cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nutritional dwarfing: a growth abnormality associated with reduced erythrocyte Na+,K(+)-ATPase activity.

To assess whether nonorganic nutritional dwarfing (ND) is accompanied by a biochemical adaptation to reduced nutrient intake, Na�,K'-ATPase activity of erythrocytes was examined. The study included 27 children with ND who demonstrated deteriorating linear growth and poor weight gain (caused by self-imposed dietary restrictions), 20 patients who initially exhibited ND growth patterns and subsequently expe- rienced catch-up weight gain and growth after nutritional re- habiitation (NDR), and 32 normally growing children who had familial short stature and/or constitutional growth delay (F/CSS). Na�,K�'-ATPase activity in erythrocytes was significantly lower in ND patients than in the NDR and F/CSS groups. Further- more, Na�,K�-ATPase activity was positively correlated with incremental body weight gain. Na",K�-ATPase concentrations did not differ significantly with regard to sex, chronological age, bone age, or pubertal status. These data suggest that the growth retardation of ND patients is associated with decreased eryth- rocyte Na�,K�-ATPase activity without other biochemical cvi- dence of malnutrition. Am J C/in Nuir 199 1;54:997-l004.
Autosomal dominant zonular cataract with sutural opacities is associated with a splice mutation in the betaA3/A1-crystallin gene.

PURPOSE Congenital cataracts constitute a morphologically and genetically heterogeneous group of diseases that are a major cause of childhood blindness. Autosomal Dominant Zonular Cataracts with Sutural Opacities (CCZS) have been mapped to chromosome 17q11-q12 near the betaA3A1-crystallin gene (CRYBA1). The betaA3A1-crystallin gene was investigated as the causative gene for the cataracts. METHODS The betaA3/A1-crystallin gene was sequenced in affected and control individuals. Base changes were confirmed and assayed in additional family members and controls using NlaIII restriction digestion of PCR amplified DNA sequences. Base changes were assessed for their effects on splicing by information analysis. RESULTS The cataracts are associated with a sequence change in the 5' (donor) splice site of intron 3: GC(g->a)tgagt. The sequence change also creates a new NlaIII site. This base change cosegregates with the cataracts in this family, being present in every affected individual. Conversely, this base change was not seen in 140 chromosomes examined in 70 unaffected and unrelated individuals. Information theory mutational analysis shows that the base change lowers the information content of the splice site from 6.0 to -6.8 bits, so that splicing would not be expected to occur at the altered site. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these observations suggest that the observed mutation might be causally related to the cataracts in this family.
Multiple potassium and chloride channels in the human colon carcinoma cell line SW1116.

SW1116 cells have a profound capacity for secreting mucin molecules bearing the Lewisa epitope. Mucin molecules with the same epitope have been found to be elevated in the serum of patients with cystic fibrosis, a disease with defective ion channels. We therefore decided to study ion channels in this cell line. In the present work, we report the presence of two K+-channels and two Cl−channels in the apical membrane of SW1116 cells. One of the K+-channels has a large conductance (≈ 278 pS), anomalous rectifying properties, and is inactivated rapidly. The second type exhibited a linear I/V curve (19 pS), was voltage insensitive and inactivation was not observed. In cell-attached patches, spontaneous openings of chloride channels were seen with higher frequency than previously reported in other colon carcinoma cell lines or airway epithelial cells. Inside-out experiments allowed identification of two different Cl−-channels (Cl−-1 and Cl−-2). Both exhibited rectification, but in opposite directions, and both ...
Changing What We Eat with the Fingers

Some cuisines are only eaten with fingers, especially cuisines of the African descent. Fingers can also be a more effective and elegant "utensil" for eating particular foods. Eating with our fingers actually gives us a grander pleasure for the food. Not only do we taste it, but we feel its texture and interact with the food in a special way. However, the fingers about to change the food we eat are not human fingers. They are known as Zinc Fingers, naturally occurring proteins that can be used in a cell nucleus like the way an editor uses ‘track changes' in word processing. Various scientists have described zinc fingers as “molecular scissors”. This article is a popular science writing attempting to address the implications of the advances in Zinc Finger Nuclease technology on the food we eat to the understanding of the non-scientist.
Trends in the Costs of Care for Elderly Colorectal Patients in the United States, 1991 to 2002

