cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 176: Dietary PUFAs Enhance Macrophage Autophagy, Attenuate NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation, and Reduce Atherosclerosis

Progression of atherosclerosis leads to progressive macrophage autophagy deficiency, which enhances inflammasome activation and atherosclerosis. We previously showed that dietary enrichment with n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) derived from botanical oils (Echium oil (EO) containing 18:4 n-3 and borage oil (BO) containing 18:3 n-6), reduced atherosclerosis similar to that observed with fish oil (FO) consumption, compared to the saturated/monounsaturated-enriched botanical palm oil (PO). We hypothesized that dietary PUFAs enhance autophagy, which in turn, dampens macrophage NLRP3 (Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain leucine-rich repeat containing receptor protein 3) inflammasome activation, reducing macrophage inflammation and atherosclerosis. To test the hypothesis, we fed female low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) knockout mice diets containing 10% (calories) PO and 0.2% cholesterol, supplemented with an additional 10% of calories as PO, EO, BO or FO for 10-16 weeks before measurement of atherosclerosis, autophagy and inflammasome activation. Compared to their PO-fed counterparts, mice fed PUFAs enriched diets (EO, BO or FO) had increased LC3-II expression in peritoneal macrophage, aorta and liver, suggesting autophagic activation. Consistent with enhanced autophagy, plasma reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly lower in PUFA diet-fed mice, relative to PO-fed animals. Since ROS activates, but autophagy attenuates, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, we examined whether dietary PUFAs attenuate NLRP3 inflammasome activation in mice. We found that dietary PUFAs markedly inhibited inflammasome activation, shown by: 1) less IL-1β secretion from peritoneal macrophages after ATP, oxidized LDL, or palmitate-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation, 2) less IL-1β secretion from liver explants in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and 3) deceased caspase-1 cleavage in peritoneal macrophages and liver and attenuated caspase-1 activity in blood monocytes. In conclusion, our data suggest that dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFAs are equally effective in reducing atherosclerosis, in part, by activation of macrophage autophagy and attenuation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Single channel speech enhancement technique for low SNR quasi-periodic noise based on reduced order linear prediction

In this paper we propose an efficient single microphone (single channel) speech enhancement (SE) method for Quasi-Stationary noise environment. The proposed method estimates the noise by exploiting its quasi-periodic nature, followed by a statistical model based method to enhance the speech. An efficient reduced-order linear predictive error filtering is introduced to increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the noisy speech. The proposed method is evaluated experimentally by considering the actual recorded Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machinery noise which is quasi periodic in nature, added in clean speech. Objective evaluation of our method shows improvement in both quality and intelligibility measures when tested with the sentences chosen from IEEE corpus added in broadband quasi periodic fMRI noise. The proposed method outperforms the standard statistical model based SE technique.
Wave-equation Migration Velocity Analysis Using Extended Images

Wave-equation migration velocity analysis (WEMVA) is a velocity estimation technique designed to invert for velocity information using migrated images. Its capacity for handling multi-pathing makes it appropriate in complex subsurface regions characterized by strong velocity variation. WEMVA operates by establishing a linear relation between a velocity model perturbation and a corresponding migrated image perturbation. The linear relationship is derived from conventional extrapolation operators and it inherits the main properties of frequency-domain wavefield extrapolation. A key step in implementing WEMVA is to design an appropriate procedure for constructing image perturbations. Using time-lag extended images, one can characterize the error in migrated images by defining the focusing error as the shift of the focused reflection along the time-lag axis. Under the linear approximation, the focusing error can be transformed into an image perturbation by multiplying it with an image derivative taken relative to the time-lag parameter. The resulting image perturbation is thus a mapping of the velocity error in image space. This approach is computationally efficient and simple to implement, and no further assumptions about smoothness and homogeneity of the velocity model and reflector geometry are needed. Synthetic examples demonstrate the successful application of our method to a complex velocity model.
On the mechanics of large inelastic deformations : noncoaxiality, axial effects in torsion and localization

The macroscopic behavior of materials subjected to large deformations is investigated by considering the structure and mechanics of the single slip. Physically based constitutive relations for the plastic flow and material spin are then rigorously derived by resorting to the concept of non-coaxiality; yielding a class of vertex-type plasticity models incorporating features like noncoaxiality and large material rotation. It is shown that these phenomena are inherently coupled through the concept of plastic spin as it relates to the persistence of noncoaxiality. The implication of such phenomena to large deformations is investigated by examining their influence on the development of axial effects accompanying finite shear deformation, as well as on the onset of localized shear bands.
Building a Better Speed Trap: Measuring Policy Adoption Speed in the American States

