cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increased superoxide leads to decreased flow-induced dilation in resistance arteries of Mn-SOD-deficient mice

The role of mitochondrial manganese-superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) in the maintenance of vascular function has not yet been studied. Thus we examined flow- and agonist-induced dilations in isolated ...
Vitamin D Receptor Signals Regulate Effector and Memory CD8 T Cell Responses to Infections in Mice

Background: Vitamin D insufficiency is associated with broad-ranging human disease sequelae such as bone disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, allergy, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, and infectious diseases. Disease risk and severity of a large proportion of the nonskeletal disorders heavily involve the cytotoxic cluster of differentiation (CD) 8 T lymphocyte (CTL) arm of cellular adaptive immunity. Considering the importance of vitamin D in CTL-dependent diseases, there is a critical need for systematic in-depth explorations into the role of vitamin D deficiency in generation and maintenance of CTL immunity during infections and vaccinations. Objective: With the use of wild-type (WT) vitamin D‐sufficient mice and the vitamin D receptor knockout (Vdr 2/2 ) mouse model of in vivo deficiency of vitamin D signaling, we systematically analyzed the impact of vitamin D deficiency on antigen-specific effector and memory CD8 T cell responses to acute viral and bacterial infections. Methods: WT and Vdr 2/2 mice were infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, a natural mouse pathogen, and antigen-specific CTL responses were analyzed during priming, expansion, contraction, and memory phases. Magnitude, breadth, cytokine production, and localization of antiviral effector and memory CTLs to lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues were specifically assessed. Results: The absence of vitamin D signals led to 1) aberrant CD8 T cell effector differentiation [;2-fold lower granzyme B and reduced B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2); P # 0.05] and enhanced contraction (;15% increase; P # 0.05) in antigen-specific CTLs, 2), a significantly restricted (P #0.05) breadth of the antigen-specific CD8 T cell effector and memory repertoire, and 3) preferential localization of effector (;2.5-fold increase; P # 0.01) and memory (;5-fold increase; P # 0.001) CD8 T cells to the lymph nodes compared to nonlymphoid tissues. Conclusion: Our data show a previously unrecognized impact of vitamin D deficiency on the quantity, quality, breadth, and location of CD8 T cell immunity to acute viral and bacterial infections. J Nutr doi: 10.3945/jn.114.202895.
The Magnetically-Tuned Transition-Edge Sensor

We present the first measurements on the proposed magnetically-tuned superconducting transition-edge sensor and compare the modified resistive transition with the theoretical prediction (Sadleir et al., IEEE Trans App Supercond 23:2101405, 2013). A TES’s resistive transition is customarily characterized in terms of the unitless device parameters $$\alpha $$ and $$\beta $$ corresponding to the resistive response to changes in temperature and current respectively. We present a new relationship between measured IV quantities (sensor current $$I$$ and voltage $$V$$ ) and the parameters $$\alpha $$ and $$\beta $$ and use these relations to confirm we have stably biased a TES with negative $$\beta $$ parameter with magnetic tuning. Motivated by access to this new unexplored parameter space, we investigate the conditions for bias stability of a TES taking into account both self and externally applied magnetic fields.
Life Graphs and Life Events

The present study investigates changes in personal satisfaction over the whole life course by means of life graphs and their determinants. The life graphs were administered within a 4-year interval to 371 individuals (age 45-70). A modified version of the Holmes and Rahe life events scale, administered in the second interview, was used to ascertain the occurrence of four kinds of events: (1) children leaving home, (2) ill health, (3) death of family or friends, and (4) changes in work. Differences in height between the peak of the graph and the height at the current age is the measurement technique used with the life graphs. Events are found to play a different role at different stages of life and seem to be measured against an implicit schedule according to which the events are seen as traumatic or acceptable. Thus, the same event has different effects on perception of emotional state according to age.
Clivus and cervical spinal osteomyelitis with epidural abscess presenting with multiple cranial neuropathies

A 65-year-old diabetic man with a history of otitis was admitted with headache, neck and shoulder pain and cranial nerve abnormalities including sixth, seventh and twelfth nerve palsies, hearing loss and ptosis. Lumbar puncture revealed an elevated CSF protein and pleocytosis. Imaging procedures demonstrated osteomyelitis of the clivus that involved the epidural space and extended within the prevertebral space to the cervical spine. The patient improved after treatment with antibiotics and immobilization of the neck. This case illustrates the importance of recognizing infections of the clivus in patients with cranial nerve abnormalities.
Thermally Driven Diurnally Periodic Wind Signals off the East Coast of China

