cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Commentary. Studying New Antidepressants: If There Were a Light at the End of the Tunnel, Could We See It?

From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, Pa. Supported in part by MH-30915 (Mental Health Intervention Research Center) from the National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Md. Dr. Thase submitted this Commentary to reflect his discussion of the articles derived from the scientific symposium “New Antidepressants: Light at the End of the Tunnel?” which was held May 10, 2001, at the 154th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New Orleans, La. Reprint requests to: Michael E. Thase, M.D., Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O’Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2593 (e-mail: thaseme@msx.upmc.edu). the relative utility of these medications. Traditionally, it has been assumed that antidepressants that have passed the review process of the U.S. Food and Drug Admi istration (FDA) are (more or less) comparably effective. If treatment options are truly comparably effective, then fact rs such as convenience, tolerability, safety, and cost are typically used to determine which medications are selected first, second, and third in a sequence of choices. By the end of the 1990s, 4 members of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class, fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, and citalopram, were widely accepted as first-choice options. When compared to the older standard, the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), the SSRIs had only 1 comparative disadvantage, higher direct cost. This drawback will begin to dissipate as generic formulations of fluoxetine and other class-mates become available. The SSRIs can thus be considered the new standard of comparison, against which all new antidepressants must be measured. It is likely that yet another new antidepressant, duloxetine, shortly will be approved for use in the United States. Available evidence indicates that duloxetine has bona fide antidepressant effects. Such early findings, which obviously require more extensive replication, are buttressed by the conceptual argument that antidepressants that simultaneously and directly affect noradrenergic and serotonergic neurotransmission will be more effective than more selective medications if tolerability is comparable. Recently, evidence from pooled analyses of studies of 2 other newer medications that affect both neurotransmitter systems, venlafaxine and mirtazapine, suggests either more rapid or greater overall efficacy than SSRIs. These findings are not universally accepted, however, and have potentially large commercial implications. Therefore, it is timely to examine both the strengths and the limitations of the methods used to compare the effects of new antidepressants. The primary aim of this review is to determine if current research methods are sufficiently precise to recognize a superior antidepressant effect if one actually exists.
In vivo imaging flow cytometry based on laser scanning two-photon microscopy at kHz cross-sectional frame rate

In vivo flow cytometry has found numerous applications in biology and pharmacology. However, conventional cytometry does not provide the detailed morphological information that is needed to fully determine the phenotype of individual circulating cells. Imaging cytometry, capable of visualizing the morphology and dynamics of the circulating cells at high spatiotemporal resolution, is highly desired. Current wide-field based image cytometers are limited in the imaging depth and provide only two-dimensional resolution. For deep tissue imaging, laser scanning two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPM) is widely adopted. However, for applications in flow cytometry, the axial scanning speed of current TPMs is inadequate to provide high-speed cross-sectional imaging of vasculature. We have integrated an optical phase-locked ultrasound lens into a standard TPM and achieved microsecond-scale axial scanning. With a galvo scanner for transverse scanning, we achieved kHz cross-sectional frame rate. Here we report its applications for in vivo deformability cytometry and in vivo imaging flow cytometry, and demonstrate the capability of imaging dynamical morphologies of flowing cells, distinguishing cells and cellular clusters, and simultaneously quantifying different cell populations based on their fluorescent labels.
Floating Breakwater for Reservoir Marinas

The concept of multiple use of reservoirs is resulting in the construction of marinas for recreational boating requiring breakwaters that can function for a large range of water levels A typical set of design criteria is an average water depth of 20 to 25 feet, wave lengths from S to 60 feet (wave periods of from 1 to 4 seconds) and wave heights from J to 5 feet Calculations based on Bulson's results showed a pneumatic breakwater to be too expensive An extensive literature search revealed that floating structures based upon the concepts of large effective mass or moment of inertia resulting from "entrained" water, or structures which can dissipate energy might be more effective than one of the floating bag types of breakwaters Several new-types of moored floating structures which combined two or more of the concepts mentioned above were tested in a wave tank, and several of the devices appear to have merit in that they were reasonably small compared with the longest design wave length and could reduce the highest design incident wave height to less than one foot, prototype, in the lee of the breakwater.
Deterministic and random beam propagation in anisotropic turbulence

Recent results on light generated by laser and random sources and propagating in anisotropic turbulence are presented. We examine changes in beam spread, and its states of coherence and polarization for different levels of anisotropy. Article not available.
P2-S5.09 Transgenders and HIV: a literature review of HIV risk behaviours and prevalence rates

