cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Group A Streptococcus Expresses a Trio of Surface Proteins Containing Protective Epitopes

Group A streptococci (GAS) (Streptococcus pyogenes) are common causes of infections in humans for which there is no licensed vaccine. Decades of work has focused on the role of the surface M protein in eliciting type-specific protective immunity. Recent studies have identified additional surface proteins of GAS that contain opsonic epitopes. In the present study, we describe a serotype M65 GAS originally isolated during an epidemiologic study in Bamako, Mali, which simultaneously expressed M, M-related protein (Mrp), and streptococcal protective antigen (Spa) on the bacterial surface. The emm, mrp, and spa genes were sequenced from PCR amplicons derived from the M65 chromosome. Rabbit antisera raised against synthetic peptides copying the N-terminal regions of M, Mrp, and Spa were highly specific for each peptide, reacted with the surface of M65 GAS, and promoted bactericidal activity against the organism. A mixture of antisera against all three peptides was most effective in the bactericidal assays. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that the M, Mrp, and Spa antisera bound to the bacterial surface in the presence of human plasma proteins and resulted in the deposition of complement. Five additional spa genes were identified in the Mrp-positive GAS serotypes, and their sequences were determined. Our results indicate that there are multiple antigens on the surface of GAS that evoke antibodies that promote bacterial killing. A more complete understanding of the relative contributions of M, Mrp, and Spa in eliciting protective immunity may aid in the development of GAS vaccines with enhanced coverage and efficacy.
Aggregating traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors to assess the cardiometabolic health of childhood cancer survivors: an analysis from the Cardiac Risk Factors in Childhood Cancer Survivors Study.

Background Childhood cancer survivors are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which may be associated with traditional CVD risk factors. We used CVD risk aggregation instruments to describe survivor cardiometabolic health and compared their results with sibling controls. Methods Traditional CVD risk factors measured in 110 survivors and 31 sibling controls between 15 and 39 years old were aggregated using Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth (PDAY) scores and the Framingham Risk Calculator (FRC) and expressed as ratios. The PDAY odds ratio represents the increased odds of currently having an advanced coronary artery lesion, and the FRC risk ratio represents the increased risk of having a myocardial infarction, stroke, or coronary death in the next 30 years. Ratios are relative to an individual of similar age and sex without CVD risk factors. Results The median PDAY odds ratio for survivors was 2.2 (interquartile range 1.3-3.3), with 17% >4. The median FRC risk ratio was 1.7 (interquartile range 1.0-2.0), with 12% >4. Survivors and siblings had similar mean PDAY odds ratios (2.33 vs 2.29, P = .86) and FRC risk ratios (1.72 vs 1.53, P = .24). Cancer type and treatments were not associated with cardiometabolic health. There was a suggested association for physical inactivity with PDAY odds ratios ( r = 0.17, P = .10) and FRC risk ratios ( r = 0.19, P = .12). Conclusions Cardiometabolic health is poor in childhood cancer survivors but not different than that of their siblings, highlighting the importance of managing traditional CVD risk factors and considering novel exposures in survivors.
Genes Against Aging

Individual mutations in mice can slow aging: They extend life span by retarding a wide range of harmful, age-dependent changes in multiple cells and tissues. Evolutionary changes—by definition, changes in DNA sequence—can lead to even more dramatic postponement of age-dependent deterioration. Genetic variation within a species, for example among breeds of dogs, can also lead to major changes in aging rate, although there is not yet any strong evidence for similar genetic variation that modulates aging in rodents or humans. This essay compares different strategies for using genetic information to clarify questions in biogerontology, suggesting an emphasis on genes that can retard multiple forms of age-dependent dysfunction in parallel.
Malignant Lymphomas of the Nervous System

In a series of some 7,000 patients with tumors of the central nervous system, 208 patients (about 3%) had some form of a malignant lymphoma. Slightly less than half of these tumors were primary in the brain; the remainder had cranial involvement as part of a generalized process. The tumors consisted of Hodgkin’s disease, lymphosarcomas, reticulosarcomas and plasmacytomas. The brain was involv. d. in one of two ways: either as localized tumor masses resembling certain gliomas, or as diffusely invasive neoplasms resembling exudative cellular inflammatory processes. They had a peculiar predilection for the septum pellucidum but occurred also in the cerebral lobes, basal ganglia, brain stem and cerebellum. They all produced a fibrillary stroma of reticulin fibers and they spread along the perivascular spaces, in the cerebrospinal subarachnoid space, or intraventricularly on and beneath the ependymal lining. One type of lymphoma often fused into another - thus a single tumor often consisted of Hodgkin’s sarcoma, lymphosarcoma and reticulosarcoma.
Non‐ST‐Elevation Myocardial Infarction in the United States: Contemporary Trends in Incidence, Utilization of the Early Invasive Strategy, and In‐Hospital Outcomes

