cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hypertension prevalence and the status of awareness, treatment, and control in the United States. Final report of the Subcommittee on Definition and Prevalence of the 1984 Joint National Committee.

Estimates of the prevalence of hypertension in the United States have varied owing to differences in interpretation and extrapolation of the data. In 1978 the National High Blood Pressure Education Program issued a consensus document estimating the prevalence of high blood pressure in the United States. Results from the 1976-1980 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) allow for a revised estimate. The purpose of this report was to arrive at consensus on a prevalence figure and also to provide information on the distribution of hypertension by blood pressure level, age, race, and sex. The prevalence estimates used are based on hypertension defined as blood pressure measurements greater than or equal to 140/90 mm Hg (average of 3 readings taken on 1 occasion) or self-reported taking of antihypertensive medication. Based on NHANES II data, blacks have a higher prevalence than whites (38% vs 29%) and men show a higher prevalence than women (33% vs 27%). These data again confirm the tendency for the prevalence of hypertension to increase with age in the U.S. population--this holds true for blacks, whites, men, and women. Progress in high blood pressure control efforts has traditionally been measured by changes in the status of awareness, treatment, and control. Changing the hypertension threshold from 160/95 to 140/90 mm Hg, as recently recommended, substantially lowers these measures: the percentage of hypertensives aware of their condition falls from 74% to 54%, the percentage taking antihypertensive medication falls from 56% to 33%, and the percentage with controlled hypertension decreases from 34% to 11%. These apparent decreases reflect a change in the frame of reference rather than changes in hypertension treatment status. In addition, hypertension prevalence rates from NHANES II (1976-1980) were applied to 1983 Bureau of the Census population figures to estimate the total number of Americans with hypertension and their distribution by age, sex, race, and severity of blood pressure level. Since NHANES II did not include persons 75 years of age or older in its sample, data from a pilot study on systolic hypertension in the elderly were used for prevalence estimates in this age group. Estimates for children under 6 years of age and hypertensive persons controlling their pressures without medication could not be included in this analysis because of a lack of reliable data on these groups.
Effective Width of Thin Rectangular Plates

The behavior of simply supported rectangular plates subjected to edge compression in one direction is investigated by means of load-shortening tests. The data are presented by non-dimensional curves and compared with the theoretic results of Levy and Coan and the experimental data of Sechler, Winter, and Lahde and Wagner.
Multiclass, Multicriteria Dynamic Traffic Assignment with Path-Dependent Link Cost and Entropy-Based Risk Preference:

Challenges arise in dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) when heterogeneous users evaluate choices on the basis of multiple interrelated criteria such as travel time and travel time uncertainty. This paper proposes a density-based formulation along with a stochastic quasi-gradient projection (SQGP) solution scheme with the aid of a traffic simulator. Path-dependent link cost is proposed to allow for the objective function formulation and more tractable analysis. The criteria in the discussion and the case study are travel time (link-additive), monetary cost (nonadditive), and travel time uncertainty (path-dependent link-additive). An information entropy-based uncertainty measure is proposed because of concerns about using conventional measures such as variability and reliability. The case study shows stochastic and efficient convergence, demonstrates the ability of SQGP to bypass local optima, and exemplifies the significant effect of using path-independent and path-dependent link costs to forecast traffic pa...
Comparison of drug eluting stents (DESs) and bare metal stents (BMSs) with STEMI: who received BMS in the era of 2nd generation DES?

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to analyze the indications for using bare metal stents (BMSs) in hospitalizations with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods The study cohorts were identified from the National Inpatient Sample database from 2010–2014 using appropriate, International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification, diagnostic and procedural codes. Results A total of 123,487 hospitalizations were identified for this study. Drug eluting stent (DES) use demonstrated lower in-hospital mortality (5.8% vs. 3.3%, P = Conclusion DES was the preferred standard of care in the era of 2nd generation DES; however, BMSs were used in hospitalizations with high-risk procedures and multiple risk factors.
Network analysis of a proposed exit pathway for protons to the P-side of cytochrome c oxidase.

