cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 15888: N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Erythrocyte Membranes and Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in Primary and Secondary Prevention

Introduction: Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have anti-arrhythmic effects in experimental studies and blood levels of EPA + DHA, an objective marker of intake, have been associated with lower risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in healthy populations. However, data from observational studies and clinical trials of n-3 PUFAs in secondary prevention have been mixed. Methods: We conducted a nested, case-control study among individuals from 6 prospective cohort studies. RBC levels of α-linolenic acid (ALA), EPA, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and DHA were measured in 442 cases of SCD and 852 controls matched on age, sex, race, smoking status, fasting status and prevalent and incident CVD using risk-set sampling. The Omega-3 Index was estimated as EPA + DHA. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) separately in each cohort. The RRs were combined using random effect meta-analyses and stratified by presence of absence of known CVD prior to SCD. Results: In this population, the mean age was 64 years, 51% were women and 41% had prior CVD. Higher EPA and DHA levels, as summarized by the Omega-3 Index, were associated with lower risk of SCD in the entire population (Table). Compared to the lowest quintile, the RR in the highest quintile of the Omega-3 Index was 0.40 (95%CI, 0.21-0.77; P, trend= 0.04). When stratified by history of prior CVD, this association was restricted to individuals without prior CVD (Table, P, trend = 0.03). Neither DPA nor ALA was associated with risk of SCD in those with or without CVD. Conclusions: In this prospective nested, case-control study, the inverse association between long-chain n-3 PUFAs and SCD was limited to individuals without prior CVD. These data suggest that the utility of n-3 PUFAs as markers of SCD and/or as preventative dietary supplements may be greater in a primary prevention population.
Marihuana metabolites in urine of man

Single doses of hashish extract containing 20 mg. of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) were followed by excretion of what appeared to be both cannabinol and cannabidiol but no unchanged THC. A new material in the urine appeared to be a compound related to a cannabinoid. The pattern of metabolism of cannabinoids appears to differ between different subjects. Following single doses of the same amount of THC alone, only a new drug-related metabolite could be found in the more polar range. With repeated doses, a material in the cannabinoid range was excreted in small amounts. On the whole, repeated doses of hashish extract or THC as given in the present schedule did not lead to any significant accumulation of drug or metabolites.
Estimating memory requirements in wireless sensor networks using social tie strengths

In recent years, we have witnessed many advances in communication technologies such as wireless devices. One of the main concerns when dealing with wireless technologies is the limitation in resources such as memory and battery due to the large amount of data exchanged nowadays. In today's societies, people and wireless devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) are strongly coupled. Therefore, it is needed to reduce memory requirements by tracking only a finite number of sensors due to the large number of encounters that happen among people. Since these devices move with the human carrier (e.g., in their cars, bikes, or even when they walk), the encounters among these devices can be described by the social network of people. This paper has two main contributions: first, a novel metric for measuring a tie strength of a pair of nodes is proposed; second, we explore the proposed metric in estimating memory requirements in wireless sensors networks.
Gamification: Fuelish or foolish?

From the Department of Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY. Disclosures: Author has nothing to disclose with regard to commercial support. Received for publication Aug 7, 2015; accepted for publication Aug 8, 2015; available ahead of print Sept 15, 2015. Address for reprints: George Leslie Hicks, Jr, MD, Department of Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642 (E-mail: george_hicks@urmc.rochester.edu). J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2015;150:1059-60 0022-5223/$36.00 Copyright 2015 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcvs.2015.08.018
Para-aminobenzoic acid in leukemia.

Para-aminobenzoic acid, administered in large doses as sodium para-aminobenzoate caused a striking lowering of the leukocyte counts in five patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and in one patient with subacute myelogenous leukemia. NaPAB caused less definite decreases of the white cell count in two patients with chronic lymphatic leukemia, but the periods of administration may have been too short to obtain maximal effects. In every instance, there was a prompt rise in the number of leukocytes when the administration of NaPAB was stopped. Although there was decrease in spleen size in some of the patients, the objective clinical improvement was but slight and temporary. All patients receiving NaPAB in large doses had concomitant glycosuria, apparently on a renal basis. It is to be emphasized that NaPAB is not considered a practical adjunct to the therapy of leukemia at this time. Rather, it is hoped that studies of the cellular chemistry involved in the apparent inhibitory action of NaPAB may yield information concerning the disordered metabolism of leukemic cells.
Neonatal herpes simplex virus infection in guinea pigs.

