cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The banking and finance sector: new paradigms of resiliency and risk

The money that flows through the banking and finance sector provides the funding for operations of every other critical infrastructure sector in the USA; without funding, everything stops, and therefore, it is of the utmost importance to safeguard the banking and finance sector against adverse shocks. In order to design and implement resiliency measures, the unique characteristics of the sector must be thoroughly understood and incorporated into new paradigms of resiliency and risk. Risk in the sector is comprised of both physical and financial risk; the prominent financial risk, systematic risk, stems from irrational human behaviour, and thus, adverse shocks must be treated as Black Swan events, or as wholly unpredictable. Therefore, resiliency measures must concentrate on dampening the effects of adverse shocks (proactive resiliency measures) and effectively dealing with such shocks once they occur (reactive resiliency measures), rather than futilely trying to prevent them from occurring at all.
The Gulf Stream rainband

A recurrent and almost stationary region of banded clouds and precipitation has been identified over the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in winter. This rainband is attributed to the large fluxes of heat and moisture from the warm waters of the Gulf Stream to the colder, overlying air. It is speculated that the Gulf Stream rainband could play a role in cyclogenesis, which is common off the Carolina Coast.
EbAT: An entropy based online Anomaly Tester for data center management

The online detection of anomalies is a vital task in data centers, potentially incurring high personnel costs. Causes of anomalies range from hardware/software failures, to resource over- or under-provisioning, to application misbehaviors. This paper develops new methods and an associated utility for online anomaly detection, termed EbAT, Entropy based Anomaly Tester, which can efficiently detect anomalies. This is done without the need for operator interaction, analysis intervention, or predefineed system models or rules. EbAT also offers ways to ‘zoom in’ on detected anomalies, the intent being to localize anomalies to certain components of the data center's applications or facility. EbAT is implemented in the context of virtual machine monitors, using Xen as a representative platform, and it is used to detect anomalous behaviors on such platforms running multi-tier enterprise and map-reduce applications.
MINORITY HIGHER EDUCATION PIPLINE: CONSEQUNCES OF CHANGES IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS POLICY IN TEXAS

This paper examines the application, admission and enrollment consequences of rescinding affirmative action and then implementing an admission guarantee for students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class. Using administrative data the two most selective public institutions in Texas and data from the Texas Education Agency, we derive application rates for graduates from Texas public high schools between 1993 and 2003. In addition to computing changes in application, admission and enrollment rates for each policy regime , we simulate the gains and losses associated with each policy regime and also those from assigning minorities the corresponding rates for white students. Challenging popular claims that the top 10% law has restored diversification of Texas's public flagships, our analyses that consider both changes in the size of graduation cohorts and institutional carrying capacity show that the uniform admission regime did not restore Hispanic and black representation at UT and TAMU even after four years. Simulations of gains and losses at each stage of the college pipeline across admission regimes for Hispanics and blacks confirm that affirmative action is the most efficient policy to diversify college campuses, even in highly segregated states like Texas.
Accelerated, parallelized time and frequency domain simulators for complex high-speed microsystems

The paper presents methodologies for efficient simulation and design of electromagnetic effects in microelectronic circuits for digital, analog, mixed-signal, RF and microwave applications in time and frequency domain. Also parallelization of the presented methodologies and incorporation into standard design flow has been discussed.
Cultural relativity and poverty.

: The nurse who practices from a perspective of cultural relativity attempts to understand client behaviors within the context of the clients’culture. Viewing customs (behaviors) as a reflection of client beliefs and values can enhance the nurse's effectiveness with clients in poverty. This paper presents a case study in which a culturally relativistic perspective was used to assess and intervene with a family living in poverty.
Experimental and Numerical Study of the Flow Structure around Two Partially Buried Objects on a Deformed Bed

AbstractThe flow characteristics around two partially buried objects, a short cylinder (SC) and a truncated cone (TC) were examined experimentally and numerically. Experiments were conducted in a large tilting flume with vertical walls made of acrylic plastic and steel floor covered by a 24-m long sand pit. For each experiment, the object was placed on a flat sandy bed, the flume was filled to a water depth of 41 cm, and a steady unidirectional current was established at high Reynolds numbers while sinking of the object was tracked over time. Velocity records were taken with an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) probe at the final stage of burial and scour hole evolution. The flow structure around each object was further investigated using a model that solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with a κ-e turbulence closure model, and results were compared to the experimental measurements. Measurements and numerical simulations allowed identification of regions of high and low vel...
Time-Series Profiles of 134CS, 137CS and 90SR in the Black Sea

