cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
STUDIES ON THE ROLE OF THE THYMUS IN IMMUNOBIOLOGY RECONSTITUTION OF IMMUNOLOGIC CAPACITY IN MICE THYMECTOMIZED AT BIRTH

The immunologic competence of spleen cells of mice, as assessed by their graft versus host capabilities, increases to 35 days of age and beyond. Thymectomy at any point along this continuum of development produces "immunologic arrest;" the peripheral lymphoid tissues of such mice do not show significant increases in activity as the animals mature, nor is there appreciable loss of activity up to 6 months after surgery. Adult spleen cells from mice thymectomized at 1 to 24 hours of age have a greatly reduced ability to induce runt disease. Five million spleen cells from immunologically mature animals will uniformly cause fatal runt disease in neonatal recipients, but this same number of cells from neonatally thymectomized animals produces almost no runt disease. When the dosage of cells from neonatally thymectomized C(57)Bl mice is increased to 20 million, about half of the A recipients develop runt disease. Thus, the defect is a quantitative one. Spleen cells from neonatally thymectomized mice will induce tolerance of skin grafts from the donor strain. In one recalcitrant strain combination, C(57)Bl to A, use of spleen cells from neonatally thymectomized donors as the tolerance-inducing inoculum permits survival of the recipients, which usually die with severe runt disease, but does not induce tolerance. Cell free extracts of spleen and thymus tissue, including "promine" of Szent-Gyorgyi et al., did not affect the runting syndrome or the immunologic reactivity of neonatally thymectomized mice. When syngeneic thymic tissue is grafted into neonatally thymectomized mice, or the animals are given viable syngeneic spleen or thymus cells, the majority of the animals escape the early mortality characteristic of this group. Administration of syngeneic spleen cells from adult donors and grafting of syngeneic neonatal thymus provide restoration of homograft immunity and graft versus host reactivity of the peripheral lymphoid tissues in most of the neonatally thymectomized animals. Thymus cells rarely provide significant restoration of these parameters. Allogeneic thymus grafts also restore neonatally thymectomized mice. Such animals are chimeric: the immunologically competent cells of their peripheral lymphoid tissues are chiefly of host origin as determined by the discriminant spleen assay, but in many instances a significant donor component is also demonstrable in this system. These chimeric animals accept skin grafts from both donor and host strains. A degree of reconstitution has also been attained by grafting of allogeneic adult spleen in neonatally thymectomized animals. The discriminant spleen assay indicates that cells of the donor strain predominate in the peripheral lymphoid tissues of such mice.
Molecular characterization of clustered variants of genes encoding major surface antigens of human Pneumocystis carinii.

Abstract A 13-kb genomic fragment from human Pneumocystis carinii was cloned as repetitive DNA. The fragment contains a cluster of three related genes, each 3 kb in size, and the 5' end of a fourth gene. The predicted polypeptide of the first gene in the cluster comprises 1,030 amino acid residues with a total molecular mass of 116 kDa. The gene's predicted amino acid sequence bears 32% identity to predicted sequences of recently described gene fragments of ferret P. carinii, which encode an immunodominant surface glycoprotein (gpA) (P. J. Haidaris, T. W. Wright, F. Gigliotti, and C. G. Haidaris, J. Infect. Dis. 166:1113-1123, 1992), and 36% identity to the predicted sequence of a rat P. carinii major surface glycoprotein gene (msg) (J. A. Kovacs, F. Powell, J. C. Edman, B. Lundgren, A. Martinez, B. Drew, and C. W. Angus, J. Biol. Chem. 268:6034-6040). DNA hybridization showed that sequences related to the cloned msg genes reside on at least 12 chromosomes of human P. carinii at various degrees of multiplicity and/or homology. Affinity-purified antibodies with specificity to a fusion protein made from the human P. carinii msgI gene recognized two bands on a Western immunoblot containing total human P. carinii protein; they also recognized fusion proteins derived from the other two genes of the cluster. Monoclonal antibodies with reactivity to Msg of human P. carinii recognized fusion proteins produced from two msg genes. Fusion proteins were also recognized by sera from healthy humans and from patients. The msg genes are candidates for the development of immunotherapy and subunit vaccines for the treatment and prevention of P. carinii pneumonia.
Teratogen update: Iodine deficiency, a community teratogen

