cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increased release of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 2 accompanies the human mononuclear cell tissue factor response to lipopolysaccharide

Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) respond to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with increased release of a plasminogen activator (PA) inhibitor. This response is dose dependent and parallels the LPS-induced expression of PBM tissue factor activity. The PA inhibitors of control and LPS-stimulated PBMs appear identical as both are identified by antibodies to PA inhibitor type 2 of human placenta, but not by antibodies to type 1 inhibitor of bovine aortic endothelial cells. The PA inhibitor is specific for urokinase type PA as determined by the 125I-fibrin plate assay, and direct cleavage of 125I-plasminogen; it does not effectively inhibit tissue-type PA. The inhibitor forms an active site-dependent complex with 125I-urokinase, which then demonstrates an increase in mol wt from 33 kd to 68 kd on reduced sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gels. PBMs neither secrete nor express active PA. Hence, the exposure of PBMs to LPS results in conditions highly favorable to fibrin deposition and persistence: increased procoagulant and antifibrinolytic activities, accompanied by no measurable PA. Such modulation of these effectors may be important in the pathogenesis of fibrin characteristically found in tissue lesions of endotoxin-initiated processes.
Improving the Performance of Many-Objective Software Refactoring Technique Using Dimensionality Reduction

Software quality Assessment involves the measurement of a large number of software attributes referred to as quality metrics. In most searched-based software engineering processes, an optimization algorithm is used to evaluate a certain number of maintenance operations by minimizing or maximizing these quality metrics. One such process is software refactoring. When the solution to the problem includes a large number of objectives, various difficulties arise, including the determination of the Pareto-optimal front, and the visualization of the solutions. However, in some refactoring problem, there may be redundancies among any two or more objectives. In this paper, we propose a new software refactoring approach named PCA-NSGA-II many-objective refactoring. This approach is based on the PCA-NSGA-II evolutionary multi-objective algorithm, and can overcome the curse of dimensionality by removing redundancies to retain conflicting objectives for further analysis.
Toxicity and infectivity: insights from de novo prion formation

Prions are infectious misfolded proteins that assemble into oligomers and large aggregates, and are associated with neurodegeneration. It is believed that the oligomers contribute to cytotoxicity, although genetic and environmental factors have also been shown to have additional roles. The study of the yeast prion [PSI +] has provided valuable insights into how prions form and why they are toxic. Our recent work suggests that SDS-resistant oligomers arise and remodel early during the prion formation process, and lysates containing these newly formed oligomers are infectious. Previous work shows that toxicity is associated with prion formation and this toxicity is exacerbated by deletion of the VPS5 gene. Here, we show that newly made oligomer formation and infectivity of vps5∆ lysates are similar to wild-type strains. However using green fluorescent protein fusions, we observe that the assembly of fluorescent cytoplasmic aggregates during prion formation is different in vps5∆ strains. Instead of large immobile aggregates, vps5∆ strains have an additional population of small mobile foci. We speculate that changes in the cellular milieu in vps5∆ strains may reduce the cell's ability to efficiently recruit and sequester newly formed prion particles into central deposition sites, resulting in toxicity.
Peer Problems Among Postinstitutionalized, Internationally Adopted Children: Relations to Hypocortisolism, Parenting Quality, and ADHD Symptoms.

Seventy-eight postinstitutionalized (PI) children adopted at ages 17-36 months were assessed 2, 8, 16, and 24 months postadoption on measures of cortisol and parenting quality, and compared to same-aged children adopted from foster care (FC, n = 45) and nonadopted children (NA, n = 45). In kindergarten (Mage = 6.0 years), teachers, parents, and trained observers completed measures of peer relationships and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. PI children had more peer problems and ADHD symptoms according to teachers and observers than NA children with FC children in between, whereas both PI and FC children were at significantly greater risk of hypocortisolism (i.e., blunted cortisol diurnal rhythm and reactivity). Hypocortisolism and ADHD symptoms mediated the association between preadoption adversity and peer difficulties. Higher postadoption parenting quality was protective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Perspectives on the Strengths and Weaknesses of the National Kidney Allocation System.

