cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into the developing murine proteome

Analysis of the developing proteome has been complicated by a lack of tools that can be easily employed to label and identify newly synthesized proteins within complex biological mixtures. Here, we demonstrate that the methionine analogs azidohomoalanine and homopropargylglycine can be globally incorporated into the proteome of mice through facile intraperitoneal injections. These analogs contain bio-orthogonal chemical handles to which fluorescent tags can be conjugated to identify newly synthesized proteins. We show these non-canonical amino acids are incorporated into various tissues in juvenile mice and in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, administration of these methionine analogs to pregnant dams during a critical stage of murine development, E10.5–12.5 when many tissues are assembling, does not overtly disrupt development as assessed by proteomic analysis and normal parturition and growth of pups. This successful demonstration that non-canonical amino acids can be directly administered in vivo will enable future studies that seek to characterize the murine proteome during growth, disease and repair.
Electrochemically synthesized nanoporous gold as a cathode material for Li-O 2 batteries

Nanoporous gold (NPG) prepared via chemical de-alloying has been recently shown to dramatically improve the reversibility and kinetics of Li-O2 batteries, but high cost makes its use as practical electrode material difficult. Recently developed electrochemical routines for synthesis of very thin NPG layers (<100 nm) on various low-cost substrates could potentially provide a feasible economic alternative. In this work, NPG on both gold and glassy carbon (GC) substrates was successfully synthesized via electrochemical de-alloying method and tested as cathode material in Li-O2 batteries. The results show that electrochemically synthesized NPG cathode cycles repeatedly with LiFePO4 anode. The voltage hysteresis is also significantly reduced when NPG is used in comparison with plain GC. Along with these results, challenges that need to be addressed for future implementation of NPG cathode in practical Li-O2 batteries are also discussed.
Tube Feeding in Children.

1. Sarita Singhal, MD*,† 2. Susan S. Baker, MD, PhD*,† 3. Georgina A. Bojczuk, RD, CSP† 4. Robert D. Baker, MD, PhD*,† 1. *Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 2. †Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Center, Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, Kaleida Health, Buffalo, NY Enteral tube feeding (TF) is an important part of the care of acutely ill children as well as an essential technique to deliver nutrition to children who have chronic conditions. However, the techniques of TF are neither a part of medical school courses nor specifically taught in pediatric residency programs. Thus, learning how to initiate, monitor, moderate, and transition TF is often learned by trial and error. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Understand the need for nutritional assessment and nutrition support. 2. Recognize indications and contraindications for tube feeding (TF). 3. Plan the evaluation of a patient who requires TF. 4. Recognize the factors that are important to make the proper selection of enteral access for TF. 5. Plan the initiation and administration of TF. 6. Recognize the potential complications of TF and learn troubleshooting methods. 7. Coordinate care for home nutrition support and assist in the transition to oral feedings. 8. Understand the social needs of patients who have TF. Tube feeding (TF) is a mode of providing enteral nutrition when oral feeding is not possible or not sufficient. TF is delivered through a medical device that can be placed into the stomach, duodenum, or jejunum via either the nose, mouth, or the percutaneous route. This review focuses on TF in children beyond the neonatal period. Nutritional support can be either enteral or parenteral. Enteral nutrition (EN) refers to any method of feeding that uses the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to deliver part or all of a child's nutritional requirements. …
Adolescent Athletic Participation Patterns and Self‐Perceived Competence: Associations With Later Participation, Depressive Symptoms, and Health

Physical activity is important for well-being across the life span. However, links between patterns of adolescent activity, competence perceptions, and young adult outcomes are underexplored. We used data from seven waves of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (N = 5,961) to assess patterns of adolescent athletic participation, whether these patterns were associated with self-perceived athletic competence and young adult physical activity, depressive symptoms, and health, and associations between changes in participation across adolescence and young adult outcomes. Competence perceptions were associated with increased participation, and more active adolescents had higher rates of adult athletic activity, with links to better health and fewer depressive symptoms. We discuss results in light of the importance of using person-centered analyses to understand active lifestyles.
PXRF calibrations for volcanic rocks and the application of in-field analysis to the geosciences

Advances in portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) technologies have made such instruments an attractive choice for geologists who wish to collect chemical data in the field. The acceptance of pXRF data for research purposes such as, for example, petrogenetic studies by the geologic community has been hampered by a perception of poor quality. Here, we show that current-generation pXRF instruments can yield high-quality data when deployed either in the laboratory, or as a base-camp field instrument. We have developed four calibrations for major, minor and trace elements in geological materials using minimal sample preparation: one for the broad range of geologic compositions (0–100% SiO2) using rock powders, and three with an emphasis on volcanic rock samples: rock billets ranging from primitive basalt to rhyolite, basalt rock powder, and rhyolitic pumice powder. The calibrations use influence coefficients to correct for absorbance and secondary enhancement of one element by X-rays of other elements present in the sample. Nugget effects can have a significant influence over the determination of the concentration of elements such as Zr if proper care in sample homogenization is not taken. We evaluate data quality for each element in each calibration, and find that for several elements (Ti, Mn, Fe, Ca, K, P, Cr, Ni, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb), precision and accuracy approach those obtainable from full-size wavelength-dispersive XRF analysis. Maximization of data quality is achieved by matching of calibration material types and unknowns.
Intoxication-Related Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drink Expectancies Scale: Initial Development and Validation.

