cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Levofloxacin-based triple therapy vs. quadruple therapy in second-line Helicobacter pylori treatment: a randomized trial.

Summary Background : Levofloxacin has been shown to be effective in Helicobacter pylori eradication. Two 10-day levofloxacin-based triple therapies were compared with standard 7- and 14-day quadruple regimens in second-line treatment. Methods : Two hundred and eighty consecutive patients who failed to respond to standard triple therapy (clarithromycin, amoxicillin, rabeprazole) were randomly assigned to four groups: (1) levofloxacin 500 mg o.d., amoxicillin 1 g b.d., rabeprazole 20 mg b.d. for 10 days (LAR, n = 70); (2) levofloxacin 500 mg o.d., tinidazole 500 mg b.d., rabeprazole 20 mg b.d. for 10 days (LTR, n = 70); (3) tetracycline 500 mg q.d.s., metronidazole 500 mg t.d.s., bismuth salt 120 mg q.d.s., rabeprazole 20 mg b.d. for 7 days (7TMBR, n = 70); and (4) for 14 days (14TMBR, n = 70). Helicobacter pylori status and side-effects were assessed 6 weeks after treatment. Results : The eradication rate was 94% in the LAR group and 90% in the LTR group in both intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses. Helicobacter pylori eradication was achieved in 63 and 69% of the 7TMBR group and in 69 and 80% of the 14TMBR group in intention-to-treat and per protocol analysis, respectively. Side-effects were significantly lower in the LAR and LTR groups than in the 14TMBR group. Conclusion : Ten-day levofloxacin-based therapies are better than standard quadruple regimens as second-line option for H. pylori eradication.
Global mental health as a component of psychiatric residency training.

This study seeks to assess the educational value of an international psychiatry elective using a cross section of psychiatric residents. In 2010, a 10-item semi-structured questionnaire was administered to Mount Sinai psychiatric residents who have participated in the Global Health Residency Track of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Authors reviewed the qualitative data and arrived at a consensus regarding trends and deviations regarding residents’ experiences of their international field work. Six residents participated in this study. Common themes included exposure to sicker, treatment-naive patients in resource scarce conditions, enhancement of cross-cultural communications skills, renewed appreciation for psychiatry, empowerment as teachers, and greater awareness of health-care systems. Knowing that an international elective existed would be a significant factor in their choice of residency. Respondents had concerns for the sustainability. Participants felt that the elective was a place to consolidate skills already learned during residency and resulted in increased professional confidence although it did not necessarily alter career paths. International electives can enrich psychiatric residency training in terms of understanding of mental health care systems, cross cultural psychiatry, sharpening diagnostic skills, building professional confidence and communication skills, and reaffirming motivation to practice psychiatry.
Results of a New Serologic Test Suggest an Association of Waddlia Chondrophila with Bovine Abortion

Waddlia chondrophila is a little-known intracellular organism belonging to the order Chlamydiales that has twice been isolated from aborted bovine fetuses. To initiate an investigation of the possibility that W. chondrophila may be an abortifacient pathogen, a serologic test was developed and used to screen bovine sera that were submitted to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (Pullman, WA). A highly significant statistical association (P < 0.00001) was observed when comparing antibody titers in cows that had aborted with those in other classes of cattle. Although this result is consistent with the possibility that infection with W. chondrophila may be a cause of bovine abortion, it is also possible that seroprevalence simply increases with age or that exposure rates differ between cows and other classes of cattle. Future serologic studies should specifically compare antibody titers between aborting cows and carefully matched nonaborting cohorts.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOME ROLLED AND POLISHED GLASS1

A comparative study was made of the mechanical properties of several different kinds of rolled and polished glass. Young's modulus of elasticity and the transverse modulus of rupture were measured by the usual cross-bending method. Impact modulus of rupture was measured by means of a special form of pendulum which gave results that were free from the effects of cumulative chipping. Wind resistance was measured with a special form of hydraulic loading machine designed to give uniform pressure of the test plate against the supporting frame. The apparatus is described in detail and the results of the measurements are given in a series of graphs and tables.
Exploiting a page-level upper bound for multi-type nearest neighbor queries

Given a query point and a collection of spatial features, a multi-type nearest neighbor (MTNN) query finds the shortest tour for the query point such that only one instance of each feature is visited during the tour. For example, a tourist may be interested in finding the shortest tour which starts at a hotel and passes through a post office, a gas station, and a grocery store. The MTNN query problem is different from the traditional nearest neighbor query problem in that there are many objects for each feature type and the shortest tour should pass through only one object from each feature type. In this paper, we propose an R-tree based algorithm that exploits a page-level upper bound for efficient computation in clustered data sets and finds optimal query results. We compare our method with a recently proposed method, RLORD, which was developed to solve the optimal sequenced route (OSR) query. In our view, OSR represents a spatially constrained version of MTNN. Experimental results are provided to show the strength of our algorithm and design decisions related to performance tuning.
High Performance Nano-scale Conductive Films with Low Temperature Sintering for Fine Pitch Electronic Interconnect

