cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Water, chloroform, acetonitrile, and atrazine adsorption to the amorphous silica surface studied by vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy

Abstract Vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy was used to examine the air–silica interface before, during, and after adsorption of water, chloroform, acetonitrile, and atrazine, an s -triazine molecule. Adsorption via the surface silanol sites was observed for all the compounds. Adsorption of chloroform and acetonitrile was weaker compared to water. Binding to the surface silanol groups was observed to be reversible for chloroform, acetonitrile, and atrazine. The standard free energy of adsorption, Δ G abs ∘ , of atrazine to the silica surface was determined to be −35 kJ/mol at 23 °C.
Sites of microtubule stabilization for the axon

We have sought to determine the principal site(s) in the neuron where axonal microtubules (MTs) are stabilized. To accomplish this, we compared the proximal and distal regions of the axon and the axon shaft with regard to their content of newly stabilized MT polymer, using the following criteria. Stable polymer was identified by its resistance to nocodazole, and newly stabilized polymer was distinguished from older stable polymer by the staining of the former but not the latter for tyrosinated alpha-tubulin. Our results indicate that roughly 36.4%, 5.4%, and 2.4% of the total MT mass in the proximal and distal regions of the axon and the axon shaft is newly stabilized, respectively. Thus, while MT stabilization occurs throughout the axon, the proximal region is by far the most active with regard to this process.
In-situ confocal luminescence microscopy study of lithium niobate during domain inversion

In this work we will show that it is possible to probe the Er/sup 3+/ defect in-situ during domain inversion offering the potential to study the spatial extension of the perturbations associated with a moving domain wall and to develop an active feedback system for electron beam or light-induced domain inversion.
Concurrency control in database systems

Ideas that are used in the design, development, and performance of concurrency control mechanisms have been summarized. The locking, time-stamp, optimistic-based mechanisms are included. The ideas of validation in the optimistic approach are presented in some detail. The degree of concurrency and classes of serializability for various algorithms have been presented. Questions that relate arrival rate of transactions with degree of concurrency and performance have been briefly presented. Finally, several useful ideas for increasing concurrency have been summarized. They include flexible transactions, adaptability, prewrites, multidimensional time stamps, and relaxation of two-phase locking.
The chromatin structure of the GAL1 promoter forms independently of Reb1p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Positive and negative regulation of the GAL1 promoter of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae results from a network of interactions between transcription factors and chromatin. In this study we used footprinting procedures to characterize these interactions in vivo. DNase I analysis of the GAL1 upstream activating sequence (UAS(GAL1/10)) showed expected Gal4 activator protein binding during growth in galactose, and also revealed binding of the Reb1 protein (Reb1p) during growth in glucose. In addition, we mapped to nucleotide resolution a positioned nucleosome that, in the inactive promoter, packages DNA between the UAS(GAL1/10) and the GAL1 TATA sequence, leaving both of these elements nucleosome free. The nucleosome footprint was lost when the promoter was activated. Surprisingly, mutation of the Reb1p binding site had no effect on nucleosome positioning or on the kinetics or extent of activation or repression of either the GAL1 or GAL10 promoters under any of the conditions assayed.
Myocardial Recovery in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure: Is It Real?

Patients with chronic advanced heart failure unloaded by left ventricular assist devices can show improvement in their myocardial function and some can show "reverse remodeling" to the extent that their myocardial function improves sufficiently for the device to be removed. Furthermore, recent data suggest that combining mechanical support with adjuvant drug therapy can increase the rate and proportion of recovery as well as its durability. This article will review the evidence for myocardial recovery in patients with chronic heart failure and whether it is a "real" phenomenon.
Budgeted Nonparametric Learning from Data Streams

We consider the problem of extracting informative exemplars from a data stream. Examples of this problem include exemplar-based clustering and nonparametric inference such as Gaussian process regression on massive data sets. We show that these problems require maximization of a submodular function that captures the informativeness of a set of exemplars, over a data stream. We develop an efficient algorithm, Stream-Greedy, which is guaranteed to obtain a constant fraction of the value achieved by the optimal solution to this NP-hard optimization problem. We extensively evaluate our algorithm on large real-world data sets.
Rib Heat Transfer Coefficient Measurements in a Rib-Roughened Square Passage

