cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interaction of N-acetylcysteine and Cysteine in Human Plasma

ABSTRACT N-acetyl- l -cysteine (NAC), a well-known antioxidant, has been successfully used as adjuvant therapy for late-stage childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (c-ALD); however, the mechanisms of NAC action are poorly understood. Previous research indicates that NAC serves as a precursor to l -cysteine (Cys), the rate-limiting substrate in the biosynthesis of glutathione (GSH), a potent, endogenous antioxidant. We hypothesized that NAC acts by liberating protein-bound Cys in plasma in an NAC concentration-dependent manner, which increases unbound Cys available for GSH biosynthesis. Human plasma was incubated for 1 h with varying, clinically relevant concentrations of NAC (0–1000 µg/mL). The effect of this interaction over time was evaluated by incubating plasma for 5–90 min with 100 µg/mL NAC. Unbound and bound Cys and NAC were separated by ultrafiltration, and concentrations were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Significant increases in unbound Cys were observed with increasing NAC concentrations. Also, Cys plasma protein binding decreased from 85% (10 µg/mL NAC) to approximately 0% (1000 µg/mL). Total endogenous Cys was 66% unbound at 5 min after incubation. These results demonstrate that NAC liberates endogenous, protein-bound Cys in human plasma at clinically relevant NAC concentrations. A greater understanding of NAC actions will aid in the optimization of NAC therapy including its use in c-ALD.
Reversing the standard direction: Science emerging from the lives of African American students

Recognizing the persistent science achievement gap between inner-city African American students and students from mainstream, White society, this article suggests that the imposition of external standards on inner-city schools will do little to ameliorate this gap because such an approach fails to address the significance of the social and cultural lives of the students. Instead, it is suggested that the use of critical ethnographic research would enable educators to learn from the students how science education can change to meet their aims and interests. The article includes a report on how a science lunch group in an inner-city high school forged a community based on respect and caring and how this community afforded African American male teens the opportunity to participate in science in new ways. fl 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1000-1014, 2001
Managing the Care Needs of Low-Income Board-and-Care Home Residents: A Process of Negotiating Risks

Small, low-income board-and-care homes play a critical role in the long-term care system, serving a variety of at-risk groups, including chronically mentally ill individuals, frail elders, and developmentally disabled adults. Unfortunately, the supply of homes available to serve these populations is decreasing. The purpose of this study, based on an in-depth ethnographic case study of one small (13-bed) African American-owned and -operated home in metropolitan Atlanta, was to understand how and why some homes continue to operate despite significant challenges. Grounded theory analysis showed that the survival of this home and residents’ ability to remain in it involved a basic social process conceptualized as Negotiating Risks. This survival process often put participants at risk of losing their means of subsistence. Community support emerged as an important protective factor. Findings have implications for community interventions to increase these homes’ survival and improve resident care.
Pediatric Providers’ Self-Reported Knowledge, Practices, and Attitudes About Concussion

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Previous studies have revealed misconceptions among pediatric patients, their families, and athletic coaches surrounding concussion. Little is known about pediatric primary care and emergency medicine providers' attitudes and beliefs about diagnosis and management of this mild traumatic brain injury. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: Although pediatric primary care and emergency medicine providers regularly care for concussion patients and value their role in management, they may not have adequate training or infrastructure to systematically diagnose and manage these patients. abstract To determine the self-reported practices and attitudes surrounding concussion diagnosis and management in a single, large pediatric care network. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to pediatric primary care and emergency medicine providers in a single, large pediatric care network. For all survey participants, practices and attitudes about concussion diagnosis and treatment were queried. RESULTS: There were 145 responses from 276 eligible providers, resulting in a 53% response rate, of which 91% (95% confidence interval (CI): 86%- 95%) had cared for at least 1 concussion patient in the previous 3 months. A Likert scale from 1 "not a barrier" to 5 "significant barrier" was used to assess providers' barriers to educating families about the diagnosis of concussion. Providers selected 4 or 5 on the scale for the following barriers and frequencies: inadequate training to educate 16% (95% CI: 11%-23%), inadequate time to educate 15% (95% CI: 12%-24%), and not my role to educate 1% (95% CI: 0.4%-5%). Ninety-six percent (95% CI: 91%-98%) of providers without a provider decision support tool (such as a clinical pathway or protocol) specific to concussion, and 100% (95% CI: 94%-100%) of providers without discharge instructions specifi ct o concussion believed these resources would be helpful. CONCLUSIONS: Although pediatric primary care and emergency medicine providers regularly care for concussion patients, they may not have ade- quate training or infrastructure to systematically diagnose and manage these patients. Specific provider education, decision support tools, and pa- tient information could help enhance and standardize concussion manage- ment. Pediatrics 2012;130:1120-1125
Innovation in pediatric residency education: the role of evaluation.

