cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Responses of fish communities in five north temperate lakes to exotic species and climate.

Exotic species invasions and climatic variation that occurred in north central Wisconsin provided the opportunity to contrast influences of climate and invasive species in shaping fish community dynamics in five Wisconsin lakes from 1981 to 2001. Year (passage of time) was positively correlated (r > 0.9) with invasive species. Year, invasive species, and climatic variables were the principal determinants of fish community dynamics according to redundancy analysis (RDA). The same invasive species negatively affected the same general group of species in different lakes; benthic invertivores declined in lakes invaded by crayfish, Orconectes spp., and pelagic zooplanktivores declined in lakes invaded by rainbow smelt, Osmerus mordax. Micropterus dolomieu, Pimephales notatus, and Notropis volucellus increased in abundance in lakes invaded by crayfish. When year was included in RDAs as a covariable (partial RDA), fish community changes in three lakes did not differ significantly from ordinations of Monte Carlo simulated data; for two lakes, growing season length and lake productivity were significant explanatory variables under the reduced model. The resulting shifts in the fish community might represent declines in those species that used resources similar to the invading crayfish and smelt or were eaten by the invading smelt. Subsequent community compensation might have occurred, with other species increasing in response to the declines in species affected directly by the invasive species.
Pattern-dependent charging in plasmas

When patterned surfaces are exposed to plasmas, the directionality difference between ions and electrons causes differential charging of the pattern. Potential contour maps, generated by Monte Carlo simulations of charging in mixed conductor-insulator structures, illustrate where charging occurs and how it becomes more aggravated as the number of features in the pattern increases (a feature multiplicity effect).
Ventricular wall stress and late gadolinium enhancement in patients with Takotsubo syndrome: more data worth contemplating about.

Takotsubo syndrome Left ventricular wall stress Left ventricular volumes Myocardial oxygen supply and demand Late gadolinium enhancement Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging
Electron angular distribution from ultrahigh-intensity-laser and solid targets interaction

An electron beam between laser-on-axis and target-normal direction and electron images at the target plate tangential direction are observed at rear and lateral side of the target. Two models are established to explain these phenomena.
Building a cylinder in the topological expansion

Abstract Usual cylinder construction neglect planar analyticity and the resulting cylinder is contaminated by j-plane cuts. Beginning with input planar amplitudes that are manifestly consistent with a pole-to-pole planar bootstrap, a three-dimensional cylinder equation is formulated, incorporating planar analyticity. The output cylinder is now free of j-plane cuts. The bare pomeron is a simple pole with trajectory intercept slightly above one.
Exploring the relations between traits and emotions

The relationships among traits and among emotions have been well researched and are well known, but few experimental probes of the relationships between traits and emotions have been undertaken. The present investigation sought to describe the relations that exist between traits and emotions. The Comrey Personality Scale (a trait inventory) and the Profile of Mood States (an emotion inventory) were administered to 140 students and the subscales were correlated using canonical procedures. The resulting canonical correlations may be specified in bipolar summary form as follows: Neurotic-Stable was found to be correlated with Depressed-Hopeful; Introverted-Extraverted was found to be correlated with Quiescent-Vigorous; and Empathic-Egocentrical was found to be correlated with Content-Confused. Furthermore, the predictive strength between the trait set and the emotion set was reasonably good, although substantially better when traits rather than emotions served as the predictors.
Escape of mitochondrial DNA to the nucleus in yme1 yeast is mediated by vacuolar-dependent turnover of abnormal mitochondrial compartments

Inactivation of Yme1p, a mitochondrially-localized ATP-dependent metallo-protease in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, causes a high rate of DNA escape from mitochondria to the nucleus as well as pleiotropic functional and morphological mitochondrial defects. The evidence presented here suggests that the abnormal mitochondria of a yme1 strain are degraded by the vacuole. First, electron microscopy of Yme1p-deficient strains revealed mitochondria physically associated with the vacuole via electron dense structures. Second, disruption of vacuolar function affected the frequency of mitochondrial DNA escape from yme1 and wild-type strains. Both PEP4 or PRC1 gene disruptions resulted in a lower frequency of mitochondrial DNA escape. Third, an in vivo assay that monitors vacuole-dependent turnover of the mitochondrial compartment demonstrated an increased rate of mitochondrial turnover in yme1 yeast when compared to the rate found in wild-type yeast. In this assay, vacuolar alkaline phosphatase, encoded by PHO8, was targeted to mitochondria in a strain bearing disruption to the genomic PHO8 locus. Maturation of the mitochondrially localized alkaline phosphatase pro-enzyme requires proteinase A, which is localized in the vacuole. Therefore, alkaline phosphatase activity reflects vacuole-dependent turnover of mitochondria. This assay reveals that mitochondria of a yme1 strain are taken up by the vacuole more frequently than mitochondria of an isogenic wild-type strain when these yeast are cultured in medium necessitating respiratory growth. Degradation of abnormal mitochondria is one pathway by which mitochondrial DNA escapes and migrates to the nucleus.
Expression Levels of DNA Damage Repair Proteins Are Associated With Overall Survival in Platinum-Treated Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma.

