cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cardiac sodium and calcium channels: a history of excitatory currents

The entire concept of ion channels as molecular machines to gate ion traffic across the membrane has only recently been generally recognized, even though ion channels are found in almost all cells. Na+ and Ca2+ channels are the basis of excitability, and in the heart they generate the rhythm, coordinating and controling cardiac contraction. Dysfunction of ion channels results in arrhythmias that underlie 20–25% of deaths in the developed world, and some arrhythmias result directly from gene defects in ion channels. This is my personal perspective on the critical ideas and the pioneers in the field of cardiac Na+ and Ca2+ channels.
Adaptive IMRT using a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm integrated with a diffusion-invasion model of glioblastoma

We demonstrate a patient-specific method of adaptive IMRT treatment for glioblastoma using a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA). The MOEA generates spatially optimized dose distributions using an iterative dialogue between the MOEA and a mathematical model of tumor cell proliferation, diffusion and response. Dose distributions optimized on a weekly basis using biological metrics have the potential to substantially improve and individualize treatment outcomes. Optimized dose distributions were generated using three different decision criteria for the tumor and compared with plans utilizing standard dose of 1.8 Gy/fraction to the CTV (T2-visible MRI region plus a 2.5 cm margin). The sets of optimal dose distributions generated using the MOEA approach the Pareto Front (the set of IMRT plans that delineate optimal tradeoffs amongst the clinical goals of tumor control and normal tissue sparing). MOEA optimized doses demonstrated superior performance as judged by three biological metrics according to simulated results. The predicted number of reproductively viable cells 12 weeks after treatment was found to be the best target objective for use in the MOEA. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)
DNA-mediated excitonic upconversion FRET switching

Excitonics is a rapidly expanding field of nanophotonics in which the harvesting of photons, ensuing creation and transport of excitons via Forster resonant energy transfer (FRET), and subsequent charge separation or photon emission has led to the demonstration of excitonic wires, switches, Boolean logic and light harvesting antennas for many applications. FRET funnels excitons down an energy gradient resulting in energy loss with each step along the pathway. Conversely, excitonic energy up conversion via up conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), although currently inefficient, serves as an energy ratchet to boost the exciton energy. Although FRET-based up conversion has been demonstrated, it suffers from low FRET efficiency and lacks the ability to modulate the FRET. We have engineered an up conversion FRET-based switch by combining lanthanide-doped UCNPs and fluorophores that demonstrates excitonic energy up conversion by nearly a factor of 2, an excited state donor to acceptor FRET efficiency of nearly 25%, and an acceptor fluorophore quantum efficiency that is close to unity. These findings offer a promising path for energy up conversion in nanophotonic applications including artificial light harvesting, excitonic circuits, photovoltaics, nanomedicine, and optoelectronics.
Was there a Ferguson Effect on crime rates in large U.S. cities

Abstract Purpose There has been widespread speculation that the events surrounding the shooting death of an unarmed young black man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri—and a string of similar incidents across the country—have led to increases in crime in the United States. This study tested for the “Ferguson Effect” on crime rates in large U.S. cities. Methods Aggregate and disaggregate monthly Part I criminal offense data were gathered 12 months before and after August 2014 from police department data requests and websites in 81 large U.S. cities. The exogenous shock of Ferguson was examined using a discontinuous growth model to determine if there was a redirection in seasonality-adjusted crime trends in the months following the Ferguson shooting. Results No evidence was found to support a systematic post-Ferguson change in overall, violent, and property crime trends; however, the disaggregated analyses revealed that robbery rates, declining before Ferguson, increased in the months after Ferguson. Also, there was much greater variation in crime trends in the post-Ferguson era, and select cities did experience increases in homicide. Overall, any Ferguson Effect is constrained largely to cities with historically high levels of violence, a large composition of black residents, and socioeconomic disadvantages. Conclusions The national discourse surrounding the “Ferguson Effect” is long on anecdotes and short on data, leaving criminologists largely on the sidelines of a conversation concerning one of the most prominent contemporary issues in criminal justice. Our findings are largely consistent with longstanding criminological knowledge that changes in crime trends are slow and rarely a product of random shocks.
L'AMA Non Ci Ama, Lost & Found in Translation

[Slide: We're in Rome. That's Scilla sipping Orzo in Trastevere, just down the hill from her flat in Monteverde Vecchio.]I accepted an invitation from Scilla Finetti to visit Rome more than ten years ago. And what was for both of us a mutual interest in Chinese American literature became a great deal more. Her generosity, introducing me to both her friends and family, has forged a lifetime's friendship and provided both of us with experiences and insights unique and rather unlikely as I come to consider what it is to have a close reader translating your life.
Evidence for begging as an honest signal of offspring need in the biparental mimic poison frog