Background Young adult use of alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmEDs) has been linked with elevated risks for a constellation of problem behaviors. These risks may be conditioned by expectancies regarding the effects of caffeine in conjunction with alcohol consumption. The aim of this study was to describe the construction and psychometric evaluation of the Intoxication-Related AmED Expectancies Scale (AmED_EXPI), 15 self-report items measuring beliefs about how the experience of AmED intoxication differs from the experience of noncaffeinated alcohol (NCA) intoxication. Methods Scale development and testing were conducted using data from a U.S. national sample of 3,105 adolescents and emerging adults aged 13-25. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the factor structure and establish factor invariance across gender, age, and prior experience with AmED use. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses examining correlates of AmED use were used to assess construct and predictive validity. Results In confirmatory factor analyses, fit indices for the hypothesized four-factor structure (i.e., Intoxication Management [IM], Alertness [AL], Sociability [SO], and Jitters [JT]) revealed a moderately good fit to the data. Together, these factors accounted for 75.3% of total variance. The factor structure was stable across male/female, teen/young adult, and AmED experience/no experience subgroups. The resultant unit-weighted subscales showed strong internal consistency and satisfactory convergent validity. Baseline scores on the IM, SO, and JT subscales predicted changes in AmED use over a subsequent three-month period. Conclusions The AmED_EXPI appears to be a reliable and valid tool for measuring expectancies about the effects of caffeine during alcohol intoxication. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
A Physical Model for Interseismic Erosion of Locked Fault Asperities

The conventional “asperity model” posits that faults are partitioned into fixed velocity-weakening (VW) patches (asperities) that are locked interseismically and velocity-strengthening (VS) regions that creep stably without accumulating stress. However, studies of GPS-derived deformation in northern Japan have shown that interseismic strain in the Tohoku region did not accumulate at a constant rate (as expected) but gradually decreased from 1996 to 2011. This change in strain rate is consistent with locked asperities shrinking by ∼75% in area during this period. Here we consider a modification to the conventional asperity model, such that thermal pressurization (TP) is active over an area that encompasses a VW region and part of the surrounding VS region. In our quasi-dynamic simulations, TP causes shear stress during rapid slip to decrease to very low levels. During the interseismic period, stress gradually recovers to steady state friction at the plate rate, at which point stable creep initiates. The creep front propagates inward, effectively eroding the locked asperity. For uniform properties, the locked area shrinks roughly linearly in time through the VS region. Locked asperities shrink more slowly with higher nominal friction coefficient or background effective normal stress in the VS region, lower hydraulic diffusivity, and larger TP zones. Lateral heterogeneity in properties can give rise to nonlinear erosion. Predictions from this model can be compared against GPS data to test whether the model can explain the observed changes in interseismic strain rate in Tohoku.
Climate change and higher education: Assessing factors that affect curriculum requirements

Abstract Pervasive misinformation about climate change might be reduced if colleges were to include the topic within general education curriculum. This paper analyzes the general education (or “core”) curriculum in the top 100 universities and liberal-arts colleges in the U.S. to assess the proportion of core courses that highlight climate change or climate science. The probability that a student takes at least one climate-change course via the core curriculum is estimated at 0.17 across all schools. The probability is higher at research universities than at liberal arts colleges, in core programs that have more science and social science courses, and at public universities in states with a Democrat-controlled legislature than in states with a Republican-controlled or split legislature. Drawing on cases of best practices in the U.S. identified from the data set, the authors discuss strategies that could ensure a higher likelihood that the core curriculum includes education on climate science and climate change. The study advances the broader research literature on sustainability in higher education programs by bringing it into conversation with research on the college core curriculum and by focusing both on the specific issue of climate-change education.
Incorporating Phage Therapy into WPI Dip Coatings for Applications on Fresh Whole and Cut Fruit and Vegetable Surfaces