Abstract Cytochrome c Oxidase (CcO) reduces O2, the terminal electron acceptor, to water in the aerobic, respiratory electron transport chain. The energy released by O2 reductions is stored by removing eight protons from the high pH, N-side, of the membrane with four used for chemistry in the active site and four pumped to the low pH, P-side. The proton transfers must occur along controllable proton pathways that prevent energy dissipating movement towards the N-side. The CcO N-side has well established D- and K-channels to deliver protons to the protein interior. The P-side has a buried core of hydrogen-bonded protonatable residues designated the Proton Loading Site cluster (PLS cluster) and many protonatable residues on the P-side surface, providing no obvious unique exit. Hydrogen bond pathways were identified in Molecular Dynamics (MD) trajectories of Rb. sphaeroides CcO prepared in the PR state with the heme a3 propionate and Glu286 in different protonation states. Grand Canonical Monte Carlo sampling of water locations, polar proton positions and residue protonation states in trajectory snapshots identify a limited number of water mediated, proton paths from PLS cluster to the surface via a (P-exit) cluster of residues. Key P-exit residues include His93, Ser168, Thr100 and Asn96. The hydrogen bonds between PLS cluster and P-exit clusters are mediated by a water wire in a cavity centered near Thr100, whose hydration can be interrupted by a hydrophobic pair, Leu255B (near CuA) and Ile99. Connections between the D channel and PLS via Glu286 are controlled by a second, variably hydrated cavity. Significance statement Cytochrome C oxidase plays a crucial role in cellular respiration and energy generation. It reduces O2 to water and uses the released free energy to move protons across mitochondrial and bacterial cell membranes adding to the essential electrochemical gradient. Energy storage requires that protons are taken up from the high pH, N-side and released to the low pH, P-side of the membrane. We identify a potential proton exit from a buried cluster of polar residues (the proton loading site) to the P-side of CcO via paths made up of waters and conserved residues. Two water cavities connect the proton exit pathway to the surface only when hydrated. Changing the degree of hydration may control otherwise energetically favorable proton backflow from the P-side.
Dominance in College Football and the Role of Scholarship Restrictions

This article examines the relationship between player compensation in college football and competitive balance on the field. It shows that National Collegiate Athletic Association rule changes restricting football-player compensation are not associated with an improvement in football’s competitive balance. Although college football is marginally more balanced than professional sports in any given year, an examination of cumulative records spanning numerous seasons proves college football to be as unbalanced as professional sports. The movement toward reducing player compensation, coincident with an increasing value to player talent, raises issues over how the financial gain from college football talent should be used. The significant degree of talent (and financial) imbalance among college football teams suggests that more attention should be paid to the determinants of talent distribution in college football.
Hafnia, The Genus

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by Jouko Ridell, volume 2, pp. 973–976, © 1999, Elsevier Ltd.
Riemannian Foliations and Eigenvalue Comparison

Eigenvalue comparison theorems for the Laplacian on a Riemannian manifold generally give bounds for the first Dirichlet eigenvalue on balls in the manifold in terms of an eigenvalue arising from a geometrically or analytically simpler situation. Cheng's eigenvalue comparison theory assumes bounds on the curvature of the manifold and then compares this eigenvalue to the eigenvalue of a ball in a constant curvature space form. In this paper we examine the basic Laplacian – the appropriate Laplacian on functions that are constant on the leaves of the foliation. The main theorems generalize Cheng's eigenvalue comparison theorem and other eigenvalue comparison theorems to the category of Riemannian foliations by estimating the first Dirichlet eigenvalue for the basic Laplacian on a metric tubular neighborhood of a leaf closure. Several other facts about the the first eigenvalue of such foliated tubes as well as some needed facts about the tubes themselves are established. This comparison theory, like Cheng's theorem, remains valid for large tubes that are not homotopic to the middle leaf closure and that may have irregular boundaries. We apply these results to obtain upper bounds for the eigenvalues of the basic Laplacian on a closed manifold in terms of curvature bounds and the transverse diameter of the foliation.
Chapter 2 Photochemical isomerizations of some five-membered heteroaromatic azoles

Publisher Summary The photochemistry of N -substituted pyrazoles and of isothiazoles has been of considerable interest since the first report that 1- methylpyrazole undergoes photoisomerization to 1-methylimidazole. At that time, it was suggested that the isomerization occurred by way of an initial photo-ring contraction to an undetected 2-( N -methylimino)-2H-azirine intermediate and subsequent ring expansion to the observed product, 1-methylimidazole. Although the intermediacy of acylazirines has been adequately demonstrated in the analogous isoxazole-to-oxazole phototransposition, such iminoazirines have not been detected in a pyrazole to imidazole isomerization, and thus, this mechanistic suggestion has never been experimentally substantiated. More recent work in this laboratory has confirmed that 1-methylpyrazoles phototranspose to 1-methylimidazoles and has shown that they undergo two different photocleavage reactions leading to enaminonitriles and to enaminoisocyanides respectively. Although both types of photocleavage products can be spectroscopically detected and isolated, upon further irradiation these compounds also undergo photocyclization to 1-methylimidazoles.
Low-dose cadmium disrupts mitochondrial citric acid cycle and lipid metabolism in mouse lung

