cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Studies on lipid peroxides in platelets. II. Effect of aggregating agents and platelet antibody.

Abstract Lipid peroxidation was studied in platelets exposed to a variety of aggregating agents and to specific antibody. Human and rat platelets were used either unwashed and suspended in a plasma medium or washed and suspended in an artificial medium. The products of lipid peroxidation were measured as malonaldehyde by reaction with thiobarbituric acid. Neither adenosine diphosphate (ADP) nor epinephrine increased lipid peroxide formation. The presence or absence of aggregation did not influence these results. Ca ++ and Mg ++ caused aggregation and accelerated lipid peroxide formation when incubated for one hour at 37 °C. Thrombin at concentrations of 1 U. per milliliter or greater produced aggregation and rapidly increased lipid peroxidation; this effect was pH dependent. Polystyrene-latex particles induced both strong aggregation and lipid peroxidation. Glutathione (SH) inhibitors, p-chloromercuribenzoate (CMB) and N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM), enhanced lipid peroxidation in washed platelets two- to threefold over that found in the controls. Heterologous antibody agglutinated platelets and stimulated lipid peroxide formation. Reduced glutathione (GSH) and dithiothreitol (DTT) effectively blocked lipid peroxidation produced by thrombin, SH inhibitors, and platelet antibody without inhibiting aggregation. It is concluded that aggregation as such is not a stimulus to increased lipid peroxidation. The acceleration in lipid peroxide formation resulting from exposure of platelets to thrombin, latex particles, or heterologous antibody may participate in the deleterious effect of these substances on platelets.
Nesting of subadult golden eagles in Southwestern Idaho

Etude du succes nidificateur de subadultes d'Aquila chrysaetos, dans le sud-ouest de l'Idaho de 1970 a 1981 en fonction de divers facteurs de milieu
In situ hybridization for the detection of rust fungi in paraffin embedded plant tissue sections

Rust fungi are obligate pathogens with multiple life stages often including different spore types and multiple plant hosts. While individual rust pathogens are often associated with specific plants, a wide range of plant species are infected with rust fungi. To study the interactions between these important pathogenic fungi and their host plants, one must be able to differentiate fungal tissue from plant tissue. This can be accomplished using the In situ hybridization (ISH) protocol described here. To validate reproducibility using the ISH protocol, samples of Chrysanthemum × morifolium infected with Puccinia horiana, Gladiolus × hortulanus infected with Uromyces transversalis and Glycine max infected with Phakopsora pachyrhizi were tested alongside uninfected leaf tissue samples. The results of these tests show that this technique clearly distinguishes between rust pathogens and their respective host plant tissues. This ISH protocol is applicable to rust fungi and potentially other plant pathogenic fungi as well. It has been shown here that this protocol can be applied to pathogens from different genera of rust fungi with no background staining of plant tissue. We encourage the use of this protocol for the study of plant pathogenic fungi in paraffin embedded sections of host plant tissue.
Representation, Partisanship, and Equality in Education

Racial inequities in access to quality education are one of the most persistent issues in American politics. African-American educational attainment lags behind all other groups in the United States and appears resistant to most policy levers. The Politics of African-American Education: Representation, Partisanship, and Educational Equity brings together the results of a major national study focused on the local politics of education. The study stresses four major themes. First, racial disparities in education reflect, in part, political inequities. Although a wide range of factors influence the educational attainment of African Americans including income levels, housing patterns, employment opportunities, and myriad social factors, the correlation between African-American political power and access to quality education for African American students has persisted for more than two hundred years. Within the African-American community, consistent response to the lack of educational opportunities has been to mobilize politically through interest groups (such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), protests, or politicians (by running for electoral office). The political side of educational equity will be the primary focus of this study rather than sociological or economic variables. We argue that while research sometimes overlooks this aspect of educational processes, it can be one of the most important in determining what opportunities are afforded to students. Second, representation is an effective instrument for addressing African-American educational inequities. This study views political representation broadly to include African-American school board members, school administrators, and, most of all, school teachers. Representation in school politics occurs through a cascade effect with school board representation influencing administrative representation which, in turn, directly affects teacher representation. Increases in school board representation predict increases in administrative representation, and increases in administrative representation predict increases in teacher representation. Among these groups, African-American teachers are consistently associated with better educational outcomes for African-American students in policy outputs (gifted class assignments, special education assignments, suspensions, and expulsions) as well as in policy outcomes (test scores, graduation rates, and preparation for higher education). Third, electoral and governance structures create biases in the political and bureaucratic systems that influence how representation and other factors affect African-American education. Electoral structures such as at-large elections are designed to bias electoral results to discriminate against numerical minorities.
2-DWT and AES: Secure Authentication Management for Polar Iris Templates Using Visual Cryptography

