cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lipidomics and anti‐trypanosomatid chemotherapy

Trypanosomatids such as Leishmania, Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi belong to the order Kinetoplastida and are the source of many significant human and animal diseases. Current treatment is unsatisfactory and is compromised by the rising appearance of drug resistant parasites. Novel and more effective chemotherapeutics are urgently needed to treat and prevent these devastating diseases, which relies on the identification of essential, parasite specific targets that are absent in the host. Lipids constitute essential components of the cell and carry out multiple critical functions from building blocks of biological membranes to regulatory roles in signal transduction, organellar biogenesis, energy storage, and virulence. The recent technological advances of lipidomics has facilitated the broadening of our knowledge in the field of cellular lipid content, structure, functions, and metabolic pathways. This review highlights the application of lipidomics (i) in the characterization of the lipidome of kinetoplastid parasites or of their subcellular structure(s), (ii) in the identification of unique lipid species or metabolic pathways that can be targeted for novel drug therapies, (iii) as an analytic tool to gain a deeper insight into the roles of specific enzymes in lipid metabolism using genetically modified microorganisms, and (iv) in deciphering the mechanism of action of anti-microbial drugs on lipid metabolism. Lastly, an outlook stating where the field is evolving is presented. Lipidomics has contributed to the expanding knowledge related to lipid metabolism, mechanism of drug action and resistance, and pathogen–host interaction of trypanosomatids, which provides a solid basis for the development of better anti-parasitic pharmaceuticals.
Protest and Social Movements in Political Science

The chapter maps current research on social movements and protest in political science with a special focus on studies that do not fall under “social movement literature.” It examines topics and puzzles, theoretical and analytical approaches, and methods and data that appear in political science scholarship on movements and protest using content analysis of abstracts presented at two political science conferences (APSA ﻿2015 and ECPR 2015). It shows that the two fields—political science and social movement literature developed mainly in sociology—could considerably contribute to each other by (1) combining methodological diversity and flexibility of social movement literature with political science focus on individual-level surveys and (2) by expansion of social movement literature’s focus on political actors and repertoires other than social movements and protest.
History and Physical Examination for Identifying Rotator Cuff Tears.

There are no historical features that reliably identify full-thickness rotator cuff tears. The physical examination maneuvers that best identify the presence of a full-thickness rotator cuff tear are the internal rotation lag test, the external rotation lag test, and a positive “belly-off” sign. The best maneuver to help confirm the absence of a full-thickness rotator cuff tear of the subscapularis is a negative internal rotation lag test.
Prolyl dihydroxylation of unassembled uS12/Rps23 regulates fungal hypoxic adaptation.

Animals, plants, and fungi need oxygen to release energy within their cells and for other chemical reactions. Enzymes that use oxygen typically become less active when less oxygen is available, and this makes them well suited to help cells sense oxygen. These enzymes include oxygenases, some of which modify proteins by adding oxygen to specific sites in a reaction called hydroxylation. Oxygenases control how mammals adapt to low levels of oxygen – a condition referred to as hypoxia. These enzymes achieve this by hydroxylating a protein – specifically a transcription factor – that turns on genes for survival in low oxygen. Cells quickly destroy the hydroxylated transcription factor but when oxygen is limiting, it remains unmodified. This means that, rather than being destroyed, the transcription factor binds DNA, and activates genes that keep the cells alive and growing in low oxygen. In fission yeast, an oxygenase called Ofd1 controls the activity of a transcription factor called Sre1. Yeast requires Sre1 to grow when oxygen is limiting. Exactly how Ofd1 regulates Sre1 is unknown, but the mechanism is different from that in mammals because regulation of gene expression does not need Sre1 to be hydroxylated. Now, Clasen et al. report that Ofd1 actually hydroxylates another protein called Rps23. This protein is one of about 80 that form the cell’s protein-building machinery, the ribosome. It turns out that, before Rps23 becomes part of the ribosome, it binds Ofd1 in a complex with other proteins. The multi-protein complex then acts to hydroxylate and transport Rps23 into the nucleus, where ribosomes are built and where the cell stores its DNA. When little oxygen is around, Ofd1 cannot hydroxylate Rps23. This stops the complex from falling apart and traps Ofd1 away from the transcription factor Sre1. When not bound by Ofd1, Sre1 is free to turn on genes that allow growth at low levels of oxygen. Finally, Clasen et al. show that more unassembled Rps23 means less Ofd1 is available to inhibit Sre1, which controls the yeast cell’s response to hypoxia. Humans have proteins similar to Ofd1 and Rps23. As such, this pathway for sensing oxygen in yeast may occur in humans too. Further work is now needed to explore if other enzymes that hydroxylate ribosomal proteins work in a similar way.
The impact of tick-size reductions in foreign currency futures markets

Abstract The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) recently reduced the tick sizes of three foreign currency futures contracts: the Mexican peso, the Japanese yen, and the euro. We examine the impact of tick-size reductions on market quality in these three futures contracts. We find significant evidence of increased market quality for the Mexican peso contracts, but less significant evidence for the other two contracts.
School to Community Transition Planning: Factors to Consider When Working with Culturally Diverse Students and Families in Rural Settings.

