cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhancing safety and quality through preplanning peer review for patients undergoing stereotactic body radiation therapy.

Abstract Purpose Because of its high dose per fraction delivery, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) requires real-time process assurance to promote safe, high-quality treatments. In an effort to assure safety and first-time quality, we instituted a pilot, single-institution, SBRT peer review process before treatment planning. Here, we present a summary of the results of that process over a 26-month period. Methods and Materials Before planning, all patients were presented at an SBRT "rounds" that required, at a minimum, the treating attending or resident physician, an independent attending physician, a physicist, and a dosimetrist. Items reviewed included imaging, image registration, target contours, prescription, and planning goals. The results of peer review were prospectively recorded and logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between various physician and case characteristics and the odds of a change being made. Results A total of 513 SBRT cases were peer reviewed before planning. In 22.6% of cases, at least 1 change was made because of this process. A lower change rate was observed in higher volume SBRT body sites (lung and liver). In all body sites, gross and planning target volume contours were changed 8.2% and 5.5% of the time, respectively. The prescription was changed 4.9% of the time, and organs at risk goals were changed 7.2% of the time. The odds of having a change were significantly lower when the treating oncologist had more SBRT experience. Conclusions Preplanning peer review by an independent physician, physicist, and dosimetrist resulted in changes in nearly one-quarter of SBRT patients, potentially preventing suboptimal treatments. The odds of a change being required were decreased in higher volume body sites and when the treating oncologist was more experienced with SBRT, underscoring the potential importance of peer review in uncommon SBRT sites and at low-volume SBRT centers.
Genetic and Epigenetic Interactions between Folate and Aging in Carcinogenesis

Folate is among the most strongly implicated dietary components to convey protection against colon cancer, and diminished folate status is associated with an enhanced risk of colon cancer. Age is also regarded as one of the most important risk factors for colonic carcinogenesis. It is therefore of considerable interest to determine whether the process of aging influences folate metabolism in the colon and whether folate supplementation might prevent the procarcinogenic effects associated with aging. Recent studies in our laboratory demonstrated that the colonic mucosa of elder rats is more susceptible to folate depletion than that of young rats. Depletion of folate results in a shift in the forms of folate in the colon as well as increased uracil incorporation into DNA, a purported mechanism for colonic carcinogenesis. However, modest folate supplementation eliminates evidence of inadequate folate status in the colons of elder rats, suggesting that the relation between age and folate status in the colon might be one mechanism by which aging modulates colorectal cancer risk. Interactions between folate and aging also affect a spectrum of epigenetic and genetic phenomena such as uracil misincorporation, DNA methylation, protein methylation, mitochondrial deletion, and critical gene expression, which could be related to carcinogenesis. Aging and inadequate dietary folate may interact and collectively induce derangements in folate metabolism, thereby provoking subsequent molecular aberrations, which may enhance carcinogenesis. However, folate supplementation appears to reverse these adverse effects of aging, which is potentially of substantial import because the latter is an unmodifiable risk factor.
Screening Sonography of the Ankle/Foot to Correlate Pain and Pathology

The objective of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between sonographic pathological findings of the ankle/foot and self-reported ankle/foot pain. Symptomatic and asymptomatic participants were recruited and evaluated using sonographic imaging of the ankle and foot bilaterally. Participants also completed the Short Form 12 (SF-12, a national physical and mental health scoring system), a visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, and the Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment–Achilles (VISA-A, a scoring system for Achilles tendon abnormalities), as well as provided a health history and demographic information. Twenty-five participants were evaluated. Symptomatic participants had below average physical SF-12 scores (mean [SD], 48.3 [7.3]), while asymptomatic patients had above-average physical SF-12 scores (54.9 [4.0]). Painful right ankle and/or foot were significantly associated with SF-12 physical health (R2 = 0.2, P < .03) and VISA-A (R2 = 0.6, P < .001) scores. Painful left ankle/foot...
Earth Terminal Site Selection and Installation for the Public Television Satellite Interconnection System

The process of finding suitable sites for 150 ten-meter diameter satellite earth terminal antennas involves a complicated series of events. A wide range of expertise is required to determine: (1) how a station qualifies for an earth terminal; (2) the radio frequency interference environment; (3) the zoning and physical environmental regulations to be satisfied; (4) ownership of the property; (5) preparation of the FCC applications for construction permits and licenses; (6) design of site equipment configurations; (7) construction, installation and testing; (8) frequency coordination and protection; and (9) routine system testing. In order to accomplish these activities in the time frame provided, Public Broadcasting organized the Satellite Interconnection System Project Office (SISPO), comprised of representatives of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Collins Telecommunications Division of Rockwell International, Western Union, and Touche Ross & Co. There were three major phases to the overall effort: the system definition phase, the preliminary phase, and the implementation phase. The thrust of this paper deals with the engineering aspects of the latter two phases.
2014 Black Women and Health Politics Panel-Het Heru Healing Dance and Auset Aum Tam Qi Gong Healing: Holistic Approaches to Dance/Movement Therapy

