cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Introduction to the 1999 USPHS/IDSA guidelines for the prevention of opportunistic infections in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus.

Opportunistic infections (OIs) are well recognized to produce substantial morbidity and mortality among patients with HIV infection. Since measures are available for reducing the incidence and the impact of these processes for patients, the United States Public Health Service and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, with endorsing professional societies, have developed guidelines for implementing a comprehensive strategy to prevent these OIs. These guidelines have been developed by a diverse working group of expert health care providers and patient representatives in order to synthesize available data and to provide practical advice for health care practitioners and patients. Guidelines for the prevention of opportunistic infection (OI) in patients with HIV infection were first published in 1989, when it became apparent that clinicians and health care providers were not sufficiently familiar with the benefits of implementing chemoprophylaxis against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). Such prophylaxis could reduce morbidity and prolong survival, but it was evident that many practitioners were not introducing this prophylaxis into their standard strategies. In 1989, several principles were established to guide the development of these guidelines, and they continue to be adhered to: (1) the guidelines should be developed by a diverse working group that includes well-informed health care professionals and patient representatives; (2) the guidelines should be based on available data that are sufficiently detailed to allow appropriate analysis; (3) guidelines should be written in a format that is focused and organized for practicing clinicians; (4) the strength of each recommendation should be clearly indicated by use of a defined rating system; (5) consensus should be sought from as many professional societies and governmental agencies as feasible, to help ensure that the guidelines are widely accepted; (6) the guidelines should be disseminated rapidly and widely; (7) guidelines should be revised as frequently as necessary to remain current. In 1993, guidelines for preventing disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex were added to PCP guidelines. In 1995, when the Infectious Diseases Society joined the United States Public Health Service in sponsoring these guidelines, they were expanded to include all HIV-related OIs for which preventive
The Principal’s Role in Professional Development for Social Justice An Empirically-Based Transformative Framework

Literature on principal leadership in professional development offers important but underdeveloped conceptions of how school principals promote professional development for social justice. This art...
Development of high performance passively cooled mirrors for ECH launchers

Fusion reactors and state-of-the-art tokamaks will operate at pulse lengths that require heat absorbing components to be designed for steady state operation. Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) power sources are approaching that goal as well. The reflecting mirrors for ECH launchers will therefore need to be designed for steady-state operation.
Flow Cytometric Cell Cycle Analysis of Cultured Porcine Fetal Fibroblast Cells

Normal development of nuclear transfer embryos is thought to be dependent on transferral of nuclei in G0 or G1 phases of the cell cycle. Therefore, we investigated the cell cycle characteristics of porcine fetal fibroblast cells cultured under a variety of cell cycle-arresting treatments. This was achieved by using flow cytometry to simultaneously measure cellular DNA and protein content, enabling the calculation of percentages of cells in G0, G1, S, and G2+M phases of the cell cycle. Cultures that were serum starved for 5 days contained higher (p < 0.05) percentages of G0+G1 (87.5 +/- 0. 7) and G0 cells alone (48.3 +/- 9.7) compared with rapidly cycling cultures (G0+G1: 74.1 +/- 3.0; G0: 2.8 +/- 1.2). Growth to confluency increased (p < 0.05) G0+G1 percentages (85.1 +/- 2.8) but did not increase G0 percentages (6.0 +/- 5.3) compared to those in cycling cultures. Separate assessment of small-, medium-, and large-sized cells showed that as the cell size decreased from large to small, percentages of cells in G0+G1 and G0 alone increased (p < 0.05). We found 95.2 +/- 0.3% and 72.2 +/- 12.0% of small serum-starved cells in G0+G1 and G0 alone, respectively. Cultures were also treated with cell cycle inhibitors. Treatment with dimethyl sulfoxide (1%) or colchicine (0.5 microM) increased percentages of cells in G0 (24.8 +/- 20.0) or G2+M (37.4 +/- 4.6), respectively. However, cells were only slightly responsive to mimosine treatment. A more complete understanding of the cell cycle of donor cells should lead to improvements in the efficiency of nuclear transfer procedures.
The use of epidemiology, scientific data, and regulatory authority to determine risk factors in cancers of some organs of the digestive system

Primary liver cancer (PLC), although uncommon in developed countries, is one of the most common cancers in the world because of its high prevalence in parts of Africa and Asia (Blumberg and London, 1982). Liver cancer induced in animals by aflatoxin has been called the best opportunity to verify the extrapolation of animal cancer data to humans (Carlborg, 1979). The unique distribution of PLC among human population groups offers opportunities for the study of natural experiments and justifies the conclusion that this form of cancer is largely preventable and perhaps even curable. This review was intended as a status report on the potential human hepatocarcinogenicity of aflatoxins as food contaminants; however, it became apparent that the subject should be placed in a larger context. Only selected references are cited but a bibliography of over 3500 entries is available from the National Technical Information Service (Wagstaff, 1984). PLC is defined as cancer arising in any hepatic tissue and has been assigned Znternational Classification of Diseases (ICD) code 155 (WHO, 197 1). The most commonly used classifications are those of Edmondson ( 1958) and the World Health Organization (Gibson and Sobin, 1978). Liver neoplasms are classified as benign or malignant and by histologic type. Other factors sometimes used in classification are biochemical tumor markers, antigens, and clinical course of the disease. The most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), arises in parenchymal cells (an older term, hepatoma, has largely been discarded). There are
Evolution of a polymodal sensory response network

