cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neuropilin-1 maintains dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 expression in endothelial cells, and contributes to protection from angiotensin II–induced hypertension

Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolases (DDAHs) are known to degrade asymmetric dimethylarginine, an endogenous inhibitor of NOS, and maintain vascular homeostasis; however, the regulatory pathways of DDAHs remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to define the role of transmembrane glycoprotein neuropilin-1 (NRP1) in the expression of DDAHs and investigate the potential roles of NRP1 in regulation of blood pressure. Short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of NRP1 reduced the level and mRNA stability of DDAH1 but not DDAH2 in HUVECs, whereas overexpression of NRP1 increased the mRNA stability of DDAH1. Meanwhile, mesenteric arteries and lung vascular endothelial cells of tamoxifen-inducible endothelial cell-specific NRP1 knockout mice exhibited decreased expression of DDAH1 and slightly increased expression of DDAH2. Mechanistically, the regulation of NRP1 on DDAH1 expression is mediated by a posttranscriptional mechanism involving miR-219-5p in HUVECs. Although the endothelial cell-specific NRP1 knockout mice did not exhibit any significant change in blood pressure at the basal level, they were more sensitive to low-dose angiotensin II infusion-induced increases in blood pressure. Our results show that NRP1 is required for full expression of DDAH1 in endothelial cells and that NRP1 contributes to protection from low-dose angiotensin II-induced increases in blood pressure.-Wang, Y., Wang, E., Zhang, Y., Madamsetty, V. S., Ji, B., Radisky, D. C., Grande, J. P., Misra, S., Mukhopadhyay, D. Neuropilin-1 maintains dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 expression in endothelial cells, and contributes to protection from angiotensin II-induced hypertension.
Post-contrast T1-weighted spine 3T MRI in children using a golden-angle radial acquisition

MRI methods that have reduced sensitivity to motion are attractive in pediatric applications. In spine imaging, physiologic motion such as respiration and cerebrospinal fluid pulsation can hamper diagnostic image quality. We compare a 3D T1-weighted non-Cartesian radial acquisition with a conventional Cartesian 2D turbo-spin-echo (TSE) acquisition in axial post-contrast spine imaging at 3T. Thirty-two patients (mean age 12.2 ± 5.3 years) scheduled for routine clinical spine exams with contrast were enrolled. Three pediatric neuroradiologists compared the two sequences and assessed the presence of motion, the conspicuity of nerve roots, and whether one of the sequences was preferred in visualizing pathology using Likert scales. The Fleiss’ kappa statistic for inter-rater agreement was 0.29 (95% confidence interval, 0.15–0.43) for the presence of motion, 0.30 (0.21–0.38) for conspicuity, and 0.37 (0.19–0.55) for sequence preference. Radial images were less sensitive to motion than TSE (p < 0.01). Motion and consequent artifacts were present in all TSE cases, while it was absent in 51% of the radial cases. In depicting nerve roots, radial images were superior in the cervical (p < 0.05), thoracic (p < 0.01), and lumbar spines (p < 0.01). Lastly, in 28 of the 32 patients who demonstrated contrast-enhancing pathology, radial images were preferred in 51% of the cases, while both sequences were equally preferred in 41% of the cases. We demonstrate the potential utility of radial MRI in post-contrast spine imaging. The free-breathing method is robust in generating diagnostic image quality and is superior in visualizing nerve roots and extramedullary metastases than traditional Cartesian TSE acquisitions.
Spatial and temporal patterns in summer ichthyoplankton assemblages on the eastern Bering Sea shelf 1996-2007.

Larval and early juvenile fishes were sampled from the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) shelf from 2001 to 2005, and in 2007. Data from these collections were used to examine spatial and temporal patterns in species assemblage structure and abundance. The years 2001–2005 were unusual because the EBS water temperature was ‘warm’ compared with the long-term mean temperature. In contrast, 2007 was a ‘cold’ year. The abundance of the five most numerous taxa at 12 stations common to all years sampled (1996–2005, 2007) were significantly different among years. Larval and early juvenile stage Theragra chalcogramma (walleye pollock), a commercially important gadid, were by far the most abundant fish in all years. Bottom depth alone best explained assemblage structure in most years, but in others, bottom depth and water column temperature combined and percent sea-ice coverage were most important. Abundance of T. chalcogramma larvae increases with water column temperature until 5°C and then becomes level. Higher abundances of Gadus macrocephalus (Pacific cod) larvae occur in years with the greatest percent sea-ice cover as indicated by GAM analysis. Larvae of Lepidopsetta polyxystra (northern rock sole) increase in abundance with increasing maximum wind speed, but decrease at a later date during the last winter storm. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that oceanographic conditions, specifically water temperature and sea-ice coverage, affect the spatial and temporal pattern of larval abundances. In general, ichthyoplankton species assemblages can be important early indicators of environmental change in the Bering Sea and potentially other subarctic seas as well.
Meta-analysis of deep neural networks in remote sensing: A comparative study of mono-temporal classification to support vector machines

