cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Engagement in Social Activities and Progression from Mild to Severe Cognitive Impairment: The MYHAT Study

Background: It is of considerable public health importance to prevent or delay the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to more severely impaired cognitive states. This study examines the risk of progression from mild to severe cognitive impairment in relation to engagement in social activities while mildly impaired and the concurrence of subsequent change in engagement with MCI progression.Methods: Participants were 816 older adults with cognitively defined MCI (mean age 78.0 (standard deviation or SD = 7.4) years) from the Monongahela–Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team (MYHAT) Study – a prospective cohort study of MCI in the community. Over three years of follow-up, 78 individuals progressed from MCI to severe cognitive impairment, while 738 did not progress. Risk of progression was estimated using discrete time survival analyses. The main predictors were standardized composite measures of the variety and frequency of engagement in social activities.Results: Lower risk of progression from mild to severe cognitive impairment was associated with both a greater level of frequency of engagement in social activities while mildly impaired (OR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.55–0.93, p = 0.01) and also with a slower rate of decline in the variety of activities over time (OR = 0.01, 95% CI: <0.001–0.38, p = 0.02).Conclusions: Greater engagement in social activities may potentially be beneficial for preventing or delaying further cognitive decline among older adults with MCI. Alternatively, lesser engagement in social activities may be a marker of impending cognitive decline in MCI.
HADRONIC DECAYS OF THE D(S)+ MESON

The D/sub s//sup +/ is the lowest-lying pseudoscalar meson containing charm and anti-strange quarks. Evidence for this state was first reported in 1977, although more recent observations disagree with some of the early results. Since 1983 the weakly decaying D/sub s//sup +/ has been observed in many experiments. Relative branching fractions have been measured for many non-leptonic decay modes, including D/sub s//sup +/ /yields/ /phi//pi//sup +/, /phi//pi//sup +//pi//sup +//pi//sup /minus//, /bar K/*/sup 0/K/sup +/, and f/sub 0/(975)/pi//sup +/. The absolute branching fractions are estimated in high energy e/sup +/e/sup /minus// annihilation from the observed numbers of reconstructed D/sub s//sup +/ decays and the expected D/sub s//sup +/ production cross section. The lowest-lying vector c/bar s/ meson, the D/sub s/*/sup +/, has also been seen in its decay to /gamma/D/sub s//sup +/. Weak decays of the heavy quark and lepton flavors are relevant to the development of the Standard Model of both the electroweak and the strong interactions. Measurements of charmed particle weak decay are useful for determining the parameter of the Standard Model and for testing phenomenological models which include strong effects. 83 refs., 56 figs., 12 tabs.
Nutritional Preparation of Athletes: What Makes Sense?

Abstract With the increased public awareness of fitness and participation in athletics, the primary care physician needs a basic understanding of nutrition's role in athletics. Energy metabolism sh...
A comparison of search heuristics for empirical code optimization

This paper describes the application of various search techniques to the problem of automatic empirical code optimization. The search process is a critical aspect of auto-tuning systems because the large size of the search space and the cost of evaluating the candidate implementations makes it infeasible to find the true optimum point by brute force. We evaluate the effectiveness of Nelder-Mead Simplex, Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing, Particle Swarm Optimization, Orthogonal search, and Random search in terms of the performance of the best candidate found under varying time limits.
Third World and World Order

The essay explores the potential contribution of Third World nations to a more equitable and just world. It asks a basic question: if such a world does not seem to emerge out of the designs of the rich and powerful, can it emerge out of the policies of the less-privileged members of the world system? Several world-order crises are identified as the yardstick with which we can judge the feasibility of a populist Third World platform that offers alternatives to the designs of the rich and the powerful. The conclusion the author draws is that populism is a useful and promising concept and strategy, but that it cannot be based on the designs and preferences of governmental units and entities.
Kinetic studies of gluconic acid fermentations

The kinetics of the gluconic acid fermentation have been studied at pH 5.8 Pseudomonas ovalis B-1486 was used as the fermenting organism. D-Gluconolactone was found as an intermediate in the fermentation and accumulated at times in large amounts. When this occurred, hydrolysis of the lactone was found to be the rate limiting reaction. This can be, under certain conditions, a poor fermentation in which to study oxygen transfer limiting conditions. Further, it is impossible to relate batch and continuous kinetic data for this fermentation unless the lactone hydrolysis reaction is taken into account.
Comic Intimacy? The Case of Molière’s Lovers’ Quarrels

Moliere’s treatment of lovers’ quarrels in Depit amoureux and subsequent plays reveals a deepening concern in early modern literature for forms of interpersonal dynamics involved in new social concepts of intimacy. A contrast with lovers’ scenes in Plautus, Shakespeare and medieval farce serves to show Moliere’s innovations in both form and content of such scenes. Dramatic analysis of Moliere’s scenes shows a process involving the four successive movements of suspicion, mutual distancing, denial and inability to detach, followed by reconciliation. The contemporary research of psychologist Keith Sanford and his associates offers significant parallels to the development of quarrel scenes in later works by the dramatist. Moliere’s elaboration of these scenes has a lasting impact on his emulators from the eighteenth century onward.
Comparative transitive and temporal orderliness in dominance networks

