cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Latino Faces, Corporate Ties: Latino Advocacy Organizations and Their Board Membership

Although they have increased exponentially since the 1960s, social scientists know little about ethnic advocacy organizations. These nonprofits are important bridges between underresourced communities and mainstream funding organizations and their directors are established ethnic leaders. Sociologists study interlocking directorates—or shared board membership—to understand how organizations fit together within broader social networks. Network concepts, particularly the theory of institutional isomorphism, suggest that organizations are likely to be similar to the extent they are connected and operate within a common organizational field. We apply this logic to Latino advocacy organizations to examine the underlying source of cohesion across this ethnic field. We ask whether the organizations are tied by interlocking directorates of ethnic elites who sit on their boards of directors or if board members' common affiliation with other elite institutions creates the structural conditions that facilitate potential ideological or behavioral similarity. A social network analysis of five prominent Latino advocacy organizations reveals support for both hypotheses: Latino board members are both embedded in ethnic-based networks and entrenched within elite organizational webs. This suggests that ethnic elites who sit on the boards of Latino advocacy organizations are also corporate elites, selected for the social capital they bring to these nonprofits.
Reliability and validity of the stressful life events screening questionnaire among inpatients with severe neuropsychiatric illness

The authors examined the reliability and concurrent validity of a modified version of the Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire (SLESQ) in a sample of 1,517 psychiatric inpatients characterized by serious mental illness. The scale showed a high level of internal consistency as well as a readily interpretable factor structure that differentiated sexual trauma from physical assaults and emotional distress. As well as revealing gender differences, the scale showed statistically significant but generally modest relationships between different aspects of trauma and diverse measures of psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, suicide attempts and self-harm, diminished well-being, functional disability, impaired emotion regulation, and limited experiential acceptance. The study extends prior normative research with the SLESQ based on samples of undergraduates to a large psychiatric sample and presents the first factor analysis of the instrument, lending further support to its clinical utility.
The Role of Formant Transitions in the Perception of Stress in Disyllables

In a series of experiments reported elsewhere (Raphael & Dorman, 1981; Raphael, Dorman, & Liberman, 1980), we have found that the syllable-initial formant transitions of synthetic CVC syllables contribute by their duration to the perception of vowel duration. Our experimental paradigm called for subjects to classify syllable-final consonants in CVC and VC syllables as English /t/ or /d/. The sole independent variable in the experiments was the duration of the steady-state portion of the vowel. The /t/-/d/ phoneme boundaries, plotted as a function of vocalic (formant) duration, were virtually coincident in both CVC and VC syllables, indicating that the initial formant transitions were accommodated into the listeners’ perceptions of duration to about the same extent as the steady-state formants.
The Political Economy of Creative Entrepreneurship on Digital Platforms: Case Study of Etsy.com

This paper interrogates the political economy of work on Etsy, a digital platform for creative small businesses. Through theoretically and ethnographically informed analysis, it argues that some opportunities for meaningful, fulfilling work have opened up for those who would not previously have had access to such. However, there are also silent exclusions and hierarchies that undermine these opportunities. It identifies two key arenas for future political struggle in DIY spaces, visual environment and decisions about code, as well as a promising lever for change, "do-it-together" philosophy.
An emerging role for cytopathology in precision oncology

Precision medicine is an emerging field in medicine for disease prevention and treatment that takes into account the individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each individual patient. The authors have developed a special program as part of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine to grow patient-derived, 3-dimensional tumor organoids for tumor-specific drug testing, tailoring treatment strategies, and as models for studying drug resistance. Routine cytology preparations represent a cost-effective and powerful tool to aid in performing molecular testing in the age of personalized medicine. In this commentary, the platforms used for the characterization and validation of patient-derived, 3-dimensional tumor organoids are outlined and discussed, and the role of cytology as a cost-effective and powerful quality-control measure is illustrated.
Effect of supine body position on central corneal thickness

BACKGROUND To evaluate the effect of supine body position on central corneal thickness (CCT) in open-angle glaucoma patients and in healthy subjects. DESIGN A cross-sectional study at a university eye clinic. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-three subjects were recruited in each group, for a total of 46 patients. METHODS CCT was measured using an ultrasound pachymeter in each subject. Three consecutive measurements in each eye were first taken in the sitting position, and repeated after 10 min and 30 min in a supine position. Results were analyzed using mixed model repeated measures, which adjusted for age, gender and laterality of eyes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES CCT RESULTS: In healthy subjects, CCT decreased with supine positioning at 10 min (mean = -5.2 µm, P = 0.0043) and at 30 min (mean = -6.5 µm, P < 0.0001). In the glaucoma group, CCT decreased with supine positioning at 10 min (mean = -6.7 µm, P = 0.0043) and at 30 min (mean = -10.2 µm, P < 0.0001). There was no statistically significant difference between the CCT at 10 min supine and at 30 min supine in the healthy subjects (P = 0.37) and glaucoma patients (P = 0.14). CCT was shown to decrease linearly over time (P < 0.0001), and the slopes were not statistically different between groups (P = 0.40). CONCLUSIONS CCT is a dynamic measurement that can be influenced by body position. It decreases linearly in the first 30 min of supine positioning at a similar rate in both open angle glaucoma patients and in healthy subjects.
Quantifying osmotic membrane fouling to enable comparisons across diverse processes