Given the nation's rapidly increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students and families, understanding and learning to work with individuals who represent varying world views an...
3D cartoon face rigging from sparse examples

We present a data-driven method for automatically constructing cartoonized 3D blendshapes of a subject’s face. Given a pre-defined blendshape template of the real facial expressions and corresponding cartoonized blendshape template created by an artist, we represent the blendshapes of an identity in the real and cartoon face spaces with the deformations of the blendshape template in each space and learn a mapping between the deformations in the two spaces. To this end, our method decomposes the deformations in each space into two parts: an identity-independent part that is represented with the deformation gradient of the blendshape template, and an identity-dependent part that is modeled by a low-rank linear model. We regress the linear model for the real expressions from a 3D facial expression dataset. An algorithm is then introduced to regress the mapping between the linear models in the two spaces from a small set of real expressions and their cartoonized counterparts. At run time, given the blendshapes of a subject’s real face and her 3D cartoon neutral face, our method automatically constructs the cartoonized blendshapes of the subject with the help of the cartoonized blendshape template and the learned mapping. Our method is user-independent and only requires a small set of 3D cartoonized expressions modeled by the artist for cartoon face rigging. We evaluate our method by creating cartoonized 3D facial animations for variant identities in two different artistic styles. The rigging results demonstrate that our method successfully preserves both artistic styles and personalized expressions of different identities.
Same-Day Discharge After Laparoscopic Hysterectomy for Endometrial Cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between same-day discharge (SDD) and postoperative complications within 30 days of laparoscopic hysterectomy for endometrial cancer and endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN). This single-institution retrospective cohort included all patients who underwent conventional and robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy for endometrial cancer or EIN in a large teaching hospital between 2011 and 2013. Temporal trends in frequency of SDD and rates of postoperative complications were investigated to assess whether adoption of routine SDD was associated with increased postoperative complications. Associations between SDD and postoperative complications were also investigated in univariate and multivariate models. Overall, 696 patients underwent laparoscopic hysterectomy. Of these, 37.1 % had pelvic lymphadenectomy, 3.0 % had para-aortic lymphadenectomy, and 9.3 % underwent omentectomy. The rate of SDD increased from 3.9 to 69.6 % during the study period (p < 0.001), and the frequency of postoperative readmission, unscheduled surgery, infection, and composite complications within 30 days of hysterectomy did not differ during the study period. The composite complication rate did not differ significantly between patients who underwent surgery before and after the adoption of routine SDD (rate ratio 0.7, 95 % CI 0.4–1.2, p = 0.24). After controlling for demographic, intraoperative, and comorbid factors, patients who underwent SDD were not at increased risk for postoperative complications. Adoption of routine SDD after laparoscopic surgery for endometrial cancer and EIN did not result in increased complication rates within our institution. A larger prospective study is required to definitively establish the safety of this approach.
Intradialytic Parenteral Nutrition, Intraperitoneal Nutrition and Nutritional Hemodialysis

Protein-energy wasting (PEW) is common in patients receiving chronic hemodialysis and is one of the strongest risk factors for adverse outcomes and death in chronic dialysis patients. Although PEW may be the result of non-nutritional disorders, dietary interventions such as enteral nutrition or enteral tube feeding may improve nutritional status and outcomes. However, many patients are either not suitable or reluctant to accept enteral feeding or enteral tube feeding as a method of nutritional intake or cannot receive sufficient nutrients to satisfy their daily requirements by enteral nutrition. Intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) offers an alternative method for providing additional nutrients to a patient undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). Non-randomized studies and randomized studies which examined the effectiveness of IDPN are limited, but suggest that IDPN may improve the nutritional status of many MHD patients with PEW. However, data do not allow definitive conclusions to be drawn. Experimental evidence suggests that intraperitoneal nutrition may improve nutritional status in patients with PEW receiving peritoneal dialysis. Several studies suggest that supplemental amino acids may be provided to MHD patients through hemodialysate.
Operant Up-Conditioning of the Tibialis Anterior Motor-Evoked Potential in Multiple Sclerosis: Feasibility Case Studies

Damage to the corticospinal pathway often results in weak dorsiflexion of the ankle, thereby limiting the mobility of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus, strengthening corticospinal connectivity may improve locomotion. Here, we investigated the feasibility of tibialis anterior (TA) motor-evoked potential (MEP) operant conditioning and whether it can enhance corticospinal excitability and alleviate locomotor problems in people with chronic stable MS. The protocol consisted of 6 baseline and 24 up-conditioning sessions over 10 weeks. In all sessions, TA MEPs were elicited at 10% above active threshold while the sitting subject provided 30–35% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) level of TA background EMG. During baseline sessions, MEPs were simply measured. During conditioning trials of the conditioning sessions, the subject was encouraged to increase MEP and was given immediate feedback indicating whether MEP size was above a criterion. In 3/4 subjects, TA MEP increased 32–75%, MVC increased 28–52%, locomotor EMG modulation improved in multiple leg muscles, and foot drop became less severe. In one of them, MEP and MVC increases were maintained throughout 3 years of extensive follow-up sessions. These initial results support a therapeutic possibility of MEP operant conditioning for improving locomotion in people with MS or other CNS disorders, such as spinal cord injury and stroke.
Stress and Risk of Intracerebral Hemorrhage in the Ethnic/Racial Variation of Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ERICH) Study (S10.003)

