cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Combination chemotherapy for desmoid tumors

BACKGROUND Desmoid tumor (aggressive fibromatosis) is an aggressive fibroblastic proliferation of well circumscribed, locally invasive, differentiated fibrous tissue. For patients with desmoid tumors that are not amenable to surgery or radiation therapy, the use of hormonal agents and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been attempted, with some success. The use of chemotherapy also has been reported to have activity. METHODS Seven patients (5 males and 2 females) with a median age of 40 years (range, 17–66 years) who received cytotoxic chemotherapy (combinations of cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin; mitomycin, doxorubicin, and cisplatin; and ifosfamide and etoposide) for desmoid tumor were reviewed retrospectively. Five patients were found to have recurrent tumors. Four patients had familial adenomatous polyposis. Four patients had failed tamoxifen and six had failed NSAIDs prior to receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy. In six patients the desmoid tumor was intraabdominal and one tumor had occurred on the buttock. RESULTS Patients received a median number of six cycles of chemotherapy (range, two to eight cycles). Objective disease regression occurred in 3 patients. There was an apparent clinical benefit in six patients with the duration of benefit ranging from 3 months to 15 years. The chemotherapy was well tolerated and no treatment-related mortality was reported. CONCLUSIONS The results of the current study indicate that the use of combination chemotherapy for desmoid tumors may provide long-term clinical benefits. Cancer 2003;97:1134–35. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11189
Molecular modeling of archaebacterial bipolar tetraether lipid membranes

Abstract Membranes composed of glycerol dialkylnonitol tetraether (GDNT) lipids from the thermoacidophilic archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius have been studied by molecular modeling. GDNT membranes containing eight cyclopentane rings in the molecule are packed much tighter than those without rings. When containing eight cyclopentane rings, the β- d -galactosyl- d -glucose head-group of GDNT runs almost parallel to the membrane surface. However, when containing no rings, the head-group is oriented perpendicular to the membrane surface. Using molecular dynamics calculations, we have also conducted comparative studies of membrane packing between GDNT and various non-archaebacterial membranes. Compared to gel state dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and gel state distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC) bilayers, the GDNT membrane with eight cyclopentane rings has a more negative interaction energy, thus a tighter membrane packing, while the GDNT without rings is less tightly packed than gel state DSPC. Based on the calculated interaction energies, the GDNT membranes (with and without rings) are much more tightly packed than DPhPC (an ester-linked diphytanyl PC) and DPhyPC (an ether-linked diphytanyl PC) bilayers. This suggests that the branched methyl group in the phytanyl chain is not the major contributor of the tight packing of GDNT membranes. The biological implication of this study is that the cyclopentane ring could increase GDNT membrane thermal stability. This explains why the number of cyclopentane rings in archaebacterial lipid increases with increasing growth temperature. Perhaps, through the ring-temperature compensation mechanism, the plasma membrane of thermoacidophilic archaebacteria is able to maintain a tight and rigid structure, consequently, a constant proton gradient between the extracelluar (pH 2.5) and intracelluar compartment (pH 6.5), over a wide range of growth temperatures.
ZrW2O8–ZrO2 Continuous Functionally Graded Materials Fabricated by In Situ Reaction of ZrO2 and WO3

ZrO2 powder and ZrO2+WO3 powder mixture were stacked, cocompacted, and cosintered in a cylindrical die, the processing steps commonly used to fabricate multilayer materials. The soak duration and the mass ratio among layers in the processing have been varied to yield a wide range of final sintered samples. At appropriate soak durations, the sintered samples resulted in continuous functionally graded materials (FGMs) made of ZrW2O8 and ZrO2. In other words, instead of the expected discrete, multiple-layered materials, the resulting samples are characterized by the axially, continuously varying physical properties. The continuous FGM structure is formed by several mechanisms: the balance between the reaction of ZrO2 and WO3 and the decomposition of ZrW2O8, as well as the sublimation and diffusion of WO3. The continuous FGMs can be utilized to reduce the thermal stress induced from a thermal gradient loading within a material system. This study shows that the processing steps typically used for multilayer FGMs can also be used to create continuous FGMs for some special material combinations.
On the use of in vivo cargo velocity as a biophysical marker

Molecular motors move many intracellular cargos along microtubules. Recently, it has been hypothesized that in vivo cargo velocity can be used to determine the number of engaged motors. We use theoretical and experimental approaches to investigate these assertions, and find that this hypothesis is inconsistent with previously described motor behavior, surveyed and re-analyzed in this paper. Studying lipid droplet motion in Drosophila embryos, we compare transport in a mutant, Delta(halo), with that in wild-type embryos. The minus-end moving cargos in the mutant appear to be driven by more motors (based on in vivo stall force observations). Periods of minus-end motion are indeed longer than in wild-type embryos but the corresponding velocities are not higher. We conclude that velocity is not a definitive read-out of the number of motors propelling a cargo.
Dendritic cells and MPIF-1: chemotactic activity and inhibition of endogenous chemokine production by IFN-gamma and CD40 ligation.