Biometrics deals with authenticating a person's identity based on the physiological or behavioral characteristics. Visual cryptography (VC) is a promising information security technique that allows the secret sharing of images without any cryptographic computations. Various existing schemes were introduced for securing the raw biometric data and template in the database using the VC technique. The complexity of encryption plays a vital role in security improvement. In order to overwhelm the above limitations, a secure authentication management for polar iris templates is presented using VC technique. The collaborative splitting of pixels in all directions presented in this paper was done in order to improve security. At first, the input image was segmented using the Canny edge detection and Hough transform. Subsequently, the normalization module transformed the iris texture from the Cartesian to polar-coordinates. The polar iris image was further separated into two shares, namely, share 1 and share 2, using VC technique. To accomplish more security than the existing methods, both 2-discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and advanced encryption standard (AES) shifting techniques were introduced in VC, termed as transform based AES (TAES). After receiving the encrypted image, the feature extraction is carried out by multi-scale local binary pattern (MLBP). The share 1 images are stored in the user database, whereas the share 2 images are stored in the server database. K-NN classifier is employed to recognize and retrieve the share 2 from the user database on the basis of features. Finally, reconstruction was performed from recognized share 1 and share 2 images by using the inverse process of TAES. The experimental results exhibit better peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), mean square error (MSE) and normalized correlation (NC), false acceptance rate (FAR), false rejection rate (FRR), and equal error rate (EER) than the other existing methods.
Excited-state absorption spectra of V 2 + in KMgF 3 and MgF 2

We have measured the excited-state absorption spectra of ${\mathrm{V}}^{2+}$ in ${\mathrm{KMgF}}_{3}$ and ${\mathrm{MgF}}_{2}$. The observed absorption bands can be identified as being due to the $^{4}\mathrm{T}_{2}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{}}^{4}$${\mathrm{T}}_{1}$a and $^{4}\mathrm{T}_{1}$b transitions. The position and shape of the $^{4}\mathrm{T}_{2}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{}}^{4}$${\mathrm{T}}_{1}$b transition are determined primarily by the displacement in the ${a}_{1g}$ mode while the coupling of the orbital triplet states to ${e}_{g}$ distortions is found to have a substantial influence on the nature of the $^{4}\mathrm{T}_{2}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{}}^{4}$${\mathrm{T}}_{1}$a transition. In fact, this transition is observed as a broad band rather than as a sharp line, as is predicted solely on the basis of the ${a}_{1g}$ coordinate. The $^{4}\mathrm{T}_{2}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{}}^{4}$${\mathrm{T}}_{1}$a transition is shifted up in energy relative to its predicted position and significantly overlaps the emission spectrum, thereby providing an explanation for the poor lasing efficiency reported for ${\mathrm{V}}^{2+}$ lasers.
Semiparametric accelerated failure time model for the analysis of right censored data

The accelerated failure time model or accelerated life model relates the logarithm of the failure time linearly to the covariates. The parameters in the model provides a direct interpretation. In this paper, we review some newly developed practically useful estimation and inference methods for the model in the analysis of right censored data.
Greece and the Birth of Containment: An American Perspective

America’s strategy of containment, designed to confront postwar Soviet aggression, real and perceived, grew out of a series of disparate and seemingly unrelated conflicts. Thus the clash over the future of defeated Germany was direct, immediate and of obvious importance for vital United States interests in Europe and the world. By contrast, the communist insurgency in Greece was originally perceived as a basically domestic affair of a small country in a remote region of little strategic value. Yet the Truman Doctrine, which paved the way for containment’s gradual global implementation—Marshall Plan, Berlin airlift, NATO, wars in Korea and Indochina—was ostensibly focused primarily on Greece. After remaining a benevolent but deliberately passive observer of turmoil and violence in Greece, Washington boldly replaced Britain as the foreign patron of that small and troubled Balkan state. This study documents the transformation of United States policy toward Greece, and the birth of containment. It argues that the change was fundamentally one of perceptions of the nature of Soviet policy itself within the Truman administration, rather than of realities in Greece. In retrospect, Greece was an unlikely springboard for launching the strategy of containing Moscow’s ideology and power. The significance of the communist threat in Greece was more a matter of alarmist assumptions, loose perceptions and questionable symbolism than of hard facts and geostrategic realities. But in human affairs perceptions and symbolism are important, especially if clothed in an aura of success, as was the application of containment in Greece.
Endothelial APLNR regulates tissue fatty acid uptake and is essential for apelin’s glucose-lowering effects

Treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus continues to pose an important clinical challenge, with most existing therapies lacking demonstrable ability to improve cardiovascular outcomes. The atheroprotective peptide apelin (APLN) enhances glucose utilization and improves insulin sensitivity. However, the mechanism of these effects remains poorly defined. We demonstrate that the expression of APLNR (APJ/AGTRL1), the only known receptor for apelin, is predominantly restricted to the endothelial cells (ECs) of multiple adult metabolic organs, including skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Conditional endothelial-specific deletion of Aplnr (AplnrECKO ) resulted in markedly impaired glucose utilization and abrogation of apelin-induced glucose lowering. Furthermore, we identified inactivation of Forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1) and inhibition of endothelial expression of fatty acid (FA) binding protein 4 (FABP4) as key downstream signaling targets of apelin/APLNR signaling. Both the Apln-/- and AplnrECKO mice demonstrated increased endothelial FABP4 expression and excess tissue FA accumulation, whereas concurrent endothelial Foxo1 deletion or pharmacologic FABP4 inhibition rescued the excess FA accumulation phenotype of the Apln-/- mice. The impaired glucose utilization in the AplnrECKO mice was associated with excess FA accumulation in the skeletal muscle. Treatment of these mice with an FABP4 inhibitor abrogated these metabolic phenotypes. These findings provide mechanistic insights that could greatly expand the therapeutic repertoire for type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders.
Mitochondrial dysfunction RAD51, and Ku80 proteolysis promote apoptotic effects of Dinaciclib in Bcl‐xL silenced cells

In the present study, we investigated the effect of CDK inhibitors (ribociclib, palbociclib, seliciclib, AZD5438, and dinaciclib) on malignant human glioma cells for cell viability, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial function using various assays. None of the CDK inhibitors induced cell death at a clinically relevant concentration. However, low nanomolar concentrations of dinaciclib showed higher cytotoxic activity against Bcl-xL silenced cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. This effect was not seen with other CDK inhibitors. The apoptosis-inducing capability of dinaciclib in Bcl-xL silenced cells was evidenced by cell shrinkage, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, and increased phosphatidylserine externalization. Dinaciclib was found to disrupt mitochondrial membrane potential, resulting in the release of cytochrome c, AIF, and smac/DIABLO into the cytoplasm. This was accompanied by the downregulation of cyclin-D1, D3, and total Rb. Dinaciclib caused cell cycle arrest in a time- and concentration-dependent manner and with accumulation of cells in the sub-G1 phase. Our results also revealed that dinaciclib, but not ribociclib or palbociclib or seliciclib or AZD5438 induced intrinsic apoptosis via upregulation of the levels of pro-apoptotic proteins (Bax and Bak), resulting in the activation of caspases and cleavage of PARP. We also found an additional mechanism for the dinaciclib-induced augmentation of apoptosis due to abrogation RAD51-cyclin D1 interaction, specifically proteolysis of the DNA repair proteins RAD51 and Ku80. Our results suggest that successfully interfering with Bcl-xL function may restore sensitivity to dinaciclib and could hold the promise for an effective combination therapeutic strategy.
Tumor Architecture and Notch Signaling Modulate Drug Response in Basal Cell Carcinoma

Hedgehog (Hh) pathway inhibitors such as vismodegib are highly effective for treating basal cell carcinoma (BCC); however, residual tumor cells frequently persist and regenerate the primary tumor upon drug discontinuation. Here, we show that BCCs are organized into two molecularly and functionally distinct compartments. Whereas interior Hh+/Notch+ suprabasal cells undergo apoptosis in response to vismodegib, peripheral Hh+++/Notch- basal cells survive throughout treatment. Inhibiting Notch specifically promotes tumor persistence without causing drug resistance, while activating Notch is sufficient to regress already established lesions. Altogether, these findings suggest that the three-dimensional architecture of BCCs establishes a natural hierarchy of drug response in the tumor and that this hierarchy can be overcome, for better or worse, by modulating Notch.
Floquet calculations for H 2 + photoionization

We present results of calculations of rates for ionization of the lowest electronic state of the H2+ ion by a continuous-wave laser field. We solve the coupled-channel Floquet equations in both length and velocity gauges using a pseudospectral method. We employ a complex absorbing potential to obtain Siegert-type solutions resulting in resonance positions and widths. We calculate generalized cross sections for one-, two-, and three-photon ionizations for various internuclear separations of the ion with intensity of I = 1.76 × 1012 W/cm2. This is the first time the Floquet technique combined with the complex absorbing potential has been employed for photoionization cross sections of the ion. We report on ionization rates of the ion for different internuclear distances with intensity of I = 5 × 1013 W/cm2. We also present two-photon ionization cross section for different internuclear distances with intensities of I = 1.76 × 1013 and 1.76 × 1014 W/cm2. We compare our findings from calculations carried out in both gauges with those of previous calculations.
Unitary evolution with fluctuations and dissipation

We outline an extension of the classical Langevin equation to a quantum formulation of the treatment of dissipation and fluctuations of all collective degrees of freedom with unitary evolution of a many-fermion system within an extension of the time-dependent density functional theory. We illustrate the method by computing the distribution of fission fragment yields for $^{258}\mathrm{Fm}$ in a quantum hydrodynamic approach and a typical trajectory with full unrestricted density functional theory augmented with dissipation and fluctuations.
On Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Parameters of Autoregressive Moving Average Processes

