cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of Chironomid Larvicides and Diflubenzuron on Nontarget Invertebrates in Residential-Recreational Lakes

Effects of granular formulations of chlorpyrifos, temephos, and diflubenzuron on nontarget invertebrates in 2 residential-recreational lakes were studied during June, 1976–Jan., 1977. Chlorpyrifos at 0.22 kg (.0074 ppm) AI/ha in partial areas (fingers) of one lake, and at 0.14 kg (.003 ppm) AI/ha in the other entire lake was evaluated. Temephos at 0.28 kg (.0092 ppm) AI/ha in the fingers, and at 0.17 kg (.0042 ppm) AI/ha in main areas of the same lake was tested. Diflubenzuron at 0.11 kg (.0037 ppm) and at 0.22 kg (.0074 ppm) AI/ha was applied to the fingers only. All 3 chemicals reduced populations of Daphnia pulex Leydig and Daphnia galeata Sars from the fingers but they recovered within 1–3 wk. Bosmina longirostris (O. F. Muller) was susceptible to temephos and chlorpyrifos but tolerated diflubenzuron. Cyclops sp. was affected by temephos only. Diaptomus spp. were affected by diflubenzuron, slightly at the lower and severely at the higher rate, recovering within 2 wk. Cyprinotus sp., tolerant to temephos, was reduced by chlorpyrifos, 60–90% in the fingers, and up to 80% in the main lake, recovering in 1–4 wk. Cyprinotus sp. also was affected by diflubenzuron at 0.22 kg AI/ha. Hyalella azteca (Saussure), tolerant to temephos, was markedly reduced by chlorpyrifos as well as diflubenzuron for several wk. Oligochaetes (mostly Naididae) were not affected by any treatment employed during this study. The impact on nontarget organisms was much more severe and longer lasting when most or the entire habitat was treated as compared to partial treatments in semi-isolated fingers.
ANALYSIS ON THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF STEEL SLAB IN CONTINUOUS CASTING BREAKOUT

The data files of breakout prediction system on slab caster at Baosteel are classified to discuss the effect of temperature, steel grade, casting speed and other casting parameters on prediction and to analyse strand thermal dynamic behavior in the mold. Some opinions are presented for setting the parameters of the prediction system and correcting the logic model of this system.
Design and Kinetic Analysis on Single-Chip Dual-Inertia Accelerometer Gyroscope

the Structure and the measurement theory of a single chip integration accelerometer gyroscope(AG) are discussed in this paper,and the proposed sensor can detect the acceleration and angle velocity at the same time in the same direction.Next,the kinetic model of the AG is also established.In addition,the signal generation of the single chip AG is analyzed and simulated.The results of the model show that the structure can meet the demand of the kinetic requirement of the accelerometer gyroscope.
Isomeric Manufacturing Resource Information Integration Method Based on Manufacturing Resource Integration Platform

Manufacturing resource was analyzed,manufacturing resource isomeric information integration methods,including XML and database viewer were presented,and their principle and process were introduced.The software realization system and main functions were discussed and the typical interfaces of the platform were given.
Contribution of drilling posterior wall of the internal auditory meatus in microsurgical treatment for vestibular schwannomas

Objective To evaluate the effect of surgical treatment in vestibular schwannomas(VSs)with removal of the posterior meatal wall for intrameatal tumor.Methods A retrospective study was perfomed in 103 VSs patients who had undergone microsurgical removal.These patients were operated via retrosigmoid,transmeatal approach to establish a surgical approach that provides better access to the internal auditory meatus(IAM)in VSs removal.After posterior meatal wall was drilled,the anatomic location of the labyrinth with regard to the sigmoid-fundus line(S-F line)and the extent of bone removal from the IAM were evaluated by pre-and postoperative CT in all patients.Results Postoperative CT showed that the mean length of the posterior wall from the fundus was shortened to 4.6 mm±1.0 mm(n = 48)in the partially resected group;in 55 patients of the widely opened IAM group,the posterior wall remained a mean length of 1.9 mm±0.5 mm from the fundus.The location of the labyrinth in relation to the S-F line was lateral type in 52 cases,line type in 23 cases,and medial type in 28 cases.In 101 patients,total tumor removal was achieved by visual inspection and postoperative MR imaging,with a complete resection rate of 98.1 %.Anatomic preservation of the facial nerve was achieved in 101 patients,and for 2 cases of nerve discontinuity,immediate end-to-end facial nerve anastomosis was performed during the surgical procedures.The facial nerve was completely anatomically preserved in 18 cases with small tumors(100 %).There was no surgery-related permanent complication in this series of patients with the mortality rate of 0%.Conclusion The removal of the posterior meatal wall of IAM can provide a better surgical approach for VSs treatment which is helpful for complete tumor resection with reduction of morbidity and maintenance of normal neurological function.
The Undescended Testis: Management after Puberty

The patient seen after puberty with an intra-abdominal unilateral undescended testis should have orchiectomy. The patient seen after puberty and before the age of 50 years with unilateral undescended testis in the inguinal region should have orchiectomy because the risk of death from malignancy exceeds the risk of anesthesia and orchiectomy.
Contact lenses in the U.S. Army attack helicopter environment: an interim report.

