cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Categorization and repair of recurrent and acquired tracheoesophageal fistulae occurring after esophageal atresia repair.

Abstract Purpose Recurrent trachea-esophageal fistula (recTEF) is a frequent (5%–10%) complication of congenital TEF (conTEF) and esophageal atresia (EA) repair. In addition, postoperative acquired TEF (acqTEF) can occur in addition to or even in the absence of prior conTEF in the setting of esophageal anastomotic complications. Reliable repair often proves difficult by endoluminal or standard surgical techniques. We present the results of an approach that reliably identifies the TEF and facilitates airway closure as well as repair of associated tracheal and esophageal problems. Methods Retrospective review of 66 consecutive patients 2009–2016 (55 referrals and 11 local) who underwent repair via reoperative thoracotomy or cervicotomy for recTEF and acqTEF (IRB P00004344). Our surgical approach used complete separation of the airway and esophagus, which reliably revealed the TEF (without need for cannulation) and freed the tissues for primary closure of the trachea and frequently resection of the tracheal diverticulum. For associated esophageal strictures, stricturoplasty or resection was performed. Separation of the suture lines by rotational pexy of the both esophagus and the trachea, and/or tissue interposition were used to further inhibit re-recurrence. For associated severe tracheomalacia, posterior tracheopexy to the anterior spinal ligament was utilized. Results The TEFs were recurrent (77%), acquired from esophageal leaks (26%), in addition to persistent or missed H-type (6%). Seven patients in this series had multiple TEFs of more than one category. Of the acqTEF cases, 6 were esophagobronchial, 10 esophagopulmonic, 2 esophagotracheal (initial pure EA cases), and 2 from a gastric conduit to the trachea. Upon referral, 18 patients had failed endoluminal treatments; and open operations for recTEF had failed in 18 patients. Significant pulmonary symptoms were present in all. During repairs, 58% were found to have a large tracheal diverticulum, and 51% had posterior tracheopexy for significant tracheomalacia. For larger esophageal defects, 32% were treated by stricturoplasty and 37% by segmental resection. Rotational pexy of the trachea and/or esophagus was utilized in 62% of cases to achieve optimal suture line separation. Review with a mean follow-up of 35months identified no recurrences, and resolution of pulmonary symptoms in all. Stricture treatment required postoperative dilations in 30, and esophageal replacement in 6 for long strictures. There was one death. Conclusion This retrospective review of 66 patients with postoperative recurrent and acquired TEF following esophageal atresia repair is the largest such series to date and provides a new categorization for postoperative TEF that helps clarify the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for management.
Environmental niche models for riverine desert fishes and their similarity according to phylogeny and functionality.

Environmental filtering and competitive exclusion are hypotheses frequently invoked in explaining species' environmental niches (i.e., geographic distributions). A key assumption in both hypotheses is that the functional niche (i.e., species traits) governs the environmental niche, but few studies have rigorously evaluated this assumption. Furthermore, phylogeny could be associated with these hypotheses if it is predictive of functional niche similarity via phylogenetic signal or convergent evolution, or of environmental niche similarity through phylogenetic attraction or repulsion. The objectives of this study were to investigate relationships between environmental niches, functional niches, and phylogenies of fishes of the Upper (UCRB) and Lower (LCRB) Colorado River Basins of southwestern North America. We predicted that functionally similar species would have similar environmental niches (i.e., environmental filtering) and that closely related species would be functionally similar (i.e., phylogenetic signal) and possess similar environmental niches (i.e., phylogenetic attraction). Environmental niches were quantified using environmental niche modeling, and functional similarity was determined using functional trait data. Nonnatives in the UCRB provided the only support for environmental filtering, which resulted from several warmwater nonnatives having dam number as a common predictor of their distributions, whereas several cool- and coldwater nonnatives shared mean annual air temperature as an important distributional predictor. Phylogenetic signal was supported for both natives and nonnatives in both basins. Lastly, phylogenetic attraction was only supported for native fishes in the LCRB and for nonnative fishes in the UCRB. Our results indicated that functional similarity was heavily influenced by evolutionary history, but that phylogenetic relationships and functional traits may not always predict the environmental distribution of species. However, the similarity of environmental niches among warmwater centrarchids, ictalurids, fundulids, and poeciliids in the UCRB indicated that dam removals could influence the distribution of these nonnatives simultaneously, thus providing greater conservation benefits. However, this same management strategy would have more limited effects on nonnative salmonids, catostomids, and percids with colder temperature preferences, thus necessitating other management strategies to control these species.
PML in natalizumab-treated multiple sclerosis: Modeling errors and risk miscalculations.

