cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antiretroviral Drug Use during Pregnancy and Risk of Premature Delivery: Is There a Connection?

Widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected pregnant women has led to dramatic decreases in HIV type 1 (HIV-1) transmission to the infant, now !1%–2% in high-resource countries [1]. HAART for HIV-1–infected pregnant women is now considered the standard of care for maternal health and/or for prevention of HIV transmission to the infant [2]. The rapid discovery and clinical use of many new antiretroviral drugs, however, has led to use of medications during pregnancy for which adverse pregnancy and fetal outcomes are not completely known. One particular issue that has arisen is that of a possible link between use of HAART during pregnancy and the risk of premature delivery, observed mainly in studies from Europe [3, 4]. The most recent report from the European Collaborative Study included 4372 women, 767 of whom re-
TOWARDS AN EMPIRICAL CALCULUS OF REINFORCEMENT VALUE

Only one of two keys reinforces the subject with food. This key can assume one of two colors, each associated with a different fixed-ratio schedule for obtaining reinforcement. The function of the second key is to permit the animal to switch from the long schedule to the short schedule. If the difference between the ratio schedules is large enough, a preference for the shorter schedule is demonstrable. A quantitative index of preference is obtained as follows: each time the animal switches to the shorter schedule, the number of pecks required to produce the next switch is increased. As the “ante” on the switching key increases, the effective difference between the two ratio schedules decreases. After each food reinforcement, when the bird is exposed to the choice-situation, it takes longer before the bird switches again. This is used to “titrate” the bird's preference. If it does not switch within x sec, the progressively increasing ratio schedule of the switching key is decreased. A specific value, in terms of a rather specific number of responses the bird settles at on the choice key, is obtained. This equilibrium is employed as a dependent variable. Several variables of which it is a function are explored.
Comparison of septal and ventromedial hypothalamic lesion effects on discrete trial DRL behavior

The performance of rats with ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) or septal lesions was compared with that of normal subjects on a discrete trial DRL task. Animals were pretrained at 85% of their ad-lib body weights and postoperatively tested at this level of deprivation and at greater and lesser deprivation levels. Septal rats emitted significantly more nonreinforced responses and had shorter response latencies than did control and VMH rats while tested at the different deprivation levels. VMH lesioned rats performed as well as controls. Septal performance was not affected by deprivation level. Both VMH and control subjects obtained the greatest number of reinforcements while tested at the greater deprivation level. In spite of the large number of similarities between VMH and septal rats, VMH rats, unlike septal rats, used internal cues as well as normal rats did to perform proficiently on this task.
Development of Cell Lines That Provide Tightly Controlled Temporal Translation of the Human Cytomegalovirus IE2 Proteins for Complementation and Functional Analyses of Growth-Impaired and Nonviable IE2 Mutant Viruses

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) IE2 86 protein is essential for viral replication. Two other proteins, IE2 60 and IE2 40, which arise from the C-terminal half of IE2 86, are important for later stages of the infection. Functional analyses of IE2 86 in the context of the infection have utilized bacterial artificial chromosomes as vectors to generate mutant viruses. One limitation is that many mutations result in debilitated or nonviable viruses. Here, we describe a novel system that allows tightly controlled temporal expression of the IE2 proteins and provides complementation of both growth-impaired and nonviable IE2 mutant viruses. The strategy involves creation of cell lines with separate lentiviruses expressing a bicistronic RNA with a selectable marker as the first open reading frame (ORF) and IE2 86, IE2 60, or IE2 40 as the second ORF. Induction of expression of the IE2 proteins occurs only following DNA recombination events mediated by Cre and FLP recombinases that delete the first ORF. HCMV encodes Cre and FLP, which are expressed at immediate-early (for IE2 86) and early-late (for IE2 40 and IE2 60) times, respectively. We show that the presence of full-length IE2 86 alone provides some complementation for virus production, but the correct temporal expression of IE2 86 and IE2 40 together has the most beneficial effect for early-late gene expression and synthesis of infectious virus. This approach for inducible protein translation can be used for complementation of other mutations as well as controlled expression of toxic cellular and microbial proteins.
Correcting Errors in Streamflow Forecast Ensemble Mean and Spread

Abstract When hydrological models are used for probabilistic streamflow forecasting in the Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) framework, the deterministic components of the approach can lead to errors in the estimation of forecast uncertainty, as represented by the spread of the forecast ensemble. One avenue for correcting the resulting forecast reliability errors is to calibrate the streamflow forecast ensemble to match observed error characteristics. This paper outlines and evaluates a method for forecast calibration as applied to seasonal streamflow prediction. The approach uses the correlation of forecast ensemble means with observations to generate a conditional forecast mean and spread that lie between the climatological mean and spread (when the forecast has no skill) and the raw forecast mean with zero spread (when the forecast is perfect). Retrospective forecasts of summer period runoff in the Feather River basin, California, are used to demonstrate that the approach improves upon the performan...
A high order biphase modulation scheme for UWB transmission