We have examined the biological activ- ity of the CC chemokine myeloid progenitor inhibi- tory factor 1 (MPIF-1) on human dendritic cells. MPIF-1 has chemotactic activity on dendritic cells derived from either peripheral blood monocytes or cord blood CD34 1 progenitors. However, chemo- kine treatment did not induce further cell activa- tion or maturation. In addition, MPIF-1 is constitu- tively released by monocyte-derived dendritic cells but not macrophages or monocytes (resting or stimulated). The proinflammatory stimuli lipopoly- saccharide and tumor necrosis factor a, which induced the release of monocyte chemotactic pro- tein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1a (MIP- 1a), MIP-1b, and interleukin-8, did not affect MPIF-1 release. In contrast, CD40 ligation and interferon-g treatment, while stimulating the pro- duction of the other chemokines, caused a pro- nounced reduction of MPIF-1 transcript and pro- tein release. Thus, in dendritic cells the regulation of the production and release of MPIF-1 is distinct in comparison to other CC and CXC chemokines. J. Leukoc. Biol. 65: 822-828; 1999.
A Finite Element Analysis of Local Oscillometric Blood Pressure Measurements

Traditional circumferential oscillometric blood pressure measurements are based on a complex interplay between the perturbed underlying artery and the surrounding tissue. When there is a balance in pressures acting across the arterial wall, the pulsation amplitude is expected to be a maximum. The purpose of this study was to examine the change in pulsation amplitude for a given pressure resulting from a focally applied compression. A non-linear, two- dimensional finite element analysis of an average fingerbase was used to determine the overall pressure distributions within the finger as well as to compare the feasibility of the focally applied oscillometric approach for blood pressure (BP) measurements. We found that the focally applied pressure appears to lead to only a slight underestimation of the BP (1.5 mmHg). Furthermore, it does not significantly inhibit global bloodflow and should therefore be an acceptable method for long-term blood pressure monitoring.
The role of emotional elaboration in the creation of false memories

Two experiments employed an eyewitness suggestibility paradigm to examine the effects of emotional elaboration on the creation of false memories for suggested events. The results of both experiments converge in showing that reflectively elaborating on the emotional consequences of suggested events increases both false belief and false memory in having witnessed the suggested events. Moreover, the results also showed that emotional elaboration leads to higher false memory than other types of meaningful elaboration, thus providing evidence that the emotional content of the elaboration plays a role in promoting false memory development. The results have several real-world implications for forensic and therapeutic interviews. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Language: en
Consumer liking of refined and whole wheat breads.

ABSTRACT: Preference for refined bread is often cited as a reason for the relatively low consumption of whole wheat bread; only a few studies, however, have examined consumer preferences between refined and whole wheat breads, and the results of these studies are inconclusive. Our objective was to determine if refined wheat bread is preferred to whole wheat bread. We hypothesized that people would prefer refined wheat bread. We conducted a taste test with 89 people. They rated their liking of 9 different breads chosen to represent several comparisons between equivalent refined and whole wheat breads. The participants also rated the intensity of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and completed a questionnaire about their bread preferences and purchasing habits. We classified the participants by their bread preference and their PROP taster status, and then examined the liking patterns of these subgroups. People preferred refined bread to whole wheat bread when both were made using equivalent ingredients and procedures. They liked the commercial samples of refined and whole wheat breads equally well. When people were classified by their bread preference, those who preferred refined bread liked the refined bread better in all comparisons. PROP nontasters liked all refined and whole wheat breads equally. Sensory preferences are a barrier to whole wheat bread consumption, but ingredient or processing modifications can improve liking of whole wheat bread to the level of refined bread.
Detection and Correction of Poorly Converged Optimizations by Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares

The use of Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares (IRLS) for detecting design points where structural optimizations give poor designs is demonstrated. Since most optimization error is one sided with poor results producing an overweight objective value, a nonsymmetrical version of IRLS (NIRLS) that takes into account the asymmetry in optimization errors is also developed. Optimization studies with various sets of convergence criteria on wing bending material weight of a high speed civil transport are used to demonstrate these techniques. First, inspection of poor designs by a visualization technique that plots objective function and constraint boundaries on planes including the suspected points, indicated that poor results were due to incomplete convergence of the optimization procedure rather than due to local minima. Results obtained with several hundred design points indicated that IRLS techniques can find most of the points with large optimization errors, but that NIRLS techniques are much more reliable in this task. Finally, the paper shows that the choice of convergence settings and parameters can have large effects on optimization errors. In particular, tighter * Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Student Member AIAA. † Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics and Engineering Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, Student Member AIAA. ‡ Professor, Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Associate Fellow AIAA. § Distinguished Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics and Engineering Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, Fellow AIAA. ¶ Professor, Departments of Computer Science and Mathematics. ** Professor and Department Head, Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Associate Fellow AIAA. Copyright  2000 by Hongman Kim. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. with permission. criteria for some parameters may actually increase optimization error.
Oral Histories in Meteoritics and Planetary Science—XXI: Donald Burnett