A stationary stochastic process that serves as a useful model for time series analysis is the autoregressive process with moving average residuals {y t } which satisfies $$\sum\limits_{j = 0}^p {{\beta _j}{y_{t - j}}} = \sum\limits_{g = 0}^q {{\alpha _g}{v_{t - g}}} $$ (1) , t = ..., - 1, 0, 1,..., where the sequence {v t } consists of independently identically distributed (unobservable) random variables. To avoid indeterminancy β 0 = α 0 = 1. The mean of v t is independent of t and is taken to be 0 for convenience; the variance of v t is σ 2 . We shall assume that the v t ’s are normally distributed, that is, that the process is Gaussian.
Assessment of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology wet bulb globe temperature model using weather station data

Exertional heat illnesses affect thousands of athletes each year and are a leading cause of death in sports. The wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is widely used as a heat stress metric in athletics for adjusting activities. The WBGT can be measured on-site with portable sensors, but instrument cost may provide a barrier for usage. Modeling WBGT from weather station data, then, presents an affordable option. Our study compares two WBGT models of varying levels of sophistication: the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) model which uses only temperature and humidity as inputs and a physically based model by Liljegren that incorporates temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation in determining WBGT outputs. The setting for the study is 19 University of Georgia Weather Network stations selected from across the state of Georgia, USA, over a 6-year period (2008–2014) during late summer and early fall months. Results show that the ABM model’s performance relative to the Liljegren model varies based on time of day and weather conditions. WBGTs from the ABM model are most similar to those from the Liljegren model during midday when the assumption of moderately high sun most frequently occurs. We observed increasingly large positive biases with the ABM model both earlier and later in the day during periods with lower solar radiation. Even during midday, large (≥ 3 °C) underestimates may occur during low wind conditions and overestimates during periods with high cloud cover. Such differences can lead to inaccurate activity modification and pose dangers for athletes either by underestimating heat-related hazards or by imposing an opportunity cost if practice activities are limited by overestimating the heat hazard.
Microbiota-dependent elevation of Alcohol Dehydrogenase inDrosophilais associated with changes in alcohol-induced hyperactivity and alcohol preference

The gut microbiota impacts diverse aspects of host biology including metabolism, immunity, and behavior, but the scope of those effects and their underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. To address these gaps, we used Two-dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) to identify proteomic differences in male and female Drosophila heads raised with a conventional microbiota and those raised in a sterile environment (axenic). We discovered 22 microbiota-dependent protein differences, and identified a specific elevation in Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) in axenic male flies. Because ADH is a key enzyme in alcohol metabolism, we asked whether physiological and behavioral responses to alcohol were altered in axenic males. Here we show that alcohol induced hyperactivity, the first response to alcohol exposure, is significantly increased in axenic males, requires ADH activity, and is modified by genetic background. While ADH activity is required, we did not detect significant microbe-dependent differences in systemic ADH activity or ethanol level. Like other animals, Drosophila exhibit a preference for ethanol consumption, and here we show significant microbiota-dependent differences in ethanol preference specifically in males. This work demonstrates that male Drosophilas association with their microbiota affects their physiological and behavioral responses to ethanol.
Can alfa-fetoprotein response to sorafenib predict for response and overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma?

e15127 Background: Alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) has been a marker for screening and early diagnosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for many years. It has been shown to potentially play a prognostic ro...
Role of Complement Activation in Allograft Inflammation

Novel paradigms have broadened our understanding of mechanisms through which complement mediates allograft inflammation/injury. Herein, we review advances in the field and highlight therapeutic implications. Pre-clinical and translational human trials have elucidated complement-dependent mechanisms of post-transplant ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Immune cell-derived, and intracellular, complement activation is newly linked to proinflammatory T cell immunity relevant to allograft rejection. Complement-induced immune regulation, including C5a ligation of C5a receptor 2 on T cells, C5a/C5a receptor 1 interactions on regulatory myeloid cells, and C1q binding to CD8+ T cells, can inhibit proinflammatory T cells and/or prolong murine allograft survival. Pilot trials of complement inhibition to treat/prevent human I/R- or antibody-initiated allograft injury show promise. The complement system participates in allograft injury through multiple context-dependent mechanisms involving various components and receptors. These new insights along with development and implementation of individualized complement inhibitory strategies have potential to improve transplant outcomes.
Direct Dynamics Simulations of the CH2 + O2 Reaction on the Ground- and Excited-State Singlet Surfaces.

