cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Temporal and spatial patterning of axial myotome fibers in Xenopus laevis

Somites give rise to the vertebral column and segmented musculature of adult vertebrates. The cell movements that position cells within somites along the anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes are not well understood. Using a fate mapping approach, we show that at the onset of Xenopus laevis gastrulation, mesoderm cells undergo distinct cell movements to form myotome fibers positioned in discrete locations within somites and along the anteroposterior axis. We show that the distribution of presomitic cells along the anteroposterior axis is influenced by convergent and extension movements of the notochord. Heterochronic and heterotopic transplantations between presomitic gastrula and early tail bud stages show that these cells are interchangeable and can form myotome fibers in locations determined by the host embryo. However, additional transplantation experiments revealed differences in the competency of presomitic cells to form myotome fibers, suggesting that maturation within the tail bud presomitic mesoderm is required for myotome fiber differentiation. Developmental Dynamics 239:1162–1177, 2010.© 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Family caregivers’ perspectives on dementia-related dressing difficulties at home: The preservation of self model:

Alzheimer's caregiving literature acknowledges dressing as a major daily stressor but research on this topic is negligible. A qualitative grounded theory approach was used to explore Alzheimer's family caregivers' perspectives about issues that arise when their family members lose the ability to dress independently. Three focus groups and seven individual interviews were conducted and audio recorded with 25 information rich caregivers. Constant comparative analyses and coding of the transcripts identified six major themes leading to a 'Preservation of Self Model: Care Recipient to Care Giver' that portrays the caregiving trajectory. Initially, caregivers tried to protect the self dignity of the family member by maintaining usual routines and absorbing blame for difficulties. Dressing 'battles' occurred and caregivers learned management through trial and error. Crossing adult-child-gender role boundaries escalated discomfort. When facing unrelenting demands, concern shifted to preservation of the caregivers' health and self. Results suggest that caregivers would benefit from more pro-active dressing counseling to shorten the trial and error periods, dressing aids more relevant to dementia and more knowledgeable helpers. The preservation model can facilitate understanding of the caregiving trajectory and guide intervention support.
A phase I trial of mFOLFOX6 combined with the oral PI3K inhibitor BKM120 in patients with advanced refractory solid tumors

Purpose The oral PI3K inhibitor BKM120 has been reported as safe and well tolerated in early phase clinical trials of advanced cancer patients. We performed a phase I trial of BKM120 plus mFOLFOX6 (5-FU/LV + oxaliplatin), a common chemotherapeutic backbone in GI malignancies, to establish the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and characterize the safety and tolerability of the combination. Methods Patients with advanced solid tumors received oral BKM120 daily combined with standard doses of mFOLFOX6 every 2 weeks of a 28 day cycle. The study utilized a standard 3 + 3 dose escalation schema. Results A total of 17 patients received treatment with BKM120, 13 of which were evaluate for dose limited toxicity (DLT). The most common tumor types were colorectal cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. DLT included grade 3 hyperglycemia, grade 3 AST/ALT elevation, grade 4 neutropenia and grade 4 thrombocytopenia. A total of 76 % of patients experienced treatment related grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs), the most common of which were neutropenia, fatigue, leukopenia, hyperglycemia and thrombocytopenia. One patient demonstrated an unconfirmed partial response and three patients had stable disease. Discussion The MTD of BKM120 in combination with standard doses of mFOLFOX6 was 40 mg daily, which is well below the 100 mg daily dose proven effective and tolerable both as a single agent and in combination with other chemotherapeutics. In addition, the regimen of BKM120 with mFOLFOX6 in patients with refractory solid tumors resulted in increased toxicity than would be expected from either the PI3K inhibitor or the chemotherapy backbone alone.
A Pilot Text Messaging Intervention for Adolescents and Young Adults Recently Off Treatment for Cancer

A PILOT TEXT MESSAGING INTERVENTION FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS RECENTLY OFF TREATMENT FOR CANCER Lisa A. Schwartz, PhD , Lauren C. Daniel, PhD , Eliana Butler, BA , Dare Henry-Moss, BA , Christopher Bonafide, MD , Nadia Dowshen, MD , Wendy Hobbie, MSN , Leslie Kersun, MD , Lisa Pierce, BS , Dava Szalda, MD , Yimei Li, PhD , Lamia Barakat, PhD . The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania; The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; The Children’s Hospital; University of PennsylvaniaPerelman School of Medicine.
BETA DECAY OF $sup 37$S.