In the United States, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. 68% of newly diagnosed CRCs occur in persons age 65 and older. As the US population ages, the increasing number of CRCs in the elderly will place a great burden on the national Medicare program. This study assesses trends from 1991-2002 in the costs of CRC care during the initial year of diagnosis and the last year of life. Data about individual cancer patients came from the National Cancer Institute's program of cancer registries linked to each person's Medicare health care claims. Medicare payments serve as a measure of direct medical costs and are expressed in 2002 US dollars. Payments were adjusted for inflation and geographical differences in costs using Medicare program price indices for Part A and Part B payments. During the initial year of diagnosis, costs were calculated for total services, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation oncology and hospitalizations. For the last year of life, costs included total services, hospitalizations, nursing home, home health, hospice and chemotherapy. From 1991-2002, the mean cost of CRC care during the year following diagnosis increased 17%, from $34,576 in 1991 to $40,552 in 2002. Chemotherapy showed the greatest change, a 35% increase from 1991-2002 in the cost per person treated. During the last year of life, mean total costs increased 81%, from $22,600 in 1991 to $41,000 in 2002. Hospice care grew from 5% to 14% of total costs. Chemotherapy costs increased from a mean $700 in 1991 to $9,200 in 2002. Costs of CRC care have increased significantly from 1991-2002, with the greater increases in the last year of life. Chemotherapy costs increased markedly for both initial and end of life care. However, hospital related expenses still accounted for the greatest portion of total Medicare payments. These data pre-date the introduction of new, extremely expensive chemotherapy agents. In time, chemotherapy costs may equal hospital costs.
H2AX phosphorylation and DNA damage kinase activity are dispensable for herpes simplex virus replication

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) can establish both lytic and latent infections in humans. The phosphorylation of histone H2AX, a common marker of DNA damage, during lytic infection by HSV-1 is well established. However, the role(s) of H2AX phosphorylation in lytic infection remain unclear. Following infection of human foreskin fibroblasts by HSV-1 or HSV-2, we assayed the phosphorylation of H2AX in the presence of inhibitors of transcription, translation, or viral DNA replication, or in the presence of inhibitors of ATM and ATR kinases (KU-55933 and VE-821, respectively). We also assayed viral replication in fibroblasts in the presence of the kinase inhibitors or siRNAs specific for ATM and ATR, as well as in cell lines deficient for either ATR or ATM. The expression of viral immediate-early and early proteins (including the viral DNA polymerase), but not viral DNA replication or late protein expression, were required for H2AX phosphorylation following HSV-1 infection. Inhibition of ATM kinase activity prevented HSV-stimulated H2AX phosphorylation but had only a minor effect on DNA replication and virus yield in HFF cells. These results differ from previous reports of a dramatic reduction in viral yield following chemical inhibition of ATM in oral keratinocytes or following infection of ATM−/− cells. Inhibition of the closely related kinase ATR (whether by chemical inhibitor or siRNA disruption) had no effect on H2AX phosphorylation and reduced viral DNA replication only moderately. During infection by HSV-2, H2AX phosphorylation was similarly dispensable but was dependent on both ATM activity and viral DNA replication. H2AX phosphorylation represents a cell type-specific and virus type-specific host response to HSV infection with little impact on viral infection.
Congestion pricing strategies to investigate the potential of route diversion on toll facilities using en-route guidance

The application of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies to facilitate the traffic mobility requires dynamic routing decisions. This study examines the effectiveness of Paramics, a microscopic traffic simulation model that uses a link-to-link shortest path algorithm to consider both updated link travel times and incident conditions detected through different traffic assignment techniques. This paper describes modeling of an urban highway network's traffic conditions to investigate potential route diversion through congestion pricing strategies on toll facilities in Orlando, Florida using Paramics. The experimental design included a multi-level factorial design with three qualitative variables and four response quantitative variables. The experiment's objective was to investigate different scenarios for reducing tolls on less congested roads (SR528 and SR417) and increasing tolls on more congested roads (SR408) to determine the impact on travelers' route choices and overall congestion in the network. The simulation results demonstrate that the Dynamic Feedback Assignment (DFB) led to a reduction in the average queuing delay and average travel time when compared to results from the Stochastic Assignment (SA). DFB significantly affected the percentage of diversion in the network. Drivers saved 10%–16% of travel time when DFB information was provided. Results also show that percentages of route diversion vary from one route to another and depending on the travel cost between specific origin-destination pairs. While drivers incorporate real time guidance information to maximize their own utility, not all drivers gain the same benefit. This was attributed to the limited extra capacity of the alternative routes and the longer travel distance. Combining congestion pricing strategies with traffic information maximize travel time benefits.
Dual redundant sensor FDI techniques applied to the NASA F8C DFBW aircraft

An onboard failure detection and identification (FDI) technique for dual redundant sensors on the NASA F8C digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) aircraft is presented. The failure of one of a pair of sensors of the same type is detected by a direct redundancy trigger which observes the difference between the outputs of these two sensors. Identification of the failed sensor is accomplished utilizing the analytic redundancy that exists as kinematic and functional relationships among the variables being measured by dissimilar instruments. In addition, identification of generic failures, common to both instruments of a given type, is accomplished by using a time trigger to periodically initiate analytic redundancy failure identification tests for individual sensors. The basic form of these tests is the comparison of the measurement of a variable using the suspect instrument with another measurement of the same variable obtained using other instrument types.
Factors in Hemolysis

