cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transmission of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus to Health Care Worker Gowns and Gloves During Care of Residents in Veterans Affairs Nursing Homes

Background This was an observational study designed to estimate the frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) transmission to gowns and gloves worn by health care workers (HCWs) interacting with Veterans Affairs Community Living Center (VA nursing home) residents to inform MRSA prevention policies. Methods Participants included residents and HCWs from 7 VA nursing homes in 4 states and Washington, DC. Residents were cultured for MRSA at the anterior nares, perianal skin, and wound (if present). HCWs wore gowns and gloves during usual care activities. After each activity, a research coordinator swabbed the HCW's gown and gloves. Swabs were cultured for MRSA. Results There were 200 residents enrolled; 94 (46%) were MRSA colonized. Glove contamination was higher than gown contamination (20% vs 11%, respectively; P 1.0, P P Conclusions MRSA transmission from colonized residents to gloves was higher than transmission to gowns. Transmission to gloves varies by type of care, but all care had a risk of contamination, demonstrating the importance of hand hygiene after all care. Transmission to gowns was significantly higher with certain types of care. Optimizing gown and glove use by targeting high-risk care activities could improve resident-centered care for MRSA-colonized residents by promoting a home-like environment.
Assessing Coparenting Relationships in Daily Life: The Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop)

We describe the development and validation of the Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop), a measure of parents' perceptions of daily coparenting quality, to address the absence of such a daily measure in the field. A daily measure of coparenting can help us to better identify and optimize specific mechanisms of short-term change in family processes as well as examine within-person variability and processes as they are lived by participants in their everyday lives. Mothers and fathers, from 174 families with at least one child age 5 or younger, completed a 14-day diary study. Utilizing multilevel factor analysis, we identified two daily coparenting factors at both the between- and within-person level: positive and negative daily coparenting. The reliabilities of the overall D-Cop and individual positive and negative subscales were good, and we found that parents' reports of coparenting quality fluctuated on a daily basis. Also, we established the initial validity of the D-Cop, as scores related as expected to (a) an existing and already validated measure of coparenting and to (b) couple relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and child behavior problems. Further, fluctuations in daily couple relationship feelings related to fluctuations in daily coparenting quality. The D-Cop and its subscales functioned almost identically when only utilizing 7 days of data instead of 14 days. We call for future work to study day-by-day fluctuations and dynamics of coparenting to better illuminate family processes that lead to child and family outcomes in order to improve the efficacy of family interventions.
On the californium oxide system

Abstract Californium dioxide was prepared by oxidation with high pressure molecular oxygen and by atomic oxygen. The CfO2 has a fcc structure with an expansion corrected lattice parameter of 5·310 ± 0·002 A. Several areas of oxide stability in the range CfOχ(2·00 > χ > 1·50) are reported and these phases have a rhombohedral structure. The phase transition temperature between the body-centered cubic Cf2O3 and monoclinic Cf2O3 is ∼ 1400°C.
Dynamic obstacle avoidance

Techniques to allow simulated entities to avoid static terrain, such as trees, buildings, rivers, etc., have been in use in Distributed Interactive Simulation (DlS) environments for many years. Avoidance of objects in motion, “dynamic obstacles”, is much more complex. Although simple dynamic obstacle collision avoidance has been implemented in other systems, the resulting behavior is usually less than realistic. The Institute for Simulation and Training (1ST) has investigated techniques to allow simulated entities to make reasonably intelligent and realistic maneuvers intended to avoid dynamic (and static) objects. The goal has been to find new methods which will yield improved collision avoidance behavior without excessive computational cost. As a result of this work, 1ST has developed a novel approach to attack the DIS dynamic obstacle avoidance (DOA) problem by combining two disparate motion planning approaches: potential fields and grid based route planning.
Pain versus analgesia: TAOK3 as a pharmacogene.

Letter To Editor:We read with interest the recent work of Matic et al.8 investigating single nucleotide polymorphisms in select candidate genes for experimental pain, and were grateful for their inclusion and study of rs795484 within TAOK3. Using genome-wide association study (GWAS) methodology, we
Welfare Policies and Racial Stereotypes: The Structural Construction of a Model Minority

Whereas the economic mobility observed among Asian Americans is often attributed to their cultural values, this article demonstrates the importance of state aid to the economic mobility of a community of Southeast Asian refugees living in California. Using data from a lengthy ethnographic study of rural Laotian refugees, the content and administration of social welfare programs offered political refugees is contrasted with the social policies extended toward other poor communities. As variations in social policies can constrain or facilitate economic mobility, the concrete impact of welfare state policies on different ethnic communities is a topic in need of further exploration.
Patient and System Factors Related to Missed Opportunities for Screening in an Electronic Medical Record–driven, Opt‐out HIV Screening Program in the Emergency Department