A novel nano-scale conductive film which combines the advantages of both traditional anisotropic conductive adhesives/films (ACAs/ACFs) and nonconductive adhesives/films (NCAs/NCFs) is introduced and developed for next generation high performance ultra-fine pitch packaging applications. This novel interconnect film possesses the properties of electrical conduction along the z-direction with relatively low bonding pressure (ACF-like) and the ultra-fine pitch (< 100 nm) capability (NCF-like). Unlike typical ACF which requires 1-5 vol% of conductive fillers, the novel nano-scale conductive film only needs less than 0.1 vol% conductive fillers to achieve good electrical conductance in the z direction. The nano-scale conductive film also allows a lower bonding pressure than NCF to achieve a much lower joint resistance (over two orders of magnitude lower than typical ACF joints) and higher current carrying capability. With low temperature sintering of nano-silver fillers, the joint resistance of the nano-scale conductive film could be as low as 10"5 Ohm, even lower than the NCF and lead-free solder joints. The insertion loss of nano-scale joints are almost the same as the standard ACF or NCF joints, suggesting that the nano-ACF joints are suitable for reliable high frequency adhesive joints in microelectronics packaging. The reliability of the nano-scale conductive film after high temperature and humidity test (85degC /85%RH) was also improved compared to the NCF joints. In order to reduce the silver migration and maintain a good insulation/dielectric property in the x-y plane for the nano-scale conductive film, self-assembled molecular wires (SAM) are used to passivate/protect the silver nano fillers. The protection of silver nano particles with molecular monolayers reduced the silver migration dramatically and no migration was observed upon application of high voltages (up to 500 V) due to the formation of surface chelating compounds between the SAM and nano silver fillers. The migration behavior of SAM passivated nano-Ag conductive adhesives was investigated by analyzing the results with the migration model.
Supervision: the residents' perspective.

Psychotherapy supervision is an essential aspect of psychiatric residency training. The authors surveyed the attitudes of the PGY I–IV psychiatry residents in the Baylor College of Medicine residency toward psychotherapy supervision. The results were compared to those of a previous nationwide survey of Canadian psychiatry residents. The Baylor residents identified three factors as the most important elements of satisfactory supervision: the supervisor’s teaching ability, rapport between the supervisor and the trainee, and the supervisor’s fund of knowledge.
Seismic and geodetic investigation of the 1996-1998 earthquake swarm at Strandline Lake, Alaska

SUMMARY Microearthquake swarms occur frequently in volcanic environments, but do not always culminate in an eruption. Such non-eruptive swarms may be caused by stresses induced by magma intrusion, hydrothermal fluid circulation or possibly other tectonic processes such as slow-slip earthquakes. The Strandline Lake region of southcentral Alaska, located 30 km northeast of Mt Spurr volcano, experienced an intense earthquake swarm between 1996 August and 1998 September. A total of 2507 earthquakes were recorded by the Alaska Volcano Observatory's permanent seismic network during the swarm period, with a maximum magnitude of ML 3.6. The cumulative seismic moment of the swarm was 1.2 × 1015 N m, equivalent to that of a single Mw 4.0 earthquake. Because of the swarm's distance from the nearest Holocene volcanic vent, seismic monitoring was minimal and gas emission and GPS data do not exist for the swarm period. However, combined waveforms from a dense seismic network on Mt Spurr and from several regional seismic stations allow reanalysis of a representative set of swarm and background earthquakes. Swarm hypocentres calculated using a newly formulated 1-D velocity model and station corrections indicate a roughly circular swarm volume with dimensions of approximately 5 km, centred below 10 km below sea level (BSL). Composite fault-plane solutions for swarm earthquakes indicate oblique strike-slip faulting with a northeast-trending P-axis orientation. In contrast, a composite fault-plane solution for background earthquakes indicates a fundamentally different, though poorly constrained, local stress field orientation. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar images spanning the swarm period unambiguously show no evidence of surface deformation, but do not rule out subcentimetre-scale deformation during the swarm. While a shallow ( 10 km BSL) magma intrusion representing an intrusive or protovolcanic segment of the Aleutian arc.
The effect of dietary sodium in infancy on blood pressure and related factors. Studies of infants fed salted and unsalted diets for five months at eight months and eight years of age.