After ten years of research on Black women and breast cancer, I have concluded that there are structural prohibitions against Black women being able to shape the national public health policy dialogue on breast cancer. Despite being the demographic most likely to die from this disease, stigma against Black women (Motsemme 2004, 2007, 2011; Jordan-Zachery 2008; Berger 2004; Cohen 1999) still shapes survival rates. In the struggle to survive in a context in which political institutions ignore their lives, Black women have taken their health into their own hands. Thus, in this paper, I have begun to examine the individual and collective alternative healing strategies and practices of Black women that constitute a wholly distinctive location for mobilization and collective action by Black women in pursuit of their health.According to the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), dance/movement therapy is the "psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration of the individual" (www.adta.org). Psychological and physical interventions including dance and movement creative art therapies have been studied for use with oncology, orthopedic and mental health patients, to name a few, measuring a variety of outcomes including those relating to quality of life. In this paper, I will examine the Het Heru Healing Dance (2010) and the and Auset Aum Tam Qi Gong for women, to further explore the potential contributions of dance and movement as creative arts therapies for women’s wellness and improvement in overall quality of life. The increasing desire for alternative treatment options and the increasing popularity of dance/movement therapy opens the way for the Het Heru Healing Dance and Auset Aum Tam Qi Gong to increase the quality of life for women by providing (1) an accessible and fundamentally unique method of dance and movement therapy, (2) an opportunity for group support, and (3) a space for women to reflect on how they holistically understand and perceive their health, to ask questions, and to expand discussions on innovative new ways to enhance wellness. Unlike the ADTA dance/movement therapy based on the limited mind/body binary intervention, I argue the Het Heru Healing Dance and Auset Aum Tam Qi Gong create new possibilities for optimizing health and healing because they are holistic dance and movement forms rooted in the Metu Neter Paut Neteru methodology based on the complimentary, interdependent and unifying 11 Laws of Maat (Amen 1990, 2003). The Paut Neteru method is the cosmologic basis of behavioral change in Kamitic spiritual science. African worldview theory, therefore, provides the theoretical framework for this study, and scholarship on dance/movement therapy in Psychology, African Studies, Africana Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies and and Cultural Studies provides the historical context and contributes to the overall thesis.
Mechanisms regulating the retention of sodium in the feces by cation-exchange resin; release of base from the resin by bacterial fermentation in the terminal ileum.

Abstract There are mechanisms which limit, in proportion to the severity of the restriction of dietary sodium, the amount of sodium which is retained in the feces by a cation-exchange resin. They are: (1) Conservation of sodium in the upper gastrointestinal tract with reciprocal increases in the concentrations, in the terminal ileal fluid, of potassium, which has a greater affinity for the resin than has sodium. (2) Bacterial fermentation which provides hydrogen ions to displace both sodium and potassium from the resin in the terminal ileum. (3) Active absorption of sodium, against a gradient, in the colon. It was fortunate that those mechanisms operated. Otherwise, the use of cation-exchange resins could have produced serious sodium depletion.
The Basel Problem as a Rearrangement of Series.

We give an elementary solution to the famous Basel Problem, originally solved by Euler in 1735. We square the well-known series for arctan(1) due to Leibniz, and use a surprising relation among the...
Radar ambiguity functions and resolution characteristics of Sudoku-based waveforms

The popular Sudoku puzzles are Latin squares comprising of an array with entries drawn from distinct symbols in such a way that no symbol is repeated in any row or column. This feature can be exploited to design stepped-frequency radar waveforms to achieve high range and Doppler resolution. This paper computes the radar ambiguity function of typical waveforms derived from Sudoku puzzles in order to demonstrate its resolution characteristics in range and Doppler. In addition, the mutual orthogonality of different symbols results in very low cross-ambiguity functions, indicating that signals derived from different symbols do not interfere with one another when operating in close proximity. Such mutually orthogonal waveforms are also ideal for use in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar applications. The performance of the Sudoku-based waveforms is compared to waveforms based on Costas and random sequences.
(R)-N-Methyl-3-(3-125I-pyridin-2-yloxy)-3-phenylpropan-1-amine: a novel probe for norepinephrine transporters