In the last decade, iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) have become recognized as the most common preventable cause of mental retardation worldwide. Iodine deficiency interferes severely with prenatal and postnatal growth and neurologic development of individuals. It has condemned tens of millions of children to cretinism—characterized by mental and growth retardation, rigid spastic motor disorders, deaf mutism, and severe hypothyroidism—and hundreds of millions of children to milder degrees of mental and physical impairments. Accompanying effects include increased rates of congenital anomalies, fetal wastage, infant mortality, goiter, and hypothyroidism in children and adults. Endemic cretinism has been classically divided into two types: a chronic neurological disorder and a condition with myxedema and severe hypothyroidism. Recent studies have shown considerable overlap in the findings of these two types, which are now thought to have a common etiology differing primarily by the timing and severity of the pre- and postnatal deficiency of iodine and maternal thyroxine. The severity of iodine deficiency and hypothyroidism in the mother during early and midgestation is related to the severity of the neural damage in the fetus. The most logical intervention for a community or population is the introduction of iodine prophylaxis. Although salt iodization is technically straightforward, community leadership is essential to any effort. The mobilization of global efforts through WHO, UNICEF, Program Against Micronutrient Malnutrition (PAMM), and International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) since 1990 has led to goals to eliminate new cases of IDD by the year 2000. Most countries at great risk for IDD have met or are close to meeting the middecade goal of having iodized salt for 90% of households. This provisional success indicates that the goal of eliminating new IDD cases by the year 2000 may be achieved.
Residual Stress Measurement in Spot Welds and the Effect of Fatigue Loading on Redistribution of Stresses Using High Sensitivity Moiré Interferometry

Residual stress distribution has been determined in spot welds, which are generally used to join mild steel sheets. Various spot weld configurations were investigated using the full-field, experimental, optical technique of high sensitivity moire interferometry. These stresses were found to be in the range 250-300 MPa (tensile) in the center and decreased to 40-100 MPa (tensile) at the edge of the weld nugget. Low cycle fatigue loading of the spot weld caused the residual stress to drop in the weld center by about 30 percent and increase at the edges by as much as 100 percent.
The calculus of the record: Criminal history in the making of US Federal Sentencing Guidelines

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, developed by the United States Sentencing Commission in the 1980s, appear to exemplify the turn from individualization toward aggregated, rationalized risk management that ostensibly became hegemonic in the late 20th century. In this article, we challenge that presumption by building on Harcourt’s (2007) argument that penal actuarialism emerged as part of the individualization project rather than as a repudiation of it. We trace how ‘criminal history’ came to be the primary mode for capturing defendant characteristics in the Guidelines formula, and delineate how time became the unit of quantification to transform criminal history into ordinal measures of current culpability. We draw three lessons from this case study: about the durability of old practices and logics; about how the individual penal subject lives on in sentencing regimes like the federal Guidelines system; and about the metrics of time and history as ways of knowing the juridical subject.
Mycobacteriophages Cornerstones of mycobacterial research

This chapter describes the ways that a systematic use of phages led to the development of novel cloning vectors and ultimately transformation of mycobacteria. In addition, it describes how the detailed characterization of one phage, L5, has provided an abundance of novel insights into and genetic tools for mycobacterial molecular genetics. Lastly, it also describes how the combination of a reporter gene with a mycobacteriophage has breathed new life into rapid assessment of drug susceptibilities in clinical samples of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is also providing a useful tool for screening novel antituberculosis compounds. Mycobacteriophage L5 is the best characterized of the mycobacteriophages. L5 lysogens of M. smegmatis contain a copy of the L5 prophage integrated site specifically into the bacterial chromosome. The introduction of the BACTEC system for clinical analysis of M. tuberculosis has considerably shortened the time needed for drug susceptibility determination. Luciferase reporter mycobacteriophages have the potential of greatly reducing the time needed for M. tuberculosis analysis in a simple and relatively inexpensive assay. The attractions in using luciferase reporter phages for drug screening are many. First, they can provide a readout of results in as little as 2 h. Second, they can be easily adapted to an automated system that uses microtiter plates. The finding of even a single new antituberculosis drug could have an important impact on the control of tuberculosis, and the authors believe that the search for such a drug warrants efforts to develop luciferase reporter antibiotic screening systems for M. tuberculosis.
Effect of vasopressin on left ventricular performance

We assessed the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on left ventricular (LV) performance in eight conscious dogs. Five minutes after AVP infusion (6 microns.kg-1 x min-1 for 2 min) the plasma AVP ...
Attributional Influences On The Job Performance–Job Satisfaction Relationship

The article discusses research pertaining to the moderating influences of locus of control on the job performance–job satisfaction relationship. Locus of control is a basic personality dimension ch...
Against Chevron - A 'Modest Proposal'

Convinced that the endless permutations and subtleties of the Chevron doctrine - so beloved by the professoriat - produce little but confusion for students, practitioners and judges, the author suggests a short amendment to section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act to put the difficult problem of weighting agency legal interpretations on a sounder and more predictable footing. Shifting sharply from a formal to a more functional approach, the amendment would represent a legislative instruction to the court to defer to agency legal interpretations (no matter their form) to the extent there is a plausible empirical showing that the conditions for deference are present. The conditions listed in the amendment (and proposals to add other empirical conditions are invited) include considerations of the authority of the agency's interpretation, what it owes to special agency technical or political resources, how carefully it was produced, and whether there has been a showing of the need for an independent judicial voice on the question.
Boronic acid derivatives targeting HIV-1