Background: Avoidance of noxious stimuli is essential for the survival of an animal in its natural habitat. Some avoidance responses require polymodal sensory neurons, which sense a range of diverse stimuli, whereas other stimuli require a unimodal sensory neuron, which senses a single stimulus. Polymodality might have evolved to help animals quickly detect and respond to diverse noxious stimuli. Nematodes inhabit diverse habitats and most nematode nervous systems are composed of a small number of neurons, despite a wide assortment in nematode sizes. Given this observation, we speculated that cellular contribution to stereotyped avoidance behaviors would also be conserved between nematode species. The ASH neuron mediates avoidance of three classes of noxious stimuli in Caenorhabditis elegans. Two species of parasitic nematodes also utilize the ASH neuron to avoid certain stimuli. We wanted to extend our knowledge of avoidance behaviors by comparing multiple stimuli in a set of free-living nematode species. Results: We used comparative behavioral analysis and laser microsurgery to examine three avoidance behaviors in six diverse species of free-living nematodes. We found that all species tested exhibit avoidance of chemo-, mechano- and osmosensory stimuli. In C. elegans, the bilaterally symmetric polymodal ASH neurons detect all three classes of repellant. We identified the putative ASH neurons in different nematode species by their anatomical positions and showed that in all six species ablation of the ASH neurons resulted in an inability to avoid noxious stimuli. However, in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, the ADL neuron in addition to the ASH neuron contributed to osmosensation. In the species Caenorhabditis sp. 3, only the ASH neuron was required to mediate nose touch avoidance instead of three neurons in C. elegans. These data suggest that different species can increase or decrease the contribution of additional, non-ASH sensory neurons mediating osmosensation and mechanosensation. Conclusion: The overall conservation of ASH mediated polymodal nociception suggests that it is an ancestral evolutionarily stable feature of sensation. However, the finding that contribution from non-ASH sensory neurons mediates polymodal nociception in some nematode species suggests that even in conserved sensory behaviors, the cellular response network is dynamic over evolutionary time, perhaps shaped by adaptation of each species to its environment.
Exact and approximate gas dynamics using the tangent gas

For the determination of aerodynamic characteristics such as lift, drag, and moment coefficients, it is crucial to compute the properties of steady flow past an airfoil. This investigation provides a set of flow dependent grid systems and initial flowfield guesses which substantially improve convergence rates when applied to the Euler equations for flows past an airfoil. The basic equations are examined, taking into account nonlinear equations which are difficult to solve. A good approximation to these equations under certain conditions can be obtained by introducing the so-called 'tangent gas approximation' considered by Woods (1961), in which the isentropic relation between rho and p is replaced by a tangent to a curve. Attention is given to the solution procedure, the analysis (direct) problem, and a comparison of the tangent gas solution with the converged Euler solution.
Human factors and dynamic roadways and in-vehicle lighting conditions

A field investigation of the dynamic roadways and in-vehicle lighting conditions was performed. The variation in ambient lighting levels for drivers in-vehicle while driving was measured. Typical values and variability of lighting levels over time for nine sites in Ann Arbor, Michigan (e.g. rural, suburban, city streets, expressways, etc.) on a cluster near the radio within a 1986 Honda Civic, and the driver's view locations were determined. A sampling rate of 3 to 10 Hz was established for automatically adjusting the control panel lighting level for dynamic lighting conditions during the day and at night. The data obtained from this study are intended to provide photometric information to engineers to design the interior display panels within vehicles equipped with the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System. >
The Use of Gait Transition Speed in Comparative Studies of Fish Locomotion

SYNOPSIS. Physiological and biomechanical inquiries into the principles of vertebrate locomotion require comparison among animals of different size, habitat and phyletic association. In designing comparative studies of locomotion, a major challenge is to isolate the effects of experimentally imposed variation from the confounding effects of variation in animal activity level associated with differences in scale and life history. For swimming vertebrates, traditional measures of speed used for comparison, including sprint speed and critical swimming speed, should in theory each elicit similar efforts from different animals but have practical shortcomings that can limit their usefulness. This paper presents an alternative approach, adapted from the work of mammalian physiologists, which controls for differences in relative activity level among swimming animals of different size and habitat through comparison at gait transition speeds. The method is illustrated with examples from study of the teleost fish family Embiotocidae, whose members exhibit a distinct transition from exclusively pectoral fin oscillation to combined pectoral and caudal fin propulsion with increasing swimming speed. The pectoral-caudal gait transition speed, or any percentage thereof, is shown to be 'biomechanically equivalent' for swimmers of different size. When this performance limit is expressed in terms of body lengths traveled per unit time, a common normalization of swimming speed, it varies markedly across size and habitat within the family. This finding has the important implication that length-specific speeds may not induce comparable degrees of exercise from different fishes, and thus kinematic and physiological comparisons at such speeds can yield misleading results. The comparative approach described for pectoral fin swimmers, and the limitations of length-specific speed, should be generally applicable to studies of other swimming vertebrates.
Multi-rank processing for passive ranging in underwater acoustic environments subject to spatial coherence loss