In this interview, Donald Burnett (Fig. 1) describes how he applied to the University of Chicago, with considerable support from his father, where he took classes from Harold Urey and was inspired by Ed Anders to pursue a career in nuclear chemistry and, later, cosmochemistry. As a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, Don learned to use charged-particle tracks as a detector for radioactive nuclei, a technique that he applied to a wide variety of problems over the next 20 years, including the neutron profile probe that was deployed on the Moon. After a one-year postdoc with William Fowler at the California Institute of Technology, he became involved with Jerry Wasserburg, who ultimately obtained a faculty position for him in the Geology Division. Since then, Don has worked on a number of fundamental problems in cosmochemistry, chronology of the solar system, the initial Pu/U abundance, fractionation of U and Pu in igneous processes, and elemental abundances. This last interest led him to advocate, propose, and lead the Genesis space mission to collect and return samples of the solar wind. The crash of the return capsule caused alarm, but some aspects of the mission were unaffected and others have been successfully handled, so that several major new results have been published: the lack of an SEP component in lunar samples, the Ne and Ar composition of the solar wind, and, most importantly, the oxygen and nitrogen isotopic composition of the Sun. Don received the Leonard Medal in 2012.
Selective Deficiency Of Prostaglandin E2 Uncovers A Dominant Effector Role For Thromboxane A2 In Allergen-induced Pulmonary Inflammation And Vascular Remodeling

S U N D A Y 550 Selective Deficiency Of Prostaglandin E2 Uncovers A Dominant Effector Role For Thromboxane A2 In Allergeninduced Pulmonary Inflammation And Vascular Remodeling T. Liu, C. Feng, T. M. Laidlaw, W. Xing, S. Shen, G. Milne, J. A. Boyce; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Jeff and Penny Vinik Center for Allergic Disease Research, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, Department of Medicine and Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. RATIONALE: Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) has prominent anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic actions in the lung. Ptges mice are deficient in PGE2 and developed exaggerated pulmonary eosinophilia and hyperplasia of the pulmonary arteriolar smooth muscle compared with PGE2-sufficient controls when challenged intranasally with low doses of a house dust mite extract (Df). We hypothesized that both pulmonary eosinophilia and remodeling observed in the setting of selective PGE2 deficiency depend on thromboxane A2 (TXA2). METHODS: Double knockout mice lacking both ptges and T prostanoid (TP) receptor (ptges/tpr mice) were generated. After six challenges with Df, bronchial alveolar lavage fluid was collected and cell differential was counted; parabronchial lymph nodewas harvested and restimulated for cytokine generation analysis; and pulmonary pathological datawas collected. E prostanoid (EP) receptor-dependent blockade of intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 induction by TP receptor stimulation was studied in vitro using human umbilical vein endothelial cells and antibody blocking of ICAM-1 was performed in vivo. RESULTS: The deletion of the TP receptor completely eliminated the increments in inflammation, vascular remodeling, effector cytokine generation, and ICAM-1 induction observed in the ptgesmice.Dysregulation of TP-dependent ICAM-1 induction was essential for the effects of PGE2 deficiency in vivo. In vitro studies demonstrated that TP receptor signaling was controlled hierarchically by EP1 and EP2 receptor-dependent pathways involving separate protein kinases. CONCLUSIONS: PGE2-mediated bronchoprotection involves prominent control of TP-dependent effector functions through a novel heterologous mechanism. TP receptor antagonism could be useful therapeutically in asthma associated with low levels of PGE2 production.
The Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Gene Harbors Sequence Variation Associated with Susceptibility to and Protection from Incident Ischemic Stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of severe disability and the third leading cause of death, accounting for one of every 15 deaths in the USA. We investigated the association of polymorphisms in the soluble epoxide hydrolase gene (EPHX2) with incident ischemic stroke in African-Americans and Whites. Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning EPHX2 were genotyped in a case-cohort sample of 1336 participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. In each racial group, Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to assess the relationship between incident ischemic stroke and EPHX2 polymorphisms. A score test method was used to investigate the association of common haplotypes of the gene with risk of ischemic stroke. In African-Americans, two common EPHX2 haplotypes with significant and opposing relationships to ischemic stroke risk were identified. In Whites, two common haplotypes showed suggestive indication of an association with ischemic stroke risk but, as in African-Americans, these relationships were in opposite direction. These findings suggest that multiple variants exist within or near the EPHX2 gene, with greatly contrasting relationships to ischemic stroke incidence; some associated with a higher incidence and others with a lower incidence.
Continuous Infusion Oral Lorazepam for Patients in the ICU

