cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
APOE4-specific Changes in Aβ Accumulation in a New Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer Disease

APOE4 is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer disease (AD) and synergistic effects with amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) suggest interactions among apoE isoforms and different forms of Aβ accumulation. However, it remains unclear how the APOE genotype affects plaque morphology, intraneuronal Aβ, soluble Aβ42, and oligomeric Aβ (oAβ), particularly in vivo. As the introduction of human APOE significantly delays amyloid deposition in transgenic mice expressing familial AD (FAD) mutations (FAD-Tg), 5xFAD-Tg mice, which exhibit amyloid deposition by age 2 months, were crossed with apoE-targeted replacement mice to produce the new EFAD-Tg mice. Compared with 5xFAD mice, Aβ deposition was delayed by ∼4 months in the EFAD mice, allowing detection of early changes in Aβ accumulation from 2–6 months. Although plaque deposition is generally greater in E4FAD mice, E2/E3FAD mice have significantly more diffuse and E4FAD more compact plaques. As a first report in FAD-Tg mice, the APOE genotypes had no effect on intraneuronal Aβ accumulation in EFAD mice. In E4FAD mice, total apoE levels were lower and total Aβ levels higher than in E2FAD and E3FAD mice. Profiles from sequential three-step extractions (TBS, detergent, and formic acid) demonstrated that the lower level of total apoE4 is reflected only in the detergent-soluble fraction, indicating that less apoE4 is lipoprotein-associated, and perhaps less lipidated, compared with apoE2 and apoE3. Soluble Aβ42 and oAβ levels were highest in E4FAD mice, although soluble apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4 levels were comparable, suggesting that the differences in soluble Aβ42 and oAβ result from functional differences among the apoE isoforms. Thus, APOE differentially regulates multiple aspects of Aβ accumulation.
Perceptual Mapping Using The Basic Structure Matrix Decomposition

Perceptual mapping techniques are used to graphically represent perceptions of brands in a category, companies in an industry, and so forth. The data required to construct perceptual maps using typical methods can be difficult for respondents to provide and time-consuming to collect. An alternative, but relatively obscure perceptual mapping technique is rooted in correspondence analysis, and involves a fundamental matrix decomposition. Data requirements for this approach are simple. For example, a simple brand-attribute matrix, each cell containing the frequency of respondents stating that the respective attribute applies to the respective brand, could serve as the input data for the map. The data is treated as a contingency table, and the matrix whose elements are the deviations between observed and expected frequencies, adjusted for the respective expected frequencies, is decomposed to obtain the basic mapping coordinates. The resultant mapping approach is shown to be basically equivalent to correspondence analysis.
Dye-enhanced protein solders and patches in laser-assisted tissue welding.

ABSTRACT Objective: This study examines the use of dye-enhanced protein bonding agents in 805 nm diode laser-assisted tissue welding. A comparison of an albumin liquid solder and collagen solid-matrix patches used to repair arteriotomies in an in vitro porcine model is presented. Summary background data: Extrinsic bonding media in the form of solders and patches have been used to enhance the practice of laser tissue welding. Preferential absorption of the laser wavelength has been achieved by the incorporation of chromophores. Methods: Both the solder and the patch included indocyanine green dye (ICG) to absorb the 805 nm continuous-wave diode laser light used to perform the welds. Solder-mediated welds were divided into two groups (high power/short exposure and low power/long exposure), and the patches were divided into three thickness groups ranging from 0.1 to 1.3 mm. The power used to activate the patches was constant, but the exposure time was increased with patch thickness. Results: Burst pressure r...
An analysis of differences in predictors of food affordability between rural and urban counties

abstractThis study addresses the extent to which county-level poverty, housing affordability, food store availability and access, and average SNAP benefits predict food affordability in Missouri counties using an ordinary least squares regression model. Emphasis was given to the difference between rural and urban counties. Bivariate analysis shows food affordability differs significantly between rural and urban counties. Multivariate analysis reveals the important impact of poverty on food affordability, an impact that is more noticeable in rural households. Additionally, the importance of SNAP benefits is amplified for rural households, whereas access is significant in predicting food affordability for urban households.
The Burden of Deployment-Related Non-battle Injuries (NBIs) and Their Impact on the Musculoskeletal System