Whether begging behaviour mediates food provisioning has been extensively studied in birds. However, begging behaviour occurs without direct offspring competition in some species and thus may be driven exclusively by intrabrood dynamics. We studied begging behaviour of individually housed offspring of the biparental mimic poison frog Ranitomeya imitator. We tested whether (1) begging is an honest signal of need or hunger, (2) begging is costly and (3) parents allocate food according to offspring need. Under manipulation of long-term diet, food-limited tadpoles increased begging effort over the course of development. Tadpoles that were induced to beg suffered a cost of taking longer to reach developmental stages and showed a marginal cost on growth rate. Finally, parents were more likely to feed the tadpole that was exposed to a nonsupplemented diet over its food-supplemented sibling. In R. imitator, begging behaviour appears to signal offspring need honestly and thus may predict differential food provisioning among offspring.
COAXING AN INFORMATION SOCIETY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: THE RISE AND STEEP FALL OF A TECHNOLOGY PARK’S UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTER

ICTs are tools that help fuel the processes underpinning the daily activities of an information society engine. Latin American communities are using these tools in the form of policies, strategies and programs to participate in the digital global economy. The Dominican Republic is an example of a country seeking to be a key player in this regional market. This paper discusses the attempts by a technology park’s semi-public university to launch an ICT research center. The study is based on a rich auto-ethnographic account by the author’s own experience as the chief coordinator of this center. Overall, the paper provides an interesting story of the challenges faced in launching a particular ICT research center, which can be used as lessons to many other research centers in less developed countries.
A GC System for Rapid Analysis of Complex Mixtures

Illustration des performances avec la separation d'un melange d'environ 60 composes en moins de deux minutes. Le systeme chromatographique en phase gazeuse a grande vitesse est constitue d'une colonne capillaire de 100 μm de diametre interieur et d'un echantillonneur automatique
Investigation on Imported Malaria Cases in Qingshen County,2005-2011

Objective To investigate the current situation of imported helopyra in Qingshen county and provide scientific basis for prevention strategies.Methods Cases of imported helopyra with lab diagnosis in Qingshen county during 2005-2011 were collected and analyzed.Results A total of 65 cases were found,among which 37 were tertian fever cases,27 falciparum malaria cases and 1 complex infection case.All the cases distributed in 8 villages and towns,which covered 80% of all area.The disease occurred in every month of the year except for November.The ratio of male patients to female patients was 15.25∶1;the incident age was within 17-46;all the patients were migrant laborers.The disease mainly occurred in Yunnan and Burma,both with high risk.Conclusion Imported malaria is the main type of helopyra,and the infectious areas are Yunnan and Burma.
Problem solving using DrScheme

This tutorial is a hands-on introduction to the DrScheme programming environment and its use in an Introductory Computer Science course. In particular, participants will analyze a problem statement; express its essence, abstractly and with examples; formulate statements and comments; and evaluate and revise these activities in light of checks and tests. Participants will use DrScheme at their workstations to experience some of what their students would in the introductory programming course.
Surgical prevention of posterior capsule opacification. Part 3: Intraocular lens optic barrier effect as a second line of defense.

Abstract Purpose To emphasize an important aspect of preventing posterior capsule opacification (PCO), the barrier effect established by the optic of a posterior chamber intraocular lens (PC IOL), and present a new classification regarding capsular bag status after extracapsular cataract extraction, including phacoemulsification. Setting Center for Research on Ocular Therapeutics and Biodevices, Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Methods This analysis included 150 consecutive eyes obtained postmortem with United States-manufactured PC IOLs including (1) poly(methyl methacrylate), (2) silicone, and (3) hydrophobic acrylic designs that were accessioned in the Center from September 1995 to January 1, 1998. Gross photographs from behind (Miyake–Apple views) were taken and serial histologic sections prepared. Results Microscopic analysis of the 150 eyes showed that the morphologic appearance of the capsular bag could be grouped into 2 categories: (1) those with little or no evidence of retained cortical material and cells, and (2) those with retained cortical material and cells in which a Soemmering’s ring formed. With the latter, when a distinct barricade to cellular migration created by the IOL optic was noted, 2 discrete configurations occurred, depending on the different geometries of the optic components. With a classic biconvex optic with a curved and tapered edge, in many instances some ingrowth of cells proceeded posteriorly around the edge of the IOL optic in the direction of the central axis. With a lens optic that had a squared, truncated, and relatively thick edge, there was often abrupt termination of cells at the peripheral edge of the optic. The posterior capsule subtending the entire optic zone was therefore relatively or totally cell free. Conclusions The barrier effect of the IOL optic appears to be of critical importance in retarding ingrowth of cells, functioning as a second line of defense when cortical cleanup is incomplete. Analysis of PC IOLs obtained postmortem showed that a square, truncated optic edge seemed to provide the maximum impediment to cell growth behind the IOL optic.
From SARS to 2009 H1N1 influenza: the evolution of a public health incident management system at CDC.