A series of novel boronic acid derivatives containing either a pyrimidine or purine base was synthesized. The preparation involved the condensation of 4-bromobutyl boronic acid with the appropriate base. These acyclic nucleosides were designed as potential antiviral agents especially targeting the human immunodeficiency virus. Two analogues, 6-chloro-9-(4-dihydroxyborylbutyl)purine and 2,6-dichloro-9-(4-dihydroxyborylbutyl)purine, exhibited EC50 values of 7.7 μM and 0.99 μM, respectively, in an HIV-1 syncytial plaque reduction assay.
Design of Arithmetic and Control Cells for a DNA Binary Processor

Recently a great deal of interest has been shown by researchers on developing a bio-molecule based computer. The basic building blocks of such a computer are arithmetic units and memory. These units can be designed using Boolean logic gates as in the case of electronic circuits. Instead of using silicon based technology, Boolean logic gates can be generated from biological systems. One such system can be generated by a DNA reaction mechanism based on a reversible strand displacement process. A generalized pipeline architecture employing DNA reaction chain mechanism for the arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is discussed in this paper. A single control line is used in the pipeline array to control the different modes of operations. The primary functional blocks in a pipelined array are arithmetic unit and control unit. These units are made up of basic Boolean logic gates. To implement these gates, a DNA strand displacement process is employed. A set of integrating and amplifying gates are used in cascade with different threshold values to build different digital logic operations. The main advantage of such a system is that the arithmetic operations can be overlapped in the pipeline and thus a high speed operation is possible. Such a general Boolean model will be a step towards the development of a bio-computer. The ultimate goal of such a method is to design an automated system using logic gates, which make decisions within living cells.
Assessment of the incidence of squamous cell papilloma of the esophagus and the presence of high-risk human papilloma virus.

Summary Background and Aims: There has been a recent increase in the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) associated with high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. We investigated the incidence of esophageal papilloma and the presence of high-risk HPV infection. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at a County teaching hospital. Patients with esophageal papilloma between January 2000 and December 2013 were identified. Patients with sufficient specimens were tested for the HPV virus. Results: Sixty patients with esophageal papilloma lesions were identified from 2000 to 2013. (31 males, age 51 ± 13 years). The incidence was 0.13% in 2000 and increased to 0.57% in 2013 (P < 0.0001). Twenty-nine patients (48.3%) had a papilloma that was more than 5 mm in size, and 20% had multiple lesions. The papilloma was located in the distal esophagus in 35 (58.3%) patients, mid esophagus in 17 (28.3%) patients, and proximal in 8 (13.3%) patients. Three (5%) patients had associated OPC, and 9 (47.4%) of the 19 patients tested were positive for high-risk HPV serotype 16. Conclusions: The incidence of esophageal papilloma has increased by fourfolds over the past 14 years. About half of the tested patients demonstrated high risk HPV. This may suggest a potential growing risk for esophageal squamous cell cancer in the future.
Genetic abnormalities in men with germ cell tumors.

AbstractWe retrospectively reviewed the genetic abnormalities detected clinically in 455 men with advanced germ cell tumors referred for chemotherapy. Of the patients 49 had extragonadal and 406 had testicular germ cell tumors. Of 19 patients with mediastinal germ cell tumors 4 (21 per cent, 3 with teratocarcinoma and 1 with endodermal sinus tumor) had Klinefelter’s syndrome. Three of these patients had a 47XXY and 1 had a 48XXYY karyotype. No Klinefelter’s syndrome was observed among 30 consecutive patients with retroperitoneal germ cell tumors or among the 406 with testicular tumors. Karyotypes of 35 consecutive patients with testis cancer without evident congenital abnormalities showed normal chromosomal patterns. We found 2 patients with Down’s syndrome and testicular tumor, for an incidence of 0.5 per cent (probably significant). We also describe 2 cases of nonseminomatous testicular cancer and Marfan’s syndrome (0.5 per cent incidence versus a 5 of 100,000 incidence of Marfan’s syndrome in the gener...
Optomechanical RF Signal Processing

We have explored the applications of optomechanical oscillator (OMO) as an RF signal-processing element. RF frequency-conversion and injection locking in the optomechanical domain are demonstrated in the context of a microtoroidal OMO.
Application of Thermodynamics to the Chemistry of Rubber