Objective: We sought to determine whether psychosocial stress is an independent risk factor for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and whether there is a differential association of stress with lobar vs. non-lobar ICH. Background: ICH carries a 30-day mortality rate of 40%–50% and a high burden of disability among survivors. Hypertension is a known strong independent risk factor for ICH. Prior studies have found that psychosocial stressors are associated with hypertension. However, the association between stress and ICH has not been directly investigated. Design/Methods: The ERICH Study is a prospective, multicenter, case-control study of ICH among whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Controls matched 1:1 by sex and race/ethnicity were identified by random digit dialing. Past medical history and clinical data were obtained through personal interview and chart abstraction. Participants rated levels of four stress types—financial, health, emotional wellbeing, and family—on a 0–10 scale for the week prior to ICH, with 0 being no stress and 10 the highest stress. For this analysis, univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to assess each stress type as independent risk factors for ICH. Results: There were 2964 case-control matches (41.4% female; 33.7% black and 32.7% Hispanic). In multivariate analysis adjusting for age, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, alcohol, dementia, and anticoagulant use, higher levels of each stress factor increased the probability of ICH: financial (OR=1.04, 95%CI 1.02–1.06), health (1.06, 1.04–1.09), emotional wellbeing (1.12, 1.10–1.15), and family (1.06, 1.04–1.08). Additionally, higher financial stress was associated with non-lobar ICH (p Conclusions: This analysis is the first to demonstrate psychosocial stress as an independent risk factor for ICH. Since the relationship between stress and ICH was independent of hypertension, other biologic mechanisms underlying this association must be investigated. Detailed examination of socioeconomic factors may help unravel the complex interactions between stress, hypertension, and ICH. Study Supported by: This study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Grant: RO1 NS69763). Disclosure: Dr. Behymer has nothing to disclose. Dr. Coleman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sekar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Turner has nothing to disclose. Dr. Moomaw has nothing to disclose. Dr. Osborne has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wethington has nothing to disclose. Dr. Woo has nothing to disclose.
Quantification of Nanoparticle Enhancement in Polarized Breast Tumor Macrophage Deposits by Spatial Analysis of MRI and Histological Iron Contrast Using Computer Vision

Magnetic resonance imaging applications utilizing nanoparticle agents for polarized macrophage detection are conventionally analyzed according to iron-dependent parameters averaged over large regions of interest (ROI). However, contributions from macrophage iron deposits are usually obscured in these analyses due to their lower spatial frequency and smaller population size compared with the bulk of the tumor tissue. We hypothesized that, by addressing MRI and histological pixel contrast heterogeneity using computer vision image analysis approaches rather than statistical ROI distribution averages, we could enhance our ability to characterize deposits of polarized tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). We tested this approach using in vivo iron MRI (FeMRI) and histological detection of macrophage iron in control and ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) enhanced mouse models of breast cancer. Automated spatial profiling of the number and size of iron-containing macrophage deposits according to localized high-iron FeMRI or Prussian blue pixel clustering performed better than using distribution averages to evaluate the effects of contrast agent injections. This analysis was extended to characterize subpixel contributions to the localized FeMRI measurements with histology that confirmed the association of endogenous and nanoparticle-enhanced iron deposits with macrophages in vascular regions and further allowed us to define the polarization status of the macrophage iron deposits detected by MRI. These imaging studies demonstrate that characterization of TAMs in breast cancer models can be improved by focusing on spatial distributions of iron deposits rather than ROI averages and indicate that nanoparticle uptake is dependent on the polarization status of the macrophage populations. These findings have broad implications for nanoparticle-enhanced biomedical imaging especially in cancer.
SSPA-LBS: Scalable and Social-Friendly Privacy-Aware Location-Based Services

Privacy-aware location-based service (PA-LBS) preserves LBS users’ privacy but undesirably sacrifices service quality. In order to balance the two factors with satisfactory user experience, existing frameworks are faced with two barriers, that is, scalability and social-friendliness. First, existing schemes do not enable LBS users to flexibly scale their privacy level on service provision. Such a lack of scalability easily results in either unacceptable service-quality degradation or insufficient privacy protection and fails to meet dynamic user requirements. Second, existing schemes handle privacy protection by merely considering the trust relationship between users and servers but ignore the complex trust relationships among users. As a result, users cannot preserve privacy in location-based social services that involve user-to-user interactions. In this paper, we present the first scalable and social-friendly PA-LBS system. In particular, we propose a novel camouflage algorithm with a formal privacy guarantee that enables LBS users to expose their location information by scaling two privacy related factors, that is, camouflage range and place type. Furthermore, we apply the scalable ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption algorithm to enable LBS users to effectively control the access from other users to their location information. Moreover, we also demonstrated the operational efficiency of the proposed system through successful implementations on Android devices.
Optical pH measurement system using a single fluorescent dye for assessing susceptibility to dental caries (Erratum).

