cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Role of Vildagliptin in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Objective:To highlight the role of incretin hormones in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus with a focus on vildagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) inhibitor currently in development.Data Sources:Searches were conducted in MEDLINE (1950–April 2007) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970–April 2007) using the key words vildagliptin, LAF237, and dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor. Additional data were obtained from abstracts presented at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions (2003–2006) and from the manufacturer.Study Selection and Data Extraction:Articles pertaining to the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of vildagliptin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes were reviewed for inclusion. When available, human trials were included over animal studies.Data Synthesis:Reduced incretin effect is thought to be associated with type 2 diabetes. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone, stimulates postprandial insulin release; however, it is rap...
Hemorrhaging associated with endosseous implant placement in the anterior mandible: a review of the literature.

The placement of endosseous dental implants is largely considered a safe surgical procedure. However, upper airway obstruction secondary to severe bleeding in the floor of the mouth has been occasionally reported as a rare but potentially fatal complication of implant surgery. This review presents critical hemorrhagic episodes, related to dental implantation in the anterior segments of the mandible, published to date. Massive internal bleeding in the highly vascularized region of the floor of the mouth is the result of an arterial trauma induced by instrumentation, usually through a perforation of the lingual cortical plate. Depending on the clinical situation, hemorrhage may commence immediately or with some delay after the vascular insult. The progressively expanding lingual, sublingual, submandibular, and submental hematomas have the tendency of displacing the tongue and floor of the mouth to obstruct the airway. Because the course of airway deterioration to complete occlusion may be rapid, ensuring a patent airway is of highest priority. Even though upper airway obstruction is potentially life-threatening, a secure airway was successfully established in all patients without fatal consequences. In most cases, resolution of hemorrhage required a surgical intervention for ligation of the bleeding vessels and hematoma evacuation. To reduce the probability of such a grave complication, preventive and precautionary measures to be taken before, during, and after implant placement in the anterior mandible are presented. Issues related to the level of surgical experience, fine regional arterial anatomy, radiographic and clinical evaluation of the osseous morphology, angulation and length of implants, and timing of hemorrhage onset are discussed. In addition, airway and bleeding management strategies are provided. J Periodontol 2004;75:631-645.
Creating single boundary between two CdTe (111) wafers with controlled orientation by wafer bonding

Zinc-blende (ZB) CdTe has drawn great attention as optoelectronic and solar energy conversion materials since it has a near optimum band gap of 1.6 eV and a absorption coefficient greater than 5x10 5 /cm. CdTe can be either ZB or wurtzite (WZ) structures, resulting in different electronic properties. It has been reported that the twin superlattice with numerous twin boundaries in III-V and II-VI semiconductor nanowires along growth orientation of ZB structures considerably enhance band gap engineering and mechanical behavior in quasi-one-dimensional materials [1]. This opens new possibilities for properties and functionalities at the atomic and quantum scales by controlling the twin boundary and modulating twin densities. Therefore, it is an in-demand and challenging feat to “create” a single twin boundary in a nanowire or bulk material in order to understand the electronic and mechanical characteristics of the III-V and II-VI quantum well or barrier. Wafer bonding, which enables the direct integration of two or more single crystal wafers with controlled surfaces and orientation, is a key technique in creating a single boundary [2]. In this study, we show the creation of a single boundary between two identical CdTe single crystals.
A Remnant of Chiral Symmetry on the Lattice

A new criterion for chiral symmetry in lattice theories of fermions is derived within a block-spin formalism. This "remnant" symmetry criterion properly incorporates the Adler Bell-Jackiw anomaly and avoids the fermion-doubling problem of other lattice fermion methods. Some obstacles to implementing this approach in the presence of fully dynamical gauge fields are discussed.
Overlook: scalable name service on an overlay network

This paper indicates that a scalable fault-tolerant name service can be provided utilizing an overlay network and that such a name service can scale along a number of dimensions: it can be sized to support a large number of clients, it can allow large numbers of concurrent lookups on the same name or sets of names, and it can provide name lookup latencies measured in seconds. Furthermore, it can enable updates to be made pervasively visible in times typically measured in seconds for update rates of up to hundreds per second. We explain how many of these scaling properties for the name service are obtained by reusing some of the same mechanisms that allowed the underlying overlay network to scale. Finally, we observe that the overlay network is sensitive to bandwidth and CPU limitations.
Are endophenotypes based on measures of executive functions useful for molecular genetic studies of ADHD