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show how thermodynamic data on rubber and related substances can be employed in studying and predicting their reactions. The method will be illustrated by the results of recent studies on rubber and iso-prene made at the National Bureau of Standards. These results enable us to predict the conditions which favor the polymerization of isoprene to form rubber, and also the conditions which favor the reverse reaction, the thermal decomposition of rubber to give isoprene. Rossini, in his review paper on “Modern Thermodynamics,” makes the following statement : “The ultimate end of chemical thermodynamics may be said to be the evaluation of the free energy of formation, from the appropriate fundamental units of matter, of every substance in all possible states….” Our chief object, then, for rubber is to obtain as accurately as possible the free energies of formation of rubber, sulfur, rubber-sulfur compounds and other forms of vulcanized rubber, isoprene and all other sub...
Introduction to the GNSS geodetic infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico Region

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology has been frequently applied to coastal hazards studies. Some such hazards include sea-level rise, subsidence, coastal erosion, flooding and faul...
Has there been a real drop in the number of expected cancer cases in the United States

In 1993, after more than 20 years of increases, there was an observed decrease in the number of new cancer cases reported and in the overall cancer incidence rate in areas covered by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program based at the National Cancer Institute. Most of the decrease is attributed to a reduction in the number of prostate cancers diagnosed in 1993, a result of the introduction of a new screening tool for prostate cancer in the late 1980s. The article examines a number of possible reasons for the decrease in both overall cancer rates and prostate cancer rates and discusses whether the decrease is real or a statistical anomaly.
MR imaging and CT in the assessment of osseous abnormalities of the ankle and foot

This article focuses on the contributions of MR imaging and CT toward the evaluation of painful osseous abnormalities of the foot and ankle. Inconclusive findings on conventional radiographs often mandate further work up with the more advanced cross-sectional imaging techniques. Often, however, the radiologist remains unsure, which modality, CT or MR imaging, should be used. Based on our experience, CT and MR imaging play a complementary role in the assessment of these disorders.
Morphological and physiological changes induced by contact-dependent interaction between Candida albicans and Fusobacterium nucleatum

Candida albicans and Fusobacterium nucleatum are well-studied oral commensal microbes with pathogenic potential that are involved in various oral polymicrobial infectious diseases. Recently, we demonstrated that F. nucleatum ATCC 23726 coaggregates with C. albicans SN152, a process mainly mediated by fusobacterial membrane protein RadD and Candida cell wall protein Flo9. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential biological impact of this inter-kingdom interaction. We found that F. nucleatum ATCC 23726 inhibits growth and hyphal morphogenesis of C. albicans SN152 in a contact-dependent manner. Further analysis revealed that the inhibition of Candida hyphal morphogenesis is mediated via RadD and Flo9 protein pair. Using a murine macrophage cell line, we showed that the F. nucleatum-induced inhibition of Candida hyphal morphogenesis promotes C. albicans survival and negatively impacts the macrophage-killing capability of C. albicans. Furthermore, the yeast form of C. albicans repressed F. nucleatum-induced MCP-1 and TNFα production in macrophages. Our study suggests that the interaction between C. albicans and F. nucleatum leads to a mutual attenuation of virulence, which may function to promote a long-term commensal lifestyle within the oral cavity. This finding has significant implications for our understanding of inter-kingdom interaction and may impact clinical treatment strategies.
Approximate Dynamic Programming and Backpropagation on Timescales

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction: Timescales Fundamentals Dynamic Programming Backpropagation Conclusions References ]]>
Controls on Methane Occurrences in Aquifers Overlying the Eagle Ford Shale Play, South Texas

Assessing natural vs. anthropogenic sources of methane in drinking water aquifers is a critical issue in areas of shale oil and gas production. The objective of this study was to determine controls on methane occurrences in aquifers in the Eagle Ford Shale play footprint. A total of 110 water wells were tested for dissolved light alkanes, isotopes of methane, and major ions, mostly in the eastern section of the play. Multiple aquifers were sampled with approximately 47 samples from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer (250-1200 m depth range) and Queen City-Sparta Aquifer (150-900 m depth range) and 63 samples from other shallow aquifers but mostly from the Catahoula Formation (depth 1 mg/L, 10 samples >10 mg/L). No dissolved methane samples exhibit thermogenic characteristics that would link them unequivocally to oil and gas sourced from the Eagle Ford Shale. In particular, the well water samples contain very little or no ethane and propane (C1/C2+C3 molar ratio >453), unlike what would be expected in an oil province, but they also display relatively heavier δ13 Cmethane (>-55‰) and δDmethane (>-180‰). Samples from the deeper Carrizo and Queen City aquifers are consistent with microbial methane sourced from syndepositional organic matter mixed with thermogenic methane input, most likely originating from deeper oil reservoirs and migrating through fault zones. Active oxidation of methane pushes δ13 Cmethane and δDmethane toward heavier values, whereas the thermogenic gas component is enriched with methane owing to a long migration path resulting in a higher C1/C2+C3 ratio than in the local reservoirs.
The role of pili in Bacillus cereus intraocular infection.