The paper presents a novel scheme to achieve timing jitter robustness in ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. The proposed idea is to couple high order monocycle (HOM) with biphase modulation (BPM). Analysis and simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms the conventional ones in terms of anti-timing jitter ability and could also enable higher data throughput.
Radar Remote Sensing of Irregular Stratified Media

The sections in this article are 1 Schelkunoff's Generalized Telegraphists' Equations for Bounded Irregular Waveguides and the Use of Local Mode Expansions 2 Generalized Telegraphists' Equations for Irregular Stratified Media with one or Two Half-Spaces 3 Transformation of Maxwell's Equations 4 Iterative Solutions to the Generalized Telegraphists' Equations and Their Relationships to the Small Perturbation Solution and the Physical/Geometrical Solutions to Rough Surface Scattering 5 Full-Wave Solutions for the Radar Cross Sections for Multiple-Scale Rough Surfaces 6 Full-Wave Solutions for Three Media Irregular Stratified Structures 7 Acknowledgments
Packet radio for mobile communications

Packet Radio technology has developed over the past decade in response to the need for real-time, interactive communications among mobile users and shared computer resources. This paper briefly traces the development history of the technology, describes the current state of the art, and discusses two major facets of the technology which are currently in a stage of rapid evolutionary development. These two emphasis areas are the development of adaptive, survivable network control and routing architectures and efficient access to the radio channel. This paper reviews the development and current status of packet radio technology. Current developments which will significantly improve the performance of the technology in the areas of network integrity and channel access efficiency are described. While a direct comparison of the channel access method described with narrow band Signalling based techniques was not discussed, it is hoped that the motivations and performance aspects covered for the spread spectrum based capture access technique will provide added insight into the circumstances and applications for which this technique has advantages.
DEVELOPMENTAL BREAKDOWN DURING THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE CODIACRINIDAE: PARAZOPHOCRINUS CALLOSUS STRIMPLE, 1963 (CLASS CRINOIDEA)

Abstract Parazophocrinus callosus Strimple, 1963, is redescribed as a cladid crinoid belonging to the Codiacrinidae. Parazophocrinus is a reasonably large cladid crinoid that is composed primarily of basal plates, radial plates, and oral plates; arms are absent; and the anal opening is along the side of the aboral cup. The radial plates are hypertrophied laterally, producing a disc-shaped aboral cup, and this very unusual crinoid is considered to be neotenic. Presumably, feeding in Parazophocrinus occurred only with tube feet projected through opened oral plates or from epidermal nutrient uptake. Typical codiacrinids may lack arms, may have the anal opening from the side of the aboral cup, and commonly have prominent oral plates; but in contrast to Parazophocrinus, they are small to very small in size. This small size and arrested development is considered progenetic. Parazophocrinus is the second oldest genus in the Codiacrinidae. Apparently, when developmental controls broke down during the early evolut...
Transgenesis and Future Applications for Cavefish Research

Cavefish have emerged as a preeminent model for studying the morphological and functional changes that occur during niche adaptation and are beginning to reveal the associated causal genetic variations. An important next step will be to elucidate how sequence variants modify developmental pathways or physiological functions that lead to shifts in phenotype. Over the last decades, a suite of molecular genetic tools has been developed for studying development and physiology in model organisms. As these tools begin to be applied to cavefish, it is worth considering methods that have proven efficacious in zebrafish, currently the most widely used fish model. In zebrafish, transgenic methods are widely used to observe cells in vivo and to manipulate development and function. This forward-looking chapter will outline transgenic strategies that may be readily applied in the coming years in order to close the link between genotypic changes and phenotypic adaptation in cavefish.
An investigation into the causation of the onset of labor by parabiosis during pregnancy

Summary Eleven pairs of pregnant rats were united in parabiosis. Pairs No. 2 and No. 3 died before the animals went into labor. Of the remaining nine pairs, all except No. 10 went into labor at the usual time at the termination of their respective periods of gestation. The animal less advanced in pregnancy continued to the end of its normal gestation period without being in the slightest degree affected by the labor of its partner. In pair No. 10, both animals littered at approximately the same time. In view of the normally completed course of gestation in the other eight pairs, it would be a rather illogical assumption to explain this solitary instance on the basis of an anaphylactic phenomenon as Sauerbruch and Heyde, von der Heide, and Rongy, have assumed. It is much more likely that the stage of gestation in both animals was about the same and that the somewhat enlarged size of the fetuses in the left rat was due simply to the fact that in that breed of animals the size of the young was larger because of the smaller number of fetuses.
Abstract 222: Students’ Assessment of the Educational Component of Project Healthy Schools: A Middle-School Wellness Program