Abstract In this study, a method of in situ membrane fouling quantification is developed that enables comparisons of foulant accumulation between desalination processes with different membranes, driving forces, and feed solutions. Unlike the conventional metric of flux decline, which measures the response of a process to fouling, the proposed method quantifies the foulant accumulation. Foulant accumulation is parameterized by two variables, cake structural parameter and hydraulic diameter, that are calculated from flux measurements using a model for salt and water transport through fouled reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes, including dispersive mass transfer in the FO membrane support layer. Model results show that pressure declines through the foulant layer and can, in FO, reach negative absolute values at the membrane. Experimental alginate gel fouling rates are measured within a range of feed ionic compositions where cake hydraulic resistance is negligible. Using both flux decline and cake structural parameter as metrics, the effect of feed salinity on RO fouling is tested and RO is compared to FO. When RO is fouled with alginate, feed salinity and membrane permeability affect flux decline but not foulant accumulation rate. Between FO and RO, the initial rates of foulant accumulation are similar; however, FO exhibits slower flux decline, which causes greater foulant accumulation over time. The new methodology enables meaningful quantification and comparison of fouling rates with the aim of improving fundamental understanding of fouling processes.
Effects of Nanofluids on Droplet Evaporation and Wetting on Nanoporous Superhydrophobic Surfaces

In this paper, nanofluid droplets (fluid containing metal nanoparticles) were subjected to evaporation on a nanoporous superhydrophobic surface to study the effects of nanoparticles on evaporation kinetics, wetting dynamics, and dry-out patterns. Metal nanoparticles (gold chloride) of three different sizes (10, 100, and 250 nm) at three different concentrations (0.001, 0.01, and 0.1% wt) were tested as nanofluids, uniformly dispersed in deionized water. Anodized alumina membranes (200 nm in pore diameter) were tested as nanoporous superhydrophobic surfaces, coated with a self assembled monolayer (SAM). During the course of evaporation in a room condition, the change of a contact angle, contact diameter, height, and volume was measured by a goniometer and compared with that of the base fluid (water) taken as a control. The initial equilibrium contact angle of the nanofluids was significantly affected by the nanoparticle sizes and concentrations. During evaporation, the evaporation behavior for the nanofluids exhibited a complete different mode from that of the base fluid. In terms of a contact angle, nanofluids showed slower decrease rate than base fluid. Nanofluid contact diameter remained almost a constant throughout evaporation with a slight change only at the very end of evaporation stage, whereas the base fluid showed a sequence of constant, increase, and mixed states of increase/decrease behavior. The nanofluids also showed a clear distinction in the evaporation rates, resulting in slower rate than base fluid. The variation of the nanoparticle sizes and concentrations did not make significant difference in the evaporation rate within the tested conditions. No abrupt change in a contact angle and diameter was observed during the evaporation, suggesting that no remarkable wetting transition from Cassie (de-wetting) to Wenzel (wetting) state occurred. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the deposited nanoparticles after complete evaporation of solvent showed unique dry-out patterns depending on nanoparticle sizes and concentrations, e.g., a thick ring-like pattern with larger particle sizes while a uniformly distributed pattern with smaller particles at higher concentrations.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Synthetic Analogues of Nickel Superoxide Dismutase: A New Role for Nickel in Biology

Nickel-containing superoxide dismutases (NiSODs) represent a novel approach to the detoxification of superoxide in biology and thus contribute to the biodiversity of mechanisms for the removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS). While Ni ions play critical roles in anaerobic microbial redox (hydrogenases and CO dehydrogenase/acetyl coenzyme A synthase), they have never been associated with oxygen metabolism. Several SODs have been characterized from numerous sources and are classified by their catalytic metal as Cu/ZnSOD, MnSOD, or FeSOD. Whereas aqueous solutions of Cu(II), Mn(II), and Fe(II) ions are capable of catalyzing the dismutation of superoxide, solutions of Ni(II) are not. Nonetheless, NiSOD catalyzes the reaction at the diffusion-controlled limit (∼109 M–1 s–1). To do this, nature has created a Ni coordination unit with the appropriate Ni(III/II) redox potential (∼0.090 V vs Ag/AgCl). This potential is achieved by a unique ligand set comprised of residues from the N-terminus of the protein: Cys2 ...
The Web Is Flat: The Inflation of Uncommon Experiences Online

