cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reform of the Public Health Act.

We agree with Richard Coker1 that the vast majority of non-compliant cases of tuberculosis can be dealt with by a mixture of directly observed therapy (DOT) and inducements. However, when DOT fails in a few cases each year, despite intensive team effort and carrots such as housing or food vouchers, the Public Health Act may have to be invoked. …
Suicide and Suicidology in the Soviet Union

This study was conducted in order to obtain information on suicide in the Soviet Union, an important subject for which we have no scientific literature. Studies of attempted suicide in Soviet psychiatric journals were analyzed. This information was supplemented by interviews with Soviet psychiatrists now living abroad. The results of this inquiry show that suicide is a subject that clearly has become of increasing concern in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, in spite of the absence of essential statistical data on mortality, there is evidence indicating that the rate of Soviet suicide may be rising in certain parts of the country. Finally, growing concern about suicide has led to expanded prevention programs and to a new emphasis on social and psychological etiological explanations. In particular, the role of the Soviet family in crisis has been emphasized as a major influence in understanding the causes of suicidal attempts.
Conformational sampling and ensemble generation by molecular dynamics simulations: 18-Crown-6 as a test case

Using the crown ether 18-crown-6 as a test system, molecular dynamics has been evaluated as a technique for conformational searching and thermodynamic ensemble generation. By running a series of 200 ps and 2 ns simulations, an “optimum” temperature range for conformational searching, i.e., the temperature at which one finds the largest number of low energy structures, was demonstrated to be dependent on the time interval at which one examines the structure. By considering conformational degeneracy and entropy with the rigid rotor harmonic oscillator approximation we have been able to demonstrate that the ensemble generated approaches thermodynamic equilibrium in about 6 ns of simulation. To our knowledge this is the first time this has been demonstrated for a complex organic molecule and it highlights the power and usefulness of molecular dynamics as a method for thermodynamic ensemble generation and conformational searching.
Shrines, Medicines, and the Strength of the Head: the Way of the Warrior Among the Diola of Senegambia

The history of warfare has long be associated with a variety of religious practices designed to lessen the likelihood of death and enhance the possibility of victory. Warriors enter a world where the expectation of a normal life span is challenged by the death of comrades and where martial skill cannot ensure survival. This paper examines the way in which the Diola of Senegambia used religious practices and ideas to lessen the uncertainty of war during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Diola warriors sought the assistance of spirit shrines to lessen the uncertainties and dangers of war. There are strong parallels between the types of ritual employed by Diola warriors and Diola wrestlers, who share a common mission of eliminating risks. These parallels are discussed briefly before a detailed examination of Diola rituals related to war, the types of ritual prophylaxis utilized by warriors, and the types of Diola (as well as Christian and Muslim) medicines used for spiritual protection. Several specific war shrines are described as well as the means by which they were created. Finally, the article discusses the "strength of the head", special powers that enable warriors to protect themselves from harm, evade capture, and even transform themselves into certain types of animals. The article concludes with an analysis of the impact of colonial wars, with their greater firepower and more far-reaching consequences, on the connections between religion and the Diola way of the warrior. A central part of the spiritual crisis accompanying the colonial conquest, not only for the Diola but for many other African peoples, was the defeat of the religious structures that provided spiritual support for the way of the warrior.
Elevated dietary salt suppresses renin secretion but not thirst evoked by arterial hypotension in rats

Increased dietary salt intake was used as a nonpharmacological tool to blunt hypotension-induced increases in plasma renin activity (PRA) in order to evaluate the contribution of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) to hypotension-induced thirst. Rats were maintained on 8% NaCl (high) or 1% NaCl (standard) diet for at least 2 wk, and then arterial hypotension was produced by administration of the arteriolar vasodilator diazoxide. Despite marked reductions in PRA, rats maintained on the high-salt diet drank similar amounts of water, displayed similar latencies to drink, and had similar degrees of hypotension compared with rats maintained on the standard diet. Furthermore, blockade of ANG II production by an intravenous infusion of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril attenuated the hypotension-induced water intake similarly in rats fed standard and high-salt diet. Additional experiments showed that increases in dietary salt did not alter thirst stimulated by the acetylcholine agonist carbachol administered into the lateral ventricle; however, increases in dietary salt did enhance thirst evoked by central ANG II. Collectively, the present findings suggest that hypotension-evoked thirst in rats fed a high-salt diet is dependent on the peripheral RAS despite marked reductions in PRA.
Modeling of Signal and Power Integrity in System on Package Applications