During an investigation in hemolysis, extending over about three years, a number of unsuspected phenomena have been encountered. The discovery of these phenomena has modified the original comparatively simple concept of hemolytic serum, so that in place of the two components at first regarded as the only active substances in such serum, at least a dozen components are now recognized.1 Some of these components have been found under certain conditions to be beyond experimental control, and unrecognized, to introduce serious error in hemolytic investigation. The experimental work, of which this paper is in a way a summary, was done with goat serum immunized against sheep corpuscles. The substances herein enumerated, therefore, must be regarded as found only in such serum. These substances are: i. Amboceptor. A specific, thermostable substance, or group of substances, formed in goat serum in response to repeated injections of washed sheep corpuscles. This substance is not destroyed by heating to 600 C. for several hours, or by standing at ordinary temperatures for months. Amboceptor is a necessary factor for the hemolysis of sheep corpuscles by goat serum; hemolysis not taking place in its absence, regardless of the number or the amount of the other serum components present. The action of amboceptor is not understood. The current belief that it is absorbed by corpuscles rests on doubtful experimental grounds, as the quantitative analysis of an amboceptor containing goat serum that has once been in contact with sheep corpuscles is at present out of the question.2 One can only say that contact with amboceptor in some way renders sheep corpuscles susceptible to
Infectious disease issues in the emergency department.

Infectious disease management issues facing the emergency physician are frequently different from those confronted by the infectious diseases specialist working in an office or as an inhospital consultant. Community-acquired infections in both children and adults are evaluated primarily in the emergency department, where the spectrum of disease includes myriad benign infections as well as occasional life-threatening conditions. Not unexpectedly, because culture and antimicrobial-susceptibility findings are not available during initial evaluation, emergency department diagnoses are typically presumptive; thus, antimicrobials are prescribed empirically or, for various types of trauma, prophylactically. Decisions regarding the need for hospitalization are routinely made in this setting. Emergency department practitioners also have unusually high exposure to a number of communicable infectious diseases. Although emergency medicine is a field of great breadth, research focusing on infectious disease issues has created a new niche of growing depth. In this state-of-the-art clinical article, infectious disease research with important bearing on emergency and outpatient care will be reviewed in order to acquaint the infectious diseases consultant with some of the many issues commonly confronted in this unique setting.
Nonwoven polyester web as a flexible electrical insulation

The development of the polyester nonwoven mat has culminated many years of searching for a high performance backing suitable for flexible electrical insulation. With the use of polyester fibers, a backing superior to cotton in moisture and thermal resistance was possible. The polyester nonwoven mat also overcame the deficiencies of glass fabric in conformability and retention of dielectric strength after crease. These desirable characteristics have given the insulation systems based on polyester nonwoven mat a major position in today's insulation market.
Fibroids and Infertility

The precise impact of fibroids, which are the most common benign gynaecological tumours in women, on reproductive function and infertility is unknown. The need to treat submucosal fibroids is widely accepted, but fibroids in other locations and sizes continue to present a clinical conundrum. This article examines the mechanisms by which fibroids affect implantation and fertility, and stratifies their impact on basis of size, location and nature. It also explores the evidence base of the available treatment modalities in specific relation to improving fertility outcomes. Traditionally, a myomectomy has been advocated to treat fibroids for the reproductive population; however, as well as evaluating the benefits of surgery including endoscopic, this article explores alternative therapies including medical and radiological interventions.
State of the Study on Metal Matrix Composites Fabricated by Casting

The fabrication of metal matrix composites(MMCs)by using casting technique is accepted as a promis- ing route for large quantity production.The routes to product MMCs reinforced by particulates,whiskers or discontinuous fibers are detailedly described in this paper and their effects on performances of MMCs is discussed too.The existent problems in the process and the latest development of metal matrix composites prepared by liquid metallurgy technique are analyzed.A new direction for producing metal matrix composite is proposed at the end of this paper.
Empirical Analysis on Constraint of Household Income Gap on Economic Growth

The household income gap in China tends to enlarge since 1985.The inequality of income becomes constraint on China economic growth.This paper measures the household income gap with adjusted household income ratio and analyzes its constraint level and effects on economics growth.
The influence of framed messages and self-affirmation on indoor tanning behavioral intentions in 18- to 30-year-old women.