BackgroundThere has been a paradigm shift in the definition of timing of early invasive strategy (EIS) for patients admitted with non‐ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) in the last decade....
Nature and Extent of iPad Use among Freshmen Honors Students

On the heels of national studies reporting that college students believe tablet computers will “transform” learning, many colleges have begun to use mobile technology like the iPad and laptop as recruitment tools. The effectiveness of such incentives can be tested by determining whether enrollment increased as a result, and whether or not tablet computers found meaningful use. To this end, a study was conducted to examine the use of the iPad by freshmen honors students and the effect of the recruitment incentive on enrollment. The results revealed a significant difference in the anticipated and actual use of the iPad in social networking, multimedia, learning, lifestyle activities, and information management. Sixty-nine percent of the students reported that their decision to accept admission was influenced in large part by the iPad incentive.
The Real Shadow Economy: How Government Intervention Prevents the Flow of Information in a True Capitalist Market

In the wake of what the media coined a “Financial Armageddon,” should government intervene and begin regulating the financial sector with more aggression? We have reached a seminal moment in our country’s history where demands to move forward with more government action have surged to the forefront of mainstream discussion. Economic insight and reflection tells us this would be a monumental mistake, and would proliferate the problems our markets currently have in establishing prices that encapsulate accurate information. This paper focuses on explaining and defending three highly scrutinized free-market characteristics; executive compensation, short selling, and over-the-counter security trading. This argument will build a praxeological and quantitative platform that shows increased government intervention in our markets would be detrimental, not integral, to economic progress.
Mobile Security via Reverse Tether (Abstract Only)

Mobile security risks are increasing at an alarming rate. By using reverse tethering, the security of a desktop firewall, router, and ISP safeguards can be leveraged to keep mobile devices safe and free from malicious code and attacks. The software technology needed is currently in the initial stages of development and will protect users' personal information from being accessed through a vulnerability in the mobile platform.
Is Salt Isotropic or Anisotropic

We challenge the common assumption that salt anisotropy can be ignored in velocity model building for seismic imaging. We present a case study for salt anisotropy and its impact on the estimation of salt body shape and the imaging of subsalt structures. First we discuss salt properties. Then we study the impact of ignoring salt anisotropy on imaging using synthetic data from a modification of the SEAM Phase 1 earth model that includes anisotropy in the salt. Subsequently we show a field data example from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and demonstrate that imaging improves when salt anisotropy is assumed.
Explant culture of adult zebrafish hearts for epicardial regeneration studies

Here we describe how to culture adult zebrafish hearts as explants and study the regeneration of epicardial tissue ex vivo, as a means to identify therapeutic targets for heart disease. Uninjured or injured adult hearts are excised, washed and cultured in an incubator with gentle agitation. Heart explants can be prepared within 2 h, and they can be maintained in culture for 30 d or longer. If explants are prepared from appropriate transgenic lines, dynamic behaviors of epicardial cells can be monitored by live imaging using stereofluorescence microscopy. We also describe ex vivo procedures for genetic ablation of the epicardium, cell proliferation assays, tissue grafts and bead grafts. Basic cell culture and surgical skills are required to carry out this protocol. Unlike existing protocols for culturing isolated zebrafish epicardial cells on matrices, procedures described here maintain epicardial cells on an intact cardiac surface, thereby better supporting in vivo cell behaviors. Our protocols complement and extend in vivo studies of heart regeneration.
Redesigning Technical Reports: A Rhetorical Editing Method:

A rhetorical editing method can help the editor redesign technical reports, when necessary, to meet the needs of the intended audience. If the editor sees that the author has not selected and arranged the ideas to accord with the audience and purpose of the report, he or she must reselect the necessary and sufficient ideas and rearrange them. Rhetorical editing thus calls on the editor to edit at the scale of the entire report—not just at the scale of individual words and sentences. Although seemingly a bold departure from conventional editing, rhetorical editing merely applies the principles of rhetoric widely used in technical writing and composition.
Flexible Work, Flexible Penalties: The Effect of Gender, Childcare, and Type of Request on the Flexibility Bias

Although flexible work arrangements have the potential to reduce gender inequality and work-family conflict, the implications of requesting flexible work are poorly understood. In this paper, I argue that because flexwork arrangements in the United States are ambiguous and uncertain, people draw on cultural beliefs about gender to define flexwork and evaluate flexworkers. I conducted a controlled online experiment to examine the consequences of making a flexible work request and to examine how these consequences vary by accommodation type and by gender and parental status of the requester. Participants evaluated employees who requested flexible work more negatively than employees who did not request flexible work, and evaluated workers who requested telecommuting (or “flexplace”) arrangements more negatively than workers who requested flextime arrangements. Men and women who requested flexible work for reasons related to childcare were evaluated more positively than those who requested flexible work for reasons unrelated to childcare. I also found evidence of a fatherhood bonus. Men who made flexplace requests to care for a child were significantly advantaged compared to men who made flexplace requests for reasons unrelated to childcare. They were also advantaged compared to women who made flexplace requests to care for a child.
Indications and techniques of percutaneous procedures: Coronary, peripheral, and structural heart disease