Abstract Background Combination platinum chemotherapy is standard first-line therapy for metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC). Defining the platinum response biomarkers for patients with mUC could establish personalize medicine and provide insights into mUC biology. Although DNA repair mechanisms have been hypothesized to mediate the platinum response, we sought to analyze whether increased expression of DNA damage genes would correlate with worse overall survival (OS) in patients with mUC. Patients and Methods We retrospectively identified a clinically annotated cohort of patients with mUC, who had been treated with first-line platinum combination chemotherapy. A tissue microarray was constructed from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue from the primary tumor before treatment. Immunohistochemical analysis of the following DNA repair proteins was performed: ERCC1, RAD51, BRCA1/2, PAR, and PARP-1. Nuclear and cytoplasmic expression was analyzed using multispectral imaging. Nuclear staining was used for the survival analysis. Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate the associations between the percentage of positive nuclear staining and OS in multivariable analysis, controlling for known prognostic variables. Results In a cohort of 104 patients with mUC, a greater percentage of nuclear staining of ERCC1 (hazard ratio [HR], 2.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-4.9; P = .0007), RAD51 (HR, 5.6; 95% CI, 1.7-18.3; P = .005), and PAR (HR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.1-4.4; P = .026) was associated with worse OS. BRCA1, BRCA2, and PARP-1 expression was not associated with OS (P = .76, P = .38, and P = .09, respectively). A greater percentage of combined ERCC1 and RAD51 nuclear staining was strongly associated with worse OS (P = .005). Conclusion A high percentage of nuclear staining of ERCC1, RAD51, and PAR, assessed by immunohistochemistry, correlated with worse OS for patients with mUC treated with first-line platinum combination chemotherapy, supporting the evidence of the DNA repair pathways' role in the prognosis of mUC. We also report new evidence that RAD51 and PAR might play a role in the platinum response. Additional prospective studies are required to determine the prognostic or predictive nature of these biomarkers in mUC.
How pre-service teachers navigate trade-offs of food systems across time scales: a lens for exploring understandings of sustainability

In response to the increasing recognition of the need for sustainable food systems, research on students’ and educators’ knowledge of food systems and sustainability more broadly has grown but has generally focused on what people ‘fail’ to understand. Moving away from this deficit approach, the present study used semi-structured interviews to explore how 12 pre-service teachers (PSTs) in the US consider sustainability in terms of the trade-offs – or concurrent costs and benefits – associated with using different agricultural resources over short, medium, and long terms. Drawing upon the constructs of framing, metacognition, and complex causality, the study found that the majority of PSTs referred to indirect experiences of seeing or hearing about agricultural resources to demonstrate stable knowledge of short-term trade-offs and construct tentative knowledge about medium-term trade-offs. Few described long-term trade-offs. Most participants also acknowledged some gaps in their knowledge in discussing trad...
Chlorhexidine Induces VanA-Type Vancomycin Resistance Genes in Enterococci

Chlorhexidine is a bisbiguanide antiseptic used for infection control. Vancomycin-resistantE. faecium(VREfm) is among the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections. VREfm may be exposed to chlorhexidine at supra- and subinhibitory concentrations as a result of chlorhexidine bathing and chlorhexidine-impregnated central venous catheter use. We used RNA sequencing to investigate how VREfm responds to chlorhexidine gluconate exposure. Among the 35 genes upregulated ≥10-fold after 15 min of exposure to the MIC of chlorhexidine gluconate were those encoding VanA-type vancomycin resistance (vanHAX) and those associated with reduced daptomycin susceptibility (liaXYZ). We confirmed thatvanAupregulation was not strain or species specific by querying other VanA-type VRE. VanB-type genes were not induced. ThevanHpromoter was found to be responsive to subinhibitory chlorhexidine gluconate in VREfm, as was production of the VanX protein. UsingvanHreporter experiments withBacillus subtilisand deletion analysis in VREfm, we found that this phenomenon is VanR dependent. Deletion ofvanRdid not result in increased chlorhexidine susceptibility, demonstrating thatvanHAXinduction is not protective against chlorhexidine. As expected, VanA-type VRE is more susceptible to ceftriaxone in the presence of sub-MIC chlorhexidine. Unexpectedly, VREfm is also more susceptible to vancomycin in the presence of subinhibitory chlorhexidine, suggesting that chlorhexidine-induced gene expression changes lead to additional alterations in cell wall synthesis. We conclude that chlorhexidine induces expression of VanA-type vancomycin resistance genes and genes associated with daptomycin nonsusceptibility. Overall, our results indicate that the impacts of subinhibitory chlorhexidine exposure on hospital-associated pathogens should be further investigated in laboratory studies.
Compaction behavior of surrogate degraded emplaced WIPP waste.

