cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Editors' Introduction to the Volume.

This year’s volume celebrates developments of recent years in our understanding of severe mental illness, in terms of how the brain works, at the biochemical, cellular and systemic levels. The contributors all have in common a concern for the molar, systemic implications of the more molecular processes at the core of their research. This concern reflects an important conceptual trend in our national mental health research agenda, toward identification of brain subsystems, neural circuits and information processing mechanisms whose dysfunction produces the cognitive and behavioral consequences that we recognize as the schizophrenia spectrum. Increasingly, psychopathologists expect that understanding these brain subsystems will revolutionize not just our diagnostic taxonomy, but also our basic understanding of the nature of severe mental illness.
Risky Behaviors: Integrating Adolescent Egocentrism with the Theory of Planned Behavior:

Of all age groups, adolescents are at the highest risk for experiencing negative health outcomes associated with risky behaviors. Persuasive messages targeting adolescents that urge them to refrain...
The Fumarate Reductase of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, unlike That of Escherichia coli, Is Configured so that It Does Not Generate Reactive Oxygen Species

The impact of oxidative stress upon organismal fitness is most apparent in the phenomenon of obligate anaerobiosis. The root cause may be multifaceted, but the intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) likely plays a key role. ROS are formed when redox enzymes accidentally transfer electrons to oxygen rather than to their physiological substrates. In this study, we confirm that the predominant intestinal anaerobe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron generates intracellular ROS at a very high rate when it is aerated. Fumarate reductase (Frd) is a prominent enzyme in the anaerobic metabolism of many bacteria, including B. thetaiotaomicron, and prior studies of Escherichia coli Frd showed that the enzyme is unusually prone to ROS generation. Surprisingly, in this study biochemical analysis demonstrated that the B. thetaiotaomicron Frd does not react with oxygen at all: neither superoxide nor hydrogen peroxide is formed. Subunit-swapping experiments indicated that this difference does not derive from the flavoprotein subunit at which ROS normally arise. Experiments with the related enzyme succinate dehydrogenase discouraged the hypothesis that heme moieties are responsible. Thus, resistance to oxidation may reflect a shift of electron density away from the flavin moiety toward the iron-sulfur clusters. This study shows that the autoxidizability of a redox enzyme can be suppressed by subtle modifications that do not compromise its physiological function. One implication is that selective pressures might enhance the oxygen tolerance of an organism by manipulating the electronic properties of its redox enzymes so they do not generate ROS. Importance Whether in sediments or pathogenic biofilms, the structures of microbial communities are configured around the sensitivities of their members to oxygen. Oxygen triggers the intracellular formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the sensitivity of a microbe to oxygen likely depends upon the rates at which ROS are formed inside it. This study supports that idea, as an obligate anaerobe was confirmed to generate ROS very rapidly upon aeration. However, the suspected source of the ROS was disproven, as the fumarate reductase of the anaerobe did not display the high oxidation rate of its E. coli homologue. Evidently, adjustments in its electronic structure can suppress the tendency of an enzyme to generate ROS. Importantly, this outcome suggests that evolutionary pressure may succeed in modifying redox enzymes and thereby diminishing the stress that an organism experiences in oxic environments. The actual source of ROS in the anaerobe remains to be discovered.
Dietary B vitamins and depression in persons with human immunodeficiency virus infection: the positive living with HIV (POLH) study.

B vitamins have beneficial roles in mental health functional impairments; however, research on the role of B vitamins in depression among HIV-infected persons is limited. This study assessed the association between dietary B vitamin intake and depressive symptoms in a cohort of HIV-infected persons. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 314 HIV-infected persons (180 men and 134 women) aged 18 to 60 y residing in the Kathmandu, Nepal. The Beck Depression Inventory-I was used to measure depression, with a cutoff score of 20 or higher. Dietary intake was assessed using two nonconsecutive 24-h dietary recalls. The relationships between B vitamins and depressive symptoms were assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis. Twenty-six percent participants (men: 23%; women: 29%) were depressed. More than two thirds of participants' B vitamins intake were below the estimated average requirements (EAR) level. Low intake of riboflavin was associated with an increased risk of depression in women but not in men. Multivariate OR (95% CI) for depression in the first, second, and third tertiles of riboflavin in total participants were 1 (reference), 0.87 (0.46-1.64), and 0.49 (0.24-0.98), respectively (p for trend=0.048) and in women were 1 (reference), 0.94 (0.36-2.40), and 0.23 (0.07-0.77), respectively (p for trend=0.020). No clear associations were seen between other B vitamins and depressive symptoms in either sex. Low intake of riboflavin was independently associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in all participants and in HIV-infected women. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm the role of vitamin B vitamins in depressive symptoms among HIV-infected persons.
Abstract A39: Tumor suppressor protein DAB2IP participates in chromosomal stability maintenance through activating spindle assembly checkpoint and stabilizing kinetorchore-microtubule attachments