Abstract Alterations in serotonin and norepinephrine neuronal functions have been observed in patients with major depression. Several antidepressants bind to both serotonin transporters and norepinephrine transporters (NET). The ability to image NET in the human brain would be a useful step toward understanding how alterations in NET relate to disease. In this study, we report the synthesis and characterization of a new series of derivatives of iodonisoxetine, a known radioiodinated probe. The most promising, ( R )- N -methyl-3-(3-iodopyridin-2-yloxy)-3-phenylpropylamine (PYINXT), displayed a high and saturable binding to NET, with a K d value of 0.53±0.03 nM. Biodistribution studies of ( R )- N -methyl-3-(3- 125 I-pyridin-2-yloxy)-3-phenylpropan-1-amine in rats showed moderate initial brain uptake (0.54% dose/organ at 2 min) with a relatively fast washout from the brain (0.16% dose/organ at 2 h) as compared to [ 125 I]INXT. The hypothalamus (a NET-rich region)-to-striatum (a region devoid of NET) ratio was found to be 2.14 at 4 h after intravenous injection. Preliminary results suggest that this improved iodinated ligand, when labeled with 123 I, may be useful for mapping NET-binding sites with single photon emission computed tomography in the living human brain.
Effect of aspirin and dipyridamole on the interaction of human platelets with sub-endothelium: studies using citrated and native blood.

The effect of aspirin and dipyridamole ingestion on the interaction of platelets with the subendothelium was studied using both citrated blood and directly sampled (native) blood. After obtained control studies, normal human subjects ingested 0.6 g of aspirin, 150 mg of dipyridamole, or a placebo and studies were repeated 1 1/2 hrs later. Subjects continued on placebo, aspirin (0.6 g b.i.d.) or dipyridamole (100 mg q.i.d.) for 6 days and studies were obtained 1 1/2 hrs after the last dose. Blood was circulated through an annular chamber on whose inner core were mounted everted segments of de-endothelialized rabbit aorta. The wall shear rate was 2,600 sec(-1). Surface coverage with adherent platelets and platelet thrombi, as well as several parameters of thrombus dimensions, were evaluated morphometrically. Aspirin ingestion markedly reduced platelet thrombi in citrated blood,--but had a much lesser inhibitory effective in native blood. Platelet adhesion was unaffected in native blood, in contrast to previous findings in which a lower shear rate (800 sec (-1)) was used. Ingestion of dipyridamole did not inhibit platelet adhesion or thrombi in either citrated or native blood. The studies indicated that, with the flow conditions used, aspirin is a relatively weak inhibitor of platelet thrombus formation in directly sampled human blood.
Abstract 2171: Beta-hairpin peptide hydrogels as scaffolds for 3D high-throughput cancer drug discovery

Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LA High-throughput screening (HTS) remains a promising initial step in discovering novel lead compounds for cancer therapy, but its value is limited by the poor predictability of clinical effectiveness of candidate compounds. One compelling reason for this lack of reliability to predict in vivo efficacy is the fact that most HTS is done using traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures. While 2D cultures are convenient and can easily be automated, compelling evidence suggests that cells cultured in these non-physiological conditions differ from cells grown in the more in vivo like three-dimensional (3D) systems that better mimic microenvironments. Thus, a 3D culture model is expected to be a better platform for cancer drug discovery. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of a beta-hairpin hydrogel as a novel platform for 3D HTS. MAX8 forms a bonded fibrillar hydrogel network under physiological conditions and moreover, due to its unique shear-thinning abilities can be incorporated into standard HTS equipment. MAX8 is biocompatible with a variety of cancer cell lines, can be tuned for porosity, permeability and stiffness, and can be functionalized with common and cell-type specific ligands to more closely resemble an in vivo-like tumor environment. Using medulloblastoma cells that are known to display more immature, tumor-like features in 3D and that were automatically dispensed onto 384-well plates we have developed a robust assay to measure cell viability on a HTS platform that will have broad applicability for other cancers for which 3D HTS is desirable. Citation Format: Peter Worthington, Katherine M. Drake, Andrew D. Napper, Darrin J. Pochan, Sigrid A. Langhans. Beta-hairpin peptide hydrogels as scaffolds for 3D high-throughput cancer drug discovery. [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 2171.
Modulation of Immune Response by Omega-3 in Health and Disease

During the last 3-4 decades, there has been vast information on effect of omega-3 on the immune system in health and in diseases, especially those caused by excessive inflammatory response. In this chapter, attempts have been made to elucidate the effect of omega-3 on different components of immune system, especially during child development and in aged individuals. Omega-3 is also known to reduce the pathological manifestations especially in diseases related to inflammation, allergy and autoimmunity which are the major challenges today. Earlier studies on effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids in immune system were conducted using animal systems; in this chapter, more emphasis is given on human studies. n-3 PUFAs have been shown to be very effective in controlling inflammation by affecting extravasation, phagocytic response, generation of cytokines, inflammatory mediators and adhesion molecules. They also manipulate the functions of antigen-presenting cells and lymphocytes including T and B cells, NK cells, LAK cells and also T regulatory cells. Most of the reports on effect of dietary omega-3 in human health have been conducted as clinical trials, extrapolated from experiences in animals and also using in vitro techniques, which have limitations. The chapter reports trials conducted to assess the effectiveness of omega-3 diet supplementation in healthy volunteers using in vitro and in vivo assays. It also deals with the effect of omega-3 diet supplementation on pregnancy and lactation, especially in relation to infant allergies. Cognizance has also been taken of the effects of omega-3 diet supplementation in aged population. Finally, the chapter reviews important literature on the effectiveness of n-3 PUFAs in controlling inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
4.14 – Neuroendocrine Aspects of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

