cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of coadministered lopinavir and ritonavir (Kaletra) on tacrolimus blood concentration in liver transplantation patients

With the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), HIV positivity is no longer a contraindication for liver transplantation. Some of the antiretroviral agents, particularly protease inhibitors (e.g., ritonavir, indinavir, and nelfinavir) have been described as potent inhibitors of the metabolism of certain immunosuppressive drugs. In this article we describe a profound interaction between tacrolimus and Kaletra (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL) (a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir) in 3 liver transplantation patients. Patient 1, who was maintained on a 5 mg twice daily dose of tacrolimus with a trough blood concentration around 10.6 ng/mL, required only 0.5 mg of tacrolimus per week after addition of Kaletra to achieve similar tacrolimus blood concentrations, with a half-life of 10.6 days. In patient 2, the area under the blood concentration versus time curve for tacrolimus increased from 31 ng/mL/h to 301 ng/mL/h after addition of Kaletra, with a corresponding half-life of 20 days. When the patient was subsequently switched to nelfinavir, the half-life decreased to 10.3 days. Patient 3, who was maintained with 4 to 8 mg/d of tacrolimus and a corresponding blood concentration of 10 ng/mL before Kaletra, required a tacrolimus dose of 1 mg/wk and tacrolimus concentrations of 5 ng/mL with Kaletra. In conclusion, a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir led to a much more profound increase in tacrolimus blood concentrations than use of single protease inhibitor, nelfinavir. A tacrolimus dose of less than 1 mg/wk may be sufficient to maintain adequate blood tacrolimus concentrations in patients on Kaletra. Patients may not need a further dose of tacrolimus for 3 to 5 weeks depending on liver function when therapy with Kaletra is initiated. Great caution is required in the management of tacrolimus dosage when Kaletra is introduced or withdrawn in HIV-positive patients after liver transplantation, particularly in the presence of hepatic dysfunction.
Improving value communication for thread-level speculation

Thread-level speculation (TLS) allows us to automatically parallelize general-purpose programs by supporting parallel execution of threads that might not actually be independent. In this paper, we show that the key to good performance ties in the three different ways to communicate a value between speculative threads: speculation, synchronization and prediction. The difficult part is deciding how and when to apply each method. This paper shows how we can apply value prediction, dynamic synchronization and hardware instruction prioritization to improve value communication and hence performance in several SPECint benchmarks that have been automatically transformed by our compiler to exploit TLS. We find that value prediction can be effective when properly throttled to avoid the high costs of mis-prediction, while most of the gains of value prediction can be more easily achieved by exploiting silent stores. We also show that dynamic synchronization is quite effective for most benchmarks, while hardware instruction prioritization is not. Overall, we find that these techniques have great potential for improving the performance of TLS.
Assessing Research Self-Efficacy in Physician-Scientists: The Clinical Research APPraisal Inventory

Between 1980 and 1993, only 19% of medical school graduates chose faculty appointments with research responsibilities. Women and minorities represent only a small fraction of these, despite their growing numbers. The authors' goal is to study the effects of human agency, particularly self-efficacy, on the career development of physician researchers, especially women and people of color; therefore, we developed a reliable and valid inventory for assessing clinical research self-efficacy in a population of physicians training for clinical research careers. Scale items were pooled from expert knowledge, relevant literature, and existing inventories to create a 92-item Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory that was factor analyzed and refined to include 88 items. Although instruments have been developed to successfully assess research self-efficacy, this is the first instrument designed to assess self-efficacy in the clinical research domain using a population of academic physicians.
Snowfall From Lake-Effect Storms

Abstract Three yr of winter lake-storm data were analyzed to determine snowfall distribution patterns downwind of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The total amount of snowfall and the area of ground cover in each of 23 lake-effect storms were determined for both lakes. Total snowfall mass was highly dependent on time of year; November and early December storms were two to five times more productive than January storms. A considerable variation in snow density (snowfall depth to melt water ratio) could be attributed mainly to differences in snow crystal type.
A project-based multi-disciplinary elective on digital data processing techniques

Todays' era of internet-of-things, cloud computing and big data centers calls for more fresh graduates with expertise in digital data processing techniques such as compression, encryption and error correcting codes. This paper describes a project-based elective that covers these three main digital data processing techniques and can be offered to three different undergraduate majors electrical and computer engineering and computer science. The course has been offered successfully for three years. Registration statistics show equal interest from the three different majors. Assessment data show that students have successfully completed the different course outcomes. Students' feedback show that students appreciate the knowledge they attain from this elective and suggest that the workload for this course in relation to other courses of equal credit is as expected.
Why Social Policy is Condemned to a Residual Category of Safety Nets and What to Do about It

I would like to start by congratulating UNRISD for leading a badly needed initiative to re-think social policy in a way that does not condemn it to the residual category of ‘safety nets’. There are several stubborn causes of this problem, including the ideological one, but I choose to dwell on four that are less obvious and that also lend themselves to suggestions for a UNRISD research agenda.
Henoch-Schoenlein syndrome.