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years, potentially leading to dangerous problems in heart health in later years. Project Healthy Schools (PHS) aims to improve the wellness of students during adolescence by promoting healthy lifestyle changes. PHS incorporates 10 educational lessons into 6th grade students’ curricula. Each of these lessons emphasizes the PHS goals of healthy eating, regular exercise, and less sedentary behavior and are designed to be interactive, hands on, and fun. This report describes the students’ assessment of the educational model used in PHS. METHODS: Upon completion of the education module, participating students received a process survey. The purpose of this survey was to gather feedback from the students on the educational component of PHS. Results from the process survey were compiled from 4 separate school districts over the years 2008-2013. Five questions regarding the educational activities and resultant behavior changes are reported. RESULTS: 1793 students completed the survey. After completing the 10 lessons, 71% of students reported learning that was consistent with the PHS goals and25% reported liking all 10 PHS activities. Students enjoyed the activities for the following reasons: 45% because they were fun; 16% enjoyed moving around and/or playing games; and 36% enjoyed learning about being healthy. Furthermore, students reported the following lifestyle changes after the program was completed: 43% eating more fruits/vegetables, 38% increasing minutes of physical activity, 27% decreasing screen time, 30% choosing healthier drinks, 38% eating less fast food, with 29% making no changes. Lastly, when being tested on specific material from the course, 46% of students selected the correct answer. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS/FUTURE DIRECTIONS: The majority of students successfully learned the content of the lessons and made at least one positive healthy lifestyle change. The process survey has allowed PHS leaders to assess real-time feedback from participating students, make content changes accordingly and will continue to guide future revisions of the program.
Stability and solubility of pollucite in the granite system at 200 MPa H 2 O

The chemistry and stability of pollucite (Pol, CsAlSi 2 O 6 )-leucite (Lct, KAlSi 2 O 6 )-analcime (Anl, NaAlSi 2 O 6 H 2 O) solid-solutions and the effects of added pollucite on phase relations in the haplogranite system were studied experimentally between 450 degrees and 850 degrees C at 200 MPa H 2 O. Addition of Cs via dissolution of pollucite lowers the haplogranite solidus by approximately 40 degrees C (to approximately 640 degrees C) and displaces the minimum melt composition slightly toward the Qtz apex. The Cs content of melt saturated in pollucite solid-solution near the minimum is approximately 5 wt.% Cs 2 O. There is substantial miscibility among Pol and Lct components at magmatic temperatures, but the Lct content of pollucite decreases linearly with decreasing temperature to zero Lct component at approximately 385 degrees C. The Lct and Anl components vary inversely in pollucite solid-solutions as a function of temperature, such that the Anl and maximum Pol components of the pollucite solid-solution increase with decreasing temperature. Natural and synthetic pollucite equilibrates readily with melt or with hydrothermal solutions (and coexisting alkali feldspars) down to temperatures below approximately 400 degrees C. The experiments do not unequivocally resolve a standing question of a miscibility gap in the Pol-Anl system at low temperature. The compositions of synthetic pollucite diverge by >15 mol.% in terms of Pol and Anl components at 450 degrees C, but as in nature, the bulk of the synthetic pollucite is intermediate in composition between the extremes.
SEX RATIO SELECTION AND THE EVOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SEX DETERMINATION IN LABORATORY POPULATIONS OF MENIDIA MENIDIA.

What happens when a population with environmental sex determination (ESD) experiences a change to an extreme environment that causes a highly unbalanced sex ratio? Theory predicts that frequency-dependent selection would increase the proportion of the minority sex and decrease the level of ESD in subsequent generations. We empirically modeled this process by maintaining five laboratory populations of a fish with temperature-dependent sex determination (the Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia) in extreme constant temperature environments that caused highly skewed sex ratios to occur initially. Increases in the minority sex consistently occurred from one generation to the next across all five populations, first establishing and then maintaining a balanced sex ratio until termination of the experiment at 8 to 10 generations. The extent to which the level of ESD changed as balanced sex ratios evolved, however, was not consistent. Two populations that experienced high temperatures each generation displayed a loss of ESD, and in one of these ESD was virtually eliminated. This suggests that temperature-insensitive, sex-determining genes were being selected. In populations maintained in low temperature environments, however, the level of ESD did not decline. Instead, the response of sex ratio to temperature was adjusted upward or downward, perhaps by selection of sex-determining genes sensitive to higher (or lower) temperatures. The two different outcomes at low versus high temperatures occurred independent of the geographic origin of the founding population. Our results demonstrate that ESD is capable of evolving in response to selection.
Crack Velocity Measurements in Sea Ice

To study crack dynamics in sea ice fast measurements of ice electrical resistance and an electromagnetic emission (EME) from cracks were used. The sample dimensions ranged from 0.05 to 30 meters. In a laboratory grown fresh water ice crack velocities varied from a few hundreds to a thousand meters per second while in the natural sea ice crack velocity was very low, about 10 m/s. This remarkable difference in the crack velocities is likely due to the dynamic resistance of unfrozen water in brine pockets and channels and to the high ductility of sea ice. It was found that the cracks propagate in ice discontinuously owing to the strong interaction with such microstructural elements as liquid inclusions and grain boundaries. The high sensitivity of the method allowed to detect nucleation of very first microcracks.
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief: Irreproducible Results and NIH Actions

In June of 2014, I wrote a brief letter [1] describing the new awareness that many important published papers could not be reproduced, and that the NIH was rightfully very concerned about the problem. There are now new NIH guidelines on rigor and reproducibility for grant applications. Also, a large number of journal editors have publically endorsed the guidelines. Here is a brief description of what is happening.
Patterns of anterior spinal canal involvement by neoplasms and infections.