Dominance is a social relation between a subordinate animal and the dominant to which it submits. Animal groups seem regularly to form dominance hierarchies in which dominance relations are transitive and stable, but comparative studies are rare. Dominance hierarchies can be formalized as social networks, with arrows (directed edges) pointing from dominant animals (nodes) to subordinates. Using this network perspective, we explored the orderliness of 40 published datasets for taxa from ants to elephants. To quantify orderliness, we used the triad census, a technique from sociology, that enumerates the proportion of orderly (transitive) triads (e.g., A dominates B and C, B dominates C, yielding clear top, middle, and bottom rankings) versus disorderly (cyclic) triads (e.g., A dominates B, B dominates C, but C in turn dominates A). All 40 datasets showed a significant excess of orderly (transitive) triads and a deficit of disorderly (cyclic) triads compared with the null model of random networks. Most datasets showed relatively high rank stability (mean stability index of 0.81 on a scale from 0 to 1). Steep hierarchies arise when the scores used to rank contestants differ sharply, further promoting stability. All 40 dominance hierarchies were steeper than expected from randomized sequences of contests. The overwhelming conclusion was that animal groups are orderly, as assessed by a high proportion of transitive relations, a paucity of disorderly cycles, and high temporal stability in rankings. Thus, a certain degree of self-organization may characterize even agonistic interactions across many different kinds of animal societies. Key wor ds: orderly , self-organizing, social network, triad census. [Behav Ecol]
Colonial Origins of the Algerian-Moroccan Border Conflict of October 1963

The newly independent nations of the Maghrib inherited many political problems from their former imperial ruler. Of these, the question of frontiers was potentially the most explosive. The Algerian-Moroccan hostilities in the fall of 1963 provided clear evidence of this fact. Another territorial dispute pitted Tunisia against Algeria in a diplomatic crisis. In each case, the government in Algiers disputed claims based on the historic rights of Morocco and Tunisia. In contradiction to the ancient claims of its neighbors, the Algerian thesis was that it now owned all territories that had been controlled by the French administration of colonial Algeria (“Algerian-Moroccan Border Conflict…” 1963). In order to judge these contradictory allegations, it is thus necessary to look back to French colonial policies. Such a study inevitably leads to the conclusion that France was largely responsible for this great divisive question in North Africa. The blame might well be mitigated, however, for beyond selfish French colonial interests lay varying concepts of statehood and long-standing historical problems. When the French conquered Algiers, they had no plan to take all of Algeria. Nor was there an Algerian state in the European sense, or an Algerian consciousness. Nationalism was apparently born out of opposition to French rule. When, about 1837, France decided to take all of the “Regency of Algiers,” no one knew exactly what the term included. French expansion in North Africa, however, quickly brought the colonialists into direct conflict with the ill-defined empires of Morocco and of the Beylik of Tunis as well as with so-called Algerian dissidents.
Developing digital libraries of cultural content for Internet access

Over the past five years, interest in digital libraries and in the World Wide Web have both greatly increased as the result of a symbiotic relationship. For an even longer period, my IBM colleagues and I have been developing online digital libraries for cultural institutions. In this article, selected aspects of projects with the Vatican Library, the National Gallery of Art (United States), the Klau Library of Hebrew Union College, and Russia's State Hermitage Museum are reported. In these projects, both technical and institutional challenges were met. Three technical challenges are discussed: protecting the intellectual property rights of institutions to their online materials; producing high-quality images with data sizes that are suitable for Internet delivery; and achieving significant capture throughput. Finally, some opinions are offered on the outlook for digital libraries of cultural content.
The role of gap junctions in the arrhythmias of ischemia and infarction.

First 10 to 15 minutes (phase 1a arrhythmias) The loss of K and subsequent Ca overload that occur within minutes lead to partial membrane potential depolarization, decreased action potential amplitude, and velocity of depolarization and postrepolarization refractoriness, and are associated with later changes in gap junction properties described below. During the initial 15 minutes of ischemia, resistance through intracellular pathways from cell to cell, reflecting mainly gap junction conductance, remains unchanged. Increased myocardial resistivity results from collapse of the vascular bed and osmotic cell swelling, reducing extracellular space. The precipitous slowing and heterogeneity of
EnviroStore: A Cooperative Storage System for Disconnected Operation in Sensor Networks

