cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Skin toxicity caused by EGFR antagonists—An autoinflammatory condition triggered by deregulated IL‐1 signaling?

Acneiform skin eruptions associated with sterile inflammation frequently accompany pharmacological inhibition of signaling through the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cancer patients. Here we discuss possible pathogenic mechanisms for this phenomenon linked to control of inflammatory mediators by EGFR blockade in keratinocytes of the outer root sheath of the hair follicle. This discussion is focused on the putative role of EGFR activation in restraining interleukin (IL)-1-dependent inflammatory networks at the hair follicle.
Biological and immunological properties of zebra pituitary gonadotropins: comparison with horse and donkey gonadotropins.

Previous studies from this laboratory have described the properties of purified luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) from horse and donkey anterior pituitary glands. The present study afforded the opportunity to further characterize these previously purified hormone preparations and to compare them with enriched gonadotropin fractions from zebra pituitary glands. Although a single LH and FSH fraction was usually obtained for each pooi of pituitaries, two separate zebra LH and two donkey FSH preparations were generated. Purified hormone preparations from the horse were designated eLH and eFSH. Preparations zLH-A, zLH-B, and zFSH were obtained from zebra pituitaries, and fractions dLH, dFSH-A, and dFSH-B were prepared from donkey pituitary glands. These preparations were analyzed by LH and FSH radio immunoassays (RIAs), radioreceptor assays (RRAs), LH bioassay, and chromatofocusing. Clear immunological differences were observed between equid gonadotropins. Homologous RIAs for eLH and eFSH did not cross-react similarly, or in a parallel fashion, with gonadotropins from the donkey and zebra. In contrast, R1As capable of assessing LH or FSH in a wide number of species showed all equid gonad otropin preparations to have considerable activity and to produce parallel dilution curves. Relative to eLH (1.00), zLH-A was found to have higher LH bioactivity:LH RIA (2.50), LH RRA:LH RIA (1.42), and LH bioactivity: LH RRA (2.21) activity ratios. The dLH and zLH-B fractions only differed from eLH in LH RRA:LH RIA activity (0.69 and 0.62, respectively). Only LH from the horse possessed clear intrinsic FSH-receptor-binding activity. While dFSH-A and zFSH were similar to eFSH in FSH RRA:FSH RIA activity, dFSH-B was more potent than eFSH in this respect (2.27 vs. 1.00). Analysis by chromatofocusing revealed similar isohormone elution patterns in all the equid LH preparations. Although isohormones with similar isoelectric values may exist in the equid FSH fractions, the relative amounts of FSH in equivalent isoelectric ranges varied. Donkey FSH contained more acidic material than FSH from the horse and zebra. Zebra FSH possessed more basic material than the other equid FSH preparations. In summary, variations in the immunologial and biological properties of gonadotropins from different equids were detected, depending on the assay systems used for characterization. However, no consistent variations in isohormone chromatofocusing profiles could be correlated with differences in hormonal activities.
Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Spontaneously Adopt a Skeletal Muscle Phenotype: A Unique Myf5–/MyoD+ Myogenic Program

Smooth and skeletal muscle tissues are composed of distinct cell types that express related but distinct isoforms of the structural genes used for contraction. These two muscle cell types are also believed to have distinct embryological origins. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of a phenotypic switch from smooth to skeletal muscle has been demonstrated in several in vivo studies. This switch has been minimally analyzed at the cellular level, and the mechanism driving it is unknown. We used immunofluorescence and RT-PCR to demonstrate the expression of the skeletal muscle-specific regulatory genes MyoD and myogenin, and of several skeletal muscle-specific structural genes in cultures of the established rat smooth muscle cell lines PAC1, A10, and A7r5. The skeletal muscle regulatory gene Myf5 was not detected in these three cell lines. We further isolated clonal sublines from PAC1 cultures that homogeneously express smooth muscle characteristics at low density and undergo a coordinated increase in skeletal musc...
Performance-oriented statistical parameter reduction of parameterized systems via reduced rank regression

Process variations in modern VLSI technologies are growing in both magnitude and dimensionality. To assess performance variability, complex simulation and performance models parameterized in a high-dimensional process variation space are desired. However, the high parameter dimensionality, imposed by a large number of variation sources encountered in modern technologies, can introduce significant complexion in circuit analysis and may even render performance variability analysis completely intractable. We address the challenge brought by high-dimensional process variations via a new performance-oriented parameter dimension reduction technique. The basic premise behind our approach is that the dimensionality of performance variability is determined not only by the statistical characteristics of the underlying process variables, but also by the structural information imposed by a given design. Using the powerful reduced rank regression (RRR) and its extension as a vehicle for variability modeling, we are able to systematically identify statistically significant reduced parameter sets and compute not only reduced-parameter but also reduced-parameter-order models that are far more efficient than what was possible before. For a variety of interconnect modeling problems, it is shown that the proposed parameter reduction technique can provide more than one order of magnitude reduction in parameter dimensionality. Such parameter reduction immediately leads to reduced simulation cost in sampling-based performance analysis, and more importantly, highly efficient parameterized interconnect reduced order models. As a general parameter dimension reduction methodology, it is anticipated that the proposed technique is broadly applicable to a variety of statistical circuit modeling problems, thereby offering a useful framework for controlling the complexity of statistical circuit analysis.
Mathematical modeling of cement paste microstructure by mosaic pattern: Part I. Formulation

