cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Utility of fluorodeoxyglucose-PET imaging in the management of patients with Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

The management of patients with Hodgkin’s disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHLs) relies on the pathologic definition of the precise histologic subtype of lymphoma and the clinical stage of disease. Indeed, the natural history of different lymphoma subtypes is heterogeneous, influencing treatment goals and therapeutic strategies. In patients with potentially curable malignancies, such as HD or large cell lymphoma, management decisions aim at the eradication of any residual disease while minimizing adverse long-term consequences of the treatment. In contrast, for most cases of follicular lymphoma or other subtypes of what has historically been called ‘‘low-grade lymphoma,’’ a cure is a remote possibility with current treatment modalities. Therefore appropriate management aims at achieving prolonged control of the disease while minimizing side effects and toxicity of treatment. Differences between lymphoma subtypes influence the type of information desired during the initial work-up, disease staging, and patient follow-up. In all cases, treatment decisions at presentation are based on the initial staging of the disease and on the identification of established prognostic factors. Initial staging involves a combination of physical examination, conventional imaging modalities such as CT or MR imaging, bone marrow biopsy, and other appropriate tissue biopsies. Most of the staging information is usually obtained from CT imaging. Despite this important role, CT imaging has limitations: lymph node size is a main diagnostic criterion of malignancy, but CT only defines anatomy and is inadequate for the depiction of small volumes of tumor in normal-sized structures. CT has other limitations in evaluating the response to treatment, because lesions may take some time to shrink or may shrink incompletely, especially in fibrotic lymph nodes. Unlike CT and MR imaging, fluorodeoxyglucose-PET (FDG-PET) imaging is based on increased glucose metabolism in malignant lesions. Metabolic imaging with FDG-PET has emerged as a powerful imaging modality for the diagnosis, staging, and monitoring of various cancers [1]. Accumulating evidence now indicates that FDG-PET can play an important role in a number of management decisions during the initial staging and follow-up of HD and NHL patients. Initial staging
Animal models of systemic sclerosis: insights into systemic sclerosis pathogenesis and potential therapeutic approaches.

Purpose of review Animal models have been extremely valuable in contributing to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis. Discussed here are recent studies that have examined the molecular pathways and potential therapeutic approaches for systemic sclerosis using animal models. Recent findings Reported evidence further indicates that the immune system plays a role in modulating the fibrosis observed in the tight skin-1/+ mouse model for systemic sclerosis. CD19, interleukin-6, and interleukin-4 are involved. The injection of spleen cells into immune-compromised mice resulted in fibrotic, vascular, and immunologic alterations quite similar to those of systemic sclerosis. Transforming growth factor- and its signaling pathway (JAK kinase and STAT-6, Smad2/3, and Smad7) appear to play a central role in the development of fibrosis as well as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, CCR-2, platelet-derived growth factor C, and excessive apoptosis. Viruses were shown to be possible cofactors. The therapeutic agents hepatocyte growth factor and halofuginone were shown to prevent fibrosis in animal models of systemic sclerosis. Summary The transforming growth factor- signaling pathway is a common mechanism of tissue fibrosis in animal models of systemic sclerosis, although numerous additional molecules modulate this pathway or have a direct effect on fibrosis.
On-line planning of nonholonomic trajectories in crowded and geometrically unknown environments

Navigation of a car-like robot in environments with unknowns requires effective on-line planning of nonholonomic trajectories. We propose a set of basic maneuver patterns based on Bezier curves that allow either forward or backward motion as building blocks to create nonholonomic trajectories quickly, given a sequence of knot positions/points (e.g., from some GPS navigator). These maneuver patterns are particularly useful for generating feasible trajectories in crowded environments with many narrow passages. We embed the above techniques in a new planner suitable for on-line planning of nonholonomic and collision-free trajectories, called the ON planner. Our ON planner enables that, given a sequence of rough knot points, a car-like robot can simultaneously plan and move in a geometrically unknown, crowded environment with local sensing towards a goal. Simulation results demonstrate the planner's nice capabilities.
The Explanation of Occupational Prestige Hierarchies

The ranking of occupational prestige in Taiwan is highly similar to that in the United States and the numerous other societies-both modernized and relatively non-modernized-in which such studies have been conducted. Previous explanations of this important cross-societal invariant, occupational prestige evaluation, have emphasized common structural features of any complex society, whether industrialized or not. It is not clear how this proposition can be empirically falsified. A more satisfactory explanation is sought in terms of specific properties of occupationial roles in any society, viz., education, responsibility (or authority), and income. The relationship of each of these variables to prestige is analyzed with data from Taiwan, Denmark, and the United States.
‘In the City of Blinding Lights’: Indigeneity, Cultural Studies and the Errants of Colonial Nostalgia