Abstract Cadmium (Cd) causes acute and chronic lung toxicities at occupational exposure levels, yet the impacts of Cd exposure at low levels through dietary intake remain largely uncharacterized. Health concerns arise because humans do not have an effective Cd elimination mechanism, resulting in a long (10- to 35-y) biological half-life. Previous studies showed increased mitochondrial oxidative stress and cell death by Cd yet the details of mitochondrial alterations by low levels of Cd remain unexplored. In the current study, we examined the impacts of Cd burden at a low environmental level on lung metabolome, redox proteome, and inflammation in mice given Cd at low levels by drinking water (0, 0.2, 0.6 and 2.0 mg Cd/L) for 16 weeks. The results showed that mice accumulated lung Cd comparable to non-smoking humans and showed inflammation in lung by histopathology at 2 mg Cd/L. The results of high resolution metabolomics combined with bioinformatics showed that mice treated with 2 mg Cd/L increased levels of lipids in the lung, accompanied by disruption in mitochondrial energy metabolism. In addition, targeted metabolomic analysis showed that these mice had increased accumulation of mitochondrial carnitine and citric acid cycle intermediates. The results of redox proteomics showed that Cd at 2 mg/L stimulated oxidation of isocitrate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase and ATP synthase. Taken together, the results showed impaired mitochondrial function and accumulation of lipids in the lung with a Cd dose response relevant to non-smokers without occupational exposures. These findings suggest that dietary Cd intake could be an important variable contributing to human pulmonary disorders.
Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-Bisphosphate regulates Ca2+ Transport During Yeast Vacuolar Fusion through Activation of the Ca2+ ATPase Pmc1

ABSTRACT The transport of Ca2+ across membranes precedes the fusion and fission of various lipid bilayers. Yeast vacuoles during hyperosmotic shock become fragmented through fission events that require Ca2+ efflux of their luminal stores through the TRP channel Yvc1. This requires the production of the lipid PI(3,5)P2 by Fab1. Ca2+ is also released during vacuole fusion upon trans-SNARE complex assembly, however, the role of PI(3,5)P2 remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that elevated PI(3,5)P2 levels abolish Ca2+ efflux during fusion, indicating that PI(3,5)P2 has opposing effects on Ca2+ transport in fission versus fusion. Notably, Ca2+ efflux was enhanced when PI(3,5)P2 levels were reduced. Importantly, the effect of PI(3,5)P2 on Ca2+ flux was independent of Yvc1. Rather, the effect was dependent on the Ca2+ pump Pmc1. Vacuoles lacking Pmc1 were resistant to the effects of PI(3,5)P2, while those lacking Yvc1 remained sensitive. Furthermore altering PI(3,5)P2 levels affects the interactions of Pmc1 with the Vo component Vph1 and the R-SNARE Nyv1. We now propose a model in which elevated PI(3,5)P2 activates continued Pmc1 function to prevent the accumulation of released extraluminal Ca2+. Summary During osmotic stress PI(3,5)P2 triggers Ca2+ release from vacuoles. Here we show PI(3,5)P2 stimulates Ca2+ uptake by vacuoles during fusion, illustrating that it has a dual role in Ca2+ transport.
Characterizing Risks Associated With Mitral Annular Calcification in Mitral Valve Replacement.

Background Mitral annular calcification (MAC) increases technical complexity for surgeons during mitral valve (MV) procedures. This study assesses the risks conferred by the presence of MAC in patients undergoing MV replacement (MVR) using The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Surgery Database. Methods A total of 52,816 MVR procedures were performed between 2011 and June 2017. Individuals with concomitant tricuspid procedures were included, but those from institutions that reported Results Overall, 9551 MVR cases were classified as MAC (18.1%). Observed operative mortality was 5.8% for MAC and 4.4% for non-MAC patients (odds ratio [OR], 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19-1.38). Although postoperative stroke and reoperation rates were similar, MAC was associated with increased risk of acute kidney injury (relative risk, 1.15) and reintubation (relative risk, 1.26) (all P Conclusions The presence of MAC alone, regardless of severity, was independently associated with increased operative mortality and adverse postoperative outcomes. Even after adjusting for attendant cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities, centers with low MV case volumes were found to have worse outcomes after MVR.
Development Without Representation

During my early forays into ICT for development, a colleague recommended that I read William Easterly’s The Elusive Quest for Growth. It was eye-opening. I loved its irreverent tone and unsparing analysis of development trends. Easterly shot arrows at the policies of the World Bank—his employer at the time— and soon after the book’s publication, he was famously asked to resign. Today, Easterly is an economics professor at New York University, where he continues his critique of foreign aid without threat of unemployment. And a good thing, too, for those of us who seek honest reoection in development. Before Paul Collier’s The Bottom Billion, Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid, or any number of recent blogs that look askance at the project of foreign aid, there was William Easterly. The Tyranny of Experts is his latest book, and it will delight long-time fans as well as people new to Easterly’s thinking. Those familiar with his work will appreciate another insightful dose of development criticism with new stories, new research, and little-known history. Others will be introduced to his iconoclastic takedowns of those who pull the levers of foreign aid. I recommend the book particularly to those who have the power to write checks with many zeroes. They’ll see how minor decisions made on behalf of their convenience often aggravate the very challenges they are seeking to address. At the same time, the book is not without its oaws—though Easterly is wonderfully pointed and original as a critic, his proposed principles of action seem to revert to conventionally misguided policies. Several themes run through all of Easterly’s books, and Tyranny develops and expands on them. The core theses of his arst book, Elusive Quest, were that “there are no magical elixirs” (Easterly, 2002, p. 289) to socioeconomic development and that “people respond to incentives” (Ibid., 2002, p. 38). That was 2001. Five years later, Easterly advanced those themes in The White Man’s Burden, which divided development activists into misguided Planners and problem-solving Searchers. Planners tend to favor magical elixirs and prescribe them top-down, while Searchers build incremental solutions bottom-up, responding to input from the people they are trying to serve. In Burden, Easterly also urged that development efforts be focused on individuals rather than nations or governments, and he explicitly called out the combination of free markets and democracy as an environment in which Searchers thrived. The attack on these fronts continues in The Tyranny of Experts. Magical elixirs are again criticized, but this time under the labels of “technical solutions” and “technocracy,” the latter being the rule of experts of the title. But whereas previously Easterly highlighted how technocratic approaches were merely ineffective, in Tyranny, he goes further to criticize “the implicit vision in development today . . . of well-intentioned autocrats advised by technical experts” (Easterly, 2014, p. 6). His primary complaint is that a certain class of “development expert” ends up supporting abusive power structures in order to implement their (often misguided)
Angel Ethnogenesis and the Cahokian Diaspora