Background Transgenders (TG) are a marginalised population that has been greatly impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The objective of this study is to review the current literature citing risk factors and prevalence rates for HIV infection among male to female (MTF) and female to male (FTM) TG in the USA. Methods A review of the original research articles published from 1981 to 2010 was performed through a Pubmed search using the terms “HIV risk” and “Transgender”. Results Thirty-five articles were identified, with MTF described in thirty-three and FTM described in nine. Collectively all racial groups were represented. The majority of research was done in large urban cities in the Southwest, Midwest, and Northeast. Most studies relied on self-report of HIV infection; and only six studies tested participants for HIV. The prevalence rates of HIV infection ranged from 2.2% to 68.0%. Unprotected receptive anal intercourse (URAI), commercial sex work (CSW), and African American (AA) race were the most frequent HIV risk factors identified. Homelessness and financial instability were frequent among adolescents. When compared to men who have sex with men (MSM) and heterosexual females, MTF are more likely to have URAI with multiple sexual partners. Among MTF participants, AA and Hispanics were more likely to participate in CSW than Caucasians. Self reported prevalence of HIV was low in FTM population (0–2%), except in one study which tested for HIV and found similar HIV prevalence in both FTM (10%) and MTF (10%); risk factors associated with HIV infection in this study were unprotected sex with a partner of unknown HIV status and location in an urban metropolitan area. Conclusions HIV rates among TG are high, especially among AA and Hispanics. Majority of MTF participate in high risk sexual activities. Geographically and ethnically diverse studies including MTF and FTM are needed to test HIV prevalence and associated risk factors in TG population.
Optimal filtering of stochastic parabolic equations

An estimation problem is considered for a stochastic parabolic equation with an unknown random coefficient. The additional randomness in the coefficient generalizes a popular estimation problem that has been extensively studied in recent years. The filter estimate of the coefficient is constructed from a finite-dimensional projection of the solution of the equation. Under certain conditions this estimate is approximated using a generalized Kalman-Bucy filter whose filter variance tends to zero as the dimension of the projection increases. In: S. Albeverio, Z-M. Ma, and M. Roeckner (editors), Recent Developments in Stochastic Analysis and Related Topics (Proceedings of the First Sino-German Conference on Stochastic Analysis, August 29–September 3, 2002, Beijing, China), pp. 330–353, World Scientific, 2004.
Dynamic Tensile Loading Activates TGF and BMP Signaling in Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Aligned Nanofibrous Scaffolds

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising cell source for tissue engineering applications, given their ease of isolation and multi-potential differentiation capacity [1]. External mechanical cues directly influence MSC lineage commitment [2]. However, it is not yet clear how these physical cues are transduced to the cell nucleus, an understanding of which may prove essential for orthopaedic tissue engineering. Transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), members of the TGF beta superfamily, regulate cellular processes including growth and differentiation [3, 4]. TGF and/or BMP ligand binding initiate SMAD phosphorylation, translocation to the nucleus, and transcriptional activation of target genes [4]. Additionally, both ligands can influence the organization of chromatin and the Lamin A/C (LMAC) nucleoskeletal network [5]. For example, we have recently shown that TGF-β3 leads to corticalized LMAC, marked increases in heterochromatin (HTC), and increased nuclear stiffness [6]. Interestingly, dynamic tensile stretch of MSCs on aligned nanofibrous scaffolds, in the absence of these differentiation factors, resulted in many of these same nuclear transformations [6, 7]. The objective of this study was to identify how dynamic tensile stress is transduced in MSCs on aligned nanofibrous scaffolds, and further, to ascertain whether these mechanoregulatory changes are coordinated through TGFβ/BMP signaling pathways.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
The lives of things: Native objects, human rights and ndn-indian relationality

Vital non-human things are too easily severed from their human “owners” due, in part, to particular human rights logics that enact market logics of equivalence, multicultural investments in recogni...
Two Views of Chinese Foreign Policy

The authors of the two volumes under review present different approaches to an analysis of the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China. Gurtov and Hwang stress the importance of national interest and the interaction of domestic factors and foreign policy; they make a connection between China's sensitivity to external threat and its reaction to it, especially at times of domestic political weakness. Armstrong asserts that ideology has played a major role in Chinese foreign policy making. In both volumes, case studies are cited to support the authors' hypotheses. The article concludes that national interest is the principal factor determining the foreign policy of the PRC. Mao Zedong's thought continues to play an important role in Chinese thinking; it is concerned with domestic economic and social change and not with the internal affairs of other countries.
Biological lasers for BIOS(Conference Presentation)

The abstract is not available © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Networks help assure survival. Interview by Donald E.L. Johnson.