We present a method for fast analysis of signal and power integrity in system-on-package applications based on a recently developed multilayered finite difference method (M- FDM). First we present a rapid solver that can be used to extract materials properties of dielectrics. The extracted frequency- dependent dielectric constant and loss tangent can then be used in any field simulator for improved accuracy. Then we present M- FDM for simulation of system-on-package applications. In order to accurately model multilayered planar structures, which are three dimensional, M-FDM combines two-dimensional models for power/ground planes using a multilayered unit cell approach. In this way, noise coupling can be considered not only in the transversal direction between two planes, but also vertically from one plane pair to another through the apertures and via holes. For a co-simulation of signal and power integrity, transmission line models also need to be included. The interaction between the signal transmission and power distribution modes is taken into account using a modal decomposition technique. An equivalent circuit model becomes available based on this finite difference approximation as well. Based on this network representation, second order effects such as fringe and gap fields can be included in M-FDM using equivalent circuit models for these fields. This results in a very accurate method that can be used for fast analysis of signal and power integrity in arbitrary package and board designs having any stack-up configuration and number of layers.
Expectation of Quadratic Forms in Normal and Nonnormal Variables with Econometric Applications

We derive some new results on the expectation of quadratic forms in normal and nonnormal variables. Using a nonstochastic operator, we show that the expectation of the product of an arbitrary number of quadratic forms in noncentral normal variables follows a recurrence formula. This formula includes the existing result for central normal variables as a special case. For nonnormal variables, while the existing results are available only for quadratic forms of limited order (up to 3), we derive analytical results to a
Chemical lasers produced from O(3P) atom reactions. III. 5‐μm CO laser emission from the O + CH reaction

Very strong laser emission at 5 μm was detected when SO2 and CHBr3 were flash photolyzed in the vacuum ultraviolet (λ ≥ 165 nm) in the presence of a large amount of diluent (SF6, He, or Ar). About 110 vibration–rotation transitions ranging from Δv = 18 17 to 3 2, except 16 15, were identified. The primary reactions leading to the CO stimulated emission are as follows: The product analysis results and the variation of laser intensity with flash energy and SO concentration indicate that the following side reactions are also occurring. Addition of a small amount of O2 enhances the laser output by both eliminating these side reactions and simultaneously producing vibrationally excited CO via reaction (8), which has been previously shown to generate CO stimulated emission. The effects of various reactive (NO and H2) and inert (He, Ar, SF6, CO, N2, N2O, and CO2) gases have been examined. All additives (P ≤ 20 torr), except NO and H2, increase the total laser output. N2O enhances the power most efficiently, whereas CO, N2, and CO2 are less effective and have similar efficiencies. The enhancement of the laser intensity by these near-resonant gases is ascribed to the depletion of CO population at lower levels which thus increases the rates cascading from higher levels. NO and H2 quench the laser output by chemically reducing the concentration of the CH radical.
Programmable presence virtualization for next-generation context-based applications

Presence, broadly defined as an event publish-notification infrastructure for converged applications, has emerged as a key mechanism for collecting and disseminating context attributes for next-generation services in both enterprise and provider domains. Current presence-based solutions and products lack in the ability to a) support flexible user-defined queries over dynamic presence data and b) derive composite presence from multiple provider domains. Accordingly, current uses of context are limited to individual domains/organizations and do not provide a programmable mechanism for rapid creation of context-aware services. This paper describes a presence virtualization architecture, where a Virtualized Presence Server receives customizable queries from multiple presence clients, retrieves the necessary data from the base presence servers, applies the required virtualization logic and notifies the presence clients. To support both query expressiveness and computational efficiency, virtualization queries are structured to separately identify both the XSLT-based transformation primitives and the presence sources over which the transformation occurs. For improved scalability, the proposed architecture offloads the XSLT-related processing to a high-performance XML processing engine. We describe our current implementation and present performance results that attest to the promise of this virtualization approach.
Importance sampling of compounding processes

Compounding processes, also known as perpetuities, play an important role in many applications; in particular, in time series analysis and mathematical finance. Apart from some special cases, the distribution of a perpetuity is hard to compute, and large deviations estimates sometimes involve complicated constants which depend on the complete distribution. Motivated by this, we propose provably efficient importance sampling algorithms which apply to qualitatively different cases, leading to light and heavy tails. Both algorithms have the non-standard feature of being state-dependent. In addition, in order to verify the efficiency, we apply recently developed techniques based on Lyapunov inequalities.
Work in progress - encouraging cooperative learning in graduate engineering statistics courses

We are experimenting with using active and cooperative learning activities in our graduate engineering statistics courses. Although the activities seem to be effective for some students, others are resistant to working in groups. Informal teaming exercises work acceptably within a given class, but more formal team projects often elicit negative responses - especially when they have consequences for grading. In this paper, we review our experiences with cooperative learning at the graduate level, and report survey data about student reactions to formal and informal cooperation.
Transparent Lu 2 O 3 :Eu Ceramics