The water column distributions of the artificial radionuclides, 134Cs, 137Cs and 90Sr are used to examine mixing and ventilation processes in the Black Sea. Samples were collected on 6 cruises between 1986 and 1992. From the isotope ratios, we can separate the pre-existing weapons testing signal which arrived in the mid-60’s from the more recent Chernobyl inputs in 1986, both of which arrived predominantly as atmospheric fallout to this basin. The vertical radionuclide profiles are normalized to salinity to allow for a comparison of radionuclide penetration along isopycnal surfaces. These time-series vertical radionuclide data allow one to follow magnitude and depth of penetration of surface oxic waters into intermediate depths below the oxic/anoxic interface (<500m). Some evidence for interannual variations in the strength of ventilation can be seen, which likely reflects the intensity of winter cooling and mixing, and the overall water and salt balances. A subsurface Chernobyl Cs maximum near the Bosporus found in both 1987 and 1988 suggests that at least part of this vertical mixing process occurs as entrainment driven mixing near the Bosphorus. Samples were also collected near the Danube and Dneper rivers, where interleaving low salinity, and for the Dneper, high 90Sr water masses can be detected. Overall however, the riverine sources of these tracers are much smaller than atmospheric deposition and can be ignored for most sites.
Correlation of total body potassium and leukemic cell mass in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Total body leukemic mass in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was measured by quantitation of total body potassium (TBK) with a whole-body counter. In addition, the predicted normal total body potassium (Kp) for each patient was calculated from an empirically derived relationship involving height, weight, age, and sex. Both the absolute TBK and the relative excess of total body potassium (TBK/Kp) were related to the stage of disease. Patients in the early stages of CLL were found to have lower TBK and TBK Kp than patients in the late stages of disease. Both of these parameters increased with the successively advanced stages of the disease. The clinically monitored reduction of leukemic cell mass following therapy was accompanied by reductions in TBK and TBK/Kp. Data presented support the notion that TBK/Kp is a useful indicator of the total body leukemic mass. Furthermore, the results of these studies quantitatively validate the proposed clinical staging system for CLL. Quantitation of TBK by a whole-body counter is an accurate and noninvasive procedure and does not require administration of isotopes.
Physical activity is a significant predictor of body density in women

The purposes of this study were to 1) develop and cross-validate a prediction equation for body density with leisure-time physical activity (LTA) serving as a potential predictor, and 2) determine whether the addition of LTA to previously published equations would improve their prediction. Body density (hydrostatic weighing) was measured in a validation group of 111 women (aged 18-81 y) and was predicted by age, mass, body mass index (BMI), abdominal skinfold thickness, thigh skinfold thickness, and LTA. This equation was cross-validated on an independent group of women (n = 56). Consequently, groups were combined (n = 167) to yield a new equation that also included age, mass, BMI, abdominal skinfold thickness, thigh skinfold thickness, and LTA (R = 0.92, SEE = 7.9 g/L, P < 0.0001). LTA improved the prediction of equations published on women with relatively low body densities, but not on women with higher densities. In conclusion, LTA is an independent predictor of body density in healthy women and its prediction becomes stronger as body density decreases.
Array processing with known waveform and steering vector but unknown diagonal noise covariance matrix

The problem of estimating the complex amplitude of a signal which is known only to an unknown scaling factor with noise present is a well studied problem. Maximum likelihood (ML) and Capon estimates of the complex amplitude in the case where the noise vectors are circularly symmetric complex Gaussian with an unknown arbitrary covariance matrix have been proposed in previous literatures in closed form. In this paper, we consider the special case of the covariance matrix being diagonal (whose entries are still unknown). We reduce the ML estimation problem in this case to a non-linear optimization problem, and the optimal solution to the amplitude which maximizes the likelihood function can be obtained. We compare the performance of this method against the previously proposed method, which does not assume any structure of the covariance matrix. We show that the performance in the case wherein we use the fact that the covariance matrix is diagonal is only better in situations where the number of data samples is small. Both of the methods have the same Cramer-Rao bound (CRB), and both of them are asymptotically optimal. For large number of measurements, the mean squared errors (MSE) of both methods approach the CRB. Lastly, we provide an approximate ML solution to the problem, which has performance almost the same as the optimal solution, but computationally much more efficient.
A Novel Conformational Searching Technique applied to small polymer units of 3-phenyl-1-ureidonitrile

A novel conformational searching scheme is employed to identify low energy structures for low-degree polymers of 3-phenyl-1-ureidonitrile, a proposed thin film data storage material. Vibrational analysis of the predicted polymer structures is consistent with experimental reports and supports the experimentally proposed polymerization mechanism.
Cultivation of Measles Virus in Human Amnion Cells and in Developing Chick Embryo.