Objective To investigate the effects of gain- and loss-framed indoor tanning (IT) prevention messages among young adult women, and examine the potential moderating effect of self-affirmation. Method Young adult women ages 18 to 30 who reported IT at least once in the past year (n = 475) participated in an online experiment. Participants first completed assessments of IT behavior and related constructs and were randomized to either a self-affirmation manipulation or control condition. Then, participants were randomized to either a gain-framed message emphasizing the benefits of avoiding IT or a loss-framed message emphasizing the risks of IT. Participants completed outcome measures of intentions to IT, intentions to quit IT, and emotional and cognitive responses to the framed messages. Results Compared with gain-framed messages, loss-framed messages led to weaker intentions to IT and stronger intentions to quit IT. Self-affirmation did not moderate message framing effects, but had a main effect increasing intentions to IT. Mediation analyses indicate that loss-framed messages affect IT behavioral intentions by increasing fear, and self-affirmation may have increased intentions to IT by producing defensive reactions to the framed messages. Conclusions Loss-framed messages were more effective for reducing intentions to IT and promoting intentions to quit IT among young women after a brief exposure, and emotional response appears to be 1 pathway through which loss-framed messages affect behavioral outcomes. Messages emphasizing the risks of IT may be optimal as a public health intervention strategy. Unlike other behavioral domains, self-affirmation did not reduce defensive processing of loss-framed messages.
An Overview of Pulmonary Fungal Infections

An overview of important pulmonary mycoses is presented. Four endemic mycoses occur in restricted geographic areas: histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Three opportunistic mycoses have causative agents that are ubiquitous in nature but cause infection only in compromised hosts: aspergillosis, mucormycosis, and candidiasis. Cryptococcosis is acquired by inhalation but usually presents as a chronic meningitis. Pulmonary sporotrichosis is rare; the usual subcutaneous form of the disease is acquired by inoculation. The clinical features of these infections are discussed, with special emphasis on recent advances in diagnosis and treatment.
Social factors, alcohol expectancy, and drinking behavior: A comparison of two college campuses

ABSTRACTBackground: Though college students have high rates of heavy drinking, few studies have examined the various pathways through which risks affect drinking and whether this varies by institution. We examined whether alcohol expectancy mediates the relationship between social factors (i.e., hooking up, friends drinking, Greek affiliation, entitlement) and drinking behavior comparing college students from one Midwestern and one Southeastern university. Methods: In the 2013–14 academic year, 1,482 college students (51% female) enrolled in undergraduate courses at two public universities completed a paper and pencil survey of attitudes and experiences about dating, sexuality, and substance use. Multiple group path analysis was used to compare two institutions. Results: Drinking behavior was positively associated with hooking up more often, Greek affiliation, being male, having close friends who consume more alcohol, and greater alcohol expectancies. We found unique differences in the mediating pathways ...
On the use of Pilot-Assisted Matched Filtering in UWB Time-Interleaved Sampling

A Software Defined Radio for Ultra Wideband (UWB) communication systems places several stringent requirements on the Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC). In particular, the ADC must have sufficiently high sampling frequency?typically ypically on the order of several gigasamples per second?to accurately reconstruct the received UWB pulse. An alternative approach to using a single expensive ADC with the above features is to sample the received signal with an array of lower speed ADCs driven by time-interleaved (TI) sampling clocks, allowing the array to operate as if it were a single ADC with a much higher effective sampling frequency. However, ADC timing, gain and offset mismatches represent significant design challenges in such architectures. In this paper, we investigate the use of a pilot-based matched-filter architecture in mitigating the impact of ADC gain, offset, and timing mismatches. The analytical results derived in this paper (a) demonstrate the efficacy of a pilot-based matched filter in mitigating the impact of timing mismatch errors on a TI-ADC array, and (b) allow for the design specification of the number of pilots required in order to achieve desired system performance.
Management of Upper Extremity Injury in Divers

Modern competitive diving-especially platform diving-applies dramatic stress to the upper extremity. Some stress occurs during handstand-style takeoffs, but more force is delivered to the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder during hands-first entry. Hand positions that minimize the amount of splash result in forceful wrist extension. This repetitive impact can lead to chronic upper extremity pain and acute injuries that require operative intervention. Many divers use taping and bracing to prevent or treat this type of injury, but these are only modestly effective. Although minor injuries can improve with conservative management, carpal fractures and ligamentous injuries often require operative intervention.
The effect of radar azimuth angle on cultural data