The organization of the response to infectious disease outbreaks by public health agencies at the federal, state, and local levels has historically been based on traditional public health functions...
Differential expression of Na+-K+-ATPase, ankyrin, fodrin, and E-cadherin along the kidney nephron

Ionic homeostasis in vertebrates is maintained by epithelial cells that line kidney nephrons. Transport of ions and solutes is coupled to Na+ reabsorption from the ultrafiltrate and requires specific subcellular distribution and activity of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase along the nephron. Studies using cell culture models of renal epithelia indicate that the subcellular distribution of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase is regulated by interactions with the submembrane cytoskeleton and E-cadherin-mediated adherens junctions. We have now examined the relevance of these in vitro observations to the subcellular organization of these proteins in different nephron segments of the adult mouse kidney using immunofluorescence microscopy. Our results demonstrate that segmental and subcellular distributions of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase and the membrane-cytoskeletal proteins, ankyrin and fodrin, vary in parallel along the nephron and do not parallel variations in expression of the tight junction protein ZO-1 or E-cadherin. These data indicate that a mechanism for restricting Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase subcellular distributions through interactions with the membrane cytoskeleton is likely to be relevant in vivo.
Structural Basis for Gating and Activation of RyR1.

The type-1 ryanodine receptor (RyR1) is an intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)) release channel required for skeletal muscle contraction. Here, we present cryo-EM reconstructions of RyR1 in multiple functional states revealing the structural basis of channel gating and ligand-dependent activation. Binding sites for the channel activators Ca(2+), ATP, and caffeine were identified at interdomain interfaces of the C-terminal domain. Either ATP or Ca(2+) alone induces conformational changes in the cytoplasmic assembly ("priming"), without pore dilation. In contrast, in the presence of all three activating ligands, high-resolution reconstructions of open and closed states of RyR1 were obtained from the same sample, enabling analyses of conformational changes associated with gating. Gating involves global conformational changes in the cytosolic assembly accompanied by local changes in the transmembrane domain, which include bending of the S6 transmembrane segment and consequent pore dilation, displacement, and deformation of the S4-S5 linker and conformational changes in the pseudo-voltage-sensor domain.
Surgical closure of ventricular septal defect during the first twelve months of life.

Fifty-two infants with a large ventricular septal defect (VSD) underwent primary surgical closure within the first 12 months of life. Operation was done because of medically intractable congestive heart failure in 39 patients (75%), failure to thrive in nine patients (17.3%), and increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) (>8 units/m2) in four patients (7.6%). Four patients (7.6%) died in the early postoperative period. Surgically induced heart block did not occur in any patient. Relief of heart failure and normalization of growth and weight gain was evident in all survivors. Late postoperative hemodynamic evaluation in 15 patients with preoperative elevation of PVR revealed normal pulmonary artery pressure and resistance in each instance. Residual VSD was found in only one patient (2%) with partial disruption of a muscular VSD originally closed by direct suture. There was one late postoperative death from unrelated causes. The results of primary closure of VSD in infancy are compared with those of preliminary pulmonary artery banding (PAB) and of VSD closure after PAB. Fifty-six patients with isolated VSD or with VSD associated with atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, or aortic arch anomalies underwent initial palliative PAB. There were 10 early postoperative deaths (17.8%). Four additional patients died in the late postoperative period. Severe elevation of PVR persisted in three patients despite PAB. Closure of VSD and pulmonary artery debanding was done in 43 patients, with four early postoperative deaths (9.3%). Distal migration of the band necessitated extensive reconstruction of one or both pulmonary arteries in four patients. Placement of the PAB too close to the pulmonary anulus necessitated transannular patching in three patients. The staged surgical management of symptomatic VSD in infancy carries significant mortality and complication rates. Early primary closure is the treatment of choice because of its lower postoperative mortality rate and superior long-term results.
"Now I Believe if I Write I Can Do Anything": Using Poetry to Create Opportunities for Engagement and Learning in the Language Arts Classroom.

This paper describes how adolescent students responded to a poetry workshop in an English classroom where the content was derived from their knowledge from their various life experiences and understanding of world events. Informed by theories of New Literacy Studies, ethnographic methods of participant-observation were used to document an eighth grade urban public school classroom where a community member implemented a weekly program using music lyrics and poetry for an entire school year. Findings demonstrate how poetry, facilitated learning by attending to students’ emotions and background knowledge, encouraging social collaboration, and providing an authentic purpose for students to communicate through their writing. A community-based poetry workshop provided students with powerful ways of using language to communicate led to important learning opportunities at school.
India and the Responsibility to Protect