1 Kern DC, Neill MA, Wrenn DS, Varone JC. Investigation of a unique time-space cluster of sarcoidosis in firefighters. Am Rev Respir Dis 1993; 148:974-80 2 Crayston IF, Campbell LA, Kuo CC, Mordhorst CH, Saikku P, Thom DH, et al A new respiratory tract pathogen: Chiamydia pneumoniae strain TWAR. J Infect Dis 1990; 161:618-25 S Hammerschlag MR. Chlamydia pneumoniae infections [letter] Pediatr Infect Dis J 1993; 12:260-61
Bud-bank and tiller dynamics of co-occurring C3 caespitose grasses in mixed-grass prairie

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Tiller recruitment from the belowground bud bank of caespitose grasses infl uences their ability to monopolize local resources and, hence, their genet fi tness. Diff erences in bud production and outgrowth among tiller types within a genet and among species may explain co-occurrence of caespitose grasses. This study aimed to characterize genet bud-bank and tiller production and dynamics in two co-occurring species and compare their vegetative reproductive strategies. METHODS: Bud-bank and tiller dynamics of Hesperostipa comata and Nassella viridula , dominant C 3 caespitose grasses in the northern mixed-grass prairie of North America, were assessed throughout an annual cycle. KEY RESULTS: The two species showed similar strategies, maintaining polycyclic tillers and thus creating mixed-age genet bud banks comprising multiple bud cohorts produced in diff erent years. Vegetative tillers produced the majority of buds, whereas fl owering tillers contributed little to the bud bank. Buds lived for at least 2 yr and were maintained in multiple developmental stages throughout the year. Because bud longevity rarely exceeded tiller longevity, tiller longevity drove turnover within the bud bank. Tiller population dynamics, more than bud production per tiller, determined the diff erential contribution of tiller types to the bud bank. Nassella viridula had higher bud production per tiller, a consistent annual tiller recruitment density, and greater longevity of buds on senesced and fl owering tillers than H. comata . CONCLUSIONS: Co-occurring C 3 caespitose grasses had similar bud-bank and tiller dynamics contributing to genet persistence but diff ered in bud characteristics that could aff ect genet longevity and species coexistence.
PROTECTING CONSUMER INVESTORS BY FACILITATING "IMPROVED PERFORMANCE" COMPETITION

Many mutual fund shareholders invest in funds with supra-competitive fees that reduce their expected return even though lower cost alternatives are available. While financial arbitrage can correct pricing problems for other types of securities, conventional arbitrage is difficult to implement in the mutual fund market. As a result, concerns about excessive fund fees have attracted the attention of policy-makers, including the SEC. This article proposes legal reform to our system of mutual fund regulation that responds to the problem of high-cost funds by providing the investors who are making the most substantial mistakes with salient and transparent market information about the existence of superior investment alternatives. We first consider ways that regulation could be reformed to facilitate what we call “short redemption,” the mutual fund analog to “short selling” of securities. A vibrant market for short redemptions would allow smart money to arbitrage fee differences by selling (redeeming) short high fee funds while buying comparable low-fee funds. But because of predictable resistance from the shorted funds and the difficulty of obtaining shares to borrow, we conclude that the short redemption is unlikely to be sufficient arbitrage discipline of inefficient high fee funds. Instead, we propose regulatory reform that would encourage low fee funds to offer “improved performance guarantees.” An improved performance guarantee promises that the consumer will achieve a better net financial outcome if she switches from a current provider to a competitor product. The core notion is to guarantee to the consumer an improvement in relative performance. The guarantee functions as an arbitrage of high fee funds that would improve price competition in the mutual fund market. Our central claim is that lawmakers and regulators can enhance competition in mutual funds by enabling sophisticated investors to arbitrage supra-competitive
Why We Study Generations

The focal article by Costanza and Finkelstein (2015) shed a light on the current status of generational research at work that often treats generation as an age grouping variable. Although the authors primarily focused on the applicability of research findings to the current workforce, I believe the benefits of studying and understanding generations should not be limited to this purpose. The goal of this commentary is twofold. First, I would like to revisit the concept of generation and the purposes of studying generations at work. Second, given the problems with generational research presented by Costanza and Finkelstein, I would like to propose potential actions that we can take.
The Asymptotics of Nonlinear Diffusion

The asymptotic behavior of linear diffusion processes may be significantly altered by weak nonlinear effects. A method is developed for investigating such situations. Examples of both deterministic and statistical initial value problems are discussed in the one dimensional case.
Nonvisualization of Sialoliths during Sialendoscopy.