The rise of Cahokia, the largest precontact Native American city north of Mexico, was precipitated by centripetal and centrifugal mobilizations of peoples, ideas, objects, and practices. To interrogate outward Cahokian movements as diasporic, I reassess relationships between Cahokia and the Angel polity on the northeastern Mississippian frontier. I approach Mississippian communities through a relational framework as ever-emerging assemblages constituted by both human and non-human actors. This framework emphasizes ethnogenesis as a process of diaspora whereby dispersed groups are in a perpetual state of community-making outside of, but in reference to, a homeland. I focus on an analysis of the Angel assemblage of Ramey Incised pottery, a power-laden Cahokian object, and determine that Angel Ramey exhibits local paste signatures in what are otherwise primarily Cahokian-style pots. Further, I contextualize artifactual connections with socio-spatial practices of Angel communities and demonstrate that aligning residential structures and communal features to a Cahokian cosmography was a principal part of community-identity-making throughout the Angel polity. Ultimately, I argue that relationships with Cahokia motivated ethnogenesis in Angel communities.
Decreased State Appropriations and their Impact on Texas Public Four-Year Higher Education Institutions Tuition Rates through Deregulated Tuition

The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between state appropriation decreases and the deregulated tuition cost increases in Texas public four-year higher education institutions. State appropriation decreases are those decreases in the state’s financial investment in higher education. Deregulated tuition is the tuition rate set by higher education institutions that is not regulated by the Texas Legislature. By studying the decreases in state appropriations and the increases in institution tuition rates, an understanding can take shape of what impact, if any, the disinvestment by state legislatures has caused to the operations of higher education institutions. Findings from this study showed no evidence of a correlation existing between the decrease in state appropriations and the increase of Texas public higher education institution tuition costs, when the analysis reviewed the timeframe from fiscal years 2003 to 2016.
Chapter 83 – Incontinentia Pigmenti

Incontinentia pigmenti (IP; Bloch–Sulzberger syndrome) is an X-linked dominantly inherited genodermatosis that affects the skin in combination with anomalies of other organs, including the central nervous system. IP results from mutations in the inhibitor of kappa beta kinase gamma (IKBKG), formerly known as NEMO, located on locus Xq28. Absence of IKBKG results in complete inhibition of nuclear factor kappa beta signaling leading to the varied manifestations seen in IP. The wide spectrum of clinical manifestations in IP results from lyonization of the X chromosome with skewed X inactivation. Therefore IP, although rare, may serve as a prototypical example of the clinical presentation of X-linked dominant disorders.
Does a general theory of welfare institutions explain the expansion of social assistance in low and middle income countries

What theory can help us to explain the expansion of social assistance in low and middle income countries? Prevailing theories of welfare institutions, including power resources and varieties of capitalism, were developed to study the welfare institutions that emerged among early industrialisers. The paper revisits these theories with a view to identifying elements of general applicability to the study of emerging social assistance in late industrialisers. Two hypotheses on the growth of social assistance are tested using panel data for 2000-2015 and a within-between mixed estimation model. The results suggest a general theory of welfare institutions is capable of throwing light on emergent welfare institutions in low and middle income countries, while highlighting important gaps.
Implementation of the WHO Trauma Care Checklist: A qualitative analysis of facilitators and barriers to use.

Abstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Trauma Care Checklist (TCC) has been documented to improve care of the injured. Factors that promote TCC use have not been well evaluated. We sought to identify barriers and facilitators affecting TCC use. Methods A qualitative study was conducted by interviewing regional leaders and health care providers at hospitals where the initial WHO TCC pilot study had been conducted in 2010–2012. Study participants included trauma system directors, surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, nurses, and house staff in nine countries. Interview transcripts were thematically analyzed in Dedoose software using deductive and inductive coding strategies incorporating elements of grounded theory. Results Eighteen participants representing nine of the 11 original pilot sites were interviewed, including 14 doctors and four nurses. Participants represented departments of trauma/trauma surgery (n = 13) and emergency medicine (n = 5). Three sites continued to use the TCC in a nearly original form; three sites used a significantly modified version; and the remaining three sites no longer used it. The most commonly identified facilitator of TCC use was endorsement at both the front-line provider and institutional/leadership level (n = 7). Personnel-related issues and resistance from individual providers were the most commonly identified barriers (n = 10). Conclusion Presence of an institutional champion, context-specific adaptation, and integration of the TCC with existing care and documentation practices contribute to successful utilization. Personnel constraints such as revolving trainees and resistance from individual providers hinder utilization. To improve TCC uptake, participants also recommended that TCC be more closely integrated with courses such as Advanced Trauma Life Support.
Cystatin C for Estimation of Renal Function and Valganciclovir Dosing in Heart Transplant Patients

Introduction Accuracy of serum creatinine (sCr) in the estimation of renal function among heart transplant (HT) pts may be limited by changes in muscle mass. Cystatin C (CysC) is independent from muscle mass and provides an alternative measure of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). We hypothesized that: i) sCr would overestimate renal function due to muscle wasting; and ii) this would cause overdosing of valganciclovir (VGC) and, thereby, leukopenia. Herein, we aimed to: i) compare post-HT changes in CysC- and sCr-based eGFR; and ii) explore whether the use of CysC in lieu of sCr carries the potential to reduce the rate of VGC-induced leukopenia. Methods Pts transplanted between 6/2016 and 4/2019 had serial measurements of CysC and sCr pre- and post-HT. eGFR was assessed using CKD-EPI-CysC (eGFRCysC) and MDRD (eGFRsCr). Linear mixed models were used to regress post-HT changes in eGFRCysC, eGFRsCr and sCr/CysC ratio (a validated marker of muscle mass). In a subgroup of patients receiving VGC, eGFR was assessed as a time-varying covariate at 1-, 3-, and 6-months post-HT. The primary endpoint was rate of VGC-induced leukopenia within 1-month of renal function assessment. Appropriateness of VGC dosing for renal impairment was assessed using, in addition to eGFRCysC and eGFRsCr, creatinine clearance (CrCl) as per manufacturer's recommendation. Results A total of 309 samples were collected in 83 pts. eGFRCysC was markedly lower than eGFRsCr early post-HT (Figure A). While eGFRsCr declined long-term, eGFRCysC showed an opposite trend with a gradual improvement. The decline in eGFRsCr mirrored the rise in sCr/CysC ratio, suggesting that increase in muscle mass may contribute to this decline. Among 57 pts who were on VGC at 1-, 3-, and 6-months post-HT, 117 samples were available. Based on sCr-based equations (eGFRsCr and CrCl), VGC was appropriately dosed in the majority of samples (72% and 64%, respectively). However, based on eGFRCysC, VGC was inappropriately dosed in 54 (46%) samples: 11 (9%) underdosed, 43 (37%) overdosed (Figure B). Among 31 episodes of VGC-induced leukopenia within 1-month of sampling, 15 (48%) occurred in samples with VGC overdosed by eGFRCysC. In adjusted models, higher CysC but not sCr was associated with increased risk for leukopenia (OR: CysC: 1.47, 95%CI 1.04-2.06; sCr: 1.19, 95%CI 0.79-1.79). Conclusions eGFRCysC and eGFRsCr markedly differ early post-HT with critical implications in the dosing of VGC. The use of CysC in lieu of sCr may prevent VGC overdosing and reduce the rate of leukopenia in HT pts.
Global observations of submesoscale coherent vortices in the ocean

Abstract Subsurface-intensified anticyclones are ubiquitous in the ocean, yet their impact on the large-scale transport of heat, salt and chemical tracers is poorly understood. These submesoscale coherent vortices (SCVs) can trap and advect waters thousands of kilometers away from the formation region, providing a transport pathway that is unresolved by low-resolution Earth System Models. However, knowledge of the importance of these eddies for the large scale circulation is hindered by the lack of systematic observations. Here, we take advantage of the global network of Argo floats to identify occurrences of these eddies, which appear as weakly stratified anomalous water masses with Gaussian-shaped vertical structures. We develop a general algorithm to detect subsurface eddies that have propagated away from their source region, and apply it to the database of Argo float profiles, resulting in roughly 4000 detections from more than 20 years of observations. We further group detections into regional populations to identify hot-spots of generation and mechanisms of formation. Analysis of regional SCV statistics reveals important sites of SCV generation in Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems, marginal sea overflows, and mode water formation regions along major open-ocean fronts. Because of the heat and salt anomaly contained within their cores, SCV could leave a significant imprint on the hydrographic properties of water masses in regions of high SCV density.
Does Undergoing Outpatient Hand Surgery Lead to Prolonged Opioid Use? A Comparison of Surgical and Nonsurgical Patients.

Background:Orthopedic surgical patients in general have been found to be at higher risk for developing opioid dependence in the postoperative period. However, there is conflicting evidence in the l...
Associations between acute and long-term exposure to PM2.5 components and temperature with QT interval length in the VA Normative Aging Study.

