cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Imaging in Huntington’s Disease and Other Choreas

Clinical and diagnostic neurology has been revolutionized by the implementation of neuroimaging in a variety of disorders. While applications for stroke, neuroimmunology, and neurooncology have been widely disseminated and become instrumental for identification and treatment of disease, imaging in neurodegenerative movement disorders has been a more challenging application. As the understanding of gradually degenerative conditions like Huntington’s disease (HD) has evolved, hypotheses regarding stages of variable dysfunction before cell death—periods of time perhaps years or decades in advance of clinical deterioration—have driven the search for biomarkers of disease. Sensitive and specific identification of biologic and anatomic changes before clinically manifest disease may offer new windows for more effective therapeutics. In this setting, newer imaging techniques have emerged as promising means to better characterize disease progression by integrating structural and functional data. We review the anatomical and functional observations made using basic and advanced imaging techniques in HD and other choreas. HD is the most prevalent choreiform disorder and most extensively evaluated via imaging, thus will be the focus of this review. Two other neurodegenerative disorders with prominent chorea, neuroacanthocytosis and Wilson’s disease, will also be discussed.
Magnetic field guided endoscopic dissection through a burr hole may avoid more invasive craniotomies. A preliminary report.

The neuroendoscope, coupled with radiofrequency or laser dissecting tools, can effectively resect obstructing membranes, biopsy and debulk tumor, and evacuate hematomas when the pathology is within the ventricular system. This less invasive approach through a burr hole usually avoids craniotomies. When the abnormal condition is within parenchyma or in the presence of opacifying bloody fluid, landmarks are not recognizable and the neurosurgeon quickly becomes disoriented. A more extensive craniotomy or a stereotaxicguided procedure is then necessary.
CHARACTERIZATION SPECIFICATIONS FOR BASELINE INDIRECT DRIVE NIF TARGETS

Successful ignition in NIF will require targets that meet stringent standards as to symmetry, composition, and dimensions. We describe here the current understanding of specifications for baseline ...
Social status attainment and racial category selection in the contemporary United States

Abstract Numerous studies have shown that individuals can change how they racially self-identify over time, potentially in response to changes in educational and occupational attainment. The value of that evidence is somewhat diminished, however, by reliance on survey questions about racial identity that are inconsistent over time. This study offers new evidence based on the 2008–2012 General Social Survey panel, which uses a consistent question about self-declared race throughout. Those data are used to estimate transition tables and fixed effects panel models, in which an individual's probability of choosing a racial category depends on social status indicators. We find that, on average, fluctuations in an individual's income, educational attainment and employment status are not significantly related to changes in racial self-identity in the contemporary United States. These results obtain for the total sample and for populations that historically have been more likely to change (Hispanics, Native Americans and individuals who identify as multi-racial). Implications for theory and policy are discussed.
Leveraging E-Commerce to Stand Up an Online Educational Program

This paper defines how an online educational program can be established for any university, and proposes how the university might leverage existing E-commerce products and services to create and operate an effective team learning environment. While implementing the online program, universities should seize the opportunity to create an effective learning organization. To do so in an expedited time frame, the online system should reduce development costs by leveraging existing E-commerce products and services. This paper, therefore, defines a System of Systems (SoS) architecture capturing existing E-commerce products that, collectively, could satisfy a university’s need for standing up a leading online educational program that facilitates organizational learning. The recommended SoS architecture accommodates both the individual and organizational learning processes. The importance of achieving a learning environment is perhaps even greater for educational institutions, than it is for commercial businesses, since there is more leading-edge information to capture. When the potential information sources of student and faculty research, course content, curriculum advisory boards, and administrators are all captured, and internalized into the collective organization, a synergy will be realized that is much greater than the sum of the individual contributions. Implementing the recommendations contained herein for establishing an online educational program could result in a disruptive innovation situation where the first universities to do so leap frog existing online providers. The quality of the education students receive will be enhanced since the course content is supplemented by the learning inherent in using online collaboration tools to establish a learning organizational environment, and is sure to increase interest in the program drastically.
Local mobility anchoring for seamless handover in coordinated small cells

Small cells are redefining the traditional cellular system concepts. Coordination among small cells offers several benefits in terms of utilizing existing network infrastructure to support advanced interference management, mobility management as well as self-organizing (SON) functions. In this work, the problem of handover management is studied. The coordination between small cells is generally not considered in many existing handover management solutions resulting in increased handover cost, session interruption time and core network overload. To this end, a novel local anchor-based architecture for coordinated small cells is proposed in this paper based on which three handover schemes are presented. A mathematical framework is developed to analyze the performance of the proposed schemes and Markov models are utilized to obtain closed-form expressions for the key handover parameters including handover cost and session interruption time. Numerical results indicate savings of about 60% in the signaling cost, about 50% in the data forwarding cost and more importantly about 80% in the handover interruption time compared to existing schemes based on coordinated small cells.
Copolymerization and Synthesis of Multiply Binding Histamine Ligands for the Robust Functionalization of Quantum Dots

