cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Galantamine treatment of cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder: four cases.

Objective: To determine if galantamine is effective in the treatment of chronic cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder. Methods: All charts of patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder treated with galantamine in an academic bipolar disorder specialty clinic psychiatric practice were reviewed and clinical response was assessed retrospectively using the Clinical Global Impression scale for Improvement. Results: Galantamine was effective in two of four patients, both of whom took at least 24 mg/day. It was ineffective in two patients who only took 8 mg/day. Sedation limited higher dosing in one patient, and a second patient experienced sedation and tremor. Improvement in cognition was not associated with improvement in mood. Galantamine appeared neutral in its effect on mood. Conclusions: This pilot case series suggests that galantamine may have some utility in improving chronic cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder. Larger studies are required to clarify these initial pilot data.
Cognitive, Affective, and Conative Aspects of Adult Intellect Within a Typical and Maximal Performance Framework

When modern psychology first became established in the academy by Wundt and his students, the study of human behavior became both standardized and often artificial. For example, the procedures of early introspection experiments on sensation and perception required that observers mentally decompose an image into its components and not simply say that “I perceive a chair.” When intellectual assessments were introduced (to some degree first by Galton, and then later by Binet), standardization was a key ingredient to the methodology. Although one may argue whether Binet’s assessments of intellectual abilities were more or less artificial, it is clear that Binet was interested in obtaining the child’s maximal performance. That is, Binet instructed examinees to do whatever was appropriate (whether encouragement for one child, or admonishment for another) in order to obtain the child’s best performance on the test (e.g., see Binet & Simon, 1916; see also Ackerman, 1996, for a review). This paradigm for assessing intellectual abilities has been passed down through succeeding generations of assessment instruments, under the heading of ‘establishing rapport with the examinee.’ In the developed world, testing is so ubiquitous, and the consequences of poor performance so well entrenched, that by the time a high school student attempts the SAT, or acollege student attempts the Graduate Record Examination, it is almost certainly superfluous to verbally encourage the examinee to attempt to perform well on the test.
The End of Contractarianism? Behavioral Economics and the Law of Corporations

For a generation, the law of corporations depended on, and sprang from, a notion of economic rationality. This rationality took as its touchstone the efficiency of the marketplace (especially the securities market) and the predictability of the utility-maximizing behavior of the various actors. These assumptions undergirded both the doctrinal innovations and the academic conceptualizations of the field, leading to a prioritization of contractarian reasoning in chancery courts and corporate law classrooms. The judicial enforcement of traditional fiduciary duties melted away, as markets themselves came to be seen as the primary method of keeping management careful and loyal. Disclosure was vested with the mantle of favored regulatory mechanism, since the dominant assumption was that investors armed with information needed no other protection from corporate negligence or malfeasance. Behavioral economics began to be taken seriously in the legal academy in the last decade of the twentieth century, and by the early 2000s was beginning to gain traction in corporate law scholarship. Though corporate and securities law was perhaps the last bastion in the legal academy of the assumptions of neoclassical economics, it is safe to say that the global financial crisis of 2007–8 finally marked the end of the glory days of homo economicus. The evidence of the persistence and ubiquity of so-called irrationalities is so pervasive, replicable, and defensible that the primary debate is no longer between behaviorists and those who would defend a more traditional position. Instead the debate is over what to do with, and about, the spoils of victory. This chapter will offer some thinking in that regard in connection with corporate and securities law. To begin, the chapter will describe some of the ways in which economic rationality influenced corporate law doctrine and scholarship during its heyday. This backward nod is helpful in defining possible implications for the weakening of the rationality assumptions later. Section 2 focuses on the difficulty of developing behavioral research in the area of corporate governance, arguing that the main behavioral innovation is a move away from libertarianism toward regulatory “agnosticism.” In section 3, I will discuss what I believe to be the most profound potential implication of behavioral scholarship on corporate governance: using insights on the decision-making of groups to bolster the argument that board homogeneity is a danger, and that increased board diversity of various kinds is likely to improve board performance.
Two-dimensional materials: Not just a phase

In some two-dimensional materials, there's a puzzling intermediate metallic phase between superconducting and insulating states. Experiments on ultraclean crystalline samples suggest this metallic phase could be bosonic.
Neuroanatomical substrates of executive functions: Beyond prefrontal structures