On December 4, 2014 a new system for allocating deceased donor kidneys, the National Kidney Allocation System (KAS) went into effect. The original KAS was introduced in 1987 ([1][1]) with the formation of the United Network of Organ Sharing, and one throw of a computer switch wiped away an
Convolutional encoder-decoder for breast mass segmentation in digital breast tomosynthesis

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a relatively new modality for breast imaging that can provide detailed assessment of dense tissue within the breast. In the domains of cancer diagnosis, radiogenomics, and resident education, it is important to accurately segment breast masses. However, breast mass segmentation is a very challenging task, since mass regions have low contrast difference between their neighboring tissues. Notably, the task might become more difficult in cases that were assigned BI-RADS 0 category since this category includes many lesions that are of low conspicuity and locations that were deemed to be overlapping normal tissue upon further imaging and were not sent to biopsy. Segmentation of such lesions is of particular importance in the domain of reader performance analysis and education. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning-based method for segmentation of BI-RADS 0 lesions in DBT. The key components of our framework are an encoding path for local-to-global feature extraction, and a decoding patch to expand the images. To address the issue of limited training data, in the training stage, we propose to sample patches not only in mass regions but also in non-mass regions. We utilize a Dice-like loss function in the proposed network to alleviate the class-imbalance problem. The preliminary results on 40 subjects show promise of our method. In addition to quantitative evaluation of the method, we present a visualization of the results that demonstrate both the performance of the algorithm as well as the difficulty of the task at hand.
The Effects of Prayer and Prayer Experiences on Measures of General Weil-Being:

Although some 90% of all Americans claim to pray, a review of social science literature will reveal that researchers have shown little interest in the topic. The 1985 Akron Area Survey which focuse...
Direct Evidence of Exciton–Exciton Annihilation in Single-Crystalline Organic Metal Halide Nanotube Assemblies

Excitons in low-dimensional organic–inorganic metal halide hybrid structures are commonly thought to undergo rapid self-trapping following creation due to strong quantum confinement and exciton–phonon interaction. Here we report an experimental study probing the dynamics of these self-trapped excitons in the single-crystalline bulk assemblies of 1D organic metal halide nanotubes, (C6H13N4)3Pb2Br7. Through time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements at different excitation intensities, we observed a marked variation in the PL decay behavior that is manifested by an accelerated decay rate with increasing excitation fluence. Our results offer direct evidence of the occurrence of an exciton–exciton annihilation process, a nonlinear relaxation phenomenon that takes place only when some of the self-trapped excitons become mobile and can approach either each other or those trapped excitons. We further identify a fast and dominant PL decay component with a lifetime of ∼2 ns with a nearly invariant relative ...
Leveraging blockchain for retraining deep learning architecture in patient-specific arrhythmia classification

Stacked Denoising Autoencoders (SDA) are deep networks which have gained popularity owing to their superior performance in image classification applications, but they haven't been used much in healthcare applications. SDA can be efficiently retrained to adapt to large streams of data, and this property is used in this work to develop a technique for classification of arrhythmias in a patient-specific manner. This approach is particularly useful in continuous remote systems because they gather large amounts of data for longer periods of time. Blockchain is a decentralized distributed ledger which secures transactions with cryptography. It is proposed as an access control manager to securely store and access data required by the classifier during retraining in real-time from an external data storage. This work uses MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database and the results show an increased accuracy for Ventricular Ectopic Beats (VEB) (99.15%) and Supraventricular Ectopic Beats (SVEB) (98.55%), which is higher than the published results of deep networks that are not retrained.
Outline of Numerical Methods

Recalling that most of the commonly used computational approaches involve numerical methods, we will now address the task of generating numerical solutions of problems in engineering systems and computation of their dynamics. Of the large number of numerical methods which are used for computation of the solutions, this chapter will present a brief account of some of the well-known methods [1, 2, 3, 4]. These can be generally considered in several categories.
Interaction in Small Groups

This chapter reviews both current and classic research on small group interaction. The chapter begins with a brief review of the primary methods used to study small groups. This is followed by a discussion of research on power, status, and leadership, reviewing research on role differentiation, the development of status structures, and theories of leadership. A discussion of inclusion and exclusion processes in groups follows, including research on cohesiveness and social identity versus ostracism, social rejection, and schisms in groups, as well as a discussion of majority and minority influence. The final content section reviews motivation and coordination processes in groups, including social facilitation and social loafing, transactive memory systems, and information exchange. In concluding statements, we note that research on small groups has moved beyond the previous disciplinary boundaries of social psychology to fields such as organizational behavior, education, and industrial engineering, and this move has added topics of interest to the more traditional social psychological and sociological explorations of status and power.
Religion, Science, Culture, and SETI

This chapter looks at the crossroads of science, religion, and culture as it relates to SETI and responds to the claim made by some that SETI is a religion. Religion and SETI share interests, even while approaching those interests in very different ways. The chapter concludes by looking at SETI as a product of a Western worldview, one that has been heavily influenced by assumptions contained in both Western theology and philosophy.
Recent Results in the Analysis of Made-to-Order Production

There are many possible specifications that embed learning hypotheses within production functions. One approach is to assume neutral technological change and augment a production function with learning as a function of cumulative output. Another possibility is to treat learning as a separate output in a multiple output production function. The output of learning increases the stock of knowledge, and the stock of knowledge enters the production function in the next instance of time as an input.
An Implementation Coaching Framework to Support a Career and University Readiness Program for Underserved First-Year College Students