New measurements of the energies and the intensity ratio of the two $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays which are emitted following the $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay of $^{37}\mathrm{S}$ to $^{37}\mathrm{Cl}$ are reported. The more accurate energies are 3102.7 (\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3) keV and 3706(\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2) keV, and the revised intensity of the 3706-keV radiation relative to the 3102.7-keV radiation is 0.012(\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.003). The revised $log\mathrm{ft}$ value for the $\ensuremath{\beta}$ transition to the 3706-keV level of $^{37}\mathrm{Cl}$ is now in better agreement with a recent shell-model calculation.
"We have to establish our territory": how women surfers ‘carve out’ gendered spaces within surfing

This Research Insight piece examines how southern California recreational women surfers experience, cope with and contest their marginalized status within the male-dominated sport of surfing. Drawi...
An Economic Evaluation Tool of Inertia Services for Systems with Integrated Wind Power and Fast-Acting Storage Resources

As the increasing utilization of wind resources and lightweight gas turbine units, the power grid is shifting towards a situation with declining system inertia, which causes a larger frequency deviation after disturbances and threatens the reliability of the grid. Thus, we devote this work to develop an appropriate tool to determine the economic value of the inertia to the systems. To do so, we discretize and integrate the system dynamic equations into a modified version of the linear security-constrained unit commitment framework. Since the fast-acting storage devices are able to respond in a very short time, we also develop a storage control scheme to mimic the inertia and to provide primary frequency responses. We perform extensive studies on the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system and present some illustrative simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method to assess the economic value of the power system inertia.
Peacebuilding through inter-group encounters: rethinking the contributions of ‘mainstream’ and ‘politicised’ approaches

AbstractScholars have long examined the role inter-group encounters can play in contributing to the creation of more peaceful and just societies in existing conflict contexts. Within Israel, these encounters provide a unique opportunity for Jewish and Palestinian citizens to counteract the segregation present in most aspects of their lives and to interact in a positive manner. Yet despite an abundance of scholarship on these programmes, it remains unclear how different approaches used in encounters between Jewish and Palestinian youth matter in contributing to societal peacebuilding. This manuscript focuses on approaches utilised by two veteran Israeli encounter organisations to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of different approaches, suggesting that both have important roles to play in building peace.
Molecular Beam Induced Dissociative Chemisorption at Surfaces

The application of supersonic nozzle beams to the study of the dynamics of gas-surface scattering is discussed. Examples are chosen to illustrate the use of such beam sources in synthesizing surface compounds otherwise unaccessible under normal ambient conditions in ultrahigh vacuum and the role of trapping and direct collisional activation in adsorption on surfaces.
The Functions of Social Insurance in Relation to Economic Security

J NSURANCE is a means of providing for the mitigation of the effects of some anticipated exigency. This definition covers both individual and social insurance. If the anticipated exigency affects the economic status or capacity of the insured, it involves the question of economic security. The specific purpose of this paper is to define the functions of social insurance in so far as they affect economic security. Any threat to the source of income endangers economic security. The common hazards which render life insecure from an economic viewpoint are unemployment, sickness, invalidity, accident, old age, widowhood and orphanage, and it is to protect the worker against these hazards that social insurance is usually established. Insurance is always brought forward to reduce the severity of the effects of some condition over which little or no control exists. It does not, as insurance, prevent unemployment, accident, sickness and invalidity, and of course, the possibility of prevention is very limited in so far as old age, widowhood and orphanage are concerned. However, the funds which insurance assembles make possible an attack on causes of economic insecurity in order to decrease the amount of benefits paid out. Hence, a system of social insurance may have both ameliorative and preventive functions.
Strong Ligand–Block Copolymer Interactions for Incorporation of Relatively Large Nanoparticles in Ordered Composites

For well-ordered block copolymer (BCP) nanocomposites containing nanoparticles (NPs), the ratio of NP core diameter (dcore) and BCP domain width (L) has been generally limited with dcore/L < 0.3 when NP/BCP interactions are relatively neutral or weak. Here, we systematically investigate the spatial distribution of gold nanoparticles (NP) ranging in size up to 0.8 times that of the target domain width in symmetric polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) using a hydrogen-bonding-mediated (H-bonding) assembly. NPs with core diameters (dcore) 2, 5, 9, and 15 nm are coated with ligands bearing phenol groups as the hydrogen-donating sites for H-bonding including 2-(11-mercaptoundecyl)hydroquinone and thiol-terminated poly(4-hydroxystyrene). These hydroxylated NPs are selectively incorporated into the P2VP block (domain width L = 7–37 nm) over a wide range of volume fractions (ϕ = 3–26 vol %). Particle distributions are biased toward the center of in the P2VP domains when dcore/L is greater than 0.3 and ...
And now for something completely familiar: a Python tutorial