Recent technological advances have had a major impact on military aviation. While modern methods of providing visual information via electro-optics/visionics systems have extended the aviator's operational envelope, these devices are becoming increasingly incompatible with spectacle wear. Since close to 22 percent of Army aviators are ametropic (spectacle wearing), alternative means of providing a refractive error correction need to be investigated. One alternative being considered is the use of a contact lens correction. Since November 1988, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) has been conducting two AH-64 "Apache" contact lens research projects in order to develop a comprehensive database on contact lens wear in a variety of environments. A three-tier contact lens fitting system is being used: two different types of soft lenses and one rigid gas permeable (RGP) lens type. The wearing schedule is set at a maximum of 7 days/6 nights of extended lens wear. Fundamental operational data is being chronicled by unit flight surgeons. Standard clinical data is being used in ongoing command deliberations on future medical policy decisions concerning contact lens wear by Army aviators. Basic research information is being gathered in an effort to determine the fundamental physiological response of the cornea to the presence of a contact lens. Data through July 31, 1990 are presented. The subjective assessment of contact lens applications within the aviation community is universal acceptance. While current clinical data indicate some ocular health risk, flight safety risks are minimal. Establishment of long-term contact lens efficacy will likely depend on the ensuing analysis of physiological data.
The Academic Community and its Role in Environmental (Air) Licensing

El licenciamiento ambiental juega un papel fundamental en la proteccion de la salud, el medio ambiente y el clima. Este proceso funciona mejor cuando los reguladores, el sector privado y los academicos trabajan juntos. Para ello, es necesaria la confianza entre todas las partes. La Agencia de Proteccion Ambiental de Estados Unidos (EPA) tiene funciones y requisitos claros para la comunidad cientifica. Esto ayuda a fortalecer la confianza en el proceso de con- cesion de licencias. Ademas, investigadores y cientificos pueden fortalecer esa confianza proporcionando investi- gacion imparcial. Este articulo describira las caracteristi- cas del proceso regulatorio de Estados Unidos y mostrara anecdotas de experiencias recientes
ED triage pain protocol reduces time to receiving analgesics in patients with painful conditions.

Abstract Background Studies suggest that collaborative nursing protocols initiated in triage improve emergency department (ED) throughput and decrease time to treatment. Objective The objective of the study is to determine if an ED triage pain protocol improves time to provision of analgesics. Methods Retrospective data abstracted via electronic medical record of patients at a safety net facility with 67 000 annual adult visits. Patients older than 18 years who presented to the ED between March 1, 2011, and May 31, 2013, with 1 of 6 conditions were included: back pain, dental pain, extremity trauma, sore throat, ear pain, or pain from an abscess. A 3-month orientation to an ED nurse-initiated pain protocol began on March 1, 2012. Nurses administered oral analgesics per protocol, beginning with acetaminophen or ibuprofen and progressing to oxycodone. Preimplementation and postimplementation analyses examined differences in time to analgesics. Multivariable analysis modeled time to analgesics as a function of patient factors. Results Over a 27-month period, 23 409 patients were included: 13 112 received pain medications and 10 297 did not. A total of 12 240 (52%) were male, 12 578 (54%) were African American, and 7953 (34%) were white, with a mean (SD) age of 39 years (13 years). The pain protocol was used in 1002 patients. There was a significant change in mean time (minutes) to provision of analgesics between preimplementation (238) and postimplementation (168) ( P Conclusion Emergency department triage pain protocol decreased time to provision of pain medications and did so without respect to payer category, sex, or race.
Automated milk fat extraction for the analyses of persistent organic pollutants

We have utilized an automated acid hydrolysis technology, followed by an abbreviated Soxhlet extraction technique to obtain fat from whole milk for the determination of persistent organic pollutants, namely polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls. The process simply involves (1) pouring the liquid milk into the hydrolysis beaker with reagents and standards, (2) drying the obtained fat on a filter paper and (3) obtaining pure fat via the modified Soxhlet extraction using 100mL of hexane per sample. This technique is in contrast to traditional manually intense liquid-liquid extractions and avoids the preparatory step of freeze-drying the samples for pressurized liquid extractions. Along with these extraction improvements, analytical results closely agree between the methods, thus no quality has been compromised. The native spike (n=12) and internal standard (n=24) precision and accuracy results are within EPA Methods 1613 and 1668 limits. While the median (n=6) Toxic Equivalency Quotient (TEQ) for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzofurans and the concentration of the marker polychlorinated biphenyls show a percent difference of 1% and 12%, respectively, compared to 315 previously analyzed milk samples at the same laboratory using liquid-liquid extraction. During our feasibility studies, both egg and fish tissue show substantial promise using this technique as well.
Communications expands its space

