cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
General thoracic surgery.

General thoracic surgery is a dynamic specialty, and new techniques and therapies continue to evolve. Basic research is expanding through efforts of the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education, and clinical research continues despite managed care. These are interesting times for this very viable specialty. There has been recent concern expressed as to what name we should define ourselves by as a subspecialty of thoracic surgery. The Liaison Committee for Thoracic Surgery was established by the Council of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, and this committee’s actions and recommendations have resulted in a much clearer definition of the general thoracic surgeon. The term “general thoracic surgery” appears to be a viable and thriving definition of what we are about. Orringer clearly addressed the issue of what we should call ourselves and asked for clarification on who does what to whom.1 The term “general thoracic surgery” appears to be one that will be maintained. The General Thoracic Surgical Club recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary at its annual meeting and continues to thrive. Its membership is represented on many thoracic surgical policy-making committees, and this organization clearly champions the role of general thoracic surgery in our specialty. The Thoracic Surgery Directors Association has published a thoracic surgical curriculum that encompasses adult cardiac, pediatric cardiac, and general thoracic surgery.2 The general thoracic surgical aspect of the curriculum will only potentiate the momentum that general thoracic surgery has achieved in the past 10 years. The curriculum implementation task force of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association is moving forward with this curriculum for all training programs. Monitoring of quality care and cost-cutting measures are continually being discussed and implemented. Cardiac surgical costcutting measures have received emphasis in most major medical centers because of volume and length of stay in intensive care units. Publications on cost containment in general thoracic surgery have been minimal. Wright and colleagues described a patient-care pathway that reduced length of stay and hospital costs.3 An important aspect of this study was that unit costs (not hospital charges) were available for items and services used in patient care. The mean length of stay for lobectomy patients was reduced by 3.1 days after the pathway was instituted, and the mean cost reduction was $1,271 per patient. Morbidity and mortality data were similar to those in a group of retrospectively analyzed prepathway lobectomy patients, indicating that quality of care was not hampered by this pathway. General thoracic surgeons must familiarize themselves with these types of cost-cutting measures.
Venom based neural modulators (review)

Different types of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are expected to occur in vivo, most structure-activity relationship studies have been carried out for just a few neuronal subtypes. The present review enlightens current aspects of venom modulators of nAChRs. Important electronic databases such as PubMed or Google scholar were explored for the collection of latest studies in the field. Clinical and basic research has shown that cholinergic receptors play a role in several disorders of the nervous system such as chronic pain, Alzheimers disease and addiction to nicotine, alcohol and drugs. Unfortunately, the lack of selective modulators for each subtype of nAChR makes their pharmacological characterization difficult, which has slowed the development of therapeutic nAChR modulators with high selectivity and absence of off-target side-effects. Animal venoms have proven to be an excellent natural source of bioactive molecules with activity against ion channels. The present review concludes that the presence of small-molecule nAChR modulators in spider venoms support the use of venoms as a potential source of novel modulators.
Abstract 14760: Evaluation of High Molecular Weight von Willebrand Factor Multimer Levels in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Introduction: Abnormal levels of circulating high molecular weight von Willebrand Factor multimers (HMWFm) are observed in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Evidence suggests factor recovery after successful valve replacement. We aim to confirm factor recovery after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), to determine the post-implantation time point when patients first demonstrate factor recovery and to observe association between degree of para-aortic regurgitation (PAR) and factor recovery. We also aim to evaluate correlation between HMWFm assay using traditional means (immunoblot) and a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent collagen binding assay (CBA). Methods: Fifteen patients with severe AS underwent TAVR. Plasma was collected at multiple time points: pre-TAVR (T1), immediately after valve deployment (T2), post-operative day one (T3) and prior to discharge (T4). Levels of HMWFm were analyzed using immunoblot and CBA. PAR was assessed using vena contracta area (VCA) and longitudinal jet length methods. Results: Mean population age was 82.6 years. Baseline mean transvalvular gradient/aortic valve area (AVA) was 38.5 mmHg/0.88 cm2 respectively. After TAVR, mean gradient/AVA was 5.6 mmHg/2.7 cm2 respectively. PAR was classified as moderate in 4/14 and severe in 2/14 patients. Kappa statistic for agreement between both methods of PAR assessment was 0.32. HMWFm levels initially decreased at T2, but increased by T3. Using Immunoblot, HMWFm levels were significantly higher at T4 compared to T1. Using CBA, levels were significantly higher at T3 and T4 compared to T1. Stratification by degree of PAR demonstrated a trend towards greater HMWFm recovery in patients without PAR versus those with PAR. Post-TAVR NYHA symptoms did not significantly effect levels. Conclusions: We confirm that HMWFm levels improve after successful TAVR. Unlike a recent study by Belle et al (Circulation, 2016), we do not demonstrate immediate HMWFm recovery, rather only by post-operative day one. We demonstrate feasibility of CBA as a faster substitute to immunoblot method for factor analysis. We demonstrate intriguing differences in factor recovery between PAR strata, suggesting that levels of factor recovery are influenced by degree of PAR.
Multidimensional Risk Communication: Public Discourse on Risks during an Emerging Epidemic