Python is a general-purpose programming language of exceptional power and readability. By harmoniously integrating concepts from other languages such as C, C++, perl, Smalltalk, Java, and Tcl together with its own original features, it has grown in popularity in the past few years and has proven itself in a wide variety of application areas.In this tutorial, we will study the feature set of Python with special emphasis on its use as a first programming language. In this capacity, we feel it presents a better alternative to any of the above-named languages due to its clarity of expression, ease of debugging, and modularity. Unlike other (often functional) instructional languages, transforming a Python program into another object-oriented procedural language such as C++ is a fairly mechanical process, making Python an excellent prototyping and even specification language. Python is open-source and freely available for virtually every platform.
Update to the Report of Nationally Representative Values for the Noninstitutionalized US Adult Population for Five Health-Related Quality-of-Life Scores.

Abstract Background The most recent reports of nationally representative health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) values for the United States used data that were collected over a decade ago. Objectives To update these values using data from 2011, stratified by age and sex. Methods This study used data from two sources—the 2011 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) and the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Both are nationally representative surveys of the US noninstitutionalized civilian population. The MEPS was used to calculate four HRQOL scores: categorical self-rated health, mental and physical component summaries from the short form-12 items (SF-12) health survey, and the health state short form-6 dimensions (SF-6D). We also estimated Quality of Well-Being Scale scores from the NHIS. We reported means and quartiles for all continuous scores, stratified by decade of age and sex. Results There were 23,906 eligible subjects in the 2011 MEPS and 32,242 eligible subjects in the 2011 NHIS. All age and sex categories had instrument completion rates above 84%. Females reported lower mean scores than did males across all ages and instruments. In general, those in older age groups reported lower scores than did those in younger age groups, with the exception of the mental component summary scores from the SF-12 health survey. When compared with previous reports, these new values were generally lower than those in previous reports but rarely reached minimally important difference criteria. Conclusions This report updates US nationally representative age- and sex-stratified estimates for five HRQOL scores using data from 2011. These values are important for use in both generalized comparisons of health status and in cost-effectiveness analyses.
Nonlinear modeling of plasma shielding effect during high-power microwave breakdown

The high-power microwave (HPM) breakdown in air would result in a sharp increase of the number density of the plasma, which generates strong secondary electromagnetic (EM) fields that can cancel the incident fields and act like a macroscopic plasma shield. If such an air breakdown takes place in a HPM device, it will result in the so-called tail erosion and severely limit the performance of the device. In this paper, the EM-plasma interaction and the HPM air breakdown are modeled by a coupled nonlinear EM-plasma system, which is solved by a coupled nodal discontinuous Galerkin time-domain (DGTD) scheme. The air breakdown and plasma formation in a metallic aperture are simulated to demonstrate the capability of the DGTD method in the modeling of HPM breakdown problems.
Shifting visions: "delegation" policies and the building of a "rights-based" approach to maternal mortality.

"Rights-based" approaches fold human rights principles into the ongoing work of health policy making and programming. The example of delegation of anesthesia provision for emergency obstetric care is used to demonstrate how a rights-based approach, applied to this problem in the context of high-mortality countries, requires decision makers to shift from an individual, ethics-based, clinical perspective to a structural, rights-based, public health perspective. This fluid and context-sensitive approach to human rights also applies at the international level, where the direction of overall maternal mortality reduction strategy is set. By contrasting family planning programs and maternal mortality programs, this commentary argues for choosing the human rights approach that speaks most effectively to the power dynamics underlying the particular health problem being addressed. In the case of maternal death in high-mortality countries, this means a strategic focus on the health care system itself.
Chapter Three - Endogenous Erythropoietin

We sought to briefly describe current models of endogenous erythropoietin (EPO) pleiotropic properties to make four points clear. First, endogenous EPO regulates erythroid cell apoptosis so that red blood cell production is balanced against the number of cells destroyed in order to maintain optimal tissue oxygen levels (i.e., consistent with provision of homeostatic functional signaling information). Second, preclinical and clinical studies alike provide additional evidence of other (i.e., extraerythropoietic) immune-related and growth/trophic properties. Third, EPO might also be increased as an antiinflammatory response to other proinflammatory cytokines, and not because it is an inflammatory protein, in which case, it would make the association between EPO and these other proteins an epiphenomenon. Fourth, on the other hand, EPO might also act as a tissue protector or it could reflect immaturity/vulnerability of the brain or of the systems responsible for protecting it. Each of these scenarios is plausible, and all are probably true in certain circumstances.
Student and Faculty Perceptions of OpenStax in High Enrollment Courses