Evaluation is central to the development and implementation of successful educational activities in all aspects of physician training. Evaluation is also central to scholarship in the area of educational leadership and administration. The purpose of this short report is to explain the “what,” “why,” and “how” of evaluation for prospective participants in the Innovation in Pediatric Education (IIPE) program and for all readers who need to build evaluation strategies into their education research. Evaluation is the systematic appraisal of the merit or worth of an activity or an object or, in the case of IIPE, the merit or worth of a project.1 Although merit and worth are often used interchangeably, there are important differences.2 Merit assesses inherent, context-free value; it answers the question, “Does the project do what it is intended to do?” In contrast, worth assesses practical, real-life value and answers the question, “Is the project achieving its intended benefits?” IIPE aims to facilitate cutting-edge projects in pediatric education. Similar to other supporting agencies, it asks for, and scrutinizes, evaluation plans to identify projects with the greatest likelihood of success and greatest potential for dissemination to other residency programs. Evaluation is critical for assessing the quality of the project, both in terms of process (how things are done) and outcome (what actually happens). A needs assessment is often the first step in an evaluation plan. It determines who would most benefit from the intervention or program, the extent of the need, and what might work to meet the need. Formative evaluation assesses process. It informs the project as it … Address correspondence to Dorene F. Balmer, PhD, Center for Education Research and Evaluation, 701 W 168th St, Hammer Health Science Center, Lobby 10-A, New York, NY 10032. E-mail: db2595{at}columbia.edu
Evidence of Need to Use Self-Report Measures of Psychosocial Functioning in Older Children and Adolescents with Voiding Dysfunction

Purpose: Previous reports have revealed significantly higher rates of psychosocial difficulties in children and adolescents with voiding dysfunction compared to their healthy peers. However, these findings are based solely on parental reporting and do not include self-reporting of psychosocial problems in older pediatric patients.Materials and Methods: We collected data from 200 consecutive patients 11 to 16 years old during outpatient clinic visits. Patients completed the Pediatric Symptom Checklist–Youth Report, parents completed the parental report of the same measure, and patients and parents collaboratively completed the Dysfunctional Voiding Scoring System.Results: Of the patients 25.5% met the cutoff score for clinically significant levels of psychosocial difficulties. However, only a fourth of those patients met the cutoff on the parent and self-report measures. Additionally patient self-reports of internalizing and externalizing problems were significantly related to severity of voiding dysfuncti...
THERMAL NEUTRON FLUX IN A CELL WITH TEMPERATURE DISCONTINUITIES

In calculations of thermal neutron flux, the interpretation of lattice measurements, in which the part of the lattice being studied is held at elevated temperature, is complicated by uncertainties as to the width of the transition region caused by the temperature discontinuity. As an altemative to a straightforward multigroup approach to the solution of the problem, a method wae developed which employs the formalism of few-group theory while retaining the qualitative features of neutron distribution in space and energy. The basic procedure is to approximate the actual neutron distribution by a superposition of overlapping thermal groups, one in eqtilibrium with each region of uniform temperature in the system. Neutrons in the nonequilibrium groups will then make transitions into the local equilibrium group at a rate that can be easily calculated. (M.C.G.)
Identifying Suitable Degradation Parameters for Individual-Based Prognostics

The ultimate goal of most prognostic systems is accurate prediction of the remaining useful life of individual systems or components based on their use and performance. Traditionally, individual-based prognostic methods use a measure of degradation to make lifetime estimates. Degradation measures may include sensed measurements, such as temperature or vibration level, or inferred measurements, such as model residuals or physics-based model predictions. Often, it is beneficial to combine several measures of degradation into a single parameter. Parameter features such as trendability, monotonicity, and prognosability can be used to compare candidate prognostic parameters to determine which is most useful for individual-based prognosis. By quantifying these features for a given parameter, the metrics can be used with any traditional optimization technique to identify an appropriate parameter. This parameter may be used with a parametric extrapolation model to make prognostic estimates for an individual unit. The proposed methods are illustrated with an application to simulated turbofan engine data.
MicroRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosis, Prognosis and theranostics in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PC) includes several phenotypes, from indolent to highly aggressive cancer. Actual diagnostic and prognostic tools have several limitations, and there is a need for new biomarkers to stratify patients and assign them optimal therapies by taking into account potential genetic and epigenetic differences. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small sequences of non-coding RNA regulating specific genes involved in the onset and development of PC. Stable miRNAs have been found in biofluids, such as serum and plasma; thus, the measurement of PC-associated miRNAs is emerging as a non-invasive tool for PC detection and monitoring. In this study, we conduct an in-depth literature review focusing on miRNAs that may contribute to the diagnosis and prognosis of PC. The role of miRNAs as a potential theranostic tool in PC is discussed. Using a meta-analysis approach, we found a group of 29 miRNAs with diagnostic properties and a group of seven miRNAs with prognostic properties, which were found already expressed in both biofluids and PC tissues. We tested the two miRNA groups on The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset of PC tissue samples with a machine-learning approach. Our results suggest that these 29 miRNAs should be considered as potential panel of biomarkers for the diagnosis of PC, both as in vivo non-invasive test and ex vivo confirmation test.
Transfusional iron overload presenting as choroid plexus hemosiderosis.