Abstract Deep learning methods have recently found widespread adoption for remote sensing tasks, particularly in image or pixel classification. Their flexibility and versatility has enabled researchers to propose many different designs to process remote sensing data in all spectral, spatial, and temporal dimensions. In most of the reported cases they surpass their non-deep rivals in overall classification accuracy. However, there is considerable diversity in implementation details in each case and a systematic quantitative comparison to non-deep classifiers does not exist. In this paper, we look at the major research papers that have studied deep learning image classifiers in recent years and undertake a meta-analysis on their performance compared to the most used non-deep rival, Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. We focus on mono-temporal classification as the time-series image classification did not offer sufficient samples. Our work covered 103 manuscripts and included 92 cases that supported direct accuracy comparisons between deep learners and SVMs. Our general findings are the following: (i) Deep networks have better performance than non-deep spectral SVM implementations, with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) performing better than other deep learners. This advantage, however, diminishes when feeding SVM with richer features extracted from data (e.g. spatial filters). (ii) Transfer learning and fine-tuning on pre-trained CNNs are offering promising results over spectral or enhanced SVM, however these pre-trained networks are currently limited to RGB input data, therefore currently lack applicability in multi/hyperspectral data. (iii) There is no strong relationship between network complexity and accuracy gains over SVM; small to medium networks perform similarly to more complex networks. (iv) Contrary to the popular belief, there are numerous cases of high deep networks performance with training proportions of 10% or less. Our study also indicates that the new generation of classifiers is often overperforming existing benchmark datasets, with accuracies surpassing 99%. There is a clear need for new benchmark dataset collections with diverse spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions and coverage that will enable us to study the design generalizations, challenge these new classifiers, and further advance remote sensing science. Our community could also benefit from a coordinated effort to create a large pre-trained network specifically designed for remote sensing images that users could later fine-tune and adjust to their study specifics.
Experiences of Discrimination and Prejudice Among American Indian Youth: Links to Psychosocial Functioning

Native Americans continue to experience significant minority stress, including the effects of historical trauma, discrimination, prejudice, and racial battle fatigue. Media portrayal of Native Americans, including those in the film industry, news outlets, and sports mascots, serves to maintain negative stereotypes and prejudices about Indigenous peoples. These stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans impact the psychological functioning of Native youth, as well as attitudes and behaviors of European Americans toward Native Americans. For example, after viewing Native-themed mascots, European American students reported higher levels of self-esteem, while Native American students reported lower levels of self-esteem, community worth, and anticipated future personal achievements (Fryberg et al. Basic Appl Soc Psychol 30(3):208–218, 2008). Recent findings suggest that Native youth experience disproportionately higher instances of victimization and bullying in public schools relative to students from other racial/ethnic groups, which likely contributes to higher school dropout rates among Native youth (Campbell and Smalling, J Indigenous Soc Dev 2(1):1–15, 2013). Experiences of prejudice and discrimination have been linked with increased feelings of powerlessness, psychological distress, suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, substance use, decreased self-esteem and life satisfaction, and poor physical health and high blood pressure (Schmitt et al. Psychol Bull 140(4):921–948, 2014; Nadal et al. J Coll Stud Dev 55(5):461–474, 2014; Chen et al. J Am Coll Health 62(6):390–398, 2014; Blume et al. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol 18(1):45–54, 2012; Hwang and Goto Asian Am J Psychol S(1):15–28, 2009; Walters et al. Public Health Rep 117(Suppl 1):S104, 2002). However, a growing body of literature recognizes the resiliency and strength exhibited by Native youth and families in the face of historical and ongoing inequity and discrimination. This chapter addresses both risk and resilience in the lives of Native youth.
RNA-Binding Domains in Proteins

RNA–protein interactions play an important role within a living cell. Specialized RNA-binding proteins have evolved that take part in RNA splicing, RNA localization, and regulation of RNA stability. RNA-binding domains within these proteins have been defined and structural studies have revealed critical amino acid residues that interact with the bases or the backbone of RNA which provided important insight into mutations that result in human diseases. Furthermore, these studies shedded light on the evolutionary strategies that expanded the RNA-binding abilities in these proteins.
A general framework for scalable spectral clustering based on document models

Abstract We propose a new, general framework for fast, approximate spectral clustering on large data sets. We first consider the special setting of cosine similarity for clustering sparse data (e.g., documents under the bag-of-words model) or data of at most a few hundred dimensions (e.g., small images). We show that in those cases various versions of spectral clustering, such as the Ng-Jordan-Weiss algorithm (NIPS 2001), Normalized Cut (Shi and Malik, 2000), and Diffusion Maps (Coifman and Lafon, 2006), can be implemented solely based on three kinds of efficient operations on the data matrix – elementwise manipulation, matrix-vector multiplication and low-rank SVD, thus eliminating the need to compute the weight matrix. For general similarity and any kind of data, we present a landmark-based technique that first converts the given data (or a landmark set selected from them) to a collection of “documents” and then applies to them the scalable implementation of spectral clustering with cosine similarity. Our algorithm is simple to implement and fast to run, with additional benefits such as a naturally embedded outliers removal step. We conduct extensive experiments to compare our algorithm with a few existing methods to demonstrate its superior performance.
Estimation of Crop Chlorophyll Content by Spectral Indices Using Hyperspectral Non-imaging Data