As public funding for higher education decreases and the cost to students to attend college increases, universities are searching for strategies that save students money while also increasing their chances for success. Using free online textbooks is one such strategy, and the OpenStax College initiative at Rice University is one of the most widely recognized producers of such materials. Through a mixed method approach, this article examines the student and faculty experiences of adopting and using an OpenStax textbook. With 1,299 student participants, it was found that students greatly value the quality, attributes, and the cost of the OpenStax Biology textbook, though minor concerns were raised about its online format. Faculty adoption of a free textbook provides unique opportunities for course redesign and improvement, and the approach employed in this course transformation context resulted in clearly articulated learning outcomes, a fully realized structure in the course’s learning management system, and improvements to instructional practice. The student, faculty, and course benefits of this study offer a compelling argument for the adoption of high quality open education resources (OER) in public higher education contexts.
Predictors of justice system involvement: Maltreatment and education.

Abstract Decades of research have established that experience of abuse and/or neglect in childhood is related to negative outcomes, such as juvenile delinquency. Existing research has shown that involvement in child welfare services is also related to juvenile delinquency, particularly for children who are victims of neglect. Research has also identified educational factors such as chronic absenteeism as significant predictors of involvement in the juvenile justice system. However, little research has investigated the combined influence of educational factors, child abuse, and involvement in child protective services on justice system involvement. The current study examined the influence of educational factors and involvement in child protective services on justice system involvement. The study utilized records from an educational database of children who attended a school within a county of Mississippi in any year from 2003 through 2013. Cases were then matched with records from the county Youth Court, Law Enforcement agencies, and Child Protection Services. A multivariate logistic regression controlling for gender, race, current age, and time at risk was conducted to involvement in the justice system. In general, educational factors were stronger predictors of justice system involvement than allegations of maltreatment.
Measuring the Force between Magnets as an Analogy for Coulomb’s Law

A brief demonstration is described that measures the force between magnets as an analogy for the force between charged particles to introduce the functional form of Coulomb’s law. One magnet is mounted on a digital force probe while another is systematically moved to different distances to measure the force as a function of distance. The force probe and magnets are held in place with plastic interlocking building bricks. The demonstration is used as an analogy to introduce students to the physics of electrostatic forces, a foundational principle for understanding chemical phenomena such as ionization energy, bonding, intermolecular forces, and lattice energy.
Microfinance expansion and its effects on cost efficiency

Abstract Although the scalability of microfinance has gained much attention in recent times, questions about its effects remain largely unanswered. Within the rationale for scalability, resides the inherent notion that a microfinance institution could make up for its loan-size disadvantage by disbursing enough small loans that would potentially translate in scale economies and thus cost efficiency gains. We test this assertion in the presence of “uncontrolled growth”—the surge in microfinance lending during the boom years of 2004–2008. In a nutshell, are cost efficiencies evident during rapid microfinance expansion? We find that aggressive microfinance growth consistently results in cost inefficiencies.
Blood and the Hematologic System

Today’s medical student is no longer dispatched to the patient’s bedside to perform the time-consuming Lee–White clotting time test and community-based physicians are unlikely to be found peering through microscopes at stained blood smears. Nevertheless, findings related to circulating blood cells and the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems can have profound diagnostic and prognostic implications. Just some examples would be the unexpected finding of anemia in a long-distance runner or the detection of leukopenia in a person taking a psychotropic drug, as discussed below.
Using FRET-Based Reporters to Visualize Subcellular Dynamics of Protein Kinase A Activity

The ubiquitous Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is responsible for the regulation of numerous processes including gene expression, metabolism, cell growth, and cell proliferation. This method details how to monitor real-time PKA activity dynamics in mammalian cells using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based reporters.
INTRAUTERINE FETAL DIAGNOSIS FOR HEMATOLOGIC AND OTHER CONGENITAL DISORDERS

Advances in prenatal diagnostic techniques allow for earlier, more rapid, and more effective detection of congenital disorders. The indications, diagnostic accuracy, and risks for invasive diagnostic techniques including amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, and fetal blood sampling are reviewed. Recent advances in non-invasive detection methods, such as fetal ultrasound and the isolation of fetal cells in the maternal circulation are discussed. Additionally, the intrauterine diagnosis of congenital infections and chromosomal and Mendelian disorders, as well as hematologic disorders are summarized.
Diagnostic criteria for the Guillain-Barré syndrome: An analysis of 50 cases