Case 1. A 16-year-old female patient with a history of Diamond-Blackfan Anemia (DBA) treated with repeated transfusions every 3-4 weeks and chelation therapy since infancy presents with transient syncope. Her symptoms progress to include headache, dizziness, and numbness of her right arm, right side of her face, lips, and tongue. MRI of the brain was performed, demonstrating a small frontal subarachnoid hemorrhage (not shown) and dark signal intensity throughout the choroid plexus (Fig. A, B) on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI).
Soft Error Rate Improvements in 14-nm Technology Featuring Second-Generation 3D Tri-Gate Transistors

We report on radiation-induced soft error rate (SER) improvements in the 14-nm second generation high- k + metal gate bulk tri-gate technology. Upset rates of memory cells, sequential elements, and combinational logic were investigated for terrestrial radiation environments, including thermal and high-energy neutrons, high-energy protons, and alpha-particles. SER improvements up to ~ 23× with respect to devices manufactured in a 32-nm planar technology are observed. The improvements are particularly pronounced in logic devices, where aggressive fin depopulation combined with scaling of relevant fin parameters results in a ~ 8× reduction of upset rates relative to the first-generation tri-gate technology.
Compensatory Photosynthesis, Water-Use Efficiency, and Biomass Allocation of Defoliated Exotic and Native Bunchgrass Seedlings☆

ABSTRACT Compensatory increases in net photosynthetic assimilation rates (Anet) following herbivory are well documented in adult rangeland grasses but have not been quantified in bunchgrass seedlings, which may be more sensitive to tissue loss than established plants. To address this, we twice removed 30% and 70% leaf area of seedlings of crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum [L.] Gaertn., var. Hycrest II) and the native bluebunch wheatgrass (Psuedoroegnaria spicata [Pursh] A. Love, var Anatone) and compared Anet and aboveground and belowground growth of these to unclipped control plants. Compensatory Anet occurred only after the second clipping, roughly 1 month after the first, and was similar in magnitude and duration between species and treatments, ca. 26% higher than control plant Anet for 2 weeks following clipping. Despite similar compensatory Anet between species, increases in Anet were more proportional with increased stomatal conductance to water vapor (gs) in crested wheatgrass. This resulted ...
The association of left ventricular ejection fraction with clinical outcomes after myocardial infarction: Findings from the Acute Coronary Treatment and Intervention Outcomes Network (ACTION) Registry–Get With the Guidelines (GWTG) Medicare-linked database

Background Little is known about the relationship between ejection fraction (EF) and clinical outcomes among older patients with myocardial infarction in contemporary clinical practice. Methods Data on 82,558 patients 65 years or older with ST-elevation myocardial infarction or non–ST-elevation myocardial infarction who survived to hospital discharge in the ACTION Registry–GWTG (2007-2011) were linked to Medicare data. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to assess the association between EF reported during hospitalization and 1-year mortality, using EF as a categorical variable (≤35%, >35% and ≤45%, >45% and Results The risk of 1-year mortality was 29.0% in patients with EF ≤ 35%, compared with 13.0% in patients in the reference group, EF ≥ 55% (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.58, 95% CI 1.51-1.66). Relative to patients with EF ≥ 55%, patients with EF ≤ 35% had an increased risk of 1-year all-cause readmission (adjusted HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.17-1.24), cardiovascular readmission (adjusted HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.31-1.41), and heart failure readmission (adjusted HR 2.43, 95% CI 2.28-2.60). For patients with EF ≤ 40%, the hazard of mortality increased by 26% for every 5% decrease in EF, a finding that remained after risk adjustment (adjusted HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.09-1.12). Conclusions Low EF after MI remains an important risk factor for postdischarge mortality and hospital readmission, even after adjustment for patient and hospital characteristics.
Predicting Patients at Risk for 3-Day Postdischarge Readmissions, ED Visits, and Deaths.