No specific hematologic defect has so far been found in this disorder, but its many similarities to blood diseases suggest that there is one. Treatment is mainly supportive, unless there is concomitant bacterial infection (which is often the case).
Nonlinear Field Analysis of Structural Nets

Analytical procedures are presented for determining displacements and forces in a two-way network of prestressed cables subjected to static, out-of-plane loadings. An efficient and direct open-form technique, the walk-through method is used to solve the governing difference equation for a statically determinate net. This method is an improvement over those based on the solution to simultaneous equations in that considerably less calculation time is required. An iteration procedure which utilizes the walk-through method is introduced for the analysis of indeterminate networks in which the nonlinear effects cannot be neglected. Rapid convergence is obtained for a variety of conditions, some of which are highly discontinuous. The numerical examples illustrate an important advantage of the above procedures—a single computer program with only minor changes can be used to solve the various analysis and design problems associated with structural nets.
The Delphi Technique: A Research Strategy for Career and Technical Education

This article illustrates how the generic employability skills approach to critical thinking suffers from serious conceptual and epistemological difficulties that impact deleteriously on both its practical effectiveness and democratic appropriateness. Unlike technical skills, employability skills, in this case cognitive capacities such as critical thinking and problem solving, are traditionally presented as not job specific, and are intended to remain broadly applicable across a variety of occupations and professions. The emphasis that career education places on technical rationality in critical thinking violates principles of democratic learning by disregarding the historical context of vocational experience. Within career education, critical thinking conceived as technical rationality refers to means/end reasoning that pursues human capital and business objectives with the maximum possible effectiveness. This article proposes that a more effective, politically empowering, and epistemically coherent approach to critical thinking promotes student understanding of the various forces shaping contemporary vocational experience. Finally, this article proposes a revised critical thinking construct based on foundational rationality to remedy these problems, and offers examples of concrete classroom strategies, such as praxis, problem-posing education and collaborative learning, that protect democratic learning in career education programs.
Effects of Laterally and Vertically Neighboring Quantum Dots on Formation of a New Quantum Dot

We apply the elastic-energy-release rate (EERR) to identify the favored location of quantum dot (QD) formation in the presence of a laterally or vertically neighboring grown QD on a linear anisotropic elastic substrate. The EERR is defined as the relaxation energy per unit volume of QD growth. Numerical results for InAs QDs on a GaAs(001) substrate are reported. It is shown that the presence of a laterally neighboring QD inhibits the driving force for the formation of a new QD. In contrast, the presence of a buried (vertically) neighboring QD enhances the driving force for the formation of a new QD at its favorable location. (Publication of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the US Government; not subject to copyright.)
Socially Responsible Citizens: Promoting Gifts and Talents That Support Social and Humanitarian Advancement.

This paper proposes the development of an enhanced sense of social responsibility in the use of talents and the creation of programmes and services that focus on the promotion of these traits among a wider student population. Selection of students for these offerings should not mirror the rigid identification of academically or intellectually gifted individuals and the focus should be on the ‘creation’ of socially responsible high performers as opposed to ‘finding’ the gifted.
Cancer and the Gendered Body

On 3 December 1700, noblewoman Sarah Cowper wrote in her diary: ‘My breast is unquiet and gives me troublesome apprehensions. I sometimes seem weary of living, yet find myself often in fear of a painfull lingering death’.1 Beside the entry was a marginal note in the same hand: ‘Fearing a Cancer’. In this chapter, I will argue that Cowper’s identification of her breast as the ‘troublesome’ site where a cancer might breed was, in part, born of contemporary medical and cultural orthodoxy. The feminine body — in particular, the female breast — was, for early modern medical practitioners and lay observers, the paradigmatic site of cancerous growth. This paradigm was rooted in medical, social and aesthetic discourses in which the female body variously appeared as fecund, feeble, dangerous and secret. Moreover, as they attempted to explain cancer’s bias toward the supposedly weaker sex, medical practitioners reluctantly engaged with troubling aspects of early modern women’s lifecycles, making cancer a disease with the potential to cast light on hidden aspects of the sufferer’s conjugal and domestic situation. Women’s cancers thus sprang from, and in turn re-inscribed, a model of sexual dimorphism in which the female body appeared physiologically, functionally and pathologically unique.
Estimation of the number of death from road traffic injury by capture-recapture method in Linzhou city