Objective Emergency Departments (EDs) have implemented HIV screening using a variety of strategies. This study investigates how specific patient and health system factors in the ED impact who is and is not screened in a combined targeted and non-targeted, EMR-driven, opt-out, HIV screening program. Methods This was a retrospective, cross sectional study of ED visits where patients were determined eligible for HIV screening by an EMR algorithm between 11/18/2014 and 7/15/2015. The HIV screening workflow included three sequential events, all of which were required to get screened for HIV at the ED visit. The events were having a blood draw, being informed of the HIV screening policy by an ED nurse at the point of blood draw, and the patient consenting to the HIV test. Each event represented a dichotomous outcome and its association with six patient factors (age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, preferred language, and Emergency Severity Index (ESI)) and two health system factors (ED crowding and program phase) was investigated using multivariable modeling. Results A total of 15,918 ED visits were analyzed. Blood was drawn in 8,388 of 15,918 visits (53%). Of 8,388 visits where blood was drawn, there were 5,947 (71%) visits where ED nurses documented informing patients of the HIV screening policy. Of those visits, patient consent to the HIV test was documented at 3,815 (64%) visits. Patients between 13-19 years of age were significantly less likely to have blood drawn, to be informed of the screening policy, and to consent to the HIV test compared to other age groups. Both ED crowding and a patient's ESI were associated with decreased odds of having a blood draw and being informed of HIV screening by an ED nurse, but showed no association with patients consenting to the HIV test. Conclusion Many patients, particularly adolescents and young adults, are missed in ED HIV screening programs that require blood draw and depend on providers to obtain consent for testing. To ensure these patients are reached, future ED screening programs should strive to develop innovative workflows that allow for blood draws for HIV screening only and streamline the processes of obtaining informed consent and ordering tests for all eligible patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Online Adjunct Faculty: A Quantitative Examination of the Predictive Relationship between Leadership and Job Satisfaction

Advances in technology and the rapid expansion and affordability of the internet have helped facilitate the use of online education, or e-learning. To accommodate increased online enrollments, universities are hiring adjunct faculty to teach online courses. Despite the importance of adjunct faculty, there is a lack of research on the experiences of adjuncts, and particularly on the experiences of adjunct faculty who teach online classes. Likewise, there is a lack of research in the for-profit sector of post-secondary education in the United States. This quantitative correlational study addressed this gap in knowledge by investigating the predictive relationship between dimensions of the Full Range Leadership Theory, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, and the overall job satisfaction of adjunct faculty who teach online classes at a for-profit university in the United States. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey were used to collect data to measure the faculty’s perceptions of leadership and job satisfaction. The results of multiple linear regression indicated transformational leadership was a significant predictor of job satisfaction, and increased overall satisfaction when present. Transactional leadership was also a significant predictor of overall job satisfaction, but demonstrated a negative relationship. Laissez-faire leadership was not a significant predictor of overall job satisfaction.
The Sarracenia Pitcher Plants and Bog Gardening

The Sarracenia pitcher plants are among the world’s most beautiful and intriguing plants, and being carnivorous adds an extra dimension of fascination. They are endemic to North America – 10 species are found only in the southeastern United States and one species is widely distributed, from the northeastern US and across Canada. They are easy to cultivate if you understand their basic needs and are grown the world over. Every botanical garden should have them because they are so popular with the public. They go hand-in-hand with other unusual carnivorous plants to make a display that is captivating (puns intended!) to both children and adults. This paper covers types of pitcher plants, their habitats, brief descriptions of the species, a key to identification, cultivation and a short note on conservation.
Oral Contraceptive Activity of Danazol in the Rhesus Monkey

Danazol (17-alpha-Pregna-4-en-20-yno(23-d)-isoxazole-17-ol) inhibits pituitary gonadotropin secretion in rodents rhesus monkeys and humans. 24 female rhesus monkeys were medicated with danazol orally for 90 days in doses of 50 100 200 and 400mg per monkey per day. Danazol was completely effective in preventing pregnancy during the 90-day treatment period at doses of 200 and 400mg. At 100mg the drug was partially effective in preventing pregnancy and at 50 mg it was ineffective. Pregnancy rates in appropriate controls were very high 12 out of 14 monkeys became pregnant in the first month.
A Structural Model for Optimal Selection of Maturity and Timing of Callable Bond Issuance: Help in Incorporating the Impact of Federal Reserve Policy and other Factors

A major shortcoming of previous structural models of bonds is that they ignore how the complex terms of a call feature interact with default to determine term structures at issuance. A term structure of par coupon yields is different and superior to a term structure based upon the option adjusted spread and, furthermore, is the most useful term structure for firms issuing bonds because it is the most accurate measure of cost of debt. We present a par coupon structural model that can be used as an aid in timing bond issues because some of parameters of the model have been proven to exhibit predictability. One can use the model to incorporate the impact of alternative future Federal Reserve policies for short-term interest rates upon the optimal timing and maturity of corporate bond issuance. We report that par coupon term structures can have distinctly different shapes than other simultaneous term structures, such as those derived from option adjusted spreads where the difference depends on default risk, alternative call features, and the interaction of default risk and call features. As one finding among many, we find that call option value (at issuance) declines as credit quality declines.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapeutics - 1: Repeated clinical failures continue to question the amyloid hypothesis of AD and the current understanding of AD causality.