The polymeric functionalization of quantum dots via ligand exchange is a robust method for the preparation of stable fluorescent particles with high quantum yields. For most biological applications of quantum dots, water solubility is a key requirement; to achieve biocompatibility, polymeric ligand systems that can provide water solubility as well as effective anchoring groups are advantageous. In this work, histamine functional polymers bearing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains were prepared using RAFT polymerization. A versatile postmodification strategy using activated ester units of N-methacryloxysuccinimide (NMS) and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate in the polymer chain afforded copolymers ranging from 6K to 50K with low polydispersities, along with tailored composition of each monomer along the copolymer chain. By controlling the monomer ratio, PEGMA molecular weight, time, and temperature, the composition could be tuned to study its effect on quantum dot functionalization. Representative ol...
Activated Aluminum Powder Obtained from Foil: Reactions with Hot Water and Combustion of Al/H 2 O Mixtures

Aluminum-water reactions could be used for hydrogen generation and propulsion in various aerospace and terrestrial applications. Conventional aluminum powders, however, react with water slowly due to a highly protective oxide layer on the particle surface. In the present paper, an activated aluminum powder was obtained from aluminum foil by highenergy ball milling with sodium chloride in argon atmosphere. The obtained powder readily reacts with hot water, releasing hydrogen. At the temperature of 80°C, the reaction extent is as high as 98%, which is significantly higher as compared to the powders obtained by milling in air. It has been shown experimentally that mixtures of the obtained aluminum powder with water are combustible.
Interlaboratory Studies on the Analysis of Hair for Drugs of Abuse: Results from the Fourth Exercise

Fourteen laboratories interested in the analysis of human hair for drugs of abuse participated in a fourth interlaboratory study to determine how well drugs could be detected and quantitated in hair. The drugs of abuse included cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, codeine, morphine, and 6-monoacetylmorphine. The hair samples analyzed were in the form of short segments and included hair from drug users, soaked hair (drug-free hair into which drugs had been soaked), and drug-free hair. Results from the study show that the laboratories performed well qualitatively, but that there was a large amount of scatter in quantitative results. Various methods were used to extract the drugs from the hair, and the most commonly used approaches, HCI extractions, methanol extractions, and enzyme digestions, all gave comparable results. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was the most commonly used analytical technique. Of the laboratories using GC-MS, some produced consistently good results, whereas others produced results of poorer quality. Two laboratories using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry produced good results, but the one laboratory using liquid chromatography without mass spectrometric detection produced less accurate results. Laboratories that reported good results on control material sent with the unknowns generally performed better on the unknowns than did laboratories whose results on the control were less accurate.
Tuneable Hyper-Raman Laser in Potassium Vapor

When a potassium vapor cell surrounded by a stable cavity is pumped with a pulsed dye laser near the 4 2 P resonances, Stokes and anti-Stokes lasing due to Stimulated Electronic Raman Scattering (SERS) is generated. When the pump is tuned about halfway between the ne structure levels of the 4 2 P state, an ecient hyper-Raman process dominates, resulting in tunable laser radiation near 769 nm with a slope eciency of about 10.4%. Up to 12 mW of red light is produced at a pump input of 232 mW. The threshold for the hyper-Raman process is about 60 mW. This type of laser may be useful for beam propagation experiments where a tuneable probe beam spectrally close to the main beam is desired.
Prussian Education and Mathematics

1. Centers of mathematical activity shift. I assume the phenomenon has social causes, even that it reflects the interests of a rising or ruling class. But how can a government, let alone a class, create mathematicians? And why should it, when we know that most of the work for which we remember the great mathematicians remained useless for some time? The second question is the easier of the two: if a class or government succeeds in producing mathematicians who pursue their own interests, some of them will pursue the government's interests as well. The momentum created need not be precisely directed. A simple-minded guess at the answer to the first question is that men need only be educated in mathematics to ensure that a number of them will become competent and creative mathematicians. Of course every effect has many causes and vice versa. I claim only to have found a case where the progress of mathematical education correlates exceptionally well with the progress of mathematics itself, as measured by the number of notable creative mathematicians working. That is the case of Prussia at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is more striking than the British or French cases, and too little time has passed for us to consider in this light what has happened in the United States and the Soviet Union in our century.
Determination of 11 kinds of volatile organic compounds in drinking water by headspace gas chromatography