Summary1. A strain of measles virus originally isolated in cultures of human renal cells has been propagated throughout 28 serial passages in cultures of human amnion cells. In the latter system it induces 2 types of cytopathic change: (1) formation of “syncytia” or “multinuclear giant cells” in which intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusions are prominent features; (2) only recently recognized, the assumption by individual epithelial cells of a characteristic fusiform or stellate configuration. In certain of these affected cells eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions are present that resemble those found in the nuclei of the syncytia. Eventually both types of change terminate in cellular necrosis and disintegration. In contrast to the dual response of amnion cells only the formation of syncytia has been observed in cultures of renal cells infected with the virus. 2. The Edmonston strain of measles virus from the 28th passage in human amnion cells was inoculated into chick embryos. In this host it has be...
Nutrition and Health Status of Children Under 6 Years in Sichuan Rural Areas

Objective To investigate the nutrition and health status of children under 6 years in Sichuan rural areas,and to provide basis for the further interventions.Methods Using a stratified cluster randomly sampling method,2 852 children under 6 years were selected from 30 villages of 5 counties to make a survey for the nutrition and health status.Reference standard of WHO was used to assess children's growth and development.Results Children's HAZ,WAZ,WHZ were-0.95,-0.72,-0.13,respectively.The rates of stunning,underweight,thinness,anemia were 17.5%,9.7%,2.1% and 17.7% respectively.There were lower prevalence rates of stunning,underweight,thinness among children under 1 year than the children more than 1 year.There were significant differences on the rates of stunning and underweight between the children under 1 year and the children more than 1 year.The rates of breast-feeding,partial breast-feeding,bottle-feeding of infant under six months were 61.6%,32.5% and 5.9% respectively.Conclusion The nutrition and health status of children under 6 years in Sichuan rural areas is not ideal,and the status of children who are 1-2 years is extrusive.Intervention measures should be taken.
Production and Functional Assays of Recombinant Secreted Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) (sAPPα)

The β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) is connected to Alzheimer's disease by both biochemistry and genetics. As the source of the major constituent of amyloid plaques, APP has been the subject of many studies of its expression and metabolism. The accumulation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) in these plaques was the first evidence that APP might be processed abnormally in Alzheimer's, and this idea was strengthened by the discovery of mutations in APP that segregate with the disease with high penetrance. Aberrant processing of APP was incorporated into the Amyloid Hypothesis, which supposes that the clinical symptoms, neuropathology, and ultimate fatality of Alzheimer's result from the actions of Aβ. But to the extent that the Amyloid Hypothesis remains hypothetical, it would be irresponsible to ignore other theories that might explain the links between APP and Alzheimer's. APP can be proteolytically processed in a way that does not produce (and, in fact, precludes) Aβ. This "α-secretase" event cleaves within the Aβ sequence and liberates most of the extracellular portion (sAPPα) of APP from the cell surface Fig. 1). Because the "β-secretase" event required for the generation of Aβ creates a different soluble derivative (sAPPβ), disease-related increases in β-secretase processing -such as demonstrated with the "Swedish" mutation of APP-have the potential to affect events dependent on the normal function(s) of sAPPα. Furthermore, the increases in APP expression that occur as a result of injury or trisomy 21 may elevate the total levels of all sAPP species. To understand the implications of these events, it is critical to elucidate the biological activities of sAPPα and related moieties.
Fictitious Play with Inertia Learns Pure Equilibria in Distributed Games with Incomplete Information.

The paper studies a class of learning dynamics, termed inertial best response dynamics, based on the Fictitious Play (FP) algorithm. A general convergence result is established showing that inertial best response dynamics converge, almost surely, to pure-strategy Nash equilibrium (NE). As an application of the general result, the paper considers learning in a setting where (i) players have some uncertainty about the underlying state of the world, and (ii) all inter-agent communication is restricted to a preassigned (possibly sparse) communication graph. The paper studies two particular instances of inertial best response dynamics in this setting: FP with inertia and Joint Strategy FP with inertia. General conditions are established under which the algorithms converge to pure-strategy NE, and a fully distributed variant of each algorithm is presented. Finally, numerical simulations are provided which verify the findings.
Oral Health Beliefs, Attitudes, and Practices of Albanian Immigrants in the United States

Research indicates a high prevalence of oral disease among Albanians. There is a lack of evidence regarding oral health beliefs and practices among Albanian immigrants in the United States and abroad. This research seeks to better understand the oral health beliefs, attitudes, and practices among Albanian immigrants living in the United States. A descriptive study was employed with a purposive sample (n = 211) of Albanian adult immigrants. A cross-sectional validated questionnaire was provided in both English and Albanian, with a response rate of 66 %. Results revealed a high use of dental services among respondents, with 68 % reported as having a dental visit and cleaning within the past year. Although 25 % of participants stated their parents and grandparents have used folk remedies, 88 % of them stated that use of folk remedies did not influence their decision to seek professional dental care. Increasing age was inversely associated with the belief in the importance of retaining natural teeth, as older respondents were less likely to agree with the prior statement; older respondents were more likely to agree with the statement “bleeding gums are normal.” Low oral health care access and utilization was not a factor among the majority of the Albanian immigrants studied. Focusing on providing age appropriate oral health education and behavioral strategies could increase oral health knowledge and potentially improve poor oral health status among this population.
Fishes in Paleochannels of the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley: A National Treasure

