cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Novel parthenolide delivery system for cancer treatment

A delivery system for parthenolide (PTL), a potential anticancer drug, is being developed. PTL has proved to be effective at eradicating cancer cells, such as leukemic stem cells, but its low solubility limits its use. We propose a way to circumvent this problem utilizing micelles with a hydrophobic interior that will hold the PTL and a hydrophilic exterior that will be soluble in the blood stream. The micelles are comprised of polymers containing a hydrophilic block of poly (styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PSMA) and a hydrophobic block of poly(styrene) or poly(butyl acrylate). Polymers ranging from 19 to 47 kDa have been synthesized, with hydrophobic:hydrophilic ratios of 0.2 and 0.35. Micelle size is being examined to optimize PTL loading, release, and pharmacokinetics. Future work includes conjugating an antibody to the micelles through streptavidin/biotin biochemistry to allow for more specific PTL delivery to leukemic stem cells.
Lending technologies, lending specialization, and minority access to small-business loans

We investigate minority access to small-business loans using a probit model of loan application denial that recognizes two loan types (line-of-credit loans and non-line-of-credit loans) made by two lender types (commercial banks and nonbank financial institutions). We estimate our model on data from the 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances. We find evidence consistent with minority equal access to bank credit lines and nonbank non-line-of-credit loans in highly competitive loan markets; in less competitive markets we find evidence consistent with unequal access to these loans. We also find evidence consistent with unequal minority access to bank non-line-of-credit loans, regardless of loan market competitiveness. Our findings differ from previous research which treats small-business loans as a homogenous product and finds evidence consistent with unequal minority access to small-business loans generally. We argue that the existence of multiple small-business lending technologies and loan specialization by lenders account for our findings and demonstrate the need to treat small-business loans as a heterogeneous product when investigating equal access to small-business credit.
Exploring Determinants Of U.S. Household Debt

The fast growing household debt in the U.S. has become a concern to the general public and policy makers. This paper attempts to explore the factors influencing the U.S. household indebtedness using quarterly data over the period of 1980-2010 and controlling for the time series issues. The estimated results show that the unemployment rate, interest rate, disposable personal income per capita, share of retiring population, and educational attainment are negatively associated with the household debt, while housing prices, consumer confidence, and the share of working-age population are positively related to the household borrowing.
Microconsumer grazing and sources of limiting nutrients for phytoplankton growth: Application and complications of a nutrient-depletion/dilution-gradient technique

A series of eight nutrient-deletion/dilution-gradient experiments was performed in Castle Lake during summer 1993 to quantify and characterize microconsumer grazing and contributions of nutrient supply sources (external, cell quota, recycling) supporting phytoplankton production. Responses of net chlorophyll production rate to dilution under nutrient-saturated conditions were frequently nonlinear, indicating saturation of micrograzer feeding at low biomass levels within the dilution gradient (dilutions of < 1 O-30% whole lake water). Despite feeding saturation, micrograzers exerted substantial grazing pressure on phytoplankton: microconsumer grazing coefficients (0.05-0.22 d- l, mean: 0.14 d- ‘) exceeded previous measures of crustacean grazing in this system. Nonlinear feeding kinetics required that piecewise multiple regression be used to estimate contributions of external, cell quota, and recycling to N and P supply. In deep-water layers, phytoplankton were growing at nutrient-saturated rates, indicating that phytoplankton growth was more likely light limited. In the epilimnion, recycled and internal sources were important for both N and P in different experiments, but the importance of various supply sources did not systematically differ for N and P. In epilimnetic experiments, there was strong experiment-to-experiment variation in contributions of recycling sources of N and P, suggesting that resupply of N and P via grazers was decoupled. Comparison of phytoplankton responses to nutrient deletion in undiluted vs. highly diluted treatments indicated that inferences regarding frequency and magnitude of nutrient limitation, as well as identity of the primary limiting nutrient, depended on dilution.
Derivation of neurotropic simian immunodeficiency virus from exclusively lymphocytetropic parental virus: pathogenesis of infection in macaques.