Sugar-rich diets and poor dental hygiene promote the formation of a biofilm (plaque) that strongly adheres to the dental enamel surface and fosters the evolution of aciduric bacteria. The acid contributes to demineralization of the exterior tooth enamel, which accelerates after the pH drops below a critical value (∼5.5) for extended time periods resulting in the need for restorative procedures. Preventative techniques to alert the dentist and caries-susceptible patients regarding vulnerability to dental decay require a clinical measure of plaque activity. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the acid production capability of plaque deposits in the pits and fissures of occlusal and interproximal regions. A ratiometric fluorescence pH-sensing device has been developed using an FDA-approved dye and LED excitation. Fluorescein spectral profiles were collected using a spectrometer and analyzed with a spectral unmixing algorithm for calibration over the pH range of 4.5 to 7. An in vivo pilot study on human subjects was performed using a sucrose rinse to accelerate bacterial metabolism and to measure the time-dependent drop in pH. The optical system is relatively immune to confounding factors such as photobleaching, dye concentration, and variation in excitation intensity associated with earlier dye-based pH measurement techniques.
Inhibition of Semaphorin 3A Signaling Promotes Regeneration of Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Their Bone Marrow Vascular Niche

Abstract Radiation injury damages both the bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell and its supportive endothelial niche. In response to radiation stress, bone marrow endothelial cells (BM ECs) upregulate expression of a gene, Sema3A, which encodes for the secreted protein, Semaphorin 3A (SEMA3A), and its receptor, Neuropilin 1 (Nrp1). Commensurate with this, we observed a substantial increase in SEMA3A protein levels in the BM of mice and in NRP1 expression on VE-cadherin+ BM ECs following 500 cGy total body irradiation (TBI) (p In contrast, systemic administration of anti-NRP1 antibody (10 µg, IV every other day), which blocks SEMA3A binding to NRP1 on BM ECs, accelerated regeneration of the sinusoidal BM vasculature at day +10 following 500 cGy TBI compared to irradiated controls. Concordant with these findings, anti-NRP1 treatment increased the recovery of peripheral blood WBCs, neutrophils, and BM KSL cells, compared to irradiated controls (p=0.002, p=0.04, p=0.04). Competitive repopulation assays confirmed that anti-NRP1 treatment increased the recovery of long-term HSCs capable of 20-week multilineage repopulation in congenic mice (p=0.03 for % donor CD45.1+ cell engraftment at 20 weeks). Importantly, anti-NRP1 treatment also markedly improved 60-day survival of irradiated mice from 17% (2/12 controls) to 83% (10/12 anti-NRP1) following 800 cGy TBI. In order to confirm the role of SEMA3A/NRP1 signaling in BM ECs in regulating the BM vascular and hematopoietic response to injury, we generated mice with tamoxifen-inducible, EC - specific deletion of Nrp1 (VE-Cad-Cre-ERT2;Nrp1 fl/fl mice). Adult VE-Cad-Cre-ERT2;Nrp1 fl/fl mice were viable and had no baseline hematologic phenotype. However, following 500 cGy TBI, VE-Cad-Cre-ERT2;Nrp1 fl/fl mice displayed accelerated BM vascular regeneration at day +10 compared to irradiated control mice. Furthermore, VE-Cad-Cre-ERT2;Nrp1 fl/fl mice demonstrated significantly increased peripheral blood WBCs, neutrophils, and BM KSL cells at day +10 following radiation injury (p Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Extreme hyperbilirubinemia: An indicator of morbidity and mortality in sickle cell disease

BACKGROUND Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a disorder that results in increased hospitalizations and higher mortality. Advances in management have resulted in increases in life expectancy and led to increasing awareness of sickle cell hepatopathy (SCH). However, its impact in patients on the natural history and outcomes of SCD is not known. Our study aims to describe the prevalence of extreme hyperbilirubinemia (EH), one form of SCH, its effect on morbidity and mortality, and correlations between sickle cell genotype and SCH type. We hypothesize that EH is associated with higher morbidity and mortality. AIM To investigate the effects of EH on morbidity and mortality among patients with SCD. METHODS This retrospective cohort study was performed using a database of patients with SCD treated at Grady Memorial Hospital between May 2004 and January 2017. Patients with EH (defined as total bilirubin above 13.0 mg/dL) were identified. A control group was identified from the same database with patients with total serum bilirubin ≤ 5.0 mg/dL. Electronic medical records were used to extract demographic information, laboratory values, radiology results, current medications, need for transfusions and mortality data. Two samples T-test, chi-squared test and Fisher's exact test were then used to compare the parameters between the two groups. RESULTS Out of the database, fifty-seven charts were found of patients with bilirubin > 13 mg/dL. Prevalence of severe SCH as defined by EH was 4.8% (57/1172). There were no demographic differences between patients with and without EH. Significant genotypic differences existed between the two groups, with hemoglobin SS SCD being much higher in the EH group (P < 0.001). Patients with severe EH had a significant elevations in alanine aminotransferase (157.0 ± 266.2 IU/L vs 19.8 ± 21.3 IU/L, P < 0.001), aspartate aminotransferase (256.5 ± 485.9 U/L vs 28.2 ± 14.7 U/L, P < 0.001) and alkaline phosphatase (218.0 ± 176.2 IU/L vs 85.9 ± 68.4 IU/L, P < 0.001). Patients with EH had significantly higher degree of end organ failure measured with quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores (0.42 ± 0.68 vs 0.01 ± 0.12, P < 0.001), increased need for blood products (63% vs 5%, P < 0.001), and exchange transfusions (10.5% vs 1.3%, P = 0.022). CONCLUSION Among patients with SCD, elevated levels of total bilirubin are rare, but indicative of elevated morbidity, mortality, and need for blood transfusions. Large differences in sickle cell genotype also exist, but the significance of this is unknown.
Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome.

