cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neural detectors for medical signal processing

The detection of random signals using neural networks is studied. In comparison with some classical techniques, neural networks provide better performance for the cases studied. The neural network based detector (neural detector) is a backpropagation neural network with 3 layers which are typically referred to as the input, the hidden and the output layers.
Phosphorylation negatively regulates exosome mediated secretion of cryAB in glioma cells

Exosomes mediate secretion of crystallin alphaB (cryAB), a well characterized molecular chaperone with anti-apoptotic activity. However, the mechanisms governing its packaging and secretion remained unexplored. In glioma cells, notwithstanding extensive phosphorylation of cryAB at Ser59 followed by Ser45 (Ser19 is largely unphosphorylated), we discovered that the majority of secreted exosomal cryAB is nonphosphorylated. Transient ectopic expression of a yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) tagged triple phosphomimic (3-SD) cryAB construct in cryAB absent glioma cells led to the formation of large cytosolic inclusions. Our findings demonstrate that mimicking phosphorylation significantly reduces cryAB secretion via exosomes. Moreover, decreased colocalization of 3-SD YFP-cryAB with multivesicular endosome (MVE) and exosome marker, CD63 or Rab27, a small GTPase regulating exocytosis of MVEs, suggests that phosphorylation deters packaging of cryAB in vesicles bound for secretion as exosomes. Additionally, we found that preventing O-GlcNAcylation on cryAB also curtailed its colocalization with CD63 and Rab27 resulting in reduced exosomal secretion. Thus, our study points to O-GlcNAcylation and lack of phosphorylation as being the selective processes involved in the packaging and secretion of cryAB via exosomes.
Self-driving Lego Mindstorms Robot

In this paper, I describe the workings of my personal hobby project a self-driving lego mindstorms robot. The body of the robot is built with Lego Mindstorms. An Android smartphone is used to capture the view in front of the robot. A user first teaches the robot how to drive; this is done by making the robot go around a track a small number of times. The image data, along with the user action is used to train a Neural Network. At run-time, images of what is in front of the robot are fed into the neural network and the appropriate driving action is selected. This project showcases the power of python’s libraries, as they enabled me to put together a sophisticated working system in a very short amount of time. Specifically, I made use of the Python Image Library to downsample images, as well as the PyBrain neural network library. The robot was controlled using the nxt-python library.
Bipyramid-templated synthesis of monodisperse anisotropic gold nanocrystals

Tuning the morphology of nanoparticles can alter their optical properties but often at the cost of monodispersity. Here, the authors report the synthesis of monodisperse anisotropic gold nanoparticles with various tip geometries as well as highly tunable size augmentations from purified gold bipyramids.
Laser-based Digital Microfabrication

Laser transfer techniques are becoming widely used for digital microfabrication applications. These non-lithographic processes can generate high-resolution patterns of complex materials without negatively affecting their properties for many applications including microelectronics, micro-power sources and MEMS.
Focus on Middle School: Assessing and Planning for Second Language Literacy Success With Middle Level Refugee Children

When I was growing up, it was the war, so I never got to go to school and never got to learn so that when I got to the age when I was 6 or 7 years old, I didn't know how to read. I just knew how to...
Can dietary reliance on Pacific salmon eggs create otolith Sr/Ca signatures that mimic anadromy in resident salmonids?

Many aspects of the ecology, growth, life history, and population dynamics of fishes differ between anadromous populations and those residing exclusively in freshwater habitats. Analysis of the elemental composition of otoliths (ear stones) is commonly used to indicate the migration history of individuals, relying on the differences in ambient concentrations of calcium, strontium, and barium and their subsequent incorporation into calcified structures. Dietary contribution to otolith chemistry is often overlooked, but in this study we report results consistent with the possibility that reliance on food resources derived from the ocean via Pacific salmon can produce otolith Sr/Ca ratios suggesting anadromy in freshwater resident fish. Dolly Varden, Salvelinus malma, from the Iliamna River, Alaska feed very heavily on eggs and other tissues from sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, and their otoliths had Sr/Ca ratios typical of fish making seasonal migrations to marine waters but the Ba/Ca ratios were consistent with residence in fresh water. Water samples from the river provided no indication that the elevated Sr concentrations came from the river. A simulation of otolith chemistry resulting from Sr incorporation from both water and diet across a range of published values in salmonids indicates that a diet of salmon eggs and tissues can produce marine Sr/Ca ratios while fish remain in fresh water. Without experimental evidence such as a controlled diet study these results are suggestive but not conclusive. Nevertheless, they send a cautionary note that in some cases heavy reliance on marine-derived food sources might affect otolith microchemistry, creating an appearance of anadromy in fish that did not leave fresh water.
Environmental Unpredictability in Childhood Is Associated With Anxious Romantic Attachment and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