Background:Transitional care interventions can be utilized to reduce post-hospital discharge adverse events (AEs). However, no methodology exists to effectively identify high-risk patients of any disease across multiple hospital sites and patient populations for short-term postdischarge AEs.Objectiv
Photocontrol of the Src Kinase in Mammalian Cells with a Photocaged Intein

Recently developed methods that can photochemically control protein activities and functions in live cells have opened up new opportunities for studying signaling networks at the cellular and subcellular levels. Our laboratory has reported a genetically encoded photoactivatable intein, which allows the direct photocontrol of primary sequences of proteins, and consequently, their activities and functions in live mammalian cells. Herein, we provide details on experimental design and the utilization of this photocaged intein to photoactivate the Src tyrosine kinase in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells. The described procedures may be adopted to photocontrol other proteins in other types of mammalian cells.
Angioplasty of Obstructed Homograft Conduits in the Right Ventricular Outflow Tract With Ultra-Noncompliant Balloons Assessment of Therapeutic Efficacy and Conduit Tears

Background—Angioplasty and stent placement in right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery (RV-PA) conduits have been shown to prolong the functional lifespan of a conduit. Safety and efficacy of angioplasty of obstructed RV-PA homografts using ultra-noncompliant (UNC) or ultrahigh-pressure balloons are unknown. Methods and Results—From 2004 to 2012, 70 patients underwent 76 procedures for angioplasty of RV-PA homografts with UNC Atlas balloons. The UNC group was compared with a partially contemporaneous control cohort of 81 patients who underwent 84 angioplasty procedures with conventional balloons. Acute hemodynamic changes after angioplasty of homografts with UNC balloons included significantly reduced RV:Ao pressure ratio (P=0.02) and right ventricular outflow tract gradients (P≤0.001). Balloon waist resolution was more frequently achieved with UNC balloons (P=0.04), and balloon rupture occurred less often (P<0.001). Conduit tears of any severity occurred in 22% of patients overall and were more common in the ...
CO2 recovery pilot plant

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study in which a pilot plant with the capacity of 2 ton CO2/day was constructed using chemical absorption process to separate CO2 from flue gas of a thermal power plant. The pilot plant in this study adopted the absorption and stripping using the recycle separation process. Recovery of CO2, one of the main parameters, was experimented at different temperatures and flow rates of flue gas and absorbent, monoethanolamine (MEA). MEA was used as an absorbent and evaluated of its absorption characteristics in a series of experiments giving some kinds of variations like temperature and flow rate of MEA, temperature and rate of flue gas, and MEA concentrations. When the temperature of flue gas was increased by 10 m3/hr, from 30 m3/hr to 40 m3/hr, CO2 recovery ratio was decreased by around 5%. CO2 recovery ratio was maintained stably at both 15wt% and 25wt% of MEA concentration over 2.5 m3/hr of MEA flow rate.
Cognitive functions among predominantly minority urban adolescents with metabolic syndrome.

ABSTRACTThe rise in the rate of adolescent obesity has led to a concurrent rise in the rate of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among young people. In addition to diabetes and cardiovascular disease, MetS has also been linked to cognitive dysfunction. The goal of this study was to assess whether cognitive differences exist between minority urban adolescents carrying excess weight who meet criteria for MetS as compared to their peers without MetS. Two hundred and ninety-six urban adolescents, predominantly Hispanic and carrying excess weight as defined by a BMI above 25 kg/m2, were screened for MetS and divided into MetS and no MetS groups. All participants completed the CNS Vital Signs (CNS-VS) computerized neurocognitive battery that assesses cognitive domains of Memory, Processing Speed, Reaction Time, Executive Function, Complex Attention, and Cognitive Flexibility. The MetS group (29.2%, n = 84) performed significantly lower on 2 of the 7 cognitive domains: Executive Function (EF) and Cognitive Flexibility. ...
Selective D ring side chain tritiation of steroidal natural products

This paper describes the tritiation of several steroid natural products at their D ring side chain, taking advantage of selective catalytic tritium reductions.
To Serve or Not to Serve: Ethical and Policy Implications

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is one of the nation's more influential health-related non-profit organizations. It plays a large role in shaping health policy by commissioning panels to develop "white papers" describing research and recommendations on a variety of health topics. These white paper publications are often used to help make policy decisions at the legislative and executive levels. Such a prominent institution might seem like a natural ally for policy-related collaborative efforts. As community psychologists, we strongly endorse efforts to positively influence public policy at the national level. However, while serving on influential panels and commissions like the IOM might seem to be very much part of the ethos of our discipline, there are occasions when such institutions are pursuing a mission that inadvertently has the potential to instigate divisive friction among community activists and organizations. A case study is presented whereby I describe my decision not to accept an invitation to serve on a controversial IOM panel. I explore the ethical challenges regarding maintaining my independence from this institution and its attempt to redefine chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), as well as the process of searching for alternative avenues for collaborating with community activists to influence policy related to these debilitating illnesses.
Benevolent Cruelty: Forced Child Removal, African Refugee Settlers, and the State Mandate of Child Protection