Executive functions are often considered lynchpin "frontal lobe tasks", despite accumulating evidence that a broad network of anterior and posterior brain structures supports them. Using a latent variable modelling approach, we assessed whether prefrontal grey matter volumes independently predict executive function performance when statistically differentiated from global atrophy and individual non-frontal lobar volume contributions. We further examined whether fronto-parietal white matter microstructure underlies and independently contributes to executive functions. We developed a latent variable model to decompose lobar grey matter volumes into a global grey matter factor and specific lobar volumes (i.e. prefrontal, parietal, temporal, occipital) that were independent of global grey matter. We then added mean fractional anisotropy (FA) for the superior longitudinal fasciculus (dorsal portion), corpus callosum, and cingulum bundle (dorsal portion) to models that included grey matter volumes related to cognitive variables in previous analyses. Results suggested that the 2-factor model (shifting/inhibition, updating/working memory) plus an information processing speed factor best explained our executive function data in a sample of 202 community dwelling older adults, and was selected as the base measurement model for further analyses. Global grey matter was related to the executive function and speed variables in all four lobar models, but independent contributions of the frontal lobes were not significant. In contrast, when assessing the effect of white matter microstructure, cingulum FA made significant independent contributions to all three executive function and speed variables and corpus callosum FA was independently related to shifting/inhibition and speed. Findings from the current study indicate that while prefrontal grey matter volumes are significantly associated with cognitive neuroscience measures of shifting/inhibition and working memory in healthy older adults, they do not independently predict executive function when statistically isolated from global atrophy and individual non-frontal lobar volume contributions. In contrast, better microstructure of fronto-parietal white matter, namely the corpus callosum and cingulum, continued to predict executive functions after accounting for global grey matter atrophy. These findings contribute to a growing literature suggesting that prefrontal contributions to executive functions cannot be viewed in isolation from more distributed grey and white matter effects in a healthy older adult cohort.
Transcriptome Analysis of Cortical Tissue Reveals Shared Sets of Down-Regulated Genes in Autism and Schizophrenia

Autism (AUT), Schizophrenia (SCZ), and bipolar disorder (BPD) are three highly heritable neuropsychiatric conditions. Clinical similarities and genetic overlap between the three disorders have been reported; however, the causes and the downstream effects of this overlap remain elusive. By analyzing transcriptomic RNA-Sequencing data generated from post-mortem cortical brain tissues from AUT, SCZ, BPD and control subjects, we have begun to characterize the extent of gene expression overlap between these disorders. We report that the AUT and SCZ transcriptomes are significantly correlated (p
The idea of a human rights museum

There are plural and competing reasons for what is to be done in the name of human rights. – Ken Norman1Founded in Winnipeg by the late businessman Israel (‘Izzy)’ Asper and brought to life through...
[The clinical analysis of tympanoplasty in treating children's chronic otitis media].

OBJECTIVE To study the effectiveness of tympanoplasty for treatment of chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma in children. METHOD Twenty-three cases with chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma treated by tympanoplasty were retrospectively studied, among which 15 cases had complete clinical data. The condition of surgical cavities, the duration of getting dry ears, the hearing improvements, the growth of new ear drums and whether the recurrence of cholesteatomas occurred or not were observed. RESULTS In all patients, the chief complains were ear discharging and hearing loss. The tympanum membranes(pars flaccid or pars tensa) became retracted or perforated and CT scan showed mastoid processes were poor developed in some cases with lesions mainly located at attic, middle tympanum cavity and/or petrous parts. The duration of getting dry ear was (6.0 +/- 1.5) weeks after surgery. The effective rate was 80%. The hearing of 12 cases has been improved, that of 2 cases has no changed, that of 1 case has been descended, and 1 case exhibited recurrent cholesteatoma after surgery. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that children's chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma have their own clinic features of wide erosiveness and strong aggressiveness, and tympanoplasty has been proved to treat this disease effectively, also been proved to improve these patients' hearing cognitions and eventually improve their life qualities.
Study on Antimicrobial Resistance of Moraxella Catarrhalis in the Nasopharyngeal Secretions of Children with Respiratory Infection

Objective To explore the antimicrobial resistance of Moraxella Catarrhalis in children with respiratory infection.Methods Eleven strains of Moraxella Catarrhalis were isolated from nasopharyngeal secretion in 145 children with community-acquired respiratory tract infection in Beijing Friendship Hospital from 2004 to 2006.Segregated stocks were isolated from upper respiratory infection in 5 cases,bronchitis in 3 cases and pneumonia in 3 cases.Agar dilution method was used to determine minimal inhibition concentrations (MIC),including 8 kinds of antibiotics,and β-lactamase was detected.WHONET 5 and SPSS 11.5 software were used to analyze data.Results Ten of the 11 strains were β-lactamase positive.The rates of resistance to ampicillin,cefuroxime and erythromycin were 81.8%,63.6% and 18.2% respectively,however,all the strains were susceptible to ceftriaxone.MIC90 of penicillin and cefradine was 32.0 mg/L and 8.0 mg/L respectively.MIC90 of roxithromycin and azithromycin was 2.0 mg/L and 0.25 mg/L respectively.Conclusions Moraxella Catarrhalis is an opportunistic pathogen.The β-lactamase positive rate of Moraxella Catarrhalis from children is high,and there is also a high resistance percen-tages of Moraxella Catarrhalis to penicillin,ampicillin,first and second generation cephalosporins.Moraxella Catarrhalis is susceptible to Cefuroxime.
Room-temperature exciton absorption and reduced exciton-phonon interaction in ZnSe-based quantum wells at blue wavelengths