The DAB2IP tumor suppressor protein is a member of the Ras GTPase-activating protein family and is often downregulated by epigenetic silencing in many advanced cancer types. Current literature indicates that DAB2IP plays a crucial role in suppression of the PI3K-Akt pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Loss of DAB2IP is often detected in advanced prostate cancer (PCa) and is associated with increased androgen receptor signaling and poor patient prognosis. Here we report that loss of DAB2IP is also resulted in chromosomal instability due to defects in kinetochore-microtubule (KT-MT) attachment and the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) during mitotic cell cycle transition. Chromosomal instability is one of the key hallmarks of carcinogenesis and has been linked to metastasis, poor prognosis, and therapy resistance in cancer. Our results further indicate that DAB2IP directly interacts with Plk1, and its loss attenuates Plk1 kinase activity and Plk1-dependent BubR1 phosphorylation which is required for BubR1 localization at the kinetochore during mitosis and SAC regulation. Consequently, loss of DAB2IP leads to increased resistance of PCa cells toward microtubule stabilizing drugs (paclitaxel, docetaxel) and Plk1 inhibitor (BI2536). Our findings demonstrate a novel function of DAB2IP in the maintenance of KT-MT structure and proper SAC regulation during mitosis to promote chromosomal stability and genome integrity. Citation Format: Lan Yu, Zeng-Fu Shang, Benjamin P. C. Chen, Debabrata Saha. Tumor suppressor protein DAB2IP participates in chromosomal stability maintenance through activating spindle assembly checkpoint and stabilizing kinetorchore-microtubule attachments [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on DNA Repair: Tumor Development and Therapeutic Response; 2016 Nov 2-5; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2017;15(4_Suppl):Abstract nr A39.
Complement component C3aR constitutes a novel regulator for chick eye morphogenesis

Complement components have been implicated in a wide variety of functions including neurogenesis, proliferation, cell migration, differentiation, cancer, and more recently early development and regeneration. Following our initial observations indicating that C3a/C3aR signaling induces chick retina regeneration, we analyzed its role in chick eye morphogenesis. During eye development, the optic vesicle (OV) invaginates to generate a bilayer optic cup (OC) that gives rise to the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and neural retina. We show by immunofluorescence staining that C3 and the receptor for C3a (the cleaved and active form of C3), C3aR, are present in chick embryos during eye morphogenesis in the OV and OC. Interestingly, C3aR is mainly localized in the nuclear compartment at the OC stage. Loss of function studies at the OV stage using morpholinos or a blocking antibody targeting the C3aR (anti-C3aR Ab), causes eye defects such as microphthalmia and defects in the ventral portion of the eye that result in coloboma. Such defects were not observed when C3aR was disrupted at the OC stage. Histological analysis demonstrated that microphthalmic eyes were unable to generate a normal optic stalk or a closed OC. The dorsal/ventral patterning defects were accompanied by an expansion of the ventral markers Pax2, cVax and retinoic acid synthesizing enzyme raldh-3 (aldh1a3) domains, an absence of the dorsal expression of Tbx5 and raldh-1 (aldh1a1) and a re-specification of the ventral RPE to neuroepithelium. In addition, the eyes showed overall decreased expression of Gli1 and a change in distribution of nuclear β-catenin, suggesting that Shh and Wnt pathways have been affected. Finally, we observed prominent cell death along with a decrease in proliferating cells, indicating that both processes contribute to the microphthalmic phenotype. Together our results show that C3aR is necessary for the proper morphogenesis of the OC. This is the first report implicating C3aR in eye development, revealing an unsuspected hitherto regulator for proper chick eye morphogenesis.
Approaching zero: Implications of a computed tomography reduction program for pediatric appendicitis evaluation

Abstract Purpose Because of awareness of iatrogenic radiation exposure, there is a national trend of diminishing computed tomography (CT) use for pediatric suspected appendicitis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a CT reduction program for evaluation of appendicitis. Methods A multidisciplinary group (emergency medicine, radiology, and surgery) at a children's hospital developed a reduction program which included: ultrasound (U/S) first (2012), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) second (2014), and standardized U/S reports (2016). Imaging modality, negative appendectomy rate, time from first image to incision, and imaging costs were evaluated over time. Results Of the 571 patients evaluated from 2012 to 2016, there was a significant decrease in CT use and increase U/S and MRI use over the study period (all p p Conclusion Approaching zero CT use for evaluation of pediatric appendicitis is possible through a multidisciplinary protocol without impacting clinical outcomes. However, increased MRI use led to higher costs. Cost-effectiveness of replacing CT with MRI warrants further study. Type of study Retrospective comparative study. Level of evidence Level III.
Quantitative Assessment of Knee Progression Angle During Gait in Children With Cerebral Palsy.