In a previous work [ Lakshmanan , S. ; J. Phys. Chem. A 2018 , 122 , 4808 - 4818 ], direct dynamics simulations at the M06/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory were reported for 3CH2 (X3B1) + 3O2 (X3∑g-) reaction on its ground-state singlet potential energy surface (PES) at 300 K. However, further analyses revealed the simulations are unstable for the 3CH2 (X3B1) + 3O2 (X3∑g-) reactants on the ground-state singlet surface and the trajectories reverted to an excited-state singlet surface for the 1CH2 (a1A1) + 1O2 (b1∑g+) reactants. Thus, the dynamics reported previously are for this excited-state singlet PES. The PESs for the 3CH2 (X3B1) + 3O2 (X3∑g-) and 1CH2 (a1A1) + 1O2 (b1∑g+) reactants are quite similar, and this provided a means to perform simulations for the 3CH2 (X3B1) + 3O2 (X3∑g-) reactants on the ground-state singlet PES at 300 K, which are reported here. The reaction dynamics are quite complex with seven different reaction pathways and nine different products. A consistent set of product yields have not been determined experimentally, but the simulation yields for the H atom, CO, and CO2 are somewhat lower, higher, and lower respectively, than the recommended values. The yields for the remaining six products agree with experimental values. Product decomposition was included in determining the product yields. The simulation 3CH2 + 3O2 rate constant at 300 K is only 3.4 times smaller than the recommended value, which may be accommodated if the 3CH2 + 3O2 → 1CH2O2 potential energy curve is only 0.75 kcal/mol more attractive at the variational transition state for 3CH2 + 3O2 → 1CH2O2 association. The simulation kinetics and dynamics for the 3CH2 + 3O2 and 1CH2 + 1O2 reactions are quite similar. Their rate constants are statistically the same, an expected result, since their transition states leading to products have energies lower than that of the reactants and the attractive potential energy curves for 3CH2 + 3O2 → 1CH2O2 and 1CH2 + 1O2 → 1CH2O2 are nearly identical. The product yields for the 3CH2 + 3O2 and 1CH2 + 1O2 reactions are also nearly identical, only differing for the CO2 yield. The reaction dynamics on both surfaces are predominantly direct, with negligible trapping in potential energy minima, which may be an important contributor to their nearly identical product yields.
Female Gothic and the Institutionalization of Gothic Studies

Does Female Gothic have anything left to offer? Entrenched in Gothic studies for nearly thirty years and increasingly attacked during the past decade, this critical category seems to many to have outlived its usefulness. Nonetheless, there are still critical lessons to be learned from it, as much about the recent history of Gothic criticism as Gothic works themselves. Indeed, we would do well to contemplate what scholarly reputation not only feminist criticism of the Gothic but also Gothic criticism more generally would enjoy were it not for the intervention of Female Gothic.
The Management of Newly-Diagnosed Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer in Veterans Integrated Services Network 02 of the Veterans Health Administration

Introduction Over 1,500 bladder cancers were diagnosed among US Veterans in 2010, the majority of which were non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Little is known about NMIBC treatment within the Veterans Health Administration. The objective of the study was to assess the quality of care for Veterans with newly-diagnosed NMIBC within Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 02. Materials and methods We used ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes to identify patients with newly-diagnosed bladder cancer from 1/2016-8/2017. We risk-stratified the patients into low, intermediate, and high-risk based on the 2016 American Urological Association Guidelines on NMIBC. Our primary objectives were percentages of transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBTs) with detrusor, repeat TURBT in high-risk and T1 disease, high-risk NMIBC treated with induction intravesical therapy (IVT), and responders treated with maintenance IVT. We performed logistic regression for association between distance to diagnosing hospital and receipt of induction IVT in high-risk patients. Results There were 121 newly-diagnosed NMIBC patients; 16% low-risk, 28% intermediate-risk, and 56% high-risk. Detrusor was present in 80% of all initial TURBTs and 84% of high-risk patients. Repeat TURBT was performed in 56% of high-risk NMIBC and 60% of T1. Induction IVT was given to 66% of high-risk patients and maintenance IVT was given to 59% of responders. On multivariate logistic regression, distance to medical center was not associated with receipt of induction IVT (OR = 0.99, 95% CI [0.97,1.01], p = 0.52). Conclusions We observed high rates of sampling of detrusor in the first TURBT specimen, utilization of repeat TURBT, and administration of induction and maintenance intravesical BCG for high-risk patients among a regional cohort of US Veterans with NMIBC. While not a comparative study, our findings suggest high quality NMIBC care in VA VISN 02.
Laboratory Studies: Historical Perspectives

Abstract The main purpose of laboratory studies has long been taken as epistemological. Seen as the coup-de-grace for constructivist philosophy of science, early practitioners of laboratory studies were seen to have disproved demarcationist theories of scientific fact production. They were supposed to have done so by revealing the messy, intertwined, sociotechnical world inside the laboratory itself. Because laboratory studies were seen in this way, they initially garnered sensational attention, but later were seen to be less important since the epistemological project was considered either to have been completed or to be a methodological non sequitur. This view of laboratory studies has obscured their actual importance and their continuing contributions to studies of science and technology. If laboratory studies are seen not as epistemological projects, but rather as investigations into technoscientific agency, their real and sustained importance to science and technology studies (STS) emerges. In this view, it can be seen that early laboratory studies set the stage for, and subsequent studies fleshed out and further challenged, debates regarding material agency, distributed organizational agency, and cultural agency in technoscience; debates that animate the field of STS to this day.
Understanding the Electrocatalytic Interface for Ambient Ammonia Synthesis