AbstractThe mode of neonatal herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 infection in guinea pigs was explored. There was no evidence of transplacental transmission of either virus type from mother to fetus following genital infection of the former. Infectious virus was not recoverable from placenta, cord blood, or amniotic fluid following either genital or intracardiac inoculation of HSV-2 into pregnant guinea pigs. However, a low rate of neonatal transmission of HSV-2 from mother to newborn via an infected birth canal during delivery was demonstrated.
Friedel–Crafts Acylation Using Solar Irradiation

In recent decades, scientists have attempted to make more environmentally friendly chemical synthesis procedures. One area of environmental concern is the amount of electricity required to complete an experiment. An effective means for minimizing the amount of electricity needed to drive chemical reactions to completion is proposed through the use of solar parabolic reflectors. The proposed solar reflectors are assembled by covering unused satellite dishes with Mylar tape, giving the satellite dish reflective properties when the dish is directed at the sun. The ability to use the solar reflector as the sole heat source for organic synthesis reactions is being considered. Comparative studies will be conducted using electrical supplies to compare the solar reflectors ability to generate heat to drive the chemical reactions to completion. Analysis of the products of the reactions will be analyzed using NMR and GC-MS. Preliminary research has shown that the solar reflector is capable of heating a substance to...
Low sodium-forced fluid management of hypertensive vascular disease and hypertensive heart disease.

One hundred patients with essential hypertension were placed for periods of several weeks to 12 months on a diet of 2200 calories containing approximately 200 mg of sodium, 2.2 g potassium, 70 g protein, 80 to 175 g fat, 130 to 230 g carbohydrate, and vitamin supplements. A daily fluid intake of 3 liters was maintained. All were outpatients. Blood pressure readings were taken with the subject reclining, sitting and standing. They were made by one observer usually at the same time of day. No pretreatment blood pressure was below 170/100. Medical and dietary checks were ordinarily made once or twice a month.There was a significant lowering of pressure (to or below 155/95) in approximately 20%, and of the diastolic pressure (to or below 95) in an additional 15% of the cases. A number of the patients who improved on this regime had failed to respond satisfactorily to a previous bilateral supradiaphragmatic splanchnicectomy and lower dorsal sympathetic ganglionectomy. The majority with symptoms typical of esse...
Leveski v. ITT and the Weakening Industry-Wide Public Disclosure Bar in Qui Tam Litigation

In July of 2013, the Seventh Circuit decided Leveski v. ITT Educational Services, Inc. On its face, it was a fairly innocuous outcome couched in the minutia of the for-profit education industry and illicit recruiter payment systems. Viewed within the larger fabric of the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions, however, the case handled with unique clarity an issue that has divided and befuddled federal courts: the so-called ‘industry-wide’ public disclosure bar. In short, the Seventh Circuit gutted the doctrine, quietly distinguishing or rejecting the approaches taken by various federal courts and leaving in place a far more streamlined method. In light of this decision and continued struggles by federal courts to reach consensus, this examination seeks to understand both the unspoken problems with the public disclosure bar as applied to an entire industry as well as the future of False Claims Act law in light of recent developments. It first unpacks the underlying debates in the industry-wide public disclosure bar and the questions left unresolved by the patchwork approach by myriad courts. It then turns to the Seventh Circuit’s decision, untangling the court’s approach to clearly articulate the new test implied by the case. The decision reached in Leveski is, in most regards, a laudable attempt to undercut the industry-wide public disclosure bar and increase the administrability of FCA qui tam jurisprudence and the access to court by meretricious relators. This noble aim, however, may exacerbate the dangers of superfluous and excessive qui tam litigation by working counter to recent statutory revisions under the Affordable Care Act.
Synthesis and Characterization of an Orthometalated Aminoalane, [MeAlN(CH2Ph)-μ-(CH2C6H4)]2: Molecular Structures of [MeAlN(CH2Ph)-μ-(CH2C6H4)]2 and [Me2AlN(CH2Ph)2]2

Thermolysis of Me3Al with HN(CH2Ph)2 in toluene solution at 150 °C yields the orthometalated dimer [MeAlN(CH2Ph)-μ-(CH2C6H4)]2 (1) via the stepwise elimination of CH4. The molecular structure of 1 and that of the related aminoalane dimer [Me2AlN(CH2Ph)2]2 (2) were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. Complete 1H and 13C NMR chemical shift assignments for 1 were facilitated by the comparison of 1H NMR 2-D NOESY and X-ray distance data.
Synthesis of Aliphatic Poly(ether 1,2-glycerol carbonate)s via Copolymerization of CO2 with Glycidyl Ethers Using a Cobalt Salen Catalyst and Study of a Thermally Stable Solid Polymer Electrolyte

The synthesis and characterization of linear poly(ether 1,2-glycerol carbonate)s derivatized with pendant butyl, octyl, or stearyl tethers are reported. The polymers are obtained via the ring-opening copolymerization of butyl, octyl, or stearic glycidyl ethers with carbon dioxide using the [rac-SalcyCoIIIDNP] catalyst bearing a quaternary ammonium salt. Synthesized polymers were characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, FT-IR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and rheometry. Polymers with controlled molecular weights in the range of 8970–31 900 g/mol were obtained with low polydispersities between 1.1 and 1.4. Thermal properties of the materials confirm amorphous structures of the polymers with butyl and octyl chains, with glass transition temperatures of −24 and −34 °C, respectively. The stearyl tether polymer exhibited a melting point of 55 °C. Additionally, the potential of poly(butyl ether 1,2-glycerol carbonate) as a thermally stable solid polymer elect...
Human Body Segmentation with Multi-limb Error-Correcting Output Codes Detection and Graph Cuts Optimization