Three staggered 90° rib geometries corresponding to blockage ratios of 0.133, 0.167 and 0.25 were tested for pitch-to-height ratios of 5, 8.5 and 10, and for two distinct thermal boundary conditions of heated and unheated channel walls. Comparisons were made between the surface averaged heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for ribs with rounded corners and those with sharp comers, reported previously. Heat transfer coefficients of the furthest upstream rib and that of a typical rib located in the middle of the rib-roughened region of the passage wall were also compared. It was concluded that: a) For the geometries tested, the rib average heat transfer coefficient was much higher than that for the area between the ribs. For the sharp-corner ribs, the rib average heat transfer coefficient increased with blockage ratio. However, when the corners were rounded, the trend depended on the level of roundness. b) High blockage ratio (e/Dh=0.25) ribs were insensitive to the pitch-to-height ratio. For the other two blockage ratios, the pitch-to-height ratio of 5 produced the lowest heat transfer coefficient. Results of the other two pitch-to-height ratios were very close, with the results of S/e = 10 slightly higher than those of S/e=8.5. c) Under otherwise identical conditions, ribs in the furthest upstream position produced lower heat transfer coefficients for all cases except that of the smallest blockage ratio with S/e of 5. In that position, for the rib geometries tested, while the sharp-comer rib average heat transfer coefficients increased with the blockage ratio, the trend of the round-corner ribs depended on the level of roundness, r/e. d) Thermal performance decreased with the blockage ratio. While the smallest rib geometry at a pitch-to-height ratio of 10 had the highest thermal performance, thermal performance of high blockage ribs at a pitch-to-height ratio of 5 was the lowest. e) The general effects of rounding were a decrease in heat transfer coefficient for the midstream ribs and an increase in heat transfer coefficient for ribs in the furthest upstream position.Copyright © 1996 by ASME
Classification of medical errors and preventable adverse events in primary care: a synthesis of the literature.

■Little is known about medical errors and preventable adverse events in the primary care setting.
Sp1, a CAAT-binding factor, and the adenovirus major late promoter transcription factor interact with functional regions of the gamma-fibrinogen promoter.

Abstract To study the factors which influence the coordinately and developmentally regulated expression of the three adjacent fibrinogen genes, we have defined the functional regions of the gamma-fibrinogen promoter and the proteins which bind to them. Using a series of 5' and internal deletion mutations, we found that sequences between 88 and 43 base pairs (bp) upstream of the gamma-fibrinogen transcription initiation site functioned in cis to direct properly initiated mRNA accumulation in transfected hepatocytes. The efficient function of these sequences was highly distance dependent, since transcriptional activity decreased by 92% when they were moved 32 bp upstream of the TATA box. We demonstrated that two known and one putative transcriptional factors interacted with this 47-bp sequence. The transcription factor Sp1 interacted with sequences between -51 and -46 as demonstrated by protection from DNase I digestion with the purified protein. Directly adjacent to the Sp1 site, between nucleotides -66 and -53, there was a sequence which bound a CAAT-binding factor. Finally, sequences just 5' to the CAAT factor-binding site interacted with the adenovirus major late transcriptional factor as previously demonstrated. Internal deletion mutations which disrupt these interactions diminished the activity of the promoter in vivo. One consequence of the interaction of these proteins is that a bend is placed in the DNA at or near their sites of interaction.
Role of alternating redox conditions in the formation of organic-rich interval in the Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin, USA

Abstract Geochemical, isotopic and petrographic analyses were performed on a 30-m core of the Marcellus Shale obtained from Greene County, Pennsylvania, to understand the dominant controls on organic matter deposition in the black shale study units. Our study suggests that the regeneration of nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P), may have played a key role in the formation of organic carbon (OC)-rich intervals in the Marcellus Shale. The decomposition of organic matter is likely to have released N and P into the water column, and the episodic upward mixing of these nutrient-enriched waters enhanced primary production. The ratios of Corg/Nbulk and Corg/Ptot are significantly higher in the OC-rich zone of the core (i.e., defined as TOC > 4% and located between 2393 and 2406.5 m depth). The high Corg/Ptot and Corg/Nbulk ratios of the preserved organic matter may reflect the release of N and P by microbial processes, indicating the recycling of nutrients during deposition of the OC-rich interval. In addition, our data show a positive relationships between the Corg/Ptot and Corg/Nbulk ratios and the organic carbon content, which indicate that the recycled nutrients may have promoted primary productivity, resulting in higher OC accumulation in some intervals. The geochemical and stable isotopic results also suggest that the alternating redox conditions in the water mass were favorable for nutrient regeneration. Highly variable trace metal concentrations (e.g., U, Mo, and V) in the OC-rich zone and a wide range of δ15N and δ34Spyr values towards the top of the OC-rich zone suggest fluctuations between anoxic and suboxic water conditions. Finally, sedimentary features and agglutinated benthic foraminifera in the OC-rich zone support the existence of short-term fluctuations between suboxic and anoxic conditions near the sediment–water interface. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that nutrient regeneration due to alternating redox conditions may have played an important role in the formation of OC-rich intervals in the Marcellus Shale.
Poly(thioester) by Organocatalytic Ring-Opening Polymerization.