Despite the large volume of news reports focused on battle-related injuries resulting from the recent conflicts in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF), these injuries are only the tip of the iceberg. Soldiers have traditionally been two to five times as likely to be hospitalized or medically evacuated from combat zones due to disease and non-battle injuries (DNBIs) than for injuries directly related to combat, and trends in the distribution of DNBIs have significantly shifted over the last century. Recent data suggest that 83 % of medical evacuations from OIF and OEF were due to DNBIs and that 34.8 % of these were due to non-battle injuries (NBIs) compared with 48.2 % that were due to disease. When only examining medical evacuations due to DNBIs, 58 % were due to disease while the remaining 42 % were due to NBIs, with the majority of these injuries impacting the musculoskeletal system. The data also suggest that participation in sports and physical training are a leading cause for these NBIs. Those serving in the Army and Marine Corps, as well as younger soldiers and those in the junior and senior enlisted ranks, appear to be at the greatest risk for NBIs during deployment. Though many of these injuries are likely preventable, there is limited data available on the efficacy or effectiveness of injury prevention interventions among soldiers deployed in support of OIF or OEF. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the burden that NBIs pose during military operations and deployments. We will discuss historical trends in the distribution of NBIs and also review the most recent data on NBIs from the Gulf War and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Finally, we will discuss the prevention of NBIs during military deployments.
Neuropilin functions as an essential cell surface receptor

The Neuropilins (Nrps) are a family of essential cell surface receptors involved in multiple fundamental cellular signaling cascades. Nrp family members have key functions in VEGF-dependent angiogenesis and semaphorin-dependent axon guidance, controlling signaling and cross-talk between these fundamental physiological processes. More recently, Nrp function has been found in diverse signaling and adhesive functions, emphasizing their role as pleiotropic co-receptors. Pathological Nrp function has been shown to be important in aberrant activation of both canonical and alternative pathways. Here we review key recent insights into Nrp function in human health and disease.
Is the onset of obesity the same as aging

The article by Belsky et al. (1) presents two summary measures of health as measures of “aging,” one cross-sectional and the other longitudinal. Their analysis is fundamentally flawed by a failure to recognize the biological meaning of the measures that are used in the summary index. Looking at the changes over time in the individual measures, it is quite clear that the cohort was gaining weight between ages 26 and 38 y. Many of the measures used, such as waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and HgbA1C, are markers of declining physical activity and obesity. Weight gain would explain the increases in cardiovascular risk that are occurring at the same time. Such a pattern at this life stage was clearly described in the Framingham Study 20 y ago (2). The decline in physical functioning is likely a consequence of weight gain, as well as a decline in physical activity. Heavier individuals can appear older than their stated age and thinner individuals are viewed as more youthful in appearance. Thus, I believe that what is being described in this index is largely related to weight gain in early midlife. To call this “aging” is to say that the measures are characterizing the fundamental aging process. These processes, including epigenetic changes, stem cell regenerative capacity, macromolecular damage, altered proteostasis and control of inflammation, and cellular senescence are thought to be intrinsic to the aging of the organism and may link aging to chronic-disease risk (3). At the whole-person level, several physiologic measures can be used that appear to be intrinsically related to aging. These measures include maximal oxygen consumption with exercise (4) and muscle strength (5). The rate of aging should not be confused with the development of preventable chronic-disease risk factors. One might think of weight gain and declining activity as accelerants of the aging process; indeed, caloric restriction is well known to slow aging in animal models. These external drivers of aging are not likely to be amendable by antiaging therapies, which target intrinsic aging. Approaches are needed that assess age-related changes that are more closely related to the underlying biology of the aging process.
Querying and Tracking Influencers in Social Streams

Influence analysis is an important problem in social network analysis due to its impact on viral marketing and targeted advertisements. Most of the existing influence analysis methods determine the influencers in a static network with an influence propagation model based on pre-defined edge propagation probabilities. However, none of these models can be queried to find influencers in both context and time-sensitive fashion from a streaming social data. In this paper, we propose an approach to maintain real-time influence scores of users in a social stream using a topic and time-sensitive approach, while the network and topic is constantly evolving over time. We show that our approach is efficient in terms of online maintenance and effective in terms various types of real-time context- and time-sensitive queries. We evaluate our results on both social and collaborative network data sets.
Rating antifreeze proteins: Not a breeze

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are an interesting class of biomolecules that hinder macroscopic freezing by binding to small ice crystals and blocking their further growth. They were first discovered in the 1960s in arctic fish (1) and have since been observed in a wide range of other organisms, e.g., bacteria (2), fungi (3), plants (4), insects (5), and vertebrates (1, 6), that live in low-temperature environments. AFPs are also of considerable practical interest due to their potential applications in cryopreservation (7), food processing (8), and hydrate inhibition (9). The most widely used metric for characterizing the antifreeze activity of an AFP is a quantity known as thermal hysteresis (TH) activity, which is typically determined from nanoliter cryoscopy experiments. In PNAS, Olijve et al. (10) demonstrate that the notion of the antifreeze potency of an AFP is complex and process-dependent, and using a single quantity such as TH activity measured from a particular assay is inadequate in predicting the performance of an AFP under different temperature regimes and processing conditions.
A design of remote temperature & humidity monitoring system based on SHT11

A measurement and remote monitoring system for the temperature and humidity based on digital temperature and humidity sensor SHT11,MCU and GSM is achieved.The system includes the design of terminal system of temperature and humidity data hardware and the practice of terminal communication software.Compared with the traditional temperature and humidity control devices,this system has the characters of simpler structure,higher precision.
What Good News Looks Like

Sociology seems intent on becoming a “dismal science,” but there’s good news to be found around every corner.
β-Thalassemia and ocular implications: a systematic review.