India, though a working democracy, has adopted an ambivalent stance toward the genesis and evolution of the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect. This article traces India’s views toward the earlier principle of humanitarian intervention, outlines its reactions toward the advent of the norm, and discusses India’s positions on the attempts to apply it to recent international crises. It then argues that India’s cautious support for the principle stems in part from concerns about its potential abuse in the hands of the great powers, post-colonial concerns about the diminution of the norm of state sovereignty, and finally, its own domestic vulnerabilities in the protection of human rights.
Daily Readiness Huddles in Radiology—Improving Communication, Coordination, and Problem-Solving Reliability

Deploying an intentional daily management process is a key part to create high-reliability culture. Key components described in the literature for a successfully daily management process include leadership standard work, visual controls, daily accountability processes, and the discipline to stick to the process over the long term. We believe that the institution of a daily readiness huddle has helped us better coordinate and communicate as a department and improved our ability to deliver imaging services on a daily basis. The daily readiness huddle has enabled us to more rapidly identify issues and has brought accountability to seeing solutions to those issues brought to fruition. In addition, it has helped with team building, including between the radiologists and the nonphysician staff.
Symbiosis in sacoglossan opisthobranchs: photosynthetic products of animal-chloroplast associations

Alcohol-soluble photosynthetic products of chloroplasts symbiotic in three species of sacoglossan slugs (Elysia hedgpethi, Placida dendritica Placobranchus ianthobapsus) were analyzed and compared to products of chloroplasts in an intact alga. Animal-cell chloroplasts appear to lack the ability to synthesize either lipids or sucrose. They do, however, produce greater percentages of TCA-cycle intermediates than do chloroplasts from the intact alga investigated.
Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction and Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation: Results From 20 Years Follow-Up.

Abstract Background Cardiac autonomic perturbations frequently antecede onset of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). Interventions that influence autonomic inputs to myocardium may prevent AF. However, whether low heart rate or heart rate variability (HRV), which are noninvasive measures of cardiac autonomic dysfunction, are associated with AF incidence is unclear. Objectives This study sought to study the association between HRV and risk of AF. Methods This study included 11,715 middle-aged adults in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) cohort with heart rate and HRV measures obtained from 2-min electrocardiogram recordings performed at baseline (1987 to 1989). These measures included SD of normal-to-normal RR intervals, high-frequency (HF) (0.15 to 0.40 Hz), low-frequency (0.04 to 0.15 Hz), and the low-frequency/HF ratio (denoting a greater sympathetic to parasympathetic dominance). Incident AF cases were ascertained by electrocardiogram at ARIC follow-up visits, hospital discharge diagnosis, or death certificates through 2011. Results During an average follow-up of 19.4 years, 1,580 or 13.5% of participants developed AF. A baseline heart rate Conclusions Cardiac autonomic dysfunction denoted by low resting short-term HRV was associated with higher AF incidence. A low heart rate may be associated with higher AF risk. Further studies are needed to determine whether interventions in the general population to restore autonomic balance may prevent AF.
Climate Change, Society, and Agriculture: an Economic and Policy Perspective

Climate change has become a popular and controversial topic in recent decades. From an economic and policy perspective, this article reviews the observed and projected consequences, causal factors, policy approaches, and economic tools associated with climate change. The authors elaborate the implicit value of information related to climate change, an endeavor that has been devoted to developing information. In addition, a mitigation policy that tends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture and forestry is studied, including approaches, economic works, and challenges. Moreover, this article reviews the adaptation policy from different angles, such as participating parties, strategies, and economic implications.
Biomimetic Total Synthesis of (±)-Homodimericin A.

A biomimetic total synthesis of racemic homodimericin A was achieved in seven steps, including two cascade reactions. Aqueous buffer solutions are found to help both the oxidative dimerization cascade and the intramolecular Diels–Alder cascade. This synthetic sequence validates key steps in the biogenetic proposal of homodimericin A.
Rebalancing Your Organization’s Agility and Discipline

In these days of rapid change, many organizations find that their current balance between using agile and disciplined methods is not what it should be. (We realize that “disciplined” is not the opposite of “agile,” but it is our working label here for methods relying more on explicit documented knowledge than on tacit interpersonal knowledge). In a forthcoming book [1], we have analyzed many organizations’ experiences with agile and disciplined methods, and have elaborated our previous characterization [2] of the “home grounds” in which agile and disciplined methods have been most successful. This analysis has enabled us to determine five critical decision factors that organizations and projects can use to determine whether they are in either the agile or disciplined home grounds, or somewhere in between. These five decision factors are size, criticality, personnel, dynamism, and culture. In this paper, we set the context by characterizing the agile and disciplined home grounds. We then define the five decision factors and their rating scales; provide a stepwise approach for assessing your organization’s or project’s location in the decision space and developing a strategy for rebalancing its agility and discipline; and illustrate its use with a representative organizational example.
Stratified motion planning with application to robotic finger gaiting