The 2004 approval of natalizumab provided great hope for the multiple sclerosis (MS) community, while its withdrawal from the market shortly thereafter, following reports of treatment-related progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML),1 was a crushing blow. Its reintroduction in 2006 was accompanied by a formal safety monitoring program.2 Subsequently, risk factors were identified for natalizumab-associated PML: a history of prior immunosuppression, length of natalizumab therapy, and baseline positive JC virus (JCV) serostatus.1 Among those who have not previously used immunosuppressive therapies, the JCV antibody titer may help further characterize PML risk.3 Those with a detectable but low JCV antibody titer (≤0.9) carry a small risk of the complication, while those with titers >1.5 appear to be at much higher risk of PML. One calculation suggested increasing risk based on epochs of treatment, defined as 1–24, 25–48, or 49–72 months. The apparent risk inflection point that occurs after 24 months has led some neurologists to counsel patients that the risk of PML is very low within the 2 years on nataluzimab.4
Multifunctional polyHIPE wound dressings for the treatment of severe limb trauma

Abstract Trauma suffered in combat is frequently of greater severity than that faced in the civilian sector and access to advanced care is often limited. Therefore, multifunctional wound dressings, capable of high absorption, hemostatic activity and antimicrobial drug delivery, are of significant interest in improving point-of-injury care. Here, polymeric foams composed of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, sodium/calcium polyacrylate and PNIPAM, were synthesized via high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) templating and demonstrated exceptional material properties and biological performance for application as wound dressing materials. The polyHIPE foams exhibited typical HIPE hierarchical microstructure, a high capacity for fluid absorption and excellent cytocompatibility. Furthermore, the materials were highly effective at clotting whole blood and capable of loading/delivering active antibiotics. Porous polymeric foams prepared via high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) offer an exciting method for the rational design of wound dressing materials that are highly absorptive, hemostatic and capable of antimicrobial drug delivery.
Morally accounting for sex selection online in Turkey

The Internet, beyond providing opportunities for advertising reproductive services, offers people an anonymous social space to exchange information, support, and personal stories regarding their reproductive goals and to enact reproductive moral reasoning regarding controversial biotechnologies in complex ways. Focusing on the online discussion forum of the Turkish web portal Women’s Club, this article examines the moral negotiations of sex selection by women seeking to legitimize or delegitimize it through rhetorical appeal to a mix of science, religion, gender, ignorance, propitiousness, and modernity. By doing so, it will reveal the ways in which women forum members work to craft not only moral selves and technologies but also a shared space for moral reflection. By examining the discursive content of Turkish women’s postings concerning sex selection, I argue that online forums offer these women an anonymous moral space to discuss their reproductive goals, although some family secrets do not escape the moral scrutiny of others even within these forums. The heterogeneity and complexity of women’s moral engagements with reproductive technologies on the Internet demonstrates that reproductive issues are moral issues directly related to the expectations for women as gendered beings, as individuals, family members, and as citizens, and also serve to reproduce social relations, including patriarchal inequalities.
Overexpression of MMPs in Corneas Requiring Penetrating and Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty.

Author(s): Wolf, Marie; Clay, Selene M; Oldenburg, Catherine E; Rose-Nussbaumer, Jennifer; Hwang, David G; Chan, Matilda F | Abstract: PurposeMatrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) comprise a family of zinc-dependent endopeptidases involved in wound healing processes, including neovascularization and fibrosis. We assessed MMP protein expression levels in diseased corneas of patients requiring penetrating and deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that upregulation of MMPs in diseased corneas is positively associated with clinical levels of corneal neovascularization and fibrosis.MethodsProtein expression levels of nine individual MMPs were quantified simultaneously in human corneal lysates by using the Bio-Plex Pro Human MMP 9-Plex Panel and the MAGPIX technology. Measurements of MMP1, MMP2, MMP3, MMP7, MMP8, MMP9, MMP10, MMP12, and MMP13 were performed on diseased specimens from 21 patients undergoing corneal transplantation (17 for penetrating keratoplasty and 4 for deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty) and 6 normal control corneas.ResultsLuminex-based expression analysis revealed a significant overexpression of four of the nine MMPs tested (MMP2, MMP8, MMP12, and MMP13) in patient samples compared to control. Significant overexpression of MMP1, MMP2, MMP8, MMP12, and MMP13 was observed in diseased corneas with neovascularization compared with diseased corneas without neovascularization. Overexpression of MMP1, MMP2, MMP8, MMP12, and MMP13 also corresponded with the levels of corneal fibrosis. Finally, reduced expression of MMP3 was detected in keratoconus patients.ConclusionsMultiple MMPs are expressed in the corneas of patients with chronic disease requiring keratoplasty even when the pathologic process appears to be clinically inactive. In particular, the expression of several MMPs (MMP2, MMP8, MMP12, and MMP13) is positively associated with increased levels corneal fibrosis and neovascularization.
Olfactory Receptors: Microarray Analysis