Abstract The clinical features of 50 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) are described and compared to previous series in an attempt to further refine the definition of the syndrome. Nineteen of 50 patients (38%) were Negro. This was not significantly different from the 45.6% of Negroes seen among 3100 neurology patients admitted over this period. There would then seem to be little evidence for any selection by race. Ten of 20 patients with a history of antecedent illness developed cranial neuropathies and only 3 of the 13 with cranial neuropathy had no history of preceding illness. Mode of spread was most commonly ascending. Spread within the limbs initially affected with no ascending spread to other body parts was the next most common variety. Descending spread was uncommon. In about 20% of cases no spread occurred outside muscle groups initially affected. Combined involvement of the proximal and distal muscles was the predominant type of muscle weakness and in most of these patients the proximal and distal muscles were about equally involved. The occurrence of the GBS in the form of a pure motor polyneuropathy is emphasized. The presence of trunk muscle involvement or selective muscle involvement is also considered to represent a valuable clue to diagnosis. Absent abdominal and cremasteric reflexes were found to be a common manifestation of the syndrome. Sensory disturbances lasted longer than 2 months in 11 cases and in 4 of the 11 persisted longer than 6 months. Proprioceptive deficits were the more severe and persisted longer. In 2 cases in the study elevations of the CSF protein first occurred 6 and 8 weeks respectively after the onset of the illness. No single pattern of protein elevation is characteristic of GBS; varying patterns of protein rise, fall, or plateau over time can occur. Since 1962 there have been only 3 cases with respiratory involvement and none since 1967 as compared to 8 prior to 1962. Between the years 1952 and 1961, 9 out of 18 cases had cranial nerve involvement as compared to only 4 of 32 between 1962 and 1970 and 1 out of 19 since 1967. There has thus been a decreasing incidence over time of both cranial neuropathy and of the overall severity of the illness in this series. Using respiratory insufficiency as a criterion for severe involvement, the severity of the illness was significantly correlated with the presence of cranial nerve involvement. Diagnostic criteria for the GBS favoring a more comprehensive definition than any previously suggested are proposed.
Examining the Implications of the Tollgate Principles for the Governance of Geoengineering

The Tollgate Principles are modifications of the Oxford Principles intended to govern geoengineering technologies.1 However, the requirements they place on policymakers have ramifications outside t...
Endometriosis of the appendix presenting as acute appendicitis with unusual appearance

Abstract Introduction Endometriosis of the appendix is an uncommon mimicker of acute appendicitis which makes for a diagnostic dilemma. Presentation of case We present a rare case of a menstruating woman presenting with classic symptoms of appendicitis, without the characteristic inflammatory changes seen on laparoscopy consistent with appendicitis. Instead, the appendix appeared unusually contracted on itself. Pathologic review of the appendix revealed microscopic findings of endometriosis. Discussion We theorize the growth and shedding of the endometrial tissue during menstruation caused compression of the neural plexi in the wall of the appendix leading to the presentation mimicking acute appendicitis. Conclusion Given the potential for endometrial appendicitis, we propose appendectomy in reproductive age female patients with right lower quadrant pain, regardless of appendix appearance on laparoscopy.
Surface reconstruction by parallel and unified particle-based resampling from point clouds

Abstract This paper introduces a new unified particle-based formulation for resamplings with specific patterns from original point clouds. Given the input point clouds, the proposed L p -Gaussian kernel function is defined to simulate the inter-particle energy and force to form the isotropic/adaptive/anisotropic hexagonal and quadrilateral sampling patterns. Then, the particle-based optimization can be easily formulated and computed in parallel scheme with the high-efficiency and the fast convergence, without any control of particle population. Finally, based on the optimized particle distribution, the high-quality surface meshes are reconstructed by computing the restricted Voronoi diagram and its dual mesh with the parallel implementation. The experimental results are demonstrated by using extensive examples and evaluation criteria as well as compared with the state-of-the-art in the point cloud resampling and reconstruction.
The incidence of fungal infections in pancreas transplant recipients in the absence of systemic antifungal prophylaxis

BACKGROUND There is a lack of high-level evidence identifying meaningful outcomes and the place in therapy for systemic perioperative antifungal prophylaxis (ppx) in pancreas transplant recipients. As our program does not routinely utilize systemic perioperative antifungal ppx in pancreas transplant recipients, we assessed the incidence of post-transplant infectious complications. METHODS This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study of consecutive adult pancreas transplant recipients between 01/2016 and 04/2018 to describe the incidence of fungal infections. Patients with a history of previous simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplant, HIV, or unexplained use of antifungal ppx after transplantation were excluded. The primary outcome was the incidence of fungal infections within 3 months after transplantation. RESULTS After screening 60 patients, 56 met inclusion criteria. Within 3 months post-transplantation, two (3.6%) patients had a positive fungal culture requiring systemic antifungal treatment. The sources for infection in both cases were intra-abdominal fluid cultures, positive for Candida albicans. Both patients were treated with fluconazole. Allograft-related outcomes included a 6-month pancreas graft survival of 91.1% and pancreas transplant rejection incidence of 10.7%. CONCLUSION In this single-center experience, pancreas transplant recipients not receiving systemic antifungal ppx had similar infectious and graft-related outcomes to what is reported in literature.
Prediction of Sorghum Biomass Using Uav Time Series Data and Recurrent Neural Networks