Crisis informatics has examined how institutions and individuals seek, communicate, and curate information in response to crises. The public's communication and perception of risks on social media remain understudied. In this study, we report a qualitative analysis of public perceptions of risks and risk management measures on Reddit during the Zika crisis, an emerging epidemic associated with high uncertainty regarding pathology, epidemiology, and broad consequences. We found two types of perceived risks: ones directly caused by the Zika virus, and ones potentially introduced by authorities' risk management measures. Risk perceptions unfolded along multiple dimensions beyond the imminent and personal level. Reddit users discussed in a speculative way to foresee various risks in the long run or at larger geographical scales. We discuss the multidimensionality and speculative nature of risk perception on social media, and derive implications for crisis informatics research and public health research and practice.
College Graduates with Visual Impairments: A Report on Seeking and Finding Employment.

IntroductionCareer mentoring can help college graduates with legal blindness to address employment barriers. Data on specific employment outcomes and job search experiences for this population can ...
Providing quality early childhood professional development at the intersections of power, race, gender, and dis/ability:

Quality professional development for a diverse early education and care workforce has been a priority in policy reform agendas. This issue points to the need to address quality professional develop...
Rossby & Internal Gravity Waves: Nonlocal Higher Modes

The new ingredient introduced in this chapter is non-trivial modal structure in the direction/s perpendicular to that in which the wave propagates. Of course, all waves live in three-dimensional space, but for some models, the dependence on one or more coordinates is trivial. In the Korteweg-deVries theory of water waves in a shallow channel, for example, the horizontal velocities are independent of both the vertical and the cross-channel coordinates. If x denotes the down-the-channel direction, then only the dependence on x and t is non-trivial, and this is completely encapsulated in the KdV equation itself.
Tuberculosis. The Comeback of a Killer

Tuberculosis, the single largest cause of death worldwide in the 19th and first half of the 20th century by an infectious agent, was considered a controllable disease in the 1950’s after the discovery of streptomycin, PAS and isoniazid. The incidence of tuberculosis began to decline in the United States and in Western Europe in the 1960’s and 1970’s resulting in the closing of sanatoria and clinics devoted to the treatment of this dread disease. This paper will deal with some of the myths related to TB including the one that, like small pox, for which a vaccine had been developed, TB could be totally eradicated. In the late 1970’s and the 1980’s, a gradual increase in TB began to re-emerge and reached epidemic proportions in the late 1980’s in New York City and other urban areas of the United States. This upsurge was alarming and mysterious. In 1990, the WHO convened a meeting in Geneva where the conclusions drawn by representatives of TB programs from all over the world were alarming: 2.9 million deaths were caused by tuberculosis in 1990, “making this disease the largest cause of death from a single pathogen in the world”. In June, 1992, the WHO issued a press release about the rise of tuberculosis in industrialized countries including the United Kingdom and Italy in addition to the United States. It seemed evident that there must be a common factor. Although socioeconomic factors such as crowding, homelessness and poor nutrition were contributing factors, the main factor for this global threat was the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Minimum Detectable Effects for 2k-p Experimental Plans

Tables of minimum detectable effects are presented for experimental plans involving 4 to 128 runs and 3 to 11 two-level factors with alpha = 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 and beta = 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.25, and 0.50...
Compulsive Buying: The Impact of Attitudes Toward Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Physical Appearance Investment

Objective: The current research examined whether eating disorder risk and the attitudinal elements related to body image predict compulsive buying. Method: A sample of students attending two public universities located in the northeast United States were surveyed. Results: A multiple regression indicated that attitudes related to one's physical appearance, fitness, and health as well as eating disorder risk were predictors of compulsive buying with appearance orientation being the strongest predictor of compulsive buying. Conclusions: Understanding the factors that affect compulsive buying aids the identification of problematic compulsive buying and informs the treatment of compulsive buying. Treatment models may be more effective if additional attention is given to addressing the anxiety compulsive buyers experience when they experience a discrepancy between their ideal and actual self.
Spatial and temporal variability of turbulence dissipation rate in complex terrain

Abstract. To improve parameterizations of the turbulence dissipation rate ( ϵ ) in numerical weather prediction models, the temporal and spatial variability of ϵ must be assessed. In this study, we explore influences on the variability of ϵ at various scales in the Columbia River Gorge during the WFIP2 field experiment between 2015 and 2017. We calculate ϵ from five sonic anemometers all deployed in a ∼4 km 2 area as well as from two scanning Doppler lidars and four profiling Doppler lidars, whose locations span a ∼300 km wide region. We retrieve ϵ from the sonic anemometers using the second-order structure function method, from the scanning lidars with the azimuth structure function approach, and from the profiling lidars with a novel technique using the variance of the line-of-sight velocity. The turbulence dissipation rate shows large spatial variability, even at the microscale, especially during nighttime stable conditions. Orographic features have a strong impact on the variability of ϵ , with the correlation between ϵ at different stations being highly influenced by terrain. ϵ shows larger values in sites located downwind of complex orographic structures or in wind farm wakes. A clear diurnal cycle in ϵ is found, with daytime convective conditions determining values over an order of magnitude higher than nighttime stable conditions. ϵ also shows a distinct seasonal cycle, with differences greater than an order of magnitude between average ϵ values in summer and winter.
Toward community-based wheelchair evaluation with machine learning methods.