Optical communication systems have traditionally sent the most information possible through a few spatial channels to minimize cost and maximize density. Energy constraints now compel systems at the longest and shortest distances to employ a new strategy of using more spatial channels, each carrying less data.
Effectiveness of Acupuncture Therapy on Stress in a Large Urban College Population

This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial to study the effectiveness of acupuncture on the perception of stress in patients who study or work on a large, urban college campus. The hypothesis was that verum acupuncture would demonstrate a significant positive impact on perceived stress as compared to sham acupuncture. This study included 111 participants with high self-reported stress levels who either studied or worked at a large, urban public university in the southwestern United States. However, only 62 participants completed the study. The participants were randomized into a verum acupuncture or sham acupuncture group. Both the groups received treatment once a week for 12 weeks. The Cohen's global measure of perceived stress scale (PSS-14) was completed by each participant prior to treatment, at 6 weeks, at 12 weeks, and 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-treatment completion. While participants of both the groups showed a substantial initial decrease in perceived stress scores, at 12 weeks post treatment, the verum acupuncture group showed a significantly greater treatment effect than the sham acupuncture group. This study indicates that acupuncture may be successful in decreasing the perception of stress in students and staff at a large urban university, and this effect persists for at least 3 months after the completion of treatment.
Test–retest repeatability of human speech biomarkers from static and real-time dynamic magnetic resonance imaging

Static anatomical and real-time dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (RT-MRI) of the upper airway is a valuable method for studying speech production in research and clinical settings. The test–retest repeatability of quantitative imaging biomarkers is an important parameter, since it limits the effect sizes and intragroup differences that can be studied. Therefore, this study aims to present a framework for determining the test–retest repeatability of quantitative speech biomarkers from static MRI and RT-MRI, and apply the framework to healthy volunteers. Subjects (n = 8, 4 females, 4 males) are imaged in two scans on the same day, including static images and dynamic RT-MRI of speech tasks. The inter-study agreement is quantified using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and mean within-subject standard deviation (σe). Inter-study agreement is strong to very strong for static measures (ICC: min/median/max 0.71/0.89/0.98, σe: 0.90/2.20/6.72 mm), poor to strong for dynamic RT-MRI measures of articulator...
Projection after variation in the finite-temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation

The finite-temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation often breaks symmetries of the underlying many-body Hamiltonian. Restricting the calculation of the HFB partition function to a subspace with good quantum numbers through projection after variation restores some of the correlations lost in breaking these symmetries, although effects of the broken symmetries such as sharp kinks at phase transitions remain. However, the most general projection after variation formula in the finite-temperature HFB approximation is limited by a sign ambiguity. Here, I extend the Pfaffian formula for the many-body traces of HFB density operators introduced by Robledo [L. M. Robledo, Phys. Rev. C. 79, 021302(R) (2009)] to eliminate this sign ambiguity and evaluate the more complicated many-body traces required in projection after variation in the most general HFB case. The method is validated through a proof-of-principle calculation of the particle-number-projected HFB thermal energy in a simple model.
Transcriptome-Guided Imaging Genetic Analysis via a Novel Sparse CCA Algorithm.

Imaging genetics is an emerging field that studies the influence of genetic variation on brain structure and function. The major task is to examine the association between genetic markers such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and quantitative traits (QTs) extracted from neuroimaging data. Sparse canonical correlation analysis (SCCA) is a bi-multivariate technique used in imaging genetics to identify complex multi-SNP-multi-QT associations. In imaging genetics, genes associated with a phenotype should be at least expressed in the phenotypical region. We study the association between the genotype and amyloid imaging data and propose a transcriptome-guided SCCA framework that incorporates the gene expression information into the SCCA criterion. An alternating optimization method is used to solve the formulated problem. Although the problem is not biconcave, a closed-form solution has been found for each subproblem. The results on real data show that using the gene expression data to guide the feature selection facilities the detection of genetic markers that are not only associated with the identified QTs, but also highly expressed there.
Ten Years With CFTR

This is the second single-topic supplement to Physiological Reviews . In introducing the first supplement, Daniel Gardner indicated that the articles reported on the progress of a revolution, first recognized by the series of papers on membrane currents in nerve published by Hodgkin, Huxley, and
Unpacking team process dynamics and emergent phenomena: Challenges, conceptual advances, and innovative methods