The present study results are focused on laboratory testing of surrogate waste materials. The surrogate wastes correspond to a conservative estimate of degraded Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) containers and TRU waste materials at the end of the 10,000 year regulatory period. Testing consists of hydrostatic, triaxial, and uniaxial strain tests performed on surrogate waste recipes that were previously developed by Hansen et al. (1997). These recipes can be divided into materials that simulate 50% and 100% degraded waste by weight. The percent degradation indicates the anticipated amount of iron corrosion, as well as the decomposition of cellulosics, plastics, and rubbers (CPR). Axial, lateral, and volumetric strain and axial, lateral, and pore stress measurements were made. Two unique testing techniques were developed during the course of the experimental program. The first involves the use of dilatometry to measure sample volumetric strain under a hydrostatic condition. Bulk moduli of the samples measured using this technique were consistent with those measured using more conventional methods. The second technique involved performing triaxial tests under lateral strain control. By limiting the lateral strain to zero by controlling the applied confining pressure while loading the specimen axially in compression, one can maintain a right-circular cylindricalmore » geometry even under large deformations. This technique is preferred over standard triaxial testing methods which result in inhomogeneous deformation or (3z(Bbarreling(3y. (BManifestations of the inhomogeneous deformation included non-uniform stress states, as well as unrealistic Poisson s ratios (> 0.5) or those that vary significantly along the length of the specimen. Zero lateral strain controlled tests yield a more uniform stress state, and admissible and uniform values of Poisson s ratio.« less
17β-Estradiol regulates histone alterations associated with memory consolidation and increases Bdnf promoter acetylation in middle-aged female mice

Histone acetylation is essential for hippocampal memory formation in young adult rodents. Although dysfunctional histone acetylation has been associated with age-related memory decline in male rodents, little is known about whether histone acetylation is altered by aging in female rodents. In young female mice, the ability of 17β-estradiol (E2) to enhance object recognition memory consolidation requires histone H3 acetylation in the dorsal hippocampus. However, the extent to which histone acetylation is regulated by E2 in middle-aged females is unknown. The mnemonic benefits of E2 in aging females appear to be greatest in middle age, and so pinpointing the molecular mechanisms through which E2 enhances memory at this age could lead to the development of safer and more effective treatments for maintaining memory function without the side effects of current therapies. Here, we show that dorsal hippocampal infusion of E2 rapidly enhanced object recognition and spatial memory, and increased histone H3 acetylation in the dorsal hippocampus, while also significantly reducing levels of histone deacetylase (HDAC2 and HDAC3) proteins. E2 specifically increased histone H3 acetylation at Bdnf promoters pII and pIV in the dorsal hippocampus of both young and middle-aged mice, despite age-related decreases in pI and pIV acetylation. Furthermore, levels of mature BDNF and pro-BDNF proteins in the dorsal hippocampus were increased by E2 in middle-aged females. Together, these data suggest that the middle-aged female dorsal hippocampus remains epigenetically responsive to E2, and that E2 may enhance memory in middle-aged females via epigenetic regulation of Bdnf.
Design of an L 1 Adaptive Controller for Air-breathing Hypersonic Vehicle Model in the Presence of Unmodeled Dynamics ⁄

This paper presents application of an L1 adaptive controller to Bolender and Doman’s model of an airbreathing hypersonic vehicle. The adaptive control architecture compensates for parametric uncertainties and the unmodeled dynamics. The benefit of L1 adaptive controller is its ability of fast and robust adaptation with uniformly bounded transient transient response and analytically computable stability margins. Hypersonic vehicles (HSVs) are viewed as a possible low-cost solution to launch small satellites for global highspeed delivery. The successful test of NASA’s X-43A scramjet vehicle also affirms that this type of aircraft could be a prototype for future high-speed airplanes. However, a vast amount of research still needs to be done before such hypersonic vehicles can undertake commercial or military tasks. The control design challenge for hypersonic vehicles is related to the vehicle’s peculiar structure and operational conditions. As a scramjet vehicle, an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle has a strong interaction between the airframe and the engine dynamics. Additionally, the vehicle’s the vehicle’s slenderness and its lightweight structure cause some vibration, which is coupled to the rigid-body states. Finally, some of the operational parameters inherently depend on the vehicle’s state, which leads to uncertainties in system dynamics. These arguments render the hypersonic vehicle one of the most difficult plants for modeling and control.
Low Dose Thrombolysis: A Nonoperative Approach to Renal Artery Occlusion

Abstract Selective infusion of low dose streptokinase into the occluded renal arteries of 3 patients produced clot lysis. Clot lysis was achieved with a dose of 5,000 units per hour (1/100 systemic dose) when delivered via catheter to the clot site for 24 to 36 hours. No untoward consequences related to bleeding were encountered. In selected patients this technique permits re-establishment of renal arterial patency without surgery.
Project Complexity Indicators and Management Strategies – A Delphi Study☆