Beta-thalassemia is a severe genetic blood disorder caused by a mutation in the gene encoding for the beta chains of hemoglobin. Individuals with beta-thalassemia major require regular lifelong Red Blood Cell transfusions to survive. Ocular involvement is quite common and may have serious implications. Extensive review of observational studies on beta-thalassemia, to determine the prevalence and spectrum of ocular abnormalities, by clinical examination and multimodal imaging, and to investigate risk factors for their development. Frequency of ocular involvement differs among various studies (41.3–85 %, three studies). Ocular findings in beta-thalassemia may correlate to the disease itself, iron overload or the chelating agents used. Beta-thalassemia ocular manifestations include ocular surface disease, as demonstrated by tear function parameters (two studies). Lens opacities are present in 9.3–44 % (five studies). Lenticular opacities and RPE degeneration correlated positively with use of desferrioxamine and deferriprone respectively (two studies). Ocular fundus abnormalities characteristic of pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), including peau d’orange, angioid streaks, pattern dystrophy-like changes, and optic disc drusen are a consistent finding in seven studies. Patients with PXE-like fundus changes were older than patients without these fundus changes (two studies). Age (two studies) and splenectomy (one study) had the strongest association with presence of PXE-like fundus changes. Increased retinal vascular tortuosity independently of the PXE-like fundus changes was found in 11–17.9 % (three studies), which was associated with aspartate amino transferase, hemoglobin and ferritin levels (two studies). Fundus autofluorescence and electrophysiological testing (ERG and EOG) may indicate initial stages or more widespread injury than is suggested by fundus examination (two studies). Beta-thalassemia may present with various signs, both structural and functional. Pseudoxanthoma elasticum like fundus changes are a frequent finding in patients with b-thalassemia. These changes increase with duration or severity of the disease. Retinal vascular tortuosity may be an additional disease manifestation related to the severity and duration of anemia and independent of the PXE-like syndrome. Patients with long-standing disease need regular ophthalmic checkups because they are at risk of developing PXE-like fundus changes and potentially of subsequent choroidal neovascularization.
Why Nato Endures: NATO and the Military Balance

I suggested in Chapter 1, that a crisis within an alliance can be thought of as a turning point – specifically, a stage in the life cycle of an alliance during which cooperation becomes noticeably more difficult because one or more members is thinking of leaving, thereby antagonizing the others and compelling them to consider their options should the alliance come apart. Put differently, an alliance is in crisis when one or more members is indifferent between (1) making an effort to repair whatever rifts have developed within it and (2) leaving the alliance in search of alternative security arrangements. As one or more members cross the crisis threshold, the others too must face the choice between staying and leaving. The longer this goes on, the greater the risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as each member aims to get out first rather than last. This approach raises three sets of questions that are the subject of Chapters 5, 6, and 7. First, has the crisis threshold as defined previously ever been breached within the Atlantic Alliance? The NATO-in-crisis literature considers the Alliance to be in crisis whenever officials in various NATO capitals disagree on an important issue, become angry with each other, and so on. But this is a thoroughly unsatisfactory approach, the reason being that it is hardly surprising that NATO members might disagree – heatedly, even – concerning military strategy and tactics and that these disagreements then spill into the open.
Stimulant Self-Administration

Stimulants such as cocaine and the amphetamines are widely abused due to their rewarding effects. Much of what we know about drug abuse and drug reward comes from research involving stimulants, and much of this research involves using drug self-administration as an animal model of drug abuse. In this chapter, the example of stimulant self-administration is used to illustrate: (1) the basic methodology of drug self-administration procedures and (2) the behavioral principles that apply to addiction and animal models of addiction. Many variations of the self-administration procedure have been developed to model specifi c aspects of drug abuse, to assess the rewarding effects of drugs, and to assess the effects of treatments. The chapter describes how these variations are devised by stipulating the behavioral requirements for receiving the drug (i.e., the schedule of reinforcement) and incorporating drug-related environmental cues analogous to those that occur in the human drug-abuse environment.
Two Blood Patches Have Failed. Now What