Health care is increasingly a regional business rather than a national one, so hospitals should join or form local networks of providers, insurers and managed care entities, says Gary A. Mecklenburg, president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, in an interview with Health Care Strategic Management's Donald E.L. Johnson. Institutions that don't participate in the regionalization of health care could be left out. Mecklenburg, who is also president and CEO of the Northwestern Healthcare Network, expects hospital networks, insurers and managed care providers to form more exclusive or limited relationships. Northwestern Memorial is a 723-bed hospital and academic institution with a medical staff of 1,000 physicians. The Northwestern Healthcare Network is an organization formed in 1990 which brings together Northwestern Memorial, Children's Memorial, Evanston, Glenbrook and Highland Park Hospitals under a holding company.
Myocardial respiration and edema following hypothermic cardioplegia and anoxic arrest.

The effects of 1 and 2 hours of hypothermic anoxic arrest and cardioplegia induced by Mg-lidocaine, K-Mg, or K on left ventricular mitochondrial respiratory function, blood flow, and edema were studied in 41 mongrel dogs. Mitochondrial respiration was assessed by the indices of oxidative phosphorylation. Myocardial temperature recorded in ventricular septum was kept at 20° C during ischemic arrest and 10 minutes of reperfusion. Cardioplegic solutions did not influence noncoronary blood flow during cross-clamping of the aorta. Mitochondrial respiratory function remained at control levels after 1 hour of ischemia induced by hypothermic anoxic arrest or by Mg-lidocaine or K-Mg hypothermic cardioplegia. Mitochondrial state 3 respiration after 2 hours of anoxic arrest was significantly higher in Mg-lidocaine cardioplegia than in anoxic arrest (p
An Investigation of the Importance of the Interaction Between Marketing and Financial Strategies in Retail Firms

This paper investigates the hypothesis that strategic marketing planners should not evaluate the profit potential of their strategic actions by considering the marketing and financial impacts of those actions independently. Partial correlation and hierarchical regression is used to test whether the marketing and financial strategies interact to explain variance in profit performance not accounted for by the two individually. Four out of the twelve interactions tested were able to explain a statistically significant incremental amount of the variance in profitability.
Sodium bicarbonate use and the risk of hypernatremia in thoracic aortic surgical patients with metabolic acidosis following deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.

Objective: Metabolic acidosis after deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) for thoracic aortic operations is commonly managed with sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ). The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between total NaHCO 3 dose and the severity of metabolic acidosis, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of vasoactive infusions, and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or hospital length of stay (LOS). Methods: In a single center, retrospective study, 87 consecutive elective thoracic aortic operations utilizing DHCA, were studied. Linear regression analysis was used to test for the relationships between the total NaHCO 3 dose administered through postoperative day 2, clinical variables, arterial blood gas values, and short-term clinical outcomes. Results: Seventy-five patients (86%) received NaHCO 3 . Total NaHCO 3 dose averaged 136 ± 112 mEq (range: 0.0-535 mEq) per patient. Total NaHCO 3 dose correlated with minimum pH (r = 0.41, P < 0.0001), minimum serum bicarbonate (r = −0.40, P < 0.001), maximum serum lactate (r = 0.46, P = 0.007), duration of metabolic acidosis (r = 0.33, P = 0.002), and maximum serum sodium concentrations (r = 0.29, P = 0.007). Postoperative hypernatremia was present in 67% of patients and peaked at 12 h following DHCA. Eight percent of patients had a serum sodium ≥ 150 mEq/L. Total NaHCO 3 dose did not correlate with anion gap, serum chloride, not the duration of mechanical ventilator support, vasoactive infusions, ICU or hospital LOS. Conclusion: Routine administration of NaHCO 3 was common for the management of metabolic acidosis after DHCA. Total dose of NaHCO 3 was a function of the severity and duration of metabolic acidosis. NaHCO 3 administration contributed to postoperative hypernatremia that was often severe. The total NaHCO 3 dose administered was unrelated to short-term clinical outcomes.
Intensive Care in Obstetrics

Intensive care admissions comprise a small percentage of the obstetric population; however, it is becoming increasingly necessary to decrease maternal mortality in this group. Pregnancy is a unique stage in a woman’s life and has a significant impact on the mother’s physiology, making the management of these patients challenging and different from the nonpregnant population. In this chapter, we will discuss the impact of intensive care management in pregnant and postpartum patients as well as the physiologic changes and pathology unique to gravid patients.
Collagenase Clostridium Histolyticum for the Treatment of Peyronie's Disease: A 'Real World' Clinical Perspective.

