cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Initial results from the Intelligent Monitoring System

Abstract The Intelligent Monitoring System (IMS) integrates advanced technologies in a knowledge-based distributed system that automates most of the seismic data interpretation process. Results from IMS during its first 8 weeks of operation (1 October through 25 November 1989) are analyzed to evaluate its performance. During this test period, the IMS processed essentially all data recorded by the NORESS and ARCESS high-frequency arrays in Norway. The emphasis was on detection and location of regional events within 2,000 km of these arrays. All events were reviewed and corrected if necessary by a skilled analyst. The final IMS Bulletin for the period includes 1,580 regional events (∼280 events/day). Approximately 55 per cent were smaller than M Lg 1, with the largest just over M Lg 3. Comparison of IMS locations in southern Finland and northwestern USSR (800 to 900 km from both arrays) with event locations from the University of Helsinki9s local network bulletin are used to assess the detection and location capabilities of the system. Two or more phases (minimum needed to locate) were detected for 96 per cent of the events with magnitude greater than 2.5. The median separation between the IMS and Helsinki locations for all common events was 23.5 km. A consistent bias in arrival-time and azimuth residuals was observed for events in small geographic areas, indicating that refined travel-time models and path corrections could further improve location accuracy. The knowledge base in this first version of IMS was based on analysis of NORESS data, and many of the errors in interpretation corrected by the analysts can be attributed to differences encountered when this knowledge is used to interpret ARCESS data. Nevertheless, nearly 60 per cent of the events appearing in the final bulletin are automatic solutions approved without change or moved (by analyst corrections) less than 25 km from the automatic locations. The IMS had the most difficulty interpreting the overlapping signals generated by closely spaced explosions commonly detonated at mines in the Kola Peninsula and northern Sweden. Using the knowledge acquisition facilities included in the system, the deficiencies responsible for these and other errors are isolated, leading to development of new knowledge to be incorporated in the next version of the IMS knowledge base.
Assessing the Importance of Long-Term Contracts in Financing Natural Gas Projects

Abstract Long-term take-or-pay contracts are a common feature of natural gas field development and other large scale energy projects. A contract provides a minimal assurance to the developer that the gas produced will have a market and that the price received will yield a sufficient return. However, some natural gas fields are developed without the support of long-term contracts or with contracts for a small fraction of the expected production. We show how a developer can value the security gained by the use of long-term contracts. The developer can then better identify those projects for which the long-term contracts are a necessity. The results of an auction game are used as an analogue for the results of the contracting process and a precise measure is given for the strategic value of long-term contracts.
Multivalent interactions between streptavidin-based pretargeting fusion proteins and cell receptors impede efficient internalization of biotinylated nanoparticles.

Abstract Pretargeting represents a promising strategy to enhance delivery of nanoparticles. The strategy involves first introducing bispecific antibodies or fusion proteins (BFP) that can bind specific epitopes on target cells with one arm, and use the other arm to capture subsequently administered effector molecules, such as radionuclides or drug-loaded nanoparticles. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether BFP that bind slowly- or non-internalizing epitopes on target cells can facilitate efficient intracellular delivery. Here, we investigated the cellular uptake of biotin-functionalized nanoparticles with streptavidin-scFv against TAG-72, a membrane protein on Jurkat T-cell leukemia cells. Unlike conventional active-targeted nanoparticles, we found that pretargeting resulted in preferential retention of ∼100 nm nanoparticles at the plasma membrane rather than internalization into cells. We found no improvement in nanoparticle internalization by simply reducing nanoparticle concentration or surface biotin density. Interestingly, by adding both the BFP and a monoclonal antibody against TAG-72, we observed a twofold improvement in internalization of pretargeted nanoparticles. Our work illustrates that the cellular fate of pretargeted nanoparticles can be controlled by carefully tuning the interactions between pretargeting molecules and nanoparticles on the cell surface. Statement of Significance Pretargeting is a multi-step strategy that utilizes bispecific proteins that recognize both cellular epitopes and subsequently administered therapeutic molecules. This approach has been extensively studied for radiotherapy of blood cancers; however, pretargeting remains largely underexplored for nanoparticle targeting, including whether pretargeting can facilitate efficient intracellular delivery. Here, we found that high density of targeting proteins on the cell surface can effectively limit internalization of pretargeted nanoparticles. Our work underscores the need to carefully assess specific cell-pretargeting molecule pairs for applications requiring intracellular delivery, and the key design requirements for such bispecific pretargeting molecules.
Preface: Intelligent & Autonomous Enterprise