ObjectivesAnalyze the characteristics of patients undergoing interventional sialendoscopy for sialolithiasis whose stones were not visualized intraoperatively.Study DesignCase series with chart review.SettingTertiary care hospital.Subjects and MethodsPatients (n = 276) undergoing sialendoscopy between June 2008 and December 2014 were reviewed for patient characteristics, imaging characteristics, and outcomes. Nonvisualization was defined as a sialolith that was documented on imaging preoperatively but not visualized intraoperatively during sialendoscopy, despite successful ductal cannulation and evaluation.ResultsA total of 337 sialendoscopy procedures were preformed. Preoperative imaging documented a sialolith in 203 (60%) cases. Nonvisualization occurred in 31 (15%) cases with sialolith. The parotid gland was involved in 58% (18 of 31) of nonvisualization cases, as opposed to 21% (43 of 203) of all sialolith cases. The submandibular gland was involved in 42% (13 of 31) of nonvisualization cases, as comp...
Comprehensive Analysis of a Recalled Modular Total Hip System and Recommendations for Management.

Background: Recent total hip arthroplasty designs have introduced modularity at the neck-stem junction. There are reports of failure of this class of designs due to corrosion at the modular junction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate patients implanted with a recently recalled modular total hip arthroplasty system. Methods: This was a prospective study of 216 total hip arthroplasties in 195 patients performed by a single surgeon. All hips had a titanium-alloy stem, but 199 had a modular cobalt-chromium neck and seventeen were monolithic. The mean patient age was 65.4 years (range, twenty to eighty-eight years); seventy-nine were men and 116 were women. Patients were evaluated for infection and with metal ion assays and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Intraoperative tissue samples were graded, and retrieved implants were examined. Results: At a mean follow-up of 19.3 months, eighty (37%) of 216 hips had been revised. An adverse local tissue reaction (ALTR) was the cause for revision in seventy-three of these eighty hips; all had the modular neck design. Assay results for the patients requiring revision showed higher levels of cobalt (mean, 8.6 ng/mL) than chromium (mean, 1.8 ng/mL). MRI showed moderate to severe levels of synovial response in sixty-three of 166 hips. The mean ALVAL (aseptic lymphocyte-dominated vasculitis-associated lesion) score for the revised hips was 8.1. Corrosion was visible on all tapers at the neck-stem junction but not the head-neck junction. Conclusions: Early failures of modular total hip arthroplasty occur due to fretting and corrosion at the neck-stem junction, resulting in ALTR. Surveillance utilizing metal ion levels and MRI may be indicated for all patients regardless of symptoms, as the early survivorship is poor and the ultimate failure rate may be catastrophically high. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Coordination structures and supramolecular architectures in a cerium(III)-malonamide solvent extraction system.

The process chemistry and solution structures investigated in the title system bridge the three ostensibly disparate fields of separation sciences, soft matter research, and coordination chemistry. We have explored this subject with synchrotron radiation research and advanced analyses leading to original insights into aggregation phenomena in solvent extraction. Herein we present findings showing the coagulation of reverse micelles into wormlike aggregates in organic phases (N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-dibutyltetradecylmalonamide—abbreviated as DMDBTDMA—in n-dodecane) obtained by liquid–liquid extraction following contact with acidic and neutral aqueous media containing trivalent cerium. The growth of solute architectures was shown to prelude phase transition (i.e., the formation of a “third phase”). The presence of acid was shown to promote the growth of these micellar chains and, therefore, promoted third-phase formation. Acid was also shown to hydrate and swell the reverse micelle units, preorganizing them to a...
Behavioral Interventions and Anticipatory Guidance

Attention to the nutritional needs of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) starting in infancy is important to promoting optimal growth and improving quality of life. In addition to nutritional recommendations for increased energy intake, consensus statements developed by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) have highlighted the potential role of behavioral assessment and intervention in helping children reach benchmarks for normal growth. Several disease-related factors and normative aspects of child development, including challenging child behaviors encountered during mealtimes, contribute to suboptimal adherence to nutritional recommendations.
Acceptance Criteria on Hardness of WB36 Steel Pipe

A WB36 steel elbow was subjected to hardness tests using the Leeb hardness tester and the Brinell hardness tester respectively.Test results of the Leeb hardness tester were converted into those of the Brinell hardness,and comparison results indicated that the result of the Leeb hardness tester is lower.The elbow was sampled and subjected to metallographic analysis and mechanical tests.The micro-structure of the elbow is typical F+B;and the mechanical test results of the elbow are satisfactory.The relationship between strength and hardness of this material was analyzed,and the acceptance criteria on hardness of pipe fittings was discussed.
Precision measurements of the K

The masses of the ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ have been measured by use of exotic-atom x-ray transitions in Pb and W. The transitions used were free from contaminant nuclear $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays and strong-interaction effects. Two ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ transitions and three ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ transitions for each target satisfied these criteria. The results are ${M}_{{K}^{\ensuremath{-}}}=493.636\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.011$ MeV and ${M}_{{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}}=1197.532\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.057$ MeV. The precision of these measurements is greater than that of any previous experiment. When combined with previous measurements they form a consistent set.
The Chemical Reactions