Aim: To estimate the number of death from road traffic injury(RTI) in Linzhou city during year 2004 to 2005 using the capture-recapture method,and to assess the completeness of the data of RTI among all death cause registry.Methods:The data of death from RTl were collected from three sources,the registry office,civil administration and police registries.Cases from different sources were matched on the name,sex,ID card,date of death,cause of the death and resident address.To fit for dependencies and heterogeneities among three sources,a log-linear model with strata variables was used to estimate the death number which did not appear in all three sources.Results: A total of 441 death cases were reported from the three sources,among them there were 295 cases from civil administration,193 cases from police registries and 393 cases from registry office.The capture-recapture method estimated that the total number of death from RTI was 469(95%CI 451~514) during year 2004 to 2005.Using the number estimated as denominator under-reporting rate in registry office was 16.2%,and that in aggregate database was 6.0%.Conclusion: Registry office or aggregated database underestimates the number of death from RTI.Combining the data from police registries,civil administration,and registry office by means of capture-recapture method can get the accurate death number of RTI.
The anti-inflammatory effects of eucalyptol in a mouse model of LPS-induced pulmonary inflammation are mediated by TRPM8

Eucalyptol (1,8-cineol) has long been known for its anti-inflammatory properties. It interacts with Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) ion channels among other targets, but it is unclear which of these mediates its anti-inflammatory effects. In this work, the effects of eucalyptol were compared in WT and TRPM8-deficient mice in a model of pulmonary inflammation following intranasal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS, a component of Gram-negative bacterial cell walls, plays a major role in acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). 24 hours after LPS intranasal instillation, lungs and bronchoalvelolar lavage (BAL) from eucalyptol treated and untreated TRPM8 KO and WT mice were collected and analyzed. This study shows that eucalyptol treatment diminishes leukocyte infiltration, myeloperoxidase activity and cytokine production in the lung. Genetic deletion of TRPM8 abolishes the anti-inflammatory effects of eucalyptol in the LPS model. Eucalyptol is at least 30-fold more potent on human TRPM8 than on mouse TRPM8, and a metabolite of eucalyptol, 2-hydroxy-1,8-cineol, also activates human TRPM8. Our data show that among the pharmacological targets of eucalyptol, TRPM8 is essential for its anti-inflammatory effects.The development of more potent and selective TRPM8 agonists may yield novel anti-inflammatory pharmacological treatments with lower toxicity and adverse effects than the current available options.
On the Distribution of Eigenvalues of Grand Canonical Density Matrices

Using physical arguments and partition theoretic methods, we demonstrate under general conditions, that the eigenvalues w(m) of the grand canonical density matrix decay rapidly with their index m, like w(m)∼exp[−βB−1(ln m)1+1/α], where B and α are positive constants, O(1), which may be computed from the spectrum of the Hamiltonian. We compute values of B and α for several physical models, and confirm our theoretical predictions with numerical experiments. Our results have implications in a variety of questions, including the behaviour of fluctuations in ensembles, and the convergence of numerical density matrix renormalization group techniques.
Darwin, projekt i wiara katolicka

A commentary on the paper of cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Odnajdywanie zamyslu w przyrodzie.
An Interpretive Methodology

The research objective of my methodology was to map the qualitatively different conceptualizations of Nature16 held by people, or what might be called terrain.of belief regarding Nature (also see Jones, 1972; Marton, 1988), and thus to better understand conceptualizations of Nature and the place science finds in those conceptualizations. The worldview methodology described here is a modified naturalistic inquiry, interview technique (Kvale, 1983; Spradley, 1979) with constant comparative analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1990) and assertion development (Strauss, 1987). The concept of Nature, however, is quite profound and not easily addressed extemporaneously. Thus, for most persons, one cannot simply ask, “What is Nature?‘, and expect to learn much. One could ask a series of questions, but questions inevitably suggest certain types of answers to the exclusion of others. Instead, in this methodology, data was gathered via semi-structured interviews that involved elicitation devices (Bliss & Ogborn, 1987; Fetterman, 1989) designed to encourage a person to talk at length about Nature, to “think aloud” about Nature. So as not to lead the interview, the elicitation devices are multi-directional prompts; that is, each device prompts in many directions at one time. It is up to the informant to decide which of the many directions to take. At no time does an interviewer intro-duce science (or any other specific domain of knowledge) in the conversation. It was solely up to the informant to bring science or any other topic to the discussion. The interviewer does use a set of heuristic questions (discussed in the next section) that are important for uncovering scientific ideas without directly asking about science. The interviewer, consistent with Spradley (1979) and Kvale (1983), is there to ask probing questions and to encourage the informant to speak freely and at length.
Localizing Low-power Backscatter Tags Using Commodity WiFi