This chapter discusses endocrine findings in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emphasizing the role of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Older findings on basal cortisol levels have largely been replicated, as have results of neuroendocrine challenge tests. The development of molecular methods to examine HPA-related genes and epigenetic and gene expression changes in PTSD have verified the centrality of glucocorticoid-related alteration in PTSD and PTSD risk and have supported that the glucocorticoid receptor may be an important target for intervention.
A Trial of Carbidopa for Vomiting Crises in Familial Dysautonomia (S37.006)

OBJECTIVE: To determine if carbidopa, a dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor that blocks the formation of dopamine outside the brain, is an effective antiemetic in patients with familial dysautonomia (FD). BACKGROUND: Patients with FD, an hereditary neuropathy that affects the development of sensory neurons of the baroreflex, are unable to restrain the release of catecholamines from sympathetic nerve terminals at times of stress. Recurrent attacks of nausea, retching and vomiting, associated with high levels of circulating dopamine are a disabling feature of the disease for which there is no effective treatment. DESIGN/METHODS: We enrolled 12 patients with FD in an open-label titration and treatment study to assess the safety of carbidopa, an inhibitor of the enzyme dopa decarboxylase that does not cross the blood brain barrier. We then conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study to evaluate its antiemetic efficacy. RESULTS: All patients experienced severe cyclical nausea and uncontrollable retching that was refractory to standard treatments. Carbidopa at an average daily dose of 480 mg (range 325 to 600 mg/day) was well tolerated. In the double-blind phase, patients experienced significantly less nausea and retching while on carbidopa than on placebo (p CONCLUSIONS: Carbidopa appears to be a safe and effective antiemetic in patients with FD likely by reducing the formation of dopamine outside the brain. Larger trials are warranted. Supported by: Grant from the Food and Drug Administration9s (FDA) Office of Rare Disorders (R01- FD003731-02). We are grateful to Bristol-Myers-Squibb for donating carbidopa. Disclosure: Dr. Norcliffe-Kaufmann has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kaufman received personal compensation for activities Chelsea Therapeutics as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Kaufman has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity from Springer. Dr. Kaufman has received research support from Chelsea Therapeutics. Dr. Martinez has nothing to disclose. Dr. Axelrod has nothing to disclose.
ASUtune: A Program for Integrated System Identification and PID Controller Design

Abstract This paper describes ASUtune , a MATLAB program for combined identification and PID controller design. By integrating identification with PID controller design, the method displays functionality that is often demanded by the practicing engineering community. The major steps in this integrated methodology are, experimental design and execution, high-order ARX estimation, and control-relevant model reduction leading to models that comply with the IMC-PID tuning rules. These PID tuning rules are compatible with the Honeywell TDC 3000 distributed control system.
Health Services Research: Translating Discovery and Research into Practice and Policy

Publisher Summary This chapter addresses the fundamental aspects of translational research that occur after identification of health problems; discovery of fundamental biological, physiological, and pathophysiological information; and subsequent development and rigorous evaluation of potential interventions. This chapter presents a broad overview of some of the central components of health services and policy research. Inherently multidisciplinary, health services research incorporates perspectives, theories, knowledge, and research methods of a broad range of clinical, social, behavioral, and management sciences, including clinical medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, economics, political science, communication, psychology, public health, operations research, informatics, finance, and management. Thus, this study examines health services research through an overview of broad problem areas. Translation of medical innovation requires methodological expertise, skill, time, and resources. Although difficult, effectively translating advances in scientific knowledge to practice and policy to improve the health of patients and the public requires research of the type discussed in this chapter. The goal of medical care is to improve patient and population health. Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease require integrating knowledge and understanding across the basic, clinical, population, social, and management sciences. Health services research is a multidisciplinary scientific endeavor that studies and generates knowledge to facilitate improved translation of medical discoveries into practice to improve the health of patients and the public.
A method to detect landmark pairs accurately between intra-patient volumetric medical images