BACKGROUND Abnormal hip rotation is a common deviation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Clinicians typically assess hip rotation during gait by observing the direction that the patella points relative to the path of walking, which is referred to as the knee progression angle (KPA). Two kinematic methods for calculating the KPA are compared with each other. Video-based qualitative assessment of KPA is compared with the quantitative methods to determine reliability and validity. METHODS The KPA was calculated by both direct and indirect methods for 32 typically developing (TD) children and a convenience cohort of 43 children with hemiplegic type CP. An additional convenience cohort of 26 children with hemiplegic type CP was selected for qualitative assessment of KPA, performed by 3 experienced clinicians, using 3 categories (internal, >10 degrees; neutral, -10 to 10 degrees; and external, >-10 degrees). RESULTS Root mean square (RMS) analysis comparing the direct and indirect KPAs was 1.14+0.43 degrees for TD children, and 1.75+1.54 degrees for the affected side of children with CP. The difference in RMS among the 2 groups was statistically, but not clinically, significant (P=0.019). Intraclass correlation coefficient revealed excellent agreement between the direct and indirect methods of KPA for TD and CP children (0.996 and 0.992, respectively; P<0.001).For the qualitative assessment of KPA there was complete agreement among all examiners for 17 of 26 cases (65%). Direct KPA matched for 49 of 78 observations (63%) and indirect KPA matched for 52 of 78 observations (67%). CONCLUSIONS The RMS analysis of direct and indirect methods for KPA was statistically but not clinically significant, which supports the use of either method based upon availability. Video-based qualitative assessment of KPA showed moderate reliability and validity. The differences between observed and calculated KPA indicate the need for caution when relying on visual assessments for clinical interpretation, and demonstrate the value of adding KPA calculation to standard kinematic analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level II-diagnostic test.
Decreasing Depression and Anxiety in College Youth Using the Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment Program (COPE)

BACKGROUND: College is a time of major transition in the lives of many young adults. Roughly 30% of college students have reported that anxiety and depressive symptoms negatively affect their lives...
Natural Language Processing: System Evaluation

Community-based, task-focused evaluation has accelerated scientific advancement in human language technology areas such as automated speech processing, natural language information extraction, and machine translation. A range of evaluation methods, metrics, and measures have been developed and used. Evaluation serves distinct purposes for researchers, product developers, program managers, and end users. This chapter motivates purposes for evaluation, introduces key terms and metrics, and summarizes evaluation in several areas. Related chapters provide further details for evaluation and testing in education, speech synthesis system evaluation, and the Text Retrieval and Evaluation Conference and Message Understanding Conference.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) as a Technical Framework for Web-Based Support Systems (WSS)

Software-oriented architecture (SOA) is a very powerful Internet-based framework which can be targeted towards Web-based Support Systems (WSS). SOA equips these systems to supplement their intelligence, decision-making, and processing potential with the universality and ubiquity of the Internet. It makes the WSS ‘agile’, implying that these support systems can adapt their intelligence very quickly due to the swift access of data available in the form of a ‘service’ through SOA. No matter how distributed and specialized a data source is, and regardless of whether it is domain-independent or domain-dependent, these systems can just ‘plug’ into any technology they want by acting as consumers of a ‘service’. This truly amplifies the performance and system response of WSS. This chapter follows this vision of defining the architectural technique of SOA and how its nuances interplay with the concept of WSS. A complete case study outlining the marriage of SOA and WSS has been provided to further illustrate the merits of such a combined system.
CMV on surfaces in homes with young children: results of PCR and viral culture testing.

Caring for young children is a known risk factor for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection mainly through exposure to their saliva and urine. In a previous study, 36 CMV-seropositive children 2 mo. to 4 years old were categorized as CMV shedders (n = 23) or non-shedders (n = 13) based on detection of CMV DNA in their saliva and urine. The current study evaluated the presence of CMV on surfaces in homes of the children. Study staff made 4 visits to homes of the 36 enrolled children over 100 days. Saliva was collected by swabbing the mouth and urine was collected on filter paper inserted into diapers. In addition, five surface specimens were collected: three in contact with children’s saliva (spoon, child’s cheek, washcloth) and two in contact with children’s urine (diaper changing table, mother’s hand). Samples were tested by PCR and viral culture to quantify the presence of CMV DNA and viable virus. A total of 654 surface samples from 36 homes were tested; 136 were CMV DNA positive, 122 of which (90%) were in homes of the children shedding CMV (p < 0.001). Saliva–associated samples were more often CMV positive with higher viral loads than urine-associated samples. The higher the CMV viral load of the child in the home, the more home surfaces that were PCR positive (p = 0.01) and viral culture positive (p = 0.05). The main source for CMV on surfaces in homes was saliva from the child in the home. Higher CMV viral loads shed by children correlated with more viable virus on surfaces which could potentially contribute to viral transmission.
Ultraviolet radiation and incidence of cataracts in a nationwide US cohort.