Indications and techniques of percutaneous procedures : , Indications and techniques of percutaneous procedures : , کتابخانه دیجیتال جندی شاپور اهواز
Los Alamos: a peep behind the fences

Car licences in New Mexico proclaim it to be "the land of enchantment". Having lived and worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the north of the state from 1949 to 1956, I can testify to the aptness of this proclamation in all of its senses. Synonyms for "enchant" include fascinate, captivate, enrapture, charm and bewitch. These words apply to what was going on inside the laboratory, its natural surroundings, the nearby pueblos and the city of Santa Fe, as well as to the other places with which the laboratory had intimate connections – the Nevada test site, the Pacific proving grounds in the Marshall Islands and their respective surroundings.
The Effects of Salesperson Need for Achievement and Sales Manager Leader Reward Behavior

A sample of 312 salespeople from diverse industries was used to develop a model that examined the influence of salesperson need for achievement and sales manager positive leader reward behavior on several key organizational outcomes. The organizational outcome variables examined were goal acceptance, sales performance, and organizational commitment. The results suggest that a salesperson’s need for achievement may lead to higher performance, but not necessarily commitment to the organization. However, positive leader reward behavior may strengthen a salesperson’s organizational commitment. The findings, along with suggestions for sales managers, are discussed.
Laparoscopy compared to laparotomy in the management of granulosa cell tumors of the ovary.

e16510 Background: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has gained increasing acceptance as an alternative to standard laparotomy in gynecologic cancer, but surgical approach with respect to non-epithe...
The role of nurses' clinical impression in the first assessment of children at the emergency department.

Objective To assess the diagnostic value and determinants of nurses’ clinical impression for the recognition of children with a serious illness on presentation to the emergency department (ED). Design Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort. Setting and patients 6390 consecutive children Main outcome measures Diagnostic accuracy of nurses’ clinical impression for the prediction of serious illness, defined by intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital admission. Determinants of nurses’ impression that a child appeared ill. Results Nurses considered a total of 1279 (20.0%) children appearing ill. Sensitivity of nurses’ clinical impression for the recognition of patients requiring ICU admission was 0.70 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.76) and specificity was 0.81 (95% CI 0.80 to 0.82). Sensitivity for hospital admission was 0.48 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.51) and specificity was 0.88 (95% CI 0.87 to 0.88). When adjusted for age, gender, triage urgency and abnormal vital signs, nurses’ impression remained significantly associated with ICU (OR 4.54; 95% CI 3.09 to 6.66) and hospital admission (OR 4.00; 95% CI 3.40 to 4.69). Ill appearance was positively associated with triage urgency, fever and abnormal vital signs and negatively with self-referral and presentation outside of office hours. Conclusion The overall clinical impression of experienced nurses at the ED is on its own, not an accurate predictor of serious illness in children, but provides additional information above some well-established and objective predictors of illness severity.
Novelty detection for predicting falls risk using smartphone gait data

In this paper, we consider the problem of falls risk prediction in elderly adults using smartphone-based inertial gait measurements. We begin by collecting a parallel data set from a pressure sensitive walkway and smartphones. The walk-way data is used to calculate the falls risk ground truth using well-established biomechanical norms. The smartphone data and falls risk labels are then used to train and evaluate both the one-class support vector machine (OC-SVM) and the support vector data description (SVDD) novelty detectors. In our evaluation, we find the SVDD has an average F 1 score, used as a measure of classifier performance by equally weighting precision and recall, of 76% for females and 79% for males compared to 79%for a universal model. These results demonstrate the potential for predicting falls risk from smartphone data using novelty detection.
PEDOT: Nafion Coated Microelectrode Biosensor for in Vivo Monitoring of Glutamate Release in Brain

Abstract L-Glutamic acid is one of the most prevalent excitatory signalling molecule in the central nervous system, plays a crucial role in a wide variety of brain functions such as memory, learning and neurological disorders like stroke, epilepsy and several other neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we report on the design and development of an amperometric microelectrode based glutamate oxidase biosensor for real-time monitoring of L-glutamate in vivo in the mammalian brain. A Nafion and poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) containing polymer composite has been electropolymerized onto 50 μm Pt wire to act as a permselective membrane to selectively block common interfering substances in physiological conditions. In the second step, a mixture of glutamate oxidase entrapped in a biocompatible chitosan matrix was casted onto the surface of a Pt microelectrode. In the final step, ascorbate oxidase was coated onto the microelectrode to eliminate almost completely of any interference from high levels of extracellular ascorbic acid present in brain tissue. L-glutamate measurements were performed amperometrically at an applied potential of 0.6 V vs Ag/AgCl. The miniaturized microelectrode biosensor showed a rapid steady state response to L-glutamate within 2 s. The biosensor also exhibited a very good linear dependence on the concentration of L-glutamate with a high sensitivity and excellent storage stability. We will discuss in detail, the biosensor fabrication and characterization together with performance characteristics and in vivo testing in intact rat brain tissue.
Causal Inefficacy and Utilitarian Arguments Against the Consumption of Factory-Farmed Products