Practices of state-mandated forced child removal in Australia have historically served to govern minority cultural groups. Despite an overarching imperative to prevent harm to children, contemporary systems of child welfare continue to impose forms of governance, particularly in regard to resettled refugees. This article focuses on the experiences of women who have been resettled in Australia as refugees from Africa, and who have, upon their resettlement, had their children forcibly removed from their care as a result of concerns over child protection. Examining how forms of governmentality are embedded within these interventions but legitimated by assumptions of benevolence, I show how the child welfare system can impose forms of pastoral power on resettled refugees, in which “care” for children is concentrated within institutions of government authority and, subsequently, oriented through state agendas. I argue that the state mandate of child protection combines governmentality and pastoral power to produce what I term benevolent cruelty, in which the imperative to protect children complicates and contradicts the refuge that is provided to resettled refugees.
Locoregionally advanced oral cavity cancer: A propensity-score matched analysis on overall survival with emphasis on the impact of adjuvant radiotherapy.

Background The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) in locoregionally advanced oral cavity cancer. Methods Data were extracted from the National Cancer Data Base, of which overall survival (OS) is the only outcome variable available. The chi-square test and Cox regression models were used. Results A total of 6654 patients were identified. The utilization of adjuvant RT has increased over time. A propensity matched cohort included 3946 patients, exactly one-half of whom received adjuvant RT. Independent predictors associated with receipt of adjuvant RT included age, Charlson/Deyo comorbidity score, extracapsular extension, surgical margins, and T and N classifications. On multivariable analysis, adjuvant RT remained an independent prognosticator for OS. Conclusion Receipt of adjuvant RT is a prognostic factor associated with improved OS, its utilization has increased over time, and it should be considered for clinically suitable patients who have undergone resection for the disease.
Different approaches to the prostate: The upcoming role of a purpose-built single-port robotic system

With the aim of minimising the patient's postoperative pain, expediting recovery and improving cosmesis, the idea of performing a laparoscopic procedure through a single abdominal incision was introduced. In the present report, we describe five different access routes to the prostate that may be at the surgeon's disposal with the potential of decreasing patient's perioperative morbidity. Robotic radical prostatectomy has been refined and became a standard of care in surgery for localised prostate cancer. The advent of single-port robotic surgery has prompted the re-discovery of different access routes to the prostate and ideally all of them are feasible. The potential for avoiding the abdominal cavity will decrease the surgical morbidity and minimise the surgical dissection. In the near future, each of the described approaches could be chosen on the basis of the patient's preoperative comorbidities, body habitus, anatomy, and disease characteristics and location.
The Institutes — Old and New

When Werner came to the Universitat, its Chemical Institute was housed in the old building at Ramistrasse 85, which had served as the Chemical Institute of the Polytechnikum until the latter had been moved into new facilities at Universitatstrasse 6 in 1887. The building, which was torn down after the erection of Werner’s new institute in 1909, was located on the Ramistrasse side of the main building of the Polytechnikum Today, few of the thousands of pedestrians who daily traverse the broad sidewalk along the western side of the Ramistrasse in front of the ETH Hauptgebaude realize that they are treading the very ground on which Switzerland’s first Nobel Prize winner in chemistry worked.
Contribution to the Debate: On the Phenomenological Challenge in Sociology

The assertion that there is a relationship between philosophy and science is not likely to raise many objections. But as soon as one tries to work out the terms of that relationship, either generally or specifically, consensus ends; one is likely to find objections to any position raised from all sides. Such objections are likely to be aimed not merely at the conclusions reached but also at the way in which the question is addressed. There is little agreement as to what is at stake in the dispute and consequently, the three terms in the relationship (including the relationship itself) all have an initial instability that makes beginning problematic. For in fact, the meanings that we give to “philosophy” and “science” are realized only in the context of their differentiation. That is, the relationship between philosophy and science — their opposition — is constitutive of the identity that both philosophy and science have for us. But if the terms have no stability apart from their relationship, the relationship itself is unstable, unstable both historically and in the context of particular sciences and particular philosophical projects.1
California Public Employees and the Developing Duty of Fair Representation

As traced by the author, a union's duty of fair representation in Cali fornia public sector labor law has statutory and common law origins, and arises in a variety of representational contexts, including grievance han dling, contract negotiations and internal union affairs. Jurisdictional and procedural issues involving the proper forum, exhaustion of remedies, and statutes of limitations add complex considerations for this developing area of the law. Further problems are presented by attempts to fashion appro priate remedies for a union's violation of its duty. While many fair repre sentation issues have been resolved by administrative and judicial decisions, often drawing upon federal precedent, significant questions re main. Many of these questions are related to the unique due process and civil service rights that distinguish public employees from those in the pri vate sector. The existence of such rights suggests that individual public employees may benefit from heightened scrutiny of union decisionmaking, and that unions, as well as employees, may benefit from the survival of alternative forums and remedies.
Symplectic integrators: T + V revisited and round-off reduced