Purposes An image processing procedure was developed in this study to detect large quantity of landmark pairs accurately in pairs of volumetric medical images. The detected landmark pairs can be used to evaluate of deformable image registration (DIR) methods quantitatively. Methods Landmark detection and pair matching were implemented in a Gaussian pyramid multi-resolution scheme. A 3D scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) feature detection method and a 3D Harris-Laplacian corner detection method were employed to detect feature points, i.e. landmarks. A novel feature matching algorithm, Multi-Resolution Inverse-Consistent Guided Matching or MRICGM, was developed to allow accurate feature pairs matching. MRICGM performs feature matching using guidance by the feature pairs detected at the lower resolution stage and the higher-confidence feature pairs already detected at the same resolution stage, while enforces inverse consistency. Results The proposed feature detection and feature pair matching algorithms were optimized to process 3D CT and MRI images. They were successfully applied between the inter-phase abdomen 4DCT images of three patients, between the original and the re-scanned radiation therapy simulation CT images of two head-neck patients, and between inter-fractional treatment MRIs of two patients. The proposed procedure was able to successfully detect and match over 6300 feature pairs on average. The automatically detected landmark pairs were manually verified and the mismatched pairs were rejected. The automatic feature matching accuracy before manual error rejection was 99.4%. Performance of MRICGM was also evaluated using seven digital phantom datasets with known ground truth of tissue deformation. On average, 11855 feature pairs were detected per digital phantom dataset with TRE = 0.77±0.72 mm. Conclusion A procedure was developed in this study to detect large number of landmark pairs accurately between two volumetric medical images. It allows a semi-automatic way to generate the ground truth landmark datasets that allow quantitatively evaluation of DIR algorithms for radiation therapy applications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Mitochondrial cyclophilin D ablation is associated with the activation of Akt/p70S6K pathway in the mouse kidney.

The mitochondrial matrix protein cyclophilin D (CypD) is an essential component of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP). Here we characterized the effects of CypD ablation on bioenergetics in the kidney. CypD loss triggers a metabolic shift in Ppif−/− male and female mouse kidneys towards glycolysis and Krebs cycle activity. The shift is accompanied by increased glucose consumption and a transcriptional upregulation of effectors of glucose metabolism in the kidney. These included activation of Akt, AMPK (only in males) and p70S6K kinases. Gender specific differences between the Ppif−/− male and female mouse kidneys were observed including activation of pro-surviving ERK1/2 kinase and inhibited expression of pro-apoptotic and pro-fibrotic JNK and TGFβ1 proteins in Ppif−/− females. They also showed the highest expression of phosphorylated-ERK1/2 and Akt S473 proteins of all four investigated animal groups. Furthermore, Ppif−/− females showed higher lactate concentrations and ATP/ADP-ratios in the kidney than males. These metabolic and transcriptional modifications could provide an additional level of protection to Ppif−/− females. In summary, loss of mitochondrial CypD results in a shift in bioenergetics and in activation of glucose-metabolism regulating Akt/AMPK/p70S6 kinase pathways that is expected to affect the capability of Ppif−/− mice kidneys to react to stimuli and injury.
Turn-Taking Behavior in a Human Tutoring Corpus

Analysis of turn-taking in tutoring dialogues can be helpful to understand the procedure of tutoring and also the influence with regard to demographics between students and the tutor. In this research, we analyze turn-taking behavior between students in a human-human spoken tutoring system. Our approach is to learn turn-taking models using dialog activity state sequences and then we measure the association of these models with students’ demographic features (gender and education). The experimental results show that female students speak simultaneously longer with the tutor than male students, female activities are less than male activities and also the tutor speaks longer with students who have lower pre-test score.
Targeted gene repair in mammalian cells using chimeric oligonucleotides.

In the past several years, significant advances in the area of genome modification have taken place. In some cases, the objective has been to block RNA synthesis and change developmental progression (1), while in other cases more permanent alteration at the chromosomal level has been attempted (2). These types of approaches seek not to replace traditional protocols of gene knock-out, gene knock-in or gene replacement, but rather augment them, adding to the arsenal of techniques available to workers who wish to study functional aspects of gene expression. In fact, since the strategies for creating mouse knock-outs first became available, relatively little improvement in the rate of success has occurred.
Aging, Health, Stress and Technology in the Work Context: Concepts and Issues

In this paper we briefly review diverse but related literatures in order to speculate on the role that technology currently plays and will play in the future in defining the intersections of age, health and stress in the workplace.
The Many Measures of Grandiose Narcissism

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of measures available to researchers who study grandiose narcissism (GN). The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of some of the more popular measures of GN. Some of these measures attempt to capture GN as a single dimension, some as a multidimensional construct, and some tap into GN along with other related traits, such as vulnerable narcissism and psychopathy. Finally, some measures may be thought of as “special interest” measures that capture variants of GN, such as communal narcissism, as well as GN in special populations, such as children and adolescents. Although not intended to provide a fully exhaustive review of GN measures, this chapter should provide readers an idea about what is available in terms of GN measurement and best practices for assessing GN in the research context. In particular, researchers are encouraged to use multiple measures of GN whenever possible and employ statistical techniques that take advantage of psychometric diversity, such as structural equation modeling.
Persistent Dysphagia Rate After Antireflux Surgery is Similar for Nissen Fundoplication and Partial Fundoplication.