PURPOSE To show that retrovertebral extension of neoplastic and infectious disease proceeds in a predictable manner, with the anatomic superstructure determining the shape of the advancing process. METHODS We examined 58 patients who had neoplastic (n = 44) and infectious (n = 14) processes that caused canal compromise. In total, 140 levels were examined by means of MR imaging only (48 patients), CT only (1 patient), CT plus MR imaging (3 patients), and MR imaging plus CT myelography (6 patients). RESULTS At 136 levels, the retrovertebral disease process took the shape of a smoothly marginated, bilobulated mass that was broad-based against the posterior surface of the vertebra. Various degrees of mass effect were observed: symmetric on 108 levels and asymmetric on 28 levels; on 4 levels, expansion of the anterior epidural space was unilobar, reflecting unilateral canal invasion. With advanced stages of canal invasion, this bilobulated pattern was maintained but there was a tendency toward detachment of the midline septum (20 levels). CONCLUSION The observed patterns are determined by the particular anatomy of the anterior epidural space. The shape of the mass is imposed by the posterior longitudinal ligament and by the attached lateral membranes, with the central tether produced by the attached midline septum. The two compartments expand independently.
Strategies to generate high-titer, high-potency recombinant AAV3 serotype vectors

Although recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 3 (AAV3) vectors were largely ignored previously, owing to their poor transduction efficiency in most cells and tissues examined, our initial observation of the selective tropism of AAV3 serotype vectors for human liver cancer cell lines and primary human hepatocytes has led to renewed interest in this serotype. AAV3 vectors and their variants have recently proven to be extremely efficient in targeting human and nonhuman primate hepatocytes in vitro as well as in vivo . In the present studies, we wished to evaluate the relative contributions of the cis -acting inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) from AAV3 (ITR3), as well as the trans -acting Rep proteins from AAV3 (Rep3) in the AAV3 vector production and transduction. To this end, we utilized two helper plasmids: pAAVr2c3, which carries rep2 and cap3 genes, and pAAVr3c3, which carries rep3 and cap3 genes. The combined use of AAV3 ITRs, AAV3 Rep proteins, and AAV3 capsids led to the production of recombinant vectors, AAV3-Rep3/ITR3, with up to approximately two to fourfold higher titers than AAV3-Rep2/ITR2 vectors produced using AAV2 ITRs, AAV2 Rep proteins, and AAV3 capsids. We also observed that the transduction efficiency of Rep3/ITR3 AAV3 vectors was approximately fourfold higher than that of Rep2/ITR2 AAV3 vectors in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in vitro . The transduction efficiency of Rep3/ITR3 vectors was increased by ∼10-fold, when AAV3 capsids containing mutations in two surface-exposed residues (serine 663 and threonine 492) were used to generate a S663V+T492V double-mutant AAV3 vector. The Rep3/ITR3 AAV3 vectors also transduced human liver tumors in vivo approximately twofold more efficiently than those generated with Rep2/ITR2. Our data suggest that the transduction efficiency of AAV3 vectors can be significantly improved both using homologous Rep proteins and ITRs as well as by capsid optimization. Thus, the combined use of homologous Rep proteins, ITRs, and capsids should also lead to more efficacious other AAV serotype vectors for their optimal use in human gene therapy.
Juan Rulfo, o no hay salvación ni en la vida ni en la muerte

A pesar de la secularizacion del siglo XX, Juan Rulfo aprovecha una rica tradicion religiosa en todo lo que escribe. En el discurso religioso se destaca un fondo de culpabilidad, de deseo de confesar y recibir perdon, y de imposibilidad de cualquiera clase de salvacion. Sin entender este fondo religioso el estudio de la obra de Rulfo queda incompleto. Despide the secularization of the 20th century, Juan Rulfo makes use of a rich religious tradition in all his writings. A background of guilt, of the desire to confess and to be pardoned, and of the impossibility of any kind of salvation is emphasized in the religious discourse. If this religious background is not understood, any study of Rulfo's work is incomplete.
Diffusion tensor based global tractography of human brain fiber bundles

Tractography is a non-invasive process for reconstruction, modelling and visualization of neural fibers in the white matter (WM) of the human brain. It has emerged as a major breakthrough for neuroscience research due to its usefulness in clinical applications. In this research, we have investigated deterministic and probabilistic tractography approaches. We have evaluated the performance of different approaches on fiber bundle tracking using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data having multiple gradient directions. Experimental results show that global tractography is best for reconstruction of kissing and crossing fibers compared to deterministic tractography. We have also shown that DTI acquisition with a higher number of gradient directions provides better tracking results given limitations of acquisition and computation time.
Treatment of hypercholesterolaemia in patients with diabetes mellitus : review article

