with no change in NHISS or mRS score. Six-month and 1-year follow-up angiography showed complete aneurysm occlusion. Mild intimal hyperplasia was seen in 2 cases at 6 months, but was resolved at the 1-year follow-up. No re-treatment was necessary. NIHSS and mRS remained 0 at follow-up time points. Conclusions Our preliminary results show that flow diversion technology is an effective and safe therapy for complex, hard-to-treat aneurysms in perforating arteries. Larger studies with long-term follow-up are needed to validate our promising results.
Legacy mercury releases during copper mining near Lake Superior

Abstract To examine issues of mercury contamination in lake sediments and fish, we require insight into historic sources of mercury and details of watershed methyl mercury (MeHg) cycling. Modern-day National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) estimates of atmospheric mercury deposition in the upper Midwest region range from 4–10 μg/m 2 /y (wet only) to 5–30 μg/m 2 /y (gross deposition). Sedimentary records from scattered Michigan lakes, removed from mining sites, record around 5–24 μg/m 2 /y modern THg deposition. However, these values are not representative of historic deposition near mining sites. On the Keweenaw Peninsula, mercury occurs naturally in copper ores and was discharged by smelting and stamp mill (tailings) operations. Here we examine mercury fluxes into two lakes (Portage and Torch Lake, portions of the Keweenaw Waterway) off Lake Superior, part of the previous Torch Lake Superfund site. Total mercury fluxes document greatly enhanced mercury loading (mean ca. 1590 μg/m 2 /y; peaks of 5120 to 21,300 μg/m 2 /y) during the height of copper mining (1880–1930), followed by a rapid decline once activities ceased. Methylmercury profiles appear to document both current methylation and historic methylation during mining operations. Time differences in MeHg and THg profiles may relate to watershed delivery time lags, toxic effects of copper on methylating bacteria, or to stratigraphic mobility. Whereas rapid sedimentation and lowered copper flux are promoting ecosystem recovery in Portage Lake, slower burial by organic-rich sediments is enhancing metal concentrations in Torch Lake sediments.
Some Contrasts in Levels of Living in Industrial, Farm, and Part-Time Farm Families in Rural Mississippi

half of the entire number, where the remarriage occurs quite soon after the divorce, the desire to re-marry was a motivating factor in the divorce. How many divorced persons re-marry is not known. Popenoe estimates, on the basis of data collected by the Institute of Family Relations at Los Angeles, California, that the percentage among women may be between 25 and 3 5 percent, and for men between 40 and 5o percent.3 From Table IV, it would appear that those who do re-marry, do so promptly. On the .other hand, from zo tO 30 percent of divorced persons re-marrying have been divorced for five or more years. Detailed analysis of the 1936 statistics for New York State indicate that i8 percent of the divorced men who re-married in that year had been divorced before 1930, and 2 percent before i9o0. Comparing the three selected years in Table IV with each other there appears a tendency for the time interval to lengthen as time goes on. Perhaps the desire to re-marry is less important as a motive to divorce with its increasing acceptance as a therapeutic measure.
Seasonal and Interannual Variations of Irminger Ring Formation and Boundary-Interior Heat Exchange in FLAME

AbstractThe contribution of warm-core anticyclones shed by the Irminger Current off West Greenland, known as Irminger rings, to the restratification of the upper layers of the Labrador Sea is investigated in the 1/12° Family of Linked Atlantic Models Experiment (FLAME) model. The model output, covering the 1990–2004 period, shows strong similarities to observations of the Irminger Current as well as ring observations at a mooring located offshore of the eddy formation region in 2007–09. An analysis of fluxes in the model shows that while the majority of heat exchange with the interior indeed occurs at the site of the Irminger Current instability, the contribution of the coherent Irminger rings is modest (18%). Heat is provided to the convective region mainly through noncoherent anomalies and enhanced local mixing by the rings facilitating further exchange between the boundary and interior. The time variability of the eddy kinetic energy and the boundary to interior heat flux in the model are strongly corr...
Sampling of State Space Systems with Several Time Delays

This article solves the problem of how to obtain a zero-order hold sampled version of a state space system containing several time delays at arbitrary positions. No assumption is made on commensurability of the time delays. It is shown that the condition for obtaining a finite dimensional sampled system for all sampling periods is that there are 'no signal loops' around any of the time delays. A short and constructive algorithm is presented for sampling such systems. All calculations can be performed using standard programs for sampling systems
The use of discordant sibling pairs for finding genetic loci linked to obesity: practical considerations.