Olfactory receptors (ORs) constitute the largest family of G-protein-coupled receptors. By means of a high-throughput microarray-based method for studying OR gene expression, tissue-specific expression in the olfactory sensory epithelium has been observed for most OR genes, and OR-like genes have been identified by their specific expression in nonolfactory tissues. The spatial and temporal patterns of OR expression provide new insights into transcriptional regulation of this gene family. The unique, custom array design also permits the characterization of the 3′ untranslated regions for ORs, which are important for posttranscriptional regulation. OR microarrays have been proved to be tremendously useful tools for understanding the molecular basis of the chemical senses.
High-Purity Sine Wave Generation Using Nonlinear DAC With Predistortion Based on Low-Cost Accurate DAC–ADC Co-Testing

Data converters are among the most widely used components in modern integrated devices and systems. A major challenge is to characterize their performances accurately and cost effectively. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC) standard test requires the input sinusoidal signal to be 3–4 b better than that of the ADC under test. Such high-quality sine waves are extremely difficult to generate and challenging to implement cost effectively. This paper presents a novel method that is capable of generating a high-purity sine wave using a nonlinear digital-to-analog converter (DAC), whose purity is significantly better than the original DAC output. In addition, with the aid of the low-cost DAC–ADC co-testing method, both DAC and ADC linearity information are accurately obtained with only 1 hit per code. Therefore, it is possible to add DAC linearity information to the DAC input codes, which cancels the nonlinearity of the DAC at output to achieve high purity. The proposed method has been validated by extensive simulation and measurement results, which demonstrated its accuracy and robustness against different resolutions, structures, or performance of the ADCs/DACs. With its low cost and easy test setup, such high-purity sine wave can be widely used for various applications where precision testing is required. In addition, the ADC and DAC linearity information is accurately obtained at the same time without any precision instrumentation, which is suitable for accurate DAC–ADC co-testing.
Taking back the power: an analysis of Black women’s communicative resistance

Black women are a structurally oppressed group in a subordinate position in the power hierarchy. Language is an important demonstration of group identity and is used to manage the day-to-day realit...
Respiratory complications after open-heart surgery.

Summary The over-all incidence of postoperative respiratory complications in 242 patients undergoing cardiac or aortic surgery with the use of extracorporeal circulation was assessed at 61.5 per cent. Of these, 19.8 per cent could be classified as severe. The highest incidence of respiratory complications occurred in those patients undergoing operation on more than one valve and severe complications were also most frequent in this group. Mitral valve operations produced less respiratory complications than multiple valve operations but more respiratory complications than aortic valve procedures. Operations for congenital lesions were followed by the lowest incidence of respiratory complications. Pre-existing pulmonary disease and pulmonary arterial disease were significant factors in the development of postoperative respiratory complications in patients undergoing mitral and multiple valve operations. The duration of operation appeared to be more important than the duration of perfusion in relation to the development of respiratory complications in all groups. Postoperative congestive heart failure was a significant factor in all groups. Postoperative renal failure and re-exploration were seen most frequently in patients with severe pulmonary complications. Age at operation was important only in the group with congenital disease.
Emotional Disorders and Mental Illness Associated with Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period

It would be most desirable to have a precise and inclusive nosology of the emotional and mental disorders associated with pregnancy and the postpartum period. This is particularly true because of the far-reaching implications of pregnancy for the family and for the next generation. It inevitably has an impact on family dynamics and on the intrapsychic and interpersonal processes of the woman and her mate. Perhaps, most important of all, there is a need to conceptualize any disease process that occurs during this time in a way that takes into account another developing organism, both in terms of its possible significance for present (intrauterine) and future well-being. It is this fact more than any other that makes the assessment, diagnosis, prevention, and management of disorders during pregnancy unique.
Personal Network Correlates and Predictors of Homelessness for Injection Drug Users in Baltimore, Maryland

Injection drug users are at high risk for homelessness and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This study sought to examine incidence rates and the social and economic antecedents of homelessness of impoverished inner-city injection drug users. Of the 569 participants, from a nontreatment sample who participated HIV prevention study, interviewed at baseline, 324 (57%) were reinterviewed 5.2 months later. At baseline 48% of the participants reported that they had been homeless in the past 10 years. Of the 324, 18% reported that at both interviews they had been homeless within the prior 6 months, 12% reported homelessness at baseline but not at follow-up, and 8% reported homelessness at follow-up but not at baseline. At baseline personal social support network characteristic of size of material aid and size of sex network was found to be associated with self-reports of homelessness. Baseline reports of presence of mother in personal network, size of material aid network, and network density were found to be associated with reports of homelessness at follow-up. These result suggest the need for alternative approaches to addressing issues of homelessness injection drug users.
Corporate Corruption in the New Economy