Neurological disease resulting from lentivirus (including human immunodeficiency virus) infections is usually caused by a strain of virus that replicates productively in microglia in vivo and in macrophage cultures in vitro. We undertook this study using the model of simian immunodeficiency virus in macaques (SIVmac) to test the hypothesis that macrophage tropism is a prerequisite for neurotropism of the virus. Using molecularly cloned SIVmac239, a virus which is lymphocyte- but not macrophagetropic, we showed that this virus failed to infect brain after intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation into two macaques. Rather, these inoculations resulted in disseminated infection in lymphoid organs and the bone marrow. Two sequential passages of infected bone marrow cells inoculated i.c. into new macaques resulted in severe neurological disease and classical neuropathological lesions. Virus obtained from affected brain answered the hypothetical question: it was neurotropic and macrophagetropic. New findings in the study were that both lymphocyte- and macrophage-tropic viruses were present in the animals, but the viruses localized in different tissues: the lymphotropic virus in the spleen, lymph nodes, and plasma and the macrophagetropic virus in the brain and lungs. To determine whether the brain virus was preferentially neurotropic and whether it had neuroinvasive properties, infectious brain homogenate was inoculated into one animal i.c. and into two others peripherally. The i.c. inoculated animal developed fatal encephalitis 5 months later, and examination of tissues showed cell-free virus only in brain homogenates. Only microglia were infected despite persistent viremia and infection in bone marrow cells. The two macaques inoculated peripherally remained healthy and were euthanized at 6 months. Virus replication was detected only in the bone marrow cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. No infection in any macrophage population in visceral organs was detected, and the virus did not invade the brain. The strictly microglial specificity of this virus suggested that different macrophage populations in the body may select specific phenotypes of lentivirus from the quasispecies of virus in the bone marrow. This could provide the basis for specific disease affecting different organ systems.
Gut Microbiota and Its Possible Relationship With Obesity

Obesity results from alterations in the body's regulation of energy intake, expenditure, and storage. Recent evidence, primarily from investigations in animal models, suggests that the gut microbiota affects nutrient acquisition and energy regulation. Its composition has also been shown to differ in lean vs obese animals and humans. In this article, we review the published evidence supporting the potential role of the gut microbiota in the development of obesity and explore the role that modifying the gut microbiota may play in its future treatment. Evidence suggests that the metabolic activities of the gut microbiota facilitate the extraction of calories from ingested dietary substances and help to store these calories in host adipose tissue for later use. Furthermore, the gut bacterial flora of obese mice and humans include fewer Bacteroidetes and correspondingly more Firmicutes than that of their lean counterparts, suggesting that differences in caloric extraction of ingested food substances may be due to the composition of the gut microbiota. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide derived from the intestinal microbiota may act as a triggering factor linking inflammation to high-fat diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Interactions among microorganisms in the gut appear to have an important role in host energy homeostasis, with hydrogen-oxidizing methanogens enhancing the metabolism of fermentative bacteria. Existing evidence warrants further investigation of the microbial ecology of the human gut and points to modification of the gut microbiota as one means to treat people who are overweight or obese.
Functional Properties of Myofibrillar Proteins from Cold‐Shortened and Thaw‐Rigor Bovine Muscles

Prerigor bovine sternomandibularis muscles were stored at 15, 0 and −29°C to examine cold-shortening and thaw-rigor effects on myofibrillar protein extractability and gelation properties of myofibrils and salt-soluble protein (SSP). Frozen muscle that underwent severe contraction at thawing showed greater protein extractability (35%) than muscles stored at 0 and 15°C (27% extractability). Of the three tempered muscles, thaw-rigor muscle produced the strongest myofibril gel and cold-shortened muscle formed the most elastic SSP gel as determined by dynamic shear and penetration measurements. However, thermally induced changes in gel viscoelastic moduli for all protein samples followed similar patterns. Results indicated that physicochemical changes accompanying muscle contraction affected protein network formation during gelation.
Assessing the Cumulative Contribution of New and Established Common Genetic Risk Factors to Early-Onset Prostate Cancer

Background: We assessed the evidence for association between 23 recently reported prostate cancer (PCa) variants and early-onset PCa and the aggregate value of 63 PCa variants for predicting early-onset disease using 931 unrelated men diagnosed with PCa prior to age 56 years and 1126 male controls. Methods: Logistic regression models were used to test the evidence for association between the 23 new variants and early-onset PCa. Weighted and unweighted sums of total risk alleles across these 23 variants and 40 established variants were constructed. Weights were based on previously reported effect size estimates. Receiver operating characteristic curves and forest plots, using defined cut-points, were constructed to assess the predictive value of the burden of risk alleles on early-onset disease. Results: Ten of the 23 new variants demonstrated evidence (p < 0.05) for association with early-onset PCa, including four that were significant after multiple test correction. The aggregate burden of risk alleles across the 63 variants was predictive of early-onset PCa (Area Under Curve = 0.71 using weighted sums), especially in men with a high burden of total risk alleles. Conclusions: A high burden of risk alleles is strongly associated with early-onset PCa. Impact: Our results provide the first formal replication for several of these 23 new variants and demonstrate that a high burden of common-variant risk alleles is a major risk factor for early-onset PCa.
Fak: Focal adhesion kinase (vertebrates) (FadK, pp125FAK)