Human body segmentation is a hard task because of the high variability in appearance produced by changes in the point of view, lighting conditions, and number of articulations of the human body. In this paper, we propose a two-stage approach for the segmentation of the human body. In a first step, a set of human limbs are described, normalized to be rotation invariant, and trained using cascade of classifiers to be split in a tree structure way. Once the tree structure is trained, it is included in a ternary Error-Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) framework. This first classification step is applied in a windowing way on a new test image, defining a body-like probability map, which is used as an initialization of a GMM color modelling and binary Graph Cuts optimization procedure. The proposed methodology is tested in a novel limb-labelled data set. Results show performance improvements of the novel approach in comparison to classical cascade of classifiers and human detector-based Graph Cuts segmentation approaches.
Impact of age and vector construct on striatal and nigral transgene expression

Therapeutic protein delivery using viral vectors has shown promise in preclinical models of Parkinson's disease (PD) but clinical trial success remains elusive. This may partially be due to a failure to include advanced age as a covariate despite aging being the primary risk factor for PD. We investigated transgene expression following intracerebral injections of recombinant adeno-associated virus pseudotypes 2/2 (rAAV2/2), 2/5 (rAAV2/5), 2/9 (rAAV2/9), and lentivirus (LV) expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in aged versus young adult rats. Both rAAV2/2 and rAAV2/5 yielded lower GFP expression following injection to either the aged substantia nigra or striatum. rAAV2/9-mediated GFP expression was deficient in the aged striatonigral system but displayed identical transgene expression between ages in the nigrostriatal system. Young and aged rats displayed equivalent GFP levels following LV injection to the striatonigral system but LV-delivered GFP was deficient in delivering GFP to the aged nigrostriatal system. Notably, age-related transgene expression deficiencies revealed by protein quantitation were poorly predicted by GFP-immunoreactive cell counts. Further, in situ hybridization for the viral CβA promoter revealed surprisingly limited tropism for astrocytes compared to neurons. Our results demonstrate that aging is a critical covariate to consider when designing gene therapy approaches for PD.
Nitric oxide release via oxygen atom transfer from nitrite at copper(II)

Nitric oxide is a vital signaling molecule that controls blood flow and oxygenation and nitrite serves as an important reservoir for nitric oxide in biology. While copper containing enzymes are known to reduce nitrite to nitric oxide, herein we report a new pathway to release nitric oxide via oxygen atom transfer from nitrite at a copper(ii) site.
Reassessing the Data on Whether a Physician Shortage Exists.

Does the United States have enough physicians?—Yes. For decades, experts have bemoaned a lack of sufficient primary care physicians in the United States. These fears came to a head during debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), when critics suggested that the millions of US residents gaining coverage under the ACA would further exacerbate the existing physician shortage. A 2011 American College of Surgeons report asserted that “even before [this] health care reform, the nation was headed for serious physician shortages and reform has only made it worse.”1 According to the updated report of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), released March 14, 2017, the AAMC still predicts a shortage of between 40 800 to 104 900 physicians by 2030.
Are Competitive Materialism and Female Employment Related to International Homicide Rate

The institutional anomie theory is a proposal that states competitive materialism, an intense cultural pressure for economic success at any costs, and increased female employment may be related to a high homicide rate. The current work tested this proposition by utilizing homicide data collected from 45 developed and developing countries. Regression results did not support the proposition. Competitive materialism and female employment were not significantly related to the cross-national variation of homicide rates.
Clinical trials evaluating potential therapies for light chain (AL) amyloidosis.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: The field of systemic amyloidosis is experiencing major advances in diagnostic and prognostic methods coupled with a growing availability in treatment options.Areas covered: Treatment of AL amyloidosis traditionally targeted the clonal plasma cells, in order to block further production of amyloidogenic light chains. Currently, a research focus is placed on targeting the already formed amyloid deposits using monoclonal antibodies against epitopes on such deposits. Encouraging results were obtained from the three investigated antibodies: NEOD001, 11-1F4 and anti-SAP, but further validation is required before these antibodies can be commercialized. In this paper, we review the current active clinical research in AL amyloidosis, which includes the monoclonal antibodies targeting amyloid deposits, daratumumab, Venetoclax, doxycycline, green tea, pomalidomide, carfilzomib and ixazomib.Expert opinion: Monoclonal antibodies, targeting either the amyloid deposits or the plasma cell compartmen...
Drosophila Transgenic Lines Expressing the Mammalian N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II and β 1,4-galactosyltransferase