IntroductionUpper extremity pain among manual wheelchair users induces functional decline and reduces quality of life. Research has identified chronic overuse due to wheelchair propulsion as one of...
L 1 subshell yields atZ=63

TheL x ray fluorescence yield Ω1 (= 0.06±0.02) and the Coster-Kronig yieldsf12 (=0.26 ±0.10) andf13 (=0.27±0.03) are measured for Europium (Z=63) by observing EuL x rays and 21.54 keV gammas in coincidence with 174.68 keV gammas in the electron capture decay of131Gd. In addition the total conversion coefficient α T for 21.54 keV transition is measured to be 27.5±1.5.
Question Answering for Suicide Risk Assessment Using Reddit

Mental Health America designed ten questionnaires that are used to determine the risk of mental disorders. They are also commonly used by Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) to assess suicidality. Specifically, the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), a widely used suicide assessment questionnaire, helps MHPs determine the severity of suicide risk and offer an appropriate treatment. A major challenge in suicide treatment is the social stigma wherein the patient feels reluctance in discussing his/her conditions with an MHP, which leads to inaccurate assessment and treatment of patients. On the other hand, the same patient is comfortable freely discussing his/her mental health condition on social media due to the anonymity of platforms such as Reddit, and the ability to control what, when and how to share. The popular “SuicideWatch” subreddit has been widely used among individuals who experience suicidal thoughts, and provides significant cues for suicidality. The timeliness in sharing thoughts, the flexibility in describing feelings, and the interoperability in using medical terminologies make Reddit an important platform to be utilized as a complementary tool to the conventional healthcare system. As MHPs develop an implicit weighting scheme over the questionnaire (i.e., C-SSRS) to assess suicide risk severity, creating a relative weighting scheme for answers to be automatically generated to the questions in the questionnaire poses as a key challenge. In this interdisciplinary study, we position our approach towards a solution for an automated suicide risk-elicitation framework through a novel question answering mechanism. Our two-fold approach benefits from using: 1) semantic clustering, and 2) sequence-to-sequence (Seq2Seq) models. We also generate a gold standard dataset of suicide posts with their risk levels. This work forms a basis for the next step of building conversational agents that elicit suicide-related natural conversation based on questions.
Trends in resource utilization and costs during implementation of a lay navigation program.

6502 Background: Lay navigators provide support to patients from diagnosis through survivorship or end of life. We hypothesized that integrating lay navigators into the care team would lead to redu...
Swine-Origin H1 Influenza Viruses Isolated from Humans Exhibit Sustained Infectivity in an Aerosol State.

ABSTRACT The relative importance of influenza virus transmission via aerosols is not fully understood, but experimental data suggest that aerosol transmission may represent a critical mode of influenza virus spread among humans. Decades ago, prototypical laboratory strains of influenza were shown to persist in aerosols; however, there is a paucity of data available covering currently circulating influenza viruses, which differ significantly from their predecessors. In this study, we evaluated the longevity of influenza viruses in aerosols generated in the laboratory. We selected a panel of H1 viruses that exhibit diverse transmission profiles in the ferret model, including four human isolates of swine origin (referred to as variant) and a seasonal strain. By measuring the ratio of viral RNA to infectious virus maintained in aerosols over time, we show that influenza viruses known to transmit efficiently through the air display enhanced stability in an aerosol state for prolonged periods compared to those viruses that do not transmit as efficiently. We then assessed whether H1 influenza virus was still capable of infecting and causing disease in ferrets after being aged in suspended aerosols. Ferrets exposed to very low levels of influenza virus (≤17 PFU) in aerosols aged for 15 or 30 min became infected, with five of six ferrets shedding virus in nasal washes at titers on par with ferrets who inhaled higher doses of unaged influenza virus. We describe here an underreported characteristic of influenza viruses, stability in aerosols, and make a direct connection to the role this characteristic plays in influenza transmission. IMPORTANCE Each time a swine influenza virus transmits to a human, it provides an opportunity for the virus to acquire adaptations needed for sustained human-to-human transmission. Here, we use aerobiology techniques to test the stability of swine-origin H1 subtype viruses in aerosols and evaluate their infectivity in ferrets. Our results show that highly transmissible influenza viruses display enhanced stability in an aerosol state compared to viruses that do not transmit as efficiently. Similar to human-adapted strains, swine-origin influenza viruses are infectious in ferrets at low doses even after prolonged suspension in the air. These data underscore the risk of airborne swine-origin influenza viruses and support the need for continued surveillance and refinement of innovative laboratory methods to investigate mammalian exposure to inhaled pathogens. Determination of the molecular markers that affect the longevity of airborne influenza viruses will improve our ability to quickly identify emerging strains that present the greatest threat to public health.
Towards overcoming the LES crisis

