cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of Overload Training on Velocity and Accuracy of Throwing

Abstract Twenty-one male freshmen baseball players at the University of Maryland were randomly placed in three groups of equal size. Two groups supplemented a baseball throwing program by specific overload training. One group threw weighted baseballs while the other used a pulley device to resist the mechanics of throwing. Training was carried out for a 6-week period. Both training groups experienced significant within-group increases in throwing velocity as a result of training, with no significant change in accuracy. However, no significant difference was indicated among training groups and a control group.
Intra-laboratory quality control and management of hygienic and sanitary analysis laboratory.

[Objective]To establish a system for the management and control for the measurement quality in a hygienic and sanitary analysis laboratory.[Methods] Based on the requirements for the competence of the sanitary analysis laboratory and for the standard testing methods,measures of blank tests,calibration curves,quality control charts,the parallel detection tests,test of standard additions,precision test,comparative test and contrast test were taken.[Results] Quality of analysis and testing in the laboratory had been controlled in a normal situation for a long period.[Conclusion] Experiences described above could be available for the other testing and analysis laboratories.
Survey on rabies post-exposure treatment in rural residents of Hunan

Objective To determine the current post - exposure treatment for rabies and analyze the risk factors for development of targeted intervention strategies.Methods Household survey based on multi - stage sampling method was adopted,and 40 villages from 4 counties was conducted followed by descriptive epidemiological analysis.Results A total of 38.68%households had cats or dogs at home with a dog density of 8.97/100 people.The coverage rate of rabies vaccine was 31.87%.The average annual exposure rate among the residents was 2.22%,and higher exposure rate was found in those having dogs or cats at home or aged less than 15 years old and students.Many exposures were related to visiting dog-keeping families. Injuries were mostly lower limb injury and gradeⅢexposure.However,only 28.23%of the patients self-treated immediately after exposure,and some used herbs or other improper approaches.Three quarters of the patients visited a doctor after exposure with an average cost of 416.68 RMB,but 4.30%of them refused to inoculate rabies vaccine.Moreover,93.55%of those withⅢlevel exposure had not obtained passive immunization.Conclusion Rural residents were at high risk of rabies exposure,most of which were caused by house dogs.Inadequate knowledge and economic support were the key factors which contributed to improper post-exposure treatment.
Bounds for the Periods of Periodic Solutions of Ordinary Differential Equations

We consider a nonautonomous system of ordinary differential equations. It is supposed that this system has a periodic solution. We establish the lower bound for the period of this solution.
Adaptation of rabbit renal cortical Na+-H+ exchange activity in chronic hypocapnia

We have examined the activity and kinetic characteristics of the Na+-H+ exchanger in renal cortical brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV) prepared from rabbits adapted to chronic hypocapnia in orde...
Predicting Littoral Zone Aerosol Optical Properties under a Sea Breeze Regime: Part II

The underlying assumptions of aerosol composition and characteristics in littoral sea breeze regimes are evaluated, guided by recent in situ data, to determine the sensitivity of aerosol optical property retrievals to these assumptions.
The Witness of Scripture

There are good reasons for beginning any Christian theological inquiry with an examination of the Bible. Scripture is the wellspring of theology in the Christian tradition, as even a cursory reading of the Fathers demonstrates. No Christian theologian can or should ignore the witness of the Bible. Scripture remains the source of, and norm for, theology. This is implied in the very concept of a canon. Thus before beginning philosophical or abstract theological discussion, we do well to examine the Biblical view of divine eternity.
New Design Detail to Enhance the Seismic Performance of Ordinary Reinforced Partially Grouted Masonry Structures

AbstractRecent studies have shown that in the event of a strong earthquake, partially grouted (PG) masonry walls would most likely not perform according to code expectations. The research reported herein is focused on introducing an economically competitive design detail to enhance the seismic performance and safety index of PG reinforced masonry shear walls. Besides the conventional design details of single grouted vertical cells with single bond beams, two other details called double grouted vertical cells with double bond beams, and double grouted vertical cells with single bond beams plus joint reinforcement, were constructed and tested in this study. Test results demonstrated that the single grouted wall failed in a low ductility shear-dominated mode, while the modified design details resulted in a change to the high ductility shear failure mode. Results of nonlinear static and incremental dynamic analyses showed that using the proposed enhanced detail can significantly improve the seismic performanc...
The Evolving of the Homeostatic Brain: Neuropsychological Evidence

The purpose of this paper is to explore brain functioning as an integrated homeostatic system with lateralization and localization of brain function. The central question is what is the nature of the relationship between hemispheres as the brain processes information using specialized areas, neural pathways and whole brain interactions.
The Medieval Climate Anomaly as a factor in the history of Sijilmasa, southeastern Morocco

ABSTRACTThis paper explores how the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) may have impacted the city of Sijilmasa, an important trading centre situated in the Tafilalt oasis of southeastern Morocco during the eleventh century CE, as well as some adaptation strategies that may have been employed by the people of the region in response to these changing environmental conditions. Palaeoclimate proxy evidence indicates that the MCA ushered in a period of warmer and drier conditions throughout Morocco, and there are some indications in the archaeological and historical records that this may have caused some substantial disruptions in the Tafilalt oasis during the first half of the eleventh century CE. However, despite the continuation of this arid phase, the region experienced a period of rapid growth and economic development after the Almoravids conquered Sijilmasa in 1055 CE. This florescence during a period of frequent drought events may have been enabled in part by Almoravid efforts to alter the natural course of...
Arginine Methylation of Runx1 Regulates Its Biological and Transcriptional Activities.