Symplectic integrators separate a problem into parts that can be solved in isolation, alternately advancing these sub-problems to approximate the evolution of the complete system. Problems with a single, dominant mass can use mixed-variable symplectic (MVS) integrators that separate the problem into Keplerian motion of satellites about the primary, and satellite-satellite interactions. Here, we examine T+V algorithms where the problem is separated into kinetic T and potential energy V terms. T+V integrators are typically less efficient than MVS algorithms. This difference is reduced by using different step sizes for primary-satellite and satellite-satellite interactions. The T+V method is improved further using 4th and 6th-order algorithms that include force gradients and symplectic correctors. We describe three 6th-order algorithms, containing 2 or 3 force evaluations per step, that are competitive with MVS in some cases. Round-off errors for T+V integrators can be reduced by several orders of magnitude, at almost no computational cost, using a simple modification that keeps track of accumulated changes in the coordinates and momenta. This makes T+V algorithms desirable for long-term, high-accuracy calculations.
Electronic Fluctuation and Pairing

From one-electron theory it is argued that a starting point for a description of the electronic structure of the high T c compounds is a set of almost filled bands separated by a significant gap from unoccupied bands. But it is also argued that correlation effects are important, and these are included by separating the electronic charge into itinerant and quasilocalized, the latter possessing polarization-waves of exciton character that provide a pairing mechanism for the electrons. It is also suggested that for low enough densities fluctuation effects in the itinerant electrons may significantly modify the standard averaged repulsive contribution to the total pairing interaction.
Ivermectin and Moxidectin Can Incapacitate Different Strains of the Common Bed Bug Cimex lectularius L.: A Study.

The common bed bug Cimex lectularius L. (C. lectularius) is a hematophagous ectoparasite that has recently resurged in many western industrialized nations, in part due to pesticide resistance. Using a laboratory feeding system, we found that the antiparasitic drugs ivermectin and moxidectin did not show higher incapacitation rates in pyrethroid-resistant strains of C. lectularius compared to a pyrethroid-susceptible strain. Additionally, we developed a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy (MS) assay to measure the concentrations of ivermectin inside C. lectularius and found that ivermectin persists in the insects for up to one month. HPLC/MS will be useful in understanding the pathophysiology behind the long-term morbidity observed in C. lectularius that consumes a sublethal dose of ivermectin.
GEARing smart environments for pediatric motor rehabilitation.

There is a lack of early (infant) mobility rehabilitation approaches that incorporate natural and complex environments and have the potential to concurrently advance motor, cognitive, and social development. The Grounded Early Adaptive Rehabilitation (GEAR) system is a pediatric learning environment designed to provide motor interventions that are grounded in social theory and can be applied in early life. Within a perceptively complex and behaviorally natural setting, GEAR utilizes novel body-weight support technology and socially-assistive robots to both ease and encourage mobility in young children through play-based, child-robot interaction. This methodology article reports on the development and integration of the different system components and presents preliminary evidence on the feasibility of the system. GEAR consists of the physical and cyber components. The physical component includes the playground equipment to enrich the environment, an open-area body weight support (BWS) device to assist children by partially counter-acting gravity, two mobile robots to engage children into motor activity through social interaction, and a synchronized camera network to monitor the sessions. The cyber component consists of the interface to collect human movement and video data, the algorithms to identify the children’s actions from the video stream, and the behavioral models for the child-robot interaction that suggest the most appropriate robot action in support of given motor training goals for the child. The feasibility of both components was assessed via preliminary testing. Three very young children (with and without Down syndrome) used the system in eight sessions within a 4-week period. All subjects completed the 8-session protocol, participated in all tasks involving the selected objects of the enriched environment, used the BWS device and interacted with the robots in all eight sessions. Action classification algorithms to identify early child behaviors in a complex naturalistic setting were tested and validated using the video data. Decision making algorithms specific to the type of interactions seen in the GEAR system were developed to be used for robot automation. Preliminary results from this study support the feasibility of both the physical and cyber components of the GEAR system and demonstrate its potential for use in future studies to assess the effects on the co-development of the motor, cognitive, and social systems of very young children with mobility challenges.
Asymmetric Total Syntheses of Di- and Sesquiterpenoids by Catalytic C-C Activation of Cyclopentanones.

To show the synthetic utility of the catalytic C-C activation of less strained substrates, described here are the collective and concise syntheses of the natural products (-)-microthecaline A, (-)-leubehanol, (+)-pseudopteroxazole, (+)-seco-pseudopteroxazole, pseudopterosin A-F and G-J aglycones, and (+)-heritonin. The key step in these syntheses involve a Rh-catalyzed C-C/C-H activation cascade of 3-arylcyclopentanones, which provides a rapid and enantioselective route to access the polysubstituted tetrahydronaphthalene cores presented in these natural products. Other important features include 1) the direct C-H amination of the tetralone substrate in the synthesis of (-)-microthecaline A, 2) the use of phosphoric acid to enhance efficiency and regioselectivity for problematic cyclopentanone substrates in the C-C activation reactions, and 3) the direct conversion of serrulatane into amphilectane diterpenes by an allylic cyclodehydrogenation coupling.
Learning aligned embeddings for semi-supervised word translation using Maximum Mean Discrepancy.