[Objective]To establish a method for determination of 11 kinds of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) such as methylene chloride,benzene,toluene,1,2-dichloroethane in drinking water by headspace gas chromatography.[Methods]Sample solution with 0.30 g/ml NaCl was equilibrated at 65 ℃ for 30 min,the VOCs were separated by HP-Wax capillary column,then detected by hydrogen flame ionization detector(FID) and quantified by external standard method.[Results] The linear range of dichloromethane,benzene,toluene,1,2-dichloroethane,ethylbenzene,p-xylene,m-xylene,cumene,o-xylene,chlorobenzene,styrene were 17.4-324,5.5-97,4.1-80,24.5-288.00,3.6-99,7.2-80,6.2-81,4.1-94,4.2-80,6.4-103,6.2-97 μg/L,respectively.The limit detection range were 1.1-7.4 μg/L(S/N=3).The recoveries were 85.8%-107.0% and the relative standard deviations(RSDs) were 1.3%-5.6%(n=6).[Conclusion]This method is simple,with less matrix interference and high efficiency,suitable for the simultaneous determination of 11 kinds of VOCs in drinking water,and convenient for water quality monitoring at the grassroots units.
Evolution of Layer Based Neural Networks: Preliminary Report

Modern applications of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)largely feature networks organized into layers of nodes. Each layer contains an arbitrary number of nodes, and these nodes only share edges with nodes in certain other layers, as determined by the network's topology. Topologies of ANNs are frequently designed by human intuition, due to the lack of a versatile method of determining the best topology for any given problem. Previous attempts at creating a system to automate the discovery of network topologies have utilized evolutionary computing [6]. The evolution in these systems built networks on a node-by-node basis, limiting the probability of larger, layered topologies. This paper provides on overview of Growth from Embryo of Layered Neural Networks (GELNN), which attempts to evolve topologies ofneural networks in terms of layers, and inter-layer connections, instead of individual nodes and edges.
Targeting Decisions and Consequences for Civilians in the Colombian Civil Strife

Although the intentional and indiscriminate targeting of civilians is extremely common in non-international armed conflicts by national armed forces and irregular militias alike, it is now commonly represented that all or nearly all of the international laws of war – including the rule of proportionality – apply with equal vigor and scope to internal conflicts. Yet, these conclusions have little evidentiary foundation. In the absence of specific targeting rules in a treaty relating to non-international armed conflicts, the only source for more detailed guidance under international law would be customary international law. For a practice to become binding international custom, it must be sufficiently longstanding, consistent, and universal. The practice must also be accompanied by the belief that it is mandated by international law (opinio iuris sive necessitatis), as opposed to being merely optional or advisable. Better evidence is needed of whether the laws of war are aligned with state practice in non-international conflicts. In pursuit of this evidence, we have chosen to examine one specific aspect of the laws of war - the doctrine of proportionality. We are engaged in a multinational study of state customary practice of proportionality since 1945. As traditionally understood, proportionality requires military commanders to consider whether striking a given target is “expected to cause incidental loss of life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objections or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.” The study will examine how the principle has played out - specifically, the role it plays in targeting and planning decisions as well as state responses to obvious violations of the rule - in many armed conflicts in many countries. To better understand state practice, we are using a methodology designed to gather empirical information beyond official governmental and NGO publications and news reports. Our goal for the present chapter is to examine state practice in applying this proportionality doctrine in the civil strife between the Colombian government and two armed subversive groups - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) - from 1982 to present. This vicious and bloody war, waged since 1982 and ongoing today, is notable for the large number of intentional civilian deaths and property damage, but it also involves numerous incidents of allegedly indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks resulting in accidental but avoidable civilian casualties and property damage. In the end, we sought to determine, in part, whether the practice of Colombia in its war with the FARC confirms that proportionality has a customary law meaning either consistent with or divergent from traditional understandings in international conflicts. By examining incidents from this conflict it is at least possible to gain insight into the role that proportionality considerations play in targeting decisions made by the Colombian military.
The elements and richness of particle diffusion during sediment transport at small timescales

The ideas of advection and diffusion of sediment particles are probabilistic constructs that emerge when the Master equation, a precise, probabilistic description of particle conservation, is approximated as a Fokker-Planck equation. The diffusive term approximates nonlocal transport. It “looks” upstream and downstream for variations in particle activity and velocities, whose effects modify the advective term. High-resolution measurements of bed load particle motions indicate that the mean squared displacement of tracer particles, when treated as a virtual plume, primarily reflects a nonlinear increase in the variance in hop distances with increasing travel time, manifest as apparent anomalous diffusion. In contrast, an ensemble calculation of the mean squared displacement involving paired coordinate positions independent of starting time indicates a transition from correlated random walks to normal (Fickian) diffusion. This normal behavior also is reflected in the particle velocity autocorrelation function. Spatial variations in particle entrainment produce a flux from sites of high entrainment toward sites of low entrainment. In the case of rain splash transport, this leads to topographic roughening, where differential rain splash beneath the canopy of a desert shrub contributes to the growth of a soil mound beneath the shrub. With uniform entrainment, rain splash transport, often described as a diffusive process, actually represents an advective particle flux that is proportional to the land-surface slope. Particle diffusion during both bed load and rain splash transport involves motions that mostly are patchy, intermittent and rarefied. The probabilistic framework of the Master equation reveals that continuous formulations of the flux and its divergence (the Exner equation) represent statistically expected behavior, analogous to Reynolds-averaged conditions. Key topics meriting clarification include the mechanical basis of particle diffusion, effects of rarefied conditions involving patchy, intermittent motions, and effects of rest times on diffusion of tracer particles and particle-borne substances. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
MAZ Is a Substrate for the Deubiquitinating Enzyme DUB1