Intervention research is replete with examples of finely crafted innovations showing initial efficacy in tightly controlled experimental contexts only to fail when they are implemented in typical u...
A Spectrotemporal Correlate of Language Impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This study introduces an objective neurophysiological marker of language ability, the integral of event-related desynchronization in the 5–20 Hz band during 0.2–1 seconds post auditory stimulation with interleaved word/non-word tokens. This measure correlates with clinical assessment of language function in both ASD and neurotypical pediatric populations. The measure does not appear related to general cognitive ability nor autism symptom severity (beyond degree of language impairment). We suggest that this oscillatory brain activity indexes lexical search and thus increases with increased search in the mental lexicon. While specificity for language impairment in ASD remains to be determined, such an objective index has potential utility in low functioning individuals with ASD and young children during language acquisition.
Selective developmental regulation of gene expression for insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins in mouse spinal cord.

Study Design. Prospective, randomized experimental study in mice. Study Objective. To determine whether insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are present in mouse spinal cord and, if so, what role they play in its development. Summary of Background Data. Insulin-like growth factors are well recognized hormonal effectors of growth hormone and are expressed in the mammalian spinal cord. The IGFBPs are a group of six genetically distinct proteins that bind IGFs and modulate their bioactivity. They appear in the brain during development, localize to the neuromuscular junction, and promote motor neuron survival. The benefit of IGF-I in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS and its potential use in preventing motor neuron apoptosis in spinal cord injury dictates that studies of the presence and response of IGFBPs in that tissue be performed. Methods. The IGFBPs in mouse spinal cord were analyzed by Western ligand blot, Western immunoblot, and reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction at various time points from embryonic day 14 to postnatal day 30. Results. Three IGFBPs with molecular masses of 24, 28, and 32 kDa were found, the latter two being the most prominent. The data indicate that these are IGFBP-4, -5, and -2. Conclusion. Both IGFBP-2 and BP-5 are developmentally regulated in mouse spinal cord, with higher levels of those at early embryonic stages indicating their potential role in development of the mouse spinal cord.
Abstract 522: PI3K/Akt signaling in tumor cells promotes immune evasion by limiting infiltration, recognition and killing by T cells

The presence of tumor-infiltrating T cells is associated with favorable patient outcomes, yet most pancreatic cancers are immunologically silent and resistant to currently available immunotherapy. In this study, a syngeneic orthotopic implantation model of pancreatic cancer was used to show that PI3K/Akt signaling in tumor cells down-regulate immunogenicity to evade T cell surveillance. Genetic silencing of PI3K catalytic isoform Pik3ca in KrasG12D/Trp53R172H-driven pancreatic tumors leads to infiltration of T cells, complete tumor regression, and 100% survival of immunocompetent host mice. By contrast, Pik3ca-null tumors implanted in T cell-deficient mice progress and kill 100% of the animals. Adoptive transfer of tumor antigen-experienced T cells eliminates Pik3ca-null tumors in immunodeficient mice. Pik3ca silencing or inhibition of its effector, Akt, increases the expression of MHC Class I and CD80 on the surface of murine and human pancreatic cancer cells. Down-regulating MHC Class I and CD80 expression, or increasing Akt activity, in Pik3ca-null tumors increases their susceptibility to T cell-mediated regression in vivo. These results indicate that PI3K/Akt signaling in tumor cells limits T cell recognition and clearance of pancreatic cancer. Strategies that selectively target the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in tumor cells may improve immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer. Citation Format: Nithya Sivaram, Patrick McLaughlin, Ya-Ping Jiang, Lisa Ballou, Kien Pham, Chen Liu, Adrianus van der Velden, Richard Lin. PI3K/Akt signaling in tumor cells promotes immune evasion by limiting infiltration, recognition and killing by T cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 522.
Teaching Undergraduate Clinicians Empirically Supported Practices for Preschool Vocabulary Instruction

Purpose To incorporate evidence-based practice into clinical settings, there is a need for efficient, effective ways to share information from research to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and to...
Airway management principles in complex cervicofacial infections

Complex cervicofacial infections encompass a unique subset of upper and lower airway disorders with both potential to progress into a life-threating clinical condition. In the modern era, treatment of aggressive extracranial infections continues to revolve around the hallmark principles of airway stabilization, broad-spectrum antimicrobials, radiography, and surgical drainage. Approaches to complicated head and neck infections remain a multidisciplinary endeavor involving an experienced team of anesthesiologists, critical care intensivists, and otolaryngologists. This article aims to both review and highlight key therapeutic strategies in the management of this challenging pathologic entity with special consideration given to emergent airway maneuvers and operative techniques.
Detecion of human papillomavirus genotype and its distribution characteristics of the polulation