Human life history theory describes how resources are allocated among conflicting life tasks, including trade-offs concerning reproduction. The current research investigates the unique importance of environmental unpredictability in childhood in association with romantic attachment, and explores whether objective or subjective measures of environmental risk are more informative for testing life history hypotheses. We hypothesize that (1) unpredictability in childhood will be associated with greater anxious attachment, (2) anxious attachment will be associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, and (3) anxious attachment will mediate the relationship between unpredictability in childhood and IPV perpetration. In two studies (total n = 391), participants in a heterosexual, romantic relationship completed self-report measures of childhood experiences, romantic attachment, and IPV perpetration. Study 1 provides support for Hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 1 is replicated only for men, but not women, i...
Fracture Process Control for A Peel-Apart Imaging Film

Peeling delamination and image-layer fracture of a multilayer imaging film is analyzed by a simple beam approximation. Criteria for propagation of the delamination cracks and tensile failure of the imaging layer are established. The critical role of substrate strain in controlling tensile strain in the imaging layer is explored. For the case of a thin imaging layer with a fracture strain below a critical level, image layer fracture occurs while the leading-edge delaminations length is comparable to the layer thickness. Experimental Helios film image quality is optimized at a small level of substrate tensile strain where delamination length at leading and trailing edges of small holes is balanced and small and where hole size is minimized.
Introduction to nanophotonics

This chapter serves as a brief introduction to nanophotonics and the topics are covered in greater detail and depth in the following chapters. The main themes of materials, fabrication, and characterization are discussed and connected to the development of photonic devices.
Microsurgical adjuncts in salvage of the ischemic and diabetic lower extremity.

Ischemic lesions of the lower extremity and their consequences of significant soft tissue and bony involvement are major problems, particularly in diabetics. Microsurgical techniques have proved to be a useful adjunct to facilitate revascularization of the extremely small and badly diseased distal vessels of the leg and foot in many of these patients. The additional availability of microsurgical free tissue transfer to reconstruct major soft tissue and bony wounds in these conditions has resulted in salvage of previously unreconstructable extremities. Microsurgical adjuncts appear to have a major role in reconstruction and salvage of wounds of the lower extremity of ischemic and diabetic etiology.
The construct validity of the First Coital Affective Reaction Scale and Virginity Beliefs Scale

Abstract Virginity loss is a pivotal life event which can have long-lasting effects on sexual behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct validity of two measures related to first sexual experience: the First Coital Affective Reaction Scale (FCARS) and the Virginity Beliefs Scale (VBS). Construct validity was investigated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent and discriminant validity, and the known-groups method. Factor analysis of the FCARS suggested that a two-factor model – in which positive and negative affective reactions are separated – accurately reflects the variance in responses. Overall, the results provide support for the construct validity of the FCARS and VBS; however, a two-factor model of FCARS and removing one item of the VBS may improve the measures' psychometric properties.
Allo-allo-triploid Sphagnum × falcatulum: single individuals contain most of the Holantarctic diversity for ancestrally indicative markers.

Background and aims Allopolyploids exhibit both different levels and different patterns of genetic variation than are typical of diploids. However, scant attention has been given to the partitioning of allelic information and diversity in allopolyploids, particularly that among homeologous monoploid components of the hologenome. Sphagnum × falcatulum is a double allopolyploid peat moss that spans a considerable portion of the Holantarctic. With monoploid genomes from three ancestral species, this organism exhibits a complex evolutionary history involving serial inter-subgeneric allopolyploidizations. Methods Studying populations from three disjunct regions [South Island (New Zealand); Tierra de Fuego archipelago (Chile, Argentina); Tasmania (Australia)], allelic information for five highly stable microsatellite markers that differed among the three (ancestral) monoploid genomes was examined. Using Shannon information and diversity measures, the holoploid information, as well as the information within and among the three component monoploid genomes, was partitioned into separate components for individuals within and among populations and regions, and those information components were then converted into corresponding diversity measures. Key results The majority (76 %) of alleles detected across these five markers are most likely to have been captured by hybridization, but the information within each of the three monoploid genomes varied, suggesting a history of recurrent allopolyploidization between ancestral species containing different levels of genetic diversity. Information within individuals, equivalent to the information among monoploid genomes (for this dataset), was relatively stable, and represented 83 % of the grand total information across the Holantarctic, with both inter-regional and inter-population diversification each accounting for about 5 % of the total information. Conclusions Sphagnum × falcatulum probably inherited the great majority of its genetic diversity at these markers by reticulation, rather than by subsequent evolutionary radiation. However, some post-hybridization genetic diversification has become fixed in at least one regional population. Methodology allowing statistical analysis of any ploidy level is presented.
Three-phase isolated soft-switching DC-DC converter with secondary phase shift modulation