Abstract This paper presents a general, nonholonomic dextrous manipulation and finger gaiting technique for robotic grasping problems. This method is general in that it is independent of the geometry of the grasped object and independent of the morphology of the manipulating hand. This method is based upon a nonholonomic motion planning method for smooth system that has been extended to a certain class of discontinuous systems by recognizing a particular generic geometric structure underlying robotic grasping problems, called a stratification which is a decomposition of the configuration space of the system into subsets which correspond to the various combinations of fingers contacting the object.
Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in the Newborn

Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is a syndrome of failed circulatory adaptation at birth due to delay or impairment in the normal fall in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) that occurs following birth. The fetus is in a state of physiological pulmonary hypertension. In utero, the fetus receives oxygenated blood from the placenta through the umbilical vein. At birth, following initiation of respiration, there is a sudden precipitous fall in the PVR and an increase of systemic vascular resistance (SVR) due to the removal of the placenta from circulation. There is dramatic increase in pulmonary blood flow with a decrease in, and later reversal of shunts at the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus. The failure of this normal physiological pulmonary transition leads to the syndrome of PPHN. PPHN presents with varying degrees of hypoxemic respiratory failure. Survival of infants with PPHN has significantly improved with the use of gentle ventilation, surfactant and inhaled nitric oxide (iNO). PPHN is associated with significant mortality and morbidity among survivors. Newer agents that target different enzymatic pathways in the vascular smooth muscle are in different stages of development and testing. Further research using these agents is likely to further reduce morbidity and mortality associated with PPHN.
Antenna Loss and Receiving Efficiency for Mutually Coupled Arrays

For phased arrays used in satellite communications and radio astronomy, high sensitivity is required, and minimizing antenna losses is critical. Losses for single antennas can be minimized using high conductivity materials. It is less well understood that loss for array antennas is also influenced by mutual coupling between array elements and the beamformer weights applied to the signal from each element. In this paper, we study the antenna loss and receiving efficiency for phased array antennas and focal plane phased array feeds. To better elucidate the physics of array antenna loss related to mutual coupling and beamformer weights, losses for a coupled array can be lumped into an array effective resistance similar to the loss resistance of an equivalent single antenna. Numerical results show that although the antenna loss for a single isolated array element is low, the array antenna loss can be significantly increased by mutual coupling, particularly for beams with a large scan angle.
Design and performance evaluation of a DC-DC buck-boost converter with cascode GaN FET, SiC JFET, and Si IGBT power devices

Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors exhibit superior material properties, enabling power devices to operate at higher blocking voltages, switching frequencies, and junction temperatures. Power converters featuring WBG devices have higher power density and are more efficient and reliable than those using existing silicon (Si) devices. This paper presents the design of a non-isolated dc-dc buck-boost converter and evaluates the impacts of three power devices on converter performance. To evaluate overall performance, three buck-boost converters are designed and tested: one with a Cascode GaN FET, one with a SiC JFET, and one with a Si IGBT. Additionally, a SiC Schottky diode is implemented in each converter to reduce switching energy loss of power devices and improve converter performance. The switching behavior and energy loss of three power devices are evaluated at various junction temperatures. Total power loss and efficiency of each converter are compared at different switching frequencies, output power levels, and operating temperatures. The results show that the Cascode GaN FET-based converter yields considerable improvements in switching performance, total power loss, and overall efficiency.
RESPONSE: A Mentor’s Perspective on Using Shared Research Data

The increased availability of shared data from clinical research studies provides great opportunities for fellows-in-training to ask interesting research questions and get answers within 1 to 2 years, without having to organize a lengthy multicenter trial. McCarthy and Vaduganathan provide a useful
Acquired Hemophilia presenting as Gross hematuria following Kidney Stone – A case report and review of the literature

A rare condition in itself, acquired hemophilia A, seldom presents as isolated gross hematuria. It is a serious condition with a high mortality rate and thus clinical suspicion followed by prompt diagnosis is imperative (1). In fact, only 8 cases of such presentation of this condition have been reported thus far in the literature. Of these, none describe the initial presentation of hematuria with the inciting event of a kidney stone. We present a case of a 67-year-old man with signs and symptoms of nephrolithiasis accompanied by profuse hematuria, who was subsequently found to have developed expression of factor VIII inhibitor leading to acquired hemophilia A.
Effective NBA player signing strategies based on salary cap and statistics analysis

In National Basketball Association (NBA), how to sign talented players with reasonable contracts is a challenging issue. Due to the salary cap, no teams can sign all desired players. To ensure the team's competency on both offense and defense sides, player's efficiency must be comprehensively evaluated. This research studied the key indicators widely used to measure player efficiency and team performance. Through data analysis, fourteen traditional statistics including Points, Rebounds, Assists, Blocks, Steals, Defense Rating, etc., were chosen to formulate the prediction of the team winning rate. Based on the model coefficients trained and tested, two player selection strategies were proposed according to different objectives and constraints. Experimental results show that the developed team winning rate prediction models have high accuracy and the player selection strategies are effective.
DD16: Projektruinen in der Herzblutwüste (Februar 2006)