ZnSe-based wide-band-gap II-VI compound semiconductor heterostructures are candidates for optoelectronic applications at short visible wavelengths, especially in the blue region of the spectrum. For electro-optic and nonlinear modulators used at excitonic resonances, a basic obstacle has been the very large exciton-LO phonon coupling (Frohlich interaction), which for bulk ZnSe is six to eight times as large as that for GaAs. As a consequence, exciton dissociation probability by LO-phonon absorption is very large at room temperature and obliterates any distinct spectral features. On the other hand, because the bulk exciton binding energy for ZnSe is Ex ≈ 17 meV and that for the LO-phonon is ħωLO = 31 meV, there is a possibility for increasing the exciton binding by quantum-well confinement so as to reach the condition Ex ≥ ħωLO for reducing the exciton-LO-pho- non scattering rate to continuum states.
Language repertoires and state construction in Africa: Three theories explaining language outcomes

State rationalization, we have seen, implies cultural change. As rulers seek to rationalize rule within their historically contingent boundaries, the people who live within those boundaries will begin to face an altered world. New roads will open up regular contact with people who were previously foreign to them; boundary walls may close off contact, or radically change its nature, with people who were previously considered to be neighbors (Sahlins, 1989). Newly installed religious authorities may demand novel sorts of rituals and prayers; former ritual authorities may be banned from practice. And new languages may be required for petitions, licenses, or simply for bargaining with the tax collector. In light of state-building processes, people may alter their sense of national identity, their religion, and their language. How can we theorize about these changes so that we can understand the conditions under which cultural change occurs? THE PRIMORDIAL THEORY OF CULTURE The preeminent cultural anthropologist in the United States, Clifford Geertz, has conceived of the issue of cultural change in new states as a move from “primordial” to “civil” ties, transcended by an “integrative revolution” (Geertz, 1973; chap. 10). By a “primordial attachment,” characteristic of social and political bonds in the new states, Geertz means one that stems from the “givens” – or, more precisely, as culture is inevitably involved in such matters, the assumed “givens” – of social existence: immediate contiguity and kin connection mainly, but beyond them the givenness that stems from being born into a particular religious community, speaking a particular language, or even a dialect of a language, and following particular social practices. […]
Implementing Elements of Fear Invoking Anxiety Using a Game Platform

This paper explains implementation details of a game in Unity3D® with a focus on immersion and fear. Through immersion, our goal is to draw and encompass the player as much as possible into the simulated environment. During game play, the user is presented with disturbing situations with a hostile and unfamiliar environment. Quick problem solving and finding the means to escape is necessitated with limited resources, as the player tries to survive and as the game becomes less forgiving over time. The final product is a game that is able to keep the player both engaged and terrified through immersion and the sense of approaching doom.
Pelvic organ prolapse.

#### What you need to know A woman’s lifetime risk of surgery for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is 12-19% with over 300 000 prolapse surgeries performed annually in the US alone.1 2 3 POP accounts for about 15-18% of hysterectomies, and uterovaginal prolapse is the most common indication for hysterectomy in postmenopausal women.4 About one in 12 women living in the community in the UK report symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.5 POP is the downward decent of the female pelvic organs (vagina, uterus, bladder, and/or rectum) into or through the vagina. This review provides an evidence based update on the epidemiology, evaluation, and management of this condition. Loss of vaginal or uterine support is seen in up to 30-76% of women presenting for routine gynaecology care, with 3-6% of those with descent beyond the vaginal opening (that is, level of the hymen).6 7 8 One population based study found that about 3% of 1961 adult women surveyed reported symptomatic vaginal bulging.9 Prolapse of the anterior vaginal wall, or cystocele, is the most common form of POP, detected twice as often as posterior vaginal prolapse (that is, the rectocele), and three times more common than apical prolapse (uterine and/or post-hysterectomy vaginal vault prolapse) (fig 1⇓).10 11 However in most cases of symptomatic POP, prolapse of multiple segments of the vagina are …
Life in Public Spaces: A Theater of the Streets, Social Exclusion, and a Safe Zone in Shanghai