This paper develops a mathematical model using mosaic patterns to characterize structural features of complex, multiphase, and multidimensional microstructures, such as those for cement paste. A multiphase microstructure can be characterized by m independent parameters; the first m– 1 parameters are equivalent to the volume fractions of the phases, while the final parameter describes the grain size, and thus, the spatial arrangement of the microstructure. An evaluation procedure for the parameters is given; they can be evaluated based on a 2D image, and then the 3D microstructure can be simulated by the present model. The relationship among the model parameters and material parameters, such as water-to-cement ratio and particle size distribution, are also established.
Treatment of naming disorders: new issues regarding old therapies.

I report a series of single case studies involving an aphasic patient, H.G., which illustrates both the usefulness and the limitations of cognitive neuropsychological models and methods in aphasia rehabilitation. The first set of experiments analyze H.G.'s pattern of performance across lexical tasks in order to identify the loci of her damage to the cognitive mechanisms underlying the tasks of naming, comprehension, repetition, reading, and spelling. The second set of studies evaluates her response to two different types of treatment and identifies a few of the variables that influence the effectiveness of treatment. (JINS, 1998, 4, 648–660.)
Inequality and Discontent: A Nonlinear Hypothesis

At least since Aristotle, theorists have believed that political dis-content and its consequents—protest, instability, violence, revolution—depend not only on the absolute level of economic well-being, but also on the distribution of wealth. Contemporary political analysts have tried to test this ancient assumption using modern statistical methods. Their results are distressingly confusing. One cross-national investigation finds the commonsensical positive linear relation: the more the inequality, the greater the instability. A second study purports to show the opposite relation in the important case of South Vietnam: the greater the inequality, the less the support for revolution. And a third analysis, also of South Vietnam, detects no relation at all between inequality and rebellion.
Ion heat flux and energy transport near the magnetotail neutral sheet

Ten-year averages of energy transport rates near the neutral sheet showed that the enthalpy flux density or thermal energy term Q T = (5/2)PV was the largest, where P is the isotropic pressure and V is the bulk flow velocity. The ion heat flux, q;, was the next largest term. Sorting data using a magnetic flux transport parameter showed that q i could become dominant during periods of slow flow. Both q; and the ion bulk velocity V; were duskward on the dusk side of the neutral sheet. This relationship is characteristic of cross-tail drift and a heat flux that can be attributed to the energy dependent gradient and curvature drifts. The q; and V i vectors often pointed in different directions on the dawn side. The x component of q i on the dawn side pointed tailward, suggesting entry through the magnetopause of a suprathermal ion component. On the dusk side the q ix plots that were sorted using a magnetic flux transport parameter showed evidence of plasma sheet reconnection. The long-term averaged x component of Q T pointed earthward almost everywhere in the neutral sheet, and was attributed to periods of very fast plasma flow. The cross-tail component of Q T was separated into two contributions. One part of Q Ty involved a common drift away from midnight during both earthward and tailward fast flows. This feature suggests that thermal energy and plasma flow from the outer plasma sheet toward the neutral sheet near midnight, and then toward the flanks. The other part of Q Ty involved a differential duskward drift during fast earthward flows and a dawnward drift during fast tailward flows. The incremental E fields that would produce such convection point tailward during the fastest earthward flows and earthward during the fastest tailward flows. The dependencies of V i , q i and Q T on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle also were studied. Both V i and Q T were reduced when the IMF was northward and the neutral sheet plasma became cold and dense. However, no dependence of q i on the IMF direction was seen. This shows that the generation of a cold dense plasma sheet does not substantially change the distribution of the suprathermal ions that are most important in the production of q;.
Effect of Iyengar yoga therapy for chronic low back pain