Psychologists have studied small-group and team effectiveness for decades, and although there has been considerable progress, there remain significant challenges. Meta-analyses and systematic research have provided solid evidence for core team cognitive, motivational, affective, and behavioral processes that contribute to team effectiveness and empirical support for interventions that enhance team processes (e.g., team design, composition, training, and leadership); there has been substantial evidence for a science of team effectiveness. Nonetheless, there have also been concerns that team processes, which are inherently dynamic, have primarily been assessed as static constructs. Team-level processes and outcomes are multilevel phenomena that emerge, bottom-up from the interactions among team members over time, under the shifting demands of a work context. Thus, theoretical development that appropriately conceptualizes the multiple levels, process dynamics, and emergence of team phenomena over time are essential to advance understanding. Moreover, these conceptual advances necessitate innovative research methodologies to better capture team process dynamics. We explicate this foundation and then describe 2 promising streams of scientific inquiry-team interaction sensors and computational modeling-that are advancing new, unobtrusive measurement techniques and process-oriented research methods focused on understanding the dynamics of cohesion and cognition in teamwork. These are distinct lines of research, each endeavoring to advance the science, but doing so through the development of very different methodologies. We close by discussing the near-term research challenges and the potential long-term evolution of these innovative methods, with an eye toward the future for process-oriented theory and research on team effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record
Cost-Effective Technique Produces Strongest Polyethylene Fibers

(1991). Cost-Effective Technique Produces Strongest Polyethylene Fibers. Materials and Processing Report: Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 2-3.
Spirituality, Religion, and Work Values

The current study explored the relation of intrinsic religiousness and spirituality to work values with a sample of undergraduate college students (N = 265). Each of these constructs was found to w...
Numerical Analysis of Flow in Sedimentation Basins

The equations governing two-dimensional, steady flow in circular and rectangular primary settling basins are formulated. Mean-flow equations expressing conservation of mass and momentum are combined with a two-equation turbulence model (k-ϵ model) to compute velocity fields in sedimentation basins. The turbulence is characterized by a turbulent kinematic eddy viscosity which is computed directly as part of the solution. A numerical solution to the mathematical model is formulated by application of the Galerkin finite element method to the equation residuals. The resulting non-linear system of equations is solved by a variation of Newton's method. The model is applied to predict the flow pattern in a rectangular settling basin. A vector plot of the basin velocity field and contour plot of the turbulent kinematic eddy viscosity are presented.
Nuclear Weapons, the End of the Cold War, and the Future of the International System

It is not given to many generations to witness a completely unprecedented event. The collapse of empires, the overthrow of dynasties, the outbreak of plagues, the onset of revolutions, and even the improvement of the human condition itself— all of these are categories of events, which means that they have happened before and will almost certainly happen again. There are very few occurrences of which it can be said that nothing like them has ever taken place; there are not very many true points of departure in human affairs after which nothing can be even remotely similar again.
Effects of point defects on the mechanical response of LaRu2P2

Abstract Ternary intermetallic compounds with the ThCr2Si2 crystal structure have recently been shown to exhibit pseudo-elastic responses to hydrostatic and c-axis uniaxial compression. While the sensitivity of their electronic properties to the presence of point defects has been previously studied, there is a dearth of investigations into their effects on the mechanical properties of these materials. In this paper, we present the experimental results of the uniaxial compression of a defected LaRu2P2 micropillar. With a combination of materials theory and density functional theory (DFT), we examine the role defects have on the mechanical response and phase stability of LaRu2P2. First, we explore the nature of isolated point defects in these materials. Then, we investigate the stability of high densities of these defects. We further investigate the mechanical response of these defected structures using both DFT as well as composite models, which allow us to account for the coexistence of pristine and defected structures. These results are then compared against recent experiments, explaining the processing-microstructure-property relations of differently-fabricated samples.
Mental Health Experiences and Service Use Among Veterinary Medical Students

The mental health and wellness of veterinary students is an important contemporary focus of scholarship. Yet, to date, little empirical work has investigated mental health experiences and rates of mental health service use in large samples of veterinary students from multiple institutions. The purpose of this study is to explore the prevalence of mental health concerns among veterinary medical students, as well as rates of mental health service utilization, using validated measures and a large sample. Study participants were 573 veterinary medical students currently enrolled in accredited veterinary medical programs in the United States. Approximately one third of participants reported levels of depression or anxiety above the clinical cut-off, and a strong positive correlation was found between the two. Depression and anxiety were also associated with prior engagement in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal ideation, and prior suicide attempts. Nearly 80% of participants who scored above the clinical cut-off for depression or anxiety reported seeking some form of mental health services currently or in the past, and a majority reported having positive experiences with services. Results also indicated a higher than typical rate of NSSI among veterinary medical students. Implications for outreach, research, and education are discussed.
Albumin levels and Prognostic Nutritional Index in glioblastoma.

e13567Background: Albumin levels are widely used to estimate patients’ nutritional status. Low perioperative albumin levels are associated with worse outcomes. Moreover, Prognostic Nutritional Inde...
Microbial Oil Shale Extraction