This paper presents a new cooperative storage system for sensor networks geared for disconnected operation (where sensor nodes do not have a connected path to a basestation). The goal of the system is to maximize its data storage capacity by appropriately distributing storage utilization and opportunistically offloading data to external devices when possible. The system is motivated by the observation that a large category of sensor network applications, such as environmental data logging, does not require real-time data access. Such networks generally operate in a disconnected mode. Rather than focusing on multihop routing to a basestation, an important concern becomes (i) to maximize the effective storage capacity of the disconnected sensor network such that it accommodates the most data, and (ii) to take the best advantage of data upload opportunities when they become available to relieve network storage. The storage system described in this paper achieves the above goals, leading to significant improvements in the amount of data collected compared to non-cooperative storage. It is implemented in nesC for TinyOS and evaluated in TOSSIM through various application scenarios.
Silicon compilation of very high level language

The design and implementation of a compiler for two very high level languages are addressed. The first language is a set language similar to VERS and SETL. The second language is a novel signal processing language. The compiler uses data flow and type information to constrain possible choices before choosing a possible implementation. Heuristic search is then used to choose from competing concrete implementations of abstract data types. Constraint propagation is used at every selection step to remove incompatible configurations from the search, thereby reducing the search space considerably. A microprogram control store is automatically generated. The output of the compiler is a parts list, a net list of module interconnections, and the fields of the control store. >
Market Response to a Major Policy Change in the Marketing Mix: Learning from Procter & Gamble’s Value Pricing Strategy

Abstract Much research has focused on how consumers and competitors respond to short-term changes in advertising and promotion. In contrast, the authors use Procter & Gamble’s (P&G’s) value pricing strategy as an opportunity to study consumer and competitor response to a major, sustained change in marketing-mix strategy. They compile data across 24 categories in which P&G has a significant market share, covering the period from 1990 to 1996, during which P&G instituted major cuts in deals and coupons and substantial increases in advertising. The authors estimate an econometric model to trace how consumers and competitors react to such changes. For the average brand, the authors find that deals and coupons increase market penetration and surprisingly have little impact on customer retention as measured by share-of-category requirements and category usage. For the average brand, advertising works primarily by increasing penetration, but its effect is weaker than that of promotion. The authors find that comp...
A re‐analysis of the 1968 Saltin et al. “Bedrest” paper

In 1968, Saltin et al. published a landmark paper describing the alterations in VO2max resulting from two sequential interventions--20 days of bed rest and almost 8 weeks of training. They concluded that bed rest reduced VO2max through reductions in maximal cardiac output, while training enhanced VO2max by an equal combination of increased maximal cardiac output and increased arterio-venous [O2] difference (A-V Δ [O2]). At the time, A-V Δ [O2] was taken as an index of peripheral (skeletal muscle) adaptation. A key interpretive element that was not featured was consideration of how alterations in cardiac output affect the O2 extraction process secondary to changes in red cell transit time through the muscle microcirculation, even in the absence of adaptive changes in the skeletal muscles per se. For the 2015 Saltin Symposium, it was therefore thought appropriate to re-examine the 1968 O2 transport data and re-evaluate the roles central cardiovascular and peripheral muscle changes after bed rest and training allowing for their interaction. The analysis supports the conclusion that bed rest reduced VO2max mainly through reduction in cardiac output, but after training, it is proposed that the 1968 conclusions should be modified: the majority of the increase in VO2max from the control state can be attributed to an improvement in diffusive unloading of O2 from the muscle microcirculation, with a much smaller role for enhanced blood flow.
Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital libraries

Welcome to JCDL 2003! This is the third in a series of IEEE-CS/ACM joint conferences on digital library research and development. The joint conference brings together the diversity and range of two well-established digital library conferences, ACM DL and IEEE ADL, to provide a major international forum focusing on digital libraries and associated technical, practical, theoretical, and social issues. A decade of progress from the field's early days is readily apparent in the impressive cross-institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations, as well as in the growing number of digital libraries that represent real collections in everyday use. Befitting the conference's beautiful venue, Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, the opening paper session is one about music and digital libraries and runs the gamut from ethnography to algorithms. Other sessions tackle the formidable problem of creating metadata and managing digital resources and services. Humanities digital libraries collections representing cultural heritage and museum artifacts stand alongside scientific and business digital libraries. As always, education and evaluation are vital parts of the conference program. This year, there were 216 submissions from 21 countries. From 91 full papers and 77 short papers, the program committee selected 23 full papers and 32 31 short papers for presentation at the conference; these papers have been revised according to the reviewers' thoughtful comments and are included in the proceedings. The full papers were each assigned to 4 reviewers and the short papers to 3. As in past years, we will be awarding the Vannevar Bush Best Paper Award, sponsored by Knowledge Systems and its president Rob Akscyn, to the paper chosen by the program committee as this year's standout from a set of 23 already outstanding papers. Nominees will be announced at the opening session of the conference and the award will be presented at the banquet.
Parametric Estimation in 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D NMR