Emphasis is placed on the role that the orientation of observed features has on the grey tone of the resulting positive image. As an example it is shown that in the Los Angeles urbanized region, large areas have significantly lower grey tones than adjacent areas having similar land cover. It is determined that this effect is the result of the angle difference between the radar azimuth and the street pattern and especially the orientation of the walls of the structures imaged. Therefore, knowledge of this information is essential in order to ensure accurate interpretation of radar imagery. It is concluded that for radar systems operated from platforms which have fixed azimuth angles (e.g., satellite systems such as Seasat-A), an interpretation methodology, which considers street patterns, is considered especially critical for proper and accurate SAR imagery.
The 1983 Akita-Oki Earthquake (Mw = 7.8) and Its Implications for Systematics of Subduction Earthquakes

The source parameters of the May 26, 1983, earthquake off the coast of Akita prefecture (02h59m59.6sUT, 40.462°N, 139.102°E, 24 km, m b = 6.8, M S = 7.7) determined from long-period surface waves are: 1st nodal plane; dip = 30° (E21°S), slip angle = 115°; 2nd nodal plane; dip = 63° (W7°S), slip angle = 76°; Seismic moment = 5.9 × 1027 dyne cm (M W = 7.8). This mechanism is consistent with a plate model, recently suggested by several investigators, that places the boundary between the Eurasian and North American plates along the Japan Sea Coast of Honshu Island, Japan. Within the framework of this model, Honshu, Hokkaido and Sakhalin reside on the North American plate, and the Akita-Oki event represents subduction of the Eurasian plate beneath the North American Plate. The convergence rate V between the North American and Eurasia plates is 1.1 cm/year along the Japan Sea Coast of Honshu and the age T of the plate being subducted is estimated to be about 20 M years. For these values of V and T, a previously determined empirical relation between earthquake magnitude, convergence rate and plate age for large earthquakes at subduction zones predicts a magnitude (M W) of 8.0 which agrees very well with that of the Akita-Oki earthquake. This good agreement between the observed and predicted values of M W suggests that the empirical relation is valid for subduction zones with very small T and V such as the Juan de Fuca subduction zone, Pacific Northwest, for which V = 3 to 4 cm/year, T = 10 to 15 M years and M W = 8.4 has been estimated.
An in-house protocol for improved flood field calibration of TrueBeam FFF cine imaging.

Purpose TrueBeams equipped with the 40 × 30 cm2 Electronic Portal Imaging Devices (EPIDs) are prone to image saturation at the image center when used with flattening filter free (FFF) photon energies. While cine imaging during treatment may not saturate because the beam is attenuated by the patient, the flood field calibration is affected when the standard calibration procedure is followed. Here, we describe the hardware and protocol to achieve improved image quality for this model of TrueBeam EPID. Materials & methods A stainless steel filter of uniform thickness was designed to have sufficient attenuation to avoid panel saturation. The cine imaging flood field calibration was acquired with the filter in place for the FFF energies under the standard calibration geometry (SID = 150 cm). Image quality during MV cine was assessed with & without the modified flood field calibration using a low contrast resolution phantom and an anthropomorphic phantom. Results When the flood field is acquired without the filter in place, a pixel gain artifact is clearly present in the image center which may be mis-attributed to panel saturation in the subject image. At the image center, the artifact obscured all low contrast inserts and was also visible on the anthropomorphic phantom. Using the filter for flood field calibration eliminates the artifact. Conclusion TrueBeams equipped with the 40 × 30 cm2 IDU can utilize a modified flood field calibration procedure for FFF photon energies that improves image quality for cine MV imaging.
Potential of satellite-based land emissivity estimates for the detection of high-latitude freeze and thaw states

Reliable detection of freeze and thaw (FT) states is crucial for the terrestrial water cycle, biogeochemical transitions, carbon and methane feedback to the atmosphere, and for the surface energy budget and its associated impacts on the global climate system. This paper is novel in that for the first time a unique approach to examine the potential of passive microwave remotely sensed land emissivity and its added values of being free from the atmospheric effects and being sensitive to surface characteristics is being applied to the detection of FT states for latitudes north of 35°N. Since accurate characterizations of the soil state are highly dependent on land cover types, a novel threshold-based approach specific to different land cover types is proposed for daily FT detection from the use of 3 years (August 2012 to July 2015) of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 land emissivity estimates. Ground-based soil temperature observations are used as reference to develop threshold values for FT states. Preliminary evaluation of the proposed approach with independent ground observations over Alaska for the year 2015 shows that the use of land emissivity estimates for high-latitude FT detection is promising.
Neurocognitive Functioning in Young Adults with Subclinical Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Despite reasonable knowledge of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), little is known of its cognitive antecedents. In this study, we evaluated executive functioning and decision-making in people at risk of developing BDD using neuropsychological tests. Participants were non-treatment seeking volunteers (18–29 years) recruited from the general community, and split into two groups: those “at risk” of developing BDD (N = 5) and controls (N = 82). Participants undertook the One-Touch Stockings of Cambridge, Cambridge Gamble and Spatial Working Memory tasks and were assessed with the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire. Results showed that the at-risk subjects performed significantly worse on a measure of executive function, whereas measures of risk-seeking behavior, quality of decision-making, and spatial working memory were largely intact. The findings suggest that selective cognitive dysfunction may already be present in terms of executive functioning in those at risk of developing BDD, even before psychopathology arises.
Perspectives on the Use of Comparative Effectiveness Research by Life Sciences Executives: An Interview with a Senior Executive at an International Life Science Company