BACKGROUND : Currently there is substantial interest in finding genetic loci linked to human obesity. However, the complexity of the genetic architecture for human body fatness and body weight make this a very challenging task. Recently, several authors have proposed the use of discordant sibling pairs to improve the power to detect linkage for obesity and other continuously distributed complex phenotypes. The use of discordant siblings pairs can markedly increase the power of statistical analyses to detect linkage. However, the use of discordant sibling pairs also presents several practical concerns. These include both the difficulty and cost of locating markedly discordant sibling pairs and the possibility that when such pairs are located, they may in fact be only half-siblings due to non-paternity. In this paper, I consider both of these issues. RESULTS : Quantitative estimates of the probability of finding pairs of a given degree of discordance are presented based on both the assumption of a normal distribution as well as on actual data. Quantitative estimates of the odds of selecting pairs that are actually half siblings as opposed to full siblings are also presented for different degrees of discordance. Finally, percentile scores for BMI are tabulated as these are necessary for researchers to implement certain sibling selection strategies.
Total Synthesis of Clerobungin A via a Cascade Cyclization Reaction

The first total synthesis of the novel cyclohexylethanoid natural product clerobungin A has been achieved in six steps and 14% overall yield starting from commercially available tyrosol. Key steps in this sequence include a bioinspired oxidative dearomatization of a phenol and a hemiacetalization/oxa-Michael cascade to form the tricyclic ring system. Resolution of a late-stage intermediate via chiral HPLC allowed for the measurement of the chiroptical properties of both enantiomers of clerobungin A, supporting the scalemic nature of the natural product.
Incidence, Characteristics, and Outcome of FLT3-ITD Mutations in AML Arising from an Antecedent Hematologic Disorder

Abstract Abstract 2522 Internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations in FLT3 (fms-like tyrosine kinase III) are common in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and are associated with increased relapse risk and adverse outcome. A subset of AML, arising from an antecedent hematologic disorder (AHD) such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), is also associated with an adverse outcome. We sought to review our experience and define the incidence, characteristics, and outcome of FLT3-ITD in AML arising from AHD. We reviewed all cases of newly diagnosed AML, excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia from 2001–2010 at our institution. FLT3-ITD mutational analysis was performed using PCR-based DNA sequencing on 1254 cases. Overall, 187 (15%) patients (pts) had FLT3-ITD mutations. Of the 1254 pts, 545 (43%) were classified as having an AHD and 709 (57%) were not. The incidence of FLT3-ITD in pts with and without AHD was 11% (125/709) and 18% (62/545), respectively (p=0.002). As a separate analysis, among pts who had received any prior chemotherapy or radiation, the incidence of FLT3-ITD was 8% (17/201) vs. 16% (170/1053) in those who had not (p=0.005). Baseline characteristics of the patients with FLT3-ITD positive AML with or without AHD are shown in table 1 . The 187 pts with FLT3-ITD were treated with several different therapies as their initial treatment for AML. These included: high dose cytarabine-based (HiDAC) in 131 (70%), conventional dose cytarabine-based in 28 (15%), hypomethylating agents (HMA) in 12 (6%), and other in 16 (9%). The response rates to HiDAC and HMA in each of the two cohorts is shown in table 1 . The median overall survival of patients with FLT3-ITD and AHD was 40 weeks vs. 54 weeks in those without AHD (p=0.046, Figure 1 ). In conclusion, FLT3-ITD is relatively less common in AML arising from AHD and in therapy-related AML compared to de novo AML. AML pts with FLT3-ITD and AHD tend to be older, have a lower bone marrow and peripheral blasts, a lower serum LDH, and significantly shorter overall survival. Compared to those without AHD, the response rate to HiDAC-based therapy in patients with FLT3-ITD and AHD are similar, but the response rates to HMA-based therapy are higher. The role of HMA in the treatment of FLT3-ITD patients with and without AHD should be investigated further. Download : Download high-res image (61KB) Download : Download full-size image Figure 1 . Table 1 . Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Recent advances in high performance donor-acceptor polymers for organic photovoltaics