The increased power of nmr as an analytical and structure determining method arises from the development of two-dimensional methods in which spectral maps reflect through-bond and through-space connectivities between atoms. The interpretation of these maps is made complex by many factors, including the large number of such connectivities in many applications, the multiplicity of the spectral elements, and the limited signal-to-noise ratio. As one element of solving these problems, we have developed methods to simplify the cataloging of positions and intensities of peaks, and for examining and selecting among them. Linear Predictive Singular Value Decomposition is one numerical method used for the extraction of peak characteristics. Simple tools have been developed to select among spectral characteristics, to reduce multiplets to single peaks, and to incorporate pre-existing chemical information into the analysis. Characteristics of this approach of parametric estimation permit somewhat different approaches to experimental design. This may be particularly valuable in the determination of multiple vicinal coupling constants about single bonds.
Abstract 3328: Caspase activation as an approach to treat multiple myeloma.

Apoptosis is a cell death program that is essential for normal organ development. Defects in apoptosis lead to uncontrolled cell accumulation resulting in cancer such as multiple myeloma (MM), an incurable plasma cell disorder. MM patients have defective apoptosis machinery largely due to the overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as BCL-2, MCL-1, cIAP1, cIAP2 and XIAP. We are investigating a novel class of procaspase-3 activators as a strategy to activate apoptosis in myeloma cells. The Procaspase Activating Compounds (PAC), PAC-1 and its analog L14R8, were synthesized by Dr. Hergenrother9s lab (U. of Illinois, Urbana, IL) and are being developed for clinical application by Vanquish Oncology. PACs convert the inactive zymogen procaspase-3 to caspase-3 which activates apoptosis. Mechanistically, PACs activate procaspase-3 by chelating inhibitory zinc ions thus allowing procaspase-3 to auto-activate to caspase-3. Our hypothesis is that targeting procaspase-3 with PAC agents will bypass inhibitory activity of the anti-apoptotic proteins and induce cell death in myeloma cells. In initial experiments, we examined procaspase-3 expression in a panel of 9 myeloma cell lines and observed that it was expressed in all the cell lines suggesting that PAC agents will be active in myeloma cells. Our investigations with PAC-1 and L14R8 demonstrated that L14R8, but not PAC-1, induced cell death in myeloma cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Treatment with 10 μM L14R8 for 24 hours induced >80% apoptosis in U266 and MM.1S cells. Furthermore, L14R8 activity was inhibited by exogenous addition of zinc confirming that the mechanism of L14R8 action is through zinc chelation. The activation of procaspase-3 resulted in the cleavage of its target PARP and decreased the levels of the anti-apoptotic proteins MCL-1 and XIAP. 10 μM L14R8 was also effective in inducing >80% cell death in myeloma cells grown in the presence of protective microenvironment as demonstrated by co-culture experiments with NKtert stromal cells. In addition, when myeloma cells were grown in the presence of exogenous growth factors such as hepatocyte growth factor (50 ng/ml) or interleukin-6 (10 or 50 ng/ml), L14R8 was still able to induce apoptosis (> 60% with 10 μM L14R8 treatment in the presence of either growth factor). Finally, L14R8 was effective in inducing apoptosis in cells resistant to lenalidomide, a standard treatment for myeloma patients. Our future plan is to examine the effectiveness of this drug in primary CD138+ plasma cells (representing malignant myeloma cells). These studies demonstrate that targeting procaspase-3 with L14R8 is an effective strategy to induce myeloma cell death. Citation Format: Shadia Zaman, Rui Wang, Varsha Gandhi. Caspase activation as an approach to treat multiple myeloma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3328. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3328
Study of HIV /STD infection,AIDS knowledge and behavior among female sex workers in Beihai City

Objective To determine the demographic characteristics,HIV-related knowledge and behavior characteristic,condom use,and HIV /STD infections among female sex workers( FSWs) from different entertainment venues in Beihai City,to implement further behavioral intervention strategies for the target population in the local context. Methods A face-to-face survey and medical examination were conducted among 400 FSWs recruited by stratified convenient sampling from 33 entertainment venues of different tiers( high,medium,and low) in Haicheng District of Beihai City. Results Among the participants,the average rate of correctly answering AIDS knowledge questions was 90. 50%. The rate of using condoms with clients in the past month was 85. 54%,88. 04%,and 67. 61% among FSWs from high,medium and low tier,respectively. HIV positive rate was 0. 0%,1. 08%,and 0. 70% among FSWs from high,medium and low tier,respectively; syphilis positive rate was 1. 80%,7. 61%,21. 13%; There is a significant difference of the incidence of syphilis between the groups with-and without condom use. Conclusions FSWs have general AIDS knowledge. However,FSWs from low-tier have a low rate of condom use and high positive rate of syphilis. More attention should be paid to this population and strenthened intervention and service should be provided.
Application research of fuzzy self-adaptive PID control in pressure control system of high-altilude simulation cabin

According to the characters of control objects of pressure control system of high-altitude simulation cabin such as multi variable parameter,powerful interference and coupling,time lag,fuzzy self-adaptive PID control which combines fuzzy control and PID control is proposed and simulated.The using of fuzzy logic controller makes the parameter′s self-adaptive of PID controller possible,it also perfects the properties of PID controller and improves the precision of control system.The results of simulation indicate that the control effect of this method is better than PID control,and avoid the steady state error of fuzzy control.The method has advantages of shorter time response,higher precision and better stability.It has further prospect on engineering application.
Operation Homecoming: 25 years later.

