cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Micromagnetics of the Domain Wall Mobility in Permalloy Nanowires

The domain wall mobility in long permalloy nanowires with thicknesses of 2-20 nm and widths of 50-200 nm has been simulated. The domain wall is driven into motion by an external magnetic field and the average wall mobility is calculated after the wall has traveled 2.5 mum along the wire. The results were obtained using the three-dimensional dynamic Landau-Lifshitz equation. We find that the domain wall mobility decreases linearly up to the critical field called the Walker field. The decreasing wall mobility is related to the decrease in the dynamic domain wall length as the applied field is increased. The value of the critical field is dependent on the thickness and width of the wire. At the critical field the mobility decreases by an order of magnitude. Above the Walker field the average mobility remains relatively constant for all driving fields, while the instantaneous mobility shows regions of high mobility with long periods of almost no mobility. For large applied fields the domain wall velocity can be large even though the average mobility is low.
Muon revolution frequency distribution from a partial-time Fourier transform of the g-2 signal in the muon g-2 experiment

A new method of precise measurement of the revolution frequency distribution, Fðf Þ; in the muon storage ring, and hence muon momentum p; energy E; and equilibrium radius R distributions, has been developed and used in analyzing data in the muon g-2 experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The method is partly based on the Fourier transform of the observed electron decay signal, which is known in this experiment only after some time ts after injection. It is shown that the standard Fourier transform would give a wrong frequency distribution even if the signal were known immediately after injection. Only the cosine Fourier transform with the properly determined initial time t0 (different for different detectors placed along the orbit) gives the correct frequency distribution in such a case. As for a later starting time, ts > t0; a special procedure must be used to find t0 and to compensate for the lack of information about the signal between t0 and ts: The new technique is highly accurate and radically different from that used by CERN in its muon g-2 experiment. r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Interleukin-2 and lymphokine activated killer cells: promises and cautions

The purposes of this work are to: review the biological activities of Interleukin-2 (IL-2); evaluate the reported therapeutic benefits and toxicity of IL-2/lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells; and project the role of IL-2/LAK cells in cancer therapy. Interleukin-2 is a glycoprotein lymphokine (mw 15,000) produced naturally by mitogen or antigen stimulated T-lymphocytes. The activities of IL-2 include: enhancement of IL-2 receptor positive T-lymphocytes and a variety of other in vitro and in vivo alterations of T cell function. The IL-2 gene has been cloned from the Jurkat leukemia cell line and expressed by recombinant biotechnology in an E. coli vector. In vitro incubation of IL-2 with selected T-lymphocytes results in the formation of lymphocyte activated killer (LAK) cells. Rosenberg and colleagues, in 1983, demonstrated that both exogenous IL-2 and LAK cells were needed in order to get maximum tumor regression in a murine model and later humans. Patients selected for IL-2/LAK cell therapy have clinical metastases or advanced unresectable cancers. Almost all patients treated demonstrate some toxic effects, including chills, fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and hepatic dysfunction. Approximately 75 percent of the patients have profound hypotension and require intensive nursing care. A review of the literature indicates that tumor responsiveness will range from negligible (adenocarcinoma of the lung with metastases) to a 30+ percent response in renal cell carcinoma when complete and partial responders are totalled. Interleukin-2/LAK cell therapy has promise for some wide spread tumors for which no other therapy is available.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Metric unfolding: Data requirement for unique solution & clarification of Schönemann's algorithm

The object of this paper is to clarify Schonemann's unfolding algorithm and, in particular, to make it clear that the equations numbered (3.2) in Schonemann's [1970] article, which define Schonemann's solutions, are not a complete set of restraints for the purpose of defining metric unfoldings. Namely, Schonemann has transformed the original equations which define an unfolding to a set of linear and non-linear equations of which he uses only the linear equations to define his solutions. Given infallible data (solution(s) exist) Schonemann's solutions will include the correct solutions. If enough data are available so that there are enough linear equations to uniquely determine a single solution, then Schonemann's solution will coincide with the correct solution. LetP andQ denote the number of elements in the two sets of points, the interset distances of which are specified by the data in the unfolding problem. Letm denote the dimensionality of the Euclidean space into which these points are to be imbedded. If only the linear equations, numbered (18) herein, are to be used, then Schonemann gives the following data requirement for the solution to be uniquely determined: Max {P − 1,Q − 1} ≥m(m + 3)/2. If the full set of linear and nonlinear equations (18–20) are used, then the amount of data required for a solution to be locally unique is relaxed toP +Q − 1 ≥m(m + 3)/2. Both of these results assume that the equations are independent, which has not been proved.
Supporting geographically-aware web document foraging and sensemaking