In popular usage the “New Economy” refers to developments in the late 1990s such as the rise of the Internet, a boom in tech stocks, an explosion of dot-com start-ups, and the appearance of new business doctrines and cultures. Countless revelations that surfaced after the boom came to an illegal end, suggesting that epic fraud was as much a part of the New Economy as the dot-coms had been. The epidemic of crime among the ranks of prestigious corporations and professionals puzzled observers across the intellectual spectrum. Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan, fonnerly an exuberant fan of the New Economy, rued its “infectious greed”. Law professor Frank Partnoy asked whether, in the wake of regulatory and cultural shifts, it was possible to convict business actors of financial crimes.1 Sociologist Paul Hirsch remarked that the participants in the frauds had occupied central positions but apparently “rejected” the “legal culture” of the mainstream.2 Robert Tillman and Michael Indergaard asked, “How was it that such a broad spectrum of Corporate America ended up a field of schemes?”3
Domain-specific Parenting Practices and Adolescent Self-esteem, Problem Behaviors, and Competence

In parent socialization research, it has been suggested that the specific practices parents apply to regulate different domains or areas of adolescents’ lives be examined to add greater specificity to domain-general studies of parenting styles or patterns and to better understand the link between parenting practices and adolescent adjustment. We examined from adolescents’ perspectives the parenting practices their mothers and fathers used when regulating different issues in different areas of adolescents’ lives. We examined 18 issues (e.g., grades, platonic friendship; smoking, fighting with siblings, choice of future career), classified into the moral, conventional, personal, and prudential domains, and multifaceted issues (issues that share features of more than one domain). We also examined whether domain variations in parenting practices are related to adolescents’ social and academic competence; self-esteem; internalizing, externalizing, attention, and total problems. Adolescents between 13 to 18 years of age (N = 182; M = 16.01 years of age; SD = 1.25) were interviewed (50 to 75 min) about the parenting practices their mothers and fathers employ for different issues. Adolescents also completed questionnaires on demographics and on their social and academic competence; self-esteem; internalizing, externalizing, attention, and total problems. Adolescent adjustment associated with some parenting practices (e.g., punishment) were domain-specific (e.g., positive in moral domain but negative in prudential domain). However, certain parenting practices (e.g., verbal hostility, coercion) were related to negative adjustment and others to positive adjustment (e.g., monitoring) irrespective of domains. The present study advances theoretical propositions regarding domain-specificity and domain generality of parenting practices.
Research on New Circulating Current Control Strategy for Increasing the Power Transmission Capacity of Modular Multilevel Converter

the unique performance advantages owned by modular multilevel converter (MMC) make it widely used in the field of high voltage direct current (HVDC). However, the high investment cost of converter restricts the application and development of MMC-HVDC technology. Based on the operating characteristics of MMC, this paper presents a novel circulating current control strategy considering double frequency harmonic current injected, and gives mathematical calculation of both amplitude and phase of the double-frequency harmonic current injected. The introduction of this novel strategy can implement the reduction of the peak value of the arm current up to 20% compared with the original one, improve the current utilization rate of the switch, and enhance the power delivery capability of the converter up to 25%. Last but not least, the simulation model of MMC is established in RT-LAB, and the novel circulating current control strategy is carried out, where the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is well demonstrated by the simulations.
Determination of The Most Suitable Type of Fresh Milk in Istanbul Province

The data in this study was provided from 400 households in the Kucukcekmece District of Istanbul Province in 2011. Unclustered Proportional Sampling Method was used to determine the sample size of the study. The primary objective of this study was to identify the most suitable type of milk for consumers. In determining the most appropriate type, four criteria were taken into account. These criteria are hygiene, shelf-life, nutritional content, and price. Based on the data, milk consumption was 30.2 L per annum per capita in Istanbul Province. The households consist of about 3.7 individuals, and they give importance to hygiene by 26.4 percent, shelf-life by 26.7 percent, nutritional content by 29.6 percent and price by 17.2 percent. 55.3 percent of the households prefer UHT (long of shelf-life Tetra Pac packaged milk which heat-treated range of 135-150°C in a short period of 2-4 seconds) milk, 28.5 percent prefer Pasteurized milk, and 16.2 percent prefer Raw milk. Also, while households gave more importance to price and nutrient content at the raw and pasteurized milk, shelf life and hygiene content at UHT milk. Considering these criteria, the most suitable type of milk for the consumers was UHT milk. As a result, the national companies marketing pasteurized milk in the research area need advertisement works that inform the consumers regarding pasteurized milk.
Naloxone Deserts in NJ Cities: Sociodemographic Factors Which May Impact Retail Pharmacy Naloxone Availability.

