cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Test anxiety. Relationship to academic and clinical performance in dental hygiene students.

This study investigated the relationship of test anxiety, study skills, aptitude, and prior GPA to academic and clinical performance in junior and senior dental hygiene students. Eighty-nine volunteer subjects completed a test anxiety scale (TAS) and an effective study test (EST) at the beginning of the spring semester. Prior grade point average (GPA) and dental hygiene candidate aptitude (DHCAT) scores were obtained, and the relationships of all variables to spring GPA and spring clinic grade were analyzed. TAS showed significant, but weak, inverse relationships with prior GPA (r = -.24, p less than .05) and spring GPA (r = -.29, p less than .01). Verbal, science, and reading comprehension subscales of the DHCAT were significantly and moderately associated with spring GPA. In a hierarchical/stepwise regression analysis. TAS did not explain any of the variance in academic or clinical performance. Study skills explained 3% of the variance in spring GPA and 6% of the variance in spring clinic grade. Prior GPA was identified as the strongest predictor of academic performance in the dental hygiene program as it explained 44% of the variance in overall spring GPA. None of the variables studied emerged as a strong predictor of clinical performance.
Recruiting and Engaging Older Men in Evidence-Based Health Promotion Programs: Perspectives on Barriers and Strategies

Evidence-based health promotion programs are effective at reducing health risks and healthcare costs among older adults, but few men participate in the programs. This mixed methods study aimed to gain insight into the barriers to recruiting and engaging older men in evidence-based health promotion programs offered by the Healthy Aging Regional Collaborative of South Florida (HARC). Fourteen program coordinators participated in a focus group to identify barriers and strategies to improve male participation, and 49 instructors participated in a survey to triangulate the findings. Themes among barriers to male participation included women outnumbering men in the implementation sites and programs, conflict between male gender roles and the programs, and preference for other activities. Themes among strategies included public support of programs by male community leaders, program advertisements featuring males, and adapting program content. Survey results supported themes identified in the focus group. Nearly 78% of the survey respondents agreed that the perception of exercise programs as feminine was a barrier and over 90% of the survey respondents believed program advertisements featuring men would increase male participation. Findings indicate that health promotion programs and recruiting strategies need to be tailored to the unique needs and preferences of older men to improve participation.
Space Weather Forecasting with a Multimodel Ensemble Prediction System (MEPS)

The goal of the MEPS program is to improve space weather specification and forecasting with ensemble modeling. Space weather can have detrimental effects on a variety of civilian and military systems and operations, and many of the applications pertain to the ionosphere and upper atmosphere. Space weather can affect over-the-horizon (OTH) radars, HF communications, surveying and navigation systems, surveillance, spacecraft charging, power grids, pipelines, and the FAA's Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Because of its importance, numerous space weather forecasting approaches are being pursued, including those involving empirical, physics-based, and data assimilation models. Clearly, if there are sufficient data, the data assimilation modeling approach is expected to be the most reliable, but different data assimilation models can produce different results. Therefore, like the meteorology community, we created a Multimodel Ensemble Prediction System (MEPS) for the Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Electrodynamics (I-T-E) system that is based on different data assimilation models [Schunk et al., 2014a, b]. The MEPS ensemble is composed of seven physics-based data assimilation models for the ionosphere, ionosphere-plasmasphere, thermosphere, high-latitude ionosphere-electrodynamics, and mid-low latitude ionosphere-electrodynamics. Hence, multiple data assimilation models can be used to describe each region. A selected storm event that was reconstructed with four different data assimilation models covering the middle and low latitude ionosphere is presented and discussed. In addition, the effect of different data types on the reconstructions is shown.
CHAOTIC EVOLUTION OF SOME COASTAL PLAIN SOILS

Nonlinear dynamical systems (NDS) models of soil systems suggest that soil evolution may be potentially chaotic, and thus sensitive to initial conditions and to small perturbations. Chaos implies that the diversity of the soil cover should increase over time. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the diversity of soil types on either side of the Suffolk Scarp on the lower coastal plain of North Carolina. While parent material and other soil-forming factors at the two sites are similar, the Pamlico Terrace east of the scarp is late Pleistocene and the Talbot Terrace west of the scarp is middle to late Pleistocene and at least twice as old. A soil system model based on vertical clay distribution and textural differentiation is introduced to account for the major factors that lead to differentiation of soil series in the study area. The model is unstable and potentially chaotic and, like more general models, predicts that even where all other soil-forming factors are similar, the diversity and spatial vari...
Abdominal imaging ordering patterns by referring provider specialty