A comparative approach to studying the spread of policy innovations has recently yielded new and interesting results, as well as theoretical advancements, for policy diffusion research. Specificall...
Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Urban Activists and Teachers are Reclaiming Matters of the Heart

Hope and Healing in Urban Education proposes a new movement of healing justice to repair the damage done by the erosion of hope resulting from structural violence in urban communities. Drawing on ethnographic case studies from around the country, this book chronicles how teacher activists employ healing strategies in stressed schools and community organizations, and work to reverse negative impacts on academic achievement and civic engagement, supporting their students to become powerful civic actors. The book argues that healing a community is a form of political action, and emphasizes the need to place healing and hope at the center of our educational and political strategies. At once a bold, revealing, and nuanced look at troubled urban communities as well as the teacher activists and community members working to reverse the damage done by generations of oppression, Hope and Healing in Urban Education examines how social change can be enacted from within to restore a sense of hope to besieged communities and counteract the effects of poverty, violence, and hopelessness.
Observing and Giving Feedback to Novice PGY-1s.

Objectives In this new era of educational milestones and entrustable professional activities, residency programs have recognized the need to directly observe resident performance. In fact, there is little information about how often residents are observed, what procedures they perform early in training, and whether they receive feedback. Previous publications have addressed these issues exclusively through retrospective survey analyses. The purpose of this naturalistic point-of-care study was to answer the following questions about obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN) residents in their second month of training: what activities do residents report performing, how often are they observed and who observes them, how often do they receive feedback and what is their perception of its usefulness, and does the time of shift affect the frequency of observation and feedback? Methods Nine of 10 first-year OB/GYN residents at George Washington University Hospital participated in a month-long study during their second month of training. Based on point-of-care experiences, participants prospectively recorded the time of shift, activities performed, the person who observed them, whether they received feedback, and whether it was perceived as helpful. Results First-year OB/GYN residents (postgraduate year 1 [PGY-1]) perform a variety of activities early in training while being observed by senior residents, nurses, and attending physicians 70% of the time. Residents commented that feedback was helpful almost every time they received it, regardless of who provided the feedback. There were no significant differences in the quantity of observations and feedback received between day and night shifts; however, nurses and senior residents were most likely to observe residents during night shifts. Conclusions In this naturalistic pilot study, OB/GYN residents reported performing various procedures in their second month of training, with some observations from faculty, senior residents, and nurses. Feedback, as defined in the study, is an important aspect of their early training, although it is not reported with each patient encounter. This pilot study raises critical issues that need further study, such as the following: What should be the gold standard for observing residents around a particular activity? Where should the bar be set for types and numbers of procedures that residents perform early on in training, either with patients or in simulations? What is an acceptable feedback rate around patient encounters? Should we not consider training nurses and senior residents to deliver effective feedback to residents as part of a 360-degree process, because many trainees were observed most frequently by these members of the medical team?
Mental Health Caregiving: A Call to Professional Providers, Family Caregivers, and Individuals with Mental Health Challenges

The chapters in this volume have provided a wealth of information addressing the mental health of both family and professional caregivers. The perspectives have ranged from individual and family approaches to cultural perspectives to public health prevention models. The first section began with broad themes addressing the impact of caregiving, the cultural and contextual environments of caregiving, and the relationship between physical and mental health. The second section focused on age-related caregiving, beginning with systems for children followed by emphasis on mid-life caregiving, and ending with mental illness prevention issues and opportunities. Sections three and four address spirituality and bereavement and implications for caregiving, along with policy and research challenges and directions.
Anomaly Detection for Data with Spatial Attributes

The problem of detecting spatially-coherent groups of data that exhibit anomalous behavior has started to attract attention due to applications across areas such as epidemic analysis and weather forecasting. Earlier efforts from the data mining community have largely focused on finding outliers, individual data objects that display deviant behavior. Such point-based methods are not easy to extend to find groups of data that exhibit anomalous behavior. Scan statistics are methods from the statistics community that have considered the problem of identifying regions where data objects exhibit a behavior that is atypical of the general dataset. The spatial scan statistic and methods that build upon it mostly adopt the framework of defining a character for regions (e.g., circular or elliptical) of objects and repeatedly sampling regions of such character followed by applying a statistical test for anomaly detection. In the past decade, there have been efforts from the statistics community to enhance efficiency of scan statistics as well as to enable discovery of arbitrarily shaped anomalous regions. On the other hand, the data mining community has started to look at determining anomalous regions that have behavior divergent from their neighborhood. In this chapter, we survey the space of techniques for detecting anomalous regions on spatial data from across the data mining and statistics communities while outlining connections to well-studied problems in clustering and image segmentation. We analyze the techniques systematically by categorizing them appropriately to provide a structured birds-eye view of the work on anomalous region detection; we hope that this would encourage better cross-pollination of ideas across communities to help advance the frontier in anomaly detection.
The Role of Primary Motor Cortex (M1) Glutamate and GABA Signaling in l-DOPA-Induced Dyskinesia in Parkinsonian Rats.