Abstract Deposits of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of aggregated tau in the brain represent key hallmarks of the neurodegenerative disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and form the basis of the major hypotheses of AD causality. To date, therapeutics that reduce brain amyloid in AD patients have demonstrated no effect in reversing the associated decline in cognition or function indicating that the amyloid hypothesis is either incorrect or that there is a point when the disease becomes independent of Aβ production or is refractory to any type of therapeutic intervention. The clinical failures of inhibitors of tau aggregation, neurotransmitter modulators and drugs repurposed from AD-associated disease indications tend to support this latter viewpoint. Current understanding of AD causality is thus incomplete, a situation that has been compounded by a debate on whether AD is a singularly distinct form of dementia and by the dogmatic promotion of hypotheses over actual clinical data. The latter has repeatedly led to compounds lacking efficacy in Phase II trials being advanced into Phase III where their lack of efficacy is routinely recapitulated. This Commentary, the first of two, discusses amyloid and tau as putative drug targets for AD in the context of the prevalence and economic and social impact of this insidious neurodegenerative disease.
Postoperative Opioid Prescribing and Consumption after Hysterectomy: A Prospective Cohort Study

Study Objective To examine opioid prescribing and consumption patterns after hysterectomy and whether a brief pre-operative survey predicts post-operative opioid consumption. Design Prospective cohort study; duration of study participation 3 weeks. Setting Single university medical center. Patients or Participants From February 2018 to January 2019, we enrolled 99 women undergoing hysterectomy for benign, non-obstetric indications. Interventions Pre-operatively, participants reported their baseline pain score (0-10 scale). During the third post-operative week, they completed a telephone interview, including direct count of remaining opioid pills. We assessed factors associated with number of pills taken equivalent to oxycodone 5mg. Measurements and Main Results 81 participants completed the post-operative survey after hysterectomy: robotic assisted (n=35), conventional laparoscopic (n=29), vaginal (n=9), or abdominal (n=8). On average, participants took 14.8 pills (std 13.2), were prescribed 27.8 pills (std 11.3), and took 50% of their prescription (std 36.4). Mean duration of use varied significantly by route, however amount taken did not. Higher baseline pain scores and larger prescriptions were associated with more pills taken. For each additional point on the baseline pain scale, the amount taken increased by nearly 1 pill (std 0.5, p=0.04).For every additional pill prescribed, amount taken increased by 0.7 pills (std 0.4, p Conclusion Our study suggests that gynecologists can decrease opioid prescribing after hysterectomy, potentially individualizing prescriptions based on pre-operative baseline pain and the indication for hysterectomy, without decreasing patient satisfaction.
Efficacy and safety of EUS-guided gastroenterostomy for benign and malignant gastric outlet obstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background and study aims Endoscopic ultrasound-guided gastroenterostomy (EUS-GE) is a novel endoscopic procedure designed to facilitate sustained luminal patency in patients with gastric outlet obstruction. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of EUS-GE for treatment of gastric outlet obstruction. Methods Searches of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were performed through April 2019. Patients with benign and malignant gastric outlet obstruction were included. Measured outcomes included: immediate technical and clinical success as well as rate of serious adverse events (AEs). Heterogeneity was assessed with Cochran Q test and I 2 statistics. Publication bias was ascertained by funnel plot and Egger regression testing. Results A total of five studies (n = 199 patients; 45.73 % male) were included in this study. Four retrospective studies and one prospective study were analyzed. Mean age of patients that underwent the EUS-GE procedure was 64.52 ± 1.37 years with a pooled mean follow-up period of 4.32 ± 1.65 months. In 21 % of patients (n = 43), gastric outlet obstruction was due to benign causes. Immediate technical success was 92.90 % (95 % CI; 88.26 – 95.79; I2 = 0.00 %) and reported in all studies. The clinical success rate of EUS-GE was 90.11 % (95 % CI; 84.64 – 93.44; I2 = 0.00 %). Serious AEs occurred in 5.61 % (95 % CI; 2.87 – 10.67; I2 = 1.67 %) of cases and were related to peritonitis, perforation, bleeding, and abdominal pain. Re-intervention rate was 11.43 % (95 % CI; 7.29 – 17.46; I2 = 17.38 %). Conclusions EUS-GE appears to provide an effective and safe minimally invasive alternative for treatment of benign and malignant gastric outlet obstruction.
Aging aggravates intervertebral disc degeneration by regulating transcription factors toward chondrogenesis