Following an end to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in early 1973, approximately 600 Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine personnel, the great majority aviators, were released from captivity in North and South Vietnam and Laos. Their initial medical evaluation was performed at USAF Hospital, Clark Air Base, Republic of the Philippines, between February and April 1973. The author describes the events of those memorable days.
Impact of scribes on patient throughput in adult and pediatric academic EDs.

Abstract Objectives Assess the impact of scribes on an academic emergency department's (ED) patient-specific throughput. Methods Study design, setting, participants : A prospective cohort design compared throughput metrics of patients managed when scribes were and were not a part of the treatment team during pre-defined study hours in a tertiary academic ED with both an adult and pediatric ED. Intervention Eight scribes were hired and trained on-site by a physician with experience in scribe implementation. Scribes provided 1-to-1 support for a provider's work shift. An alternating-day pattern in months 2 to 5 post implementation ensured balance between the scribe and non-scribe groups in time of day, day of week, and patient complexity. Results Adult: Overall length of stay (LOS) was significantly longer for scribed patients (265 vs. 255 minutes, P =.028). The remaining throughput measures analyzed (door to provider, provider to disposition, and patient duration in treatment room) had higher summary values, but were not significant. Subgroup analysis revealed that patients seen by postgraduate year (PGY) 3 residents had significantly shorter LOS when seen with a scribe (244 vs. 262 minutes, P =.021). Pediatric: Overall LOS (163 vs. 151 minutes, P =.011), door to provider (21 vs. 16 minutes, P P =.020) were significantly longer when the treatment team had a scribe. Conclusions Scribes failed to improve patient-specific throughput metrics in the first few months post implementation. Future work is needed to understand whether throughput efficiencies may eventually be gained after scribe implementation.
Inpatient falls after shoulder arthroplasty

Background Patient falls are one of the most commonly reported safety incidents in hospitals and an important cause of harm. Despite growing interest in postoperative fall prevention, data on the extent and correlates of falls among elective orthopedic inpatients are sparse and confined to lower limb arthroplasty. We evaluated inpatient fall trends after elective shoulder arthroplasty and identified patient and hospital characteristics associated with the occurrence of falls. Methods We used discharge records from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2002-2011). Temporal trends were assessed, and multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to characterize factors associated with inpatient falls. Results The rate of in-hospital falls increased from 0% in 2002 to 1.7% in 2011, despite a downward trend in length of stay ( P Conclusions The rate of in-hospital falls after shoulder arthroplasty is increasing despite shorter stays. Many of the identified factors associated with inpatient falls after shoulder arthroplasty are modifiable, either by better preoperative planning and care coordination, by optimized medical management, or by improved patient education and engagement.
Rain or Snow: Hydrologic Processes, Observations, Prediction, and Research Needs

Abstract. The phase of precipitation when it reaches the ground is a first-order driver of hydrologic processes in a watershed. The presence of snow, rain, or mixed-phase precipitation affects the initial and boundary conditions that drive hydrological models. Despite their foundational importance to terrestrial hydrology, typical phase partitioning methods (PPMs) specify the phase based on near-surface air temperature only. Our review conveys the diversity of tools available for PPMs in hydrological modeling and the advancements needed to improve predictions in complex terrain with large spatiotemporal variations in precipitation phase. Initially, we review the processes and physics that control precipitation phase as relevant to hydrologists, focusing on the importance of processes occurring aloft. There is a wide range of options for field observations of precipitation phase, but there is a lack of a robust observation networks in complex terrain. New remote sensing observations have the potential to increase PPM fidelity, but generally require assumptions typical of other PPMs and field validation before they are operational. We review common PPMs and find that accuracy is generally increased at finer measurement intervals and by including humidity information. One important tool for PPM development is atmospheric modeling, which includes microphysical schemes that have not been effectively linked to hydrological models or validated against near-surface precipitation-phase observations. The review concludes by describing key research gaps and recommendations to improve PPMs, including better incorporation of atmospheric information, improved validation datasets, and regional-scale gridded data products. Two key points emerge from this synthesis for the hydrologic community: (1) current PPMs are too simple to capture important processes and are not well validated for most locations, (2) lack of sophisticated PPMs increases the uncertainty in estimation of hydrological sensitivity to changes in precipitation phase at local to regional scales. The advancement of PPMs is a critical research frontier in hydrology that requires scientific cooperation between hydrological and atmospheric modelers and field scientists.
Seed migration to the spinal canal after postresection brachytherapy to treat a large brain metastasis.