Word translation is an integral part of language translation. In machine translation, each language is considered a domain with its own word embedding. The alignment between word embeddings allows linking semantically equivalent words in multilingual contexts. Moreover, it offers a way to infer cross-lingual meaning for words without a direct translation. Current methods for word embedding alignment are either supervised, i.e. they require known word pairs, or learn a cross-domain transformation on fixed embeddings in an unsupervised way. Here we propose an end-to-end approach for word embedding alignment that does not require known word pairs. Our method, termed Word Alignment through MMD (WAM), learns embeddings that are aligned during sentence translation training using a localized Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD) constraint between the embeddings. We show that our method not only out-performs unsupervised methods, but also supervised methods that train on known word translations.
Vaccination of exotic and wild species

Abstract: Exotic mammals are at risk from many of the same bacteria and viruses that cause disease in domestic species such as distemper, panleukopenia, rabies, erysipelas, and the herpesviruses. A similar situation exists with exotic birds, where markets are too small to sustain a vaccine industry. Economic realities mean that many vaccines must therefore be used in an extra-label fashion. On the other hand, industries such as the fur industry or rabbit breeding operations may use vaccines especially designed for those species. Wildlife vaccination is widely employed by governmental agencies to control zoonotic diseases such as rabies, plague, or brucellosis, or for contraceptive purposes.
Physical optics analysis of image formation in science instruments

Several factors affect image quality in scientific measurement systems. These factors were subjects researched and taught by Professor Roland Shack during his career. We examine image formation in science instruments within the frame-work of our current understanding of physical optics. Our motivation is to increase instrument scientific yield and minimize cost. We consider the collective effects of polarization aberrations, partial coherence, optical materials, diffraction, optical surface count, scattered light (bulk and surface) and 1st order optical system mechanical lay-out.
Inverse association of mortality and body mass index in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction of both ischemic and non-ischemic etiologies.

BACKGROUND Obesity is a worldwide epidemic that has been associated with poor outcomes. Previous studies have demonstrated an inverse relationship between body mass index (BMI) and outcomes, the 'obesity paradox', in several diseases. HYPOTHESIS We sought to evaluate whether the obesity paradox is present in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) of all etiologies, using all-cause mortality as the primary endpoint and hospitalization as the secondary endpoint. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study of LVSD patients (n = 18 003) seen within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center network between January 2011 and December 2017. Patients were divided into four BMI categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese) and stratified by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF): <20%, 20-35%, and 35-50%. RESULTS Over a median follow-up of 2.28 years, higher BMI (mean 28.9 ± 6.8) was associated with better survival for the overall cohort and within LVEF strata (p < .0001). The most common cause of hospitalization was subendocardial infarction among underweight and normal weight patients and heart failure among overweight and obese patients. Cox proportional hazards model showed that BMI, age, and comorbid conditions of diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, and prior myocardial infarction are independent predictors of death. CONCLUSIONS Our results support the existence of an obesity paradox impacting all-cause mortality in patients with LVSD of ischemic and non-ischemic etiologies even after adjusting for LVEF and comorbidities. Additional research is needed to understand the effect of weight loss on survival once a diagnosis of LVSD is established.
Alternative Splicing Regulates the Physiological Adaptation of the Mouse Hind Limb Postural and Phasic Muscles to Microgravity

Abstract Muscle atrophy and fiber type alterations are well-characterized physiological adaptations to microgravity with both understood to be primarily regulated by differential gene expression (DGE). While microgravity-induced DGE has been extensively investigated, adaptations to microgravity due to alternative splicing (AS) have not been studied in a mammalian model. We sought to comprehensively elucidate the transcriptomic underpinnings of microgravity-induced muscle phenotypes in mice by evaluating both DGE and changes in AS due to extended spaceflight. Tissue sections and total RNA were isolated from the gastrocnemius and quadriceps, postural and phasic muscles of the hind limb, respectively, of 32-week-old female BALB/c mice exposed to microgravity or ground control conditions for nine weeks. Immunohistochemistry disclosed muscle type-specific physiological adaptations to microgravity that included i) a pronounced reduction in muscle fiber cross-sectional area in both muscles and ii) a prominent slow-to-fast fiber type transition in the gastrocnemius. RNA sequencing revealed that DGE and AS varied across postural and phasic muscle types with preferential employment of DGE in the gastrocnemius and AS in the quadriceps. Gene ontology analysis indicated that DGE and AS regulate distinct molecular processes. Various non-differentially expressed transcripts encoding musculoskeletal proteins (Tnnt3, Tnnt1, Neb, Ryr1, and Ttn) and muscle-specific RNA binding splicing regulators (Mbnl1 and Rbfox1) were found to have significant changes in AS that altered critical functional domains of their protein products. In striking contrast, microgravity-induced differentially expressed genes were associated with lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function. Our work serves as the first comprehensive investigation of coordinate changes in DGE and AS in large limb muscles across spaceflight. We propose that substantial remodeling of pre-mRNA by AS is a major component of transcriptomic adaptation of skeletal muscle to microgravity. The alternatively spliced genes identified here could be targeted by small molecule splicing regulator therapies to address microgravity-induced changes in muscle during spaceflight.
The environmental pollutant trichloroethylene disrupts key neural pathways during brain development