AbstractThe characteristics of thermally driven diurnally periodic wind signals off the east coast of China are studied using hourly model data for the period June 2006–11 simulated with a mesoscale model. Analysis of these model data indicates low-level diurnally periodic wind signals propagate eastward off the southeast coast, whereas diurnal wind variations off the northeast coast are nearly in phase. It is found that a simple 2D linear land–sea-breeze model with friction can capture this main difference in propagation character with respect to latitude. Idealized simulations using a simplified version of the mesoscale model that includes surface heating and terrain are found to explain certain features not captured by the present linear theory such as the absolute time phase and cross-coast location of the maximum amplitude of the diurnally periodic winds.
The Florida Supreme Court in the 2000 Presidential Election: Ambiguity, Ideology, and Signaling in a Judicial Hierarchy

On December 12, 2000, for the first time in America's history a court of law determined the outcome of a presidential election. Before an anxious citizenry, the United States Supreme Court issued the decision that would ultimately give George W. Bush the presidency, if not absolute victory. Remarkably, the U.S. Supreme Court justices were not the only jurists pulled into the fray. In numerous lawsuits, several Florida state courts rendered decisions that figured prominently in the 2000 presidential election.
Diagnostic studies on infectious gastroenteritis in children in industrialized countries with emphasis on diarrheagenic Escherichia coli

Pediatric gastroenteritis is most commonly caused by virus, with rotavirus causing the largest proportion of infections and the most severe forms. Enteric adenovirus and astrovirus are also important pathogens. Norovirus is rarely diagnosed but probably fairly common. Campylobacter and Salmonella are the most common bacterial diarrheal pathogens. The role of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli is probably underestimated, but, with the exception of the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, the different pathogenic groups are ill defined. Much work is needed to define these groups and their role in disease. No algorithms based on simple clinical or laboratory data are useful to guide the physician as to which stools to investigate for diarrheal pathogens, or which to examine only for virus, bacteria or parasites. New nonculture molecular or immunological methods may be used to screen stools rapidly for pathogens, but the results need to be confirmed by other methods including subtyping in order to be able to recognize,...
GWAsimulator: A rapid whole genome simulation program

Summary: GWAsimulator implements a rapid moving-window algorithm to simulate genotype data for case-control or population samples from genomic SNP chips. For case-control data, the program generates cases and controls according to a user-specified multi-locus disease model, and can simulate specific regions if desired. The program uses phased genotype data as input and has the flexibility of simulating genotypes for different populations and different genomic SNP chips. When the HapMap phased data are used, the simulated data have similar local LD patterns as the HapMap data. As genome-wide association (GWA) studies become increasingly popular and new GWA data analysis methods are being developed, we anticipate that GWAsimulator will be an important tool for evaluating performance of new GWA analysis methods. Availability: The Cþþ source code, executables for Linux, Windows and MacOS, manual, example data sets and analysis program are available at http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/GWAsimulator Contact: chun.li@vanderbilt.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
When TCP Friendliness Becomes Harmful

Short TCP flows may suffer significant response-time performance degradations during network congestion. Unfortunately, this creates an incentive for misbehavior by clients of interactive applications (e.g., gaming, telnet, Web): to send "dummy" packets into the network at a TCP-fair rate even when they have no data to send, thus improving their performance in moments when they do have data to send. Even though no "law" is violated in this way, a large-scale deployment of such an approach has the potential to seriously jeopardize one of the core Internet's principles - statistical multiplexing. We quantify, by means of analytical modeling and simulation, gains achievable by the above misbehavior. Further, we explore techniques that both misbehaving and regular clients can apply to optimize their performance. Our research indicates that easy-to-implement application-level techniques are capable of dramatically reducing incentives for conducting the above transgressions, still without compromising the idea of statistical multiplexing.
The American Advisor Abroad

Mutual understanding of both the similarities and differences between an American and a host national counterpart is a key to effective utilization of the American advisor abroad. When both American and host know what to expect of each other, the American consultant's interpersonal competence, consulting skill, and technical knowledge can be brought to bear in a more effective manner than where misunderstandings of opinions, values, and ideology prevail.A program is described which is building a bank of information about such similarities and differences. How knowledge of the data has relevance to relations between the American and the host national is discussed, along with educational procedures for disseminating such information to those who take on American advisory roles abroad.
Lower Extremity Axial Cuts

Overview of the right leg showing the location of the axial cuts depicted in the following figures
Phase, composition, and growth mechanism for secondary organic aerosol from the ozonolysis of α -cedrene

Abstract. Sesquiterpenes are an important class of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and have a high secondary organic aerosol (SOA) forming potential. However, SOA formation from sesquiterpene oxidation has received less attention compared to other BVOCs such as monoterpenes, and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this work, we present a comprehensive experimental investigation of the ozonolysis of α-cedrene both in a glass flow reactor (27–44 s reaction times) and in static Teflon chambers (30–60 min reaction times). The SOA was collected by impaction or filters, followed by analysis using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), or measured online using direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) and aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS). The slow evaporation of 2-ethylhexyl nitrate that was incorporated into the SOA during its formation and growth gives an estimated diffusion coefficient of 3 × 10−15 cm2 s−1 and shows that SOA is a highly viscous semisolid. Possible structures of four newly observed low molecular weight (MW ≤ 300 Da) reaction products with higher oxygen content than those previously reported were identified. High molecular weight (HMW) products formed in the early stages of the oxidation have structures consistent with aldol condensation products, peroxyhemiacetals, and esters. The size-dependent distributions of HMW products in the SOA, as well as the effects of stabilized Criegee intermediate (SCI) scavengers on HMW products and particle formation, confirm that HMW products and reactions of SCI play a crucial role in early stages of particle formation. Our studies provide new insights into mechanisms of SOA formation and growth in α-cedrene ozonolysis and the important role of sesquiterpenes in new particle formation as suggested by field measurements.
Covert Modeling: The Therapeutic Application of Imagined Rehearsal