„Als Kaiser Karl V. Granada besuchte, war er auser sich vor Entzucken. Er beschloss augenblicklich, hier wohnen zu wollen. Da begannen alle mit dem prachtigen Bau, den Sie hier ganz unfertig sehen. Leider hat Karl so viel reisen mussen wie alle tuchtigen Herren noch heute. Und so ist er nie wiedergekommen. Das mussen Sie verstehen.“ – „Ich habe getopfert, gebatikt und sogar ikebanalisiert. Leider merke ich immer schnell, dass es sofort in Arbeit ausartet. Das liegt daran, dass ich kein Talent habe. Ich bin traurig, weil mir partout nichts zufliegen will. Das ist ungerecht.“
Peptide Delivery to Tissues via Reversibly Linked Protein Transduction Sequences

The development of peptide-based therapeutics has suffered from challenges associated with delivery to intact tissue. In skin, an array of protein targets resides only tens of micrometers below the...
Exercise pulmonary haemodynamic response predicts outcomes in fibrotic lung disease.

Haemodynamic changes with exercise, including ΔmPAP/ΔCO, predict clinical worsening in fibrotic lung disease patientshttp://ow.ly/uKno30lb5fF
A Faculty Learning Salon: Artfully Scientific!

Hear from presenters who were awarded participation in a two-semester research project to conduct a self-study of their teaching with the goal of designing, implementing, and assessing a particular query about their teaching and professional practice.
Update on Immunosuppression in Liver Transplantation.

The standard therapy for decompensated end-stage chronic liver disease of any etiology and acute fulminant hepatic failure is liver transplantation (LT). Advances in immunosuppressive therapy decreased the rates of acute and chronic rejections. Thus, graft and patient survivals have significantly improved. However, long-term adverse effects of prolonged use of immunosuppressive agents such as malignancies, opportunistic infections, metabolic disorders, and other organ toxicities have now become a major concern. Consequently, alternative approaches are needed to deescalate the customary drugs and their side effects. Therapy must be individualized and additional preventive measures should be taken by patients with particular risk factors or predisposed to certain adverse effects. Current opinion favors a combination of agents with different mechanism of actions and toxicity profiles. Corticosteroids are employed in immediate and early postoperative period. Although they have a pronounced side effect profile, calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) are still the backbone of early and late phase immunosuppressive regimens because of their proved efficacy. Antimetabolites are frequent choices for steroid and/or CNI-sparing strategies. Studies also have established a role for mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors in specific groups of recipients. Biologic agents are a hot topic of interest and made their way into current strategies for induction. Agents extrapolated from other transplantation or immunologic experience are being evaluated. How to cite this article Tasdogan BE, Ma M, Simsek C, et al. Update on Immunosuppression in Liver Transplantation. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2019;9(2):96-101.
Violet semipolar (20-2-1) InGaN microcavity light-emitting diode with a 200 nm ultra-short cavity length.

Violet semipolar (20-2-1) InGaN microcavity light-emitting diodes (MC-LED) with a 200 nm ultra-short cavity length were demonstrated. The emission wavelength was 419 nm with a spectrum width of 20 nm. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of MC-LED was constant at 0.8% for a forward current from 0.5 to 2 mA with the emitting area of 30×30 µm2. With increasing forward current, the peak wavelength and spectrum width of the emission showed almost no changes. For epitaxial growth, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was used. Substrate removal and tunnel-junction with an Ag-based electrode made possible the fabrication of the ultra-short 200 nm thick cavity MC-LED. This is more than a factor of 2 improvement compared to previous MC-LEDs of 450 nm cavity thickness sustaining 5 modes.
Addressing Resistance to a Fact-Based Approach

Facts are critical to making informed decisions but are often not enough to convince people to change their priorities. Scientific approaches like LCA presents obstacles and opportunities to non-specialists, including designers.
The benefits of giving: Effects of prosocial behavior on recovery from stress