Abstract Construction industry experts believe that project performance frequently suffers due to construction complexity issues. However, there are limited studies focusing on construction project complexity definition, characteristics and indicators. In this paper, a qualitative Delphi method was applied to identify and validate significant complexity indicators. To fulfill this purpose, ten Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) were invited to participate in a complexity assessment and management workshop. Through two rounds of the Delphi study, the top 30 complexity indicators were identified and ranked. It was concluded that “peak number of participants on the Project Management Team during engineering/design phase of the project”, “magnitude of change orders impacting project execution”, and “frequency of the workarounds” are the top three complexity indicators respectively. Furthermore, the impact weight associated with each of the complexity indicators were calculated. In the second part of the workshop, the Delphi methodology was again utilized to capture complexity management strategies and practices.
Insulin action in uremia

The evidence appears overwhelming that insulin resistance is the major cause of the carbohydrate intolerance observed in chronically uremic subjects and that the primary site of this insulin resistance resides in peripheral tissues, muscle. Diminished lipoprotein lipase activity, perhaps related to decreased insulin sensitivity, is in large part responsible for the hypertriglyceridemia. However, there is some evidence that increased VLDL synthesis also contributes to the disturbance in lipid metabolism. This latter abnormality may be related to the high circulating insulin levels that result from the insulin resistance. In contrast to glucose and lipid metabolism, the plasma amino acid and potassium lowering effects of insulin are normal in uremic individuals. Whether there is an impaired ability of insulin to stimulate protein synthesis and inhibit protein degradation remains to be delineated.
Primary Lingual Colonic-Type Adenocarcinoma: A Rare and Emerging Distinct Entity!

Primary colonic-type adenocarcinoma involving the tongue (CTAT) is exquisitely rare, with only four cases having been reported in the literature. We report the case of a 53-year-old woman with an anterior (oral) tongue mass. A review of literature was performed. Histomorphologic features were evaluated with standard hematoxylin and eosin stained sections. Ancillary testing was performed. The mass consisted of invasive adenocarcinoma associated with “dirty necrosis”, akin to the phenotype seen in colorectal adenocarcinoma. By immunohistochemistry, the tumor cells were positive for AE1/3, CDX2, CK20, SATB2 and beta-catenin. This was initially felt to represent a metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma but subsequent PET/CT and colonoscopy examination were negative for colorectal mass, excluding the possibility of a metastasis and confirming a diagnosis of CTAT. We raise awareness of the existence of this entity and recommend that metastatic disease be excluded before rendering a diagnosis of CTAT.
Oxygen Relations in Frankia and in Actinorhizal Nodules

Physical properties of hopanoid lipid layers. In free-living Frankia and in several actinorhizal symbioses, the Frankia vesicle envelope forms a physical barrier layer that apparently limits oxygen diffusion to nitrogenase. Envelope thickness is regulated by the pO2 present during vesicle formation (Parsons et al. 1987). The vesicle envelope is comprised principally of two hopanoid lipids, bacteriohopanetetrol (tetrol) and its phenylacetic acid monoester (pa-tetrol; Berry et al. 1993). Tetrol is abundant throughout the Frankia cells, while the pa-tetrol is found at high levels only in the vesicles. We are interested in the molecular-structural properties of the Frankia vesicle envelope, and whether molecular packing can explain the ability of the two hopanoids to assemble in layers and to reduce gas permeability. In Langmuir thin-film studies, purified pa-tetrol exhibited a relatively fluid phase transition under compression, while tetrol was more solid. Thin films made from mixtures of the purified tetrol and pa-tetrol exhibited enhanced condensation under compression that was greatest at about 30%–50% pa-tetrol (P Stroeve, CD Pettit, V Vasquez, I Kim & AM Berry, unpub), a range of pa-tetrol content very similar to what we measured in purified vesicle envelopes. These properties are consistent with a capacity to form layers that have both tight packing and fluidity.
STUDIES IN EDEMA : III. THE INFLUENCE OF MYOCARDITIC LESIONS ON THE PRODUCTION OF ASCITES, INTESTINAL FLUID AND URINE IN ANIMALS INFUSED WITH SOLUTIONS OF SODIUM CHLORIDE AND OF SODIUM CHLORIDE AND CALCIUM CHLORIDE.

1. Animals in which experimental myocarditis has been produced and winch are infused with sodium chloride solutions show a marked decrease in the amount of the secretion of urine. This decrease is even more pronounced than that produced when calcium chloride is added to sodium chloride solution. The intestinal fluid which is markedly decreased, and the peritoneal transudate which is increased by calcium chloride are, on the other hand, not markedly influenced by myocarditic lesions. We may, therefore, conclude that calcium chloride does not exert its specific effect on the quantity of peritoneal fluid through a lowering of blood pressure. 2. Each of the three factors, namely, calcium chloride, adrenalin and myocarditic lesions affects the elimination of fluid through the kidneys, through the mucosa of the small intestine and through the endothelial lining of the peritoneal cavity in a specific way. The conditions influencing the elimination of fluids through these three surfaces seem, therefore, to be different in each case and characteristic for the cells lining these surfaces.
Consumption of a high-iron diet disrupts homeostatic regulation of intestinal copper absorption in adolescent mice