A novel three-phase isolated soft-switching DC-DC converter suitable for medium voltage high current applications is proposed. The converter consists of a three-phase full bridge, a high frequency transformer and a three-phase active rectifier. With secondary phase shift modulation, zero voltage switching for all primary switches and zero current switching for all secondary switches are achieved from no load to full load. Switch and transformer parasitics are utilized to assist in soft switching. Since the energy required to charge/discharge switch output capacitance comes from output inductor rather than leakage inductance, the design for transformer is greatly simplified. Simulation and experimental results verify the operation of proposed converter.
The Evolution of Bacterial Genome Architecture

The genome architecture of bacteria and eukaryotes evolves in opposite directions when subject to genetic drift, a difference that can be ascribed to the fact that bacteria exhibit a mutational bias that deletes superfluous sequences, whereas eukaryotes are biased toward large insertions. Expansion of eukaryotic genomes occurs through the addition of non-functional sequences, such as repetitive sequences and transposable elements, whereas variation in bacterial genome size is largely due to the acquisition and loss of functional accessory genes. These properties create the situation in which eukaryotes with very similar numbers of genes can have vastly different genome sizes, while in bacteria, gene number scales linearly with genome size. Some bacterial genomes, however, particularly those of species that undergo bottlenecks due to recent association with hosts, accumulate pseudogenes and mobile elements, conferring them a low gene content relative to their genome size. These non-functional sequences are gradually eroded and eliminated after long-term association with hosts, with the result that obligate symbionts have the smallest genomes of any cellular organism. The architecture of bacterial genomes is shaped by complex and diverse processes, but for most bacterial species, genome size is governed by a non-adaptive process, i.e., genetic drift coupled with a mutational bias towards deletions. Thus, bacteria with small effective population sizes typically have the smallest genomes. Some marine bacteria counter this near-universal trend: despite having immense population sizes, selection, not drift, acts to reduce genome size in response to metabolic constraints in their nutrient-limited environment.
A study by electron microscopy of gold and associated minerals from Round Mountain, Nevada

Abstract Details regarding the mineralization patterns of gold in epithermal systems are poorly understood. A refined understanding of gold microtextures, the interface between gold and associated minerals, and the role that nanoparticles play in gold mineralization could provide insight into the details of gold growth and may contain indicators of gold ore concentration mechanisms. Furthermore, a refined understanding of the interface also may explain variation in cyanide leaching extraction efficiency and may enable enhancement of recovery methods. Macrocrystalline gold samples from Round Mountain, Nevada were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. This study suggests that gold nanoparticles are common in Round Mountain gold and associated mineral phases, and may play an important role in the formation of macrocrystalline gold in this deposit. Microtopographic evidence indicates that the two dimensional nucleation and growth mechanism is dominant and nanotextural evidence suggests that nanoparticulate gold was the first stage of growth in the formation of these macrocrystalline samples that grew rapidly at high degrees of supersaturation. Results suggest that the interface between gold and quartz and other related minerals is far more complex than previously thought, and that textures present at the interface and in the bulk gold can help explain mineralization history and can also have implications for gold recovery efficiency for macrocrystalline bearing ore.
Optimizing Phylogenetic Queries for Performance

The vast majority of phylogenetic databases do not support declarative querying using which their contents can be flexibly and conveniently accessed and the template based query interfaces they support do not allow arbitrary speculative queries. They therefore also do not support query optimization leveraging unique phylogeny properties. While a small number of graph query languages such as XQuery, Cypher, and GraphQL exist for computer savvy users, most are too general and complex to be useful for biologists, and too inefficient for large phylogeny querying. In this paper, we discuss a recently introduced visual query language, called PhyQL , that leverages phylogeny specific properties to support essential and powerful constructs for a large class of phylogentic queries. We develop a range of pruning aids, and propose a substantial set of query optimization strategies using these aids suitable for large phylogeny querying. A hybrid optimization technique that exploits a set of indices and “graphlet” partitioning is discussed. A “fail soonest” strategy is used to avoid hopeless processing and is shown to produce dividends. Possible novel optimization techniques yet to be explored are also discussed.
Equality by Principle, Efficiency by Practice: How Policy Description Affects Allocation Preference