Nlinked glycosylated proteins play a role in different biological processes. The initial steps of protein modifications with glycan in eukaryotic cells are identical. Both mammalian and insect N-glycosylation pathway share the intermediate complex, (For review see: Jarvis 2003; Rendic et al., 2008). The N-glycosylation process starts with trimming three glucose residues from the high mannose structure "Glu3Man9GlcNac2-N-Asn", followed by further removing of five mannose residues. One residue of N-acetylglocusamine is added to the structure and the common intermediate structure is achieved by trimming two mannose residues. In insect cells removal of further residues is continue by trimming the terminal N-acetylglucosamine residue forming the major N-glycan product in insect cells, the paucimannose, "Man3GlcNAc2-N-Asn" (Altmann et al., 1995). However, in some cases, only extremely low levels of terminal glycosyltransferase activities have been detected in insect cells (Jarvis, 2003). In contrast, the mammalian glycosylation process tends to elongate this intermediate structure and producing more complicated complex of N-glycans with terminal sialic acids (Beyer et al., 1979). The differences in glycosylation pathways between insect and mammalian cells limit the ability of insect-based baculovirus expression systems to produce broad spectrum varieties of N-glycoproteins. In early attempts to overcome such problematic differences, lepidopteran cells were transformed with mammalian genes to shift the insect glycoslation process toward mammalian pathway. The Spodoptera frugiperda cells (Sf9) were engineered to express the mammalian β1,4-galactosyltransferase (GalT) and α2,6-sialyltransferase (ST6). The resulted cells, Sf4GalT/ST6, produced a recombinant glycoprotein with mono-antennary structure with only α1,3 arm elongated (Hollister and Jarvis, 2001; Hollister et al., 2002). Further transformion with N-acetylglucoseaminyl-transferase II gene created SfSWT-1 cells which produced a recombinant glycoprotein with bi-antennary sialylated N-glycans (Hollister et al., 2002). Our goal is to apply the knowledge gained from engineered insect cells to “humanize” the glycoprotein processing pathway in intact insects. Here we report the generation of transgenic Drosophila lines expressing the human Nacetylglucosaminyltransferase II and a bovine β1,4-galactosyltransferase.
The Immune Response to Glioblastoma: Overview and Focus on Checkpoint Blockade

Abstract Cancer immunotherapy has become a promising therapeutic modality in many tumor types. Recent evidence supports the idea that immune-based therapies may also be effective in treating central nervous system (CNS) malignancies. In order to design better immunotherapeutic approaches, however, it is first necessary to understand how the immune system interplays with cancer. Furthermore, with regard to CNS malignancies, a deeper understanding of how the immune system surveys the CNS adds an additional layer of complexity. This chapter will provide a basic overview of the immune system as a foundation to focus specifically on CNS immunosurveillance, particularly as it relates to detection of intracranial tumors. Lastly, we will review the current understanding of mechanisms employed by brain tumors to evade immune detection, with a focus on immune checkpoint pathways.
Interphase boundary segregation of silver and enhanced precipitation of Mg17Al12 Phase in a Mg-Al-Sn-Ag alloy

Abstract Aging-hardening response of Mg-7Al-2Sn (wt%) alloy can be remarkably accelerated by a small addition of silver (Ag). Using high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) coupled with high resolution energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping, for the first time, segregation of solute atoms (Ag in this case) was observed at the interphase boundary between continuous Mg17Al12 precipitate and magnesium matrix in Mg-7Al-2Sn alloy with 0.7 wt% Ag addition. Substantial size refinement and increased number density of Mg17Al12 precipitates may be responsible for the enhanced aging-hardening response in Mg-7Al-2Sn alloy with Ag addition.
Receptors for platelet-derived growth factor on microvascular endothelial cells.

Endothelial cells are widely thought to be unresponsive to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and devoid of PDGF receptors. However, in examining the growth factor responses of microvascular endothelial cells isolated from human omental adipose tissue, we detected PDGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of an 180-kD glycoprotein, subsequently identified as the cellular receptor for PDGF by specific immunoprecipitation. Scatchard analysis of 125I-PDGF binding to human microvascular endothelial cells revealed 30,000 PDGF receptors/cell with a kD of 0.14 nM. PDGF stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of PDGF and other cellular proteins in a dose- and time-dependent manner, with half-maximal receptor phosphorylation occuring at 0.3 nM recombinant human PDGF-BB within 1 min of PDGF exposure. Normal cellular consequences of receptor activation were also observed, including tyrosine phosphorylation of a 42-kD protein and serine phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6. Furthermore, PDGF was mitogenic for these cells. The finding of functional PDGF receptors on human microvascular endothelial cells suggests an important direct role for PDGF in neovascularization.
Orthotic Management for Infantile and Juvenile Scoliosis

This chapter attempts to discuss the contemporary role of orthotic treatment of idiopathic early onset spinal deformity.
Internet Usage and Potential Impact for Acute Care Hospitals: Survey in the United States