Utilitarian objections to the consumption of factory-farmed products center primarily on the harms such farms cause to animals. One problem with the utilitarian case against the consumption of factory-farmed products is that the system of production is so vast and complex that no typical, individual consumer can, through her consumer behavior, make any difference to the welfare of animals. I grant for the sake of argument that this causal inefficacy objection is sound and go on to argue that the utilitarian nevertheless has the resources to conclude that at least in some cases it is wrongful on utilitarian grounds for an individual to consume factory-farmed products. When a consumer who believes that factory farming is wrongful consumes the products of factory farms, she endorses wrongful practices, and by doing so she engages in a form of self-harm. Self harm, like harm to others, must be taken into consideration when a utilitarian agent deliberates about the permissibility of her proposed course of action. Therefore, the causal inefficacy objection, while powerful, is not decisive against utilitarian objections to consuming factory-farmed products.
Les coûts des troubles mentaux en milieu de travail peuvent-ils être réduits ?

Le Forum economique mondial estime que, d’ici 2030, les couts mondiaux des troubles mentaux devraient atteindre six mille milliards de dollars ; environ deux tiers de ces couts seront attribues a la perte de productivite liee a l’incapacite. Cet article bref, examine les facteurs lies aux couts de la maladie mentale en milieu de travail, identifie certains des elements du milieu de travail qui pourraient etre cibles pour reduire les couts et examine des exemples de types d’interventions en milieu de travail qui peuvent reduire les couts.Il existe au moins deux approches principales pour reduire les couts relatifs aux troubles mentaux en milieu de travail. La premiere vise a reduire la prevalence des troubles mentaux chez les travailleurs ainsi que l’incidence des absences maladie. La seconde approche est de permettre un plus grand acces aux traitements requis. Ensemble, ces approches permettraient de reduire les couts de facon significative, notamment en creant un climat de soutien et de solidarite dans les milieux de travail.
Differential staining of DNA and RNA in intact cells and isolated cell nuclei with acridine orange.

Publisher Summary The fluorochrome acridine orange (AO) differentially stains double versus single-stranded nucleic acids. This dye intercalates into double-stranded nucleic acids and, in the intercalated form when excited in blue light, fluoresces green with maximum emission at 530 nm. Interactions of AO with single-stranded nucleic acids results in the condensation and subsequent agglomeration of the product. The luminescence of these condensed products is in red wavelength, with maximum emission at 640 nm. The shift in the emission spectrum when the dye binds to different substrates received the name “metachromasia” and AO thus is a metachromatic fluorochrome. To obtain differential staining of DNA versus RNA, it is necessary to denature selectively any double-stranded RNA, ensuring that all cellular RNA is single-stranded (ss) while DNA still remains in its native, double-helical conformation. Cell treatment with AO in the presence of chelating agents results in such selective denaturation of RNA. In this staining reaction, AO thus has two distinct functions: (1) it selectively denatures double-stranded (RNA) and (2) differentially stains RNA, after its conversion to single-stranded form versus DNA.
Remote controls illusion: strange interactions across space cannot be explained by simple contrast filters.

The visual system has separable visual encoding for luminance and for contrast modulation [J. Vis.8(1), B152 (2008)1534-736210.1167/8.6.1]; the two dimensions can be represented with a luminance contrast versus luminance plane. Here we use a contrast asynchrony paradigm to explore contextual effects on luminance contrast modulation: two identical rectangular bars (0.5°×2.5°) have luminance levels that modulate at 2 Hz; when one bar is placed on a bright field and the other bar on a dark field, observers perceive the bars modulating in antiphase with each other and yet becoming light and dark at the same time. The antiphase perception corresponds to the change in contrast between the bars and their surrounds (a change along the contrast axis of the plane); the in-phase perception corresponds to the luminance modulation (a change along the luminance axis of the plane). We examine spatial interaction by adding bright rectangular (0.5°×2.5°) flankers on both sides of the dark-field bar and dark flankers on both sides of the bright-field bar. Remarkably, flankers produce an in-phase appearance when separated from the bars by between 2′ and 4′ of visual angle, and produce antiphase appearance when they directly adjoin the bars or are separated by more than 8′. To estimate the dimensions of the spatial interaction, we parametrically adjust the size of the gap between bars and flankers and the length of the flankers. We attempt to account for the results with models based on rectified difference of Gaussian filters and with rectified oriented difference of Gaussian filters. The models can account for the results when the flankers are the same height as bars, but are unable to account for the effects of increasing the flanker length. The models therefore suggest that the spatial interaction across distances requires more complex interactions of contrast filters.
Sleuthing molecular targets for neurological diseases at the neuromuscular junction