This article reports on fieldwork in Shanghai during 2007 and 2008. Orum was a Fulbright Scholar at the time teaching at Fudan University, and doing research on the topic of public space. Along with his students he examined how public spaces were used in several parts in Shanghai, plus they interviewed a number of recent migrants who worked as vendors on the streets and formed part of the informal economy. The article outlines the theoretical importance of public spaces in general, and then provides an interpretation of how those spaces are used both for a “theater of the streets” and a “safe zone” for political discussion.
Transtubular excisional biopsy as a rescue for a non-diagnostic stereotactic needle biopsy—case report and literature review

Stereotactic needle biopsy, a standard of care for acquiring deep-seated pathology, has limitations and risks in some situations. We present an uncommon case with basal ganglia dematiaceous mycetoma. Due to the firm consistency of the lesion, the initial stereotactic needle biopsy failed to provide a diagnosis. In a second operation, transtubular excisional biopsy was successfully performed to remove the entire mycetoma. We reviewed recent case series of transtubular approaches to deep-seated brain lesions and suggest this method could be a rescue for a non-diagnostic stereotactic needle biopsy and even may be the approach of choice in some cases.
Examining the impact of succession management practices on organizational performance: A national study of U.S. hospitals.

BACKGROUND Spearheaded by the industry's transition from volume- to value-based care, the health care reform movement has spurred both unprecedented challenges and opportunities for developing more effective and sustainable health care delivery organizations. Whereas the formidable challenges of leading hospitals and health systems have been widely discussed, including reimbursement degradation, the rapidly aging workforce, and the imminent wave of executive retirements, the opportunity to leverage succession management and talent development capabilities to overcome these challenges has been largely overlooked. PURPOSE To address this key research and practice need, this multiphase study develops and validates an assessment of succession management practices for health care organizations. METHODOLOGY Utilizing data collected from two national samples of hospital organizations, the results provide a 32-item succession management assessment comprising seven distinct sets of succession management practices. RESULTS The results indicate that succession management practices are strongly associated with multiple hospital performance metrics, including patient satisfaction and Medicare Spending per Beneficiary, leadership bench strength, and internal/external placement rate for executive level positions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The author concludes this article with a discussion of several practical implications for health care executives and boards, including employing the succession management assessment for diagnosing development opportunities, benchmarking succession planning and talent development practices against similar hospitals or health systems, and elevating the profile of succession management as a strategic priority in today's increasingly uncertain health care landscape.
Digital Advertising Expenditures in the 2016 Presidential Election

Using 2012 and 2016 candidate disbursements and independent expenditures filing data collected by the Federal Election Commission, this study compares how much money both the presidential campaigns...
ROLE OF CATECHOLAMINES IN INDUCTION OF ADRENAL TYROSINE HYDROXYLASE

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of catecholamines (CA) in induction of adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase. CA in sympathetic nerves and in the adrenal medulla is stored in dense core vesicles from which they are continuously being released. Under varying physiological conditions, the CA content remains at a steady-state level characteristic of each organ. To a considerable extent, this is because of continuous synthesis of CA which keeps pace with the rate of release, and consequently there is only slight or no reduction in CA content of the tissue. Four enzymes are involved in the biosynthesis of epinephrine from tyrosine: tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), dopa decarboxylase, dopamine β-oxidase and phenylethanolamine- N -methyl transferase (PNMT). NE and other catechols have been shown to inhibit the TH, a rate limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of CA. This inhibition is not competitive with the substrate, but with tetrahydropteridine co-factor. Because the concentration of co-factor within the cytoplasm of the adrenergic neuron is less than 1 mM, it is possible that a very small amount of CA is able to antagonize its actions and thus may exert considerable influence on the enzymatic activity of TH.
3D Printing of Porous Scaffolds for Medical Applications

Custom engineered scaffolds that mimic the physiology of native tissue is an emerging need for successful regenerative medicine. One of the key challenges in current manufacturing methods is the lack of controlled porosity throughout the scaffold structure. In this research, our group explores the fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds using 3D printing technology. The fused deposition modeling method was utilized to fabricate scaffolds with different unit-cell designs and in-fill densities. Specimens were fabricated in Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) material for different pattern designs which include linear, hexagonal, diamond and Moroccan star. The experimental phase of this research revealed the influence unit-cell design, in-fill density and pattern orientation on the porosity of the specimens. Computational modeling using finite element analysis was conducted to study the relationship between structure, porosity and mechanical strength of the scaffolds. A comparative analysis was performed for ASTM standard specimens for tensile and compression tests for von Mises stress and displacement values. The results indicated that diamond unit-cell pattern had the highest stress and displacement. In contrast, the hexagonal honey-comb pattern had the best mechanical strength, especially for higher porosities. Specimens loaded in the compressive mode had 50% lower stress values as compared to tensile tests. Thus, by manipulating the unit-cell type, in-fill density and pattern orientation one can fabricate a scaffold structure that balances cellular function with the load-bearing requirement for a specific application. This research lays a foundation for evaluating additive manufacturing technologies for biomedical implants by manipulating both process parameters and material properties.
Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis and the Effects of Diseases on Nodulation and Nitrogen Fixation