People populate the web with content relevant to their lives, content that millions of others rely on for information and guidance. However, the web is not a perfect rep- resentation of lived experience: some topics appear in greater proportion online than their true incidence in our population, while others are deflated. This paper presents a large scale data collection study of this phenomenon. We collect webpages about 21 topics of interest capturing roughly 200,000 webpages, and then compare each topic's popularity to representative national surveys as ground truth. We find that rare experiences are inflated on the web (by a median of 7x), while common experiences are deflated (by a median of 0.7x). We call this phenomenon novelty bias.
CAUSES OF FREEZING IN DIRECT AIR COOLING SYSTEM FOR LARGE-SCALE AIR COOLING UNITS AND FREEZE-PREVENTING MEASURS THEREOF

Combined with real situation of air cooling units in Huadian Ningxia Lingwu Power Generation Co Ltd,the frost-cracking problem occurred in direct air cooling system under severe cold circumstances has been analysed,and counter measures for preventing frost-cracking being put forward.Through measures,such as retrofitting the structure of air cooling island,and adopting adjustment of the air flow rate under different environmental conditions in operation-optimizing process,the freezing problem occurred in operation of direct air cooling system can be effectively eliminated,thereby,the safe and economic operation level of air cooling units being enhanced.
Decision-Making Bias in Instance Matching Model Selection

Instance matching has emerged as an important problem in the Semantic Web, with machine learning methods proving especially effective. To enhance performance, task-specific knowledge is typically used to introduce bias in the model selection problem. Such biases tend to be exploited by practitioners in a piecemeal fashion. This paper introduces a framework where the model selection design process is represented as a factor graph. Nodes in this bipartite graphical model represent opportunities for explicitly introducing bias. The graph is first used to unify and visualize common biases in the design of existing instance matchers. As a direct application, we then use the graph to hypothesize about potential unexploited biases. The hypotheses are evaluated by training 1032 neural networks on three instance matching tasks on Microsoft Azure's cloud-based platform. An analysis over 25 GB of experimental data indicates that the proposed biases can improve efficiency by over 65% over a baseline configuration, with effectiveness improving by a smaller margin. The findings lead to a promising set of four recommendations that can be integrated into existing supervised instance matchers.
Tuberculin (TB) skin testing after exposure.

Many employee health programs perform skin-tests on employees after exposure to pulmonary tuberculosis. This activity has become standard in employee health programs. The scenario in most health care facilities involves employees who are exposed to patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis. Many of these patients have active disease that is not detected during their hospitalization, and personnel are exposed unknowingly. The diagnosis of tuberculosis is often made after the patient is discharged which may result in contact tracing of exposed employees. This activity seems straightforward at first glance but is usually time-consuming and cumbersome. The first questions often asked are: what constitutes a dangerous patient and what is the definition of an exposure?
Abstract 2021: Identification of novel brachyury target genes in lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Previous studies have shown that the T-box transcription factor brachyury is commonly expressed in advanced lung cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis. The activation of brachyury promotes lung cancer progression, aggressiveness and resistance to conventional antitumor therapies. However, the mechanism by which brachyury drives lung cancer is unknown. Here we have sought to identify novel gene targets of brachyury to better understand the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer. We used a bioinformatics approach and found a shortlist of putative potential brachyury target genes. We subsequently explored the modulation of candidate brachyury target genes in lung cancer. RNA interference analysis for lung cancer cell line H460 overexpressing brachyury demonstrated that fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8), MAS1 Proto-Oncogene G Protein-Coupled Receptor (MAS1) and Ran GTPase Activating Protein 1 (RANGAP1) played essential roles in cell growth, whereas transmembrane protein 37 (TMEM37) was involved in cell migration and invasion. ChIP-qPCR experiments confirmed the strong binding of brachyury to these functional target genes. Analysis of datasets derived from patients with lung cancer and a panel of lung cancer cell lines revealed that brachyury expression was positively correlated with FGF8, MAS1, RANGAP1 and TMEM37. In addition, the expression levels of FGF8, MAS1 and RANGAP1 were significantly associated with non-metastasis (early-stage and locally advanced lung cancer), whereas TMEM37 was associated with metastasis. Taken together, our findings suggest that brachyury may influence lung cancer progression and/or metastasis via direct regulation of FGF8, MAS1, RANGAP1 and TMEM37 expression. Identification of potential brachyury transcriptional targets provides novel insights into the molecular pathobiology of lung cancer. Citation Format: Yunping Hu, Wesley Hsu. Identification of novel brachyury target genes in lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2021.
Temperature and precipitation changes in the Midwestern United States: implications for water management