Objective To analysis of the prevalence and genotype distribution of human papilloma-virus (HPV) in Heyuan city.Methods 6745 cases of epithelial cell specimens were subjected HPV subtype screening by HybriMax technology.Results Among the 6745 women,1701 women were HPV positive.The overall prevalence of HPV was 25.20％ (1701/6745).Among the HPV-positive women,74.40％ (1265/1701) were infected with a single HPV type,and 25.63％ (436/1701) were infected with more than one.Infections with double and multiple subtype of HR-HPV was common.Infected with more than six types just were below the age of 24.There were no women infected with more than five type of HPV over the age of 50.We observed a Ushaped age-specific prevalence curve with a first peak over the age of 60 and a second peak below the age of 24 for overall HPV infection,low-risk HPV infection and high-risk HPV infection.The most common subtype was HPV52 (25.69％),followed by HPV16(17.34％)and HPV58(15.52％) in the 15 HR-HPV subtypes,HPV81 (8.23 ％) was the most common subtype in 6 LR-HPV subtypes,followed by HPV6 (6.94％).There is a difference in HPV subtype infection among age groups.Conclusion The high rate of HPV infection is observed in Heyuan city.Multiple HPV infections were identified in 25.63％ of the positive specimens,Two peaks of HPV prevalence were observed in women who were over the age of 60 and below the age of 24 for overall HPV infection,low-risk HPV and high-risk HPV types and the most common subtype was HPV52.There is a difference in HPV subtype infection among age groups. Key words: Human papilloma-virus; PCR-HybriMax ; Genotype ; Cervix cancer
Bifidobacterium adolescentis supplementation attenuates fracture-induced systemic sequelae

The gut microbiota is an important contributor to both health and disease. While previous studies have reported on the beneficial influences of the gut microbiota and probiotic supplementation on bone health, their role in recovery from skeletal injury and resultant systemic sequelae remains unexplored. This study aimed to determine the extent to which probiotics could modulate bone repair by dampening fracture-induced systemic inflammation. Our findings demonstrate that femur fracture induced an increase in gut permeability lasting up to 7 days after trauma before returning to basal levels. Strikingly, dietary supplementation with Bifidobacterium adolescentis augmented the tightening of the intestinal barrier, dampened the systemic inflammatory response to fracture, accelerated fracture callus cartilage remodeling, and elicited enhanced protection of the intact skeleton following fracture. Together, these data outline a mechanism whereby dietary supplementation with beneficial bacteria can be therapeutically targeted to prevent the systemic pathologies induced by femur fracture.
Design and Synthesis of Nanostructured Materials for Sensor Applications

There has been an increasing demand for the development of sensor devices with improved characteristics such as sensitivity, low cost, faster response, reliability, rapider recovery, reduced size, in situ analysis, and simple operation. Nanostructured materials have shown great potential in improving these properties for chemical and biological sensors. There are different nanostructured materials which have been used in manufacturing nanosensors which include nanoscale wires (capability of high detection sensitivity), carbon nanotubes (very high surface area and high electron conductivity), thin films, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, polymer, and biomaterials. This review provides different methods which have been used in the synthesis and fabrication of these nanostructured materials followed by an extensive review of the recent developments of metal, metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, and polymer nanostructured materials in sensor applications.
Spatial Decomposition of a Broadband Pulse Caused by Strong Frequency Dispersion of Sound in Acoustic Metamaterial Superlattice.

An acoustic metamaterial superlattice is used for the spatial and spectral deconvolution of a broadband acoustic pulse into narrowband signals with different central frequencies. The operating frequency range is located on the second transmission band of the superlattice. The decomposition of the broadband pulse was achieved by the frequency-dependent refraction angle in the superlattice. The refracted angle within the acoustic superlattice was larger at higher operating frequency and verified by numerical calculated and experimental mapped sound fields between the layers. The spatial dispersion and the spectral decomposition of a broadband pulse were studied using lateral position-dependent frequency spectra experimentally with and without the superlattice structure along the direction of the propagating acoustic wave. In the absence of the superlattice, the acoustic propagation was influenced by the usual divergence of the beam, and the frequency spectrum was unaffected. The decomposition of the broadband wave in the superlattice’s presence was measured by two-dimensional spatial mapping of the acoustic spectra along the superlattice’s in-plane direction to characterize the propagation of the beam through the crystal. About 80% of the frequency range of the second transmission band showed exceptional performance on decomposition.
Public Health and the Power to Exclude: Immigrant Expulsions at the Border