In behavior therapy, a large number of techniques are based upon the use of imagery. In these techniques, clients are instructed to imagine carefully planned scenes to alter their behavior. The most well-investigated technique that fits this general description is systematic desensitization, in which a client usually imagines him- or herself engaging in various behaviors directed at overcoming anxiety (cf. Wolpe, 1958). Several techniques that are based upon imagery are referred to as covert conditioning and have been developed by Cautela (1971a, 1972). These techniques were derived from extrapolations of specific learning principles developed in laboratory research and include covert sensitization, covert positive reinforcement, covert negative reinforcement, covert extinction, covert punishment, and covert modeling (Cautela, 1966, 1967, 1970a, 1970b, 1971b, 1974, 1976b). Techniques such as covert reinforcement, punishment, and extinction are considered to be direct applications of the respective operant principles. Covert sensitization relies upon operant conditioning principles such as punishment and negative reinforcement as well as classical conditioning and aversion relief. Covert modeling derives from observational or vicarious learning. These techniques represent a major innovation in behavior therapy.
Pharmacogenetic Interventions, Distributive Justice, and Orphan Drugs: The Role of Cost-Benefit Analysis

As the amount of genetic information available has grown exponentially, it has become possible to identify gene-level variations that cause individuals who present with similar disease symptoms to have divergent responses to drugs for those symptoms. The segregation of disease populations based on genotypic variation, or pharmacogenomics, is likely to create small genotypic subgroups for which no private pharmaceutical company will have a market incentive to develop a drug. U.S. law currently provides liberal research subsidies for groups with rare diseases who have been "orphaned" by the market. Because pharmacogenomics is likely to create a much larger number of such orphan groups, policymakers will need to consider the distributive justice question of how to allocate scarce research resources between different orphan groups. Moral theory does not provide a definitive answer to this question. Therefore, we must supplement moral theory with transparent, well-reasoned political debate. This paper advocates cost-benefit analysis as an important component of this debate. It argues that some orphan drugs may in fact be cost-beneficial and should, on that basis, be accorded some preference. The most promising mechanism for identifying such cost-beneficial drugs, and giving them preference, would be some type of patent term extension.
Evidence for a Possible E(5) Symmetry in 134 Ba

Evidence for the first empirical example of a transitional dynamical symmetry at a critical point is discussed in the spectrum of ${}^{134}\mathrm{Ba}$. The role of such classes of symmetries in nuclear structural evolution is also discussed.
Craniofacial growth in premature craniofacial synostosis.

Serial cephalometric radiographs of 55 patients with different types of premature craniofacial synostoses were analysed. The aim of the study was to answer the following four questions in an effort to provide a better rational for classification, treatment, and possibly add insight into the mechanisms controlling craniofacial growth. (1) Is the shape of the skull syndrome specific. (2) How does the craniofacial complex grow. (3) What is the effect of craniectomy on the growth of the cranium. (4) Can roentgencephalometry provide a rational basis for planning reconstructive surgery. The results were presented as answers to each of the questions restated under each type of craniosynostosis. i.e. oxycephaly, scaphocephaly, plagiocephaly, trigonocephaly, Crouzon syndrome, and Apert syndrome.
Microwave-induced dppm ligand substitution in triosmium clusters: Structural and DFT evaluation of Os3 clusters containing multiply activated dppm ligands through cyclometalation, ortho metalation, and PC bond cleavage

Abstract Four new triosmium carbonyl complexes containing multiple dppm ligands were produced by microwave heating of solutions containing Os3(CO)12 and excess dppm. Three of these complexes, Os3(μ-H)2(CO)6(μ-dppm)[μ3-Ph2PCHP(C6H4)Ph] (2), Os3(CO)6[μ3-Ph2PCH2P(C6H4)Ph]2 (3), and Os3(μ-H)(CO)6[μ3-PhPCH2P(C6H4)Ph][μ3-PhPCH(C6H4)PPh] (4), contain two dppm ligands per Os3 unit, while the fourth, Os3(μ-H)(CO)5(dppm)[μ3-PhPCH2P(C6H4)Ph][μ3-PhPCH(C6H4)PPh] (5), is the first example of an Os3 cluster containing three dppm ligands. Microwave heating was also used to prepare the known complex Os3(μ-dppm)2(CO)8 (1) more efficiently than previously reported. The new complexes 2–5 have been characterized by IR, NMR, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography. In addition, the bonding in these complexes has been examined by electronic structure calculations. All of the new complexes contain at least one dppm ligand that has undergone C H and/or C P bond activation. Complex 2 is a 48e cluster that contains one intact dppm ligand and one face-capping dppm ligand that coordinates all three osmium sites through the phosphine moieties and cyclometalated and ortho-metalated carbon atoms. Complex 3 is a 48e cluster with two ortho-metalated dppm ligands while complexes 4 and 5 are 50e clusters that possess a common metallic framework with one cyclometalated dppm ligand and one ortho-metalated dppm ligand.
Second-Order Raman Scattering in Graphite Intercalation Compounds