Numerous studies have shown that statins reduce cardiovascular events, including stroke and mortality in diabetics. The American Diabetes Association 2013 guidelines recommend that diabetics at high risk for cardiovascular events should have their serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol reduced to < 70 mg/dl (1.8 mmol/l) with statins. Lower-risk diabetics should have their serum LDL cholesterol reduced to < 100 mg/dl (2.6 mmol/l). The 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association lipid guidelines recommend giving high-dose statins to adult diabetics aged ≤ 75 years with atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASCVD) unless contraindicated with a class I indication and moderate-dose or high-dose statins to diabetics with ASCVD ≥ 75 years with a class IIa indication. Diabetics ≥ 21 years with a serum LDL cholesterol of ≥ 190 mg/dl (4.9 mmol/l) should be treated with high-dose statins with a class I indication. For primary prevention in diabetics aged 40 to 75 years and serum LDL cholesterol between 70 and 189 mg/dl (1.8 and 4.9 mmol/l), moderate-dose statins should be given with a class I indication. For primary prevention in diabetics aged 40 to 75 years, a serum LDL cholesterol between 70 and 189 mg/dl (1.8 and 4.9 mmol/l), and a 10-year risk of ASCVD of ≥ 7.5% calculated from the Pooled Heart Equation, high-dose statins should be given with a class IIa indication. For primary prevention in diabetics aged 21 to 39 years or older than 75 years and a serum LDL cholesterol between 70 and 189 mg/dl (1.8 and 4.9 mmol/l), moderate-dose statins or high-dose statins should be given with a class IIa indication. There is no additional ASCVD reduction from adding non-statin therapy to further lower non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol once an LDL cholesterol goal has been reached. Clinical trials have found no lowering of cardiovascular events or mortality in diabetics treated with statins with the addition of nicotinic acid, fibric acid derivatives, ezetemibe, or drugs that raise serum HDL cholesterol.
High-Performance Monte Carlo Simulations for Photon Migration and Applications in Optical Brain Functional Imaging

The human brain is a complex biological organ that is extremely challenging to study. Non-invasive optical scanning has been effective in exploring brain functions and diagnosing brain diseases. However, given the complexity of the human brain anatomy, quantitative analysis of optical brain imaging data has been challenging due to the extensive computation needed to solve the generalized models. In this chapter, we discuss Monte Carlo eXtreme (MCX), a computationally efficient and numerically accurate Monte Carlo photon simulation package. Leveraging the benefits of GPU-based parallel computing. MCX allows researchers to use 3D anatomical scans from MRI or CT to perform accurate photon transport simulations. Compared to conventional Monte Carlo (MC) methods, MCX provides a dramatic speed improvement of two to three orders of magnitude, thanks largely to the massively parallel threads enabled by modern GPU architectures.
Assessing and predicting drug-induced anticholinergic risks: an integrated computational approach.

Background:Anticholinergic (AC) adverse drug events (ADEs) are caused by inhibition of muscarinic receptors as a result of designated or off-target drug–receptor interactions. In practice, AC toxicity is assessed primarily based on clinician experience. The goal of this study was to evaluate a novel concept of integrating big pharmacological and healthcare data to assess clinical AC toxicity risks.Methods:AC toxicity scores (ATSs) were computed using drug–receptor inhibitions identified through pharmacological data screening. A longitudinal retrospective cohort study using medical claims data was performed to quantify AC clinical risks. ATS was compared with two previously reported toxicity measures. A quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) model was established for rapid assessment and prediction of AC clinical risks.Results:A total of 25 common medications, and 575,228 exposed and unexposed patients were analyzed. Our data indicated that ATS is more consistent with the trend of AC outcomes ...
A Brief Instrument to Assess Both Burnout and Professional Fulfillment in Physicians: Reliability and Validity, Including Correlation with Self-Reported Medical Errors, in a Sample of Resident and Practicing Physicians

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI), a 16-item instrument to assess physicians’ professional fulfillment and burnout, designed for sensitivity to change attributable to interventions or other factors affecting physician well-being. A sample of 250 physicians completed the PFI, a measure of self-reported medical errors, and previously validated measures including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a one-item burnout measure, the World Health Organization’s abbreviated quality of life assessment (WHOQOL-BREF), and PROMIS short-form depression, anxiety, and sleep-related impairment scales. Between 2 and 3 weeks later, 227 (91%) repeated the PFI and the sleep-related impairment scale. Principal components analysis justified PFI subscales for professional fulfillment, work exhaustion, and interpersonal disengagement. Test-retest reliability estimates were 0.82 for professional fulfillment (α = 0.91), 0.80 for work exhaustion (α = 0.86), 0.71 for interpersonal disengagement (α = 0.92), and 0.80 for overall burnout (α = 0.92). PFI burnout measures correlated highly (r ≥ 0.50) with their closest related MBI equivalents. Cohen’s d effect size differences in self-reported medical errors for high versus low burnout classified using the PFI and the MBI were 0.55 and 0.44, respectively. PFI scales correlated in expected directions with sleep-related impairment, depression, anxiety, and WHOQOL-BREF scores. PFI scales demonstrated sufficient sensitivity to detect expected effects of a two-point (range 8–40) change in sleep-related impairment. PFI scales have good performance characteristics including sensitivity to change and offer a novel contribution by assessing professional fulfillment in addition to burnout.
Whither Criminology? The Search for a Paradigm Over the Last Half Century