This paper reports on the development and application of strategies and tools for geographic information seeking and knowledge building that leverages unstructured text resources found on the web. Geographic knowledge building from unstructured web sources starts with web document foraging during which the quantity, scope and diversity of web-based information create incredible cognitive burdens on an analyst’s or researcher’s ability to judge information relevancy. Determining information relevancy is ultimately a process of sensemaking. In this paper, we present our research on visually supporting web document foraging and sensemaking. In particular, we present the Sense-of-Place (SensePlace) analytic environment. The scientific goal of SensePlace is to visually and computationally support analyst sensemaking with text artifacts that have potential place, time, and thematic relevance to an analytical problem through identification and visual highlighting of named entities (people, places, times, and organizations) in documents, automated inference to determine document relevance using stored knowledge, and a visual interface with coupled geographic map, timeline, and concept graph displays that are used to contextualize the contexts of potentially relevant documents. We present the results of a case study analysis using SensePlace to uncover potential population migration, geopolitical, and other infectious disease dynamics drivers for measles and other epidemics in Niger. Our analysis allowed us to demonstrate how our approach can support analysis of complex situations along (a) multi-scale geographic dimensions (i.e., vaccine coverage areas), (b) temporal dimensions (i.e., seasonal population movement and migrations), and (c) diverse thematic dimensions (effects of political upheaval, food security, transient movement, etc.).
Platelet Antistaphylococcal Responses Occur through P2X1 and P2Y12 Receptor-Induced Activation and Kinocidin Release

Platelets (PLTs) act in antimicrobial host defense by releasing PLT microbicidal proteins (PMPs) or PLT kinocidins (PKs). Receptors mediating staphylocidal efficacy and PMP or PK release versus isogenic PMP-susceptible (ISP479C) and -resistant (ISP479R) Staphylococcus aureus strains were examined in vitro. Isolated PLTs were incubated with ISP479C or ISP479R (PLT/S. aureus ratio range, 1:1 to 10,000:1) in the presence or absence of a panel of PLT inhibitors, including P2X and P2Y receptor antagonists of increasingly narrow specificity, and PLT adhesion receptors (CD41, CD42b, and CD62P). PLT-to-S. aureus exposure ratios of ≥10:1 yielded significant reductions in the viability of both strains. Results from reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography indicated that staphylocidal PLT releasates contained PMPs and PKs. At ratios below 10:1, the PLT antistaphylococcal efficacy relative to the intrinsic S. aureus PMP-susceptible or -resistant phenotype diminished. Apyrase (an agent of ADP degradation), suramin (a general P2 receptor antagonist), pyridoxal 5′-phosphonucleotide derivative (a specific P2X1 antagonist), and cangrelor (a specific P2Y12 antagonist) mitigated the PLT staphylocidal response against both strains, correlating with reduced levels of PMP and PK release. Specific inhibition occurred in the presence and absence of homologous plasma. The antagonism of the thromboxane A2, cyclooxygenase-1/cyclooxygenase-2, or phospholipase C pathway or the hindrance of surface adhesion receptors failed to impede PLT anti-S. aureus responses. These results suggest a multifactorial PLT anti-S. aureus response mechanism involving (i) a PLT-to-S. aureus ratio sufficient for activation; (ii) the ensuing degranulation of PMPs, PKs, ADP, and/or ATP; (iii) the activation of P2X1/P2Y12 receptors on adjacent PLTs; and (iv) the recursive amplification of PMP and PK release from these PLTs.
A Comprehensive Model for Colour Pattern Formation in Butterflies

This paper presents an attempt to construct a single model that can account for pattern formation in a very broad diversity of Lepidoptera. A pattern database is developed for 330 genera and 2208 species in the family Nymphalidae. It is argued that because of the close taxonomic relation between these species, and that all have patterns that are readily derived from the homology system known as the nymphalid ground-plan, the whole diversity of patterns in the database should emerge from a single model mechanism, and that most of this diversity should emerge from simple quantitative variations of the parameters of that model. A formal list of desiderata and constraints on any model for colour pattern formation is developed and used as the basis for the present modelling effort. Based on the assumptions of simple diffusion and threshold mechanisms, a pattern of source--sink distributions is deduced that can generate the diversity of patterns in the database. The adequacy of this source--sink `toolbox' is tested by computer simulation; it is shown that a two-gradient model with a simple additive relation between the two gradients suffices to generate nearly the entire diversity of patterns observed. The requisite positions of the sources and sinks of the toolbox, in turn, emerge readily from Meinhardt's lateral inhibition model for reaction diffusion. Thus a two step model, consisting first of a reaction-diffusion system that sets up a source-sink pattern and is followed by simple diffusion of a morphogen from those sources, appears to be able to generate nearly the entire diversity of colour patterns seen in the Nymphalidae.
BASIC VALUES AND SOCIOPOLITICAL IDEOLOGY: A COMPARISON OF POLITICAL EXPERTS AND POLITICAL NOVICES