Abstract Abstract 3913 Ubiquitination is a fundamental mechanism of signal transduction that regulates immune responses and many other biological processes. Similar to phosphorylation, ubiquitination is a reversible process that is counter-regulated by ubiquitinating enzymes and deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs). DUB1 has been identified as a member of a subfamily of deubiquitinating enzymes that are induced by Interleukin-3 (IL-3) in Ba/F3 cells. Recently, we've known that DUB1 is expressed in some pro-B and pre-B cell lines and is differentially regulated during normal B cell differentiation with highest expression in small pre-B cells. To understand the functional role of DUB1 in early B cell development, we identified a transcription factor, MAZ, as an interacting partner or substrate of DUB1 in the Abelson-transformed 220-8 pro-B cell line by using a retrovirus-based protein-fragment complementation assay (RePCA) screen. MAZ has been identified as a critical regulator of p21 gene induction, which controls cell cycle progression in synovial fibroblast cells. Immunoprecipitation and immunoblot analysis confirmed that MAZ and DUB1 interact with each other in cells. DUB1 expression significantly increased the steady-state cellular levels of MAZ. Notably, the half-life of MAZ in the pEGFP-DUB1-transfected cells was significantly increased by DUB1 expression, whereas the half-life of MAZ in the mock-transfected cells was less than 1 hr. These data therefore demonstrate that DUB1 specifically stabilizes MAZ in vivo. We found that the overexpressed MAZ was polyubiquitinated and that the polyubiquitinated MAZ was the substrate for proteasome inhibitor MG132 caused a robust increase of MAZ polyubiquitination. Overexpression of DUB1 in 293T cells caused a decrease of MAZ polyubiquitination in a DUB1 dose-dependent manner. Taken together, these results indicate that DUB1 mediate the ubiquitination-dependent degradation of MAZ. Other study shows that the DUB1 targets both K-48 and K-63 linked ubiquitination suggesting that it may be involved in both protein degradative and non-degradative functions during early B cell differentiation. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Growth of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli , and Salmonella in Water and Hydroponic Fertilizer Solutions.

ABSTRACT The desire for local, fresh produce year round is driving the growth of hydroponic growing systems in the United States. Many food crops, such as leafy greens and culinary herbs, grown within hydroponics systems have their root systems submerged in recirculating nutrient-dense fertilizer solutions from planting through harvest. If a foodborne pathogen were introduced into this water system, the risk of contamination to the entire crop would be high. Hence, this study was designed to determine whether Escherichia coli O157:H7, non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing E. coli, and Salmonella were able to survive and reproduce in two common hydroponic fertilizer solutions and in water or whether the bacteria would be killed or suppressed by the fertilizer solutions. All the pathogens grew by 1 to 6 log CFU/ml over a 24-h period, depending on the solution. E. coli O157:H7 reached higher levels in the fertilizer solution with plants (3.12 log CFU/ml), whereas non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing E. coli and Salmonell...
Abstract P025: Modulatory Effect of Angiotensin II on Endothelial Differentiation and Vasculogenic Capacity of Human MSCs

Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy holds great promise as a new approach for cardiovascular regeneration. In heart failure, there is activation of the renin-angiotensin system and increased formation of angiotensin (Ang) II. We tested the hypothesis that Ang II impairs endothelial differentiation and vasculogenic capacity of human MSCs. MSCs were cultured in endothelial growth media (EGM) and treated with vehicle, 1µM Ang II, or 10µM Ang II for 7 days to assess by real time RT-PCR the expression of two markers of endothelial differentiation, platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM) and von Willebrand factor (vWF). Expression of PECAM and vWF increased similarly in each treatment group at day 7, suggesting endothelial differentiation of MSCs. To assess vasculogenesis, MSCs were cultured in EGM for 7 days and then plated on growth factor reduced Matrigel for 5 hours under the following conditions: vehicle, Ang II (1µM), Ang II + type 1 receptor (AT1R) inhibitor (10µM losartan), or Ang II + type 2 receptor (AT2R) inhibitor (0.1µM PD123177). The vascular index (VI) was determined by multiplying the average number of endothelial tubes formed by the average tube length. MSCs treated for 5 hours with 1µM Ang II exhibited a reduced VI (84.5 ± 2.6% of vehicle treated cells, P<0.05). Treatment with Ang II+AT1R inhibitor increased VI (115 ± 4.9% of vehicle, P<0.05) whereas Ang II+AT2R inhibitor decreased VI (77.1 ± 4.1% of vehicle, P<0.05). Chronic treatment for 7 days in EGM with 1µM or 10µM Ang II also showed decreased VI compared to vehicle (75.4 ± 5.4% and 60.7 ± 2% of vehicle, respectively, P<0.01). These results reveal that both acute and chronic treatment with Ang II produces a negative effect on the vasculogenic potential of endothelial-differentiated human MSCs and suggests opposing effects of AT1R and AT2R on vasculogenesis. In conclusion, we propose that selective modulation of AT1R and AT2R mediated pathways may serve as a promising means for enhancing the regenerative capacity of human MSCs in cardiovascular disease.
Inflammation and exercise: Inhibition of monocytic intracellular TNF production by acute exercise via β 2 -adrenergic activation