Industrial large-eddy simulation (LES), i.e. overnight runs with O(109) degrees of freedom (DOFs) and O(107) timesteps, has been one of the top priorities of CFD research over the last two decades....
The Impact of the Redefinition on the Surveying Community

By adopting an earth mass centered ellipsoid for the redefinition of the North American Datum, the greatest impact will be felt primarily by the cartographic community and, to a somewhat lesser deg...
A Legal Perspective on Technology and the Capital Markets: Social Media, Short Activism and the Algorithmic Revolution

In this essay, I examine the technological revolution in the capital markets through the normative lenses of law, policy and regulation. Do new media platforms necessarily enhance market efficiency? Or do they facilitate fraud and manipulation of stock prices? I focus on the rise of short activism on Twitter, Seeking Alpha and similar forms of social media: much like a stock promoter induces others to buy so he or she can sell at a profit, so a short activist might dupe others into selling so he or she can lock in profits before the stock rises again. Second, I examine the ways in which the rise of algorithmic trading shapes the emergence of accurate prices in the capital markets, from cybersecurity risk to limit order cancellations. There is growing evidence that prosecutors are taking technologically induced price distortions quite seriously. Finally, I consider emerging frontiers of technological innovation in the capital markets. The jury is still out on whether the benefits of digital ledger technology exceed the costs of the rampant investor deception which has led to a steady stream of crypto prosecutions and enforcement actions.
Individuals' perceptions of social support from family and friends are associated with lower risk of sleep complaints and short sleep duration.

Abstract Objective To examine whether individuals' perceptions of social support (SS) from partners, other family members, and friends are associated with risk of sleep complaints and short sleep duration. Methods A cross-sectional and prospective study with 1,688 community dwelling adults from the Retirement and Sleep Trajectories study. Four annual, self-administered questionnaires were mailed to participants in the year 2010-2014. Self-reports of individuals' perceptions of SS were obtained at the baseline survey. Sleep quality and duration were self-reported on each of the four surveys over the follow-up. Associations were examined with mixed-effect models, controlling for confounders. Results In fully adjusted analyses, compared with those reporting low SS from their partner, the risk of reporting more than 1 sleep symptom was significantly lower among those with intermediate (relative risk, RR = 0.68; 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.53-0.87) and high SS (RR = 0.61; 95% CI=0.48-0.77). Similarly, relative to those with low SS, those reporting high SS from family (RR = 0.74; 95% CI = 0.57-0.94) and friends (RR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.58-0.92) had lower risk of having more than 1 sleep symptom. Compared with those with low, intermediate (RR = 0.70; 95% CI = 0.52-0.96), and high SS (RR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.48-0.84) from partners, intermediate (RR = 0.76; 95% CI = 0.59-0.97) and high SS (RR = 0.69; 95% CI = 0.51-0.92) from family and high SS (RR = 0.74; 95% CI = 0.56-0.99) from friends were associated with lower risk of short sleep (≤6 h). Conclusion The perception of higher SS from relatives and friends is independently associated with lower risk of poor sleep quality and short sleep duration. Future research and intervention studies should test whether strengthening social relationships can positively effect sleep health.
SLAPP-ing Back

Open government advocates have expressed alarm at recent lawsuits that government agencies have filed against people requesting public records. Such suits bear a resemblance to “SLAPP” suits, the label given to “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” intended to harass active citizens out of the public sphere. This article considers whether these recent lawsuits could be considered SLAPP suits in their states, and examines whether 31 anti-SLAPP laws around the country might apply to these types of circumstances. We categorize the laws based on their various definitions for public participation, finding that many laws could cover public records requests, and argue that although not all anti-SLAPP laws will offer a defense when a government entity sues a records requester, courts do not look charitably on government plaintiffs in these circumstances.
Coping With Tragedy via Reflected Glory: How the Houston Astros’ World Series Win Contributed to Locals’ Process of Overcoming Hurricane Harvey:

This study investigates the effects of the Houston Astros’ first World Series win on locals who were affected by the natural disaster, Hurricane Harvey. Approaching the topic to understand whether ...
Circumventing Miranda: The Public Safety Exception in the War on Terror