The results of animal and epidemiological studies suggest commercially salted infant foods may predipose infants to hypertension. Testing this hypothesis, two groups of black male infants were fed identical foods with and without added salts for 5 months starting at 3 months of age. These diets, which provided 1.93+/-0.10 and 9.25+/-0.05 mEq Na/100 kcal, did not result in a significant difference in blood pressure at 8 months or 8 years of age. Blood pressure was significantly correlated with weight factors, particularly at 8 years, but not with Na intake, Na or Na/K excretion or plasma renin at 8 months. Significantly increased sodium and potassium excretion was noted on the salted diet and significantly increased aldosterone excretion was noted on the unsalted diet. A 6% expansion in extra-cellular fluid volume for the high sodium group was statistically significant but was not correlated with blood pressure or urine volume and did not result in edema or increased weight. There was no indication that the salted foods imprinted a preference for salt at 8 years. It was concluded that a salt intake representing the 99th percentile of sodium intake by U.S. infants in 1969 had no hypertensive effect in infancy or at 8 years of age. Nor did it imprint a preference for salt at 8 years.
Thoughts on the Use of Knowledge in Social Work Practice

The quest for making social work a discipline based entirely on empirical research findings is not new. In this article, the authors briefly review the field of social work in the United States dur...
Pricing Multicast Communication: A Cost-Based Approach

Multicast and unicast traffic share and compete for network resources. A cost-based approach to multicast pricing, based on accurate characterization of multicast scalability, will facilitate the efficient and equitable resource allocation between traffic types. Through the quantification of link usage, this paper establishes a multicast scaling relationship: the cost of a multicast distribution tree varies at the 0.8 power of the multicast group size. This result is validated with both real and generated networks, and is robust across topological styles and network sizes. Since multicast cost can be accurately predicted given the membership size, there is strong motivation to price multicast according to membership size. Furthermore, a price ceiling should be set to account for the effect of tree saturation. This tariff structure is superior to either a purely membership-based or a flat-rate pricing scheme, since it reflects the actual tree cost at all group membership levels.
Single-crystal-to-single-crystal metalation of a metal-organic framework: a route toward structurally well-defined catalysts.

Metal–organic frameworks featuring ligands with open chelating groups are versatile platforms for the preparation of a diverse set of heterogeneous catalysts through postsynthetic metalation. The crystalline nature of these materials allows them to be characterized via X-ray diffraction, which provides valuable insight into the structure of the metal sites that facilitate catalysis. A highly porous and thermally robust zirconium-based metal–organic framework, Zr6O4(OH)4(bpydc)6 (bpydc2– = 2,2′-bipyridne-5,5′-dicarboxylate), bears open bipyridine sites that readily react with a variety of solution- and gas-phase metal sources to form the corresponding metalated frameworks. Remarkably, Zr6O4(OH)4(bpydc)6 undergoes a single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation upon metalation that involves a change in space group from Fm3m to Pa3. This structural transformation leads to an ordering of the metalated linkers within the framework, allowing structural characterization of the resulting metal complexes. Furt...
Vertical Structure: Baroclinic Quasi-Geostrophic Models

Observations of the general circulation of the oceans, described briefly in Chapter 1, show that the most vigorous motion, driven primarily by the wind, takes place in the upper 1–2 km of the ocean and then diminishes dramatically with depth. Although it is difficult to obtain reliable measurements of time-averaged velocity in the midocean because of the presence of fluctuations on time scales of months, the signature of this intensification of the velocity field near the upper boundary of the ocean is evident in the more easily observed density field of the oceans. The thermal wind relation (see below) relates the vertical shear of the horizontal velocity to the horizontal density gradient. Therefore regions of sharp density variations horizontally can be identified as regions of strong currents. Figure 3.1.1, taken from the Levitus Atlas (1982), shows a zonal average of the density field in the Atlantic Ocean. The region of strong density gradient is seen to be limited to the upper ocean. The horizontal and vertical density gradients are captured largely in the upper 1 km and diminish sharply with depth. This phenomenon of the rapid drop-off with depth of the motion and the associated variations of the density field presents us with a theoretical problem which is fundamental to our understanding of the dynamics of the ocean, while being at the same time of considerable difficulty. The link between the density field and the velocity means that the problem of explaining the observed oceanic density field is nothing less than the problem of explaining the full three-dimensional structure of the oceanic circulation.
A Dynamical Systems Analysis of a Periodic Client-Server Network

AbstractWe investigate a periodic client server network using a dynamical systems approach. The network consists of n processors, linked to a central server which has a queue of size n — 1. We consider the service protocols First In First Out (FIFO) and Last In First Out (LIFO) with 2 and 3 clients with periodic requests to be serviced. For the FIFO case we present formulas to compute deficiency of the system as well as sufficient conditions for no waiting in the queue. For the LIFO case we characterize the behavior of the system.
Evidence for afterslip on the San Fernando fault

Postearthquake changes in elevation across the Tujunga segment of the San Fernando fault in the period March 1971 to 1973-1974 indicate deformation similar in distribution to, but on a much smaller scale than, the coseismic deformation (the maximum postearthquake uplift is about 60 mm compared to the 2 m of coseismic uplift). The postearthquake elevation change just east of the 1971 rupture is a nearly uniform increase in elevation to the north that reaches about 60 mm at the end of the profile. The postearthquake elevation change across the Sylmar segment of the San Fernando fault is more subdued and apparently in the opposite sense from the coseismic deformation; it may be due to local compaction. The horizontal deformation observed in the period August 1971 to March 1973 across a geodimeter network that spans the San Fernando fault is minor (displacement not more than 10 mm). If the explanation of the observed vertical deformation across the Tujunga segment of the fault is indeed afterslip, the deformation must have occurred chiefly in the period March to August 1971.
Microdroplet-Based Potentiometric Redox Measurements on Gold Nanoporous Electrodes.