Fluvial geomorphology of the alluvial valley of the Lower Mississippi River reveals a fascinating history. A prominent occupant of the valley was the Ohio River, estimated to have flowed 25,000 years ago over western Tennessee and Mississippi to join the Mississippi River north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 750–800 km south of the present confluence. Over time, shifts in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers toward their contemporary positions have left a legacy of abandoned paleochannels supportive of unique fish assemblages. Relative to channels abandoned in the last 500 years, paleochannels exhibit harsher environmental conditions characteristic of hypereutrophic lakes and support tolerant fish assemblages. Considering their ecological, geological, and historical importance, coupled with their primordial scenery, the hundreds of paleochannels in the valley represent a national treasure. Altogether, these waterscapes are endangered by human activities and would benefit from the conservation attention afforded to...
College Student Attitudes Toward Forcible Date Rape: Changes After Taking a Human Sexuality Course

The author earlier found that the two best predictors of attitudes toward forcible date rape were how sure students were that a date rape vignette was definitely rape, and their attitudes toward wo...
Echocardiography in the Evaluation of the Cardiomyopathies

Cardiomyopathy is simply a disease intrinsic to the cardiac muscle. The etiologic agent may be any condition that leads directly to cardiac muscle dysfunction and, ultimately, myocardial cell death. Such conditions include coronary ischemia, valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease, pericardial disease, and systemic or pulmonary hypertension, which secondarily affect the myocyte and are discussed elsewhere in this book.
Successful First-Year Experience for At-Risk Students

This paper discusses the content and impact of a new first-year experience (FYE) course for at-risk students in the Computer Science and Engineering department at Shippensburg University, a mid-sized teaching university. The initial results from the new course are quite promising: DFW rates (grade of D, grade of F, and withdrawal) for the first and second semesters were cut in half and retention rates were dramatically improved.
Opportunities to Address Information Poverty with Social Search

Information seeking is a central part of human life, and search engines are the dominant method of information seeking on the Internet. Although recent years have seen the rise of social search systems as a promising alternative, their application for populations across the digital divide that are starved for information has been overlooked. Drawing on research on social search, information search, and information poverty, we identify three dimensions of information poverty in web search, and hypothesize affordances of social search platforms that could address the details of each issue. Finally, we propose research questions and two associated studies to investigate these hypotheses.
Activation of Sphingolipid Pathway in the Livers of Lipodystrophic Agpat2-/- Mice.

A several fold increase in triacylglycerol is observed in the livers of lipodystrophic Agpat2-/- mice. We have previously reported an unexpected increase in the phosphatidic acid (PA) levels in the livers of these mice and that a few specific molecular species of PA were able to transcriptionally upregulate hepatic gluconeogenesis. In the current study, we measured the metabolites and expression of associated enzymes of the sphingolipid synthesis pathway. The entire sphingolipid pathway was activated both at the gene expression and the metabolite level. The levels of some ceramides were increased by as much as ~eightfold in the livers of Agpat2-/- mice. Furthermore, several molecular species of ceramides were increased in the plasma of Agpat2-/- mice, specifically ceramide C16:0, which was threefold elevated in the plasma of both the sexes. However, the ceramides failed to increase glucose production in mouse primary hepatocytes obtained from wild-type and Agpat2-/- mice, further establishing the specificity of PA in the induction of hepatic gluconeogenesis. This study shows elevated levels of sphingolipids in the steatotic livers of Agpat2-/- mice and increased expression of associated enzymes for the sphingolipid pathway. Therefore, this study and those in the literature suggest that ceramide C16:0 could be used as a biomarker for insulin resistance/type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Creating Inclusive Physical Activity Spaces: The Case of Body-Positive Yoga

ABSTRACTPurpose: Within the modern cultural climate, those in larger bodies face high levels of weight stigma, particularly in sport and physical activity spaces, which serves as a strong barrier to their participation. However, given the strong link between physical activity and general health and well-being for participants, it is important to explore strategies that encourage participation of these individuals. Thus, the current research examined strategies that physical activity instructors use to develop inclusive exercise spaces for all body sizes. Method: This study employed a series of semistructured qualitative interviews (n = 9) with instructors of body-inclusive yoga classes to explore the ways in which they encourage participation for those in larger bodies. Results: Emergent themes from the current study suggested support for 6 factors for creating body-inclusive physical activity spaces: authentic leadership, a culture of inclusion, a focus on health, inclusive language, leader social activi...
Max-ICH score Can it prevent self-fulfilling prophecy in ICH?