Low back pain is a significant public health problem and one of the most commonly reported reasons for the use of Complementary Alternative Medicine. A randomized control trial was conducted in subjects with non-specific chronic low back pain comparing Iyengar yoga therapy to an educational control group. Both programs were 16 weeks long. Subjects were primarily self-referred and screened by primary care physicians for study of inclusion/exclusion criteria. The primary outcome for the study was functional disability. Secondary outcomes including present pain intensity, pain medication usage, pain-related attitudes and behaviors, and spinal range of motion were measured before and after the interventions. Subjects had low back pain for 11.2G1.54 years and 48% used pain medication. Overall, subjects presented with less pain and lower functional disability than subjects in other published intervention studies for chronic low back pain. Of the 60 subjects enrolled, 42 (70%) completed the study. Multivariate analyses of outcomes in the categories of medical, functional, psychological and behavioral factors indicated that significant differences between groups existed in functional and medical outcomes but not for the psychological or behavioral outcomes. Univariate analyses of medical and functional outcomes revealed significant reductions in pain intensity (64%), functional disability (77%) and pain medication usage (88%) in the yoga group at the post and 3-month follow-up assessments. These preliminary data indicate that the majority of self-referred persons with mild chronic low back pain will comply to and report improvement on medical and functional pain-related outcomes from Iyengar yoga therapy. q 2005 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Query rewrite for XML in Oracle XML DB

Oracle XML DB integrates XML storage and querying using the Oracle relational and object relational framework. It has the capability to physically store XML documents by shredding them as relational or object relational data, and creating logical XML documents using SQL/XML publishing functions. However, querying XML in a relational or object relational database poses several challenges. The biggest challenge is to efficiently process queries against XML in a database whose fundamental storage is table-based and whose fundamental query engine is tuple-oriented. In this paper, we present the 'XML Query Rewrite' technique used in Oracle XML DB. This technique integrates querying XML using XPath embedded inside SQL operators and SQL/XML publishing functions with the object relational and relational algebra. A common set of algebraic rules is used to reduce both XML and object queries into their relational equivalent. This enables a large class of XML queries over XML type tables and views to be transformed into their semantically equivalent relational or object relational queries. These queries are then amenable to classical relational optimisations yielding XML query performance comparable to relational. Furthermore, this rewrite technique lays out a foundation to enable rewrite of XQuery [1] over XML.
Geographic structure in the searching behaviour of a specialist parasitoid : combining molecular and behavioural approaches

An increasing number of studies have shown that the traits important to species interactions may differ geographically among populations or groups of populations within a single interacting species. We examined geographic structure in the searching behaviour of a recently discovered parasitoid in the genus Agathis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) by examining the pattern of population structure obtained from sequence data of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I and the pattern of population differentiation in female searching behaviour. Analyses of population structure showed no isolation by distance and suggested long distance dispersal among populations. This pattern is consistent with recent post-glacial expansion of Agathis n. sp. Observations of searching behaviour demonstrated that populations of Agathis n. sp. differed in a subset of the behavioural traits examined and also one morphological trait. These population differences appear to be driven in part by local host plant characteristics, and based on the population structure of Agathis n. sp., have arisen relatively quickly in evolutionary time. This study suggests that the interaction between parasitoids and their host insects may exhibit substantial geographic variation, and studies that focus at the level of single populations or the species-level may be missing much of the evolutionary dynamics of parasitoid‐host interactions.
Reversing motion vector fields

We examine the problem of estimating a reverse motion vector field from a given forward motion vector field and its motion-compensated residual. This problem has practical importance when providing reverse-play functionality in compressed video environments, where video data is stored, processed, and transported in compressed form. We present a family of algorithms that trade off motion vector accuracy for computational efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of these algorithms.
Modernizing Language Teaching

Author's Summary— To fit modern language teaching to modern conditions, we must ponder whom to teach, what to teach, how to teach, and how to test. This is a report on what is being done and suggestions for improvement is an attempt to let language students face problems similar to those in real life.
Cloning, Expression, and Purification of a Putative Prostaglandin Synthase from Nostoc as a Sumo Fusion Protein

A putative gene for prostaglandin synthase (PGHS) was identified in the genome of the bacteria Nostoc punctiforme. The Nostoc protein is predicted to contain both the heme binding site and cyclooxygenase active site, but lacks sequences attributed to dimer formation and membrane assoiciation. The gene for the putative PGHS was subcloned into an expression vector with a small ubiquitin modifier protein (SUMO) fusion partner and a histidine tag for visualization and isolation. The gene was overexpressed in E. coli BL21 cells, with expression observes both as soluble protein and as insoluble inclusion bodies. The soluble protein was demonstrated to bind heme, as predicted from modeling studies. Purification of the expressed soluble protein was attempted using a Ni affinity resin. Current progress on the purification and characterization of the enzymatic activity of the expressed protein will be reported.
Scientists' Participation in University Research Centers: What are the Gender Differences?