Focal adhesion kinase (Fak) is a cytoplasmic PTK implicated in cellular responses to two dissimilar classes of extracellular signaling molecules: adhesive glycoproteins that signal through integrin receptors; and mitogenic neuropeptides that signal through G protein-coupled receptors. Exposure of cells to signaling molecules from either class leads to rapid increases in Fak P-Tyr content and enzymatic activity, which is likely to be a key early step in the response pathway(s) activated by these agents. Physiological substrates of Fak are still unknown, but these potentially could act to regulate cell morphology and migration, establish anchorage dependency for cell proliferation, and transmit signals to the cell nucleus that alter gene transcription. Fak is a structurally unique nonmembrane-spanning PTK. Fak lacks SH2 and SH3 domains. A focal adhesion targeting sequence has been mapped near the C-terminus. Y397 is the major site of autophosphorylation through which FAK can form a stable interaction with Src family kinase SH2 domains. In vivo, FAK is phosphorylated at Y397, Y407, Y576, Y577, and other tyrosine and serine sites that have yet to be precisely determined.
Thermal metamorphic evolution of the Pułtusk H chondrite breccia – compositional and textural properties not included in petrological classification

The thermal history that chondrites experienced on their parent body is an aspect of their petrological classification. However, in the classification scheme, metamorphic conditions are generally limited to the peak metamorphic temperature attained, while it is known that reconstruction of the genuine thermal evolution of any rock requires identification of various metamorphic factors, definition of the temperature-time path during metamorphism and characterization of the processes responsible for heating. Study of the brecciated Pultusk H chondrite shows that the meteorite comprises both low and high petrologic type material and should be classified as a H3.8–6 chondrite. Based on the textures and mineral and chemical composition, the thermal metamorphic history of the breccia is reconstructed and it is shown to be inconsistent with the petrologic classification; the textural maturation and degree of compositional equilibrium in the meteorite do not correspond to the temperatures attained. The metamorphic conditions are shown to be a function of the primary composition of the accreted minerals and of two metamorphic phases, progressive and retrogressive. First, a prograde phase led to textural maturation and equilibration of the chemical composition of silicates and oxides. The peak metamorphic temperatures were at least ~700oC for the type 3.8. and 4 material, and up to ~1000oC in H6 clasts i.e., sufficient to locally give rise to partial melting. The following retrograde metamorphism led to compositional re-equilibration of minerals and textural re-equilibration of minerals with partial melts. The cooling rate during retrograde metamorphism down to at least ~700oC was low, which allowed potassium feldspar to form patches in Na-plagioclase and pseudobrookite-armalcolite breakdown to form an association of ilmenite and rutile. The two-phase metamorphic evolution of the Pultusk breccia was the most likely the result of impact heating, which affected the parent body in its very early history.
Continuous Slowing Down Theory Applied to Fast Reactor Assemblies

Continuous slowing down theory is applied to the treatment of the elastic moderation of neutrons in a fast-reactor assembly, where strong scattering resonances are prevalent. Three prescriptions fo...
Studies on the Metamorphosis of the Japanese Beetle (Popillia Japonica Newman) II. Changes in the pH of the Blood

Bishop (1923a), by means of an electrometric method, studied the pH of the blood of the honey-bee larva and found it to vary from 6.77 to 6.95 with an average of 6.83. In larvae which were spinning, he noted an increased acidity, the pH ranging from 6.60 to 6.65. At the conclusion of spinning, the pH rises to its former value in the larva. He suggested that the increase in acidity may be one of the factors causing autolysis of larval tissues. In another paper, Bishop (1923b) reported the effects of acidity on the rate of autolysis of the fat body of the bee, in vitro. He found that in unbuffered solutions, both larval and pupal fat-body tissue autolyzes readily, but the tissue of the pupa to a greater extent than that of the larva. When the mixtures were buffered, the more acid mixtures autolyzed more completely. He concluded that, in vitro, the differences in rate and extent of autolysis of tissue from different stages are due to differences in the acidity of the autolysate. This suggests that the increase in acidity observed during spinning is favorable to the autolysis of larval tissue. Fink (1925) made colorimetric determinations on the blood of several species of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, at different stages of metamorphosis, and observed a change from a neutral to an acid reaction (pH 6.8 to 5.9) to take place during the prepupal and early pupal development, and the reverse change to occur as metamorphosis is completed. Taylor and Birnie (1932), using a glass electrode, also demonstrated an increase in the acidity of the bee moth, Galleria mellonella , during metamorphosis. The pH values ranged from 5.53 to 6.68 for the prepupae and pupae, and the pH curve was of the U-type.
Abstract 1853: PDE5 suppression selectively induces apoptosis of human breast tumor cells and attenuates Wnt/β-catenin mediated transcription