Organocatalysts typically used for the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic ester monomers are applied to a thiolactone, e-thiocaprolactone (tCL). In the absence of an H-bond donor, a nucleophilic polymerization mechanism is proposed. Despite the decreased ability of thioesters and thiols (versus esters and alcohols) to H-bond, H-bonding organocatalysts—a thiourea in combination with an H-bond accepting base—are also effective for the ROP of tCL. The increased nucleophilicity of thiols (versus alcohols) is implicated in the increased Mw/Mn of the poly(thiocaprolactone) versus poly(caprolactone), but deleterious transesterification is suppressed in the presence of a thiourea. The thioester monomer, tCL, is shown to be thermodynamically similar to e-caprolactam but kinetically similar to e-caprolactone.
Digital Game based Learning for Undergraduate Calculus Education: Immersion, Calculation, and Conceptual Understanding

This study has two goals: First, to investigate the effectiveness of using a digital game to teach undergraduate-level calculus in terms of improving task immersion, sense of control, calculation skills, and conceptual understanding. Second, to investigate how feedback and visual manipulation can facilitate conceptual understanding of calculus. 132 undergraduate students participated in a controlled lab experiment and were randomly assigned to either a game-playing condition, a practice quiz condition, or a no-treatment control condition. The authors collected survey data and behavioral-tracking data recorded by the server during gameplay. The results showed that students who played the digital game reported highest task immersion but not sense of control. Students in the game condition also performed significantly better in conceptual understanding compared to students who solved a practice quiz and the control group. Gameplay behavioral-tracking data was used to examine the effects of visual manipulation and feedback on conceptual understanding.
SLaC: Stage laser control for a flattened butterfly network

Photonic interconnects have emerged as a promising candidate technology for high-performance energy-efficient on-chip, on-board, and datacenter-scale interconnects. However, the high optical loss of many nanophotonic components coupled with the low efficiency of current laser sources result in exceedingly high total power requirements for the laser. As optical interconnects stay on even during periods of system inactivity, most of this power is wasted, which has prompted research on laser gating. Unfortunately, prior work on laser gating has only focused on low-scalability on-chip photonic interconnects (photonic crossbars), and disrupts the connectivity of the network which renders a high-performance implementation challenging. In this paper we propose SLaC, a laser gating technique that turns on and off redundant paths in a photonic flattened-butterfly network to save laser energy while maintaining high performance and full connectivity. Maintaining full connectivity removes the laser turn-on latency from the critical path and results in minimal performance degradation. SLaC is equally applicable to on-chip, on-board, and datacenter level interconnects. For on-chip and multi-chip applications, SLaC saves up to 67% of the laser energy (43–57% on average) when running real-world workloads. On a datacenter network, SLaC saves 79% of the laser energy on average when running traffic traces collected from university datacenter servers.
How) do animals know how much they weigh

ABSTRACT Animal species varying in size and musculoskeletal design all support and move their body weight. This implies the existence of evolutionarily conserved feedback between sensors that produce quantitative signals encoding body weight and proximate determinants of musculoskeletal designs. Although studies at the level of whole organisms and tissue morphology and function clearly indicate that musculoskeletal designs are constrained by body weight variation, the corollary to this – i.e. that the molecular-level composition of musculoskeletal designs is sensitive to body weight variation – has been the subject of only minimal investigation. The main objective of this Commentary is to briefly summarize the former area of study but, in particular, to highlight the latter hypothesis and the relevance of understanding the mechanisms that control musculoskeletal function at the molecular level. Thus, I present a non-exhaustive overview of the evidence – drawn from different fields of study and different levels of biological organization – for the existence of body weight sensing mechanism(s).
Followup Prostate Biopsy in Patients with Carcinoma of the Prostate Treated By 192Iridium Template Irradiation Plus Supplemental External Beam Radiation

AbstractWe reviewed our experience with 81 patients who had undergone followup needle biopsies of the prostate between 12 and 27 months after 192iridium template radiotherapy combined with external beam radiation therapy. When broken down by stage 82% of the patients with stage A2, 92% with B1, 95% with B2 and 55% with C disease demonstrated a negative biopsy and adequate local control of the cancer. We believe that in elderly patients, poor risk patients with early stage disease and stage C lesions this low morbidity, low mortality therapy offers a viable option to other modalities of treatment.
A phase I study of cisplatin, etoposide, and paclitaxel in small cell lung cancer