A 21-year-old male patient presented to the endocrine clinic with a history of congenital hypopituitarism. He had adrenal insufficiency, hypothyroidism and hypogonadism, which were being adequately replaced. At age 4, he was brought to the clinic with failure to thrive and small stature. He had
Community Psychology and Liberation Theologies: Commonalities, Collaboration, Dilemmas:

Community psychology and liberation theologies share an emphasis on personal and social transformation through a process of liberation. Emerging in the 1960s in the climate of social change movemen...
METABOLIC EVALUATION FOR PEDIATRIC RENAL STONES - A STITCH IN TIME

Objectives: To evaluate the pediatric patients with renal calculi in terms of bio-metabolic profile. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of pediatric nephrology the Children’s Hospital and the Institute of Child Health Lahore over a period of 10 months from Nov 2016 to Sep 2017. Material and Methods: A total 85 patients with urolithiasis up to the age of 14 years were enrolled for study. Structured history and tailored investigations were collected from all the patients. Results of the physical examination, blood chemistry, and urinary excretion of metabolites (urinary calcium, citrate, magnesium and oxalate) were recorded. Results: Out of 85 patients; 65% were males and 35% were females (2:1); mean age at presentation was 8.15 ± 5.04 years. Hypertension was documented in 57% patients. Mean level of urea and creatinine was 73.02 ± 59mg/dl and 4.435 ± 4.024mg/dl respectively. Vitamin D level was 37 ± 15.6ng/ml while serum PTH level was 51.2941 ± 26.067pg/l. Serum calcium and phosphorus was 8.54 ± 1.18 and 5.0224 ± 0.885 respectively. Among all patients, 95% were found to have metabolic abnormalities. The most common was hypercalciuria (54%) followed by hyperoxaluria in 28% patients. Hypocitraturia was seen in 21% patients. Distal renal tubular acidosis was found in 6% children. Only 5% children were having low magnesium level in their urine. Conclusion: Majority of the children with stone disease had underlying metabolic risk factor and in our setting, hypercalciuria is the most common one.
What Are Nervous Systems For

An underlying bias of contemporary cognitive science is that the brain and nervous system are in the business of carrying out computations and building representations. Gibson’s ecological approach...
Immunoregulatory Mechanisms of PF4/Heparin Antibody Production In Vivo.

Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a prothrombotic disorder caused by antibodies directed to complexes of platelet factor 4 (PF4) and heparin. Little is known about the immune basis of HIT, such as why serologic responses develop commonly in certain clinical settings or why immune responses may be transient in humans. To gain insight into the immune mechanisms governing PF4/heparin antibody production in vivo, we initiated studies in a recently developed murine immunization model of HIT, in which mice are injected with PF4/heparin antigen by retro-orbital injection daily for five days without adjuvant. PF4/heparin antibody development in mice is monitored weekly by a murine PF4/heparin (mP+H) ELISA. Immunizations of identical doses of PF4/heparin antigen in BALB/c and C57BL/6 (C57) mice resulted in marked strain-dependent differences in immune susceptibility, temporal kinetics and secondary recall. BALB/c mice showed more variable sensitization to mP+H injections (See Figure below) and manifested lower peak antibody levels (mean peak A450nm± SD: 0.153±0.1) than C57 mice (0.91±0.73). Time course of antibody formation was also strain-dependent. Peak antibody levels occurred ~ 45 days after start of immunization in BALB/c mice as compared to 15 days in C57 mice. Antigen rechallenge with one dose of antigen 65–85 days after primary sensitization revealed presence of variable immune recall in BALB/c mice (increased antibody levels in 3/7 mice) as compared to uniform recall in C57 mice (5/5 mice). We then initiated studies to investigate the immunoregulatory mechanisms underlying strain-dependent responses to mP+H antigen. Because isotype switching and expression of IgG subclasses is influenced by T helper (Th) cell subsets, we examined IgG subclasses in BALB/c and C57 mice as a surrogate marker of Th cytokine expression. C57 mice showed IgG2b>IgG1 anti-mP+H indicative of Th1 cytokine response, while BALB/c mice showed an IgG1>IgG2a response, a Th2 predominant response. Taken together, these findings of strain-dependent differences to mP+H indicate that variable expression of human HIT may be similarly governed by differences in peripheral immunoregulatory mechanisms.
Prospective validation of a machine learning model that uses provider notes to identify candidates for resective epilepsy surgery.