University-affiliated multidisciplinary research centers have grown in importance in academia. Most research to-date has focused on these centers from an institutional perspective, with recent work only beginning to explore the ways in which such centers affect the development of academic careers. Hence, little is known about how scientists who are center-affiliated differ from those who are not affiliated. Clearly, both selection and influence effects may be expected to operate in terms of research productivity, timing, and resources. A further puzzle is how center affiliation may differ between male and female scientists. In this study, we use a new, nationally representative dataset of scientists and engineers working in Carnegie Research Extensive universities to develop an understanding of how center-affiliated scientists differ from exclusively department-based academic scientists and engineers, and investigate the extent to which gender moderates the effects of centers. As expected, our national sample shows that women are younger, whiter, less likely to be tenured, and at a lower rank than their male colleagues. We find that women are as likely to join centers as men, and do so at a similar stage in their career. Most of the male–female differences observed in disciplinary settings are sustained in centers, but women appear to have greater research equality in them (compared to the departmental setting). In particular, men and women in centers spend the same amount of time writing grant proposals, conducting both grant-supported and unfunded research, and administering grants. This suggests that centers may constitute an institutional context in which some aspects of gender equity in science may be achieved.
Description of ultrasonic vocalizations of the mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) and the fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius).

Ultrasonic (>20 kHz) vocalizations were recorded from two species of prosimian primates, Microcebus murinus and Cheirogaleus medius. Three types of ultrasonic calls were emitted by isolated or paired M. murinus: 1) "chirps," short-duration (30 msec) calls with a sharp onset at 40 kHz followed by rapid and steep declines in frequency and intensity; 2) "twitters," characterized by a brief pulse at 25 kHz prior to the onset of repeating, frequency-modulated units; and 3) "long whistles," monotone signals with a frequency of 20 kHz. Partially ultrasonic "whines" were recorded from C. medius during interactions between mothers and infants. These calls began with a short, high-intensity component at 25 kHz and then dropped gradually in frequency before leveling off at 15 kHz. Study of the acoustic behavior and the structure of vocalizations in these species may lead to a better understanding of animal communication at high frequencies.
Impact of inherent meteorology uncertainty on air quality model predictions

It is well established that there are a number of different classifications and sources of uncertainties in environmental modeling systems. Air quality models rely on two key inputs, namely, meteorology and emissions. When using air quality models for decision making, it is important to understand how uncertainties in these inputs affect the simulated concentrations. Ensembles are one method to explore how uncertainty in meteorology affects air pollution concentrations. Most studies explore this uncertainty by running different meteorological models or the same model with different physics options and in some cases combinations of different meteorological and air quality models. While these have been shown to be useful techniques in some cases, we present a technique that leverages the initial condition perturbations of a weather forecast ensemble, namely, the Short-Range Ensemble Forecast system to drive the four-dimensional data assimilation in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model with a key focus being the response of ozone chemistry and transport. Results confirm that a sizable spread in WRF solutions, including common weather variables of temperature, wind, boundary layer depth, clouds, and radiation, can cause a relatively large range of ozone-mixing ratios. Pollutant transport can be altered by hundreds of kilometers over several days. Ozone-mixing ratios of the ensemble can vary as much as 10–20 ppb or 20–30% in areas that typically have higher pollution levels.
Sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 couples HIV-1 transcription to cholesterol homeostasis and T cell activation

Cholesterol plays an essential role in the life cycle of several enveloped viruses. Many of these viruses manipulate host cholesterol metabolism to facilitate their replication. HIV-1 infection of CD4(+) T cells activates the sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2) transcriptional program, which includes genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis. However, the role of SREBP2-dependent transcription in HIV-1 biology has not been fully examined. Here, we identify TFII-I, a gene critical for HIV-1 transcription in activated T cells, as a novel SREBP2 target gene. We found TFII-I expression increased after HIV-1 infection or activation of human primary CD4(+) T cells. We show that inhibition of SREBP2 activity reduced TFII-I induction in response to these stimuli. More importantly, small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated gene silencing of either SREBP2 or TFII-I significantly reduced HIV-1 production in CD4(+) T cells. We also found that TFII-I potentiates Tat-dependent viral gene expression, consistent with a role at the level of HIV-1 transcription. Collectively, our results demonstrate for the first time that HIV-1 transcription in T cells is linked to cholesterol homeostasis through control of TFII-I expression by SREBP2.
Teaching Industrial Marketing: The Two-Transactional Model

This paper proposes simplistic models of consumer marketing and of industrial marketing. The two-transactional model of industrial marketing provides the college marketing student with a conceptual framework for the study of the rapidly developing area of industrial marketing.
Snapify: capturing snapshots of offload applications on xeon phi manycore processors

Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors provide excellent performance acceleration for highly parallel applications and have been deployed in several top-ranking supercomputers. One popular approach of programming the Xeon Phi is the offload model, where parallel code is executed on the Xeon Phi, while the host system executes the sequential code. However, Xeon Phi's Many Integrated Core Platform Software Stack (MPSS) lacks fault-tolerance support for offload applications. This paper introduces Snapify, a set of extensions to MPSS that provides three novel features for Xeon Phi offload applications: checkpoint and restart, process swapping, and process migration. The core technique of Snapify is to take consistent process snapshots of the communicating offload processes and their host processes. To reduce the PCI latency of storing and retrieving process snapshots, Snapify uses a novel data transfer mechanism based on remote direct memory access (RDMA). Snapify can be used transparently by single-node and MPI applications, or be triggered directly by job schedulers through Snapify's API. Experimental results on OpenMP and MPI offload applications show that Snapify adds a runtime overhead of at most 5%, and this overhead is low enough for most use cases in practice.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Microscopic and Endoscopic Transsphenoidal Surgery Versus Medical Therapy in the Management of Microprolactinoma in the United States.

Background Although prolactinomas are treated effectively with dopamine agonists, some have proposed curative surgical resection for select cases of microprolactinomas to avoid life-long medical therapy. We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing transsphenoidal surgery (either microsurgical or endoscopic) and medical therapy (either bromocriptine or cabergoline) with decision analysis modeling. Methods A 2-armed decision tree was created with TreeAge Pro Suite 2012 to compare upfront transsphenoidal surgery versus medical therapy. The economic perspective was that of the health care third-party payer. On the basis of a literature review, we assigned plausible distributions for costs and utilities to each potential outcome, taking into account medical and surgical costs and complications. Base-case analysis, sensitivity analysis, and Monte Carlo simulations were performed to determine the cost-effectiveness of each strategy at 5-year and 10-year time horizons. Results In the base-case scenario, microscopic transsphenoidal surgery was the most cost-effective option at 5 years from the time of diagnosis; however, by the 10-year time horizon, endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery became the most cost-effective option. At both time horizons, medical therapy (both bromocriptine and cabergoline) were found to be more costly and less effective than transsphenoidal surgery (i.e., the medical arm was dominated by the surgical arm in this model). Two-way sensitivity analysis demonstrated that endoscopic resection would be the most cost-effective strategy if the cure rate from endoscopic surgery was greater than 90% and the complication rate was less than 1%. Monte Carlo simulation was performed for endoscopic surgery versus microscopic surgery at both time horizons. This analysis produced an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $80,235 per quality-adjusted life years at 5 years and $40,737 per quality-adjusted life years at 10 years, implying that with increasing time intervals, endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery is the more cost-effective treatment strategy. Conclusions On the basis of the results of our model, transsphenoidal surgical resection of microprolactinomas, either microsurgical or endoscopic, appears to be more cost-effective than life-long medical therapy in young patients with life expectancy greater than 10 years. We caution that surgical resection for microprolactinomas be performed only in select cases by experienced pituitary surgeons at high-volume centers with high biochemical cure rates and low complication rates.
Access Denied: Improper Use of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to Control Information on Publicly Accessible Internet Websites

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) was originally enacted in 1984 as a criminal statute to address hacking and the growing problem of computer crime. Recently, however, in an attempt to control competition and maintain market share, a number of companies have sought to prevent entities they deem unwelcome from obtaining data on their websites. Utilizing the civil action provisions of the CFAA, these companies have surprisingly succeeded in convincing federal courts that hacking includes accessing and using the factual information a company has chosen to post on a publicly available website. Despite the fact that many of the actions brought by owners of publicly accessible websites may fall within the literal language of the CFAA, such cases were arguably never intended to be covered by the statute. Additionally, by allowing website owners to protect information that is not protectable under copyright law, the CFAA unconstitutionally overrides the delicate balance of rights between authors and the public. Such a sweeping reading of prohibited acts under the CFAA threatens the free flow of information that belongs in the public domain. As a result, the continued openness of the Internet, along with its attendant benefits, is at risk. This Article begins by briefly explaining why the factual information that website owners seek to control is not protectable under copyright law. Next, Part III of this Article examines the history and purpose of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Part IV explores the way in which software robots gather information on the Internet and why companies have tried to limit their use. Part V looks at the elements of a CFAA claim, including the way companies have sought to define unauthorized access under the Act. Part VI discusses the constitutional confines within which Congress can create private property rights in information. Part VI also examines the proprietary rights of publicly accessible website owners and whether such rights should include the right to prohibit software robots from accessing the information contained on their Internet sites or alternatively the servers upon which the websites reside. Part VII suggests language that could be used to amend the CFAA to ensure its constitutionality. Additionally, Part VII reviews and evaluates alternative methods for controlling truly harmful robot behavior.
Classification With Unstructured Predictors and an Application to Sentiment Analysis