For 102 college students and 102 “experts” (professionals) inspection of unstandardized paths (LISREL) shows different relationships between Rokeach's terminal values and the construct of liberalism-conservatism, relationships being somewhat greater for “experts” than students (“novices”). The observation was confirmed by structural equation analysis.
The Role of Bicarbonate in CKD: Evidence Bulks Up

The metabolic acidosis that commonly accompanies CKD may be the result of several processes. These include decreased nephron mass with decreased ammonia production, decreased proton secretion, and hyperkalemia which suppresses ammoniagenesis; ultimately, all of these involve the production and
Reduced vitamin D receptor expression in parathyroid adenomas: implications for pathogenesis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Parathyroid adenomas discovered fortuitously grow very slowly and their cell birth rate greatly declines, features explicable by an initial increase in secretory set-point. In the nodules of severe uraemic parathyroid hyperplasia, there is an increased set-point and decreased expression of both the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) and the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Accordingly, we examined VDR and CaSR expression in parathyroid adenomas. PATIENTS AND DESIGN We studied 24 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism with a wide range of vitamin D nutritional status (plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D range 10–107 nmol/l). Eighteen patients discovered by biochemical screening were enrolled in a natural history or treatment option study, and six additional US patients matched a group studied concurrently in India with low plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D level (< 37 nmol/l). MEASUREMENTS Receptor expression was determined by immunocytochemistry in each tumour and in 11 cases also in adjacent nonadenomatous tissue. VDR expression was reported as the proportion of positive cells (strongly rather than weakly stained) determined by systematic random sampling and CaSR expression as grey scale values of staining intensity in arbitrary units determined by image analysis. RESULTS The mean (SD) proportion of cells positive for VDR was 2.93 (2.17)% in the parathyroid adenomas and 95.7 (5.10)% in the nonadenomatous tissue. In about two-thirds of the cases VDR positive cells could have been remnants of a normal gland, but in the remaining one-third they were too numerous to be accounted for by this explanation. The mean (SD) intensity of CaSR expression was 151 (4.71) units in parathyroid adenomas and 218 (5.0) units in nonadenomatous tissue (P < 0.001). The frequency of VDR loss and the changes in CaSR immunohistochemistry were unrelated to race, sex, or disease severity, except that the reduction in CaSR was significantly greater in patients with normal vitamin D nutrition (32.1% vs. 29.0%). CONCLUSIONS (1) There is reduction of vitamin D receptor expression in almost all cells in parathyroid adenomas. This defect was probably present in the founder cell of the tumour clone in the majority of cases. Since mutations in the vitamin D receptor gene have been sought but not found, possible explanations include inhibition of vitamin D receptor gene transcription, decreased amount of the corresponding mRNA, or failure of normal translation. (2) Reduction in calcium sensing receptor could be either the primary defect or (more commonly) secondary to loss of vitamin D receptor and is of sufficient magnitude to account for the increase in secretory set-point and consequent asymptotic growth and stable clinical course.
Changing trends in serious extra-articular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis among United State veterans over 20 years

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine prevalence trends of serious extra-articular manifestations (EAMs) in a data set representing both hospitalized and ambulatory patients with RA. Methods. This retrospective cohort study used serial cross-sectional data to examine the prevalence of serious EAMs in patients with RA from 1985 to 2006 across the United States (US) Veteran’s Health Administration system. Serious EAMs included rheumatoid carditis, RA lung disease, FS and pooled EAM rates included previously reported vasculitis prevalence as queried by ICD-9 searches. Statistical analysis employed auto-regression and time series analysis using the Chow and Durbin–Watson tests to detect breakpoints and linear time-trends. Results. Among 3 million veterans, including >35 000 RA patients annually, we noted declining RA hospitalizations emphasizing the importance of examining both the inpatient and outpatient settings to assess EAM prevalence. Individual EAM trends varied, demonstrating linear declines in FS, increases in RA lung disease and significant breakpoint declines in carditis and pooled serious EAMs. Pooled EAM prevalence dropped around 2000, from an early linear trend peak of 10% among inpatients, to <7% among both inpatients and outpatients by 2006. Conclusions. Overall, serious EAMs of RA have declined among US veterans in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, with the exception of RA lung disease likely reflecting improved detection. Breakpoints in pooled EAM prevalence appear to demonstrate consistent, true declines in severe RA extra-articular disease around 2000. Future work should explore the relationship between temporal EAM trends and specific RA therapies including adoption of biological agents.
Photoperiod controls the induction, retention, and retrieval of antigen-specific immunological memory