A Senior Executive at a major pharmaceutical company discusses his experience in managing a health economics and outcomes global department. He considers factors which have impacted his decision-making, how comparative effectiveness research evidence use and methodology has evolved over time, and how such evidence is strategically used within a multinational company and in interactions with diverse payers/payer systems and regulatory agencies across the world.
AG488 as a therapy against gliomas.

// Jadith Ziegler 1, 2 , Anja Bastian 3 , Megan Lerner 4 , Lora Bailey-Downs 3 , Debra Saunders 1 , Nataliya Smith 1 , Jake Sutton 1 , James D. Battiste 5 , Michael A. Ihnat 3 , Aleem Gangjee 6 and Rheal A. Towner 1, 2, 3, 5 1 Advanced Magnetic Resonance Center, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA 2 Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA 4 Department of Surgery Research Laboratory, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA 5 Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA 6 Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Correspondence to: Rheal A. Towner, email: Rheal-Towner@omrf.org Keywords: gliomas, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in vivo , anti-cancer therapy, angiogenesis Received: February 13, 2017 Accepted: May 05, 2017 Published: May 30, 2017 ABSTRACT High-grade gliomas such as glioblastomas (GBM) present a deadly prognosis following diagnosis and very few effective treatment options. Here, we investigate if the small molecule AG488 can be an effective therapy against GBM with both anti-angiogenic as well as an anti-microtubule inhibiting modalities, using a human G55 glioma xenograft model in nude mice. From in vitro studies, we report that AG488 incubation reduced cell viability in G55 and HMEC-1 cells more so than TMZ treatment, and AG488 treatment also decreased cell viability in normal astrocytes, but not as much as for G55 cells (p<0.0001). In vivo investigations indicated that AG488 therapy helped reduce tumor volumes (p<0.0001), prolong survival (p<0.01), increase tumor perfusion (p<0.01), and decrease microvessel density (MVD) (p<0.05), compared to untreated mice or mice treated with non-specific IgG, in the G55 xenograft model. Additionally, AG488 did not induce apoptosis in normal mouse brain tissue. Animal survival and tumor volume changes for AG488 were comparable to TMZ or anti-VEGF therapies, however AG488 was found to be more effective in decreasing tumor-related vascularity (perfusion and MVD). AG488 is a potential novel therapy against high-grade gliomas.
Differences in Renal Tumor Size Measurements for Computed Tomography Versus Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Implications for Patients on Active Surveillance.

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate and compare the accuracy of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting the final pathologic tumor size of partial nephrectomy specimens. Materials and Methods: We analyzed a multi-institutional database of 807 patients who underwent robotic partial nephrectomy for a cT1a renal mass from 2006 to 2016. Patients who had a solitary tumor with complete data on the baseline imaging modality and the tumor size (baseline and pathologic) (n = 349) were included for analysis. Baseline tumor size evaluated by both imaging modalities, in addition to the difference between the measurements and final pathologic tumor size (cm) measurements, was compared between patients who received a baseline CT (n = 276, 79.1%) and those who received an MRI (n = 73, 20.9%). Results: There were no statistically significant differences between any baseline characteristics and receipt of a CT versus MRI. In multivariable analysis adjusting for confounders, there was no signi...
Repurposing Auranofin, Ebselen, and PX-12 as Antimicrobial Agents Targeting the Thioredoxin System

As microbial resistance to drugs continues to rise at an alarming rate, finding new ways to combat pathogens is an issue of utmost importance. Development of novel and specific antimicrobial drugs is a time-consuming and expensive process. However, the re-purposing of previously tested and/or approved drugs could be a feasible way to circumvent this long and costly process. In this review, we evaluate the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tested drugs auranofin, ebselen, and PX-12 as antimicrobial agents targeting the thioredoxin system. These drugs have been shown to act on bacterial, fungal, protozoan, and helminth pathogens without significant toxicity to the host. We propose that the thioredoxin system could serve as a useful therapeutic target with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity.
Building a Community of First Year Students Improves Student Retention and Performance in Computing Courses: (Abstract Only)