This phase I study was designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose of paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) with standard doses of cisplatin and etoposide for patients with untreated, extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. Secondary objectives were to determine the toxicities, response rate, response duration, and overall survival in this cohort. Twenty-four patients were enrolled into four dose levels. All patients received a fixed dose of cisplatin at 80 mg/m2 intravenously (IV) on day 1. The first group received etoposide 50 mg/m2 IV on day 1 and 100 mg orally on days 2 and 3, while all subsequent groups received etoposide 80 mg/m2 IV on day 1 and 160 mg/m2 orally on days 2 and 3. The paclitaxel starting dose was 135 mg/m2 IV over 3 hours and escalated to 175 mg/m2 and 200 mg/m2. Cycles were repeated every 21 days for a maximum of six cycles. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor was not given prophylactically, but was allowed in subsequent cycles according to American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines. Nineteen patients were evaluable for toxicity and 18 patients were evaluable for response. Myelosuppression was the major toxicity, with grade 4 neutropenia occurring in 18 of 19 patients (95%), but febrile neutropenia was uncommon and developed in four of 19 patients (21%). Dose-limiting peripheral neuropathy was observed at a paclitaxel dose of 200 mg/m2. Grade 4 nausea/vomiting and diarrhea were also noted at this dose level. Four patients had complete responses (22%) and 13 patients had partial responses (72%). The overall response rate was 94%, with a median survival of 11 months and a 2-year survival rate of 19%. This three-drug combination of paclitaxel with cisplatin and etoposide is highly active with acceptable toxicity. Neurotoxicity was dose limiting at 200 mg/m2 paclitaxel. Neutropenia was frequent but was not associated with significant morbidity. The recommended doses for future clinical trials are paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 IV over 3 hours on day 1 with cisplatin 80 mg/m2 IV on day 1 and etoposide 80/160 mg/m2 IV on day 1 and orally on days 2 and 3. Growth factor support should be used according to American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines.
Initial Stop Voicing in Bilingual Children With Cochlear Implants and Their Typically Developing Peers With Normal Hearing

Purpose This study focuses on stop voicing differentiation in bilingual children with normal hearing (NH) and their bilingual peers with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs). Method Twenty-...
Extremity Compartment Syndrome

All surgeons caring for patients with trauma to the extremities or practicing vascular surgery must be able to recognize and surgically treat compartment syndromes. Compartment syndrome (CS) results from a variety of etiologies with the final common pathway being increased compartmental pressure that exceeds the arterial inflow with resultant ischemia and necrosis. Failure to identify and treat compartment syndromes in a timely fashion is associated with preventable morbidity and mortality and is a common source of litigation. The diagnosis of CS is largely clinical, but measurement of compartment pressures may be useful in patients with equivocal findings or altered level of consciousness. Below the knee, the lower extremity is most commonly affected, followed much less frequently by the forearm, thigh, buttock, foot, and hand. This chapter will briefly review the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and relevant anatomy of CS of the extremities. The surgical treatment of CS of the extremities will be the major focus of this chapter with a practical step-by-step approach to fasciotomies of the lower leg, thigh, and forearm.
Abstract 4444: DNA methylation age is accelerated in breast tissue of healthy women donors

Background: Advanced age and cumulative estrogen exposure are well known risk factors for breast cancer. However, the mechanisms underlying the link between cellular senescence, chronic estrogen stimulation, increased cell cycling, and breast carcinogenesis are poorly understood. We examined epigenetic alterations that occur in the female breast with advancing age, and estrogen exposure. Methods: We utilized specimens from 49 women healthy tissue donors from the Komen Tissue Bank who donated both breast tissue and peripheral blood at two time points spaced at least 2 years apart. Ages of the donors ranged from 18-65 years and they were grouped by menopausal status (27 pre- and and 22 post-menopausal) and parity (21 nulliparous). We assessed epigenome-wide DNA methylation levels (Illumina 450K platform) from DNA extracted from breast and blood tissue, and calculated tissue “DNA methylation age (DNAm age)” based on methylation levels at 353 CpGs that have been shown to strongly correlate with chronologic age across tissues. We examined the relationship between this outcome and age and variables related to cumulative estrogen exposure, including age at menarche, gravidity, parity, and menopausal status. Results: DNAm age was highly correlated with chronological age in our sample (cor = 0.8, p Conclusions: We find that DNAm age is accelerated in breast tissue compared with peripheral blood cells in a population of healthy donors to the Komen Tissue Bank. We further note a significant association between DNAm age and early menarche, and rising number of pregnancies, suggesting that cumulative cell cycling with menstrual cycles and the tissue plasticity occurring with pregnancy may contribute to accelerated epigenetic age in the female breast. Citation Format: Mary E. Sehl, Patricia A. Ganz, Steve Horvath. DNA methylation age is accelerated in breast tissue of healthy women donors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4444.
Semen Analysis Using Sperm Class Analyzer (SCA v5) for Computer Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA)

Semen analysis yields useful information about the fertility status of an individual and is one of the first steps in the diagnosis of male factor infertility. This test provides an assessment of fertility potential, sperm production, functioning of accessory genital tract glands, and ejaculatory capability.
Structural and electronic properties of molecular beam epitaxially grown Ni1+xTiSn films

Abstract This paper demonstrates the molecular beam epitaxial growth of metallic full-Heusler Ni 2 TiSn precipitates within semiconducting NiTiSn host matrix, and discusses the structural and chemical stability of this biphasic epitaxial composite and its influence on the electronic properties. Structural properties of the epitaxial films were characterized by in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction and ex-situ by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicate the presence of a secondary phase with full Heusler ordering within half-Heusler host matrix. Both the parent half-Heusler and the secondary full-Heusler phases in the epitaxial films are strained from their bulk lattice parameters. Electronic properties show an increase in resistivity at low Ni excess.
Errors and Residuals