Location information is crucial for enabling many applications in the era of Internet-of-Things (IoT). Localizing IoT devices using existing ubiquitous WiFi infrastructure enables rapid and universal deployment of IoT devices empowered with localization service. However, current WiFi-based localization systems require the target, that needs to be localized, to be equipped with a WiFi radio that actively transmits WiFi signals. Since a WiFi radio consumes lots of power for data transmission, such radio cannot be used in energy-impoverish IoT devices (for example, locating a pill bottle in an elder's apartment). This paper presents WiTag, the first system that reuses existing WiFi infrastructures for localizing low-power backscatter tags. We build upon recent work on low power tags that communicate via backscattering ambient WiFi signals and introduce novel modeling of the backscattered signal received at WiFi access points to localize the target IoT device. We prototype WiTag using off-the-shelf WiFi chips and a customized backscatter tag and show that it achieves sub-meter localization error. Thus, WiTag achieves localization error comparable to that of state-of-the-art WiFi based localization systems while consuming orders of magnitude lower power at the target IoT devices.
The Theory of Agency: A Framework

This paper presented the core part of the then newly-developed theory of agency, which had been independently proposed by Stephen Ross and Barry Mitnick. The paper described a typology of agency relationships based on the nature of the consent between agent and principal, the source of specification of the agent's acts, and the degree of discretion possessed by the agent. Common behaviors and norms of agency are described, including the fiduciary norm. Problems of agency are reviewed, and the policing process examined. Applications are made to the legislative representative and to the ambassadorial relation. This paper reflects continued development of the approach over what appeared in Mitnick's original 1973 paper.
The separation of sexual activity and reproduction in human social evolution.

In industrialized societies the progression of natural selection has been determined and in many cases superseded by social evolution. In the case of reproduction, there has been a decline and delay of childbearing without diminished sexual activity. While this has value for these societies, there are penalties associated with barren cycles. These include increases in endometriosis and breast and genital cancer. There also are associated issues regarding population movements that fill the “vacuums” left by underpopulation. These matters are of more than passing interest as we cope with unintended consequences of Man’s dominance over the environment and other life forms.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery In The Treatment Of Patients With Acoustic Tumors

Stereotactic radiosurgery is performed under local anesthesia, and most patients can be discharged from the hospital within 24 hours of treatment. All patients in our series returned to their preoperative level of employment or function within 5 to 7 days of treatment, and this functional level was maintained over the period of follow-up. "Tumor control" was achieved in 96% of patients during an average follow-up of 1.7 years. Tumor shrinkage occurred in 45% of patients who had at least 1.5 years of follow-up. Useful hearing preservation rates were 50% at 6 months and 30% 1 year after treatment. New delayed facial or trigeminal neuropathy occurred in 34% and 32% of patients, respectively, with a median onset of 5 to 6 months after treatment. The vast majority of cranial neuropathies were partial at onset and tended to improve over time. Other complications included tumor growth (4%), communicating hydrocephalus (4%), and transient adjacent brain parenchymal changes best seen on T2-weighted MRI (9%). Stereotactic radiosurgery is an important alternative treatment for carefully selected patients with acoustic tumors. Indications for treatment include sufficient medical problems to pose excessive surgical risk, advanced age, the presence of bilateral acoustic tumors or contralateral deafness, recurrent tumor despite surgical resection, or refusal to undergo microsurgery. Radiosurgery is contraindicated in patients with symptomatic brain stem or cerebellar compression from a large acoustic tumor. Previous posterior fossa radiotherapy is a relative contraindication that must be considered on a patient to patient basis. Stereotactic radiosurgery should be viewed as an additional weapon in our arsenal for combating acoustic tumors rather than feared as a potential replacement for surgical excision. The strategic role of stereotactic radiosurgery in the overall treatment of patients with acoustic tumors will continue to be refined as longer-term, carefully assessed results become available.
Investigating Socioeconomic Disparities in the Potential Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Environments of Churches

Faith-based settings have the potential to improve health in underresourced communities, but little research has quantified and compared health-promoting elements in church environments. This study examines the number of potential indoor and outdoor physical activity opportunities, healthy eating opportunities, healthy living media, and total environmental resources present in churches (n = 54) in a rural, southeastern US county and the relationship between these resources and neighborhood income. In our sample, most churches offered potential indoor and outdoor opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating opportunities, with more variability in the number of healthy living media items on display compared to other environmental components. Common potential opportunities present in churches for physical activity included a fellowship hall and green/open space, while potential opportunities for healthy eating frequently included a refrigerator and sink. Compared to those in medium- and high-income neighborhoods, churches in low-income neighborhoods scored higher on measures of potential outdoor physical activity opportunities and lower on measures of total potential environment resources, healthy eating opportunities, healthy living media, and indoor physical activity opportunities, though only indoor physical activity opportunities reached statistical significance. Potential opportunities for using existing resources in and around churches for health promotion should be investigated further, particularly in rural areas.
Ageing and the Technological Imaginary: Living and Dying in the Age of Perpetual Innovation