Phenotyping via Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is of increasing interest for many applications because of their capability to carry advanced sensors and achieve accurate positioning required to collect both high temporal and high spatial resolution data required over relatively limited areas. This paper focuses development of a data analytics based predictive modeling strategy that incorporates multi-sensor data acquisition systems and accommodates environmental inputs. Unsupervised feature learning based on fully connected and convolutional neural networks is investigated. Predictive models based on Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) are designed and implemented to accommodate high dimensional, multi-modal, multi-temporal data. Remote sensing data, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and hyperspectral inputs, as well as weather data, are incorporated in RNN models. Results from multiple experiments focused on high throughput phenotyping of sorghum for biomass predictions are provided and evaluated for agricultural test fields at the Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE) at Purdue University.
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Due to a Concealed Diagnosis

Abstract This case outlines the dynamic and often concealed electrocardiographic findings associated with Brugada syndrome and explores its important relationship with early repolarization syndrome as part of a spectrum of inherited J-wave syndromes. (Level of Difficulty: Beginner.)
Power Grid Resilience to Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Disturbances: A Literature Review

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) disturbances have been observed, along with other cyber and physical attacks, as a potential threat to modern digitized power grids and electronic devices. While the EMP attacks are not lethal to human, they bring extremely harmful and unrecoverable damages to electronics. Irrespective of the type of the EMP attacks, either nuclear or nonnuclear, EMPs are considered among the high-impact low-probability (HILP) events in power grids, detection, modelling, and mitigation against which is a necessity to ensure the grid resilience and is in high demand nationally and globally. This paper will provide a literature review on the EMP threats and includes a background on the EMP weapons, EMP attack theories, EMP detection methods. It will also describe the EMP-engendered damages, as well as protection functions and equipment used to mitigate against the future EMP threats.
A systematic review of interventions for family caregivers who care for patients with advanced cancer at home.

Abstract Objective To examine the characteristics of interventions to support family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer. Methods Five databases (CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library) were searched for English language articles of intervention studies utilizing randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs, reporting caregiver-related outcomes of interventions for family caregivers caring for patients with advanced cancer at home. Results A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on these studies, the types of interventions were categorized into psychosocial, educational, or both. The characteristics of interventions varied. Most interventions demonstrated statistically significant results of reducing psychological distress and caregiving burden and improving quality of life, self-efficacy, and competence for caregiving. However, there was inconsistency in the use of measures. Conclusions Most studies showed positive effects of the interventions on caregiver-specific outcomes, yet direct comparisons of the effectiveness were limited. There is a lack of research aimed to support family caregivers’ physical health. Practice implications Given caregivers’ needs to maintain their wellbeing and the positive effects of support for them, research examining long-term efficacy of interventions and measuring objective health outcomes with rigorous quality of studies is still needed for better outcomes for family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer.
Drive Cycle Based Reliability Analysis of Composite DC-DC Converters for Electric Vehicles

The paper is devoted to the reliability estimation of composite DC-DC converters. The reliability technique accounts for the probability of activation and deactivation of components at different points on the drive cycle to predict increased mean time to failure (MTTF) rating of the composite system by at least 20% compared to the conventional non-drive cycle based approaches. A relationship between optimal count of components and MTTF is also explored. It is observed that higher MTTF can be achieved by 21% for increase in component count by 12 compared to the existing design. Furthermore, analysis of the effects of redundancy of modules on the MTTF rating of the composite system is shown.
Beiräte als Instrument einer Ernährungswende – Die Etablierung von Ernährungsräten in Deutschland

Deutschlandweit sind Ernahrungsrate im Kommen. Diese im angelsachsischen Raum als “food policy councils” bekannten Gremien sind uberwiegend zivilgesellschaftlich initiiert und versuchen z.B. durch Offentlichkeitsarbeit oder Forderungen an Politik und Verwaltung eine Ernahrungswende voranzubringen. Der Beitrag untersucht die Moglichkeiten einer starkeren rechtlichen Verankerung dieser Gremien.
Testing the hypothesized antipredator defence function of stridulation in the spiny orb-weaving spider, Micrathena gracilis