The stage dependence of various second-order Raman features observed for acceptor (FeCl 3 , SbCl 5 ) and donor (Rb) Graphite Intercalation Compounds is reported and discussed in terms of recent Born-von Karman lattice dynamics calculations of Al-Jishi and Dresselhaus.
Impact of Water Resource Development on the Hydrology and Sedimentology of the Brazos River, Texas with Implications on Shoreline Erosion

Major dam and reservoir development within the Brazos River Basin is correlative with a significant decrease in the suspended sediment load of the river and with increased coastal erosion rates near the Brazos delta. A hydrologic analysis of the river discharge, by use of cumulative frequency curves, shows that discharge control by dam regulation has reduced the frequency of high discharges, thus smoothing out the river hydrograph and reducing the amount of sediment the river is able to carry and deliver to the coastal zone. In addition, the reservoirs are presently trapping about 76% of all sand produced within the basin. The amount of sand denied access to the coastal zone through changing geologic processes is estimated to be 30 mcf/yr and, through the loss of the river9s transporting ability and reservoir entrapment, has been determined to be an additional 60 mcf/yr. The increase in the coastal erosion rates in the study area, at least since 1941, can be related to the construction of water resource structures. Sand losses brought about by the construction of reservoirs on the Brazos River, or one of its major tributaries, can be predicted from a relationship between the ratio of sand load (tons) to discharge (acre-ft) to the effective drainage basin (area of the basin below the water resource structures).
Comparative safety profile of hyaluronic acid products for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Summary Purpose Intra-articular (IA) hyaluronic acid (HA) is considered a safer alternative to oral Non-Steroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) and opioids for knee osteoarthritis (OA). A recent review raised potential safety concerns about HA, warranting further review of safety outcomes. We examined the risks of HA compared with IA placebo and investigated whether the risks vary among individual HA preparations. Methods We searched all relevant databases from inception to October 2015 and sought unpublished data. We included all knee OA trials which compared any of the 18 HA products and reported on adverse events (AEs) and withdrawals. We calculated odds ratios for safety data reported at the longest follow-up. Network meta-analysis was performed using a Bayesian hierarchical random effects model for mixed multiple treatment comparisons. Results We identified 74 studies involving 13,032 participants aged between 45 and 75 years. The proportion of women ranged from 28% to 100%. The overall incidence of local reactions reported across all products was 8.5%. Commonly reported AEs were transient local reactions, such as pain, swelling and arthralgia, which subsided rapidly. None of the HA products were statistically significantly different from IA placebo or from each other with regard to incidence of AEs. Three treatment-related serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported among 9214 participants. Conclusions Given the very low incidence of any particular AEs, we conclude that HA products are relatively well tolerated. These products have a similar safety profile compared to each other. This information along with the comparative effectiveness profile and relative cost would be helpful for clinicians in delivering individualized patient care.
Plasmonic paper: an emerging analytical platform for highly sensitive biosensors(Conference Presentation)

Plasmonic biosensors hold enormous potential for the development of low-cost, label-free, point-of-care biodiagnostics. However, two major challenges need to be overcome to reap the benefits of this class of biosensors: (i) state-of-the-art plasmonic biosensors either offer limited sensitivity or are impractical for real-world applications due to their poor stability and excessive cost; (ii) these biosensors rely on natural antibodies, which are high-cost and impose severe limitations in handling, storage and device integration. We demonstrate that a common filter paper can be transformed into a plasmonic sensing platform for highly sensitive and selective detection of trace levels of chemical and biological analytes. We also demonstrate that short peptides as biorecognition elements compared to larger antibodies as target capture agents offer several advantages. Using a bioplasmonic paper device, we demonstrate the selective and sensitive detection of the cardiac biomarker troponin I. The smaller sized peptide provides higher sensitivity and a lower detection limit using a bioplasmonic paper device. Furthermore, the excellent shelf-life and thermal stability of peptide-based plasmonic biosensors, which precludes the need for special storage conditions, makes it ideal for use in resource-limited settings. We also demonstrate plasmonic biosensors based on artificial antibodies by molecularly imprinting the plasmonic nanotransducers. Apart from significantly lowering the cost, these developments are critical for translating plasmonic sensors to point-of-care and resource-limited settings.
The Requirements of Deterrence