Background: Behavioral genetic studies provide strong evidence that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has a substantial genetic component. Yet, due to the complexity of the ADHD phenotype, questions remain as to the specific genes that contribute to this condition as well as the pathways from genes to behavior. Endophenotypes, or phenotypes that are more closely linked to the neurobiological substrate of a disorder, offer the potential to address these two issues simultaneously (Freedman, Adler, & Leonard, 1999). Thus far, potential endophenotypes for ADHD have not been systematically studied. Method: The current paper reviews evidence supporting the use of deficits on neurocognitive measures of executive functions for this purpose. Results: Such deficits are a correlate of ADHD and show preliminary evidence of heritability and association with relevant candidate genes. Nonetheless, studies that have assessed the familial and genetic overlap of neurocognitive impairments with ADHD have yielded inconsistent results. Conclusions: In order for executive function deficits to be used as an endophenotype for ADHD, we recommend greater attention to the neurocognitive heterogeneity of this disorder and to the precision of measurement of the neuropsychological tests employed. We also discuss empirical strategies that may be necessary to allow such research to progress prior to full resolution of the pathophysiological basis of ADHD.
The additive damage model: a mathematical model for cellular responses to drug combinations.

Abstract Mathematical models to describe dose-dependent cellular responses to drug combinations are an essential component of computational simulations for predicting therapeutic responses. Here, a new model, the additive damage model, is introduced and tested in cases where varying concentrations of two drugs are applied with a fixed exposure schedule. In the model, cell survival is determined by whether cellular damage, which depends on the concentrations of the drugs, exceeds a lethal threshold, which varies randomly in the cell population with a prescribed statistical distribution. Cellular damage is assumed to be additive, and is expressed as a sum of separate terms for each drug. Each term has a saturable dependence on drug concentration. The model has appropriate behavior over the entire range of drug concentrations, and is predictive, given single-agent dose–response data for each drug. The proposed model is compared with several other models, by testing their ability to fit 24 data sets for platinum–taxane combinations and 21 data sets for various other combinations. The Akaike Information Criterion is used to assess goodness of fit, taking into account the number of unknown parameters in each model. Overall, the additive damage model provides a better fit to the data sets than any previous model. The proposed model provides a basis for computational simulations of therapeutic responses. It predicts responses to drug combinations based on data for each drug acting as a single agent, and can be used as an improved null reference model for assessing synergy in the action of drug combinations.
Erythrocyte consumption of nitric oxide in presence and absence of plasma-based hemoglobin

Experimental measurements have suggested a consumption rate of nitric oxide (NO) by red blood cells (RBCs) that is orders of magnitude smaller than that of an equivalent concentration of free hemog...
Toll-like receptors and IFN-α: partners in autoimmunity

Many autoimmune diseases are thought to be precipitated by viral infections. In this issue of the JCI, Lang et al. demonstrate that, in a mouse model of autoimmune hepatitis, viral infections not only trigger expansion of self-reactive T cells but also activate antigen-presenting cells through TLR stimulation (see the related article beginning on page 2456). Activated cells then secrete IFN-α and TNF-α, which trigger tissue release of chemokines that attract self-reactive CD8+ T cells, ultimately leading to liver damage.
Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation: A Field Experiment with Lizards

The extent to which random processes such as founder events contribute to evolutionary divergence is a longstanding controversy in evolutionary biology. To determine the respective contribution of founder effects and natural selection, we conducted an experiment in which brown anole (Anolis sagrei) lizard populations were established on seven small islands from male-female pairs randomly drawn from the same large-island source. These founding events generated significant among-island genetic and morphological differences that persisted throughout the course of the experiment despite all populations adapting in the predicted direction—shorter hindlimbs—in response to the narrower vegetation on the small islands. Thus using a replicated experiment in nature we showed that both founder effects and natural selection jointly determine trait values in these populations.
Timescale separation in recurrent neural networks

Supervised learning in recurrent neural networks involves two processes: the neuron activity from which gradients are estimated and the process on connection parameters induced by these measurements. A problem such algorithms must address is how to balance the relative rates of these activities so that accurate sensitivity estimates are obtained while still allowing synaptic modification to take place at a rate sufficient for learning. We show how to calculate a sufficient timescale separation between these two processes for a class of contracting neural networks.
Imaging herpes viral thymidine kinase-1 reporter gene expression with a new 18F-labeled probe: 2′-fluoro-2′-deoxy-5-[18F]fluoroethyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyl uracil