Technology tends toward perpetual innovation. Technology, enabled by both political and economic structures, propels society forward in a kind of technological evolution. The moment a novel piece o...
Mechanistic simulation study of gas Puff and Huff process for Bakken tight oil fractured reservoir

Abstract Current US unconventional resource revolution has more than doubled US oil production and made US the largest oil production country in the world recently. Although the industry is trying all means including screening sweet spots, conducting infill drillings and optimizing the well spacing to improve recovery factor (RF) from primary production, unconventional reservoirs will encounter what the past conventional reservoir production experienced: difficult to explore new giant resource, run out of ‘easy oil’ (sweet spot), production comes to a plateau and declines. Therefore, it is time to implement enhanced oil recovery for unconventional resources. The goal of this work is to improve oil recovery by implementing and optimizing gas Huff and Puff method for one of the US major tight oil reservoirs-Bakken formation. Pressure dependent permeability and porosity are implemented into the compositional reservoir simulation to represent geomechanics effects. Gas diffusion effects is systematically analyzed to quantify the importance comparing with the natural fracture system in tight oil fractured reservoirs. Alternative gas composition instead of using CO2 in the Huff and Puff process is investigated and the recovered oil components is analyzed. The complex natural fracture structure and natural fracture permeability proved to be important affecting factors to oil production of Bakken reservoirs.
Opioid use and length of stay following minimally invasive pectus excavatum repair in 436 patients - Benefits of an enhanced recovery pathway.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine outcomes of an enhanced recovery pathway (ERP) for minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) at a high volume center, hypothesizing it is associated with decreased opioid requirement and shorter hospital stay. Methods Patients were categorized into pre-ERP (1998–2006), transition (2007–2011), and ERP (2012–2017) cohorts. Data were abstracted from medical records. Univariate and multivariable analyses compared opioid utilization, length of stay (LOS), and complications between cohorts. Opioids were converted to morphine daily dose per kilogram (MEDD/kg). Results Of 436 patients, 186 were ERP, 104 were transition, and 146 were pre-ERP. ERP was associated with decreased hospital opioid utilization (mean MEDD/kg 0.5 ± 0.2 vs 0.7 ± 0.4 vs 0.7 ± 0.8 p .05). Conclusions Implementation of our ERP was associated with decreased opioid requirement and shorter hospital stay. ERPs are a valuable tool in pediatric surgery given the current emphasis on optimizing opioid and resource utilization. Levels of Evidence Level III (Retrospective comparative study).
Controlling Hot Money

The manager of the Japan Equities Fund is faced with an increase in "hot money" moving quickly in and out of the Fund. This short term trading is an attempt to take advantage of the difference between the closing times of the Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges. The CFO of the fund manager considers the various strategies available to limit such short term trading, which will be presented soon to the Fund's board of directors. Learning Objective: To educate students about how international stock funds price their securities across different time zones and deal with market timing by fund shareholders.
Clinically isolating syndrome: when neurology hits a neurologist.

I could not make a fist. There I sat in the middle of a typical Wednesday afternoon lecture, staring at my hand in disbelief. The fingers of my right hand were too weak to abduct. ‘Crap’, I thought. Actually, a more colourful word was my first thought. ‘Am I having a conversion disorder?’. That was my second thought. As a senior neurology resident just a few months from graduation, I had reasons for stress. I had nearly signed a contract to become a faculty neurologist but did not know the specific responsibilities of my future job. The neurology board exam was right around the corner, and every newly discovered knowledge gap produced a statistically significant amount of anxiety. In that moment, I could rationalise a subconscious manifestation of anxiety preventing me from moving my hand. Then in an instant, the preceding days flooded back to me, each carrying neglected neurological symptoms with them. ‘Crap’. Five days before, I had first felt it while showering. The heat from the water did not seem …
Decreased expression of TRAAK channels in Hirschsprung’s disease: a possible cause of postoperative dysmotility