Publisher Summary This chapter explores microbial oil shale extraction. The sulfur-oxidizing capabilities of certain bacterial species in the genus Thiobacillus can be used to generate large volumes of 0.1 N sulfuric acid. This acid can be used to dissolve the carbonate portion of the mineral matrix that entraps the organic fraction of Green River oil shale. The initial feasibility studies reveal that it is possible to develop large-scale cultures of these acid-producing organisms in the presence of oil shale, and the studies also show that these organisms can use portions of the inorganic mineral matrix as a nutrient source. The culturing of these autotrophic bacteria requires only water, elemental sulfur, and traces of inorganic nutrients that can be readily derived from the minerals within the deposits of the Green River formation. The acid medium is produced by Thiobacillus attack, and it can chemically degrade the carbonate portion of the kerogen-entrapping inorganic mineral matrix in Green River oil shale. The removal of carbonate from the mineral matrix develops porosity and permeability that are effectively nil for untreated shale but continue to develop as a function of time until available carbonates are dissolved.
Gradual program analysis

The designers of static analyses for null safety often try to reduce the number of false positives reported by the analysis through increased engineering effort, user-provided annotations, and/or weaker soundness guarantees. To produce a null-pointer analysis with little engineering effort, reduced false positives, and strong soundness guarantees in a principled way, we adapt the “Abstracting Gradual Typing” framework to the abstract-interpretation based program analysis setting. In particular, a simple static dataflow analysis that relies on user-provided annotations and has nullability lattice N ⊑ ⊤ (where N means “definitely not null” and ⊤ means “possibly null”) is gradualized producing a new lattice N ⊑ ? ⊑ ⊤. Question mark explicitly represents “optimistic uncertainty” in the analysis itself, supporting a formal soundness property and the “gradual guarantees” laid out in the gradual typing literature. We then implement a prototype of our gradual null-pointer analysis as a Facebook Infer checker, and compare it to existing null-pointer analyses via a suite of GitHub repositories used originally by Uber to evaluate their NullAway tool. Our prototype has architecture and output very similar to these existing tools, suggesting the value of applying our approach to more sophisticated program analyses in the future.
'Examining the Impact of Health Care Consolidation' Statement before the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, U.S. House of Representatives

• The U.S. health care system is based on markets. The system will work only as well as the markets that underpin it. • These markets do not function as well as they could, or should. Prices are high and rising, there are incomprehensible and egregious pricing practices, quality is sub-optimal, and the sector is sluggish and unresponsive, in contrast to the innovation and dynamism which characterize much of the rest of our economy. • Lack of competition has a lot to do with these problems. • There has been a great deal of consolidation in health care. There have been 1,519 hospital mergers in the past twenty years, with 680 since 2010. The result is that many local areas are now dominated by one large, powerful health system, e.g., Boston (Partners), Pittsburgh (UPMC), and San Francisco (Sutter). • Insurance markets are also highly consolidated. The two largest insurers have 70 percent of the market or more in one-half of all local insurance markets. • Physician services markets have also become increasingly more concentrated. Two-thirds of specialist physician markets are highly concentrated, and 29 percent for primary care physicians. There have been a very large number of acquisitions of physician practices by hospitals, so much so that 33 percent of all physicians, and 44 percent of primary physicians are now employed by hospitals. • Extensive research evidence shows that consolidation between close competitors leads to substantial price increases for hospitals, insurers, and physicians, without offsetting gains in improved quality or enhanced efficiency. Further, recent evidence shows that mergers between hospitals not in the same geographic area can also lead to increases in price. Just as seriously, if not more, evidence shows that patient quality of care suffers from lack of competition. • This is causing serious harm to patients and to the health care system as a whole. • Policies are needed to support and promote competition in health care markets. This includes policies to strengthen choice and competition, and ending distortions that unintentionally incentivize consolidation. • These include: – Focus and strengthen antitrust enforcement. – End policies that unintentionally incentivize consolidation. – End policies that hamper new competitors and impede competition. – Promote transparency, so employers, policymakers, and consumers have access to information about health care costs and quality.
Interfirm Ties Between Ventures and Limited Partners of Venture Capital Funds: Performance Effects in Financial Markets

We argue that strong indirect ties are conducive to the transfer of private information, which provides an advantage in identifying profitable investment opportunities. In our context, a strong ind...
The effect of support structure geometry on surface topography of selectively laser melted parts