Osterix is a critical transcription factor of mesenchymal stem cell fate, where its loss or loss of Wnt signaling diverts differentiation to a chondrocytic lineage. Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration activates the differentiation of prehypertrophic chondrocyte-like cells and inactivates Wnt signaling, but its interactive role with osterix is unclear. First, compared to young-adult (5 mo), mechanical compression of old (18 mo) IVD induced greater IVD degeneration. Aging (5 vs 12 mo) and/or compression reduced the transcription of osterix and notochordal marker T by 40-75%. Compression elevated the transcription of hypertrophic chondrocyte marker MMP13 and pre-osterix transcription factor RUNX2, but less so in 12 mo IVD. Next, using an Ai9/td reporter and immunohistochemical staining, annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus cells of young-adult IVD expressed osterix, but aging and compression reduced its expression. Lastly, in vivo LRP5-deficiency in osterix-expressing cells inactivated Wnt signaling in the nucleus pulposus by 95%, degenerated the IVD to levels similar to aging and compression, reduced the biomechanical properties by 45-70%, and reduced the transcription of osterix, notochordal markers and chondrocytic markers by 60-80%. Overall, these data indicate that age-related inactivation of Wnt signaling in osterix-expressing cells may limit regeneration by depleting the progenitors and attenuating the expansion of chondrocyte-like cells.
Writing for Justice in First-Year Composition (FYC)

Conceptualized as writing for justice, I offer close-scrutiny and analyses of teaching artifacts that animate my course syllabi in order to understand how first-year composition (FYC) courses might function as a vehicle for advancing social justice. Specifically, this essay offers a framework for enabling students with the critical capacities to transfer social justice knowledge from the classroom to the street. With close readings of my curricula and borrowing from the scholarship on knowledge transfer studies (Bawarshi & Reiff 2011; Beaufort 2007; Yancey 2011), I bridge the theoretical framework of writing for justice to a practice of writing for justice in curriculum design and development. As I argue here, this aspect of the curriculum provides the framework for crafting a FYC curriculum that aims to transform undergraduate students’ cognitive schemas by forming new “impressions” (Ahmed 2004) of social justice.
Patients with leukemia dying in the hospital: results of the national inpatient sample and a call to do better.

The estimated prevalence of leukemia (including all sub-types) in the United States for 2019 was 414,773 based on data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database [1]. The h...
Bone responses to biomaterials

Abstract The field of bone tissue engineering has been growing over time, implementing strategies to induce bone regeneration in diverse pathological settings. To this end, scaffolds made of different biomaterials are exploited for their osteoinductive, osteoconductive, and osteogenic properties and for the delivery of factors to promote tissue regeneration. This process involves intense physical and molecular interactions between the implanted biomaterial and resident cells in the bone tissue or cells recruited from the periphery to the implanted site. The implanted biomaterials, according to their physicochemical properties, elicit an active response from skeletal cells (osteoclasts, osteoblasts, osteocytes, and their precursors) and, more importantly, from immune cells, including macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, and lymphocytes, and endothelial cells. In this chapter, we will address the cellular events that follow the biomaterial implantation in bone and the challenges in reproducing or tuning the complex tissue microenvironment for successful tissue regeneration.
Integrins and OPN localize to adhesion complexes during placentation in sheep

Integrins and OPN are potential mediators of blastocyst attachment to the endometrium to initiate implantation. The goals were to examine the temporal/spatial pattern of expression of integrins at the endometrial-placental interface of sheep encompassing Days 9 through 80 of gestation and determine if OPN co-localizes with integrins. Results show the following: (1) αv, α4, β1, β3 and β5 integrins at the apical surface of endometrial luminal epithelium (LE) from Days 11 through 16 of pregnancy that indicate a role for these integrins during implantation; (2) large, intermittent aggregates of αv, α4, α5, β1 and β5 integrins at the endometrial-placental interface from Days 20 through 55, suggesting adaptation to a localized tissue remodeling stage of placentation; and (3) integrin adhesion complexes (IACs) containing αv, α4, α5, β1 and β5 integrins precisely distribute at the apical surfaces of apposed endometrial LE and chorion along expanses of the interplacentomal endometrial-placental interface between Days 60 and 80 of gestation, suggesting engagement of these integrins with the ECM to stabilize adhesion between endometrial LE and chorion in response to the increasing mechanical stress on this interface by the increasing size of the fetus and volumes of fetal fluids. An advancement is the clear co-localization of OPN and integrins at the endometrial-placental interface throughout gestation in sheep. The comprehensive nature of these results provide evidence that integrins potentially interact with OPN to play key roles in the mechanisms required for implantation and placentation throughout pregnancy in sheep and have implications concerning implantation and placentation in other species.
On Wilks' Theorem for Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test Performance of Cooperative Radar-Communications

The analysis of the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) radar receiver when the radar is coexisting with a cooperative in-band communication (comm.) system is challenged by the discrete nature of the comm. symbols. While the asymptotic performance of the GLRT can be well-approximated by using the Fisher information matrix (FIM) for the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) via Wilks' theorem, this only applies when the underlying data distribution for each hypothesis is continuous in the parameters. Thus, to accommodate the discrete nature of the comm. symbols an adaptation to Wilks' theorem is proposed in this work that uses the constrained CRB (CCRB) in place of the usual unconstrained CRB.
DAEs for Linear Inverse Problems: Improved Recovery with Provable Guarantees.