Potassium (K+) channels with a two-pore domain (K2P) are a large family of hyperpolarising ion channels which play a key role in cell excitability. This family comprises three members: TREK-1, TREK-2 and TRAAK. TRAAK channels have previously been reported to be expressed in murine enteric ganglia. To date, no data exist regarding TRAAK channel expression in the human colon. Thus, we designed this study to investigate TRAAK gene expression in the normal human colon and in Hirschsprung’s disease (HSCR). HSCR tissue specimens (n = 6) were collected at the time of pull-through surgery, while control samples were obtained at the time of colostomy closure in patients with imperforate anus (n = 6). qRT-PCR analysis was undertaken to quantify TRAAK gene expression, and immunolabelling of TRAAK proteins was visualized using confocal microscopy. Confocal microscopy revealed TRAAK protein expression within both neurons and interstitial cells of Cajal in the myenteric plexus, with a reduction in both ganglionic HSCR colon and aganglionic HSCR colon, compared to controls. qRT-PCR analysis revealed a significant downregulation of the TRAAK gene in both aganglionic and ganglionic HSCR specimens compared to controls (p < 0.05). TRAAK gene expression is significantly downregulated in HSCR colon, suggesting a role for these ion channels in colonic neurotransmission. TRAAK downregulation within ganglionic specimens highlights the dysfunctional nature of ganglia in this region.
Subsequent Use of a Pressure Sensor to Record Intra-Abdominal Pressure After Maximum Vaginal Closure Force in a Clinical Trial

Pelvic floor disorders are caused by weakening or damage to the tissues lining the bottom of the abdominal cavity. These disorders affect nearly 1 in every 4 women in the United States and symptoms that drastically diminish a patient’s quality of life. Vaginal closure force is a good measure of pelvic health, but current vaginal dynamometers were not designed for the rigors of hospital reprocessing, often failing due to sensor degradation through repeated sterilization processes. In order to obtain measurements of vaginal closure force in a large study, we designed a vaginal dynamometer that utilizes a removable intra-abdominal sensor already in production for the study. The sensor’s existing data acquisition system was modified to transmit to a tablet allowing the user to view data in real-time. The new speculum design allowed a single sensor to measure vaginal closure force before being used to collect intra-abdominal pressure data in the same study visit. The measurements taken with the new speculum were similar to measurements taken with a previously reported vaginal dynamometer.
Strength-Based Out-of-Flatness Tolerance for Bottom Flanges of Steel Box Girders

AbstractThis study determined an explicit tolerance for bottom flanges of tub girders giving computed first yield moment including the strength reduction due to initial out-of-flatness of tub girde...
Institutional Networks of Association for GIS Use: The Case of an Urban Local Body in India

In the past decade, India has witnessed rapid urban transformation leading to a changing urban governance culture in the country. This has prompted a growing push toward informationization of gover...
Brain tumor classification with tumor segmentations and a dual path residual convolutional neural network from MRI and pathology images

Brain tumor classification plays an important role in brain cancer diagnosis and treatment. Pathologists typically have to work through numerous pathology images that can be in the order of hundreds or thousands which takes time and is prone to manual error. Here we investigate automating this task given pathology images as well as 3D MRI volumes without lesion maps. We use data provided by the CPM-RadPath 2019 MICCAI challenge. We first evaluate accuracy on the validation dataset with MRI and pathology images separately. We predict the 3D tumor mask with our custom developed tumor segmentation model that we used for the BraTS 2019 challenge. We show that the predicted tumor segmentations give a higher validation accuracy of 77.1% vs. 69.8% with MRI images when trained by a 3D residual convolutional neural network. For pathology images we train a 2D residual network and obtain a 66.2% validation accuracy. In both cases we find high training accuracies above 95% which suggests overfitting. We propose a dual path residual convolutional neural network model that trains simultaneously from both MRI and pathology images and we use a simple method to prevent overfitting. One path of our network is fully 3D and considers 3D tumor segmentations as input while the other path considers pathology images. To prevent overfitting we stop training after 90% training accuracy at the epoch number where our network loss increases in the following one. With this approach we achieve a validation accuracy of 84.9% showing that indeed combining the two image sources yields a better overall accuracy.
Chronic electronic cigarette use elicits molecular changes related to pulmonary pathogenesis.

Abstract The relative safety of chronic exposure to electronic cigarette (e-cig) aerosol remains unclear in terms of lung pathogenesis. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate gene/protein biomarkers, which are associated with cigarette-induced pulmonary injury in animals chronically exposed to nicotine containing e-cig aerosol. C57BL/6 J mice were randomly assigned to three exposure groups: e-cig, tobacco cigarette smoke, and filtered air. Lung tissues and/or paraffin embedded slides were used to evaluate gene and/or protein expressions of the CYP450 metabolism (CYP1A1, CYP2A5, and CYP3A11), oxidative stress (Nrf2, SOD1), epithelial-mesenchymal transition (E-cadherin and vimentin), lung pathogenesis (AhR), and survival/apoptotic pathways (p-AKT, BCL-XL, p53, p21, and CRM1). Expressions of E-cadherin and CRM1 were significantly decreased, while CYP1A1, AhR, SOD1 and BCL-XL were significantly upregulated in the e-cig group compared to the control (p
Crystal structure of strontium hydrogen citrate monohydrate, Sr(HC6H5O7)(H2O)