To what degree does criminology demonstrate the genuine presence or lack of a paradigm (i.e. theoretical-methodological consensus) to help structure its research enterprise? There are trade-offs to consider when pressing the question, such as a potential drain on efficiency in its allocation of resources, limits on its scientific credibility, and weakened institutional strength resulting from conceptual dissensus. Alternatively, an interdisciplinary field may benefit from insights continually drawn from its various parent disciplines. The present research offers a reply in two parts. The first focus relies on a content analysis of 2,109 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals from 1951-2008 in providing a positive analysis. There is mixed evidence of methodological agreement and less on the matter of commitment to a specific theory. The second inquiry draws from reactions delivered by 17 leading criminologists on the normative question of whether the field’s a-paradigmatic status helps or harms scientific advance. An analysis of the oral histories indicates an indifference to the criticism of lacking paradigmatic uniformity as a legitimate critique and a vehement defense of porous intellectual boundaries. However, pragmatic considerations such as the potential for a diminishing need to train criminal justice undergraduates and threats to government funding may force the profession to give more consideration to the matter of its scientific bone fides.
Ancestry-specific recent effective population size in the Americas

Populations change in size over time due to factors such as population growth, migration, bottleneck events, natural disasters, and disease. The historical effective size of a population affects the power and resolution of genetic association studies. For admixed populations, it is not only the overall effective population size that is of interest, but also the effective sizes of the component ancestral populations. We use identity by descent and local ancestry inferred from genome-wide genetic data to estimate overall and ancestry-specific effective population size during the past hundred generations for nine admixed American populations from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, and for African-American and European-American populations from two US cities. In these populations, the estimated pre-admixture effective sizes of the ancestral populations vary by sampled population, suggesting that the ancestors of different sampled populations were drawn from different sub-populations. In addition, we estimate that overall effective population sizes dropped substantially in the generations immediately after the commencement of European and African immigration, reaching a minimum around 12 generations ago, but rebounded within a small number of generations afterwards. Of the populations that we considered, the population of individuals originating from Puerto Rico has the smallest bottleneck size of one thousand, while the Pittsburgh African-American population has the largest bottleneck size of two hundred thousand.
Influence of Lignin Type on the Decay of Woody Angiosperms by Trametes Versicolor

Numerous studies of the fungal decay of wood have been conducted, especially in the past few decades. The major motivation in the search to understand wood decay is the potential application of research results in essentially two areas: (1) decay protection of wood and wood products in use and (2) biological processing of wood for the production of pulp for paper manufacture, pulp bleaching, and effluent treatments.
Erythropoietin-mediated activation of aquaporin-4 channel for the treatment of experimental hydrocephalus

In this study, we investigate a neuroprotective agent, erythropoietin (EPO), in animal hydrocephalus model and its potential reversal effects on hydrocephalus by altering the expression of aquaporin-4 (AQP4). Obstructive hydrocephalus was induced in 2-week-old rat pups by injecting kaolin (50 μl, 10 mg/ml in saline) into the cisterna magna, while the control pups received only saline. Kaolin-injected pups were divided into two groups on the fifth day after kaolin injection; one group received intra-peritoneal (i.p.) EPO (1 μg/pup) for 5 consecutive days, while other group received i.p. saline for 5 days. The effects of EPO on hydrocephalus were investigated by studying cerebral ventricle size and structural ependymal changes. We examined also the EPO effects on AQP4 expression and microRNA expression. EPO treatment significantly reduced dilation of the cerebral ventricle and denudation of ependymal line in hydrocephalic pups comparing with the control group. Increased expression of AQP4 in periventricular ependymal lining and cultured astrocytes and increased vascular formation were noted after EPO treatment. Additionally, we identified miR-668 as an endogenous regulator of AQP4 in response to EPO. Anti-miR-668 dampened EPO-induced activation of AQP4 expression. Together, our results show that EPO-mediated upregulation of AQP4 significantly reduces dilation of the cerebral ventricles in obstructive hydrocephalus pups and may lead to potential therapeutic options for hydrocephalus.
Polymer stabilization of cholesteric liquid crystals in the oblique helicoidal state

Electrical control of the pitch has been reported in a variant of the cholesteric liquid crystal phase composed of chiral dopants and liquid crystal dimers with a bent conformation, such as CB7CB. For a finite range of applied electric field, the dimeric mesogens assume an oblique helicoidal structure, in which the helical axis is aligned along the electric field and the local director is tilted towards the helical axis (rather than being perpendicular to it). An electric field can directly regulate the periodicity (pitch), allowing reconfiguration of the optical response from a scattering or transparent state to a reflective state. Here, we employ po stabilization to retain the oblique helicoidal state absent an applied field. The polymer stabilized oblique helicoidal structures were investigated under various conditions and material compositions. With polymer stabilization, the magnitude of the selective reflection is found to be dependent on the strength of the applied field. Comparison of the electro-optical response of samples with and without a polymer network elucidates the relative role of boundary conditions, anchoring strength, and elastic energy on the stability of the oblique helicoidal state.
The Effects of Audit Quality Disclosure on Audit Effort and Investment Efficiency