Abstract The AML1/Runx1 protein is required for definitive hematopoiesis and for the maturation of adult megakaryocytic cells. Alterations of the Runx1 gene by mutations, deletions and chromosome translocations are associated with several types of acute leukemia. Runx1 functions as both an activator and repressor of gene transcription with promoter and cell type context dependency. Likely, this relates to the ability of Runx1 to interact with a variety of transcription factors such as MEF, C/EBPa, Ets-1 and GATA-1 and also with repressor proteins such as Groucho, mSin3 and HDACs. Runx1 is post-translationally modified through acetylation and phosphorylation, and the acetylable and phosphorylable forms of Runx1 can activate transcription to higher level in Runx1 dependent reporter assays when HATs or Erk2 are coexpressed. Runx1 has also been shown to be methylated on lysine residues by SUV39H1 methyltransferase in fibroblasts. Based on the presence of a SGRGK motif in the runt domain of Runx1, we have been examining whether Runx1 is methylated on arginine residues by the protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMT). We have found that PRMT1 and PRMT5 are associated with Runx1 in AML cells by co-immunoprecipitation assays and using in vitro by GST-pulldown assays with in vitro translated PRMT(s) have shown that the interactions are direct. Using a luciferase gene reporter assay, we show that PRMT1 acts synergistically with p300 to activate Runx1 mediated transcription in response to cell proliferation signals. We have mapped the arginine methylation sites in Runx1 using GST-Runx1 fusion proteins, site-specific mutagenesis and mass spectrometry analysis. We have found three potential arginine methylation sites, one in the Runt domain, and two in the Runx1 carboxy-terminal region. Interestingly, one of these sites is in the region shown to interact with both the mSIN3A transcriptional repression complex and with p300. This suggests that arginine methylation of Runx1 may affects its transcriptional activating and repressing functions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays are underway to show how arginine methylation of Runx1 affects its activities in hematopoietic cells. Additional studies examining the effects of cross-talk between arginine methylation, lysine acetylation and serine phosphorylation has on Runx1 functions (biological and biochemical) will be presented.
Transition to Adulthood of Former Foster Youth: Multilevel Challenges to the Help-Seeking Process

This study examines the experiences of 28 emerging adults (mean age = 22; 16 female, 12 male) who have aged out of the child welfare system in the United States. Findings derived from in-depth inte...
Ethics for a Combined Human-Machine Dialogue Agent

We discuss philosophical and ethical issues that arise from a dialogue system intended to portray a real person, using recordings of the person together with a machine agent that selects recordings during a synchronous conversation with a user. System output may count as actions of the speaker if the speaker intends to communicate with users and the outputs represent what the speaker would have chosen to say in context; in such cases the system can justifiably be said to be holding a conversation that is offset in time. The autonomous agent may at times misrepresent the speaker's intentions, and such failures are analogous to good-faith misunderstandings. The user may or may not need to be informed that the speaker is not organically present, depending on the application.
IL-15 Complexes Induce Migration of Resting Memory CD8 T Cells into Mucosal Tissues

IL-15 is an essential cytokine known to promote T cell survival and activate the effector function of memory phenotype CD8 T cells. Blocking IL-15 signals also significantly impacts tissue-specific effector and memory CD8 T cell formation. In this study, we demonstrate that IL-15 influences the generation of memory CD8 T cells by first promoting their accumulation into mucosal tissues and second by sustaining expression of Bcl-6 and T-bet. We show that the mechanism for this recruitment is largely dependent on mammalian target of rapamycin and its subsequent inactivation of FoxO1. Last, we show that IL-15 complexes delivered locally to mucosal tissues without reinfection is an effective strategy to enhance establishment of tissue resident memory CD8 T cells within mucosal tissues. This study provides mechanistic insight into how IL-15 controls the generation of memory CD8 T cells and influences their trafficking and ability to take up residence within peripheral tissues.
Applications of Terror Management Theory