Regular exercise is shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects, yet the effects of acute exercise on cellular inflammatory responses and its mechanisms remain unclear. We tested the hypothesis that sympathoadrenergic activation during a single bout of exercise has a suppressive effect on monocytic cytokine production mediated by β2 adrenergic receptors (AR). We investigated the effects of 20-min moderate (65-70% VO2 peak) exercise-induced catecholamine production on LPS-stimulated TNF production by monocytes in 47 healthy volunteers and determined AR subtypes involved. We also examined the effects of β-agonist isoproterenol and endogenous β- and α-agonists epinephrine and norepinephrine, and receptor-subtype-specific β- and α-antagonists on TNF production in a series of in vitro investigations. LPS-stimulated TNF production by peripheral blood monocytes was determined intracellularly by flow cytometry, using an intracellular protein transport inhibitor. Percent TNF-producing monocytes and per-cell TNF production with and without LPS was suppressed by exercise with moderate to large effects, which was reversed by a β2-AR antagonist in spite that plasma TNF levels did not change. This inhibitory response in TNF production by exercise was mirrored by β-AR agonists in an agonist-specific and dose-dependent manner in vitro: similar isoproterenol (EC50=2.1-4.7×10-10M) and epinephrine (EC50=4.4-10×10-10M) potency and higher norepinephrine concentrations (EC50=2.6-4.3×10-8M) needed for the effects. Importantly, epinephrine levels observed during acute exercise in vivo significantly inhibited TNF production in vitro. The inhibitory effect of the AR agonists was abolished by β2-, but not by β1- or α-AR blockers. We conclude that the downregulation of monocytic TNF production during acute exercise is mediated by elevated epinephrine levels through β2-ARs. Decreased inflammatory responses during acute exercise may protect against chronic conditions with low-grade inflammation.
Implementing Restorative Processes to Mediate Conflict and Transform Urban Schools

Drawing on restorative processes research (e.g., Braithwaite, 1999) and research on social justice (e.g., Evans, 2007; Furman & Gruenewald, 2004; Murrell, 2006; Normore & Brooks, 2014) this chapter is organized in the following manner: First, the authors provide a brief history of the administration of justice. Secondly, the authors discuss the global rise of restorative justice in the education context. In order for a program to be completely restorative it must include several educational components as part of restorative processes. Towards this end, the chapter then situates these components in the context of social justice and explore how school systems use them - with specific emphasis on victim-offender conferencing. Next, authors share examples of international initiatives pertaining to restorative practices. Conclusions summarize the significance of restorative practices in school settings in order to prevent violence, reduce rates of expulsions and suspensions, and create a safe and secure teaching and learning environment for all. Normore, A. H., & Jarrett, B. (2021). Implementing Restorative Processes to Mediate Conflict and Transform Urban Schools. In Management Association, I. (Ed.), Research Anthology on Instilling Social Justice in the Classroom (pp. 1211-1226). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-7706-6.ch069
Potential detection problems: nonnitrogen-based explosives

Most explosive detection technology has been centered on systems tuned to nitro-based explosives or on imaging devices with high X-Ray or other spectrometric profiles. There are, however, several readily available and highly effective non-nitrogenous high energy explosives which are essentially invisible to explosive detection technologies currently in development. "Transparent" explosives which will be discussed in the first part of this presentation include peroxides (used in both monergolic and hypergolic applications); acetylene precursors; and fuel/air bomb systems involving use of olefin oxides, acetylene, other hydrocarbons, and similar high energy agents. For many of these, blasting cap or similar detonating devices requiring easily detected triggering systems are not required. Areas to be covered for these explosive systems include commercial availability or ease of clandestine manufacture (preparative schemes and raw materials); stabilities in transit; ignition/detonation systems; energy release; and potential for use in clandestine operations. Suggestions for enhancing airport detection will also be presented. The second part of this paper will deal with numerous composite explosives in the form of intimate mixtures of condensed-phase fuels and oxidizers, which also could be formulated. Many of these rely on perchlorate, chlorate or hypochlorite salts as oxidizers. Several self-igniting systems such as boranes, phosphorus and alkali metals will be discussed as well.
Profound Sinoatrial Arrest Associated with Ibrutinib.