Prior work has demonstrated marked growth in the volume of abdominal imaging performed by radiologists. However, decisions to pursue imaging are largely driven by referring providers. In this study, we take the novel approach of investigating abdominal imaging utilization patterns by referring provider specialty. Data on imaging services were obtained from the 2014 DocGraph Medicare Referring Provider Utilization for Procedures (MrPUP) public use file. MrPUP contains aggregated transaction data for combinations of unique referring provider and service code. Imaging services were classified by modality and body region using the Neiman Institute Types of Service (NITOS). Each referring provider’s specialty was determined using Medicare Physician Compare. Abdominal imaging ordering patterns were summarized by referring specialty. The final dataset included 5,824,754 abdominal imaging transactions. The most common ordering specialties of abdominal imaging were as follows: (1) internal medicine; (2) urology; (3) emergency medicine; (4) family practice; and (5) gastroenterology. The most common ordering specialties by abdominal imaging modality were emergency medicine for CT; gastroenterology for MRI and nuclear medicine; and internal medicine for ultrasound and radiography. While numerous specialties commonly ordered abdominal radiography and CT, urologists also commonly ordered retroperitoneal ultrasound and retrograde urography, and gastroenterologists also commonly ordered abdominal ultrasound, abdominal MRI, and esophagrams. Internal medicine, family practice, and emergency medicine providers ordered a much broader mix of imaging, including many non-abdominal imaging examinations. Referring specialty abdominal imaging ordering patterns are varied but distinct. Awareness of these patterns may facilitate focused educational and policy initiatives to improve abdominal imaging appropriateness and utilization.
Trends in Parental Monitoring and Knowledge Over Time Between Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Girls

This study assessed whether trajectories of parental monitoring components were different for sexual minority girls (SMGs) compared to heterosexual girls. We recruited 14-19-year-old girls from two adolescent medicine clinics. We estimated growth curve models to compare how components of parental monitoring-adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental knowledge-changed over 2 years for SMGs and heterosexual girls. SMGs and heterosexual girls had similar trajectory slopes and quadratic forms of adolescent disclosure, but SMGs had consistently lower adolescent disclosure scores. Parental knowledge trajectories indicated differential intercepts and slopes for SMGs compared to heterosexual girls, suggesting potential higher risk for maladaptive behaviors. Results of this study suggest that parental monitoring may operate differently over time for SMGs compared to heterosexual girls.
Viable Cells in Bovine Milk

SUMMARY A simple and rapid method is described for differentiating between viable and dead somatic cells in milk with the trypan blue stain. Dead cells were stained blue, whereas the viable cells were not stained and appeared as colourless, refractile round objects containing nuclei. The percentage of viable cells in foremilk and strippings was similar and not necessarily related to the number of cells per millilitre of milk. Thus the absolute number of viable cells generally varied directly with the total cell count. Milk samples yielding no bacterial growth contained on an average a slightly lower percentage of viable cells than milk samples having 100 to 10,000 or more bacteria per millilitre. Both the number and the percentage of viable cells increased during the acute phase of experimental mastitis induced with sterilized distilled water or 0·85 per cent NaCl solution. The proportion of viable cells gradually decreased when milk was stored at 4 c for several days.
The Effects of Broadband Data Caps: A Critical Survey

The use of monthly broadband data caps has been an issue of public policy debate ever since their introduction. Proponents and opponents of data caps make claims that appear to conflict about almost every aspect of data caps, including: whether the purpose is to manage congestion, to increase fairness, and to recover the cost associated with heavy users, or to increase profit and to protect incumbent pay-television services; whether data caps result in lower service prices or monetize scarcity; whether their use results in greater network capacity and higher download and upload speeds; whether data caps increase broadband Internet subscription; whether data caps reduce congestion; and whether they increase or decrease consumer surplus. It is the goal of this paper to provide a critical survey of both the claims and the academic literature on the use of broadband data caps. The literature includes papers that apply the economics literature to predict the impact of data caps; that present empirical results from the use of data caps; and that propose analytical models of data caps to predict that effects of data caps on broadband service plans, subscription, congestion, and/or welfare. We first review conflicting claims regarding the purposes of data caps, the relationship between monthly data usage and network congestion, and conflicting claims regarding competition. In the next five sections, we evaluate the conflicting claims regarding the effect of data caps on service prices, speeds, capacity, subscriptions, usage, congestion, and consumer welfare. The progression of the analysis - from aspects of service plans, through effects on the network, to effects on welfare - allows for empirical and analytical results about some effects to be applied to the analysis of other effects. In each section, we critically survey the academic literature, which often seems to produce conflicting conclusions. For each such apparent conflict, we examine the basis for the conclusions, including the assumptions of analytical models and the settings for empirical data. We consider the following economics and engineering aspects of the model or data: fixed or mobile broadband; monopoly, duopoly, or competitive markets; the characteristics of the data cap; whether multiple service tiers are considered; the network capacity model; the network congestion model; and the utility function. Given these aspects of the model or data, we analyze the limitations inherent in each paper’s conclusions. With these limitations in mind, we find the aggregation of apparently conflicting conclusions paints a more consistent and comprehensive picture of the effects of data caps. We summarize what we believe the literature concludes about the effects of various types of data caps in both fixed and mobile broadband.
Psychoanalytic Contribution to a Theory of Depression