Retail pharmacies in NJ are permitted to dispense naloxone without a prescription. However, not all pharmacies have participated in this effort, and it is not clear what factors may impact its availability. We sought to determine the naloxone availability of select NJ cities and what sociodemographic factors are associated with its availability. We compared naloxone availability in retail pharmacies to median household income, population, and the prevalence of opioid-related hospital visits (ORHV). All retail pharmacies in ten New Jersey cities were surveyed by phone in February–July 2017. The standardized survey instrument asked scripted questions to each pharmacist concerning the stocking of naloxone for dispensing. Median household income data and population data for each city were obtained from census.gov . Opioid-related hospital visits were obtained through the NJ SHAD database and the prevalence of ORHV was calculated. Naloxone availability was compared to median household income, population, and ORHV using Spearman’s rho and Pearson’s correlation. Naloxone availability in the 90 retail pharmacies we surveyed was 31% and ranged from 15.38 to 66.67% by city. An increase in median household income indicated more pharmacy naloxone availability. An increase in population indicated less pharmacy naloxone availability. While no significant relationship existed between ORHV and pharmacy naloxone availability, we did identify individual cities with severe opioid-related public health concerns with limited naloxone access. Naloxone deserts exist in select high-risk New Jersey cities, and pharmacy naloxone availability may be positively related to median household income and negatively related to population.
Rural-Urban Differences in Access to Primary Care: Beyond the Usual Source of Care Provider.

Introduction In the U.S., rural residents have poorer health than urban residents and this disadvantage is growing. Therefore, it is important to understand rural–urban differences in access to medical care. This study compared the percentage of individuals with a usual source of care and characteristics of usual source of care providers across 3 urban–rural categories. Methods This study identified 51,920 adults from the 2014–2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and estimated the percentage with a usual source of care across the rural–urban categories. Then, differences in a variety of provider characteristics were examined. Estimates were weighted to be representative of the U.S. non-institutionalized population and adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, self-rated health, and presence of chronic conditions. Analysis was conducted in 2018 and 2019. Results Compared with metropolitan county residents, residents of the most rural counties were 7 percentage points more likely to have a usual source of care (81% vs 74%), but their providers were 13 percentage points less likely to be physicians (22% vs 35%). Despite having to travel longer to reach their usual source of care providers, residents of the most rural counties were 18 percentage points less likely than metropolitan residents to have usual source of care providers with office hours on nights and weekends (27% vs 39%). Conclusions Rural–urban differences in access to care are complex; there is a rural disadvantage on some dimensions of access but not others. To understand rural–urban disparities in healthcare access, research should move beyond the usual source of care provider as an overall indicator and instead investigate disparities using multiple indicators of access based on theoretically distinct domains.
IR absorption spectra for isolated molecules of nitrosamines using density functional theory

Calculations are presented of vibrational absorption spectra for isolated molecules of nitorsamines using density function theory (DFT). These contaminants are among widely spread carcinogens in the environment of industrial countries. DFT calculated absorption spectra of isolated molecules represent quantitative estimates that can be correlated with additional information obtained from laboratory measurements. The DFT software GAUSSIAN was used for calculating the infrared (IR) spectra presented here. DFT calculated spectra can be used to construct templates, which are for spectral-feature comparison, and thus detection of spectral-signature features associated with target materials.
Deepsharpen: Deep-Learning Based Sharpening Of 3D Reconstruction Map From Cryo-Electron Microscopy

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has proven to be a promising tool for recovering the 3D structure of biological macromolecules. The cryo-EM map which is reconstructed from a large set of projection images, is then used for recovering the atomic model of the molecule. The accuracy of the fitted atomic model depends on the quality of the cryo-EM map. Due to current limitations during imaging or reconstruction process, the reconstructed map usually lacks interpretability and requires further quality enhancement post-processing. In this work, we present a data-driven solution to improve the quality of low-resolution cryo-EM maps. For this purpose, we generate a synthetic dataset generated from deposited protein structures in protein data bank (PDB). This dataset includes low and high-resolution map pairs in multiple resolutions. This dataset is then used to train a fully convolutional network. Our results justify the potential of our method in successfully recovering details for simulated and experimental maps. Moreover, compared to state-of-the-art cryo-EM map sharpening methods, our approach not only provides good results but is also computationally efficient.
Mervyn Susser (1921–2014): Fighter for Social Justice and Pioneer in Epidemiology

The article discusses the life and work of epidemiologist Mervyn Susser. Topics include Susser's work campaigning against the apartheid system of racial segregation, his focus, with his wife Zena Stein, on health and social injustice while running a clinic for non-Whites in South Africa, and Susser and Stein's work fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic that broke out in the 1980s.
Resting state functional MRI in infants with prenatal opioid exposure-a pilot study.