These survey results are from a national survey of acute care hospitals. A random sample of 813 hospitals was selected with 115 responding and 33 incorrect addresses resulting in a 15% response rate. The purpose of the study was to measure the extent of information systems integration in the financial, medical, and administrative systems of the hospitals. Internet usage including homepages and advertising was measured. Other selected telecommunication applications are analyzed. As demonstration projects from the literature are compared to the survey results, the potential for hospitals is tremendous. Resulting cost savings could be equally impressive. This information will provide a benchmark for hospitals to determine their position relative to Internet technology and to set goals.
Sara Roelofse, Matron of New Amsterdam

Sara Roelofse was born in the Netherlands, came to the New Netherlands as a small child, and spent the rest of her life there. Thrice married, she raised a large family while participating in the social and economic life of the community both before and after New Amsterdam became New York City. This chapter discusses her roles as a matron of the city through the evidence left in her will and two pieces of material culture associated with her: a bake house and a bodkin.
Parallel Computation of RBF Kernels for Support Vector Classifiers.

While kernel support vector machines are powerful classification algorithms, their computational overhead can be significant, especially for large and high-dimensional data sets. A recent biomedical dataset, for instance, could take as long as 3 weeks to compute its RBF kernel matrix on a modern, single-processor workstation. In this paper, we develop methods for high-performance parallel computation of kernel matrices. There are two key components to a parallel implementation: distribution of the computation across nodes and communication to combine the results. To address the first, we employ a dimension-wise data partition that yields efficient computation and low communication overhead during the initial phase. This partition provides dramatic speedups on large and high-dimensional data, applies to a wide variety of kernel functions, and is an exact computation, producing the same kernel matrix as its sequential implementation. To address communication needs during the second phase, we introduce an approximation specific to the Gaussian RBF kernel that yields sparse partial kernel matrices and, thus, efficient communication. We analyze the approximation error of this method, demonstrating that it falls off exponentially with N , the parameter of the approximation. We also examine the positive definiteness of the approximation with respect to Mercer’s condition and show that (a) in the limit of N our approximation becomes positive definite for any data set and (b) for a fixed data set, there exists a finite N yielding a positive definite kernel matrix. We also give a simple iterative method for selecting N to yield a positive definite kernel matrix on any fixed data set. In practice, we find that positive definiteness is achieved on all of the data sets we examine with very small N (2–5). Finally, we test the empirical performance of our two methods on a variety of large, real-world data sets, demonstrating large computational speedups with little or no impact on accuracy.
Towards practical and secure decentralized attribute-based authorization systems

The ubiquity of the Internet has led to increased resource sharing between large numbers of users in widely-disparate administrative domains. Unfortunately, traditional identity-based solutions to the authorization problem do not allow for the dynamic establishment of trust, and thus cannot be used to facilitate interactions between previously-unacquainted parties. Furthermore, the management of identity-based systems becomes burdensome as the number of users in the system increases. To address this gap between the needs of open computing systems and existing authorization infrastructures, researchers have begun to investigate novel attribute-based access control (ABAC) systems based on techniques such as trust negotiation and other forms of distributed proving. To date, research in these areas has been largely theoretical and has produced many important foundational results. However, if these techniques are to be safely deployed in practice, the systems-level barriers hindering their adoption must be overcome. In this thesis, we show that safely and securely adopting decentralized ABAC approaches to authorization is not simply a matter of implementation and deployment, but requires careful consideration of both formal properties and practical issues. To this end, we investigate a progression of important questions regarding the safety analysis, deployment, implementation, and optimization of these types of systems. We first show that existing ABAC theory does not properly account for the asynchronous nature of open systems, which allows attackers to subvert these systems by forcing decisions to be made using inconsistent system states. To address this, we develop provably-secure and lightweight consistency enforcement mechanisms suitable for use in trust negotiation and distributed proof systems. We next focus on deployment issues, and investigate how user interactions can be audited in the absence of concrete user identities. We develop the technique of virtual fingerprinting, which can be used to accomplish this task without adversely affecting the scalability of audit systems. Lastly, we present TrustBuilder2, which is the first fully-configurable framework for trust negotiation. Within this framework, we examine availability problems associated with the trust negotiation process and develop a novel approach to policy compliance checking that leverages an efficient pattern-matching approach to outperform existing techniques by orders of magnitude.
Cooperating Teacher as Model and Coach: What Leads to Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Preparedness?:

Drawing on survey and administrative data on cooperating teachers (CTs) and their preservice student teachers (PSTs) in Chicago Public Schools during 2014-2015, this study offers an in-depth look a...
The Testimonial Imagination or, Literary Practice “After” Testimonio

“The Testimonial Imagination” extends the discussion of Beverley and testimonio launched in the previous section to include two additional, and quite central texts of the Latin American literary tradition, Rigoberta Menchu’s testimonio, and Reinaldo Arenas’ memoir, Before Night Falls. While this section also discusses work by the Cuban-American novelist Cristina Garcia, it shifts the geographical orientation of the larger discussion away from the Caribbean and toward Central America, specifically Guatemala, in order to trouble as well the conventional regional logics of Latinx literary studies by bringing the archipelago into more direct conversation with the isthmus.
Structure-Based Model of RNA Pseudoknot Captures Magnesium-Dependent Folding Thermodynamics