Abstract The preparation and radiolabeling of 2′-fluoro-2′-deoxy-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyl-5-(2-fluoroethyl)-uracil (FFEAU) with 18 F and its evaluation as a probe for imaging herpes simplex virus 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1- tk ) gene expression are described. 2′-Fluoro-2′-deoxy-3′,5′-di- O -benzoyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyl-3- N -benzoyl-5-(2-[ 18 F]fluoroethyl)-uracil 12 was prepared by nucleophilic substitution of the corresponding tosyl 8 or trifluoroethanesulfonyl 9 derivative with n -Bu 4 N[ 18 F]F. Base hydrolysis was used to remove the benzoyl protecting groups, followed by HPLC purification, to afford [ 18 F]FFEAU 13 . The trifluoroethanesulfonyl substrate 9 appears to be the better labeling precursor. Carrier n -Bu 4 NF was added to the labeling reaction, which resulted in specific activities of 40–70 Ci/mmol (estimated). Radiochemical purity averaged 94±4%. Although [ 18 F]FFEAU was obtained in low radiochemical yield with 9 and further optimization of the radiosynthesis will be required, sufficient product was available for a series of in vitro and in vivo studies. [ 18 F]FFEAU was directly compared with [ 3 H]TdR in a series of in vitro accumulation studies involving a HSV1- tk stably transduced cell line, RG2TK+ and a nontransduced, wild-type RG2 cells. The initial in vitro and in vivo imaging studies are promising; FFEAU has in vitro accumulation and sensitivity characteristics similar to that previously reported for FIAU, but greater selectivity than FIAU due to lower uptake and retention in nontransduced cells and tissues. The animal imaging experiment showed low levels of radioactivity in the lungs, with little or no radioactivity seen in the heart, liver, spleen and intestines.
Preparation Of Expatriates For Global Assignments: Revisited

wo contributing factors generated my interest in the above topic: 1) Within the past two to three decades, expatriate opportunities for individuals around the world have rapidly increased. This growth has created a new frontier of expatriate human resource issues that many Multinational Corporations (MNC’s) have had difficulty resolving; 2) With the major emphasis placed upon business schools to educate students on global issues, how have they incorporated into the curricula what we have learned about expatriate and repatriate successes and failures?
INTEGRATING PRODUCTS, EMISSION OFFSETS, AND WILDFIRE INTO CARBON ASSESSMENTS OF INLAND NORTHWEST FORESTS

Forest inventory and harvest data from life-cycle inventory and life-cycle assessment for the forest resources of the Inland Northwest region covering Idaho, Montana, and eastern Washington were used to estimate the impacts of management action on the full suite of carbon accounts that can accrue from forest management. The carbon accounts include the forest, wood products, the benefit gained from using wood products as substitutes for alternative products that are fossil fuel-intensive to produce, and the displacement value of using woody biomass to replace fossil fuel. A landscape-level assessment of projected carbon storage by owner group shows that in 100 yr, management on State and Private Forests can sequester or avoid emissions equal to 294 t/ha of carbon, which equals over 1.9 Gt of carbon across 6.5 Mha. Seventy-nine percent of the carbon accumulates beyond current forest carbon inventories. On National Forests, carbon sequestration and avoided emissions are 152 t/ha over 11 Mha of unreserved forests equaling 1.4 Gt of carbon under predictions for a doubling of the 20th century fire rate. The carbon storage in buildings and the substitution benefits override the potential gains of attempting to leave high carbon stocks stored in the forest in this region where disturbance from fire and insect outbreaks dominates the forest ability to sequester carbon.
DIMENSIONALITY REDUCTION FOR COMPLEX MODELS VIA BAYESIAN COMPRESSIVE SENSING

Uncertainty quantification in complex physical models is often challenged by the computational expense of these models. One often needs to operate under the assumption of sparsely available model simulations. This issue is even more critical when models include a large number of input parameters. This “curse of dimensionality,” in particular, leads to a prohibitively large number of basis terms in spectral methods for uncertainty quantification, such as polynomial chaos (PC) methods. In this work, we implement a PC-based surrogate model construction that “learns” and retains only the most relevant basis terms of the PC expansion, using sparse Bayesian learning. This dramatically reduces the dimensionality of the problem, making it more amenable to further analysis such as sensitivity or calibration studies. The model of interest is the community land model with about 80 input parameters, which also exhibits nonsmooth input-output behavior. We enhanced the methodology by a clustering and classifying procedure that leads to a piecewisePC surrogate thereby dealing with nonlinearity. We then obtain global sensitivity information for five outputs with respect to all input parameters using less than 10,000 model simulations—a very small number for an 80-dimensional input parameter space.
Energy and nitrogen metabolism in cancer.

Publisher Summary The profound effects that a malignant neoplasm often produces in its host have long been evident to clinicians and investigators. Some neoplasms distort normal structures and anatomical relationships. Others produce the ulceration of epithelial surfaces that may cause exsanguinating hemorrhage or overwhelming sepsis. On rare occasions, a neoplasm may damage an organ to such an extent that it is unable to function, and the host presents a symptom complex characteristic of ablation of that organ. Some neoplasms produce biologically active substances, identical with or similar to naturally occurring hormones that ultimately threaten the existence of the organism because of the profound pharmacological responses that they elicit. Many malignant neoplasms and related diseases kill their hosts without producing any of these effects. The activity of certain neoplastic cells seems to be oriented toward the synthesis of proteins rather than the storage of energy-rich materials, such as glycogen. With progressive tumor growth, the amino acids would be removed from the circulating fluid by the neoplastic tissue at a more rapid rate than they would by normal cells, and the effect would be that of a nitrogen trap. Many of the problems concerning nitrogen and energy metabolism in the host–tumor relationship can be attacked only in the intact animal. In vitro studies of tumors have been immensely valuable in demonstrating the possible pathways in the intermediate metabolism of some of the substances that are utilized by neoplasms in their growth.
Computational Analysis, Model Reduction, and Experimental Comparison of Model Scale Impinging Jets