The analysis of congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMSs) has disclosed a diverse array of molecular targets at the motor endplate and has delineated their contribution to synaptic function. Clinical, electrophysiological and morphological studies have paved the way for detecting CMS-related mutations in proteins such as choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase, the acetylcholine receptor and rapsyn, and studies of the mutant proteins have allowed us to correlate the effects of the mutations with predicted alterations in protein structure. Here, we review the symptomatology of CMSs, consider the factors that impair neuromuscular transmission, survey the mutations that have been uncovered in the different synaptic proteins, and consider the functional implications of the identified mutations.
Predicting Skin Friction and Heat Transfer for Turbulent Flow Over Real Gas-Turbine Surface Roughness Using the Discrete-Element Method

The discrete-element method considers the total aerodynamic drag on a rough surface to be the sum of shear drag on the flat part of the surface and the form drag on the individual roughness elements. The total heat transfer from a rough surface is the sum of convection through the fluid on the flat part of the surface and the convection from each of the roughness elements. The discrete-element method has been widely used and validated for predicting heat transfer and skin friction for rough surfaces composed of sparse, ordered, and deterministic elements. Real gas-turbine surface roughness is different from surfaces with sparse, ordered, and deterministic roughness elements. Modifications made to the discrete-element roughness method to extend the validation to real gas-turbine surface roughness are detailed. Two rough surfaces found on high-hour gas-turbine blades were characterized using a Taylor-Hobson Form Talysurf Series 2 profilometer. Two rough surfaces and two elliptical-analog surfaces were generated for wind-tunnel testing using a three-dimensional printer. The printed surfaces were scaled to maintain similar boundary-layer thickness to roughness height ratio in the wind tunnel as found in gas-turbine operation. The results of the wind tunnel skin friction and Stanton number measurements and the discrete-element method predictions for each of the four surfaces are presented and discussed. The discrete-element predictions made considering the gas-turbine roughness modifications are within 7% of the experimentally-measured skin friction coefficients and are within 16% of the experimentally-measured Stanton numbers.© 2003 ASME
Carcinogenesis of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cause of mortality worldwide. It is highly associated with tobacco smoking and toxins from tobacco smoke are known to increase the risk of lung cancer, in particular adenocarcinoma. Adenocarcinoma of the lung is a stepwise accumulation of genetic abnormalities with morphological differences seen in the cytology and histology of atypical alveolar hyperplasia, bronchioloalveolar carcinoma and invasive adenocarcinoma. Multiple molecular pathways, in example loss of heterozygosity of tumor suppressor genes, chromosome breakage, deletions, nucleotide changes, amplification and hypermethylation are found in the stepwise progression of lung cancer. The recognition of proliferation markers and molecular pathways in the stepwise progression of lung cancer may allow for earlier detection and better therapy response for patients with pre-neoplastic or frank lung cancer.
Physician Burnout, Well-being, and Work Unit Safety Grades in Relationship to Reported Medical Errors

Abstract Objective To evaluate physician burnout, well-being, and work unit safety grades in relationship to perceived major medical errors. Participants and Methods From August 28, 2014, to October 6, 2014, we conducted a population-based survey of US physicians in active practice regarding burnout, fatigue, suicidal ideation, work unit safety grade, and recent medical errors. Multivariate logistic regression and mixed-effects hierarchical models evaluated the associations among burnout, well-being measures, work unit safety grades, and medical errors. Results Of 6695 responding physicians in active practice, 6586 provided information on the areas of interest: 3574 (54.3%) reported symptoms of burnout, 2163 (32.8%) reported excessive fatigue, and 427 (6.5%) reported recent suicidal ideation, with 255 of 6563 (3.9%) reporting a poor or failing patient safety grade in their primary work area and 691 of 6586 (10.5%) reporting a major medical error in the prior 3 months. Physicians reporting errors were more likely to have symptoms of burnout (77.6% vs 51.5%; P Conclusion In this large national study, physician burnout, fatigue, and work unit safety grades were independently associated with major medical errors. Interventions to reduce rates of medical errors must address both physician well-being and work unit safety.
Neural precursor cells form integrated brain-like tissue when implanted into rat cerebrospinal fluid