Electrochemical reduction of N2 to NH3 under ambient conditions can enable an alternative approach for sustainable, distributed production of NH3 when powered by renewable electricity. However, the...
Low-noise high-temperature AlInAsSb/GaSb avalanche photodiodes for 2-μm applications

Sensitive photodetectors that operate at a wavelength of 2 μm are required for applications in sensing and imaging but state-of-the-art devices are severely limited by high dark current density (Jdark). The narrow-bandgap materials required for mid-infrared (2–5 µm) detection are plagued by carrier recombination and band-to-band tunnelling; as a result, detectors must be operated at cryogenic temperatures. HgCdTe is currently the most commonly used materials system for these applications and has achieved Jdark = 3 × 10−4 A cm–2 at a gain of 10 while operating at 125 K. Here, we report the details and results for avalanche photodiodes for 2-μm detection based on a separate absorption, charge, and multiplication design in the AlxIn1–xAsySb1–y materials system. We achieve comparable Jdark between 200–220 K and demonstrate very low excess noise (k ≈ 0.01) and gain >100 at room temperature. Such avalanche photodiodes could prove useful for receivers for eye-safe light imaging, detection and ranging. Highly sensitive avalanche photodiodes that operate at near-infrared wavelengths of up to 2 μm could prove useful for eye-safe light imaging, detection and ranging, and other applications.
Secure Messaging, Diabetes Self-management, and the Importance of Patient Autonomy: a Mixed Methods Study

Diabetes is a complex, chronic disease that requires patients’ effective self-management between clinical visits; this in turn relies on patient self-efficacy. The support of patient autonomy from healthcare providers is associated with better self-management and greater diabetes self-efficacy. Effective provider-patient secure messaging (SM) through patient portals may improve disease self-management and self-efficacy. SM that supports patients’ sense of autonomy may mediate this effect by providing patients ready access to their health information and better communication with their clinical teams. We examined the association between healthcare team–initiated SM and diabetes self-management and self-efficacy, and whether this association was mediated by patients’ perceptions of autonomy support from their healthcare teams. We surveyed and analyzed content of messages sent to a sample of patients living with diabetes who use the SM feature on the VA’s My HealtheVet patient portal. Four hundred forty-six veterans with type 2 diabetes who were sustained users of SM. Proactive (healthcare team-initiated) SM (0 or ≥ 1 messages); perceived autonomy support; diabetes self-management; diabetes self-efficacy. Patients who received at least one proactive SM from their clinical team were significantly more likely to engage in better diabetes self-management and report a higher sense of diabetes self-efficacy. This relationship was mediated by the patient’s perception of autonomy support. The majority of proactive SM discussed scheduling, referrals, or other administrative content. Patients’ responses to team-initiated communication promoted patient engagement in diabetes self-management behaviors. Perceived autonomy support is important for diabetes self-management and self-efficacy. Proactive communication from clinical teams to patients can help to foster a patient’s sense of autonomy and encourage better diabetes self-management and self-efficacy.
Thalamic Nuclei and Thalamocortical Pathways After Left Hemispheric Stroke and Their Association with Picture Naming.

Background: Previous studies utilized lesion-centric approaches to study the role of the thalamus in language. In this study, we tested the hypotheses that non-lesioned dorsomedial and ventral ante...
Air-broadening in near-infrared carbon dioxide line shapes: Quantifying contributions from O2, N2, and Ar

Abstract We measured air broadening in the (30012) ← (00001) carbon dioxide (CO2) band up to Jʺ = 50 using frequency-agile rapid scanning cavity ring-down spectroscopy. By using synthetic air samples with varying levels of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, multi-spectrum fitting allowed for the collisional broadening terms of each major air component to be simultaneously determined in addition to advanced line shape parameters at atmospherically relevant CO2 mixing ratios. These values were compared to broadener-specific line shape parameters from the literature. Fits to measured spectra were also constrained with results from requantized classical molecular dynamic simulations. We show that this approach enables differentiation between narrowing mechanisms in advanced line shape parameters retrieved from experimental spectra of limited signal-to-noise ratio.
Origins of Scaling Laws in Microbial Dynamics

Analysis of high-resolution time series data from the human and mouse gut microbiomes revealed that the gut microbial dynamics can be characterized by several robust and simple scaling laws. It is still unknown if those scaling laws are universal across different body sites, host species, or even free-living microbial communities. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms responsible for those scaling laws remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that those scaling laws are not unique to gut microbiome, but universal across different habitats, from human skin and oral microbiome to marine plankton bacteria and eukarya communities. Since completely shuffled time series yield very similar scaling laws, we conjecture that the universal scaling laws in various microbiomes are largely driven by temporal stochasticity of the host or environmental factors. We leverage a simple population dynamics model with both deterministic inter-species interactions and stochastic noise to confirm our conjecture. In particular, we find that those scaling laws are jointly determined by inter-species interactions and linear multiplicative noises. The presented results deepen our understanding of the nature of scaling laws in microbial dynamics.
Evaluation of electroacupuncture for symptom modification in a rodent model of spontaneous osteoarthritis.