We are developing highly transparent ceramic oxide scintillators for high energy (MeV) radiography screens. Lutetium oxide doped with europium (Lu 2 O 3 :Eu) is the material of choice due to its high light yield and stopping power. As an alternative to hot-pressing, we are utilizing vacuum sintering followed by hot isostatic pressing (HIP). Nano-scale starting powder was uniaxially pressed into compacts and then sintered under high vacuum, followed by HIP’ing. Vacuum sintering temperature proved to be a critical parameter in order to obtain highly transparent Lu 2 O 3 :Eu. Under-sintering resulted in open porosity disabling the driving force for densification during HIP’ing, while over-sintering lead to trapped pores in the Lu 2 O 3 :Eu grain interiors. Optimal vacuum sintering conditions allowed the pores to remain mobile during the subsequent HIP’ing step which provided enough pressure to close the pores completely resulting in fully-dense highly transparent ceramics. Currently, we have produced 3 mm thick by 4.5 cm diameter ceramics with excellent transparency, and anticipate scaling to larger sizes while maintaining comparable optical properties.
Planar waveguide light transmission modality for backward-mode photoacoustic tomography

Prior research in photoacoustic tomography has consistently demonstrated its ability to image structures near the surface of tissue with a high degree of optical contrast. However, despite significant advancements in the field, there has been little to no development of clinical applications for photoacoustic tomography, principally due to the requirement for backwardmode operation, i.e., it must detect the photoacoustic signal on the same side of the tissue as the incident laser light. This results in the standard ultrasonic transducer occluding the path of the inciting laser beam. Therefore, developing a technique to deliver light into the tissue, while incorporating commonly available ultrasonic detection equipment without occluding the beam propagation or modifying the equipment in any way, would provide a significant benefit to the field, and potentially improve its clinical applicability. Here, we propose a new method to accomplish this aim, using planar optical waveguides that employ the optical tunneling phenomenon to transmit light directly into tissue (pig skin) through physical contact with the sample. A commercially available, 10MHz, unfocused ultrasonic transducer was positioned on the rear face of the waveguide and was used to detect photoacoustic signals generated within the tissue as the signals propagated perpendicularly through the waveguide substrate. Unlike alternative solutions to the occlusion problem, this modality does not necessitate the use of custom manufactured transducers, expensive dichroics, or additional laser systems, and thereby represents a viable approach for the easy implementation of photoacoustic tomography in a clinical setting.
How the Disposition Effect and Momentum Impact Investment Professionals

More than twenty years ago, Meir Statman and I coined the term disposition effect to describe the predisposition of investors to sell their winners too early and to ride their losers too long. We identified a series of psychological phenomena that we believed explained the disposition effect, presented data consistent with the effect, and proposed some testable hypotheses. Since that time, a literature on the disposition effect has developed to test those hypotheses and extend the focus of discussion from investor behavior to pricing. In this article, I survey highlights of the disposition effect literature that are of special interest to investment professionals. Recent research concludes that the disposition effect impacts investment professionals, both directly and indirectly. The direct effect involves investment professionals tending to sell their winners too quickly and/or riding their losers too long. The indirect effect involves momentum in pricing that in part stems from some investors behaving in accordance with the disposition effect. Notably, the disposition effect and momentum are key determinants in the separation of outperforming investors from underperforming investors.
Grebes from the Late Pliocene of North America

The Pliocene grebe fauna of North America is not well known. Brodkorb (1963a) lists two extinct species, Pliodytes lanquisti Brodkorb from the Lower Pliocene of Florida and Podiceps subparvus (L. Miller and Bowman) from the Middle Pliocene of California, and one extant species, Podiceps caspicus (= nigricollis) from the Middle Pliocene of Kansas. In addition, there are unnamed grebe remains from the Pliocene of Arizona (Wetmore, 1924), California (Miller and Bowman, 1958; Howard, 1963), Idaho (Wetmore, 1933; Brodkorb, 1958), and Kansas (Wetmore, 1944). Thus I am fortunate to have the opportunity to study and to report on the many grebe specimens that have been collected in Pliocene deposits in Kansas and Idaho by Claude W. Hibbard and his assistants. These specimens are in the collections of The University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (UMMP). The nomenclature of the grebes has changed considerably since the publication of Peters' Check-list (1931), and so I have used the names applied by Storer (1963).
Addressing physician compensation and practice productivity

Medical groups are challenged to adopt a systematic, evidence-based approach to selecting a physician compensation method that supports the group's overall financial and organizational strategies, including managed care contracting strategies; is consistent with the philosophies, beliefs, and attitudes of the group's membership as they pertain to individual productivity; and can be supported by the organization's information technology, decision support, and management infrastructures. This article explains how research in physician profiling, benchmarking, general compensation theory, and physician productivity provides evidence that can serve as the foundation for a pragmatic approach to evaluating physician compensation method alternatives. It also presents a unique production-based compensation model for illustrative purposes.
Thin Film Transistors with Electron Mobility of 40 cm2V−1s−1 Made from Directly Deposited Intrinsic Microcrystalline Silicon