The crystal structure of strontium hydrogen citrate monohydrate has been solved using laboratory X-ray powder diffraction data, refined using both laboratory and synchrotron data, and optimized using density functional techniques. Strontium hydrogen citrate monohydrate crystallizes in space group C2/c (#15) with a = 25.15601(17), b = 10.90724(6), c = 6.37341(4) A, β = 91.9846(6)°, V = 1747.704(12) A3, and Z = 8. The Sr coordination and the hydrogen bonding result in a layered structure. The SrO8 coordination polyhedra share edges to form corrugated layers parallel to the bc-plane. Hydrogen bonds between the carboxylic acid groups and water molecules link the layers. Intermolecular hydroxyl–carboxyl hydrogen bonds also link the layers in a ring pattern with a graph set symbol R2,2(12). After storage for 2 years, partial re-crystallization occurred, to an as-yet unknown compound with a triclinic unit cell.
Drosophila germ granules are structured and contain homotypic mRNA clusters

Germ granules, specialized ribonucleoprotein particles, are a hallmark of all germ cells. In Drosophila, an estimated 200 mRNAs are enriched in the germ plasm, and some of these have important, often conserved roles in germ cell formation, specification, survival and migration. How mRNAs are spatially distributed within a germ granule and whether their position defines functional properties is unclear. Here we show, using single-molecule FISH and structured illumination microscopy, a super-resolution approach, that mRNAs are spatially organized within the granule whereas core germ plasm proteins are distributed evenly throughout the granule. Multiple copies of single mRNAs organize into 'homotypic clusters' that occupy defined positions within the center or periphery of the granule. This organization, which is maintained during embryogenesis and independent of the translational or degradation activity of mRNAs, reveals new regulatory mechanisms for germ plasm mRNAs that may be applicable to other mRNA granules.
Effects of polarization dependent loss and polarization mode dispersion in recirculating loops

This study demonstrates detailed experiments and modeling on the effects of polarization dependent loss (PDL) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in recirculating loops. Experimental results and modeling show that the Q distribution is affected by noise which is partially polarized due to the PDL. Due to polarization dependence of the gain (PDG) in erbium doped finer amplifiers (EDFA), single channel experiments require input scrambling to eliminate this effect. Due to gain saturation in an EDFA chain the input scrambling rate can be chosen to eliminate unwanted amplitude modulation.
Urea carboxylase and allophanate hydrolase: Two components of a multienzyme complex in Saccharomycescerevisiae

Abstract Saccharomyces cerevisiae can utilize urea as sole nitrogen source by virtue of its ability to degrade the compound to NH3 and CO2. Whitney and Cooper have shown that the conversion is accomplished in two enzymatic steps: (1) the carboxylation of urea yielding allophanate and (2) the hydrolysis of allophanate yielding NH3 and CO2. To determine whether these proteins compose a multienzyme complex, the response of urea carboxylase and allophanate hydrolase to several analytical separation and immunochemical precipitation techniques was monitored. The data obtained support the contention that urea carboxylase and allophanate hydrolase are components of a multienzyme complex.
Novel resistance mechanism of HIV-1 To peptide fusion inhibitors

HIV fusion is mediated by conformational changes in HIV envelope glycoprotein (Env) that involves assembly of two heptad repeats (N- and C-HR) in the gp41 ectodomain to form a six-helix bundle (6HB). Peptides corresponding to the N- and C-HR of gp41, termed as fusion inhibitors, are potent inhibitors of HIV infection. However, HIV rapidly develops resistance to such fusion inhibitors. To better understand mechanisms of resistance that will aid development of new fusion inhibitors, we generated an escape mutant virus to an N peptide inhibitor (N44). This virus, however, was also equally resistant to T20 and other C peptides. This cross-resistance to fusion inhibitors was surprising because T20 binds the N-HR, while N44 binds the C-HR. We show that two point mutations, one each in the N-HR and C-HR were responsible for the resistance, but structural modeling of these mutations indicate that the mutations would not directly impair peptide binding. Further mechanistic studies of the resistant Env demonstrated that the mutations conferred increased infection kinetics, greater sensitivity to sCD4, enhanced syncytia formation, and enhanced exposure to CD4-induced epitopes. In summary these findings indicate a novel resistance mechanism involving improved receptor usage and faster entry kinetics. This indirect method of resistance is distinctively different from previous reports of escape from C peptide inhibitors that involve reduced peptide-binding affinity for the endogenous heptad repeat.
Interrelationships of More Healthful and Less Healthful Aspects of Diet Quality in a Low-Income Community Sample of Preschool-Aged Children