Abstract Purpose Seed migration after interstitial prostate brachytherapy has been well documented in the literature. However, there have been no detailed reports of seed migration after permanent interstitial brachytherapy to treat cerebral malignancies. In this article, the authors report a rare case of seed migration after adjuvant cesium-131 ( 131 Cs) brachytherapy was used to treat a large paraventricular brain metastasis. Methods and materials The patient was a 63-year-old man with a 5.8-cm right frontal metastasis abutting the right lateral ventricle and causing severe edema and mass effect. The patient was enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial at our institution to receive permanent intraoperative 131 Cs brachytherapy in an effort to prevent tumor recurrence in the resection cavity. Stranded seeds were covered with Surgicel, and the cavity was filled with Tisseel to prevent seed migration. Results Imaging obtained at 54 days postsurgery showed no seed migration, but imaging obtained at 158 days revealed 12 brachytherapy seeds in the spinal canal from T11 to S2. The seeds were left in place because they were inactive at this time due to the short half-life of 131 Cs (9.7 days); they remained stable on followup imaging, and the patient was asymptomatic. Conclusions Although the clinical consequences remain unclear, the migration of inactive seeds is not currently considered to be a complication of intracerebral brachytherapy and we do not believe that additional measures must be taken to prevent it.
Does the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) Improve Infant Health Outcomes?

We assess the causal eect of prenatal WIC participation on birth outcomes utilizing new partial identi…- cation methods to simultaneously address the selection and measurement error problems. In addition, we complement this partial identi…cation approach by reporting point estimates from an approach which uses second moment restrictions developed by Lewbel (2012). Using data from the Early Childhood Longitu- dinal Study - Birth cohort of 2001, we estimate that if participation is accurately reported, WIC improves birth outcomes. However, if only one percent of eligible women misreport their participation, the eect of WIC on birth outcomes cannot be signed.
ClearView: data cleaning for online review mining

How can we automatically clean and curate online reviews to better mine them for knowledge discovery? Typical online reviews are full of noise and abnormalities, hindering semantic analysis and leading to a poor customer experience. Abnormalities include non-standard characters, unstructured punctuation, different/multiple languages, and misspelled words. Worse still, people will leave "junk" text, which is either completely nonsensical, spam, or fraudulent. In this paper, we describe three types of noisy and abnormal reviews, discuss methods to detect and filter them, and, finally, show the effectiveness of our cleaning process by improving the overall distributional characteristics of review datasets.
Combined small-molecule inhibition accelerates the derivation of functional cortical neurons from human pluripotent stem cells

Considerable progress has been made in converting human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into functional neurons. However, the protracted timing of human neuron specification and functional maturation remains a key challenge that hampers the routine application of hPSC-derived lineages in disease modeling and regenerative medicine. Using a combinatorial small-molecule screen, we previously identified conditions to rapidly differentiate hPSCs into peripheral sensory neurons. Here we generalize the approach to central nervous system (CNS) fates by developing a small-molecule approach for accelerated induction of early-born cortical neurons. Combinatorial application of six pathway inhibitors induces post-mitotic cortical neurons with functional electrophysiological properties by day 16 of differentiation, in the absence of glial cell co-culture. The resulting neurons, transplanted at 8 d of differentiation into the postnatal mouse cortex, are functional and establish long-distance projections, as shown using iDISCO whole-brain imaging. Accelerated differentiation into cortical neuron fates should facilitate hPSC-based strategies for disease modeling and cell therapy in CNS disorders.
A Telephone-Assisted Planning Intervention to Promote Parental Support for Physical Activity Among Children and Youth With Disabilities

Parental support is an important contributor to physical activity (PA) among children and youth with disabilities (CYD). Although many parents of CYD are motivated to support PA, CYD are less physically active than typically developing children. The multi-process action control (M-PAC) framework has been applied to understand parental support for child PA, which highlights behavioral strategies such as action planning (AP) as critical for translating intentions into behavior. Parents may struggle to create and carryout AP without support. There is no known research examining telephone-assisted AP as a tool to promote AP and subsequent parental PA support among CYD. Purpose: To evaluate a 4-week telephone-assisted AP intervention for promoting parental support for PA among CYD. Method: Parents of CYD (Child Mage= 12.53 ± 5.53; 75% male; 38.6% developmental disability) completed a baseline questionnaire guided by the M-PAC framework and were subsequently randomized to a bi-weekly telephone-assisted AP intervention (n= 28) or control group (i.e., access to AP tools but no telephone assistance; n= 29). Results: Compared to the control group, parents who received the telephone-assisted AP intervention were 80% more likely to AP. Repeated measures ANCOVAs showed a significant time x condition interaction for behavioural strategies (i.e., planning, monitoring) (F(1,35)= 5.39, p= .026). Conclusion: Compared to the control condition, parents in the AP telephone-assisted intervention increased behavioural strategies to support their child's PA participation. These findings suggest potential for AP support as a tool to enhance AP and parent support for PA among CYD.
The Role of Comparative Effectiveness Research