AbstractThe Midwestern United States is the heartland of agriculture production, and changes in the hydro-climatology may affect both the quantity and the quality of production. Seasonal temperature and precipitation were analyzed for trends and shifts. The results indicate an increasing trend in spring temperature (6.4 °F) and summer precipitation (1.2 inches). Shifts in the variables were dominant during two periods: 1920–1930 and 1970–1990. The observed changes not only provide scientific reference for assessing the impact on water resources as a result of climate change, but also help water managers and planners in taking proactive decisions to mitigate the water stress in the region.
New Architectures for Photonic Doppler Velocimetry: High Velocities at Lower Cost

Doppler velocimetry is used extensively to measure velocities in dynamic experiments, but Doppler shifts of ≈1.3 GHz/km/s demand expensive digitizers. We discuss methods leveraging frequency down-mixing to reduce digitization requirements and costs.
Ethics in International Business

Ethics is the science of judging specifically human ends and the relationship of means to those ends. It is essentially the art of controlling means so that they will serve specifically human ends. Business ethics is concerned primarily with the relationship of business goals and techniques to specifically human ends. It studies the impact of acts on the good of the individual, the firm, the business community, and society as a whole. While it does not concentrate on the obligations which a person has as a private individual and a citizen, these enter in since the business person is all three of these people in one. This means that business ethics studies the special obligations which a person and a citizen accepts when he or she becomes a part of the business world.
Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) as a supplementation for weight loss: results from a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

SummaryObjectives Obesity is associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates. Even modest weight loss may be associated with health benefits. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a naturally occurring antioxidant. Studies have suggested anti-obesity properties of ALA; however, results are inconsistent. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of the effect of ALA on weight and body mass index (BMI). Methods A comprehensive, systematic literature search identified 10 articles on randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies involving ALA. We conducted a meta-analysis of mean weight and BMI change differences between ALA and placebo treatment groups. Results Alpha-lipoic acid treatment coincided with a statistically significant 1.27 kg (confidence interval = 0.25 to 2.29) greater mean weight loss compared with the placebo group. A significant overall mean BMI difference of −0.43 kg/ m2 (confidence interval = −0.82 to −0.03) was found between the ALA and placebo groups. Meta-regression analysis showed no significance in ALA dose on BMI and weight changes. Study duration significantly affected BMI change, but not weight change. Conclusions Alpha-lipoic acid treatment showed small, yet significant short-term weight loss compared with placebo. Further research is needed to examine the effect of different doses and the long-term benefits of ALA on weight management.
Revisiting the size selective performance of EPA's high-volume total suspended particulate matter (Hi-Vol TSP) sampler

Under the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for airborne lead, measurements are conducted by means of a high-volume total suspended particulate matter (Hi-Vol TSP) sampler. In the decade between 1973 and 1983, there were 12 publications that explored the sampling characteristics and effectiveness of the Hi-Vol TSP, yet there persists uncertainty regarding its performance. This article presents an overview of the existing literature on the performance of the Hi-Vol TSP, and identifies the reported sampler effectiveness with respect to four factors: particle size (reported effectiveness of 7%-100%), wind speed (-36% to 100%), sampler orientation (7%-100%), and operational state (107%-140%). Effectiveness of the Hi-Vol TSP was evaluated with a solid, polydisperse aerosol in a controlled wind tunnel setting. Isokinetic samplers were deployed alongside the Hi-Vol TSP to investigate three wind speeds (2, 8, and 24 km h-1), three sampler orientations (0°, 45°, 90°), and two operational states (on, off) for aerosols with aerodynamic diameters from 5 to 35 μm. Results indicate that particle diameter was the largest determining factor of effectiveness followed by wind speed. Orientation of the sampler did not have a significant effect at 2 and 8 km h-1 but did at 24 km h-1. In a passive state, the Hi-Vol TSP was collected between 1% and 7% of available aerosol depending on particle size and wind speed. Results of this research do not invalidate results of previous studies but rather contribute to our overall understanding of the Hi-Vol TSP's size-selective performance. While results generally agreed with previous studies, the Hi-Vol TSP was found to exhibit less dependence on these four factors than previously reported.
Negative control of Candida albicans filamentation-associated gene expression by essential protein kinase gene KIN28

The fungus Candida albicans can grow as either yeast or filaments, which include hyphae and pseudohyphae, depending on environmental conditions. Filamentous growth is of particular interest because it is required for biofilm formation and for pathogenesis. Environmentally induced filamentous growth is associated with expression of filamentation-associated genes, and both filamentous growth and associated gene expression depend upon several well-characterized transcription factors. Surprisingly, strains with reduced expression of many essential genes display filamentous growth under non-inducing conditions—those in which the wild type grows as yeast. We found recently that diminished expression of several essential protein kinase genes leads to both filamentous cell morphology and filamentation-associated gene expression under non-inducing conditions. Reduced expression of the essential protein kinase gene CAK1 promoted filamentation-associated gene expression and biofilm formation in strains that lacked key transcriptional activators of these processes, thus indicating that CAK1 expression is critical for both environmental and genetic control of filamentation. In this study, we extend our genetic interaction analysis to a second essential protein kinase gene, KIN28. Reduced expression of KIN28 also permits filamentation-associated gene expression, though not biofilm formation, in the absence of several key transcriptional activators. Our results argue that impairment of several essential cellular processes can alter the regulatory requirements for filamentation-associated gene expression. Our results also indicate that levels of filamentation-associated gene expression are not fully predictive of biofilm formation ability.
Psyllids, It's What's on the Inside That Counts: Community Cross Talk Facilitates Prophage Interactions.