Abstract Organic photovoltaic cells made with semiconducting polymers remain one of the most promising technologies for low-cost solar energy due to their compatibility with roll-to-roll printing techniques. The development of new light-absorbing polymers has driven tremendous advances in the power conversion efficiency of these devices. In particular, the use of alternating electron rich (donor) and electron poor (acceptor) segments along the polymer backbone can produce low optical bandgap materials that capture more of the solar spectrum. As a result, power conversion efficiencies over 10% are increasingly common for this technology. This review summarizes the recent advances in donor-acceptor polymer design and synthesis, highlighting the structural features that are key to providing high efficiency, scalable and stable devices.
Atriopeptin Expression in the Ventricle

atriopeptins comprise a family of small peptides, originally isolated from rat atria, that exert potent effects on natriuresis, diuresis, and vascular smooth muscle relaxation (3, 5, 17). The active peptides range from 21 to 33 amino acids in length and differ only in the number of residues flanking a 17-amino acid disulfide-linked core. A 126-amino acid prohormone is stored in granules in both atria and is released from heart cells in culture (2). After pharmacological stimulation or atrial stretch, atriopeptin (AP) is found in the circulation primarily as the 28-amino acid peptide, AP28 (10, 24).
Arthritis After Cancer Immunotherapy: Symptom Duration and Treatment Response

Objective Musculoskeletal manifestations of immune related adverse events (irAEs) after checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy for cancer remain incompletely characterized and poorly understood. A recently published case series suggested that immunotherapy-induced arthritis is an aggressive process requiring high dose corticosteroids. Methods This was a retrospective chart review of all patients with musculoskeletal irAEs first seen by one of the authors between 2014 and 2016. All patients had been treated for a malignancy with immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1 (nivolumab, pembrolizumab), PD-L1 (durvalumab) and/or CTLA-4 (ipilimumab, tremelimumab) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Results We identified 10 patients with a mean (± standard deviation) age 63.2 (± 9.7) years. Seven were treated with a combination of checkpoint inhibitors and three with nivolumab monotherapy. Four developed inflammatory polyarthritis, four oligoarthritis and two tenosynovitis. Six were ANA positive and two had anti-CCP antibodies. Mean time from the first dose of immunotherapy until joint involvement was 6.3 (± 4.3) months. All 10 patients were treated with systemic corticosteroids, but 6/10 required ≤ 20 mg per day of prednisone. Five patients received steroid-sparing agents. Mean time until resolution of joint symptoms after the last dose of immunotherapy was 9.2 (± 6.1) months. Conclusion Musculoskeletal irAEs can manifest as an RA-like polyarthritis, oligoarthritis, tenosynovitis, or PMR. Musculoskeletal symptoms can last more than a year, but they can generally be managed with low to moderate doses of corticosteroids. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Selfies as Social Movements: Influences on Participation and Perceived Impact on Stereotypes

A new kind of online movement has emerged on social media: identity hashtag movements, through which individuals share "selfies" and personal stories to elucidate the experiences of marginalized social groups. These movements have the potential to counteract bias and enable social justice, but are enacted in a forum rife with identity and boundary management concerns. To understand this type of movement, we present a qualitative study of #ILookLikeAnEngineer, a hashtag created to challenge engineering stereotypes. We interviewed 32 people, including participants and non-participants of the movement, about their experiences with the hashtag. We found that personally identifiable participation promoted feelings of empowerment and strengthened connections within the marginalized community. At the same time, the personal and professional identity focus raised ambiguity about the boundaries of the collective and the movement's ability to change stereotypes. We discuss implications for online collective action and the use of social media for addressing stereotypes.
Higher reliability for low-temperature curable positive-tone photosensitive dielectric materials

Fan-Out Wafer Level Packages (FOWLPs) and Fan-Out Panel Level Packages (FOPLPs) have been proposed for promising candidates of the advanced packages for multifunctional LSI with many I/O (input/output). FOPLP is expected to reduce the cost of FOWLP by improving the productivity per substrate. Dielectric materials for redistribution layers (RDLs) are one of the most important materials for FOPLPs. We have developed the novel low-temperature curable positive-tone photosensitive dielectric materials for high reliability packages and insulating layers for FOPLPs. Dielectric materials mainly focus on two factors for high package reliability. One is insulating layer with high elongation and the suppression of growing a copper oxide layer from copper RDLs during reliability tests. Cured films with compositions based on the above polymer with conventional cross-linkers showed the high elongation property up to 70%. Moreover, the appropriate additive has made the copper oxide layer suppressed to grow during reliability tests. Furthermore, we have also found that strong adhesion has been achieved between dielectric layers and RDLs with fewer voids. This dielectric material is expected to be the key material in contribution efforts to enhance the semiconductor device packaging reliability for FOPLPs.
Generation of life in a test tube: Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Bruno Straub, and the discovery of actin.