ABSTRACTUnstructured data refer to information that lacks certain structures and cannot be organized in a predefined fashion. Unstructured data often involve words, texts, graphs, objects, or multimedia types of files that are difficult to process and analyze with traditional computational tools and statistical methods. This work explores ordinal classification for unstructured predictors with ordered class categories, where imprecise information concerning strengths of association between predictors is available for predicting class labels. However, imprecise information here is expressed in terms of a directed graph, with each node representing a predictor and a directed edge containing pairwise strengths of association between two nodes. One of the targeted applications for unstructured data arises from sentiment analysis, which identifies and extracts the relevant content or opinion of a document concerning a specific event of interest. We integrate the imprecise predictor relations into linear relati...
Seventy-Five Years of International Women's Collecting: Legacies, Successes, Obstacles, and New Directions (Session 506)

These three papers investigate the establishment and trajectories of three institutions devoted to the documentation of women's history: the World Center for Women's Archives in New York, the International Archives of the Women's Movement (now known as the Aletta Institute for Women's History) in Amsterdam, and the International Museum of Women in San Francisco. The panelists detail the challenges faced by each institution and discuss the key founding personalities.
Abstract B53: Targeting PI3K signaling pathway for therapeutic enhancement of verteporfin-mediated photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) induces cell injury and death through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after light activation. Verteporfin is a photosensitizer that has been approved for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and is under investigation for targeting tumor vasculature for therapy. Being primarily localized in mitochondria, verteporfin-mediated PDT induced a rapid apoptotic cell death in SVEC mouse endothelial cells by activating mitochondria-initiated cell death pathways. However, activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway was also observed after verteporfin-PDT, especially at a sub-lethal dose. Furthermore, activation of PI3K signaling was correlated with cell growth after PDT. Thus, the goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that therapeutic outcome of verteporfin-PDT can be enhanced by targeting PDT-induced pro-survival PI3K signaling pathway. We found that PI3K-mTOR pathway inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 (BEZ235) significantly inhibited PDT-induced PI3K signaling activation and combination of BEZ235 and verteporfin-PDT resulted in more cell apoptosis and greater inhibition in cell proliferation in SVEC cells. The combination therapy led to significantly more tumor growth inhibition than each individual treatment in the PC-3 prostate tumor model. Examination of tumor samples for PI3K signaling activity and functional vasculature revealed that the combination treatment caused more inhibition in PI3K signaling and reduction in functional blood vessels than verteporfin-PDT or BEZ235 treatment alone. These results indicate that targeting pro-survival PI3K signaling pathway is an effective approach for enhancing tumor response to verteporfin-PDT. Citation Format: Daniel Kraus, Bin Chen. Targeting PI3K signaling pathway for therapeutic enhancement of verteporfin-mediated photodynamic therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Targeting the PI3K-mTOR Network in Cancer; Sep 14-17, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(7 Suppl):Abstract nr B53.
Can Payments for Environmental Services Strengthen Social Capital, Encourage Distributional Equity, and Reduce Poverty?

This study examines the relationship between the Mexican payment for environmental services (PES) programme, social capital and collective action, equity in distribution of benefits, and poverty alleviation in a case study in the Sierra Norte region of the state of Oaxaca. We address these issues with a household survey in two communities; and survey and ethnographic data on the six-community organisation - the Natural Resource Committee of the Upper Chinantla (CORENCHI). We suggest that the Mexican common property agrarian system greatly facilitates payments to entire communities of rights holders who then have the potential to build on existing social capital through having to make decisions about the use of their common property. Much of the work on social capital, distributional equity, and poverty alleviation has been theoretical or speculative but our study provides empirical support for part of this work. We find that PES in these communities has strengthened social capital and collective action, including in the emergence of regional collective action in the inter-community organisation. We also find that the PES payments are perceived as fair by the communities because of the high degree of participation in distributional policies, with a modest positive effect on a multidimensional measure of poverty.
The Application of Wavelet Packet Transform Technique to Identify Thin Interbedded Reservoirs

Thin interbeded reservoirs is China's major geological structure of the reservoirs oil and gas. Wavelet packet transform method identification and thickness of thin alternating layers of prediction,proposed a new method to study thin alternating layers of recognition. Establishment of the wedge model and complex model containing thin interbedded,and carried out seismic forward modeling,based on wavelet packet decomposition and reconstruction theory,application of the wavelet packet transform to get synthetic seismic profiles and the migration profile,the actual seismic data combine with calibration of the well information,a more detailed study of thin and interbedded reservoir delineation and thickness of the forecast. Model and real data example results show that wavelet packet transform can identify thin and interbedded reservoir exceeded the limit of a quarter wavelength.
Monitoring of adverse reactions in prophylactic vaccination in Hubei Province in 2005