Purpose: We examine the risk of cataract and cataract surgery with measures of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure and UVR sensitivity in a large, nationwide population of indoor workers.M...
Pittsburgh fatigability scale: one‐page predictor of mobility decline in mobility‐intact older adults

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale (PFS) as a predictor of performance and functional decline in mobility‐intact older adults. DESIGN Longitudinal analysis of Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging data. SETTING National Institute on Aging, Clinical Research Unit, Baltimore, Maryland. PARTICIPANTS Mobility‐intact men (46.8%) and women aged 60 to 89 with concurrent PFS administration and performance and functional assessment and follow‐up assessment within 1 to 4 years (N=579). MEASUREMENTS The PFS is a self‐administered, 1‐page assessment of expected physical and mental fatigue with a score ranging from 0 (no) to 5 (extreme) associated with performing 10 activities. Analyses examined associations between each dimension scored continuously (0–50), categorically (0–5), and dichotomously and change in and likelihood of clinically meaningful decline in usual and fast gait speed, chair stand pace, and reported walking ability. Covariates included age, age2, sex, race, visit status, baseline function, and follow‐up time. We defined meaningful decline as 0.05 m/s per year for usual gait speed, 0.07 m/s per year for fast gait speed, 0.02 chair stands/s per year and 1 point or more for walking ability index. RESULTS Over a mean 2.2 years, 20.5% to 37.7% of participants experienced meaningful decline across assessments. Independent of covariates, higher PFS physical and mental scores were most consistently associated with greater decline in usual gait speed, chair stand pace, and reported walking ability regardless of scoring approach. For example, higher physical fatigability was associated with twice the likelihood of meaningful decline in gait speed as lower physical fatigability (p=.001). PFS scores were superior to fatigue symptoms such as tiredness and energy level in predicting performance decline, which showed no association. CONCLUSION Routine self‐administered perceived fatigability assessment may help identify older persons vulnerable to accelerated mobility decline. J Am Geriatr Soc 66:2092–2096, 2018.
Unsupervised Learning of PCFGs with Normalizing Flow

Unsupervised PCFG inducers hypothesize sets of compact context-free rules as explanations for sentences. PCFG induction not only provides tools for low-resource languages, but also plays an important role in modeling language acquisition (Bannard et al., 2009; Abend et al. 2017). However, current PCFG induction models, using word tokens as input, are unable to incorporate semantics and morphology into induction, and may encounter issues of sparse vocabulary when facing morphologically rich languages. This paper describes a neural PCFG inducer which employs context embeddings (Peters et al., 2018) in a normalizing flow model (Dinh et al., 2015) to extend PCFG induction to use semantic and morphological information. Linguistically motivated sparsity and categorical distance constraints are imposed on the inducer as regularization. Experiments show that the PCFG induction model with normalizing flow produces grammars with state-of-the-art accuracy on a variety of different languages. Ablation further shows a positive effect of normalizing flow, context embeddings and proposed regularizers.
The EUV and X-ray Emission of Nonmagnetic Cataclysmic Variables

Recent results are presented and discussed regarding the EUV and X-ray emission of nonmagnetic cataclysmic variables. Emphasis is given to high accretion rate systems (novalike variables and dwarf novae in outburst), and to a number of apparent discrepancies between observations and the theory of the boundary layer between the accretion disk and the surface of the white dwarf. Discussed are EUV and X-ray light curves, dwarf nova oscillations, and spectra, with new and previously unpublished results on SS Cyg and OY Car.
Preliminary design considerations for 10 to 40 meter-diameter precision truss reflectors

A simplified preliminary design capability for erectable precision segmented reflectors is presented. This design capability permits a rapid assessment of a wide range of reflector parameters as well as new structural concepts and materials. The preliminary design approach was applied to a range of precision reflectors from 10 meters to 100 meters in diameter while considering standard design drivers. The design drivers considered were: weight, fundamental frequency, launch packaging volume, part count, and on-orbit assembly time. For the range of parameters considered, on-orbit assembly time was identified as the major design driver. A family of modular panels is introduced which can significantly reduce the number of reflector parts and the on-orbit assembly time.
3 – Domestic Kidnapping

Domestic kidnappings are abductions by or on behalf of an individual with whom the victim has or had a familial or romantic relationship. Chapter 3 explores the victimology, offender characteristics, abductions sites, modus operandi, and outcomes typically associated with this crime. The Chapter also explores dynamics that are correlated with domestic kidnappings, including domestic violence and stalking.
Policies to Help Communities Recover: Housing Restrictions

Over the past decade, housing supply restrictions across US cities have contributed to anemic housing construction and high prices in some of the most in-demand
Presentation of self-detected breast mass in minority women with limited access to care: Can self-examination assist in early cancer detection?