Background. Ibrutinib is a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor approved for second-line treatment for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. Ibrutinib use has been linked to increased incidence of atrial fibrillation and hypertension in multiple studies. Other forms of cardiac toxicities have also been reported in isolated case reports. Bradycardia and asystole have not been associated with ibrutinib use in the past. Case Report. We present a case of a 76-year-old female with no prior cardiac history, who initiated treatment with ibrutinib for relapsing mantle cell lymphoma and was noted to have symptomatic bradycardia, greater than 20 second long pauses on her cardiac monitor requiring placement of a permanent pacemaker. Conclusion. This is the first case associating bradycardia and asystole with tyrosine kinase inhibitor use. Irreversible inhibition of certain cardioprotective tyrosine kinases has been a growing topic of research in oncology therapeutics.
Bedeutung des prostataspezifischen Membranantigens (PSMA)Eine Neurocarboxypeptidase und Membran-Folat-Hydrolase*

Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a novel prostate marker that is highly expressed in normal prostate as well as in prostate cancer. Its expression is increased in prostate cancer and is found primarily in the prostate. PSMA is considered to be a type II membrane protein with a 54% homology to the transferrin receptor. However, in normal prostate, PSM', an alternatively spliced form of PSMA, is localized in the cytoplasm. The PSMA functions as both a neurocarboxypeptidase and folate hydrolase and may therefore be involved in the neuroendocrine regulation of prostate growth and differentiation. The implication of these findings is currently under investigation. In this article the cloning of the PSMA gene, its possible role as a therapeutic target and its implication as a diagnostic tool with regard to the molecular staging of prostate cancer is reviewed.
Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Effects of Parental Knowledge, Peer Substance Use, and Peer Tolerance of Use.

AbstractObjective: Parents and peers exert significant influence on a young person’s decision to consume alcohol. This study examines the relationship between parental monitoring and adolescent alc...
Misclassification of self-reported smoking in adult survivors of childhood cancer.

We investigated misclassification rates, sensitivity, and specificity of self-reported cigarette smoking through serum cotinine concentration (liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry) among 287 adult survivors of childhood cancer. Overall, 2.5-6.7% and 19.7-36.9% of the self-reported never and past smokers had cotinine levels indicative of active smoking. Sensitivity and specificity of self-reported smoking were 57.5-67.1% and 96.6-99.2%. Misclassification was associated with younger age (OR = 3.2; 95% CI = 1.4-7.4), male (OR = 2.1; 95% CI = 1.1-4.0), and past (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.3-5.8) or current (OR = 2.6; 95% CI = 1.0-6.6) marijuana use. After adjusting for tobacco-related variables, current marijuana use remained a significant risk for misclassification. Clinicians/researchers should consider bio-verification to measure smoking status among survivors.
Transplacentally acquired antibody to intrinsic factor with vitamin B12 deficiency.

A newborn infant was found to have circulating maternal intrinsic factor antibody in the same titer as his 41 year old mother, who had had known pernicious anemia since age 33. At 11 days of age, no intrinsic factor was demonstrable in the infant’s gastric juice; whether this was related to the presence of serum IF antibody or was a variant of normal is not certain. At three months of age, the infant had B12 deficiency, manifested by a low serum B12 level and hypersegmentation of the nuclei of the neutrophilic leukocytes, but the gastric biopsy was normal, as was the intrinsic factor secretion. Maternal antibody to intrinsic factor was no longer present. These findings support the concepts that: (1) Intrinsic factor antibody may accelerate the development of B12 deficiency; (2) The antibody may not, of itself, produce any permanent gastric damage.
What Should the Study Design Be to Test New Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction, Digitalis Toxicity and Other Acute Problems

In the setting of acute myocardial infarction the largest single use of antiarrhythmic drug therapy is for the prevention of ventricular fibrillation. In this setting drug efficacy cannot be judged in a single patient and can only be inferred from well controlled clinical trials. Traditionally lidocaine has been the most widely utilized drug for this indication. We can learn about the potential flaws to be avoided in antiarrhythmic drug trials by examining the previously performed clinical trials of lidocaine in acute myocardial infarction. Table 1 summarizes some of the larger series evaluating lidocaine efficacy in this setting. None of these studies were able to show a beneficial effect of lidocaine in preventing ventricular fibrillation until the study of Lie et al. The pitfalls of all of these studies (except that of Lie and coworkers) may be listed as follows: 1. Most studies were based on the assumption that warning arrhythmias identified patients at risk of ventricular fibrillation and therefore the endpoint of therapy was suppression of warning arrhythmias. They permitted placebo treated or control patients to crossover to lidocaine therapy once warning arrhythmias occurred. 2. There was inadequate knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of lidocaine. This resulted in several problems: a. No initial loading bolus. b. Inadequate maintenance infusion rate. c. Failure to achieve or document therapeutic lidocaine plasma concentrations. 3. In many instances there was delay in patient arrival at the hospital or in institution of drug therapy so that the period of highest risk of ventricular fibrillation had passed.
Investigation of magnetic shielding for superconducting readout