Since September 11, 2001, law enforcement has increasingly invoked the public safety exception to delay Mirandizing terror suspects, oftentimes for days on end. The use of the public safety exception in these circumstances runs amok of Chief Justice Earl Warren's concerns articulated in Miranda v. Arizona. In Miranda, Chief Justice Warren intended to curb the coercive nature of law enforcement interrogations, in the hopes of preventing law enforcement from taking advantage of of suspects' ignorance and fear. Today, law enforcement routinely and wrongly invokes the public safety exception to interrogate terror suspects virtually incommunicado and outside the protections enjoined in Chief Justice Warren's opinion. This practice is at odds with the public safety exception and with the true meaning of Miranda v. Arizona.
High Speed VCSELs and Co-Packaging for Short Reach Communication within Cloud and High Performance Computing

Directly modulated VCSELs, both shortwave (MMF) and longwave (SMF) continue to advance with speeds reaching 160Gb/s and distances beyond 100m. Co-packaged optics is the next progression from pluggables in the evolution of high speed optical interconnect. This talk will cover both of these topics.
Assessing Wireless Data Services with Machine Learning and Geostatistics

The California Public Utilities Commission collects and publishes data on mobile broadband service from major wireless service providers. The data is collected twice yearly at over 1900 measurement locations across California. The data can be used to assess the "digital divide", to track improvements in wireless service over time, and to help consumers select a service provider. For example, a consumer might want to know which provider offers the best service quality at important locations, like home and work. Here we apply machine learning and geospatial estimation methods to estimate each provider's wireless service quality at arbitrary locations across the state. We focus on TCP download performance. We find that Kriging, which takes into account the spatial correlation of service quality across measurement locations, yields better predictions than k-nearest neighbor and inverse distance weighting. We observe similar results when we rank providers rather than estimate the quality of service they provide. Finally, because average service performance across the state can be used to rank service providers, we estimate the minimum number of measurement locations that could be used to reliable rank service provider performance.
An Initial Guess for the Levenberg–Marquardt Algorithm for Conditioning a Stochastic Channel to Pressure Data

A standard procedure for conditioning a stochastic channel to well-test pressure data requires the minimization of an objective function. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm is a natural choice for minimization, but may suffer from slow convergence or converge to a local minimum which gives an unacceptable match of observed pressure data if a poor initial guess is used. In this work, we present a procedure to generate a good initial guess when the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm is used to condition a stochastic channel to pressure data and well observations of channel facies, channel thickness, and channel top depth. This technique yields improved computational efficiency when the Levenberg–Marquardt method is used as the optimization procedure for generating realizations of the model by the randomized maximum likelihood method.
Iodine content of edible salts in key population of Liaoning Province.

Objective To analyze the iodine nutritional status of children and pregnant women in Liaoning Province, and the iodine content of edible salt suitable for iodine nutrition level, to provide a basis for adjusting the suitable salt iodine content standard of key population. Methods In 2015 - 2018, a cross-sectional survey method was used to conduct iodine nutritional status surveys in counties (districts) within the jurisdiction of Liaoning Province. One township (community) was selected in each county (district)according to the east, west, south, north, and middle directions. Forty children aged 8 - 10 (age and gender distribution balanced) and 20 pregnant women were selected in each township(community), urine and household salt samples were collected from children and pregnant women, to test urine and salt iodine levels; and the water samples from all township(community) water supply plants in the province were collected for water iodine detection in 2017; and all respondents were calculated the dietary iodine intake. The multi-order linear curve was used to fit the salt iodine content suitable for children and pregnant women. Results A total of 1 549 townships (communities) were surveyed, including 1 125 centralized water supply townships (communities) with water iodine < 40 μg/L; 50 820 children aged 8 - 10 and 26 707 pregnant women were selected from the centralized water supply towns. The average iodine content of edible salt was 24.0 and 23.9 mg/kg, respectively. The median urinary iodine level of children was 168.5 μg/L, at the appropriate level of iodine; the median urinary iodine level of pregnant women was 137.8 μg/L, at the deficiency level of iodine. The average dietary intake of iodine in children was 228.4 μg/d, which was 3.51 times of the standard iodine requirement (EAR, 65 μg/d) and 2.54 times of the recommended intake (RNI, 90 μg/d). The average dietary intake of iodine in pregnant women was 273.4 μg/d, which was 1.71 times of the EAR (160 μg/d) and 1.19 times of the RNI (230 μg/d), and 21.4% (5 728/26 707) of pregnant women had lower iodine intake than RNI, the iodine intake was insufficient. After multi-level linear curve fitting combined with monitoring data, the iodine content range of edible salt in children's urine was suitable and the iodine intake in RNI - tolerable intake (UL, 300 μg/d) was 13 - 25 mg/kg (20 mg/kg ± 20%); the iodine content range of edible salt in pregnant women's urinary iodine was suitable and the iodine intake in RNI - UL (600 μg/d) is 25 - 37 mg/kg (31 mg/kg ± 20%). Conclusions Under the current salt iodine content standard (25 mg/kg) in Liaoning Province, children's iodine nutrition is generally at the level of iodine appropriate; pregnant women's iodine nutrition is generally at the level of iodine deficiency. It is recommended that all regions should revise the iodine content standard for edible salt in due course in combination with the iodine nutritional status of key populations within the jurisdiction. Key words: Iodine; Salts; Urine; Child; Pregnant women; Multivariate linear curve estimation
Beyond Growth Factors: Macrophage-Centric Strategies for Angiogenesis