There is a significant unmet need to develop antimicrobial solutions to reduce the risk of contamination in fresh produce. Bacteriophages have been proposed as a potential approach for controlling foodborne pathogens. This study evaluated the combination of edible dip coatings with T7 bacteriophages on whole and cut produce. The evaluation includes an assessment of phage loading, phage storage stability, antimicrobial activity, and phage stability during simulated gastric digestion on sliced cucumbers, sliced apples, and whole cherry tomatoes. In this evaluation, phages coated on fresh produce using edible whey protein isolate (WPI) were compared with phages coated from an aqueous suspension (control coating). The results demonstrated that WPI coatings load more phages than the control and enhanced phage stability during cold storage (4 °C) for cut apples and whole cherry tomatoes. Phage stability decreased by 1 to 3 log(PFU) in a simulated gastric environment. Phage antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coliBL21 decreased 2 to 4 log(CFU) of bacteria on cut apples and whole cherry tomatoes, while no significant bacterial reduction was observed for sliced cucumbers. Overall, the results show that WPI dip coating provides phage loading, stability, and antimicrobial activity to produce surfaces compared to the control coating, and thus may be considered an effective approach for extending phage therapy on fresh produce. The practical application is to prevent bacterial cross contamination of fresh produce by using a combination of edible coating with bacteriophages. The results demonstrate enhanced loading and stability of phages on fresh produce when used in combination with an edible coating.
Research in Hybrid Neural and Symbolic Systems

The emerging need for hybrid connectionist and symbolic systems is currently motivating important research and development work. In terms of the individual technologies, connectionist systems can represent the perceptual aspect of intelligence while symbolic systems provide the cognitive features. In addition to the practical aspect, systems that perform both perceptual as well as cognitive types of tasks are interesting also for expanding the AI effort to better understand human cognition and model it in computer systems.
Transepithelial versus epithelium-off corneal crosslinking for corneal ectasia.

This review compared the clinical results of transepithelial corneal crosslinking (CXL) to epithelium-off (epi-off) CXL in progressive corneal ectasia using a metaanalysis. The Cochrane databases and Medline were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Seven RCTs involving 505 eyes that met the eligibility criteria were identified. The epi-off CXL group showed significantly better outcomes in postoperative changes in maximum keratometry (K) during 1-year observation periods. Transepithelial CXL resulted in significantly greater post-treatment central corneal thickness and best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA). The presence of a postoperative demarcation line was significantly more frequent after epi-off CXL than that after transepithelial CXL. No statistically significant difference was found between other parameters. Although patients in the transepithelial CXL group demonstrated a greater improvement in BSCVA compared with patients in the epi-off CXL group at the 1 year follow-up, transepithelial CXL had less impact on halting progressive corneal ectasia in terms of maximum K than epi-off CXL.
Morphometric analysis of shape differences in Windover and Point Hope archaic human mandibles.

OBJECTIVES The mandible can provide valuable information on both the life history and genetic makeup of Archaic human populations. The following analysis tests two hypotheses: (a) that there are significant differences in morphology in mandibular shape between the genders amongst Archaic North American Homo sapiens and (b) that there is a significant difference in variance in mandibular shape between Archaic Windover and Point Hope. MATERIALS AND METHODS A sample made from mandible specimens taken from both populations is subjected to Principal Component Analyses (PCA). The component scores from the PCAs are subjected to both a Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (mancova) and a general Multivariate Analysis of Variance (manova) to determine whether significant differences in variance exist between the sexes and the populations. RESULTS The mancova found that there are no significant interactions between the PC scores in population, sex, or size. Significant differences in variance were found between males and females and between the Windover and Point Hope populations. CONCLUSIONS Differences in variance observed between the populations are suspected to be due to differences in subsistence strategies and possibly non-masticatory utilizations of teeth. Differences in variance between the genders are suspected to be genetic in origin.
Tfr2 suppression benefits β-thalassemic erythropoiesis

Multiple studies in murine model systems of β-thalassemia have demonstrated that iron restriction improves the ineffective erythropoiesis characteristic of this disorder, 1 the mechanisms of which have not yet been fully elucidated. In this issue of Blood , Artuso et al demonstrate that erythroid knockout of transferrin receptor 2 ( Tfr2 ) also improves hematologic parameters in β-thalassemic mice. 2 The authors invoke changes in erythropoietin (Epo) sensitivity rather than erythroid iron delivery per se as the underlying mechanism.
Art, Mysticism, and the Other: Kristeva’s Adel and Teresa

Kristeva's Teresa My Love concerns the life and thought of a 16th century Spanish mystic, written in the form of a novel. Yet the theme of another kind of foreigner, equally exotic but this time threatening, pops up unexpectedly and disappears several times during the course of the novel. At the very beginning of the story, the 21st century narrator, psychoanalyst Sylvia Leclerque, encounters a young woman in a headscarf, whom Kristeva describes as an IT engineer, who speaks out, explaining that "she and her God were one and that the veil was the immovable sign of this 'union,' which she wished to publicize in order to definitively 'fix it' in herself and in the eyes of others." In this paper I ask what difference Kristeva discerns between these two women, a distinction that apparently makes Teresa's immanence simultaneously a transcendence, but transforms a Muslim woman in a headscarf immediately into an imagined suicide bomber. Despite the problematic aspects of this comparison, we can learn something from them about Kristeva's ideas on mysticism and on art. Both mysticism and art are products of the death drive, but whereas the suicide bomber and the animal directly and purely pursue death (again, on Kristeva's view) Teresa and Adel remain on its outer edge and merely play with mortality.
In Vitro Effect of Drilling Speed on the Primary Stability of Narrow Diameter Implants with Varying Thread Designs Placed in Different Qualities of Simulated Bone.