Leaf chlorophyll plays very important role in photosynthesis process which enables conversion of light energy into biochemical energy which is directly related with plant stress, relationship between environment and plants, plants nutritional stress which is important for agriculture management. Conventional methods for estimating leaf chlorophyll content are destructive, time consuming and difficult for taking repeated measurement. So we have estimated leaf chlorophyll content using hyperspectral non-imaging data. Leaf reflectance has been captured by using FieldSpec 4 Spectroradiometer. Different spectral indices were applied for estimation of chlorophyll content and to develop non-destructive model. Spectral indices which have been applied over spectral reflectance have been reported as sensitive to chlorophyll content present in leaf and the correlation between chlorophyll content and indices shows medium to good \(R^2\) values.
Pulse Shaping and Matched Filters for EMAT Communication System

Electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is used as a noncontact sensor for acoustic communication in a stainless-steel plate channel. The acoustic wave multipath propagations within the channel cause intersymbol interference (ISI). ISI highly degrades the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The poor SNR will result in a low bitrate and a high bit error rate (BER). In this study, a test platform is designed to estimate the performance of the EMAT communication system. Two periodic-permanent-magnet (PPM) EMATs are designed to be used as a transmitter and a receiver. EMAT generates shear-horizontal (SH) wave propagating through the stainless-steel plate channel. We present methods to minimize the ISI effect and recover the message embedded in the received signals hampered by interference, reverberation and multipath effects. The root raised cosine (RRC) filters are introduced as a pulse-shaping filter for transmission and a matched filter for receiving messages. Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) method is used for modulating the transmitted binary message. The pulse shaping and matched filters reduced the ISI caused by the undesirable multipath effect significantly to the extent that a 5-kbps bitrate can be achieved without any error (zero BER).
Has Vocabulary Intervention Had an Effect? A Valid, Reliable, and (Fairly) Quick Outcome Measure for Semantic Knowledge

Purpose Vocabulary intervention should be guided by information from outcome measures that demonstrate whether the student has grown in depth or breadth of understanding of the taught words. Howeve...
HIV‐1 integrase inhibitors: 2003–2004 update

The integration of viral cDNA into the host genome is an essential step in the HIV-1-life cycle and is mediated by the virally encoded enzyme, integrase (IN). Inhibition of this process provides an attractive strategy for antiviral drug design. The discovery of beta-diketo acid inhibitors played a major role in validating IN as a legitimate antiretroviral drug target. Over a decade of research, a plethora of IN inhibitors have been discovered and some showed antiviral activity consistent with their effect on IN. To date, at least two compounds have been tested in human but none are close to the FDA approval. In this review, we provide a comprehensive report of all small-molecule IN inhibitors discovered during the years 2003 and 2004. Compilation of such data will prove beneficial in developing QSAR, virtual screening, pharmacophore hypothesis generation, and validation.
The Use of Video Annotation Tools and Informal Online Discussions to Explore Preservice Teachers’ Self- and Peer-Evaluation of Academic Feedback:

This study explored the quality of preservice teachers’ self- and peer-academic feedback using video annotation tools to capture their teaching practices. They were also provided with an informal o...
Combination of 5-Fluorouracil and N1, N11-diethylnorspermine markedly activates spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase expression, depletes polyamines, and synergistically induces apoptosis in colon carcinoma cells