Prediction of outcomes of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) can be helpful for patients, their families, and physicians when deciding on treatment strategies, including consideration of withdrawal of care. The most recent American Heart Association guideline for the management of spontaneous ICH recommends the routine use of a standardized severity score to “help streamline assessment and communication between providers.”1 However, it warns that “severity scales should not be used as a singular indicator of prognosis.”
Validation of an Algorithm for Semi-automated Estimation of Voice Relative Fundamental Frequency.

Objectives:Relative fundamental frequency (RFF) has shown promise as an acoustic measure of voice, but the subjective and time-consuming nature of its manual estimation has made clinical translatio...
Natural Language Processing to the Rescue? Extracting "Situational Awareness" Tweets During Mass Emergency.

In times of mass emergency, vast amounts of data are generated via computer-mediated communication (CMC) that are difficult to manually cull and organize into a coherent picture. Yet valuable information is broadcast, and can provide useful insight into time- and safety-critical situations if captured and analyzed properly and rapidly. We describe an approach for automatically identifying messages communicated via Twitter that contribute to situational awareness, and explain why it is beneficial for those seeking information during mass emergencies. We collected Twitter messages from four different crisis events of varying nature and magnitude and built a classifier to automatically detect messages that may contribute to situational awareness, utilizing a combination of hand-annotated and automatically-extracted linguistic features. Our system was able to achieve over 80% accuracy on categorizing tweets that contribute to situational awareness. Additionally, we show that a classifier developed for a specific emergency event performs well on similar events. The results are promising, and have the potential to aid the general public in culling and analyzing information communicated during times of mass emergency.
Trophic Transfer and Accumulation of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes in the Presence of Copper Ions in Daphnia magna and Fathead Minnow (Pimephales promelas)

The increase in use of nanomaterials such as multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) presents a need to study their interactions with the environment. Trophic transfer was measured between Daphnia magna and Pimephales promelas (fathead minnow, FHM) exposed to MWCNTs with different outer diameter (OD) sizes (MWCNT1 = 8–15 nm OD and MWCNT2 = 20–30 nm OD) in the presence and absence of copper. Pristine FHM were fed D. magna, previously exposed for 3 d to MWCNT1 or MWCNT2 (0.1 mg/L) and copper (0.01 mg/L), for 7 d. D. magna bioaccumulated less MWCNT1 (0.02 μg/g) than MWCNT2 (0.06 μg/g), whereas FHM accumulated more MWCNT1 (0.81 μg/g) than MWCNT2 (0.04 μg/g). In the presence of copper, MWCNT bioaccumulation showed an opposite trend. Mostly MWCNT1 (0.03 μg/g) bioaccumulated in D. magna, however less MWCNT1 (0.21 μg/g) than MWCNT2 (0.32 μg/g) bioaccumulated in FHM. Bioaccumulation factors were higher for MWCNT1s than MWCNT2. However, an opposite trend was observed when copper was added. Plasma metallothionein-2 wa...
Teaching Data Science in a Statistical Curriculum: Can We Teach More by Teaching Less?

In many universities, Statistics departments have seen a surge of majors and concentrators (or minors) over the past decade. No one would argue that this trend has nothing to do with the increasing...
Sanskrit Commentators and the Transmission of Texts: Haradatta on Āpastamba Dharmasūtra

Dans un recent article, l'A. a montre que les philologues occidentaux etaient souvent des transmetteurs des textes des Upanisad moins fiables que les scribes et commentateurs indiens qu'ils critiquaient, car les autochtones ne changeaient pas deliberement les textes etudies pour les adapter a leurs gouts doctrinaux et grammaticaux. L'A. reprend ici ce theme et, cette fois-ci, examine de pres la maniere dont Haradatta, le commentateur du Apastamba Dharmasūtra, expliquait et transmettait ce texte ancien. Son objectif est de presenter Haradatta comme caracteristique de tous les commentateurs indiens, tout en etant l'un des meilleurs.
Book Review: Understanding Failed Evidence

This is a short book review of David Harris's new book, Understanding Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science. Harris's book neatly and comprehensively summarizes the social science research on wrongful convictions, focusing on three types of flawed evidence: eyewitness identifications, forensic sciences, and confessions. Where the book makes its most significant contributions is in its exploration of why the criminal justice system has largely not yet responded to and incorporated the social scientific research about these types of evidence (which Harris largely attributes to cognitive biases), and his prescriptions both for what to reform, and how to do it.
Distribution of Transplantation Antigens on Cell Surfaces