It is hypothesized that there is no statistically significant impact of drilling speed (DS) on the primary stability (PS) of narrow-diameter implants (NDIs) with varying thread designs placed in dense and soft simulated bone. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the impact of DS on the PS of NDIs with varying thread designs placed in dense and soft simulated bone. Two hundred and forty osteotomies for placement of various implant macro-designs were divided into three groups (80 implants per group): Group A (NobelActive, 3.0/11.5 mm); Group B (Astra OsseoSpeed-EV, 3.0/11 mm); and Group C (Eztetic-Zimmer, 3.1/11.5 mm) implants. These implants were placed in artificial dense and soft simulated bone using DSs of 800 and 2000 revolutions per minute (RPM). Resonance frequency analysis (RFA) and implant stability quotient (ISQ) were assessed. Group comparisons were performed using the one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post hoc tests. Level of significance was set at P < 0.05. In groups A and B, there was no difference in the ISQ for NDIs inserted in dense bone at 800 and 2000 RPM. In Group C, ISQ was significantly higher for NDIs placed in dense bone at 800 PRM compared to 2000 RPM (P < 0.05). In Group A, ISQ values were significantly higher for NDIs inserted in soft bone at 2000 RPM as compared to those inserted at 800 RPM (P < 0.05). For NDIs, a lower drilling speed in dense artificial simulated bone and a higher drilling speed in soft artificial simulated bone is associated with high primary stability.
Differential Sensitivity of Fast and Slow Fibers in Mammalian Nerve: IV. Effect of Carbonation of Local Anesthetics (LA)

Carbonation can mean either the use of carbonate salts of the local anesthetics (LA) or aerating a solution of LA with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. Both methods were found to potentiate the nerve blocking effects of bupivacaine on isolated nerve preparations. The molecular CO2 in such solutions readily diffuses through tissue membranes resulting in an increase in intracellular hydrogen ion concentration; this leads to an increase in the protonated form of LA and thus to a potentiation of nerve block. In addition we present evidence that there is a decrease in the hydrogen ion concentration immediately outside the cell membrane subsequent to CO2 diffusion that increases the concentration of the uncharged form of LA outside the cell and this favors LA diffusion into the cell. There is no evidence that carbonation, per se, alters the diffusion characteristics of the membranes, changes the nerve membrane sensitivity, or alters LA behavior except as caused by changes in hydrogen ion concentration.
A Cancer Patient Journey: Complete Review During Acute Treatment Phase

Purpose: Cancer is a chronic illness with acute episodes lasting for years. Most cancer patients have coexisting comorbidities, which affect cancer treatment outcomes and make a shared care model for chronic diseases essential. There is a considerable gap between the achievable and delivered quality of care for cancer patients. Methods: We used a case study approach to examine the complexity of cancer management, from the perspective of one person's case as interpreted by the care team. It allowed the complexity of cancer management to retain its holistic and meaningful characteristics. We interviewed the patient, caregiver, primary care physician (PCP), and oncologist. Interviews were audio recorded and analyzed with ATLASti, qualitative statistical software. Participants also completed a basic demographic survey. Common themes were identified, analyzed, and discussed. Results: Main themes were lack of longitudinal relationship with PCP, communication barriers, and ambiguous health care provider roles. Communication barriers can be associated with the other two main themes. Conclusion: Our results showed that shared care for cancer management is lacking during the acute cancer treatment phase. Communication barriers between the PCP and oncologist along with lack of continuity of care and unclear role of the PCP are major contributors for fragmented cancer care in U.S. health care system.
Nitrogen and carbon contents, nitrogen use efficiency, and antioxidant responses of perennial ryegrass accessions to nitrogen deficiency