As hinted at in chapter 1, the future strategic environment will be extraordinarily complex. One basic fact seems apparent, however: the world has arrived at a point where major war remains an infeasible and irrational policy option. Rather than war being a continuation of politics by other means, politics and economics have become surrogates for war, at least between major powers. The key question to be addressed by this book is how nuclear deterrence, a critical linchpin of the trend making war infeasible, will evolve in that context.
Translating risk assessment to contingency planning for CO2 geologic storage: A methodological framework

Abstract In order to ensure safe and effective long-term geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), existing regulations require both assessing leakage risks and responding to leakage incidents through corrective measures. However, until now, these two pieces of risk management have been usually addressed separately. This study proposes a methodological framework that bridges risk assessment to corrective measures through clear and collaborative contingency planning. We achieve this goal in three consecutive steps. First, a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) approach is adopted to characterize potential leakage features, events and processes (FEP) in a Bayesian events tree (BET), resulting in a risk assessment matrix (RAM). The RAM depicts a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive set of leakage scenarios with quantified likelihood, impact, and tolerance levels. Second, the risk assessment matrix is translated to a contingency planning matrix (CPM) that incorporates a tiered-contingency system for risk-preparedness and incident-response. The leakage likelihood and impact dimensions of RAM are translated to resource proximity and variety dimensions in CPM, respectively. To ensure both rapid and thorough contingency planning, more likely or frequent risks require more proximate resources while more impactful risks require more various resources. In addition, the minimum and maximum risk tolerance levels are translated to contingency thresholds, and all tolerable risk scenarios are categorized under three contingency tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. We highlight how the upper, lower, and inter-tier contingency boundaries should be collaboratively pre-negotiated between the operating party and multiple relevant stakeholders to ensure effective preparedness and response. Finally, we present a model contingency plan to demonstrate how all newly introduced concepts integrate together. Specifically, we focus on explaining how the designed contingency tiers facilitate important aspects of contingency planning, primarily: evaluating leakage and initiating response; designing a corrective measures matrix (CMM) that assigns specific control and remediation measures to each leakage scenario; mobilizing, deploying, and sustaining necessary human and equipment resources; and formulating a decision-making hierarchy, a notification protocol, and a communication scheme to effectively administer the CO 2 storage site.
Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Time-Dependent Convection Dominated Problems: Basics, Recent Developments and Comparison with Other Methods

In this survey article, we will give a short summary of the basic algorithm issues of discontinuous Galerkin methods for time-dependent convection dominated problems. We will then give a few representative examples of recent developments of discontinuous Galerkin methods for such problems, and provide comparisons with several other types of numerical methods commonly used for similar or related problems. For the comparison, we concentrate mainly on the methods presented in the London Mathematical Society EPSRC Durham Symposium on Building Bridges: Connections and Challenges in Modern Approaches to Numerical Partial Differential Equations.
Reinforcement learning based anti-jamming with wideband autonomous cognitive radios

This paper presents a design and an implementation of a wideband autonomous cognitive radio (WACR) for anti-jamming. The proposed anti-jamming scheme is aimed at evading a jammer that sweeps across the whole wideband spectrum range in which the WACR is expected to operate. The WACR makes use of its spectrum knowledge acquisition ability to detect and identify the location of the sweeping jammer. This information and reinforcement learning is then used to learn the optimal communications mode to avoid the jammer. In this paper, we discuss a specific reinforcement learning mechanism based on Q-learning to successfully learn such an anti-jamming operation over a several hundred mega-Hz of wide spectrum in realtime. We describe a cognitive anti-jamming communications protocol that selects a spectrum position with enough contiguous idle spectrum uninterfered by both deliberate jammers and inadvertent interferers and transmits till the jammer catches up to it. When the jammer interferes with the cognitive radio's transmission, it switches to a new spectrum band that will lead to the longest possible uninterrupted transmission as learned through Q-learning. We present results of an implementation of the proposed WACR for cognitive anti-jamming and discuss its effectiveness in learning the surrounding RF environment to avoid both deliberate jamming and unintentional interference.
Los tribunales de lo contencioso administrativo y el art. 38 de la Nueva Constitución

Sumario 1. Antecedentes 2. El Consejo de Estado 3. Confrontacion del texto proyectado con el texto aprobado 4. Hipotesis explicativas 5. Sentido y alcance del art. 38, inc. 2° de la Constitucion del 80
WHERE IS MY ETT?: USING QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TO DECREASE UNPLANNED EXTUBATIONS IN A LARGE NICU SETTING