With photon-noise dominated detectors, CMB experiments become more sensitive only by increasing detector count. Current experiments have on the order of 10,000 detectors, and future experiments propose 5-50x that figure. Reading out these large focal planes requires superconducting multiplexing technology. One concern with this technology is its potential to inject false signal into data via magnetic fields. We investigate magnetic field effects and potential shielding solutions within the context of readout electronics made for the South Pole Telescope's SPT-3G camera. We explore two magnetic shielding technologies: high-μ metals and superconducting shielding. The high-μ shield is a box made of Amuneal A4K, an alloy designed for high permeability at cryogenic temperatures. The box geometry is a half cylinder to allow for simultaneous testing of shielded and unshielded readout electronics. The superconducting shielding is a NbN-coated cover installed around a superconducting filter network. We saw no attenuation of coupling to the applied external field with the A4K box, and the NbN shield amplifies this coupling in its current implementation. We found the A4K box is effective at isolating some coupling to magnetic fields inherent to the readout electronics. Further testing is needed to differentiate neighboring-SQUID effects from other intermodule coupling before evaluating the NbN shield's crosstalk isolation capability.
A method for robust multispectral face recognition

Matching Short Wave InfraRed (SWIR) face images against a face gallery of color images is a very challenging task. The photometric properties of images in these two spectral bands are highly distinct. This work presents a new cross-spectral face recognition method that encodes both magnitude and phase of responses of a classic bank of Gabor filters applied to multi-spectral face images. Three local operators: Simplified Weber Local Descriptor, Local Binary Pattern, and Generalized Local Binary Pattern are involved. The comparison of encoded face images is performed using the symmetric Kullbuck-Leibler divergence. We show that the proposed method provides high recognition rates at different spectra (visible, Near InfraRed and SWIR). In terms of recognition rates it outperforms Faceit R - G8, a commercial software distributed by L1.
Indigenous Peoples, Postcolonial Ontologies, Neoliberal Regimes, and Approaches to Understanding Medical Pluralism in Latin America

This essay reviews the following works: Tell Me Why My Children Died: Rabies, Indigenous Knowledge, and Communicative Justice. By Charles L. Briggs and Clara Mantini-Briggs. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. Pp. ix + 303. $26.96 paperback. ISBN: 9780822361244. Una enfermedad monstruo: Indigenas derribando el cerco de la discriminacion en salud. By Charles L. Briggs, Norbelys Gomez, Tirso Gomez, Clara Mantini-Briggs, Conrado Moraleda Izco, and Enrique Moraleda Izco. Buenos Aires: Lugar Editorial, 2015. Pp. 198. $17.71 paperback. ISBN: 9789508925022. Privatization and the New Medical Pluralism: Shifting Health Care Landscapes in Maya Guatemala. Edited by Anita Chary and Peter Rohloff. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2015. Pp. vii + 191. $85.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781498505376. The Good Life: Aspiration, Dignity, and the Anthropology of Wellbeing. By Edward F. Fischer. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 261. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780804792530. Of Medicines and Markets: Intellectual Property and Human Rights in the Free Trade Era. By Angelina Snodgrass Godoy. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013. Pp. vii + 173. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780804785617. Tarahumara Medicine: Ethnobotany and Healing among the Raramuri of Mexico. By Fructuoso Irigoyen-Rascon with Alfonso Paredes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 383. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780806143620.
Security and Privacy Issues in Intelligent Transportation Systems: Classification and Challenges

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) aim at integrating sensing, control, analysis, and communication technologies into travel infrastructure and transportation to improve mobility, comfort, safety, and efficiency. Car manufacturers are continuously creating smarter vehicles, and advancements in roadways and infrastructure are changing the feel of travel. Traveling is becoming more efficient and reliable with a range of novel technologies, and research and development in ITS. Safer vehicles are introduced every year with greater considerations for passenger and pedestrian safety, nevertheless, the new technology and increasing connectivity in ITS present unique attack vectors for malicious actors. Smart cities with connected public transportation systems introduce new privacy concerns with the data collected about passengers and their travel habits. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive classification of security and privacy vulnerabilities in ITS. Furthermore, we discuss challenges in addressing security and privacy issues in ITS and contemplate potential mitigation techniques. Finally, we highlight future research directions to make ITS more safe, secure, and privacy-preserving.
Towards the Hanani-Tutte Theorem for Clustered Graphs