OBJECTIVE Delay to resective epilepsy surgery results in avoidable disease burden and increased risk of mortality. The objective was to prospectively validate a natural language processing (NLP) application that uses provider notes to assign epilepsy surgery candidacy scores. METHODS The application was trained on notes from (1) patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy and a history of resective epilepsy surgery and (2) patients who were seizure-free without surgery. The testing set included all patients with unknown surgical candidacy status and an upcoming neurology visit. Training and testing sets were updated weekly for 1 year. One- to three-word phrases contained in patients' notes were used as features. Patients prospectively identified by the application as candidates for surgery were manually reviewed by two epileptologists. Performance metrics were defined by comparing NLP-derived surgical candidacy scores with surgical candidacy status from expert chart review. RESULTS The training set was updated weekly and included notes from a mean of 519 ± 67 patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) from 10-fold cross-validation was 0.90 ± 0.04 (range = 0.83-0.96) and improved by 0.002 per week (P < .001) as new patients were added to the training set. Of the 6395 patients who visited the neurology clinic, 4211 (67%) were evaluated by the model. The prospective AUC on this test set was 0.79 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.62-0.96). Using the optimal surgical candidacy score threshold, sensitivity was 0.80 (95% CI = 0.29-0.99), specificity was 0.77 (95% CI = 0.64-0.88), positive predictive value was 0.25 (95% CI = 0.07-0.52), and negative predictive value was 0.98 (95% CI = 0.87-1.00). The number needed to screen was 5.6. SIGNIFICANCE An electronic health record-integrated NLP application can accurately assign surgical candidacy scores to patients in a clinical setting.
Development of Mushroom Mycelium Composites for Footwear Products

This research aims to reduce solid waste, resource depletion, and material toxicity in the footwear industry. Mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, binds together substrate materials as it gro...
Synthetic Agonist of Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone as Novel Treatment for Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the activation of the growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) receptor signaling pathway within the myocardium both prevents and reverses heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Background: HFpEF is characterized by impaired myocardial relaxation, fibrosis and ventricular stiffness. Despite the rapidly increasing prevalence of HFpEF, no effective therapies have emerged. Synthetic agonists of the GHRH receptors reduce myocardial fibrosis, hypertrophy and improve performance, independently of the growth-hormone axis. Methods: We generated a HFpEF-like phenotype with continuous infusion of angiotensin-II (Ang-II) in CD1 mice. Mice were injected with either vehicle or a potent synthetic agonist of the growth hormone-releasing hormone, MR-356. Results: Ang-II treated animals had diastolic dysfunction, ventricular hypertrophy, and normal ejection fraction and isolated cardiomyocytes (ex vivo) exhibited incomplete relaxation, depressed contractile responses and altered myofibrillar protein phosphorylation. Calcium handling mechanisms were disturbed in cardiomyocytes from mice with HFpEF. MR-356 both prevented and reversed the development of the pathological phenotype in vivo and ex vivo. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the GHRH receptor signaling pathway represents a new molecular target to counteract HFpEF-associated cardiomyocyte dysfunction by targeting myofilament phosphorylation. Accordingly, activation of the GHRH receptor with potent synthetic GHRH agonists may provide a novel therapeutic approach to management of the HFpEF syndrome.
100 Years Ago: The Vienna Congress of Teachers of the Blind:

The First European Congress of Teachers of the Blind, held in Vienna, Austria, in 1873, is described. Its origin and originator, its discussion topics, and its historical importance are discussed.
Bone Elastometric Imaging Using Ultrasound Critical-Angle Reflectometry (UCR)

The ability of bone to withstand fracture, or strength, can be affected in normal subjects by exercise, by the environment e.g. in space flight or by the onset of disease, e.g. osteoporosis. The established method for assessing changes in bone properties is gamma- or X-ray densitometry, which measures the quantity of bone mineral.
Mixed-reality assistive robotic power chair simulator for Parkinson’s tremor testing

Abstract This note describes the development of a mixed-reality assistive robotic wheel chair simulator for testing of Parkinson’s tremor mitigation and operator assistance. It consists of a power chair (PCh), roller dynamometer, head mounted virtual reality (VR) display, computer with VR game engine, and microcontroller to interface the PCh and computer. Unlike past VR PCh simulators, both a tremor notch filter and basic collision avoidance is implemented. Further, the simulator identifies the Parkinson’s tremor frequency. Operator performance is assessed using deviations from a given route and velocity profile. To demonstrate the simulator’s operation, an operator with Parkinson’s tremor drove the PCh down two 20 m long hallways connected by a 90∘ turn while operating data was collected. Results show less variation in velocity tracking with use of the notch filter than without it; route tracking was nearly the same. Advantages of the simulator compared to a wholly physical approach are low cost, improved safety, portability, small footprint, and environments and robotic features are virtual.
Brain-Inspired Golden Chip Free Hardware Trojan Detection