The introduction of collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) as a treatment option for Peyronie’s disease (PD), defined as the abnormal formation of collagen on the tunica albuginea of the penis, has provided patients with a promising new conservative therapy. Studies have shown that CCH improves curvature by an average of 17°, and although patient and sexual partner satisfaction is high, the improvement has arguable clinical implications. Similarly, the efficacy and cost of CCH contrasts strongly with more invasive surgical management, and is further limited by rare, but serious, complications and several contraindications. The future of CCH involves well-designed trials analyzing the effects of CCH on patients who are currently not indicated for therapy, and the optimal amount of treatment for the most efficient treatment possible. CCH provides a promising treatment option for patients who do not desire invasive management, but need further trials to fully elucidate its treatment implications.
Near zero SSN power delivery networks using Constant Voltage Power Transmission Lines

To control SSN in the power delivery network, providing power through transmission line instead of voltage plane can lead to better performance. Several issues arise when the power transmission line is used in a real environment. Amongst them, a practical scheme presented in this paper focuses on supplying a stable voltage to the common power supply node of multiple I/Os switching simultaneously. The simulation results show that the newly suggested scheme generates power supply noise-free eye opening and consumes almost the same amount of power as the conventional power plane scheme.
Charging of polymers by high electric fields

Several polar and non-polar polymers, including polyvinylidene fluoride, polyethylene and polytetra-fluoroethylene were charged by evaporating various metal electrodes onto films of the materials and applying electric fields of the order of 1 MV/cm at various temperatures and times. The charged films were then analyzed by observing the charge transient which results during thermal equilibration following the heating of the electrodes with short (∼1 μsec) pulses of light (thermal pulse measurement of charge distribution due to R. E. Collins). The observed transients are discussed in terms of the charge distributions in the polymers and the relationship between these distributions and the sample history. The usefulness of considering the polymers as having a work function and possible implications of high-field charging on the breakdown strength of solid polymers will be discussed.
Building without melting: a short review of friction-based additive manufacturing techniques

Fusion additive technologies have pushed the boundaries beyond what was previously envisaged in the metal community. Championed by laser-based and electron beam technologies, metal additive manufacturing has captivated the interests of aerospace, defence, energy, automotive, and medical sectors. Though game-changing, these fusion-based techniques suffer from solidification related issues which play a critical role in applications where high premium is placed on materials' performance. Furthermore, only limited number of alloys can be built due to complexities associated with melting. To address these drawbacks, parallel work on solid state technologies was initiated in the last decade. An outcome of these efforts has been the development of additive manufacturing technologies based on friction which has now reached a stage where compilation is possible. In this article, fundamental principle and features of these friction-based additive technologies are reviewed with special emphasis on their individual advantages and differences between them. In addition, further scope, challenges and potential of these technologies are highlighted.
Safety-Aware Algorithms for Adversarial Contextual Bandit.

In this work we consider adversarial contextual bandits with risk constraints. At each round, nature prepares a context, a cost for each arm, and additionally a risk for each arm. The learner leverages the context to pull an arm and then receives the corresponding cost and risk associated with the pulled arm. In addition to minimizing the cumulative cost, the learner also needs to satisfy long-term risk constraints — the average of the cumulative risk from all pulled arms should not be larger than a pre-defined threshold. To address this problem, we first study the full information setting where in each round the learner receives an adversarial convex loss and a convex constraint. We develop a meta algorithm leveraging online mirror descent for the full information setting and extend it to contextual bandit with risk constraints setting using expert advice. Our algorithms can achieve near-optimal regret in terms of minimizing the total cost, while successfully maintaining a sublinear growth of cumulative risk constraint violation.
Structural characterization of the Man5 glycoform of human IgG3 Fc.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) consists of four subclasses in humans: IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4, which are highly conserved but have unique differences that result in subclass-specific effector functions. Though IgG1 is the most extensively studied IgG subclass, study of other subclasses is important to understand overall immune function and for development of new therapeutics. When compared to IgG1, IgG3 exhibits a similar binding profile to Fcγ receptors and stronger activation of complement. All IgG subclasses are glycosylated at N297, which is required for Fcγ receptor and C1q complement binding as well as maintaining optimal Fc conformation. We have determined the crystal structure of homogenously glycosylated human IgG3 Fc with a GlcNAc2Man5 (Man5) high mannose glycoform at 1.8A resolution and compared its structural features with published structures from the other IgG subclasses. Although the overall structure of IgG3 Fc is similar to that of other subclasses, some structural perturbations based on sequence differences were revealed. For instance, the presence of R435 in IgG3 (and H435 in the other IgG subclasses) has been implicated to result in IgG3-specific properties related to binding to protein A, protein G and the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). The IgG3 Fc structure helps to explain some of these differences. Additionally, protein-glycan contacts observed in the crystal structure appear to correlate with IgG3 affinity for Fcγ receptors as shown by binding studies with IgG3 Fc glycoforms. Finally, this IgG3 Fc structure provides a template for further studies aimed at engineering the Fc for specific gain of function.
Rayleigh and S wave tomography constraints on subduction termination and lithospheric foundering in central California