Aims Our study adds to the sparse literature on the effect of multiple fine particulate matter (PM2.5) components on QT interval length, an outcome with high clinical relevance in vulnerable populations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the association between spatiotemporally resolved exposures to PM2.5 components and QT interval length. Methods and results Among 578 men living in Eastern Massachusetts between 2000 and 2011, we utilized time-varying linear mixed-effects regressions with a random intercept to examine associations between acute (0-3 days), intermediate (4-28 days), and long-term (1 year) exposure to PM2.5 components, temperature, and heart-rate corrected QT interval (QTc). Each of the PM2.5 components and temperature was geocoded to the participant's residential address using validated ensemble and hybrid exposure models and gridMET predictions. We also evaluated whether diabetic status modified the association between PM2.5 components and QTc interval. We found consistent results that higher sulfate levels and colder temperatures were associated with significant longer QTc across all moving averages except the day of exposure. The greatest effect of sulfate and temperature was detected for the 28-day moving average. In the multi-pollutant model, each 1.5 µg/m3 IQR increase in daily sulfate was associated with a 15.1 ms [95% confidence interval (CI): 10.2-20.0] increase in QTc interval and in the single-pollutant models a 15.3 ms (95% CI: 11.6-19.1) increase in QTc interval. Other secondary particles, such as nitrate and organic carbon, also prolonged QT interval, while elemental carbon decreased QT interval. We found that diabetic status did not modify the association between PM2.5 components and QTc interval. Conclusion Acute and long-term exposure to PM2.5 components and temperature are associated with changes in ventricular repolarization as measured by QT interval.
Developmental and Intervention-Related Change in Autobiographical Memory Specificity in Maltreated Children: Indirect Effects of Maternal Reminiscing.

This study examined the development of autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) in a longitudinal randomized controlled trial of 242 maltreated and nonmaltreated children (aged 36-86 months; 50.4% male; 39.7% Black, 25.9% White, 34.5% Latinx/other) and their mothers. Half of the maltreated families were randomized to receive an intervention to improve maternal reminiscing. The effects of maltreatment and the intervention on children's AMS via two indices of maternal reminiscing, sensitive guidance, and elaboration, were evaluated. Bidirectional associations between AMS and child maladjustment were also examined. Intervention-related improvement in maternal sensitive guidance 6-month postintervention (b* = .36) related to greater AMS among maltreated children 1 year later (b* = .19). These findings underscore the role of maternal sensitive guidance in facilitating AMS.
Potassium chloride-based replacers: modeling effects on sodium and potassium intakes of the US population with cross-sectional data from NHANES 2015-2016 and 2009-2010.

Background Sodium intake in the USA exceeds recommendations. The replacement of added sodium chloride (NaCl) with potassium chloride (KCl) provides a potential strategy to reduce sodium intake. Objective The purpose of this study was to quantitatively estimate changes in intakes of sodium and potassium by the US population assuming use of potassium-based NaCl replacers in top dietary sodium sources. Methods Data collected in the What We Eat in America (WWEIA) component of the 2015-2016 and 2009-2010 NHANES were used to identify top-ranking sources of dietary sodium among the population aged 2 y and older based on contributions from food categories aligning with the FDA draft guidance for voluntary sodium reduction. Predicted nutrient intakes were estimated in models assuming total and feasible and practical (F&P) replacement of added NaCl with KCl in foods and ingredients within the top food sources of sodium. An expert elicitation was conducted to collect information on the F&P KCl replacement of added NaCl. Results Using 2015-2016 consumption data, the total replacement of added NaCl with KCl in the 18 top-ranking sources of dietary sodium results in a predicted sodium intake of 2004 mg/d from the replacement of 1406 mg/d sodium with 1870 mg/d potassium as KCl. Modeled F&P replacement predicted sodium intakes of 3117 mg/d (range of 2953 to 3255 mg/d) from the replacement of 294 mg/d sodium (155 to 457 mg/d) with 390 mg/d potassium (206 to 608 mg/d). Similar results are seen with 2009-2010 data. Conclusions The F&P replacement of NaCl with KCl in top-ranking sources of dietary sodium modeled in this study can result in decreased sodium to a level consistent with the short-term intake goal targeted by the FDA of 3000 mg/d, with the mean potassium intake remaining in the range recommended for the apparently healthy population.
Orchestrating computations on the world-wide web

The objective of this project is to design a domain-independent framework that allows rapid development of applications customized for specific user needs. We see three major components in the design: (1) persistent storage management, (2) computational logic and execution environment, and (3) methods for orchestrating computations. Recent developments in industry and academia have made available solutions for persistent storage management and distributed execution of computational tasks (e.g., the .NET and the Websphere infrastructures). This project builds upon these efforts; it permits the specification and instantiation of scripts for orchestrating the execution of several computational tasks. The orchestration script specifies what computations to perform and when; but no information on how to perform the computations.
A Multi-criteria Approach for Fast and Robust Representative Selection from Manifolds