Changes in day length affect several measures of immunity in seasonally breeding mammals. In Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus), short day lengths suppress specific secondary antibody responses ...
Strategies for Model Reduction: Comparing Different Optimal Bases

Abstract Several different ways of constructing optimal bases for efficient dynamical modeling are compared: empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs), optimal persistence patterns (OPPs), and principal interaction patterns (PIPs). Past studies on fluid-dynamical topics have pointed out that EOF-based models can have difficulties reproducing behavior dominated by irregular transitions between different dynamical states. This issue is addressed in a geophysical context, by assessing the ability of these strategies for efficient dynamical modeling to reproduce the chaotic regime transitions in a simple atmosphere model. The atmosphere model is the well-known Charney– DeVore model, a six-dimensional truncation of the equations describing barotropic flow over topography in a β-plane channel geometry. This model is able to generate regime transitions for well-chosen parameter settings. The models based on PIPs are found to be superior to the EOF- and OPP-based models, in spite of some undesirable sensitivities inh...
In vitro evaluation of adhesive characteristics of 4-META/MMA-TBB resin with organic filler

Abstract Objectives A commercial restorative material, BondfillSB (BF), is a modification of 4-META/MMA-TBB resin cement. BF uses a self-etching primer and added pre-polymerized organic fillers. We compared BF with another self-etching system, EasyBond (EB), in shear bond strength, bonded interface characteristics to human dentin and contraction gap when used in bulk-filling. Methods Shear bond strength of BF and EB + Z100 (Z), bonded by different experience-level operators, was evaluated. Bonded interfaces were characterized by SEM, AFM, and AFM based nano-indentation. Contraction gaps (CG) at 0 h and 24 h after polymerization were evaluated for BF or EB bulk filled class I cavities. To meet the clinical recommendation, BF's powder was replaced by experimental radioopaque powder (BFO) for the CG study. EB was used with Z (EBZ) or with a resin marketed for bulk-fill base (SureFil-SDR-flow (EBSF)). Results Shear bond strengths (Mean ± Standard Deviation (S.D.)) of BF (37.4 ± 2.6 MPa; n = 36) were higher and less variable than EBZ (18.2 ± 7.6 MPa; n = 36) ( p η ) differed significantly between materials ( p p = 0.90). EBZ often had non-uniform interfaces and a wider band of reduced elastic modulus ( E ) of greater than 20 μm across the interface. BF had uniform interfaces and a smaller width of affected dentin under the interface (∼1 μm). There was a difference in dentin- E between EBZ and BF up to 9 μm from the interface (mixed-effects model; P = 0.03). A stratified linear regression model used for CG. EBSF and BFO showed significantly smaller CG than EBZ at time 0. None of three combinations showed any significant change between 0h-CG and 24h-CG. Significance BF possessed bonding characteristics required to serve as a restorative.
Teaching Teachers and Learning from Young Learners

At its best, education is an important training for citizenship, and the content we teach plays an important role in this process. One’s ability to ask questions is often a function of what one knows, but may also be a function of what one does not know. History is an argument about the past. Power relationships—who has the ability to legitimize their own stories, whose stories matter, whose stories are in the spotlight and which ones remain in the shadows—are part of the mix. A major challenge of US history teaching and learning is that our narrative is primarily a celebratory one. While not unique to the United States, efforts to avoid the more troubling aspects of our past too often obscure the contributions of an increasingly large segment of our current student population, our future leaders. All nations have a compelling interest in presenting a narrative that is engaging, that is inspiring. However, one casualty of the process of narrative construction is that troubling or controversial aspects of a nation’s history are often relegated to the dustbin. This can leave many wanting, or lead them to become cynical. We need to engage with our past if we are to meet the challenges of our present. Many of today’s most pressing challenges are directly connected to the past.
Using Knowledge and Constraints To Find the Best Antecedent

Coreference resolution is the problem of clustering mentions into entities and is very critical for natural language understanding. This paper studies the problem of coreference resolution in the context of the newly emerging domain of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The commonly used “best-link” model for coreference resolution considers only the scores from a pairwise classifier in selecting the best antecedent. In this paper, we extend this model to include several constraints derived from surface-form of the mentions and the context in which they appear. Another major contribution of this paper is to show the use of domain-specific knowledge sources, mention parsing and clinical descriptors in deriving features which contribute to improved coreference resolution performance. We present experiments on 4 different clinical datasets illustrating that our approach outperforms a strong baseline and a state-of-the-art system by a wide margin.
Serial Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Active Surveillance of Prostate Cancer: Incremental Value.