The crust and upper mantle structure of central California have been modified by subduction termination, growth of the San Andreas plate boundary fault system, and small-scale upper mantle convection since the early Miocene. Here we investigate the contributions of these processes to the creation of the Isabella Anomaly, which is a high seismic velocity volume in the upper mantle. There are two types of hypotheses for its origin. One is that it is the foundered mafic lower crust and mantle lithosphere of the southern Sierra Nevada batholith. The alternative suggests that it is a fossil slab connected to the Monterey microplate. A dense broadband seismic transect was deployed from the coast to the western Sierra Nevada to fill in the least sampled areas above the Isabella Anomaly, and regional-scale Rayleigh and S wave tomography are used to evaluate the two hypotheses. New shear velocity (Vs) tomography images a high-velocity anomaly beneath coastal California that is sub-horizontal at depths of ∼40–80 km. East of the San Andreas Fault a continuous extension of the high-velocity anomaly dips east and is located beneath the Sierra Nevada at ∼150–200 km depth. The western position of the Isabella Anomaly in the uppermost mantle is inconsistent with earlier interpretations that the Isabella Anomaly is connected to actively foundering foothills lower crust. Based on the new Vs images, we interpret that the Isabella Anomaly is not the dense destabilized root of the Sierra Nevada, but rather a remnant of Miocene subduction termination that is translating north beneath the central San Andreas Fault. Our results support the occurrence of localized lithospheric foundering beneath the high elevation eastern Sierra Nevada, where we find a lower crustal low Vs layer consistent with a small amount of partial melt. The high elevations relative to crust thickness and lower crustal low Vs zone are consistent with geological inferences that lithospheric foundering drove uplift and a ∼3–4 Ma pulse of basaltic magmatism.
Multiplicity-adjusted sample size requirements: a strategy to maintain statistical power with Bonferroni adjustments.

Background A researcher must carefully balance the risk of 2 undesirable outcomes when designing a clinical trial: false-positive results (type I error) and false-negative results (type II error). In planning the study, careful attention is routinely paid to statistical power (i.e., the complement of type II error) and corresponding sample size requirements. However, Bonferroni-type alpha adjustments to protect against type I error for multiple tests are often resisted. Here, a simple strategy is described that adjusts alpha for multiple primary efficacy measures, yet maintains statistical power for each test. Method To illustrate the approach, multiplicity-adjusted sample size requirements were estimated for effects of various magnitude with statistical power analyses for 2-tailed comparisons of 2 groups using chi2 tests and t tests. These analyses estimated the required sample size for hypothetical clinical trial protocols in which the prespecified number of primary efficacy measures ranged from 1 to 5. Corresponding Bonferroni-adjusted alpha levels were used for these calculations. Results Relative to that required for 1 test, the sample size increased by about 20% for 2 dependent variables and 30% for 3 dependent variables. Conclusion The strategy described adjusts alpha for multiple primary efficacy measures and, in turn, modifies the sample size to maintain statistical power. Although the strategy is not novel, it is typically overlooked in psychopharmacology trials. The number of primary efficacy measures must be prespecified and carefully limited when a clinical trial protocol is prepared. If multiple tests are designated in the protocol, the alpha-level adjustment should be anticipated and incorporated in sample size calculations.
Population genetic structure of earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus) in soils contaminated by heavy metals.

The genetic structure of earthworm (Lumbricus rubellus) populations from plots (N=3) contaminated by sewage sludge (containing Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) and reference plots (N=3) was compared. Earthworms (N=30–40 per plot) were collected during May 2000 and electrophoretic analyses were used to assess genetic variation at three polymorphic loci (GPI, LAP, PGM). Allele and genotype frequencies for GPI and PGM differed significantly between sludge and reference populations. Sludge populations were characterized by a reduced frequency of the most common genotype and allele at these loci, and the presence of alleles not found in the reference population. Allele and genotype frequencies did not differ significantly among individual plots within the sludge or the reference population. These results suggest that certain alleles and genotypes may be more sensitive to the effects of heavy metals. Multi-locus heterozygosity was significantly higher in the sludge population compared to the reference population; the proportion of individuals heterozygous at two or more loci was more than 15% higher in the sludge population. Results demonstrate that measures of population genetic structure in earthworms may represent useful biological indicators for the assessment of impacted terrestrial habitats.
Fast Matrix Multiplication and Related Operations Using Reconfigurable Optical Buses