Exposure to prenatal opioids may adversely impact the developing brain networks. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate alterations in amygdalar functional connectivity in human infants with prenatal opioid exposure. In this prospective IRB approved study, we performed resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) in 10 infants with prenatal opioid exposure and 12 infants without prenatal drug exposure at < 48 weeks corrected gestational age. Following standard preprocessing, we performed seed-based functional connectivity analysis with the right and left amygdala as the regions of interest after correcting for maternal depression and infant sex. We compared functional connectivity of the amygdala network between infants with and without prenatal opioid exposure. There were significant differences in connectivity of the amygdala seed regions to the several cortical regions including the medial prefrontal cortex in infants who had prenatal opioid exposure when compared with opioid naive infants. This finding of increased amygdala functional connectivity in infants with in utero opioid exposure suggests a potential role of maternal opioid exposure on infants’ altered amygdala function. This association with prenatal exposure needs to be replicated in future larger studies.
s-Expanded Transfer Function using UaL Decomposition with Convolution & Deconvolution

This article provides two new features that in combinations facilitate the construction of a transfer function in RC and RL circuits, and in s-expanded polynomials. First is the introduction of tuple-based array manipulations, where multiplications and divisions are replaced with convolutions and deconvolutions, respectively. Second, it introduces a new UaL decomposition for tuple-based matrices. The UaL decomposition is proven to be computationally more efficient compared to the traditional LU factorization. It is shown that the growth of the entries in both U and L matrices are gradual and follow a geometrical pattern, as the decomposition progresses. Another important feature of the UaL decomposition is that it does not generate nonzero remainders, or simply, it is “cancellation free”. The method is applied to the MNA representation of an RC (or RL) circuit. Finally, it is shown that working in the tuple-based format puts the U and L matrix entries into s-expanded form, such as P(s) = a n sn + a n-1 sn-1 +…+ a 0 , which in turn produces s-expanded transfer functions.
Bidirectional effects of estradiol on the control of water intake in female rats

Abstract The inhibitory effect of estradiol (E2) on water intake has been recognized for 50 years. Despite a rich literature describing this phenomenon, we report here a previously unidentified dipsogenic effect of E2 during states of low fluid intake. Our initial goal was to test the hypothesis that the anti-dipsogenic effect of E2 on unstimulated water intake is independent of its anorexigenic effect in female rats. In support of this hypothesis, water intake was reduced during estrus, compared to diestrus, when food was present or absent. Water intake was reduced by E2 in ovariectomized rats when food was available, demonstrating a causative role of E2. Surprisingly, however, when food was removed, resulting in a significant reduction in baseline water intake, E2 enhanced drinking. Accordingly, we next tested the effect of E2 on water intake after an acute suppression of intake induced by exendin-4. The initial rebound drinking was greater in E2-treated, compared to Oil-treated, rats. Finally, to reconcile conflicting reports regarding the effect of ovariectomy on water intake, we measured daily water and food intake, and body weight in ovariectomized and sham-operated rats. Predictably, ovariectomy significantly increased food intake and body weight, but only transiently increased water intake. Together these results provide further support for independent effects of E2 on the controls of water and food intake. More importantly, this report of bidirectional effects of E2 on water intake may lead to a paradigm shift, as it challenges the prevailing view that E2 effects on fluid intake are exclusively inhibitory.
Two-photon polymerization of anisotropic composites using acoustic streaming

Abstract In this work, an acoustic streaming-assisted Two-Photon Polymerization process (TPP) was developed for manufacturing anisotropic particle-polymer composites. Acoustic field (AF)-assisted constant microcirculation of nanoparticles within a droplet, also known as acoustic streaming (AS), results in nanoparticle trapping within TPP printed grooved surfaces. The effect of the acoustic voltage on the flow velocity and particle trapping efficiency is modeled and characterized. The identified optimum input voltage was used to generate the proper acoustic streaming to trap particles within polymer grooves during TPP process to produce a three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic particle-polymer composite in a layer-by-layer fashion. Experimental results validated the feasibility of the proposed manufacturing approach.
Plasma diamine oxidase activity in pregnancy: a reappraisal.

Abstract A modified method for assay of diamine oxidase (DAO) activity in plasma was developed. This method was applied to assay of DAO activity in plasma obtained from 154 pregnant women of whom 124 had normal pregnancies and 30 had “high-risk” pregnancies. The findings of previous investigators were confirmed that DAO activities tend to rise rapidly during the first trimester and remain elevated during the second and third trimesters. Using this modified assay technique, however, we were unable to define any lower limit of normal for DAO activity. We were unable to confirm the utility of assays of DAO activity for purposes of either detecting or predicting the outcome of “high-risk” pregnancies.
Low latitude absorption spectra