Nitrogen is abundant on earth as 78% of the air is dinitrogen (N2). Still, nitrogen is one of the nutrients that limits plant growth and production in many ecosystems. This is due to the inability of plants to utilize dinitrogen. Only when dinitrogen is reduced to the forms of ammonia and nitrate can plants utilize as nitrogen source.
Integrating Noticing into the Modeling Equation

Understanding teacher cognition in the moments of instruction has become increasingly important to the mathematics education community over the past two decades. Various reforms and policies make it clear that to support student learning, instruction must be based, at least in part, on the ideas that students raise in class, the reasoning that ensues, and the representations that are used (CCSSI, 2010; NCTM, 2000; NRC, 2001).
Physics basis for an advanced physics and advanced technology tokamak power plant configuration: ARIES-ACT1

The advanced physics and advanced technology tokamak power plant ARIES-ACT1 has a major radius of 6.25 m at an aspect ratio of 4.0, toroidal field of 6.0 T, strong shaping with elongation of 2.2, a...
Cache-Oblivious dictionaries and multimaps with negligible failure probability

A dictionary (or map) is a key-value store that requires all keys be unique, and a multimap is a key-value store that allows for multiple values to be associated with the same key. We design hashing-based indexing schemes for dictionaries and multimaps that achieve worst-case optimal performance for lookups and updates, with minimal space overhead and sub-polynomial probability that the data structure will require a rehash operation. Our dictionary structure is designed for the Random Access Machine (RAM) model, while our multimap implementation is designed for the cache-oblivious external memory (I/O) model. The failure probabilities for our structures are sub-polynomial, which can be useful in cryptographic or data-intensive applications.
Structure-Property Relationships under Extreme Dynamic Environments: Shock Recovery Experiments

Abstract The inelastic response and residual mechanical properties acquired from most shock compressed solids are quite different from those acquired from quasi-static or moderate strain rates. For...
Host Plants and Climate Structure Habitat Associations of the Western Monarch Butterfly

The monarch butterfly is one of the most easily recognized and frequently studied insects in the world, and has recently come into the spotlight of public attention and conservation concern because of declining numbers of individuals associated with both the eastern and western migrations. Historically, the larger eastern migration has received the most scientific attention, but this has been changing in recent years, and here we report the largest-ever attempt to map and characterize non-overwintering habitat for the western monarch butterfly. Across the environmentally and topographically-complex western landscape, we include 8,427 observations of adults and juvenile monarchs as well as 20,696 records from thirteen milkweed host plant species. We find high heterogeneity of suitable habitat across the geographic range, with extensive concentrations in the California floristic province in particular. We also find habitat suitability for the butterfly to be structured primarily by host plant habitat associations, which are in turn structured by a diverse suite of climatic variables. These results add to our knowledge of range and occupancy determinants for migratory species and provide a tool that can be used by conservation biologists and researchers interested in interactions among climate, hosts and host-specific animals, and by managers for prioritizing future conservation actions at regional to watershed scales.
Evaluation of the Significance of Waterway Sediment-Associated Contaminants on Water Quality at the Dredged Material Disposal Site

During the past few years, considerable interest has developed concerning the significance of chemical contaminants associated with dredged sediments. Research has been done on the factors influencing the release of contaminants from waterway sediments and the toxicity of these sediments to various forms of aquatic life. This study has shown that the only two compounds which are released in potentially significant amounts to affect water quality at the disposal site are manganese and ammonia. The other compounds studied including heavy metals, chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and aquatic plant nutrients are either not released, released in insignificant amounts, or taken up as a result of mixing the sediments with the overlying waters under conditions which simulate typical dredging and dredged material disposal. Bioassays conducted of the elutriates of the sediments with the sediments present show that, in general, large concentrations of contaminants can be present in dredged sediments which would have little or no effect on water quality at an in-water disposal site. These results show that the bulk chemical criteria that have been used frequently by pollution control agencies to establish the method of dredged material disposal are not a technically valid approach for determining the significance of contaminants associated with natural water particulate matter. In fact, in some instances, the methods of dredged material disposal which have been adopted because of excessive concentrations of contaminants based on bulk chemical criteria may have been more detrimental to environmental quality than the previously used methods of dredged material disposal.
Sounds of Green: How Brand Name Sounds Metaphorically Convey Environmental Friendliness

Conveying the environmental friendliness of a product is both crucial and challenging. One efficient way to overcome this challenge is by using brand names as a way to signal environmental friendli...
Structural and functional regulation of lactate dehydrogenase-A in cancer.