In general, people cope with death through two basic avenues, the enhancement of self-esteem and the protection of one’s cultural worldview. Neuroscientific evidence has shown a brain area called the insula plays an important role in the self-regulation of emotions associated with terror management, with regard to both self-esteem and empathic engagement with others. These principles of terror management theory provide a framework to unlock modern medicine’s unique and rather ingenuous strategies for the management of death anxiety through cognitive and neurological management of self-worth and worldview defense of medical culture.
879 Risks and management of airborne mercury levels at artisanal gold processing shops in the peruvian amazon

Gold mining using the mercury amalgamation process continues to present serious community and occupational exposure problems throughout the world. It is now estimated that 30% of all processed gold is produced using mercury amalgamation with over 10 million people involved in artisanal and small scale gold mining. In Peru there has been a 400% increase in the ASGM activities and is ranked 5th in worldwide gold production. It is estimated that one out of 28 people in Peru are associated with artisanal gold mining with Madre de Dios, an Amazonian State in Peru, accounting for 70% of mined gold. worker paper presents the results of mercury vapour area air sampling during the amalgam burning processing step where Hg/Au amalgam is heated and the mercury driven off as a vapour phase. Small-scale artisanal gold miners often do not have the equipment to burn off the mercury from the amalgam and resort to local shops for this service. These Compra de Oro shops can be found in villages along the Interoceanic Highway traversing Madre de Dios. A total of 16 Gold Shops were sampled in 5 villages along the Interoceanic Highway in Madre de Dios. In almost all cases, the worker exposure levels exceeded internationally accepted health standards. Results of workplace sampling will be presented as well as a discussion of efforts and challenges in managing occupational health risks in small-scale artisanal enterprises in low and middle-income countries.
Lowest Landau excited states of a hydrogen atom in magnetic fields up to 4.7 X 10 to the 12th gauss

Autoionization widths and energies of the lowest-lying Landau excited states of a hydrogen atom in strong magnetic fields are calculated for azimuthal quantum numbers $|m|=0,1$, and $2$. For fields ranging from below ${10}^{9}$ G, where these states lie close to the ionization threshold, up to 4.7 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{12}$ G, the width of the lowest autoionizing state in each $m$ subspace is, to within the accuracy of the calculation, inversely proportional to the fourth root of the field strength. A comparison with radiative widths is made.
Digital Inequality on Global Online Knowledge Exchange Platforms

The present study reports on an empirical investigation about the major causes of digital inequality in the specific context of user participation on cross-cultural, global knowledge exchange platforms. Using social inclusion theory as a theoretical lens, we propose a predictive research model about digital inequality at the country level and posit that four critical resources, physical resources, digital resources, human resources, and social resources contribute to the effective usage of ICT in accessing, adapting, and creating knowledge. We test our research model on data from a sample of 200 leading knowledge-based platforms.
Directed assembly of bimetallic nanoarchitectures by interfacial photocatalysis with plasmonic hot electrons

Targeted, sequential deposition of metals using localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is a promising fabrication route for solar fuel catalysts and sensors. This work examines liquid-phase, reductive photodeposition of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles onto the longitudinal ends of gold nanorods (AuNR) under surface plasmon excitation. Reductive Pt nucleation is initiated by plasmonic hot electrons at the Au-liquid interface, whose sites are governed by the plasmon polarity. In this work, in situ spectroscopic monitoring of the photodeposition process permitted real-time feedback into AuNR surface functionalization with the Pt precursor, Pt growth kinetics under monochromatic AuNR LSPR excitation, and their evolving light-matter interactions. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mappings show Pt deposition was localized toward the AuNR ends. Coordinated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements with density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the Pt-decorated AuNR density of states (DOS) elucidated optoelectronic behavior. Catalytic photodeposition using plasmonic hot electrons provide an economical path towards targeted, hierarchal assembly of multi-metallic nanoarchitectures at ambient conditions with specified optoelectronic activity.
Efficacy of 2nd-line chemotherapy in patients with poorly differentiated, high grade extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma (PD NEC).

e16162Background: Platinum/etoposide doublet is considered standard 1st-line therapy for PD NEC, however evidence to guide treatment beyond 1st-line regimens is lacking. Second-line small cell lung...
Task-enhanced arterial spin labeled perfusion MRI predicts longitudinal neurodegeneration in mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but is also recognized to be a heterogeneous condition. Biomarkers that predict AD progression in MCI are of clinical significance because they can be used to better identify appropriate candidates for therapeutic intervention studies. It has been hypothesized that comparing to structural measurements, functional ones may be more sensitive to early disease abnormalities and the sensitivity could be further enhanced when combined with cognitive task, a "brain stress test." In this study, we investigated the value of regional cerebral blood flow (CBF), measured by arterial spin labeled perfusion MRI (ASL MRI) during a memory-encoding task, in predicting the estimated rate of hippocampal atrophy, an established marker of AD progression. Thirty-one amnestic MCI patients (20 male and 11 female; age: 70.9 ± 6.5 years, range from 56 to 83 years; mini mental status examination: 27.8 ± 1.8) and 42 normal control subjects (13 male and 29 female; age: 70.6 ± 8.8 years, range from 55 to 88 years; mini mental status examination: 29.1 ± 1.2) were included in this study. We compared the predictive value of CBF during task to CBF during rest and structural volumetry. Both region-of-interest and voxelwise analyses showed that baseline CBF measurements during task (strongest effect in fusiform gyrus, region-of-interest analysis statistics: r = 0.56, p = .003), but not resting ASL MRI or structural volumetry, were correlated with the estimated rate of hippocampal atrophy in amnestic MCI patients. Further, stepwise linear regression demonstrated that resting ASL MRI and volumetry did not provide complementary information in prediction. These results support the notion that physiologic measures during a cognitive challenge may increase the ability to detect subtle functional changes that predict progression. As such, ASL MRI could have important utility in stratifying candidates for AD treatment trials.
Amygdala sign, a FDG-PET signature of dementia with Lewy Bodies.