We are presently in the midst of a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, as Courts, and indeed the Biden Administration, are struggling to manage thousands of immigrants waiting to seek asylum in the midst of a global pandemic. Beginning in March of 2020, against the advice of public health experts, the U.S. Government closed the southern U.S.-Mexico border, disproportionately impacting would-be asylum seekers from Central America, who are now immediately expelled from the United States should they reach the border under a process known as “Title 42.” Not only do these expulsions lack a legitimate public health rationale, but they also violate our domestic and international legal obligations to protect immigrants at risk of persecution or torture. This piece begins by exploring the historic intersections of public health and immigration law, and the origins of federal quarantine and exclusion power. Woven into the article are first hand accounts of advocates on both sides of the border who have witnessed the devastating impact of COVID-19 era immigrant expulsions. Ultimately, this article argues that we must seek alternatives - including ending Title 42 expulsions, deferring to public health experts, dispatching additional resources to the border and ending our reliance on immigration detention.
T helper 17 cells in the pathophysiology of acute and chronic kidney disease

Both acute and chronic kidney disease have a strong underlying inflammatory component. This review focuses primarily on T helper 17 (Th17) cells as mediators of inflammation and their potential to modulate acute and chronic kidney disease. We provide updated information on factors and signaling pathways that promote Th17 cell differentiation with specific reference to kidney disease. We highlight numerous clinical studies that have investigated Th17 cells in the setting of human kidney disease and provide updated summaries from various experimental animal models of kidney disease indicating an important role for Th17 cells in renal fibrosis and hypertension. We focus on the pleiotropic effects of Th17 cells in different renal cell types as potentially relevant to the patho genesis of kidney disease. Finally, we highlight studies that present contrasting roles for Th17 cells in kidney disease progression.
Coxiella burnetii encodes an LvgA-related protein important for intracellular replication

Coxiella burnetii is a bacterial pathogen that replicates in a specialized lysosome-derived organelle called the Coxiella-containing vacuole (CCV). Establishment of the CCV requires the Dot/Icm type IVB secretion system. A previous transposon mutagenesis screen identified the gene cbu1754 as being important for the intracellular replication of C. burnetii. To understand the function of the protein encoded by cbu1754, CCV maturation and intracellular replication phenotypes of a cbu1754 mutant were analyzed. In contrast to vacuoles containing wild-type C. burnetii Nine Mile phase II, vacuoles containing the isogenic cbu1754 mutant were smaller and did not display detectible amounts of the autophagy protein LC3, which indicated a CCV biogenesis defect. The Cbu1754 protein was not efficiently delivered into the host cell cytosol during infection, which indicated this protein is not a Dot/Icm-translocated effector protein. Secondary structure predictions suggested that Cbu1754 could be similar to the Legionella pneumophila LvgA protein, which is a component of the Dot/Icm apparatus. Consistent with this hypothesis, production of Cbu1754 in an L. pneumophila ∆lvgA mutant restored LvgA-dependent activities. The L. pneumophila proteins LvgA, IcmS and IcmW are interacting partners that comprise a subassembly of the coupling protein complex that mediates Dot/Icm-dependent effector translocation. Similarly, the Cbu1754 protein was found to be a component of the chaperone complex containing the C. burnetii proteins IcmS and IcmW. Thus, the Cbu1754 protein is an LvgA-related protein important for Dot/Icm function and intracellular replication of C. burnetii. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
“I Cannot Wait to Build that One Day”: Lesbian and Bisexual College-Age Women’s Views on Marriage and Family:

After the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in 2015, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has gained visibility. One cohort that is affected by this decis...
A Retrospective Study of Touchless Spray for Pediatric Perineal Burns Treatment.