Dysregulated metabolism is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Under normal physiological conditions, ATP is primarily generated by oxidative phosphorylation. Cancers commonly undergo a dramatic shift ...
5.18 – Biochar

Biochar is the char coproduct from the thermochemical processing of biomass utilized as a soil amendment and/or carbon sequestration agent. Processes that produce biochar include pyrolysis (heating without oxygen) and gasification; other coproducts include heat, electricity, bio-oil, and syngas. Interest in biochar soil applications originally stemmed from the long-term fertility of terra preta anthropogenic soils in the Brazilian Amazon. More recently, the recalcitrance of biochar carbon has attracted international attention as an inexpensive and effective way to sequester atmospheric carbon for centuries to millennia while simultaneously producing carbon-negative energy and improving soil quality. Current research focuses on relationships between feedstocks, reaction conditions, biochar properties, soil and crop responses to biochar applications, and biochar economics.
Common medical presentationsJaundice

Jaundice is the result of accumulation of bilirubin in plasma, sometimes from its overproduction from senescent erythrocytes but more usually through failure of the liver to either remove it from plasma or excrete it into the intestine via the bile ducts. Overproduction (haemolysis) or reduced conjugation through a defective UDP-glucuronyl transferase in Gilbert’s syndrome results in modest elevations of unconjugated bilirubin (<100 μmol/litre) and absent bile in urine. Liver disease and extrahepatic obstruction result in conjugated jaundice with dark urine. With modern imaging, initially transabdominal ultrasound, it is usually possible to identify extrahepatic obstruction, particularly from malignancy, but bile duct stones may be difficult to visualize and may not cause much duct dilatation. Spiral computed tomography, endoscopic ultrasound and magnetic resonance scanning with computerized reconstruction of the cholangiogram almost always resolve uncertainties about extrahepatic obstruction. The more invasive endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography can be reserved for therapeutic interventions such as sphincterotomy and removal of bile duct stones. Where there is no extrahepatic cause of jaundice, it may be an important presentation of liver failure, both acute and chronic, and careful attention should be paid to features of deteriorating liver function that might require specialist care.
Association of Albuminuria Levels With the Prescription of Renin-Angiotensin System Blockade.

Multiple clinical guidelines recommend an ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) in patients with elevated albuminuria, which can be measured through...
Historical trend on seed amino acid concentration does not follow protein changes in soybeans.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is the most important oilseed crop for animal industry due to its high protein concentration and high relative abundance of essential and non-essential amino acids (AAs). However, the selection for high-yielding genotypes has reduced seed protein concentration over time, and little is known about its impact on AAs. The aim of this research was to determine the genetic shifts of seed composition for 18 AAs in 13 soybean genotypes released between 1980 and 2014. Additionally, we tested the effect of nitrogen (N) fertilization on protein and AAs trends. Soybean genotypes were grown in field conditions during two seasons under a control (0 N) and a N-fertilized treatment receiving 670 kg N ha−1. Seed yield increased 50% and protein decreased 1.2% comparing the oldest and newest genotypes. The application of N fertilizer did not significantly affect protein and AAs concentrations. Leucine, proline, cysteine, and tryptophan concentrations were not influenced by genotype. The other AAs concentrations showed linear rates of decrease over time ranging from − 0.021 to − 0.001 g kg−1 year−1. The shifts of 11 AAs (some essentials such as lysine, tryptophan, and threonine) displayed a relative-to-protein increasing concentration. These results provide a quantitative assessment of the trade-off between yield improvement and seed AAs concentrations and will enable future genetic yield gain without overlooking seed nutritional value.
Prenatal exposure to gestational diabetes is associated with anxiety and physical inactivity in children during COVID-19.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with adverse child mental health outcomes and reduced physical activity. Moreover, prenatal exposure to gestational diabetes (GDM) is associated with increased risk for adverse psychological outcomes in children. Objectives Assess prenatal exposure to GDM on anxiety levels and physical activity in children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Sixty-five children age 9 to 15 reported their physical activity and anxiety levels using the 24-hours physical activity recall and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children via phone or video meetings. Prenatal exposure to GDM was obtained from maternal electronic medical records. Results The 38 GDM-exposed children reported significantly higher anxiety levels and were less likely to engage in any vigorous physical activity (VPA) (5% vs 30%) compared to the 27 GDM-unexposed children. Lower levels of physical activity were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety. Less engagement in VPA explained 75% of the association between GDM exposure and anxiety levels. Conclusions Engaging in physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic may be beneficial for reducing anxiety, particularly amongst GDM-exposed children.
Golden Gates: Fighting for housing in America, by Conor Dougherty

The United States has long had a housing affordability crisis. It is particularly acute in high-priced cities like San Francisco and New York despite their having rent stabilization regulations tha...
Segmentation of high dimensional means over multi-dimensional change points and connections to regression trees