I was not thrilled when the newest patient requested an epidural at the end of my shift on the obstetrics floor. To put it nicely, her anatomy promised it would be a technically challenging procedure—there were no palpable landmarks to speak of on her back. After my Tuohy needle hit bone for a fifth time, I called the supervising anesthesiologist covering obstetric anesthesia that day to provide assistance and moral support. He struggled for several minutes before his needle seemed to find a promising spot. And as he advanced the needle a touch more, his persistence was rewarded with a steady stream of cerebrospinal fluid. A “wet tap”—the attending and I stared at each other. He quickly removed the epidural catheter from the tray and threaded it through the needle into the intrathecal space.
Early Odorant Exposure Increases the Number of Mitral and Tufted Cells Associated with a Single Glomerulus

The highly specific organization of the olfactory bulb (OB) is well known, but the impact of early odorant experience on its circuit structure is unclear. Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) project axons from the olfactory epithelium to the OB, where they form spherical neuropil structures called glomeruli. These glomeruli and the postsynaptic targets of OSNs, including mitral and tufted cells (M/TCs) and juxtaglomerular cells, form glomerular modules, which represent the basic odor-coding units of the OB. Here, we labeled M/TCs within a single glomerular module of the mouse OB and show that odorant exposure that starts prenatally and continues through postnatal day 25 has a major impact on the structure of the glomerular module. We confirm that exposure increases the volume of the activated glomeruli and show that exposure increases M/TC number by >40% in a glomerulus-specific fashion. Given the role of M/TCs in OB output and in lateral inhibition, increasing the number of M/TCs connected to a single glomerulus may also increase the influence of that glomerulus on the OB network and on OB output. Our results show that early odorant exposure has a profound effect on OB connectivity and thus may affect odorant processing significantly. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Experience shapes neural circuits in a variety of ways, most commonly by changing the strength of activated connections. Relatively little is known about how experience changes circuitry in the olfactory system. Here, we show that for a genetically identified glomerulus in the mouse olfactory bulb, early odorant exposure increases the number of associated mitral and tufted cells by 40% and 100%, respectively. Understanding the structural changes induced by early odorant experience can provide insight into how bulbar organization gives rise to efficient processing. We find that odorant experience increases the number of projection neurons associated with a single glomerulus significantly, a dramatic and long-lasting structural change that may have important functional implications.
MicroPET imaging of heat-activated transgene expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma

B145 A replication-deficient adenovirus was constructed to conditionally express a fusion protein of a mutated Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV-mTK) to enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), both under the control of the full length human heat shock (HS) 70b promoter. The virus (AdHSmTK-EGFP) was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo in oral squamous cell carcinoma SCC-9 cells for expression of both mTK and EGFP. The heating time, infection time, and post-heat times were determined for optimal expression of the transgenes. The cells were infected at 0, 50, 100, or 500 plaque forming units (pfu)/cell and then heated for 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 h at 41°C at 1, 2, and 3 days after infection. A 3H-penciclovir uptake assay was performed 1 day after heating. Maximal expression of mTK activity was 12788 ± 1979 disintegrations per minute/mg at 1 h heat shock, 1 day after infection. Transgene expression was then evaluated 1, 2, and 3 days after heating for 1 h at 41°C, 1 day after infection, using the 3H-penciclovir uptake assay. Maximal expression was observed at 1 day post-heat. Expression of EGFP was determined using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), in which the SCC-9 cells were infected as before, but were only heated for 1 h at 41°C. Supporting the data obtained via tracer techniques, maximal EGFP expression was seen in cells 1 day post-heating after 1 day of infection at a mean fluorescent intensity of 1671 ± 172. These results provided the basis by which to heat tumors in an animal model as well as showing the efficacy of viral infection plus heat treatments on activity of both components of the mTK-EGFP chimera. To evaluate the expression of mTK-EGFP in vivo, female severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were implanted with SCC-9 cells in the flanks and allowed to form tumors for 18-21 days. Either AdHSmTK-EGFP, at either 1 x 108 or 1 x 109 pfu/tumor, or AdCMVmTK-EGFP, at 1 x 108 pfu/tumor, were then injected intratumorally followed by no heat or ultrasound heating of the tumors for 1 h at 41°C, 1 day after injection. A set of uninfected tumors injected with diluent served as a negative control. On the following day, 3H-penciclovir (2 µCi) was injected intravenously into each animal, and the animals were sacrificed 4 h post-injection, tissues harvested, and counted for quantification. In control tumors expressing mTK, the percent injected dose per gram (% ID/g) was 1.7 ± 0.3, as compared to 1.0 ± 0.1 and 1.6 ± 0.36% ID/g for 1 x 108 and 1 x 109 of AdHSmTK-EGFP, respectively. These values were significantly greater (p
Deep learning-based automated modulation classification for cognitive radio