4951 Onconase (ONC), a new family of proteins isolated from the eggs and early embryos of the leopard frog, Rana pipiens, significantly improved tumor blood flow, tumor interstitial fluid pressure, and tumor oxygen level of MCaIV tumors (J. Surg. Oncol. 73: 164-171, 2000). This led us to consider the therapeutic effectiveness of ONC alone and ONC plus cisplatin (or carboplatin) on A549 human non-small cell lung cancer cells (NSCLC). Using a clonogenic assay, ONC alone significantly inhibited the tumor growth of A549 tumors (IC50 = 1 μg/ml). When cisplatin was simultaneously treated with ONC for 24 h, an enhanced efficacy of cisplatin was observed (SER=1.3). Similar efficacy was observed when cisplatin was added after ONC. However, when ONC was added after cisplatin, the enhanced efficacy of cisplatin was diminished. A similar tendency was also observed in combined treatments of ONC and carboplatin (SER=1.35). Using a growth delay assay, ONC alone (10 mg/ml) significantly retarded the A549 tumor growth by 15 days. Cisplatin alone (5 mg/kg) delayed tumor growth by 7 days. When two drugs were combined, the tumor growth delay was 25 days. Although body weight was decreased to 10-15% by either ONC or cisplatin (or carboplatin), it recovered to the control levels within 7 days post-treatment. By a dynamic contrast enhanced MRI using a diffusible MRI contrast agent (Gd-DPTA), we monitored the effect of ONC on perfusion of both the kidney and tumor. Changes in T1-relaxation time in the medulla and cortex of the kidney, and tumors were non-invasively monitored by MRI 1H-perfusion and 1H-density methods for 8 days post-treatment of ONC. T1-relaxation time in both medulla and cortex of the kidney was decreased at 1-2 days, but it returned to the original level at 4-8 days post-treatment of ONC. Currently, we are estimating the kinetic parameters from dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI data, including the volume transfer constant (Ktrans map & histogram) and the volume of extravascular space per unit volume of tissue (Ve map & histogram) from both the kidney and tumors. This investigation suggests important potential clinical uses for ONC.
Integration of Rare Earth Ions and Photonic Resonators for Quantum Application

Using ion implantation, on-chip photonic fabrication and heterogeneous integration, we demonstrate a solid-state interface between rare earth ions and telecomm photons in various designs. The platforms enable study of collective and coherent light-atom interactions on chip.
Oxidative deamination of amino sugars: recent advances.

An overview of the oxidative deamination of N-acetylneuraminic acid derivatives (Neu5Ac) leading to the formation of ketodeoxynonulosonic acid (KDN), its stereoisomers and glycosides is presented. A brief historical introduction to the deamination is given, followed by a description of recent advances in reaction conditions, which have allowed application of the process to Neu5Ac thioglycosides, and that have enabled the range of nucleophiles incorporated in the course of the reaction to be extended beyond the original acetate and azide. Recent advances resulting in derivatization of the Neu55Ac 4-position concomitant with replacement of the acetamido group, via the presumed intermediacy of a vinyl diazonium ion, are then described. The literature on the mechanism of the deamination reaction is next considered leading to the presentation of an overall mechanistic framework that accounts for all observations to date. Finally, the application of the deamination reaction to complex Neu5Ac-based oligosaccharides and other aminosugars is presented.
Longitudinal Assessment of the Relationships Between Geriatric Conditions and Loneliness.

Abstract Objectives In response to the lack of longitudinal evidence, this study aims to disentangle time sequence and directionality between the severity of geriatric conditions (GCs) and loneliness. Design Longitudinal panel study. Setting and Participants The working sample had 4680 participants of 2006, 2010, and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). All participants were at least 65 years old at baseline. Proxy responded cases and individuals who suffered from moderate to severe cognitive impairment were excluded from the analysis. Methods Loneliness was measured with the 3-item UCLA loneliness scale. Five GCs were included: falls, incontinence, vision impairment, hearing impairment, and pain. Severity indicators were the number of times fallen in the past 2 years, number of days experiencing loss of bladder control in the past month, self-rated eyesight, self-rated hearing, and participants' perceived level of pain. Results Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were run to analyze the relationship between the severity of each individual GC and loneliness. All models were controlled for baseline demographics, social isolation, self-rated health, physical function, comorbidities, and hospitalization. The longitudinal association between loneliness and fall was bidirectional: a higher loneliness score predicted an increased number of falls and vice versa. Incontinence, vision impairment, hearing impairment, and pain were not significantly associated with loneliness longitudinally. The association between the random intercept of loneliness and some GCs (vision and pain) were significant, indicating the severity of these GCs were related to loneliness at the between-person level at baseline. Conclusion and Implications Findings of the longitudinal analysis suggest a reciprocal relationship between fall and loneliness. Fall prevention programs could be integrated with social service for addressing loneliness, and alleviating loneliness might be beneficial for preventing falls. Results of this study highlight the importance of integrating clinical management of falls with social services addressing loneliness in long term care.
EPCAMH Call for Papers: Special Issue on Acute, Intensive, and Residential Mental Health Services for Youth

Evidence-based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (EPCAMH) is now accepting papers for a special issue focused on acute, intensive, and residential mental health services for youth, gue...
Conventional versus virtual radiographs of the injured pelvis and acetabulum