Abstract Bacterial endophthalmitis is a potentially blinding intraocular infection. The bacterium Bacillus cereus causes a devastating form of this disease which progresses rapidly, resulting in significant inflammation and loss of vision within a few days. The outer surface of B. cereus incites the intraocular inflammatory response, likely through interactions with innate immune receptors such as TLRs. This study analyzed the role of B. cereus pili, adhesion appendages located on the bacterial surface, in experimental endophthalmitis. To test the hypothesis that the presence of pili contributed to intraocular inflammation and virulence, we analyzed the progress of experimental endophthalmitis in mouse eyes infected with wild type B. cereus (ATCC 14579) or its isogenic pilus-deficient mutant (ΔbcpA-srtD-bcpB or ΔPil). One hundred CFU were injected into the mid-vitreous of one eye of each mouse. Infections were analyzed by quantifying intraocular bacilli and retinal function loss, and by histology from 0 to 12 h postinfection. In vitro growth and hemolytic phenotypes of the infecting strains were also compared. There was no difference in hemolytic activity (1:8 titer), motility, or in vitro growth (p > 0.05, every 2 h, 0–18 h) between wild type B. cereus and the ΔPil mutant. However, infected eyes contained greater numbers of wild type B. cereus than ΔPil during the infection course (p ≤ 0.05, 3–12 h). Eyes infected with wild type B. cereus experienced greater losses in retinal function than eyes infected with the ΔPil mutant, but the differences were not always significant. Eyes infected with ΔPil or wild type B. cereus achieved similar degrees of severe inflammation. The results indicated that the intraocular growth of pilus-deficient B. cereus may have been better controlled, leading to a trend of greater retinal function in eyes infected with the pilus-deficient strain. Although this difference was not enough to significantly alter the severity of the inflammatory response, these results suggest a potential role for pili in protecting B. cereus from clearance during the early stages of endophthalmitis, which is a newly described virulence mechanism for this organism and this infection.
Development and validation of an easy-to-use risk assessment tool for cumulative low back loading: The Lifting Fatigue Failure Tool (LiFFT)

Recent evidence suggests that musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) may be the result of a fatigue failure process in affected tissues. This paper describes a new low back exposure assessment tool (the Lifting Fatigue Failure Tool [LiFFT]), which estimates a "daily dose" of cumulative loading on the low back using fatigue failure principles. Only three variables are necessary to derive the cumulative load associated with a lifting task: the weight of the load, the maximum horizontal distance from the spine to the load, and the number of repetitions for tasks performed during the workday. The new tool was validated using two existing epidemiological databases: the Lumbar Motion Monitor (LMM) database, and a database from a U.S. automotive manufacturer. The LiFFT cumulative damage metric explained 92% of the deviance in low back disorders (LBDs) in the LMM database and 72-95% of the deviance in low back outcomes in the automotive database (depending on the outcome measure). Thus, LiFFT is practitioner friendly and its cumulative damage metric highly related to low back outcomes.
Internet-delivered eating disorder prevention: A randomized controlled trial of dissonance-based and cognitive-behavioral interventions.

Objective The current study evaluated two web-based programs for eating disorder prevention in high-risk, predominantly ethnic minority women. Method Two hundred and seventy-one women with elevated weight concerns were randomized to Internet dissonance-based intervention (DBI-I), Internet cognitive-behavioral intervention (CBI-I), or no intervention (NI). Both interventions consisted of four weekly online sessions. Participants were assessed at pre- and post-intervention. Outcome measures included eating pathology, body dissatisfaction, dieting, thin-ideal internalization, and depression. Results At postintervention, DBI-I and CBI-I led to greater reductions in body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, and depression than NI. In addition, CBI-I was effective at reducing dieting and composite eating pathology relative to NI. No outcome differences were found between the active conditions. Moderation analyses suggested that both active conditions were more effective for ethnic minorities than Whites relative to NI. Discussion Results suggest that both DBI-I and CBI-I are effective at reducing eating disorder risk factors in a high-risk, predominantly minority population relative to no intervention.
P259 Comparison of two cell preparation methods: Standard Ficoll hypaque vs. Easysep for flow and CDC crossmatching