Absorption spectra of the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen at low latitudes constitute a new tracer of galactic structure, quite different from HI emission spectra because the absorption coefficient is proportional to n/T whereas the emission coefficient is proportional only to density n and independent of temperature T. So absorption surveys are sensitive to cool regions only (T ≲ 250 K) and avoid the blending of different phases of the interstellar medium which confuses emission spectra. Line widths in absorption are typically only two to three km s−1, whereas emission lines may be 10 to 20 km s−1 wide. At low latitudes where galactic rotation provides kinematic distance estimates, the narrower line widths translate into higher spatial resolution; in a typical direction the emission linewidth corresponds to about 100 pc in z, whereas the absorption linewidth is only about 20 pc in z. In this way 21 cm absorption is like CO emission, but unlike CO it does not require high densities (n ≳ 500 cm−3) for excitation.
Management of venous thrombosis in the pediatric patient

The incidence of venous thromboembolism in children has increased significantly over the past decade. The evaluation and management of the child with venous thromboembolism, while based on the adult experience, has its own particularities dictated by the differences in the hemostatic system of the newborn and child. The current review addresses the evaluation of pediatric patient with thrombosis as well as the established and emerging treatment interventions.
The Evaluations of Swine Flu Magnitudes in TV News: A Comparative Analysis of Paired Influenza Pandemics

This study examined how major TV news networks covered two flu pandemics in 1976 and 2009 in terms of news frames, mortality exemplars, mortality subject attributes, vaccination, evaluation approaches, and news sources. Results showed that the first pandemic was frequently framed with the medical/scientific and political/legal issues, while the second pandemic was emphasized with the health risk issue in TV news. Both flu pandemics were regularly reported with mortality exemplars, but the focus in the first pandemic was on the flu virus threat and vaccination side effects, while the vaccination shortage was frequently revealed in the second outbreak.
A new paradigm for requirements specification and analysis of system-of-systems

In a system-of-systems, the number of possible combinations of interactions among the systems is theoretically infinite. System ”unravelings” have an intelligence of their own as they expose hidden connections, neutralize redundancies, and exploit chance circumstances for which no system engineer might plan. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm for system-of-systems design. Rather than decompose each system within the system-of-systems in a functional fashion, we treat the system-of-systems as a single entity that is comprised of abstract classes. We demonstrate how our paradigm can be used to both avoid the introduction of accidental complexity and control essential complexity by applying object-oriented concepts of decentralized control flow, minimal messaging between classes, implicit case analysis, and information-hiding mechanisms. We argue that our paradigm can aid in the creation of sound designs for the system-of-systems in contrast to creating a federation of systems through a highly coupled communication medium.
Performance analysis of degradable multiprocessor system using time scale decomposition of GSPNs

A time-scale decomposition (TSD) algorithm of a class of generalized stochastic Petri net (GSPN) models for performance evaluation of degradable multiprocessor systems is presented. The failure and repair rates in a multiprocessor system are an order of magnitude smaller than the rates of job arrival and completion; therefore, the GSPN models of these systems are decomposed into a hierarchical sequence of aggregated subnets, each of which is valid at a certain time scale. These smaller subnets are involved in isolation, and their solutions are combined to get the solution of the whole system. The algorithm is described step-by-step using a simple example. Then a large degradable multiprocessor system, which is intractable using conventional GSPN solution techniques, is analyzed. The complexity of the TSD algorithm is an order of magnitude smaller. >
Hair Follicle Tumors

The bewildering variety of hair follicle proliferations and tumors is demonstrated by the complex terminology used to describe them. Hair follicle tumors were originally described and named during the late 19th century. Little more was accomplished until the last 25 years, when newer knowledge of the hair cycle and structure made biochemical and ultrastructural studies of such tumors possible (Duperrat and Mascaro 1965, Pinkus and Mehregan 1969, Headington 1976, Pinkus 1978). The second effort at studies of hair tumors produced not only new insight into their bipgenesis but also a new group of names so that now most tumors have new, as well as old, names, and sometimes more than one of each (Table 1).
Prospective Analysis of the Safety and Efficacy of Percutaneous Cryoablation for pT1NxMx Biopsy-Proven Renal Cell Carcinoma

Purpose Our objective was to determine the efficacy and safety of image-guided, percutaneous cryoablation for American Joint Committee on Cancer pT1ANxMx and pT1BNxMx biopsy-proven renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
The Difficult Problem of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in the Older Adult

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in older adults is a biologically and clinically distinct entity. Based on analysis of cytogenetic and molecular data, it is known that leukemic cells in older patients are intrinsically resistant to standard chemotherapy. Due to comorbid disease and impaired bone marrow stem cell reserve, older adults tolerate myelosuppressive chemotherapy poorly, with a treatment-related mortality rate of 25 percent. About 35 percent of adults under age 40 are cured, but the complete remission rate (likelihood of temporary disease eradication) is 45 percent in those over age 60, considerably lower than the 75% rate among younger patients, and the possibility of long-term disease free survival is 20 percent in those achieving remission or less than 10 percent overall. Standard allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is too dangerous to be considered as a means to eradicate minimal residual disease after remission is obtained and myelointensive chemotherapy is not a beneficial post-remission strategy in this age cohort. These disappointing results call for more effective and less toxic therapeutic options. Advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of AML and promising early clinical data suggest that the era of truly targeted therapy in this difficult disease may soon be a reality.
Childhood Asthma Utilization Rates in a Nonsmoking Population of Utah Compared to State and National Rates