Abstract Background Laparoscopic fundoplication is the gold standard operation for treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It has been suggested that persistent postoperative dysphagia is increased following Nissen fundoplication compared to partial fundoplication. This study aimed to determine risk factors for persistent postoperative dysphagia, specifically examining the type of fundoplication. Methods Patients experiencing GERD symptoms who underwent laparoscopic Nissen, Toupet, or Dor fundoplication from 2009 to 2016 were identified from a single-institutional database. A dysphagia score was obtained as part of the GERD health-related quality of life questionnaire. Persistent dysphagia was defined as a difficulty swallowing score ≥1 (noticeable) on a scale from 0 to 5 at least 1 y postoperatively. Odds ratios of persistent dysphagia among those who underwent antireflux surgery were calculated in a multivariate logistic regression model adjusted for fundoplication type, sex, age, body mass index, and redo operation. Results Of the 441 patients who met inclusion criteria, 255 had ≥1 y of follow-up (57.8%). The median duration of follow-up was 3 y. In this cohort, 45.1% of patients underwent Nissen fundoplication and 54.9% underwent partial fundoplication. Persistent postoperative dysphagia was present in 25.9% (n = 66) of patients. On adjusted analysis, there was no statistically significant association between the type of fundoplication (Nissen versus partial) and the likelihood of postoperative dysphagia. Conclusions Persistent postoperative dysphagia after antireflux surgery occurred in approximately one-quarter of patients and did not differ by the type of fundoplication. These findings suggest that both Nissen and partial fundoplication are reasonable choices for an antireflux operation for properly selected patients.
Acute hemolytic reaction due to A‐B mismatched transfusion in a cat with transient AB blood type

Objective To document a case of transient AB blood type indicated by immunochromatography in a type B cat following administration of an incompatible type A transfusion. Case summary A 7-month-old neutered male domestic longhair cat was evaluted for anemia, pigmenturia, and intravascular hemolysis 1 day after receiving a feline whole blood transfusion. Neither blood donor nor patient had been blood-typed or crossmatched. The cat presented in shock with a severe non-regenerative anemia, hyperlactatemia, hyperbilirubinemia, hemoglobinemia, hemoglobinuria, and a positive saline slide agglutination test. Immunochromatographic blood typing tests initially indicated the cat had type AB blood, but crossmatch tests with blood from type A and type B donors suggested that the cat was type B. The cat was transfused with type B packed red blood cells without apparent complications and clinically improved. The cat's blood type reverted to type B once all the previously transfused type A cells were cleared from circulation. Furthermore, the original donor was subsequently identified as a Siamese cat and confirmed to have type A blood. While the cause of the original anemia remained unknown, the cat completely recovered and regained a normal hematocrit. New or unique information provided This is the first documented report of transient AB blood type diagnosed using immunochromatography after a transfusion mismatch and shows the utility of crossmatching or back-typing to identify the cat's correct blood type during the hemolytic transfusion reaction.
Estimating Price Dynamics in the Aftermath of Forest Disturbances: The Biscuit Fire in Southwest Oregon

Catastrophic forest disturbances, such as wildfires, insect outbreaks, and hurricanes, have become more frequent in recent decades. Such disturbances can create supply disruptions in regional timber markets, with potentially significant short-run and long-run price effects. We review the time-series intervention models that have been used to analyze the impacts of forest disturbances. We apply the intervention models to investigate the market effects of the Biscuit Fire that burned nearly 500,000 acres (202,000 hectares) of forest land in southwest Oregon in 2002, thus creating an unexpected supply shock in the regional timber markets. Most of the burned area was located on federal lands. Although almost two billion board feet were available for harvesting by some estimates, the salvage logging on public lands after the Biscuit Fire amounted to 60 million board feet by the end of 2005. We use a univariate and reduced-form model to estimate the effect of the Biscuit Fire on regional Douglas-fir log markets. We find that the fire did not cause immediate price effects; however, we detect positive effects during the salvage logging period in some of the markets, whereas a negative long-run effect has persisted since the salvage logging period was completed.
Considering Practitioner-Driven Innovations: Accommodating Information Systems Within Successful Humanitarian Work