Computational fluid dynamics models and corresponding reduced-order models are compared with the results of a recent set of experiments on dual model scale impinging jets conducted at the Pennsylvania State University high speed jet aeroacoustics facility. Two studies are conducted comparing CFD and experiment: (1) supersonic jet plume analysis and (2) comparison of the pressure distributions on the underside of a lift plate as a function of nozzle pressure ratio and height above the ground. Results generally show good agreement between CFD and the experiment. However, there is clear room for improvement with CFD, specifically related to over predicting the strength of the pressure differential due to fountain flow impingement on the underside of the lift plate. Additionally, reduced-order modeling techniques are applied to CFD solutions in order to conduct a large scale parametric study. This study revealed the effect various parameters have on specific outputs of interest, including: suckdown force, peak heat flux, outwash velocity, and several others. A computational cost analysis demonstrates the parametric study would have been impractical without the reduced-order modeling effort. Nomenclature A = area of the throat of the nozzle D = diameter of nozzle exit H = height above the ground plane K = number of sample points for ROM evaluation ṁ = mass flow n = number of sample points for ROM generation NPR = nozzle pressure ratio P = pressure Qaero = aerodynamic heat flux R = gas constant T = temperature TTR = total temperature ratio U = headwind velocity V = velocity γ = ratio of specific heats, 1.4
11.5% Efficient ultrathin black silicon solar microcell

After made black by a reactive ion etching process and SiNx deposition, unprecedentedly, the efficiency of ultrathin solar microcell was improved from 8% to 11.5% and short circuit current increased by 65.7%.
Illumination of Bounded Domains

(1978). Illumination of Bounded Domains. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 85, No. 5, pp. 359-361.
Treatment Dermatitis: 2. Dermatitis Medicamentosa

Serious drug reactions are increasing in frequency and complexity. Among the most common are photoreactions. Dozens of other diseases or syndromes associated with systemic drug therapy have been reported, among them Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a syndrome resembling lupus, toxic epidermal necrolysis, lichen planuslike eruptions, and lymphomalike syndromes.
Quality Assessment of Vascular Disease Prevention Practices in High Risk Urban Women (P7.139)

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the quality of vascular prevention practices among women in five primary care practices from a large metropolitan area. BACKGROUND: Women account for approximately 60[percnt] of stroke deaths and have a higher lifetime risk of stroke compared to men. African American (AA) women in particular have high rates of stroke risk factors, such as hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), and obesity. DESIGN/METHODS: Women age 40 and above were eligible for the study. A data mining tool was used to abstract information from the medical record from five primary care practices, including internal medicine, family medicine, med-peds, and geriatrics. Data pertaining to treatment of conventional risk factors (HTN, prior stroke, atrial fibrillation) was collected. We also obtained information related to use of estrogen in women with established vascular disease. RESULTS: 1815 women (75[percnt] AA) with a mean age of 61 years were reviewed. The frequency of risk factors at the five sites was as follows: HTN (65-86[percnt]), DM (19-34[percnt]), dyslipidemia (43-56[percnt]). Coronary artery disease was present in 1-11[percnt] of patients and prior stroke was present in 1-5[percnt] of subjects. 71[percnt] of patients with DM received statins. In patients with prior stroke/TIA, medication use was as follows: antiplatelet agents 33-64[percnt]; statins 42-72[percnt], estrogen 0-14[percnt]. 67[percnt] of patients with atrial fibrillation were receiving anticoagulants. In the overall population, patients age 蠅70 years were more likely to receive antiplatelet agents (50.6[percnt] vs. 29.9[percnt], p<0.0001). At four of the five sites, patients 蠅70 years were more likely to receive statins (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite their proven value for secondary prevention, antiplatelet therapy and statins were underutilized in women with prior stroke or TIA. Strategies to intensify vascular disease prevention in high risk urban women and particularly women under 70 are needed. Study Supported by:Pfizer Disclosure: Dr. Chaturvedi has received personal compensation for activities with Genentech, Inc., Abbott Vascular, Boehringer-Ingelheim, WL Gore, and Merck. Dr. Chaturvedi has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for NEJM Journal Watch Neurology. Dr. Pieper has nothing to disclose. Dr. Levine has nothing to disclose. Dr. Thati has nothing to disclose. Dr. Madhavan has received personal compensation for activities with Process Proxy Corporation as a consultant. Dr. Mateo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Cardozo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lepczyk has nothing to disclose.
Practical situation of Listeria monocytogenes in Hangzhou