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as sulindac sulfide (SS) display promising antineoplastic properties in experimental models, but toxicities from cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition limit their clinical use for cancer chemoprevention. While COX inhibition is responsible for the anti-inflammatory activity of SS, recent studies suggest that phosphodiesterase (PDE) 5 inhibition and activation of cGMP signaling are closely associated with its ability to induce apoptosis of tumor cells. However, the underlying mechanisms responsible for apoptosis induction and factors that influence sensitivity to SS have not been well studied. Here we show that SS can induce apoptosis of breast tumor cells that express PDE5, but not normal mammary epithelial cells, which do not express PDE5. Inhibition of PDE5 and subsequent activation of PKG by SS was associated with increased β-catenin phosphorylation, decreased β-catenin mRNA and protein levels, reduced β-catenin nuclear localization, decreased Tcf/Lef promoter activity, and decreased expression of Wnt/β-catenin regulated proteins such as survivin. Suppression of PDE5 by siRNA or known PDE5 inhibitors was sufficient to selectively induce apoptosis and attenuate β-catenin mediated transcription in breast tumor cells with no effect on normal mammary epithelial cells. These findings provide evidence that PDE5 expression can influence the sensitivity of human breast tumor cells to SS and that cGMP can inhibit Wnt/β-catenin signaling and suppress the transcription of key apoptosis regulatory proteins. We conclude that PDE5 represents a novel molecular target for the discovery of safer and more efficacious drugs for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Funding provided by NIH/NCI grants CA131378 and CA148817. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1853. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1853
Notes From the Incoming Editor: Second Installment.

Last month in this column, we introduced a number of new initiatives that will be featured in Circulation starting in July of this year.1 These include a section called Frame of Reference, which will host a range of content, including opinion pieces (On My Mind), thoughtful, evidence-based treatments of a given topic (Perspective), Point/Counterpoint, and Clinical Implications of Basic Research. The final component of the Frame of Reference Section will be titled Paths to Discovery. These articles will emerge quarterly as an interview with someone who has led a significant advance or made a significant discovery in cardiovascular medicine or science. We will explore events that led to the advance, including the challenges, pitfalls, joys, sorrows, and eureka moments. In many instances, I believe we will see that success was far from guaranteed and, indeed, that failure was a real possibility. We will also explore what transpired after the breakthrough emerged. John Rutherford, …
Chicken Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormones Enhance Soluble and Insoluble Fibronectin Production by Granulosa Cells of the Domestic Fowl In Vitro

Experiments were conducted in vitro to examine the effect of two chicken gonadotropin-releasing hormones, cGnRH-I ([Gln8]-GnRH) and cGnRH-II ([His5,Trp7,Tyr8]-GnRH), on fibronectin (soluble and insoluble) production by chicken granulosa cells isolated from the largest (F1; about 35 mm in diameter), and third largest (F3; 15 to 20 mm in diameter) preovulatory follicles as well as from a pool of immature small yellow follicles (SYF; 6 to 8 mm in diameter). The amounts of soluble fibronectin (fibronectin secreted into the incubation medium) and insoluble fibronectin (fibronectin associated with cells plus fibronectin attached to culture substratum) were quantified with a specific ELISA. Fibronectin secreted into the incubation medium (soluble fibronectin) by unstimulated cells increased with advanced stages of follicular maturation. Addition of both cGnRH-I and -II increased the amount of fibronectin secreted into the incubation medium by all follicular cell types. The amount of insoluble fibronectin in culture wells that contained unstimulated cells also increased with advanced stages of follicle development. Both cGnRH-I and -II increased the quantity of insoluble fibronectin by granulosa cells from all follicle types. Total (soluble plus insoluble) fibronectin production was elevated when cGnRH-I or -II was added to F1, F3, and SYF granulosa cells. The magnitude of cGnRH-I or -II stimulation (percentage increase) of soluble, insoluble, or total fibronectin production was calculated as a multiple of the unstimulated (control) value for each follicle type, and they were greatest in cells derived from developing and immature follicles. These results indicate that homologous cGnRH-I and -II are capable of directly modulating the physiology of the avian ovary.
Abstract IA24: Regulation of acute leukemia initiation and progression by long noncoding RNAs.