The observable diversity of antipredator defences across organisms demonstrates predation's impact on trait evolution. The functions of many traits that are presumed to have an antipredator function have never been directly tested. The spiny orb-weaving spider, Micrathena gracilis, for example, stridulates when grasped. While stridulation was first hypothesized to be an antipredator defence nearly 50 years ago, no data exist to support this hypothesis. To explore the form and function of M. gracilis stridulation, we first quantified the behavioural and acoustical properties of sound production. Next, using laboratory assays, we directly tested the effect of stridulation on survival with an avian predator – blue jays, Cyanocitta cristata. Finally, we conducted a large mark–recapture field study in which we compared the natural survival of experimentally manipulated adult female M. gracilis that could not stridulate (silenced) versus could stridulate (control). Stridulatory pulses produced broadband frequency spectra, consistent with acoustic antipredator defences in other taxa. We also observed stridulation by male M. gracilis for the first time. In staged laboratory interactions with captive blue jays, we found no differences in survival between silenced and control M. gracilis. Similarly, in our mark–recapture field study, we found no differences in survival estimates between silenced and control groups, nor an effect of stridulation rate. While M. gracilis stridulation closely resembles antipredator stridulation in other arthropods, our behavioural data do not yet provide solid support for an antipredator function in M. gracilis.
Suggestions to Overcome Racial Inequities Among Health Care Professionals

Outraged by the recent events highlighting racial inequities in our country and inspired to make a difference, I have reflected on how we, as health care professionals, can make a difference within our professions. In diabetes management, we must be cognizant of the racial and ethnic disparities in prevalence rates of diabetes: 7.5% of non-Hispanic Whites, 9.2% of Asian Americans, 11.7% of non-Hispanic Blacks, 12.5% of Hispanics, and 14.7% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives (1). For minority populations, having an ethnically/racially concordant health care provider is associated with improved patient satisfaction, patient-clinician communication, and access to care (2). In the Oakland Men’s Health Disparity Project, non-Hispanic Black male patients randomly assigned to a Black doctor were 20% more likely to agree …
Orchestrating performance of healthcare networks subjected to the compound events of natural disasters and pandemic.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the vulnerability of healthcare systems worldwide. When combined with natural disasters, pandemics can further strain an already exhausted healthcare system. To date, frameworks for quantifying the collective effect of the two events on hospitals are nonexistent. Moreover, analytical methods for capturing the dynamic spatiotemporal variability in capacity and demand of the healthcare system posed by different stressors are lacking. Here, we investigate the combined impact of wildfire and pandemic on a network of hospitals. We combine wildfire data with varying courses of the spread of COVID-19 to evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies for managing patient demand. We show that losing access to medical care is a function of the relative occurrence time between the two events and is substantial in some cases. By applying viable mitigation strategies and optimizing resource allocation, patient outcomes could be substantially improved under the combined hazards. COVID-19 might occur together with other natural disasters but frameworks to quantify collective effects is lacking. Here, the authors investigated the readiness of a healthcare system in the face of wildfire during an epidemic by assuming the COVID-19 pandemic occurred around the same time with the Camp Fire case in Butte Country California 2018/2019.
High-fat meals increase the clearance of cyclosporine

High-fat meals increase the clearance and volume of distribution, but not the mean residence time, of cyclosporine in seven healthy volunteers when either plasma or blood analyses are used. This unexpected finding for a low-extraction ratio drug should not be explainable in terms of increased blood flow. We hypothesize that dietary fat can act as a carrier for cyclosporine and enhance both its volume of distribution and its clearance. We suggest that clearance then occurs following metabolism of lipids due to lipase activity within the hepatocyte, thereby releasing free drug for metabolism.
OF RHETORIC AND REPRESENTATION: The Four Faces of Ethnography

Influenced by the new literary movement and postmodernism, in the 1990s sociologists began to reflexively examine their writings as texts, looking critically at the way they shape reality and articulate their descriptions and conceptualizations. Advancing this thread, in our presidential address we offer an overarching analysis of ethnographic writing, identifying four current genres and deconstructing their rhetoric: classical, mainstream, postmodern, and public ethnography. We focus on the differences in their epistemological, organizational, locational, and stylistic self-presentations with an eye toward better understanding how these speak to their intended audiences, both within and outside of the discipline.
Stability Enhancement for Flexible Space Structure Control

This paper illustrates the use of linear-quadratic Gaussian/loop transfer recovery (LQG/LTR) techniques for the active control of a flexible space structure which is an optical support structure. LQG compensators are designed for three actuator/sensor placements on the structure where the reduced-order model consists of only 18 elastic modes. The state-feedback (LQ) portion of each design meets stringent line-of-sight performance requirements in the face of two wideband disturbances impinging on the structure. Conditions on the open loop transfer matrix, broken at the plant input, are stated for the robustification of the LQG designs to the 132 high frequency elastic modes excluded from the design model. Through loop transfer recovery, with LQ dynamics as the target, closed-loop stability is maintained with all 150 elastic modes for two of the actuator/sensor selections. Difficulties in achieving performance robustness are noted.
Instance-based utile distinctions for reinforcement learning with hidden state