Objective:To find out the practical situation of Listeria monocytogenes in Hangzhou.Methods:Operated isolation and purification culture of LM in six sorts of samples,we did biochemical identification and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing on those isolated strain.Results:29 strains of LM were detected in a total of 798 samples,with a detection rate of 3.63%.Samples of different types had mixed high and low positive rate.The highest detection rate was shown in frozen poultry meat on the market,amounting to 76.47%;small aquatic,meat,cooked food and other samples with the detection rate between 1.24% to 5.13%;raw milk was not detected.The strains isolated had the same biochemical reactions.PFGE patterns were divided into 14 types,between different types were not closely related.Conclusion:The overall LM pollution situation was not very serious of food in Hangzhou,but there were some types of samples with high positive rate.According to the performance of genetic pattern in the strains isolated,LM contamination in food was from different clones of strains,and the bacteria types were dispersing.Single genotype strains prevalence was not found.However,it still led to the potential danger of food poisoning the.The poultry,pig slaughtering process and the storage,transport,sales of all aspects of health Supervision and management should be strengthened.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of liver cancer screening among residents with high risk in Shanghai in 2002-2005

[Objective] To study the cost-effectiveness analysis of liver cancer screening among residents with high risk factors in Shanghai in 2002-2005. [Methods] 3 280 people with high risk factors for liver cancer were selected through the information provided by Shanghai Health Archives and hospital data.They were given health education and invited to take part in the liver cancer screening.Screening effectiveness was estimated by means of cost effectiveness analysis. [Results] The total cost of liver cancer screening in Shanghai was 4.0 million Yuan.The cost per screening was 411.8 Yuan,and the direct cost per screening was 21.8 Yuan excluding indirect cost.Out of pocket cost was 15.0 Yuan.The total cost per liver cancer and early stage cancer patient was 57.5 and 1.0 million Yuan respectively. [Conclusion] If a community has 100 thousand residents,if(0.24) Yuan per person annually is given to push the liver cancer screening program,the early stage liver cancer patients may be effectively detected.
Analysis of the status and role of the hidden curriculum in the clinical nursing teaching

[Objective] To investigate the importance of the hidden curriculum in the clinical nursing teaching on the quality of students.[Method] The practice nurses were selected as the experimental group whose teacher help the pregnant women sit up after the antenatal examination and as the control group whose teacher did not do it.The times of helping the pregnant woman sit up by student nurse after the antenatal examination were observed and recorded.The rate of helping was compared between two groups and then the effect of clinical teachers on the students was analyzed.[Result] The rate of initiative helping in the experimental group(60.95%) was significantly higher than the control group(20.91%).[Conclusion] The positive effects of hidden curriculum of nurses play a key role in the improvement of interns' humanistic quality.Attention to the hidden curriculum teaching could help students study in the non-threatening environment,remain open.This teaching could also further improve the efficiency of explicit curriculum.
Clinicopathological aspects of canine aqueous humour proteins.

SUMMARY Aqueous humour protein was examined from 17 dogs with no ocular pathology. Normal protein levels and disc pherograms were described. Experimental iridocyclitis was induced in 12 dogs by aspiration of aqueous humour. Changes in the blood-aqueous barrier were shown as protein increases and alterations in disc pherograms.
Isolated Abducens Nerve Palsy: Update on Evaluation and Diagnosis

Abducens nerve palsy is a common clinical finding in neurology practice. In many instances, the origin is obvious and management straightforward; however, the list of possible etiologies and mimics is vast and diverse and diagnostic decisions can be challenging and even controversial. This is especially true when the abducens nerve is affected in isolation, since in the current era of cost-effective medicine, it is critical to accurately diagnose etiologies that may lead to major morbidity or mortality with efficiency. Topics for highlighted updates in this review include management of isolated abducens nerve palsy with a high likelihood of a microvascular ischemic etiology; common imaging pitfalls and current state-of-the-art neuroimaging; and abducens palsy mimics.
Update on eltrombopag for ITP.

Eltrombopag (Promacta) is the first orally absorbed, small-molecule, thrombopoietin receptor (TPO-R) agonist, approved (on November 20, 2008) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in patients who have relapsed following treatment with corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, and/or splenectomy.
Advancing toxicology research using in vivo high throughput toxicology with small fish models.