We develop a simple, coarse-grained approach for simulating the folding of the Beet Western Yellow Virus (BWYV) pseudoknot toward the goal of creating a transferable model that can be used to study...
We are All Made of Stars: A Metaphor for Exploring the Greater Whole Beliefs Subsist In

Beliefs influence prospective teachers’ decision-making processes as they resist or accept the curriculum developed by teacher educators. Beliefs of prospective teachers have been considered in a variety of way. In this essay, I develop a metaphor for how beliefs are held based on previous metaphors by Green (1971) and Korthagen (2004). Through this thought experiment, I demonstrate the power of the galaxy metaphor and the possible benefits for researchers. I focus on the use of a hermeneutic lens and the galaxy metaphor to demonstrate how looking at beliefs differently can enhance our consideration of beliefs in teacher education curriculum. Implications of the galaxy metaphor for teacher educators are discussed.
Mechanical performance of co-deposited immiscible Cu-Ta thin films.

The immiscible alloy Cu–Ta has the potential for enhanced mechanical performance in applications as a functional coating. To establish baseline mechanical properties, four Cu–Ta films were co-sputtered at the temperatures 23, 400, 600, and 800 °C and tested with nanoindentation at strain rates 5 $$\times $$ 10−3 s−1 to 10 s−1. Each film had a unique microstructure morphology. The hardness and elastic modulus of the four films were insensitive to strain rate changes. Instead, the measured properties were spatially dependent, particularly in the 600 and 800 °C films. In those two films, there is a bimodal deformation behavior due to Cu-agglomeration under protruding grains and planar Ta-rich regions. Increasing the indentation depth revealed shear band suppression which is related to a homogenous distribution of flow stresses for all four microstructure morphologies. Finally, the Cu–Ta hardness appeared to follow a rule-of-mixtures when compared to extrapolated data of Cu and Ta monolithic films.
Relational Model: Design, Constraints, and Creation

With the expertise built in the last few chapters to be able to *use* an existing database, through construction of SQL queries, and programmatic construction of those queries, we now seek a better understanding on how to *design* a database. This chapter covers a practical approach to designing a *sound database*, which includes design of the *schema* for the tables and their relationships. This entails understanding the constraints of this model governing valid values within tables and also designing for the relationships between tables. The chapter concludes with SQL statements for creating tables and populating with data.
Theatre as method: Performance creation through action research:

In order to truly examine critical cultural and social issues pertaining to young people, researchers must find ways to overcome the ways in which young people naturally filter their responses when...
A De Novo-Designed Artificial Metallopeptide Hydrogenase: Insights into Photochemical Processes and the Role of Protonated Cys.

Hydrogenase enzymes produce H2 gas, which can be a potential source of alternative energy. Inspired by the [NiFe] hydrogenases, we report the construction of a de novo designed artificial hydrogenase (ArH). The ArH is a dimeric coiled coil where two cysteine (Cys) residues are introduced at tandem a/d positions of a heptad to create a tetrathiolato Ni binding site. Spectroscopic studies show that Ni binding significantly stabilizes the peptide producing electronic transitions characteristic of Ni-thiolate proteins. The ArH produces H2 photocatalytically, demonstrating a bell-shaped pH-dependence on activity. Fluorescence lifetimes and transient absorption spectroscopic studies are undertaken to elucidate the nature of pH-dependence, and to monitor the reaction kinetics of the photochemical processes. pH titrations are employed to determine the role of protonated Cys on reactivity. Combined, we find that a fine balance between solution acidity and the electron transfer steps need to be maintained such that the yield of reduced photosensitizer can be maximized to produce the NiI-peptide and the NiII-H- intermediate (Ni-R) is protonated by a Cys (pKa~6.4) to produce H2.
Characterization of the consensus mucosal microbiome of colorectal cancer

Recent evidence suggests that dysbiosis, an imbalance of microbiota, is associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer. Diverse microbial organisms are physically associated with the cells found in tumor biopsies. Characterizing this mucosa-associated microbiome through genome sequencing has advantages compared to culture-based profiling. However, there are notable challenges in accurately characterizing the features of tumor microbiomes with methods like transcriptome sequencing. Most sequence reads originate from the host. Moreover, there is a high likelihood of bacterial contaminants being introduced. Another major challenge is the microbiome diversity among different studies. Colorectal tumors demonstrate a significant extent of microbiome variation among individuals from different geographic and ethnic origins. To address these challenges, we identified a consensus microbiome for colorectal cancer through analyzing 924 tumors from eight independent RNA-Seq data sets. A standardized meta-transcriptomic analysis pipeline was established and applied to the complete CRC cohort. Common contaminants were filtered out. Our study involved taxonomic investigation of non-human sequences, linked microbial signatures to phenotypes and the association of microbiome with tumor microenvironment components. Microbiome profiles across different CRC cohorts were compared, and recurrently altered microbial shifts specific to CRC were determined. We identified cancer-specific set of 114 microbial species associated with tumors that were found among all investigated studies. Validating our approach, we found that Fusobacterium nucleatum was one of the most enriched bacterial species in CRC. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were among the four most abundant phyla for CRC microbiome. Signficant associations between the consensus species and specific immune cell types were noted. Our results are available as a web data resource for other researchers to explore (https://crc-microbiome.stanford.edu).
Ultrasound in Disasters and Austere Environments