Recent efforts to functionally annotate the human genome have revealed that up to 70% of our DNA is transcriptionally active. Since a very small portion of our genome encodes proteins many have hypothesized that a portion of this pervasive transcription results in production of non-coding RNA. By generating high depth RNA-Seq datasets integrated with chromatin features, several labs have revealed the presence of many thousands of previously un-annotated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA), which are dynamically expressed in response to various stimuli in diverse cellular contexts. Despite these compelling advances, the vast majority of putative lncRNAs have not been proven to be functionally important, although a small portion have clearly been shown to play key regulatory roles. Most importantly, very little is known on the biological role of lncRNAs for human disease and specifically cancer. We provide here, using a combination of deep transcriptome sequencing, high-resolution transcription factor occupancy mapping and chromosome conformation capture data, the first comprehensive identification and characterization of lncRNA expression and function in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an aggressive hematologic malignancy affecting both children and adults, driven by oncogenic NOTCH1 mutations and transcriptional activation. Moreover, we provide the first map of oncogene (NOTCH1)-targeted lncRNAs in this disease and identify an individual lncRNA (called LUNAR1) that appears to be essential for tumor growth as it controls cytokine (IGF1) signaling. Indeed, we were able to show that the LUNAR1 locus loops on a novel IGF1R enhancer controlling the expression of this important cytokine receptor. These studies suggest that: a) lncRNAs could be used as both biomarkers and therapy targets in human cancer, b) more efficient methods for large-scale inference and validation of lncRNA function are needed to fully understand their biological significance and, c) LUNAR1 is one of the first lncRNAs that can control growth of acute leukemia and a potential therapeutic target. These points will be addressed in this presentation. Citation Format: Iannis Aifantis. Regulation of acute leukemia initiation and progression by long noncoding RNAs. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Hematologic Malignancies: Translating Discoveries to Novel Therapies; Sep 20-23, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2015;21(17 Suppl):Abstract nr IA24.
Knowledge about plague and its influencing factors among the medical staff in Tianjin

Objective To examine the knowledge about plague and its influencing factors among the medical staff in Tianjin,and provide evidence for health education.Methods With simple random sampling,270 medical staff in 18 communities of Tanjin city were investigated.Results The knowledge rates about plague among the medical staff was 77.7%.The knowledge rate of plague prevalence and prevention was low.The knowledge rate of plague vectors for flea,tick and mite were 88.3%,21.6% and 16.7% respectively.The knowledge rate for vector,contact,and airborne transmission was 89.4%,40.9% and 48.1% respectively.The knowledge rate of diagnostic criteria for glandular plague and pneumonic plague were 76.9% and 77.7%.The knowledge rate of plague treatment was 65.2%.The knowledge rate of "three dont's,three reports" were 84.1% and 86.7%.Based on logistic regression,working department in and education were significant factors affecting the knowledge of plague among the medical staff(P0.05).Conclusion The knowledge of plague is affected by working department and education among the medical staff.More educational programs of plague prevalence and prevention need to be improved for plague control.
The Patient’s Guide to Psoriasis Treatment. Part 3: Biologic Injectables

Background An increasing number of injectable biologics are now available for the treatment of psoriasis. However, for individuals who have never received this therapy, the process of performing a self-injection can be daunting. There is lack of patient educational material on how to perform and optimize this treatment.
The Iconography of the American Revolution

The prominence of Roman republican themes and symbols in American political speech and writing at the time of the Constitution characterized other forms of discourse as well. Political iconography took on a decidedly republican aspect at the time of the revolution, which had reached full flower by the time the Constitution reached the states.1 Currency and other tangible symbols of the state provided a vehicle through which American political authorities could express their programme to the public at large. These emphasized the same republican outlook as the pseudonyms.
Using VoiceThread to Facilitate Asynchronous Communication: A Design Case

Online courses have traditionally used text as the only medium to communicate. However, new technologies make it easier than ever before to integrate audio and video communication into online courses. The purpose of this design case study is twofold. Firstly, we sought to describe the different instructional activities designed for an Instructional Design online graduate course. Secondly, this study undertook to explain the integration of VoiceThread (a Web 2.0 tool with multimedia capabilities) to facilitate students’ interactions and the revisions made on some activities that used this tool. Data collected from two surveys administered at the end of the course showed the effectiveness of the changes implemented in the instructional activities and the advantages of using VoiceThread.
Human detection in non-urban environment using infrared images

Infrared (IR)-based human detection research has received much attention, especially in pedestrian detection and vehicle safety applications. However, human detection using IR images in non-urban environment has not been investigated at a similar pace due to its technical difficulties. In this paper, we evaluate some algorithms for urban environment against non- urban IR images. Differences of IR-based human detection in urban and non-urban environments are reviewed. Extensive preliminary experiments are performed using IR images with forest background.
Enhancing transport capacity with optimum energy allocation for geographic transmissions

In multi-hop packet radio networks with low mobility, forwarding strategies based on the location of the radios are considered to be quite robust and scalable since they consume less network resources for the exchange and storage of network state information than conventional routing. When such geographical forwarding strategies are used over fading channels, the presence of multiple potential forwarding agents provides multi-user diversity. However, the number of radios that should keep their receivers active during a transmission may need to be limited to conserve the energy of mobile devices. Since receivers at different distances from the transmitter have different probabilities of recovering a message, we have previously proposed node activation based on link distance (NA-BOLD) schemes to increase the transmission distance and/or transport capacity, with a constraint on the energy used in reception (which depends on the number of nodes that activate to receive a transmission). In this work, we consider a total energy constraint, i.e., a constraint on the sum of the energies used in transmission and reception. We optimize the allocation of energy between transmission and reception when nodes activate using NA-BOLD approaches.
Incorporating transmitter–receiver offset to interpret pavement layer thicknesses by GPR