Automated Modulation Classification (AMC) has been applied in various emerging areas such as cognitive radio (CR). In our paper, we propose a deep learning-based AMC method that employs Spectral Correlation Function (SCF). In our proposed method, one deep learning technology, Deep Belief Network (DBN), is applied for pattern recognition and classification. By using noise-resilient SCF signatures and DBN that is effective in learning complex patterns, we achieve high accuracy in modulation detection and classification even in the presence of environment noise. Our simulation results illustrate the efficiency of our proposed method in classifying 4FSK, 16QAM, BPSK, QPSK, and OFDM modulation techniques in various environments.
RxRE: Throughput Optimization for High-Level Synthesis using Resource-Aware Regularity Extraction (Abstract Only)

Despite the considerable improvements in the quality of HLS tools, they still require the designer's manual optimizations and tweaks to generate efficient results, which negates the HLS design productivity gains. Majority of designer interventions lead to optimizations that are often global in nature, for instance, finding patterns in functions that better fit a custom designed solution. We introduce a high-level resource-aware regularity extraction workflow, called RxRE that detects a class of patterns in an input program, and enhances resource sharing to balance resource usage against increased throughput. RxRE automatically detects structural patterns, or repeated sequence of floating-point operations, from sequential loops, selects suitable resources for them, and shares resources for all instances of the selected patterns. RxRE reduces required hardware area for synthesizing an instance of the program. Hence, more number of program replicas can be fitted in the fixed area budget of an FPGA. RxRE contributes to a pre-synthesis workflow that exploits the inherent regularity of applications to achieve higher computational throughput using off-the-shelf HLS tools without any changes to the HLS flow. It uses a string-based pattern detection approach to find linear patterns across loops within the same function. It deploys a simple but effective model to estimate resource utilization and latency of each candidate design, to avoid synthesizing every possible design alternative. We have implemented and evaluated RxRE using a set of C benchmarks. The synthesis results on a Xilinx Virtex FPGA show that the reduced area of the transformed programs improves the number of mapped kernels by a factor of 1.54X on average (maximum 2.8X) which yields on average 1.59X (maximum 2.4X) higher throughput over Xilinx Vivado HLS tool solution. Current implementation has several limitations and only extracts a special case of regularity that is subject of current optimization and study.
Employed Job Search among Young Workers: Do Women Still Search Differently than Men in the Internet Age?

Using data from the 2008–2011 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study explores the job search methods and strategies utilized by young workers. Although women are found to be marginally less likely to engage in on-the-job search than men, when they do they are equally likely to use the internet. The most important gender difference identified is that marriage serves as a strong inhibiting factor to search, both online and offline, for women but not so for men. In terms of search methods, men and women show almost identical patterns of usage. While there is substitution between online and offline search within particular method categories, employed searchers are generally using the internet as a complement to rather than as a replacement for more traditional offline search methods.
Deletion of a mycobacterial divisome factor collapses single-cell phenotypic heterogeneity

The mycobacterial protein LamA functions as an inhibitor of cell wall synthesis at the nascent cell pole, contributing to asymmetry in polar growth, and could represent a much-needed target for the development of anti-tuberculosis therapies. Here the authors report the discovery of a new protein (LamA) that functions as part of the 'divisome' in mycobacteria. The authors report that LamA functions as an inhibitor of cell wall synthesis at the nascent cell pole, contributing to asymmetry in polar growth. Asymmetric growth and division increases population heterogeneity, which has been linked to antibiotic tolerance and persistent infection. Here they show that removal of LamA leads to a more uniform cell population that is more effectively killed by antibiotics. Thus, LamA represents a much-needed new target for the development of anti-tuberculosis therapies. Microorganisms are often studied as populations but the behaviour of single, individual cells can have important consequences. For example, tuberculosis, caused by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, requires months of antibiotic therapy even though the bulk of the bacterial population dies rapidly. Shorter courses lead to high rates of relapse because subpopulations of bacilli can survive despite being genetically identical to those that are easily killed1. In fact, mycobacteria create variability each time a cell divides, producing daughter cells with different sizes and growth rates2,3. The mechanism(s) that underlie this high-frequency variation and how variability relates to survival of the population are unknown. Here we show that mycobacteria actively create heterogeneity. Using a fluorescent reporter and a fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)-based transposon screen, we find that deletion of lamA, a gene of previously unknown function, decreases heterogeneity in the population by decreasing asymmetric polar growth. LamA has no known homologues in other organisms, but is highly conserved across mycobacterial species. We find that LamA is a member of the mycobacterial division complex (the ‘divisome’). It inhibits growth at nascent new poles, creating asymmetry in polar growth. The kinetics of killing individual cells that lack lamA are more uniform and more rapid with rifampicin and drugs that target the cell wall. Our results show that mycobacteria encode a non-conserved protein that controls the pattern of cell growth, resulting in a population that is both heterogeneous and better able to survive antibiotic pressure.
Support Buffers Financial Strain's Effect on Health-related Quality of Life.