ABSTRACT Despite the availability of massive microbial community data sets (e.g., metagenomes), there is still a lack of knowledge on what molecular mechanisms facilitate cross talk between microbes and prophage within a community context. A study published in mSphere by Jain and colleagues (M. Jain, L. A. Fleites, and D. W. Gabriel, mSphere 2:e00171-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphereDirect.00171-17) reports on an intriguing new twist of how a prophage of the bacterium “ Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” may have its lytic cycle suppressed partly because of a protein that is expressed by a cooccurring bacterium, Wolbachia . Both of these microbes coexist along with other microbial tenants inside their sap-feeding insect host, a psyllid. Although these results are still preliminary and alternative hypotheses need to be tested, these results suggest an interesting new dimension on how regulation of microbial genomes occurs in a community context.
Amblyopia in congenital esotropia before and after surgical correction

Fifty-nine patients with congenital esotropia were retrospectively studied in order to determine the incidence of amblyopia before and after surgery, and the optimal timing for surgery to achieve t...
Go High or Go Low? Adaptive Evolution of High and Low Relatedness Societies in Social Hymenoptera

Cooperative groups can increase fitness either by helping kin or interacting with unlike individuals to produce social heterosis. They cannot, however, simultaneously maximize both benefits. This tradeoff between nepotism and diversity is modeled using Hamilton’s rule (rb – c > 0), by allowing benefit and cost to be dynamic functions of relatedness (i.e., social heterosis predicts b and c depend on r). Simulations show that evolutionary outcomes tend to maximize either nepotism (with high genetic relatedness), or social heterosis (with low relatedness) rather than produce an intermediate outcome. Although genetic diversity can arise through multiple mating, a second possible mechanism – the exchanging of individuals across groups – is similarly effective. Such worker “drifting” is common in many species of social Hymenoptera and may be a form of indirect reciprocity. Drifting individuals increase an unrelated group’s productivity by enhancing its genetic diversity, with this effect being reciprocated by other unrelated drifters entering their natal group. The benefits from social heterosis and indirect reciprocity are robust against cheating and show that it is possible to evolve stable cooperation between individuals that are genetically distant or unrelated. As drifting becomes more prevalent colony boundaries may become weakly discriminated, which may predispose towards the evolution of unicoloniality in some species.
Cellular prion protein targets amyloid-β fibril ends via its C-terminal domain to prevent elongation

Oligomeric forms of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide are thought to represent the primary synaptotoxic species underlying the neurodegenerative changes seen in Alzheimer's disease. It has been proposed that the cellular prion protein (PrPC) functions as a cell-surface receptor, which binds to Aβ oligomers and transduces their toxic effects. However, the molecular details of the PrPC–Aβ interaction remain uncertain. Here, we investigated the effect of PrPC on polymerization of Aβ under rigorously controlled conditions in which Aβ converts from a monomeric to a fibrillar state via a series of kinetically defined steps. We demonstrated that PrPC specifically inhibited elongation of Aβ fibrils, most likely by binding to the ends of growing fibrils. Surprisingly, this inhibitory effect required the globular C-terminal domain of PrPC, which has not been previously implicated in interactions with Aβ. Our results suggest that PrPC recognizes structural features common to both Aβ oligomers and fibril ends and that this interaction could contribute to the neurotoxic effect of Aβ aggregates. Additionally, our results identify the C terminus of PrPC as a new and potentially more druggable molecular target for treating Alzheimer's disease.
The Implications of Nasal Substitutions in the Early Phonology of Toddlers With Repaired Cleft Palate

Objective:To examine the implications of nasal substitutions in the early words of toddlers with cleft palate.Design:Retrospective.Patients:Thirty-four toddlers with nonsyndromic cleft palate and 2...
RARα supports the development of Langerhans cells and langerin-expressing conventional dendritic cells.