Abstract Comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) is research intended to serve the needs of clinical decision-makers: the patient, their caregiver, the clinician, payers, and policy-makers. By comparing choices for prevention, diagnosis, or treatment, CER supports better and more personalized health-care decisions, improved clinical outcomes, and elimination of wasteful care and wasteful expenditures. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was established in 2010 to fund primary CER, evidence syntheses of CER studies, and dissemination of CER findings. PCORI emphasizes the information needs of patients, clinicians, and payers; the engagement of all relevant stakeholders in the entire research process; and attention to possibilities of “treatment heterogeneity.” PCORI funds both randomized and observational CER studies, using a wide range of study designs. It has invested in PCORnet, a national clinical research network intended to make CER more patient-centered, efficient and affordable, and more influential in changing practice.
Encore consumption: Investigating trends in the apparel expenditures of older consumers in the United States

Abstract Employment among workers aged 65+ has increased considerably since the 1990s, and by 2020, older individuals will account for approximately 25% of U.S. workers (Hayutin et al., 2013). Despite controlling large amounts of disposable income, a mere 10–15% of all advertising dollars are aimed at older consumers (Brady, 2013). This research investigated the effect of employment on older consumers’ expenditures. Results indicated that older consumers’ annual expenditures have increased over time, and employment impacted consumption levels. The study contributed to the understanding of a largely untapped consumer segment, and added to the body of knowledge by examining apparel-specific consumption by older consumers.
Primary CNS Lymphoma

PET/MR imaging provides initial characterization of CNS lymphoma with increased FDG activity and neoplastic characteristics on MR. Although there are typical findings of CNS lymphoma, they are pathognomonic.
Revising Civil Rule 56: Judge Mark R. Kravitz and the Rules Enabling Act

This contribution uses the history of amending Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, “Summary Judgment,” to pay tribute to Mark R. Kravitz and to the Rules Enabling Act process itself. The three central examples involve discretion to deny summary judgment despite the lack of a genuine dispute as to any material fact, the choice whether to prescribe a detailed “point–counterpoint” procedure for presenting and opposing the motion, and the effect of failure to respond to a motion in one of the modes prescribed by the rule. These topics are intrinsically important. The ways in which the Civil Rules Advisory Committee and the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure grappled with these topics provide strong reassurances about the capacities of the Enabling Act process to work through difficult problems both by work internal to the committees and by considering, understanding, and adopting the wise advice offered by public comments and testimony at the public hearings.
Contribution of facet joints, axial compression, and composition to human lumbar disc torsion mechanics.

Stresses applied to the spinal column are distributed between the intervertebral disc and facet joints. Structural and compositional changes alter stress distributions within the disc and between the disc and facet joints. These changes influence the mechanical properties of the disc joint, including its stiffness, range of motion, and energy absorption under quasi-static and dynamic loads. There have been few studies evaluating the role of facet joints in torsion. Furthermore, the relationship between biochemical composition and torsion mechanics is not well understood. Therefore, the first objective of this study was to investigate the role of facet joints in torsion mechanics of healthy and degenerated human lumbar discs under a wide range of compressive preloads. To achieve this, each disc was tested under four different compressive preloads (300-1200 N) with and without facet joints. The second objective was to develop a quantitative structure-function relationship between tissue composition and torsion mechanics. Facet joints have a significant contribution to disc torsional stiffness (∼60%) and viscoelasticity, regardless of the magnitude of axial compression. The findings from this study demonstrate that annulus fibrosus GAG content plays an important role in disc torsion mechanics. A decrease in GAG content with degeneration reduced torsion mechanics by more than an order of magnitude, while collagen content did not significantly influence disc torsion mechanics. The biochemical-mechanical and compression-torsion relationships reported in this study allow for better comparison between studies that use discs of varying levels of degeneration or testing protocols and provide important design criteria for biological repair strategies. © 2018 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res.
Intravitreal injections: A brief note