Generative priors have been shown to provide improved results over sparsity priors in linear inverse problems. However, current state of the art methods suffer from one or more of the following drawbacks: (a) speed of recovery is slow; (b) reconstruction quality is deficient; (c) reconstruction quality is contingent on a computationally expensive process of tuning hyperparameters. In this work, we address these issues by utilizing Denoising Auto Encoders (DAEs) as priors and a projected gradient descent algorithm for recovering the original signal. We provide rigorous theoretical guarantees for our method and experimentally demonstrate its superiority over existing state of the art methods in compressive sensing, inpainting, and super-resolution. We find that our algorithm speeds up recovery by two orders of magnitude (over 100x), improves quality of reconstruction by an order of magnitude (over 10x), and does not require tuning hyperparameters.
Optimizing Data Cube Visualization for Web Applications: Performance and User-Friendly Data Aggregation.

Current open source applications which allow for cross-platform data visualization of OLAP cubes feature issues of high overhead and inconsistency due to data oversimplification. To improve upon this issue, there is a need to cut down the number of pipelines that the data must travel between for these aggregation operations and create a single, unified application which performs efficiently without sacrificing data, and allows for ease of usability and extension.
Congenital sensorineural deafness in Dogo Argentino dogs: Prevalence and phenotype associations.

Background The Dogo Argentino dog breed is affected by hereditary congenital sensorineural deafness (CSD) associated with white pigmentation, but prevalence data and associations with phenotypes have not been reported. Methods In a retrospective study, animals were tested by the brainstem auditory evoked response, and phenotype data of sex, iris color, patch presence/absence and parent hearing status were collected. Chi-square analyses were performed to identify associations between deafness and phenotype traits. Results BAER results and phenotype data were collected for 811 dogs. Hearing status was 74.23% bilaterally hearing, 20.35% unilaterally deaf and 5.43% bilaterally deaf or an overall prevalence of 25.77%. CSD was not associated with sex, but dogs without a patch had a significantly higher prevalence rate than patched dogs. Blue-eyed dogs had higher prevalence rates than brown-eyed dogs, but because of small sample size the χ2 association was not considered valid. Insufficient numbers of dogs with a unilaterally deaf parent were present to assess the effects of parent hearing status. Conclusion Approximately one fourth of a US Dogo Argentino population was deaf in one or both ears, but dogs with a patch had a lower prevalence. Dogs with a blue eye were more likely to be deaf, but the association significance could not be reliably assessed.
Making the grade: Physiological adaptations to terrestrial environments in decapod crabs.

Abstract All extant macroscopic terrestrial diversity has evolved from the ancestors of a small group of successful terrestrial colonizers, but in a few lineages this transition has independently occurred multiple times in spite of the significant functional challenges it presents. Decapod crabs have transitioned from marine to terrestrial environments at least ten times, occupy diverse habitats, and display varying degrees of terrestriality. Previous attempts to categorize land crab diversity relied on single traits, did not explicitly distinguish between brachyuran and anomuran lineages, and did not separate lineages that colonized land via freshwater or marine environments. As a result, critical phylogenetic and ecological constraints were missing from these earlier classifications. In this paper, I reclassify terrestriality in the land crabs by designating four transition pathways that reflect deep phylogenetic relationships between the two decapod crab infraorders and the route-specific nature of this transition. I then describe the adaptive traits that evolved in response to six primary terrestrial selective challenges. I conclude by proposing six grades of terrestriality in this system that describe observable trait-by-environment associations, and propose studies that can test the hypothetical sequence of trait evolution and the nature of convergence in the land crabs using phylogenomic and transcriptomic tools.
Circumferential Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Spine Metastasis: The Feasibility, Toxicity and Local Control.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S) Circumferential spine stereotactic body radiotherapy (CsSBRT) is indicated in selected patients with circumferential vertebral bone/epidural spine metastatic disease. There is a paucity of data on the feasibility, toxicity and outcomes of CsSBRT. This study aimed to determine the feasibility, toxicities and outcomes of CsSBRT treatments. MATERIALS/METHODS We analyzed sixty-four circumferential treatments from 2013-2019 treated with SBRT in the post-operative and intact spine metastatic setting. Radiotherapy was delivered with 1-5 fractions. We analyzed the local control, side effects and the dose-volume histogram for each treatment. RESULTS In the sixty-four plans, the median follow-up was 15 months (1-63 months). All images and treatment plans were reviewed by the CNS radiation oncology and neuro-radiology. The most common regimen used was 27 Gy in 3 fractions. The 12-month cumulative incidence of local failure was 15%. In this cohort, there was eight local failures; 5 of them had recurrence in the epidural space, two had disease progression in the vertebral body and one had disease progression in the vertebral body with extension to the right lateral compartment. The planning target volume (PTV) coverage was ≥95% in 60 plans (94%). The median biologically effective dose (BED) for delivered dose, mean dose, minimum dose and D95% were 51.3 Gy, 54.13 Gy, 29.3 Gy and 51.3 Gy, respectively. The median BED max dose to spinal cord and cauda equine were 59 Gy (15-114) and 68 Gy (7.5-136). There were no grade 3 or higher early or late toxicities reported. CONCLUSION In this retrospective analysis of patients who received CsSBRT treatments, we were able to achieve excellent local control safely with minimal toxicity. We recommend at least 2-4 mm space between the target and the spinal cord or cauda equine in order to deliver CsSBRT. AUTHOR DISCLOSURE K. Dibs: None. J.D. Palmer: Research Grant; Varian Medical Systems, The Kroger Company. Consultant; Huron Consulting. Speaker's Bureau; Varian Medical Systems, Depuy Synthes. Advisory Board; Novocure. Member of panel; NCCN.A. Olausson: None. E. Bourekas: None. D. Boulter: None. A.S. Ayan: None. E.R. Cochran: None. V. Yildiz: None. J.C. Grecula: None. A.L. Arnett: None. R. Raval: None. S. Beyer: None. T. Scharschmidt: None. J.B. Elder: None. A. Chakravarti: None. E. Mendel: None. D.M. Blakaj: None.
Giant Cell Myocarditis: Not Always a Presentation of Cardiogenic Shock