AbstractThe study was designed to investigate nitrogen and carbon contents, nitrogen use efficiency, and antioxidants of a tolerant accession PI231578 (TOL) and a susceptible PI306292 (SUS) of pere...
Training Residents in Maternal Depression Care to Improve Child Health: A CERA Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Untreated maternal depression negatively impacts both the mother and her children's health and development. We sought to assess family medicine program directors' (PDs) knowledge and attitudes regarding maternal depression management as well as resident training and clinical experience with this disorder. METHODS Data were gathered through the Council of Academic Family Medicine's (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance (CERA) national survey of family medicine PDs in US and Canadian programs, from January through February, 2018. RESULTS Surveys were completed by 298 PDs (57.1% response rate) who were majority male (58.9%) and white (83.8%). Nearly all (90.2%) PDs agreed that family physicians should lead efforts to minimize the impact of maternal depression on child well-being. According to PD report, in the family medicine clinics where residents train, most (77.3%) have a clinic process that ensures that routine screening for depression occurs, and 54.4% do some screening of mothers during pediatric visits. Only 18.2% report routinely taking steps to minimize the impact of the mothers' depression on child well-being. Finally, 41.3% of PDs reported being familiar with the literature on the impact of maternal depression on children; self-reported familiarity was significantly associated with more comprehensive resident training on this topic. CONCLUSIONS Family medicine residency program directors are supportive of training in maternal depression, though their current knowledge is variable and there are opportunities to enhance care of mothers and children impacted by this common and serious disorder.
American Indian Representation and State Policy

Despite provisions in the United States Constitution and in the Constitutions of the American States guaranteeing equal access for non-majority populations to vote, seek office, and lobby governmen...
Occupying schools, occupying land: how the landless workers movement transformed Brazilian education: by Rebecca Tarlau, New York, Oxford University Press, 2019, xviv + 416 pp., US 55.00 (hardcover), ISBN 9780190870324

Do formal organizations help or hinder social movements? Are social movement organizations effective tools for social change? Or do they channel social movements towards ‘oligarchization,’ displace...
MinIsoClust: Isoform clustering using minhash and locality sensitive hashing

With the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, computational transcriptome assembly of RNA-Seq data has become a critical step in many biological and biomedical studies. The accuracy of these transcriptome assembly methods is hindered by the presence of alternatively spliced transcripts (isoforms). Identifying and quantifying isoforms is also essential in understanding complex biological functions, many of which are often associated with various diseases. However, clustering of isoform sequences using only sequence identities when quality reference genomes are not available is often difficult due to heterogeneous exon composition among isoforms. Clustering of a large number of transcript sequences also requires a scalable technique. In this study, we propose a minwise-hashing based method, MinIsoClust, for fast and accurate clustering of transcript sequences that can be used to identify groups of isoforms. We tested this new method using simulated datasets. The results demonstrated that MinIso-Clust was more accurate than CD-HIT-EST, isONclust, and MM-seqs2/Linclust. MinIsoClust also performed better than isONclust and MMseqs2/Linclust in terms of computational time and space efficiency. The source codes of MinIsoClust is freely available at https://github.com/srbehera/MinIsoClust.
Effect of a Single Day's Swimming on Selected Components of Athletic Performance

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of swimming on selected components of athletic performance as measured by the following tests: back strength, leg strength, bicycle ergometer (combination of strength and endurance, but predominantly endurance), and vertical jump (explosive power). Subjects were pretested for three days on each test, after which they participated in 45 minutes of swimming, and performance was tested oh one test one hour after the swim on any given day. A single day's swimming was found to significantly affect the vertical jump, but other performance tests were not affected.
Blood RNA sequencing shows overlapping gene expression across COPD phenotype domains.

Rationale COPD can be assessed using multidimensional grading systems with components from three domains: pulmonary function tests, symptoms and systemic features. Clinically, measures may be used interchangeably, though it is not known if they share similar pathobiology. Objective To use RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to determine if there is an overlap in the underlying biological mechanisms and consequences driving different components of the multidimensional grading systems. Methods Whole blood was collected for RNA-seq from current and former smokers in the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD study. We tested the overlap in gene expression and biological pathways associated with case–control status and quantitative COPD phenotypes within and between the three domains. Results In 2647 subjects, there were 3030 genes differentially expressed in any of the three domains or case–control status. There were five genes that overlapped between the three domains and case–control status, including G protein-coupled receptor 15(GPR15), sestrin 1 (SESN1) and interferon-induced guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1), which were associated with longitudinal decline in FEV1. The overlap between the three domains was enriched for pathways related to cellular components. Conclusions We identified gene sets and pathways that overlap between 12 COPD-related phenotypes and case–control status. There were no pathways represented in the overlap between the three domains and case–control status, but we identified multiple genes that demonstrated a consistent pattern of expression across several of the phenotypes. Patterns of gene expression correlation were generally similar to the correlation of clinical phenotypes in the PFT and symptom domains but not the systemic features.
Engineered devices for tumor microenvironment immune modulation