First-year, college-level computing courses are gateway courses with low passing rates, resulting in student attrition and transfers out of computer science degrees. Learning Communities (LC) are a group of students who enroll in two or more courses, generally in different disciplines that are linked together by a common theme, in an academic semester. LCs capture and combine two important parts of college life: education and student cooperation. At our institution we have implemented a LC linking three first-year courses (Introduction to Computer Systems, CS0; Problem Solving with Computer Programming, CS1; and English Composition I) for over five years. In this study, we empirically show the pedagogical impact of LCs on student academic retention and performance outcomes in first-year computing courses (CS0 and CS1). We compared performance, attendance and study habits of students taking the computer courses as part of a LC (LC group) with students taking the same courses outside the LC (nLC group). Our results show that when first-year students take computing courses as part of the LC, retention rates increase and students perform significantly better. For example, student performance in three basic programming skills (sequence, selection and repetition) increases significantly from 66% (nLC; n = 146) to 82% (LC; n = 112) when students take the CS1 course as part of a LC. We also found that LCs promote class attendance and that the nature of students' relationships with classmates may play a critical role in the improvement of student performance observed in LC students.
Non-Uniform and Absolute Minimal Sampling for High-Throughput Multidimensional NMR Applications.

Many biomolecular NMR applications can benefit from the faster acquisition of multidimensional NMR data with high resolution and their automated analysis and interpretation. In recent years, a number of non-uniform sampling (NUS) approaches have been introduced for the reconstruction of multidimensional NMR spectra, such as compressed sensing, thereby bypassing traditional Fourier-transform processing. Such approaches are applicable to both biomacromolecules and small molecules and their complex mixtures and can be combined with homonuclear decoupling (pure shift) and covariance processing. For homonuclear 2D TOCSY experiments, absolute minimal sampling (AMS) permits the drastic shortening of measurement times necessary for high-throughput applications for identification and quantification of components in complex biological mixtures in the field of metabolomics. Such TOCSY spectra can be comprehensively represented by graphic theoretical maximal cliques for the identification of entire spin systems and their subsequent query against NMR databases. Integration of these methods in webservers permits the rapid and reliable identification of mixture components. Recent progress is reviewed in this Minireview.
Abstract 15279: The Response to Valsalva Maneuver Predicts Left Ventricular Filling Pressures in Patients With Heart Failure, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Cardiac Transplant Recipients

Introduction: The blood pressure response to Valsalva maneuver (VM) can reliably assess volume status and filling pressures (FPs) in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). H...
Upstanding by Design: Bystander Intervention in Cyberbullying

Although bystander intervention can mitigate the negative effects of cyberbullying, few bystanders ever attempt to intervene. In this study, we explored the effects of interface design on bystander intervention using a simulated custom-made social media platform. Participants took part in a three-day, in-situ experiment, in which they were exposed to several cyberbullying incidents. Depending on the experimental condition, they received different information about the audience size and viewing notifications intended to increase a sense of personal responsibility in bystanders. Results indicated that bystanders were more likely to intervene indirectly than directly, and information about the audience size and viewership increased the likelihood of flagging cyberbullying posts through serial mediation of public surveillance, accountability, and personal responsibility. The study has implications for understanding bystander effect in cyberbullying, and how to develop design solutions to encourage bystander intervention in social media.
Tensorize, Factorize and Regularize: Robust Visual Relationship Learning

Visual relationships provide higher-level information of objects and their relations in an image - this enables a semantic understanding of the scene and helps downstream applications. Given a set of localized objects in some training data, visual relationship detection seeks to detect the most likely "relationship" between objects in a given image. While the specific objects may be well represented in training data, their relationships may still be infrequent. The empirical distribution obtained from seeing these relationships in a dataset does not model the underlying distribution well - a serious issue for most learning methods. In this work, we start from a simple multi-relational learning model, which in principle, offers a rich formalization for deriving a strong prior for learning visual relationships. While the inference problem for deriving the regularizer is challenging, our main technical contribution is to show how adapting recent results in numerical linear algebra lead to efficient algorithms for a factorization scheme that yields highly informative priors. The factorization provides sample size bounds for inference (under mild conditions) for the underlying [object, predicate, object] relationship learning task on its own and surprisingly outperforms (in some cases) existing methods even without utilizing visual features. Then, when integrated with an end-to-end architecture for visual relationship detection leveraging image data, we substantially improve the state-of-the-art.
Directly measuring aerosol absorption using photothermal interferometry (PTI)