In previous chapters, you learned that the errors in a linear regression model are assumed to be independent and normally and identically distributed random variables, with mean 0 and variance σ 2: $$ \varepsilon \sim NID\left(0,{\sigma}^2\right) $$ We discussed the normality assumption in Chap. 6, learning ways to determine whether the errors are normally distributed (e.g., QQ plot, Jarque-Bera test) and the steps we can take to normalize them if they are not (e.g., Box-Cox transformation). In this chapter, we will consider whether the errors are independent and identically distributed, learning ways to assess these assumptions and correct violations of them when they arise.
Chemical discrimination of lubricant marketing types using direct analysis in real time time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Rationale In comparison to other violent crimes, sexual assaults suffer from very low prosecution and conviction rates especially in the absence of DNA evidence. As a result, the forensic community needs to utilize other forms of trace contact evidence, like lubricant evidence, in order to provide a link between the victim and the assailant. Methods In this study, 90 personal bottled and condom lubricants from the three main marketing types, silicone-based, water-based and condoms, were characterized by direct analysis in real time time of flight mass spectrometry (DART-TOFMS). The instrumental data was analyzed by multivariate statistics including hierarchal cluster analysis, principal component analysis, and linear discriminant analysis. Results By interpreting the mass spectral data with multivariate statistics, 12 discrete groupings were identified, indicating inherent chemical diversity not only between but within the three main marketing groups. A number of unique chemical markers, both major and minor, were identified, other than the three main chemical components (i.e. PEG, PDMS and nonoxynol-9) currently used for lubricant classification. The data was validated by a stratified 20% withheld cross-validation which demonstrated that there was minimal overlap between the groupings. Conclusions Based on the groupings identified and unique features of each group, a highly discriminating statistical model was then developed that aims to provide the foundation for the development of a forensic lubricant database that may eventually be applied to casework. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Quasi-geostrophic dynamo theory

Abstract The asymptotic theory of rapidly rotating, convection-driven dynamos in a plane layer is discussed. A key characteristic of these quasi-geostrophic dynamos is that the Lorentz force is comparable in magnitude to the ageostrophic component of the Coriolis force, rather than the leading order component that yields geostrophy. This characteristic is consistent with both observations of planetary dynamos and numerical dynamo investigations, where the traditional Elssasser number, Λ T = O ( 1 ) . Thus, while numerical dynamo simulations currently cannot access the strongly turbulent flows that are thought to be characteristic of planetary interiors, it is argued that they are in the appropriate geostrophically balanced regime provided that inertial and viscous forces are both small relative to the leading order Coriolis force. Four distinct quasi-geostrophic dynamo regimes are discussed, with each regime characterized by a unique magnetic to kinetic energy density ratio and differing dynamics. The axial torque due to the Lorentz force is shown to be asymptotically small for such quasi-geostrophic dynamos, suggesting that ‘Taylor’s constraint’ represents an ambiguous measure of the primary force balance in a rapidly rotating dynamo.
The value of price transparency in residential solar photovoltaic markets

Abstract Installed prices for residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have declined significantly in recent years. However price dispersion and limited customer access to PV quotes prevents some prospective customers from obtaining low price offers. This study shows that improved customer access to prices – also known as price transparency – is a potential policy lever for further PV price reductions. We use customer search and strategic pricing theory to show that PV installation companies face incentives to offer lower prices in markets with more price transparency. We test this theoretical framework using a unique residential PV quote dataset. Our results show that installers offer lower prices to customers that are expected to receive more quotes. Our study provides a rationale for policies to improve price transparency in residential PV markets.
Single dose versus multiple doses of rituximab for preemptive therapy of Epstein-Barr virus reactivation after hematopoietic cell transplantation.

AbstractEpstein–Barr virus (EBV) reactivation is an unresolved medical issue after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Rituximab treatment is recommended for EBV reactivation after HSCT but the number of doses of rituximab to use is unclear. In this study, risk factors and outcomes of patients who needed 1 dose vs >1 doses of preemptive rituximab to clear EBV viremia were compared. A higher viral load was more likely to be associated with higher doses of rituximab. Patients whose EBV viremia cleared with 1 dose of rituximab were more likely to have a preceding reduction of immunosuppression. Overall survival (OS) in these 2 cohorts was not different (18.7 vs 26.6 months, respectively, p = .96). Since rituximab can have side effects and is fairly costly, a predictive model to determine the number of rituximab doses using viral load would be a useful and cost-effective manner to utilize rituximab for this indication.
Abstract 5435: Role of the WT1 transcription factor in high-grade serous ovarian cancer