We present efficient parallel matrix multiplication algorithms for linear arrays with reconfigurable pipelined bus systems (LARPBS). The main contributions are as follows. We develop five matrix multiplication algorithms with varying degrees of parallelism on the LARPBS computing model, namely, MM1, MM2, MM3, and compound algorithms C 1(e) and C 2(δ). Algorithm C 1(e) has adjustable time complexity in sub-linear level. Algorithm C 2(δ) implies that it is feasible to achieve sub-logarithmic time using o(N 3) processors for matrix multiplication on a realistic system. Algorithms MM3, C 1(e), and C 2(δ) all have o(N 3) cost, and hence, are very processor efficient. Algorithms MM1, MM3, and C 1(e) are general-purpose matrix multiplication algorithms, where the array elements are in any ring. Algorithms MM2 and C 2(δ) are applicable to array elements that are integers of bounded magnitude, or floating-point values of bounded precision and magnitude, or boolean values. Extension of algorithms MM2 and C 2(δ) to unbounded integers and reals, as well as the application of our matrix multiplication algorithms in solving a number of important and fundamental matrix computation problems, are also discussed.
0.5 V ANALOG INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Semiconductor technology scaling has enabled function density increases and cost reductions by orders of magnitudes, but for shrinking device sizes the operating voltages have to be reduced. As we move into the nanoscale semiconductor technologies, power supply voltages well below 1 V are projected. The design of MOS analog circuits operating from a power supply voltage of 0.5 V is discussed in this paper. The scaling of traditional circuit topologies is not possible anymore and new circuit topologies and biasing strategies have to developed. Several design examples are presented. The circuit implementations of gate and body-input 0.5 V operational transconductance amplifiers and their robust biasing are discussed. These building blocks are combined for the realization of active varactor-tuned RC filters operating from 0.5 V using standard devices with a |VT| of 0.5V in a standard 0.18 µm CMOS technology.
Free hosting options for student projects

This paper describes a workshop covering many free options for hosting student projects. Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) has implemented over the past ten years instructional environments for computing using Free, Open Source and low-cost tools and resources. The faculty members have started and maintain multiple instructional development activities, which are built on a foundation of Free, Open Source or low-cost technology platforms and in the sum are in alignment with SPSU's polytechnic nature. This workshop will describe and explain what worked and what did not work, prescribe and recommend methods, tools and actions for effective implementation on participants' campuses, and provide a set of tool recommendations for hosting student projects for participants to take back to their home campuses.
Geophysical Studies in the Caribbean Sea

Since the pioneering pendulum gravity measurements of Vening-Meinesz and Wright (1930) and Hess (1933, 1938), the Caribbean Sea, with its multitude of geologic problems, has received intensive study as new geophysical techniques evolved. General features of crustal structure are now partly known through seismic-refraction and gravity measurements, and the locations of major sedimentary basins and many shallow structures have been defined using seismic-reflection profiles and gravity measurements. Correlation of reflection data with stratigraphic information obtained from deep drill holes, such as those of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), has led to a rudimentary knowledge of time-stratigraphic and sedimentological features of the southern Caribbean basins. The general gravity field of the Caribbean region, both onshore and offshore, is rather well established. Enough heat-flow data are available in the Caribbean Sea to determine some regional patterns, but far more measurements are required for true definition of the heat-flow field. The magnetic field of the Caribbean, as of December 1973, is a troublesome problem. Essentially the entire Caribbean has been surveyed, but the published surveys tend to cover rather spotty areas. Some surveys were made by ships and others by aircraft; some results have been presented as total-intensity maps, and others as residual-anomaly maps.
The Biological Response Modifiers Interleukin-2 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Modulate the Cytotoxic Activity of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes Against Human Colon Cancer Cells

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignancies in both men and women in the United States, and its incidence is still rising every year (1). At the time of initial diagnosis, less than 60% of the patients have localized disease which is amenable to surgical treatment, and the prognosis is even worse in the advanced stages of the disease. In addition to surgery, or when surgery is not indicated because of metastatic disease, alternate forms of therapy include chemotherapy and occasionally radiotherapy. Presently, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is the most effective chemotherapeutic agent, but response rate usually is not better than 20–30% (2). Other substances have been used in combination with 5-FU, such as leucovorin (folinic acid) and cis-platinum. These combinations only induce a modest increase in the response rates, but often result in severe drug-related toxicities, including 3–4% of drug related fatalities (3–5). Levamisole, an antihelmintic drug with immuno-enhancing properties, has been recently used in combination with 5-FU, and a moderate increase of survival rates has been reported (6).
Erratum to: Effector Translocation: Cya Reporter Assay

An error was observed in Step 2 of section 3.3. Direct cAMP Assay of this chapter. The same was replaced with the correction below.
Electron microscopy techniques employed to explore mitochondrial defects in the developing rat brain following ketamine treatment.