Giant cell myocarditis is a rare and often fatal disease. The most obvious presentation often described in the literature is one of rapid hemodynamic deterioration due to cardiogenic shock necessitating urgent consideration of mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation. We present the case of a 60-year-old man whose initial presentation was consistent with myopericarditis but who went on to develop a rapid decline in left ventricular systolic function without overt hemodynamic compromise or dramatic symptomatology. Giant cell myocarditis was confirmed via endomyocardial biopsy. Combined immunosuppression with corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitor resulted in resolution of symptoms and sustained recovery of left ventricular function one year later. Our case highlights that giant cell myocarditis does not always present with cardiogenic shock and should be considered in the evaluation of new onset cardiomyopathy of uncertain etiology as a timely diagnosis has distinct clinical implications on management and prognosis.
Structure of Isometric Viruses Containing Nonidentical Polypeptide Chains

The theory of Caspar and Klug (1962) for the structure of isometric viruses has been generalized to the case in which the identical repeating unit is composed of n nonidentical polypeptide chains. This modified theory accounts for the structure of picornaviruses, the lambda phage head, cowpea mosaic virus, and φX174, while at the same time conserving the principle of having identical subunits in identical environments. Furthermore, the modified theory suggests amending the triangulation number to T [ n ] for capsids with n nonidentical polypeptide chains as the repeating unit. Images
Membrane-bound aminopeptidase P from bovine lung : its purification, properties, and degradation of bradykinin

The membrane-bound form of aminopeptidase P (aminoacylprolyl-peptide hydrolase) (EC 3.4.11.9) was purified to apparent homogeneity from bovine lung microsomes. The enzyme was solubilized using phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (Bacillus thuringiensis), indicating that bovine lung amino-peptidase P is attached to membranes via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor. The enzyme was purified 1900-fold with a yield of 25% by chromatography on decyl-agarose, omega-aminodecyl-agarose, a second decylagarose column, DEAE-Sephacel, and an ultrafiltration step. Native gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a single stained protein band whose position in the gel corresponded to cleavage of the Arg1-Pro2 bond of bradykinin. The Mr was 360,000 by gel permeation chromatography and 95,000 by reducing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The substrate specificity of aminopeptidase P was determined using approximately 50 peptides with proline in the second position. The enzyme could hydrolyze lower NH2-terminal homologs of bradykinin, including Arg-Pro-Pro, which was used as the routine substrate in a rapid fluorescence assay performed in the absence of added Mn2+. Some peptides having NH2-terminal amino acids other than arginine were also cleaved. Aminopeptidase P appeared to favor peptides that had 2 proline residues or proline analogs in positions 2 and 3 of the substrate. In general, tripeptides having a single proline residue in position 2 were poor substrates. Aminopeptidase P was inhibited by a series of peptides, 3-8 residues long, having an NH2-terminal Pro-Pro sequence. The enzyme was also inhibited by metal-chelating agents, 2-mercaptoethanol (4 mM), p-chloromercuribenzenesulfonic acid, and NaCl at concentrations greater than or equal to 0.25 M. The purified enzyme had a pH optimum of 6.5-7.0 and was most stable in the basic pH range. A role for membrane-bound aminopeptidase P in the pulmonary inactivation of circulating bradykinin is proposed.
La Constitucion De Los Estados Unidos En Espanol: Un Servicio Para El Pueblo Americano (the Constitution of the United States in Spanish: A Service for the American People)