Rapid advances have been made in elucidating the genetics and biochemistry of cell surface components which behave as the major transplantation antigens in mice (H-2) (Klein and Shreffler, 1971) and man (HL-A) (Amos, 1969; Walford, 1969). In both, the antigens are highly polymorphic and are determined by a complex region of chromosome subdivisible by crossover into at least two subregions, each of which codes for a series of serologically defined antigenic specificities. In the mouse, the H-2D and H-2K regions are separated by two gene loci, the Ss-Slp and the Ir (Klein and Shreffler, 1971, 1972; Snell, 1971). In man, no conclusive evidence has been obtained on whether the two subregions of the HL-A system, the first and second segregant series, are separated by other gene loci.
Early Right Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction and Pulmonary Hypertension Are Associated With Worse Outcomes in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Objectives:The prevalence and importance of early right ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension in pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome are unknown. We aimed to describe the prevalence of right ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension within 24 hours of pediatric acute
Obstructive sleep apnea in patients with Down syndrome: current perspectives

For individuals with Down syndrome (DS), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a complex disorder with significant clinical consequences. OSA is seen frequently in DS, and when present, it tends to be more severe. This increased prevalence is likely related to common anatomic abnormalities and a greater risk of additional comorbidities such as hypotonia and obesity. Because signs and symptoms do not often correlate with disease, all children and adults with DS should receive routine screening for OSA. Similar to the general population, polysomnography remains the gold standard for diagnosis. Because individuals with DS may be more susceptible to cardiovascular and neurocognitive sequelae, early diagnosis and treatment of OSA is becoming increasingly important. Treatment options generally involve upper airway surgery (primarily adenotonsillectomy) and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP); however, various adjunctive therapies including intranasal steroids, palatal expansion, and oropharyngeal exercises are also available. Residual disease status post adenotonsillectomy is common, and further evaluation (eg, drug-induced sleep endoscopy [DISE]) is often needed. More advanced and directed airway surgery can be performed if additional sites of obstruction are observed. Novel therapies including hypoglossal nerve stimulation are emerging as effective treatments for refractory OSA. Due to the diversity among individuals with DS, personalized treatment plans should be developed. Within this arena, opportunities for research remain abundant and should include areas involving patient risk factors, alternative diagnostic methods, and outcome analysis.
Staff Training Regarding Choice Availability for Persons with Mental Retardation: A Preliminary Analysis

Quality of life and choice availability remain critical aspects of new treatment programs for persons with mental retardation. The present study preliminarily investigated a brief training program for staff members to increase choice availability in living environments. A program of education, modeling, role-play, and feedback was used over a 5–week period for staff members in two intermediate care facilities. Two other facilities served as controls. Results indicated significant improvement in overall level of choice availability from preintervention to follow up for the treatment but not the control group. Contrary to expectations, however, levels of adaptive and maladaptive behavior remained unchanged. This study indicates that a cost-effective training program may be useful for enhancing choice availability in the short-term, but that other choice-oriented procedures may be necessary to generate further changes in effective behavior.
Short-term Health-Related Quality of Life After Hysterectomy Compared With Myomectomy for Symptomatic Leiomyomas

OBJECTIVE:To compare short-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) 6–12 weeks after hysterectomy or myomectomy for the treatment of symptomatic leiomyomas.METHODS:We conducted a prospective comparative effectiveness analysis of data. In an existing multisite registry, we compared 6–12-week posts
Nutritional ketosis for mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease: A controlled pilot trial.

Introduction Glucose hypometabolism and insulin resistance increase risk for and accelerate progression in Parkinson's disease and neurocognitive disorders. We conducted a proof of concept trial to determine whether ketogenesis, a metabolic adaptation induced by dietary carbohydrate restriction, can improve cognitive performance in Parkinson's disease patients with mild cognitive impairment. Methods We enrolled patients with mild cognitive impairment associated with Parkinson's disease in an eight-week nutritional intervention with random assignment to either high-carbohydrate consumption typical of the Western dietary pattern (n = 7) or to a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic regimen (n = 7). We assessed changes in cognitive performance as well as motor function, anthropometrics, and metabolic parameters. Results Relative to the high-carbohydrate group, the low-carbohydrate group demonstrated improvements in lexical access (p = 0.02, Cohen's f effect size = 0.76) and memory (p = 0.01, f = 0.87) and as well as a trend for reduced interference in memory (p = 0.06, f = 0.60). The low-carbohydrate group also exhibited reduced body weight (p < 0.0001, f = 1.89) and increased circulation of beta-hydroxybutyrate (p = 0.01, f = 0.90). Change in body weight was strongly associated with memory performance (p = 0.001). Motor function was not affected by the intervention. Conclusion Nutritional ketosis enhanced cognitive performance in Parkinson's disease-associated mild cognitive impairment in this pilot study. This metabolic intervention and its mechanisms deserve further investigation in the context of neurodegeneration.
Residues W215, E217 and E192 control the allosteric E*-E equilibrium of thrombin.

A pre-existing, allosteric equilibrium between closed (E*) and open (E) conformations of the active site influences the level of activity in the trypsin fold and defines ligand binding according to the mechanism of conformational selection. Using the clotting protease thrombin as a model system, we investigate the molecular determinants of the E*-E equilibrium through rapid kinetics and X-ray structural biology. The equilibrium is controlled by three residues positioned around the active site. W215 on the 215–217 segment defining the west wall of the active site controls the rate of transition from E to E* through hydrophobic interaction with F227. E192 on the opposite 190–193 segment defining the east wall of the active site controls the rate of transition from E* to E through electrostatic repulsion of E217. The side chain of E217 acts as a lever that moves the entire 215–217 segment in the E*-E equilibrium. Removal of this side chain converts binding to the active site to a simple lock-and-key mechanism and freezes the conformation in a state intermediate between E* and E. These findings reveal a simple framework to understand the molecular basis of a key allosteric property of the trypsin fold.
PU-91 drug rescues human age-related macular degeneration RPE cells; implications for AMD therapeutics.

Since mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in the pathogenesis of AMD, this study is based on the premise that repurposing of mitochondria-stabilizing FDA-approved drugs such as PU-91, might rescue AMD RPE cells from AMD mitochondria-induced damage. The PU-91 drug upregulates PGC-1α which is a critical regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. Herein, we tested the therapeutic potential of PU-91 drug and examined the additive effects of treatment with PU-91 and esterase inhibitors i.e., EI-12 and EI-78, using the in vitro transmitochondrial AMD cell model. This model was created by fusing platelets obtained from AMD patients with Rho0 i.e., mitochondria-deficient, ARPE-19 cell lines. The resulting AMD RPE cell lines have identical nuclei but differ in their mitochondrial DNA content, which is derived from individual AMD patients. Briefly, we report significant improvement in cell survival, mitochondrial health, and antioxidant potential in PU-91-treated AMD RPE cells compared to their untreated counterparts. In conclusion, this study identifies PU 91 as a therapeutic candidate drug for AMD and repurposing of PU-91 will be a smoother transition from lab bench to clinic since the pharmacological profiles of PU-91 have been examined already.
Varying solvent type modulates collagen coating and stem cell mechanotransduction on hydrogel substrates

Type I collagen is the most abundant extracellular matrix protein in the human body and is commonly used as a biochemical ligand for hydrogel substrates to support cell adhesion in mechanotransduction studies. Previous protocols for conjugating collagen I have used different solvents; yet, how varying solvent pH and composition impacts the efficiency and distribution of these collagen I coatings remains unknown. Here, we examine the effect of varying solvent pH and type on the efficiency and distribution of collagen I coatings on polyacrylamide hydrogels. We further evaluate the effects of varying solvent on mechanotransduction of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by characterizing cell spreading and localization of Yes-Associated Protein (YAP), a key transcriptional regulator of mechanotransduction. Increasing solvent pH to 5.2 and above increased the heterogeneity of coating with collagen bundle formation. Collagen I coating highly depends on the solvent type, with acetic acid leading to the highest conjugation efficiency and most homogeneous coating. Compared to HEPES or phosphate-buffered saline buffer, acetic acid-dissolved collagen I coatings substantially enhance MSC adhesion and spreading on both glass and polyacrylamide hydrogel substrates. When acetic acid was used for collagen coatings, even the low collagen concentration (1 μg/ml) induced robust MSC spreading and nuclear YAP localization on both soft (3 kPa) and stiff (38 kPa) substrates. Depending on the solvent type, stiffness-dependent nuclear YAP translocation occurs at a different collagen concentration. Together, the results from this study validate the solvent type as an important parameter to consider when using collagen I as the biochemical ligand to support cell adhesion.
CSI Classification for 5G via Deep Learning

5G communication requires continuous exchanges of channel state information (CSI) between the base station and user equipment (UE) to adjust the physical layer parameters. CSI classification in a noisy environment is challenging, since CSI can get corrupted. To address this problem, we apply a convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify several key CSI parameters. In a simulation study, our CNN method classifies the CSI parameters with accuracy ranging between 84-98\%, which is approximately 24-38\% higher than the 3GPP recommendations for UEs.
Health insurance and self‐assessed health: New evidence from Affordable Care Act repeal fear

Self-assessed health is one of the most commonly used health measures by economists. However, changes in self-assessed health are not always accompanied by changes in physical health as measured by clinical outcomes. This study provides suggestive evidence that this discrepancy arises because self-assessed health is significantly influenced by psychological factors. Specifically, when the perceived risk of Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal increased, as documented by Google Trends data, self-assessed health declined among low-income childless adults living in states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA.
Pre-appointment online assessment of patient complexity: Towards a personalized model of neuropsychological assessment

Recent events such as the global pandemic of COVID-19 have challenged neuropsychologists to scale up their capacity to conduct portions of their assessment remotely. While more complex patients wil...
Systemic ketoconazole continues to be prescribed despite an FDA warning.

Oral ketoconazole is not recommended as an antifungal medication for skin infections due to its poor efficacy and its potential for significant side effects (1–3). In July of 2013, the United State...
Photo-induced writing and erasing of gratings in As2S3 chalcogenide microresonators

Reconfigurable optical devices provide new opportunities for integrated photonics. The use of chalcogenide glasses, with large refractive index nonlinearity and photosensitivity, in conjunction with the microresonator platform has proven to be a powerful tool in the study and application of nanophotonics. Here, we report cavity-enhanced photo-induced writing and erasing of gratings in a chalcogenide As2S3 microresonator. Grating writing is implemented with self-enhanced standing wave modes, while the erasing of written gratings as well as removing of intrinsic back-scattering is achieved by Kerr-nonlinearity-induced symmetry breaking in the microresonator. These findings pave the way for future reconfigurable photonic devices and reveal exciting new possibilities for nonlinear photonics and microresonators.
Incarceration to Incorporation: Economic Empowerment for Returning Citizens through Social Impact Bonds

This Article builds upon an ongoing community economic development (CED) action research project at The George Washington Law School Small Business and Community Economic Development Clinic that explores progressive strategies to economical empower formerly incarcerated individuals as they return home from prison. Formerly incarcerated individuals in America — appropriately called “returning citizens” but more frequently labeled “ex-felons” — are shackled with the stigma of their prison record long after serving time behind bars, a stigma that impairs their civil rights and limits their prospects for economic prosperity in the job market. This Article discusses recent legislation in the District of Columbia that promotes economic empowerment for returning citizens, the D.C. Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program (IIEP) Act of 2015. One of the critical challenges facing the D.C. IIEP Act is a lack of funding for program implementation. Accordingly, the Article follows by exploring whether the social impact bond model of impact investing can turn the tide and help reduce returning citizen recidivism. This Article was drafted as part of a symposium — Lessons from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.: Working with Community-Based Organizations to Build Capacity and Fight for Economic Justice — held at the Association of American Law Schools Conference on Clinical Legal Education, April 30–May 3, 2016, in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference theme, “Clinics and Communities: Exploring Community Engagement Through Clinical Education,” was a platform for examining “the role of law and lawyers in aggravating or alleviating suffering, and in collaborating on legal efforts to build communities’ strengths and address harms experienced by those who seek their assistance.”
Development of a coronavirus social distance attitudes scale.

Abstract Objective Our goal was to develop a scale to assess social distance attitudes related to COVID-19. Methods We performed an online national survey of US adults (n = 1,074) to assess social distance attitudes, COVID-19 related beliefs and behaviors, and demographics. We assessed scale structure using confirmatory factor analysis and evaluated internal consistency and validity. We assessed association of scale factors with respondent characteristics. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported a hypothesized two-factor solution. Internal consistency was high for both positive (Alpha = 0.92) and negative (Alpha = 0.91) attitude factors. Analyses supported construct and predictive validity with expected associations between scale factors and perceived norms and behavior (e.g. trips out of the home). We found an interaction suggesting that holding highly negative attitudes reduced the effect of holding positive beliefs. Both attitude factors were related to age, gender, race/ethnicity, and political affiliation. Perceived COVID-19 risk (to others but not for self) and perceived severity were consistently associated with higher positive and lower negative attitudes. Conclusion This COVID-19 Social Distance Attitude Scale contains positive and negative factors with high internal consistency and construct and predictive validity. Practice implication A greater understanding and ongoing assessment of COVID-19 social distance attitudes could inform policymakers, researchers, and clinicians who seek to promote protective social distance behaviors.
Inequalities in Public Water Arsenic Concentrations in Counties and Community Water Systems across the United States, 2006–2011

Background: In the United States, nationwide estimates of public drinking water arsenic exposure are not readily available. We used the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Six-Year Review ...
Identification of Uterine Contractions by An Ensemble of Gaussian Processes

Identifying uterine contractions with the aid of machine learning methods is necessary vis-a-vis their use in combination with fetal heart rates and other clinical data for the assessment of a fetus wellbeing. In this paper, we study contraction identification by processing noisy signals due to uterine activities. We propose a complete four-step method where we address the imbalanced classification problem with an ensemble Gaussian process classifier, where the Gaussian process latent variable model is used as a decision-maker. The results of both simulation and real data show promising performance compared to existing methods.