We report top-gate n channel μc-Si:H TFTs with saturated electron mobilities up to 40 cm 2 V −1 s −1 and ON/OFF ratios up to ~106. The μc-Si:H was grown from silane, dichlorosilane, and hydrogen. The glow discharge was excited at a frequency of 80 MHz to raise the growth rate to ∼1A/sec, which is above that achievable with 13.56 MHz. Deposition temperatures were 230°C for the i-layer and 280°C (the highest temperature in the process) for the n + source and drain layers. The TFTs were fabricated from 340-nm thick μc-Si:H films, and with a 300-nm thick gate insulator of plasma deposited SiO 2 .
High-affinity glutamate transporter and glutamine synthetase content in longissimus dorsi and adipose tissues of growing Angus steers differs among suckling, weanling, backgrounding, and finishing production stages.

Skeletal muscle and adipose tissues play important roles in maintaining whole-body Glu and N homeostasis by the uptake of Glu and release of Gln. To test the hypothesis that expression of high-affinity Glu transporters (GLAST1, EAAT4, EAAC1, GLT-1) and glutamine synthetase (GS) would increase in longissimus dorsi and adipose tissue of newborn Angus steers randomly assigned ( = 6) to develop through suckling (S; 32 d) and/or weanling (W; 184 d), backgrounding (B; 248 d), and finishing (F; 423 d) production stages. Carcass quality was determined at slaughter to verify shifts in adipose and lean deposition with development. Expression of mRNA (RT-PCR/Southern) and relative protein abundance (Western analysis) were determined in tissue homogenates isolated from longissimus dorsi, and kidney and subcutaneous adipose. The effect of production stage or tissue type on carcass and protein abundance was assessed by 1-way ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS, and Fisher's protected LSD procedure was used to separate data means. Neither GLAST1 nor EAAT4 mRNA or protein was detected. EAAC1, GLT-1, and GS mRNA were identified in all tissues, but GLT-1 and GS protein were not detected in kidney or subcutaneous adipose, and GS protein was not detected in longissimus dorsi. The EAAC1 content of subcutaneous ( = 0.06) and kidney ( = 0.02) adipose was 2 times greater in B and F than W steers, whereas GS was 5 times greater ( F). For longissimus dorsi, EAAC1 ( W > B = F, S = W > B = F, respectively). Within F steers, EAAC1 and GLT-1 mRNA was expressed by subcutaneous, kidney, omental, mesenchymal, and intramuscular adipose tissues, whereas GS mRNA was expressed by all except for intramuscular. Only EAAC1 protein was detected in any adipose tissue, with EAAC1 content being 104% and 112% greater ( 0.45) from omental or mesenchymal adipose. These data demonstrate (1) longissimus dorsi and adipose tissues of steers developing through typical production stages have different capacities for Glu uptake and Gln synthesis, (2) the importance of EAAC1 and GS in adipose metabolism, and (3) the differential metabolic fate of Glu by adipose tissues as steers developed, as evidenced by the marked decrease of GS content in subcutaneous and kidney adipose of F steers.
Hydrodynamic shaping, polymerization, and subsequent modification of thiol click fibers.

Hydrodynamic focusing in microfluidic channels is used to produce highly uniform, shaped polymer fibers at room temperature and under “green” conditions. Core streams of thiol–ene and thiol–yne prepolymer solutions were guided using a phase-matched sheath stream through microfluidic channels with grooved walls to determine shape. Size was dictated by the ratio of the flow rates of the core and sheath streams. Thiol click reactions were initiated using UV illumination to lock in predesigned cross-sectional shapes and sizes. This approach proved to be much more flexible than electrospinning in that highly uniform fibers can be produced from prepolymer solutions with varying compositions and viscosities with made-to-order sizes and shapes. Furthermore, a very simple manipulation of the composition provided reactive groups on the fiber surface for attachment of active ligands and biological components. A proof-of-principle experiment demonstrated that biotin attached to thiol groups on the fiber surface could...
Three-dimensional modeling of direct-drive cryogenic implosions on OMEGA

The effects of large-scale (with Legendre modes ≲10) laser-imposed nonuniformities in direct-drive cryogenic implosions on the OMEGA Laser System are investigated using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations performed using the newly developed code ASTER. Sources of these nonuniformities include an illumination pattern produced by 60 OMEGA laser beams, capsule offsets (∼10–20 μm), and imperfect pointing, power balance, and timing of the beams (with typical σrms∼10 μm, 10%, and 5 ps, respectively). Two implosion designs using 26-kJ triple-picket laser pulses were studied: a nominal design, in which an 874-μm-diameter capsule is illuminated by about the same-diameter beams, and a more hydrodynamically efficient “R75” design using a 900-μm-diameter capsule and beams of 75% of this diameter. Simulations show that nonuniformities caused by capsule offsets and beam imbalance have the largest effect on implosion performance. These nonuniformities lead to significant distortions of implosion cores, resulting ...
Reality Television Programs and the Failure Narrative