Evaluation of the fractured pelvis or acetabulum requires both standard radiographic evaluation as well as computed tomography (CT) imaging. The standard anterior-posterior (AP), Judet, and inlet and outlet views can now be simulated using data acquired during CT, decreasing patient discomfort, radiation exposure, and cost to the healthcare system. The purpose of this study is to compare the image quality of conventional radiographic views of the traumatized pelvis to virtual radiographs created from pelvic CT scans. Five patients with acetabular fractures and ten patients with pelvic ring injuries were identified using the orthopedic trauma database at our institution. These fractures were evaluated with both conventional radiographs as well as virtual radiographs generated from a CT scan. A web-based survey was created to query overall image quality and visibility of relevant anatomic structures. This survey was then administered to members of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA). Ninety-seven surgeons completed the acetabular fracture survey and 87 completed the pelvic fracture survey. Overall image quality was judged to be statistically superior for the virtual as compared to conventional images for acetabular fractures (3.15 vs. 2.98, p = 0.02), as well as pelvic ring injuries (2.21 vs. 1.45, p = 0.0001). Visibility ratings for each anatomic landmark were statistically superior with virtual images as well. Virtual radiographs of pelvic and acetabular fractures offer superior image quality, improved comfort, decreased radiation exposure, and a more cost-effective alternative to conventional radiographs.
Examining effective communication in nursing practice during COVID-19: A large-scale qualitative study

Aim The aim of this study was to conduct a primary examination of the qualitative communication experiences of nurses during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Background Ambiguity in ever-evolving knowledge on how to provide care during COVID-19. Remaining safe has created a sense of urgency, which has in turn created the need for organizations to quickly alter their operational plans and protocols to support measures that increase capacity and establish a culture of safe care and clear communication. However, no known study has described communication in nursing practice during COVID-19. Methods Utilizing qualitative descriptive methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 100 nurse participants from May to September 2020 and recorded for thematic analysis. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ), a 32-item checklist, were used to ensure detailed and comprehensive reporting of this qualitative study protocol. Findings Study participants shared descriptions of how effective communication positively impacted patient care and nursing practice experiences during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The thematic network analyses identified the importance of effective communication across three levels: (1) organizational leadership, (2) unit leadership and (3) nurse-to-nurse communication. Within this structure, three organizing themes, essential to effective communication, were described including (a) presence, (b) education and (c) emotional support. Conclusion Examining existing crisis communication policies and procedures across healthcare organizations is imperative to maintain highly relevant, innovative, and data-driven policies and strategies that are fundamental to preserving quality patient care and supporting optimal nursing practice. Implications for nursing policy and health policy Effective communication is critical to support nurses through extended periods of crisis. COVID-19 represents a unique contemporary challenge to the nursing workforce given the high stress and prolonged strain it has created for both human and healthcare supply resources. There is value in nurses' presence at local, unit level and organizational leadership levels to convey critical information that directly informs leadership decision-making during unprecedented emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case for decolonizing the Chagos islands: A response to Bashfield

The US military base on the British-controlled island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago is a lynchpin of the USA’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. As the Pentagon’s only base in the Indian Ocean pro...
Laboratory Aspects of Minimal / Measurable Residual Disease Testing in B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Minimal residual disease detection provides critical prognostic predictor of treatment outcome and is the standard of care for B lymphoblastic leukemia. Flow cytometry-based minimal residual disease detection is the most common test modality and has high sensitivity (0.01%) and a rapid turnaround time (24 hours). This article details the leukemia associated immunophenotype analysis approach for flow cytometry-based minimal residual disease detection used at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and importance of using guide gates and back-gating.
Chapter 19 Proton-Membrane Interactions in Chloroplast Bioenergetics

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the hypothesis that the initial release of protons in PS II water oxidation is into a domain, presumably intramembranal, which does not receive protons from other protolytic reactions. The data strongly support a direct interaction between PS II-linked protons and the 8000-molecular-weight part of the CF o , so the acetic anhydride-detected change in the CF o , specific to PS II proton release, seems to be directly involved in proton movements associated with the energy transduction (ATP formation) in chloroplasts. Facts are not necessarily explained only by the transmembrane H+ gradient model but can be consistent with intramembrane H + processing if postulate that protons in the CF o channel can equilibrate with the inner aqueous space under steady state conditions. The chapter reveals that one speculation about proton transfer in the membrane is that protons might be conducted along hydrogen-bonding groups of proteins within the membrane by the “proton-hopping” mechanism. This is analogous to the rapid movement of protons along hydrogen-bonding chains of water molecules in structured water or ice. An attractive feature of the proton-hopping model is that it can explain the failure of uncouplers to abolish the PS II proton-specific acetic anhydride labeling effects on the 8000-molecular-weight unit of the CF o. There is not enough information about chloroplast membrane structure to identify particular proteins that might play such a role.
A Review of Geriatric Psychiatry and the Law

This volume, part of a series derived from annual lectures presented to members of the Tri-State Chapter of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, is divided into six sections: I—Fundamentals, II—Competency and Informed Consent, III—The End of Life, IV—Diagnostic and Clinical Factors, VAdministrative and Social Policy Issues, and VI—Ethnic Considerations: Overcoming Potential Bias. This is the first volume of the series devoted to a common theme and represents an invaluable source book to forensic psychiatrists. The book consists of 21 chapters, and each chapter is worth reviewing when a psychiatrist is confronted with an elderly patient whose case involves any of the specific chapters.
Food insecurity: What is the clinician's role?