Background Silver-based topical treatments have seen widespread use for the management of burns due to silver's antimicrobial activity. Recent studies suggest silver nanoparticles could negatively impact healing time due to their toxic effect on keratinocytes and fibroblasts at higher concentrations [1, 2]. Zinc oxide antimicrobial activity has been demonstrated in vitro [3, 4] and results from animal studies are promising for burn management [5]. At our ABA-verified pediatric burn center, the use of silver sulfadiazine cream ("Silvadene") has been slowly replaced by a zinc oxide/dimethicone spray-on solution ("Touchless Spray"). The dimethicone allows the spray to be occlusive without interfering with clothing, yet easily removed as opposed to Silvadene cream which requires wound scrubbing to remove and replace; potentially improving patient adherence with at-home treatments. This is the first study of zinc oxide's efficacy as a burn wound management agent in humans. Objectives We sought to compare the efficacy of silver sulfadiazine and that of zinc oxide/dimethicone to determine if zinc oxide/dimethicone, in its easy-to-use form, is a viable alternative to silver sulfadiazine. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of the electronic medical records of all patients treated for perineal, genital, perianal, suprapubic or buttocks burn wounds at a large pediatric verified burn center from January 1, 2014 to October 28, 2019. Only patients with superficial 2 nd degree scald burns that arrived at our institution less than 24 hours after injury were included. Of a total 52 patients identified, 27 patients received silver sulfadiazine while 25 received zinc oxide/dimethicone. After initial evaluation and treatment by the burn team, all patients were followed at our weekly burn clinic until complete healing was achieved. We retrospectively extracted demographic data, wound size, depth, and location, management strategies, time to complete healing, and incidence of infectious and non-infectious complications. Results The control group contained patients with total body surface area burns significantly greater than the zinc oxide/dimethicone group likely due to selective treatment when zinc oxide/dimethicone was first introduced at our facility. Time to healing was significantly lower in the zinc oxide/dimethicone intervention group (12.16 +/- 8.644 days) than the silver sulfadiazine control group (16.89 +/- 11.342 days). No infections were observed. Limitations include the relatively small sample sizes and differences in size of burn wounds that confounded our results and likely negatively impacted healing time in the control group. Conclusion The zinc oxide/dimethicone group had a significantly lower healing time than silver sulfadiazine group in the treatment of pediatric burns to the perineum, genitalia, suprapubis, and buttocks. Zinc oxide/dimethicone may prove to be a useful tool for treating burn wounds and further study is needed to determine its efficacy and safety.
Depression and mental health service use among 12-17 year old U.S. adolescents: Associations with current parental and sibling military service.

Abstract Objective To examine whether having a parent and/or a sibling currently serving in the military is associated with major depression and use of mental health services among 12–17 year old adolescents in the United States. Method Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses are conducted using pooled data from the 2016–2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Analyses are weighted and standard errors are adjusted for the complex sampling design. Results Adolescents are more likely to have a sibling than a parent currently serving in the military. Having a sibling currently in the military increases the likelihood of having a lifetime and a past-year major depressive episode (MDE), but not a past-year MDE with severe role impairment or use of mental health services. Having a parent in the military is not associated with any measure of MDE, but increases use of specialty outpatient, specialty inpatient/residential, and non-specialty mental health services net of MDE and sociodemographic controls. Conclusion Considerable attention has focused on risk and resilience among the dependent children of current service members. A better understanding of how the current military service experiences of siblings, as well as parents, influences related adolescents’ mental health, mental health care service use, substance use, and health behaviors has the potential to contribute to programs and interventions that can enhance the well-being of youth with intra-generational, as well as inter-generational, connections to the military. Adolescents who have a sibling currently serving in the military are an at-risk population for MDE and potentially other mental and behavioral health problems.
Anchoring policy development around stable points

The daunting pace of innovation in the information and communications technology (ICT) landscape, of technology and business structure, is a well-known but under-appreciated reality. In contrast, the rate of policy and regulatory innovation is much slower, partly due to its inherently more deliberative character. We describe this disparity in terms of the natural rates of change in different parts of the ecosystem, and examine why it has impeded attempts to impose effective regulation on the telecommunications industry. We explain why a recent movement to reduce this disparity by increasing the pace of regulation - adaptive regulation - faces five obstacles that may hinder its feasibility in the ICT ecosystem. As a means to achieve more sustainable regulatory frameworks for ICT industries, we introduce an approach based on finding stable points in the system architecture. We explore the origin and role of these stable points in a rapidly evolving system, and argue that they can provide a means to support development of policies, including adaptive regulation approaches, that are more likely to survive the rapid pace of evolution in technology. We describe the natural rate of change for different parts of the ICT ecosystem.We discuss why regulation is constrained to evolve at a slower pace than technology.We list five challenges that regulation must solve to remain fit for purpose.Attaching regulation to stable points in the system may improve their viability.
A Method for Dominant Points Detection and Matching 2D Object Identification

A method for dominant points detection and matching 2D object identification using a new procedure for selecting dominant points is presented. This method can be classified as searching corner detection using some significant measure other than curvature category. For matching 2D object identification, an easy extension of the Gu–Tjahjadi method is proposed, modifying the comparison criterion in order to obtain a symmetrical and normalized function which allows metrics to be defined between contours. The experimental results show that this method is efficient and effective and significantly reduces the number of dominant points as compared to other proposed methods.
Discovering Business Process Similarities: An Empirical Study with SAP Best Practice Business Processes