Risk factors, such as parental smoking, are commonly associated with increased asthma symptoms and hospitalizations of children. Deseret Mutual Benefits Administrators (DMBA) is the health insurer for employees of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their families. Due to religious proscription, employees abstain from alcohol and tobacco use, creating a cohort of children not exposed to parental smoking. Calculation of hospitalization rates for DMBA, Utah, and the US were made in children to compare rates between a nonsmoking population and general populations. Compared to DMBA, rate ratios for asthma hospitalization and emergency department asthma visits were higher for the US and Utah. The incidence of hospital outpatient department and physician office visits was significantly greater for the US population compared to the DMBA. This study demonstrates a decreased need for health services used by children not exposed to second-hand smoke.
Public Sector Operations Research: A Personal Journey

It all started at an MIT fraternity mixer party in September 1965. Another brother and I, noting the need for additional female attendees—to balance the gender ratio—fulfilled our brotherly duties by bringing over from Boston’s Back Bay an additional six partygoers. The problem was that two of the recruits—whom we had not known previously— turned out to be professional thieves. Before we knew it, they had left the party, but not before ransacking the ladies’ powder room, taking from purses cash, credit cards, and IDs. That fact did not become apparent until 1:00 a.m., when all the trusting young women went to pick up their purses that they had innocently left in the powder room. When I heard of this, I felt terrible, personally responsible. Grand larceny. Little did I know that this one event would change my life and shape my future career. During the following weeks in an attempt to catch the thieves, I played the role of private detective. I followed up every lead they had given us. One said she went to a secretarial college in the Back Bay of Boston. I talked my way into the president’s office, claiming that one of their students had lost a valuable gold watch at that party; as a result I was able to see the photographs of each of the students registered at that college—but no luck. Similarly, I followed all other leads to no avail. Soon in my “Detective Larson” zeal I found myself carrying a half a dozen books in criminology and forensic sciences checked out from the MIT libraries. I became fascinated, for instance, with the potential for computers to automatically recognize latent fingerprints. The following semester I registered in one of MIT’s first courses in artificial intelligence to undertake the fingerprint project. One day MIT’s Professor Alvin W. Drake noticed me carrying seemingly random library books and asked me what they were. I related to him the story, and he urged me to register with him under a special research project focusing on operations research problems in urban policing. Stunned that I could do such a thing at MIT, I leapt at the opportunity. Professor Drake soon arranged a high-level meeting involving executives at Arthur D. Little, commanders of the Boston Police Department, and yours truly. Thus began my manyyear odyssey of riding in the back seats of police cars in Boston, St. Louis, Wilmington (Delaware), Worcester (Massachusetts), and elsewhere. Soon I realized that the police emergency response system was a priority-oriented tandem queueing system. At that time, in the mid-1960s, no one had studied urban policing from an operations research point of view. Wow, there was my master’s thesis topic!
The organization of skilled response

Abstract A series of experiments concerned with the ways in which responses become organized is discussed. The principle parameter in most studies was stimulus coherence, and tracking tasks were used as a vehicle because graded responses permit detailed and fine-grained analyses. Both spatial and temporal coherence are used in response organization, and type of response strategy varys with degree of stimulus coherence. The effects of secondary tasks, sequence length and task coding were also examined.
Neural networks with local memory for control systems

Abstract Based on a new paradigm of neural networks consisting of neurons with local memory (NNLM), we discuss the representation of a control system by neural networks. Using this representation, the basic issues of complete controllability and observability for the system are addressed. A separation principle of learning and control is presented for NNLM. The result shows that the weights of the network will not affect its dynamics. Some results about local linearization via change of coordinate and nonlinear transformation are also given.
Understanding hierarchical methods for differentially private histograms

In recent years, many approaches to differentially privately publish histograms have been proposed. Several approaches rely on constructing tree structures in order to decrease the error when answer large range queries. In this paper, we examine the factors affecting the accuracy of hierarchical approaches by studying the mean squared error (MSE) when answering range queries. We start with one-dimensional histograms, and analyze how the MSE changes with different branching factors, after employing constrained inference, and with different methods to allocate the privacy budget among hierarchy levels. Our analysis and experimental results show that combining the choice of a good branching factor with constrained inference outperform the current state of the art. Finally, we extend our analysis to multi-dimensional histograms. We show that the benefits from employing hierarchical methods beyond a single dimension are significantly diminished, and when there are 3 or more dimensions, it is almost always better to use the Flat method instead of a hierarchy.