There is tremendous interest in transplanting neural precursor cells for brain tissue regeneration. However, it remains unclear whether a vascularized and integrated complex neural tissue can be generated within the brain through transplantation of cells. Here, we report that early stage neural precursor cells recapitulate their seminal properties and develop into large brain-like tissue when implanted into the rat brain ventricle. Whereas the implanted cells predominantly differentiated into glutamatergic neurons and astrocytes, the host brain supplied the intact vasculature, oligodendrocytes, GABAergic interneurons, and microglia that seamlessly integrated into the new tissue. Furthermore, local and long-range axonal connections formed mature synapses between the host brain and the graft. Implantation of precursor cells into the CSF-filled cavity also led to a formation of brain-like tissue that integrated into the host cortex. These results may constitute the basis of future brain tissue replacement strategies. Nikorn Pothayee et al. show that early neural precursor cells (NPCs) derived from the embryonic telencephalon or midbrain can develop into brain-like tissue when implanted into the rat brain ventricle. Telencephalon-derived NPCs also form brain tissue in the host cortex when implanted into a CSF-filled cavity formed by cortical ablation.
The Cross: The Slow Violence of Gentlemen and the Wisdom of Self-Giving Love

This chapter turns to Paul’s account of the crucified Christ to consider the political aspects of this path to wisdom. In light of liberation readings of the Cross, Christ’s unjust execution uncovers a violent order that is often dressed in refinement and prestige. For these prudent managers, Christ’s way of life is foolishness. But Christ’s wisdom shows the deep foolishness and callousness, not just of governors and soldiers, but on Paul’s account, of sages, debaters, and scribes. Paul’s wide-ranging critique of the wisdom of the world points us toward slower forms of violence—like environmental racism—that issue from the power that resonates between the learned and the rich, between universities and corporations.
State-of-the-art strategies for targeting the DNA damage response in cancer

Genomic instability is a key hallmark of cancer that arises owing to defects in the DNA damage response (DDR) and/or increased replication stress. These alterations promote the clonal evolution of cancer cells via the accumulation of driver aberrations, including gene copy-number changes, rearrangements and mutations; however, these same defects also create vulnerabilities that are relatively specific to cancer cells, which could potentially be exploited to increase the therapeutic index of anticancer treatments and thereby improve patient outcomes. The discovery that BRCA-mutant cancer cells are exquisitely sensitive to inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase has ushered in a new era of research on biomarker-driven synthetic lethal treatment strategies for different cancers. The therapeutic landscape of antitumour agents targeting the DDR has rapidly expanded to include inhibitors of other key mediators of DNA repair and replication, such as ATM, ATR, CHK1 and CHK2, DNA-PK and WEE1. Efforts to optimize these therapies are ongoing across a range of cancers, involving the development of predictive biomarker assays of responsiveness (beyond BRCA mutations), assessment of the mechanisms underlying intrinsic and acquired resistance, and evaluation of rational, tolerable combinations with standard-of-care treatments (such as chemotherapeutics and radiation), novel molecularly targeted agents and immune-checkpoint inhibitors. In this Review, we discuss the current status of anticancer therapies targeting the DDR.
An open source algorithm to detect natural gas leaks from mobile methane survey data

The data collected by mobile methane (CH4) sensors can be used to find natural gas (NG) leaks in urban distribution systems. Extracting actionable insights from the large volumes of data collected by these sensors requires several data processing steps. While these survey platforms are commercially available, the associated data processing software largely constitute a black box due to their proprietary nature. In this paper we describe a step-by-step algorithm for developing leak indications using data from mobile CH4 surveys, providing an under-the-hood look at the choices and challenges associated with data analysis. We also describe how our algorithm has evolved over time, and the data-driven insights that have prompted these changes. Applying our algorithm to data collected in 15 cities produced more than 6100 leak indications and estimates of the leaks’ size. We use these results to characterize the distribution of leak sizes in local NG distribution systems. Mobile surveys are already an effective and necessary tool for managing NG distribution systems, but improvements in the technology and software will continue to increase its value.
Left atrial fibrosis correlates with extent of left ventricular myocardial delayed enhancement and left ventricular strain in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is associated with increased left ventricular (LV) mass, decreased myocardial strain, and the presence of LV fibrosis and scar. The relationship between LV scar and fibrosis with left atrial (LA) fibrosis in the setting of HCM has not been examined. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a correlation between the degree of LA fibrosis and LV parameters in subjects with HCM. Twenty-eight subjects with HCM were imaged on a 1.5T MRI scanner with cine, LV and LA late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) sequences. LA LGE and LA measurements were correlated with LV measurements of volumes, mass, strain, and LGE. Other clinical conditions and medication usage were also examined and evaluated for correlation with LA and LV parameters. LV LGE was identified in 24 (86%) of the cases and LA LGE was identified in all of the cases. Extent of LA fibrosis significantly correlated with percent LV LGE (r = 0.64, p = 0.001), but not with indexed LV mass or maximum wall thickness. Extent of LA fibrosis also moderately correlated with decreased LV global strain (radial, r = − 0.50, p = 0.013; circumferential, r = 0.47, p = 0.02; longitudinal, r = 0.52, p = 0.013). Increased LA systolic volume correlated moderately with LV end diastolic volume (r = 0.50, p = 0.006). Patients on therapy with Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System (RAAS) Inhibition had significantly less LA LGE compared to those without (18.6% vs 10.8%, p = 0.023). LA fibrosis, as measured by LGE, is prevalent in HCM and is correlated with LV LGE. The correlation between LA and LV LGE might suggest either that LA fibrosis is a consequence of LV remodeling, or that LA and LV fibrosis are both manifestations of the same cardiomyopathic process. Further study is warranted to determine the causality of LA scar in this population.
A Multisensory Multilevel Health Education Model for Diverse Communities