Large organizations tend to have hundreds of business processes. Discovering and understanding the similarities among these business processes are useful to organizations for a number of reasons: (a) business processes can be managed and maintained more efficiently, (b) business processes can be reused in new or changed implementations, and (c) investment guidance on which aspects of business processes to improve can be obtained. In this empirical paper, we present the results of our study on over five thousand business processes obtained from SAP’s standardized business process repository divided up into two groups: Industry-specific and Cross-industry. The results are encouraging. We found that 39% of cross-industry processes and 43% of SAP-industry processes have commonalities. Additionally, we found that 20% of all processes studied have at least 50% similarity with other processes. We use the notion of semantic similarity on process and process activity labels to determine similarity. These results indicate that there is enough similarity among business processes in organizations to take advantage of. While this is anecdotally stated, to our knowledge, this is the first attempt to empirically validate this hypothesis using real-world business processes of this size. We present the implications and future research directions on this topic and call for further empirical studies in this area.
An IMC-Based Extended PID Controller for Sampled-Data Systems

Extended Proportional Integral Derivative (EPID) is a model based control algorithm which consists of a conventional digital PID controller plus an additional compensator. This novel extension to the PID control algorithm offers the same properties as the IMC controller for a broad class of common industrial process models. EPID control simplifies the industrial implementation of IMC and has three important additional advantages. First, since EPID is based on the PID algorithm, it is easily understood by process engineers, control engineers and maintenance personnel. Second, the EPID strategy is easy to implement on industrial distributed control systems and can take full advantage of the functionality built into the available PID algorithms such as set-point tracking, automatic mode switching, etc. Third, since the IMC design procedure for sampled-data systems is used to derive the EPID controller parameters, it results in a controller that eliminates intersample rippling of the manipulated variable and overshoot of the process variable. Additionally, EPID explicitly takes into account model uncertainty, and has only one adjustable parameter which is directly related to the closed-loop speed of response and to control robustness. This paper presents the derivation of the EPID algorithm and IMC-based EPID tuning rules for common industrial process models. The practical and powerful EPID design tools, including performance analysis and robust stability analysis allow the designer to achieve the best compromise between the conflicting objectives of performance and robustness.
Software Development Using the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory Paradigm

The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory is a software development paradigm that goes beyond the conventional global delivery model. It involves round-the-clock operations through the establishment of three or more development teams around the globe. Complex projects are iteratively broken down into simpler modules, with a "composite persona" (CP) being responsible for each of such modules. Developers around the globe work during day hours only; and the unfinished work is handed off to the next CP driver. The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory concept integrates advances in business processes and IT to provide a greater level of agility and efficiency.
Characteristics of presumptive idiopathic disseminated intravascular coagulation during second-trimester induced abortion.

Abstract Background Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a serious and relatively uncommon complication of induced or spontaneous abortion or delivery. Occasionally, it has been reported in the absence of predisposing conditions. Little information in the literature describing idiopathic DIC or the treatment of patients with DIC exists. Study Design From 2002 through 2008, 24 cases of presumptive idiopathic DIC occurred following dilation and evacuation (DE no case of DIC was under 17 weeks' gestational age. Increased bleeding occurred at a mean time of 153 min after completion of surgery (range, 55-491 min; median, 131 min). Nineteen of 24 cases were successfully treated at the surgical center after receiving 6 to 8 units of fresh-frozen plasma (FFP); 5 cases were transferred to a hospital for further treatment. Conclusions The abnormal bleeding of presumptive DIC typically begins to appear within 2 h after uncomplicated D&E and is more likely to occur at 17 weeks' estimated gestational age and more. With rapid diagnosis and treatment, most patients were able to be treated in an outpatient setting with up to 6 to 8 units of FFP and rehydration.
A journey shared; a task fulfilled.

Beginning April 2010, the Journal of Neuroimmunology will have at its helm a new Editor-in-Chief, Michael K. Racke, whose charge it will be to lead us to new heights as clinical and molecular technologies continue to develop. For this departing (and yes, somewhat saddened) Editor-in-Chief, the inception, launching, and day-to-day running of our Journal has been an exciting journey, a journey shared for three decades with all who have contributed — authors, reviewers and readers alike. In science, sharing is what it is all about and sharing affects all tasks, the mundane and the scientific.
Effects of exercise tolerance, age, and gender on the specificity of radionuclide angiography: Sequential ejection fraction analysis during multistage exercise

Abstract We investigated the factors that determine the left ventricular ejection fraction response to exercise in 57 middle-aged, untrained patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries. The ejection fraction was measured by blood pool radionuclide angiography during each stage of exercise. Stepwise regression analysis was applied to 39 variables, and the resulting significant variables were then included in a logistic regression model to determine which of them would predict a normal ejection fraction response. By stepwise regression analysis, the best model (F = 5.6, p = 0.0004) was obtained by combining four variables: achieving 85% of maximal predicted heart rate, peak heart rate, number of exercise stages performed, and resting pulse pressure. Only the latter two variables were significant by logistic regression analysis. The specificity of ≧ 5 ejection fraction unit increase at peak exercise was 42%, 75%, and 100% in patients who exercised one, two, or three stages, respectively. Furthermore, the increase in ejection fraction during each exercise stage was independent of age or gender. Thus the standard criteria of normality during exercise radionuclide angiography have high specificity only when applied to patients with good exercise performance, regardless of age or gender.
Use of bend loss to obtain single-transverse-mode operation of a multimode fiber amplifier