The problem of representative selection amounts to sampling few informative exemplars from large datasets. Existing approaches to data selection often fall short of simultaneously handling non-linear data structures, sampling concise and non-redundant subsets, rejecting outliers, and yielding interpretable outcomes. This paper presents a novel representative selection approach, dubbed MOSAIC, for drawing descriptive sketches of arbitrary manifold structures. Resting upon a novel quadratic formulation, MOSAIC advances a multi-criteria selection approach that maximizes the global representation power of the sampled subset, ensures novelty of the samples by minimizing redundancy, and rejects disruptive information by effectively detecting outliers. Theoretical analyses shed light on geometrical characterization of the obtained sketch and reveal that the sampled representatives maximize a well-defined notion of data coverage in a transformed space. In addition, we present a highly scalable randomized implementation of the proposed algorithm shown to bring about substantial speedups. MOSAIC's superiority in achieving the desired characteristics of a representative subset all at once while exhibiting remarkable robustness to various outlier types is demonstrated via extensive experiments conducted on both real and synthetic data with comparisons to state-of-the-art algorithms.
First detection of wave interactions in the middle atmosphere of Mars

[1] Planetary wave-tide interactions are known to exist in Earth's atmosphere and to account for some of its diurnal variability, or put another way, for variations in its diurnal cycle over time scales from days to weeks. In this study, using an elaborate arrangement of temperature profiles at a single local time from MRO/Mars Climate Sounder, we show that planetary wave-tide interactions also occur in the middle atmosphere of Mars. These interactions excite secondary waves that amplify on average with altitude and appear to be an important source of tidal and longitudinal variability.
The Roles of Putidaredoxin and P450cam in Methylene Hydroxylation

Abstract Putidaredoxin, the iron sulfur protein from the P450cam-mediated methylene hydroxylase system of Pseudomonas putida, is shown to be essential both as an electron transfer agent and as an effector of P450cam necessary for product formation. P450cam is recognized to progress through four well defined states in an ordered reaction cycle of oxidized, and, with substrate, oxidized, reduced, and oxygenated. Combination of reduced putidaredoxin with each of these states of P450cam, or of oxidized putidaredoxin with the reduced or oxygenated P450cam in the presence of substrate and O2 yields product stoichiometrically. Putidaredoxin is not replaced efficiently by other iron sulfur proteins, nor by the phospholipid from the hepatic microsomal P450 system. Rapid scan spectroscopy shows the oxygenated form of P450cam to be dominant during NADH turnover in the reconstituted system. A scheme is developed for the reaction cycle in which aggregates of the enzyme components are postulated to facilitate electron transfer and determine the nature of the product formed. Analytical treatment of steady state kinetic data suggests that a 1:1:1 equivalence of reductase to putidaredoxin to P450cam is functional and probably reflects participation of 1 molecule each of putidaredoxin, P450cam, and possibly reductase in the catalytic complex.
Non-Covalent Derivatives: Cocrystals and Eutectics

Non-covalent derivatives (NCDs) are formed by incorporating one (or more) coformer molecule(s) into the matrix of a parent molecule via non-covalent forces. These forces can include ionic forces, Van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, lipophilic-lipophilic interactions and pi-pi interactions. NCDs, in both cocrystal and eutectic forms, possess properties that are unique to their supramolecular matrix. These properties include critical product performance factors such as solubility, stability and bioavailability. NCDs have been used to tailor materials for a variety of applications and have the potential to be used in an even broader range of materials and processes. NCDs can be prepared using little or no solvent and none of the reagents typical to synthetic modifications. Thus, NCDs represent a powerfully versatile, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective opportunity.
Ventral posterior thalamic neurons differentially responsive to noxious stimulation of the awake monkey

Of 76 cutaneously activated neurons recorded from the ventral posterior thalamus of awake, behaving monkeys, nine were weakly excited by innocuous skin stimulation and responded maximally only when noxious mechanical cutaneous stimuli were delivered within small, contralateral receptive fields. These results show that neurons capable of encoding the spatial and temporal features of noxious stimuli are located in the ventral posterior thalamus of the awake primate.
MAP image reconstruction using intensity and line processes for emission tomography data

A Bayesian approach to image reconstruction from emission tomography image is presented in which the image is modeled using a joint Gibbs distribution of emission intensities and line processes. The line process represents the presence or absence of discontinuities between each neighboring pair of pixels. It is introduced to avoid the smoothing across discontinuities, which commonly occurs in Bayesian image estimation when a line process is not included. Two algorithms for MAP estimation over both intensity and line processes are presented. Both methods employ the generalized EM (GEM) algorithm to avoid direct optimization over the posterior distribution which does not share the Markovian property of the prior. The M-step of the GEM algorithm of the MAP estimation problem requires optimization over a function which has the appealing property that the neighborhood is identical to that of the prior. During the M-step both the intensity and line processes are updated. This is achieved in two stages. In the M1-step the intensities are updated, while holding the line process constant, using a gradient descent method. In the M2-step the line process is updated, with the intensity process held constant. Two alternative M2-steps are described in the paper. The use of a line process in the image model also provides a natural framework for the incorporation of a priori information from other modalities. In this case, boundaries may be found from MR or CT images and used as known line processes in the image estimation procedure.
Raman investigation of simple and complex oxides of platinum