Potentiometric redox measurements were made in subnanoliter droplets of solutions using an optically transparent nanoporous gold electrode strategically mounted on the stage of an inverted microscope. Nanoporous gold was prepared via dealloying gold leaf with concentrated nitric acid and was chemisorbed to a standard microscope coverslip with (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane. The gold surface was further modified with 1-hexanethiol to optimize hydrophobicity of the surface to allow for redox measurements to be made in nanoscopic volumes. Time traces of the open-circuit potential (OCP) were used to construct Nernst plots to evaluate the applicability of the droplet-based potentiometric redox measurement system. Two poised one-electron transfer systems (potassium ferricyanide/ferrocyanide and ferrous/ferric ammonium sulfate) yielded Nernstian slopes of −58.5 and −60.3 mV, respectively, with regression coefficients greater than 0.99. The y-intercepts of the two agreed well to the formal potential of the tw...
Mechanism for Soil Release of Fluoroalkyl Acrylate/PEG Methacrylate Copolymers

Fabrics treated with fluoroalkyl acrylate (FA)/polyethylene glycol methacrylate (PEGMA) copolymers were stained with oily soil containing particulate soil. After laundering the fabrics, soil release (SR) efficiency was determined based on residual content. For a soil mixture of carbon black and triolein, FA content of polymer increased, making it inceasingly farder for soil to adhere to the fabrics. Soil was easily removed by laundering. On comparing FA/PEGMA with FA/stearyl acrylate (StA) copolymers of the same FA content, soil adhesion was essentially the same in all cases, but SR efficiency of FA/PEGMA exceeded that of FA/StA copolymers. SR efficiency is thus enhanced by: (1) soil-repellent effect from low surface-free energy of FA and (2) soil-releaseing effect from structural transformation. The hydrophilic structure, dominated by fluoroalkyl groups in air, is transformed into a hydrophilic structure dominated by hydrophilic groups in water (flip-flop mechanism). We will discuss the effects of fabric treatment and polarity of oily soil later in this paper.
MALE MATE CHOICE AND THE EVOLUTION OF FEMALE PLUMAGE COLORATION IN THE HOUSE FINCH.

The house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) is a sexually dichromatic passerine in which males display colorful plumage and females are generally drab brown. Some females, however, have a subdued version of the same pattern of ornamental coloration seen in males. In previous research, I found that female house finches use male coloration as an important criterion when choosing mates and that the plumage brightness of males is a reliable indicator of male nest attentiveness. Male house finches invest substantially in the care of young and, like females, stand to gain by choosing high-quality mates. I therefore hypothesized that a female's plumage brightness might be correlated with her quality and be the basis for male mate choice. In laboratory mate choice experiments, male house finches showed a significant preference for the most brightly plumaged females presented. Observations of a wild population of house finches, however, suggest that female age is the primary criterion in male choice and that female plumage coloration is a secondary criterion. In addition, yearling females tended to have more brightly colored plumage than older females, and there was no relationship between female plumage coloration and overwinter survival, reproductive success, or condition. These observations fail to support the idea that female plumage coloration is an indicator of individual quality. Male mate choice for brightly plumaged females may have evolved as a correlated response to selection on females to choose brightly colored males.
Oxidative Addition of Secondary C–X Bonds to Palladium(0): A Beneficial Anomeric Acceleration

The oxidative addition of secondary electrophiles to Pd(0) is significantly accelerated by anomeric effects. In contrast to cyclohexyl bromide, acetobromo-α-d-glucose undergoes invertive oxidative addition to tris(triethylphosphine)palladium(0) to generate a stable, isolable organometallic complex, Pd(PEt3)2(Br)(AcO-β-glucose), which has been fully characterized but is prone to β-acetoxy elimination.
Characteristics of sexual behaviors and infection status of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among men who have sex with men in 2009 in Beijing