Long-term treatment of Parkinson9s disease with l-DOPA almost always leads to the development of involuntary movements termed l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia. Whereas hyperdopaminergic signaling in the basal ganglia is thought to cause dyskinesia, alterations in primary motor cortex (M1) activity are also prominent during dyskinesia, suggesting that the cortex may represent a therapeutic target. The present study used the rat unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion model of Parkinson9s disease to characterize in vivo changes in GABA and glutamate neurotransmission within M1 and determine their contribution to behavioral output. 6-Hydroxydopamine lesion led to parkinsonian motor impairment that was partially reversed by l-DOPA. Among sham-lesioned rats, l-DOPA did not change glutamate or GABA efflux. Likewise, 6-hydroxydopamine lesion did not impact GABA or glutamate among rats chronically treated with saline. However, we observed an interaction of lesion and treatment whereby, among lesioned rats, l-DOPA given acutely (1 d) or chronically (14–16 d) reduced glutamate efflux and enhanced GABA efflux. Site-specific microinjections into M1 demonstrated that l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia was reduced by M1 infusion of a D1 antagonist, an AMPA antagonist, or a GABAA agonist. Overall, the present study demonstrates that l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia is associated with increased M1 inhibition and that exogenously enhancing M1 inhibition may attenuate dyskinesia, findings that are in agreement with functional imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies in human Parkinson9s disease patients. Together, our study suggests that increasing M1 inhibitory tone is an endogenous compensatory response designed to limit dyskinesia severity and that potentiating this response is a viable therapeutic strategy. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Most Parkinson9s disease patients will receive l-DOPA and eventually develop hyperkinetic involuntary movements termed dyskinesia. Such symptoms can be as debilitating as the disease itself. Although dyskinesia is associated with dynamic changes in primary motor cortex physiology, to date, there are no published studies investigating in vivo neurotransmitter release in M1 during dyskinesia. In parkinsonian rats, l-DOPA administration reduced M1 glutamate efflux and enhanced GABA efflux, coincident with the emergence of dyskinetic behaviors. Dyskinesia could be reduced by local M1 modulation of D1, AMPA, and GABAA receptors, providing preclinical support for the notion that exogenously blunting M1 signaling (pharmacologically or with cortical stimulation) is a therapeutic approach to the treatment of debilitating dyskinesias.
Abundant Environmental Arsenic Contamination: Some Statistical Perspectives

There is a severe impact of the current abundant environmental contamination and toxic pollution on ecology as well as our life sustaining resources: drinkable and safely usable water, respirable air, untainted and edible food, and renewable and affordable energy. Population explosion (particularly, in East and South Asia, including India and China), escalating industrialization, immeasurable volume of industrial, human and e-wastes, inadequate sanitary safeguards, our modern life-style, and geo-political undercurrents are threatening a safe propagation of human health and life on earth. Of special interest is the sub-soil and surface water arsenic contamination’s deleterious impact on human health and quality of life. Socio-economic, familial and environmental undercurrents are persistent in this respect. A statistical appraisal along with a quantifying contamination severity index constitute the primary objective of this study.
Interspecific Force in Scott’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel

ABSTRACTThis article argues that Scott’s conceptualisation of The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) as “being ‘in a light-horseman sort of stanza’” is metonymic of the interspecific force dynamics that he evokes in representing relations with non-human animals in the poem. Integrating force dynamics into the ecocritical agenda can serve as a means to move beyond anthropocentrism, as well as the binarised assumption that there exists an environmental intrinsicality, by shifting the focus of attention to relational interfaces. Resistance to or exertion of physical force is, in many instances of Scott’s work, an instantiation of hierarchicalised relationships between human and non-human animals or categories of the human. Analysis of the light-horseman trope frames the examination of force dynamics in the representation of a horse, a dog and birds in The Lay. Comparative analyses of selected scenes representing non-human animals in The Lady of the Lake (1810), Waverley (1814) and The Black Dwarf (1816) suggest...
DNA vaccination resurfaces in the struggle against melioidosis

Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp) is a gram-negative, facultative intracellular pathogen, responsible for causing melioidosis, a highly fatal disease transmitted by percutaneous inoculation, inhalatio...
Parochial Empathy Predicts Reduced Altruism and the Endorsement of Passive Harm