Abstract This study evaluates the necessity of considering Transmitter–Receiver (T–R) offset distance for predicting pavement layer thicknesses from two-way travel time data captured by a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) antenna. For the purpose of this study, GPR testing was conducted at an instrumented pavement section at Milepost (MP) 141 on Interstate I-40 near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The GPR system used for this study consists of 2.0 GHz air-launched, 900 MHz ground-coupled, and 400 MHz ground-coupled antennas. The entire instrumented test section was tested with different antenna configurations. The two-way travel time is used for calculating layer thicknesses using two approaches: one considering the T–R offset, which is a non-conventional approach and the other without considering the T–R offset, which is a conventional approach. Statistical analysis namely, t-test is performed on the predicted layer thicknesses from these two approaches. The analysis indicates that these two approaches are significantly different. The predicted thicknesses by these two approaches are compared to each other. It is observed that the approach considering the T–R offset predicts the layer thicknesses with better accuracy compared to the conventional approach. Therefore, it is recommended to use the T–R offset in predicting pavement layer thickness from GPR data.
Coaxial atomic force microscope probes for dielectrophoresis of DNA under different buffer conditions

We demonstrate a coaxial AFM nanoprobe device for dielectrophoretic (DEP) trapping of DNA molecules in Tris-EDTA (TE) and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffers. The DEP properties of 20 nm polystyrene beads were studied with coaxial probes in media with different conductivities. Due to the special geometry of our DEP probe device, sufficiently high electric fields were generated at the probe end to focus DNA molecules with positive DEP. DEP trapping for both polystyrene beads and DNA molecules was quantitatively analyzed over the frequency range from 100 kHz to 50 MHz and compared with the Clausius–Mossotti theory. Finally, we discussed the negative effect of medium salinity during DEP trapping.
Integrated Recovery Therapy: Toward an Integrally Informed Individual Psychotherapy for Addicted Populations.

This article proposes and outlines an integrally informed 12 Step-based therapy that is adapted for treating addicted populations. Integrated Recovery Therapy (IRT) as a therapeutic orientation is an Integral Methodological Pluralism to therapy for treating addiction. Its two main features are paradigmatic and meta-paradigmatic. The paradigmatic aspect refers to the recognition, compilation and implementation of various methodologies in a comprehensive and inclusive manner. The meta-paradigmatic aspect refers to IRT’s capacity to weave together, relate and integrate the various paradigmatic practices. IRT is a meta-therapy derived from the Integrated Recovery Model, which is a comprehensive, balanced, multi-phased and multi-disciplinary clinical model designed for in-patient addiction treatment. As with the Integrated Recovery Model, IRT’s philosophy is derived from an integration of the 12-step abstinence-based philosophy, mindfulness, positive psychology, and Integral theory. It is suggested here that the application of IRT as a meta-therapy provides a truly comprehensive and integrated therapeutic orientation for therapists who treat addicted populations.
Current and future therapies for addressing the effects of inflammation on HDL cholesterol metabolism.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Inflammatory processes arising from metabolic abnormalities are known to precipitate the development of CVD. Several metabolic and inflammatory markers have been proposed for predicting the progression of CVD, including high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). For ~50 years, HDL-C has been considered as the atheroprotective ‘good’ cholesterol because of its strong inverse association with the progression of CVD. Thus, interventions to increase the concentration of HDL-C have been successfully tested in animals; however, clinical trials were unable to confirm the cardiovascular benefits of pharmaceutical interventions aimed at increasing HDL-C levels. Based on these data, the significance of HDL-C in the prevention of CVD has been called into question. Fundamental in vitro and animal studies suggest that HDL-C functionality, rather than HDL-C concentration, is important for the CVD-preventive qualities of HDL-C. Our current review of the literature positively demonstrates the negative impact of systemic and tissue (i.e. adipose tissue) inflammation in the healthy metabolism and function of HDL-C. Our survey indicates that HDL-C may be a good marker of adipose tissue health, independently of its atheroprotective associations. We summarize the current findings on the use of anti-inflammatory drugs to either prevent HDL-C clearance or improve the function and production of HDL-C particles. It is evident that the therapeutic agents currently available may not provide the optimal strategy for altering HDL-C metabolism and function, and thus, further research is required to supplement this mechanistic approach for preventing the progression of CVD. Linked Articles This article is part of a themed section on Targeting Inflammation to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v174.22/issuetoc and http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bcp.v82.4/issuetoc
Pressured Sexting and Revenge Porn in a Sample of Massachusetts Adolescents