Functional angiogenesis is a critical therapeutic goal in many pathological conditions. Logically, the use of pro-angiogenic growth factors has been the mainstay approach despite obvious limitations and modest success. Recently, macrophages have been identified as key regulators of the host response to implanted materials. Particularly, our understanding of dynamically plastic macrophage phenotypes, their interactions with biomaterials, and varied roles in different stages of angiogenic processes is evolving rapidly. In this review, we discuss changing perspectives on therapeutic angiogenesis, in relation to implantable materials and macrophage-centric strategies therein. Harnessing the different mechanisms through which the macrophage-driven host response is involved in angiogenesis has great potential for improving clinical outcome.
Relational Model: Database Programming

The goals of this chapter are primarily practical—to understand the basics of programming of client applications that must interact with a relational database, be it in a local SQLite file, or over a network interacting with a DBMS such as MySQL. Topics include establishing connections with the database, issuing SQL queries and retrieving results, and incorporating local variables in the construction of queries. The programming also ties back to previous chapters by allowing tables retrieved to populate data frames, as known from the tabular model.
Connectome-based prediction of global cognitive performance in people with HIV

Global cognitive performance plays an important role in the diagnosis of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), yet to date, there is no simple way to measure global cognitive performance in people with HIV (PWH). Here, we performed connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to pursue a neural biomarker of global cognitive performance in PWH based on whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity. We built a CPM model that successfully predicted individual differences in global cognitive performance in the training set of 67 PWH by using leave-one-out cross-validation. This model generalized to both 33 novel PWH in the testing set and a subset of 39 PWH who completed a follow-up visit two years later. Furthermore, network strengths identified by the CPM model were significantly different between PWH with HAND and without HAND. Together, these results demonstrate that whole-brain functional network strengths could serve as a potential neural biomarker of global cognitive performance in PWH.
EPCT-25. SMO PROTEIN DEPLETION IN SHH MEDULLOBLASTOMAS USING MICROBUBBLE-ENHANCED ULTRASOUND AND SIRNA LOADED CATIONIC NANOPARTICLES

RNA-based therapies offer unique advantages for treating pediatric brain tumors. However, the systemic delivery remains a major problem due to degradation of unmodified RNA in biological fluids, poor brain accumulation, and poor cancer cell uptake or escape from the endosomal lipid bilayer barrier. While nanoparticle encapsulation can prolong circulation time and facilitate cellular uptake, their accumulation in brain tumor remains particularly poor due to their low permeability across the blood-brain barrier and limited intratumoral penetration. Focused ultrasound, when combined with circulating microbubbles (MB-FUS) provides a physical method to transiently modulate the brain tumor microenvironment (TME) and improve nanoparticle delivery. Here, we have examined the delivery of siRNA targeting the Smoothened (SMO) pathway, packaged in 50 nm cationic lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (cLPH:siRNA-SMO), combined with MB-FUS in murine SmoA2 sonic hedgehog (SHH) medulloblastoma. At 30 hours after treatment, we observed the depletion of the SMO protein target, responsible for driving SHH medulloblastoma formation and growth, in mice that had received treatment with MB-FUS and cLPH:siRNA-SMO, but not with cLPH:siRNA-SMO alone. We also confirmed that SMO protein depletion was spatially achieved in the tumor regions with detected cLPH:siRNA-SMO using FISH assay, and that there was 15 fold induction of tumor cell apoptosis compared to tumors in mice that had received cLPH:siRNA-SMO alone. The limited induction of apoptosis was observed with either cLPH:siRNA (non-targeting) or MB-FUS and cLPH:siRNA (non-targeting), suggest that the observed apoptosis induction in the SmoA2 model was the direct result of SMO depletion rather than nonspecific effects of MB-FUS or cLPH:siRNA. Our findings provide a paradigm shift in drug delivery in brain tumors, where physical methods and nanotechnology are tuned together to develop rational strategies for the effective delivery of nucleic acids in brain tumors.
None of the Above - The Patient beyond the Multiple Choice.