Objective To analyze sexual behavior characteristics and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS infections in man who have sex with men (MSM) of Beijing Chaoyang district.Methods Through selecting 10 MSM as seed in Chaoyang district of the existing education member companion in its main activity place,using snowball sampling to select 1008 people that 16 years old or above,nearly a year had sex with male in Chaoyang to conduct an investigation.Questionnaires were used to investigate the general conditions,characteristics of sexual behaviors,condom usage,AIDS knowledge awareness and sexually transmitted diseases history.Each participant was asked to exsanguinated 5 ml peripheral blood for applying ELISA for HIV,syphilis helicoids detection and HIV positive samples confirm test.Using x2 test on the statistical analysis of the data.Results In the 1008 MSM,most of them were with the age of 20-29 years old(66.6％,671/1008),giving priority to unmarried(79.1％,797/1008),college degree and above culture during accounted for 43.3％ (436/1008),56.2％ (566/1008) had both male and female sexual partners; the rate of temporary sexual partners who were one-night stand objects or friends or guest was 72.2％ (226/313).The forever condom utilization rate was 29.0％ ( 170/587 ) in MSM who had both male and female sexual partners,lower than that who had both male and female sexual partners (47.2％,345/731).That the study objects of HIV infection who can use condom correctly rate was 3.6％ ( 16/442 ),and that who never or occasionally used condom rate was 8.5％ ( 24/228 ).AIDS,gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases (to give priority to the acuteness wet wart) infection rates were 4.8％ (6/124),10.5％ (13/124) and 8.9％ (11/124) in those who had the history of group sex,and that was 5.9％ (52/884),1.9％ (17/884) and 2.3％ (20/884) in those who without the history of group sex.The research object's gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases ( to give priority to the acuteness wet wart) who provided commercial sex service infection rates were 7.7％ ( 9/117 ) and 6.8％ ( 8/117 ),significantly higher than those who did not provide a commercial sex service object of study subject (2.4％ (21/891) and 2.6％ ( 23/891 ) ).Conclusion HIV infection is high among MSM population.Types and indentificatioas of sexual partners,and condom use are associated with HIV and STD infection. Key words: HIV; Sexually transmitted diseases; Unsafe sex; Men who have sex with men
Relative stability of human respiration during progressive hypoxia

We have systematically studied the relationship between the relative stability (R) of respiration and the loop gain (LG) of the CO2 control system in 15 healthy awake adult males during progressive hypoxia. R was measured by the ventilatory oscillations after brief (less than 10 s) CO2 challenges. Control theory suggests that such oscillations are completely governed by LG. A significant positive correlation was found between R and LG (r = 0.74, P less than 0.01, n = 85). A minimal mathematical model of respiratory control was used to predict R as a function of LG. Serial correlation analysis (r = 0.09, P greater than 0.1) of the residuals indicated statistical agreement between predictions and observations. The mean residual (0.011) was not significantly different from zero (P greater than 0.1). Also, as the model predicted, sustained periodic breathing (PB) occurred whenever the estimated LG was greater than unity. The mean LG breathing room air was 0.51 and for the 13 epochs of PB was 1.17 (range 0.71-1.65). It is concluded that PB is a quantitative extension of the relative stability continuum and corresponds to unstable operation of the CO2 control system. Furthermore, relative stability can be quantitatively predicted for each subject by a minimal mathematical model.
Nonclassical MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T Cells Recognize Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Derived Protein Antigens and Contribute to Protection Against Infection

MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells have been implicated in host defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. However, the relative contribution of various MHC Ib-restricted T cell populations to anti-mycobacterial immunity remains elusive. In this study, we used mice that lack MHC Ia (Kb-/-Db-/-), MHC Ia/H2-M3 (Kb-/-Db-/-M3-/-), or β2m (β2m-/-) to study the role of M3-restricted and other MHC Ib-restricted T cells in immunity against Mtb. Unlike their dominant role in Listeria infection, we found that M3-restricted CD8+ T cells only represented a small proportion of the CD8+ T cells responding to Mtb infection. Non-M3, MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells expanded preferentially in the lungs of Mtb-infected Kb-/-Db-/-M3-/- mice, exhibited polyfunctional capacities and conferred protection against Mtb. These MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells recognized several Mtb-derived protein antigens at a higher frequency than MHC Ia-restricted CD8+ T cells. The presentation of Mtb antigens to MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells was mostly β2m-dependent but TAP-independent. Interestingly, a large proportion of Mtb-specific MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells in Kb-/-Db-/-M3-/- mice were Qa-2-restricted while no considerable numbers of MR1 or CD1-restricted Mtb-specific CD8+ T cells were detected. Our findings indicate that nonclassical CD8+ T cells other than the known M3, CD1, and MR1-restricted CD8+ T cells contribute to host immune responses against Mtb infection. Targeting these MHC Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells would facilitate the design of better Mtb vaccines with broader coverage across MHC haplotypes due to the limited polymorphism of MHC class Ib molecules.
Simulation and Experiments To Identify Factors Allowing Synthetic Control of Structural Features of Polymeric Nanoparticles.