Digital communications are largely used for positive interactions but can also be a vehicle for harassment. Previous research has made is clear that sexting occurs, at times, because of peer pressure. This study examined pressured sexting and the unauthorized release of images in a cross-sectional sample studied in 2013-15. The convenience sample examined 1,320 students in Massachusetts. Over the years, more students admitted to sexting, but fewer reported any degree of pressure to sext. More than a third of sexters in 2014 and almost half of sexters in 2015 reported that the picture had been released without their consent. Interestingly, this did not seem to occur primarily within established relationships; instead, it seemed to target most often sexters who declined to date someone. Unauthorized distribution was related to several risk factors, including younger-aged sexters, those who sexted to multiple recipients, and those who were pressured into sexting initially.
Integrating preservation functions into the web server

Digital preservation of the World Wide Web poses unique challenges, different from the preservation issues facing professional Digital Libraries. The complete list of a website's resources cannot be cited with confidence, and the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) provides a bare minimum of metadata with each resource transfer—HTTP is optimized for access today rather than tomorrow. In short, the Web suffers from a counting problem and a representation problem. Refreshing the bits, migrating from an obsolete file format to a newer format, and other classic digital preservation problems also affect the Web. As digital collections devise solutions to these problems, the Web will also benefit. But the core World Wide Web problems of Counting and Representation need a targeted solution. As the host of web content, the web server is uniquely positioned to assist in the preservation of the resources it serves. It recognizes the resources it has, and knows what kind of resources they are. This dissertation presents research in which preservation functions have been integrated into the web server itself to produce archive-ready versions of the website's resources. The proposed approach addresses the Counting Problem through the use of Sitemaps, created from a combination of crawling, Sitemap tools, and log analysis. The Representation Problem is addressed by a preservation-preparation module installed on the web server. The module enables each resource to be packaged together with the output from a variety of relevant metadata utilities, creating the aforementioned archive-ready version of the resource. The CRATE Model defines a simple XML structure for the creation and delivery of such resources. A series of experiments which evaluated CRATE, Sitemaps, and extemporaneous metadata analysis of resources are presented, along with a technical review of the MODOAI web server module which acts as the preservation agent. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by a quantitative analysis of its use in a commercial web testing environment.
Digital poly-victimization: The increasing importance of online crime and harassment to the burden of victimization.

Many forms of victimization, including bullying and property crime, are increasingly moving online, but most studies of poly-victimization still primarily focus on in-person crime and violence. Few studies have examined the importance of incorporating technology-based victimizations for assessing the true burden of violence. The purpose of this study is to explore whether digital poly-victimization contributes to post-traumatic stress and anxiety/dysphoria symptoms after controlling for in-person poly-victimization. Given that technology use and technology-based victimization are changing rapidly, a mixed methods approach was adopted. In the first two phases, focus groups and cognitive interviews (89 total participants) were used to identify the range of digital victimization and develop the Digital Poly-Victimization Scale. In the third phase, the new measure was included in a community survey (n = 478, 57.5% female; 62.6% earning under $50,000 per year) in a rural Southern region, along with measures of in-person poly-victimization, posttraumatic stress and anxiety/dysphoria symptoms, and other outcomes and personal characteristics. A comprehensive measure of digital poly-victimization indicated that almost 3 in 4 participants (72.3%) had experienced at least one form of digital victimization. The results indicated that digital poly-victimization contributed unique variance to post-traumatic stress and anxiety/dysphoria symptoms (p < .001), health-related quality of life (p < .01), and subjective and family well-being (both p < .001), even after controlling for demographics and in-person poly-victimization. Digital victimization often presents fewer risks to perpetrators and can be expected to represent an increasing share of the societal burden of violence. Future research on poly-victimization should pay more attention to the role of digital victimization.
Designing an Agent-Based Model Using Group Model Building: Application to Food Insecurity Patterns in a U.S. Midwestern Metropolitan City

Recent advances in computing resources have increased interest in systems modeling and population health. While group model building (GMB) has been effectively applied in developing system dynamics models (SD), few studies have used GMB for developing an agent-based model (ABM). This article explores the use of a GMB approach to develop an ABM focused on food insecurity. In our GMB workshops, we modified a set of the standard GMB scripts to develop and validate an ABM in collaboration with local experts and stakeholders. Based on this experience, we learned that GMB is a useful collaborative modeling platform for modelers and community experts to address local population health issues. We also provide suggestions for increasing the use of the GMB approach to develop rigorous, useful, and validated ABMs.
Evaluation and Treatment of Hirsutism in Premenopausal Women