The delivery of medications directly into the vitreous cavity through an injection or implant has become a commonplace in ophthalmology. Common diseases treated by intravitreal injections include neovascular age-related macular degeneration, clinically significant macular edema/proliferative diabetic retinopathy, cystoid macular edema following retinal vein occlusions and uveitis, endophthalmitis, and choroidal neovascular membrane secondary to multiple retinal diseases. Intravitreal injection procedure as per VRSI guidelines has been described in detail. Complications of intravitreal injections include those related to the technique and those related to the drug being used. It is important for the retina specialists to master the right technique of intravitreal injection in an effective way for patient safety as well as for reduction of complications.
Left Main Coronary Artery Stenosis: A Meta-Analysis of Drug-Eluting Stents Versus Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Objectives: The goal of this study was to provide a systematic review comparing the long-term outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) versus coronary art...
Project MLEXAI: applying machine learning to web document classification

We present work on project MLExAI, funded by the National Science Foundation with a goal of unifying the artificial intelligence (AI) course around the theme of machine learning. Our work involves the development, implementation, and testing of an adaptable framework for the presentation of core AI topics that emphasizes the relationship between AI and computer science. A suite of adaptable hands-on laboratory projects that can be closely integrated into a one-term AI course and which would supplement introductory AI texts has been developed. The paper focuses on one of these projects, how it meets our goal, and presents our experiences using it. The project involves the development of a learning system for web document classification. Students investigate the process of classifying hypertext documents, called tagging, and apply machine learning techniques and data mining tools for automatic tagging. A summary of our experiences using the projects during four course offerings over the last two years are also presented.
Multi-Product Inventory Logistics Modeling in the Process Industries

In this chapter the mathematical modeling of several types of inventories are detailed. The inventory types are classified as batch processes, pools, pipe lines, pile lines and parcels. The key construct for all inventory models is the “fill-hold/haul-draw” fractal found in all discontinuous inventory or holdup modeling. The equipment, vessel or unit must first be “filled” unless enough product is already held in the unit. Product can then be “held” or “hauled” for a definite (fixed) or indefinite (variable) amount of time and then “drawn” out of the unit when required. Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) modeling formulations are presented for five different types of logistics inventory models which are computationally efficient and can be readily applied to industrial decision-making problems.
Intersection of the relaxin and estrogen signalling pathways in the uterus

The protein hormone relaxin exerts a wide range of effects on the reproductive system, as well as other tissues, including stimulation of growth of the uterus during pregnancy, remodelling of the reproductive tract in preparation for parturition, and development of the mammary glands [1]. The mechanisms by which relaxin exerts these effects, however, remain unclear, in large part because the relaxin receptor has not yet been cloned. Interestingly, many of relaxin’s acute effects on the uterus closely resemble those induced by estrogens. For example, relaxin rapidly induces a large increase in uterine wet weight in immature, ovariectomized rats, and also stimulates uterine metabolic processes, regardless of whether or not there is prior estrogen priming [2–5]. Uterine growth is also stimulated in other species, including pigs [6–8] and primates [9,10]. Estrogen and relaxin can induce the expression of many of the same genes, including vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF; 11,12, Pillai SB et al., this volume], insulin-like growth factor I [IGF-I; 7,13], the uterine transcription factor HOXA-10 [14], and endothelial-type NO synthase [15–17], all of which could play roles in mediating relaxin’s uterotrophic effects.
Protective Effect of Luteolin on Inflammatory Factor-Mediated Insulin Resistance in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes

Obesity and insulin resistance have been recently linked to a low-grade chronic inflammatory response characterized by increased macrophage infiltration, altered cytokine production, and activation...
Adaptive Zone Model Predictive Control of Artificial Pancreas Based on Glucose- and Velocity-Dependent Control Penalties

Objective: Zone model predictive control (MPC) has been proven to be an efficient approach to closed-loop insulin delivery in clinical studies. In this paper, we aim to safely reduce mean glucose levels by proposing control penalty adaptation in the cost function of zone MPC. Methods: A zone MPC method with a dynamic cost function that updates its control penalty parameters in real time according to the predicted glucose and its rate of change is developed. The proposed method is evaluated on the entire 100-adult cohort of the FDA-accepted UVA/Padova T1DM simulator and compared with the zone MPC tested in an extended outpatient study. Results: For unannounced meals, the proposed method leads to statistically significant improvements in terms of mean glucose (153.8 mg/dL vs. 159.0 mg/dL; $\boldsymbol p ) and percentage time in $[70, 180]$ mg/dL ( $\text{70.5}\%$ vs. $\text{66.3}\%$ ; $\boldsymbol p ) without increasing the risk of hypoglycemia. Performance for announced meals is similar to that obtained without adaptation. The proposed method also behaves properly and safely for scenarios of moderate meal-bolus and basal rate mismatches, as well as simulated unannounced exercise. Advisory-mode analysis based on clinical data indicates that the method can reduce glucose levels through suggesting additional safe amounts of insulin on top of those suggested by the zone MPC used in the study. Conclusion: The proposed method leads to improved glucose control without increasing hypoglycemia risks. Significance: The results validate the feasibility of improving glucose regulation through glucose- and velocity-dependent control penalty adaptation in MPC design.