Background Texas Children9s Hospital (TCH) has a 172 bed NICU. TCH NICU employs more than 450 RNs, 50 RTs, 98 NNPs, and over 150 physicians. As a consult center for complex critically ill neonates, many patients have respiratory management via an endotracheal tube (ETT). Proper ETT position is crucial to maintain patients9 respiratory and cardiac function. Research shows approximately 20% of children and neonates who experience a UE have cardiovascular collapse requiring CPR or epinephrine. Baseline data showed a mean rate of 3.3 Unplanned Extubations (UE) per 100 ventilator days. Objectives Reduce the Newborn Center UE rate from 3.3/100 vent days in FY 2014 to 2.64/100 vent days by September 30, 2016. Methods A multidisciplinary team formed and responded to the problem. Debriefs were initiated by bedside clinicians after every UE to better understand the contributing factors. Using the operational definition from Solutions for Patient Safety, the team reviewed and themed every UE. Identified themes were: Agitation, ETT Depth, Unable to determine, Securement Device, Transfer/holding, and Bundle Compliance. Results 33% reduction in UE in a rolling calendar year. Conclusions Our outcomes identified that the NRP formula can be used as an assessment tool to determine need for an X-ray to check ETT placement and quickly identify ETTs that need adjustment. This has implications for clinical practice to help guide judicious radiation exposure. Ongoing work will be sustainment and growth with the literature (i.e. New NRP formula). With the rich data gained from each UE there are further opportunities for targeted improvement based on theme.
Reputation-Based Distributed Coordination for Heterogeneous Autonomous Agents

Decentralized, partially or fully distributed multi-agent coordination, cooperation and coalition formation have been studied extensively over the past 20 years. Ensembles of autonomous software, robotic or other autonomous agents may need to coordinate and form coalitions in order to share resources, divide-and-conquer tasks, or enable themselves to complete tasks too complex for any individual agent alone. Much of prior research on multi-agent coordination and coalition formation focuses on the distributed problem solving context, in which all agents belong to the same end-user and share the overarching system-level objectives. As the Internet is evolving towards “Web 3.0” and “the Internet of Things”, modeling systems and designing protocols for scenarios in which autonomous agents that belong to different end-users, and hence in general do not share common goals, yet may still need to coordinate and cooperate with each other, is becoming a research challenge of paramount importance. In this paper, we outline a general vision and some key properties of an “Internet of (Software) Agents”, and propose a reputation-based model for effective multi-agent coordination among autonomous agents that need to coordinate with (yet don’t a priori know to what extent they can trust) each other.
A compact uniplanar LTE/WWAN antenna for mobile handset applications

A small-size uniplanar antenna for ultra-slim mobile handset applications is proposed. The antenna is designed to support the multi-standard communication with a very small size of 30×10 mm2 and within 3:1 VSWR standard. The radiating portion of the antenna is relatively smaller as compared to the multiband antennas published in the literature to date. The antenna covers the LTE700, GSM850/900, DCS, PCS, UMTS2100, ISM and WLAN2400 frequency bands. The simulated and measured results are presented and discussed.
Special Considerations in Children and Young Adults with Celiac Disease

Celiac disease (CD) affects about 1 % of all children and young adults. Several aspects appear peculiar to this age group. Among them are the emerging roles of infant feeding practices and of infections in infancy on the development of CD, as well as the diagnostic challenges encountered in very young children, where celiac serology does not possess the same high degree of sensitivity it carries in older ages. In addition, the changing pattern of clinical presentations, with shift toward later age of diagnosis and more extra-intestinal manifestations, as well as the many disease associations described, need to be considered by the clinician. Lastly, there are important issues of compliance to the gluten-free diet and its impact on quality of life that represent specific challenges for the adolescent.
Responses of Aphid Vectors of Potato leaf roll virus to Potato Varieties

Potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) can reduce tuber yield and quality in potato. Green peach aphid (Myzus persicae [Sulzer]) and potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae [Thomas]) are the two most important potato-colonizing PLRV vectors in the Pacific Northwest. We compared My. persicae and Ma. euphorbiae densities and PLRV incidences among potato varieties in the field to clarify the relationships between aphid abundance and PLRV incidence in plants. Aphids were sampled weekly over three years in the potato varieties Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, and Russet Norkotah in a replicated field trial. In all years, My. persicae was more abundant than Ma. euphorbiae, representing at least 97% of samples. My. persicae densities did not differ among potato varieties across years; very low numbers of Ma. euphorbiae precluded such statistical comparisons for this species. PLRV infection did not differ significantly among potato varieties, although the percent of PLRV-infected plants differed among years when all varieties ...
Out of the Barracks: The Role of the Military in Democratic Revolutions:

Why some democratic revolutions succeed while others fail? The scholarly community has sought to address this issue from various perspectives, from rational choice approaches to collective action t...
A Dual Structure for the Quantal Rotation Groups, Su (2)

The Lie algebra of SU(2) can be extended to the universal enveloping algebra and embedded in a non-commutative, co-commutative Hopf algebra. We demonstrate that this structure, for SU(2), permits a dual structure to be defined, which is again a Hopf algebra of the same type but with a deformed algebra. In the limit of no deformation, this dual Hopf algebra has the Lie algebra of SU(2).
Silica inhalation altered telomere length and gene expression of telomere regulatory proteins in lung tissue of rats.