Policy issues are aggregates of individual practical problems. However, practical problems demand that we think about specific details, while aggregating such problems at the policy level entails abstraction and generalization. Can considering a policy issue from a specific versus a general perspective change a person’s view about the issue? The current research explores this question in the context of allocating scarce health resources such as vaccines and transplant organs. Specifically, we study how describing allocation policies in general versus specific terms affects people’s preferences between more medically efficient allocations and more equal allocations. The results from four studies indicate that describing allocation outcomes in specific terms (e.g., allocate kidneys to “50 people who have been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for 1 year/6 years”) increases the preference for efficient allocation, while describing allocation principles in general terms (e.g., “those on the waiting list for a shorter/longer period of time should have priority”) promotes equal allocation. These findings have important implications for designing and communicating health policies to the public.
The Launch of the Control Programme on AIDS

The World Health Organization (WHO) finally began moving forward on AIDS under the leadership of Fakhry Assaad, the Director of WHO’s Division of Communicable Diseases. WHO Director-General Halfdan Mahler had initially thought that AIDS was outside of WHO’s mandate, but external pressure and emerging evidence on the extent of the disease convinced him to the contrary. This chapter explains how the rapid increase in AIDS cases across the world put extraordinary pressure on Assaad’s time and energy. It describes the early actions he took to assist countries, including the establishment of WHO Collaborating Centers and the formation of the WHO Control Programme on AIDS. Assaad eventually recruited Jonathan Mann to join the program, positioning WHO to lead the global response to the pandemic.
False positive bone scan due to skin fold artifact: case report

A number of hot and cold imaging artifacts can be encoun­ tered in nuclear medicine practice. Most commonly observed as a hot artifact is a curved band of increased activity produced by overlying breast tissue in liver-spleen scanning. A similar artifact can also be produced by skin folds in technetium-99m ( 99 mTc)-methylene diphosphonate bone scanning. Whole body scanning using 99 mTc-methylene diphospho­ nate (MDP) is routinely performed for a variety of reasons. Because of the reliability of the results (high sensitivity), bone scanning has become the most requested study in nuclear med­ icine today. The most common indication for a bone scan is to rule out metastatic bone disease. Bony metastases are noted as an area of increased or decreased uptake within the skeletal system. This depends on the types and natures of malignancies. Photon scatter or attenuation can produce respective areas of increased or decreased activity and possibly confuse inter­ pretation. A linear band of increased activity on liver scans just inferior to the crescent margin of the breast called a "stripe sign" is most commonly seen (1). We recently noted similar effects of photon scatter caused by skin folds during bone scan­ ning in two patients, resulting in false-positive scans.
HSP70 Family of Proteins of the Yeast S. cerevisiae

The most abundant heat shock protein in many organisms is a 70kDa protein called HSP70. In E. colithere is a single HSP70-related protein, the product of the dnaK gene. However, in most, if not all, eucaryotes, HSP70 is one of a family of related proteins. HSP70 families are usually composed of proteins that are expressed only after stress and those that are present under optimal growth conditions.
Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process for Integrating Environmental Considerations into Process Design Decisions

Design engineers and managers make decisions daily that result in various impacts to the environment. Product performance and profitability are historically their central concerns and primary areas of expertise. While many recognize the potential liability and other negative impacts of a decision that is made without consideration for the environment, the ability to include it in the decision process, quantitatively and reproducibly has been lacking. The evaluation of multiple criteria with complex tradeoffs can be a difficult problem, particularly when dealing with diverse criteria such as cost, health, safety, and a myriad of potential environmental impacts.
Categories in Charles A. Cutter's Systems of Subject Cataloging and Bibliographical Classification

Categories are considered to be an essential element in the design of many knowledge organization systems (KOS), particularly those following the categorial approach of faceted analysis. Standard narratives of knowledge organization (KO) identify S.R. Ranganthan as the founder of the categorial approach to KO. However, they also acknowledge that elements of a categorial approach to KO can be found in a number of earlier KOSs created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by such pioneers of KO as Paul Otlet, James D. Brown, and Julius O. Kaiser. This paper seeks to expand the list of precursors to the categorial approach by examining the role of categories in two KOSs created by Charles Ammi Cutter: the system of subject cataloging outlined in the Rules for a Dictionary Catalog (RDC) and the bibliographical classification known as the Expansive Classification (EC). In the RDC, Cutter divided subjects into three categories—concrete individual, concrete general, and abstract general—which were articulated into a classificatory, hierarchical structure that provided the framework for his principle of specific entry. Cutter also established a “significance order” of precedence for these categories, which functioned as a decision tree for selecting the most specific subject headings under which books treating of complex subjects should be entered. In the EC, Cutter divided the classification into schedules for subjects, a list of bibliographical forms, and an auxiliary table of place names (the Local List), with each of these divisions sharply distinguished from the other by notational means; moreover, he established a mechanism for class synthesis, whereby classes in the classification could take the forms Subject–Place or Place–Subject. Both KOSs were designed to allow maximal treatment of concrete, specific classes and so manifest the underlying unity of Cutter’s vision of KO. The pervasive, but implicit and untheorized, use of categorial structures in both the RDC and EC justifies the inclusion of Cutter among the precursors of the categorial approach to KO.
Abstract PR04: A natural killer–dendritic cell axis defines checkpoint therapy–responsive tumor microenvironments