To investigate whether higher intake of “healthy” foods was associated with lower intake of “unhealthy” foods among a sample of low-income preschool-aged children, and if associations differed for younger (2–3 years) and older (4–5 years) children. Between May 2012 and May 2013, we studied 298 parents/guardians of 357 preschool-aged children living in a low-income area of a large Midwestern city in the United States. Parents reported on children’s past week frequency of intake of juice, fruits, vegetables, milk, sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, sweets, and salty snacks with seven response options (coded 0–6) ranging from none to ≥4 times/day. We combined fruits, vegetables, and milk to create a healthy diet score, and denoted a healthy diet behavior if frequency of intake of these foods was ≥2 times/day. Sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, sweets, and salty snacks were considered unhealthy aspects of children’s diets. Juice was examined separately. The number of healthy diet behaviors was not related to the number of unhealthy diet behaviors or the unhealthy diet score. This was true overall and by age group (P trend values ranged from 0.26 to 0.90), and the pattern did not differ by age (P interaction >0.3). Correlations between healthy and unhealthy diet scores overall and for younger and older preschool-aged children were not statistically significant (Spearman correlation coefficients = 0.05, −0.01 and 0.11 respectively). Healthy and unhealthy aspects of children’s diets may be independent of one another. Additional research in heterogeneous populations is needed.
The Drucker–Prager Model and Its Integration

The Drucker−Prager model was proposed by Drucker and Prager (1952) to describe the stress–strain behavior of pressure-dependent materials such as soil, rock, and concrete. The model uses in the stress space a conical failure surface whose projection in the octahedral plane is a circle and in the meridional plane is a line. In the octahedral plane, the circle is centered at the origin. In the meridional plane, the slope of the line represents the friction angle of the material and the intercept of the line represents the cohesion of the material. The failure surface is, therefore, a generalization of the Mohr−Coulomb failure surface (Chap. 9), represented by a smooth conical surface instead of the irregular hexagonal cone with corners. The details of the Drucker−Prager and Mohr−Coulomb failure surfaces are presented in Chap. 9.
Sequence and characterization of the met-7 gene of Neurospora crassa.

Abstract The proteins encoded by the met-7 + and met-3 + genes of Neurospora crassa are required to form a functional cystathionine-γ-synthase (CGS). The met-7 + gene has been cloned by complementation of a met-7 mutant. The nucleotide sequence of the complementing DNA reveals the presence of a 542-amino acid open reading frame (ORF). Disruption of this ORF abolishes complementation of the met-7 mutation.
Postural control and strength and mood among older adults

Falls are a significant problem among older adults. Reported correlates of older adult falls have included deteriorations in leg muscle strength and declines in postural control. However, some investigators have reported low correlations between measures of strength and postural control among older adults. Other investigators have reported that attention demands in this group are inversely related to their postural control. No study has attempted to predict postural control from mood precursors or from knee and ankle strength among older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between postural control and strength and mood precursors to attention among older adults. Twenty-seven older adults ( m = 73.8 years) completed the 16-item Mood Response Scale, which measures total mood, and three subscales conceptualized to be precursors of the subject's ability to foucs attention: alertness, contentedness, and calmness. Measures of each subject's isometric knee and ankle strength and postural control also were collected. Using stepwise regression analysis the investigators found that alertness accounted for the greatest amount of variance in all three measures of postural control ( R 2 = .20 to .27). Additionally, ankle strength, calmness, and age considerably increased the explained variance in postural sway with eyes closed (total R 2 = .416). Age was not a significant predictor of the other two measures of postural control. The findings suggest that alertness, a precursor to attention among older adults, is a significant predictor of postural control when vision is intact but that other factors assume importance when vision is impaired. These findings indicate that the postural stability of older adults may be improved, and falls reduced, through interventions which enhance the alertness and attention among older adults.
Effects of Different Mesh Sizes on Gill-Net Catches of Atlantic Salmon in Newfoundland

Abstract The potential impact on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) catches of recent proposals to standardize the regulated mesh size along the south coast, from Cape Pine to Terrenceville, with the rest of Newfoundland by increasing the minimum size from 114 to 127 mm was examined. The study included: (1) tagging experiments in Miramichi Bay in 1970 using 114-, 150-, and 154- mm-mesh nets; and (2) the calculation of losses to the commercial fishery by comparing maximum girth distributions of commercial catches sampled in the area of the proposed change with the perimeter of the lumen of the proposed mesh size. The distribution of 1-sea-winter (1SW) Atlantic salmon in the catch during the taggang study in 114-, 150-, and 154-mm-mesh nets was 98.3, 0.4, and 1.3%, respectively; for 2-sea-winter (2SW) fish, it was 34.5, 30.5, and 35.0%, respectively. These results suggested that catches of 1SW Atlantic salmon would decrease as the mesh size is increased but catches of 2SW fish would not be affected. Examination ...