Natural disasters and some man-made mass casualty events can produce enough injured patients to overwhelm local health care systems and create loss of healthcare infrastructure, including imaging resources. They may also require healthcare to be provided in austere, resource-limited environments. Current healthcare in high-income nations is extensively based on advanced medical imaging. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2018 data indicates that from 100 to 271 CT scans per 1000 inhabitants were performed in US and EU countries [1]. In the surge of patients occurring during loss of utilities and nonavailability of advanced medical imaging, there may be a critical lack of image-based clinical decision-making support. This will be a severe challenge for trauma care providers. A method to screen and diagnose trauma and non-trauma conditions that is rapid enough to deal with a large patient surge is ultrasound.
Prevalence of Hirsutism Among Reproductive—Aged African American Women

Background: Hirsutism is the most common clinical symptom of hyperandrogenism, but racial and ethnic-specific thresholds have not been established. Our objective was to characterize hirsutism using...
Human Exercise Capabilities in Space

Maintenance of rest and exercise performance are prime requirements for all astronauts during flight, not only for maintaining day-to-day productivity, but also for coping with unlikely emergencies. Indirect estimates of submaximal work capacity (oxygen uptake) made from changes in the heart rates of 27 Apollo astronauts (less than 15-day flights) indicated a reduction in work capacity (maximal oxygen uptake) of 17 to 21 percent. This percentage decrease was similar to that measured in middle-aged men after 21 to 30 days of -6 deg head-down bed-rest deconditioning without exercise training. Heart-rate changes during submaximal exercise in the nine Skylab astronauts suggested that they were better able to maintain their work capacity because of longer and more intensive in-flight exercise training. The strength of the flexor and extensor muscle groups decreased by 2 to 9 percent in the elbow and by 6 to 20 percent in the knee in the Skylab astronauts, also similar to the decreases in men undergoing 30 days of bed-rest deconditioning. Exercise protocols have been devised that result in maintenance of work capacity and muscular strength during 30 to 49 days of bed-rest deconditioning.
Variable embedded capacitor for active systems packaging

Embedded systems play a crucial role is achieving very high component density and functions. Embedded actives have been the focus for three most important paradigms in systems integration. The paradigms are system in a package (SIP), system on a package (SOP) and system on a chip (SOC). ITRS road map requires very high component density by the year 2007. Embedded passives play an important role in determining frequency stability and signal integrity. Their stability depends on design, choice of material and process. There are limitations in achieving accurate parameters in the passives. Embedded passives have non reversible function or reworkability. These needs require techniques and process developed to have controlled actives which can change its parameters in a combination of mechanical, electrical and material properties. Flip chips are assembled on substrates enable thermal management. The need to mount several chip in unit area drives assembly process to wafer level chip stacking. There is need for embedded techniques to achieve good process for variable capacitors, resistors and inductors along with embedded flip chips. In this paper, we characterized the performance of a novel embedded variable capacitor fabricated using a polymer dielectric material, with one metal electrode fabricated on a low strength back plane to allow the electrode to flex. Sol-gel process is selected as it is a versatile technology to produce fine powders, fibers, coatings and is expected to yield highly homogeneous thin/thick films. A variable DC current is applied on the piezoelectric material to deform the dielectric, thereby changing the capacitance thus allowing the dielectric to behave as a variable capacitor. The compression effect on the dielectric also causes a thickness variation there by making the already submicron thick dielectric vary in thickness. The thinner dielectric makes it suitable for high frequency capacitance application. By changing the thickness of the dielectric and varying the frequency, the capacitor becomes very suitable to work over a broad range of frequencies and capacitances. The characteristics including material components and construction, dielectric properties and topography at metal-dielectric interfaces are optimized for a wide frequency band width. Attention is given to frequency dependence of the different material properties. Effects of the material characteristics on electrical performance, including capacitance are examined. Finally, processing and fabrication issues are discussed.
Effect of v-rasH Oncogene Transfection on Estrogen-independent Tumorigenicity of Estrogen-dependent Human Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract Spontaneous or therapeutically induced progression of hormone-dependent human breast cancer to a form not amenable to endocrine treatment has been frequently recorded in clinical settings. In an experimental model system, we have changed the estrogen-dependent tumorigenicity of a human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, to an independent state by stably introducing a model oncogene, v-rasH, into this cell line by means of DNA transfection. We now show that the oncogene-transfected hormone-independent MCF-7 cells may secrete diffusible tumorigenic factors that not only support their own tumor growth in vivo, but are also humorally active in partially triggering the tumor growth of wild type previously nontumorigenic MCF-7 cells, even when the wild type cells are implanted at a distant anatomical site in the same animal. Estrogen-independent tumor formation by MCF-7 cells was also induced in 50% of animals given injection by continuous administration of conditioned media from MCF-7-ras cells. However, the wild type tumors had limited tumor growth. Tumors were verified as adenocarcinomas and by Southern blotting were shown to be derived from the cells injected. In an in vitro coculture assay, a 5- to 7-fold enhancement in anchorage-independent growth of MCF-7 cells was observed in the presence of MCF-7-ras feeder cell layer. These data suggest that v-rasH-induced estrogen-independent tumorigenicity of human breast cancer cells occurs by secretion of mitogens which may function in an endocrine manner.
Analyzing the turnout-competition link with aggregate cross-sectional data*