Since 2007, the use of side-channel measurements for detecting Hardware Trojan (HT) has been extensively studied. However, the majority of works either rely on a golden chip, or they rely on methods that are not robust against subtle acceptable changes that would occur over the life-cycle of an integrated circuit (IC). In this paper, we propose using a brain-inspired architecture called Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) for HT detection. Similar to the human brain, our proposed solution is resilient against natural changes that might happen in the side-channel measurements while being able to accurately detect abnormal behavior of the chip when the HT gets triggered. We use a self-referencing method for HT detection, which eliminates the need for the golden chip. The effectiveness of our approach is evaluated using TrustHub benchmarks, which shows 92.20% detection accuracy on average.
Significational Approaches to Biosemiotic Literary Criticism

In this chapter, I explore what Timo Maran calls “Significational Approaches to Biosemiotic Criticism.” More pointedly, I apply Peircean semiotics and semiotic modeling techniques (Maran, Green Lett 18(3):297–311, 2014a) in an attempt to bridge the Cartesian culture-nature, mind-body divides and, accordingly, to explore the fact, in Louise Westling’s terms, that “Language Is Everywhere” (2014). Richard Powers’ The Overstory (2018) and Susan Fenimore Cooper’s Rural Hours (1998 [1850]) and Elinor Wyllys (1846) provide the textual underpinnings for my Peircean and biosemiotic analysis.
Livestock Identification, the Benefits of Regulatory Involvement Past, Present, and Future

Livestock identification has played a vital role in our surveillance programs for the eradication of tuberculosis and brucellosis.
Endangered Languages: An Introduction

Most of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today will vanish before the end of this century, taking with them cultural traditions from all over the world, as well as linguistic structures that would have improved our understanding of the universality and variability of human language. This book is an accessible introduction to the topic of language endangerment, answering questions such as: what is it? How and why does it happen? Why should we care? The book outlines the various causes of language endangerment, explaining what makes a language 'safe', and highlighting the danger signs that threaten a minority language. Readers will learn about the consequences of losing a language, both for its former speech community and for our understanding of human language. Illustrated with case studies, it describes the various methods of documenting endangered languages, and shows how they can be revitalised.
Mass Transfer of Liquids Across Biological Barriers

I believe that I was asked to address my colleagues in Cryobiology because of my interest in water and how it moves across biological barriers. Apparently freezing produces differential changes in the osmolarity of cell and medium and having water around which can crystallize is not a happy event. Therefore a major portion of this talk will be devoted to the transfer of water between compartments as a consequence of osmotic gradients.
The GANITH algebraic geometry toolkit

We are building a general-purpose tool for computing and visualizing solutions to systems of algebraic equations. Diverse algorithms exist for this problem and related sub-problems, and we shall incorporate several of them. We are also developing a new set of solution techniques using multi-polynomial resultants and birational maps between arbitrary algebraic sets and hypersurfaces. Our designed tool shall be portable and allow rapid prototyping of new and existing algorithms, in an intelligent blend of algebraic and numeric methods, and real solutions. Complex solutions can also be computed, but visualizing them is difficult. The software shall also take advantage of any parallel hardware that is present. In all, we anticipate improving the state of the art of algebraic equation solving by devising novel techniques, blending existing methods to form new ones, and comparing the relative efficacy of the various methods.
Characterization of the duals of lattices of continuous functions with respect to disjointness preserving groups

The duals of Co (a, b) and C[a, b] with respect to disjointness preserving groups are characterized. A. Plessner's result (1929) about the translation group is extended. A Wiener-Young type theorem for disjointness preserving groups is obtained. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the notions of a Banach lattice, positive operator and disjointness preserving operator. [AB], [LZ] and [MN] are good references for this material. We also assume familiarity with the theory of Co-semigroups and groups. [Pa] and [Na] should provide all necessary information when needed. Throughout -o0 0 ]K c X, K compact such that Vx C X \ K If(x)I < c. We denote the lattice of all continuous functions f: X -C vanishing at infinity by CO(X), the lattice of all bounded continuous functions f: X -+ C by Cb(X), the lattice of all continuous functions f: X -? C with compact support by Cc(X), and the lattice of all regular complex-valued Borel measures on X with finite variation by M(X). Let {T(t)}tcR be a Co-group on a Banach space E. Definition. The group dual of E with respect to {T(t)}tcR, denoted E? and pronounced E-sun, is defined in the following way: E {u* C E* : lim IT* (t)u* -u* 0}. [vN] is an excellent source of information about the semigroup and group duals of Banach spaces and related subjects. Definition. A group {T(t)}tcR on a Banach lattice E is called disjointness preserving if Vt E R T(t) is a disjointness preserving operator. Let {T(t)}tcR be a disjointness preserving Co-group on Co(X). It follows from [Na, B-JJ.3.8] that 3p: R x X -X a continuous flow 3q: R -Cb(X) a Received by the editors September 2, 1994. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 47D03, 46B10, 46E05, 47B65.
Dealing with Differences