Summary form only given.Use of single-mode (SM) fiber lasers and amplifiers for applications requiring optical pulses with high energy and/or high peak power has been limited by the relatively low energy storage of SM fibers and by the onset of nonlinear processes in the fiber. Similarly, for cw applications requiring narrow linewidth, the maximum power is limited by nonlinear processes. Two approaches to overcoming these limitations have been reported: (1) use of large-mode-area SM fibers; and (2) use of multimode (MM) gain fibers, in which suppression of high-order modes is achieved by adjusting the fiber index and dopant distributions, cavity configuration, and/or launch conditions of the seed beam. We report a new approach to obtain SM operation of a laser or amplifier employing MM fiber. By wrapping the gain fiber around a cylindrical mandrel whose radius is chosen to provide low loss for the fundamental mode and high loss for LP/sub 11/ and the other high-order modes, bend loss can be used as a form of distributed spatial filtering, thereby allowing the core diameter to be increased significantly beyond the SM limit.
Dollars Dollars Everywhere, nor Any Dime to Lend : Credit Limit Constraints on Financial Sector Absorptive Capacity

We exploit an unexpected inflow of liquidity in an emerging market to study how capital is intermediated to firms. We find that backward-looking credit limit constraints imposed by banks make it difficult for firms to borrow, despite readily available bank liquidity, healthy aggregate demand, and a sharply falling cost of capital. The resulting aggregate failure to extend and retain capital in the economy suggests that agency costs that force banks to rely on sticky balance-sheet-based credit limits prevent emerging economies from effectively intermediating capital.
Rapid viral diagnosis

Summary Both the methodology and the demand for rapid viral diagnosis are increasing. Many of the methods used are within the scope of a clinical laboratory where tissue culture facilities are not available. Little standardization exists as yet, however, and rapid diagnostic tests require both careful attention to detail and knowledgeable interpretation to assure their usefulness.
Phenytoin protects central axons in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Abstract Axon degeneration is a major contributor to non-remitting deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus the development of therapies to provide protection of axons has elicited considerable interest. Voltage-gated sodium channels have been implicated in the injury cascade leading to axonal damage, and sodium-channel blockers have shown efficacy in ameliorating axonal damage in disease models following anoxia, trauma and damaging levels of nitric oxide (NO). Here we discuss studies in our laboratory that examined the protective effects of phenytoin, a well-characterized sodium-channel blocker, in the inflammatory/demyelinating disorder experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of MS. Administration of phenytoin to C57/Bl6 mice inoculated with rat myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) provides improved clinical status, preservation of axons, enhanced action potential conduction and reduced immune infiltrates compared to untreated mice with EAE. Moreover, continuous treatment with phenytoin provides these protective actions for at least 180 days post-MOG injection. The withdrawal of phenytoin from mice inoculated with MOG, however, is accompanied by acute exacerbation of EAE, with significant mortality and infiltration of immune cells in the CNS. Our studies demonstrate the efficacy of phenytoin as a neuroprotectant in EAE. Our results also, however, indicate that we need to learn more about the long-term effects of sodium-channel blockers, and of their withdrawal, in neuroinflammatory disorders.
A Rat Model of Osteoarthritic Temporomandibular Joint Pain: Mechanically-Induced Behavioral Hypersensitivity and Histologic Modifications

Orofacial pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA) in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a significant clinical problem [1]. The pathophysiologic and cellular mediators that underlie the development of such chronic orofacial pain are not well understood, nor has a relationship to mechanical loading been defined. Several experimental models have been developed to examine causative factors in TMJ OA progression and joint pathology. Such models often involve intra-articular injections or surgical manipulation of tissue structures in order to alter joint kinematics and stability [2–6]. For example, severing of the discal attachments followed by anterior displacement of the disc has been employed in a rabbit model, while disc perforation and scraping of the condylar surface have been used in sheep models to induce OA symptoms [2,3]. A limitation of the above approaches is that they introduce artificial damage to the joint structures and do not approximate the clinical disorder of mechanically-induced TMJ OA. Therefore, the goal of this pilot study was to develop a novel model of TMJ OA via non-invasive and mechanically relevant methods that could produce behavioral hypersensitivity (mechanical allodynia) suggestive of pain symptoms and histological changes in the TMJ consistent with osteoarthritic pathology.Copyright © 2007 by ASME