Small freshwater fish models, especially zebrafish, offer advantages over traditional rodent models, including low maintenance and husbandry costs, high fecundity, genetic diversity, physiology similar to that of traditional biomedical models, and reduced animal welfare concerns. The Collaborative Workshop on Aquatic Models and 21st Century Toxicology was held at North Carolina State University on May 5-6, 2014, in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Participants discussed the ways in which small fish are being used as models to screen toxicants and understand mechanisms of toxicity. Workshop participants agreed that the lack of standardized protocols is an impediment to broader acceptance of these models, whereas development of standardized protocols, validation, and subsequent regulatory acceptance would facilitate greater usage. Given the advantages and increasing application of small fish models, there was widespread interest in follow-up workshops to review and discuss developments in their use. In this article, we summarize the recommendations formulated by workshop participants to enhance the utility of small fish species in toxicology studies, as well as many of the advances in the field of toxicology that resulted from using small fish species, including advances in developmental toxicology, cardiovascular toxicology, neurotoxicology, and immunotoxicology. We also review many emerging issues that will benefit from using small fish species, especially zebrafish, and new technologies that will enable using these organisms to yield results unprecedented in their information content to better understand how toxicants affect development and health.
How Experts Attain and Maintain Superior Performance: Implications for the Enhancement of Skilled Performance in Older Individuals

Traditional theories of aging claim that basic processing speed and memory capacities show inevitable decline with increasing age. Recent research, however, has shown that older experts in some domains are able to maintain their superior performance into old age. but even they display the typical age-related decline in performance on psychometric tests of fluid intelligence. The study of expert performance shows that adults retain the capacity to acquire and maintain performance with the appropriate type of training and practice, even speeded actions and many physiological adaptations. In fact, experts’ performance keeps improving for several decades into adulthood and typically reaches its peak between 30 and 50 years of age. The experts can then maintain their attained performance level into old age by regular deliberate practice. Much of the observed decline in older adults’ performance can be attributed to age-related reductions in engagement in domain-related activities—in particular, regular deliber...
National pharmacare: Time to move forward

Canada is unique among highly developed countries in its curious exclusion of prescription drug coverage from its universal health insurance program, as well as its comparatively high per capita costs for prescription medications. It is time to address this notable coverage gap in our health care
Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Preshopping Activity: Measurement and Relationship to Price as a Shopping Goal

This article investigates four alternative measures of shoppers’ attitudes toward the usefulness of preshopping activities in reducing food costs. Measures studied differed in the type and degree of aggregation among the different attitudinal items. Each attitudinal measure (or group of measures) was employed as the predictor variable(s) of shoppers’ price as a shopping goal and the proportions of explained variance were compared. Disaggregated measures had more common variance with the criterion measure than aggregated measures had with the latter.
Regulation of steroid hydroxylase gene expression is multifactorial in nature.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes that regulation of steroid hydroxylase gene expression is complex and multifactorial, involving cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent and -independent mechanisms required for maintenance of optimal steroidogenic capacity, tissue-specific mechanisms which lead to different steroidogenic pathways in different tissues, and developmental mechanisms which lead to fetal imprinting of steroid hydroxylase expression and which probably overlap with both maintenance and tissue-specific mechanisms. The cis-regulatory elements are associated with genes whose transcription can be influenced by steroid hormones and the trans-acting factors which bind to such DNA sequences. The chapter explains that one type of regulation of gene expression required for steroid hormone biosynthesis is tissue specific in nature. A second level of regulation of expression associated with steroidogenic pathways is developmental. A third level of regulation of gene expression associated with steroidogenesis is the maintenance of optimal steroidogenic capacity in various tissues throughout life.
Robert Damora and the mission of American architecture

In the United States of the 1950s, many architects, artists and historians were engaged with issues surrounding the nature of an authentic American architecture, and their professional responsibility to define its contours and potential. These issues included questions about the relationship of design to a democratic society and the expressive possibilities of architectural monumentality. This essay examines the contribution made by the master architectural photographer Robert Damora (1912–2009) with his wife Sirkka (b. 1924) to the development of a response to these concerns. It addresses his part in shaping American modern design through: his documentation of the work of prominent American modern architects and designers such as Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, Florence Knoll, Edward Durrell Stone, Paul Rudolph and Philip Johnson; post-war studies of new housing types and innovative concrete construction; photographic interpretations of corporate work such as the Hancock Tower in...
Late-time tails in the Reissner-Nordström spacetime revisited

We propose that the late-time tail problem in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om (RN) spacetime is dual to a tail problem in the Schwarzschild spacetime with a different initial data set: at a fixed observation point the asymptotic decay rate of the fields are equal. This duality is used to find the decay rate for tails in RN. This decay rate is exactly as in Schwarzschild, including the case of the extremely-charged RN spacetime (ERN). The only case where any deviation from the Schwarzschild decay rate is found is the case of the tails along the event horizon of an ERN spacetime, where the decay rate is the same as at future null infinity. As observed at a fixed location, the decay rate in ERN is the same as in Schwarzschild. We verify these expectations with numerical simulations.
The Unrecognized Epidemic of Electronic Cigarette Burns