Abstract Ketamine, an FDA-approved N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is commonly used for general pediatric anesthesia. Accumulating evidence has indicated that prolonged exposure to ketamine induces widespread apoptotic cell death in the developing brains of experimental animals. Although mitochondria are known to play a pivotal role in cell death, little is known about the alterations in mitochondrial ultrastructure that occur during ketamine-induced neurotoxicity. The objective of this pilot study was to utilize classic and contemporary methods in electron microscopy to study the impact of ketamine on the structure of mitochondria in the developing rat brain. While transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to comprehensively study mitochondrial inner membrane topology, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) was used as a complementary technique to compare the overall mitochondrial morphology from a representative treated and untreated neuron. In this study, postnatal day 7 (PND-7) Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with ketamine or saline (6 subcutaneous injections × 20 mg/kg or 10 ml/kg, respectively, at 2-h intervals with a 6-h withdrawal period after the last injection, n=6 each group). Samples from the frontal cortex were harvested and analyzed using TEM or SBF-SEM. While classic TEM revealed that repeated ketamine exposure induces significant mitochondrial swelling in neurons, the newer technique of SBF-SEM confirmed the mitochondrial swelling in three dimensions (3D) and showed that ketamine exposure may also induce mitochondrial fission, which was not observable in the two dimensions (2D) of TEM. Furthermore, 3D statistical analysis of these reconstructed mitochondria appeared to show that ketamine-treated mitochondria had significantly larger volumes per unit surface area than mitochondria from the untreated neuron. The ultrastructural mitochondrial alterations demonstrated here by TEM and SBF-SEM support ketamine’s proposed mechanism of neurotoxicity in the developing rat brain.
APOE genotype affects metabolic and Alzheimer-related outcomes induced by Western diet in female EFAD mice.

Development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is regulated by interactive effects of genetic and environmental risk factors. The most significant genetic risk factor for AD is the e4 allele of apolipoprotein E ( APOE4), which has been shown to exert greater AD risk in women. An important modifiable AD risk factor is obesity and its associated metabolic dysfunctions. Whether APOE genotype might interact with obesity in females to regulate AD pathogenesis is unclear. To investigate this issue, we studied the effects of Western diet (WD) on female EFAD mice, a transgenic mouse model of AD that includes human APOE alleles e3 (E3FAD) and e4 (E4FAD). EFAD mice were fed either control (10% fat, 7% sugar) or WD (45% fat, 17% sugar), and both metabolic and neuropathologic outcomes were determined. Although E4FAD mice generally exhibited poorer metabolic status at baseline, E3FAD mice showed greater diet-induced metabolic impairments. Similarly, E4FAD mice exhibited higher levels of AD-related pathology overall, but only E3FAD showed significant increases on select measures of β-amyloid pathology after exposure to WD. These data demonstrate a gene-environment interaction between APOE and obesogenic diets in females. Understanding how AD-promoting effects of obesity are modulated by genetic factors will foster the identification of at-risk populations and development of preventive interventions.-Christensen, A., Pike, C. J. APOE genotype affects metabolic and Alzheimer-related outcomes induced by Western diet in female EFAD mice.
Cellular ANTomata

Cellular automata can form the basis of a practical model for a broad range of tasks that require the coordination of many simple computing devices. We propose using "semi-synchronous" cellular automata as a platform for efficiently realizing ant-inspired algorithms that coordinate robots within a fixed, geographically constrained environment. We present an appropriate formalization of the resulting Cellular ANTomaton model, illustrated via "proof-of-concept" problems that have ant-robots move and aggregate in various ways.
Using a Multi-Stage hESC Model to Characterize BDE-47 Toxicity during Neurogenesis.

While the ramifications associated with polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) exposures during human pregnancy have yet to be determined, increasing evidence in humans and animal models suggests that these compounds cause neurodevelopmental toxicity. Human embryonic stem cell models (hESCs) can be used to study the effects of environmental chemicals throughout the successive stages of neuronal development. Here, using a hESC differentiation model, we investigated the effects of common PBDE congeners (BDE-47 or -99) on the successive stages of early neuronal development. First, we determined the points of vulnerability to PBDEs across four stages of in vitro neural development by using assays to assess for cytotoxicity. Differentiated neural progenitors were identified to be more sensitive to PBDEs than their less differentiated counterparts. In follow-up investigations, we observed BDE-47 to inhibit functional processes critical for neurogenesis (e.g., proliferation, expansion) in hESC-derived neural precursor cells (NPCs) at sub-lethal concentrations. Finally, to determine the mechanism(s) underlying PBDE-toxicity, we conducted global transcriptomic and methylomic analyses of BDE-47. We identified 589 genes to be differentially expressed (DE) due to BDE-47 exposure, including molecules involved in oxidative stress mediation, cell cycle, hormone signaling, steroid metabolism, and neurodevelopmental pathways. In parallel analyses, we identified a broad significant increase in CpG methylation. In summary our results suggest, on a cellular level, PBDEs induce human neurodevelopmental toxicity in a concentration-dependent manner and sensitivity to these compounds is dependent on the developmental stage of exposure. Proposed mRNA and methylomic perturbations may underlie toxicity in early embryonic neuronal populations.
Sticking to the Facts: Confident Decoding for Faithful Data-to-Text Generation.