Reality programs have dominated certain cable networks, offering “real” representations of expecting mothers and new parents. “Breast or bottle?” discussions and depictions were and continue to be part of this “new baby” genre. In this Chapter, Foss analyzes the MTV programs 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom , The Learning Channel’s A Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby, and Discovery Health’s Deliver Me: Home Edition for their messages about infant feeding. Bottle-feeding dominates these narratives, enhanced with commercial formula branding. Women who intend to breastfeed often do not succeed, reinforcing breastfeeding as prohibitively difficult. Opportunities for pro-breastfeeding messages in reality television are addressed, including depictions of lactation support and women overcoming challenges to meet their breastfeeding goals.
“Blazing Effects”: The 1605 Gunpowder Treason and the Rhetoric of Slave Conspiracy

The story and commemorations celebrating the discovery of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot became intertwined with both real and imagined reports of eighteenth-century slave conspiracies. By familiarizing the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, annual Fifth of November commemorations provided a template for insurrectionary slaves and a rubric for rhetorically manufacturing supposed slave conspiracies. This chapter contributes to the growing body of scholarship devoted to the Gunpowder Plot’s influence in America by investigating the relationships between the plot’s formal legacy and fears of slave conspiracy in British America.
Social Exchange Theories

Human survival is based on the ability to acquire resources and exchange is one way to do so. Social exchange theories provide insight into antecedents, processes, and outcomes of exchange. Communication is a tool by which individuals can negotiate an exchange as well as provide resources. Appropriately, communication scholars have used social exchange theories to guide their research. The entry will examine the key constructs associated with the social exchange theories, explicate the assumptions of the core social exchange theories and those social exchange frameworks used to study interpersonal relationships, organizational processes, and social networks. The entry ends with an assessment of their usefulness for studying interaction. Keywords: interpersonal communication; interpersonal theory; organizational behavior; organizational communication; social networks
A comprehensive weighting method for health status assessment of power distribution areas

The health status assessment of power distribution areas (PDA) can provide a basis for the decision-maker to ascertain the unhealthy PDAs among multiple PDAs. In this paper, an evaluation indicator system of the health status of PDAs is established based on four evaluation indicators. A new data acquisition system is proposed in this paper to enhance the reliability of communication system. The evaluation indicators data can be derived from this data acquisition system and all the data are normalized. The subjective weights of evaluation indicators are obtained by decision alternative ratio evaluation method while the objective weights are obtained by entropy method. Then the comprehensive weights are achieved based on the least squares optimization model. By using this method, both the expert experience and the characteristic of the indicator data itself are taken into consideration. The results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Abstract 20638: Inhibition of HDAC6 Attenuates Chronic Angiotensin Ii-Induced Autophagy

Introduction: It has been shown that autophagy is playing one of the crucial cellular functions, which maintain the cellular homeostasis as well as cardiac hypertrophy, but the mechanism is poorly ...
PERIPHERAL VASCULAR DISEASE RISK EQUIVALENCE IN DIABETES DEPENDS ON CONCOMITANT RISK FACTORS

We recently demonstrated that diabetes mellitus (DM) is a coronary heart disease (CHD) risk-equivalent for peripheral vascular disease (PVD). The impact of co-morbid risk factors on the outcome of PVD among individuals with DM remains unexplored. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of
Reply to Li Volti et al.: E-cigarette smoke exposure and effect in mice and human cells

We wish to emphasize that in our study (1) the E-cigarette smoke (ECS) was generated by E-juice (nicotine,10 mg/mL) in an E-cigarette (E-cig) machine operated at 4.2 V, the same voltage as a commercial E-cig pen (2). The ECS concentration was 130 mg/m3 (measured) and the nicotine concentration in the aerosol was 1.3 mg/m3 (assuming nicotine concentration in aerosols is the same as in E-juice), which is 2.6-fold that used by Waldum et al. (3) for rat exposure. Mice were subject to whole-body exposure (4). Mouse experiments necessitate using longer exposure times (3 h/d, 12 wk) to allow measurement of ECS’s effect on DNA … [↵][1]1Email: moon-shong.tang{at}nyumc.org. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Veterans and War

War has long been known to have harmful effects on the human psyche in addition to its obvious harmful effects on the body. Systematic study of the enduring effects of combat trauma in veterans began in earnest after the American involvement in the Vietnam War, along with serious attention to finding effective treatments. To a great extent, Vietnam veterans themselves led the fight for recognition and treatment of what we now know as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If there is a positive legacy from this controversial and divisive war, this may be it. The development of treatment for PTSD in the Veterans Affairs health system and in the military may also serve as a good example of the “consumer empowerment” often spoken of in the community mental health movement, in that those suffering from the disorder have been instrumental in setting up systems for its care. While we dedicate this chapter to all veterans, past, present, and future, we especially honor the Vietnam veterans who have striven to ensure that no soldiers will return from war to a nation unprepared to welcome them and to treat their psychological wounds when necessary.
Carotid artery stenting vs. carotid endarterectomy in the management of carotid artery stenosis: Lessons learned from randomized controlled trials.