This article is motivated by the objective of providing a new analytically tractable and fully frequentist framework to characterize and implement regression trees while also allowing a multivariate (potentially high dimensional) response. The connection to regression trees is made by a high dimensional model with dynamic mean vectors over multi-dimensional change axes. Our theoretical analysis is carried out under a single two dimensional change point setting. An optimal rate of convergence of the proposed estimator is obtained, which in turn allows existence of limiting distributions. Distributional behavior of change point estimates are split into two distinct regimes, the limiting distributions under each regime is then characterized, in turn allowing construction of asymptotically valid confidence intervals for $2d$-location of change. All results are obtained under a high dimensional scaling $s\log^2 p=o(T_wT_h),$ where $p$ is the response dimension, $s$ is a sparsity parameter, and $T_w,T_h$ are sampling periods along change axes. We characterize full regression trees by defining a multiple multi-dimensional change point model. Natural extensions of the single $2d$-change point estimation methodology are provided. Two applications, first on segmentation of {\it Infra-red astronomy satellite (IRAS)} data and second to segmentation of digital images are provided. Methodology and theoretical results are supported with monte-carlo simulations.
On the welfare implications of nominal GDP targeting

Abstract This paper examines the welfare implications of a nominal GDP growth targeting rule, a nominal GDP level targeting rule, and inflation targeting regime in a New Keynesian model featuring positive trend inflation, two measures of welfare, and both high and low growth environments. The paper finds that (i) in general, nominal GDP growth targeting dominates other rules with changes in all dimensions; (ii) nominal GDP growth targeting framework is superior to the level targeting regime for most scenarios; (iii) inflation targeting is preferred to nominal GDP level targeting regime, but to minimize short-run fluctuations, the latter is advantageous; (iv) nominal GDP level targeting may be desirable only in a low growth environment with both low inflation indexation and consumption equivalence criteria. The simulation results provide solid evidence to policy makers on the desirability of nominal GDP growth targeting.
Economic impacts of subsidized housing relocation

In recent years increased emphasis has been placed on use of “tenant-based” housing subsidies for acquisition of market-rate housing that is more economically and racially integrated than traditional “project-based” public housing. In this article, we model the short-term economic effects upon various groups of a hypothetical program in which low-income families move from inner-city public housing to spatially dispersed Section 8 rental housing. Using cross-section data from the Chicago region, impacts are computed for two of these groups. Preliminary results indicate that the short-term net economic impact of this hypothetical housing relocation is negative, that these impacts have a spatial character, and that there is a potential tradeoff between tenant benefits, housing subsidies from society and housing integration.
Cardiac Myoediting Attenuates Cardiac Abnormalities in Human and Mouse Models of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Rationale: Absence of dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) results in the degeneration of skeletal and cardiac muscles. Owing to advances in respiratory management of DMD patients, cardi...
Towards scalable, secure, and smart mission-critical IoT systems: review and vision

Recent emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have been promising enormous economic and societal benefits. While it is desirable to deploy these technologies to Internet-of-Things (IoT) infrastructures in many applications such as medical, energy, transportation, and industrial automation systems, such deployments present daunting challenges in performance, efficiency, and dependability of scaling-up IoT infrastructure, due to the ever-increasing number of edge devices, ever-increasing levels of device and system heterogeneity, and more stringent requirements of reliability, robustness, and security in mission-critical settings. This position paper elaborates the needs for a cross-layer and full hardware/software stack solution for the design and deployment of scalable, secure, and smart mission-critical IoT systems from four different perspectives and research fields. We present a review of recent studies on such issues and identify the potential challenges and gaps, based on which we highlight some important research directions and future works that can be conducted to tackle such challenges.
Microfluidic Coaxial Bioprinting of Hollow, Standalone, and Perfusable Vascular Conduits

Three-dimensional bioprinting represents promising approach for fabricating standalone and perfusable vascular conduits using biocompatible materials. Here we describe a step-by-step method by using a multichannel coaxial extrusion system (MCCES) and a blend bioink constituting gelatin methacryloyl, sodium alginate, and eight-arm poly(ethylene glycol)-acrylate with a tripentaerythritol core for the fabrication of standalone circumferentially multilayered hollow tubes. This microfluidic bioprinting method allows the fabrication of perfusable vascular conduits with a core lumen, an inner endothelial layer resembling the tunica intima, and an outer smooth muscle cell layer resembling the tunica media of the blood vessel. Biocompatible and perfusable blood vessels with a widely tunable size range in terms of luminal diameters and wall thicknesses can be successfully fabricated using the MCCES.
Emerging investigator series: quantifying the impact of cloud cover on solar irradiance and environmental photodegradation.