To develop a detailed picture of the microscopic structure of gelcore star polymers and to elucidate parameters of the synthetic process that might be exploited to control this structure, simulations of their synthesis were performed that were based on a particular synthetic approach. A range of results was observed from gelation at high reactant concentrations to the formation of various sizes and compositions of star polymers. Contrary to the prevailing experimental viewpoint, the simulations always suggest the production of a broad distribution of star polymer sizes. However, the GPC traces computed from simulation results are in good qualitative agreement with experiment. Topologically, the gelcore star polymers produced by simulation are not compact but, rather, sparse blobs loosely connected by filaments of linker when modeled in a good solvent. This is reflected in scaling relationships that relate polymer size (e.g., radius of gyration) and degree of polymerization. The arm–core composition is obs...
Abstract # 1820 Stimulated cytokine production is heightened among pregnant women carrying female versus male fetuses

Fetal sex plays a role in regulating maternal adaptation across pregnancy including glycemic control, blood pressure, and cortisol. However, data examining effects of fetal sex on maternal immune parameters is lacking, despite observed differences in maternal health responses and pregnancy outcomes in relation to fetal sex. In the current study, serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha as well as LPS-stimulated production of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, and IL-1 beta by PBMCs incubated for 24 h were assessed during each trimester of pregnancy in 80 women (46 with male and 34 with female fetuses). Linear mixed models showed that women carrying females versus males exhibited heightened stimulated production of IL-6 during each trimester (ps 0.85). In conclusion, in pregnant women, those carrying female versus male fetuses exhibit greater stimulated cytokine production. Heightened inflammation could affect maternal health and fetal development. Fetal sex should be considered as a factor in studies of maternal inflammation. Future investigations focused on women with health conditions (e.g., preeclampsia) and adverse pregnancy outcomes (e.g., preterm birth) would be informative.
Identification of Small Molecule-binding Proteins in a Native Cellular Environment by Live-cell Photoaffinity Labeling

Identifying the molecular target(s) of small molecules is a challenging but necessary step towards understanding their mechanism of action. While several target identification methods have been developed and used to successfully elucidate the binding proteins of a variety of small molecules, these techniques have drawbacks that make them unsuitable for detecting certain types of small molecule-target interactions. In particular, non-covalent interactions that depend on native cellular conditions, such as those of membrane proteins whose structures may be perturbed upon cell lysis, are often not amenable to affinity-based target identification methods. Here, we demonstrate a method wherein a probe containing a photolabile group is used to covalently crosslink to the small molecule binding protein within the environment of the live cell, allowing the detection and isolation of the target protein without the need for maintenance of the interaction after cell lysis. This technique is a valuable tool for studying biologically interesting small molecules with unknown mechanisms, both in the context of basic biology as well as drug discovery.
Fast ℓ 1 -minimization and parallelization for face recognition

While l 1 -minimization (l 1 -min) has recently been studied extensively in optimization, the high computational cost associated with the traditional algorithms has largely hindered their application to high-dimensional, large-scale problems. This paper discusses accelerated l 1 -min techniques using augmented Lagrangian methods and its parallelization leveraging the parallelism available in modern GPU and CPU hardware. The performance of the new algorithms is demonstrated in a robust face recognition application. Through extensive simulation and real-world experiments, we provide useful guidelines about applying fast l 1 -min on large-scale data for practitioners.
Effects of increased commitment on reputation and status: Evidence from NCAA Division I universities

Abstract Reputation and status are important concepts for organizations because their various constituencies form perceptions, images, and interpretations that are consequential. We collected data from a sample of 54 universities that changed their NCAA classification during a thirty-year period. As often promised by university administrators, our results suggest that increasing the level of commitment by changing athletic classifications has a direct positive effect on the university’s athletic reputation, academic status, and endowment. We find a positive relationship between academic status and the university endowment, although it is not statistically significant. Athletic reputation correlates positively and significantly with university endowment, but the marginal effect of improving one spot in the Sagarin ratings corresponds to only a $300,000 increase in the endowment. Based on these results, we provide a discussion that offers implications of these findings as well as directions for future research.
The impact of childhood cancer: Perceptions of adult survivors.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to describe perceptions and associated risk factors of the impact of cancer on functional outcomes, including social relationships, exercise, finances, and religion, among adult survivors of childhood cancer. METHODS Evaluable participants included 3001 adult survivors (mean age, 32.5 years; range, 18.3-63.8 years; 24.1 years from diagnosis; 50.8% male; 84.9% Caucasian) who were enrolled in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort study. Perceptions of the impact of cancer were assessed using the Brief Cancer Impact Assessment (BCIA). Regression models were used to evaluate risk factors for functional outcomes. RESULTS The median response on the BCIA was a perception that cancer had minimal impact on the domains assessed. Approximately 33.1% to 46.6% of survivors indicated this response across the 4 subscales, although responses ranged from very positive to very negative impact. Other than diagnosis (with survivors of brain tumors generally indicating a more negative impact of cancer, with subscale estimates of −1.25 for caregiving and finance and −1.01 for social and emotional and an odds ratio of 1.83 for exercise and diet), most variability was because of demographic factors, including sex, age, race, education, and employment. CONCLUSIONS The current findings highlight that many long-term adult survivors perceive minimal impact of childhood cancer on functional aspects of adulthood, including caregiving, finances, exercise, social-emotional relationships, and religion. This suggests that survivors may not be focusing on the influence of likely physical and psychological late effects of their disease in their day-to-day lives. For those who do perceive a negative impact, variability in responses suggests that there are of survivors who may benefit from interventions focused on the achievement of functional goals. Cancer 2017;123:1625–1634. © 2017 American Cancer Society.
Engaging Leadership: Choices: You May Make More Than You Realize