Objectives Financial strain represents a perceived inability to meet financial needs and obligations and is associated with poorer health outcomes. Distinct facets of perceived social support may mitigate the deleterious effects of financial strain on health. In the present study, we examined the extent to which appraisal, belonging, and tangible social support ameliorate the effects of financial strain on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods A community sample (N = 238; 67.2% female; MAge = 43.4 years, SD = 13.1) completed inperson surveys as part of a larger study of health behaviors. Results Greater financial strain and less social support were associated with poorer HRQoL. Additionally, both appraisal and belonging support moderated the effects of financial strain on some HRQoL components, such that higher appraisal and belonging support were associated with diminished effects of financial strain on HRQoL. Conclusions These findings suggest nuanced associations between financial strain and HRQoL. We discuss the implications for prevention and intervention programs.
Beyond Mediocrity: The Dialectics of Crisis in the Continuing Miseducation of Black Youth

In this essay, Brian D. Lozenski explores why Gloria Ladson-Billings's 2006 pronouncement of the nation's “education debt,” as opposed to “achievement gap,” has not gained traction in the national discourse around educational disparity. He contends that education debt is a more nuanced, historically based, and generative framing of racialized educational disparity, which has been marginalized by the narratives of crisis in education, specifically with black youth, that necessitate a frantic urgency allowing for ahistorical, quick-fix solutions to complex problems. Through a tracing of four major epochs in African American education, including the mid-nineteenth-century era of slavery statutes, Reconstruction, post–Brown v. Board, and today's early twenty-first-century “crisis,” of the underachievement of black youth in schools, the author considers how African American education has always been precarious and, thus, able to be labeled a “crisis.” Using a combination of synchronic (snapshot) and diachronic...
Hypoxia inhibits growth, proliferation, and increases response to chemotherapy in retinoblastoma cells.

Abstract Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor of the retina and the most frequent intraocular cancer in children. Low oxygen tension (hypoxia) is a common phenomenon in advanced retinoblastomas, but its biological effect on retinoblastoma growth is not clearly understood. Here we studied how hypoxia altered retinoblastoma gene expression and modulated growth and response to chemotherapy. The hypoxic marker lysyl oxidase (LOX) was expressed in 8 of 12 human retinoblastomas analyzed by immunohistochemistry, suggesting that a hypoxic microenvironment is present in up to two thirds of the cases. WERI Rb1 and Y79 retinoblastoma lines were exposed to 1% or 5% pO2, cobalt chloride (CoCl2), or to normoxia (21% pO2) for up to 8 days. Both 1% and 5% pO2 inhibited growth of both lines by more than 50%. Proliferation was reduced by 25–50% when retinoblastoma cells were exposed to 1% vs 21% pO2, as determined by Ki67 assay. Surprisingly, Melphalan, Carboplatin, and Etoposide produced greater reduction in growth and survival of hypoxic cells than normoxic ones. Gene expression profile analysis of both lines, exposed for 48 h to 1%, 5%, or 21% pO2, showed that glycolysis and glucose transport were the most up-regulated pathways, whereas oxidative phosphorylation was the most down-regulated pathway in hypoxia as compared to normoxia. These data support a role for hypoxia in suppressing growth, proliferation, and enhancing response of retinoblastoma cells to chemotherapy, possibly by impairing energy production through activation of glycolysis and inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. Targeting glucose metabolism or enhancing delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to hypoxic regions may improve treatment of advanced retinoblastomas.
Consumer-Aware Distributed Demand-Side Contingency Service in the Power Grid

We consider the problem of flexible loads providing contingency reserves to the electric grid. We provide a distributed gradient projection (DGP) algorithm to minimize loads’ disutility while providing contingency services. Loads use locally obtained grid-frequency measurements and inter-load communication to coordinate their actions. Privacy is preserved: disutility or consumption information is not exchanged. We provide a proof of convergence of the algorithm and compare its performance through simulations to that of a “dual algorithm” previously proposed in the literature that solved the dual problem. The DGP algorithm solves the primal problem. Its main advantage over the dual algorithm is that it is applicable to convex—but not necessarily strictly convex—consumer disutility functions, whereas the dual algorithm is not. A disutility function that is not strictly convex can better model consumer behavior than one that is strictly convex, since it is insensitive to small changes in consumption. Simulations show that the DGP algorithm is effective in arresting grid-frequency deviations, and performs better or similarly to the dual algorithm in cases where the two can be compared.
Barriers to Implementing Data-Driven Pavement Treatment Performance Evaluation Process