We develop a model to evaluate the costs and benefits of disclosing information about audit quality. Specifically, we examine whether audit quality disclosure affects auditors' effort and investors' investment efficiency. In our setting, an auditor exerts unobservable effort to influence audit quality and is motivated by liability in the event of audit failure. The usefulness of audited financial reports for investors depends on both the quality of the underlying financial reporting (e.g., as embodied by GAAP) and the quality of auditors' reports (i.e., the likelihood with which audit evidence uncovers managerial misreporting). We show that audit quality disclosure increases auditors' effort incentives if and only if the underlying financial reporting quality is relatively weak. We also show that such disclosure can actually reduce investment efficiency. Our analyses contribute to the debate about policies aimed at improving audit transparency.
Welcome to the Library: Building a Social Orientation Campaign

Abstract Online orientation activities provide an alternative means of reaching out to new and returning students who may not be likely to attend an orientation event sponsored by the library. This chapter outlines one approach to creating a social orientation campaign in which an academic library works to share library information and be an active participant in the social conversation on campus. I outline some of the goals we set for the social campaign, the social strategies used, and the ways of assessing social engagement with library content. This approach may be used by academic libraries of any type that are able to dedicate the staff time to surveying the campus social scene and using that knowledge to build a campaign that meets the needs of the unique community.
Radiologic aspects of operable heart disease. II. Retrograde brachial aortography.

Patent ductus arteriosus and coarctation of the aorta are common causes of congestive heart failure in infancy, yet are more difficult to diagnose than in later life. Retrograde brachial aortography is a relatively simple method of establishing the diagnosis with assurance. A description ofthe technic is followed by a discussion of the normal aortogram in infancy. A relatively large series of cases, in which a high diagnostic yield was obtained, is analyzed. The hazards of the procedure are few if highly concentrated media are avoided and careful attention is paid to details of technic.
Entropy Maximization for Constrained Markov Decision Processes

We study the problem of synthesizing a policy that maximizes the entropy of a Markov decision process (MDP) subject to expected reward constraints. Such a policy minimizes the predictability of the paths it generates in an MDP while attaining certain reward thresholds. We first show that the maximum entropy of an MDP can be finite, infinite or unbounded. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions under which the maximum entropy of an MDP is finite, infinite or unbounded. We then present an algorithm to synthesize a policy that maximizes the entropy of an MDP. The proposed algorithm is based on a convex optimization problem and runs in time polynomial in the size of the MDP. Finally, we extend the algorithm to an MDP subject to expected total reward constraints. In numerical examples, we demonstrate the proposed method on different motion planning scenarios and illustrate the trade-off between the predictability of paths and the level of the collected reward.
Barriers to the Right to Health Among Patients of a Public Emergency Department After Implementation of the Affordable Care Act

Purpose: Emergency physicians are witnesses to the impact of socioeconomic determinants of health on physical and psychiatric illness. Understanding structural barriers to the right to health (RTH) serves as a foundation for interventions to promote health equity. This study was performed to determine self-described barriers to fulfillment of the RTH among a public emergency department (ED) patient population. Methods: A convenience sample survey between June and August 2014 of 200 patients in public ED assessing demographic characteristics and desired assistance with 36 barriers to fulfillment of the RTH. Results: There was a high demand for specialty care (91%, 182/200), access to primary care (87.5%, 175/200), and access to health insurance (86%, 172/200). Undocumented residents were significantly more likely to cite health insurance as the most important area for assistance (p=0.04). Conclusion: Despite implementation of Affordable Care Act, access to health care and insurance were still perceived as the most important barriers among underserved patient populations, particularly undocumented groups.
Hypsarrhythmia is associated with widespread, asymmetric cerebral hypermetabolism.

Abstract Purpose Hypsarrhythmia is the interictal EEG pattern most often associated with infantile spasms. We set out to evaluate the metabolic impact of hypsarrhythmia among patients with infantile spasms by contrasting regional cerebral metabolic activity among children with and without hypsarrhythmia. Methods Patients with video-EEG confirmed infantile spasms who underwent simultaneous interictal EEG and FDG-PET as part of a surgical evaluation were retrospectively identified. Pons-normalized relative cerebral metabolic activity (RCA) was ascertained in 18 cortical and 6 subcortical pre-specified regions of interest (ROIs). Results We identified 63 patients with infantile spasms who underwent simultaneous EEG/PET, including children with hypsarrhythmia (n = 9), high-voltage EEG background (n = 20), and multifocal independent spike discharges (MISD) (n = 34). Among them, a putative epileptogenic zone was identified within the left-hemisphere only (n = 27), right-hemisphere only (n = 20), or assumed to be bilateral (n = 16). After adjustment for age at PET, the presence of hypsarrhythmia was associated with hypermetabolism in 11 of 18 cortical ROI’s. After adjustment for lateralized epileptogenic zones, the association between hypsarrhythmia and hypermetabolism was generally stronger within the left hemisphere. Conclusion Hypsarrhythmia is associated with widespread—and curiously left more than right—elevations in pons-normalized RCA, which is not evident on routine clinical review of individual PET studies. This study suggests that hypsarrhythmia may be a quasi-ictal phenomenon based on widespread and usually bilateral cortical hypermetabolism.
Abstract LB-145: Investigation of T cell dynamic changes in tumor progression by using sing-cell data