Empathic failures are common in hostile intergroup contexts; repairing empathy is therefore a major focus of peacebuilding efforts. However, it is unclear which aspect of empathy is most relevant to intergroup conflict. Although trait empathic concern predicts prosociality in interpersonal settings, we hypothesized that the best predictor of meaningful intergroup attitudes and behaviors might not be the general capacity for empathy (i.e., trait empathy), but the difference in empathy felt for the in-group versus the out-group, or "parochial empathy." Specifically, we predicted that out-group empathy would inhibit intergroup harm and promote intergroup helping, whereas in-group empathy would have the opposite effect. In three intergroup contexts-Americans regarding Arabs, Hungarians regarding refugees, Greeks regarding Germans-we found support for this hypothesis. In all samples, in-group and out-group empathy had independent, significant, and opposite effects on intergroup outcomes, controlling for trait empathic concern.
Link prediction based hybrid recommendation system using user-page preference graphs

The distribution of the amount of preference information across customers is not same in every domain of recommendation problems. It is necessary to treat each user differently based on their available preference information. On the other hand, graph structure can provide better representation of user-item preference information. By exploiting graph structure, recommendation systems could be made more reliable and effective. In this paper, several graph structure based features are used to predict likelihood of a page or item being preferred by a user, or future connection probability of an unconnected user-page node pair in the user-page preference graph. A novel, user-specific, parametric method to integrate page-page content similarity and co-occurrence similarity in the graph context is introduced. Two graphs were created; one using page-page content similarity; other one using page-page co-occurrence similarity. An approach that utilizes features derived from these two graphs to make web page recommendation is introduced. For each user-page pair, one combined feature component is first obtained by making a weighted summation of the eight features extracted from each graph. Use of supervised learning for deriving relative weights of the two eight-feature sets to obtain a combined value of the feature components yielded highly promising results. Finally, the two feature components, from the two graphs are combined in user-specific way to train a model and to make recommendations. Experimental results on Yahoo Front Page Today Module Click Log dataset show better results compared to other approaches in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first such effort in the context of graph-based recommendation systems.
Combined Reconstruction of the Medial Patellofemoral Ligament (MPFL) and Medial Quadriceps Tendon - Femoral Ligament (MQTFL) for Patellar Instability in Children and Adolescents: Surgical Technique and Outcomes

Objectives:A variety of surgical options exist to treat the challenging problem of recurrent patellar instability in skeletally immature patients. The current study describes a combined reconstruct...
The Challenge of Upward Mobility

Many blind and visually impaired employees are working below their potential because of limited opportunity for upward mobility. This article explores the issues surrounding this problem, identifie...
When does smoothing the output of index-based stock assessments improve estimates of fish population biomass?

Abstract Index-based stock assessments often use time series smoothing to reduce estimation error in their output. However, this may increase error if actual changes in the population are masked by the smoothing. Therefore, it is important to understand how smoothing assessment output will affect estimation accuracy under conditions commonly observed in fish survey time series. Here, we simulated the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder survey time series and assessment in which three bottom trawl surveys are used to estimate the state of the population. We compared the accuracy of the assessment output when it is unsmoothed versus when is smoothed by applying a three-year moving average to the output index. We did so for two estimation models: the currently used empirical assessment model, and a multivariate state-space random walk model. We simulated five biomass trends under two drivers, and examined model performance when one, two, or three surveys were used to fit the model. Overall, the unsmoothed state-space model consistently outperformed the other methods, particularly when there was a rapid change in biomass in the final years, and all three surveys were used to fit the model. The benefit of using the unsmoothed estimate also increased with the underlying rate of change in the population. The advantage gained by using the unsmoothed estimate also increased as additional surveys were used to fit the model. The benefit of using the state-space model versus the empirical model was similar to the benefit of using the unsmoothed versus smoothed estimate. Our results suggest that an unsmoothed state-space model should be used when multiple survey time series are available and population biomass appears to be rapidly changing in recent years.
Hybrid Slow Frequency-Hop/CDMA-TDMA as a Solution for High-Mobility, Wide-Area Personal Communications

In order to provide a full range of personal communication services with wide-area coverage and high mobility, a macrocellular complement to microcellular PCS is defined. This system was designed to permit true vehicular/portable mobility with larger cells than conventional PCS proposals would allow while providing for the existence of a lower-cost PCS which would be operable in truly pedestrian-only environments. This macrocellular system employs the multiple access technique of slow frequency hopping to provide robust transmission over the harsh mobile radio channel and to maintain high capacity despite the use of larger cells. This paper discusses the alternatives considered in the definition of this system,highlighting choices which allow significant reductions in complexity without compromising system performance. In addition, channel models for frequency-hop systems are discussed and verified with field data. Using these models, the performance and capacity of the macrocellular system have been estimated on a variety of channels characteristic of the expanded PCS environment. The system has been found to offer excellent performance at a level of complexity suitable for PCS implementation.
Sexual Minorities, Social Context, and Union Formation