Additive manufacturing is a modern manufacturing technique that provides extreme design freedom and ability to manufacture multiple parts with high complexities at the same time. Various fabrication techniques have been developed and this study focuses on selective laser melting (SLM) due to its ability to provide near-perfect complex parts at low cost, while being able to work with a wide range of materials. In SLM, the part is manufactured layer-by-layer, by melting and solidification of powder material under controlled inert conditions. The fabrication of complex geometries is not possible without proper allocation of support structures for the part, which keeps the component intact and retains structural stability while manufacturing. Supports are attached to the part and are to be removed after fabrication in such a way that the required surface finish is not compromised. The challenge is to provide appropriate support structures after analyzing the part and the part orientation while ameliorating the functionality of removability, reducing material consumption, and enhancing structural support. Inconel 718 is a type of high-strength corrosion resistant super alloy, which consists of nickel and chromium. It can withstand extremely high pressure and heat which makes it suitable for high-end applications such as aerospace and petroleum. This study focuses on the surface topography for Inconel 718 parts after the removal of various support structures. A comprehensive report on optimal support structure design is provided after studying the fundamental parameters from design, fabrication, and testing phases. Varying the support structure design resulted in a range of surface qualities.
Eliciting OTUD3/RIPK-Dependent Necroptosis to Prevent Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Background: There is an urgent need for early prevention strategies against high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), the deadliest gynecologic malignancy. Transformed p53-null fallopian tube epithelium (FTE) cells are precursors of HGSOC that may be eliminated by inducing necroptosis, a programmed form of inflammatory cell death. Induction of necroptosis is dependent upon activation of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinases 1 and 3 (RIPK1/3). TNF-alpha and progesterone (P4) effectively promote necroptosis. In this study, we explore the activation of necroptosis as an approach to inhibit HGSOC progression. Methods: Using gene ontology sets as a reference, we analyzed publicly available datasets of HGSOC to correlate the expression of necroptosis effectors to clinical outcomes. Using in vitro models of HGSOC we evaluated the effect of TNF-alpha, P4, and alpha-eleostearic acid on necroptosis. In parallel, the necroptosis inhibitor Necrostatin-1 was used to confirm necroptosis-specific cell death. Results: Expression of the P4 receptor (PGR) was sharply reduced in a HGSOC cohort compared to normal, nonmalignant FTE. However, several genes involved in necroptosis signaling were elevated in HGSOC, including TNF and RIPK1. Increased expression of PGR, the necroptosis effectors TNF and RIPK1/3, as well as ovarian tumor domain-containing deubiquitinase 3 (OTUD3) were associated with higher overall survival in 484 HGSOC cases. HGSOC cells activated necroptosis in response to P4, TNF-alpha, and alpha-eleostearic acid treatment, while P4 or TNF-alpha treatment of HGSOC cells increased TNF, RIPK1, and OTUD3 expression. OTUD3 is a putative tumor suppressor that stabilizes PTEN and is hypothesized to be functionally similar to the necroptosis inducer, OTUD7B. shRNA knockdown of OTUD3 resulted in decreased PTEN protein and RIPK1 protein. Conclusions: We conclude that necroptosis activation may be a viable prevention strategy that leads to the elimination of transformed FTE founder cells and prevents HGSOC tumorigenesis. Our data indicate that HGSOC cells activate necroptosis in response to P4, TNF-alpha, and alpha-eleostearic acid, suggesting that established HGSOC cells may also be eliminated by activating necroptosis.
Thermal Analysis of Wireless Power Transfer Coils for Dynamic Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging

In this paper, safe operating conditions of a wireless power transfer coil were identified and road infrastructure for a dynamic wireless electric vehicle charging system was studied. Magneto-thermal simulations were used to map the power loss directly into the computed fluid dynamics solver. This method allowed the authors to analyze the heating pattern of the enclosed wireless power transfer coil in the road structure, as well as for the vehicle coil. Thermal heating patterns for three types of rectangular coil structures were analyzed. Heating patterns were analyzed for 200 kW coils and different magnetic field densities in the magnetic core.
TrioStat: Online Workload Estimation in Distributed Spatial Data Streaming Systems

The wide spread of GPS-enabled devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) has increased the amount of spatial data being generated every second. The current scale of spatial data cannot be handled using centralized systems. This has led to the development of distributed spatial data streaming systems that scale to process in real-time large amounts of streamed spatial data. The performance of distributed streaming systems relies on how even the workload is distributed among their machines. However, it is challenging to estimate the workload of each machine because spatial data and query streams are skewed and rapidly change with time and users' interests. Moreover, a distributed spatial streaming system often does not maintain a global system workload state because it requires high network and processing overheads to be collected from the machines in the system. This paper introduces TrioStat; an online workload estimation technique that relies on a probabilistic model for estimating the workload of partitions and machines in a distributed spatial data streaming system. It is infeasible to collect and exchange statistics with a centralized unit because it requires high network overhead. Instead, TrioStat uses a decentralised technique to collect and maintain the required statistics in real-time locally in each machine. TrioStat enables distributed spatial data streaming systems to compare the workloads of machines as well as the workloads of data partitions. TrioStat requires minimal network and storage overhead. Moreover, the required storage is distributed across the system's machines.
Legends in urology.

My luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) methods have been used for many years for prostate cancer. Extensive studies in prostatic oncology led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to classify me as an “endocrine oncologist”. I was also recently elected a Fellow of the Inaugural Class of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy. Perhaps my involvement with the effects of new analogs of hypothalamic peptides on experimental benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with my colleagues Drs. N. L. Block and F. G. Rick gave the CJU the idea to issue this invitation.
Fracture toughness of one- and two-dimensional nanoreinforced cement via scratch testing.