Purpose: We assessed whether changes in serial multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging can help predict the pathological progression of prostate cancer in men on active surveillance.Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of 49 consecutive men with Gleason 6 prostate cancer who underwent multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and again more than 6 months later, each followed by a targeted prostate biopsy, between January 2011 and May 2015. We evaluated whether progression on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (an increase in index lesion suspicion score, increase in index lesion volume or decrease in index lesion apparent diffusion coefficient) could predict pathological progression (Gleason 3 + 4 or greater on subsequent biopsy, in systematic or targeted cores). Diagnostic performance of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging was determined with and without clinical data using a binary logistic regression model.Results: The mean interval between ba...
Shear Modulus of Heavy Oils, Rheometer vs. Tension/Compression Techniques: Solid to Liquid Transition Due to Strain Amplitude Effects

Summary Unlike other fluids, heavy oils have a shear modulus and can propagate shear waves. Several techniques can be used to extract this important property. In this work we explain how the large amplitudes used in the rheometer affect the shear properties of heavy oils and therefore limits the use of this technique for geophysical acoustic applications. This conclusion is reached by comparing the shear properties of heavy oils measured with the rheometer to geophysical techniques (ultrasonic and tension/ compression). The effect of amplitude is due to the aggregate characteristics of heavy oils that at small strains form networks with solid-like behavior but at large strains, these networks can break having liquid like behavior. This solid to liquid transition due to amplitude is commonly seen in other materials like cement paste and silica suspensions.
Catecholamine Content of the Sinoatrial Node and Common Right Atrial Tissue

SummaryThe NE and E content of the SA node region and right atrium of the dog was determined fluorometrically. The NE concentration of the SA node region was found to be significantly greater than in the right atrium. No difference in the epinephrine content could be demonstrated between the two regions.
National characteristics and predictors of neurologic 30-day readmissions.

Objective: To examine national 30-day readmission rates for patients hospitalized with neurologic disorders. Methods: Using the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) database, we identified 554,399 index neurologic admissions from October 2011 through January 2015. We collected information regarding age, race, insurance payer, Medicare severity diagnosis-related group, and severity of illness. We examined readmission by diagnosis and performed multivariable logistic regression to determine predictors of readmission. Results: The unplanned readmission rate was 11.0%. Rates of unplanned readmission were highest for patients with peripheral nerve disorders (21.9%), CNS neoplasms (21.0%), nonhypertensive encephalopathy (15.5%), arterial stenosis (15.4%), and bacterial CNS infections (14.5%). In multivariable analysis, higher severity of illness and public health insurance coverage predicted higher rates of 30-day readmission. Conclusion: We found significant variation in readmission rates for different neurologic disorders. These data provide insight into management of neurologic disease nationally, offering policymakers realistic goals for standards of care and challenging health care providers to develop systems-based solutions that will improve transitions of care for those at highest risk of readmission with neurologic disease.
Analysis of the Monitoring Results of Schistosomiasis Patients in Jiaxing City from 1995 to 2012

Objective To explore the endemic situation of schistosomiasis in the area that was heavily struck and wher the transmission of schistosomiasis was interrupted,so as to provide scientific evidence for developing the strategy of schistosomiasis control. Methods The local residents older than seven years were subject to surveillance of new infections,residual source of infection,sources of external input infection and suspected schistosomiasis.Their sera were examined for Schistosoma Japonicum antibody by indirect haemagglutination test(IHA)and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).The advance schistosomiasis patients on register were followed up and their blood was tested. Results From 1995 to 2012,989,783 people were monitored and 22,089 had positive sera.The serum positive rate was 2.23%.Further stool examination of 12,791 people found 4 imported patients.Fecal-positive patients were not found in the local population.During the 18 years,1,104 advanced schistosomiasis patients died,682 new cases were detected,and 311 cases were ruled out because of being cured or oth reasons. Conclusions From 1995 to 2012,the endemic situation of schistosomiasis in the local residents is stable,but ther are foreign imported cases.In the future,it is necessary to enhance surveillance of the floating population from areas where th control standards of schistosomiasis epidemic are not reached.The implementation of the monitoring tasks should be assigned t the township and community health service centers by health administrative intervention and should be emphasized.Reporting patients in community medical centers with unexplained fever,increased eosinophils,hepatosplenomegaly,prolonged diarrhea bloody stools or with other suspected clinical features,and sending their blood to the local disease prevention and control center t detect schistosomiasis,are simple monitoring methods.
Abstract 1627: Kinase-independent function of focal adhesion kinase in lung metastasis of breast cancer