Recent advances in biological research of depression may lead practitioners to adopt a stance that some depressions are biologically caused, whereas others are psychologically determined. Some may go so far as to argue that the classic endogenous or autonomous depression is due solely to biochemical or biological causes, whereas the neurotic depressive disorder is due entirely to psychological factors. Such an assumption would be simplistic, since neurotic disorders have physiologic symptoms (e.g., sleep disturbance, tachycardia, etc.) and patients may experience endogenous depressions after a specific loss, disappointment, or psychological injury. Recently, Akiskal and McKinney1 have attempted to synthesize various psychodynamic, neurochemical, and neurophysiological theories in an effort to understand depressive disorders. Although we advocate incorporating a psychoanalytic viewpoint to such an approach, we feel this is difficult, since a unified, comprehensive, and precise psychoanalytic theory of depression has not fully emerged. Rather, there has been a tendency within psychoanalysis for discrete theoretical approaches to be applied to a host of diagnostic categories (including schizophrenia, neuroses, borderline states, and several types of depression), thus obscuring crucial diagnostic differentiation. Also, although many psychoanalytic theories exist, few have attempted to differentiate among the many subtypes of depressive disorders.
Cardiac Aging – Benefits of Exercise, Nrf2 Activation and Antioxidant Signaling

Cardiovascular dysfunction and heart failure associated with aging not only impairs the cardiac function but also the quality of life eventually decreasing the life expectancy of the elderly. Notably, cardiac tissue can prematurely age under certain conditions such as genetic mutation, persistent redox stress and overload, aberrant molecular signaling, DNA damage, telomere attrition, and other pathological insults. While cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality is on the rise and remains a global health threat, there has been only little to moderate improvements in its medical management. This is due to the fact that the lifestyle changes to molecular mechanisms underlying age-related myocardial structure and functional remodeling are multifactorial and intricately operate at different levels. Along these lines, the intrinsic redox mechanisms and oxidative stress (OS) are widely studied in the myocardium. The accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with age and the resultant oxidative damage has been shown to increase the susceptibility of the myocardium to multiple complications such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cardiac myopathy, and heart failure. There has been growing interest in trying to enhance the mechanisms that neutralize the ROS and curtailing OS as a possible anti-aging intervention and as a treatment for age-related disorders. Natural defense system to fight against OS involves a master transcription factor named nuclear erythroid-2-p45-related factor-2 (Nrf2) that regulates several antioxidant genes. Compelling evidence exists on the Nrf2 gain of function through pharmacological interventions in counteracting the oxidative damage and affords cytoprotection in several organs including but not limited to lung, liver, kidney, brain, etc. Nevertheless, thus far, only a few studies have described the potential role of Nrf2 and its non-pharmacological induction in cardiac aging. This chapter explores the effects of various modes of exercise on Nrf2 signaling along with its responses and ramifications on the cascade of OS in the aging heart.
Algeria’s GIA: The First Major Armed Group to Fully Subordinate Jihadism to Salafism

In the mid-1990s, the world’s most successful jihadi group – the group that came closest to overthrowing an Arab regime – was Algeria’s Groupe islamique arme (Armed Islamic Group, GIA). Here I argue that the GIA was the first major armed group to prioritize adherence to Salafi theology over the jihadi strategic objective of building a “big tent.” The GIA used the vocabulary of Salafism to justify killing rivals and would-be allies and eventually turned against the Algerian population itself. In part one, I re-read GIA sources, particularly the group’s London-based newsletter Al-Anṣār, to show how the GIA sidelined potential allies in the name of purity. In parts two and three, I examine the effects of this approach. Through analysis of counter-texts by the GIA’s ideological and theological rivals, I demonstrate how their rejection of the GIA sharpened disagreements about what it meant to be a Salafi-jihadi.
Advanced packaging saves the day! — How TSV technology will enable continued scaling

Technology scaling is becoming more difficult and costly with each generation. As we scale below 7nm, there is uncertainty in the methodology that will be used for device formation and integration. Now, more than ever, the use of advanced packaging technologies is needed to help extend the lifetimes of our most advanced fab technologies. In this “More Than Moore” era, transistor density can be considered in terms of volume rather than area, and the proliferation of TSV integration is the key enabling technology.
131 ROSETTED GLIONEURONAL TUMOR IN A PEDIATRIC PATIENT.