Cement is the most widely consumed material globally, with the cement industry accounting for 8 of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Aiming for cement composites with a reduced carbon footprin...
Assessment of a Student-Run Free Gender-Affirming Care Clinic's Transition to Telehealth

Background: Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming (TGNC) people continue to experience severe health discrimination and limited access to care. Methods: Using survey data collected during August-Sep...
Electrostatic interaction of loop 1 and backbone of human cardiac myosin regulates the rate of ATP induced actomyosin dissociation

Double mutation D208Q:K450L was introduced in the beta isoform of human cardiac myosin to remove the salt bridge D208:K450 connecting loop 1 and the seven-stranded beta sheet within the myosin head. Beta isoform-specific salt bridge D208:K450 was previously discovered in the molecular dynamics simulations. It was proposed that loop 1 modulates nucleotide affinity to actomyosin and we hypothesized that the electrostatic interactions between loop 1 and myosin head backbone regulates ATP binding to and ADP dissociation from actomyosin, and therefore, the time of the strong actomyosin binding. Wild type and the mutant of the myosin head construct (1-843 amino acid residues) were expressed in differentiated C2C12 cells, and the kinetics of ATP induced actomyosin dissociation and ADP release were characterized using transient kinetics spectrophotometry. Both constructs exhibit a fast rate of ATP binding to actomyosin and a slow rate of ADP dissociation, showing that ADP release limits the time of the strongly bound state of actomyosin. We observed a faster rate of ATP-induced actomyosin dissociation with the mutant, compared to the wild type actomyosin. The rate of ADP release from actomyosin remains the same for the mutant and the wild type actomyosin. We conclude that the flexibility of loop 1 is a factor affecting the rate of ATP binding to actomyosin and actomyosin dissociation. We observed no effect of loop 1 flexibility on the rate of ADP release from actomyosin. HighlightsO_LIHuman cardiac myosin has the isoform-specific salt bridge, electrostatically linking loop 1 and myosin head backbone. C_LIO_LIAbsence of loop 1 - backbone salt bridge increases rate of ATP-induced actomyosin dissociation C_LIO_LIThe rate of ADP dissociation from actomyosin is not affected by the isoform-specific salt bridge. C_LI
Natural Cosmeceutical Ingredients for the Management of Hyperpigmentation in Hispanic and Latino Women.

Background Disorders of hyperpigmentation, such as melasma, postinflammatory pigmentary alteration, and lentigines, pose significant cosmetic concerns for women of Hispanic or Latino race and ethnicity. Natural ingredients are gaining popularity as alternative, safe, and effective topical depigmenting agents. Objective We sought to review clinical studies evaluating the use of natural ingredients in the topical management of hyperpigmentation in Hispanic and Latino women. Methods We conducted a systematic review of scientific and medical electronic databases to identity randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and nonrandomized reports on topical natural agents for the treatment of disorders of hyperpigmentation, using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. Results Our review of the literature revealed relatively few (N=7) clinical studies (including six RCTs) that evaluated the topical management of hyperpigmentation using natural ingredients with specific reference to women of Hispanic or Latino race and ethnicity. Despite limited research data, a small number (N=7) of natural ingredients demonstrated efficacy and safety as depigmenting agents in this cohort, including niacinamide, soy, azelaic acid, ascorbic acid, licorice, emblica, and belides. Conclusion Several natural ingredients have scientific data supporting their potential efficacy as topical treatments for disorders of hyperpigmentation in women of Hispanic or Latino race and ethnicity. However, the paucity of robust cosmetic trials in this setting reflects the generalized low representation of Hispanic and Latino individuals in clinical studies of other skin conditions. Many in-vivo cutaneous trials of natural ingredients are limited by their study design, including with respect to subject selection and short duration. Further research is needed to determine long-term efficacy, safety, optimal concentration, and formulation of natural ingredients for the topical management of hyperpigmentation in Hispanic and Latino women.
Parvovirus B19 infection in human pregnancy

Human parvovirus B19 infection is widespread. Approximately 30-50% of pregnant women are nonimmune, and vertical transmission is common following maternal infection in pregnancy. Fetal infection may be associated with a normal outcome, but fetal death may also occur without ultrasound evidence of infectious sequelae. B19 infection should be considered in any case of nonimmune hydrops. Diagnosis is mainly through serology and polymerase chain reaction. Surveillance requires sequential ultrasound and Doppler screening for signs of fetal anaemia, heart failure and hydrops. Immunoglobulins, antiviral and vaccination are not yet available, but intrauterine transfusion in selected cases can be life saving.
Wilderness and its Discontents: Wilderness Review Comes to Public Lands