The essential requirement for an effective three-way catalyst is high conversions of NOx, CO, and hydrocarbons at and near the stoichiometrically balanced exhaust composition. In general, performance is limited by low conversions of CO and hydrocarbons as the A/F is changed in the reducing (rich) direction and decreased conversion of NO(NOx) as the A/F is changed in the oxidizing (lean) direction. The narrow range of A/F around the stoichiometric point where conversions are high is commonly referred to as the operating “window”. A wide A/F range or window of high simultaneous NOx, CO, and HC conversions is a desirable catalyst characteristic because it lessens the need for tight A/F control.
Smoothed particle hydrodynamics model for pore-scale flow, reactive transport and mineral precipitation.

We have developed a pore-scale numerical reactive transport model, based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), that incorporates heterogeneous precipitation/dissolution reactions. Lagrangian particle methods such as SPH have several advantages for modeling pore-scale flow and transport: i) in a Lagrangian framework there is no non-linear term in the momentum conservation equation, so that SPH allows accurate solution of momentum dominated flows; ii) complicated physical and chemical processes associated with realistic equations of state, changes in solid boundaries due to dissolution or precipitation and chemical reactions are easy to simulate. The SPH model was used to study the general effects of porosity, pore scale heterogeneity, Damkohler numbers and Peclet numbers on reactive transport and to estimate effective reaction coefficients and mass transfer coefficients. The changes in porosity, conductivity and transport parameters resulting from mineral precipitation were also investigated. Hysteresis in the reaction rate coefficient and mass transport coefficient resulting from changing porosities, mass fluxes and reactive surface areas was observed. Flow and transport with low Damkohler numbers and high Peclet numbers was found to result in uniform precipitation. When the Damkohler number was high and the Peclet number was low, precipitation occurred mainly around the supersaturated solution injection areas. The pore-scale model was coupled with a continuum-scale reactive transport model and tested using data from a mesoscale experimental investigation of calcite precipitation in a porous medium. The results of the coupled pore-continuum modeling approach are compared to simulation results from continuum-scale modeling alone with existing formation damage models drawn from the literature, and to the experimental observations.
Robust and fast characterization of OCT-based optical attenuation using a novel frequency-domain algorithm for brain cancer detection

Cancer is known to alter the local optical properties of tissues. The detection of OCT-based optical attenuation provides a quantitative method to efficiently differentiate cancer from non-cancer tissues. In particular, the intraoperative use of quantitative OCT is able to provide a direct visual guidance in real time for accurate identification of cancer tissues, especially these without any obvious structural layers, such as brain cancer. However, current methods are suboptimal in providing high-speed and accurate OCT attenuation mapping for intraoperative brain cancer detection. In this paper, we report a novel frequency-domain (FD) algorithm to enable robust and fast characterization of optical attenuation as derived from OCT intensity images. The performance of this FD algorithm was compared with traditional fitting methods by analyzing datasets containing images from freshly resected human brain cancer and from a silica phantom acquired by a 1310 nm swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) system. With graphics processing unit (GPU)-based CUDA C/C++ implementation, this new attenuation mapping algorithm can offer robust and accurate quantitative interpretation of OCT images in real time during brain surgery.
Were Hominins in California ∼130,000 Years Ago?

ABSTRACTIn a controversial study published in Nature, Holen et al. (2017) claim that hominins fractured mastodon bones and teeth with stone cobbles in California ∼130,000 years ago. Their claim implies a human colonization of the New World more than 110,000 years earlier than the oldest widely accepted archaeological sites in the Americas. It is also at odds with genetic and fossil evidence for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) out of Africa and around the world. Recognizing the incompatibility of their claim with extant knowledge, the authors suggest that the Cerutti Mastodon locality might have been created by an as-yet unidentified archaic hominin, for which no fossil, archaeological, or genomic evidence currently exists in northeast Asia or the Americas. We assess Holen et al.’s (2017) supporting evidence and argue that such extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, which their paper and supporting materials fail to provide.
"College for All, Degrees for Few: For-Profit Colleges and Socioeconomic Inequality"

The recent expansion of for-profit colleges has opened up additional slots in higher education, but it remains unclear whether these additional slots mitigate or exacerbate the effect of family bac...
Stabilization of Standard Platinum Resistance Thermometers for Calibration on the International Temperature Scale of 1990

At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the calibration of standard platinum resistance thermometers (SPRTs) on the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) is perform...
The Year of Turning Seventy

This chapter explores recent efforts to reimagine the life cycle in a society where people are living and working longer, leading healthier lives, and eschewing traditional notions of retirement. Erik Erikson, the well-known social psychologist and my onetime Harvard professor, becomes a focus of my ambivalence about theories that map life as a linear succession of stages through which we pass rather than as a series of recurring challenges to which we repeatedly cycle back over a lifetime. Stories from my young-old age resurface the childhood tension between autonomy and dependence, as well as the determination to make a mark on the world, which I witnessed in the early childhood classroom. I find solace in identifying as young-old and new research that forefronts senior cool and gerotranscendence in the old-old.
Orientation: War Crimes Trials in Theory and Practice from the Middle Ages to the Present