The era of digitalization, that is already present, will significantly influence and change the today’s enterprise in various ways. The way humans interact with their environment, the services that customers expect, the increasing speed of new competitive products and technologies that will emerge, or the changing product portfolio a customer perceives as comfortable are just some examples that illustrate the influence of digitalization. Customers will expect connected services combined with the existing tangible products to increase the perceived convenience. The expectations from the environment towards existing businesses will continuously change faster than ever before that forces companies for rapid actions, continuous adaptations and fast new product releases to remain competitive. The fundamental consequence is, that the business environment, the service industries in particular, must strive towards intelligent and autonomous enterprises in order to fulfill these requirements. New technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing or autonomous agents, will be the distinguishing features to survive in the future. A business that is most affected by this disruptive change is the automotive industry. This preface will illustrate the current situation for the automotive industry, the business areas that are most affected by digitalization, the new technologies that are required, the new orientation of the traditional business units and the benefits that will result from this disruptive change.
Optimizing Spatial Land Management to Balance Water Quality and Economic Returns in a Lake Erie Watershed

Significant reductions in phosphorous (P) inputs from cropland are needed to address the re-eutrophication of Lake Erie. Previous studies aimed at addressing non-point source pollution have primarily analyzed the effectiveness of conservation practices (CPs) as land-management strategies. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of these practices have not been compared to those of possible land-use changes. We develop a spatially explicit integrated modeling approach that compares the effectiveness and economic efficiency of alternative spatially optimal land-use and -management strategies for P abatement in the Sandusky River watershed. Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool and data on costs and profits from crop and forest production and urban development, we evaluated joint impacts on P reduction and economic-returns for optimized land-use changes and/or implementation of CPs in the watershed. Results showed a combination of both CPs and land-use changes are likely required to meet current abatement targets for dissolved reactive phosphorus. Additionally, the combination of these approaches can generate a positive, synergistic effect on economic efficiency in meeting key policy targets. This is largely because the combined strategy will establish CPs on the most productive cropland, while achieving greater nutrient reduction through land-use change away from corn-soybean rotations on less productive lands.
Preoperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis

Preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis is administering antibiotics before performing surgery to help decrease the risk of postoperative infections. The evidence supporting routine preoperative use of prophylactic antibiotic administration continues to grow. The routine administration of prophylactic antibiotics is standard in cases in which a patient will have an artificial implant or foreign body implanted as part of the procedure, for bone grafting procedures, and other surgeries with extensive dissections and expectations for higher amounts of anticipated blood loss. This activity will highlight the rationale, timing, agent selection, coverage, and monitoring pertinent for members of the interprofessional team involved in the administration of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis to patients.
Dissipative nonlinear elastic metamaterials for broadband wave attenuation (Conference Presentation)

In this paper, a nonlinear elastic metamaterial (NEM) is presented for broadband wave attenuation by incorporating strongly nonlinear elements in a triatomic microstructural design. The nonlinear elements are considered between the primary and secondary orders of the triatomic model where the primary focus is the influence of damping between the secondary and lowest orders of the triatomic microstructure, respectively. The NEM with both weak and strong damping is investigated for efficient attenuation of transient blast waves. The 4th order Runge-Kutta numerical method is used for obtaining the attenuation, transmission, and reflection coefficients of the NEM. It is found that the NEM can expand the bandwidth of the bandgap and enhance the absorption of elastic waves compared with a purely linear elastic metamaterial. This work provides a novel model for efficient energy absorbing materials capable of suppressing blast induced shock waves or impact generated pulses capable of causing severe local damage to nearby structures.
The Role of Mosquito Oostatic Hormone in the Regulation of Midgut Serine Proteases

Antigonadotropins or hormones that inhibit egg development (oostatic hormones) have been found in the cockroach, eye gnat, crustaceans, house fly, and mosquitoes (Iwanov and Mescherskaya, 1935; Carlisle and Knowles, 1959; Adams et al., 1968; Meola and Lea, 1972; Else and Judson, 1972; Kelly et al., 1984; Borovsky, 1985; Kelly et al. 1986). Kelly et al. (1984, 1986) reported that crude extract of oostatic hormone from Musca domestica inhibited both egg development and the biosynthesis of ecdysteroids in the autogenous mosquito Aedes atropalpus which led them to believe that the role of oostatic hormone is to inhibit ecdysteroid biosynthesis in the ovary. On the other hand, Davey (1978) and Davey and Kunster (1981) suggested that in Rhodnius prolixus oostatic hormone inhibits JH stimulation of the ovary, thus blocking the transport of vitellogenin from the hemolymph into the ovary. Borovsky (1985) reported that a 7,000-fold purified mosquito oostatic hormone that was injected into female Aedes aegypti inhibited egg development and the biosynthesis of vitellogenin.
mTOR Complex 1 Implicated in Aphid/Buchnera Host/Symbiont Integration.