Abstract Background Biomarkers are being used increasingly to support the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Novel biomarkers that increase diagnostic specificity of DLB are needed. We assessed previously known FDG-PET occipital cortex hypometabolism, and cingulate island sign biomarkers of DLB against a novel amygdala signature. Methods Retrospective analysis of 49 patients evaluated at one tertiary memory clinic. All had a FDG-PET brain scan performed as part of their diagnostic work up evaluating three common neurodegenerative etiologies: Alzheimer dementia (AD), Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and DLB. A consensus diagnosis of dementia was made based on accepted clinical criteria for AD, FTD and DLB. FDG-PET regional metabolism was delineated by automatic segmentation as well as manual tracing of amygdala and posterior cingulate volumes of interest. Mean normalized values calculated for regional FDG-PET signatures of DLB: occipital cortex hypometabolism and preservation of posterior cingulate and amygdala metabolism relative to whole brain metabolism were evaluated. Results Significant overlap between DLB and AD patients (occipital, parietal, temporal and frontal hypometabolism) and between DLB and FTD (frontal hypometabolism and the posterior cingulate sign) were identified. Right amygdala (p = 0.028) and right posterior cingulate (p = 0.035) mean normalized regional metabolism levels were preserved in DLB compared to AD. Among subjects at less advanced stages of dementia (MoCA>10), relative preservation of regional metabolism was notable across both left (p = 0.006) and right (p = 0.020) amygdala. Conclusion Relative preservation of amygdala metabolism could complement previously described FDG-PET findings in earlier stages of DLB.
Next Generation Networks: Featuring the Potential Role of Emerging Applications in Translational Oncology

Nowadays, networks are pervasively used as examples of models suitable to mathematically represent and visualize the complexity of systems associated with many diseases, including cancer. In the cancer context, the concept of network entropy has guided many studies focused on comparing equilibrium to disequilibrium (i.e., perturbed) conditions. Since these conditions reflect both structural and dynamic properties of network interaction maps, the derived topological characterizations offer precious support to conduct cancer inference. Recent innovative directions have emerged in network medicine addressing especially experimental omics approaches integrated with a variety of other data, from molecular to clinical and also electronic records, bioimaging etc. This work considers a few theoretically relevant concepts likely to impact the future of applications in personalized/precision/translational oncology. The focus goes to specific properties of networks that are still not commonly utilized or studied in the oncological domain, and they are: controllability, synchronization and symmetry. The examples here provided take inspiration from the consideration of metastatic processes, especially their progression through stages and their hallmark characteristics. Casting these processes into computational frameworks and identifying network states with specific modular configurations may be extremely useful to interpret or even understand dysregulation patterns underlying cancer, and associated events (onset, progression) and disease phenotypes.
Planck–Shannon Classifier: A Novel Method to Discriminate Between Sonified Raman Signals from Cancer and Healthy Cells

The Planckian distribution equation (PDE), also called blackbody radiation-like equation, BRE, was derived from the Planck radiation formula by replacing its universal constants and temperature with free parameters, A, B, and C, resulting in y = A/(x + B)5/(eC/(x+B) − 1), where x is bin variable and y is frequency. PDE has been found to fit many long-tailed asymmetric histograms (LAHs) reported in various fields, including atomic physics, protein folding, single-molecule enzymology, whole-cell metabolism, brain neurophysiology, electrophysiology, decision-making psychophysics, glottometrics (quantitative study of words and texts), sociology, econometrics, and cosmology (http://www.conformon.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PDE_Vienna_2015.pdf). The apparent universality of PDE is postulated to be due to the principle of wave-particle duality embodied in PDE that applies not only to quantum mechanics but also to macrophysics regardless of scales. In this paper, the new classification method referred to as the Planck–Shannon classifier (PSC) or the Planck–Shannon plot (PSP) is formulated based on the two functions, i.e., (i) the Planckian information of the second kind, IPS, and (ii) the Shannon entropy, H, that can be computed from PDE. PSC has been shown to successfully distinguish between the digital CymaScopic images generated from the sonified Raman signals measured from normal and cancer cells in human brain tissues. PSC is a general purpose classifier and can be applied to classifying long-tailed asymmetric histograms generated by many physical, chemical, biological, physiological, psychological, and socioeconomical processes called Planckian processes, i.e., those processes that generate long-tailed asymmetric histograms fitting PDE.
Abstract 5207: Functions of nucleolin in its interactions with the MYC promoter G-quadruplex

DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) are four-stranded non-canonical secondary structures formed in guanine-rich DNA sequences with functional significance and are found to be specifically enriched in the transcriptional regulatory regions of cancer-related genes. In particular, c-MYC, one of the most commonly deregulated genes in human cancers, has a DNA G4 motif in its proximal promoter which functions as a transcription inhibitor and can be targeted by G-quadruplex-interactive compounds, and is thus considered as an attractive target for cancer therapeutics. Nucleolin is overexpressed in cancer cells and is shown to be an important transcriptional regulator. Nucleolin has been found to specifically bind the c-MYC promoter G-quadruplex and to be involved in the regulation of MYC transcription, however, little is known about how the c-MYC promoter G-quadruplex interacts with and is regulated by nucleolin. By using AcGFP-tagged nucleolin, we observed nucleolin is mainly present in the cell nucleolus and nucleoplasm. We show that the nucleolin protein interacts to the MYC promoter region in vivo using chromatin immunoprecipitation assay coupled with next-generation sequencing analysis (ChIP-seq) in cancer cells. To show the association of nucleolin with G4s in vivo, we treated MCF7 cells with a G4-stabilizing ligand and monitored cellular localization of nucleolin and G4 sites using an immunofluorescent staining assay. Within 24 hr after treatment, we observed a large increase of endogenous G4 structures as well as a rapid cellular translocation of nucleolin from the cell nucleolus to the cell nucleoplasm. Importantly, the nucleolin foci were significantly colocalized with the G4 foci, suggesting the direct interaction of nucleolin and G4s in vivo. In the meantime, both MYC mRNA and protein levels were significantly reduced, indicating the nucleolin/MYC G4 interaction represses MYC transcription. To understand the interactions of nucleolin with the MYC G4 structure, we prepared various nucleolin protein constructs and studied its interactions with the MycG4 structures in vitro using NMR, EMSA, fluorescence, CD, AUC, and UV-crosslinking methods. We found that nucleolin specifically recognizes the c-MYC promoter G-quadruplex and forms a 1:1 complex with MycG4. Importantly, MycG4 maintains its G4 structure in the nucleolin-MycG4 complex. Additionally, CD melting of the MYC G4-nucleolin complex showed that MYC G4 is stabilized by nucleolin by more than 10 Celsius. In a conclusion, our in vitro and in vivo results provide important insights into the nucleolin protein interactions with the MYC promoter G4 structure and the G4-associated biological functions of nucleolin in cancer cells. Citation Format: Guanhui Wu, Luying Chen, Clement Lin, Buket Onel, Danzhou Yang. Functions of nucleolin in its interactions with the MYC promoter G-quadruplex [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5207.
RedMax: efficient & flexible approach for articulated dynamics

It is well known that the dynamics of articulated rigid bodies can be solved in O(n) time using a recursive method, where n is the number of joints. However, when elasticity is added between the bodies (e.g., damped springs), with linearly implicit integration, the stiffness matrix in the equations of motion breaks the tree topology of the system, making the recursive O(n) method inapplicable. In such cases, the only alternative has been to form and solve the system matrix, which takes O(n3) time. We propose a new approach that is capable of solving the linearly implicit equations of motion in near linear time. Our method, which we call RedMax, is built using a combined reduced/maximal coordinate formulation. This hybrid model enables direct flexibility to apply arbitrary combinations of constraints and contact modeling in both reduced and maximal coordinates, as well as mixtures of implicit and explicit forces in either coordinate representation. We highlight RedMax's flexibility with seamless integration of deformable objects with two-way coupling, at a standard additional cost. We further highlight its flexibility by constructing an efficient internal (joint) and external (environment) frictional contact solver that can leverage bilateral joint constraints for rapid evaluation of frictional articulated dynamics.
Hygelac’s Raid in Historiography and Poetry: The King’s Necklace and Beowulf as ‘Epic’

This article studies historical narratives about Hygelac’s failed raid in Frisia as analogues for the representation of the king’s treasure in Beowulf. Though the poet alters the raid’s sequence of events, he preserves the chief circumstances and major themes present in accounts of the attack, which strongly suggests that he knew a narrative about it not unlike what we find in historiography, and focuses on the treasure to illustrate a past rife with quarreling, as conflict revolves around Hygelac’s necklace. Furthermore, the author of Beowulf elaborated on the mobility of this treasure to compose a poem, which, if it cannot be called epic, has epic pretensions.
Non-invasive acoustic fabrication methods to enhance collagen hydrogel bioactivity