Abstract Objective The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends against breast self-examination. However, racial disparities exist in mammogram screening. We aimed to evaluate the presentation of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer in the underserved African-American and Hispanic community to provide insight regarding breast cancer screening in this population. Methods This retrospective cohort study included women newly diagnosed with breast cancer from 1/1/2016 to 1/1/2018 in an inner city public community hospital. Data was collected via chart review. Patients were divided based on whether they presented with self-detected breast mass. Logistic regression was used for analysis. Results 59 women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer. 34 women (58%) were African-American, 20 (34%) were Hispanic, and 5 (8%) were other race. Of 59 women, 36 (61%) presented with self-detected breast mass, and only 21 (36%) reported prior mammography. For women who presented with breast mass, the odds of having prior mammography were 78% lower (OR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.07–0.69, p = 0.009), while the odds of having invasive ductal carcinoma were 4.33 times higher (OR = 4.33, 95% CI 1.09–17.25, p = 0.037), as compared to the odds for women not presenting with breast mass. Conclusion Many of our newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were African-American or Hispanic women presenting with self-detected breast mass without prior screening mammography. Further studies should evaluate whether supplemental screening methods, such as breast self-examination or clinical examination, can help with early breast cancer detection in minority women with limited access to care, and such disparities should be considered by organizations when creating screening guidelines.
[Status of chronic filariasis: a cross-sectional study in Jiangxi Province, 2018].

Objective To understand the status of chronic filariasis patients in Jiangxi Province in 2018, so as to provide insights into the follow-up care of the patients. Methods In 2018, a case follow-up study was conducted in all registered patients with chronic filariasis in previously endemic areas of Jiangxi Province, and a clue investigation was done for identifying the missing patients. In addition, the data of caring sites for chronic filarisis patients were collected and analyzed in the province. Results A total of 802 chronic filariasis patients were identified in 56 counties (districts) of Jiangxi Province in 2018. The patients had a male/female ratio of 1∶1, and 85.41% had ages of over 70 years. There were 58.60%, 93.89%, 17.21% and 3.62% of chronic filariasis patients with lymphangitis, lymphedema/elephantiasis, chyluria and hydrocele, respectively. A total of 273 caring sites were assigned in 56 counties (districts) of Jiangxi Province, and 306 caring activities were carried out in 2018. Conclusion The number of chronic filariasis patients has significantly decreased in Jiangxi Province; however, the care remains to be intensified for chronic filariasis patients. ［摘要］ 目的 掌握江西省现存慢性丝虫病患者情况, 为今后加强患者关怀照料工作提供依据。 方法 2018 年对江西 省原丝虫病流行区的在册慢性丝虫病患者进行个案随访调查, 并通过线索调查搜索遗漏患者, 对各流行区慢性丝虫病患 者关怀照料工作进行调查。 结果 2018 年, 江西省尚存慢性丝虫病患者802例, 分布在 56 个县 (市、区) 。患者男女性别 比为1∶1, 85.41% 为70 岁以上者; 有淋巴管/结炎、淋巴水肿或象皮肿、乳糜尿、鞘膜积液等症状者分别占 58.60%、93.89%、17.21% 和 3.62%。全省在 56 个流行县 (市、区) 设立了 273 个慢性丝虫病患者关怀照料点, 2018 年共开展关怀照 料活动 306 次。 结论 江西省慢性丝虫病患者数量明显减少, 但仍应加强对慢性丝虫病患者的关怀照料工作。
Using and Customizing Free Ebooks for Computer Science Classes on Runestone

Runestone Interactive is an open-source ebook platform designed to create and publish free interactive computer science textbooks. (See http://runestoneinteractive.org). Runestone ebooks support programming within the browser, code visualization/stepping, and a variety of practice activities, including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, clickable-code, and mixed-up code (Parsons problems). Over 20 free textbooks have been created for CS1, CS2, web development, data science, and AP CS (both courses). The presenters have several years of experience creating and using Runestone ebooks. Several studies have demonstrated good usability and positive learning and attitude impacts on students using these ebooks. Over 25,000 people a day use Runestone ebooks. This workshop will introduce computer science teachers (both secondary and post-secondary) to Runestone ebooks. The hands-on session will start by leading participants through use of the ebooks as if they were students. Participants will be introduced to the interactive features of the ebooks. Participants will next create a custom course from an existing ebook and will use the instructor's dashboard to review student activity, modify the course, grade students, and set up a spaced practice tool. Participants will create their own assignments using existing problems. Participants will also be shown how to create new material for assignments, such as multiple-choice questions for a quiz. Laptop Required.
Chronic incretin-based therapy in cystic fibrosis-related diabetes: A tale of 3 patients treated with sitagliptin for over 5 years

Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) affects 40-50% of adult patients with cystic fibrosis. Insulin therapy is recommended but there are therapeutic challenges, particularly risk of hypoglycemia and aversion of some patients to injectables. An oral incretin-based therapy using a DPP-4i (dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor), may be a reasonable option, especially in the early stage of the disease. The effect of chronic incretin-based therapy on CFRD is unknown. Here is a report of 3 cases of CFRD patients treated with sitagliptin and the response to therapy over a period of 5-10 years. An effective glycemic control was demonstrated in all the patients, at least during the first 5 years of sitagliptin treatment, and the benefit persisted for a decade in two of them. The secondary failure of the DPP-4i occurred in a CFRD patient with a phenotype resembling type 2 diabetes. A DPP-4i may have an important role in the management of CFRD.
Classification of Myocardial 18F-FDG PET Uptake Patterns Using Deep Learning.