Abstract As our understanding of how the interaction between the immune system and the tumor dictate the progression of disease has increased, so have the opportunities to intervene therapeutically. The advent of immunoengineering describes the marriage of immunology and bioengineering to create and understand complex systems for the remediation of tumors. Utilization of an engineer's toolkit can lead to construction of devices designed to operate in an immunological space, that is, to provide a modulatory effect within the often immunologically quiescent tumor microenvironment (TME). Engineered devices include particle-based systems (nanoparticles, NPs), hydrogels, scaffolds, stents, microneedle patches and electronic microchips. As tumors subvert destruction by the immune system in a multiplicity of ways, engineered devices principally act to reawaken and reprogram the antitumor arm of the immune system. Advantages of these devices are that immunotherapies can be delivered with spatiotemporal control and preferential localization, as well as combinations, utilizing several routes of administration. Indeed, leveraging our understanding of tumor immunology in the design of these devices can lead to improved pharmacokinetics (PK) and biodistribution (BD) of therapies and therefore efficacy. This, in turn, increases residence time at the target site, which also reduces dose-limiting immunotoxicities. Furthermore, the devices themselves can have varying degrees of immunoactivity depending on the materials used to synthesize them, which can also be of benefit in certain contexts.
Down a Narrow Road: Identity and Masculinity in a Uyghur Community in Xinjiang China

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Jay Dautcher Year: 2009 Pages: 350 Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 978-0-674-03282-8 (hard cover). Prices: $39.95 USD(hard cover).
Packaged Glamour: Constructing the Modern Bride in China’s Bridal Media

This essay examines the images of the bride constructed by China’s burgeoning bridal media that sell lavish wedding products and services. Through the lens of semiotics, the author focuses on analyzing bridal magazines widely circulated in China’s consumer culture. The analysis shows that China’s evolving wedding industry adapts the trite, oppressive trope of “romantic” Western wedding rituals into a bricolage of global fashions, lifestyles, beauty regimens, and marriage tips for the Chinese bride. Conveniently tapping into the rhetoric of neoliberal consumerist agency and postfeminism, the wedding industry repackages patriarchal domination over the bride-to-be in the process of generating profits and disseminating the ideal of consumer one-upmanship. The author further argues that the modern Chinese bride, seemingly empowered within the opulent consumption at her wedding, neither escapes from the gender scripts of Chinese society nor celebrates a significant enhancement of her status in her marital relationship. In this regard, the bridal industry normalizes heterosexual matrimony and reinscribes women’s subordinate position in marriage and love.
Experimentally induced autoimmunization disease of the thyroid. I. The failure of transplacental transfer of anti-thyroid antibodies to produce cretinism.

Studies were undertaken to determine whether cretinism could be produced in rabbits born to immunized does with autoimmune thyroditis. Although anti-thyroid antibodies crossed the placenta of the rabbit and disappeared from the serum of the neonates by 7 weeks of age, the growth curves and thyroid histology of the newborns were normal. Passive immunization of normal does at 20 and 21 days of gestation was not associated with placental transfer of antibodies although transfer occurred at 30 days gestation. The possibility that the short time interval of exposure of the fetal thyroid to antibodies accounted for the failure of thyroid damage to occur was investigated. The role of cellular antibodies was also investigated by injecting lymphoid cells from immunized adult rabbits into newborns. No thyroid damage or serum antibodies were produced. The possible explanations for failure to obtain thyroid damage by circulating antibodies in newborn rabbits are discussed.
Parallel Programming Tools

High performance computing (HPC) hardware has evolved from (but not eliminated) vector supercomputer platforms to PC cluster and other scalable parallel systems. This architectural change is exciting because large-scale parallelism can be more easily realized and expanded as hardware component performance evolves and component costs decrease. Moreover, the notion of large scale has grown from describing hundreds to now meaning up to hundreds of thousands of processors. This evolution also implies that hardware and software interactions have grown in number and complexity, which dramatically increased debugging and performance tuning problems for parallel application developers. Today's HPC systems are also exposing natural tensions between the operations and user domains. Complex hardware and systems software interactions are often dependent on subtle timing conditions that can be difficult and time consuming to reproduce. Add to this one or more parallel applications that simultaneously execute on a HPC system it becomes clear that locating and eliminating undesired interactions or software bugs can be extraordinarily tedious, and it may also require expertise from across domains that have different interests and objectives. In these situations, system administrators may tend to suspect the parallel application, whereas the application developer often suspects some performance degradation of the underlying system. This article discusses key perspectives for parallel programming tools: basics, which includes a classification of tool types, challenges and opportunities for parallel programming tools, libraries, like NetLib, PetSc, and PAPI, and performance analysis environments, including Jumpshot, Pablo, Tau, and Paradyn. Because the trend over the past 5 years has been toward clusters the discussion and examples will primarily focus on the single-program–multiple-data (SPMD) parallel programming model using message passing to exchange data and provide program synchronization. Keywords: parallel programming tools; monitoring; debugging; optimization
Caregiver Family Therapy: Empowering Families to Meet the Challenges of Aging