This is a story about a great scientist, luck, great discovery that changed the future direction of muscle research, war, a clandestine war mission, postwar politics, and an attempt to rewrite scie...
Bioentities: a resource for entity recognition and relationship resolution in biomedical text mining

Background: For automated reading of scientific publications to extract useful information about molecular mechanisms it is critical that genes, proteins and other entities be correctly associated with uniform identifiers, a process known as named entity linking or "grounding." Correct entity identification is essential for resolving relationships between mined information, curated interaction databases, and biological datasets. The accuracy of this process is largely dependent on the availability of resources allowing computers to link commonly-used abbreviations and synonyms found in literature to uniform identifiers. Results: In a task involving automated reading of ~215,000 articles using the REACH event extraction software we found that grounding was disproportionately inaccurate for multi-protein families (e.g., "AKT") and named complexes that involve multiple molecular entities (e.g. "NF-kB"). To address this problem we created Bioentities, a manually curated resource defining protein families and complexes as they are commonly referred to in text. In Bioentities the gene-level constituents of families and complexes are defined in a flexible format allowing for multi-level, hierarchical membership. To create Bioentities, text strings corresponding to entities were identified empirically from literature and linked manually to uniform identifiers; these identifiers were also mapped to equivalent entries in multiple related databases. Bioentities also includes curated prefix and suffix patterns that improve named entity recognition and event extraction. Evaluation on a distinct corpus of ~54,000 articles showed that incorporating Bioentities into the set of databases used for grounding significantly increased grounding accuracy for families and complexes, from 15 to 71%. The hierarchical organization of entities also made it possible to integrate otherwise unconnected mechanistic information across families, subfamilies, and individual proteins. Conclusion: Bioentities is an effective tool for improving named entity recognition, grounding, and relationship resolution in automated reading of biomedical text. The content in Bioentities is available in both tabular and Open Biomedical Ontology formats at https://github.com/sorgerlab/bioentities under the Creative Commons CC0 license and has been integrated into the TRIPS/DRUM and REACH reading systems.
A Spectral Multi-Domain Code for the Navier-Stokes Equations

A computational method to study the spatial stability of the Blasius boundary layer in the presence of a roughness element is developed. The numerical scheme uses a time- splitting, finite-difference/spectral method to integrate the full Navier-Stokes equations on a stretched grid. Time advancement is done by the Crank-Nicolson and the third-order compact Runge-Kutta methods. Difficulties associated with the singular corners are overcome by the application of the multi-domain method. The code is also used for Blasius boundary layer instability and the results are compared with the linear theory.
XPB and XPD between transcription and DNA repair.

Xeroderma pigmentosum group B and D genes (XPB and XPD respectively) are components of the transcription factor IIH (TFIIH), a nine-subunit complex involved in transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II (pol II). Five of these (XPB, p62, p52, p44 and p34) form a tight core subcomplex, while XPD is less tightly associated with the core and mediates the binding of the CAK subcomplex, containing the remaining three subunits, cyclin H, cdk7 and MAT1.1,2 The TFIIH complex also plays a key role in nucleotide excision repair (NER) by opening duplex DNA at the damage site. Both XPB and XPD possess DNA helicase activities, though XPB functions in a 3′ → 5′ fashion,3 while XPD catalyzes unwinding of duplex DNA in the opposite direction.2 The DNA-dependent helicase activity of XPB and XPD is central to the function of TFIIH in both transcription initiation and NER.
The Ways of Altruism

We argue that some organisms are altruistically motivated and such altruistic motivation is adaptive. We lay out the helper’s decision problem—determining whether to help another organism. We point out that there are more ways of solving this problem than most people recognize. Specifically, we distinguish two kinds of altruistic motivations, depending on whether a desire to help is produced for one’s own sake or for others’ sake. We identify circumstances in which either kind of psychological altruism provides the most adaptive solution to the helper’s decision problem. As a result, we show that both kinds of psychological altruism are likely to be instantiated and selected for.
Obstetrics and Gynecology Simulation and Global Health Initiatives

The increasing number of obstetrics and gynecology trainees and providers interested in global health experiences along with shortages of skilled health-care providers in lower resource settings creates important opportunities to incorporate simulation in global health work and in global health settings. Simulation can be used to prepare providers ethically, emotionally, and clinically for global health work. In addition, simulation can be used to augment the teaching of essential skills and introduce comparatively new technology to providers in resource-limited settings. Simulation aimed at lifesaving and quality-of-life measures has the potential to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity as well as deaths related to gynecologic cancers and unsafe abortions in any setting including areas with fewer resources. To ensure relevance and sustainability, factors to consider when adapting simulations and simulation curricula for any environment include making sure the supplies and content are adapted to the needs, culture, and resources of the specific health-care context. It is essential to coordinate with local partners in international settings to design simulation curricula both for preparations prior to international travel and for use in those settings.
Data Envelopment Analysis with Alternative Returns to Scale

This chapter offers an overview of Data Envelopment Analysis as a nonparametric method of measuring efficiency in production. Special attention is devoted to alternative returns to scale assumptions about the technology and identifying the local nature of returns to scale at projections of an inefficient unit on to the frontier. Both radial and non-radial measures of technical efficiency are considered.
Interferon Chemokine Score and Other Cytokine Measures Track With Changes in Disease Activity in Patients With Juvenile and Adult Dermatomyositis.