Obligate nutritional endosymbioses are arguably the most intimate of all interspecific associations. While many insect nutritional endosymbioses are well studied, a full picture of how two disparate organisms, a bacterial endosymbiont and a eukaryotic host, are integrated is still lacking. The mTOR pathway is known to integrate nutritional conditions with cell growth and survival in eukaryotes. Characterization and localization of amino acid transporters in aphids suggest the mTOR pathway as a point of integration between an aphid host and its amino acid-provisioning endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola. The mTOR pathway is unannotated in aphids and unstudied in any nutritional endosymbiosis. We annotated mTOR pathway genes in two aphid species, Acyrthosiphon pisum and Myzus persicae, using both BLASTp searches and Hidden Markov Models. Using previously collected RNAseq data we constructed new reference transcriptomes for bacteriocyte, gut, and whole insect tissue for three lines of M. persicae. Annotation of the mTOR pathway identified homologs of all known invertebrate mTOR genes in both aphid species with some duplications. Differential expression analysis showed that genes specific to the amino acid-sensitive mTOR Complex 1 were more highly expressed in bacteriocytes than genes specific to the amino acid-insensitive mTOR Complex 2. Almost all mTOR genes involved in sensing amino acids showed higher expression in bacteriocytes than in whole insect tissue. When compared to gut, the putative glutamine/arginine sensing transporter ACYPI000333, an ortholog of SLC38A9, showed 6.5 times higher expression in bacteriocytes. Our results suggest that the mTOR pathway may be functionally important in mediating integration of Buchnera into aphid growth and reproduction.
Identification of Patient Factors Associated with Loss to Follow-Up at 1-Year Post Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Background: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires for payment that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) programs follow patients for at least 1-year post-procedurally and rec...
“It tastes like heaven”: Critical and embodied food pedagogy with Black youth in the Anthropocene:

Young people who navigate intersecting racial, ethnic, economic, and/or geographic oppressions are often the objects of food pedagogy. Citing childhood obesity and anthropogenic environmental chang...
Systematic preoperative CT scan is associated with reduced risk of stroke in minimally invasive mitral valve surgery: A meta-analysis.

Abstract Background Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) is performed with increasing frequency. However, patients undergoing MIMVS might be at increased risk of perioperative stroke, mainly due to retrograde aortic embolization during femoral cardio-pulmonary bypass. Pre-operative computed tomography (CT) screening allows visualization of the aorta and femoro-iliac vessels and individualization of the surgical approach. In this meta-analysis, we aim to determine if systematic pre-operative CT screening is associated with decreased incidence of post-operative stroke and other complications following MIMVS. Methods A comprehensive review was performed in PubMed (inception-May 2018). Eligible studies included those which reported on MIMVS (mini-thoracotomy, port access or robotic approach) with retrograde arterial perfusion. Studies were separated into two subgroups: systematic pre-operative CT screening (CT-group) and no CT screening (Non-CT). Pooled event rates (PER) for operative mortality, post-operative stroke, perioperative myocardial infarction (MI), and new onset renal failure requiring dialysis were estimated and inter-group comparisons were performed. Results Data from 57 studies (13,731 patients) were analyzed (19 CT-group, 38 Non-CT). PER for post-operative stroke was 2.0% with a statistically significant difference between the groups (CT-group: 1.5% versus Non-CT: 2.2%, P = 0.03). PER for new dialysis was 1.9%, significantly lower in the CT-group (0.8% versus 2.3% in the Non-CT group, P = 0.02). PER for operative mortality was 1.4% with a trend towards better outcomes in the CT-group (0.8% versus 1.6% in the Non-CT group, P = 0.05). Conclusions Systematic pre-operative CT screening is associated with lower risk of post-operative stroke and need for dialysis and a trend toward lower operative mortality after MIMVS.
Getting Back to Normal: A Grounded Theory Study of Function in Post-hospitalized Older Adults.

Background and objectives The literature on transitions after hospitalization is based on a medicalized model focusing primarily on medication management and readmission, but little is known about the process older adults engage in to maintain their normal life posthealth event or how older adults define what the transition is. This grounded theory study aimed to describe how older adults understand and define a transition process, what actions they take based on their understanding, and what consequences they experience as they transition. Research design and methods Adults aged 65 and older discharged from a large Midwestern teaching hospital (N = 14) were interviewed using in-depth one-on-one interviews. Data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Results All participants described the process of transition as moving from a state of normal function to loss, and then working back to a normal state. A conceptual model was developed to illustrate the complexity of movement related to how older adults understand and manage the transition. All participants described starting out being normal until they experienced a major health event (acute or chronic illness). Losing normal involved experiencing a lower level of function both inside and outside the home. Working back to normal was accomplished by two different pathways: those "working to regain" focused on getting back to the level they were at prior to the major health event, whereas those "working to maintain" often involved redefining a new normal. The consequences of the two pathways were quite different, with those working to maintain describing several negative consequences. Discussion and implications This study provides a detailed understanding of how older adults transition and the complexity of that transition. Findings provide a foundation for broadening our understanding of function beyond typical activities of daily living and reveal a more complex transition process that can span months to years.
Influence of Monomer Flux and Temperature on Morphology of Indium Oxide Nanocrystals during a Continuous Growth Synthesis

The flux of molecular or atomic species to the crystal surface has a significant influence on its growth. For nanocrystals, little is known about the influence of the growth processes on morphology...
Cancer-related suicide in the United States, 1999-2015.