Background Carotid artery stenosis, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, has been well studied with several multicenter randomized trials. The superiority of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) to medical therapy alone in both symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis has been well established in previous trials in the 1990s. The consequent era of endovascular carotid artery stenting (CAS) has offered another option for treating carotid artery stenosis. A series of randomized trials have now been conducted to compare CEA and CAS in the treatment of carotid artery disease. The large number of similar trials has created some confusion due to inconsistent results. Here, the authors review the trials that compare CEA and CAS in the management of carotid artery stenosis. Methods The PubMed database was searched systematically for randomized controlled trials published in English that compared CEA and CAS. Only human studies on adult patients were assessed. The references of identified articles were reviewed for additional manuscripts to be included if inclusion criteria were met. The following terms were used during search: carotid stenosis, endarterectomy, stenting. Retrospective or single-center studies were excluded from the review. Results Thirteen reports of seven large-scale prospective multicenter studies, comparing both interventions for symptomatic or asymptomatic extracranial carotid artery stenosis, were identified. Conclusions While the superiority of intervention to medical management for symptomatic patients has been well established in the literatures, careful selection of asymptomatic patients for intervention should be undertaken and only be pursued after institution of appropriate medical therapy until further reports on trials comparing medical therapy to intervention in this patient group are available.
Testicular Size, Developmental Trajectories, and Male Life History Strategies in Four Baboon Taxa

Sociobiological theory predicts that natural selection via sperm competition will favor greater relative testicular size in adults of polyandrous species than in their monandrous relatives. We have previously shown that, among baboons of the Awash National Park, Ethiopia, “multimale” olive baboons have testes larger relative to total body mass than “one-male unit (OMU)” hamadryas, with most of the difference attributable to a late growth spurt in olives. In this chapter, we use a sample of yellow baboons captured in the Mikumi National Park, Tanzania, and Guinea baboons living in a captive colony to test the prediction that they will resemble olive and hamadryas baboons respectively, in relative, adult testicular size. Like olives, yellow baboons develop large testes in a late growth spurt, while Guineas, like hamadryas, do not. Yellow baboons apparently have relatively smaller testes than olives at all ages, but this effect is probably an artifact of their long-limbed body build and disappears if a measure of trunk volume (rather than total body mass) is used as a proxy of functional body size. Previous work also showed a difference between olive and hamadryas baboons in juvenile testicular ontogeny, explicable in terms of dispersal rather than adult testicular size. Male hamadryas, which breed in their natal group, undergo testicular enlargement earlier than olives, perhaps reflecting general sexual precocity and/or opportunities to sneak copulations while “following” an OMU.
Mechanosensory Pathways in Angiocrine Mediated Tissue Regeneration

Endothelial cells not only form the vascular networks that deliver nutrients and oxygen throughout the body, they also establish instructive niches that stimulate organ regeneration through elaboration of paracrine trophogens. Priming of the vascular niche promotes repair and regeneration of damaged tissues by establishing an inductive vascular network that temporally precedes new tissue formation. This induction of endothelial cells provides a platform for essential instructive cues. Tissue regeneration in certain organs such as the liver, involves cell mitosis and expansion, which is orchestrated by a dynamic interplay between cytokines, growth factors, and metabolic pathways. Although the intrinsic events of cell mitosis have been thoroughly studied, the extrinsic triggers for initiation and termination of liver regeneration, especially the set points rendered by the original liver size, are unknown. Furthermore, the gatekeepers that control organ size remain unidentified. The prevailing dogma states that liver regeneration involves the proliferation of parenchymal hepatocytes and nonparenchymal cells such as biliary epithelial cells. However, recent findings also implicate hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs) as drivers of this process. In the classic liver regeneration model, in which 70 % partial hepatectomy induces regeneration, the abrupt increase in blood flow into the sinusoidal vasculature of the liver’s remaining lobes correlates with initiation of the regeneration cascade. As such, the shear stress and mechanical stretch exerted on the endothelial cells may activate mechanosensory mediated molecular programs, and may be involved in the elaboration of endothelial cell-derived angiocrine growth cues that support hepatocyte proliferation. Physiological liver regeneration would therefore depend on the proper inductive and proliferative functioning of liver SECs. Thus, uncovering the cellular mechanisms by which organisms recognize and respond to tissue damage remains an important step towards developing therapeutic strategies to promote organ regeneration. In this chapter, we demonstrate the mechanism by which tissue-specific subsets of endothelial cells promote organ regeneration, and further discuss the roles of physical forces and molecular signals in initiating and terminating angiocrine-mediated tissue regeneration.
ENDORPHINS AS MEDIATORS OF ETHANOL ACTIONS: MULTIDISCIPLINARY TESTS