See also page [E429][1] and [www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.150234][2] Food insecurity, or food poverty, describes uncertainty in consistently accessing nutritious food in socially acceptable ways.[1][3] Although food insecurity is only one of several important social determinants of health,
A shared mechanism of SoxR activation by redox‐cycling compounds

In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, Gu and Imlay show that a class of compounds known as redox-cycling agents directly activate the transcription factor SoxR of Escherichia coli and cause cellular toxicity independent of the production of the reactive oxygen species superoxide. Despite the fact that redox-cycling agents increase formation of superoxide in E. coli, the results described in this new publication revise the long-held assumption that superoxide is responsible for the activation of SoxR and for all of the major toxic effects of redox-cycling drugs. This study also suggests that the critical function of the SoxRS regulon in E. coli is in protection against redox-cycling agents and not exclusively the defence against superoxide.
Planning with Reachable Distances

Motion planning for spatially constrained robots is difficult due to additional constraints placed on the robot, such as closure constraints for closed chains or requirements on end effector placement for articulated linkages. It is usually computationally too expensive to apply sampling-based planners to these problems since it is difficult to generate valid configurations. We overcome this challenge by redefining the robot’s degrees of freedom and constraints into a new set of parameters, called reachable distance space (RD-space), in which all configurations lie in the set of constraint-satisfying subspaces. This enables us to directly sample the constrained subspaces with complexity linear in the robot’s number of degrees of freedom. In addition to supporting efficient sampling, we show that the RD-space formulation naturally supports planning, and in particular, we design a local planner suitable for use by sampling-based planners. We demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach for several systems including closed chain planning with multiple loops, restricted end effector sampling, and on-line planning for drawing/sculpting. We can sample single-loop closed chain systems with 1000 links in time comparable to open chain sampling, and we can generate samples for 1000-link multi-loop systems of varying topology in less than a second.
From the Boundary of the Convex Core to the Conformal Boundary

If N is a hyperbolic 3-manifold with finitely generated fundamental group, then the nearest point retraction is a proper homotopy equivalence from the conformal boundary of N to the boundary of the convex core of N. We show that the nearest point retraction is Lipschitz and has a Lipschitz homotopy inverse and that one may bound the Lipschitz constants in terms of the length of the shortest compressible curve on the conformal boundary.
A Review of “Infrastructure Planning and Finance: A Smart and Sustainable Guide for Local Practitioners”

The efficiency and effectiveness of local infrastructure systems are among the best predictors of quality of life for households in urban and urbanizing areas. While the vast majority of people in ...
Cross‐Border Mergers and Upstreaming

Global forces of fragmentation continue to distance (upstream) a product's conception from its end use. A concurrent flow of cross-border mergers and upstreaming, by multinational corporations, dominates the fashion of doing international business. We investigate if there is any link between cross-country variations in upstreaming within firms, apparent in international data, and mergers between firms across borders. Our empirical analysis reveals a significantly positive association between country upstreamness and cross-border mergers. We build on Neary as well as Beladi et al. to provide a theoretical explanation of our findings in terms of the incentives in business strategic decision-making to realise the gains from cross-border mergers and upstreaming through the pricing mechanism of intermediate inputs in a vertically related oligopolistic industry.
Regulation of the mammalian collagenases.

Gross and Lapiere (1962) discovered vertebrate collagenase in cultures of resorbing tadpole tissue. By ultrastructural techniques it was shown that collagenase cleaves each triple helical collagen molecule at only one site approximately three-quarters from the amino terminus (Gross and Nagai, 1965). Gross and his colleagues suggested that once the triple helical region of a collagen molecule on a fibril is cleaved, the two resulting fragments denature (at temperatures> 32°C) into non-helical gelatin polypeptides, peel off the fibril and are degraded by proteinases in the extracellular space or pinocytosed by macrophages or other cells and further degraded intracellularly. Cleavage by collagenase of the collagen triple helix still is considered the rate-limiting step in collagenolysis. Since collagenases act at neutral pH in the extracellular space, the structure and function of extracellular scaffolding would be in disarray without precise regulatory control. Early studies suggested that overabundant local production of collagenase by rheumatoid synovium (Harris et aI., 1970) or by certain invasive tumors (Hashimoto et aI., 1973; Bauer et aI., 1977) could result in loss of normal connective tissue components. Similarly, in certain normal processes such as wound healing (Grillo, 1964) and resorption of the postpartum uterus (Woessner, 1980) large amounts of collagen are resorbed over a relatively short period. Thus, in the pathologic states tissue destruction seems to be related to ineffective regulatory control. The finding that monolayer cultures of cells from many tissues produce collagenase formed the basis for model systems in which regulation of biosynthesis could be studied. With the use of such systems it became apparent that collagenolysis is regulated at multiple steps from transcription of collagenase mRNA to inhibition of active enzyme in tissues. These include: 1. Biosynthesis of procollagenase (including induction, and subsequent processing of precursor forms) 2. Pack"aging and secretion of procollagenase
Radioiodine studies in thyroiditis.