148Background: Cancer patients have an elevated risk of suicide given the prevalent psychological distress, treatment side effects, and uncontrolled pain. This study aims to examine temporal trends...
Utility of Perioperative Laboratory Tests in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Spinal Fusion for Scoliosis.

Abstract Study Design Retrospective comparative study. Objectives We aimed to characterize the frequency of perioperative laboratory tests for posterior spinal fusion (PSF) for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and to assess whether test results affected clinical management. Summary of Background Data Perioperative laboratory tests for PSF including complete blood count, coagulation laboratory tests, basic metabolic panels (BMPs), and type and screen, are commonly ordered based on providers' discretion or existing order sets. Studies have shown unnecessary laboratory tests as financially and physically costly in adults; however, no studies have examined the necessity of common perioperative laboratory tests in pediatric spinal deformity surgery. Methods Retrospective review of patients aged 10–18 years who underwent PSF for AIS at our center in the past three years. The clinical utility of perioperative laboratory tests was assessed based on detected incidence of anemia, blood transfusions, hematology/endocrinology/nephrology consultations, insulin administration, and postponed/canceled surgeries. Results A total of 234 patients were included (mean age 14.4 ± 1.8 years, 75% female). Of 105 (44.9%) patients with preoperative coagulation laboratory tests, 21 (20%) had abnormal results; however, none had subsequent hematology consultations or canceled/postponed surgeries. Postoperatively, only 5 (2.1%) patients and 30 (12.8%) patients had hemoglobin values less than 8 g/dL on postoperative day (POD) 1 and 2, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified POD1 hemoglobin ≤9.35 g/dL as the only predictor of hemoglobin Conclusions Many perioperative laboratory orders may be unnecessary in pediatric spinal deformity surgery, subjecting patients to extraneous costs and needlesticks. In particular, preoperative coagulation laboratory tests, perioperative BMPs, and additional postoperative CBCs for those with hemoglobin >9.35 on POD1 may not be warranted. Level of Evidence Level III, retrospective cohort study.
Digital Controllers in Discrete and Continuous Time Domains for a Robot Arm Manipulator.

This paper articulates design and performance analysis of digital controllers in discrete and continuous time domains for a single-joint robot arm manipulator. The investigated robot arm system is modeled as a single degree of freedom (DOF) plant and there is a feedback sensor implying a closed-loop system. The design approach incorporates discrete (z-plane) and continuous-time (warped s-plane or w-plane) domain parameters. Four digital controllers - phase-lag, phase-lead, proportional-integral (PI) and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) are theoretically designed and implemented to achieve a phase margin of 40 deg. for the compensated system. For performance evaluations, Bode plots of the compensated open-loop systems and step response characteristics of the closed-loop systems are determined.
How Do I Counsel Parents of a Newly Diagnosed Boy with Haemophilia A

With the recent approval of improved therapeutic options for patients suffering from haemophilia A such as the extended half-life, recombinant factor concentrates, non-factor VIII replacement therapies like Emicizumab and after consideration of the currently running clinical trials investigating even more advanced approaches, counselling of parents of a newly diagnosed boy with haemophilia A has not become less demanding. Parents need to be informed about the pathophysiology, the chronic nature and the potential risks that are commonly associated with this disease and its treatment, depending on disease severity. Above all, the safety and efficacy of the medicinal drug(s) to be used are of utmost importance, given the impact of non-virus-inactivated plasma-derived factor concentrates in the 1980s. As a consequence, the subsequent development and registration of recombinant clotting factors from mammalian, and recently, even human, cell cultures are seen by many as a breakthrough, although, regarding the product-type-dependent development of inhibitors in previously untreated patients, the discussion is still open. Clinical data for the humanised bispecific antibody Emicizumab in paediatric patients below 2 years of age without inhibitors who suffer from severe haemophilia A are currently limited.
Overexpression of the Plasma Lysophospholipase D Autotaxin Reveals a Novel Pathway for Regulation of Hemostasis in Mice.

Abstract The cell-motility factor autotaxin (autotaxin/lysoPLD or Enpp2) is an enzyme with both lysophospholipase D (lysoPLD) and nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase activities and has recently been identified as a critical component of the major pathway for generation of the bioactive lipid mediator lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) in the blood. Transgenic FVB mice overexpressing autotaxin/lysoPLD under the control of the alpha1-antitrypsin promoter (Enpp2-Tg mice) exhibited elevated plasma autotaxin/lysoPLD protein, lysoPLD activity and LPA levels, with no detectable alteration in plasma levels of ATP, ADP, and adenosine. Ennp2-Tg mice displayed a pronounced bleeding diathesis characterized by markedly prolonged tail bleeding time (>10 min versus 3.2 ± 2.7 min in wild-type mice; p
Testing for adequacy of seasonal adjustment in the frequency domain