Langerhans cells (LC) are the prototype langerin-expressing dendritic cells (DC) that reside specifically in the epidermis, but langerin-expressing conventional DCs also reside in the dermis and other tissues, yet the factors that regulate their development are unclear. Because retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) is highly expressed by LCs, we investigate the functions of RARα and retinoic acid (RA) in regulating the langerin-expressing DCs. Here we show that the development of LCs from embryonic and bone marrow-derived progenitors and langerin+ conventional DCs is profoundly regulated by the RARα-RA axis. During LC differentiation, RARα is required for the expression of a LC-promoting transcription factor Runx3, but suppresses that of LC-inhibiting C/EBPβ. RARα promotes the development of LCs and langerin+ conventional DCs only in hypo-RA conditions, a function effectively suppressed at systemic RA levels. Our findings identify positive and negative regulatory mechanisms to tightly regulate the development of the specialized DC populations.
Moving the ecosystem-based fisheries management mountain begins by shifting small stones: A critical analysis of EBFM on the U.S. West Coast

Abstract Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has emerged as an important paradigm in fisheries management, yet implementation of EBFM has lagged. Fishery Ecosystem Plans (FEPs) have emerged as a means to implement EBFM. Here, a critical, in depth analysis of the FEP for the U.S. west coast is conducted, with the goal of highlighting lessons learned, and to further develop the FEP framework. This was accomplished by first benchmarking the contents of the FEP against recent guidance from the Lenfest Ocean Program entitled “Building Effective Fishery Ecosystem Plans: A Report from the Lenfest Fishery Ecosystem Task Force”. Subsequently, to gain a deeper understanding of the FEP's successes and challenges, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants involved either in the creation of the FEP or its subsequent use. Results from the benchmarking show that this FEP has been successful in providing a strong conceptual foundation for EBFM, but, generally, is weaker in areas that promote the movement of knowledge to action. In contrast, our interviews revealed a general sense of success. Underlying this result is a strong focus of the FEP on process-oriented objectives that have established institutional processes that are a precursor of the transition from conventional to ecosystem-based fisheries management. Given the substantial repercussions regarding human and ecological well-being that fisheries actions can have, the incremental processes employed in this region may, in the long-term, facilitate the implementation of EBFM in this region.
Reflections from the room where it happens: examining mentoring in the moment

Mentor teachers are tasked with supporting the professional development of student teachers. Yet, little is known about the mentoring practices they enact in the moment during classroom instruction. The purpose of this paper is to examine mentoring that happens in the moment, extending Schwille’s (2008) notion of mentoring “inside the action” of teaching (p. 156), and conceptualize mentoring in the moment as educative mentoring.,This paper shares findings of a qualitative case study, foregrounding the perspectives of a mentor teacher and a student teacher who audio-recorded conversations about what they considered to be instances of mentoring in the moment that took place earlier that day. Conversations were transcribed and analyzed through a process of iterative coding.,Mentoring in the moment occurred when the mentor teacher and student teacher made decisions about whether and how to adjust course during lessons to better support student learning; and highlighted strengths and recognized weaknesses across multiple and distinct moments. In addition to demonstrating in action examples of modeling, transparent decision-making and taking the stance of a learner, participants exhibited unique characteristics that enable educative learning to occur. Specifically, they demonstrated: flexibility; humility; and a desire to learn and improve.,The findings build upon the existing research about educative mentoring, mentoring inside the action and mentor teacher characteristics, contributing to a more robust definition of mentoring in the moment.
Digital self-monitoring: Does adherence or association with outcomes differ by self-monitoring target?

Objective Digital self-monitoring of eating, physical activity, and weight is increasingly prescribed in behavioural weight loss programmes. This study determined if adherence rates or associations with outcomes differed according to self-monitoring target (ie, self-monitoring of eating versus physical activity versus weight). Methods Participants in a 3-month, group-based weight loss programme were instructed to use an app to record food intake, wear a physical activity sensor, and use a wireless body weight scale. At post-treatment, weight loss was measured in clinic and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured by research-grade accelerometer. Results Adherence to self-monitoring decreased significantly over time for eating and weight but not physical activity. Overall, adherence to self-monitoring of weight was lower than that of eating or physical activity. Greater adherence to self-monitoring of eating, physical activity, and weight each predicted greater weight loss. Only greater adherence to self-monitoring of eating was associated with greater bouted minutes of MVPA. Conclusions Findings from this study suggest that self-monitoring should be considered a target-specific behaviour rather than a unitary construct when conceptualizing adherence and association with treatment outcomes.
Simulating a Dark Matter Detector in a Physics Classroom