Intratumoral stimulatory dendritic cells (SDCs) play an important role in stimulating cytotoxic T-cells and driving immune responses against cancer. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate their abundance in the tumor microenvironment (TME) could unveil new therapeutic opportunities. We find that in human melanoma, SDC abundance is associated with intratumoral expression of the gene encoding the cytokine FLT3LG. FLT3LG is predominantly produced by lymphocytes, notably natural killer (NK) cells in mouse and human tumors. NK cells stably form conjugates with SDCs in the mouse TME, and genetic and cellular ablation of NK cells in mice demonstrates their importance in positively regulating SDC abundance in tumor through production of FLT3L. Although anti-PD-1 “checkpoint” immunotherapy for cancer largely targets T-cells, we find that NK cell frequency correlates with protective SDCs in human cancers, with patient responsiveness to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, and with increased overall survival. Our studies reveal that innate immune SDCs and NK cells cluster together as an excellent prognostic tool for T-cell–directed immunotherapy and that these innate cells are necessary for enhanced T-cell tumor responses, suggesting this axis as a target for new therapies. Citation Format: Kevin C. Barry, Matthew F. Krummel. A natural killer–dendritic cell axis defines checkpoint therapy–responsive tumor microenvironments [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fourth CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; Sept 30-Oct 3, 2018; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2019;7(2 Suppl):Abstract nr PR04.
Hypo-osmotic-like stress underlies general cellular defects of aneuploidy

Aneuploidy, which refers to unbalanced chromosome numbers, represents a class of genetic variation that is associated with cancer, birth defects and eukaryotic micro-organisms1–4. Whereas it is known that each aneuploid chromosome stoichiometry can give rise to a distinct pattern of gene expression and phenotypic profile4,5, it remains a fundamental question as to whether there are common cellular defects that are associated with aneuploidy. Here we show the existence in budding yeast of a common aneuploidy gene-expression signature that is suggestive of hypo-osmotic stress, using a strategy that enables the observation of common transcriptome changes of aneuploidy by averaging out karyotype-specific dosage effects in aneuploid yeast-cell populations with random and diverse chromosome stoichiometry. Consistently, aneuploid yeast exhibited increased plasma-membrane stress that led to impaired endocytosis, and this defect was also observed in aneuploid human cells. Thermodynamic modelling showed that hypo-osmotic-like stress is a general outcome of the proteome imbalance that is caused by aneuploidy, and also predicted a relationship between ploidy and cell size that was observed in yeast and aneuploid cancer cells. A genome-wide screen uncovered a general dependency of aneuploid cells on a pathway of ubiquitin-mediated endocytic recycling of nutrient transporters. Loss of this pathway, coupled with the endocytic defect inherent to aneuploidy, leads to a marked alteration of intracellular nutrient homeostasis. A common aneuploidy gene-expression signature is identified in yeast that is suggestive of hypo-osmotic stress, and which leads to cells that exhibit increased plasma-membrane stress and impaired endocytosis.
Entangling distant spin qubits via a magnetic domain wall

The scalability of quantum networks based on solid-state spin qubits is hampered by the short range of natural spin-spin interactions. Here, we propose a scheme to entangle distant spin qubits via the soft modes of an antiferromagnetic domain wall (DW). As spin qubits, we focus on quantum impurities (QIs) placed in the vicinity of an insulating antiferromagnetic thin film. The low-energy modes harbored by the DW are embedded in the antiferromagnetic bulk, whose intrinsic spin-wave dynamics have a gap that can exceed the THz range. By setting the QI frequency and the temperature well within the bulk gap, we focus on the dipolar interaction between the QI and two soft modes localized at the DW. One is a stringlike mode associated with transverse displacements of the DW position, while the dynamics of the other, corresponding to planar rotations of the N\'eel order parameter, constitute a spin superfluid. By choosing the geometry in which the QI does not couple to the string mode, we use an external magnetic field to control the gap of the spin superfluid and the qubit-qubit coupling it engenders. We suggest that a tunable micron-range coherent coupling between qubits can be established using common antiferromagnetic materials.
Electroless Silver Plating of Additive Manufactured Trough Waveguide Mode Transducer and Antenna Structure