In this work we derive the maximum likelihood estimator for passive wavefront curvature ranging systems operating in environments subject to a spatial coherence loss. As a consequence of the spatial coherence loss, the optimum processor is no longer a rank-1 matched filter and now instead involves a multi-rank weighted combination of the data based on the coherence matrix eigenvectors and eigenvalues. We also establish an interesting connection of our proposed multi-rank processor to the conventional rank-1 processor, and to the non-coherence sub-array processor, under different operating conditions. A comparative study is carried out in evaluating the performance of the proposed processors.
Red cell lipids in Zieve's syndrome: Their relation to hemolysis and to red cell osmotic fragility

Abstract Analyses of red cell lipids were made in 6 patients with findings that are typical of Zieve's syndrome over an extended period of time. The results of these analyses were related to the patient's clinical state, to hemolysis, to red cell osmotic fragility, and to plasma lipid levels. During the acute stage of the syndrome, red cell lipid levels showed increases in the total lipid, cholesterol, and phospholipid fractions. The latter abnormality was most frequently demonstrated by increased lecithin levels. Increased red cell lipid might also be observed during periods of hyperlipemia and hemolysis, although the patients were not in a typical Zieve state. During clinical and hematologic remission, normal or less extensive increases in red cell lipid were observed. Red cell lipid changes were also noted which corresponded to changes in red cell osmotic fragility, e.g., an increase in red cell lipid was associated with a decrease in fragility.
Prison Conditions and Criminal Sentencing in Kansas: A Public Policy Dialogue

Explores actions and reactions of judicial and legislative bodies which have in turn shaped the criminal justice system in Kansas over a period of more than two decades. The first section of the article looks at prison conditions litigation and legislative responses that gave rise to major changes in criminal sentencing. Part two examines the immediate aftermath of criminal sentencing reform, and the ongoing struggle to maintain rational state sentencing policies in the face of changes in federal law. Part three reviews future prospects for adjusting sentencing policies building upon lessons from the past.
Cell polarity in human renal cystic disease.

BACKGROUND In polycystic kidney disease (PKD), altered cellular polarity with mislocation of Na/K-ATPase, and net fluid secretion may have a role in cyst development and progression. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Cell polarity was assessed in surgically excised human normal, autosomal dominant PKD, and acquired PKD occurring in end stage renal disease on long-term dialysis kidneys quick frozen (< 5 minutes) or fixed to minimize ischemic changes. RESULTS Findings were similar in autosomal dominant PKD and acquired PKD kidneys. By ultrastructure, in cysts, cells were polarized, however, their basement membranes were greatly thickened and reticulated. By immunohistology, in cell-lining cysts, Na/K-ATPase, fodrin, and ankyrin were localized primarily to basolateral cell membranes and uvomorulin was localized to lateral cell membranes. In about 25% of the cells, however, Na/K-ATPase was localized to the apical as well as the basolateral membranes. Both in autosomal dominant PKD and normal kidney cell monolayers in vitro, cationic ferritin was normally absorbed by apical endocytosis, and transferred to apical vacuoles and phagolysosomes. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate intact structural and functional polarity in cell-lining cysts; however, in about 25% of the cells, Na/K-ATPase, fodrin, and ankyrin are localized to apical and lateral cell membranes, probably due to cell dedifferentiation. The notable changes in the basement membranes of cysts suggest a key role for the extracellular matrix in the pathogenesis of PKD.
Verification and Application of the Unified Coordinate System in Preliminary Design

Although computational uid dynamics has revolutionized aerodynamic analysis, it has remained less useful for preliminary design because of the di culties associated with generating a computational mesh. Hui’s uni ed coordinate system has the potential to alleviate this concern by virtue of its automatically generated mesh. In this work, the grid convergence of the uni ed coordinate system is presented. The convergence rate of the method is found to be less than that of similar, traditional methods. The uni ed coordinates are also found to su er from issues of stability in the presence of shocks for some cases, and exhibit a loss of resolution in the presence of strong rarefaction waves. However, the improved resolution of both shocks and slip lines is shown to lead to more accurate qualitative results for complex systems. This, combined with the automatic mesh generation, make the uni ed coordinate system very attractive for certain classes of problems, particularly design problems where the bene ts of computational uid dynamics are outweighed by the costs of traditional grid generation methods.
Intestinal disaccharidases of young turkeys: temporal development and influence of diet composition.