GUIDELINE TITLE Evaluation and Treatment of Hirsutism in Premenopausal Women DEVELOPER Endocrine Society, Androgen Excess and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Society, European Society of Endocrinology RELEASE DATE March 2018 PRIOR VERSION February 5, 2008 FUNDING SOURCE Endocrine Society TARGET POPULATION Premenopausal women with excess hair growth Diagnosis Obtain a random serum total testosterone measurement to assess for androgen excess in all women with an abnormal hirsutism score (weak recommendation, low-quality evidence). Obtain an early-morning 17-hydroxyprogesterone measurement in all women with elevated testosterone and in women with hirsutism who are at high risk of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (weak recommendation; low-quality evidence). Do not measure androgen levels in women with normal menses and a normal hirsutism score (weak recommendation; low-quality evidence). Pharmacologic treatment Start with pharmacologic therapy and add direct hair removal methods for women with a normal hirsutism score but patient-important hirsutism despite shaving or plucking (weak recommendation; very low-quality evidence). In women who are not seeking pregnancy, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are recommended as initial therapy (weak recommendation; low-quality evidence). Either OCPs or antiandrogens are acceptable initial therapies in women who are not sexually active, have undergone permanent sterilization, or are using long-acting reversible contraception (weak recommendation; very low-quality evidence). Combination therapy with an antiandrogen is recommended if patient-important hirsutism persists despite 6 months of monotherapy with an OCP (weak recommendation; low-quality evidence).
Backscattering stripmapped synthetic aperture air acoustic array experiments for imaging a ground canonical target through a hexagonal rod array of clutter

There is interest in imaging ground target threats that are hidden in vegetation, straw grass, and foliage. In some instances, radar signals cannot penetrate through the “clutter.” Long wavelength sound waves might be capable of penetrating through the clutter so that the target can be acoustically detected and imaged. We study sound scattering by a canonical target “model disk” (aluminum, 4 inches diameter x 0.75 inch thick) in the presence of clutter. The clutter is modeled by a vertical hexagonal array of slender stainless steel rods that have an overall diameter D = 8 cm. The individual rods (diameter d = 0.089 cm, length L = 91 cm) are aligned and supported by two perforated thin (thickness = 1.8 mm) circular aluminum plates of diameter = 10 cm. Results for received backscattered tone burst echoes (at a frequency of 25.8 kHz) show that it is possible to detect the details of the target disk in the presence of a twodimensional circularly shaped cluster of rigid cylinders in air (representing clutter). The disk and “model” clutter targets were then taken out of the laboratory environment to an outdoor test site where the High Bandwidth Acoustic Detection System (HBADS) [developed by the US Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate] performed an acoustic imaging experiment on the target-clutter and mechanical rigging apparatus. Using a linear frequency modulated LFM chirp pulse signal (2-15 kHz) driving a single speaker, echoes are detected by a 16 element microphone array while the HBADS vehicle is traveling ~ 1 m/s along a road. The strip-mapped synthetic aperture acoustic array SAA can image certain features of the apparatus.
An Upper Bound on PHY-Layer Key Generation for Secure Communications Over a Nakagami-M Fading Channel With Asymmetric Additive Noise

The establishment of convenient and reliable cryptographic keys is not always feasible, especially in low-powered wireless devices where a complex key management infrastructure is unaffordable. Physical layer-based key generation approaches, on the other hand, allow two legitimate users to establish a common secret key by exploiting the parameters of the wireless channel, such as the underlying impulse response. In this paper, a fundamental bound on the maximum achievable key generation rate (KGR) over wireless fading channels with asymmetric additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is derived. A Nakagami- m fading channel is considered, and the effect of non-reciprocity on the forward and reverse channels correlation is demonstrated. We validate the theoretical platform through simulations using a key generation protocol based on the level crossing rate (LCR) of the fading process. The proposed LCR protocol models the Nakagami channel by utilizing the sum-of-sinusoids approach, where Doppler shift, fading severity, and number-of-paths are taken into account. The proposed protocol also incorporates a two-level quantizer to extract keys, where the channel estimates between a wireless transmitter and receiver can be used as the basis. Besides providing an upper bound on the KGR, the analytical and simulation results intertwine the effect of channel reciprocity with the key generation process.
Nursing Management of Postoperative Dysrhythmias

Managing postoperative dysrhythmias presents a challenge to the critical care nurse. A thorough understanding of the etiology of postoperative dysrhythmias forms the basis of clinical decision-making and choice of dysrhythmia management modalities. This article examines factors that predispose the patient following cardiac surgery to dysrhythmias and presents options for postoperative dysrhythmia management.
Regional Variation in Adrenergic Neuroeffector Mechanism in Blood Vessels

The adrenergic neuroeffector mechanism in different macroscopic vessels has been examined, and some of the factors that contribute to its variation amongst different blood vessels have been defined. In general, vessels from the rabbit were studied by in vitro techniques.
Connectivity Versus Capacity in the Hebb Rule

In his seminal work of 1949, D. O. Hebb proposed that highly local neural activity in a network could result in emergent collective computational properties. This philosophy has attracted legions of adherents and a great many learning algorithms have evolved based on the general Hebbian prescription which may be paraphrased as follows: Strengthen connections between neurons whose activity is correlated.