In the pediatric population, rosette-forming glioneuronal tumor is a rare entity. Review of the literature has noted this tumor more in the adult population and older children (age 11 years and above). We present a case of a 2-year-old female patient who came to clinical attention after a 2-month history of variable amounts of emesis noted at nights and early morning associated with headaches but no other neurologic symptoms. Three days prior to presentation, the patient had persistent emesis and newly developed gait disturbance with truncal ataxia. Due to continued worsening of symptoms, she presented to the emergency room and was subsequently admitted. CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a very large mass having a cystic component with calcification in the left cerebal hemisphere. The tumor was subtotally resected after two attempts. Histologically, the glial component of this patient9s tumor was astrocytic, with smaller areas of distinct neuronal component that appeared immature. There was increased proliferative activity in the neuronal/immature neurocytic cell component, a feature that has been described in one other published case. Thus, she was felt to have a papillary or rosetting glioneuronal tumor. The biology of these tumors is not clearly delineated, but review of the literature showed that this subset of tumors may have an unfavorable clinical course. In the management of this patient, she was given a total of six cycles of etoposide, ifosfamide, and carboplatin with mesna. The tumor responded initially, but there were signs of tumor progression after four cycles of chemotherapy. She was noted to have fairly good function even with evidence of progression. In addition, she also received brain and spinal radiation. Her disease appeared stable, but 8 months after diagnosis, follow-up magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated recurrence of disease with widespread disease in the brain with no spinal metastasis. Despite chemotherapy and radiation, patient succumbed to her illness at 9 months from diagnosis.
Editorial for the Special Issue on MEMS Mirrors

MEMS mirrors can steer, modulate, and switch light, as well as control the wavefront for focusing or phase modulation.[...]
Classification using an online genetic algorithm

Genetic Algorithms (GAs) purport to mimic the behavior of natural selection. Many GAs, however, try to optimize their populations by means of a static fitness function — one that is derived from performance on a fixed set of examples. We propose an architecture for an online genetic algorithm (OLGA) for classification. An OLGA differs from standard genetic algorithms in that it does not repeatedly evaluate individuals against a fixed set of training examples. Instead, it is presented with a series of training examples, one at a time, and does not retain the entire set for training. Being online and incremental, OLGAs, like evolution strategies (Dasgupta & Michalewicz 1997), are applicable to tasks that require continuous learning to handle concept drift such as in adaptive systems as well as tasks in which the dataset is too large to be kept on hand for repeated evaluation (as in many online and interactive problems). By evaluating individuals on recent examples, OLGAs also better mimic the behavior of natural selection, as real organisms live in environments that are not identical to that of their ancestors. An OLGA is a GA, complete with a population of size , fitness function, recombination operators, and mutation operators. However, unlike a traditional GA, the fitness of an individual changes over time, as it is exposed to more examples. In order to do so, we track the number of examples seen and the number of examples classified correctly for each individual and class. The fitness is calculated by summing over all classes the weight of the class times a function of and . The key idea in creating such a fitness function is to support newly created individuals so that they are not replaced before they have seen a reasonable number of examples (and thus have some estimate of their true fitness).
Thermodynamically Stable, Photoreversible Pharmacology in Neurons with One- and Two-Photon Excitation

Photoswitchable bioprobes enable bidirectional control of cell physiology with different wavelengths of light. Many current photoswitches use cytotoxic UV light and are limited by the need for constant illumination owing to thermal relaxation in the dark. Now a photoswitchable tetrafluoroazobenzene(4FAB)-based ion channel antagonist has been developed that can be efficiently isomerized in two separate optical channels with visible light. Importantly, the metastable cis configuration showed very high stability in the dark over the course of days at room temperature. In neurons, the 4FAB antagonist reversibly blocks voltage-gated ion channels with violet and green light. Furthermore, photoswitching could also be achieved with two-photon excitation yielding high spatial resolution. 4FAB probes have the potential to enable long-term biological studies where both ON and OFF states can be maintained in the absence of irradiation.
Arthroscopic Management of Meniscus Tears at the Popliteal Hiatus

Tears of the lateral meniscus are very common. In comparison to the medial meniscus some tears of the lateral meniscus require special consideration with respect to operative management. Specifically, tears involving the popliteal hiatus offer different challenges when considered for operative repair. Presence of the popliteus tendon, the absence of a peripheral attachment and questionable blood supply make repair of these injuries very challenging. Tips and techniques are presented for the management of lateral meniscus tears involving the popliteal hiatus.
Role of Physician Gender in the Modern Practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Do Obstetrician-Gynecologists Perceive Discrimination from their Sex?