The Measure of Merit . Talents, Intelligence, and Inequality in the French and American Republics, 1750-1940. By John Carson . Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2007. 421 pp. $39.50, £26.95. ISBN 9780691017150. Carson explores how two modern democracies have wrestled with the clash between their commitments to equality and scientific claims about disparities in human intelligence and talent.
Unocal Fifteen Years Later (and What We Can Do About It)

The coincidence of the new millennium and the fifteenth anniversary of the Delaware Supreme Court's announcement of a new approach to takeover law provides an appropriate occasion to step back and evaluate a remarkable experiment in corporate law - the Delaware Supreme Court's development of an intermediate standard for evaluating defensive tactics. I will argue that Unocal has developed into an unexplained and, I think, inexplicable preference that control contests be resolved through elections rather than market transactions. In doing so, I will highlight the remarkable struggle between the Chancery Court and the Supreme Court for Unocal's soul, a contest I will suggest the Supreme Court won only by fiat. I will also maintain that the current debate over shareholder-adopted bylaws that repeal or amend director-adopted poison pills provides a vehicle to reposition Delaware takeover law. Finally, I will end my retrospective on a note of praise. Intertwined with the development of Delaware takeover law is a reassessment and important expansion of the role of independent directors in corporate governance. There is no reason why this important development cannot be preserved if the Delaware Supreme Court chooses otherwise to restore balance to the law of takeovers.
The Trajectory of the Diva in Grand Tour Italy: Antonia Cavallucci and the Politics of Beauty and Fame

The story of Antonia Cavallucci, attrice comica, who became a cantattrice and her fate in the theatre culture of mid-eighteenth century Italy is addressed in this case study which charts the fame and fortune of Cavallucci, whose career began as one of Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni’s female protagonists. Cavallucci’s story moves the study of early modern actresses in Italy from the formulaic biographical treatment of actresses’ lives to a probing narrative that explores and exposes the stakes for both the actress and admiring spectator alike. The letters exchanged between Antonia Cavallucci and her patron, Giovanni Bianchi, reveal the conditions under which the nascent diva behavior and persona emerged, only to be quashed by the politics of fame, gender, and religion that ultimately damaged the reputation and careers of both Cavallucci and Bianchi alike. This article also includes a comparative consideration of actresses in England and Italy.
Relativized separation of EQP from P NP

Abstract An oracle is constructed relative to which quantum polynomial time ( EQP ) is not polynomial-time Turing reducible to NP . That is, there is an A such that EQP A ⊈ P NP A . This generalizes and simplifies previous separations of EQP from NP and ZPP , due to Berthiaume and Brassard. A key element of the proof is the use of a special property of Grover's algorithm for database search, in order to show that the test language is in EQP A .
158 Statistical fluctuations, dynamics, and de novo enzyme catalysis

My talk will describe our theoretical work in quantifying protein statistical and dynamical motions that correlate with enzyme performance of de novo enzymes and the possibility of incorporating fl...
Design of a Lambertson injection magnet for the RHIC machine

A Lambertson magnet has been designed to serve as an injector into the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) under construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The design is predicted to achieve field uniformity of DB/B >
A NUMERICAL OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE APPLIED TO THE DESIGN OF TWO- DIMENSIONAL CAVITATING HYDROFOIL SECTIONS

A numerical nonlinear optimization technique is applied to the systematic design of two-dimensional partially or supercavitating hydrofoil sections. The design objective is to minimize the hydrofoil drag for given lift and cavitation number. The hydrodynamic analysis of the cavitating hydrofoil is performed in nonlinear theory, via a low- order potential-based panel method. The effects of viscosity are taken into account via a uniform friction coefficient applied on the wetted foil surface. The total drag, lift, cavitation number, and other quantities involved in the imposed constraints, are expressed in terms of quadratic functions of the main parameters of the hydrofoil geometry, angle of attack, and the cavity length. The optimization is based on the method of multipliers by coupling the Lagrange multiplier terms and the penalty function terms. The robustness and convergence of the method are extensively investigated, and the results are compared with those from applying other design methods.
Descriptions of the neutral gas outflow in comets P/Halley and Wilson (1987 VII) from analyses of velocity-resolved H2O line profiles

The spatial distribution and expansion velocity of the Comets Wilson (1987 VII) and pre- and postperihelion P/Halley are derived on the bases of velocity-resolved H2O spectral line profiles, using a kinematic model which synthesizes line profiles for comparison with observed line shapes. The results thus obtained demonstrate that the spherically symmetric outflow at constant velocity is a poor characterization of cometary neutral-gas outflow. While the radial dependence of the H2O expansion velocity is noted to be consistent with theoretically envisioned trends, the high H2O outflow velocity observed in Comet Wilson resists reconciliation with any existing kinematic model.
Disappearing youth: Youth as a social shifter in Botswana

In this article, I explore the discourses of youth in Botswana, focusing the analysis on 1995 protests over the murder of a student. I argue that youth should be examined as a social shifter: When invoked, youth indexes sets of social relationships that are dynamic and constructed in the invocation. As people argue over who youth are and how they behave, they index shifting relationships of power and authority, responsibility and capability, agency and autonomy, and the moral configurations of society.