Individuals regularly face stress, and the manner in which they cope with that stress is a crucial component in predicting stress recovery. While many engage in self-rewarding behaviors to feel better, these behaviors can come with a cost. The current study tested the effect of engaging in a different behavior after experiencing stress-prosocial behavior. Given the health benefits associated with giving to others, it is plausible that engaging in prosocial behavior is more successful in reducing the psychological and physiological responses to stress. To test this, participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test and then either sent a gift card to a person of their choosing, received a gift card for themselves, or selected the more aesthetically pleasing gift card. Measures of self-reported mood, heart rate, blood pressure, salivary alpha-amylase, and cortisol were collected throughout the session. While the manipulation did not elicit differences in psychological or hormonal measures, the giving group showed a significantly greater downregulation of their heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure while recovering from the stressor. Additionally, those in the giving group who evidenced greater prosocial sentiment showed a larger reduction in diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure. A follow-up study suggested that these behaviors may be engaging different reward components, as those who gave a gift card reported greater "liking" while those who received a gift card reported greater "wanting". Overall, the findings show that engaging in prosocial behavior following a stressor can help to downregulate physiological stress responses.
Hospital Database Validation of PORTEC3 Stage-Based Overall Survival Benefit for Chemoradiation Therapy in Endometrial Cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S) The PORTEC3 trial demonstrated a benefit for the use of adjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) over whole pelvic radiotherapy (WPRT) in high risk endometrial cancer. While this trial included patients from Stage IB-III, unplanned subgroup analysis suggested the largest benefit in Stage III patients. This National Cancer Database (NCDB) analysis was performed to evaluate the staged-based differential benefit of CRT over WPRT across a broader number of patients with high-risk endometrial cancer. MATERIALS/METHODS Patients with endometrioid adenocarcinoma who underwent hysterectomy were identified in the NCDB from 2004 to 2017 who met enrollment criteria on the PORTEC3 trial: FIGO 2009 stage IA grade 3 with LVI, stage IB grade 3, stage II, stage IIIA, IIIB, or stage IIIC disease. Only patients receiving WPRT with or without chemotherapy were evaluated. Patients receiving chemotherapy alone or no adjuvant therapy were excluded. Chi-square analyses were performed to evaluate differences between patients receiving WPRT versus CRT. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were performed and compared via log-rank analyses. RESULTS A total of 11,315 patients were analyzed, of which 7,334 (64.8%) patients received WPRT and 3,981 (35.2%) received WPRT and chemotherapy. Of patients receiving WPRT alone compared CRT, more patients were age 65 or greater (44.7% vs 36.0%, P < 0.001). Lymphovascular invasion (66.9% vs 52.8%, P < 0.001) and lymph node positivity were more common (58.7% vs 29.1%, P < 0.001) in patients receiving CRT versus WPRT alone. 5-year overall survival was improved in Stage III patients receiving CRT compared to those receiving radiation alone (76.2% vs 72.4%, P < 0.001). 5-year overall survival was not different in stage I-II patients receiving WPRT and chemotherapy versus WPRT alone (76.7% vs 77.7%, P = .91). CONCLUSION The addition of chemotherapy to WPRT improves overall survival in stage III patients or greater with endometrioid adenocarcinoma but not in patients with high-risk, stage I-II disease. AUTHOR DISCLOSURE E. Yu: None. T.A. DiPetrillo: Patent/License Fees/Copyright; Thomas DiPetrillo. P.P. Koffer: None. C.J. Miller: None.
Systems with Limited Ontologies

This chapter considers quantities that provide information about the contents of an image without allowing reconstruction. These features allow access only to some characteristics of the images, which are selected a priori by the designer. There are a fairly limited number of relevant conceptualizations that can be attached to features that can be reliably extracted from images, and once the significant concepts are individuated, there is little more that one can do in terms of ontological commitment in image databases. The limited conceptualization that could be supported by computer vision in image databases is individuated and categorized in “classic” concepts, that is, color, structure, texture, shape, and their spatial relations. These features are the basis of the content conceptualization of a number of today's database systems. Further, the chapter discusses features, color, color representation, and perception of colors very briefly. .
Abstract 16863: Does Maintenance Anticoagulation Variability Influence Adverse Outcomes in Patients with Continuous Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices?

Introduction: Anticoagulation (AC) with vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are used to reduce the risk of thrombus in patients with continuous flow left ventricular assist devices (CF-LVAD). Hypothesis: We sought to determine if AC variability was associated with adverse bleeding or thrombus outcomes in CF-LVAD patients. Methods: We analyzed VKA AC variability during the maintenance AC phase from 30 to 90 days in 91 CF-LVAD (HeartMate-II 49, HeartWare 42) patients between 2011 and 2014. Patients were divided into AE and NO AE groups based on bleeding and thrombus outcomes. VKA AC data (measured and interpolated INR values, INR frequency, VKA dose), medications that affect VKA metabolism, markers of hepatic function and anti-platelet agents were compared between groups. Results: Baseline (mean age 52±12, male 79%, INTERMACS 3/4 80%) and perioperative (bypass time 82±48, length of stay 15.4±7.3) characteristics were comparable between AE and NO AE groups (all p>0.05). Adverse outcomes occurred in 12 (13%) patients (bleeding= 4, pump thrombus=6, stroke=2). In the overall cohort, patients spent a median time of 63% (47, 78) in therapeutic INR (2-3) range during maintenance phase VKA AC. Interestingly, variation in maintenance phase AC was comparable between AE and NO AE groups (all p>0.05; Table). Medications that affect VKA metabolism, hepatic function and anti-platelet medications were similar between groups (all p>0.05) (Table). Time in therapeutic range was comparable between devices (HM-II 56% vs HW 65%; p=0.09). Conclusions: During maintenance VKA anticoagulation, CF-LVAD patients spent 37% of time outside the therapeutic INR range. VKA anticoagulation variability, antiplatelet therapy and medications that affect VKA metabolism were not associated with bleeding or thrombus outcomes. Investigation into other variables that may account for recently reported increased adverse events are urgently needed.
Forecasting NonStationary Processes