Yo prometo lealtad, no solo a la bandera de los Estados Unidos, sino tambien a su Constitucion, que promete libertad y justicia para todos. Por esta razon, este articulo ofrece al publico estadounidiense la traduccion oficial en espanol de la Constitucion de los Estados Unidos, anotada con un ojo hacia la ambiguedad interpretativa, la curiosidad linguistica y desconcierto entre las culturas.Among the many cultural shibboleths that distinguish conservatives from their fellow Americans, a certain disdain for the Spanish language looms large. George W. Bush, perhaps the most capable speaker of Spanish ever to serve as President, has publicly opposed the rendering of the national anthem in any language besides English, but most of all in Spanish. Scarcely a generation ago, however, the United States government actively promoted the translation of iconic texts into Spanish. For instance, the Constitutional Bicentennial Commission published a Spanish version of the Constitution.Given the sharp increase in the United States' Spanish-speaking population, this country might someday embrace the notion, pioneered by the United Nations and later embraced by the European Union, that a political system's fundamental law can be expressed in more languages than one. The possibility of placing the English and Spanish versions of the Constitution on equal footing cannot be dismissed out of hand, especially in a polity whose highest court has exhibited increasing willingness to consult foreign sources of constitutional wisdom. Out of a patriotic desire to serve our fellow Americans, I offer the United States government's official Spanish translation of the Constitution, annotated with an eye toward interpretive ambiguity, linguistic curiosity, and cross-cultural bemusement.
Mantle discontinuities and temperature under the North American continental keel

A ubiquitous feature of upper-mantle seismic velocity models has been the presence of high-velocity ‘keels’ beneath stable continental interiors1,2,3,4,5. Uncertainty remains, however, regarding the maximum depth to which continental keels extend, the degree to which they have cooled the mantle that surrounds them and their role in mantle flow. Here we investigate thermal anomalies across the eastern margin of the North American continental keel by imaging the seismic discontinuities at depths of 410 and 660 km with compressional-to-shear converted waves recorded by a 1,500-km-long seismometer deployment in the eastern United States. The thickness of the transition zone (the region nominally between depths of 410 and 660 km) and the depth to the ‘410-km’ discontinuity indicate that cold keel material and sub-keel downwellings must be largely confined to the upper mantle and may impinge on the transition zone only in localized regions and with thermal anomalies of less than ∼150 K. A 20-km depression of the ‘660-km’ discontinuity to the south of the westernmost stations coincides with a region of fast velocity in the deep transition zone2 and may be associated with the remnants of the subducted Farallon plate1,2,4.
Differentiation of IKA in amphibian spinal neurons.

We have examined the development of an inactivating outward current in embryonic amphibian neurons differentiating in culture. On the basis of ionic selectivity, voltage dependence of activation and inactivation and pharmacological sensitivity, it is similar to A currents described in other neurons. In these embryonic neurons the A current appears later than other voltage-dependent currents studied previously. Furthermore, its maturation extends to times later than those required for the differentiation of another potassium current, the voltage- dependent delayed rectifier. These changes in A current are consistent with parallel changes in the action potential and excitability of the developing neurons.
Phantom validation of a new method for quantifying end-diastolic volume (EDV) and ejection fraction (EF) from SPECT equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography (ERNA)

315 Objectives The Massardo method for quantifying EDV and EF from 2D planar ERNA assumes a spherical shape of the left ventricle (LV), which is not a realistic estimate. We developed & validated a new (Yale) method in phantom using 3D SPECT w/ & w/o CT attenuation correction (AC). Methods Six double-walled cylindrical phantoms w/ inner volumes of 95, 74, 55, 39, 28 &19 mL were used. The inner & outer spaces of each cylinder were respectively filled w/ 2.5μCi/mL & 0.25μCi/mL of Tc99m & submerged in a larger cylinder w/ water. Images were acquired for 6 min & reconstructed via MLEM w/ AC & w/o AC (NC), w/ & w/o Green regularization. No scatter correction & post-filtering were applied. LV slices were auto-defined & six sets of SPECT-reprojected images were created/aligned/combined to generate an 11-bin pseudo ERNA. EDV images were quantified by Yale & Massardo methods. EF was calculated from background-corrected (EDcounts-EScounts)/EDcounts. Quantified EDV & EF and their estimation errors (EE) were compared to the true phantom values (EDV= 95 mL; EF= 80%). Results AC- & NC-quantified EDVs via both methods were significantly different (Table). EE of EDV w/ NC & AC by Yale method were small. Massardo method markedly underestimated EDV. Difference between AC & NC quantified EF was small, but statistically significant (p= 0.05; n= 10) with similar EE (AC:-10.6 ± 1.58 % vs.NC: -9.3 ± 1.49 %; p= ns; n= 10). Variation coefficients (VC) of NC & AC quantified EFs were small & identical (VC= 2%). Quantified EF underestimated true EF by ~10%, presumably due to the suboptimal background correction. Conclusions EDV quantification by Yale9s method was more accurate than that by Massardo9s. AC had minimal effect on EDV quantification in both methods. The precision of EF quantification was excellent, though the accuracy was fair.
The Influence of Race and Racial Identity in Psychotherapy: Toward a Racially Inclusive Model