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) has been shown to promote mammary tumorigenesis, lung metastasis and the maintenance of cancer stem cells in the MMTV-PyMT breast cancer model. Using mammary epithelial cell (MaEC)-specific FAK knockout and kinase-defective (KD) knockin mouse models, we recently demonstrated that loss of FAK kinase activity in MaECs specifically impaired luminal progenitor proliferation and alveologenesis, whereas FAK kinase-independent function was sufficient to support ductal invasion and basal mammary stem cell activity. To further elucidate this kinase-independent role of FAK in mammary tumorigenesis and lung metastasis, we established and analyzed three cohorts of PyMT mice expressing wild type FAK (Ctl-MT), KD-FAK (cKD-MT) and FAK-null (cKO-MT) in MaECs. This study revealed that both FAK deletion and KD knockin mutation in MaECs significantly suppressed mammary tumorigenesis and the content of stem-like tumor cells (CD24 + CD29 + CD61 + ). However, in contrast to cKO-MT mice that displayed diminished metastatic nodule formation in the lungs, loss of FAK kinase activity by KD knockin mutation did not affect lung metastatic nodule formation. Using a Boyden chamber assay, we further demonstrated that, unlike cKO-MT tumor cells that displayed diminished cell migration induced by fibronectin or TGFβ1 (as compared to Ctl-MT tumor cells), cKD-MT tumor cells exhibited strong fibronectin-, but not TGFβ1-induced migratory activity. Immunofluorescence of primary tumor sections also revealed that both Ctl-MT and cKD-MT tumors displayed strong ERK activation at tumor periphery, whereas cKO-MT tumors had weak ERK activation in this region. Lastly, when treated with or without paclitaxel in culture, we found that paclitaxel was able to induce strong expression of cleaved caspase 3 and p21 in cKO-MT but not Ctl-MT and cKD-MT tumor cells, suggesting a role for FAK kinase-independent function in the suppression of p21 expression and protection of apoptosis. Together, this study strongly implicates a role for FAK kinase-independent function in promoting lung metastasis. Citation Format: Ming Luo, Max S. Wicha, Jun-Lin Guan. Kinase-independent function of focal adhesion kinase in lung metastasis of breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1627.
Annotating and Detecting Medical Events in Clinical Notes

Early detection and treatment of diseases that onset after a patient is admitted to a hospital, such as pneumonia, is critical to improving and reducing costs in healthcare. Previous studies (Tepper et al., 2013) showed that change-of-state events in clinical notes could be important cues for phenotype detection. In this paper, we extend the annotation schema proposed in (Klassen et al., 2014) to mark change-of-state events, diagnosis events, coordination, and negation. After we have completed the annotation, we build NLP systems to automatically identify named entities and medical events, which yield an f-score of 94.7% and 91.8%, respectively.
The Adult with Bleeding Esophageal Varices

Bleeding esophageal varices are a life-threatening complication of portal hypertension. During the emergent phase, nurses have an important role in assessing the patient's response to volume replacement and in monitoring interventions to control hemorrhage. Complications contribute to the high mortality associated with variceal hemorrhage. Knowledge of the pharmacologic side effects of vasopressin and of the potential complications associated with endoscopic injection sclerotherapy and esophagogastric balloon tamponade is critical for successful nursing management of the adult with bleeding esophageal varices. The goal of long-term management is to prevent recurrent hemorrhage. This is accomplished by repeated injection sclerotherapy and strategies to reduce portal pressure. Patient education is focused on modification of behaviors that increase the risk for bleeding and on the early recognition of recurrent bleeding.
Precision delivery of RAS-inhibiting siRNA to pancreatic cancer via peptide-based nanoparticles.

287Background: Greater than 95% of pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PDACs) are driven by KRAS activation; yet, despite decades of work, no RAS inhibitors have reached the clinic. Furthermore, the delivery of therapeutic agents of any kind to PDAC has been hindered by the extensive desmoplasia that accompanies these tumors. Herein, we show that serum-stable and pH-sensing nanoparticles (NPs) are taken up by PDAC cells, can deliver KRAS-specific siRNA into the cytoplasm and inhibit KRAS expression, thereby causing cell death. We go on to use a spontaneous model of pancreas cancer to show that this system can effectively deliver siRNA to stroma-rich tumors. Methods: The murine PDAC cell line KP1 was tested for NP uptake in vitro utilizing fluorescent siRNA NPs (fNPs) in combination with confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. KP1 cells were treated with KRAS-siRNA NP, and KRAS expression and cell viability were assessed with RT-PCR and CellTiter-Glo, respectively. Mice bearing subcutaneous KP1 tumors and KPPC mic...
Porous Carbon/CeO2 Nanoparticles Hybrid Material for High-Capacity Super-Capacitors

The increasing demand for energy storage devices has propelled research for developing efficient super-capacitors (SC) with long cycle life and ultrahigh energy density. Carbon-based materials are commonly used as electrode materials for SC. Herein, we report a new approach to improve the SC performance utilizing a Porous Carbon/Cerium Oxide nanoparticle (PC-CON) hybrid as electrode material synthesized via a low temperature hydrothermal method. Through this approach, charges can be stored not only via electrochemical double layer capacitance (EDLC) from PC but also through pseudo-capacitive effect from CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs). The electrode-electrolyte interaction due to the electrochemical properties of the electrolyte provides an enhanced voltage window for the SC. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements were used for the characterization of this PC/CeO2 hybrid material system. The testing results have shown that a maximum of 500% higher specific capacitance could be obtained using PC/CeO2 instead of using PC only.
Properties of arrays of microplasmas: application to control of electromagnetic waves