Abstract Peaks in the spectral density estimates of seasonally adjusted data are indicative of an inadequate adjustment. Spectral peaks are currently assessed in the X-13ARIMA-SEATS program via the visual significance (VS) approach; this paper provides a rigorous statistical foundation for VS by defining measures of uncertainty for spectral peak measures, allowing for formal hypothesis testing, using the framework of fixed-bandwidth fraction asymptotics for taper-based spectral density estimates. The simulation results show that the test has good size and power properties for a variety of peak features.
Gene expression: Statistical Inference Relief (STIR) feature selection

Abstract Motivation Relief is a family of machine learning algorithms that uses nearest-neighbors to select features whose association with an outcome may be due to epistasis or statistical interactions with other features in high-dimensional data. Relief-based estimators are non-parametric in the statistical sense that they do not have a parameterized model with an underlying probability distribution for the estimator, making it difficult to determine the statistical significance of Relief-based attribute estimates. Thus, a statistical inferential formalism is needed to avoid imposing arbitrary thresholds to select the most important features. Methods We reconceptualize the Relief-based feature selection algorithm to create a new family of STatistical Inference Relief (STIR) estimators that retains the ability to identify interactions while incorporating sample variance of the nearest neighbor distances into the attribute importance estimation. This variance permits the calculation of statistical significance of features and adjustment for multiple testing of Relief-based scores. Specifically, we develop a pseudo t-test version of Relief-based algorithms for case-control data. Results We demonstrate the statistical power and control of type I error of the STIR family of feature selection methods on a panel of simulated data that exhibits properties reflected in real gene expression data, including main effects and network interaction effects. We compare the performance of STIR when the adaptive radius method is used as the nearest neighbor constructor with STIR when the fixed-k nearest neighbor constructor is used. We apply STIR to real RNA-Seq data from a study of major depressive disorder and discuss its straightforward extension to genome-wide association studies. Availability Code available at http://insilico.utulsa.edu/software/STIR. Contact brett.mckinney@gmail.com Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Diabetes type 1 and type 2—Insulin delivery systems

Abstract This chapter will explore various routes of insulin delivery systems for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes (T1D and T2D, respectively). Traditionally, the most common form of insulin delivery is by administration with a syringe or a pen. Recent advancements in diabetes administration technologies have rapidly enhanced the systems of insulin delivery, and delivery devices have expanded to include insulin inhalation cartridges, pumps, and automated insulin delivery systems. The diverse options of delivery systems can be used to improve the care of patients with T1D and T2D by providing alternative methods to insulin delivery, which allows healthcare providers to tailor medication therapy to individual patient considerations and outcomes. Advantages and disadvantages of the insulin delivery devices including type of insulin used, dosing regimen, ease of administration, device education and training, and self-management capabilities will be discussed. Novel insulin delivery systems and future directions of diabetes administration technology under clinical investigation will be further examined.
Ovarian Reserve Biomarkers and Menstrual Cycle Length in a Prospective Cohort Study

Context While age-related changes in menstrual cycle length are well-known, it is unclear whether AMH or other ovarian reserve biomarkers have a direct association with cycle length. Objective To determine the association between biomarkers of ovarian reserve and menstrual cycle length. Design Secondary analysis using data from Time to Conceive (TTC), a prospective time-to-pregnancy cohort study. The age-independent association between cycle length and biomarkers of ovarian reserve was analyzed using linear mixed and marginal models. Setting and participants TTC enrolled women aged 30 to 44 with no history of infertility who were attempting to conceive for Main outcome measures Primary outcome was menstrual cycle length; follicular and luteal phase lengths were secondary outcomes. Results Multivariable analysis included 1880 cycles from 632 women. Compared with AMH levels of 1.6-3.4 ng/mL, women with AMH 8 ng/mL had cycles that were 2.15 days longer (95% CI: 1.46, 2.83), follicular phases that were 2 days longer (95% CI 0.77, 3.24), and luteal phases that were 1.80 days longer (95% CI 0.71, 2.88). Conclusion Increasing AMH levels are associated with longer menstrual cycles due to both a lengthening of the follicular and the luteal phase independent of age.
Public Health Emergencies

As I write this chapter, the entire world is reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the worst disease outbreaks in modern history. COVID-19 is a respiratory infection caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (see Fig. 9.1). The pandemic is thought to have started in December 2019 in the wet markets of Wuhan, China, when a virus that normally resides in horseshoe bats acquired the mutations that allowed it to infect people. The mutations were for genes that code for the protein spike on the receptor binding domain of the virus. The protein spike enables the virus to bind to human lung epithelial cells (Andersen et al. 2020; Zhou et al. 2020). There has been speculation that SARS-CoV-2 is a genetically engineered virus that escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a BSL-IV laboratory in Wuhan, China, where researchers had been working with coronaviruses. However, researchers from the lab have denied this claim and there is no direct evidence to support it (Bryner 2020). Most scientists believe the virus mutated naturally but some dispute this claim and argue that a laboratory accident is a plausible scenario that cannot be ruled out (Andersen et al. 2020; Latham and Wilson 2020). The virus, which is transmissible by respiratory water droplets, quickly spread from China to Europe, the US, and other parts of the world. As of January 14, 2021, there were 92.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 2 million deaths, for a case fatality rate of 2.1%.
Endocannabinoid Signaling Collapse Mediates Stress-Induced Amygdalo-Cortical Strengthening