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are novel battery-operated devices that deliver nicotine as an inhaled aerosol. They originated from China in 2007 and their use has rapidly increased worldwide in the past decade, yet they remain largely unregulated. Reports of injuries associated with their use have appeared as unusual events in the news media and as case reports in the medical literature. This study was undertaken to explore e-cigarettes as a mechanism of burn injury. Referral records to three burn centers from January 2007 to July 2016 were searched to identify patients with injuries caused by e-cigarettes. Data were gathered from the electronic medical records (EMRs) of patients referred within the most recent 18 months. Thirty patients with burns resulting from e-cigarettes were identified. Twenty-nine were referred within the most recent 18 months. Only one was referred in the preceding 8 years. An explosion was identified by the patient as the inciting event in 26 of the 30 injuries (87%). Explosion of an isolated battery while it was carried on personal attire was reported in 10 cases. Explosion of a fully assembled e-cigarette was described in 16 cases. In seven of these 16 cases, the explosion occurred while the device was idle and carried on personal attire. In the other nine cases, the explosion occurred while the device was being operated. No injury occurred while batteries were charging. The mean age of injured patients was 30 years. The mean size of burn was 4% TBSA. The thighs, hands, and genitalia were the most common sites of injury. Twenty-six patients required hospital admission and nine required surgery. Serious burn injuries from e-cigarettes have recently occurred with greatly increased frequency. The increase in injuries appears out of proportion to the increased popularity of e-cigarettes. The most common pattern of injury is explosion when either the idle device or its batteries are carried on personal attire.
Multi-terminal DC grids: challenges and prospects

A few multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) systems are in operation around the world today. However, MTDC grids overlaying their AC counterpart might a reality in a near future. The main drivers for constructing such direct current grids are the large-scale integration of remote renewable energy resources into the existing alternative current (AC) grids, and the promotion and development of international energy markets through the so-called supergrids. This paper presents the most critical challenges and prospects for such emerging MTDC grids, along with a foreseeable technology development roadmap, with a particular focus on crucial control and operational issues that are associated with MTDC systems and grids.
A case of Sherlockian identity: Irregulars, feminists, and millennials

This essay describes a study of how fans participate in memory-making activities. I call this activity participatory memory, blending theories from collective memory and participatory culture. Interestingly, while studying spaces of memory for Sherlock Holmes (the Canon) and BBC's Sherlock (2010–), I began to realize that these spaces have much to do with gender, generations, class, and cultural differences that helped regulate (and even segregate) different ways in which people were allowed to participate in the Sherlockian fandom.
17O MAS NMR Correlation Spectroscopy at High Magnetic Fields.

The structure of two protected amino acids, FMOC-l-leucine and FMOC-l-valine, and a dipeptide, N-acetyl-l-valyl-l-leucine (N-Ac-VL), were studied via one- and two-dimensional solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Utilizing 17O magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR at multiple magnetic fields (17.6–35.2 T/750–1500 MHz for 1H) the 17O quadrupolar and chemical shift parameters were determined for the two oxygen sites of each FMOC-protected amino acids and the three distinct oxygen environments of the dipeptide. The one- and two-dimensional, 17O, 15N–17O, 13C–17O, and 1H–17O double-resonance correlation experiments performed on the uniformly 13C,15N and 70% 17O-labeled dipeptide prove the attainability of 17O as a probe for structure studies of biological systems. 15N–17O and 13C–17O distances were measured via one-dimensional REAPDOR and ZF-TEDOR experimental buildup curves and determined to be within 15% of previously reported distances, thus demonstrating the use of 17O NMR to quantitate inte...
Comparison of the Response of Bacterial IscU and SufU to Zn2+ and Select Transition-Metal Ions.

IscU, the central scaffold protein in the bacterial ISC iron–sulfur (Fe–S) cluster biosynthesis system, has long been recognized to bind a Zn2+ ion at its active site. While initially regarded as an artifact, Zn2+ binding has been shown to induce stabilization of the IscU structure that may mimic a state biologically relevant to IscU’s role in Fe–S cluster biosynthesis. More recent studies have revealed that SufU, a homologous protein involved in Fe–S cluster biosynthesis in Gram-positive bacteria, also binds a Zn2+ ion with structural implications. Given the widespread occurrence of the “IscU-like” protein fold, particularly among Fe–S cluster biosynthesis systems, an interesting question arises as to whether Zn2+ ion binding and the resulting structural alterations are common properties in IscU-like proteins. Interactions between IscU and specific metal ions are investigated and compared side-by-side with those of SufU from a representative Gram-positive bacterium in the phylum Firmicutes. These studies...
A parameter mismatch study on model predictive control based sensorless current mode

While solar energy is accepted as an abundant source of energy, it is stochastic in nature, unlike many other conventional sources of energy. This intermittency requires robust controllers that allow for maximized energy harvest. A general trend to improving controller design is to consider modern control techniques, particularly optimal control methods like model predictive control (MPC). While these techniques offer faster and more accurate reference tracking, they also add to the complexity of the system and could possibly reduce its window of stability. This paper is comprised of further analyses of the previously proposed sensorless current mode (SCM) controller for the photovoltaic maximum power point tracker (MPPT) based on MPC. Through a variety of parameter mismatch and sensitivity studies, a better perspective on the stability and efficacy of the proposed control method is presented.
Estradiol-17β effects on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and on the induction of a yolk precursor in goldfish, CarassiusAuratus