Dark matter comprises most of the matter in the universe, yet physicists are unsure of its nature. A significant effort is devoted in contemporary research to attempts to understand dark matter, making it a both captivating and relevant area of astrophysics to discuss in a classroom setting. What is more, the physics behind these experiments is familiar Newtonian momentum and energy conservation, connecting this cutting-edge research with the standard curriculum. In order to help students to explore the basic ideas behind dark matter detectors, we designed and built an experiment that communicates the main ideas of currently running dark matter detectors while using inexpensive ordinary materials. We focused primarily on the XENON1T dark matter experiment in our lesson, but other leading searches such as the LUX/LZ, Panda-X, and SuperCDMS detectors use identical or at least very similar principles. In this paper we describe XENON1T and how we built and implemented this analogy experiment for use in our outreach program, Saturday Morning Astrophysics at Purdue, a monthly program for students in grades 6-12.
Association Between Housing Instability and Severity of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are interrelated chronic inflammatory disorders that can be exacerbated by stress. The impact of housing instability on severity of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) has not been examined. Methods: An eight-question survey was administered to 59 psoriasis participants, with and without PsA, to assess participants' housing status. The severity of psoriasis and PsA diseases was assessed using Body Surface Area (BSA) and clinical Disease Activity Index of Psoriatic Arthritis (cDAPSA) measurements respectively. A multivariate linear regression model was used to predict BSA and cDAPSA scores differences among participants. Results: Housing unstable psoriasis participants had a higher average BSA than housing stable psoriasis participants (14% vs 7.1%). Using a regression equation model, housing status and smoking were significant predictors (p<0.04). Housing unstable PsA participants [13 (33%)] were also found to have a higher average cDAPSA than housing-stable psA participants [26 (66%)] (31 vs 16.7). Housing instability was the only variable to predict differences in cDAPSA scores among PsA participants (p=0.021). Housing unstable participants had a higher BSA even on biologics (21.3% vs 1.65%; P < 0.001), oral therapy (14.6% vs 4 %; P<0.001) and phototherapy (10% vs 4%; P=0.031). Discussion: This study demonstrated that housing instability might be associated with an increased severity of psoriasis and PsA. Housing instability, as a psychosocial stressor, could be an important element to consider in the management of psoriasis patients.
A Case of Isolated Dysarthria in a COVID-19 Infected Stroke Patient: A Nondisabling Neurological Symptom With Grave Prognosis

Isolated dysarthria is a speech abnormality characterized by slurring without any language dysfunction, or other neurological deficits. In an acute setting, it is commonly associated with stroke. In the context of social distancing during the current corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, nondisabling symptoms such as isolated dysarthria can delay a patient's perception to seek immediate medical care. We present a rare case of isolated dysarthria in a COVID-19 infected stroke patient with a grave prognosis. A 79-year-old African American male presented with isolated dysarthria that manifested two days prior to his hospital visit. The dysarthria assessment showed impaired articulation, phonation, and prosody. Other neurological examinations were normal. He tested positive for the COVID-19 infection. His pulmonary CT scan showed bilateral ground glass opacities. An electrocardiogram showed atrial fibrillation (AF). Brain MRI revealed a punctate acute infarction in the left frontal lobe. Initially, he was treated with IV anticoagulation, oral beta-blocker, azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine, but he dramatically deteriorated within a week exhibiting a highly elevated cytokine level eventually resulting in multi-system organ failure. Despite aggressive treatment with steroids, tocilizumab and other supportive measures, the patient died of cardiac arrest. Our case highlights that acute stroke could manifest as an isolated dysarthria, which is an indicator of increased severity and high mortality with COVID-19 infection. Public awareness about the stroke symptom awareness should be emphasized.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Fibrinolysis vs Thoracoscopic Decortication for Early Empyema.

Background Surgical decortication is recommended by national guidelines for management of early empyema, but intrapleural fibrinolysis is frequently used as a first-line therapy in clinical practice. This study compared the cost-effectiveness of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) decortication with intrapleural fibrinolysis for early empyema. Methods A decision analysis model was developed. The base clinical case was a 65-year-old man with early empyema treated either by VATS decortication or intrapleural tissue plasminogen activator and deoxyribonuclease. The likelihood of key outcomes occurring was derived from the literature. Medicare diagnosis-related groups and manufacturers’ drug prices were used for cost estimates. Successful treatment was defined as complete or nearly complete resolution of empyema on imaging. Effectiveness was defined as health utility 1 year after empyema. Results Intrapleural tissue plasminogen activator and deoxyribonuclease were more cost-effective than VATS decortication for treating early empyema for the base clinical case. Surgical decortication had a slightly lower cost than fibrinolysis ($13,345 vs $13,965), but fibrinolysis had marginally higher effectiveness at 1 year (health utility of 0.80 vs 0.71). Therefore, fibrinolysis was the more cost-effective option. Sensitivity analyses found that fibrinolysis as the initial therapy was more cost-effective when the probability of success was greater than 60% or the initial cost was less than $13,000. Conclusions Surgical decortication and intrapleural fibrinolysis have nearly equivalent cost-effectiveness for early empyema in patients who can tolerate both procedures. Surgeons should consider patient-specific factors, as well as the cost and effectiveness of both modalities, when deciding on an initial treatment for early empyema.
Liberation in Limbo: Past, Present, and Future of African-American Identity