High-iron feeding of rodents has been commonly used to model human iron-overload disorders. We recently noted that high-iron consumption impaired growth and caused severe systemic copper deficiency in growing rats, but the mechanism by which this occurred could not be determined due to technical limitations. In the current investigation, we thus utilized mice; first to determine if the same phenomenon occurred in another mammalian species, and secondly since we could assess in vivo copper absorption in mice. We hypothesized that excessive dietary iron impaired intestinal copper absorption. Weanling, male mice were thus fed AIN-93G-based diets containing high (HFe) (~8800 ppm) or adequate (AdFe) (~80 ppm) iron in combination with low (~0.9 ppm), adequate (~9 ppm) or high (~180 ppm) copper for several weeks. Iron and copper homeostasis was subsequently assessed. Mice consuming the HFe diets grew slower, were anemic, and had lower hepatic copper levels and serum ceruloplasmin activity. These physiologic perturbations were all prevented by higher dietary copper, demonstrating that copper depletion was the underlying cause. Furthermore, homeostatic regulation of copper absorption was noted in the mice consuming the AdFe diets, with absorption increasing as dietary copper decreased. HFe-fed mice did not have impaired copper absorption (disproving our hypothesis), but homeostatic control of absorption was disrupted. There were also noted perturbations in the tissue distribution of copper in the HFe-fed mice, suggesting that altered storage and thus bioavailability contributed to the noted copper deficiency. Dietary iron loading thus antagonizes copper homeostasis leading to pathological symptoms of severe copper depletion.
The association between gestational weight gain and risk of stillbirth: a population-based cohort study.

Abstract Purpose To estimate the risk of stillbirth associated with excessive and inadequate weight gain during pregnancy. Methods Retrospective cohort study using the Texas vital records database between 2006 and 2011, with 2,230,310 births (5502 stillbirths) was included for analysis. Pregnancies were categorized as adequate weight gain, excessive weight gain, inadequate weight gain, or weight loss based on the Institute of Medicine 2009 recommendations. Hazard ratios (HRs) for stillbirth were estimated for each gestational weight-gain stratum using adequate weight gain as the comparison group. The analysis was performed separately for each body mass index (BMI) class. Results Both inadequate weight gain and weight loss were associated with an increased risk of stillbirth for all BMI classes except the morbidly obese group. Highest risk was seen in weight-loss groups after 36 completed weeks (normal weight: HR = 18.85 [8.25–43.09]; overweight: HR = 5.87 [2.99–11.55]; obese: HR = 3.44 [2.34–5.05]). Weight loss was associated with reduced stillbirth risk in morbidly obese women between 24 and 28 weeks (HR = 0.56 [0.34–0.95]). Excess weight gain was associated with an increased risk of stillbirth among obese and morbidly obese women, with highest risk after 36 completed weeks (obese: HR = 2.00 [1.55–2.58]; morbidly obese: HR = 3.16 [2.17–4.62]). In contrast, excess weight gain was associated with reduced risk of stillbirth in normal-weight women between 24 and 28 weeks (HR = 0.57 [0.44–0.70]) and in overweight women between 29 and 33 weeks (HR = 0.62 [0.45–0.85]). Analysis for the underweight group was limited by sample size. Both excessive weight gain and inadequate weight gain were not associated with stillbirth in this group. Conclusions Stillbirth risk increased with inadequate weight gain and weight loss in all BMI classes except the morbidly obese group, where weight demonstrated a protective effect. Conversely, excessive weight gain was associated with higher risk of stillbirth among obese and morbidly obese women but was protective against stillbirth in lower weight women.
Ultrasensitive telemetric sensor based on adapted parity-time symmetry

We propose and experimentally investigate a new parity-time (PT)-symmetric wireless sensor system, whose equivalent circuit topologically satisfies the time-reversal and spatial-inversion symmetry. We demonstrate that an adapted PT-symmetric wireless sensor can enable high quality-factor (Q-factor) and great sensitivity in detecting physiological and environmental variations, overcoming the long-standing challenge in optimizations of Q-factor and sensitivity of miniature wireless sensors. Our results may ever have an impact on many wireless sensing, imaging and monitoring systems, particularly benefiting the emerging micromachined sensors, bioimplants, wearable devices, and internet-of-things applications.
Using Behavioral Analytics to Increase Exercise: A Randomized N-of-1 Study.