AbstractState highway agencies have been collecting a massive amount of pavement condition data by using automated collection technologies. This rich historical data set has great potential to supp...
Universal Rapid Human Immunodeficiency Virus Screening at Delivery: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Objective. To determine the cost-effectiveness of universal maternal HIV screening at time of delivery to decrease mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), by comparing the cost and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) of universal rapid HIV screening at time of delivery to two current standards of care for prenatal HIV screening in the United States. Study Design. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis to compare the cost and QALY of universal intrapartum rapid HIV screening with two current standards of care: (I) opt-out rapid HIV testing limited to patients without previous third-trimester screening and (II) opt-out rapid HIV testing limited to patients without any prenatal screening. We developed a decision-tree model and performed sensitivity analyses to estimate the impact of variances in QALY, estimated lifetime medical costs, HIV prevalence, and cumulative incidence. Results. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for universal screening was $7,973.45/QALY. The results remained robust to sensitivity analysis, except for annual cumulative incidence. In areas with an annual cumulative incidence rate of <0.02% for reproductive-age women, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the expanded program would exceed $89,926.94/QALY, approaching the commonly applied cost-effectiveness thresholds ($100,000/QALY). Conclusions. Intrapartum universal rapid HIV screening to decrease MTCT appears cost-effective in populations with high HIV incidence in the United States.
Cardiometabolic Effects of Anti-obesity Pharmacotherapy.

We review recent studies discussing the impact of pharmacologic agents for weight loss on clinical cardiovascular events, as well as cardiometabolic risk factors. Pharmacotherapy with current FDA-approved medications for weight loss can significantly improve known risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, inflammatory biomarkers, and the quantity of visceral fat, as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, data regarding the actual reduction in clinical cardiovascular events with the use of weight loss medications is scarce. Pharmacotherapy for weight loss may have additional benefit in optimizing patient’s cardiometabolic comorbidities and improving their clinical cardiovascular outcomes, but each drug should be carefully selected based upon individual patient characteristics.
The telephone effect: Overcoming initiation deficits in two settings.

Purpose Disorders of motivation substantially impair an individual's ability to communicate with their families, therapists, and doctors. One method of overcoming initiation deficits is by utilizing the telephone effect, which is the ability for individuals with severe motivation deficits to communicate more readily when speaking on a telephone. However, little is available in the extant literature on how this effect works or how best to integrate this into patient care. This article aims to provide the first report of a proposed mechanism underlying the telephone effect and the first published procedures for eliciting this effect. Design This is largely a review article that also contains descriptions of clinical procedures for eliciting the telephone effect with 2 patient populations: acute inpatients following brain injury and dementia residents. A case vignette is also provided. Results We propose that the telephone effect is the result of an interaction between the patient and environment, and occurs because of Gibson's (1979) law of affordances. The use of this theory provides an explanation of the behaviors often observed when attempting to elicit this effect (i.e., disruption of the effect when using a cellular phone). Moreover, we argue that this can, and does, apply to social interactions as well. Conclusions/implications The telephone effect is an understudied phenomenon that provides a means of improving care for individuals with disorders of motivation. Future directions include systematic research into the telephone effect and further investigation of the mechanism underlying this effect. (PsycINFO Database Record
Berman’s Simulation Analysis and Modeling

Dr. Mones Berman, whose photograph appears at the beginning of this section, had an enduring interest in the theoretical aspects of lipid, lipoprotein and apolipoprotein metabolism, which stemmed from a more general interest in the systematic analysis of the kinetics and dynamics of metabolic molecules in the biological system. When tracer molecules are used to observe and measure the kinetics of a substance of interest, the obser vations are frequently related to a specific biological models for complete analysis. Possible models should be restricted to those that are compatible with other information about the system. Dr. Berman spent his life developing a formalism for the systematic analysis of tracer data taken from dynamical biological systems in both the steady and changing state.
Sex expression and sex dimorphism in sporophytic populations of the desert moss Syntrichia caninervis.

Ten sporophytic populations of Syntrichiacaninervis contained an average of 22 individualscm−2, with a sex ratio of 7.9 Female:1 Male: 3.1 Nonexpressing(N = 300). In each of the populations, female individuals outnumberedmale individuals. A representative population size of 50 × 25cm was estimated to contain 27,250 organically distinct individualplants. Given the wide disparity in reproductive investment in this dioeciousspecies, sex-specific traits were investigated at the level of the individualinbiomass, total stem length, number of ramets, number of branches, length ofannual growth interval, length of longest ramet, age, number of inflorescences,number of ramets expressing sex, and consecutive seasons of sex expression. Theonly significant sex dimorphism recorded was in consecutive seasons of sexexpression, with nonsporophytic female individuals exhibiting a higherfrequencythan males. However, nonexpressing individuals had lower biomass, shorter totalstem length, fewer branches, and shorter ramets than males and females, andfewer ramets than female individuals. When the biomass of female and maleindividuals was controlled for inflorescence number, no significant differencesbetween the sexes in biomass were found. There appears to be a threshold sizefor sex expression, with all individuals above 2.0 mg dry weightexpressing sex (N = 108). Biomass and total stem length are strongpositive correlates (r = 0.88), and individual biomass is a betterpredictor of the number of inflorescences produced per individual than is stemlength (r = 0.85 vs. r = 0.69, respectively). Independent of stemlength, individual biomass had a positive and significant relationship withinflorescence number; however, independent of individual biomass, stem lengthwas not associated with inflorescence number. Overall sex expression was 0.74(individual level) and 0.65 (ramet level). The functional sex ratio wasassessedat the inflorescence level, and ranged from 9.7♀:1♂, to14.9♀:1♂ over the most recent four years. Fertilization frequencywas 0.69 (individual level) and 0.34 (perichaetial level). Over the last threeyears, 63% of all fertilized perichaetia resulted in an abortivesporophyte.
Determination of Pattern and Fate in Early Embryos of Caenorhabditis elegans