An experiment was done to determine maltase, sucrase, isomaltase, and trehalase activities in mucosa of different segments of small intestines of young turkeys as influenced by age and diet. Two-day-old poults were fed diets containing no added fat [44.6% starch, 2.2% ether extract by weight (HC)], 10% tallow (T), or 10% corn oil [(CO) 29.0% starch, 10.9% ether extract]. Diets HC, T, and CO were calculated to contain 2,705, 3,083, and 3,196 kcal ME/kg, respectively, and constant protein, TSAA, and lysine:ME ratios were maintained. Appreciable maltase and isomaltase specific activities (micromoles of substrate hydrolyzed per milligram protein per hour) were observed in 2-day-old poults, and activities of these enzymes increased in poults fed the HC diet through 7 and 14 days, respectively. At 2 days, specific activity of sucrase was low, and trehalase activity was not detected. Sucrase activity increased steadily through 28 days of age in poults fed the HC diet. Trehalase activity was detected at 7 days of age and reached a maximum by Day 21 after hatch. By Day 28, trehalase activity had disappeared from all segments except for the proximal jejunum. In 28-day-old poults fed the HC diet, specific activities of all disaccharidases were greatest in the jejunal segments; i.e., 21, 1.06, 7.24, and .034 mumol/mg protein/h for maltase, sucrase, isomaltase, and trehalase, respectively, in the proximal jejunum. Poults fed the T or CO diets had significantly lower disaccharidase activities than did those fed the HC diet, beginning at 7 days of age. Changes in specific activities of disaccharidases as related to age or diet or both were not always parallel, suggesting that each enzyme may be regulated by or affected by diet in a partly independent way.
Reflections on the Reporting of Sudden Events

We will stay in a disadvantageous situation in the campaign in the field of the media, if we do not reportor report behindhand, or report improperly sudden events. If we do not pay much attention to this, the image of the Partyand the image of our country will be seriously damaged, and the credit of the media will be badly infected. We can findout the stem of these problems in the ideological understanding of the people in the media field. They do not firmly set upa thought of "being practical and realistic" and do not fully understand the significance of reporting sudden events proper-ly. We should keep in mind that, for the media and journalists, it is especially important to study the principles and lawsof reporting sudden events.
The Observation of Curative Effect of Lactose-free Formula Feeding As an Adjunctive Therapy on Diarrhea Induced by Rotavirus in Infants

Objective To study the efficiency of lactose-free formula feeding as an adjunctive therapy in infants with diarrhea induced by rotavirus infection.Methods A rigorous double-blind,randomized,controlled equivalence trial was performed.One hundred and nineteen infants who were mainly fed by conventional formula with diarrhea induced by rotavirus infection were randomly divided into two groups: the infants in one group were fed with lactosefree formula instead of conventional formula,the infants in the other group as control were fed with conventional formula continuously.Both groups were given conventional medical treatment and oral rehydration therapy simultaneously.The symptom course and therapeutic effects were contrasted during the treatments.Results The cure rate and the total effective rate in the lactose-free formula group were 43.08% and 90.77% respectively,and they were 12.96% and 51.85% respectively in the conventional formula group.There were significant differences in the therapeutic effect between the two groups(P0.05).The duration of diarrhea remission(3.23±1.41)days in the lactose-free formula group was significantly shorter than that in the conventional formula group(4.51±1.02)days(P0.05).After treatment the incidence of fecal flora disturbance was lower in the lactose-free formula group than that in the conventional formula group(p0.05).No adverse events were observed in the two groups.Conclusions Lactose-free formula feeding together with conventional therapy can significantly alleviate symptom,shorten the disease course,and improve the treatment effect in infants with diarrhea induced by rotavirus infection.
Special Care Units for Persons with Dementia

Special care units have been designed to support the needs of persons with dementia. They are generally located in long-term care facilities but are also being located in other care settings. They provide a specially adapted environment to help residents function as independently and safely as possible. Keywords: adapted environment; Alzheimer's disease; dementia care; individualized care
β1-adrenergic receptor stimulation by agonist Compound 49b restores insulin receptor signal transduction in vivo.