DESPITE considerable literature on the pathology of acute and chronic thyroiditis, comparatively little is known about the functional status of the thyroid in these conditions. Recently radioiodine tracer technic has provided a means of observing some aspects of thyroid function in thyroiditis. It is the purpose of this paper to present the results of radioiodine tracer studies performed on 40 patients, of whom 21 had acute diffuse thyroiditis, 13 had struma lymphomatosa and 6 had struma fibrosa. Tracers consisting of 100 or 300 microcuries of I131 with 100 micrograms of sodium iodide added as carrier were administered by mouth to the subjects in the fasting state. After the ingestion of the I131, in vivo counts were taken over the thyroid at twenty-four or forty-eight hours as described by Luellen and associates (1), and urinary excretion of I131 was evaluated as described by Keating and associates (2). From the curve of urinary excretion, two rates were estimated: 1) the renal excretion rate, defined as...
Functional anatomy of frog's taste organs.

Dans les bourgeons gustatifs deRana pipiens deux groupes de cellules ont ete decouverts. Le premier est directement en relation avec la reception de stimuli, tandis que le second ne comprend que des cellules d'association. Les cellules sensorielles offrent des contacts synaptiques avec les fibres sensorielles.
Medical errors-what and when: what do patients want to know?

Objectives: 1) To determine how and when emergency department (ED) patients and their families wish to learn of health care errors. 2) To assess the error threshold this population believes should trigger reporting to government agencies, state medical boards, and hospital patient safety committees. 3) To evaluate the role patients and families believe medical educators should play in this process. Methods: A 12-item survey was administered to a convenience sample of ED patients and families during evaluation in a tertiary care academic ED. Results were tabulated and data were reported as percentages. Statistical significance was analyzed using the chi-square test. Results: 258 surveys were returned (80%). A majority of respondents wished to be informed immediately of any medical error (76%) and to have full disclosure of the error's extent (88%). An overwhelming majority of respondents endorse reporting of errors to government agencies (92%), state medical boards (97%), and hospital committees (99%). Most respondents believe medical educators should focus on teaching students to be honest and compassionate (38%) or on how to tell patients about mistakes (25%). The frequency of hospital admission or physician visits per year had no impact on any response pattern (ns with χ2 test). Conclusions: Regardless of health care utilization, a majority of respondents want full disclosure of medical error and wish to be informed of error immediately upon its detection. Respondents support reporting of errors to government agencies, the state medical board, and hospital committees focused on patient safety. Teaching physicians error disclosure techniques, honesty, and compassion were endorsed as a priority for educators who teach error management.
Acrodermatitis enteropathica and the relation to pellagra

A patient with a variant form of acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE) without hypozincemia is presented who showed a rise in plasma zinc and partial improvement on a pancreatic enzyme preparation, apparently because of its content of picolinic acid (PA). Complete recovery occurred on 60 mg zinc (1). This patient has now been treated with zinc PA (equal to only 5 mg zinc) and subsequently with PA. Both maintained elevated plasma zinc levels. Because of the similarity of AE with pellagra and the common origin of PA and nicotinic acid from tryptophan, a hypothesis is presented which suggests that skin manifestations in the two disorders are due to PA deficiency since picolinic carboxylase forms NAD preferentially when there is competition for the common precursor.
Keeping banks competitive: a foundation for robust performance management

Life is becoming tougher and tougher for banks. The author shows how a series of fundamental techniques, like funds transfer pricing, can make life simpler when used under an economic value management framework and can provide banks with the extra competitive edge that they need.
Neural regions essential for writing verbs

Functional imaging data collected during cognitive tasks show which brain regions are active during those tasks, but do not necessarily indicate which regions are essential for those tasks. Here, in a study of two cases of selectively impaired written naming of verbs after focal brain ischemia, we combined imaging and behavioral testing to unambiguously identify brain regions that are crucial for a specific cognitive process. We used magnetic resonance perfusion imaging to show that the selective impairment in each case was due to hypoperfusion (low blood flow) in left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (PIFG) and precentral gyrus (PrG); the impairment was immediately reversed when blood flow was restored to these regions, indicating that parts of the left frontal lobe are crucial for representing and processing verbs.
Determinations of Plasma Volume, Extracellular Fluid Volume, and Total Body Water in Channel Catfish

Abstract Volumes of plasma, extracellular fluid, and total body water were estimated with indicator-dilution techniques in the adult channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). The experiments were performed with catheterized, nonsedated channel catfish restrained in flowthrough, Plexiglas environmental chambers. Marker substances used to estimate body fluid volumes were Evans blue for plasma, sodium thiocyanate for extracellular fluid, and antipyrine for total body water. For comparisons, total body water was also estimated by desiccating fish to a constant weight. Plasma volume was determined to be 28.1 ± 6.2 mL/kg body weight (mean ± SD), extracellular fluid volume was 183.2 ± 34.6 mL/ kg, and total body water was 531.3 ± 76.4 mL/kg. Total body water volume estimated by desiccation was 664.1 ± 50.8 mL/kg.
Characterization of creep-fatigue crack growth behavior in 2.25 Cr-1 Mo steel using ( C t ) avg