Objective Our aim was to identify cytokines and chemokines in patients with adult dermatomyositis (DM) and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) that predict changes in disease activity. Methods Multiplexed immunoassays (Meso Scale Discovery) enabled simultaneous measurement of interferon (IFN)-regulated chemokines and other pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines specific to differentiation of specific T-cell and innate pathways. Cytokine scores were computed for IFNCK (IP-10, MCP-1), Th1 (IFNɣ, TNFα, and IL2), Th2 (IL4, IL10, IL12, and IL 13), Th17 (IL6, IL17, IL1β), macrophage (MIP-1α, MIP-1β, IL8), and regulatory (IL10, TNFα) factors. Spearman correlation and mixed models were used to examine whether cytokines at a previous visit predict change in disease activity at the next visit. Results The study included 36 patients (16 DM and 20 JDM) with at least two visits (87 patient intervals between two visits). Mean age (SD) at inclusion was 56.9 (18.4) years for DM and 10.8 (6.6) years in JDM, 67% of patients were female, 89% Caucasian. The mean (SD) physician global, muscle and extra-muscular disease activity Visual Analog Scale scores at inclusion were 41 (26), 36 (30), and 34 (21) mm, respectively. The change in IFN score from one visit to the next was associated with the change in physician global (P = 0.010) and extramuscular (P < 0.001) disease activity scores. Preliminary results revealed significant correlations of previous IFNCK score and IL-6 with subsequent disease activity measures, but after adjustment for multiple visits per patient, these associations did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion There is a potential relationship between IFNCK and other cytokine scores seen in adult and juvenile DM with future disease states.
Japanese Culture Through Videogames

Examining a wide range of Japanese videogames, including arcade fighting games, PC-based strategy games and console JRPGs, this book assesses their cultural significance and shows how gameplay and context can be analyzed together to understand videogames as a dynamic mode of artistic expression. Well-known titles such as Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter and Katamari Damacy are evaluated in detail, showing how ideology and critique are conveyed through game narrative and character design as well as user interface, cabinet art, and peripherals. This book also considers how ‘Japan’ has been packaged for domestic and overseas consumers, and how Japanese designers have used the medium to express ideas about home and nation, nuclear energy, war and historical memory, social breakdown and bioethics. Placing each title in its historical context, Hutchinson ultimately shows that videogames are a relatively recent but significant site where cultural identity is played out in modern Japan. Comparing Japanese videogames with their American counterparts, as well as other media forms, such as film, manga and anime, Japanese Culture Through Videogames will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, as well as Game Studies, Media Studies and Japanese Studies more generally.
Analyzing the Connectivity and Bandwidth of Multiprocessors with Multi-stage Interconnection Networks

When implementing multi-processing systems consisting of a large number of processors, memory modules and interconnection switches, we must expect some of the system elements to become faulty. These faults may be the result of manufacturing defects or failures that occur while the system is already in operation. If the system is allowed to continue its operation in the presence of a few faulty elements, we need to predict the performance of the degraded system.
Interlaminar Approach for Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection

Cervical epidural steroid injection (CESI) is a frequently performed intervention for neck pain. This can be accomplished via interlaminar or transforaminal approach. Interlaminar approach is more commonly performed due to lower risk for intra-arterial injection. However, it has its own unique complications such as dural puncture and direct spinal cord injury. Interlaminar CESI has been thoroughly studied in regard to its efficacy and long-term benefit. This chapter reviews the interlaminar approach, indications for CESI, relevant anatomy, procedural technique, evidence for its efficacy, and potential complications.
Are confidence intervals better termed "uncertainty intervals"?

Debate abounds about how to describe weaknesses in statistics. Andrew Gelman has no confidence in the term “confidence interval,” but Sander Greenland doesn’t find “uncertainty interval” any better and argues instead for “compatibility interval”
Discussion of “The Therapeutics of the Fee in Psychoanalysis”

This discussion of Dr. Pauley’s paper (this issue) on the therapeutics of the fee first highlights the various valuable contributions Pauley makes. It applauds his unusual openness in sharing his i...