This paper offers an in-depth analysis of how technology emerged in stories of success from interviews with Red Cross/Red Crescent (RCRC) humanitarian aid workers named for doing good work. Our findings reveal that in these contexts, technology exists, for the practitioners, much like a language—diverse according to environment, culture and skill. As such, practitioners’ core mission to effectively identify and communicate the needs of communities among stakeholders and throughout different organizational levels drives innovation. The environment demands innovations by practitioners to ensure the transfer of information, and it’s embedded meaning, is bridged across disparate technological modes and information systems. We found a common problem-solving perspective toward work, awareness of gaps in the flow of meaning and information across stakeholders, along with multi-modal, multi-cultural and interpersonal fluencies active where innovations occur. When empowered with the autonomy to adapt tools, successful practitioners are able to support the effective transfer of meaning across cultures, organizational perspective and technological environments. Ultimately, these findings enhance our understanding of the use of technology in humanitarian work. It provides insights for ways to maximize technology effectiveness and reconsider the focus of design beyond the technology alone, and instead calls for a socio-material approach acknowledging technology as part of a larger, more complex system of systems.
Rover Localization for Tube Pickup: Dataset, Methods and Validation for Mars Sample Return Planning

The Mars 2020 rover mission is intended to collect samples which will be stored in metal tubes and left on the surface of Mars, for possible retrieval and return to Earth by a future mission. In the proposed Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign concept, a follow-up mission would collect the sample tubes and load them into a Mars Ascent Vehicle to be launched into orbit for subsequent transfer and return to Earth. In this work, we study the problem of autonomous tube localization and pickup by a “Fetch” rover during the MSR campaign. This is a challenging problem as, over time, the sample tubes may become partially covered by dust and sand, thereby making it difficult to recover their pose by direct visual observation. We propose an indirect approach, in which the Fetch rover localizes itself relative to a map built from Mars 2020 images. The map encodes the position of rocks that are sufficiently tall not to be affected by sand drifts. Because we are confident that tubes will remain immobile until Fetch arrives, their pose within the Mars 2020 map can be used to plan pickup maneuvers without directly observing the tubes in Fetch images. To support this approach, we present a dataset composed of 4160 images collected from two sets of stereo cameras placed at thirteen different view angles, two different heights from the ground, two distances from a tube, in five different lighting conditions, and ground-truthed with a motion capture setup. This dataset allows us to quantify the sensitivity of terrain-relative tube localization with respect to lighting conditions and camera pose.
The Americans With Disabilities Act Implications for Family Counselors: Counseling Students in Higher Education

Family counselors at times work with families in which a family member with a disability is transitioning into higher education settings. Frequently, these counselors are unaware of the federally p...
Training AI-Based Feature Extraction Algorithms, for Micro CT Images, Using Synthesized Data

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a powerful technique for non-destructive volumetric inspection of objects and is widely used for studying internal structures of a large variety of sample types. The raw data obtained through an X-ray CT practice is a gray-scale 3D array of voxels. This data must undergo a geometric feature extraction process before it can be used for interpretation purposes. Such feature extraction process is conventionally done manually, but with the ever-increasing trend of image data sizes and the interest in identifying more miniature features, automated feature extraction methods are sought. Given the fact that conventional computer-vision-based methods, which attempt to segment images into partitions using techniques such as thresholding, are often only useful for aiding the manual feature extraction process, machine-learning based algorithms are becoming popular to develop fully automated feature extraction processes. Nevertheless, the machine-learning algorithms require a huge pool of labeled data for proper training, which is often unavailable. We propose to address this shortage, through a data synthesis procedure. We will do so by fabricating miniature features, with known geometry, position and orientation on thin silicon wafer layers using a femtosecond laser machining system, followed by stacking these layers to construct a 3D object with internal features, and finally obtaining the X-ray CT image of the resulting 3D object. Given that the exact geometry, position and orientation of the fabricated features are known, the X-ray CT image is inherently labeled and is ready to be used for training the machine learning algorithms for automated feature extraction. Through several examples, we will showcase: (1) the capability of synthesizing features of arbitrary geometries and their corresponding labeled images; and (2) use of the synthesized data for training machine-learning based shape classifiers and features parameter extractors.
Current constriction of Li-ion transport across lithium metal–ceramic electrolyte interface: Imaged with X-ray Tomography

The local current at a constriction can be higher than the average current, which can lower the engineering value of the critical current density in lithium-ion cells. We show that X-ray Computed Tomography can be used to image the extent and the length scale of this constriction. The constriction is seen by comparing the in-plane thickness profile of the lithium metal at the anode before, and then at the cathode after full discharge. Remarkable discrepancy between these two images highlights the nature of the constriction.
Blood and bone marrow findings in two pups with mucopolysaccharidosis type VII