Functional coupling between the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and areas of the dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC) have been implicated in the generation of negative affective states under stressful conditions; however, the synaptic and molecular mechanisms by which stress increases BLA-dPFC synaptic strength and generates anxiety-like behaviors are not well understood. Here we show that BLA-dPFC functional connectivity is enhanced under conditions of potential threat and correlates with trait anxiety in humans and that acute stress exposure increases anxiety-like behavior and synaptic strength within a reciprocal BLA-dPFC-BLA subcircuit in mice. Importantly, we identify 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG)-mediated endocannabinoid signaling as a key mechanism limiting glutamate release at BLA-dPFC synapses and the collapse of multimodal 2-AG signaling as a molecular mechanism leading to persistent circuit-specific synaptic strengthening and anxiety-like behaviors after stress exposure. These data suggest circuit-specific impairment in 2-AG signaling could facilitate functional coupling between the BLA and dPFC and the translation of environmental stress to affective pathology.
Family involvement and changes in child behavior during residential mental health treatment.

Family involvement is viewed as an important component of the treatment process for children in residential treatment centers, but little is known about the impact of contact with family members on changes in youth functioning. The goal of this study was to use administrative data to examine the association between family involvement and youth outcomes for a Medicaid-funded residential treatment program in Florida. Differences between in-person and telephone intervention contacts based on the proximity of the family residence to the program were also explored. The sample was divided into two groups based on the number of family contacts per month during the treatment episode; i.e., number of family contacts equal to or less than the median and number of family contacts greater than the median. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine characteristics related to the percent change in scores on a measure of emotional and behavioral functioning. Results suggest that maternal and paternal contacts, as well as the total number of family contacts, were associated with greater improvements in youth functioning. Youth that resided in a different county than the residential program had greater improvement in behaviors when the family was involved regardless of whether contact was in-person or over the phone. Family involvement, including phone contacts, is associated with improved youth outcomes during the treatment episode.
Materials for the Simultaneous Entrapment and Catalytic Aerobic Oxidative Removal of Sulfur Mustard Simulants.

Materials that both sequester chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and then catalytically decontaminate the entrapped CWAs are highly sought. This article reports such a system for air-based catalytic removal of the sulfur mustard (HD) simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES). Hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) sequester CEES, and an HCP-embedded oxidation system comprising tribromide, nitrate, and acid (NOxBrxH+) simultaneously catalyzes the aerobic and selective, oxidative conversion of the entrapped CEES to the desired far less-toxic sulfoxide under ambient conditions (air and temperature). (NOxBrxH+) has been incorporated into three HCPs, a fluorobenzene HCP (HCP-F), a methylated HCP (HCP-M), and an HCP with acidic moieties (HCP-A). HCP-A acts as both an absorbing material and a catalytic component due to its acidic side chains. All three HCP/NOxBrxH+ systems work rapidly under these optimally mild conditions. No light or added oxidants are required. The HCP/NOxBrxH+ systems are recyclable.
Changes in Company Culture and Labor Relations

From the Ford perspective, to scan the horizon of the 1990s properly, we should review the recent past. In the decade of the 1980s, Ford has undergone sweeping dramatic change — change that has taken us from the edge of calamity and made us the world’s most successful auto company. It is appropriate to quickly elaborate the changes made at Ford.
Gluon Density Inside the Proton From Current-Target Correlations ?

The possibility to determine the gluon density inside the proton in deep inelastic ep collisions using current-target multiplicity correlations is discussed.
From the Inside Out: Social Workers’ Expectations for Integrating Religion and Spirituality in Practice

To better understand how social work students and recent alumnae integrate spirituality and religion in clinical practice, this study employed a photovoice research method whereby participants considered prompt questions. Participants then photographed an accompanying response and subsequently revealed the rationale behind the image during an interview. The findings of this work include interviewees’ consideration of their personal values and beliefs, particularly in relationship to professional expectations and social work values. Additionally, participants noted the need for cultural competence in order to better serve diverse consumers. A lack of knowledge can generate religious discrimination, potentially restricting the quality of service delivery.
Inhibition of nicotinamidase by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.