We address the issue of hallucination in data-to-text generation, i.e., reducing the generation of text that is unsupported by the source. We conjecture that hallucination can be caused by an encoder-decoder model generating content phrases without attending to the source; so we propose a confidence score to ensure that the model attends to the source whenever necessary, as well as a variational Bayes training framework that can learn the score from data. Experiments on the WikiBio (Lebretet al., 2016) dataset show that our approach is more faithful to the source than existing state-of-the-art approaches, according to both PARENT score (Dhingra et al., 2019) and human evaluation. We also report strong results on the WebNLG (Gardent et al., 2017) dataset.
EDGE in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: How does it compare to laparoscopy-assisted and balloon enteroscopy ERCP: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and study aims Endoscopic ultrasound-directed transgastric ERCP (EDGE) is a new endoscopic procedure to perform ERCP in Roux-en-y gastric bypass (RYGB) patients. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate technical success, clinical success and adverse effects of EDGE and compare it to laparoscopic ERCP (LA-ERCP) and balloon ERCP (BE-ERCP). Patients and methods We conducted a comprehensive search of several databases and conference proceedings including PubMed, EMBASE, Google-Scholar, LILACS, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases to identify studies reporting on EDGE, LA-ERCP, and BE-ERCP. The primary outcome was to evaluate technical and clinical success of all three procedures and the secondary analysis focused on calculating the pooled rate of all adverse events (AEs), along with the commonly reported AE subtypes. Results Twenty-four studies on 1268 patients were included in our analysis with the majority of the population being males with mean age 53.72 years. Pooled rates of technical and clinical success with EDGE wer 95.5 % and 95.9 %, with LA-ERCP were 95.3 % and 92.9 % and were BE-ERCP were 71.4 % and 58.7 %, respectively. Pooled rates of all AEs with EDGE were 21.9 %, with LA-ERCP 17.4 % and with BE-ERCP 8.4 %. Stent migration was the most common AE with EDGE with 13.3 % followed by bleeding with 6.6 %. Conclusion Our meta-analysis demonstrated that the technical and clinical success of EDGE procedure is better than BE-ERCP and comparable to that of LA-ERCP in RYGB patients. EDGE also has a similar safety profile as compared to LA-ERCP but has higher AE rate as compared to BE-ERCP.
Measuring the Mapping Between Disclosures and the Information Environment: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

Existing research finds evidence in favor of a bidirectional causal relation between disclosure and features of the firm’s information environment, such that disclosure is both a determinant and an outcome of a firm’s information environment. Building on this idea, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to develop measures of the mapping between a firm’s portfolio of disclosures and the quality of the firm’s information environment. This approach shows that disclosure mapping scores vary predictably across firms based on sources of disclosure costs and display substantial persistence across time, consistent with enduring features of the operating environment determining firms’ disclosure strategies. Using these disclosure mapping scores, we examine whether unexpected shifts in the information environment from sources external to the firm, such as a loss of analyst coverage due to a brokerage closure, result in transitory or more permanent shifts in the firm-level mapping between disclosures and the information environment. Evidence from these tests suggests that firms dynamically adjust their disclosure portfolios toward a target mapping between disclosures and the information environment in response to events that move firms away from their target.
An Empirically Grounded Framework That Evaluates Argument Quality in Scientific and Social Contexts

This study was aimed to develop a general argumentation framework for evaluating the quality of causal arguments across scientific and social contexts. We designed a computer-delivered assessment that contains four scenario-based argumentation tasks. Each task asks students to identify relevant evidence from provided data sources and use the evidence to construct an argument that answers a causal question. One task is about a social issue, while the rest three tasks each requires knowledge of a scientific concept (melting/evaporation, photosynthesis, trophic cascade). The assessment was implemented with 349 students from urban middle and high schools. Based on the data and prior research, we developed an empirically grounded argumentation framework that contains four qualitatively different levels: non-causal arguments, causal arguments lacking logical connections, causal arguments with weak reasoning, and causal arguments with strong reasoning. The qualitative results provide evidence of the existence of the argumentation levels. The IRT analysis and the Wright map provide the evidence that the order of and the distinctions among the argumentation levels are meaningful. Together, the qualitative and quantitative results support the viability of the framework.
Factors associated with long-term pessary use

Vaginal pessary is a well-established pelvic organ prolapse (POP) treatment, but little evidence about long-term use is available. Our aim was to report the duration of use and investigate predictors of long-term pessary use for POP. We hypothesized that younger, healthier women and women who experienced complications would have shorter duration of use.
The New Face of Medicine –care flow strategies developed during COVID: Care Flow Strategies during COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined the practice of medicine. Adaptive care models to sustain access through integration of virtual and in person essential services have been implemented. Utilization of novel scheduling protocols can create a safe and efficient clinic experience for children and staff in this pandemic time.