SUMMARY Using extracellular and intracellular recordings from neurons in vivo and in vitro , the actions of ethanol have been compared qualitatively with those of opioid peptides and possible natural metabolic products of ethanol and monoamines. Despite superficially similar effects on discharge rate and the variable antagonism of ethanol-induced behavior and evoked responses by naloxone, no known ethanol intermediate or endorphin can fully explain the complex effects of E on CNS activity.
Partial damage to nigrostriatal bundle: compensatory changes and the action of L-DOPA

Parkinson’s disease is associated with degeneration of the nigrostriatal bundle. However, the neurological symptoms that accompany this disease do not emerge until the degenerative process is almost complete. Early studies with animals models suggested that the extensive preclinical phase of Parkinsonism was due in part to the development of a compensatory hyper-activity within remaining dopamine-containing neurons. Other studies suggested that systemic administration of L-DOPA could reduce the neurological symptoms once they emerged by further increasing the availability of dopamine in striatum. Subsequent work has supported both hypothesis.
SN2″-Selective and Enantioselective Substitution with Unsaturated Organoboron Compounds and Catalyzed by a Sulfonate-Containing NHC-Cu Complex.

The first broadly applicable strategy for SN2″-selective and enantioselective catalytic substitution is disclosed. Transformations are promoted by 5.0 mol% of a sulfonate-containing NHC-Cu complex (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene), and are carried out in the presence of commercially available allenyl-B(pin) (pin = pinacolato) or a readily accessible silyl-protected propargyl-B(pin). Acyclic, or aryl-, heteroaryl-, and alkyl-substituted penta-2,4-dienyl phosphates, as well as those bearing either only 1,2-disubstituted olefins or a 1,2-disubstituted and a trisubstituted alkene were found to be suitable starting materials. Cyclic dienyl phosphates may also serve as substrates. The products containing, in addition to a 1,3-dienyl group, a readily functionalizable propargyl moiety (from reactions with allenyl-B(pin)) were obtained in 51–82% yield, 84–97% SN2″ selectivity, 89:11–97:3 E:Z ratio, and 86:14–98:2 enantiomeric ratio (er). Reactions with a silyl-protected propargyl-B(pin) compound led to the formation ...
Cold Thoughts on Perovskite Fever

The latest progress in solution process-based organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites solar cells is reshaping the growth pattern of any previous photovoltaic technologies and has raised a storm of research fever. However, despite the success in boosting efficiency, it also appears high time to inject an intense dose of cold thoughts into this globally-spreading “perovskite fever”, because perovskite solar cells are still facing several critical challenges. Prominently, these hybrid perovskites suffer from the materials instability in moisture, the use of environment-hazardous lead, the costly and unstable complex organics as hole transport materials, the use of precious metals as back cathode, the hysteresis in current-voltage scans, the tricky engineering of good-quality perovskite films. Moreover, there are still some missing puzzle pieces for a comprehensive basic science understanding. In this talk, I will present our work on tackling these challenges. First, that nickel, as an industrial commodity metal with work function of 5.1 eV, can replace gold as the back cathode in perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, when partial iodides in CH3NH3PbI3 are replaced with pseudohalide ions thiocyanate (SCN-), the resulting SCN-containing perovskite films strikingly rival the conventional CH3NH3PbI3 films in terms of moisture, and exhibit efficiency comparable to that of CH3NH3PbI3-based cells fabricated in the same way. In addition the unusual electron-rotor interaction discovered in hybrid perovskite materials using isotope effects and the unusual optical and electronic properties of hybrid perovskite crystals under high pressure. These fundamental studies provide a new coordination in the mechanistic foundation needed for better materials by designing.
Impaired introspective accuracy in schizophrenia: an independent predictor of functional outcomes

INTRODUCTION Individuals with schizophrenia present across a spectrum of symptomatology. Disability remains a debilitating reality across varying disease presentations and remains pervasive despite psychiatric medications. Cognition (neuro/social cognition) and negative symptoms have emerged as the strongest predictors of real-world disability, but account for <50% of the variance in outcomes. METHODS Our attempts to determine what accounts for the remaining 50% of variance has shown that poor introspective accuracy (IA) may be the most potent predictor of functional outcomes 25% of individuals with schizophrenia. We define IA as the adequacy of self-assessments of ability, skills, performance, or decisions. We suggest that IA is a progression of metacognition and can extend beyond cognition to include misestimation of prior and likely future performance in social or other adaptively relevant situations. RESULTS Additionally, IA is bidirectional and self-orientated. Emerging research has found that IA of neurocognitive ability better predicts everyday functional deficits than scores on performance-based measures or neurocognitive skills and has found that IA of social cognition accounts unique variance in real-world disability above social cognitive performance. DISCUSSION We argue that impaired IA, affecting 25-50% of patients with schizophrenia, in the absence or minimal presence of other impairments might be the most powerful predictor of functional outcomes.
Adjustments of multi-sample U-statistics to right censored data and confounding covariates