Purpose Determine whether Compound 49b treatment ameliorates retinal changes due to the lack of β2-adrenergic receptor signaling. Methods Using retinas from 3-month-old β2-adrenergic receptor-deficient mice, we treated mice with our novel β1-/β2-adrenergic receptor agonist, Compound 49b, to assess the effects of adrenergic agonists acting only on β1-adrenergic receptors due to the absence of β2-adrenergic receptors. Western blotting or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyses were performed for β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors, as well as key insulin resistance proteins, including TNF-α, SOCS3, IRS-1(Ser307), and IR(Tyr960). Analyses were also performed on key anti- and proapoptotic proteins: Akt, Bcl-xL, Bax, and caspase 3. Electroretinogram analyses were conducted to assess functional changes, while histological assessment was conducted for changes in retinal thickness. Results A 2-month treatment of β2-adrenergic receptor-deficient mice with daily eye drops of 1 mM Compound 49b, a novel β1- and β2-adrenergic receptor agonist, reversed the changes in insulin resistance markers (TNF-α and SOCS3) observed in untreated β2-adrenergic receptor-deficient mice, and concomitantly increased morphological integrity (retinal thickness) and functional responses (electroretinogram amplitude). These results suggest that stimulating β1-adrenergic receptors on retinal endothelial cells or Muller cells can compensate for the loss of β2-adrenergic receptor signaling on Muller cells, restore insulin signal transduction, reduce retinal apoptosis, and enhance retinal function. Conclusions Since our previous studies with β1-adrenergic receptor knockout mice confirmed that the reverse also occurs (β2-adrenergic receptor stimulation can compensate for the loss of β1-adrenergic receptor activity), it appears that increased activity in either of these pathways alone is sufficient to block insulin resistance-based retinal cell apoptosis.
All-Atom Structural Models of the Transmembrane Domains of Insulin and Type 1 Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptors

The receptor tyrosine kinase superfamily is comprised of many cell-surface receptors including the insulin receptor (IR) and type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF1R) that are constitutively homodimeric transmembrane glycoproteins. Therefore, these receptors require ligand-triggered domain rearrangements rather than receptor dimerization for activation. Specifically, binding of peptide ligands to receptor ectodomains transduces signals across the transmembrane domains for trans-autophosphorylation in cytoplasmic kinase domains. The molecular details of these processes are poorly understood in part due to the absence of structures of full-length receptors. Using MD simulations and enhanced conformational sampling algorithms, we present all-atom structural models of peptides containing 51 residues from the transmembrane and juxtamembrane regions of IR and IGF1R. In our models, the transmembrane regions of both receptors adopt helical conformations with kinks at Pro961 (IR) and Pro941 (IGF1R), but the C-terminal residues corresponding to the juxtamembrane region of each receptor adopt unfolded and flexible conformations in IR as opposed to a helix in IGF1R. We also observe that the N-terminal residues in IR form a kinked-helix sitting at the membrane-solvent interface, while homologous residues in IGF1R are unfolded and flexible. These conformational differences result in a larger tilt-angle of the membrane-embedded helix in IGF1R in comparison to IR to compensate for interactions with water molecules at the membrane-solvent interfaces. Our metastable/stable states for the transmembrane domain of IR, observed in a lipid bilayer, are consistent with a known NMR structure of this domain determined in detergent micelles, and similar states in IGF1R are consistent with a previously reported model of the dimerized transmembrane domains of IGF1R. Our all-atom structural models suggest potentially unique structural organization of kinase domains in each receptor.
Physical properties and spatial controls of stone walls in the northeastern USA: Implications for Anthropocene studies of 17th to early 20th century agriculture

Abstract English-style agriculture in the northeastern United States spurred widespread deforestation beginning in the 17th century. Heavy plowing within a rocky, glacial till-mantled landscape resulted in soil erosion and deep frosts. For hundreds of years, stones exposed at the surface due to these processes were built into walls that have become an iconic feature of this landscape, and indicative of past human impacts and land use dynamics in areas that are now reforested. We investigate stone walls in five towns in Connecticut, USA, using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), field measurements, surficial geology maps, and historic agricultural census data. Stone walls are prevalent throughout the study region (∼2113 km over ∼569 km 2 ), but spatial density ranges widely from 0 to 12 km/km 2 . Important controls on the density of stone walls include surficial materials (e.g., ∼4.0 km/km 2 on glacial till compared to 1.5 km/km 2 on floodplain alluvium), and whether land had been “improved” for agriculture (∼5.2 km/km 2 ). The length of stone walls derived from analysis of LiDAR data combined with field measurements (average height of 0.76 ± 0.23 m; width of 0.96 ± 0.50 m), indicates that an average of ∼1.4 × 10 6 m 3 of stone was moved for constructing walls in the study towns alone. Overall, this study highlights the spatial distribution of 17th-20th century agriculture and Anthropocene landscape change in the northeastern USA, providing important implications for human-environment studies in other deglaciated regions of the United States and landscapes with stone-rich soils on a global scale where historic agriculture occurred.
IC-processed hot-filament vacuum microdevices

Micromachined vacuum devices that employ a hot tungsten filament as a source of electromagnetic radiation and thermionically emitted electrons have been fabricated. These hot-filament devices have been characterized for use as "microlamps," vacuum diodes, and triodes. Coplanar filaments are used for the cathodes and anodes in the diodes, and also for the grids in the triodes. The filaments are typically 200- mu m long and are suspended over a cavity in the silicon substrate. The devices tested were operated in a pumped vacuum chamber. >
Robust spike sorting of retinal ganglion cells tuned to spot stimuli