The expository paper frames the question of ideological liberation for the African-American community by using James Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village” (1953) examines the conflict of “the black man” in ascertaining his individual identity amid a historic narrative wrought by subjugation and slavery. The essay further interrogates Baldwin’s claims through Kincaid’s “In History” (2001), concerning the irreconcilable tension between historic narrative and the post- colonial individual. Finally, Claudia Rankine’s “The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning” (2015) reflects on present and historic forms of activism, and is used to situate the pursuit of subjectivity by Baldwin’s “black man” as a means to pursue individual identity amid destructive cultural narratives, as well as significantly higher occurrences of police brutality and criminal injustice.
Skilled reach training enhances robotic gait training to restore overground locomotion following spinal cord injury in rats

Abstract Rehabilitative training has been shown to improve motor function following spinal cord injury (SCI). Unfortunately, these gains are primarily task specific; where reach training only improves reaching, step training only improves stepping and stand training only improves standing. More troublesome is the tendency that the improvement in a trained task often comes at the expense of an untrained task. However, the task specificity of training does not preclude the benefits of combined rehabilitative training. Here we show that robot assisted gait training alone can partially reduce the deficits in unassisted overground locomotion following a C4/5 overhemisection injury in rats. When robot-assisted gait training is done in conjunction with skilled forelimb training, we observe a much greater level of recovery of unassisted overground locomotion. In order to provide reach training that would not interfere with our robotic gait training schedule, we prompted rats to increase the use of their forelimbs by replacing the standard overhead feeder with a custom made, deep welled hopper that dispensed nutritionally equivalent small milled pellets. We speculate that the increase in recovery from combined training is due to a more robust interneuronal relay network around the injury site. in vivo manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the spinal cord indicated that there was no increase in the cellular activity, however ex vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) suggested an increase in collateralization around the injury site in rats that received both reach training and robot assisted gait training.
Vascular Reconstruction After En Bloc Resection

En bloc resection (EBR) of chordoma with negative margins leads to favorable oncologic outcomes. A successful reconstruction of the defect created by EBR is necessary for functional mobility postoperatively. The extent of reconstruction is dependent on the size of the defect and the physiologic burden at the level of EBR. The use of pre- or postoperative radiation will also impact the reconstruction calculus. Vascularized reconstruction options include rib, fibula, and iliac crest.
Trustworthy Adaptation with Few-Shot Learning for Hand Gesture Recognition

This work is motivated by potentials of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs)-based solutions in improving myoelectric control for trustworthy Human-Machine Interfacing (HMI). In this context, we propose the Trustworthy Few Shot-Hand Gesture Recognition (TFS-HGR) framework as a novel DNN-based architecture for performing Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) via multi-channel surface Electromyography (sEMG) signals. The main objective of the TFS-HGR framework is to employ Few-Shot Learning (FSL) formulation with a focus on transferring information and knowledge between source and target domains (despite their inherit differences) to address limited availability of training data. The NinaPro DB5 dataset is used for evaluation purposes. The proposed TFS-HGR achieves a performance of 83.17% for new repetitions with few-shot observations, i.e., 5-way 10-shot classification. Moreover, the TFS-HGR with the accuracy of 75.29% also generalize to new gestures with few-shot observations, i.e., 5-way 10-shot classification.
Antiobesity effects of dehydroepiandrosterone are mediated by futile substrate cycling in hepatocytes of BHE/cdb rats.

This study investigated the hypothesis that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) functions as an antiobesity agent by promoting energy wastage via hepatic substrate cycling in prediabetic male BHE/cdb rats. Weanling BHE/cdb rats fed a 65% glucose diet were injected intraperitoneally daily with either DHEA (0.35 mol/kg body wt) or vehicle (1 mL/kg body wt) for 7 wk. The DHEA treatment significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced body weight gain. The DHEA-treated rats had epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads that were 40% and 66% lighter, respectively, than those of control rats. The residual carcasses (i.e., minus fat pads, liver and ingesta) of DHEA-treated rats contained a significantly lower percentage of fat than those of control rats. The DHEA treatment significantly reduced fasting serum glucose and triglycerides without affecting total or HDL cholesterol. Isolated hepatocytes from DHEA-treated rats converted 2.5 times as much [U-14C]glucose to 14CO2 and one-half as much alanine to glucose as did hepatocytes from control rats. The DHEA treatment increased the specific activities of malic enzyme and lactate dehydrogenase 4.0- and 1.8-fold, respectively. Hepatocytes from DHEA-treated rats tended (P less than 0.08) to have lower phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activities than hepatocytes from control rats. These data suggest that DHEA treatment exerts some of its antiobesity and antidiabetic effects in prediabetic, lipemic BHE/cdb rats by promoting hepatic glucose oxidation and reducing gluconeogenesis.
What Is the Thermohaline Circulation

The term "thermohaline circulation" is widely used in the context of past and future climate change. In his Perspective, Wunsch argues that there are many different, and inconsistent, definitions for this term. He defines ocean circulation in terms of mass fluxes, which are largely driven by surface forces such as wind and tides, and argues that thermohaline circulation should only refer to the separate transport of heat and salinity in the ocean.