Owing to their enormous capacity to improve health and save lives, effective health promotion frameworks have been at the forefront of public health research and practice. A multilevel focus, as exemplified by the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM), is one common denominator among these frameworks. The SEM highlights important social and ecological influences on health behavior by delineating the different levels of influence. These include public policy, organizational, community, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels, which, when considered during the development of health promotion campaigns, especially those that focus on health education, strengthen the potential influence of that campaign on targeted behaviors. However, the SEM lacks a complimenting framework for understanding the role of conventional and unconventional approaches to health education; that is, how to design a health education intervention that considers both the context, such as the social and ecological levels of influence, and the best approaches for developing and delivering the health education in a manner that optimizes their effectiveness in today's modern and increasingly diverse world. Addressing this gap, the current article presents an integrative Multisensory Multilevel Health Education Model (MMHEM), which incorporates three key domains-(1) Art (innovativeness/creativity), (2) Culture (cultural tailoring), and (3) Science (evidence-based), while promoting the importance of considering the socio-ecological levels of influence on targeted behaviors. Using a successful health education intervention, called the Hip Hop Stroke, we deconstruct the Multisensory Multilevel Health Education Model and discuss its potential role as a guide for developing public health education interventions.
The Oasis Skateboard Factory: Return to the One-Room Schoolhouse

How can you get young people interested in science and mathematics? What efforts are there to integrate the experiences of high school students into the things they need to do and learn in school? How can action sports, like skateboarding be used to teach science, mathematics, language arts, history and help at-rick and marginalized students to grow in their engagement and motivation in high school, as well as to graduate? This is in part answered at the Oasis Skateboard Factory (OSF) an alternative high school in Toronto, Canada. The factory, under the direction of founding teacher Craig Morrison, has enjoyed success since it opened in 2008. The OSF enrolls 25 students per semester and they earn academic credits as they develop their artwork, design and manufacturing skills through a skateboard-centric academic construction process. Additionally, students who are part of this academic program have a 95 percent graduation rate.
Multiple comparisons and the analysis of variance: an empirical illustration.

Abstract To illustrate the multiple comparisons problem in experiments involving three or more groups, 12 samples of 25 observations each were randomly drawn from a population of 1,000 measures. When the significance of differences among the 12 means was tested with a one-way analysis of variance, the null hypothesis was clearly tenable. However, when t tests were used to test the significance between each pair of the same means, the null hypothesis was rejected. This result was not unexpected in that there was no attempt to distinguish between “error rate per experiment” and “error rate per comparison.” Since the probability of committing a Type I error increases as a function of the number of comparisons, it behooves the investigator to account for this phenomenon through the careful formulation of experimental hypotheses and the use of appropriate multiple-comparison procedures.
Survival of outbreak, food, and environmental strains of Listeria monocytogenes on whole apples as affected by cultivar and wax coating.

The 2014–2015 U.S. nationwide outbreak of listeriosis linked to apples used in commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples was the first implication of whole apples in outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Two case patients of this outbreak didn’t consume caramel apples but did eat whole apples, suggesting that contaminated whole apple may serve as a vehicle for foodborne listeriosis. The current study evaluated the effect of conventional fruit coating with wax and that of apple cultivar on the survival of outbreak-associated and non-outbreak Listeria monocytogenes strains on Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Fuji apples during 160 days under simulated commercial storage. L. monocytogenes survived in calyxes and stem ends of apples of all 3 cultivars through the duration of the experiment. After 2 months of storage, significantly (p < 0.05) larger L. monocytogenes populations were recovered from apples coated with wax than those un-waxed, regardless of the cultivar. No differences in survival amongst L. monocytogenes strains (serotypes 1/2a and 4b) from clinical, food, and environmental sources were observed. The observation that coating with wax facilitates prolonged survival of L. monocytogenes on whole apples is novel and reveals gaps in understanding of microbiological risks associated with postharvest practices of tree fruit production.
HOPS recognizes each SNARE, assembling ternary trans-complexes for sudden fusion upon engagement with the 4th SNARE