OBJECTIVES It is unclear whether obstetrician-gynecologists (OBGYNs) experience gender discrimination as a result of patient and organizational gender preferences. Our objective was to evaluate whether the gender preference for OBGYNs resulted in perceptions of discrimination by the physician while simultaneously assessing their patients' views for choosing their OBGYN. METHODS A survey assessed whether OBGYNs' perceptions of patients and employers' preferences for gender in selecting an OBGYN affected their clinical practice and resulted in feelings of discrimination. Providers' patients simultaneously completed a survey to explore the role of gender in the selection of their OBGYN. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparisons. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS Thirty-four physicians (97% response rate) and 803 patients (81% response rate) completed the survey. The majority of male physicians agreed that their gender negatively affects their patient practice volume (60%), whereas no female physicians agreed with this statement (0%, P < 0.01). Female physicians were more likely to agree (46%) that they are discriminated against because of gender in terms of salary as compared with male physicians (20%, P = 0.049), however. Although more women who see a female OBGYN (compared with those who see a male OBGYN) perceive that their physician's gender is important to them (62% versus 20%, P < 0.01), the most frequent reason all women chose their OBGYN is the "rating" of the physician. CONCLUSIONS Female and male OBGYNs perceive bias because of their gender; however, the former is because of compensation and the latter is because of patient preferences. The majority of women choose their OBGYN based on the physician's rating and not on the physician's sex, however.
Effect of Electrode Geometry on Selectivity and Activity in CO2 Electroreduction

We investigated the effect of the electrode geometry on the product selectivity and catalytic activity in CO2 electroreduction (CO2ELR) for equal surface area Cu and Ag electrodes. Three different geometries (wire coil, foil coil, and flag) with relatively smooth surfaces were chosen for this study. The electrode geometry impacts the current density distribution on the electrode and the different current densities create an electric field distribution on the electrode surface. The geometry that causes the higher current density distribution (coil wire) showed higher total current density and lower charge transfer resistance in comparison with the flag-shaped electrodes for both Cu and Ag. The results showed that the current density distribution changes due to the geometry influences the product selectivity as well. Cu coil electrodes showed higher faradaic efficiency (FE) for C2 products in comparison to the Cu flag. Ag coil showed higher FE% for CO compared to the Ag flag.
Data-driven Sliding Mode Control for Pulses of Fluorescence in STED Microscopy Based on Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Pairs

Pairs of conjugate donor-acceptor fluorescent probes have proven themselves useful in stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy in recent years. For instance, it has been shown that the lifetime of said probes directly correlates to the resolution of the microscope. However, once the lifetimes of the probes have been optimized, it is desirable to control their fluorescence in order to improve the resolution further. Here, we propose combining model-free control with sliding mode control to track nanosecond pulses of red-shifted acceptor fluorescence in order to inhibit visible light emitted from the image plane, shrink the point spread function, and subsequently improve the resolution of the microscope. This is achieved by automatic adjustment of the STED laser beam pump power. This controller is numerically simulated against a generic model created from Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) theory. However, since it is data-driven, it can be easily applied to various physical systems with drastically different dynamics. This work provides a reliable theoretic control solution to modern super resolution microscopy for biological imaging.
Safety, Advocacy, and the Teacher's Role: Pre-Service Teachers and School Shooting Policies.

In this qualitative case study, I examine pre-service teachers’ experiences with school shooting policy. Analysis of individual interviews, group discussions and reflective memos with pre-service teachers ( n =7) in seven Massachusetts districts shows that pre-service teachers, while deeply concerned about the possibility of school shootings, viewed existing policies as ineffective, damaging to their pedagogical practice and relationships with students, and out of step with teachers’ concerns. Further, they interpreted proposed policies as undermining the value of teachers in contemporary society and threatening the core tenets of teachers’ work. Constrained by limited professional development around policy involvement, pre-service teachers expressed significant doubts about their ability to effect meaningful policy change. This research has implications for educational policy and teacher policy involvement.
The Nebraska Sand Hills

The Nebraska Sand Hills form the largest dune field in North America (~50,000 km2), now largely stabilized by native grasses but preserving a rich geologic record of past dune activity and environmental change. This dune field developed on a particularly large undissected portion of the High Plains, with a variety of sand sources exposed nearby. The Nebraska Sand Hills are underlain by the High Plains Aquifer, which sustains a vast number of ecologically important interdune wetlands and lakes. The large barchanoid ridge and barchan dunes of this dune field resemble the active dunes of warm deserts more than the smaller stabilized dunes found elsewhere on the Great Plains. Geologic evidence indicates that the Nebraska Sand Hills alternated between activity and stability over the past 20,000 years, with multiple Holocene episodes of dune activity clearly associated with increased frequency of severe droughts and/or a shift to drier climatic state. Large dunes were also fully active in the cold climate of the Late Pleistocene. Projected climatic change by the late twenty-first century would likely return this major dune field to an active state.
Study on HIV/HCV and syphilis infection among MSM in two cities