Abstract We present Utile Suffix Memory , a reinforcement learning algorithm that uses short-term memory to overcome the state aliasing that results from hidden state. By combining the advantages of previous work in instance-based (or “memory- based”) learning and previous work with statistical tests for separating noise from task structure, the method learns quickly, creates only as much memory as needed for the task at hand, and handles noise well. Utile Suffix Memory uses a tree-structured representation, and is related to work on Prediction Suffix Trees [Ron et al ., 1994], Parti-game [Moore, 1993], G-algorithm [Chapman and Kaelbling, 1991], and Variable Resolution Dynamic Programming [Moore, 1991].
Enhancement of mixed leukocyte reaction and cytotoxic antitumor responses by heparin.

The immunomodulating effects of heparin and natural and synthetic heparinoids (which are now undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of AIDS) on cellular immunity (DNA synthesis and cytotoxic responses of mouse lymphocytes to allogeneic cells and histocompatible tumors) were studied. The results showed that (1) high and low m.w. heparin enhanced mouse antitumor and antiallogeneic cell responses in vitro; (2) other sulfated heparinoids did not have this enhancing activity and some of them (including dextran sulfate) totally suppressed generation of cytotoxic cells; (3) these immunomodulating activities of heparin and heparinoids did not correlate with their anticoagulant effects, degree of sulfation, and mitogenic activity; (4) heparin did not increase the production of IL-2 and did not enhance the action of IL-2 on the cells in MLC, heparin also had no effect on the growth-promoting activity of IL-2 on cloned cytotoxic T cells; (5) heparin had a synergistic enhancing effect with IL-1 on the generation of cytotoxic cells in MLC; and (6) heparin abolished endothelial cell growth factor-induced suppression of cytotoxic response. The latter two effects by themselves, however, could not fully explain the entire immunoenhancing activity of heparin. These results indicate that heparin and heparinoids have multiple effects on the immune system and that some of them can enhance, whereas others can suppress cell-mediated responses.
Light emission from bilirubin using the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction

Abstract The observation of light emission from bilirubin in an organic solvent as a result of the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction is reported for the first time. The results presented herein indicate that bilirubin chemiluminescence can be detected in N,N′ dimethylformamide but not in chloroform, dimethylsulfoxide, or pyridine. To elucidate this phenomenon, the effects of solvent on the chemiluminescence intensity were examined as a function of solvent composition. Furthermore, analytical utilization of the present observation for the determination of bilirubin in biological materials was evaluated. Relative and absolute limits of detection were found to be 8.5 nmol 1 −1 and 5.0 ng, respectively, and the response was found to be linear at least over three orders of magnitude. Selectivity for the detection of bilirubin in the presence of a number of common interference species was also examined. Finally, the visible spectrum of bovine serum in the blue-green region was obtained using the present chemiluminescence method and was briefly compared with those obtained from absorption ad fluorescence methods.
Effects of selection agent and leader origin on leader influence and group member perceptions

Abstract The effects of the expertise of the agent of leader selection (expert vs nonexpert) and leader origin (internal promotion vs external appointment) on leader effectiveness were examined in a laboratory setting. Results showed that leaders chosen by a competent agent of selection were themselves seen as having greater task expertise and were better able to influence the decisions of group members than were leaders selected by a less competent agent. The origin of the leader had no effect upon either perceptions of the leader or the leader's influence. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for leader selection in organizations and the importance of analyzing extra-dyadic factors which influence leader—subordinate relations.
Influence of the random image alignment and optical path difference errors of a beam combination system on the optical transfer function of the optical sparse array

The presence of a beam combination system that forms a united image in a common focal plane is one of the features of systems with an optical sparse array. Any control system of a beam combiner has a limited accuracy and, as a result, introduces some optical errors that influence the quality of the united image. This especially concerns systems with a dynamic aperture reconfiguration during an active process of observation. We present analytical expressions for the instantaneous spectral optical transfer function (OTF) of the optical sparse array consisting of N circular and annular subapertures depending on the residual random image alignment and optical path difference errors, and the average OTF for the Gaussian probability distributions depending on the statistical parameters of the last. The formulas are deduced on the basis of the Fraunhofer approach to the Kirchhoff diffraction theory. The results can be used for both space and earth sciences applications.