Preprocessing and forecasting nonstationary time series has always been a difficult task. Depending on the methods and tools used, we extract different features from a process, and these features provide us with some routes for forecasting the evolution of a process. Forecasting has extensively and successfully been done for stationary processes. However, nonstationarity smears many convenient properties of stationarity. For forecasting, the conceptual gap between stationary and nonstationary processes must be bridged. Besides, more robust methods which are not easily influenced by the evolution of nonstationary characteristics should be used. In this article, we first familiarize the readers with the concept of local stationarity as the bridge between stationarity and nonstationarity, and then present both parametric and nonparametric methods for nonstationary process preprocessing. Finally, prediction algorithms based on parametric and nonparametric concepts are introduced. Keywords: nonstationary processes; Bayesian forecast; autoregressive integrated moving average; wavelet transforms; Kalman filter
Inward Foreign Direct Investment: Employment and Location Issues

Different studies have arrived at different conclusions as to whether foreigndirect investors in the United States prefer urban or rural locations. Location in “exurban”areas may explain this inconsistency. Using employment per square mile as a measure ofurbanization, this study uses 2002 data to investigate how employment in foreign-ownedfacilities varies across the states. Using OLS estimates, it is concluded that foreigninvestors prefer more urbanized states, possibly reflecting exurban preferences. However,the estimates also suggest that foreign investors prefer less-skilled labor (R12, F21, J23).
Screening and Brief Intervention Enter Their 5th Decade

About 40 years since the first controlled study, screening and brief intervention (SBI) are being disseminated into practice. But many unanswered questions remain. Studies in this special issue address what we know and don't know about alcohol and drug SBI, cost-effectiveness, patient preferences, education for clinicians, quality performance measures, 'no-contact' SBI, predictors of behavior change, and methodological concerns with the SBI literature. The best evidence for efficacy of SBI is that it can lead to decreased consumption in primary care patients with non-dependent unhealthy alcohol use. But further research is needed on brief drug screening tools, efficacy of SBI for drugs, effectiveness in real world settings, integration of SBI for alcohol and drugs with other health behaviors, effects of SBI on alcohol and drug consequences, effects on dependence among those not seeking help, and on how to best disseminate the efficacious elements of SBI into practice.
An Honest and Deceitful Review

The Evolution of Animal Communication . Reliability and Deception in Signaling Systems. By William A. Searcy and Stephen Nowicki . Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 2005. 286 pp. $85, £55, ISBN 0-691-070946. Paper, $39.50, £26.95. ISBN 0-691-07095-4. Monographs in Behavior and Ecology Through considerations of such phenomena as nestling begging, alarm notes, mating calls, carotenoid coloration, and threat displays, the authors examine the dependability of animal communication systems.
Objective-focused approach for appraising the performance of institutional pharmacists

The development of an objective-focused performance appraisal method applied to hospital pharmacy management is discussed. Objective-based performance appraisal techniques should match the pharmacy department's goals and management style and be a continuous process. Goals should be established and target dates set jointly by the individual and supervisor, emphasizing employee planning and departmental priorities. Standards by which to measure accomplishment of objectives should be set before the evaluation period begins. Appraisals and rewards should be related to achievement of goals. Objective-focused performance appraisals provide a better system for establishing priorities and improve coordination and integration of departmental plans and activities.
Aspect influences on soil water retention and storage

Abstract : Many catchment hydrologic and ecologic processes are impacted by the storage capacity of soil water, which is dictated by the profile thickness and water retention properties of soil. Soil water retention properties are primarily controlled by soil texture, which in turn varies spatially in response to microclimate-induced differences in insolation, wetness, and temperature. All of these variables can be strongly differentiated by slope aspect. In this study, we compare quantitative measures of soil water retention capacity for two opposing slopes in a semi-arid catchment in southwest Idaho, USA. Undisturbed soil cores from north and south aspects were subjected to a progressive drainage experiment to estimate the soil water retention curve for each sample location. The relatively large sample size (35) supported statistical analysis of slope scale differences in soil water retention between opposing aspects. Soils on the north aspect retain as much as 25% more water at any given soil water pressure than samples from the south aspect slope. Soil porosity, soil organic matter, and silt content were all greater on the north aspect, and each contributed to greater soil water retention. These results, along with the observation that soils on north aspect slopes tend to be deeper indicate that north aspect slopes can store more water from the wet winter months into the dry summer in this region, an observation with potential implications for ecological function and landscape evolution.