Objective To monitor adverse reactions due to vaccination.Methods The monitoring - and - vaccination-asso- ciated adverse-reaction-reporting network was established in whole Hubei Province and the vaccination - associated adverse reac- tions were monitored and reported from lower level to higher level through China expanded immunization program monitoring informa- tion system.Results Vaccination-associated adverse reactions were reported in 22 counties and cities and 57 cases were report- ed,including 37 cases due to vaccination(64.91%),10 coincident cases (17.54%),9 unknown causes (15.78%),1 mistaken case(1.75%).Based on clinical diagnosis,18 were diagnosed as allergic reaction (31.58),18 were diagnosed as fever(31. 58%),9 were unidentified 15.78%),4 were diagnosed as upper respiratory tract infection (7.02%),3 were diagnosed as BCG re- action(5.26%),3 were diagnosed as viral encephalitis(5.26%) and the other 2 were scar reaction and wrong vaccination site (3. 51%).About 87.72% of adverse reactions occurred in the age groups of 1-5 years old and 87.7% of the adverse reactions were observed from 0 to 3 days after vaccination.Conclusion The work of monitoring vaccination associated adverse reactions is one of the important task of EPI and be carried out after pilot trial.
Summary of Study on Inference Engine Applied to Mining Engineering

With the statistics of the inference engine application to the reference information of the mining engineering,the development tendency of the study on the inference engine in the passed 20 years in China was obtained.Based on the certain analysis on the project design,the project monitoring and quality control,the safety evaluation and risk prevention as well as the related references of the study for the inference engine,several classic study contents of the academic area was concluded.From the knowledge expression,the inference mode and the development tools,the knowledge expression,inference mechanism,direction and way,development tools and other key technologies of the inference engine in related applications was concluded.Finally the references analysis showed that the artificial intelligent comprehensive application,the fuzzy inference technology and the knowledge object expression in the inference area would make a progress in the future.
Final results of a single institution experience with a pediatric-based regimen, the augmented Berlin–Frankfurt–Münster, in adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and comparison to the hyper-CVAD regimen

Several studies reported improved outcomes of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with pediatric-based ALL regimens. This prompted the prospective investigation of a pediatric Augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (ABFM) regimen, and its comparison with hyper-fractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, Adriamycin, and dexamethasone (hyper-CVAD) in AYA patients. One hundred and six AYA patients (median age 22 years) with Philadelphia chromosome- (Ph) negative ALL received ABFM from October 2006 through March 2014. Their outcome was compared to 102 AYA patients (median age 27 years), treated with hyper-CVAD at our institution. The complete remission (CR) rate was 93% with ABFM and 98% with hyper-CVAD. The 5-year complete remission duration (CRD) were 53 and 55%, respectively (P = 0.98). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 60 and 60%, respectively. The MRD status on Day 29 and Day 84 of therapy was predictive of long-term outcomes on both ABFM and hyper-CVAD. Severe regimen toxicities with ABFM included hepatotoxicity in 41%, pancreatitis in 11%, osteonecrosis in 9%, and thrombosis in 19%. Myelosuppression-associated complications were most significant with hyper-CVAD. In summary, ABFM and hyper-CVAD resulted in similar efficacy outcomes, but were associated with different toxicity profiles, asparaginase-related with ABFM and myelosuppression-related with hyper-CVAD. Am. J. Hematol. 91:819-823, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hemoglobin enhances the binding of bacterial endotoxin to human endothelial cells.

Human endothelial cells, when incubated with bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS), modify their surface in association with prominent production of procoagulant tissue factor (TF) activity. This deleterious biological effect of LPS has been shown previously to be enhanced approximately 10-fold by the presence of hemoglobin (Hb), a recently recognized LPS binding protein that causes disaggregation of LPS and increases the biological activity of LPS in a number of in vitro assays. The present study was performed to test the hypothesis that Hb enhances the LPS-induced procoagulant activity of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) by increasing LPS binding to the cells. The binding of 3H-LPS to HUVEC was determined in the absence or presence of Hb or two other known LPS-binding proteins, human serum albumin (HSA) and IgG. LPS binding was substantially increased in the presence of Hb, in a Hb concentration-dependent manner, but was not increased by HSA or IgG. Hb enhancement of LPS binding was observed in serum-free medium, indicating that there was no additional requirement for any of the serum factors known to participate in the interaction of LPS with cells (e.g., lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein (LBP) and soluble CD 14 (sCD14)). Hb enhancement of LPS binding also was observed in the more physiologic condition of 100% plasma. LPS-induced TF activity was stimulated by Hb, but not by HSA or IgG. In serum-free medium, TF activity was not stimulated under any of the conditions tested. Ultrafiltration of LPS was dramatically increased after incubation with Hb but not with HSA or IgG, suggesting that LPS disaggregation by Hb was responsible for the enhanced binding of LPS to HUVEC and the subsequent stimulation of TF activity.
RF-localize: An RFID-based localization algorithm for Internet-of-Things