Introduction This intervention study used mobile technologies to investigate whether those randomized to receive a personalized “activity fingerprint” (i.e., a one-time tailored message about personal predictors of exercise developed from 6 months of observational data) increased their physical activity levels relative to those not receiving the fingerprint. Study design A 12-month randomized intervention study. Setting/participants From 2014 to 2015, 79 intermittent exercisers had their daily physical activity assessed by accelerometry (Fitbit Flex) and daily stress experience, a potential predictor of exercise behavior, was assessed by smartphone. Intervention Data collected during the first 6 months of observation were used to develop a person-specific “activity fingerprint” (i.e., N-of-1) that was subsequently sent via email on a single occasion to randomized participants. Main outcome measures Pre–post changes in the percentage of days exercised were analyzed within and between control and intervention groups. Results The control group significantly decreased their proportion of days exercised (10.5% decrease, p Conclusions This N-of-1 intervention study demonstrates that a one-time brief message conveying personalized exercise predictors had a beneficial effect on exercise behavior among urban adults.
Paradigm shift: changing public access to all-access defibrillation

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a major cause of mortality in industrialised countries and an emerging public health challenge in developing countries as the burden of non-communicable chronic disease—specifically cardiovascular disease—increases. Although efforts aimed at risk stratification and prevention are key, OHCA is often the first clinical manifestation of heart disease, making prevention only part of a comprehensive solution. As a consequence, there is a need for effective treatment in the form of resuscitation. What are the public health implications of improving survival from ventricular fibrillation OHCA? Current international estimates are that there are ~12 treated ventricular fibrillation arrests per hundred thousand persons of population.1 Extrapolated to North America, Europe and Australia, this incidence translates to nearly 150 000 such arrests each year. Estimates of incidence are less certain for Asia, Africa, Central and South America, but undoubtedly ventricular fibrillation OHCA collectively strikes hundreds of thousands of lives each year in these geographies as well. Survival is variable across communities. Aggregate estimates for survival among mature, resourced emergency response systems range from 15% to 30% for ventricular fibrillation OHCA and yet there are examples of survival consistently exceeding 50% in particular systems or circumstances, indicating a real opportunity to advance survival and in turn improve public health if we could achieve consistent best practices across systems.1 Importantly, if resuscitation is successful and an OHCA victim survives to be discharged from the hospital, the survivor experiences on average an excellent prognosis that rivals age-matched counterpart without OHCA. Most survivors return home, resume work and enjoy a satisfactory quality of life.2 Hence, strategies that can increase survival following OHCA have important personal and societal benefits. High-yield strategies to improve resuscitation should derive from our understanding of the pathophysiology of OHCA. Scientific investigation has provided for important discovery that has defined effective …
Understanding the Gap: Perceived Health Literacy Levels Among Spanish-Speaking Immigrants in Miami-Dade County, 2016.

Health literacy levels among immigrant populations in Miami-Dade County have yet to be examined. This study investigates perceived health literacy ability and measured health literacy scores among Miami-Dade County immigrants. Methods: Patients seen in the Refugee Health Assessment Program and Family Planning Program completed a health literacy assessment in November 2016. Participants were immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries who reported living in the U.S. for ≤ 10 years. Logistic regression models were used to determine predictors of agreement. 283 patients responded. No characteristics were significant predictors of agreement; However, we found lower agreement among participants that were 18–24 years old (49%), received medical information from the internet/television (46%), and had lived in the U.S. for only 6–12 months (49%). Our findings suggest that immigrant patients may have limited understanding of their health literacy abilities. Clinicians need to take health literacy levels into account when interacting with patients.
Role of Ethylene Oxidation in the Mechanism of Ethylene Action

Oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide by ethylene monooxygenase (EM) has been shown to occur in Mycobacterium paraffinicum (14, 16, 17, 18, 32), plants (8, 21, 24), and animals (22, 23). In microorganisms and animals, ethylene oxide is the only product of the reaction. In plants however, oxidation of ethylene also yields CO2. The ethylene oxide formed in fababeans eventually gives rise to etnylene glycol, ethanolamine, oxalate, and glycolate (20).
A Learning-Based Patient Repositioning Method from Limited-Angle Projections

This paper presents a novel patient repositioning method from limitedangle tomographic projections. It uses a machine learning strategy. Given a single planning CT image (3D) of a patient, one applies patient-specific training. Using the training results, the planning CT image, and the raw image projections collected at the treatment time, our method yields the difference between the patient’s treatmenttime postition and orientation and the planning-time position and orientation. In the training, one simulates credible treatment-time movements for the patient, and by regression it formulates a multiscale model that expresses the relationship giving the patient’s movements as a function of the corresponding changes in the tomographic projections. When the patient’s real-time projection images are acquired at treatment time, their differences from corresponding projections of the planning-time CT followed by applications of the calculated model allows the patient’s movements to be estimated. Using that estimation, the treatment-time 3D image can be estimated by transforming the planning CT image with the estimated movements,and from this, changes in the tomographic projections between those computed from the transformed CT and the real-time projection images can be calculated. The iterative, multiscale application of these steps converges to the repositioning movements. By this means, this method can overcome the deficiencies in limited-angle tomosynthesis and thus assist the clinician performing an image-guided treatment. We demonstrate the method’s success in capturing patients’ rigid motions with subvoxel accuracy with noise-added projection images of head and neck CTs.
Benefits of a mobile, point-of-care anticoagulation therapy management program.