Environmental photodegradation is dependent on the solar irradiance that reaches the Earth's surface, and photodegradation half-lives of contaminants are typically estimated assuming clear sky (i.e., cloudless) conditions. In this work, the effect of cloud cover on solar irradiance was investigated. Data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which spanned 3 years of observations (10/2017 to 12/2020), were used to train two machine learning models to predict irradiance based on three inputs – day of year, time of day, and percentage of the sky that was cloudy. Results showed a non-linear relationship between cloud cover and irradiance. Solar irradiance was minimally impacted up to ≈50% cloud cover but decreased by ≈67% at 100% cloud cover. Both random forest and artificial neural network models performed well with relative root mean squared errors of 26–31%, which varied depending on the source of cloud cover data and the spectral region being modeled. Daily irradiance values for a whole year were predicted for varying cloud conditions using the machine learning models; this result was approximated using a quadratic fit of y = 1 − 0.00243x − (4.24 × 10−5)x2 where y is the fraction of clear sky irradiance expected and x is the percentage of cloud cover in the sky. In addition, the model results supported that there was no wavelength dependence for the effect of cloud cover. Therefore, decreases in both direct and indirect photodegradation rates should be proportional to the decrease in irradiance, which has a non-linear dependence on cloud cover.
Virtually Augmented Social Skills Training

This poster will detail a pilot study conducted at the City University of New York assessing the usability of a virtual environment for teenagers. In this study, the PI sought to test the viability of social skills measures for this population, find glitches in the code of tasks built into the virtual environment, and seek feedback from participants on improvements to be made to the intervention. The results of this study will aid in the creation of a social skills intervention designed for individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Basic Methods of Numerical Diffraction

The basic methods of numerical diffraction are based on the Huygens convolution, the Fresnel transform, and the angular spectrum description of diffraction given in Chap. 2. Simulation examples are used to illustrate their general behaviors and to make comparisons regarding the advantages and limitations of these methods. The angular spectrum method is seen to have particular strength in that it yields reasonable results without minimum or maximum distance limits.
Handbook of Media for Clinical Microbiology

While evolving molecular diagnostic methods are being heralded for the role they will play in improving our ability to cultivate and identify bacteria, fungi, and viruses, the reality is that those new methods are still beyond the technical and financial reach of most clinical laboratories. Most clinical microbiology laboratories still rely upon cu
Mining discriminative distance context of transcription factor binding sites on ChIP enriched regions

Genome-wide identification of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) is critical for understanding transcriptional regulation of the gene expression network. ChIP-chip experiments accelerate the procedure of mapping target TFBSs for diverse cellular conditions. We address the problem of discriminating potential TFBSs in ChIP-enriched regions from those of non ChIP-enriched regions using ensemble rule algorithms and a variety of predictive variables, including those based on sequence and chromosomal context. In addition, we developed an input variable based on a scoring scheme that reflects the distance context of surrounding putative TFBSs. Focusing on hepatocyte regulators, this novel feature improved the performance of identifying potential TFBSs, and the measured importance of the predictive variables was consistent with biological meanings. In summary, we found that distance-based features are better discriminators of ChIP-enriched TFBS over other features based on sequence or chromosomal context.
Efficient shape indexing using an information theoretic representation

Efficient retrieval often requires an indexing structure on the database in question. We present an indexing scheme for cases when the dissimilarity measure is the Kullback-Liebler (KL) divergence. Devising such a scheme is difficult because the KL-divergence is not a metric, failing to satisfy the triangle inequality or even .niteness in general. We de.ne an optimal represenative of a set of distributions to serve as the basis of such an indexing structure. This representative, dubbed the exponential information theoretic center, minimizes the worst case KLdivergence from it to the elements of its set. This, along with a lower bound on the KL-divergence from the query to the elements of a set, allows us to prune the search, increasing e.ciency while guarenteeing that we never discard the nearest neighbors. We present results of querying the Princeton Shape Database which show significant speed-ups over an exhaustive search and over an analogous approach using a more mundane representative.
Copper Association with Iron Sulfide Magnetosomes in a Magnetotactic Bacterium

Greigite (Fe3S4) and pyrite (FeS2) particles in the magnetosomes of a many-celled, magnetotactic prokaryote (MMP), common in brackish-to-marine, sulfidic, aquatic habitats, contained relatively high concentrations of copper which ranged from about 0.1 to 10 atomic per cent relative to iron. In contrast, the greigite particles in the magnetosomes of a curved magnetotactic bacterium collected from the same sampling site did not contain significant levels of copper. The ability of the MMP to biomineralize copper within its magnetosomes appeared to be limited to that organism and dependent upon the site from which it was collected. Although the chemical mechanism and physiological function of copper accumulation in the magnetosomes of the MMP is unclear, the presence of copper is the first evidence that another transition metal ion could be incorporated in the mineral phase of the magnetosomes of a magnetotactic bacterium.