Raman spectra were obtained from PtO, Pt 5 O 6 , Pt 3 O 4 , α-PtO 2 , β-PtO 2 , M x Na y Pt 3 O 4 (M=Co, Ni), PtCoO 2 and MPt 3 O 6 (M=Mn, Co, Cd). An enumeration of the allowed Raman modes is made for all of these oxides except Pt 5 O 6 , for which the structure is unknown. Polarization measurements allow symmetry species assignments to be made for the lines from α-PtO 2 and PtCoO 2 , and a likely assignment of the lines from β-PtO 2 is made by analogy with rutile-structured materials with the rutile structure
An Analog-to-Digital Converter for Serial Computing Machines

An analog-to-digital converter is described whose output can be read synchronously into a high-speed digital computer. The converter uses new types of cyclic-to-binary translators capable of converting a cyclic number into its binary form serially with least significant digit first. The underlying theorems are proved.
Management of relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood with conventional and innovative approaches.

Purpose of reviewTo review and summarize the available evidence on factors predicting prognosis of children with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and on the currently used treatment strategies, as well as on the most promising and innovative molecular or cellular therapies.Recent findings
The molhado hypertext versioning system

This paper describes Molhado, a hypertext versioning and software configuration management system that is distinguished from previous systems by its flexible product versioning and structural configuration management model. The model enables a unified versioning framework for atomic and composite software artifacts, and hypermedia structures among them in a fine-grained manner at the logical level. Hypermedia structures are managed separately from documents' contents. Molhado explicitly represents hyperlinks, allowing them to be browsed, visualized, and systematically analyzed. Molhado not only versions complex hypermedia structures (e.g., multi links), but also supports versioning of individual hyperlinks. This paper focuses on Molhado's hypertext versioning and its use in the Software Concordance environment to manage the evolution of a software project and hypermedia structures.
Blood Pressure Levels in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Serial blood pressure recordings were taken for 72 hours in 112 patients with acute myocardial infarction and in 96 patients with cardiac ischemia, admitted to hospital no more than 6 hours after the onset of chest pain. During the first hour of admission 66 (31.7%) had a blood pressure recorded 160/100 or greater. By the sixth hour, without specific antihypertensive therapy, this number had fallen to 13 (6.3%). This fall was subsequently maintained with very similar trends for both acute myocardial infarction and cardiac ischemia. Such an early blood pressure fall in acute myocardial infarction may indicate that this is too labile a measurement to determine the need for, or efficacy of, antihypertensive therapy aimed at the preservation of myocardium. The hospital course and mortality rate of patients with acute myocardial infarction and early hypertension, as defined, did not differ significantly from the non-hypertensive group.
Optimizing nerve cuff stimulation of targeted regions through use of genetic algorithms

A nerve cuff electrode is a viable technology for use in a neuroprostheses system to restore loss of function due to neurological injury. The Flat Interface Nerve Electrode (FINE) is a nerve cuff that gently reshapes the nerve to bring the axons closer to the stimulating contacts. The overall goal of this work is to optimize nerve cuff stimulation in upper extremity nerves. Recently, highly efficient and accurate linear models of neuronal activation have been developed in our lab. Using the fast calculations from the newly developed linear activation method, nerve stimulation parameters such as current pulse width and pulse amplitude at many electrode contacts can be explored by employing optimization algorithms. Finite element nerve models with high density electrodes were constructed based on upper extremity cadaveric nerve cross sections. An objective function was developed to target specific groups of nerve fascicles and minimize overlap amongst these groups. By changing the objective function and using a genetic search algorithm, stimulation parameters can be optimized for many contacts.
Usefulness of 4‐methylumbelliferyl‐6‐ sulfo‐2‐acetamido‐2‐deoxy‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside for the diagnosis of GM2 gangliosidoses in leukocytes

4-Methylumbelliferyl-6-sulfo-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranoside was synthesized and tested as a substrate for the diagnosis of GM2 gangliosidoses using leukocytes. Less than 2% of normal activity was measured in homogenates from patients with typical Tay-Sachs disease and from a patient with a variant form having 37% Hexosaminidase A by heat denaturation using the usual fluorogenic substrate. An adult patient had 8.5% of normal activity. Three patients with Sandhoff disease were found to have values ranging from 17% to 37% of normal. These values overlap the range found for carriers of Tay-Sachs disease, and suggest that the usefulness of this substrate, while excellent for diagnosing B variants of GM2 gangliosidosis, requires further study. Perhaps when used together with 4-methylumbelliferyl-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranoside excellent discriminations of patients, carriers and controls will be realized.