Caring for an older family member with physical or cognitive impairments is a difficult, strenuous process. Caregivers often struggle to balance their own needs with those of the care recipient. Their relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and even the care recipient can suffer as well. As a result, family members often seek professional help to guide them through the caregiving process. This book presents Caregiver Family Therapy (CFT), a systems approach to treating families that care for an aging adult. CFT consists of three core stages: Identifying the problem Structuring caregiver roles Ensuring caregiver self-care Transition stages bridge one core stage to the next, helping caregivers structure care for the older adult, examine the impact of caregiving role structures, and consider broader effects of caregiving. As new challenges arise, the stages are repeated and the CFT process begins anew. Full of rich clinical examples, this book will help therapists and other service providers meet the complex, diverse needs of caregiving families.
Detection and classification of line faults on power distribution systems using neural networks

This paper presents a new neural network approach based on a clustering algorithm to detect and classify line faults in a power distribution system. A robust features preprocessing procedure is discussed which extracts meaningful features from current wave forms to serve as a reduced set of inputs to the neural network. Lastly, results are given from studies that were conducted to determine the optimal order of presentation of the training feature patterns and the set of features that are necessary for the neural network to perform arcing identification. >
Power Adaptation Based Optimization for Energy Efficient Reliable Wireless Paths

We define a transmission power adaptation-based routing technique that finds optimal paths for minimum energy reliable data transfer in multi-hop wireless networks. This optimal choice of the transmission power depends on the link distance between the two nodes and the channel characteristics. Typical energy efficient routing techniques use a transmission power such that the received signal power at the destination minimally exceeds a desired threshold signal strength level. In this paper we argue that such a choice of the transmission power does not always lead to optimal energy routes, since it does not consider differences in the receiver noise levels.
Gastrointestinal bleeding and subsequent risk of thromboembolic events during support with a left ventricular assist device

Background Modern left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) require anti-coagulation (AC) with warfarin and anti-platelet therapy to prevent thromboembolic complications in patients. Gastrointestinal bleeding (GI) is a significant adverse event in these patients and treatment typically requires reduction or elimination of AC or anti-platelet therapy. It is not known whether alterations in AC to treat GI bleeding influence subsequent risk of thromboembolic (TE) events during LVAD support. Methods Between July 2003 and September 2011, 389 patients (308 male) underwent implantation of a continuous-flow LVAD at the University of Michigan Health System and the Mayo Clinic. Median age at implant was 60 years (range 18 to 79 years). Outcomes were analyzed for the association of GI bleeding events and subsequent TE events, defined as stroke, transient ischemic attack, hemolysis or suspected or confirmed pump thrombosis. Results Median survival was 10 months (maximum 7.2 years, total 439 patient-years). TE events occurring within the first 30 days were not counted. Overall survival and freedom from an outcome event were assessed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Associations between GI bleeding and subsequent TE events and survival impact were analyzed as time-dependent covariates. One hundred ninety-nine GI bleeding episodes occurred in 116 of 389 patients (30%) for an event rate of 0.45 GI bleed/patient-year of support. One hundred thirty-eight TE events occurred in 97 of 389 patients (25%) for an event rate of 0.31 TE event/patient-year of support. Median time from LVAD implant to first GI bleed was 5 months (range 1 to 116 months) and to first TE event was 6 months (range 1 to 29 months). For patients who had a TE event after GI bleed, the median interval was 5 months (range 0.5 to 25 months). TE events were 7.4-fold more likely in patients who had a prior GI bleed (range 4.9- to 11.1-fold) ( p Conclusions Patients who had GI bleeding were at significantly higher risk for a subsequent TE event. Although the exact cause of this relationship is unknown, it suggests that a reduction in anti-coagulation and anti-platelet management to treat GI bleeds may contribute to this risk.
Exchange in low-energy electron-molecule scattering: Free-electron-gas model exchange potentials and applications to e - H 2 and e - N 2 collisions

Calculations of cross sections for elastic $e$-${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ collisions have been performed for impact energies from 0.01 to 1.0 Ry using model exchange potentials based on a free-electron-gas approximation in order to evaluate the utility of such local potentials in low-energy electron-molecule scattering. A body-frame fixed-nuclei formulation of the collision problem is used which treats the molecule as rigid and does not allow for electronic or vibrational excitation. Coupled integro-differential scattering equations which incorporate exchange rigorously are derived and the simplification of the nonlocal exchange potential to an approximate energy-dependent local potential is described. An initial study of $e$-${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ collisions is reported in which results obtained with various model excahnge potentials are compared to those of exact static-exchange calculations. Cross sections for the $e$-${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ system obtained using the model exchange potentials (with and without polarization) are reported and compared with measured cross sections and the results of other theoretical studies. For both systems, good agreement with more rigorous treatments of the exchange can be obtained.
Ultrasharp high-aspect-ratio probe array for SECM and AFM Analysis