We propose an automatic spike sorting approach for the data recorded from a microelectrode array during visual stimulation of wild type retinas with tiled spot stimuli. The approach first detects individual spikes per electrode by their signature local minima. With the mixture probability distribution of the local minima estimated afterwards, it applies a minimum-squared-error clustering algorithm to sort the spikes into different clusters. A template waveform for each cluster per electrode is defined, and a number of reliability tests are performed on it and its corresponding spikes. Finally, a divisive hierarchical clustering algorithm is used to deal with the correlated templates per cluster type across all the electrodes. According to the measures of performance of the spike sorting approach, it is robust even in the cases of recordings with low signal-to-noise ratio.
Controlling charility and pinhole defects in Ni catalyst for synthesis of graphene

Controlling the growth of proper crystal morphology and defect density in Ni catalyst are necessary ingredients for achieving precision number of graphene layers [1] and good yields in CMOS transistor device fabrication. The size of grains can be controlled during sputter deposition but the apparent effects in charility are not apparent until after the high temperature annealing process. XRD analysis has been utilized to show degrees of transformation due to controlling variations in sputter gas pressure and temperature. These parameters can accelerate or postponed the final the preferred orientation of the film. The final grain size of the annealed Ni affects the minimum amount of H2 needed to prevent oxidation during the graphene synthesis.
Abstract 5440: Novel PD-1 blockade bioassay to assess therapeutic antibodies in PD-1 and PD-L1 immunotherapy programs

Programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) are among the few important immunotherapy targets for cancer. Current PD1 assays measure cell proliferation or cytokine production in primary T cells which are tedious, have high assay variation and small assay window. To enable quantitative potency measurement for key anti-PD-1 drugs in the market or in clinical trials such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab, as well as anti-PD-L1 drugs in clinical trials such as MPDL3280A and BMS-936559, here we report the development of a robust bioluminescent cell-based PD1 blockade bioassay. For this, we built a PD-1 effector cells in Jurkat cells which stably express human PD-1 and a NFAT-RE-luciferase reporter, and a PD-L1 positive artificial Antigen Presenting Cells (PD-L1+ aAPC) in CHO-K1 cells which stably express PD-L1 and an engineered TCR activator. Once these two cell types were co-cultivated, transcriptional activation of NFAT pathway in PD-1 effector cells, mediated by binding of TCR complex with TCR activator in PD-L1+ aAPC, is significantly suppressed by PD-1/PD-L1 engagement. This inhibition can then be specifically reversed by co-incubation of PD-1 or PD-L1 blocking antibodies in dose-dependent manner, but not by the antibody for other immune checkpoint receptors such as anti-CTLA4 ipilimumab. We further developed both PD-1 effector cells and PD-L1+ aAPC in Thaw-and-Use format so the cells can be plated for assay without the need of cell culture. The resultant PD-1 assay using Thaw-and-Use cells brings the benefit of convenience, low day-to-day variation, and easy lab-to-lab assay transfer. We demonstrate the assay is able to measure relative potency for antibody biologics, and also can detect potency changes for stressed antibody samples. In summary, the reporter-based PD-1 blockade assay provides a valuable tool for both drug screening and characterization in early drug discovery, and lot release and stability study in drug manufacture for therapeutic antibody drug candidates in PD-1 and PD-L1 immunotherapy programs. Citation Format: Zhi-Jie Jey Cheng, Natasha Karassina, Jamison Grailer, Jim Hartnett, Frank Fan, Mei Cong. Novel PD-1 blockade bioassay to assess therapeutic antibodies in PD-1 and PD-L1 immunotherapy programs. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5440. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5440
The pimeloyl-CoA synthetase BioW defines a new fold for adenylate-forming enzymes

Reactions that activate carboxylates through acyl-adenylate intermediates are found throughout biology and include acyl- and aryl-CoA synthetases and tRNA synthetases. Here we describe the characterization of Aquifex aeolicus BioW, which represents a new protein fold within the superfamily of adenylating enzymes. Substrate-bound structures identified the enzyme active site and elucidated the mechanistic strategy for conjugating CoA to the seven-carbon α,ω-dicarboxylate pimelate, a biotin precursor. Proper position of reactive groups for the two half-reactions is achieved solely through movements of active site residues, as confirmed by site-directed mutational analysis. The ability of BioW to hydrolyze adenylates of noncognate substrates is reminiscent of pre-transfer proofreading observed in some tRNA synthetases, and we show that this activity can be abolished by mutation of a single residue. These studies illustrate how BioW can carry out three different biologically prevalent chemical reactions (adenylation, thioesterification, and proofreading) in the context of a new protein fold.
Adnectin-Based Design of Chimeric Antigen Receptor for T Cell Engineering