Much attention has focused recently on utilizing components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) as natural building blocks for a variety of tissue engineering applications and regenerative medicine therapies. Consequently, new fabrication methods are being sought to enable molecular control over the structural characteristics of ECM molecules in order to improve their biological function. Exposing soluble collagen to acoustic forces associated with ultrasound propagation produces localized variations in collagen microfiber organization that in turn, promote cell behaviors essential for tissue regeneration, including cell migration and matrix remodeling. In the present study, mechanisms by which ultrasound interacts with polymerizing collagen to produce functional changes in collagen microstructure were investigated. The rate of collagen polymerization was manipulated by adjusting the pH of collagen solutions and the temperature at which gels were polymerized. Results demonstrate that the phase transition of type I collagen from fluid to gel triggered a simultaneous increase in acoustic absorption. This phase transition of collagen involves the lateral growth of early-stage collagen microfibrils and importantly, corresponded to a defined period of time during which exposure to ultrasound introduced both structural and functional changes to the resultant collagen hydrogels. Together, these experiments isolated a critical window in the collagen fiber assembly process during which mechanical forces associated with ultrasound propagation are effective in producing structural changes that underlie the ability of acoustically-modified collagen hydrogels to stimulate cell migration. These results demonstrate that changes in material properties associated with collagen polymerization are a fundamental component of the mechanism by which acoustic forces modify collagen biomaterials to enhance biological function.
Incidence of brain metastases in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with trastuzumab and pertuzumab (HP) in HER2-positive early breast cancer (BC).

e12653Background: The addition of pertuzumab in the neoadjuvant setting has become a standard of care in stage II-III HER2-positive BC. In the Katherine study the incidence of brain metastases (BM)...
Vacancy and interstitial interactions with crystal/amorphous, metal/covalent interfaces

Abstract We use atomistic simulations to investigate the interaction of vacancies and interstitials with interfaces between a crystalline metal and an amorphous, covalently-bonded solid. We select the gold (Au)/silicon (Si) binary system as a model material and construct interface models along two different facets of crystalline Au and with amorphous Si (a-Si) created at three different quench rates. We compute formation energies of vacancies, self-interstitials, and interstitial impurities as a function of position relative to the interface and find that they have markedly lower values near the interface than in the interior of the adjoining phases. We conclude that crystal/amorphous, metal/covalent interfaces may be as effective at removing radiation-induced point defects as interfaces in polycrystalline metals composites. Moreover, irrespective of interface character, the average formation energies of all point defects at all the Au/a-Si interfaces we investigated are comparable. Thus, unlike in polycrystalline metals, where an interface’s crystallographic character has a marked effect on its interactions with point defects, all interface types in crystal/amorphous, metal/covalent composites may be equally effective at absorbing all radiation-induced defects.
Case-mix for assessing primary care value (CPCV).

Measuring primary care (PC) performance and designing payment systems that reward value rather than volume have been a great challenge due in large part to lack of reliable risk adjustment mechanis...
Warm Arctic, Cold Siberia Pattern: Role of Full Arctic Amplification Versus Sea Ice Loss Alone

Author(s): Labe, Z; Peings, Y; Magnusdottir, G | Abstract: The effect of future Arctic amplification (AA) on the extratropical atmospheric circulation remains unclear in modeling studies. Using a collection of coordinated atmospheric and coupled global climate model perturbation experiments, we find an emergent relationship between the high-latitude 1,000–500 hPa thickness response and an enhancement of the Siberian High in winter. This wave number-1-like sea level pressure anomaly pattern is linked to an equatorward shift of the eddy-driven jet and a dynamical cooling response in eastern Asia. Additional simulations, where AA is imposed directly into the model domain by nudging, demonstrate how the sea ice forcing is insufficient by itself to capture the vertical extent of the warming and by extension the amplitude of the response in the Siberian High. This study demonstrates the importance of the vertical extent of the tropospheric warming over the polar cap in revealing the “warm Arctic, cold Siberia” anomaly pattern in future projections.
Women report more severe sensations from 2 mA and 4 mA transcranial direct current stimulation than men.