In this paper an RFID-based localization algorithm for Internet of Things (IoT) is proposed. The responses of RFID tags to different readers are employed to determine the location of the IoT devices. The proposed algorithm does not rely on the on the unreliable power level reading and the sophisticated direction-of-arrival-based methods. First, we assume that the location of the RFID readers are known a priori. Later, in this paper, we extend our results to the scenario where neither the location of IoT devices nor the RFID readers are known. In addition, we provide analytical bounds on the number of readers in the network to have a reliable localization results. The results of the numerical experiment show a highly accurate localization of IoT devices when our proposed RF-Localize algorithm is employed.
The 3 x 2 Achievement Goal Model in Predicting Online Student Test Anxiety and Help-Seeking.

This study investigates the utility of the new 3 × 2 achievement goal model in predicting online student test anxiety and help-seeking. Achievement goals refer to students’ general aims for participating in learning and the standard by which they judge their achievement (Pintrich, 2000). According to Elliot and his colleagues (2011), there are six types of achievement goals based on three dimensions of competence (self-, task-, and other-) and two dimensions of valence (approach and avoidance). The sample included 209 students enrolled in distance education classes who volunteered for the study. Separate hierarchical regression was employed to examine the predictive power of achievement goals in online student test anxiety and help-seeking beyond self-efficacy and demographic differences. Achievement goals predicted online help-seeking differently from traditional classes. Students who endorsed other-avoidance or self-approach goals reported more help-seeking, while those with other-approach or self-avoidance goals reported less help-seeking. The study results and practical implications for online instruction and course design are discussed. Cette etude examine l'utilite du nouveau modele 3 × 2 des buts d’accomplissement a predire l'anxiete au test et la demande d'aide de l’etudiant en ligne. Les buts d’accomplissement visent les buts generaux des etudiants pour participer a l'apprentissage et la norme par laquelle ils jugent leur accomplissement (Pintrich, 2000). Selon Elliot et ses collegues (2011), il existe six types de buts d’accomplissement en s’appuyant sur trois dimensions de la competence (soi-, tâche-, et autrui-) et deux dimensions de valence (approche et evitement). L'echantillon comprenait 209 etudiants inscrits dans des classes d'enseignement a distance qui se sont portes volontaires pour l'etude. La regression hierarchique distincte a ete utilisee pour examiner le pouvoir predictif des buts d’accomplissement de l’etudiant en ligne pour l'anxiete au test et la demande d'aide au-dela de l'auto-efficacite et des differences demographiques. Les buts d’accomplissement ont predit la demande d'aide en ligne differemment de celle des classes traditionnelles. Les etudiants qui ont approuve les buts autrui-evitement ou soi-approche ont signale plus de demande d'aide, tandis que ceux avec les buts autrui-approche ou soi-evitement ont signale moins de demande d'aide. Les resultats de l'etude et les implications pratiques pour l'enseignement en ligne et la conception de cours sont discutes.
Abstract WP48: Inter-rater Reliability for Radiological Studies Used to Select Patients for Endovascular Stroke Therapy

Introduction: The selection of acute ischemic stroke patients relies on the interpretation of radiological studies, commonly including noncontrast CT (ASPECTS score), CTA, and in some circumstances...
Evaluating sample size to estimate genetic management metrics in the genomics era.

Inbreeding and relationship metrics among and within populations are useful measures for genetic management of wild populations, but accuracy and precision of estimates can be influenced by the number of individual genotypes analysed. Biologists are confronted with varied advice regarding the sample size necessary for reliable estimates when using genomic tools. We developed a simulation framework to identify the optimal sample size for three widely used metrics to enable quantification of expected variance and relative bias of estimates and a comparison of results among populations. We applied this approach to analyse empirical genomic data for 30 individuals from each of four different free-ranging Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) populations in Montana and Wyoming, USA, through cross-species application of an Ovine array and analysis of approximately 14,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) after filtering. We examined intra- and interpopulation relationships using kinship and identity by state metrics, as well as FST between populations. By evaluating our simulation results, we concluded that a sample size of 25 was adequate for assessing these metrics using the Ovine array to genotype Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep herds. However, we conclude that a universal sample size rule may not be able to sufficiently address the complexities that impact genomic kinship and inbreeding estimates. Thus, we recommend that a pilot study and sample size simulation using R code we developed that includes empirical genotypes from a subset of populations of interest would be an effective approach to ensure rigour in estimating genomic kinship and population differentiation.