Many individuals do not realize the actual choices they are making in their career development or organizational future as a leader or titled manager or administrator. In fact, there are many opportunities for us to decide our own future. The challenges come when none of the options really fit an individual's ideal or preferred model and finding professional and personal satisfaction in such an environment. This manuscript takes a fresh look at choices you may not have realized you have even made and pushes the reader to gain empowerment through ownership of these decisions.
Risk Premium, Volatility, and Terrorism: New Evidence

Terrorism has important direct and indirect economic costs. Direct costs arise from loss of lives, destruction of property, search, and rescue effects, rebuilding of the infrastructure, restoring the quality of life through government assistance, and improved security systems to prevent terrorist attacks.1 According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OE CD), the estimates of the direct costs associated with the 9/11 attack in the United States are as follows: $14 billion (private sector), $1.5 billion (state and local government), $700 million (Federal government), and $11 billion (private and public sector costs for search and rescue operations).2 The indirect costs of terrorist attacks are more difficult to measure. According to the IMF, indirect costs of terrorism are psychological, resulting from pessimism among consumers and investors. This has the potential to depress asset prices and promote flight to quality.3
Dependence of Predicted Areal Density on Common Optimization Strategies for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

The ultimate user storage-area density for heat-assisted magnetic recording is an important consideration both from research and commercial perspectives. We propose two new algorithms to accelerate recording simulations based on general-purpose computing graphics processing units. We predict user areal density with current technologies and those expected to be available in the near future. Micromagnetic simulation predicts a user areal density of 1.8 Tb/in2. Optimization of track pitch in the absence of track misregistration increases the density to 5 TBit/in2 for perfect recording.
Transitando desde la observación a la acción pedagógica en la práctica inicial: Aprender a enseñar con foco en el aprendizaje del alumnado

espanolEste estudio examina la trayectoria de aprendizaje profesional de seis estudiantes de pedagogia participantes en un programa de innovacion en la practica inicial. La innovacion se sustento en el enfoque sociocultural de aprendizaje. Se realizo una version abreviada de investigacion evolutiva en el trabajo (Engestrom) en los talleres de practica semanal donde ellos participaron junto con tutores universitarios, profesora mentora e investigadora Notas de campo y analisis de las conversaciones evidenciaron como la incorporacion de tareas autenticas a la labor docente y herramientas de mediacion con voces de la academia y del centro escolar, movilizaron a los practicantes desde un foco en su ensenanza hacia un foco en el aprendizaje de sus estudiantes. Estos resultados ejemplifican la importancia de construir nuevas configuraciones para el curriculo de la practica inicial que enfrenten a candidatos a tareas autenticas al quehacer docente, con mediacion conjunta de pares, profesores mentores y tutores, que fortalezcan su agencia profesional. EnglishThe current study examines the professional learning trajectory of six teacher candidates in their first school placement. They were participants in a redesigned practicum component guided by sociocultural learning theory. Data were collected through the use of an abbreviated form of the Development Work Research (Engestrom) during the weekly meeting of candidates, cooperating teachers and university practicum supervisor. An analysis of field notes and transcripts of the conversations among participants evidences how performing tasks authentic to teaching and the mediating tools used by cooperating teachers and supervisors moved candidates from a focus on their teaching to a concern for how much their students were learning. These findings exemplify the importance of designing and implementing the initial practicum course as a space that enables teacher candidates to work on authentic teaching tasks, with the joint mediation of peers, cooperating teacher and university tutor, to strengthen professional agency.
Graphical Interpretation and Analysis of Proteins and their Ontologies (GiaPronto): A One-Click Graph Visualization Software for Proteomics Data Sets *

Here we present a free interactive web tool to process and visualize proteomics data sets with a single click. GiaPronto can process all proteomics quantification methods, i.e. label-free, SILAC and isobaric labeling, and analyze post-translational modifications (PTMs). The software performs normalization and statistics, assists determination of regulated proteins, biomarkers and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment, and provides high resolution images and tables for further data analysis. We foresee that GiaPronto will become the most rapid and simple tool for assessing data quality and determining most relevant features of proteomic data sets. GiaPronto is available at giapronto.diskinlab.org.
Should Evangelical Christian organizations support international family planning