War crimes trials are not a recent phenomenon. Such trials can be traced back to at least the European Middle Ages. Yet, war crimes trials since 1945 are substantively different from earlier predecessors. This chapter traces the development of the laws of war and war crimes trials from the Middle Ages to the present day. It also offers an assessment of the justifications offered for holding war crimes trials—what they are intended to achieve and what they might actually accomplish. It argues that war crimes trials work best when they focus on procedural fairness and respect for the rule of law, rather than trying to teach broad political or historical lessons.
Implementing Parental Tobacco Dependence Treatment Within Bronchiolitis QI Collaboratives.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We sought to implement systematic tobacco dependence interventions for parents and/or caregivers as secondary aims within 2 multisite quality improvement (QI) collaboratives for bronchiolitis. We hypothesized that iterative improvements in tobacco dependence intervention strategies would result in improvement in outcomes between collaboratives. METHODS: This study involved 2 separate yearlong, multisite QI collaboratives that were focused on care provided to inpatients with a primary diagnosis of bronchiolitis. In each collaborative, we provided tools and training in tobacco dependence treatment and expert coaching on interventions for parents as a secondary aim. Data were collected by chart review and results analyzed by using analysis of means and statistical process control analysis. Outcomes between collaboratives were compared by using relative risks. RESULTS: Between both collaboratives, 56 hospitals participated and 6258 inpatient charts were reviewed. In the first collaborative, 22% of identified parents who smoke received tobacco dependence interventions at baseline. This rate increased to 51% during the postintervention period, with special cause revealed by analysis of means. In the second collaborative, 31% of parents who smoke received baseline interventions. This rate increased to 53% by the conclusion of the collaborative, with special cause revealed by statistical process control analysis. The relative risk for providing any cessation intervention in 1 collaborative versus the other was 0.9 (confidence interval 0.8–1.1). CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco dependence treatment of parents and/or caregivers can be integrated into bronchiolitis QI by using relatively low-resource strategies. Using a more intensive QI intervention did not alter the rates of screening or intervention for caregivers who smoke.
Experimental and Theoretical Studies of the Chemical Shift Tensors of Phosphites and Fluorophosphates

Experimental NMR lineshape and relaxation time measurements of phosphite and monofluorophosphate salts have been carried out for both solid state and solution state samples. The chemical shift tensors for the phosphorus, proton and fluorine nuclei were measured as a function of cation, pH, solvent, temperature, concentration and extent of hydration. The P-F, P-O, and P-H bond distances all decrease as the pH is decreased (i.e. as the oxygen atoms are protonated) or as the crystalline sample becomes more hydrated. The isotropic J-coupling, the isotropic chemical shifts and the chemical shift anisotropies for the proton, phosphorus and fluorine nuclei are all dependent on the bond distance between the spin pairs (P-F or P-H). The chemical shift tensors have also been calculated from first principles for these same molecular systems using GAUSSIAN and the LORG method. It was discovered that if a sufficiently large basis set is used in the calculations, there is excellent agreement between the results obtained from the ab initio calculations and that from experimental observations for a sample of Na2PHO3. For the HPHO 3 − anion and phosphorus acid, H2PHO3, however, the agreement is poor.
Research Note: Vocal Attack Time-Extended Analysis.

Summary Normative data for vocal attack time (VAT) have previously been presented, but descriptive statistics and assessments of statistical significance of differences have previously been based on a data corpus that included both negative- and positive-valued VATs. Negative VAT values denote a glottal vocal attack, but, at the present time, the signification of the magnitude of a negative VAT value is unknown. The magnitude of a positive VAT value, on the other hand, conveys useful information about glottal behavior at the time of voice onset and is much more likely to be of use, especially in the clinical domain. We present descriptive statistics for the set of positive-valued VATs and demonstrate that the VAT differences between genders and among tone categories in Cantonese remain valid.
Fusions of Elastin-Like Polypeptides to Pharmaceutical Proteins

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are a class of stimulus-responsive biopolymers whose physicochemical properties and biocompatibility are particularly suitable for in vivo applications, such as drug delivery and tissue engineering. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior of ELPs allows them to be utilized as soluble macromolecules below their LCST, or as self-assembled nanoscale particles such as micelles, micron-scale coacervates, or viscous gels above their LCST, depending on the ELP architecture. As each ELP sequence is specified at its genetic level, functionalization of an ELP with peptides and proteins is simple to accomplish by the fusion of a gene encoding an ELP with that of the peptide or protein of interest. Protein ELP fusions, where the appended protein serves a therapeutic or targeting function, are suitable for applications in which the ELP can improve the systemic pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of the protein, or can be used as an injectable depot for sustained, local protein delivery. Here we describe considerations in the design of therapeutic protein ELP fusions and provide details of their gene design, expression, and purification.
Estimating the Tonalness of Transpositional Type Pitch-Class Sets Using Learned Tonal Key Spaces