Exposure to silica can cause lung fibrosis and cancer. Identification of molecular targets is important for the intervention and/or prevention of silica-induced lung diseases. Telomeres consist of tandem repeats of DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes, preventing chromosomal fusion and degradation. Regulator of telomere length-1 (RTEL1) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), genes involved in telomere regulation and function, play important roles in maintaining telomere integrity and length. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of silica inhalation on telomere length and the regulation of RTEL1 and TERT. Lung tissues and blood samples were collected from rats at 4, 32, and 44 wk after exposure to 15 mg/m3 of silica × 6 h/d × 5 d. Controls were exposed to air. At all-time points, RTEL1 expression was significantly decreased in lung tissue of the silica-exposed animals compared to controls. Also, significant increases in telomere length and TERT were observed in the silica group at 4 and 32 wk. Telomere length, RTEL1 and TERT expression may serve as potential biomarkers related to silica exposure and may offer insight into the molecular mechanism of silica-induced lung disease and tumorigeneses.
CHAPTER 242 – The Role of ARF in Vesicular Membrane Traffic

ADP-ribosylation /actors (ARFs) are a family of highly conserved, ∼20-kDa GTPases with a number of cellular activities; most notably the regulation of vesicular membrane traffic. ARFs are ubiquitous in eukaryotes with as many as 23 members of the ARF family expressed in mammalian cells. The ARF family includes both ARF and ARFlike (ARL) proteins, based upon the extent of sequence and functional identities; e.g., the 6 mammalian ARFs share > 60% identity to one another, while most ARLs share 40-60% identity to each other or to any ARF. With this high level of structural conservation it is expected that ARLs perform mechanistically and functionally homologous roles to those of ARFs, but these are much less well defined. All of the currently identified actions of ARFs take place on membrane surfaces. These different functions can be divided into four different groups, regulation of lipid metabolism, regulation of vesicle transport, cofactor for bacterial toxins, and GTP-dependent binding to other miscellaneous proteins with less well understood functions.
Optimal Care for All: The Critical Need for Clinician Retention in Rural North Carolina

Despite its increasing urbanization, North Carolina still has a large rural population that lacks optimal health care. While multiple programs have been successful in recruiting clinicians to rural communities, improving the retention of those clinicians will require the development and implementation of novel strategies along with the evaluation of their effectiveness.
Expedited Learning in MDPs with Side Information

Standard methods for synthesis of control policies in Markov decision processes with unknown transition probabilities largely rely on a combination of exploration and exploitation. While these methods often offer theoretical guarantees on system performance, the number of time steps and samples needed to initially explore the environment before synthesizing a well-performing control policy is impractically large. This paper partially alleviates such a burden by incorporating a priori existing knowledge into learning, when such knowledge is available. Based on prior information about bounds on the differences between the transition probabilities at different states, we propose a learning approach where the transition probabilities at a given state are not only learned from outcomes of repeatedly performing a certain action at that state, but also from outcomes of performing actions at states that are known to have similar transition probabilities. Since the directly obtained information is more reliable at determining transition probabilities than second-hand information, i.e., information obtained from similar but potentially slightly different states, samples obtained indirectly are weighted with respect to the known bounds on the differences of transition probabilities. While the proposed strategy can naturally lead to errors in learned transition probabilities, we show that, by proper choice of the weights, such errors can be reduced, and the number of steps needed to form a near-optimal control policy in the Bayesian sense can be significantly decreased.
Economic Institutions and Social Progress

Combining data from the social progress index and measures of economic institutions and performance, our analysis focuses on how changes in economic institutions and performance are related to subsequent changes in social progress (noneconomic dimensions of societal performance). We document a positive relationship between improved economic performance and subsequent social progress improvements, a separate impact of improved economic institutions on aspects of social progress that involve individual investment (such as education and health), and a noisy relationship between economic factors and those aspects of social progress related to issues of individual freedom and social inclusion.
Live Fuel Moisture Estimation Using SMAP Soil Moisture and MODIS Vegetation Indices in Southern California, USA