The Wilms Tumor protein 1 (WT1) transcription factor (TF) is a ubiquitous biomarker of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), which is the most common and aggressive subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). This TF interacts with a host of cellular factors including the tumor suppressor P53, which is mutated in virtually all HGSOC cases. Studies have suggested a role for WT1 in HGSOC development, but little is known about the underlying mechanism. We have generated unique catalogues of epigenomic landscapes (specifically H3K27ac) in primary HGSOC using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq). Using Bayesian analyses of H3K27ac profiling in HGSOCs, we identified significant tissue specific enrichment of active chromatin at the WT1 locus in HGSOC when compared to all other EOC tumor histotypes. Furthermore, this locus contains a superenhancer in HGSOCs and in normal fallopian tube secretory epithelial cells (FTSECs). This locus features a bidirectional promoter that is shared by WT1-AS lncRNA and that contains a WT1 binding site. LncRNAs are essential in many cellular processes, and have been shown to play pivotal roles in tumorigenicity. The WT1-AS lncRNA is implicated in other diseases but little is known of its function in EOC. We have investigated the mechanisms of interaction between WT1 and WT1-AS. We observed that both protein and transcript expression for WT1 and WT1-AS are positively correlated in HGSOC cell lines. Analysis of data for >400 primary HGSOCs from TCGA further supported this correlation. We hypothesized that WT1 is a critical TF in the development of HGSOC, and that WT1-AS plays a key role in its regulatory pathway. We evaluated the regulatory role of WT1 first by analyzing cellular phenotypes and target gene expression changes in HGSOC cell lines after shRNA mediated knockdown (KD) of WT1. HGSOC cells with stable WT1 knockdown had impaired proliferation and concomitant reduction of WT1-AS expression. We also identified a decrease in expression of SHMT1 in WT1 KD cells, which is a known WT1 target gene. Integrated genome-wide analysis of the WT1 transcriptome by RNA-seq and the WT1 cistrome by ChIP-seq, in parallel with ChIP-MS, is being used to establish the architecture of the WT1 regulome, specifically to establish the regulatory mechanisms and relationships between WT1 and WT1-AS. Ultimately, these studies aim to establish the mechanisms of action for the WT1 TF in neoplastic transformation of HGSOC. Citation Format: Norma I. Rodriguez-Malave, Justyna E. Kanska, Kevin C. Vavra, Dennis Hazelett, Rosario I. Corona, Ji-Heui Seo, Matthew Freedman, Simon R. Knott, Sandra Orsulic, Beth Y. Karlan, Kate Lawrenson, Simon A. Gayther. Role of the WT1 transcription factor in high-grade serous ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5435.
Corrosion effects on fatigue behavior of dissimilar friction stir welding of high-strength aluminum alloys

Abstract This paper examines the effects of corrosion defects on the low-cycle fatigue performance of dissimilar friction stir welded AA6061-to-AA7050 aluminum alloys. Corrosion defects were produced on the crown surface of the weld by static immersion in 3.5% NaCl for various exposure times. Results revealed localized corrosion damage in the thermo-mechanically affected and heat-affected zones. The corrosion damage featured general pitting, pit clustering, and exfoliation that revealed increasing depth with increasing exposure time. The higher corrosion attack was measured in the AA7050 compared to the AA6061. Results demonstrated a decrease in the fatigue life with evidence of crack initiation at the corrosion defects; however, the fatigue life was nearly independent of the exposure time. This can be attributed to total fatigue life dominated by incubation time. Furthermore, two types of failure were observed: crack propagation in the AA6061 side at high-strain amplitudes (> 0.3%) and crack propagation in the AA7050 side at low-strain amplitudes (
Intratonsillar abscess: a not-so-rare clinical entity.

Abstract Objective To report the prevalence of intratonsillar abscess in the pediatric population at our institution and demonstrate that intratonsillar abscess is a more commonly encountered diagnosis than previously reported. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed that included patients presenting to our pediatric tertiary referral academic emergency department from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 diagnosed with intratonsillar abscess on computed tomography. Results In the year 2014, 22 children were diagnosed with intratonsillar abscess by radiological criteria. The majority of patients (82%) required no surgical intervention and were successfully treated with antibiotics and supportive measures. All patients recovered from the infection uneventfully, and there were no treatment complications recorded. Conclusion Even in recent literature, intratonsillar abscess is described as a rare entity, with few cases reported. In our experience, CT imaging demonstrating the presence of intratonsillar abscess is more common than previously described. Regardless of treatment method, in our experience children with intratonsillar abscess do well clinically.
Convolutional Neural Network Based Rolling-Element Bearing Fault Diagnosis for Naturally Occurring and Progressing Defects Using Time-Frequency Domain Features