Cancer immunotherapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer. To better understand the dynamic changes of T cell states during tumor progression, we profiled TCR sequences and transcriptomes of ~40,000 T cells from matched xenograft MC38 cancer cell line and spleen samples of 12 mice. Comparing the gene expression profiles of T cells collected in 10-day and 20-day samples, we observed obvious differences of T cell composition, such as higher CD8 and lower CD4 T cells in 20-day tumors. Unsupervised clustering revealed two subsets of T cells specific to early tumors, recapitulating important markers, such as TCF7, which has recently been reported to be a valid predictor of immune checkpoint blockade therapies in melanoma. Additionally, a unique CD8 cluster, expressing markers of T cell activation and exhaustion, was found to appear only in late tumors. We also observed subpopulations of TCRαβ+ CD3+/CD4-/CD8- double negative (DN) T cells, which have not been well-characterized in the tumor microenvironment. Our analysis revealed three clusters of DN cells: 1) an effector-like group with FCER1G and XCL1 high expression, and high interferon production; 2) a regulatory population expressing high level of Foxp3 and IL2ra, which has been previously reported in autoimmune disorders; 3) a naive-like population with CCR7 expression. These findings indicate that the DN T cell population may span a wide-spectrum of functionalities that similar to CD4 or CD8 single positive conventional T cells. Our study, for the first time, provided a high-resolution dynamic landscape of T cell state and identified rare T cell subgroups associated with cancer progression. Citation Format: Hongyi Zhang, Longchao Liu, Jiahui Chen, Bo Li. Investigation of T cell dynamic changes in tumor progression by using sing-cell data [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-145.
An Inductorless 20-Gb/s CDR With High Jitter Tolerance

A full-rate clock and data recovery loop employs a three-stage ring voltage-controlled oscillator, a master–slave passive sampler as both a phase detector and a filter, and a new flip-flop to achieve a loop bandwidth of 170 MHz. Implemented in 45-nm CMOS technology, the circuit occupies an area of 14 $\mu \text{m}\,\,\times $ 26 $\mu \text{m}$ and exhibits a jitter tolerance of 2 UI at 5 MHz and a recovered clock jitter of 459 fs with 231 – 1 pseudorandom bit sequence.
Association of CD14 with incident dementia and markers of brain aging and injury

Objective To test the hypothesis that the inflammatory marker plasma soluble CD14 (sCD14) associates with incident dementia and related endophenotypes in 2 community-based cohorts. Methods Our samples included the prospective community-based Framingham Heart Study (FHS) and Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) cohorts. Plasma sCD14 was measured at baseline and related to the incidence of dementia, domains of cognitive function, and MRI-defined brain volumes. Follow-up for dementia occurred over a mean of 10 years (SD 4) in the FHS and a mean of 6 years (SD 3) in the CHS. Results We studied 1,588 participants from the FHS (mean age 69 ± 6 years, 47% male, 131 incident events) and 3,129 participants from the CHS (mean age 72 ± 5 years, 41% male, 724 incident events) for the risk of incident dementia. Meta-analysis across the 2 cohorts showed that each SD unit increase in sCD14 was associated with a 12% increase in the risk of incident dementia (95% confidence interval 1.03–1.23; p = 0.01) following adjustments for age, sex, APOE e4 status, and vascular risk factors. Higher levels of sCD14 were associated with various cognitive and MRI markers of accelerated brain aging in both cohorts and with a greater progression of brain atrophy and a decline in executive function in the FHS. Conclusion sCD14 is an inflammatory marker related to brain atrophy, cognitive decline, and incident dementia.
Postoperative Clinical Pathways for Outpatient Arthroplasty of the Hip and Knee

Rapid recovery after total hip and knee arthroplasty, including outpatient surgery, is becoming more common and allows for earlier postoperative patient independence in activities while also reducing health care costs of inpatient hospitalization after surgery. The development and implementation of a successful and safe outpatient arthroplasty program involve a multidisciplinary approach involving surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, physical therapists, care coordinators, and are centered around an appropriately counseled and motivated patient. Such programs have allowed for safe outpatient total hip and total knee arthroplasty in selected patients. This chapter focuses on essential components and considerations of an outpatient arthroplasty protocol and reflects the experience of several different surgeons from major centers across the United States.