Routine blood smear findings in two of four 11-day-old mixed-breed dog littermates were suggestive of a lysosomal storage disease (LSD) that was documented to be mucopolysaccharidosis type VII (MPS VII) by molecular testing. In this condition, a functional β-glucuronidase deficiency results in the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in cells and tissues where β-glucuronidase is important in GAG degradation. Most neutrophils and a moderate number of lymphocytes within the blood had atypical cytoplasmic magenta inclusions. The bone marrow assessment from one of the two affected pups at 24 days of age revealed similar magenta granulation in myeloid precursor cells that was most prominent in promyelocytes and myelocytes. Moreover, atypical magenta material was present within vacuoles as well as extracellularly in some osteoblasts and macrophages. Histologic bone marrow sections revealed prominent vacuolation of osteoblasts, and some osteoclasts appeared separated from the bone by layers of osteoblasts or hematopoietic cells. At 2 months of age, the second affected dog showed moderate growth retardation and had similar but more prominent hematologic findings that extended to monocytes, eosinophils, and eosinophil precursors. It had an increased number of bone marrow macrophages with many vacuoles that could be seen cytologically to contain magenta material, and there was mild nonselective phagocytosis of hemic cells. Of the hematologic cells, inclusions were most prominent in promyelocytes, myelocytes, and macrophages, cells with relatively high β-glucuronidase activity, and GAG exposure within lysosomes or lysosome-like primary granules of granulocyte precursors.
Wound Healing Complications in Diabetic Patients Undergoing Carpal Tunnel and Trigger Finger Releases: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Purpose To evaluate the association of diabetes and perioperative hemoglobin A1C (HgA1C) value with postoperative wound healing complications following carpal tunnel release (CTR) and trigger finger release (TFR). Methods A retrospective review of diabetic patients who underwent CTR and/or TFR between 2014 and 2018 was performed. Hemoglobin A1C value within 90 days of surgery was recorded for all diabetic patients. A nondiabetic comparison group was selected from within the same study period in an approximately 1:1 procedural ratio, although direct matching was not performed. A chart review was used to examine postoperative wound healing complications, such as wound infection, wound dehiscence , or delayed wound healing . Results Two hundred sixty-two diabetic patients and 259 nondiabetic patients underwent 335 and 337 CTR and/or TFR procedures, respectively. There were 36 wound complications in the diabetic group and 9 complications in the nondiabetic group. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated an increased association of wound healing complications with diabetic patients compared to nondiabetic patients. Additionally, an increased association was demonstrated among diabetic patients with an HgA1C value above 6.5% compared with those with an HgA1C value below 6.5%. Conclusions Compared with nondiabetic controls, diabetic patients have increased associated risk of postoperative wound healing complications following CTR and/or TFR. This increased association was further demonstrated among diabetic patients with elevated perioperative HgA1C values. Type of study/level of evidence Prognostic IV
Competition under pressure

Using pressure to tune the balance of interactions in a new class of kagome superconductor results in a surprising competition between states — and hints at an unusual, electronically intertwined order.
Calibration of a visual system with receptor drop-out

Maloney and Ahumada (1989) have proposed a network learning algorithm that allows the visual system to compensate for irregularities in the positions of its photoreceptors. Weights in the network are adjusted by a process tending to make the internal image representation translation-invariant. We report on the behavior of this translation-invariance algorithm calibrating a visual system that has lost receptors. To attain robust performance in the presence of aliasing noise, the learning adjustment was limited to the receptive field of output units whose receptors were lost. With this modification the translation-invariance learning algorithm provides a physiologically plausible model for solving the recalibration problem posed by retinal degeneration.
Inelastic Mie Scattering from Rough Metal Surfaces

One of the most widely debated questions concerning surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is the nature of the surface morphology required to obtain the large enhancements. While it is generally agreed that surface roughness is important, the specific nature of this roughness, and its exact role in the enhancement has been a subject of considerable debate. In this chapter, we discuss experimental results that address this question directly. We study an extremely low frequency Raman mode which we attribute to Raman scattering (RS) from the rough metal surface itself.1,2 From the low frequency Raman scattering we can determine the nature of the roughness which contributes to SERS. From the anomalous behavior of this Raman scattering, we can determine the role of this roughness in the large enhancement of the RS cross section of adsorbed molecules.
A Combined Index for Measurement of Total Air Pollution: Effects of Changing Air Quality Standards

Combined pollution indexes are useful for assessing overall air pollution levels and seem to be, an overdue necessity. Formulators of pollution control policy must be able to trade off one pollutant against another, always being aware of the effect of a change in one pollutant level on overall air quality. An index called “pindex” is proposed in which six pollutants, a synergism, and photochemical effects are combined to yield a measure of total air pollution. Pindex combines the more generally accepted tenets of air pollution technology and, despite definite limitations, could be a useful tool for assessing total air pollution levels.