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are becoming increasingly popular for bearing fault diagnosis due to their ability to automatically capture the sensitive fault information without the need for expert knowledge. Most of these applications are developed considering vibration data from artificially induced faults. However, bearing failure in real-life can show huge damage variations even within a single category of failure which artificially induced failures are unable to represent. Thus, in this paper, the performance of classical CNN is evaluated on bearings with naturally occurring and progressing defects from the Paderborn University Dataset. A three-class (Healthy, Inner Race Fault and Outer Race Fault) classification problem is solved considering five bearing conditions within each class. These conditions vary in terms of bearing operating hours, damage mode, damage repetition pattern, the extent of damage, etc. The classification accuracy is evaluated under two cases: 1) at least a portion of data from each bearing condition from all classes is used in training; 2) data from all available conditions are considered for training except from one condition which is used explicitly for testing. Within each case, the effect of changing the domain of the input data is evaluated on the achieved accuracy. Three input signals based on vibration data (raw time domain signal, envelope spectrum, and spectrogram) were explored for their representation effectiveness. The proposed CNN with a spectrogram of the vibration signal as input achieves better results than similar architectures. Finally, the potential challenges that come along with the implementation of Deep Learning technologies for industrial applications are discussed and future research directions are proposed.
A promising food-coaching intervention program to achieve optimal gestational weight gain in overweight and obese pregnant women: pilot randomized controlled trial of a smartphone app

Background: Traditional dietary recommendations for achieving optimal gestational weight gain are ineffective for pregnant women due to the lack of real-time communication and tedious consultation processes. Objective: In this pilot study, we aimed to determine the feasibility of a novel food-coaching smartphone app for controlling gestational weight gain and macronutrient intake among overweight and obese pregnant women. Methods: We designed a randomized controlled trial and recruited 30 overweight and obese pregnant women (1:1 ratio) during 18-20 weeks of gestation and followed them up after 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. Both groups received standard pregnancy dietary orientation at recruitment, while the intervention group received 8 weeks of real-time food coaching via a smartphone app. This food coaching smartphone app (Glycoleap, Holmusk, Singapore) aimed to improve care and outcomes for people with diabetes. Pregnant women using this app were able to upload food images (eg, a picture of a meal, a drink, or a dessert) and received real-time and detailed food-coaching comments and guidance provided by professional dietitians during the day (8 AM to 8 PM). We recorded detailed characteristics during recruitment and examined anthropometry at all visits. We compared the mean differences of the 8-week gestational weight gain and macronutrient intake between the two groups. Results: Upon study completion, three subjects dropped out from the intervention, and one gave birth prematurely in the control group. The acceptance rate of the smartphone app was 90%. More participants achieved optimal gestational weight gain per week in the intervention group (8/12, 67%) than in the control group (5/14, 36%). After the 8-week intervention, women in the intervention group appeared to have lower gestational weight gain (mean difference=–0.08 kg; 95% CI –1.80 to 1.63) and cholesterol intake (mean difference=–31.73 mg; 95% CI –102.91 to 39.45) than those in the control group. Conclusions: Our findings showed that this food-coaching smartphone app is feasible and favorable for weight gain control and cholesterol intake control among overweight and obese pregnant women. Although our results were not significant (perhaps, attributed to the small sample size), it provided proof of concept for the feasibility of applying such technology in future randomized controlled trials with a larger sample size, an earlier intervention onset, and a longer follow-up for overweight and obese pregnant women.
Driving innovation using enterprise crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is emerging as a critical source of information and knowledge in contemporary enterprises. In an era of global competition and where “CIO” is increasingly being used to refer to “Chie...
Epithelial Membrane Protein 2 (EMP2) Promotes VEGF-Induced Pathological Neovascularization in Murine Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy.

Author(s): Sun, Michel; Wadehra, Madhuri; Casero, David; Lin, Meng-Chin; Aguirre, Brian; Parikh, Sachin; Matynia, Anna; Gordon, Lynn; Chu, Alison | Abstract: PurposeRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of childhood blindness. ROP occurs as a consequence of postnatal hyperoxia exposure in premature infants, resulting in vasoproliferation in the retina. The tetraspan protein epithelial membrane protein-2 (EMP2) is highly expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in adults, and it controls vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production in the ARPE-19 cell line. We, therefore, hypothesized that Emp2 knockout (Emp2 KO) protects against neovascularization in murine oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR).MethodsEyes were obtained from wildtype (WT) and Emp2 KO mouse pups at P7, P12, P17, and P21 after normoxia or hyperoxia (P7-P12) exposure. Following hyperoxia exposure, RNA sequencing was performed using the retina/choroid layers obtained from WT and Emp2 KO at P17. Retinal sections from P7, P12, P17, and P21 were evaluated for Emp2, hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (Hif1α), and VEGF expression. Whole mount images were generated to assess vaso-obliteration at P12 and neovascularization at P17.ResultsEmp2 KO OIR mice demonstrated a decrease in pathologic neovascularization at P17 compared with WT OIR mice through evaluation of retinal vascular whole mount images. This protection was accompanied by a decrease in Hif1α at P12 and VEGFA expression at P17 in Emp2 KO animals compared with the WT animals in OIR conditions. Collectively, our results suggest that EMP2 enhances the effects of neovascularization through modulation of angiogenic signaling.ConclusionsThe protection of Emp2 KO mice against pathologic neovascularization through attenuation of HIF and VEGF upregulation in OIR suggests that hypoxia-induced upregulation of EMP2 expression in the neuroretina modulates HIF-mediated neuroretinal VEGF expression.
Effects of self-management on quality of life in patients with hypertension in the Nanjing community