Article-at-a-Glance Background Current guidelines recommend anticoagulation therapy for a number of medical conditions, but this therapy also has the potential for serious complications, particularly bleeding complications. Maintenance of anticoagulation within a narrow therapeutic window usually entails frequent monitoring with a blood test called the international normalized ratio (INR). Anticoagulation therapy management (ATM) clinics lead to improvements in quality of care, in terms of improved INR control and reduced complications. This study examined the impact of a mobile multisite, office-based ATM program that operated in seven cardiology offices in all three counties in Delaware. ATM program The ATM program was managed by a trained nurse who rotated among all seven offices. Patients made office visits to the nurse and received patient education, point-of-care INR testing, and medication adjustment based on a physician-approved algorithm. Methods This retrospective cohort study compared INR levels in the year before (May 1998–Apr 1999) and the year after (Aug 1999–Jul 2000) the start of the ATM program. Results From the year before to the year after implementation of the ATM program, the percentage of in-range INRs increased from 40.7% to 58.5% (p Discussion This study demonstrates the positive impact of a statewide office-based ATM program. If similar programs could be implemented in other networks of specialty offices or primary care offices, they could have a significant benefit to quality of care for patients who require anticoagulation therapy.
Rare-Earth Hafnium Oxide Materials for Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Generator Application

Several ceramic materials based on rare-earth hafnium oxides have been identified as potential high-temperature electrodes and low-temperature current leadouts for open cycle coal-fired MHD generator channels. The electrode-current leadouts combination must operate at temperatures between 400 and 2000K with an electrical conductivity greater than 10−2ohm−1cm−1. The electrodes will be exposed to flowing (linear flow rates up to 100 m/s) potassium seeded coal combustion gases (plasma core temperatures between 2400–3200K) and coal slag. During operation the electrodes must conduct direct electric current at densities near 1.5 amp/cm2. Consequently, the electrodes must be resistant to electrochemical decompositions and interactions with both the coal slag and potassium salts (e.g., K2SO4, K2CO3). The current leadout materials are placed between the hot electrodes and the water-cooled copper structural members and must have electrical conductivities greater than 10−2ohm−1cm−1 between 1400 and 400K. The current leadouts must be thermally and electrochemically compatible with the electrode, copper, and potassium salts. Ideally, the electrodes and current leadouts should exhibit minimal ionic conductivity.
Active Libraries: A Flexible Strategy for Active Networks

Active networks are a new area of research and as such there are many different ideas as to what an active network should be. One possible architecture is described in this paper along with experimental results that characterize the performance and verify the operation of a fundamental component of the architecture. This component is an active library resolution service that allows active programs to find and load active libraries from the network. This strategy is evaluated and reviewed in detail. The results indicate that the research prototype, which only investigates the issue of where and how to obtain arbitrary libraries from the network, does work and should be scalable. The proposed architecture relies on a novel conceptualization of what minimum functionality should be in an extensible operating system and how systems could be built in an active network. The view is that extensible operating systems and mobile code allow functional components of the operating system and user applications to be obtained from the network. Thus, the overarching goal is a dynamic system in which system modules, such as file systems or network protocols, are loaded into and unloaded from the kernel on demand and the modules are obtained transparently from the network for active programs that need them.
BRS Sound Exposure Modeling Tool: A system for planning, visualization and analysis

The Behavioral Research Studies (BRS) Sound Exposure Modeling Tool has been developed to provide both planning and near real-time guidance for Controlled Exposure Experiments (CEEs), first in the Southern California Bight, and then in the Gulf Stream area off Cape Hatteras. Transmission loss from a mid-frequency sound source is estimated using Navy and NOAA acoustic propagation models and environmental databases. A Navy version of the RAM parabolic equation model and a ray-theory based model Bellhop are used to cover long-range and short-range propagation scenarios, respectively. The tool operates in a MATLAB Ⓒ computing environment and uses a simple parallelization scheme to speed up the processing. The Graphical User Interface and design of the output graphical products have been tuned based on feedback from the use of the model in the field. In addition to operational use for estimating the sound exposure on a tagged whale, the developed tool can be applied for reconstructing sonar received level to verify and analyze results of both planned and opportunistic BRS experiments, as well as to study sensitivity of the acoustic propagation modeling to uncertainties and spatio-temporal resolution of the model input.
Scoring the risk matrix

In systems engineering, the risk matrix is a popular protocol for binning risks into a collection of probability and consequence cells. In its traditional form, the risk matrix produces a ranking of cells according to their position in an ordered list. From this, management can distinguish whether a set of risks collected in one risk matrix cell has a higher priority than a set of risks collected in another cell. However, if decisions require measuring the relative differences between pairs of cells across their rank positions, then it is necessary to map them from their ordinal scale to an interval scale. This paper introduces methods from representational measurement theory to transform a rank ordered list of risk matrix cells into an interval measurement scale. The transformation produces a scored risk matrix. This allows relative differences among cells to be meaningfully compared, which broadens its use in management decisions. A scored risk matrix provides greater insights into the urgency of risks grouped within cells than is possible in a traditional risk matrix, while remaining within its ease and popularity of use.
BPM Meets SOA