The current study examines the association between social context and the formation of same-sex coresidential unions, with a particular focus on sexual minorities. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examine how the likelihood of forming a same-sex coresidential union differs not only by sexual orientation identity, but also by various indicators of social context. In addition to collecting information on same-sex unions, Add Health includes three unique indicators that capture supportive environments for sexual minorities (whether or not they are out to parents, the percent of households headed by same-sex couples in their census tract, and the percent voting Republican in their county). The final sample size for this study is 11,808 respondents, including 304 sexual minorities. We find evidence that sexual minorities have higher rates of forming a same-sex union the more supportive their social contexts. Our findings underscore the importance of considering context when examining same-sex union formation.
Utilizing Performance Improvement methodologies to create a central line-associated bloodstream infection surveillance process for ambulatory pediatric patients

BACKGROUND Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are the most common device-associated infections in hospitalized children. Surveillance and prevention are standard in inpatient hospital settings, but comparable processes are less robust for ambulatory patients with central lines. Our institution lacked a unified and consistent process for surveillance and review of ambulatory CLABSI. Utilizing performance improvement (PI) methodologies, we sought to create a comprehensive and sustainable process for collecting CLABSI surveillance and event review data on complex patient populations across ambulatory disciplines. METHODS We assembled key stakeholders by identifying services with the majority of patients discharged with central lines and utilized the Six Sigma methodology of DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify) to understand and improve current processes. We performed current state analysis of infection tracking and data collection through process-mapping and utilized fishbone diagrams to identify root causes of inefficacies. Following value analysis, the team developed a future state process map and utilized Failure Modes Effects Analysis to identify and mitigate potential risks to the process. RESULTS We identified variable CLABSI data collection methods between our stakeholder ambulatory divisions. Upon completion, our PI work resulted in one process that: 1) provides CLABSI surveillance for ambulatory divisions; 2) creates a singular data infrastructure for confirmed infections; 3) streamlines communication to all divisions and homecare providers involved in the?patient's ambulatory care; and 4) promotes responsive learning through a multidisciplinary event review that highlights potential risk factors and generates proactive infection prevention measures. CONCLUSIONS Utilizing PI methodology, we created a lean and standardized process to consistently track ambulatory CLABSI and support effective communication across divisions and providers. Next steps include optimization of the event review tool, integration with inpatient CLABSI PI efforts, and tests of change based on event review data that ultimately shift attention to patient safety in the ambulatory setting.
Stereochemistry of residues in turning regions of helical proteins

We have developed a geometrical approach to quantify differences in the stereochemistry of α-helical and turning regions in four iron proteins. Two spatial signatures are used to analyze residue coordinate data for each protein; and a third is employed to analyze amino-acid molecular volume data. The residue-by-residue analysis of the results, taken together with the finding that two major factors stabilize an α-helix (minimization of side-chain steric interference and intrachain H-bonding), lead to the conclusion that certain residues are preferentially selected for α-helix formation. In the sequential, de novo synthesis of a turning region, residues are preferentially selected such that the overall molecular volume profile (representing purely repulsive, excluded-volume effects) spans a small range Δ of values (Δ = 39.1 A3) relative to the total range that could be spanned (Δ = 167.7 A3). It follows that excluded-volume effects are of enormous importance for residues in helical regions as well as those in adjacent turning regions. Once steric effects are taken into account, down-range attractive interactions between residues come into play in the formation of α-helical regions. The geometry of α-helices can be accommodated by conformational changes in less-structured turning regions of a polypeptide, thereby producing a globally optimized (native) protein structure.
Book Review: From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Birth of Jewish Copyright Law מאמר ביקורת על הספר -- מהרמב

English Abstract: This article is a book review of the recently published book by Professor Neil Netanel. תקציר בעברית: מאמר זה הינו מאמר ביקורת על ספרו של פרופ' ניל נתנאל, אשר יצא לאור לאחרונה. בספר זה, פרופ' נתנאל חוקר את תולדות זכות היוצרים במשפט העברי. הוא משווה בין הסכמות וחרמות הרבנים, אשר אסרו על הדפסה מחדש של ספרים עד שהמדורה הראשונה נמכרה, לבין פריבילגיות הספרים של רשויות אזרחיות ואפיפיוריות, אשר העניקו זכות הדפסה בלעדית למו"ל המבקש את הפריבילגיה. הוא גם מתאר מספר סיכסוכים דרמטיים בין מו"לים של ספרי תפילה ולימוד תורה ומנתח פסקי ההלכה אשר רבנים הוציאו בענינם. סיכסוכים אלה ופסקי ההלכה בענינם התחילו בימי מאה השש-עשרה וממשיכים עד זמננו.
ACUTE NEW ONSET CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE ASSOCIATED WITH SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS

Cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis (SSs) is the main cause for disease-associated mortality. Screening for cardiac involvement can provide early diagnosis and treatment for a better outcome. A 44-year-old male presented with shortness of breath for a week. The past medical history was
Can We End Melanoma As We Know It? The Role of Early Detection in Defeating Deadly Skin Cancer

Melanoma remains one of the most dangerous types of skin cancer, accounting for an estimated 7230 deaths in 2019. When melanoma is detected at its earliest stage, simple surgical excision can cure the disease (American Cancer Society, Cancer facts & figures 2019, 2019). To date, total body skin examination (TBSE) is the most powerful screening tool for early detection of melanoma. TBSE is most effective and economical when performed on individuals at high risk for the disease.
Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Nasopharynx with Skull Base Involvement: Retrospective National Cohort Analysis of Treatment Paradigms, Outcomes, and Provider Density

Objectives This article examines a national cohort of patients with nasopharyngeal adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) for incidence, skull base invasion, overall survival, and treatment paradigms. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective national population-based study using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program data of patients with ACC of the nasopharynx (NACC) and skull base between 2004 and 2016. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes included 5-year overall survival and odds of radiation treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA 15.0 (STATACorp). p-Values Results Of the 2,385 cases of ACC, 70 cases were classified as NACC. Twenty-one percent (15) involved invasion of the skull base or posterior pharyngeal wall, and 42% (30) were either stage 3 or stage 4. The 5-year overall survival for patients with NACC without skull base invasion was 67% which dropped to 40% with invasion into the skull base. Radiation was used as the primary form of therapy for 62% of NACC and 73% of NACC invading into skull base. Odds of receiving radiation therapy and 5-year survival were not affected by socioeconomic status or density of providers. Conclusion NACC is rare in incidence and was most commonly treated with radiation therapy when advanced in stage. Prognosis was dependent on invasion through posterior pharyngeal wall and skull base. Provider density and socioeconomic status did not affect odds of radiation or overall survival for NACC.
Daily associations among aging perceptions, perceived health, and perceived stress in older adults.

Daily perceived stress is a key indicator of well-being across adulthood, but particularly for those experiencing age-linked challenges. Understanding how day-level factors most salient to the agin...
Trends and characteristics of neurotization during breast reconstruction: perioperative outcomes using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP).

This study aimed to investigate the impact of performing neurotization during breast reconstruction on total operating time and post-operative morbidity. The 2015 through 2019 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) databases were utilized to identify patients who underwent breast reconstruction with and without neurotization. Baseline demographics, comorbidities, operative characteristics and outcomes were examined for each group. Thirty-day complication and readmission rates were compared using univariable and multivariable logistic regressions. Of 73,507 patients identified who underwent breast reconstruction, 240 had reconstruction with neurotization. Autologous reconstruction was more prevalent for patients with neurotization (90.8% vs. 18.5%, p<.001). Average operating time was longer when neurotization was performed during both autologous (527.1 ± 152.4 vs. 414.8 ± 186.3, p<.001) and alloplastic-only reconstruction (310.9 ± 115.9 vs. 173.0 ± 94.3, p<.001). The likelihood total operating time exceeded 521 min (two standard deviations above average) increased when neurotization was performed (OR 2.464, CI 1.864-3.255, p<.001). Thirty-day complications occurred in 13.8% of patients with neurotization and 6.8% without (p<.001). Similarly, 30-day readmission rates were higher for patients with neurotization (7.5% vs. 4.2%, p<.001). However, when adjusted for comorbidities and operative characteristics, neurotization did not significantly impact 30-day complication rates (OR 0.802, CI 0.548-1.174, p=.256) or 30-day readmission rates (OR 1.352, CI 0.822-2.223, p=.077). Although neurotization during breast reconstruction increases operating time, comorbidities and procedural characteristics play a greater role in post-operative outcomes than neurotization alone.
Preferences of adults with cancer for systemic cancer treatment: do preferences differ based on age?