The free-living hermaphroditic soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has become a widely used organism for study of invertebrate development. Its advantages include ease of cultivation in the laboratory and a short life cycle of about 72 hr at 22°C. In addition, it is transparent at all stages, so that development can be followed microscopically in living specimens; it is also cellularly simple, having only 959 somatic cells in the adult hermaphrodite. These latter two features have permitted determination of the complete cell lineage, from the zygote to the adult animal (Sulston and Horvitz, 1977; Kimble and Hirsh, 1979; Sulston et al., 1983). The pattern and timing of cell divisions is almost completely invariant from animal to animal. Perhaps most important, C. eJegans is well suited to genetic analysis of development; mutational identification and mapping of about 700 loci on its six chromosomal linkage groups has already been accomplished (Wood et al., 1988).
Second-Order Linear Constant-Coefficient Ordinary Differential Equations

This chapter considers ordinary, linear, second-order differential equations and the main focus is on constant-coefficient equations of the form
Some Exploratory Applications of Suggestive Accelerative Learning and Teaching (SALT) in Accounting Education

Publisher Summary This chapter describes some exploratory applications of suggestive accelerative learning and teaching (SALT) in accounting education. SALT is a peak performance technique based on a holistic and whole-brain functional approach to learning, and teaching in any learning, or educational environment. The purpose is to accelerate the rate at which information is acquired, and amount of information that can be retained, and retrieved. It uses subtle suggestions through positive speaking, positive expectations, and positive feedback to students. The human brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. It is found that the two hemispheres are connected by a complex network of about 300 million nerve fibers called Callosum. They showed that each of the hemispheres has different functions. With SALT systems, the material to be learned is always related to the overall goal of the subject matter, and hence to real-world applications. Some SALT instructors throw cushion balls at students to catch while expecting them to answer questions related to the material just learned.
Graphs, foams, tensors, polytopes, and homology

In the study of knotted trivalent graphs and their higher dimensional analogue, knotted foams, some of the moves have alternative interpretations. Here three interpretations are given. (1) As the b...
The Emotional-Ambiguity Hypothesis: A Large-Scale Test.

Valence and arousal are core dimensions of emotion, but the relation between them has eluded scientific consensus. The emotional-ambiguity hypothesis is the first new model of this relation to appe...
Black college student-athletes: Examining the intersection of gender, and racial identity and athletic identity

The purpose of this study was to examine identity development for Black college student-athletes (N = 98) at the Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The results revealed that (a) iden...
Not Your Mother’s Tech Camp: Rebooting Girls’ Technology Camps to Equip the Next Generation of Technofeminists

Abstract Girls’ technology camps have long been used as a tool to correct the incredible gender imbalance in STEM fields. Computers and writing scholars have used single-gender camps in response to the call of early technofeminists to map (Blair & Takayoshi, 1999) and make digital spaces and practices more equitable for all genders (Haas, Tulley & Blair, 2002), often positing such cyber projects as spaces for feminist resistance (Sheridan-Rabideau, 2009). This article offers a history of girls’ technology camps in our field and then assesses the digital literacies present and needed by campers using Digital Literacy Inventories completed by 12-year-old girls who attended four camps (from 2012 to 2017) as well as the curricula from two of those camps. The next generation of technofeminists already possess many of the skills foundational to early camps; thus, contemporary camps should equip girls not just to be online, but to lead online: to look beyond the technologies themselves and to instead look at ways to make meaning—and foster intersectional resistance—with and through technologies. For this reason, my current tech camp focuses more on leadership skills—including increasing self-esteem, building safe spaces to fail, and encouraging dissent—and less on technological know-how.
The storage of cottonseed

Treatment of moist cottonseed with ammonia prior to storage has been shown to reduce self-heating of the seed and the rate of formation of free fatty acids during storage. The color of oils obtained by solvent extraction from ammonia-treated cottonseed is considerably lighter than that of oils obtained from untreated cottonseed.