Abstract Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a volatile organic solvent, which is utilized as a degreasing agent in industrial operations throughout the world. Its widespread use has resulted in major environmental contamination and is linked to a number of adverse health outcomes, including certain types of cancer, autoimmune disease, and neurotoxicity. As the developing brain is particularly vulnerable to toxicants, exposure to TCE during critical periods of neurodevelopment has been implicated in several mechanisms of toxicity, including ion and neurotransmitter dysfunction, mitochondrial toxicity, oxidative stress and inflammation, and epigenetic changes. These molecular mechanisms have been implicated as the underpinnings of the observed behavioral abnormalities associated with developmental TCE exposure, such as locomotor deficits, lower intelligence scores, or hyperactivity. Despite these known associations, there is limited information on TCE-induced neurodevelopmental toxicity, much of which has not been investigated in the primary literature in decades. Therefore, this review considers the inferred mechanisms of neurotoxicity from in vitro and in vivo models of TCE exposure with specific implications on brain development and seeks to highlight the importance of future studies designed to investigate TCE as a developmental neurotoxin.
A prion accelerates proliferation at the expense of lifespan.

Cells make different proteins to perform different tasks. Each protein is a long chain of building blocks called amino acids that must fold into a particular shape before it can be useful. Some proteins can fold in more than one way, a normal form and a ‘prion’ form. Prions are unusual in that they can force normally folded proteins with the same amino acid sequence as them to refold into new prions. This means that a single prion can make many more that are inherited when cells divide. Some prions can cause disease, but others may be beneficial. Pus4 is a yeast protein that is typically involved in modifying ribonucleic acids, molecules that help translate genetic information into new proteins. Sometimes Pus4 can adopt a beneficial prion conformation called [BIG+]. When yeast cells have access to plenty of nutrients, [BIG+] helps them grow faster and larger, but this comes at the cost of a shorter lifespan. Garcia, Campbell et al. combined computational modeling and experiments in baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to investigate the role of [BIG+]. They found that the prion accelerated protein production, leading to both faster growth and a shorter lifespan in these cells, even without any changes in gene sequence. Garcia, Campbell et al.’s findings explain the beneficial activity of prion proteins in baker’s yeast cells. The results also describe how cells balance a tradeoff between growth and lifespan without any changes in the genome. This helps to highlight that genetics do not always explain the behaviors of cells, and further methods are needed to better understand cell biology.
Bosniak Classification Version 2019: Counterpoint-It's Complicated.

This article does not include an abstract. Please see the accompanying Point by Xu Bai and Haiyi Wang.
Northern Blot Affinity Capturing of cDNA

Although the general strategy of DDRT-PCR seems to be straightforward, the procedure is technically challenging.
An Adverse Family Environment During Adolescence Predicts Marijuana Use and Antisocial Personality Disorder in Adulthood

Adult maladaptive behaviors including antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and marijuana use are major public health concerns. At the present time, there is a dearth of research showing the interrelationships among the possible predictors of adult maladaptive behaviors (i.e., ASPD and marijuana use). Therefore, the current study examines the pathways from adverse family environments in late adolescence to these maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. There were 674 participants (52 % African Americans, 48 % Puerto Ricans). Sixty percent of the sample was female. Structural equation modeling in the current study included 4 waves of data collection (mean ages 19, 24, 29, and 36). An adverse family environment in late adolescence was related to greater externalizing personality in late adolescence, which in turn, was related to greater marijuana use in emerging adulthood. This in turn was positively associated with partner marijuana use in young adulthood, which in turn, was ultimately related to maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. An adverse family environment in late adolescence was also related to greater marijuana use in emerging adulthood, which in turn, was associated with an adverse relationship with one's partner in young adulthood. Such a negative partner relationship was related to maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. The findings suggest that family-focused interventions (Kumpfer and Alvarado in Am Psychol 58(6-7): 457-465, 2003) for dysfunctional families may be most helpful when they include the entire family.