This paper proposes a method to estimate the tonalness of a pitchclass set using transpositional types. For each set under consideration the method uses the corresponding transpositional type to generate note collections from acoustical instrument sounds and subsequently calculates a learned projection of that set into a low-dimensional space. The structure in this representation is then compared to the structure of a low-dimensional tonal key space learned from audio recordings of labeled tonal music. The term tonalness refers to how strongly the input suggests congruence to pitch use distributions in common-practice tonality. The method is tested on pitch-class sets of cardinality 3 and compared with measures from other work.
Chapter 9 Human capital: Migration and rural population change

Abstract The movement of labor out of agriculture is a universal concomitant of economic modernization and growth. Traditional migration models overlook many potential interactions between migration and development. Given imperfect markets characterizing most migrant-sending areas, migration and remittances can have far-reaching impacts, both positive and negative, on incomes and production in agricultural households. Linkages through product and factor markets transmit impacts of migration from migrant-sending households to others inside and outside the rural economy. Recent theoretical and empirical studies reveal the complexity of migration determinants and impacts in rural economies, and they point to new arenas for policy intervention.
ERP indices of performance monitoring and feedback processing in psychosis: A meta-analysis.

Abstract Background Although individuals with, or at risk for, psychotic disorders often show difficulties with performance monitoring and feedback processing, findings from studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) to index these processes are not consistent. This meta-analytic review focused on studies of two different indexes of performance monitoring, the early error-related negativity (ERN; n = 25) and the later error positivity (Pe; n = 17), and one index of feedback processing, the feedback negativity (FN; n = 6). Methods We evaluated whether individuals (1) with psychotic disorders, or (2) at heightened risk for these disorders differ from healthy controls in available studies of the ERN, Pe, and FN. Results There was a significant, large ERN reduction in those with psychosis (g = −0.96) compared to controls, and a significant, moderate ERN reduction in those at-risk (g = −0.48). In contrast, there were uniformly non-significant, small between-group differences for Pe and FN (gs ≤ |0.16|). Conclusions The results reveal a differential pattern of impairment in psychosis. Early performance monitoring (ERN) impairments are substantial among those with psychotic disorders in general and may be a useful vulnerability indicator for these disorders. However, later performance monitoring (Pe) and basic feedback processing (FN) appear to be relatively spared in psychosis.
A Casebook Section Companion to the Canon of Rational Basis Review

This model casebook section on rational basis review under the Equal Protection Clause is free and available for use with attribution. This casebook section is intended to provide students with a fuller perspective on the various inconsistent approaches that courts take to rational basis review, and how that inconsistency can be used by attorneys. For the article that this casebook section is a companion to, see Katie R. Eyer, The Canon of Rational Basis Review, 93 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1317 (2018), available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922546.
Knowledge-Based Approaches to Off-Target Screening.

Abstract Selective binding of a drug for its target vs other proteins is an important consideration in designing compounds with minimal risk of toxicity and therefore a key aspect of lead optimization. Screening all compounds against all known off-target proteins would be prohibitively expensive, so project teams must decide which compounds to screen in which assays. This chapter describes informatics-based methods that help prioritize testing, including screening minipanels and prioritization using predictive models (e-counterscreening).
Trends in Use of Electronic Health Records in Pediatric Office Settings.

Objectives To determine the prevalence and functionalities of electronic health records (EHRs) and pediatricians' perceptions of EHRs. Study design An 8-page self-administered questionnaire sent to 1619 randomly selected nonretired US American Academy of Pediatrics members in 2016 was completed by 709 (43.8%). Responses were compared with surveys in 2009 and 2012. Results The percent of pediatricians who were using EHRs increased from 58% in 2009 and 79% in 2012 to 94% in 2016. Those with fully functional EHRs, including pediatric functionality, more than doubled from 8.2% in 2012 to 16.9% in 2016 (P = .01). Fully functional EHRs lacking pediatric functionality increased slightly from 7.8% to 11.1% (P = .3), and the percentage of pediatricians with basic EHRs remained stable (30.4% to 31.0%; P Conclusions Although the adoption of EHRs has increased, >80% of pediatricians are working with EHRs that lack optimal functionality and 41% of pediatricians are not using EHRs with even basic functionality. EHRs lacking pediatric functionality impact the health of children through increased medical errors, missed diagnoses, lack of adherence to guidelines, and reduced availability of child-specific information. The pediatric certification outlined in the 21st Century Cures Act may result in improved EHR products for pediatricians.