Objective To examine the prevalence of HIV/HCV and syphilis infections and the KAP among men who have sex with men(MSM) in two cities,Henan province,so as to provide information and basis for the development of effective prevention strategy and measures. Methods Respondent Driven Sampling were conduced in the place of Network,Wine bar,Bath house,Club house and Park where the MSM always gathered to collect related information through.anonymous questionnaire.Blood samples were tested for HIV and syphilis infections. Results Awareness rate of HIV knowledge among the people is 89.3%. In the past six months,condom was consistently used in only 39.88% of male to male anal sexual behavior.5.18%were HIV-positive,5.93% were HCV-positive and 7.33% were sero-positive for syphilis infection,in the participants.Between the factors and the HIV infections rate has no significant statistically difference. The syphilis infection rate of the divorced or widowed MSM was the highest amomg the participants.independently.Marital status and the sysphilis infectiong rate were statistically different.Between the age,nearly six months sex partners,cultural degree,condom use and the syphilis infection rate has significant statistically difference. Conclusions There is a high prevalence of HIV/hcv and syphilis in MSM in the two cities where high risk sexual behaviors are common. Specific measures are urgently needed to intervene the behavior of MSM. Key words: Men who have sex with men ; Human immunodeficiency virus ; Syphilis ; Hepatitis c,infection ;
Nicotine treatment buffers negative behavioral consequences induced by exposure to physical and emotional stress in adolescent male mice

Early life stress influences adult psychopathology and is associated with an increase in the propensity for drug use/seeking throughout the lifespan. Animal models corroborate that stress exposure exacerbates maladaptive reactivity to stressful stimuli while also shifting the rewarding properties of many drugs of abuse, including nicotine (NIC), a stimulant commonly misused by adolescents. Interestingly, NIC treatment can also normalize some stress-induced behavioral deficits in adult rodents; however, little is known about NIC’s therapeutic efficacy following stress experienced during adolescence. The goal of the following experiments was to elucidate NIC’s ability to buffer the negative consequences of stress exposure, and to further assess behavioral responsivity while on the drug. Given that stress often occurs in both physical and non-physical forms, we employed the vicarious social defeat stress (VSDS) model which allows for investigation of both physical (PS) and emotional stress (ES) exposure. After 10 days, exposure to PS and ES decreased interaction with a social target in the social interaction test (SIT), confirming social avoidance. Groups were further divided and given NIC (0.0 or 160 mg/L) in their drinking water. After 1 month of NIC consumption, the mice were exposed to the SIT, elevated plus maze (EPM), and the forced swim test (FST), respectively. NIC-treated mice showed a reversal of stress-induced deficits in the EPM and FST. Surprisingly, the mice did not show improvement in the SIT regardless of treatment condition. Together, these data confirm NIC’s ability to normalize some stress-induced behavioral deficits; however, NIC’s effects on social behavior need further investigation.
An update on the RAPH blood group system

CONCLUSIONS This update of the RAPH blood group system (Hayes M. RAPH blood group system. Immunohematology 2014;30:6-10) reports no new alleles. The RAPH blood group system (International Society of Blood Transfusion system 25) consists of a single anti-gen (MER2) expressed on CD151, a member of the tetraspanin family of proteins. CD151 regulates interactions with laminin-binding integrins α3β1, α6β1, α6β4, and α7β1 and is expressed on red blood cells as well as many other tissues and cancer types. Lack of the RAPH protein is associated with nephropathy with pretibial epidermolysis bullosa and deafness.
A long-range chromatin interaction regulates SATB homeobox 1 gene expression in trophoblast stem cells

SATB homeobox proteins are important regulators of developmental gene expression. Among the stem cell lineages determined during early embryonic development, trophoblast stem (TS) cells exhibit robust SATB expression. Both SATB1 and SATB2 act to maintain trophoblast stem-state. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate TS-specific Satb expression are not yet known. We identified Satb1 variant 2 as the predominant transcript in trophoblasts. Histone marks, and RNA polymerase II occupancy in TS cells indicated active state of the promoter. A novel cis-regulatory region with active histone marks was identified ~21kbp upstream of variant 2 promoter. CRISPR/Cas9 mediated disruption of this sequence decreased Satb1 expression in TS cells and chromatin conformation capture confirmed looping of this regulatory region into the promoter. Scanning position weight matrices across the enhancer predicted two ELF5 binding sites in close vicinity of SATB1 sites, which were confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Knockdown of ELF5 downregulated Satb1 expression in TS cells and overexpression of ELF5 increased the enhancer-reporter activity. Interestingly, ELF5 interacts with SATB1 in TS cells, and the enhancer activity was upregulated following SATB overexpression. Our findings indicate that trophoblast-specific Satb1 expression is regulated by long-range chromatin looping of an enhancer that interacts with ELF5 and SATB proteins.
Grip Strength in Adults and Children with Cystinosis.