Although chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cell therapy has achieved encouraging clinical trial results for treating hematological cancers, further optimization can likely expand this therapeutic success to more patients and other cancer types. Most CAR constructs used in clinical trials incorporate single chain variable fragment (scFv) as the extracellular antigen recognition domain. The immunogenicity of nonhuman scFv could cause host rejection against CAR T cells and compromise their persistence and efficacy. The limited availability of scFvs and slow discovery of new monoclonal antibodies also limit the development of novel CAR constructs. Adnectin, a class of affinity molecules derived from the tenth type III domain of human fibronectin, can be an alternative to scFv as an antigen-binding moiety in the design of CAR molecules. We constructed adnectin-based CARs targeting epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) and found that compared to scFv-based CAR, T cells engineered with adnectin-based CARs exhibited equivalent cell-killing activity against target H292 lung cancer cells in vitro and had comparable antitumor efficacy in xenograft tumor-bearing mice in vivo. In addition, with optimal affinity tuning, adnectin-based CAR showed higher selectivity on target cells with high EGFR expression than on those with low expression. This new design of adnectin CARs can potentially facilitate the development of T cell immunotherapy for cancer and other diseases.
On the impossibility of arbitrary deformations in nonlinear elasticity

We employ partly Sobolev classes to obtain a necessary condition for mappings of $$W^{1,p}$$ -class to be deformations of nonlinearly elastic bodies that can be induced by $$L^{q}$$ -forces, $$1\le p,\,q <\infty $$ . This condition is useful for studying continuous deformations of non-homogeneous materials and for obtaining stable numerical methods for nonlinear elasticity.
Towards transactional memory for OpenMP

The OpenMP specification lacks a composable shared memory concurrency mechanism: the current OpenMP concurrency mechanisms, such as OMP critical, locks, or atomics, do not support composition. In this paper, we motivate the need for transactional memory (TM) in OpenMP. The chief reason is to support composition of realistic programs, but we also consider whether TM is easier to program than locks, the use case for TM, and whether a software-only TM can outperform traditional locking through a survey of recent publications. This paper advances upon previous proposals of OpenMP TM by introducing a new construct specifically to handle irrevocable actions, which is also composable. It also proposes a pure atomic transaction construct as well as the concept of transaction safety. Further, we examine how our proposed construct integrates with current OpenMP constructs.
Impact of misclassification error in the estimation of maternal major depression disorder prevalence in home visitation programs

The objective of this study was to measure the bias introduced by misclassification error when estimating the prevalence of MDD among mothers in two community-based studies. Baseline data were collected from mothers participating in two home visitation study sites in South Central United States between 2010 and 2014. The operational definition of MDD was a Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression - Short Form (CESD-SF) score of 10 or higher. Misclassification error was adjusted for using CESD-SF sensitivity and specificity priors that were either antepartum or postpartum specific or non-specific. Bias was measured as the difference between the observed and misclassification error-adjusted prevalence estimates using a Binomial Bayesian Latent Class model. The proportion of mothers in the antepartum and postpartum periods confounded the level of bias in estimating MDD prevalence. When using antepartum and postpartum specific sensitivity and specificity of the CESD-SF, misclassification error led to nearly no bias in prevalence estimates. In contrast, ignoring differences in CESD-SF sensitivity and specificity between these periods showed considerable MDD prevalence bias. The use of period of assessment (antepartum versus postpartum) specific case-finding instrument diagnostic performance values is critical to the valid estimation of MDD prevalence among mothers. Studies using other case-finding instruments are needed to support this conclusion.
Stress, depression and job satisfaction

Abstract Recent crashes of aeromedical aircraft have focused attention on the occupational stress experienced by aeromedical personnel. A mail survey of six hospital-based aeromedical transport services was conducted to investigate the occupational satisfaction and stress perceived by flight personnel. The survey questionnaire included a stress inventory, a depression scale and a job satisfaction scale. Respondents included nurses, emergency medical technicians, respiratory therapists and pilots. The expected relationships between stress and depression (r = 46, p
The Politics of Taxes

The tax system in the USA and the UK levies the poor, the middle class, and the upper middle class to subsidize the ultra rich. The super-rich have lowered their income taxes, shifting the tax burden to regressive sales taxes. They have reduced (or abolished) inheritance taxes. Corporate executives have aggressively moved their income into lower-taxed capital gains taxes, growing tax burdens for everybody else. Corporations have established subsidiaries globally, many of them in tax havens, avoiding corporate taxes altogether or waiting for a tax holiday. Corporations have routinely used transfer pricing to shift profits to low tax regimes, and losses to high tax regimes, allowing them to reduce or eliminate domestic taxes. And some corporations have declared that they have no tax home, and minimal tax liabilities, because their profits are held somewhere in virtual space.
The sixties and me: from cultural revolution to cultural theory

In this article, the author offers an approach to his personal and academic development during the 1960s and how they laid the foundations for his contributions in the field of sociology. Pointing out those years as a moment in which a tumultuous social conscience, strongly influenced by the New Left, broke with the static rationalization of modernity, the author analyzes his radicalization in Marxism during his student years at Harvard and his eventual distancing from it. He also explores how the Vietman war and specific events of the time shaped an entire generation, through pointing to the possible existence of alternative social orders.
Formation of a Reactive, Alkyl Thiolate-Ligated FeIII-Superoxo Intermediate Derived from Dioxygen.