Live fuel moisture (LFM) is a key fire risk indicator and is commonly used in fire behavior models. We compared eight widely used vegetation indices derived from MODIS reflectance and SMAP soil moisture on their capability to estimate LFM at 38 sites in Southern California, USA, a fire-prone Mediterranean ecosystem. Seasonality, inter-annual variability, or both were considered in our multivariate regression model construction. We found that VARI, a vegetation index calculated utilizing the reflectance from blue, green, and red bands performed the best among all remotely sensed moisture level indicators. SMAP soil moisture did not yield a good model performance mostly due to the great number of missing soil moisture retrievals in the data series. Frequency of LFM sampling also affected the model performance. The time lead of SMAP soil moisture to vegetation response can be a potential remotely-sensed predictor of LFM or an input to biophysical process model to retrieve LFM.
Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Proportion Is Predictive of Risk and Outcomes in Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Background Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a clonal, pre-leukemic stem cell disorder characterized by decreased blood counts due to ineffective hematopoiesis. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDC) are stem cell derived, type I interferon producing dendritic cells, that are readily identifiable by flow cytometry (FC) using expression of CD123 and HLA-DR. PDCs have been shown to be decreased in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Our study uses FC to evaluate PDC in MDS, their relationship to the Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R) for MDS, as well as their relationship to clinical outcomes. Methods We identified 197 patients with new MDS diagnoses and examined FC data of bone marrow aspirates (BMA) at first presentation to our institution for blast and PDC percentages. Patients who presented with an outside diagnosis of MDS greater than 1 year before presentation to our institution were excluded. MDS with excess blasts 1 and 2 (MDS-EB1/EB2) were designated as high grade, while MDS with isolated del5q (MDS-d5q), single lineage dysplasia (MDS-SLD), and multilineage dysplasia (MDS-MLD) were designated as low grade, with or without ring sideroblasts. 163 patients had sufficient data to calculate their IPSS-R risk categories. Sixteen patients with a history of solid tumor malignancies undergoing BMA for cytopenias were used as controls. The bone marrow of these control patients showed no evidence of morphologic dysplasia, they had normal karyotypes, and no pathogenic variants were detected on a 28 gene next generation sequencing based myeloid panel. We used CD34 and CD117 to quantify blasts, and CD123 and HLA-DR to quantify PDCs. Results The proportion of PDCs expressed as a percentage of total WBCs was significantly lower in higher risk MDS diagnoses (p Discussion This study demonstrates that PDC proportions decrease with MDS disease progression and are progressively lower as IPSS-R risk category increases. We also demonstrate that quantification of PDC in MDS can aid in predicting outcomes, although this may be due to a strong association with IPSS-R categories. FC is a useful and clinically feasible tool for quantitating PDCs in bone marrow aspirates, and this measurement is correlated with risk in MDS. Download : Download high-res image (671KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures Arcila: Invivoscribe, Inc.: Consultancy, Honoraria. Roshal: Celgene: Other: Provision of Services; Auron Therapeutics: Equity Ownership, Other: Provision of services; Physicians' Education Resource: Other: Provision of services.
Factors associated with cervical arterial dysfunction: a survey of physical therapist educators in the United States.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the key constructs associated with symptom description and behavior, natural history of complaints, and previous medical history of cervical ar...
Preoperative peripheral blood lymphocyte/monocyte ratio and survival in patients with resected stage IV melanoma.

8600 Background: The prognosis of stage IV melanoma patients remains poor. Published results have suggested that components of the complete blood count have significant prognostic value in several ...
Heat transfer computation for a long, frozen log heated in agitated water or steam—a practical recipe

This paper presents, step by step, an exemplary computation of transient temperature as a function of heating time for a log that was initially frozen and is heated in agitated water or steam. An unfrozen log heating situation can be handled likewise and is less complex. Log length must be at least four log diameters for this method to work correctly. The method, based on an enthalpy approach with finite-difference technique, can be computerized and applied for parametric studies and process control in veneer- and plywood mills, waferboard mills, etc.
P425 Capturing missed opportunities for PrEP prescription in patient diagnosed with other STIs

Background Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing in hospital-based settings represents an opportunity to intervene and prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infections. Methods Electronic health records of patient visits at NYC Health+Hospitals(H+H)/Bellevue between 1/1/14-7/30/17 were queried for positive STIs (gonorrhea (GC) and chlamydia (CT) & syphilis) results by hospital location and time. Visit data also included: patient demographic characteristics and PrEP prescriptions. Generalized estimating equations using a logit link, to account for repeated within patient measures, were used to explore the relationship between having a medical follow-up visit in ≤30 and ≤90 days following STI testing, which represents an opportunity to provide PrEP prescription, and demographic factors, controlling for key confounders. Results A total of 1,169 HIV-negative patients with 1+ STI diagnosis contributed 1,275 visits, of whom 700 (58%) were female with mean age of 32 yrs (SD=12.3)] and 532 (42%) were male with mean age of 44 yrs (SD 16.3). The majority of patients were Black (40%) or Hispanic/Latino (50%). In this sample, only 27 patients received PrEP. Overall, chlamydia was the most common (135/11%), followed by syphilis (476/38%) and gonorrhea (135/11%). Two-thirds of patients with a +STI diagnosis originated from the ED (33%) and OB/GYN clinics (32%); an additional 11% were diagnosed in Medicine clinics. 78% of patients did not have follow up ≤30 days after +STI diagnosis. In adjusted analyses, the adjusted OR for follow up ≤30 days after +STI diagnosis was lower for Black patients [0.39 (95%CI 0.21–0.72, p Conclusion STI testing at a major, publicly-funded hospital within NYC H&H is an opportunity to discuss and prescribe PrEP. However, our findings suggest that there are significant missed opportunities for linkage to care after a +STI diagnosis and PrEP initiation, especially in the ED among young Black patients. Disclosure No significant relationships.