Time-dependent creep-fatigue crack growth (CFCG) is an important consideration in the design and remaining life estimation of high temperature components. CFCG tests were carried out on compact type (CT) specimens of 2.25 Cr-1.0 Mo steel and its behavior, for hold times ranging from 10 seconds to 50 seconds, at 594°C (1100°F) was characterized using the average value of the C t-parameter, (C t)avg. The trends in the creep-crack growth (CCG) data for this material are also compared with the CFCG data. The analytically estimated values of (C t)avg are compared with the experimental values of (C t)avg obtained from the measured values of load-line deflection rates. It is also shown that even in the absence of accurate creep deformation constants, accurate estimates of the measured values of (C t)avg can be obtained in CT specimens
Electromagnetic conductor loss inclusion method in self‐consistent 2D Green's function solver for inhomogeneous microstrip ferrite circulator

An extremely efficient 2D recursive Green's function procedure exists for determining s-parameters and electromagnetic fields in ferrite circulators. Here we present the electromagnetic theory necessary to obtain formulas which can effectively estimate conductor loss and be used in conjunction with the 2D computational engine. The formulas allow for different shield and ground plane characteristics, and provide an updated effective permeability μeq and propagation constant keq for the non-reciprocal, anisotropic ferrite material. μeq and keq are found for each inhomogeneous annulus in the device, computed based upon the new formulas and the radially varying demagnetization factor Nd, magnetization 4πMs, and applied magnetic field Happ. Published in 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the U.S.
Warm and cold ischemia result in different mechanisms of injury to the coronary vasculature during reperfusion of rat hearts.

HEARTS for transplantation are preserved by flushing out blood from the vascular system with a preservation solution for storage at about 4°C. This method of cold ischemic storage provides safe preservation for about 4 to 6 hours. Longer preservation times would increase the distance hearts could be shipped, increase the sharing of hearts between hospitals, increase the number of hearts available for transplantation, provide time for better immunologic tissue matching between donor and recipient, and reduce the emergency nature of clinical heart transplantation. Although many laboratories report successful longerterm heart preservation in animal models, confidence by the transplant surgeons to extend preservation times beyond 4 to 6 hours has been very limited. Thus, better methods of heart preservation are needed and to accomplish this requires a better understanding of the nature of preservation-induced injury to the heart. Methods to improve heart preservation by simple cold storage have focused on the use of pharmacologic agents, either in the preservative solution or as a treatment of the recipient to suppress reperfusion injury created by the reestablishment of blood flow to the preserved heart. The choice of pharmacologic agents is often based on the vast literature describing the benefits of an agent to improve the recovery of hearts subjected to warm ischemic injury. Thus, the choice of agents is often based on the concept that the mechanisms of warm ischemic (WI) injury are similar to the mechanisms of cold ischemic (CI) injury. However, this concept may be misleading because there may be significant differences in the mechanisms of injury caused by WI versus CI. Differences in the mechanisms of injury caused by WI and CI have in fact been shown to exist in the liver. In this study, we used rat hearts and compared how WI and CI affected coronary flow and left ventricular function during reperfusion. Additionally, we compared the effects of some pharmacologic agents on the recovery of flow and function in the hearts. The study shows that there may be significant differences in how WI and CI injure the heart.
Disease models and mechanisms in the classroom

At the University of Pennsylvania (PENN), we devote an entire graduate-level course to the study of human disease models: Seminar on Current Genetic Research: Modeling Human Disease in Diverse Genetic Systems The use of model organisms has greatly benefited the study of many human diseases
Top-K oracle: A new way to present top-k tuples for uncertain data

Managing noisy and uncertain data is needed in a great number of modern applications. A major difficulty in managing such data is the sheer number of query result tuples with diverse probabilities. In many cases, users have a preference over the tuples in a deterministic world, determined by a scoring function. Yet it has been a challenging problem to return top-k for uncertain data. Various semantics have been proposed, and they have been shown to give wildly different tuple rankings. In this paper, we propose a completely different approach. Instead of returning users fc tuples, which are merely one point in the complex distribution of top-k tuple vectors, we provide a so-called top-k oracle and users can arbitrarily query it. Intuitively, an oracle is a black box that, whenever given an SQL query, returns its result. Any information we give is based on faithful, best-effort estimates of the ground-truth top-k tuples. This is especially critical in emergency response applications and in monitoring top-k applications. Furthermore, we are the first to provide the nested query capability with the uncertain top-k result being a subquery. We devise various query processing algorithms for top-k oracles, and verify their efficiency and accuracy through a systematic evaluation over real-world and synthetic datasets.