Interest in transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to alter cortical excitability, facilitate neural plasticity, and improve performance is increasing. Subjects often report temporary stimulation-related sensations, which might distract from the task being performed or compromise blinding. tDCS is also prone to high outcome irregularity and one potential variability source is the biological sex of the subject. The purpose of this study was to re-analyze existing tolerability data to ascertain any sex differences in sensation severity and blinding guesses from tDCS at 2 mA and 4 mA. Each subject underwent tDCS at three randomly-ordered intensities (sham, 2 mA, 4 mA), reported the severity sensations of experienced, and guessed which tDCS condition they underwent (blinding). Women reported higher sensation severities than men from 2 mA and 4 mA tDCS and higher severities with increasing intensity (sham < 2 mA < 4 mA). Men reported similar severities in all stimulation conditions. Both sexes distinguished sham from 2 mA and 4 mA, and neither were able to discriminate between 2 mA from 4 mA. This study highlights differences in severity reports between women and men and adds to the growing body of literature indicating that current sham methodologies might be inadequate to maintain blinding.
Abstract PS6-49: Intratumoral cytotoxic t-lymphocyte numbers and chemokine predict long-term survival of triple-negative breast cancer independently of tumor mutational burden

Background: Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) infiltration into tumor is a positive prognostic factor in breast cancer. While high tumor mutation burden (TMB) is also considered as a predictor of tumor immunogenicity and response to immunotherapy. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a higher TMB and accumulates more CTLs compared to other breast cancer subtypes. CTLs are identified by CD8 surface marker, which is encoded by CD8A gene. Granzyme B (GZMB) is a serine protease that is secreted by activated CTLs to induce apoptosis of the target cells. Chemokines, such as CXCL10 and CCL5 are key to the selective attraction of activated CTLs into tumors, as shown in multiple cancers. However, it remains unknown whether tumor infiltrating functional CTLs levels correlate with improved patient survival and are independent of TMB. In order to investigate it, we developed Functional Hotness Score (FHS) combining gene expressions of markers and attractants of activated CTL. Methods: Utilizing publicly available breast cancer cohorts, we established Functional Hotness Score (FHS), based on gene expression levels of CTL and chemokine markers in bulk tumors. The associations of FHS and breast cancer patient prognosis as well as distinct immunity markers were analyzed. Results: CD8, GZMB and CXCL10 combination resulted in the best prediction of the breas cancer patient prognosis. Thus, we established FHS based on the expression levels of these three genes. Breast cancer patients with the high-FHS tumors showed significantly better survival. FHS was lower in the metastatic breast cancers. Among breast cancer subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) showed the highest FHS. FHS predicted patient survival in hormone receptor (HR)-negative, especially TNBC, but not in HR-positive breast cancer. The high-FHS TNBCs showed not only higher CD8+ T cell infiltration, but also enhanced broader type-1 anti-cancer immunity. The patients with the high-FHS tumors showed better prognosis not only in high-TMB tumors but also in low-TMB TNBCs. The combination of high-TMB with high-FHS identified a unique subset of patients who do not recur over time. Conclusions: TNBCs with high-FHS based on the expression levels of CD8A, GZMB and CXCL10 showed improved prognosis with higher anti-cancer immunity regardless of TMB. FHS constitutes an independent prognostic marker of survival, particularly robust when combined with TMB in TNBCs. Citation Format: Eriko Katsuta, Li Yan, Mateusz Opyrchal, Pawel Kalinski, Kazuaki Takabe. Intratumoral cytotoxic t-lymphocyte numbers and chemokine predict long-term survival of triple-negative breast cancer independently of tumor mutational burden [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS6-49.
Drying characteristics and quality attributes of apple slices dried by a non-thermal ultrasonic contact drying method.

Abstract Drying is one of the most prevalent methods to reduce water activity and preserve foods. However, it is also the most energy-intensive food processing unit operation. Although a number of drying methods have been proposed and tested for the purpose of achieving a time- and energy-efficient drying process, almost all current drying methods still rely on thermal energy to remove moisture from the product. In this study, a novel use of power ultrasound was explored for drying of apple slices without the application of heat. The non-thermal ultrasound contact drying (US-CD) was performed in the presence of an air stream (26–40 °C) flowing over product surface to remove mist or vapor produced by the ultrasound treatment. The effects of the non-thermal US-CD, hot-air drying (HAD), and freeze drying (FD) on the changes in rehydration ratio, pH, titratable acidity, water activity, color, glass transition temperature, texture, antioxidant capacity, total phenols, and microstructures of the samples were evaluated. The moisture content of the apple slices reached below 5% (w.b.) after 75–80 min of US-CD, which was about 45% less than that of the HAD method. The antioxidant capacity and total phenol contents of the US-CD samples were significantly higher than that of the AD samples. The non-thermal ultrasonic contact drying is a promising method which has the potential to significantly reduce drying time and improve product quality.
Tri-objective techno-economic sizing optimization of Off-grid and On-grid renewable energy systems using Electric system Cascade Extended analysis and system Advisor Model