None of the Above Real patients cannot be easily reduced to five-sentence clinical vignettes. Transitioning from student to practitioner requires a shift in mindset: to see a patient as a person, n...
Mechanically Deboned Red Meat

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that lean, which is removed from the bones by machines, is termed “mechanically deboned meat.” The potential yield of mechanically deboned meat can best be estimated by first understanding what proportion of the carcass is bone and what proportion of the bone is lean and marrow, which mechanical deboners can recover. When mechanically deboned meat, fish, and poultry began to be commercially produced, regulatory agencies in most countries looked at the product in the same way they did at hand-boned meat. Objections to mechanically deboned meat by some farmers and ranchers and some in the labor force have been largely economic in nature. Calcium is the chemical means by which bone content of mechanically deboned meat is determined; calcium content is closely associated with ash content. The term “heavy metal” is often used to describe toxic elements. In the chemical sense the term refers to the detection of metal impurities by precipitation reactions. Kolbye and Nelson (1977), in their study of the health and safety aspects of mechanically deboned meat, did not include nucleic acid or purine content. From a theoretical standpoint a positive or a negative view can be taken regarding the microbiology of mechanically deboned meat. The chapter discusses that the vitamin content of mechanically deboned meat may differ from that of hand-boned meat because of the presence of the red marrow.
When Exoneration Seems Hopeless: The Special Vulnerability of Sexual Abuse Suspects to False Confession

This chapter considers sources of vulnerability among innocent sexual abuse suspects to police-induced false confession. We suggest that sexual abuse suspects may be particularly vulnerable to false confession, primarily as a result of their enhanced sense of hopelessness that they might be believed or be able to establish their innocence. Moreover, we suggest this sense of hopelessness derives largely from two factors: first, their perception of the evidentiary situation they face; and, second, stereotypes associating fathers, step-fathers, priests, boy scout leaders, day care personnel and others with sexual abuse. That is, we suggest sexual abuse claims are often characterized by (1) seemingly credible claims of one or more victims, (2) against a suspect whose social category is consistent with stereotypes of sexual abusers, (3) lack of concrete physical evidence that could exonerate the suspect, and (4) testimony of professional and nonprofessional witnesses in seeming support of the occurrence of the abuse and/or the suspect’s guilt that likewise cannot be refuted by concrete evidence. Sexual abuse suspects may therefore be less likely than most other innocent suspects to expect (a) that their claims of innocence will be believed in the absence of concrete proof of innocence, (b) that there will be a way to prove their innocence, or even (c) that there will be a way to effectively cast doubt on the validity of the alleged victim(s)’ claims of guilt or other apparently abuse supportive testimony. A primary goal of interrogation tactics is to instill in suspects such a sense of hopelessness, which then makes it easier for the interrogator to convince the suspect that confession will result in better legal outcomes than denial. For many sexual abuse suspects this goal may have been effectively met before they enter interrogation.
The Organizational Costs of Caregiving

Abstract Employers and employees face a new challenge with the Sandwich Generation that is confronted with caring for both children and elderly parents. This caregiving toll has an effect on individuals' productivity in organizations from the for-profit, non-profit and government sectors. Additionally, the feminization of the workplace has resulted in more women, who traditionally have been the caregivers, serving in the workforce. This study was designed to explore the issues of caregiving for the Sandwich Generation in university-affiliated schools of social work. Graduate social work education programs in the United States were targeted as organizational systems for study. A total of 69 schools responded to the survey. Caregiving stress was an issue for these schools with manifestations in both productivity and organizational climate. The discussion includes a call to action for three major changes in the way organizations do business: deploying additional resources to support employees, maximizing fle...
Partial Peripheral Nerve Injury Promotes a Selective Loss of GABAergic Inhibition in the Superficial Dorsal Horn of the Spinal Cord

To clarify whether inhibitory transmission in the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord is reduced after peripheral nerve injury, we have studied synaptic transmission in lamina II neurons of an isolated adult rat spinal cord slice preparation after complete sciatic nerve transection (SNT), chronic constriction injury (CCI), or spared nerve injury (SNI). Fast excitatory transmission remains intact after all three types of nerve injury. In contrast, primary afferent-evoked IPSCs are substantially reduced in incidence, magnitude, and duration after the two partial nerve injuries, CCI and SNI, but not SNT. Pharmacologically isolated GABA(A) receptor-mediated IPSCs are decreased in the two partial nerve injury models compared with naive animals. An analysis of unitary IPSCs suggests that presynaptic GABA release is reduced after CCI and SNI. Partial nerve injury also decreases dorsal horn levels of the GABA synthesizing enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 65 kDa ipsilateral to the injury and induces neuronal apoptosis, detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated UTP nick end labeling staining in identified neurons. Both of these mechanisms could reduce presynaptic GABA levels and promote a functional loss of GABAergic transmission in the superficial dorsal horn.
US Foreign Policy Habits in Ethnic Conflict

Individual political rights and civic national identity lie at the core of American democracy, and spreading democracy is a crucial component of American grand strategy. However, American policymakers have often supported the construction of rigid, group-rights-based institutions in ethno-religious conflicts even when the parties were not demanding such institutions. The pursuit of “ethnocratic” solutions not only runs contrary to American ideals, but it is also not pragmatic, in that it enables the creation of regimes that are fragile, divided, and often dependent on outside assistance to maintain peace. This article weighs hypotheses about the sources of foreign policy decision making stemming from three contending Weberian logics of social action: instrumental rationality, normative appropriateness, and habit. Drawing on causal-process observations during crucial decision moments in Bosnia and Iraq, I argue in favor of the plausibility of habit as a driver of U.S. foreign policy. This work furthers the theoretical development of the concept of habit, offers a means of studying social habits empirically, and suggests improvements for American foreign policy in ethnic conflict.
Structural basis of membrane budding by the nuclear egress complex of herpesviruses