WHAT DO WE KNOW? THE PSYCHOTHERAPY LITERATURE. Race in Psychological Theory and Practice. Overview of the Social and Historical Basis of Beliefs About Race in Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy with Visible Racial/Ethnic Groups: The Cultural Difference Paradigm. WHERE DO WE GO? THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS. Race and Identity Development. Visible Racial/Ethnic Identity Theories. White Racial Identity. Biracial Identity and Questions and Concerns About Racial Identity Status Development. Race and Psychotherapy: A Process Model. HOW DO WE KNOW? RESEARCH EVIDENCE. Racial Identity and Psychosocial Correlates. Does Race or Racial Identity Influence the Therapy Process? Relationship Types: An Examination of Qualitative Aspects of Therapeutic Process and Outcome. Case Studies: Evidence of Race in Psychotherapy. WHAT DO WE DO WITH RACE? CLINICAL APPLICATIONS. Race and Psychotherapy: Clinical Applications in a Sociocultural Context. Assessing Race Using the Racially Inclusive Model in Clinical Treatment. Race and Psychotherapy: Training Applications. A Call to the Mental Health Profession. Appendix. References. Indexes.
Adaptive signal processing techniques for multiband polarimetric radar

The authors present polarimetric detector, the multiband polarization generalized likelihood ratio (MPGLR) test, which provides further performance improvement by the use of the full transmit and receive polarization diversity. The generalized likelihood ratio approach is taken to acquire and adapt to the statistics of the clutter background. In order to obtain a reasonable clutter estimate, with the increased degrees of freedom, sufficient secondary data must be available. However, clutter polarization has been observed to be highly inhomogeneous in range, severely restricting the availability of independent and identically distributed (IID) data vectors necessary for adaptive estimation of the unknown clutter covariance. The use of multiband (frequency diverse) signaling increases the number of IID data vectors available for clutter covariance estimation, and they begin with a discussion of the signaling method. >
Characterization of the trehalose 6,6'-dimycolate surface monolayer by scanning tunneling microscopy.

The toxicity of trehalose 6,69-dimycolate (TDM), a glycolipid of mycobacteria, requires presentation as a surface monolayer. Our model of the structure of the TDM monolayer was confirmed and extended by scanning tunneling microscopy. It consists of linear arrays with a periodicity of approximately 90 A (9 nm) that clustered in groups of four to form secondary structures with a periodicity of 360 A (36 nm).
Davidon Least Squares based Neural Network Learning Algorithms

This paper presents a new learning methodology for feedforward neural networks. The proposed algorithm is based on Davidon's Lea-square minimization approach. We modified the original Davidon algorithm so that it can handle more than one error term at each iteration. This increases the cost of computation but a trade-off can be achieved between the increase in cost and the improvement in accuracy. We compared the performance of Davidon algorithm with that of the backpropagation method while we trained a feedforward neural network. We also compared our modified Davidon algorithm with the original version of the Davidon algorithm. Our network is employed to predict the one step ahead output of a given dynamic system The simulation results show that based on the same stopping criteria, the Davidon algorithm is not necessarily faster than the backpropagation algorithm. However, the prediction error variance is significantly lower than that of backpropagation. Furthermore, the proposed modified Davidon algoritm performed better than the Davidon algorithm in predicting the system output with much higher. accuracy.
Generation of leukotriene B4 by human lung fragments and purified human lung mast cells

Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a potent stimulus for neutrophil chemotaxis, aggregation, and activation. Although this mediator has been postulated as a possible stimulus for the neutrophil accumulation seen after mast cell triggering in vivo, the ability of human mast cells to produce this leukotriene has never been described. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of purified human lung mast cells and mast cells in lung fragments to generate leukotriene B4 after immunologic (anti-IgE) and nonimmunologic (calcium ionophore, A23187) activation. Release of LTB4 was quantitated by 2 specific radioimmunoassays with biochemical characterization by high performance liquid chromatography. In a first series of experiments using radioimmunoassay 1, purified human lung mast cells (n = 10) released LTB4 in response to both an immunologic and nonimmunologic stimulus in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In response to an optimum concentration of anti-IgE (3 micrograms/ml), mast cells of 4.5 to 98% purity, generated 6.2 +/- 1.7 ng immunoreactive LTB4 (iLTB4)/10(6) mast cells. HPLC characterization revealed that 30 +/- 0.3% of the iLTB4 coeluted with standard synthetic LTB4 in these studies. In a second series of experiments using radioimmunoassay 2, mast cell activation resulted in the release of 0.5 to 1 ng iLTB4/10(6) mast cells with greater than 75% coeluting with synthetic LTB4. Thus, we estimate that human lung mast cells can generate approximately 1 to 2 ng of LTB4 per million mast cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)