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) provides a framework for the design of business processes that manage shared capabilities. Shared capabilities can be engaged in multiple lines of business and achieve both economies of scale through consolidation and enterprise agility through the ability to configure new lines of business using existing capabilities. Capabilities are managed as service units that include the skills and resources to deliver well-defined services. In a transformed enterprise, service units engaged by each line of business become participants in a value chains that form the basis for optimization of operations and delivery of customer value.
Cults of personality, preference falsification, and the dictator's dilemma

We offer a novel rational explanation for cults of personality. Participation in a cult of personality is psychologically costly whenever it involves preference falsification, with the costs varyin...
Ancients and moderns in sixteenth-century ethnography

ABSTRACTThe sixteenth-century reckoning with extra-European peoples and cultures occurred at precisely the same moment that humanists were increasingly preoccupied with the daily life, material cul...
A Longitudinal Study of Gun Violence Attitudes: Role of Childhood Aggression and Exposure to Violence, and Early Adolescent Bullying Perpetration and Victimization

This prospective study examined the effects of early childhood physical aggression and violence exposure on bullying victimization/perpetration and attitudes toward guns and violence in early adole...
Beyond Team Makeup: Diversity in Teams Predicts Valued Outcomes in Computer-Mediated Collaborations

In an increasingly globalized and service-oriented economy, people need to engage in computer-mediated collaborative problem solving (CPS) with diverse teams. However, teams routinely fail to live up to expectations, showcasing the need for technologies that help develop effective collaboration skills. We take a step in this direction by investigating how different dimensions of team diversity (demographic, personality, attitudes towards teamwork, prior domain experience) predict objective (e.g. effective solutions) and subjective (e.g. positive perceptions) collaborative outcomes. We collected data from 96 triads who engaged in a 30-minute CPS task via videoconferencing. We found that demographic diversity and differing attitudes towards teamwork predicted impressions of positive engagement, while personality diversity predicted learning outcomes. Importantly, these relationships were maintained after accounting for team makeup. None of the diversity measures predicted task performance. We discuss how our findings can be incorporated into technologies that aim to help diverse teams develop CPS skills.
Interventions for child and adolescent survivors of intrafamilial homicide: A review of the literature.

The nature of intrafamilial homicide is complex and traumatic. Child survivors are at significant risk for maladjustment, including negative psychological sequela, grief complications, and contextu...
Abstract 14368: Artificial Intelligence-Electrocardiography to Predict Time to Atrial Fibrillation: An Analysis of Mayo Clinic Study of Aging

Introduction: An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm applied to electrocardiography (ECG) during normal sinus rhythm (NSR) has been shown to predict concomitant atrial fibrillation (AF). We soug...
An OpenMP Runtime for Transparent Work Sharing Across Cache-Incoherent Heterogeneous Nodes

In this work we present libHetMP, an OpenMP runtime for automatically and transparently distributing parallel computation across heterogeneous nodes. libHetMP targets platforms comprising CPUs with different instruction set architectures (ISA) coupled by a high-speed memory interconnect, where cross-ISA binary incompatibility and non-coherent caches require application data be marshaled to be shared across CPUs. Because of this, work distribution decisions must take into account both relative compute performance of asymmetric CPUs and communication overheads. libHetMP drives workload distribution decisions without programmer intervention by measuring performance characteristics during cross-node execution. A novel HetProbe loop iteration scheduler decides if cross-node execution is beneficial, and either distributes work according to the relative performance of CPUs when it is, or places all work on the set of homogeneous CPUs providing the best performance when it is not. We evaluate libHetMP using compute kernels from several OpenMP benchmark suites and show a geometric mean 41% speedup in execution time across asymmetric CPUs.
Gut microbiome differences among Mexican Americans with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Purpose Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an urgent public health problem and disproportionately affects Mexican Americans. The gut microbiome contributes to the pathophysiology of diabetes; however, no studies have examined this association in Mexican-Americans. The objective of this study was to compare gut microbiome composition between Mexican-Americans with and without T2DM. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of volunteers from San Antonio, TX. Subjects were 18 years or older and self-identified as Mexican American. Subjects were grouped by prior T2DM diagnosis. Eligible subjects attended a clinic visit to provide demographic and medical information. Thereafter, subjects recorded their dietary intake for three days and collected a stool sample on the fourth day. Stool 16s rRNA sequences were classified into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) via the mothur bayesian classifier and referenced to the Greengenes database. Shannon diversity and bacterial taxa relative abundance were compared between groups using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Beta diversity was estimated using Bray-Curtis indices and compared between groups using PERMANOVA. Results Thirty-seven subjects were included, 14 (38%) with diabetes and 23 (62%) without diabetes. Groups were well-matched by body mass index and comorbid conditions. Shannon diversity was not significantly different between those with and without T2DM (3.26 vs. 3.31; p = 0.341). Beta diversity was not significantly associated with T2DM diagnosis (p = 0.201). The relative abundance of the most common bacterial phyla and families did not significantly differ between groups; however, 16 OTUs were significantly different between groups. Conclusions Although alpha diversity was not significantly different between diabetic and non-diabetic Mexican Americans, the abundance of certain bacterial taxa were significantly different between groups.