US-based cultural studies often prioritises issues of race, class, and gender within popular representations of the ‘other’ at the expense of undertheorising, especially within its own settler colonial history, issues of indigeneity, colonialism, and imperialism. This essay takes as a case study the US 2008 Democratic presidential primary cycle in which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ran for their party’s nomination by claiming that their success would fulfil either the promises of the civil rights movement or second-wave feminism. Through the course of the primary season, each of these movements was framed within the larger US national myth of Manifest Destiny with its nostalgic struggles against an ‘unforgiving wilderness’. Indigenous critical theory, as it engages US cultural studies and theories of resistance, recentres issues of colonialism within the historical and material cultural productions of the nation and challenges the political discourse of liberatory inclusion and freedom to acknowledge the colonisation of indigenous peoples upon which ‘inclusion’ and ‘freedom’ are built.
Fusion of multi-sensor imagery for night vision: color visualization, target learning and search

We present methods and results for fusion of imagery from multiple sensors to create a color night vision capability. The fusion system architectures are based on biological models of the spatial and opponent-color processes in the human retina and visual cortex, implemented as shunting center-surround feed-forward neural networks. Real-time implementation of the dual-sensor fusion system combines imagery from either a low-light CCD camera or a short-wave infrared camera, with thermal long-wave infrared imagery. Results are also shown for extensions of this fusion architecture to include imagery from all three of these sensors, Visible/SWIR/LWIR, as well as a four sensor system using Visible/SWIR/MWIR/LWIR cameras. We also demonstrate how results from these multi-sensor fusion systems are used as inputs to an interactive tool for target designation, learning, and search based on a fuzzy ARTMAP neural network.
Analytical computation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors in DT-MRI.

Abstract In this paper a noniterative algorithm to be used for the analytical determination of the sorted eigenvalues and corresponding orthonormalized eigenvectors obtained by diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) is described. The algorithm uses the three invariants of the raw water spin self-diffusion tensor represented by a 3×3 positive definite matrix and certain math functions that do not require iteration. The implementation requires a positive definite mask to preserve the physical meaning of the eigenvalues. This algorithm can increase the speed of eigenvalue/eigenvector calculations by a factor of 5–40 over standard iterative Jacobi or singular-value decomposition techniques. This approach may accelerate the computation of eigenvalues, eigenvalue-dependent metrics, and eigenvectors especially when having high-resolution measurements with large numbers of slices and large fields of view.
Humoral immune response and immunoglobulin G Fc receptor genotype are associated with better clinical outcome following idiotype vaccination in follicular lymphoma patients regardless of their response to induction chemotherapy

We have reported that anti-idiotype antibody response and FcγRIIIa 158 valine/valine (V/V) genotype both correlate with better outcome in a group of 136 follicular lymphoma patients receiving idiotype vaccination after induction chemotherapy. Here, we examined whether this correlation is related in any way to the chemotherapy response. In patients with complete response (CR), the 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 69% for patients with antibody response and/or V/V genotype, while the PFS was only 40% for patients with neither; the median time to progression (TTP) was 10.47 versus 3.46 years (P = .012). In patients with partial response (PR), the 5-year PFS was 57% for patients with antibody response and/or V/V genotype, and 17% for patients with neither; the median TTP was not reached versus 1.31 years (P = .001). This study further confirms the strong association of clinical outcome with antibody response and with the functionally more active form of the Fc receptor in patients receiving idiotype vaccination regardless of their response to induction chemotherapy.
The influence of the Goos–Hänchen effect on seismic data processing and AVO in attenuating media

Abstract The Goos–Hanchen (GH) effect induced by the total reflection of an incident beam of P-wave from a low-impedance medium to a high-impedance medium at near- and post-critical angles was theoretically simulated and discussed. For both PP- and PSV-waves, there may be large GH shifts (GHS) and penetration depths (PD) for both lossless and attenuating media. As the Q-factor increases, or the frequency of the seismic wave decreases, the GH effect is increased. However, in attenuating media, there may be non-zero GHS and PD at all non-zero incident angles, not just post-critical angles. GHS may be either positive or negative, while PD is positive only. Compared to the Q-factor in the incident medium, the Q-factor in the transmission medium may play a more dominant role in the determination of reflection coefficients, GHS, and PD. The GH-induced normal moveout (NMO) discrepancy of the PSV-wave may be larger than that of the PP-wave. Due to the GH effect, there may be an angle discrepancy (at fixed offset) between the GH-modified incident angle and the traditional incident angle. In addition, the GH effect at a given offset may produce two or three reflected waves, from different incident angles. These results suggest that, within their assumptions, the GH effect may lead to errors in NMO estimates and the vertical location of the reflector. Furthermore, there may be errors in offsets, incident angles, and reflection amplitudes, in the analyses of the amplitude variation with offset (AVO). These GH effects might be more important for seismic data at fixed offsets and shallow layers, and for sonic log data, which might fall into the post-critical angle regime. Therefore, there may be a necessity to take into account the GH effect in the interpretation of wide-angle reflection data in NMO and AVO analyses.
Optimal stopping with random intervention times

We consider a class of optimal stopping problems where the ability to stop depends on an exogenous Poisson signal process - we can only stop at the Poisson jump times. Even though the time variable in these problems has a discrete aspect, a variational inequality can be obtained by considering an underlying continuous-time structure. Depending on whether stopping is allowed at t = 0, the value function exhibits different properties across the optimal exercise boundary. Indeed, the value function is only 𝒞 0 across the optimal boundary when stopping is allowed at t = 0 and 𝒞 2 otherwise, both contradicting the usual 𝒞 1 smoothness that is necessary and sufficient for the application of the principle of smooth fit. Also discussed is an equivalent stochastic control formulation for these stopping problems. Finally, we derive the asymptotic behaviour of the value functions and optimal exercise boundaries as the intensity of the Poisson process goes to infinity or, roughly speaking, as the problems converge to the classical continuous-time optimal stopping problems.
Too much teaching, not enough learning: what is the solution?

The curriculum is packed with so much content that teachers resort to telling students what they know and students simply commit facts to memory. The packed curriculum leaves little time for studen...
Manipulator for magnetic resonance imaging guided interventions: design, prototype and feasibility

The aim of this work is to develop a seven degree of freedom (DOF) remotely controlled manipulator to perform minimally invasive interventions with real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance inside clinical cylindrical scanners. Control of the device is based on MR images collected pre-operatively and in real-time during the procedure. A user interface fuses all sensor information for man-in-the-loop control. Stereotactic guidance uses multislice and/or three-dimensional MR images to set a trajectory of insertion. Free-handed (or manual) guidance uses a master/slave control device, which replicates the kinematics structure of the arm, to control its movement. The control software checks any motion of the manipulator whether it is within an allowable volume extracted from MR images. The device control is performed with a host/target computer configuration. The system is connected to the MR scanner to receive the MR images and send the coordinates of the end-effector for dynamic control of the imaged plane. The manipulator compatibility with the MR environment and image-guided maneuvering was tested on a 1.5 Tesla MR scanner
Chemical Treatment of Low-k Dielectric Surfaces for Patterning of Thin Solid Films in Microelectronic Applications.

A protocol has been developed to selectively process low-k SiCOH dielectric substrates in order to activate or deactivate them toward the deposition of thin solid films by chemical (CVD or ALD) means. The original SiCOH surfaces are hydrophobic, an indication that they are alkyl- rather than silanol-terminated and that, consequently, they are fairly unreactive. However, the chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) sometimes done during microelectronics fabrication renders them hydrophilic and reactive. It was shown here that silylation of the CMP-treated surfaces with any of a number of well-known silylation agents such as HMDS, ODTS, or OTS caps the reactive silanol surface groups and turns them back to being hydrophilic and unreactive. Further exposure of any of the passivated surfaces to a combination of ozone and UV radiation reinstates their hydrophilicity and chemical activity. Importantly, it was also demonstrated that all these changes could be induced without altering the original mechanical, optical,...
A Divide to Heal the UnionThe Creation of the Continental Divide

This article traces the process by which people in the United States embraced the Continental Divide as a geographic feature of North America in the late 1860s. Building on recent work in environmental history, Civil War memory, geography, and the history of nationalism, the essay explains how accurate mapping alone did not reveal the Continental Divide. Instead, the divide’s conceptualization also depended on Americans’ history of thinking about the Rockies as a political boundary, southern secession, and the building of the transcontinental railroad. Many Americans found in that railroad’s construction solace for a nation recovering from the Civil War, and they cast themselves as conquering nature to unite the nation. Railroad boosters and passengers consecrated the Continental Divide as a symbol of national unity and an icon of obstacles overcome. In a nation trying to overcome its sectional division between North and South, aspirations for reunification formed a foundation for emphasizing the continent’s most prominent feature that separates East and West.
Partnership Accounts in Twelfth Century Genoa

In a sketch of the activities of a Genoese public notary of the late twelfth century, which appeared in this Bulletin some time ago, it was pointed out that his records included a considerable number of partnership contracts. Such contracts were almost always concluded for the purpose of trading overseas. As we know, the Genoese merchants of the twelfth century were chiefly engaged in the trade with North Africa, Romania (the Byzantine Empire), the Levant, and also Spain, southern France, Sicily, and Sardinia.
Intracranial angioplasty and thrombolysis.

With careful patient selection, timely neuroendovascular therapy can improve the clinical outcome of patients suffering from cerebrovascular ischemic disease. The current indications, techniques, recent experiences, limitations, and future directions of balloon angioplasty and local intra-arterial/ intravenous thrombolysis in the treatment of intracranial vasospasm, atherosclerotic disease, thromboembolism, and dural sinus thrombosis are reviewed.
NPM-RAR Binding To Tradd Selectively Blocks TNF-Induced Apoptosis While Allowing TNF Activation Of JNK

The t(5;17)(q35;q21) variant of acute promyelocytic leukemia fuses nucleophosmin (NPM) to the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA). Expression of the NPM-RAR fusion protein leads to a leukemic phenotype similar to that caused by the t(15;17)(q22;q21) PML-RAR fusion. Using a proteomic approach to identify proteins that bind NPM-RAR, we previously demonstrated that TRADD, amongst other proteins, is a distinct binding partner for NPM-RAR. TRADD serves as an adapter protein that mediates TNF-receptor-mediated activation of the caspase, NFkB, and JNK pathways. We reported that NPM-RAR inhibits TNF-activation of caspase 8 and caspase 3, with subsequent impairment of TNF-induced apoptosis. Extending these findings, we assayed activation of JNK kinase in NPM-RAR-expressing subclones of HELA and U937 cells. We find that TNF activated JNK kinase in NPM-RAR HELA and U937 cells to a similar extent as nontransfected parental controls. This indicates that NPM-RAR binding to TRADD selectively inhibits TNF’s ability to activate caspases, without impairing its ability to activate JNK. In this regard, NPM-RAR effects on TRADD is similar to the EBV oncogenic viral protein LMP1, which binds to the death domain of TRADD, to selectively inhibit caspase activity, while still allowing TNF-mediated activation of survival pathways. Our studies identify a novel mechanism through which NPM-RAR may impact leukemogenesis. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Learning temporal rules to forecast instability in continuously monitored patients.

Inductive machine learning, and in particular extraction of association rules from data, has been successfully used in multiple application domains, such as market basket analysis, disease prognosis, fraud detection, and protein sequencing. The appeal of rule extraction techniques stems from their ability to handle intricate problems yet produce models based on rules that can be comprehended by humans, and are therefore more transparent. Human comprehension is a factor that may improve adoption and use of data-driven decision support systems clinically via face validity. In this work, we explore whether we can reliably and informatively forecast cardiorespiratory instability (CRI) in step-down unit (SDU) patients utilizing data from continuous monitoring of physiologic vital sign (VS) measurements. We use a temporal association rule extraction technique in conjunction with a rule fusion protocol to learn how to forecast CRI in continuously monitored patients. We detail our approach and present and discuss encouraging empirical results obtained using continuous multivariate VS data from the bedside monitors of 297 SDU patients spanning 29 346 hours (3.35 patient-years) of observation. We present example rules that have been learned from data to illustrate potential benefits of comprehensibility of the extracted models, and we analyze the empirical utility of each VS as a potential leading indicator of an impending CRI event.
Complications of radical cystectomy and urinary diversion: a retrospective review of 675 cases in 2 decades.

AbstractA retrospective review was performed on all 675 patients who underwent radical cystectomy and urinary diversion during 2 decades. Of the patients 197 were treated from 1969 to 1979 (group 1) and 478 were treated from 1980 until 1990 (group 2). The mean age of patients in group 1 was 56.7 years versus 64.2 years in group 2 (p <0.001). The overall operative mortality rate in both groups was 2.5%. A total of 215 patients (31.9%) experienced postoperative complications (within 30 days of surgery). The morbidity rate was nearly identical between the 2 groups (32.0% for group 1 versus 31.8% for group 2, p = 0.962). Of note, however, there was a decreased incidence of wound infections and wound dehiscence among the patients in group 2 compared to group 1.Long-term complications occurred in 198 of the 675 patients (29.3%). At followup group 1 had a 35.5% incidence of long-term complications versus 26.8% in group 2 (p = 0.022). Most notably there was significant improvement in the incidence of ureteroenter...
Manilius iv 681-95

In his article ‘Notes and Conjectures on the Astronomica of Manilius’, Antichthon ii (1968), 63 ff., of which he has been kind enough to send me a copy, Mr D. B. Gain discusses the following passage: iv 681 quod superest Europa tenet…. 686 maxima terra viris et fecundissima doctis artibus: in regnum florentes oris Athenae; Sparta manu, Thebae divis, et rege vel uno princeps Pella domus, Troiani gratia belli; Thessalia Epirosque potens vicinaque utrisque Illyris et Threce Martem sortita colonum, et stupefacta suos inter Germania partus; Gallia per census, Hispania maxima bellis; Italia in summa, quam rerum maxima Roma 695 imposuit terris caeloque adiungitur ipsa. 687 artibus Housman , urbibus Ω 689 Pella Schrader , ilia Ω 690 utrisque Gain , ripis Ω
The Sense of Control in Midlife

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the sense of control in midlife. The chapter states that midlife is paradoxically a period in which individuals have many goals, roles, and responsibilities besides stress and lack of time for leisure. They also experience a peak in personal control and power. In midlife, adults may begin to recognize more external sources of control and adopt more accommodative (or secondary) control strategies, while maintaining their own sense of internal control and efficacy. To achieve a balanced mental state and attitude during midlife, when roles, goals, responsibilities, and stress tend to peak, individuals must believe in their own competence and effectiveness, and also be aware of their limitations and the influences of outside factors. According to the chapter, to understand individuals' sense of control in middle adulthood, one must study their sense of control within the context of the entire lifespan, as well as within the social and historical context.
Workload Characterization of a Parallel Video Mining Application on a 16-Way Shared-Memory Multiprocessor System

As video data become more and more pervasive, mining information from multimedia data sources becomes increasingly important, e.g., automatically extracting highlights from soccer game video content. However, the huge computation requirement of mining interested data limits its wide use in practice. Since the hardware imperative behind computer architecture is shifting from uniprocessors to multi-core processors, exploiting thread-level parallelism existing in multimedia mining applications is critical to utilizing the hardware resources and accelerating the complex processing of highlight events detection. In this paper we analyze the view type and playfield detection application, a widely used application in sports video mining systems, and we present several different schemes (task level, data-slicing-level, and a hybrid parallel scheme, as well as variations of the hybrid parallel scheme) for parallelizing this application. The hybrid parallel scheme, which exploits data-level and task-slicing-level parallelism, outperforms basic task-level and data-slicing-level schemes, delivering much better performance in terms of execution time and speedup. On a 16-way shared-memory multi-processing system with hardware prefetch enabled, the hybrid scheme achieves a speedup of 10.6x. Detailed performance analysis shows that because of the large working set, the workload often requires data from the off-chip memory. Therefore, the saturated bus bandwidth utilization is the likely cause of bottlenecks for achieving perfect scalability performance. With hardware prefetch enabled, the bus utilization rate on 16-processors system is about 76% for the hybrid scheme, and the projected bus bandwidth requirement for perfect scalability is about 3.1GB/s for 16 processors and 6.2 GB/s for 32 processors. In addition, our experiments also reveal that there are also no obvious scaling limiting factors, e.g., very low synchronization and load imbalance problems even with up to 16 processors
Educational Foundations: Philosophical and Historical Perspectives

This educational foundations book offers a comprehensive overview of American education history and a variety of classical, Enlightenment, and contemporary educational philosophers. While Educational Foundations includes a history of American education, it also looks at numerous policies, constitutional law cases, events, and political, religious, and social conflicts for students to consider while learning their subject matter. The text is divided into two sections: the first is a look at a broad array of philosophical influences from the Western canon, while the second is an exploration of the history of American education, focusing on a few specific eras. With strong and helpful pedagogical features and resources, such as class activities, suggested files, chapter objectives, and sidebar questions, this textbook is an excellent resource for students. It is useful for undergraduate and graduate courses in educational foundations.
Climate change and agriculture in New York and Pennsylvania: Risk perceptions, vulnerability and adaptation among farmers

Climate change impacts on agriculture have been intensifying in the Northeastern United States. In order to encourage the adoption of climate change adaptation and mitigation practices by farmers, it is critical to understand their perspectives on the risks they face and actions they are taking. However, very few empirical studies have considered how farmers are interpreting and responding to climate impacts, risks and opportunities in the Northeast. This study investigates farmer views and decisions related to climate change using data from six farmer focus groups conducted across New York and Pennsylvania. The study examined how farmers perceived climate impacts on their farms, the practices they are willing to adopt, and how perceived risks and vulnerability affect farmers’ decision-making related to adaptation and mitigation strategies. Although farmers articulated concern regarding climate impacts, they also made clear that other business pressures, such as profitability, market conditions, labor availability or government regulations were often more critical issues that affected their decision-making. Decisions about adopting climate change adaptation and mitigation practices vary widely, and personal experience with extreme weather and changing seasons affected decision-making. The findings from this study provide improved understanding of farmers’ needs and priorities, which can help guide land-grant researchers, extension and policymakers in their efforts to develop and coordinate a comprehensive strategy to address climate change impacts on agriculture in the Northeast.
Treatment of an Unusual Occurrence of a Complex Left Subclavian Artery/Left Internal Mammary Artery Bifurcation Stenosis in the Setting of Coronary Subclavian Steal Syndrome and Ischemic Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction

This case will illustrate the clinical and unique technical challenges, not previously reported, in a patient with a history of progressive left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction, congestive heart failure (CHF), myocardial infarction (MI), and a complex bifurcation lesion of the left subclavian artery (SA) involving the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) in the setting of coronary subclavian steal syndrome (CSSS). The approach to this lesion is complicated by significant LIMA involvement requiring intervention directed toward both the SA and the LIMA in the presence of severe LV systolic dysfunction. This clinical scenario necessitates a careful technique, utilizing bifurcation methods similar to those used in coronary intervention.
EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX, CELLULAR MECHANICS AND TISSUE ENGINEERING

One of the major recurring themes in this symposium on Tissue Engineering is that to design effective artificial tissues, we must first understand the critical chemical and structural determinants that control tissue development. Current tissue engineering approaches commonly use cell attachment scaffolds that are complex composites of naturally occuring extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules (e.g., collagens, glycosaminoglycans). Unfortunately, these “artificial ECMs” are restricted from an engineering standpoint: they exhibit a limited range of structural and chemical properties and are not easily chemically modified. Also, their large-scale fabrication can be limited by “batch to batch” variability during purification of the individual ECM molecules. An alternative approach for cell transplantation is to develop a completely synthetic attachment foundation that can support a high degree of cell function and yet be highly biocompatible (Vacanti et al., 1988; Cima et al., 1991). To accomplish this objective, recent advances in ECM biology must be merged with new developments in bioengineering and polymer chemistry.
Teaching Sociology: The Precariousness of Academic Freedom:

Threats to academic freedom are not new. Scholars who wrote about academic freedom decades ago were hinting at some of the same issues that we face today. However, as time passes, the threats seem ...
Safety of Positive Pressure Extubation Technique.

BACKGROUND: Laboratory studies suggest applying positive pressure without endotracheal suction during cuff deflation and extubation. Although some studies reported better physiological outcomes (e.g. arterial blood gases) with this technique, the safety of positive pressure extubation technique has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to determine the safety of the positive-pressure extubation technique compared with the traditional extubation technique in terms of incidence of complications. METHODS: Adult subjects who were critically ill and on invasive mechanical ventilation who met extubation criteria were included. The subjects were randomly assigned to positive-pressure extubation (n = 120) or to traditional extubation (n = 120). Sequential tests for noninferiority and, when appropriate, for superiority were performed. Positive pressure was considered noninferior if the upper limit of the CI for the absolute risk difference did not exceed a threshold of 15% in favor of the traditional group, both in per protocol and intention-to-treat analyses. A P value of RESULTS: A total of 236 subjects were included in the primary analysis (per protocol) (119 in the positive-pressure group and 117 in the traditional group). The incidence of overall major and minor complications, pneumonia, extubation failure, and reintubation was lower in the positive-pressure group than in the traditional group, with statistical significance for noninferiority both in the per protocol (P CONCLUSIONS: Positive pressure was safe and noninferior to traditional extubation methods. Furthermore, positive pressure has shown to be superior in terms of a lower incidence of major complications. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT03174509.)
Fluorescence-based analysis of the intracytoplasmic membranes of type I methanotrophs

Most methanotrophic bacteria maintain intracytoplasmic membranes which house the methane-oxidizing enzyme, particulate methane monooxygenase. Previous studies have primarily used transmission electron microscopy or cryo-electron microscopy to look at the structure of these membranes or lipid extraction methods to determine the per cent of cell dry weight composed of lipids. We show an alternative approach using lipophilic membrane probes and other fluorescent dyes to assess the extent of intracytoplasmic membrane formation in living cells. This fluorescence method is sensitive enough to show not only the characteristic shift in intracytoplasmic membrane formation that is present when methanotrophs are grown with or without copper, but also differences in intracytoplasmic membrane levels at intermediate copper concentrations. This technique can also be employed to monitor dynamic intracytoplasmic membrane changes in the same cell in real time under changing growth conditions. We anticipate that this approach will be of use to researchers wishing to visualize intracytoplasmic membranes who may not have access to electron microscopes. It will also have the capability to relate membrane changes in individual living cells to other measurements by fluorescence labelling or other single-cell analysis methods.
Identity and Difference in Aelius Aristides’ “Regarding Sarapis”

This article posits that bringing diversity to histories of rhetoric may require not only revising canons but also “unwriting” the narratives of Western civilization in which canonical figures have...
An evaluation of respiratory effects following exposure to 2.0 ppm formaldehyde in asthmatics: lung function, symptoms, and airway reactivity.

Fifteen asthmatic volunteers were exposed in a double-blind, random manner to room air and 2.0 ppm formaldehyde for 40 min in an environmental chamber. These exposures were repeated on a separate day during moderate exercise (450 kpm/min) for 10 min. Ambient and dew point temperatures were 23.0 +/- 0.0 degrees C and 11.5 +/- 1.0 degrees C, respectively. No significant airway obstruction as measured by flow-volume parameters and airway resistance was noted in this group during or immediately after exposure. Furthermore, sequential measurements of peak flow for 24 hr following formaldehyde exposure revealed no delayed airway response. In contrast, in comparison to the baseline methacholine inhalation challenge (MIC) test on the screening day, 8 of 12 asthmatics demonstrated a lower threshold to MIC following 2.0 ppm exposure for 40 min; however, the mean and median decrements of threshold in methacholine concentration of 10.4 mg/ml and 24.3 mg/ml were not significant (p = .12). Bad odor, sore throat, and eye irritation were common during exposure but symptoms were infrequent afterward.
Gyrate Atrophy of the Choroid and Retina (GA) : Toxic Effects of Ornithine and Long-Term Therapy with an Arginine-Restricted Diet

GA is characterized by progressive chorioretinal degeneration and hyperornithinemia and is due to an inherited deficiency of ornithine-δ-aminotransferase (OAT). We have examined the ramifications of this enzymatic deficiency at the cellular and clinical levels. Unlike normal cells, intact GA fibroblasts do not convert radiolabeled ornithine to proline and glutamate. Although GA cells grow normally in standard medium, addition of ornithine (20 mM) kills > 98 % of the GA cells, while control cells grow at nearly normal rates. Addition of proline or other neutral amino acids (5 mM) blocks the ornithine toxicity ; whereas inhibitors of polyamine synthesis, guanidinoacetate, creatine, and the dibasic amino acids have no effect. These results suggest that high orni-thine concentrations in association with OAT deficiency is detrimal to some cells and that reduction of ornithine may be beneficial in GA patients. We therefore placed 9 GA patients on an argininerestricted diet for from 2–36 months. Within 40 days there was a 2–6 fold reduction in plasma ornithine which has been maintained for from 4–36 months in 4 of the patients. None of the patients has had progression of their ophthalmologic abnormalities while on the diet and as recently reported (Science 210:1128, 1980), one has had some improvement. At all plasma ornithine concentrations, total urine losses of arginine-derived carbon skeletons is less than predicted by arginine intake. This suggests that significant amounts of arginine (+/o ornithine) are metabolized in GA patients by either residual OAT activity, ornithine decarboxylase or by an as yet unelucidated pathway.
Encephalopathy as the Sentinel Sign of a Cortical Stroke in a Patient Infected With Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19)

The novel coronavirus has challenged medical systems worldwide to provide optimal medical care in the setting of limited resources Although we are uncovering many facets of its disease spectrum, with rapidly emerging data, there is still limited knowledge of the sequelae of this infection, making treatment guidelines incomplete and resulting in serious unpredictable outcomes in patients at seemingly low risk, especially ones afflicted by neurological consequences We present a case of a cortical stroke in a 31-year-old coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) positive female with otherwise no stroke risk factors We noted a correlation between cytokine release, encephalopathy, and the onset of stroke symptoms Patients with marked pro-thrombotic and inflammatory markers may benefit from closer neurological monitoring and thromboprophylaxis at therapeutic doses The establishment of acute care pathways to manage critically ill patients with neurological consequences may reverse the suboptimal outcome trends seen during the pandemic
Introduction to Management of Carotid Disease

Carotid artery disease is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and as such, it warrants a position in the forefront of medical and scientific studies. In the following chapter, medical and surgical management of carotid artery disease are reviewed through the history of the field. This review lends way to the principles of current management and gives insight into future directions and potential advances in our knowledge and treatment of carotid artery pathology.
Establishment, cryopreservation, and growth of 11 cell lines prepared from a juvenile Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi.

Eleven cell lines were prepared from skin, snout, liver, kidney, lung, heart, brain, spleen, thyroid, urinary bladder, and periorbital soft tissue of a juvenile Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). The cell grew at 37 °C in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum. These cell lines have been subcultured 11–27 times since their initiation in May 1997. Growth of the monk seal cells was serum-dependent and plating efficiencies ranged from 4–24%. These monk seal cells grew well in M199, L-15 and MEM commonly used for cultivation of animal and mammalian cells and retained 87% cell viability following storage for 2.5 years in liquid nitrogen. Karyotyping indicated that these monk seal-derived cell lines remained diploid with a chromosome count of 34 at their early passage (passage 9–13). These cell lines were tested for herpesvirus by polymerase chain reaction using degenerate oligonucleotide primers designed from the highly conserved region of herpesviral DNA polymerase gene and no specific detection occurred. These newly established cell lines are currently being used for the investigation of an eye disease occurring in captive monk seal pups in Oahu and will be available for future isolation and study of monk seal viruses.
Breastfeeding During Chemotherapy Treatment for Leukemia

The neonatal gut is not mature and starts to develop its microbiota with human milk, which is an essential source of bacteria for the developing infant. Human milk is also an important source of nutrients; it not only influences the bacterial composition but also affects the host directly. As a general rule, breastfeeding is not recommended during chemotherapy treatment. The patient is generally advised to interrupt breastfeeding during systemic chemotherapy treatment for fear of serious adverse effects on the neonate. However, there is a lack of information published on this issue, and few studies have evaluated the safety of breastfeeding during or after chemotherapy; the excretion of a drug in human milk guides this decision. Women who undergo chemotherapy during pregnancy are more likely to have difficulties in breastfeeding, presenting a decreased breast milk supply and need to provide supplemental feeding to their neonates or infants.
Right Ventricular Arterial Elastance is Associated with Prognostic Value in one Year Mortality Following Left Ventricular Assist Device Placement

Background In patients with end-stage heart failure (HF), acute right heart failure (RHF) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation is known to be a source of significant morbidity and mortality. Previous data identified RV pulsatility load using pulmonary arterial compliance as a marker for 6-month mortality in LVAD patients. We aimed to test whether the right ventricular arterial elastance (RVEa) was associated with increased risk of 1 year mortality after LVAD implantation. Hypothesis Patients with higher RVEa at preimplantation have a higher risk of dying at 1 year. Methods We retrospectively identified 381 patients with complete pre-implant hemodynamics obtained Results The majority of patients (65%) had RVEa≥1 (Fig. 1). When comparing baseline demographics, those with RVEa ≥1 were younger, had a lower proportion of hypertension, coronary artery disease, and more likely to be on inotropes pre-implantation. Those with RVEa ≥1 had lower SV, and pulmonary artery pressure index; and higher mean pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary wedge capillary pressure and transpulmonary gradient. Multivariate survival analysis adjusted for heart rate, BMI, age, and gender demonstrated the only independent predictor of mortality was RVEa ≥1 (hazard ratio 1.80, [95% CI 1.07 - 3.05], p= 0.028). Conclusions Our multi-institutional study demonstrates that higher RVEa is associated with increased 1 year mortality post-VAD implantation. These data may be generalizable to other academic institutions and warrants further investigation in larger cohorts.
Demonstration of chip-based coupled degenerate optical parametric oscillators for realizing a nanophotonic spin-glass.

The need for solving optimization problems is prevalent in various physical applications, including neuroscience, network design, biological systems, socio-economics, and chemical reactions. Many of these are classified as non-deterministic polynomial-time hard and thus become intractable to solve as the system scales to a large number of elements. Recent research advances in photonics have sparked interest in using a network of coupled degenerate optical parametric oscillators (DOPOs) to effectively find the ground state of the Ising Hamiltonian, which can be used to solve other combinatorial optimization problems through polynomial-time mapping. Here, using the nanophotonic silicon-nitride platform, we demonstrate a spatial-multiplexed DOPO system using continuous-wave pumping. We experimentally demonstrate the generation and coupling of two microresonator-based DOPOs on a single chip. Through a reconfigurable phase link, we achieve both in-phase and out-of-phase operation, which can be deterministically achieved at a fast regeneration speed of 400 kHz with a large phase tolerance. The use of a photonic network of coupled degenerate optical parametric oscillators for solving complex optimisation problems would require scalable integration capabilities. Here, the authors exploit χ (3) nonlinearity in SiN to demonstrate on-chip phase-tunable coupling between two DOPO based Ising nodes.
Compact Single-Phase-Search Multistate Content-Addressable Memory Design Using One FeFET/Cell

Content-addressable memories (CAMs) are widely used for data-centric applications where one must search for data patterns. CMOS CAMs can incur large areas and, hence, power consumption. Nonvolatile (NV) devices, such as ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) and resistive random access memories, have been used in the design of NV CAMs to improve both logic density and power consumption. To further improve logic density, this article proposes a compact, multistate CAM (MCAM) that can store 3 bits in a cell using just one FeFET and three FinFETs per cell. Moreover, the proposed MCAM does not require a precharging phase for search as is typical with other CAM designs, which can lead to improved performance. Simulations with experimentally calibrated 22-nm FeFET and 22-nm FinFET technology models suggest that the proposed 3T1Fe-MCAM can perform up to $7.1\times $ faster search operations with up to $28.8\times $ lower area–energy–delay product compared with state-of-the-art ternary/analog CAM designs. To show that the proposed MCAM array can accurately detect all worst case matches/mismatches, we design an MCAM array with 11 cells per row (to represent a 32-bit number). We also study how the nonidealities related to programming/search voltages impact performance metrics and show that the proposed MCAM can tolerate up to 15-mV noise during programming and up to 20-mV noise on search voltages even in a worst case match/mismatch.
Autonomous Delay Tolerant Network Management Using Reinforcement Learning

Delay tolerant networks (DTNs) offer a set of standardized protocols to enable Internet-like connectivity across the solar system. Unlike other protocols such as the Transmission Control Protocol (...
Technical Study of Ethiopian Copper Alloy Processional Crosses Using Non-Destructive Analysis

The materials and techniques used to make Ethiopian copper and copper alloy processional crosses from the twelfth to twentieth centuries were investigated through technical study including X-ray fl...