Three-dimensional printing and metal plating of trough waveguide structure operating in the ISM band ranging from 57-64 GHz is discussed. Addition of commercially available filter in the currently available circulatory electroless silver plating system is discussed and the improvement in insertion coefficient measurement is highlighted. Potential application of short length trough waveguide as TRU calibration standard for measuring longer length trough waveguide section is also discussed.
Bandshift Luminescence Thermometry Using Mn4+:Na4Mg(WO4)3 Phosphors

The feasibility of employing Mn4+-activated phosphors for bandshift luminesence thermometry is demonstrated for the first time using Mn4+:Na4Mg(WO4)3. Substitution of Mn4+ for Mg2+ in Na4Mg(WO4)3 y...
Wellbeing Considerations for Medical Students

Undergraduate medical education traditionally consists of classroom-based and patient-centered education. For medical students in their preclinical years, time is spent learning the fundamentals of disease pathophysiology and treatment, preparing for the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1, and balancing a life outside of the classroom. In their clinical years, students spend time rotating through a number of different specialties (clerkships), preparing for the USMLE Step 2, applying for residency, and traveling for residency interviews. What integrates all of these milestones through medical school is the learning environment. However, in a recent Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) 2018 Graduation Questionnaire (GQ), 42% of graduating medical students reported experiencing mistreatment (Association of American Medical Colleges. Medical School Graduation Questionnaire 2018 All Schools Summary Report, 2018). In addition, a recent systematic review determined that 46% of graduating North American medical students are suffering from burnout (Ishak et al., Clin Teach 10:242–5, 2013). As a result, increasing numbers of medical students are depressed, drinking for escape, experiencing post-traumatic stress symptoms, and having decreased confidence in clinical skills (Cook et al., Acad Med 89:749–54, 2014; Heru et al., Acad Psychiatry 33:302–6, 2009; Schuchert, Acad Med 73:907–9, 1998; Richman et al., JAMA 267:692–4; 1992). In order to remedy this, as a medical community we must be committed to validating medical students in their roles as a student, a member of our medical teams, and as an individual on their journey to becoming a physician (Brandford et al., Am J Surg 215:227–32, 2017).
Medications for opioid use disorder in pregnancy in a state women's prison facility.

Abstract Background Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) improves both maternal and neonatal outcomes for pregnant women with opioid use disorder (OUD). Although correctional policies often state that incarcerated pregnant women with OUD should receive MOUD, implementation data is scant. Our aims were to 1) quantify the extent to which pregnant women in a Southeastern prison received MOUD during their incarceration; 2) to describe the medications and doses used during incarceration and frequency of MOUD referral after incarceration; and 3) identify associations between maternal characteristics and receipt of MOUD in order to identify points of intervention for clinical policy change. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of pregnant women with OUD in a North Carolina state women’s prison from 2016–2018. We collected MOUD, demographic, custody, pregnancy, and pre-incarceration substance use data. We used descriptive statistics, chi square tests, and logistic regression. Results There were 179 pregnant women with OUD. During incarceration, 11.7 % received buprenorphine, 17.8 % methadone, 22.8 % oxycodone, and 47.8 % did not receive any opioid medications. Of those who received buprenorphine, methadone, and no MOUD, respectively, 65 %, 51.2 %, and 3.2 % were referred for community MOUD. Women were more likely to receive MOUD during incarceration if they had received MOUD pre-incarceration. Conclusions There was significant unmet need for MOUD and MOUD referral among pregnant women imprisoned in North Carolina from 2016–2018. Our findings suggest that the initial assessment for MOUD and referral to a community MOUD provider may represent opportunities to improve MOUD access for this population.
Disputed Presidential Elections and the Collapse of Constitutional Norms