Abstract U -statistics that can be used for comparing distribution of outcomes in two groups are considered. Adjustments to the classical U -statistics are proposed for overcoming potential biases arising from right-censoring of the outcomes and presence of confounding covariates. These newly proposed U -statistics are appropriate when, in addition to right censored outcomes, some fixed covariates are observed and deemed as confounders in an observational study. The summands of U -statistics are re-weighted and normalized based on a combination of inverse probability of censoring weights and propensity score based weights. Censoring times may depend on the group membership, confounders or some potentially observed time-dependent covariates, which may result in censoring mechanisms of varying degrees of complexity. In total, four censoring mechanisms are considered for the two-group comparison. Simulation results are used to illustrate the impact of right-censoring and confounding covariates on the performance of the newly proposed U -statistics under different censoring mechanisms. It is also demonstrated that large sample inferences for the adjusted U -statistics are valid using jackknife variance estimator. Comparisons of more than two groups are also considered from certain ways of pairwise two-group comparisons. The procedure is applied to analyze two real data sets for comparing two or more groups of event times. R codes of our procedure are available under supplementary material.
Neurobrucellosis with Acquired Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in a Two-Year-Old Bolivian Male

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare hyper-inflammatory syndrome that may be inherited or acquired. HLH may be a complication of infectious disease, including brucellosis. Central nervous system involvement in brucellosis is uncommon, occurring in only 5-7% of cases. In this report we describe a case of neurobrucellosis with acquired HLH in a two-year-old Bolivian male. The patient presented to the emergency department with recurrent fevers, malaise, anorexia, and abdominal distention. HLH was suspected due to hepatosplenomegaly, fever, and evidence of hemophagocytosis in a previous bone marrow biopsy. Pancytopenia, increased ferritin, and increased transaminases were observed in laboratory workups, which along with hepatosplenomegaly are consistent with HLH. Positive blood cultures and PCR identification of Brucella melitensis indicated the cause of HLH. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid indicated neural involvement. Treatment of neurobrucellosis with rifampin, gentamicin, doxycycline, and ceftriaxone resolved the infection, which in turn resolved the HLH. This case demonstrates the importance of considering brucellosis as a differential diagnosis of HLH. ABBREVIATIONS:HLH - Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, WBC - White blood cell, RBC - Red blood cell, ALT - Alanine aminotransferase, AST - Aspartate aminotransferase, ALP - Alkaline phosphatase, LDH - Lactate dehydrogenase, PCR - Polymerase Chain Reaction, CBC - Complete blood count, TNF-α - Tumor necrosis factor-α
A Watershed Finding for Heart Regeneration

The adult mammalian heart is minimally regenerative after injury, whereas neonatal hearts fully recover even after major damage. New work from the Red-Horse and Woo labs (Das et al., 2019) shows that collateral artery formation is a key mechanism contributing to successful regeneration in newborn mice and provides insights into how collateral arteries form.
Electret, piezoelectret, dielectricity and piezoresistivity discovered in exfoliated-graphite-based flexible graphite, with applications in mechanical sensing and electric powering

Abstract This paper reports the in-plane dielectric, electret, piezoelectret and piezoresistive behavior of exfoliated-graphite-based flexible graphite, with demonstrated feasibility of electret-based electric powering and piezoelectret-based/piezoresistivity-based mechanical stress sensing under elastic tension. The powering is enabled by the inherent DC electric field E and DC electrical conductivity (resistivity ρ = 7.5 × 10−6 Ω m). E is supported by relative permittivity κ = 1170 and directionally asymmetric polarization-induced electrical resistance increase. It increases linearly with increasing inter-electrode distance l, with E = 2.6 × 10−5 V/m at l = 40 mm. With increasing stress, E, ρ, κ and capacitance increase monotonically; E and ρ increase smoothly - totally reversibly for stress ≤1.85 MPa and slightly irreversibly for stress between 1.85 and 3.18 MPa. The fractional increases in E and κ at ≤3 MPa are ≤110% and ≤73%, respectively. The κ-stress curve abruptly increases in slope at 2.1 MPa, which is accompanied by the onset of some κ increase irreversibility. This 2.1-MPa slope increase is attributed to a microstructural change that does not affect the strain reversibility or ρ, but increases κ. The change possibly involves interfacial loosening, which promotes polarization without affecting conduction. The piezoelectret coupling coefficient d33 is 3.7 × 10−8 pC/N. The piezoresistivity gage factor is 50.
Getting Prepared Series for Thyroid

Emphasize mechanistic connections between the endocrine gland and embryology/anatomy; describe defects in thyroid development; review thyroid hormone synthesis; explore negative feedback in the HPT axis; and review peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormones.