cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation, diagnosis, and classification of benign soft-tissue tumors.

Lumps and bumps on the extremities and trunk are common presentations to physicians and surgeons. These growths range from benign neoplasms and cystic structures based in the epidermis and dermis to malignant neoplasms arising within the structures below the deep fascia. These soft-tissue lesions are classified according to the direction of differentiation of the mesenchymal tissue (Table I). Most soft-tissue lesions are benign; however, benign and malignant soft-tissue lesions can present in a similar fashion. In addition, the diverse lesions within the classification system and the unfamiliarity of many pathologists with soft-tissue lesions may make the correct diagnosis difficult. The annual incidence of new sarcoma cases in the United States is about 5000. While Enzinger and Weiss11 suggested that there are at least 100 benign soft-tissue tumors for every malignant tumor examined by a pathologist, the incidence of benign lesions is unknown. This heavy preponderance of benign lesions in patients presenting for medical care mandates that any physician who is planning to treat or excise such lesions be familiar with the characteristics of the potentially malignant mass in order to avoid compromising optimum treatment. Sarcomas may occur in the head and neck areas, the trunk, or the extremities. The buttock and thigh are the most common locations of the most frequent soft-tissue sarcomas. As many of these lesions occur in the extremities, the orthopaedist will see many of these patients and be expected to provide an appropriate workup, referral, or definitive treatment. Soft, mobile, well defined subcutaneous masses are usually benign. In general, one should consider any mass below the deep fascia as potentially malignant, particularly if the mass is firm and immobile. Soft-tissue neoplasms are not necessarily painful and may grow to a relatively large size in the buttock, shoulder girdle, or thigh before they are obvious to …
Case report 549: Case 1: Ischemic necrosis femoral heads with pathological fracture right femur. Case 2: Ischemic necrosis femoral heads with fracture bilaterally.

This 66-year-old woman with a history of biopsy-proved squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, presented with pain in the right hip (Fig. 1 A). No history of trauma was elicited. In the past, she had intermittently required up to 20 mg prednisone daily for asthma. Alcohol abuse was also recorded in the history. Radiographs 5 months later, when she had a sudden increase in pain, revealed a right subcapital femoral fracture (Fig. 1 B). Metastatic disease was strongly suspected. A 99mTc-MDP radionuclide bone scan demonstrated increased activity only in the right femoral head (Fig. 1 C). A Tl-weighted coronal MRI (SE/500/28) (Fig. 1 D) was performed, which showed areas of diminished signal in both femoral heads and an adjacent region of lower signal intensity around the fracture site. Metastatic disease was still considered the likely cause for the fracture. Therefore, management at that time was radiotherapy and medications for pain. Several ill-defined radiolucencies within the proximal segment of the right femoral shaft were noted two months later. Four months later, the patient experienced a sudden increase in pain in the right hip, and radiographs revealed 75% displacement of the femoral neck with subluxation of the femoral head from the aeetabulum. At that time, she underwent right hip hemiarthroplasty.
TH-AB-201-11: Small-Field Beam Quality Corrections and Their Clinical Impact for Flattened and Unflattened Fields of the TrueBeam

Purpose: To determine small-field beam quality correction factors for several detectors used with flattened and unflattened beams of the Varian TrueBeam accelerator, and to quantify the clinical impact of these corrections through a treatment planning study. Methods: Small-field beam quality correction factors were measured and simulated in EGSnrc for several microchambers and diodes. The Exradin W1 plastic scintillation detector was used as a reference for the measured results, and its response was validated using alanine measurements traceable to a primary standard. Symmetric, jaw-defined field sizes ranging from 6 mm to 10 cm were used. Twelve hypofractionated clinical cases were then recalculated and/or reoptimized using beam models that were modified based on the resulting output factors. Three-dimensional dose distributions and cumulative dose-volume-histogram plots were compared between the models. The impact of these measurements on the flattening-filter-scatter-source (FFSS) model, and its subsequent effect on treatment plans, was also investigated. Results: The diodes exhibited over-response in small fields, whereas the microchambers tended to under-respond as field size decreased. Field-size-dependent effects were less significant for the flattening-filter-free beams (i.e., corrections were closer to unity) than for flattened fields of the same size. Recalculated and reoptimized plans displayed varying levels of deviation from the original dose distributions, with larger discrepancies at effective jaw settings of 3×3 cm2 or smaller. Dose distributions calculated using uncorrected microchamber output factors and/or modified FFSS showed large discrepancies in the low-dose regions, which manifested as DVH changes for the organs at risk (OAR). Conclusion: Field-size-dependent beam quality corrections were measured and simulated for ionization chambers and diodes typically used in small fields. Plans calculated with models based on these measured data showed dosimetric deviations mainly out of field, which affected OAR dose metrics. Accordingly, these beam quality corrections should be accounted for during commissioning to ensure greater treatment planning accuracy.
Management of Colonic Diverticular Bleeding and Bleeding Colitis

Colonic diverticular bleeding and colitis account for the majority of cases of lower gastrointestinal bleeding, with diverticular bleeding being by far the most common etiology. In contrast to diverticulitis, colonic diverticular bleeding most commonly originates in the ascending colon. Management of diverticular bleeding should start with adequate volume resuscitation, followed by colonoscopic localization and control of the bleeding site. Selective angiography may be employed for those who cannot undergo colonoscopy or underwent unsuccessful colonoscopic evaluation or treatment. Surgery is reserved for intractable diverticular bleeding. Bleeding from colitis is usually intermittent and self-limited. In hemodynamically stable patients with colitis bleeding, treatment should be aimed at control of the source of inflammation. If hemodynamic stability is compromised or if bleeding is severe, angiography and/or emergent resection should be considered.
Optimized advanced metering infrastructure architecture of smart grid based on total cost, energy, and delay

Smart grid as a data communication network uses advanced metering infrastructure architecture to collect the measured data of smart meters and other devices such as power measurement units from different parts of the electrical grid and sends them to the central system to be analyzed for billing or other purposes and being stored. In this paper, we propose a three-layer aggregation architecture for advanced metering infrastructure in smart grid which deploys the M/M/1 queuing system. We develop models to calculate energy consumption of data aggregation points (DAPs) and packet delay. We derive expressions for energy consumption of DAPs, total cost of relay and DAPs, delay, and packet delay. We define a new performance metric, the multiplication of energy and cost (EC), to find the optimum number of DAPs. The results of simulation confirm validity and accuracy of our theoretical models and show that we can maintain a good balance among total cost, energy consumption and delay.
Average Magnetic Field Magnitude Profiles of Wind Magnetic Clouds as a Function of Closest Approach to the Clouds’ Axes and Comparison to Model

We examine the average magnetic field magnitude ( $| \boldsymbol{B} | \equiv B$ ) within magnetic clouds (MCs) observed by the Wind spacecraft from 1995 to July 2015 to understand the difference between this $B$ and the ideal $B$ -profiles expected from using the static, constant- $\alpha$ , force-free, cylindrically symmetric model for MCs of Lepping, Jones, and Burlaga (J. Geophys. Res. 95, 11957, 1990, denoted here as the LJB model). We classify all MCs according to an assigned quality, $Q_{0}$ ( $= 1, 2, 3$ , for excellent, good, and poor). There are a total of 209 MCs and 124 when only $Q_{0} = 1$ , 2 cases are considered. The average normalized field with respect to the closest approach ( $\mathit{CA}$ ) is stressed, where we separate cases into four $\mathit{CA}$ sets centered at 12.5 %, 37.5 %, 62.5 %, and 87.5 % of the average radius; the averaging is done on a percentage-duration basis to treat all cases the same. Normalized $B$ means that before averaging, the $B$ for each MC at each point is divided by the LJB model-estimated $B$ for the MC axis, $B_{0}$ . The actual averages for the 209 and 124 MC sets are compared to the LJB model, after an adjustment for MC expansion (e.g. Lepping et al. in Ann. Geophys. 26, 1919, 2008). This provides four separate difference-relationships, each fitted with a quadratic (Quad) curve of very small $\sigma$ . Interpreting these Quad formulae should provide a comprehensive view of the variation in normalized $B$ throughout the average MC, where we expect external front and rear compression to be part of its explanation. These formulae are also being considered for modifying the LJB model. This modification will be used in a scheme for forecasting the timing and magnitude of magnetic storms caused by MCs. Extensive testing of the Quad formulae shows that the formulae are quite useful in correcting individual MC $B$ -profiles, especially for the first ${\approx\,}1/3$ of these MCs. However, the use of this type of $B$ correction constitutes a (slight) violation of the force-free assumption used in the original LJB MC model.
Mechanism of Allosteric Communication in GPCR Activation from Microsecond Scale Molecular Dynamics Simulations

G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are membrane proteins that signal through effector proteins bound at the intracellular (IC) interface. Under physiological conditions, GPCRs adopt multiple inactive and active conformations, thereby signaling through diverse signaling pathways. Binding of agonists at the extracellular (EC) domain initiates a conformational change in the receptor leading to activation. Antagonists and inverse agonists suppress activation by stabilizing one of the inactive states. The communication between the agonist/antagonist binding site and the IC interface takes place through allosteric coupling of distant receptor domains. However, the detailed mechanism of allosteric communication in GPCR signaling is not well understood. Using ensembles of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on eight class A GPCRs, we showed that allosteric communication between the antagonist binding site and the IC interface stabilizes the inactive state, and disruption of this allosteric communication due to agonist binding leads to activation. Furthermore, the fundamental framework and mechanism of allosteric communication are conserved among multiple GPCRs, as is evident from the conserved allosteric hubs (residues that mediate multiple allosteric pathways) in these receptors. Mutating the allosteric hubs either suppress activation or impart constitutive activity, suggesting the key role of these residues in GPCR function. We have shown that, besides stabilizing GPCR functional states, allosteric communication is also responsible for transitions among functional states. Analysis of the deactivation dynamics of two class A GPCRs (β2 adrenergic receptor and neurotensin receptor 1) shows that several allosteric hubs in the middle of the transmembrane domain undergo concerted dihedral changes during the transition from the active to the inactive state. These observations provide valuable insights into the complex mechanism of GPCR activation and membrane protein function in general.
The effectiveness of prison for reducing drug offender recidivism: a regression discontinuity analysis

Objectives An enduring legacy of the 1980s “war on drugs” is the increased use of imprisonment for drug offenders. Advocates anticipated, in part, that prison is more effective than community sanctions in reducing recidivism. Despite the contribution of drug offender incarceration to prison growth nationally, and debates about whether this approach should be curtailed, only limited rigorous research exists that evaluates the effect of imprisonment on drug offender recidivism. To address this gap, this paper uses sentencing and recidivism data from a cohort of individuals convicted of felony drug offenses in Florida to examine the effect of imprisonment—as compared to community sanctions—on recidivism.
The Denver Earthquake Sequence of March–April 1981

The Denver earthquake sequence of March–April 1981 was monitored by a network of four permanent and eight portable seismographs. In addition to the main shock (m b = 4.3) on 2 April, six microaftershocks (M
Throwing Good Money after Bad? A Multi-Level Study of Sequential Decision Making in the Venture Capital Industry

This study focuses on the political and institutional influences that lead organizational decision makers to avoid terminating unsuccessful investments, even when there is competition and they have the experience and incentives to maximize profits. I examine multilevel influences on sequential investment decisions in the U.S. venture capital industry through a qualitative study of the investment process and a quantitative examination of venture capital investments between 1989 and 2004. Results show that venture capital firms become less likely to terminate investments as they participate in more rounds of financing, despite evidence that expected returns are declining over rounds. Intraorganizational politics, as well as coercive and normative pressures from co-investors and limited partners, may influence the decisions to continue or terminate investments, regardless of the expected returns. The findings suggest that organizational safeguards designed to mitigate individual biases may give rise to political and institutional influences, which may in turn undermine the effectiveness of the decision process.
Whittaker’s “postulates of impotence” and theory in psychology

In understanding the place of theory in psychology, it is strategically important for psychologists to accept or reject two “postulates of impotence” (Whittaker). The postulate of conceptual impotence forces us to recognize the arbitrary nature of our psychological terms and the irreducible; uncertainly as to their referents. The postulate of operational impotence maintains that not only does the relative nature of our concepts render us impotent, but that the tools of investigation, be they observation, experimentation, or instrumentation, also are confounding our indices of a real world. Consideration of these is necessary in the “logical model of scientific thought” (Schmidt).
Hedging Against Uncertainty in Process Planning: A Data-Driven Adaptive Nested Robust Optimization Approach

Abstract We propose a data-driven adaptive robust optimization (ARO) framework that leverages big data in process industries. A Bayesian nonparametric model – the Dirichlet process mixture model – is adopted to extract the information embedded within uncertainty data via a variational inference algorithm. We then devise data-driven uncertainty sets for ARO. This Bayesian nonparametric model is seamlessly integrated with adaptive optimization approach through a novel four-level robust optimization framework. This framework explicitly considers the correlation, asymmetry and multimode of uncertainty data, and as a result generates less conservative solutions. Additionally, this framework is robust not only to parameter variations, but also to data outliers. An efficient tailored column-and-constraint generation algorithm is further proposed for the resulting problem that cannot be solved directly by any off-the-shelf optimization solvers. The effectiveness and advantages of the framework and solution algorithm are demonstrated through an application in process network planning.
Network Abstraction With Guaranteed Performance Bounds

A proper abstraction of a large-scale linear consensus network with a dense coupling graph is one whose number of coupling links is proportional to its number of subsystems and its performance is comparable to the original network. Optimal design problems for an abstracted network are more amenable to efficient optimization algorithms. From the implementation point of view, maintaining such networks are usually more favorable and cost-effective due to their reduced communication requirements across a network. Therefore, approximating a given dense linear consensus network by a suitable abstract network is an important analysis and synthesis problem. In this paper, we develop a framework to compute an abstraction of a given large-scale linear consensus network with guaranteed performance bounds using a nearly linear time algorithm. First, the existence of abstractions of a given network is proven. Then, we present an efficient and fast algorithm for computing a proper abstraction of a given network. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of our theoretical findings via several numerical simulations.
Dyslipidemia modulates Müller glial sensing and transduction of ambient information.

Unesterified cholesterol controls the fluidity, permeability and electrical properties of eukaryotic cell membranes. Consequently, cholesterol levels in the retina and the brain are tightly regulated whereas depletion or oversupply caused by diet or heredity contribute to neurodegenerative diseases and vision loss. Astroglia play a central role in the biosynthesis, uptake and transport of cholesterol and also drive inflammatory signaling under hypercholesterolemic conditions associated with high-fat diet (diabetes) and neurodegenerative disease. A growing body of evidence shows that unesterified membrane cholesterol modulates the ability of glia to sense and transduce ambient information. Cholesterol-dependence of Muller glia - which function as retinal sentinels for metabolic, mechanical, osmotic and inflammatory signals - is mediated in part by transient receptor potential V4 (TRPV4) channels. Cholesterol supplementation facilitates, whereas depletion suppresses, TRPV4-mediated transduction of temperature and lipid agonists in Muller cells. Acute effects of cholesterol supplementation/depletion on plasma membrane ion channels and calcium homeostasis differ markedly from the effects of chronic dyslipidemia, possibly due to differential modulation of modality-dependent energy barriers associated with the functionality of polymodal channels embedded within lipid rafts. Understanding of cholesterol-dependence of TRP channels is thus providing insight into dyslipidemic pathologies associated with diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration.
Gastroenterological and Hepatic Disorders and Maxillofacial Surgery

The management of gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders in the perioperative period is driven by considerations of risks related to the specific underlying condition, its treatment, and the impact of either on the efficacy or tolerance and safety of anesthetic agents. This chapter highlights these conditions and summarizes salient aspects of pathophysiology, disease impact, and management considerations in the context of maxillofacial surgery.
Results of a Targeted Screening Program for Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection in Infants Who Fail Newborn Hearing Screening.

BACKGROUND Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a major cause of sensorineural hearing loss. By law, newborns in Connecticut who fail newborn hearing screening are tested for infection with CMV. This targeted screening is controversial, because most children with congenital CMV infection are asymptomatic, and CMV-related hearing loss can have a delayed onset. Our hospital uses a saliva polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay (confirmed by a urine PCR assay) to detect CMV. Here, we report the results of the first year of our screening program. METHODS We reviewed the medical records of newborns in the Yale New Haven Health System who failed the newborn hearing screening test between January 1 and December 31, 2016. RESULTS Of 10964 newborns, 171 failed newborn hearing screening, and 3 of these newborns had positive saliva CMV PCR test results. Of these 3 newborns, 2 had positive results on the confirmatory test (for 1 of them the confirmatory test was not performed until the infant was 10 weeks old), and 1 had a negative result on the confirmatory test. Three additional newborns with congenital CMV infection were tested because of clinical indications (1 for ventriculomegaly on prenatal ultrasound and 2 for CMV infection of the mother). Results of audiology follow-up were available for 149 (87.1%) of the 171 newborns who failed newborn hearing screening; 127 (85.2%) had normal results. CONCLUSION Our targeted screening program for congenital CMV infection had a low yield. Consideration should be given to other strategies for identifying children at risk of hearing loss as a result of congenital CMV infection.
Transparency in a Human-Machine Context: Approaches for Fostering Shared Awareness/Intent

Advances in autonomy have the potential to reshape the landscape of the modern world. Yet, research on human-machine interaction is needed to better understand the dynamic exchanges required between humans and machines in order to optimize human reliance on novel technologies. A key aspect of that exchange involves the notion of transparency as humans and machines require shared awareness and shared intent for optimal team work. Questions remain however, regarding how to represent information in order to generate shared awareness and intent in a human-machine context. The current paper will review a recent model of human-robot transparency and will propose a number of methods to foster transparency between humans and machines.
Sol-Gel Derived Bismuth Titanate Thin Films with c-Axis Orientation

Bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti3O12), a member of the layered perovskite family, has a unique set of ferroelectric properties, which include a high remanent polarization, low coercive field, and high Curie temperature, that make it a possible candidate for data storage applications. For this investigation, bismuth titanate, or BiT, films were fabricated via sol-gel method to examine the effect of processing on phase development and orientation. Solutions were deposited onto platinized silicon, and then heat treated for one hour at temperatures ranging from 550°C to 700°C in 100% O2. It was found that c-axis orientated BiT films could be formed at temperatures as low as 550°C by using bismuth oxide template layers, while films without bismuth oxide templating possessed a random orientation over the same temperature range.
Single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid-specific nuclease from vaccinia virus. Purification and characterization.

Abstract A deoxyribonuclease was extracted from vaccinia virus cores and purified 200-fold by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, DNA-cellulose, and hydroxyapatite. Approximately 0.35 mg of enzyme was isolated from 63 mg of cores. Preparations of [3H]leucine-labeled deoxyribonuclease appeared nearly homogeneous as judged by gel filtration and had a molecular weight of 50,000 as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The molecular weight of the native enzyme determined by sucrose gradient sedimentation and filtration through Sephadex G-200 was 105,000, suggesting that it may exist as a dimer. The enzyme hydrolyzed single-stranded DNA most actively at pH 4.4 and did not require divalent cations.
Gas permeability in unconventional tight sandstones: Scaling up from pore to core

Abstract Upscaling Klinkenberg-corrected gas permeability, k, in unconventional tight sandstones has numerous practical applications, particularly in gas exploration and production. In this study, we adapt the effective-medium approximation (EMA) model of Doyen – proposed first to estimate bulk electrical conductivity, σ b , and permeability in sandstones from rock images – to scale up σ b and k in tight-gas sandstones from pore to core. For this purpose, we calculate two characteristic pore sizes: an effective hydraulic and an effective electrical pore size from pore-throat size distributions – determined from mercury intrusion capillary pressure (MICP) curves – and pore-throat connectivity. The latter is estimated from critical volume fraction (or percolation threshold) for macroscopic flow. Electrical conductivity and permeability are then scaled up from the two characteristic pore sizes, tortuosity, and porosity by assuming two different pore geometries: cylindrical and slit-shaped. Comparison of results obtained for eighteen tight-gas sandstones indicates that the EMA estimates σ b and k more accurately when pores are assumed to be cylindrical. We also estimate k from the pore-throat size distributions and the measured electrical conductivity using the EMA and critical path analysis (CPA), another upscaling technique borrowed from statistical physics. Theoretically, the former is valid in relatively heterogeneous porous media with narrow pore-throat size distribution, while the latter is valid in heterogeneous media with broad pore-throat size distribution. Results show that the EMA estimates k more accurately than CPA and arrives within a factor of two of the measurements on average.
A Realist Analysis of Six Controversial Quantum Issues

This essay provides a philosophically realistic analysis of six phenomena central to our current confusion: quantization, field-particle duality, superposition, entanglement, nonlocality, and measurement. As will be shown, these are logically related: Understanding measurement depends on properly understanding nonlocality, entanglement, and superposition; understanding these three depends on properly understanding field-particle duality and quantization. All six will be resolved, based on a realistic interpretation of standard quantum physics. The analysis is internally consistent as well as consistent with the relevant experimental facts. Thus, at least for these issues, QP concurs with the scientific paradigm as it has been known since Copernicus: nature exists on its own and science’s goal is to understand nature’s operating principles, which are independent of humans.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in C. elegans Activates Mitochondrial Relocalization and Nuclear Hormone Receptor-Dependent Detoxification Genes.

Summary In Caenorhabditis elegans, mitochondrial dysfunction caused by mutation or toxins activates programs of detoxification and immune response. A genetic screen for mutations that constitutively induce C. elegans mitochondrial defense revealed reduction-of-function mutations in the mitochondrial chaperone hsp-6/mtHSP70 and gain-of-function mutations in the Mediator component mdt-15/MED15. The activation of detoxification and immune responses is transcriptionally mediated by mdt-15/MED15 and nuclear hormone receptor nhr-45. Mitochondrial dysfunction triggers redistribution of intestinal mitochondria, which requires the mitochondrial Rho GTPase miro-1 and its adaptor trak-1/TRAK1, but not nhr-45-regulated responses. Disabling the mdt-15/nhr-45 pathway renders animals more susceptible to a mitochondrial toxin or pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa but paradoxically improves health and extends lifespan in animals with mitochondrial dysfunction caused by a mutation. Thus, some of the health deficits in mitochondrial disorders may be caused by the ineffective activation of detoxification and immune responses, which may be inhibited to improve health.
Sub-GeV dark matter model

We propose an extension of the Standard Model (SM) gauge symmetry by the gauge group $U(1{)}_{T3R}$ in order to address the Yukawa coupling hierarchy between the third generation and the first two generation fermions of the SM. We assume that only the right-handed fermions of the first two generations are charged under the $U(1{)}_{T3R}$. In addition to the new dark gauge boson, we have a dark scalar particle whose vacuum expectation value (vev) breaks the $U(1{)}_{T3R}$ symmetry down to ${Z}_{2}$ symmetry and also explains the hierarchy problem. A vev of $\mathcal{O}(\mathrm{GeV})$ is required to explain the mass parameters of the light flavor sector naturally. The dark matter (DM) particle arising from the model naturally has mass in the $\mathcal{O}(1--100)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$ range. The model satisfies all the current constraints. We discuss the various prospects of the direct detection of the dark matter. We get both elastic and inelastic spin independent DM-nucleon scattering. The dark matter obtains the correct thermal relic density by annihilation.
Understanding the Organizational Barriers of Promoting Electronic Delivery Options in the United States Health Care System: An Insurer’s Perspective

Consumer-driven technologies are rapidly transforming how industries conduct business both internally and externally. From online banking to retail, the broad adoption of smart devices, internet access, and wearables amongst consumers has shifted the way enterprises develop software and conduct information technology (IT) operations. Although successful adoption of consumer-driven technologies is a reality for many industries, the healthcare platform is lagging. The promotion and adoption of online patient engagement is widely perceived to be one of the biggest hurdles faced by healthcare organizations (Carr, 2014). While setting up patient portals and electronic delivery options can be relatively simple, promoting consumer utilization and achieving widespread use of these portals use has posed challenges. The healthcare paradigm has shifted in recent decades from viewing the patient as incidental to the delivery of healthcare to a more patient-centric approach. The previous model of indirectly funding Medicare, Medicaid, or employers has been noted as one of the greatest flaws of the healthcare system by contributing to cost inflation (Carr, 2014). Recent trends have promoted patient-empowered care, but have generally transferred the burden of cost to the individual. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) stimulated this shift by creating insurance exchanges which allow insurers to directly reach consumers; however, these readily-available healthcare options now require higher monthly premium payments from shoppers. This new model proposes that as patients become increasingly financially liable, they become more invested in their healthcare trajectories.
Blindness and Posthuman Sexuality in Paradise Lost

This chapter examines the intersection of monstrosity and sexuality in John Milton’s Paradise Lost in order to reveal connections between supernatural coupling and disability within the epic poem. Exploring the sexuality of unfallen and fallen angels reveals how Paradise Lost celebrates not only the inability to recognize others but also the sexual coupling of non-normative bodies. Tracing the linkages that Milton builds between sexuality and lack of recognition yields a more nuanced understanding of the connection between disability and monstrosity, and ultimately reveals new insight into the erotics in Milton’s poem. In the early modern cultural context, a profoundly Christian writer such as John Milton would be expected to understand blindness as a disease to be healed or a problem to be resolved. Yet, intriguingly, he suggests that this disability might be addressed not by “curing” it but by reframing the way in which readers might consider it, shifting readers’ perception of it from an affliction to an enabler of new forms of affection. This chapter ultimately suggests that the poet’s depictions of angelic erotic coupling constitute a celebration of interpersonal relations devoid of visual recognition.
Development and validation of a progress monitoring tool tailored for use in intensive eating disorder treatment.

Objective Despite calls for routine use of progress and outcome monitoring in private and intensive treatment centres for eating disorders (EDs), existing measures have limited relevance to these supervised treatment settings. This study sought to develop and validate the progress monitoring tool for eating disorders, a multidimensional measure for progress monitoring in the context of intensive ED treatment. Method Thirty-seven items were generated by a team of content experts, clinicians, and administrative staff from the target treatment setting. Adolescent and adult females (N = 531) seeking residential ED treatment completed the items at admission as part of the clinic's routine assessment battery; 83% were retained for repeat assessment at discharge. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted for preliminary measure development. Results Results yielded a five-factor, 26-item structure explaining 50% of total variance. Final construct domains included weight and shape concern, ED behaviours and urges, emotion avoidance, adaptive coping, and relational connection. The measure demonstrated adequate internal consistency, sensitivity to change during treatment, and convergence with validated assessment measures. Conclusions Preliminary data support the progress monitoring tool for eating disorders as a novel and valid multidimensional measure of treatment-relevant constructs. This measure may have utility in measuring treatment progress for patients receiving intensive treatment for EDs.
Graphoepitaxy-Directed Assembly of Organic Semiconductor Single Crystals into Trellis Structures

In the field of organic electronics, organizing crystals into structures that promote efficient optoelectronic processes during rapid solution processing remains an outstanding challenge. Here, nan...
The quick drive to pseudo-equilibrium.

A clever application of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques offers a glimpse at a quantum system driven at high frequency, resulting in Floquet prethermalization — a quasi-steady state that persists for a very long time.
Network Analysis and Transcriptome Profiling Identify Autophagic and Mitochondrial Dysfunctions in SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Analyzing host cells' transcriptional response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection will help delineate biological processes underlying viral pathogenesis. First, analysis of expression profiles of lung cell lines A549 and Calu3 revealed upregulation of antiviral interferon signaling genes in response to all three SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, or influenza A virus (IAV) infections. However, perturbations in expression of genes involved in inflammatory, mitochondrial, and autophagy processes were specifically observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells. Next, a validation study in infected human nasopharyngeal samples also revealed perturbations in autophagy and mitochondrial processes. Specifically, mTOR expression, mitochondrial ribosomal, mitochondrial complex I, lysosome acidification, and mitochondrial fission promoting genes were concurrently downregulated in both infected cell lines and human samples. SARS-CoV-2 infection impeded autophagic flux either by upregulating GSK3B in lung cell lines or by downregulating autophagy genes, SNAP29, and lysosome acidification genes in human samples, contributing to increased viral replication. Therefore, drugs targeting lysosome acidification or autophagic flux could be tested as intervention strategies. Finally, age-stratified SARS-CoV-2-positive human data revealed impaired upregulation of chemokines, interferon-stimulated genes, and tripartite motif genes that are critical for antiviral signaling. Together, this analysis has revealed specific aspects of autophagic and mitochondrial function that are uniquely perturbed in SARS-CoV-2-infected host cells.
Cilostazol: a Review of Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Uses

Primarily used in the treatment of intermittent claudication, cilostazol is a 2-oxyquinolone derivative that works through the inhibition of phosphodiesterase III and related increases in cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. However, cilostazol has been implicated in a number of other basic pathways including the inhibition of adenosine reuptake, the inhibition of multidrug resistance protein 4, among others. It has been observed to exhibit antiplatelet, antiproliferative, vasodilatory, and ischemic-reperfusion protective properties. As such, cilostazol has been investigated for clinical use in a variety of settings including intermittent claudication, as an adjunctive for reduction of restenosis after coronary and peripheral endovascular interventions, and in the prevention of secondary stroke, although its widespread implementation for indications other than intermittent claudication has been limited by relatively modest effect sizes and lack of studies in western populations. In this review, we highlight the pleiotropic effects of cilostazol and the evidence for its clinical use.
Temporal analysis of effective population size and mating system in a social wasp.

Highly social species are successful because they cooperate in obligately integrated societies. We examined temporal genetic variation in the eusocial wasp Vespula maculifrons in order to gain a greater understanding of evolution in highly social taxa. First, we wished to test if effective population sizes of eusocial species were relatively low due to the reproductive division of labor that characterizes eusocial taxa. We thus estimated the effective population size of V. maculifrons by examining temporal changes in population allele frequencies. We sampled the genetic composition of a V. maculifrons population at three separate time points spanning a 13-year period. We found that effective population size ranged in the hundreds of individuals, which is similar to estimates in other, non-eusocial taxa. Second, we estimated levels of polyandry in V. maculifrons in different years in order to determine if queen mating system varied over time. We found no significant change in the number or skew of males mated to queens. In addition, mating skew was not significant within V. maculifrons colonies. Therefore, our data suggest that queen mate number may be subject to stabilizing selection in this taxon. Overall, our study provides novel insight into the selective processes operating in eusocial species by analyzing temporal genetic changes within populations.
Knowledge Creation Platforms: The Next Step after Web-Scale Discovery

DOI: 10.12685/027.7-1-2-32 Technology has long been used to provide access to the holdings of libraries. Yet, end-users continue to migrate towards web search tools. This article suggests attractive differentiation could be pro­vided using business processes to develop “Knowledge Creation Platforms”, i.e. technology for accessing knowledge and allowing end-users to seamlessly start creating new knowledge using social networking, publishing it using Open Access and moving the resulting work into digital repositories. Obwohl Bibliotheken durch die Entwicklung neuer Technologien einen immer besseren Zugang zu ihren Bestanden gewahrleisten, wandern BenutzerInnen immer mehr zu Internet-Suchwerkzeugen ab. Dieser Artikel schlagt vor, mittels attraktiver Geschaftsprozesse sogenannte „Knowledge Creation Plat­forms“ zu schaffen, das heisst Technologien zu entwickeln, die es BenutzerInnen erlauben, nahtlos neues Wissen zu erarbeiten, indem sie soziale Medien bedienen, ihr Wissen Open Access publizieren und die Ergebnisse in digitalen Repositorien lagern.
Telling Tales in School: Storytelling for Self-Reflection and Pedagogical Improvement in Clinical Legal Education

In the past twenty years, there has been a surge in legal scholarship that recognizes the value of story in law, and law schools are beginning to tap into the extraordinary power of story. Largely absent from this mix are stories told by law students about their own experiences with the law. The authors used class time formerly devoted to clinic rounds to offer students the opportunity to tell stories about their cases outside the presence of their supervising attorneys. Clinical faculty then compared their own, recorded version of the story of a case with the student’s version. This article explores how the integration of storytelling into law school clinics can help law students move through the six levels of cognition identified in Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives in order to become more practice-ready, and how listening to student stories can help faculty deepen their understanding of students and cases. In addition to helping students develop insights into their casework, storytelling offered an opportunity to practice oral advocacy skills and to understand the role of story in case theory. Providing clinical faculty a formal opportunity to tell their own stories about student work on cases can deepen faculty members’ understanding and inform their pedagogical approach.
Resveratrol exhibits cytostatic and antiestrogenic properties with human endometrial adenocarcinoma (Ishikawa) cells

Trans-3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene (resveratrol), a polyphenolic compound found in the human diet, was reported recently to serve as an estrogen agonist with cultured MCF-7 cells transfected with estrogen response element-luciferase reporter plasmids. As currently shown, treatment of cultured human endometrial adenocarcinoma (Ishikawa) cells with resveratrol (concentrations as high as 10 microM) did not significantly increase the levels of an estrogen-inducible marker enzyme, alkaline phosphatase. To the contrary, when alkaline phosphatase was induced by treatment with 1 nM of 17beta-estradiol (E(2)), resveratrol exhibited a dose-dependent decrease in activity (IC(50) = 2.3 microM). Furthermore, when Ishikawa cells were treated with resveratrol as a single agent, estrogen-inducible progesterone receptor (PR) was not enhanced, and PR expression induced by treatment with E(2) was inhibited by resveratrol in a dose-dependent fashion at both the mRNA and protein levels. In addition, resveratrol mediated suppression of a functional activity of PR as demonstrated by down-regulation of alpha(1)-integrin expression induced by E(2) plus progesterone. With transient transfection experiments conducted with Ishikawa cells, antiestrogenic effects were confirmed by dose-dependent inhibition of E(2)-induced estrogen response element-luciferase transcriptional activity. Because resveratrol antagonized estrogenic effects in Ishikawa cells, competitive binding analyses were performed to examine the potential of displacing [(3)H]E(2) from human estrogen receptor (ER). Resveratrol showed no discernable activity with ER-alpha, but with ER-beta, E(2) was displaced with an IC(50) of 125 microM. However, mRNA and protein expression of ER-alpha but not ER-beta were suppressed by resveratrol in Ishikawa cells, in the concentration range of 5-15 microM. In addition, in the presence or absence of E(2), resveratrol inhibited Ishikawa cell proliferation in a time-dependent manner with cells accumulating in the S phase of the cycle < or =48 h. This effect was reversible. Analysis of some critical cell cycle proteins revealed a specific increase in expression of cyclins A and E but a decrease in cyclin-dependent kinase 2. These data suggest resveratrol exerts an antiproliferative effect in Ishikawa cells, and the effect may be mediated by both estrogen-dependent and -independent mechanisms.
Information Storage and Executive Control May Not Be So Separate after All

Prefrontal cortex has been considered to implement processes such as attention, which control information stored elsewhere. In this issue of Neuron, Ester et al. (2015) demonstrate it also stores precise stimulus-specific information, questioning assumed neuroanatomical distinctions between storage and control.
Z-scan technique for nonlinear materials characterization

We review Z-scan and related techniques for the measurement of the nonlinear optical properties of materials. The Z-scan is a simple technique for measuring the change in phase induced on a laser beam upon propagation through a nonlinear material it gives both the sign and magnitude of this phase change, ΔΦ, which is simply related to the change in index of refraction, An. Additionally, a Z-scan can also separately determine the change in transmission caused by nonlinear absorption that is related to the change in the absorption coefficient, Aa. Importantly, the determination of the nonlinear refraction from Δn is independent of the determination of the nonlinear absorption from Δα, within a quite broad range of these parameters. Thus, for third-order nonlinear responses the real and imaginary parts of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility, χ(3) can be measured. However, Z-scan is sensitive to any nonlinear processes which result in Δα or Δn, so that great care must be taken in interpreting data taken with this or any other nonlinear materials characterization technique.
PRIMARY MODES OF DECOMPOSITION OF SUPEREXCITED n-ALKANE MOLECULES.

Information is summarized concerning fragmentation of superexcited propane and n-butane molecules produced by photolysis of these compounds with 11.6–11.8 eV photons, which is about 0.5 and 1.0 eV above the ionization energies of the two compounds. The decomposition of the excited [C3H8+]* and [C4H10+]* ions which are formed either by direct ionization or by autoionization are quenched at pressures around 10 Torr. These ions can then be removed from the photolysis system through a charge transfer reaction with added NO or an H2 transfer reaction with low concentrations of added ethylene. The modes of decomposition of the superexcited alkane molecules are derived from the isotopic analysis of the products formed upon irradiation of CD3CH2CD3, CH3CD2CD2CD3, CD8CH2CH2CD3 and of the equimolar mixtures C3H8-D8 and C4H10-C4D10. Comparison of these results with studies at longer wavelengths demonstrates that although the modes of decomposition observed at the superexcitation energies are the same as those observed at excitation energies below the ionization energy, free radical producing processes occur with higher probability when the energy of the photon is increased.
A Review of “Principles and Practice of Sex Therapy (5th edition)”

As the title indicates, this is the fifth edition of a classic work that first appeared more than 30 years ago. The first edition covered the basics of treatment of dysfunctions. Later editions exp...
Conservation and Divergence of the Yeast and Mammalian Unfolded Protein Response ACTIVATION OF SPECIFIC MAMMALIAN ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM STRESS ELEMENT OF THE grp78/BiP PROMOTER BY YEAST Hac1

Yeast Hac1 (yHac1), the transcription factor that binds and activates the unfolded protein response element of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-chaperone gene promoters, only accumulates in stressed cells after an unconventional splicesosome-free mRNA processing step and escape from translation block. In determining whether the novel regulatory mechanisms for yHac1 are conserved in mammalian cells, we discovered a unique unfolded protein response element-like sequence within the endoplasmic reticulum stress element 163, one of the three ER stress elements recently identified in the ratgrp78 promoter. The unspliced form of yHac1 is stably expressed in nonstressed mammalian cells and is as active as the spliced form in stimulating the promoter activities of grpgenes. Further, the yHac1 mRNA is not processed in response to ER stress in mammalian cells. We identified a CCAGC motif as the yHac1 binding site, which is contained within a YY1 binding site previously shown to be important for mammalian UPR. Dissection of the yHac1 and the YY1 binding sites uncovered specific contact points for an activator protein predicted to be the mammalian homolog of yHac1, the activity of which can be stimulated by YY1. A model of the conserved and unique features of the yeast and mammalian unfolded protein response transcription machinery is proposed.