Objective To evaluate the effect of a community-based self-management model and the quality of life in patients with hypertension in Nanjing. Methods From April to June 2014, multistage stratified random sampling was used to randomly select patients with hypertension from the standardized management of basic public health services among 11 districts in Nanjing. A baseline survey and a follow-up after 3 months were conducted by well-trained investigators through face-to-face interviews to estimate the effect of self-management on quality of life. Results There were 586 patients investigated in the baseline survey. Among them, 575 patients finished group activities six times; the follow-up rate was 98.1%. After a self-management group intervention, the awareness of hypertension-related knowledge and six aspects of self-management behaviors were measured; the scores of all dimensions improved significantly, and SF-36 increased to 32.03±17.33. Multi-factor analysis results showed that those who were single and had complications felt improvement in their blood pressure control, experienced improvement in their stress conditions, and their quality of life improved. The OR (95%CI) values were 1.93 (1.06-3.52), 1.96 (1.21-3.19), 1.79 (1.11-2.89), and 2.51 (1.59-3.97). Conclusion Carrying out self-management group work with community patients with hypertension that is focused on prevention and control of physical, psychological, and social aspects of life can improve their quality of life. Key words: Hypertension; Quality of life; Self-management
Analysis on Marketing Segmentation of McDonald's

McDonald's is one of the most popular fast-food restaurants companies in the world. The way McDonald's built its marketing segmentation remains mysterious. Though there are multiple articles online discussing its marketing strategy, none of them clearly indicate the different approaches McDonald's utilized to build its marketing segmentation. In order to analyze McDonald's approaches to build marketing segmentation, seven different countries’ McDonald's websites are visited and the product types information from the official menu list on the websites are extracted. These seven countries represent seven continents while Antarctica is not considered. India and China are chosen since they are the most populated countries on the Earth. Then, every approach that McDonald's using in building marketing segmentation is listed out and how these approaches contribute to the overall structure is analyzed. The approaches all have advantages and drawbacks at the same time. Meanwhile, the five-year total return rates indicate that McDonald's has won its customers’ hearts in these several years.
Occupying schools, occupying land: by Rebecca Tarlau, New York, NY, Oxford University Press, 2019, $58.00 (hardback), 416 pp., ISBN 978-0190870324

Occupying Schools, Occupying Land is a global and comparative ethnography that centres around the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurias Sem Terra) (MST) and their ...
Performance modeling of Allam cycle integrated with a cryogenic air separation process

Abstract The performance of an integrated Allam cycle and a cryogenic air separation process is numerically simulated. In contrast to previous research which has primarily focused on the design of the cycle alone, this work accounts for the operational co-dependence of the cycle and a co-located air separation unit (ASU). Heat integration between the cycle and ASU includes adiabatic heat of the main air compressor (MAC), and booster compressor of the ASU overlooked in past studies. The discharge pressure of the recycled CO2 compressor is determined based on its saturation pressure at cycle minimum temperature. The cycle efficiency exhibits a maximum at a MAC discharge pressure of 4.2 bar whereas it consistently decreases with discharge pressure of the booster. A genetic algorithm optimization is applied to estimate an optimum operational point. A maximum efficiency of 59.7% is obtained at turbine inlet temperature, inlet pressure, and outlet pressure of 1500 K, 305.5 bar, and 28.1 bar, respectively.
Protocatechuic acid production from lignin-associated phenolics

Biobased chemicals are gaining popularity and market in attempts to mitigate the deteriorating environmental and sustainability issues. Components of renewable agricultural and forest biomass residues are projected to serve as abundant precursors to synthesis of expanding range of products. Agroindustrial wastes comprises of several phenolic compounds associated with lignin via ether linkages such as ferulic acid, p-coumaric, syringic acid and vanillin. These aromatic chemicals have myriad industrial applications. In this study, p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid were found to be two major components in corn bran derived lignin hydrolysate. Engineered Pseudomonas putida KT2440 was constructed and found to convert p-coumaric acid and vanillic acid to protocatechuic acid in >90% and >50% yields, respectively. Engineering the strain included deletion of the gene encoding protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, and overexpression of vanillate-O-demethylase gene from Acinetobacter sp. ADP1.