Abstract Feedback inhibition by NAD was shown with the nicotinamidases of a number of microorganisms. The purified enzyme from Fleischmann's yeast was found to have a molecular weight of 110,000 and consist of presumably identical subunits with a molecular weight of 26,000. A Lineweaver-Burk plot of the NAD inhibition is concave upward at low concentrations of NAD; at 6 mm NAD, the linear plot is that of a competitive inhibitor with an apparent Ki of 7 x 10-4 m. Other competitive inhibitors include NMN (Ki = 6.5 x 10-5 m) and 3-acetylpyridine (Ki = 4.6 x 10-4 m). ADP, ADP-ribose, and PP-ribose-P were all noncompetitive inhibitors with Ki values of approximately 1 x 10-4 m. Inactivation of enzyme by urea can be prevented or partially reversed by the presence of NAD, NMN, or 3-acetylpyridine. The inactivation by urea was time-dependent and could be reversed by subsequent addition of substrate. p-Chloromercuribenzoate inhibition is competitive, with an apparent Ki of 2 x 10-7 m, and was reversed by dithiothreitol. The properties of the nicotinamidases of yeast and rabbit liver microsomes differ markedly.
Knowledge Considerations in Robotics

We develop a formal tool for representing and analyzing informational aspects of robotic tasks, based on the formal concept of ‘knowledge.’ Specifically, we adopt the notion of knowledge-based protocols from distributed systems, and define the notions of knowledge complexity of a robotic task and knowledge capability of a robot. The resulting formalism naturally captures previous work in the areas of robot information management, but is sufficiently rigorous and natural to allow many extensions. Our goal is to introduce the reader to these ideas, their underlying motivation and intuition, and their possible applications. In particular we demonstrate the application of these tools by analyzing a maze searching domain [BK78, Don94], and discussing their application to task distribution.
Studies on the Control of Fatty Acid Metabolism III. INCORPORATION OF FATTY ACIDS INTO PHOSPHOLIPIDS AND REGULATION OF FATTY ACID SYNTHETASE OF ESCHERICHIA COLI

Abstract An unsaturated fatty acid auxotroph of Escherichia coli designated civ-2 fao-6, unable to carry out β oxidation of fatty acids has been isolated and characterized. The mutant is devoid of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase activity, and has low levels of enoyl-CoA hydrase and β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase while the activities of acyl-CoA synthetase and thiolase are normal. Long chain unsaturated fatty acids with chain length up to C20 can meet the auxotrophic requirements of the mutant without further chain shortening. Fatty acid analyses of the phospholipids of cells grown on different unsaturated fatty acids confirm that a regulatory mechanism is operative in E. coli that minimizes variations in the physical properties of phospholipids. When Δ11-eicosenoic acid was supplied, the phospholipids contained a low level of unsaturated acid but a high proportion of C14:0 was detected. Synthesis in vivo of fatty acids indicated that fatty acid synthetase is responsive to requirements for membrane lipid synthesis. This relationship is lost in the assay in vitro in which a high proportion of C18:0 is synthesized. Besides trans-octadecenoic acids, cis-Δ6-octadecenoic acid was found to cause cell death at low temperature. At 27°, death of elaidate-grown cells is associated with loss of crypticity to o-nitrophenyl-β-d-galactopyranoside hydrolysis, and is prevented by oleate which is incorporated into all major phospholipids.
New limits on spatial anisotropy from optically-pumped sup201 Hg and Hg 199

The nuclear magnetic resonance frequencies of $^{201}\mathrm{Hg}$ (I=(3/2)) and $^{199}\mathrm{Hg}$ (I=(1/2)) have been compared by use of optically pumped atomic light absorption oscillators to see if the relative frequencies depend on the orientation of the quantization axis in space. The null result \ensuremath{\delta}${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{2}$5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}7}$ Hz improves by over 3 orders of magnitude recent limits on any quadrupolar interactions violating spatial isotropy, and can be interpreted as the most precise test yet of local Lorentz invariance. The experiment also improves the limits on anisotropic dipole interactions.
A Practical Procedure for Computing Eigenvalues of Large Sparse Nonsymmetric Matrices

We propose a Lanczos procedure with no reorthogonalization for computing eigenvalues of very large nonsymmetric matrices. (This procedure can also be used to compute corresponding eigenvectors but that issue will be dealt with in a separate paper.) Such computations are for example , central to transient stability analyses of electricalpower systems and for determining parameters for iterative schemes for the numerical solution of partial differential equations. Numerical results for several large matrices are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this procedure.
Agricultural Production in Swaziland

This chapter focuses on the political economy of agricultural production in Swaziland. Industrialisation cannot be viewed in a vacuum in the Swaziland political economy. It has had a great impact on the agricultural sector in a variety of ways. There is a hierarchy of farming units in the Swazi context deriving primarily from the skewed dichotomy between Swazi Nation Land and Title Deed Land and gradations on each side. On one side, Swazi peasants — including large numbers of women — engage in subsistence/cash-crop production, for which the majority produce at the sub-subsistence level. On the other, white settler farms engage almost exclusively in cash-crop production on a scale by which they can maintain a Western standard of living. They rely heavily on wage labour. However, the settler-estates represent the largest, most productive farming units. They are monopoly capitalist enterprises financed partially by international capital in conjunction with some local capital.
Right Heart Transvalvular Embolus with High Risk Pulmonary Embolism in a Recently Hospitalized Patient: A Case Report of a Therapeutic Challenge