The weak variant of the Hanani–Tutte theorem says that a graph is planar, if it can be drawn in the plane so that every pair of edges cross an even number of times. Moreover, we can turn such a drawing into an embedding without changing the order in which edges leave the vertices. We prove a generalization of the weak Hanani–Tutte theorem that also easily implies the monotone variant of the weak Hanani–Tutte theorem by Pach and Toth. Thus, our result can be thought of as a common generalization of these two neat results. In other words, we prove the weak Hanani-Tutte theorem for strip clustered graphs, whose clusters are linearly ordered vertical strips in the plane and edges join only vertices in the same cluster or in neighboring clusters with respect to this order.
Abstract P190: Transcriptomic Data Analysis Reveals Sex-Related Differences in the Interplay Between Toll-Like Receptor 4 and Heat-Shock Protein 70 in the Aorta of Type 2 Diabetic Donors

Background: Emerging evidence highlights distinct mechanisms driving cardiovascular diseases in males and females. Particularly important in this context are the actions of the Heat Shock Protein 7...
Two-phase operation of a Terry steam turbine using air and water mixtures as working fluids

Abstract Terry steam turbines are employed in the safety systems of many nuclear Boiling Water Reactors to drive pumps and provide cooling water to the nuclear reactor core. While the turbine efficiency is low, the more important feature is high reliability under off-normal conditions. An important aspect of reliability is the ability to function with two-phase steam-water injection into the turbine, as most likely occurred in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accidents. This study investigates the characteristics of a Terry turbine during air-water injection with gas mass fractions ranging from 1 (dry gas) to 0.05 (wet gas), to better understand the Terry turbine’s true operational capabilities and provide justification for extended Terry turbine use for reactor safety. Other parameters investigated are the inlet pressure, the exhaust backpressure and the turbine’s rotational speed. The turbine performance is presented in terms of dynamometer loading and pump performance change as functions of the gas mass fraction.
Decentralized Model Predictive Control of a Power Electronic Power Distribution System

In this paper we propose and evaluate a Decentralized Model Predictive Controller (DMPC) for voltage regulation on a ship power system. The controller is implemented on two FPGA based control boards and evaluated using a Hardware In the Loop (HIL) approach. To evaluate the sensitivity of the controller to communication network performance a network emulator is used.
The “Ubernomics” of ridesourcing: the myths and the reality

This paper looks at the economics of ridesourcing (or app-based ride-hailing) with a particular focus on the US. It brings together the rather dispersed literature on the subject focusing on the ec...
Do Oral Health Services in Medical Offices Replace Pediatric Dental Visits

In the United States, state Medicaid programs pay for medical and dental care for children from low-income families and support nondental primary care providers delivering preventive oral health se...
4.07 – Aldehyde Dehydrogenases

The aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) superfamily contains NAD(P)+-dependent enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of aldehydes to their corresponding carboxylic acids. Nineteen ALDH genes have been identified in the human genome. Mutations in these genes leading to enzyme inactivation are the molecular basis of several diseases, including Sjogren–Larsson syndrome (SLS), type II hyperprolinemia, γ-hydroxybutyric aciduria and pyridoxine-dependent seizures, alcohol-related diseases, cancer, and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In addition to these clinical phenotypes, transgenic knockout mouse models have suggested a pivotal role for ALDHs in physiological processes, such as embryogenesis and development, and in protection against obesity and environmentally induced oxidative damage. Collectively, these observations suggest that ALDHs play crucial roles in the biotransformation of endogenous and exogenous aldehydes that are either toxic or essential for life.
Classifier Invariant Approach to Learn from Positive-Unlabeled Data

Learning from positive ( $P$ ) and unlabeled ( $U$ ) data has a rich history as it finds use in multiple applications. In this paper, we provide a novel framework to tackle this problem in a model agnostic fashion. We say model agnostic since, our solution involves identifying and weighting positive as well as negative examples in an unsupervised manner which could then be passed as input to any standard classification algorithm. Moreover, based on our framework we provide approximation guarantees for our algorithm in terms of how well the identified positive examples from $U$ along with their weights match the distribution of $P$ . Such a principled approach has been missing for other methods that belong to the model agnostic category, not to mention that the current state-of-the-art are model dependent strategies that involve modifying the training algorithm. For Kernel Support Vector Machines, trained on a (non-negative) weighted dataset that as such is the output of our method, we derive generalization bounds. Given the advantages of having model agnostic methods (viz. use with (almost) any classifier, one time running cost), we show that our algorithm which possesses these benefits, is competitive with the best methods based on experiments on three real datasets. In fact, in a couple of cases we observe that our approach has better test performance than even standard supervised learning which has access to all positive as well as negative labels.