Microplasma arrays (MAs) are being investigated as a method to control the propagation of electromagnetic waves. The use of MAs as an electromagnetic wave controlling material is attractive as the electrical properties of MAs can be rapidly changed through combinations of the choice of operating conditions (e.g. pressure, gas mixture), the spatial distribution of the plasma and applied voltage waveforms. In this paper, results from a computational investigation of the plasma properties of small arrays of microplasmas are discussed. The model systems are arrays of microplasmas sustained in rare gases at pressures of up to 100 Torr in a sealed chamber. Individual plasma cells are ≈100 μm in size. Pulsed dc voltage waveforms having widths of 30 ns are applied at repetition rates of up to 10 MHz. The cross-talk between plasma cells was investigated, as well as the consequences of gas heating and sequencing of the pulses. We found that even without physical barriers between the plasma cells to control cross-talk between cells, the individual character of each cell can be retained; however the plasma cells were not completely independent. The diffusion of metastable excited atomic states and small fluxes of ions did enable adjacent cells to operate at lower voltages. The ability to control microwave propagation through waveguides was computationally investigated by placing a MA inside a standard waveguide and examining the resulting transmission coefficients. We found that for frequencies of tens to 100 GHz, the transmitted power could be controlled by the spatial distribution of the MA cells with respect to the modal structure of the wave.
Thermal charging performance of enhanced phase change material composites for thermal battery design

Abstract The design of effective thermal batteries with phase change materials (PCM) relies on the addition of materials with high thermal conductivity and specific surface area to increase the rate of thermal charging and discharging. This paper is a comparative study between two such enhancement materials, namely aluminum and graphite foams, saturated with phase change material. The rate of heat charging was measured for samples exposed to a constant heat flux boundary condition. The impact of aluminum foam was investigated as a function of PCM viscosity, heat flux magnitude, and aluminum pore density. The influence of graphite foam was considered by varying the heat flux magnitude and graphite bulk density. By using a standard experimental configuration, thermal charging enhancement of the foams was compared based on four metrics: composite latent heat, thermal conductivity, time to end of melt, and junction temperature between the heater and the sample. To relate all metrics, two dimensionless parameters were defined to compare diffusive transport and energy storage to junction temperature. It was shown that the thermal charging enhancement of graphite foams is superior to that of aluminum foams based on these performance metrics due to high thermal conductivity, low density, and small pore size.
Isobutylene Dimerization: A Discovery-Based Exploration of Mechanism and Regioselectivity by NMR Spectroscopy and Molecular Modeling

This two-period undergraduate laboratory experiment involves the synthesis of a mixture of isomeric unknowns, isolation of the mixture by means of distillation, and characterization of the two products primarily by NMR spectroscopy (1D and 2D) supported with IR spectroscopy and GC–MS techniques. Subsequent calculation and examination of the relative energies of the products and of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the products’ common cationic intermediate provide a means of understanding the unique regioselectivity of the reaction. The combination of spectroscopic, spectrometric, and molecular modeling data obtained by students allows them not only to identify the products and propose a reasonable stepwise mechanism for the reaction, but also to rationalize why the non-Zaitsev product predominates.
Can a Brief Training Session Prepare Physician Sonographers of Differing Experience to Measure the Ischiofemoral Space? A Reliability Study

Abstract Objective The primary aim of this study was to determine the inter- and intrarater reliability of ultrasound (US) measurements of the ischiofemoral space (IFS) following a brief training session. A secondary aim was to determine if reliability correlated with sonographer experience. Design Prospective. Setting Physical medicine and rehabilitation department within a tertiary care institution. Participants Seven male and 3 female individuals were recruited to serve as models. Nine physician sonographers (3 postgraduate year [PGY]-2 residents, 3 PGY-4 residents, 3 physicians) were recruited to serve as sonographers. Methods or Interventions Sonographers received a 15-minute educational session on identifying the IFS with US, followed by 20 minutes of practice. Models were then placed in a prone position and secured to prevent hip movement. All operators measured bilateral IFSs in each model twice with a washout period between measurements. Operators were blinded to all measurements. Main Outcome Measures Primary outcomes were inter- and intrarater reliability interclass coefficients (ICCs) of IFS measurements among the groups with different levels of US experience. Secondary outcomes included comparisons of inter- and intrarater reliability ICCs of IFS measurements between groups, and the difference of mean IFS measurements between groups. Results Intrarater reliability ICCs were 0.829, 0.680, and 0.596 for physician, PGY-4, and PGY-2 groups, respectively. Interrater reliability ICCs were 0.722, 0.427, and 0.558 for physician, PGY-4, and PGY-2 groups, respectively. No statistically significant differences in reliability were identified between groups. Mean IFS measurements were 31.2, 33.4, and 34.0 mm for physician, PGY-4, and PGY-2 groups, respectively. Physician measurements were significantly smaller than the PGY-4 and PGY-2 measurements (P Conclusions Following a brief training session, experienced sonographers demonstrated excellent IFS measurement intrarater reliability, whereas PGY-4 and PGY-2 sonographers demonstrated fair intrarater reliability. All sonographers demonstrated fair interrater reliability. Level of Evidence II
ML-DS: a novel deterministic sampling algorithm for association rules mining