Thrombus-in-transit is not uncommon in pulmonary embolism but Right Heart Transvalvular Embolus (RHTVE) complicating this is rare. A 54-year-old obese male with recent hospitalization presented with severe dyspnea and collapse. Initial investigations revealed elevated d-dimer and troponin. CTA showed saddle pulmonary embolus and bedside echocardiogram revealed right ventricular (RV) pressure overload and dilatation (RV > 41 mm), McConnell's sign, and mobile echodensity attached to tricuspid valve. Patient was immediately resuscitated and promptly transferred for surgical embolectomy under cardiopulmonary bypass. A long segment of embolus traversing through the tricuspid valve and extensive bilateral pulmonary artery embolus were removed. IVC filter was placed for a persistent right lower extremity DVT. Hypercoagulable work-up was negative. Patient continued to do well after discharge on Coumadin. Open embolectomy offers great promises where there is no consensus in optimal management approach in such patients. Bedside echocardiogram is vital in risk stratification and deciding choice of advanced PE treatment.
Myoma of the vagina; case report.

Abstract Approximately 220 cases of myoma of the vagina have been reported. A case of a 45-year-old white woman with a myoma of the vagina, not associated with uterine myoma, has been reported.
Endothelin inhibition: novel therapy for prostate cancer.

ABSTRACTPurpose: Androgen refractory prostate cancer continues to evade effective treatment. The potent vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 is produced by prostate cancer and appears to have a role in prostate cancer progression and morbidity. Background on the endothelin axis (endothelin-1 and endothelin receptors ETA and ETB), preclinical studies of its role in prostate cancer, results of phases I and II clinical trials, and future directions are reviewed.Materials and Methods: A review was conducted of the published data on the endothelin axis in prostate cancer.Results: Based on preclinical and clinical trial data, the endothelin axis is emerging as potentially important in the biology of prostate cancer progression and morbidity. Drugs targeting the endothelin axis, such as the potent ETA receptor antagonist atrasentan (ABT-627), have been studied in large clinical trials and appear to have an impact on disease progression and morbidity.Conclusions: The role of the endothelin axis in prostate cancer deserve...
Natural history and management of cervical spine disease in chondrodysplasia punctata and coumarin embryopathy

Chondrodysplasia punctata (CDP) is a group of skeletal dysplasias manifesting with progressive cervical instability that leads to neurological deficits and eventual death. The major clinical features of CDP also present in a phenocopy known as coumarin embryopathy (CE) which results from coumarin exposure during pregnancy. The objective of this study was to assess treatment strategies employed for children affected by CDP or CE with cervical instability and to determine a strategy on how best to diagnose and treat affected neonates. We performed a systematic review of the English literature for cases reporting cervical spine involvement in CDP and CE and identified 44 such patients. We extracted clinical information on these disorders and identified two patients from our craniovertebral junction database of over 6,000 patients evaluated at our institution. Patients most frequently present with hyperreflexia (21%) and weakness (21%), and there were various conservative treatment strategies. Twenty-one percent of patients who were treated conservatively had neurological complications in their clinical course. There were two deaths reported, one resulting from conservative treatment and one from surgical treatment. We also report long-term follow-up analysis for a patient treated at our institution for the last 30 years and agree with all other reports that suggest that monitoring patients for neurological changes is essential to prevent further neurological injury. This study emphasizes the need for careful neurological and surgical evaluation of pediatric patients with cervical spine abnormalities affected by CDP or CE in order to prevent progressive instability.
Muscle Protein Composition and Eating Quality of Fresh and Frozen Turkeys

SUMMARY Fifty-four Beltsville small white male turkeys were studied either fresh-unfrozen or frozen-stored for 5 and 10 months. Samples of raw muscle were removed for protein analysis; the turkeys were then roasted at 325°F to end-points of 165, 17.5, and 185°F in the thigh muscles and eating quality was evaluated. Quantitative changes in muscle proteins as separated from extracts made with KCl-borate buffer or with de-ionized water were not marked. There was a decrease in actomyosin nitrogen of pectoralis major and some indication of proteolytic Changes. The magnitude of these changes in turkey muscles stored up to 10 months was not expected to alter eating quality as much as the longer cooking times required to reach the end-point temperatures when cooking frozen-stored turkeys. Moisture losses were higher, and cooked thigh muscles were more tender and mealy from frozen-stored than fresh turkeys. Cooked pectoralis major muscles required more force to shear after 5 months storage than at either 0 (fresh-unfrozen) or 10 months storage. There was some indication that an undesirable flavor developed in thigh meat of turkeys stored 10 months.