Aim Background: Preparation of lymphocytes from living related and deceased donor for flow and CDC crossmatching is labor intensive and occasionally difficult. It is not uncommon that the number of donor cells and cell viability are inadequate, which makes it difficult to obtain valid crossmatch results prior to transplant. Aim: The aim of our study was to determine efficacy of cell isolation methods using Ficoll hypaque vs. Easy Sep technique. Methods Lymphocytes were isolated from living and/or deceased donor peripheral blood, spleen and lymph node samples using Ficoll hypaque density gradient method and EasySep. The volume of initial samples used for each method was same. We compared cell yield, purity, initial/ final viability, we also evaluated reaction pattern and strength of CDC and flow crossmatches tests using lymphocytes isolated using these two methods. Results The cell yield from peripheral blood using Ficoll hypaque method was twofold higher but less pure by 30–40%. The cell yield and purity from spleen and lymph node were the same for both techniques. The number of T and B cells separated by Dyna Beads using cells prepared by both methods for CDC crossmatch were similar. The strength of reaction for cells prepared by Easy Sep was the same as the current method. However, the reactions were easier to read using cells isolated by the EasySep method due to reduction in number of granulocytes. The initial and final cell viability were the same at 95–98% for both techniques. EasySep enrichment procedure provided more concentrated T and B cells population for flow crossmatch testing. This resulted in better gating of T and B cells for analysis and faster acquiring of the 20,000 events required per well. Conclusions EasySep method is a faster and less labor-intensive method to isolate lymphocytes for the flow and CDC crossmatch assays. The high quality of lymphocyte preparation, with less platelets and granulocytes, makes results easy to interpret. The EasySep method uses negative selection technique to deplete unwanted cells from the cell suspension resulting in no injury or manipulation of the lymphocytes required by the CDC and Flow crossmatch assays. This process can be automated by EasySep bio-robot.
Productive and economical sorting of objects by low resolution camera

Sorting technique is one of the most essential process to differentiate or uniquely identify the required object out of a bulk. It has brought revolutionary change in the automation and manufacturing industry and has further given new dimension to the industry. The project is proposed to sort the pencils on the basis of the color. A conveyor driven system has been used for this particular process. It simply displays the concept of an intelligent conveyor belt as it can sort the objects depending upon the color. In the concerned project, sorting process is carried out using LabVIEW, IMAQ vision software and actuation through pneumatics. A pair of IP webcam having low resolution is placed in such a manner that if pencil's color is not recognized by first camera then it can be recognized by the second camera later on. Pair of nozzles is also used for each color arranged in a toggle fashion so that the sorting process can be carried out smoothly.
Do wave heights and water levels increase ocean lifeguard rescues

Abstract Objective To investigate the association of wave height and tidal water level changes with the frequency of ocean lifeguard rescues. Methods All ocean lifeguard rescues recorded by Newport Beach Lifeguards in 2015 and 2016 were linked by time and location to weather and ocean variables contained in other historical databases. We performed separate multivariable analyses using mixed effects negative binomial regression to evaluate the total effects of wave height, mean water level (primarily set by tidal elevation), and rising vs. falling water level, on the frequency of ocean rescue in the study location, controlling for confounding variables. Results Newport Beach Lifeguards made 8046 rescues during the study period. In all areas of the beach, rescue frequency increased as waves got larger (IRR: 3.25; 95%CI: 2.91–3.79) but then decreased in large surf (IRR: 0.52; 95%CI: 0.37–0.73). In two sections of beach, lifeguards made more rescues during lower water levels, but in the third section of beach, made more rescues during higher water levels. Rescue frequency increased in two sections of beach with rising water levels, but did not in the other section. Conclusions Wave height, water level, and water level direction were associated with rescue frequency, but the environmental factors included in the analysis did not fully account for most variation in rescue frequency. Other factors need to be evaluated to identify major determinants of rescue frequency.
Territory Size in Wintering Sanderlings: The Effects of Prey Abundance and Intruder Density

Winter territory size in the Sanderling (Calidris alba) on marine beaches varies inversely with prey density. Multivariate analyses suggest that the inverse correlation results indirectly because more intruders are attracted to areas of higher prey density, and increased intruder frequency makes territorial defense more costly. Once the interaction between prey density and intruder density is controlled statistically, prey density has no effect on territory size.
A practical device authentication scheme using SRAM PUFs

The contamination of electronic component supply chains by counterfeit hardware devices is a serious and growing risk in today's globalized marketplace. Current practice for detecting counterfeit semiconductors includes visual checking, electrical testing, and reliability testing which can require significant investments in expertise, equipment, and time. Additionally, best practices have been developed in industry worldwide to combat counterfeiting in many of its variants. Although the current approaches improve the situation significantly, they do not provide extensive technical means to detect counterfeiting. However, new approaches in this area are beginning to emerge. Suh and Devadas recently proposed a low cost device authentication scheme which relies on Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) to implement a challenge-response authentication protocol. There are several constraints in their authentication scheme, e.g., their scheme requires a secure online database and relies on PUF constructions that exhibit a large number of challenge-response pairs. In this paper, we introduce a new device authentication scheme using PUFs for device anticounterfeiting. Our scheme is simple and practical as it does not require any online databases and is not tied to any PUF implementations. For hardware devices which already have SRAM and non-volatile storage embedded, our scheme takes almost no additional cost.
Functionalist and structuralist research programs in developmental psychology: incommensurability or synthesis?