Due to the explosive growth of data in every aspect of our life, data mining algorithms often suffer from scalability issues. One effective way to tackle this problem is to employ sampling techniques. This paper introduces, ML-DS, a novel deterministic sampling algorithm for mining association rules in large datasets. Unlike most algorithms in the literature that use randomness in sampling, our algorithm is fully deterministic. The process of sampling proceeds in stages. The size of the sample data in any stage is half that of the previous stage. In any given stage, the data is partitioned into disjoint groups of equal size. Some distance measure is used to determine the importance of each group in identifying accurate association rules. The groups are then sorted based on this measure. Only the best 50% of the groups move to the next stage. We perform as many stages of sampling as needed to produce a sample of a desired target size. The resultant sample is then employed to identify association rules. Empirical results show that our approach outperforms simple randomized sampling in accuracy and is competitive in comparison with the state-of-the-art sampling algorithms in terms of both time and accuracy.
Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD)

The population of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) is rapidly growing and presently exceeds one million individuals in the United States. It is a heterogeneous patient group comprising those with previously unrecognized and untreated lesions, as well as many prior palliated or corrective interventions. Most congenital heart disease patients benefit from ongoing cardiac supervision and a substantial number require highly specialized management and further intervention [1].
Computerized Screening for Identification of Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Patients

An automatic data driven blood gas monitoring program, calculated the arterial/Alveolar (a/A) oxygen partial pressure ratio for all (approx. 40,000) arterial blood gas samples drawn between 4/87 and 2/88. Patients with an a/A ratio ≤ 0.2 were examined to determine if they had Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). To determine if ARDS was linked to the inspired oxygen fraction (FiO2), or pressure exposure, a computer exposure monitoring program evaluated each patient's total exposure to FiO2, positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP), and peak inspiratory pressure (Peak) from the date of hospital admission until 24 hours after their a/A ratio was ≤ 0.2. of the 6,000 patients originally screened, 372 patients were identified by the program (6.2%), 44 (0.7%) were determined to have ARDS. A comparison of ARDS survivors with non-survivors showed that survivors spent a significantly (p < 0.05) shorter percentage of time on ventilators with FiO2 ≥ 60% (22.2% vs.59.9%), PEEP ≥ 10 cm H2O (25.7% vs.50.1%) and Peak ≥ 55 cm H2O (2.2% vs.7.2%) with no difference in their Acute Physiologic Score (14.5 vs.13.5). These findings suggest that oxygen and pressure exposure are associated with the development of ARDS.
Deterministic Models of Inhalational Anthrax in New Zealand White Rabbits

Computational models describing bacterial kinetics were developed for inhalational anthrax in New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits following inhalation of Ames strain B. anthracis. The data used to parameterize the models included bacterial numbers in the airways, lung tissue, draining lymph nodes, and blood. Initial bacterial numbers were deposited spore dose. The first model was a single exponential ordinary differential equation (ODE) with 3 rate parameters that described mucociliated (physical) clearance, immune clearance (bacterial killing), and bacterial growth. At 36 hours postexposure, the ODE model predicted 1.7×107 bacteria in the rabbit, which agreed well with data from actual experiments (4.0×107 bacteria at 36 hours). Next, building on the single ODE model, a physiological-based biokinetic (PBBK) compartmentalized model was developed in which 1 physiological compartment was the lumen of the airways and the other was the rabbit body (lung tissue, lymph nodes, blood). The 2 compartments were connected with a parameter describing transport of bacteria from the airways into the body. The PBBK model predicted 4.9×107 bacteria in the body at 36 hours, and by 45 hours the model showed all clearance mechanisms were saturated, suggesting the rabbit would quickly succumb to the infection. As with the ODE model, the PBBK model results agreed well with laboratory observations. These data are discussed along with the need for and potential application of the models in risk assessment, drug development, and as a general aid to the experimentalist studying inhalational anthrax.