Abstract Renewable energy systems have become more attractive with the increase in energy demand due to demographic growth, industrial development, and conventional sources' cost and their impact on the environment. Finding the most suitable solution to obtain the optimum design of renewable energy systems by considering techno-economic performance is a significant challenge to ensure their efficiency at the lowest cost of energy produced. This paper has developed our Electric System Cascade Extended Analysis with new merits and functionalities to be able to determine the optimum capacities and sizes for different power generation and storage facilities of renewable energy systems in both on-grid and off-grid. The Loss of Power Supply Probability as a system reliability criterion, the Life Cycle Cost and the Levelized Cost of Energy as economic indicators, are implemented together as tri-objective optimization functions into the ESCEA to optimize the sizing results techno-economically. The sizing procedure takes as inputs hourly meteorological data, load profile, and the technical and economic data for the generation and storage units. The algorithm has been demonstrated with a case study on a site located in Oujda city in Morocco, with different electrical energy demands. Validation of the developed methodology is performed by comparing the obtained results with those from the System Advisor Model software. The results from the Electric System Cascade Extended Analysis shows that it successfully identified the optimal configuration with a difference with System Advisor Model of 1.1% in sizing results of CSP plants, 1% for PV systems, 0.9% for wind turbines systems, and a maximum difference of 1.5% in annual produced energy. The economic analysis of the ESCEA sizing results shows that it achieved viable levels cost of energy for all studied on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems and provided a comprehensive evaluation that help to choose the suitable RES for any site worldwide.
Cascaded Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer Fiber Sensor Coated with Pd Alloy for Hydrogen Sensing

A cascaded hydrogen sensors based on intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (IFPI) fabricated by femtosecond laser in single mode fibers is presented for monitoring the hydrogen gas at the room temperature. A detection limit of hydrogen of 0.25 % is achieved.
Intuitive Alignment of Point-Clouds with Painting-Based Feature Correspondence

Throughout the course of several years, significant progress has been made with regard to the accuracy and performance of pair-wise alignment techniques; however when considering low-resolution scans with minimal pair-wise overlap, and scans with high levels of symmetry, the process of successfully performing sequential alignments in the object reconstruction process remains a challenging task. Even with the improvements in surface point sampling and surface feature correspondence estimation, existing techniques do not guarantee an alignment between arbitrary point-cloud pairs due to statistically-driven estimation models. In this paper we define a robust and intuitive painting-based feature correspondence selection methodology that can refine input sets for these existing techniques to ensure alignment convergence. Additionally, we consolidate this painting process into a semi-automated alignment compilation technique that can be used to ensure the proper reconstruction of scanned models.
Object-oriented constraints for XML schema

This paper presents an object-oriented representation of the core structural and constraint-related features of XML Schema. The structural features are representedwithin the limitations of object-oriented type systems including particles (elements and groups) and type hierarchies (simple and complex types and type derivations). The applicability of the developed representation is demonstrated through a collection of complex object-oriented queries. The main novelty is that features of XML Schema that are not expressible in object-oriented type systems such as range constraints, keys and referential integrity, and type derivation by restriction are specified in an object-oriented assertion language Spec#. An assertion language overcomes major problems in the object-oriented/XML mismatch. It allows specification of schema integrity constraints and transactions that are required to preserve those constraints. Most importantly, Spec# technology comes with automatic static verification of code with respect to the specified constraints. This technology is applied in the paper to transaction verification.
Shelley’s ‘Mask of Anarchy’ and the Problem of Modern Sovereignty

Shelley’s political poem, ‘The Mask of Anarchy’, was written in 1819 after the event known as the ‘massacre at Peterloo’. It attempts to galvanize the reform movement’s resistance to what he saw as the illegitimate power of the British government. Because the poem was deemed too radical to publish in the wake of government repression after the massacre, it raises the question of how to judge the political efficacy of a text beyond the immediate historical context for which it was intended. Recent criticism has sought to locate this efficacy in the tensions between the poem’s formal poetics and the specific political proposals that it seems to advance. This article revisits the need for this approach by proposing that the political efficacy of the ‘Mask of Anarchy’ must also be measured in terms of the way that it articulates two different relations to the paradox of modern political sovereignty which, no longer based on a transcendent foundation such as divine right, must include within its institution a finite act of self-grounding. Drawing on recent theoretical debates about the nature of modern sovereignty, I argue that Shelley’s poem demonstrates two different relationships to this act of self-grounding: one that produces an illegitimate form of sovereignty, and a second that recognizes the contingency of its own institution. I then go on to consider how these two different conceptions of sovereignty help clarify and sharpen the specific nature of the poem’s political efficacy.
Coupling of baryon resonances to the Nω channel

Abstract We estimate the resonance coupling strength f RNω and f RNρ from a Vector Meson Dominance (VMD) analysis. The isoscalar and isovector part of the photon coupling are obtained separately from helicity amplitudes. The reliability of this approach is tested by comparing VMD predictions for f RNρ with values obtained from fitting the hadronic decay widths into Nρ . A reasonable agreement is found, but VMD tends to underestimate the coupling constants. In order to confirm consistency with experimental data, we calculate the cross-sections for photon- and pion-induced reactions within a Breit–Wigner model. Finally, we study how the properties of ω mesons in nuclear matter are affected from the excitation of resonance–hole loops. For an ω at rest, we find a broadening of about 40 MeV, while at higher momenta the effect of resonance excitations is reduced.