Objective:Faced with the frustration of chronic discomfort and restricted mobility due to osteoarthritis (OA), many individuals have turned to acupuncture for relief. However, the efficacy of acupu...
Comparison of FLASH Proton Entrance and the Spread-Out Bragg Peak Dose Regions in the Sparing of Mouse Intestinal Crypts and in a Pancreatic Tumor Model

Ultra-high dose rate FLASH proton radiotherapy (F-PRT) has been shown to reduce normal tissue toxicity compared to standard dose rate proton radiotherapy (S-PRT) in experiments using the entrance portion of the proton depth dose profile, while proton therapy uses a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) with unknown effects on FLASH toxicity sparing. To investigate, the biological effects of F-PRT using an SOBP and the entrance region were compared to S-PRT in mouse intestine. In this study, 8-10-week-old C57BL/6J mice underwent 15 Gy (absorbed dose) whole abdomen irradiation in four groups: (1) SOBP F-PRT, (2) SOBP S-PRT, (3) entrance F-PRT, and (4) entrance S-PRT. Mice were injected with EdU 3.5 days after irradiation, and jejunum segments were harvested and preserved. EdU-positive proliferating cells and regenerated intestinal crypts were quantified. The SOBP had a modulation (width) of 2.5 cm from the proximal to distal 90%. Dose rates with a SOBP for F-PRT or S-PRT were 108.2 ± 8.3 Gy/s or 0.82 ± 0.14 Gy/s, respectively. In the entrance region, dose rates were 107.1 ± 15.2 Gy/s and 0.83 ± 0.19 Gy/s, respectively. Both entrance and SOBP F-PRT preserved a significantly higher number of EdU + /crypt cells and percentage of regenerated crypts compared to S-PRT. Moreover, tumor growth studies showed no difference between SOBP and entrance for either of the treatment modalities.
Stiffness of targeted layer-by-layer nanoparticles impacts elimination half-life, tumor accumulation, and tumor penetration.

Nanoparticle (NP) stiffness has been shown to significantly impact circulation time and biodistribution in anticancer drug delivery. In particular, the relationship between particle stiffness and tumor accumulation and penetration in vivo is an important phenomenon to consider in optimizing NP-mediated tumor delivery. Layer-by-layer (LbL) NPs represent a promising class of multifunctional nanoscale drug delivery carriers. However, there has been no demonstration of the versatility of LbL systems in coating systems with different stiffnesses, and little is known about the potential role of LbL NP stiffness in modulating in vivo particle trafficking, although NP modulus has been recently studied for its impact on pharmacokinetics. LbL nanotechnology enables NPs to be functionalized with uniform coatings possessing molecular tumor-targeting properties, independent of the NP core stiffness. Here, we report that the stiffness of LbL NPs is directly influenced by the mechanical properties of its underlying liposomal core, enabling the modulation and optimization of LbL NP stiffness while preserving LbL NP outer layer tumor-targeting and stealth properties. We demonstrate that the stiffness of LbL NPs has a direct impact on NP pharmacokinetics, organ and tumor accumulation, and tumor penetration—with compliant LbL NPs having longer elimination half-life, higher tumor accumulation, and higher tumor penetration. Our findings underscore the importance of NP stiffness as a design parameter in enhancing the delivery of LbL NP formulations.
The Social and Political Utility of Congressional Caucus Networks

Do legislative parties and committee fulfill legislators’ informational needs? In this research we argue that they do not, and that congress has developed an alternative series of institutions to help solve its informational dilemmas. We argue that congressional caucuses, such as the Fire Services Caucus, the Congressional Bike Caucus, or the Congressional Arts Caucus, are voluntary organizations that satisfy legislators’ informational needs in ways that parties and committees cannot because of their institutional constraints. Caucuses, we show, exist for two primary reasons: to create and maintain relationships and to provide a network of information exchange between legislative enterprises. Importantly, the relationships fostered through the caucus system in congress tend to be “weak.” That is, legislators frequently free-ride the benefits of caucuses and often do not prioritize their activities. This weakness, however, is the caucus system’s strength. The caucus system is therefore inexpensive to join and maintain and operates with few constraints. Even if legislators rarely, or never, attend caucus events, as long as their staffer receives the caucus’s emails, the legislator can reap the informational benefits of the group. The costs of caucuses are borne by the few legislators who choose to invest in them, and, primarily, by the outside advocates who provide legislative subsidy to create and maintain the groups. By providing a weak-tie network of legislators, fed by high-quality information from outside experts, the all-voluntary caucus system is a cheap solution to congress’s collective information dilemmas. We use data from the 109th-111th congress and advanced social network analysis to evaluate our claims.
Signal processing models for discrete-time self-similar and multifractal processes