The importance of elucidating the direct and indirect effects of aerosol radiative forcing is now recognized as a significant component of our global climate forecasting models that must be better understood and quantified. Of particular interest is that of aerosol forcing through the so-called "direct" effect of aerosol absorption and scattering. This forcing can be of a magnitude comparable to those induced by anthropogenically-released greenhouse gases, yet can be either the opposite sign [negative (cooling)] or same sign [positive (warming)]. However, despite focused work on this issue, significant discrepancies on aerosol absorption still exist between measurements inferred from remote sensing and those obtained by in situ techniques. This is due, in large part, to the simple fact that the scattering channel dominates aerosol extinction, and thereby, makes measurement of the absorption difficult. An alternative method to measuring aerosol absorption will be presented: measurement of the thermal dissipation of the spectrally absorbed energy through interferometry. The use of this coherent optical detection technique is particularly well suited to measuring the refractive index change that accompanies this energy transfer process. [1,2] This technique was even demonstrated towards measuring aerosol absorption in the mid-1980s [3]. Attractive features of this technique for measuring aerosol absorption include its insensitivity to aerosol scattering, its ability to conduct the measurement in situ, its inherent high sensitivity, and near real-time response. A discussion on the theoretical basis for this technique along with some preliminary data will be presented. Potential applications of this instrument to environmental security problems will also be discussed.
Jingle, Jangle, and Conceptual Haziness: Evolution and Future Directions of the Engagement Construct

This chapter serves as an introduction to the history and study of student engagement. We describe the evolution of the construct of engagement and disciplinary differences in theories and use of the engagement construct. We highlight how our work on engagement, arising out of dropout intervention, has changed over the last decade. In addition, we delineate current issues in the study of engagement. The chapter ends with a discussion of future directions to advance the theoretical and applied use of student engagement to enhance outcomes for youth.
Durable Control of Stem Rust (Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici) in North American Spring Wheat

There have been no significant losses from stem rust (causal agent: Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici) in the spring wheat crop of the U.S.A and Canada since 1954 nor in other wheat areas of the United States since 1965. This appears due to a combination of barberry eradication and the continuing use of varying oligogenic resistance.
Non-orthogonal configuration interaction with single substitutions for the calculation of core-excited states

In this paper, we present the non-orthogonal configuration interaction singles (NOCIS) method for calculating core-excited states of closed-shell molecules. NOCIS is a black-box variant of NOCI, which uses A different core-ionized determinants for a molecule with A atoms of a given element to form single substitutions. NOCIS is a variational, spin-pure, size-consistent ab initio method that dramatically improves on standard CIS by capturing essential orbital relaxation effects, in addition to essential configuration interaction. We apply it to the calculation of core-excitations for several smaller molecules and demonstrate that it performs competitively with other Hartree-Fock and DFT-based methods. We also benchmark it in several basis sets.
Observation Points on State Variables for the Compaction of Multicycle Tests

Multicycle tests support test compaction by including several functional capture cycles in every test. However, even highly compacted multicycle test sets typically contain single-cycle or two-cycle tests for faults that cannot be detected using tests with larger numbers of clock cycles. An analysis of such tests reveals that the tests can be extended to include larger numbers of functional capture cycles if observation points are placed in the circuit. Moreover, the analysis shows that it is sufficient to place observation points on selected present-state or next-state variables. This is advantageous for the detection of delay faults without changing the paths they traverse. Based on this analysis, this brief describes a test compaction procedure for multicycle tests that places observation points on present-state variables in order to enable additional test compaction. Experimental results demonstrate the existence of cases where the observation points are effective in reducing the number of tests in a test set that is already highly compacted.
Applying the FRFT to an OFDM System for Li-Fi : A Design Experiment for Peace Engineering Education

Peace engineering is a new window in science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) programs that educates STEM students and engineers to consider how their engineering products, solutions and designs impacts the society and economy. This paper presents a design experiment that can be used for both peace education and engineering. Visible Light Communication (VLC) and Li-Fi can provide cheaper access to Internet and communications. On the other hand, it is environment friendly and is considered as green communications.This paper presents a novel multi-carrier communication (MCM) system based on orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) called fractional OFDM (FR-OFDM). The designed system introduces the angular parameter ,α, which is the paramter that relates Fourier transform (FT) and fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) together. Introduced in the Fourier Transform (FT), parameter α, allows to map the input signal onto a time-frequency domain. This mapping is achieved by applying a rotation directly to the kernel of Fourier transform.For the first time we have studied the impact of FR-OFDM on LI-Fi and VLC. What makes our work unique is that we carried out experiments with NI-USRP and LEDs and LED drivers. The experimental results approves the impact of FR-OFDM on the bit error rate (BER) for VLC systems. We ran experiements for different rotation angles of FRFT (α = 0.3π, 0.75π, 0.5π, 0.9π). We observed that the BER changes when the data is pre-modulated with FR-OFDM. For this experiment the two LEDS experienced a linear channel model with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The measurement results shows that the best BER is acheived for rotation angle α = 0.5π.