ABSTRACT Vacuole fusion requires SNAREs, Sec17/18, a Rab, and HOPS. We find that co-incubation of HOPS, proteoliposomes bearing the Rab and R-SNARE, and proteoliposomes with the Rab and any two Q-SNAREs yields a trans complex which includes these 3 SNAREs. The missing Q-SNARE then triggers a burst of fusion, indicating that each HOPS, R-, and QxQy-SNARE trans-complex is an activated intermediate for functional Qz-SNARE incorporation. HOPS can assemble activated fusion intermediates because it recognizes each of the four SNAREs, binding them independently. HOPS-dependent fusion is saturable for each Q-SNARE, indicating saturable functional sites on HOPS. Though a nonspecific tether allows fusion with pre-assembled Q-SNAREs, only HOPS catalyzes fusion when the Q-SNAREs are not pre-assembled by ushering each Q-SNARE into a functional complex. In contrast, there is little spontaneous functional assembly of the 3 Q-SNAREs. HOPS thus recognizes each of the 4 SNAREs to assemble a versatile set of activated fusion intermediates.
Language and Jamaican Literature

Disrespected literatures are written in disrespected languages. Languages are usually disrespected when the status of the people who speak them is low. In post- plantation societies the respected language is the European language brought by the people who colonised the country. The disrespected language is usually a creole born in the plantation environment where overseers speaking European languages and enslaved people speaking West African languages were forced to interact. In Jamaica the respected official language is English and the disrespected popular language is Jamaica Creole. The languages are lexically related and so give the impression of being closer than they are. In fact, Jamaican Creole is still regarded as “broken English” by people who have not paid attention to the linguistic analyses which indicate a strong structural relationship to certain West African languages. These two languages, the official and the popular have accommodated each other in the Jamaican environment with speaker and situation determining use. A fascinating feature of this accommodation is the ability of the individual to switch from one language to the other within the same speech event. This paper hopes to illustrate how I and other Jamaican writers have infused the formal/official language in which most of us write, with the popular language and so have enriched the fabric that is the language in which Jamaican literature is written.
NASA's Europa Clipper-a mission to a potentially habitable ocean world.

Jupiter’s satellite Europa almost certainly hides a global saltwater ocean beneath its icy surface. Chemistry at the ice surface and ocean-rock interface might provide the building blocks for life, and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will assess Europa’s habitability.
Resolving the Realist-Antirealist Dilemma

The realist-antirealist dilemma consists in deciding whether the results of current research in the physical sciences (such as genetics, neurophysiology, and particle physics) justify belief in the approximate truth of the respective theories and in the conditional or contextual reality of the physical structures designated by the theories, or whether the fallible and transitional nature of scientific explanations preclude believing in anything other than the observable results of experimental inquiry. For realists, accepting the confirmed predictions deduced from theories while denying reality to the insensible, underlying mechanisms and interactions from which the predictions are derived makes scientific inquiry miraculous or magical.
Microbial Decontamination of Food by Light-Based Technologies: Ultraviolet (UV) Light, Pulsed UV Light (PUV), and UV Light-Emitting Diodes (UV-LED)

Food safety is a major concern in food production. Many chemical, physical, and thermal methods currently exist to reduce or eliminate pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms commonly associated with food. However, some of these methods may not be effective enough and can lead to unsafe food, quality deterioration, or undesirable residues. Thus, some alternative food processing methods are being developed and evaluated for the purpose of ensuring microbial food safety for various food applications. Microbial decontamination of food by light-based technologies, including ultraviolet (UV) light, pulsed UV (PUV) light, and UV light-emitting diodes (UV-LED), are alternative microbial intervention methods used for food decontamination. This chapter provides a fundamental understanding of these light-based technologies and explains the microbial inactivation mechanisms. A review of literature includes the effectiveness of UV light-based technologies for food decontamination and addresses the critical factors affecting the microbial decontamination of the technologies. Limitations, regulation and future trends are also discussed.
Flowers as parasite transmission hubs

An in-depth analysis of how pathogen prevalence among both bees and flowers changes over the course of a growing season reveals the complex dynamics of how infection risk changes with species diversity, abundance and phenology.
Landscape of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Newborn Screening in the United States

Newborn screening (NBS) is a state-based public health program that aims to identify newborns at risk of certain disorders in the first days after birth to prevent permanent disability or death. Disorders on the Health and Human Services Federal Advisory Committee’s Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) have been adopted by most state NBS programs; however, each state mandates specific disorders to be screened and implements their own system processes. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) was added to the RUSP in 2005, and currently all 53 NBS programs universally screen for it. This paper provides a landscape of CAH screening in the United States, utilizing data voluntarily entered by state NBS programs in the Newborn Screening Technical assistance and Evaluation Program data repository. Data reported encompasses NBS state profile data (follow-up, disorder testing and the reporting of processes and methodologies for screening), quality indicator data (timeliness of CAH NBS) and confirmed cases. This comprehensive landscape analysis compares the CAH NBS systems across the US. This is vital in ultimately ensuring that newborns with CAH at risk of salt crisis receive appropriate intervention in a timely manner.