This Article exposes the vulnerabilities of the legal framework governing Congress’s role in resolving disputed presidential elections: the Electoral Count Act of 1887. The constitutional and statutory framework for resolving such disputes remains largely untested in courts and only inconclusively examined by scholars, even after the calamitous events of January 6, 2021. That unsteady legal foundation could result in an even more explosive conflict in 2024 and beyond, fueled by increasingly vitriolic political polarization and constitutional hardball. The Article provides a comprehensive account of the vulnerabilities in current law that leave the process susceptible to election subversion and a detailed analysis of how the law might be modernized to steel it against that manipulation in a time of collapsing constitutional norms. The Article first illustrates just how easy it could be for unscrupulous political actors to reverse the results of a presidential election by exploiting the Act’s weaknesses. It maps out the ways in which political actors playing constitutional hardball could manipulate the results of an election while staying within the strict bounds of the written law by abandoning informal constitutional norms. The Article then offers a blueprint for a redesigning the law to protect the process of presidential elections, as well as it can, from that exploitation. It analyzes the many choices Congress faces in crafting such a law, including how to allocate legal authority among states, Congress, and courts, and how to design dispute resolution procedures in Congress when it counts the votes in the Electoral College. The exceptional nature of that problem, in which states, Congress, and the Vice President play sui generis roles not found elsewhere in the architecture of the Constitution, requires a unique legal framework that poses unprecedented constitutional questions. The Article therefore considers the constitutionality of critical features of the proposed Act, addressing arguments arising from the political question doctrine, the separation of powers, the Electors Clause, and other constitutional provisions.
Introduction to the special issue: Social work practice in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic - Challenges and innovations.

The emergence of the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) in late 2019 is likely the largest global public health crisis of our lifetimes. COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates in the United States are ...
Computerized Cognitive Training in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Clinical Trial:

Objective:Computerized cognitive training has been successful in healthy older adults, but its efficacy has been mixed in patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).Methods:In a randomi...
Book Review: Intentional Changes: A Fresh Approach to Helping People Change

Intentional Changes is an important book. It suggests different approaches to the way in which we try to implement change. It provides, as do most important books, much that you will disagree with. Tough’s conclusions are based on studies that are likely to be unknown to you. The book is interesting, well written, and short.
An Explainable Attention-Guided Iris Presentation Attack Detector

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are being increasingly used to address the problem of iris presentation attack detection. In this work, we propose an explainable attention-guided iris presentation attack detector (AG-PAD) to augment CNNs with attention mechanisms and to provide visual explanations of model predictions. Two types of attention modules are independently placed on top of the last convolutional layer of the backbone network. Specifically, the channel attention module is used to model the inter-channel relationship between features, while the position attention module is used to model inter-spatial relationship between features. An element-wise sum is employed to fuse these two attention modules. Further, a novel hierarchical attention mechanism is introduced. Experiments involving both a JHU-APL proprietary dataset and the benchmark LivDet-Iris-2017 dataset suggest that the proposed method achieves promising detection results while explaining occurrences of salient regions for discriminative feature learning. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that exploits the use of attention mechanisms in iris presentation attack detection.
Use of Bony Landmarks during Adrenal Venous Sampling to Guide Catheterization of the Left Adrenal Vein

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the utility of fluoroscopic bony landmarks in predicting the location of the left adrenal vein during adrenal vein sampling (AVS). Methods Eighty-six AVS procedures were performed in 81 patients between August 2013 and March 2020. A selectivity index was calculated for each case by dividing the measured left adrenal vein cortisol level by the peripheral vein cortisol level. Successful “target” left adrenal vein catheterization was confirmed in cases with a selectivity index of three or greater. Intraprocedural AVS fluoroscopic images were selected that demonstrated catheter position in the left adrenal vein. Lateral distance from the catheter tip in the left adrenal vein to the lateral margin of the left pedicle at the associated vertebral body level was measured. Results Mean patient age was 56.4 years (range: 19–80 years) and 48 (59.3%) patients were male. Target sampling in the left adrenal vein was confirmed in 82 (95.3%) cases. In 78 (95.1%) targeted cases, the catheter terminated less than 25 mm from the left lateral pedicle at a mean distance of 11.2 mm. The catheter was most frequently placed at the T12 and L1 vertebral body levels. Four (4.7%) cases demonstrated nontarget catheter positioning, two (50.0%) of these cases were within 25 mm. Conclusion The position of the left adrenal vein is generally located in a predictable position relative to bony landmarks. By utilizing these landmarks, positioning of the sampling catheter during AVS can be more reliable with the potential to avoid repeat procedures and delays in patient care.
Other Benign Biliary Strictures: Sclerosing Cholangitis, Autoimmune Cholangitis, Post-Liver Transplant

Within the broad spectrum of biliary pathology, one of the most challenging diagnostic dilemmas is the evaluation of biliary strictures, particularly when imaging and cytopathology results are nondiagnostic. The differential diagnosis for an indeterminate biliary stricture encompasses both benign and malignant processes. Diagnosis is often delayed due to the indolent disease course of benign etiologies and the slow growth of cholangiocarcinomas, which can have a profound impact on patient morbidity and mortality. While exclusion of malignancy is of principal concern, establishing a definitive diagnosis for benign biliary strictures is also important for appropriate management, but potentially challenging, especially in the setting of hilar and peripheral liver disease. In addition, stricturing diseases can mimic one another on imaging, further contributing to variable interobserver agreement in the interpretation of radiographic findings. ERCP can play an important role in the diagnosis and management of these benign biliary diseases.
Estimation of right and left ventricular size by ultrasound: A study of the echoes from the interventricular septum