Abstract During nuclear egress, herpesvirus capsids bud at the inner nuclear membrane forming perinuclear viral particles that subsequently fuse with the outer nuclear membrane, releasing capsids into the cytoplasm. This unusual budding process is mediated by the nuclear egress complex (NEC) composed of two conserved viral proteins, UL31 and UL34. Earlier, we discovered that the herpesvirus nuclear egress complex (NEC) could bud synthetic membranes in vitro without the help of other proteins by forming a coat‐like hexagonal scaffold inside the budding membrane. To understand the structural basis of NEC‐mediated membrane budding, we determined the crystal structures of the NEC from two herpesviruses. The hexagonal lattice observed in the NEC crystals recapitulates the honeycomb coats within the budded vesicles. Perturbation of the oligomeric interfaces through mutagenesis blocks budding in vitro confirming that NEC oligomerization into a honeycomb lattice drives budding. The structure represents the first atomic‐level view of an oligomeric array formed by a membrane‐deforming protein, making possible the dissection of its unique budding mechanism and the design of inhibitors to block it.
Cutting Edge: T-bet and IL-27R Are Critical for In Vivo IFN-γ Production by CD8 T Cells during Infection

CD8+ T cells are a major source of IFN-gamma, a key effector cytokine in immune responses against many viruses and protozoa. Although the transcription factor T-bet is required for IFN-gamma expression in CD4+ T cells, it is reportedly dispensable in CD8+ T cells, where the transcription factor Eomesodermin is thought to be sufficient. The diverse functions of IFN-gamma are mediated through the IFN-gammaR and STAT1. In CD4+ T cells, STAT1 appears to be critical for the activation of T-bet and IFN-gamma, suggesting an IFN-gamma-dependent positive feedback loop. However, STAT1 can also be activated by other cytokines, including IL-27. In the present study we show that, in contrast to in vitro conditions and the prevailing paradigm, T-bet is critical for the in vivo IFN-gamma production by CD8+ T cells upon infection of mice with diverse pathogens. Whereas IFN-gammaR signals are dispensable for the T-bet-dependent IFN-gamma production, direct IL-27Ralpha signals are critical.
Susceptibility to phorbol ester skin tumor promotion in (C57BL/6×DBA/2) F1 mice is inherited as an incomplete dominant trait: Evidence for multi-locus involvement

Since current evidence suggests that the tumor promotion stage is a primary determinant in susceptibility to multistage carcinogenesis, we have characterized the genetics of susceptibility to phorbol ester skin tumor promotion in inbred mice. Susceptibility of hybrids (B6D2F1), between DBA/2 (sensitive) and C57BL/6 (resistant) parents, initiated with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and promoted with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was similar to DBA/2 mice at doses of 13.6 nmol per mouse but clearly less when doses of 1.7-6.8 nmol per mouse were used. In addition, no significant differences were observed between male and female B6D2F1 mice in terms of tumor incidence although some differences were observed in tumor multiplicities between male and female F1 mice at the highest TPA dose. Reciprocal F1 mice initiated with DMBA (i.e. D2B6F1) were also responsive to TPA. Female D2B6F1 mice were of lower sensitivity at lower doses of TPA, compared to female DBA/2, a finding similar to that observed with B6D2F1 mice initiated with MNNG. Further analyses of the susceptibility of B6D2F2 and B6D2F1 X C57BL/6 backcross mice to TPA promotion indicated that more than one dominant genetic locus must account for the differences in promotion sensitivity between DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice. To understand further the genes responsible for promotion sensitivity, histological evaluations were performed on DBA/2, C57BL/6 and B6D2F1 mice. Histological examination revealed that the epidermis of DBA/2 mice showed a marked hyperplasia and the presence of a much greater number of dark basal keratinocytes (DCs) compared with C57BL/6 mice 48 h after the last of four applications of TPA (doses greater than or equal to 3.4 nmol). A marked dermal infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) was observed in DBA/2 mice, whereas little infiltration was observed in the skin of C57BL/6 mice. The hyperplasia in the skin of B6D2F1 mice was intermediate between DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice at all TPA doses examined except the lowest dose (1.7 nmol), whereas the DC response, although significantly lower at doses of 6.8 nmol or below, was similar to DBA/2 mice at higher TPA doses (13.6 and 17.0 nmol). The infiltration of PMNs in the dermis of B6D2F1 mice was similar to or greater than DBA/2 mice at all doses of TPA tested.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)