Introduction Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with impaired muscle strength. Patients with cystinosis have an increased risk for impaired muscle strength because of early development of CKD and cystinosis-induced myopathy. This study assesses muscle strength in patients with cystinosis and investigates risk factors of decreased muscle strength. Methods Adult and pediatric patients were recruited from Cystinosis Research Network conferences and a large pediatric nephrology clinic between 2017 and 2019. Patients and caregivers completed questionnaires on demographic characteristics, disease course, daily physical activity, and neuromuscular symptoms. Grip strength was assessed using a dynameter and calculated z-scores for age and sex were assessed for associations with patient characteristics. Results We included 76 patients with a mean grip strength z-score of −2.1 (SD, 1.1), which was lower than seen in patients with CKD without cystinosis. Male sex and delayed cysteamine initiation were independently associated with impaired grip strength. Among adults, a low level of physical activity was associated with lower grip strength z score, but no association was found in children. A third of the patients reported neuromuscular symptoms, with swallowing issues associated with lower grip strength. There was no significant correlation between eGFR and grip strength z-score. Conclusion Patients with cystinosis have impaired muscle strength compared with healthy control subjects and patients with CKD. This impairment is greater in male patients and in patients with late initiation of cysteamine therapy and is associated with lower physical activity. Further studies investigating the effect of different types of physical activities, optimizing cysteamine therapy, and other interventions are needed.
Late gestation fetal hyperglucagonaemia impairs placental function and results in diminished fetal protein accretion and decreased fetal growth.

KEY POINTS Fetal glucagon concentrations are elevated in the setting of placental insufficiency, hypoxia and elevated stress hormones. Chronically elevated glucagon concentrations in the adult result in profound decreases in amino acid concentrations and lean body mass. Experimental elevation of fetal glucagon concentrations in a late-gestation pregnant sheep results in lower fetal amino acid concentrations, lower protein accretion and lower fetal weight, in addition to decreased placental function. This study demonstrates a negative effect of glucagon on fetal protein accretion and growth, and also provides the first example of a fetal hormone that negatively regulates placental nutrient transport and blood flow. ABSTRACT Fetal glucagon concentrations are elevated in the setting of placental insufficiency and fetal stress. Postnatal studies have demonstrated the importance of glucagon in amino acid metabolism, and limited fetal studies have suggested that glucagon inhibits umbilical uptake of certain amino acids. We hypothesized that chronic fetal hyperglucagonaemia would decrease amino acid transfer and increase amino acid oxidation by the fetus. Late gestation singleton fetal sheep received a direct intravenous infusion of glucagon (GCG; 5 or 50 ng/kg/min; n = 7 and 5, respectively) or a vehicle control (n = 10) for 8-10 days. Fetal and maternal nutrient concentrations, uterine and umbilical blood flows, fetal leucine flux, nutrient uptake rates, placental secretion of chorionic somatomammotropin (CSH), and targeted placental gene expression were measured. GCG fetuses had 13% lower fetal weight compared to controls (P = 0.0239) and >28% lower concentrations of 16 out of 21 amino acids (P 48% (P 29% (P < 0.04). Placental secretion of CSH into maternal circulation was reduced by 80% compared to controls (P = 0.0080). This study demonstrates a negative effect of glucagon on fetal protein accretion and growth. It also demonstrates that glucagon, a hormone of fetal origin, negatively regulates maternal placental nutrient transport function, placental CSH production and uterine blood flow.
Mentoring Latinx Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Latinx children and adolescents are uniquely positioned within the U.S. context, historically experiencing both systemic and institutional failings. Mentoring relationships plays a protective role in healthy youth development and may alleviate some of the deficit narrative often placed upon Latinx youth. To better understand these potential benefits, this systematic review examined the current literature on the role of mentoring (i.e., both natural and formal mentoring) in a variety of developmental outcomes of Latinx children and adolescents in the U.S., ranging from kindergarten-age to under 18 years old. The 24 included studies had mixed results, yet findings pointed to a range of potential benefits for this population, such as improved academic and psychosocial outcomes, language and ethnic identity. Various components of mentoring—including mentor characteristics, relationship characteristics, and family involvement in mentoring programs—were also found to be related to Latinx youth’s improved developmental outcomes. However, methodological concerns in study designs limit what can be gleaned from these conclusions. Recommendations for future directions for research and intervention are provided.
Design and Analysis of a Multi-Parameter Discrete Chaotic Map Using Only Three SOI Four-Gate Transistors

In this paper, a novel chaotic map is introduced using two n-channel and one p-channel silicon-on-insulator (SOI) four-gate transistor (G4FET). The multi-gate structure of G4FET is leveraged to obtain four independent bifurcation parameters in the chaotic map with a simple three-transistor design. The four parameters are the top-gate voltage and junction-gate voltage of p-channel G4FET, and two junction-gate voltages of two n-channel G4FETs. A chaotic oscillator design is proposed using this discrete-time chaotic map circuit. The chaotic behaviour is evaluated using bifurcation diagram, Lyapunov exponent (LE), and correlation coefficient. The application of this multi-parameter chaotic oscillator is presented in a chaos-based reconfigurable logic gate. It is demonstrated that, the availability of multiple bifurcation parameters result in a significant improvement in functionality space.
Characterization of the Eukaryotic Virome of Mice from Different Sources