Abstract A technic utilizing pulsed reflected ultrasound has been developed for estimating the size of both the right and left ventricles. The key to this technic is the recording of echoes from the interventricular septum. These echoes have been recognized previously but never have been described in any detail. With the septal echoes it is possible to obtain a right ventricular dimension between the echo originating from the anterior epicardial surface of the right ventricle to the right side of the interventricular septum. A left ventricular internal dimension is also obtainable between the left side of the septum and the echoes stemming from the endocardial surface of the posterior left ventricular wall. These ultrasound measurements were obtained during end-diastole in 26 normal subjects, 23 patients with atrial septal defects and large left to right shunts proved by cardiac catheterization and 12 patients with angiographically proved marked aortic or mitral regurgitation and dilated left ventricle. In the normal group the mean right ventricular dimension was 1.5 ± 0.4 cm. (range 0.5 to 2.1). The mean left ventricular dimension was 4.5 ± 0.5 cm. (range 3.5 to 5.3). The patients with the atrial septal defects had an increased mean right ventricular dimension of 3.7 ± 1.1 cm. (range 2.2 to 6.3), which differed significantly from the normal ( p p Besides facilitating measurements of the right and left ventricles, recognition of the interventricular septal echoes represents an important contribution to echocardiography because these echoes can be a source of confusion when examining for pericardial effusion or mitral stenosis. In addition, the location and motion of the interventricular septum introduces a new area of investigative and diagnostic possibilities for this increasingly popular technic.
An analysis of SAT-based model checking techniques in an industrial environment

Model checking is a formal technique for automatically verifying that a finite-state model satisfies a temporal property. In model checking, generally Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) are used to efficiently encode the transition relation of the finite-state model. Recently model checking algorithms based on Boolean satisfiability (SAT) procedures have been developed to complement the traditional BDD-based model checking. These algorithms can be broadly classified into three categories: (1) bounded model checking which is useful for finding failures (2) hybrid algorithms that combine SAT and BDD based methods for unbounded model checking, and (3) purely SAT-based unbounded model checking algorithms. The goal of this paper is to provide a uniform and comprehensive basis for evaluating these algorithms. The paper describes eight bounded and unbounded techniques, and analyzes the performance of these algorithms on a large and diverse set of hardware benchmarks.
SCRUPLE: a reengineer's tool for source code search

For software maintainers and reengineers confronted with the task of locating an interesting section of source code, a slow, painstaking scan of the source code using grep like tools is often the only available option. Similar problems arise in code optimization and program understanding. To alleviate the situation, we have in the past proposed a scheme for defining pattern languages using which one can specify interesting code features [13]. This paper addresses the automatic detection of source code sections that fit patterns described using such languages. We have built prototypes of our runtime system for C and PL/AS (an IBM internal programming language). The key to efficient, automatic search lies in the representations of the source code and the pattern being searched. A domain-independent pattern detection algorithm based on these representations is described. A prototype of the system was also built to search for simple patterns in English text, which demonstrates the generality of the pattern language concept as well as the underlying pattern detection mechanism.
A high-performance and energy-efficient CT reconstruction algorithm for multi-terabyte datasets

There has been much work done in implementing various GPU-based Computed Tomography reconstruction algorithms for medical applications showing tremendous improvement in computational performance. While many of these reconstruction algorithms could also be applied to industrial-scale datasets, the performance gains may be modest to non-existent due to a combination of algorithmic, hardware, or scalability limitations. Previous work presented showed an irregular dynamic approach to GPU-Reconstruction kernel execution for industrial-scale reconstructions that dramatically improved voxel processing throughput. However, the improved kernel execution magnified other system bottlenecks such as host memory bandwidth and storage read/write bandwidth, thus hindering performance gains. This paper presents a multi-GPU-based reconstruction algorithm capable of efficiently reconstructing large volumes (between 64 gigavoxels and 1 teravoxel volumes) not only faster than traditional CPU- and GPU-based reconstruction algorithms but also while consuming significantly less energy. The reconstruction algorithm exploits the irregular kernel approach from previous work as well as a modularized MIMD-like environment, heterogeneous parallelism, as well as macro- and micro-scale dynamic task allocation. The result is a portable and flexible reconstruction algorithm capable of executing on a wide range of architectures including mobile computers, workstations, supercomputers, and modestly-sized hetero or homogeneous clusters with any number of graphics processors.