Abstract The effects of estradiol-17β treatment on plasma lipid levels, liver lipid and glycogen reserves were examined during different phases of the reproductive cycle in goldfish, Carassius auratus . Estrogen therapy resulted in increased plasma and hepatic lipid levels except during the spawning season. Hepatic glycogen deposits were depleted by estradiol injections during all seasons. Treatment of fish with the estrogen antagonist, CI-628, during the spawning season caused a reduction in plasma and liver lipid levels. Electrophoretic studies conducted during the post-spawning season showed that estrogen induces the appearance of a specific lipoprotein, probably a yolk precursor, in the serum and liver of goldfish.
Reawakening Macanese identity: the impact of Chinese outbound tourism

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper examines the potential role of Chinese outbound tourism as a catalyst of change for the Macanese identity. There is an emerging trend to have a new identity amongs...
Problem Overview $$\varOmega {\bigl (G(V,E)\bigr )}$$

Finite queueing models and blocking systems and their traffic problems originated with A. K. Erlang and the Danish telephone system in Copenhagen, Denmark, around 1909. In this chapter, we present an introduction to Stochastic Processes together with the notation used in queueing and congestion problems. We will trace the evolution of queue and queueing network models and their optimization for traffic congestion and performance. We also articulate the framework as depicted in Figure 2.1 and outline of topics around which the models in the Volume will be developed.
Learning Classification Rules with Differential Evolution for High-Speed Data Stream Mining on GPU s

High-speed data streams are potentially infinite sequences of rapidly arriving instances that may be subject to concept drift phenomenon. Hence, dedicated learning algorithms must be able to update themselves with new data and provide an accurate prediction in a limited amount of time. This requirement was considered as prohibitive for using evolutionary algorithms for high-speed data stream mining. This paper introduces a massively parallel implementation on GPUs of a differential evolution algorithm for learning classification rules in the presence of concept drift. The proposal based on the DE /rand - to - best/1/bin strategy takes advantage of up to four nested levels of parallelism to maximize the performance of the algorithm. Efficient GPU kernels parallelize the evolution of the populations, rules, conditional clauses, and evaluation on instances. The proposed method is evaluated on 25 data stream benchmarks considering different types of concept drifts. Results are compared with other publicly available streaming rule learners. Obtained results and their statistical analysis proves an excellent performance of the proposed classifier that offers improved predictive accuracy, model update time, decision time, and a compact rule set.
Obtaining the modal participation of displacements, stresses, and strain energy in shell finite-element eigen-buckling solutions of thin-walled structural members via Generalized Beam Theory

Abstract This paper presents a method to calculate modal displacement, stress, and strain energy participation in shell finite-element eigen-buckling solutions of thin-walled structural members using Generalized Beam Theory (GBT). The method provides quantitative information that can be used to interpret coupled buckling in structural designs. A finite-element (FE) eigen buckling solution is transformed to a GBT solution, and equivalent GBT modal amplitudes representing the FE solution are retrieved. The modal displacement field, stress tensor and strain energy are retrieved using GBT modal amplitude field and applying GBT constitutive relationships between strain and stress. Theory and examples are provided.
Putting It All Together: The Language-Brain-Genes Loop

Relying on the proposals and discussions in the first three chapters, in Sect. 4.2 I consider how a specific sexual selection scenario for the emergence of (simple) syntax would have affected and started to solidify the genetic foundation for language, addressing directly the language-genes dimension. Section 4.3 reports on the recent genetic developments and discoveries, of direct relevance to brain evolution, addressing the brain-gene dimension. Section 4.4 reports on the results of some specific neuroimaging experiments designed to test the role of the brain in the processing of simpler (fossil) vs. more complex syntax, engaging the language-brain dimension, in the light of evolution. The goal of this chapter is to make it clear that evolution (via selection) is a force which can bring these three dimensions together, and most probably the only force that can achieve that. Finally, with all this in mind, Sect. 4.5 returns to the question of whether other species, such as Neanderthals, may have had some form of language, and provides a fragment of the type of language that it would have been. Section 4.6 concludes this monograph.
Essentials of Scenario Building

Effective simulation scenarios begin with the identification of an appropriate clinical topic. Drivers for subject matter include new evidence, changing regulations, advancing technology, and revised documentation requirements. The topic should be timely and suited to the intended learner. An appropriate setting must be chosen, and role descriptions for all participants must be clear. The course creators determine the principal outcome of the scenario, and then specific learning objectives can be developed. Learning objectives are action-oriented. They create the basis for a facilitator’s checklist. A well-built scenario has three components: beginning (setting the scene), middle (problems need to be solved), and end (debrief and reflection).