Numerous papers by Public Choice oriented scholars and others have sought to test the hypothesis inspired by Downs (1957) that, ceteris paribus, turnout should be higher when elections are close. Most look in cross-sectional terms at variations in turnout at the constituency level for elections of a given type. By and large the results have been disappointing (see, e.g., Foster, 1984). We are skeptical of these weak findings and argue that a complete portrait of the turnout-competition link requires us to examine that link for at least three different types of turnout (turnout among potential eligibles, turnout among registrants, and turnout for a given office relative to other offices such as top of the ticket), and to take into account longitudinal changes in turnout. For recent off-year elections to the U.S. Senate and also for off-year elections to the U.S. House of Representatives in states where there was no gubernatorial or senatorial contest on the ballot, we find strong evidence for higher turnout among eligibles in close contests. For these elections to the U.S. Senate we also find evidence for an ecological effect that leads to turnout being maximized at values of competition other than 50–50. Moreover, when we look at turnout for office relative to top of the ticket voting in the California Assembly and the U.S. Senate in presidential years, we again find some evidence for an ecological effect in which turnout is maximized at a value of Republican vote share above 50 percent and find further strong evidence for a clear link between competition and turnout for office among those at the polls.
Constrained KP hierarchy as a ratio of differential operators

In this article, we prove an equivalence between two different approaches to the constrained KP (cKP) hierarchy. One is based on the reduction process from the complete KP hierarchy involving the eigenfunctions of the original KP Lax operator. The other represents the cKP Lax operators as a ratio of differential operators. The elementary proof of equivalence requires only some basic notions of the ordinary differential operator calculus. Relation to the squared eigenfunction potential is briefly discussed.
Tooth‐Inspired Nanocomposites

The sections in this article are Introduction Biologically Formed Nanocomposites Nanocomposite Synthesis Enamel Enamel Hierarchical Structure Molecular Mechanisms in Amelogenesis (Enamel Formation) Amelogenin Other Enamel Proteins Synthesis of Enamel-Like Organized Apatite Crystals Amelogenin-Based Nanocomposites Controlled Crystallization of Apatite by Amelogenin Biomimetic Coatings Using Simulated Body Fluid Amelogenin-Apatite Coatings Using Electrodeposition (ELD) Bioinspired Remineralization of Enamel Dentin Types of Dentin Dentin Hierarchical Structure Molecular Mechanisms in Dentinogenesis (Dentin Formation) Collagen Noncollagenous Extracellular Matrix Proteins Collagen–Calcium Phosphate Nanocomposites Biomimetic Collagen Mineralization Using SBF Bioinspired Mineralization of Collagen Collagen-Apatite Coating in Modified SBF Collagen-Apatite Coating by Electrodeposition Dentin Remineralization Summary and Future Perspective Acknowledgments Abbreviations Keywords: amelogenin; hydroxyapatite; self-assembly; enamel; dentin; collagen; biomimetic
River Town Chronicles

For most of my life I have lived in a community beside a river. A river has watered the roots of my family since 1850 when my pater nal great-grandfather, a fugitive slave, found the Mississippi a route to freedom and made his escape from a southern Missouri planta tion across the river to the Free State of Illinois. Henry Penny was superstitious about mice and saw in their presence a sign of pros perity and good fortune. He thought mice were smart because they showed up in times of plenty when more crumbs were dropped. One day, he discovered a nest of them in the deep pocket of an old duster hanging in a barn. He took this as sign of an opportune time to take flight, so he hid a worn but serviceable canoe in tall grass at the river's edge until nightfall when he could cross undetected to Kaskaskia, Illinois, an early French settlement on the Lewis and Clark Trail. Kaskaskia stuck out into the channel as a peninsula attached to Illinois and the river flowed around it in a slow-moving oxbow. In 1871, an earthquake would alter the river dramatically, overwhelming Kaskaskia, carrying most of it downstream, and leav ing it an island in the middle of the river channel. Much later, as a student in nearby Chester, Illinois, I got to know Frenchand Slavic surnamed classmates who were bused in from Kaskaskia Island.