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews some of the events to illustrate that “revolutions” in developmental psychology are still occurring, although theory in the philosophy of science to account for them is not exactly in a stable state itself. It suggests that the application of a Kuhnian model is no longer helpful to an understanding of the current state of developmental theory. A rational way of doing science is to have a research program with progressive “problem shifts” in the attempt to falsify competing theories and, as necessary, to modify one's theories by the addition of new hypotheses or through semantic reinterpretations of the theory under the guidance of a positive heuristic. A program should be stopped or rejected when it is degenerating, although even then it can be continued if it is theoretically progressive and only intermittently empirically so.
The First Attempts to Unionize the Faculty.

Background/ContextFaculty unionization is an important topic in modern higher education, but the history of the phenomenon has not yet been fully considered. This article brings together issues of ...
ECG derived Cheyne-Stokes respiration and periodic breathing are associated with cardiorespiratory arrest in intensive care unit patients.

Abstract Background Cheyne-Stokes respiration and periodic breathing (CSRPB) have not been studied sufficiently in the intensive care unit setting (ICU). Objectives To determine whether CSRPB is associated with adverse outcomes in ICU patients. Methods The ICU group was divided into quartiles by CSRPB (86 patients in quartile 1 had the least CSRPB and 85 patients in quartile 4 had the most CSRPB). Adverse outcomes (emergent intubation, cardiorespiratory arrest, inpatient mortality and the composite of all) were compared between patients with most CSRPB (quartile 4) and those with least CSRPB (quartile 1). Results ICU patients in quartile 4 had a higher proportion of cardiorespiratory arrests (5% versus 0%, (p=.042), and more adverse events over all (19% versus 8%, p=.041) as compared to patients in quartile 1. Conclusions CSRPB can be measured in the ICU and it's severity is associated with adverse outcomes in critically ill patients.
PERSPECTIVE: The Long-Term Effects of Light Exposure on Establishment of Newborn Circadian Rhythm

Development of newborns continues postnatally. Evidence has accumulated on the early life programming effects of light exposure on the maturing visual axis and the developing circadian rhythm. Cons...
Increasing Light Exposure for the Prevention of Delirium: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND Delirium is a neurological disorder with correlations to increased hospital length of stays and higher morbidity and mortality rates, particularly in the growing elderly population, making prevention strategies key in improving patient outcomes and health care systems. OBJECTIVES Does increased exposure to light, by artificial or natural means, decrease the incidence of delirium? METHODS A systematic review was conducted of 4 revered databases, CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus, for articles related to key words "delirium" and "lighting" or "daylight" or "natural light" or "bright light" or "sunlight." Results were narrowed to adult inpatients, defined as age older than 18 years. After limiting for quality of the study and content that addressed the objective, 7 articles were selected for review: 4 related to artificial means of light therapy and 3 consistent with increased exposure to natural light. RESULTS Two studies examined the effects of bright light therapy and reported a decreased incidence of delirium. Two studies researched whether increased lighting via a lighting system with varying degrees of intensity throughout the day would prevent delirium, and neither reported a decrease in delirium. The remaining 3 studies focused on whether increased natural light via windows decreased the occurrence of delirium and uncovered no correlation. DISCUSSION It is recommended that the study by Potharajaroen et al, which demonstrated significant findings for bright light therapy preventing delirium, be replicated as well as new pilot studies to enrich the growing body of research. Bright light therapy is a low-cost and easy-to-institute intervention that should be utilized on a case-to-case basis.
Regionally Varying Assessments of Upper-Level Tropical Width in Reanalyses and CMIP5 Models Using a Tropopause Break Metric

AbstractChanges in tropical width can have important consequences in sectors including ecosystems, agriculture, and health. Observations suggest tropical expansion over the past 30 years although s...
Needs for a Healthy Eating Intervention for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Study

Objectives This study aimed to better understand perceptions of healthy eating and a prospective nutrition intervention in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and parents of adolescents with ASD.
Concurrent vascular flow defects at the deep capillary plexus and choriocapillaris layers in acute macular neuroretinopathy on multimodal imaging: A case series

Abstract Purpose To describe multimodal imaging findings with focus on retinal and choroidal vascular features in acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN). Observations Three eyes from 3 patients (1 man, 2 women) with average age of 31 were included in this retrospective case series at a single institution. Each case showed petaloid hyporeflective areas on infrared images (IR) with variable levels of outer retinal defects on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). En face OCT angiography (OCT-A) images showed quantifiable reduction in vessel density at levels of the deep capillary plexus (DCP) and choriocapillaris (CC) layers. In 2 of the cases with near-infrared autofluorescence imaging (NIRAF), there were subtle areas of hypoautofluorescence corresponding in location to the lesions seen on IR. In one case, fluorescein angiography (FA) showed a small area of retinal vascular leakage in the area of the IR lesion, and in other 2 cases, there were paracentral areas of hypofluorescence in the area of the IR lesions. En face structural OCT image at the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) level in each case showed no evidence of projection artifact from the retina. Conclusions and Importance: The pathogenesis of AMN is suspected to involve a vasogenic insult. However, the precise localization of the vascular insult has been controversial and unclear. Our findings demonstrate that concurrent vascular flow defects in both DCP and CC could be possible in AMN and suggest that an inflammatory and vascular etiology in concert could underlie the pathogenesis of AMN.
Social work education and the recognition of rights in the digital tech age: implications for professional identity