A deep learning approach was developed to automatically segment the left ventricle and classify patterns of myocardial fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET uptake in patients referred for oncologic i...
Merlin and expanded integrate cell signaling that regulates cyst stem cell proliferation in the Drosophila testis niche

The Drosophila testis is a model organism stem cell niche in which two stem cell populations coordinate together to produce sperm; thus, these stem cells must be balanced in the niche. Merlin, a tumor-suppressor and human disease gene required for contact inhibition of proliferation, is known to limit the proliferation of the somatic cyst stem cells in the testis niche. Expanded encodes a protein that is structurally similar to Merlin in Drosophila, and is semi-redundant with Merlin in multiple tissues. We found that expanded depletion caused similar cyst lineage cell over-proliferation as observed with Merlin, and double mutants showed more severe phenotypes than either gene individually. Thus, these genes have partially redundant functions in the cyst lineage cells of this niche. We also expressed non-phosphorylatable constitutively "tumor suppressing" alleles of Merlin in cyst lineage cells, and surprisingly, we observed a similar cyst lineage over-proliferation phenotype. Merlin is known to impact multiple different signaling pathways to exert its effect on proliferation. We found that the Merlin loss of function phenotype was associated with an increase in MAPK/ERK signaling, consistent with Merlin's established role in transmembrane receptor inhibition. Constitutive Merlin displayed a reduction in both MAPK/ERK signaling and PI3K/Tor signaling. PI3K/Tor signaling is required for cyst cell differentiation, and inhibition of this pathway by Merlin activation phenocopied the Tor cyst lineage loss of function phenotype. Thus, Merlin impacts and integrates the activity of multiple signaling pathways in the testis niche. The ability of Merlin to dynamically change its activity via phosphorylation in response to local contact cues provides an intriguing mechanism whereby the signaling pathways that control these stem cells might be dynamically regulated in response to the division of a neighboring germ cell.
Aurochs: an architecture for dataflow threads

Data analytics pipelines increasingly rely on databases to select, filter, and pre-process reams of data. These databases use data structures with irregular control flow like trees and hash tables which map poorly to existing database accelerators, leaving architects with a choice between CPUS-with stagnant performance---or accelerators that handle this complexity by relying on simpler but asymptotically sub-optimal algorithms. To bridge this gap, we propose Aurochs: a reconfigurable dataflow accelerator (RDA) that matches a CPU asymptotically but outperforms it by over 100 × on constant factors. We introduce a threading model for vector dataflow accelerators that extracts massive parallelism from irregular data structures using lightweight thread contexts. To implement this model, we add only a sparse scratchpad to an existing database accelerator---increasing area by 5%. We reformulate common data structures using dataflow threads and evaluate Aurochs on ridesharing queries---outperforming a GPU by 8x.
Temperature and prey morphology influence attack rate and handling time in a predator–prey interaction

Functional responses describe how the proportion of prey consumed by a predator changes as prey density changes. For predators consuming a single prey species, functional responses are determined by two parameters: attack rate and handling time. These parameters may be influenced by morphological and behavioral differences in prey stemming from interspecific or environmentally-driven processes. Here we investigate how interspecific morphological differences and changes in movement rate impact a predator’s functional response. Using a flatworm predator (Stenostomum virginianum) consuming either Paramecium aurelia or P. multimicronucleatum we show that movement rate changes significantly with temperature, leading to changes in attack rate. We also show how body size affects the amount of time predators require to handle prey. We fit a mechanistic functional response model to demonstrate how changes in attack rate and handling time affect overall rates of predation. Our results demonstrate that S. virginianum attack rates are greater for P. aurelia than P. multimicronucleatum. In addition, higher temperature increases S. virginianum attack rates on both species, and reduces the time needed to handle P. aurelia. These differences in predation rate appear related to prey species’ traits, and the temperature-mediated changes in these traits, highlighting the complex processes that underpin predator–prey interactions.
Colorectal: Management of Postoperative Complications in Colorectal Surgery

The complications encountered in colorectal surgery can be categorized into early and late. The most consequential early complication is anastomotic leak, which can be managed with percutaneous drainage or reoperation, depending on the patient's clinical status. Other early complications include anastomotic bleeding, surgical site infection, ileus, postoperative urinary retention, and stoma-related complications. Most stoma-related complications can be managed without reoperation. Late complications, such as bowel dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, and anastomotic stricture, are usually managed expectantly and should be discussed in the preoperative setting. There is growing interest in prevention of postoperative outcomes with preoperative nutritional supplementation and prehabilitation.
COVID-19 Symptoms and Diagnoses among a Sociodemographically Diverse Cohort of Children from New York City: Lessons from the First Wave, Spring 2020