Background: We used the Therapy Preference Scale, a 30-item questionnaire, to determine cancer treatment preferences of adults with cancer. Methods: We used Wilcoxon's rank sum test and Fisher's exact test to compare the preferences of younger (<60 years) versus older adults (≥60 years). Results: While 56% of patients would accept treatment offering increased life expectancy at an expense of short-term side effects, 75% preferred maintenance of cognition, functional ability and quality of life to quantity of days. Oral instead of intravenous treatment (p = 0.003), shorter hospital stay (p = 0.03), preservation of cognitive function (p = 0.01) and avoidance of pain (p = 0.02) were more important to older patients compared with younger patients. Conclusion: Many patients prioritized maintenance of cognition, functional ability and quality of life; older patients valued oral treatment, shorter hospital stay, preservation of cognitive function and avoidance of pain.
Near field measurement of LF loop transmitters

The paper tabulates field decay for Hertzian transmitting loops in free space and in the presence of conducting ground planes, taking the practical effects of impedance coupling and loop dimensions into consideration. The resulting field attenuation rates correlate well with open area test site (OATS) measured data and can be readily used to extrapolate radiated emission limits at arbitrary distances in the extreme near field of low frequency loop sources.
Wisdom in the earth: an examination of the history of intellectual property rights in plants and seeds

Economic influences played a dominant role in design and implementation of intellectual property laws and agriculture policy in America. These influences have helped shape the values and goals of people who created, administered and interpreted patent laws throughout the twentieth century, as well as those who promoted agriculture in America and later in the developing world. The historical motivations driving these two institutions help explain how and why plants entered the realm of intellectual property and why international aid organizations defined and measured progress in economic terms. Events that serve to illustrate these dynamics include the Plant Patent Act of 1930, the Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970, the Rockefeller Foundation’s agricultural outreach program in Mexico and the Foundation’s formation in cooperation with the Word Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Ford Foundation of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Resources (CGIAR). Review of documents particular to these events reveals a consistent philosophy of progress through profit that informed debate over use of intellectual property rights in plants. As aid organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and CGIAR embraced modern agriculture as a tool to help the developing world, they inherited and sometimes perpetuated this economic philosophy. The biotechnology revolution of the 1980’s enhanced the already valuable seed collections held by these institutions and forced them to reevaluate their traditional policy of free sharing and address if and how seeds should be protected and used to generate income and how profit from such activities should be allocated. The solutions to these difficult issues and the historical influences that shaped
Assessing the Appropriateness of Pain Medication Prescribing Practices in Nursing Homes

OBJECTIVES: To test a tool for screening the quality of nursing home (NH) pain medication prescribing. DESIGN: Validity and reliability of measurement tool developed for a pre/postintervention with untreated comparison group. SETTING: Six treatment NHs and six comparison NHs in rural and urban Colorado. PARTICIPANTS: NH staff, physicians, and repeated 20% random sample of each home's residents (N=2,031). INTERVENTION: Nurse and physician education; NH internal pain team to champion better pain management using a pain vital sign, consultations, and rounds. MEASUREMENTS: An expert panel reviewed the Pain Medication Appropriateness Scale (PMAS) for content validity. Research assistants interviewed NH residents, assessed them for pain using standardized instruments, and reviewed their medical records for prescriptions and use of pain and adjuvant medication. Construct validity was assessed by comparing the PMAS of residents in pain with the PMAS of those not in pain and comparing scores in homes in which the intervention was more effective with those in which it was less effective, using the Fisher exact and Student t tests. Interrater and test-retest reliability were measured. RESULTS: The mean total PMAS was 64% of optimal. Fewer than half of residents with predictably recurrent pain were prescribed scheduled pain medication; 23% received at least one high-risk medication. PMAS scores were better for residents not in pain (68% vs 60%, P=.004) and in homes where nurses' knowledge of pain assessment and management improved or stayed the same during the intervention (69% vs 61%, P=.03). CONCLUSION: The PMAS is useful for assessing pain medication prescribing in NHs and elucidates why so many residents have poorly controlled pain.
Synthesis of chemically bonded liquid crystals for high-performance liquid chromatography : New phases via the organochlorosilane pathway

Abstract Two bonded nematic liquid crystal stationary phases for use in high-performance liquid chromatography were prepared by reacting the silanized forms of [4-(allyloxy)benzoyl]biphenyl and 4-{[4-(allyloxy)-benzoyl]oxyl}-4′-methoxybiphenyl with the surface of silica. The diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform and carbon-13 cross-polarization magic angle spinning NMR spectra of the two bonded phases confirmed that the reaction was successful. Carbon elemental analysis indicated a high loading of the liquid crystal on the surface. Van 't Hoff plots using polyaromatic hydrocarbons as the solutes in an acetonitrile—water mobile phase indicated that phase transitions are occurring. The relative retention of anthracene and phenanthrene as a function of temperature is also sensitive to changes in the stationary phase morphology and reveals that more than a single transition is occurring over the temperature range studied.
Specific antibiotic therapy for an iliac bone graft in the mandible; report of a case.