Herein, we describe an alkyl thiolate-ligated iron complex that reacts with dioxygen to form an unprecedented example of an iron superoxo (O2•–) intermediate, [FeIII(S2Me2N3(Pr,Pr))(O2)] (4), which...
Organic Electrosynthesis for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing

Renewable-electricity-powered electrosynthetic processes for the production of high-value organic chemicals can contribute to the reduction of the chemical industry’s carbon footprint. This Science & Society article discusses current challenges and opportunities for the deployment of these processes, including pathways to enhance reactant solubility, electrolyte stability, and the dynamic operation of electrochemical reactors.
Effect of Preoperative Cardiac Anatomy and Surgical Approach on HVAD Inflow Position

Purpose We assessed the influence of preoperative cardiac anatomy and surgical approach on inflow cannula position in Heartware HVAD recipients. Methods We reviewed pre- and postoperative CT scans and echocardiography. Anatomic variables were chosen based on prior studies: LV end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), axial plane midline-to-apex distance (ApexDist), and coronal-plane LV outflow tract angulation from horizontal (LVOT angle). Surgical technique was conventional sternotomy (CS) or lateral thoracotomy/hemisternotomy (LTHS). Inflow cannula angular deviation from a line intersecting the apex and mitral orifice center was measured in two planes. Anterior plane deviation is toward the superior or inferior free wall. Lateral plane deviation is toward the septum or lateral wall. Total deviation is the sum of the two. Cutoffs for malposition were deviation ≥ 20 deg in any direction or ≥ 40 deg total. Results 99 HVAD patients (43 CS, 56 LTHS) implanted since 2011 with pre- and postoperative CT were included. LVEDD was larger for LTHS (7.2 vs 6.7 cm, p=0.01). ApexDist and LVOT angle were similar between CS and LTHS. Figure shows inflow position by surgical technique. Inferior-wall deviation was common, while no patient had superior wall-directed malposition. Significantly more septal malposition occurred in CS patients (14% vs 2%; p=0.04). Shorter ApexDist predicted lateral wall malposition (p Conclusion Preoperative CT measurements and surgical approach were associated with different morphologies of HVAD inflow malposition. Surgical planning techniques to optimize inflow position are under study.
An Exploration of Revenue Structure Characteristics in Rural Municipalities

This article tests for differences in revenue structure between small rural and nonrural municipalities. Colorado serves as a case study owing to its large number of small municipalities. Empirical...
Advance care planning with patients on hemodialysis: an implementation study

Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) on hemodialysis have limited life expectancy, yet their palliative care needs often go unmet. The aim of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators for implementation of “Shared Decision Making and Renal Supportive Care” (SDM-RSC), an intervention to improve advance care planning (ACP) for patients with ESKD on hemodialysis. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was the organizing framework for this study. CFIR is a theory-based implementation framework consisting of five domains (Intervention Characteristics, Inner Setting, Outer Setting, Characteristics of Individuals, and Process), each of which has associated constructs. Potential barriers and facilitators to implementation of the SDM-RSC intervention were identified through observation of study procedures, surveys of social workers nephrologists, study participants, and family members, and assessment of intervention fidelity. Twenty-nine nephrologists and 24 social workers, representing 18 outpatient dialysis units in Massachusetts (n = 10) and New Mexico (n = 8), were trained to conduct SDM-RSC intervention sessions. A total of 102 of 125 patient enrolled in the study received the intervention; 40 had family members present. Potential barriers and facilitators to implementation of the SDM-RSC intervention were identified in each of the five CFIR domains. Barriers included complexity of the intervention; challenges to meeting with patients on non-dialysis days; difficulties scheduling intervention sessions due to nephrologists’ and social workers’ caseloads; perceived need for local policy change regarding ACP; perceived need for additional ACP training for social workers and nephrologists; and lack of endorsement of the intervention by some staff members. Facilitators included: training for social workers, national dialysis chain leadership engagement and the institution of social worker/nephrologist clinic champions. ACP for patients on hemodialysis can have a positive impact on end-of-life outcomes for patients and their families but does not take place routinely. The barriers to effective implementation of interventions to improve ACP identified in this study might be addressed by: adapting the intervention for local contexts with input from clinicians, dialysis staff, patients and families; providing nephrologists and social workers additional training prior to delivering the intervention; and developing policy that routinizes ACP for hemodialysis patients. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02405312. Registered 04/01/2015.
Patients with advanced-stage germ cell tumors have a high risk of thromboembolic events.

e15621 Background: Thromboembolism (TE) accounts for significant morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. Rates of TE have been reported from 0.9%-28.0%, depending on the population. Patients wi...