Early in the pandemic, in the North American epicenter, we investigated associations between sociodemographic factors and rates of pediatric COVID-19 diagnoses in a non-clinical setting and whether symptoms varied by child age. From 20 April–31 August 2020, COVID-19-related data were collected on 2694 children aged ≤ 18 years living in households participating in the New York University Children’s Health and Environment Study. We examined differences in rates of subjective and objective diagnoses according to sociodemographic characteristics and differences in reported symptoms by child age. Children of women who were non-Hispanic White, had private health insurance, higher income, or more education were more likely to be diagnosed via WHO criteria or healthcare provider. Children of women who were Hispanic or Asian, reported low income, had less education, or were/lived with an essential worker were more likely to test positive. Older children were less likely to experience cough or runny nose and more likely to experience muscle/body aches, sore throat, headache, and loss of smell or taste than younger children. In conclusion, relying on subjective disease ascertainment methods, especially in the early stage of an outbreak when testing is not universally available, may misrepresent the true prevalence of disease among sociodemographic subgroups. Variations in symptoms by child age should be considered when determining diagnostic criteria.
A Long Short-Term Memory-based correlated traffic data prediction framework

Abstract Correlated traffic data refers to a collection of time series recorded simultaneously in different regions throughout the same transportation network route. Due to the presence of both temporal and spatial correlation properties between multiple time series data, accurate time series prediction becomes challenging. The accuracy of the traffic data prediction helps mitigating traffic congestion and establish a robust traffic management system. When a prediction algorithm fails to consider the correlations present in the dataset, the accuracy of the prediction results reduces. To overcome the prediction shortcomings, this study proposes a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)-based correlated traffic data prediction (LSTM-CTP) framework. The proposed LSTM-CTP framework was employed for two different real-time traffic datasets. These datasets were initially preprocessed to capture both temporal and spatial trends and the correlations between the collected data series. By employing LSTM, temporal and spatial trends were predicted. Further, the Kalman-filter approach was employed to obtain the final prediction by aggregating the temporal and spatial trend predictions. The performance of the proposed LSTM-CTP was evaluated using different performance metrics and compared with different time-series prediction algorithms. The proposed framework showed substantial improvements in prediction results compared to the other algorithms. Overall, the proposed LSTM-CTP framework can help control traffic congestion and ensure a more robust traffic management system in the future.
Mandibular squamous cell carcinoma in a 5‐year‐old Tennessee Walking Horse

Summary Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common neoplasm reported in the horse, but occurs rarely in the oral cavity. Clinical signs may be insidious in onset and mimic other non-neoplastic processes, thus delaying appropriate treatment. Timely evaluation and advanced diagnostic imaging may offer the opportunity to initiate definitive treatment. This report describes a young gelding with mandibular SCC that was evaluated for mandibular swelling failing to respond to symptomatic therapy.
Inhaled nitric oxide in postpneumonectomy pulmonary edema

The one published case series detailing the use of inhaled nitric oxide (INO) in acute respiratory distress syndrome after lung resection found a 31% increase in oxygenation associated with a 70% survival [1]. The total cost of INO therapy if using commercial INO was approximately $500,000. This abstract details our experience with the use of INO in postpneumonectomy pulmonary edema (PPPE).
Thermal/mechanical analysis of the ITER divertor vane

Thermal and thermal stress analysis of an ITER divertor vane design concept is presented. Heat distributed on the vane surface is removed via high velocity flow in an array of passages. Changes made to this arrangement resulted in reduced thermal stress. The design approach is a promising concept for withstanding the prescribed steady state heat loads.
Analysis and optimization of CMOS switched-capacitor converters

Energy-efficiency continues to limit peak computational performance in digital systems. To drive continued energy-improvements, designers of modern digital systems are relying on multiple, smaller voltage domains for enhanced voltage-scaling. Switched-capacitor (SC) voltage converters are a promising alternative to traditional switched-inductor regulators due to their suitability for efficient, fully-integrated regulation of finer voltage domains. However, several important problems regarding the analysis and optimization of SC converter design remain unaddressed. This paper develops a comprehensive analysis of SC converter output resistance to establish the optimal switching frequency and switch resistance for maximum converter efficiency. The proposed analysis is validated through simulation experiments conducted using an industrial 65nm CMOS technology.
Self-Organizing Map (SOM) model for mental workload classification

Development of reliable mental workload measurement and classification techniques have been an area of concern in human factors engineering. Artificial neural networks (ANN) have been used to model workload by performing EEG data classification In the present study, a self-organizing map (SOM) neural network was used to simulate workload metrics. SOM is an unsupervised algorithm that clusters similar input vectors to allow its output neurons to compete among themselves to become activated SOM functional features are considered to be similar to those of the human brain since the latter is capable of organizing heterogeneous. sensory inputs. For purposes of this study, EEG data was preprocessed via Fast Fourier analysis, temporally segmented and reduced by principal component analysis (PCA) prior to inputting it to the network. The network was trained using 2/3 of available data and tested with remaining 1/3 of the data to classify workload into six categories ranging from very low to overload. The SOM was able to cluster the training data into 6 output categories and differentiate between workload classes when presented with the test data set. The results indicated that implementation of self-organizing map networks offers a robust method for analyzing electrophysiological data signals related to work performance and could potentially be used as a tool for extraction of workload correlates from EEG data. Knowledge about workload metrics and reliable classification methods can be utilized in the design of adaptive human-machine systems that control information flow to prevent operator overload.
A Novel Member of a Zinc Transporter Family Is Defective in Acrodermatitis Enteropathica