The paper discusses and presents results from recent investigation into three problems. (A) Approaches have previously been developed for describing self-similarity in discrete-time random processes using a discrete-time continuous dilation operator. It is shown here that processes self-similar under this construct, called a discrete-time self-similar system (DTSS), are related to prior discrete-time constructs; specifically they can generate asymptotically second order self-similar processes. (B) The advantage of using long-range prediction of long-range dependent processes is tested. It is shown that for combined long-range and short-range prediction for tracking with a sequence that has bounded increments, long range prediction does not offer a significant tracking advantage. (C) It is hypothesized that DTSS systems with a time-varying parameter generates multifractal processes. Empirical results substantiating this surmise are provided.
Characterization of Hemodynamics in Patients with Idiopathic and Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

Demographic and hemodynamic data from patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) have not been systematically characterized to identify differences related to gender, age, race, disease severity, and drug response. Our goal was to define the distribution and relation of IPAH and CTEPH based on these criteria. Hemodynamic and demographic data from 242 IPAH patients and 90 CTEPH patients were collected and compared. IPAH incidence was greater in women, but men had a higher basal mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP). mPAP was comparable among all IPAH ethnic groups. IPAH patients with no history of fenfluramine-phentermine use had a higher mPAP than users. Exercise-induced IPAH was apparent in 14.5% of IPAH patients. Only 9% of IPAH patients responded to inhaled nitric oxide with a 20% decrease in mPAP. Compared to CTEPH patients, mPAP was greater but average age of diagnosis was lower in IPAH patients. mPAP negatively correlated with age of diagnosis in IPAH patients only. These results indicate that elevated CO is not the main determinant of mPAP in both IPAH and CTEPH patients. However, the two patient groups differ in terms of their demographic and hemodynamic distributions, and according to the correlation between mPAP and other clinical hemodynamics and demographics.
Health and the Working Poor

This research investigates the problems of the working poor who are limited by health, drug abuse, alcoholism, or other serious personal handicaps, like blindness. From 1985 to 1995, one third of working poor young baby boomers had at least one of these major limitations. More importantly, individuals with health problems or limitations are twice as likely as others to become working poor, spend longer in both working and non-working poverty and have lower income after leaving poverty. Hence, policies designed to reduce working poverty must focus on helping many individuals with significant health issues.
The Multiport Sampler: An Innovative Sampling Technology

The Multiport Sampler (MPS) was developed to overcome current cone penetrometer sampling limitations. The MPS was specifically designed to obtain multiple fluid (gas, vapor, and/or liquid) samples during a single penetration while minimizing sample cross-contamination from each sampling cycle. The MPS consists of a series of vertically stacked sampling modules that are independently operated from the surface. As the cone penetrometer is advanced to the desired sampling depth, a module is selectively opened to allow soil pore fluid to be drawn through a sidewall port. Fluid samples may be either analyzed during the penetration event using equipment on the surface or collected inside the penetrometer for subsequent analysis. The MPS has been used only to sample vapors from soils contaminated with chlorinated organic solvents to determine the relative concentration of the contaminants in different soil strata.
Development of New Cryocooler Regenerator Materials-Ductile Intermetallic Compounds

The volumetric heat capacities of a number of binary and ternary Er- and Tm-based intermetallic compounds, which exhibited substantial ductilities, were measured from ∼3 to ∼350 K. They have the RM stoichiometry (where R = Er or Tm, and M is a main group or transition metal) and crystallize in the CsCl-type structure. The heat capacities of the Tm-based compounds are in general larger than the corresponding Er-based materials. Many of them have heat capacities which are significantly larger than those of the low temperature (>15 K) prototype cryocooler regenerator materials HoCU2, Er3Ni and ErNi. Utilization of the new materials as regenerators in the various cryocoolers should improve the performance of these refrigeration units for cooling below 15 K.
Urinary MicroRNA Profiling Predicts the Development of Microalbuminuria in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

Microalbuminuria provides the earliest clinical marker of diabetic nephropathy among patients with Type 1 diabetes, yet it lacks sensitivity and specificity for early histological manifestations of disease. In recent years microRNAs have emerged as potential mediators in the pathogenesis of diabetes complications, suggesting a possible role in the diagnosis of early stage disease. We used quantiative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to evaluate the expression profile of 723 unique microRNAs in the normoalbuminuric urine of patients who did not develop nephropathy (n = 10) relative to patients who subsequently developed microalbuminuria (n = 17). Eighteen microRNAs were strongly associated with the subsequent development of microalbuminuria, while 15 microRNAs exhibited gender-related differences in expression. The predicted targets of these microRNAs map to biological pathways known to be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic renal disease. A microRNA signature (miR-105-3p, miR-1972, miR-28-3p, miR-30b-3p, miR-363-3p, miR-424-5p, miR-486-5p, miR-495, miR-548o-3p and for women miR-192-5p, miR-720) achieved high internal validity (cross-validated misclassification rate of 11.1%) for the future development of microalbuminuria in this dataset. Weighting microRNA measurements by their number of kidney-relevant targets improved the prognostic performance of the miRNA signature (cross-validated misclassification rate of 7.4%). Future studies are needed to corroborate these early observations in larger cohorts.