The use of digital technology by law enforcement apparatuses raises important social justice implications for existing race- and economic-based disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system. The ...
Multitask Mixture of Sequential Experts for User Activity Streams

It is often desirable to model multiple objectives in real-world web applications, such as user satisfaction and user engagement in recommender systems. Multi-task learning has become the standard approach for such applications recently. While most of the multi-task recommendation model architectures proposed to date are focusing on using non-sequential input features (e.g., query and context), input data is often sequential in real-world web application scenarios. For example, user behavior streams, such as user search logs in search systems, are naturally atemporal sequence. Modeling user sequential behaviors as explicit sequential representations can empower the multi-task model to incorporate temporal dependencies, thus predicting future user behavior more accurately. Furthermore, user activity streams can come from heterogeneous data sources, such as user search logs and user browsing logs. They typically possess very different properties such as data sparsity and thus need careful treatment when being modeled jointly. In this work, we study the challenging problem of how to model sequential user behavior in the neural multi-task learning settings. Our major contribution is a novel framework, Mixture of Sequential Experts (MoSE). It explicitly models sequential user behavior using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) in the state-of-art Multi-gate Mixture-of-Expert multi-task modeling framework. In experiments, we show the effectiveness of the MoSE architecture over seven alternative architectures on both synthetic and noisy real-world user data in G Suite. We also demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the MoSE architecture in a real-world decision making engine in GMail that involves millions of users, balancing between search quality and resource costs.
65. “HOW DID I DO COACH?” - IMPACT OF PARENT ROUNDS COACH ON LEARNER PERFORMANCE

Background Conducting direct observation and providing immediate feedback can be a valuable method for training students and residents as effective participants in patient- and family centered rounds (PFCR). We implemented a novel program over the last two years which utilized a trained parent rounds coach (RC) who observed PFCR and provided feedback to learners using a standardized approach. Based on our earlier report of program feasibility and learner satisfaction with having a RC, we examined the impact of the RC on presenter performance. Objective: 1) To evaluate the change in performance of student and intern presenters during PFCR after direct feedback by the RC. 2) To determine if change in performance varied by type of feedback given. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study of 205 presenters on rounds on two inpatient teams at Children's Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The RC observed rounds weekly over a two-year period. Trainees rotated in four-week blocks and were observed 1-4 times. Following observation, feedback was provided in-person or via email. We utilized the PEA-21 checklist - a validated tool for observing 21 presenter behaviors in 4 categories: Spot-on: accurate data presentation, Style: communication, Synthesize: sharing diagnosis and plan, and Sleuth: family interaction. Each item was rated on a three-point scale. Scores were reported as an average of items within categories and in total. Analysis included: 1) dependent t-tests and Cohens d effect sizes comparing PEA-21 scores from first to second presentation and 2) repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) of PEA-21 scores split by feedback type. Results Paired t-tests reported significantly improved performance from first to second presentation in three categories and overall (all p Conclusions Our parent coaching program was successful at delivering feedback to most presenters in a single block. Presenters improved performance in data accuracy, communication, family interactions but not communicating diagnosis and plans. Performance did not change with respect to type of feedback given. Next steps include a longer-term evaluation of coaching impact.
Recombinant Antibodies in Basic Neuroscience Research

Basic neuroscience research employs antibodies as key reagents to label, capture, and modulate the function of proteins of interest. Antibodies are immunoglobulin proteins. Recombinant antibodies are immunoglobulin proteins whose nucleic acid coding regions, or fragments thereof, have been cloned into expression plasmids that allow for unlimited production. Recombinant antibodies offer many advantages over conventional antibodies including their unambiguous identification and digital archiving via DNA sequencing, reliable expression, ease and reliable distribution as DNA sequences and as plasmids, and the opportunity for numerous forms of engineering to enhance their utility. Recombinant antibodies exist in many different forms, each of which offers potential advantages and disadvantages for neuroscience research applications. I provide an overview of recombinant antibodies and their development. Examples of their emerging use as valuable reagents in basic neuroscience research are also discussed. Many of these examples employ recombinant antibodies in innovative experimental approaches that cannot be pursued with conventional antibodies. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.