This paper explores numerous legal and policy issues raised by the review of federal public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for possible inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. The review was mandated by Congress in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. BLM is the last federal land management agency to undergo such review, and and largest, in terms of acreage managed. BLM lands poses some of the most interesting issues because its lands have long been open for uses inconsistent with wilderness status, and are the least coherently configured on the landscape.
Downstream variation of grain size in gravel rivers: Abrasion versus selective sorting

Most gravel rivers show a tendency for characteristic grain size to decrease in the downstream direction over scales of tens or hundreds of kilometers. This change in grain size might be due to a) selective sorting, according to which finer grains are preferentially transported downstream, b) abrasion, by which individual grains are reduced in size, or some combination of the two. Here a framework for the simultaneous treatment of both phenomena is developed. The analysis is restricted to bedload transport of gravel. Differential sorting is treated by means of a hiding function embedded in a surface-based sediment transport relation. Abrasion is postulated to be due primarily to binary collisions between moving bedload and stationary bed particles. The model is applied to river systems undergoing wave-like aggradation such that the river profile obeys an appropriate similarity profile. The results indicate that the downstream variation in grain size is mostly due to selective sorting in the case of quartz, but that abrasion and selective sorting are of roughly equal importance in the case of limestone.
On the Coupling between Anesthetic Induced Membrane Fluidization and Cation Permeability in Lipid Vesicles

The effect of anesthetics on the rubidium-86 ion efflux from phosphoipid vesicles was studied in the presence of the ionophores gramicidin A and valinomycin and in the absence of ionophores. Anesthetics of known lipid/buffer partition coefficient were used. Pentobarbital, halothane and butanol all increased the three types of ion efflux. The effects were linearly dependent on each anesthetics’ membrane concentration over a range of anesthetic mole fractions in lipid from 0.02 to 0.3, and concentrations known to produce anesthesia produced clearly significant increases in each case. The effect of a given membrane concentration of all the anesthetics on each of the three modes of ion efflux was similar, suggesting that a single perturbation of the lipids is involved in every case. The effects of anesthetics on cation permeability correlated better with their perturbation of lipid bilayers (reported by a freely rotating hydrophobic fluorescent probe [1,6-diphenyl 1,3,5-hexatriene]) than with those reported by spin-labebed lipid probes undergoing anisotropic motion. Coupling between the permeability increases and the perturbation of the bilayer structure was strong, the functional changes being about an order of magnitude larger than the structural changes. The lipid perturbation hypothesis of anesthetic action has been criticized because the structural perturbations observed at anesthetic concentrations are small, but such strong coupling between structural and functional changes may resolve this problem.
An object-oriented model for spatio-temporal synchronization of multimedia information

Proposes an extension to an earlier proposed temporal synchronization model, called OCPN. The new model allows one to specify spatial operations at the time of authoring the multimedia information. The authors present a mechanism to translate the model into an object-oriented environment. For this purpose the temporal operations are selected as objects. This scheme has many advantages over the existing object-oriented model since it requires fewer number of objects as well as do not limit the users to share the actual raw data. A polynomial time algorithm is proposed to translate the new OCPN into an object hierarchy. >
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA repair gene RAD23 encodes a nuclear protein containing a ubiquitin-like domain required for biological function.

Abstract In eukaryotes, the posttranslational conjugation of ubiquitin to various cellular proteins marks them for degradation. Interestingly, several proteins have been reported to contain ubiquitin-like (ub-like) domains that are in fact specified by the DNA coding sequences of the proteins. The biological role of the ub-like domain in these proteins is not known; however, it has been proposed that this domain functions as a degradation signal rendering the proteins unstable. Here, we report that the product of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD23 gene, which is involved in excision repair of UV-damaged DNA, bears a ub-like domain at its amino terminus. This finding has presented an opportunity to define the functional significance of this domain. We show that deletion of the ub-like domain impairs the DNA repair function of RAD23 and that this domain can be functionally substituted by the authentic ubiquitin sequence. Surprisingly, RAD23 is highly stable, and the studies reported herein indicate that its ub-like domain does not mediate protein degradation. Thus, in RAD23 at least, the ub-like domain affects protein function in a nonproteolytic manner.
Direct potentiometric determination of total ionic fluoride in biological fluids.

We describe a simple method for measuring fluoride concentration in biological fluids, in which the fluoride ion-specific electrode is used, and which is based on the principle of single known addition. Difficulties associated with variations in pH, temperature, ionic strength, complexation, and nonideal electrode response are thus minimized, and accuracy and precision are maximized. The mean recovery of fluoride added to plasma or to urine was 101.5 or 100.5%, respectively. Analytical variation (coefficient of variation) was 8-10% for plasma and 1.5-4% for urine. The method was applied to 26 sera obtained during hospital pre-admission examinations, and gave a mean ionic fluoride concentration of 1.95 µmol/liter (range, 0.84-2.90 µmol/liter), in reasonable agreement with values reported for other procedures that are based on totally different principles.