Accumulating studies show that the host microbiome influences the development or progression of many diseases. The eukaryotic virome, as a key component of the microbiome, plays an important role in host health and disease in humans and animals, including research animals designed to model human disease. To date, the majority of research on the microbiome has focused on bacterial populations, while less attention has been paid to the viral component. Members of the eukaryotic virome interact with the commensal bacterial microbiome through trans-kingdom interactions, and influence host immunity and disease phenotypes as a collective microbial ecosystem. As such, differences in the virome may affect the reproducibility of animal models, and supplementation of the virome may enhance the translatability of animal models of human disease. However, there are minimal empirical data regarding differences in the virome of mice from different commercial sources. Our hypotheses were that the mice obtained from pet store sources and lab mice differ in their eukaryotic virome, and that lab mice from different sources would also have different viromes. To test this hypothesis, the ViroCap platform was used to characterize the eukaryotic virome in multiple tissues of mice from different sources including three sources of laboratory mice and two pet stores. As expected, pet store mice harbored a much greater diversity within the virome compared to lab mice. This included an ostensibly novel norovirus strain identified in one source of these mice. Viruses found in both laboratory and pet store populations included four strains of endogenous retroviruses and murine astrovirus with the latter being restricted to one source of lab mice. Considering the relatively high richness virome within different samples from healthy humans, these data suggest that mouse models from alternative sources may be more translational to the human condition. Moreover, these data demonstrate that, by characterizing the eukaryotic murine virome from different sources, novel viruses may be identified for use as field strains in biomedical research.
Stories from the IPCC: An essay on climate science in fourteen questions

Abstract Women’s experiences as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) authors, have been explored showing how gender, race, nationality, etc. increase barriers to participate in the production of climate science even for the best scientists. Recently, the IPCC Gender Task Force, conducted another survey exploring barriers to participation in the IPCC that included men as well as women. The Gender Task Force released a report on gendered barriers mostly focusing on quantitative responses. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the fourteen open-ended questions in the survey. In addition to qualitative analysis, storytelling and the concept of feminist objectivity are useful approaches to convey the complicated web of responses of over 500 scientists about their experiences participating in the IPCC and in climate science more broadly. Gender, race and nationality continue to be barriers. I stress the connection between exclusions of underrepresented scientists in the IPCC with the persistent western belief that science is an objective and impartial practice. The paper brings attention to exclusionary structures that prevent participation in the IPCC and in science more broadly, but also provides stories of how these are resisted. These stories go beyond recognizing people as disadvantaged toward addressing the intersecting structures that exclude people from participating in science. As climate science becomes more diverse, and evidence points toward the benefit of diversity for superior science, understanding barriers and opportunities for scientists participating in multidisciplinary and international reports such as the IPCC becomes increasingly important. The stories provide a theoretical and methodological catalyst for international science institutions who seek to increase the influence and presence of underrepresented groups in science and produce superior science.
Towards the Introduction of Novel Human-Friendly Robotic Platforms for Educational Purposes

Even though the market size is still small at thismoment, applied fields of human-friendly robots are graduallyspreading from the manufacturing industry to the others as oneof the important compone ...
Violence, Tolerance and Recognition: Approaches to the LGBTI rights in Turkey

Despite the universalist claims, human rights tend to be applied selectively. Thus, in addition to including anti-discrimination clauses in basic human rights documents, separate declarations, treaties, and protocols are adopted to address the rights of particularly vulnerable populations (e.g., racial minorities, women, children, migrant workers). Sexual minorities have been subject to extreme violence and discrimination all around the world, but the international and regional human rights regimes started to address their protection and rights fairly recently (and rather timidly). This paper focuses on the recent developments regarding the LGBTI rights in Turkey, a country that has been a participant in the United Nations-led global human rights regime and the European human rights regime since their conception or early days. First, it shows that the law, law enforcement practices, policies and government discourse on sexual minorities in Turkey have not been in sync with the recent trend set by the human rights regimes, and perhaps have been going against the earlier traditions of tolerance practiced in the country. Then, moving on to a theoretical ground, the paper addresses the limitations of tolerance-based approaches to the protection of human rights. It contends that both the liberal states in the west and the illiberal state agencies and religious groups in Turkey may be showing tolerance toward the “deviant” sexual orientation and gender identities in different ways, but by failing to recognize equality in dignity, they continue to construct “others” and sustain an environment that is conducive to violence and violation of human rights.