The rare inherited condition acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE) results from a defect in the absorption of dietary zinc. Recently, we used homozygosity mapping in consanguineous Middle Eastern kindreds to localize the AE gene to an ∼3.5-cM region on 8q24. In this article, we identify a gene, SLC39A4, located in the candidate region and, in patients with AE, document mutations that likely lead to the disease. The gene encodes a histidine-rich protein, which we refer to as “hZIP4,” which is a member of a large family of transmembrane proteins, some of which are known to serve as zinc-uptake proteins. We show that Slc39A4 is abundantly expressed in mouse enterocytes and that the protein resides in the apical membrane of these cells. These findings suggest that the hZIP4 transporter is responsible for intestinal absorption of zinc.
Full-field sensitivity analysis through dimension reduction and probabilistic surrogate models

Abstract Computational mechanics models often are compromised by uncertainty in their governing parameters, especially when the operating environment is incompletely known. Computational sensitivity analysis of a spatially distributed process to its governing parameters therefore is an essential, but often costly, step in uncertainty quantification. A sensitivity analysis method is described which features probabilistic surrogate models developed through equitable sampling of the parameter space, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) for compact representations of the process’ variability from an ensemble of realizations, and cluster-weighted models of the joint probability density function of each POD coefficient and the governing parameters. Full-field sensitivities, i.e. sensitivities at every point in the computational grid, are computed by analytically differentiating the conditional expected value function of each POD coefficient and projecting the sensitivities onto the POD basis. Statistics of the full-field sensitivities are estimated by sampling the surrogate model throughout the parameter space. Major benefits of this method are: (1) the sensitivities are computed analytically and efficiently from regularized surrogate models, and (2) the conditional variances of the surrogate models may be used to estimate the statistical uncertainty in the sensitivities, which provides a basis for pursuing more data to improve the model. Synthetic examples and a physical example involving near-ground sound propagation through a refracting atmosphere are presented to illustrate the properties of the surrogate models and how full-field sensitivities and their uncertainties are computed.
Number averaging behavior: A primacy effect

In two experiments, Ss guessed averages of serially presented numbers. Guesses were made only at the end of a stimulus sequence. The results of both experiments showed strong primacy effects in the guesses; earlier information in the stimulus sequence was weighted more heavily than later information. The results for number averaging were comparable to results obtained for personality traits in previous research, suggesting that both tasks represent a more general problem of integration of serial information.
Quantification of oxygen-induced retinopathy in the mouse: a model of vessel loss, vessel regrowth and pathological angiogenesis

The mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) has been widely used in studies related to retinopathy of prematurity, proliferative diabetic retinopathy and in studies evaluating the efficacy of antiangiogenic compounds. In this model, 7-d-old (P7) mouse pups with nursing mothers are subjected to hyperoxia (75% oxygen) for 5 d, which inhibits retinal vessel growth and causes significant vessel loss. On P12, mice are returned to room air and the hypoxic avascular retina triggers both normal vessel regrowth and retinal neovascularization (NV), which is maximal at P17. Neovascularization spontaneously regresses between P17 and P25. Although the OIR model has been the cornerstone of studies investigating proliferative retinopathies, there is currently no harmonized protocol to assess aspects of angiogenesis and treatment outcome. In this protocol we describe standards for mouse size, sample size, retinal preparation, quantification of vascular loss, vascular regrowth, NV and neovascular regression.
A noncovalent approach to antiparallel β-sheet formation

Four tripeptide chains, when attached to the same end of a hydrogen-bonded duplex (1.2) with the unsymmetrical, complementary sequences of ADAA/DADD, have been brought into proximity, leading to the formation of four hybrid duplexes, 1a.2a, 1a.2b, 1b.2a, and 1b.2b, each of which contains a two-stranded beta-sheet segment. The extended conformations of the peptide chains were confirmed by 1D and 2D NMR. The peptide strands stay registered through hydrogen bonding and the beta-sheets are stabilized by side chain interactions. Two-dimensional NMR data also indicate that the duplex template prevents further aggregation in the peptide segment. When the peptide chains are attached to the two different termini of the duplex template, NMR studies show the presence of a mixture with no clearly defined conformations. In the absence of the duplex template, the tripeptides are found to associate randomly. Finally, isothermal titration calorimetry studies revealed that the hybrid duplex 1a.2a was more stable than either the duplex template or the peptides alone.