The evangelical Christian church and Christian international organizations today face considerable pressure to promote family planning in the course of their activities overseas. This pressure can be subtle, or overt; the need to provide family planning is often couched in terms of biblical compassion, justice, improvement in women’s health, poverty alleviation, or development. It is evident from even a superficial glance at the Internet that the concept of “family planning” is heavily laden with negative associations due to the bitter legacy of eugenics and population control. Does family planning include just contraception? Or is there a mentality or implicit agenda behind the use of contraceptive technology? What are the possible results of promoting family planning as part of the Church’s international activities? Is there a mandate, Scriptural or otherwise, for Christians and international Christian organizations, to promote pregnancy prevention? More important to the practicing Christian, what are the assumptions behind the “need” for family planning in the context of Christian global health? We discuss ethical and theological frameworks as well as scientific and epidemiologic data from an Evangelical Christian perspective that might help inform discourse and decision-making on this controversial subject .
Sloughing esophagitis: a not so common entity.

Background Sloughing esophagitis, also known as esophagitis dissecans superficialis, is a very rare and underdiagnosed entity with unknown incidence rate. It can be associated with bullous dermatoses and medications such as central nervous system depressants and those causing esophageal injury. Case report A 55-years-old woman was recovering from renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis when she developed dysphagia and odynophagia. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy with biopsy was performed for suspected bullous pemphigus and confirmed sloughing esophagitis. She improved with intravenous steroids. Conclusions Sloughing Esophagitis should enter our differential diagnosis more frequently. It is mostly a benign, self-limiting process but when associated with bullous dermatoses will require steroid treatment.
Adoption of Over-the-Counter Malaria Diagnostics in Africa: The Role of Subsidies, Beliefs, Externalities, and Competition

Plans for the wide-scale distribution and subsidy of artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), an antimalarial treatment, pose two problems for public health planning. First, many people seeking malaria treatment do not have the disease. If ACT subsidies could be targeted toward those with malaria, the cost of subsidies could fall. Second, the inappropriate use of antimalarial drugs may contribute to the emergence of drug-resistant parasites. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria could help with both problems, but drug shop owners may have few financial incentives to sell them, given profits from overtreatment for malaria. A model of the provision of RDTs by profit-maximizing drug shops shows that if all parties know the probability of having malaria and if there are no subsidies for drugs and no external costs to inappropriate treatment, both monopolistic and competitive drug shop owners will provide RDTs under the same circumstances that a social welfare maximizing planner would. However, since drugs will be subsidized, customers overestimate their likelihood of having malaria, and since there are external costs to the misuse of antimalarials, profit-maximizing drug shops will likely underprovide RDTs. We show that a subsidy for RDTs can increase provision and, under adequate competition, induce everyone to use RDTs optimally. The results also highlight the importance of educating customers about the true prevalence of malaria and promoting competition among drug providers.
Dielectric properties of hexagonal boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides: from monolayer to bulk

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) promise greatly improved electrostatic control in future scaled electronic devices. To quantify the prospects of these materials in devices, we calculate the out-of-plane and in-plane dielectric constant from first principles for TMDs in trigonal prismatic and octahedral coordination, as well as for h-BN, with a thickness ranging from monolayer and bilayer to bulk. Both the ionic and electronic contribution to the dielectric response are computed. Our calculations show that the out-of-plane dielectric response for the transition-metal dichalcogenides is dominated by its electronic component and that the dielectric constant increases with increasing chalcogen atomic number. Overall, the out-of-plane dielectric constant of the TMDs and h-BN increases by less than 15% as the number of layers is increased from monolayer to bulk, while the in-plane component remains unchanged. Our computations also reveal that for octahedrally coordinated TMDs the ionic (static) contribution to the dielectric response is very high (4.5 times the electronic contribution) in the in-plane direction. This indicates that semiconducting TMDs in the tetragonal phase will suffer from excessive polar-optical scattering thereby deteriorating their electronic transport properties. The out-of-plane dielectric constant of transition metal dichalcogenides and h-BN is thickness-dependent, unlike their in-plane counterpart. A team led by William Vandenberghe at the University of Texas at Dallas performed calculations of the optical and static relative permittivity of free-standing monolayer, bilayer, and bulk transition metal dichalcogenides, in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions. In h-BN, the in-plane contribution was found to be larger than its out-of-plane counterpart, and independent on the number of h-BN layers. Conversely, the out-of-plane h-BN dielectric constant showed an increase when going from monolayer to bulk. In transition metal dichalcogenides, the dielectric constant components displayed similar trends to those observed in h-BN with regards to their thickness evolution. The calculations also indicated that the electronic component dominates the overall dielectric response for most of the analyzed 2D materials.