A powerful experimental tool, ultra-sharp nano-electrode array is designed, fabricated and characterized. The application on a combination of Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) and the Atomic Force Microcopy (AFM) is demonstrated. It can measure sample electrochemically initiated by SECM changes of topography while detecting topography using AFM. In order to realize this, a specialized probe system that is composed of a micro-mechanical bending structure necessary for the AFM mode and an electrochemical UME-tip required for a high performance SECM is crucial. The probe array is a row of silicon transducers embedded in silicon nitride cantilever array. The sharp high-aspect ratio (20:1) silicon tips are shaped and a thin layer of silicon nitride is deposited, which embeds the silicon tips in a silicon nitride layer so that they protrude through the nitride. Thus, the embedded silicon tips with a diameter less than 600 nm, the top radius less than 20 nm, and the aspect ratio as high as 20 can be achieved. A metal layer and an insulator layer are deposited on these tip structures to make each probe selectively conductive. Finally, cantilever structures are shaped and released by etching the silicon substrate from the backside. Electrochemical and impedance spectroscopic characterization show electrochemical functionality of the transducer system.
Acculturation and Compliance with Medical Therapy

ABSTRACT. Lack of compliance with medical therapy is a major clinical problem. We undertook a study to determine whether degree of acculturation to mainland U.S. culture was predictive of compliance in Puerto Rican families having a child with asthma. A questionnaire was administered to parents of Puerto Rican asthmatic children attending an asthma clinic and taking oral theophylline as part of their medical management. The questionnaire included items concerning medical, socioeconomic, and cultural variables, as well as a standardized instrument devised to measure degree of acculturation. Compliance was measured by a serum theophylline level obtained at the time of the visit. Families were divided into compliant (n = 15) and noncompliant (n = 13) groups based on their child's serum theophylline determination. There was a significant difference in mean acculturation scores between compliant and noncompliant groups (p = .008). Those in the compliant group had scores indicative of a style of acculturation that integrated aspects of both “Anglo‘’ and Puerto Rican lifestyles. Those in the noncompliant group had scores indicative of a less acculturated lifestyle. The findings of this study show that degree of acculturation is a predictor of compliance with medical therapy in mainland Puerto Ricans. Additional studies with other cultural groups are needed, as well as other studies incorporating acculturation into a multivariate model of compliance. J Dev Behav Pediatr 14:163–168, 1993. Index terms: compliance, acculturation, ethnicity, Hispanic, asthma, children.
Transient and Stable Expression of the Firefly Luciferase Gene in Plant Cells and Transgenic Plants

The luciferase gene from the firefly, Photinus pyralis, was used as a reporter of gene expression by light production in transfected plant cells and transgenic plants. A complementary DNA clone of the firefly luciferase gene under the control of a plant virus promoter (cauliflower mosaic virus 35S RNA promoter) was introduced into plant protoplast cells (Daucus carota) by electroporation and into plants (Nicotiana tabacum) by use of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens tumor-inducing plasmid. Extracts from electroporated cells (24 hours after the introduction of DNA) and from transgenic plants produce light when mixed with the substrates luciferin and adenosine triphosphate. Light produced by the action of luciferase was also detected in undisrupted leaves or cells in culture from transgenic plants incubated in luciferin and in whole transgenic plants "watered" with luciferin. Although light was detected in most organs in intact, transgenic plants (leaves, stems, and roots), the pattern of luminescence appeared to reflect both the organ-specific distribution of luciferase and the pathway for uptake of luciferin through the vasculature of the plant.
Sensitive far-IR survey spectroscopy: BLISS for SPICA

We present a concept for BLISS, a sensitive far-IR-submillimeter spectrograph for SPICA. SPICA is a JAXA-led mission featuring a 3.5-meter telescope actively cooled to below 5K, envisioned for launch in 2017. The low-background platform is especially compelling for moderate-resolution survey spectroscopy, for which BLISS is designed. The BLISS / SPICA combination will offer line sensitivities below 10 -20 W m -2 in modest integrations, enabling rapid survey spectroscopy of galaxies out to redshift 5. The far-IR fine-structure and molecular transitions which BLISS / SPICA will measure are immune to dust extinction, and will unambiguously reveal these galaxies' redshifts, stellar and AGN contents, gas properties, and heavy-element abundances. Taken together, such spectra will reveal the history of galaxies from 1 GY after the Big Bang to the present day. BLISS is comprised of five sub-bands, each with two R ∼ 700 grating spectrometer modules. The modules are configured with polarizing and dichroic splitters to provide complete instantaneous spectral coverage in two sky positions. To approach background-limited performance, BLISS detectors must have sensitivities at or below 5 x 10 -20 W Hz -1/2 , and the format is 10 arrays of several hundred pixels each. It is anticipated that these requirements can be met on SPICA's timescale with leg-isolated superconducting (TES) bolometers cooled with a 50 mK magnetic refrigerator.