Abstract A case of a recurrent ameloblastoma of the mandible is reported, which was finally treated by hemiresection of the mandible and insertion of a replacement bone graft from the ilium. Despite the routine postoperative administration of antibiotics including penicillin, streptomycin, and aureomycin, the bone graft became infected and drained spontaneously two weeks after insertion. Cultures for the predominant organism and sensitivity tests indicated a change in antibiotics, which was successful in bringing the infection under control, thus saving the graft.
Radar Signal Analysis and Processing Using MATLAB

Offering radar-related software for the analysis and design of radar waveform and signal processing, Radar Signal Analysis and Processing Using MATLAB provides a comprehensive source of theoretical and practical information on radar signals, signal analysis, and radar signal processing with companion MATLAB code. After an overview of radar systems operation and design, the book reviews elements of signal theory relevant to radar detection and radar signal processing, along with random variables and processes. The author then presents the unique characteristic of the matched filter and develops a general formula for the output of the matched filter that is valid for any waveform. He analyzes several analog waveforms, including the linear frequency modulation pulse and stepped frequency waveforms, as well as unmodulated pulse-train, binary, polyphase, and frequency codes. The book explores radar target detection and pulse integration, emphasizing the constant false alarm rate. It also covers the stretch processor, the moving target indicator, radar Doppler processing, beamforming, and adaptive array processing. Using configurable MATLAB code, this book demonstrates how to apply signal processing to radar applications. It includes many examples and problems to illustrate the practical application of the theory.
Whole-lesion apparent diffusion coefficient metrics as a marker of percentage Gleason 4 component within Gleason 7 prostate cancer at radical prostatectomy.

Purpose To retrospectively assess the utility of whole-lesion apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) metrics in characterizing the Gleason 4 component of Gleason 7 prostate cancer (PCa) at radical prostatectomy. Materials and Methods Seventy patients underwent phased-array coil 3T-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before prostatectomy. A uropathologist mapped locations and Gleason 4 percentage (G4%) of Gleason 7 tumors. Two radiologists independently reviewed ADC maps, aware of tumor locations but not G4%, and placed a volume-of-interest (VOI) on all slices including each lesion on the ADC map to obtain whole-lesion mean ADC and ADC entropy. Entropy reflects textural variation and increases with greater macroscopic heterogeneity. Performance for characterizing Gleason 7 tumors was assessed with mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) and logistic regression. Results Among 84 Gleason 7 tumors (G4% 5%–85%, median 30%; 59 Gleason 3+4, 25 Gleason 4+3), ADC entropy was significantly higher in Gleason 4+3 than Gleason 3+4 tumors (R1: 5.27 ± 0.61 vs. 4.62 ± 0.78, P = 0.001; R2: 5.91 ± 0.32 vs. 5.57 ± 0.56, P = 0.004); mean ADC was not significantly different between these groups (R1: 0.90 ± 0.15*10−3cm2/s vs. 0.98 ± 0.21*10−3cm2/s, P = 0.075; R2: 1.06 ± 0.19*10−3cm2/s vs. 1.14 ± 0.16*10−3cm2/s, P = 0.083). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for differentiating groups was significantly higher with ADC entropy than mean ADC for one observer (R1: 0.74 vs. 0.57, P = 0.027; R2: 0.69 vs. 0.61, P = 0.329). For R1, correlation with G4% was moderate for ADC entropy (r = 0.45) and weak for mean ADC (r = −0.25). For R2, correlation with G4% was moderate for ADC entropy (r = 0.41) and mean ADC (r = −0.32). For both readers, ADC entropy (P = 0.028–0.003), but not mean ADC (P = 0.384–0.854), was a significant independent predictor of G4%. Conclusion Whole-lesion ADC entropy outperformed mean ADC in characterizing Gleason 7 tumors and may help refine prognosis for this heterogeneous PCa subset. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;41:708–714. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The heat-stable toxin I gene from Escherichia coli 18D.

Abstract The heat-stable toxin I gene in the human Escherichia coli isolate 18D is the estA1 allele. The gene is not part of a composite transposon, but inspection of the flanking DNA sequences suggests that it was at one time part of a transposon. The hypothetical transposon originated from an event other than the occurrence that formed Tn1681.
Orthodox rational choice contractarianism: Before and after Gauthier

In a recent article, Gauthier (2013) rejects orthodox rational choice contractarianism in favor of a revisionist approach to the social contract that, according to him, justifies his principle of maximin proportionate gain (formerly the principle of minimax relative concession or maximin relative benefit) as a principle of distributive justice. I agree with Gauthier that his principle of maximin proportionate gain cannot be justified by orthodox rational choice contractarianism. I argue, however, that orthodox rational choice contractarianism, before and after Gauthier, is still a viable approach to the social contract, although the scope of this approach is limited. Orthodox rational choice contractarianism can be applied fruitfully to moral philosophy only in situations of deep moral pluralism in which moral reasoning is reduced to instrumental reasoning, because the members of society do not share, as assumed by traditional moral theories, a consensus on moral ideals as traditionally conceived as a sta...