cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Passive ventricular restaint

See article by Power et al. [4] (pages 549–555) in this issue. The importance of ventricular remodeling as a factor in the progression of heart failure has been a recent concept supported by an abundance of animal and human research. The serial echocardiographic measurements obtained in clinical studies in heart failure provide evidence for the occurrence of progressive remodeling and its direct relationship to clinical morbidity and mortality events. The ability of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors to modify this progressive remodeling has been the foundation of the medical therapy for heart failure during the last decade. Attempts to decrease left ventricular size or modify the remodeling process by mechanical or surgical intervention with procedures like dynamic cardiomyoplasty and ventricular reduction surgery have been less than successful. The effect of left ventricular … * Tel.: +313-876-2737; fax: +313-556-8205
Gender and Racial Inequities in Retirement Resources

Two waves of a Social Security Beneficiary survey were analyzed to consider differences in the retirement resources of women and men based on marital status and race/ethnicity. Despite increased workforce participation the economic situation of single women, including white women, worsened over time. A bifurcation in retirement resources was found, with men relying more on private income sources and women depending more on Social Security. Current retirement policies based on privatization will continue to adversely impact women who work at low-paying jobs, receive lower wages, and live longer than men.
A method for exposing rodents to resuspended particles using whole-body plethysmography

Background Epidemiological studies have reported increased risks of cardiopulmonary-related hospitalization and death in association with exposure to elevated levels of particulate matter (PM) across a wide range of urban areas. In response to these findings, researchers have conducted animal inhalation exposures aimed at reproducing the observed toxicologic effects. However, it is technically difficult to quantitate the actual amount of PM delivered to the lung in such studies, and dose is frequently estimated using default respiration parameters. Consequently, the interpretation of PM-induced effects in rodents exposed via whole-body inhalation is often compromised by the inability to determine deposited dose. To address this problem, we have developed an exposure system that merges the generation of dry, aerosolized particles with whole-body plethysmography (WBP), thus permitting inhalation exposures in the unrestrained rat while simultaneously obtaining data on pulmonary function.
Differential Distribution by Size of Layer V Pyramidal Neurons in Raccoon (Procyon lotor) Sensorimotor Cortex1,2

A cytoarchitectonic study of pyramidal neurons of layer V of the primary motor (MsI), supplementary motor (MsII), primary sensory (SmI) and second sensory (SmII) cortices was carried out in the raccoon (Procyon lotor). The relationships between cell size, ease of excitability and type of movement elicited from these areas is discussed, and differential distribution of pyramidal cells according to size in the raccoon is compared with that of other species.
Chronic up-regulation of sonic hedgehog has little effect on postnatal craniofacial morphology of euploid and trisomic mice.

Background: In Ts65Dn, a mouse model of Down syndrome (DS), brain and craniofacial abnormalities that parallel those in people with DS are linked to an attenuated cellular response to sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling. If a similarly reduced response to SHH occurs in all trisomic cells, then chronic up-regulation of the pathway might have a positive effect on development in trisomic mice, resulting in amelioration of the craniofacial anomalies. Results: We crossed Ts65Dn with Ptch1tm1Mps/+ mice and quantified the craniofacial morphology of Ts65Dn;Ptch+/− offspring to assess whether a chronic up-regulation of the SHH pathway rescued DS-related anomalies. Ts65Dn;Ptch1+/− mice experience a chronic increase in SHH in SHH-receptive cells due to haploinsufficiency of the pathway suppressor, Ptch1. Chronic up-regulation had minimal effect on craniofacial shape and did not correct facial abnormalities in Ts65Dn;Ptch+/− mice. We further compared effects of this chronic up-regulation of SHH with acute pathway stimulation in mice treated on the day of birth with a SHH pathway agonist, SAG. We found that SHH affects facial morphology differently based on chronic vs. acute postnatal pathway up-regulation. Conclusions: Our findings have implications for understanding the function of SHH in craniofacial development and for the potential use of SHH-based agonists to treat DS-related abnormalities. Developmental Dynamics 245:114–122, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Examining the Clinical Effectiveness of Non-Carbapenem β-Lactams for the Treatment of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae

Treatment options for extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae are limited. Piperacillin-tazobactam and cefepime represent potential alternative treatment options; however, large prospective studies are lacking. This review evaluates the current literature regarding use of piperacillin-tazobactam and cefepime for the treatment of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Antimicrobial stewardship programs can play a key role in guiding the best practices for the management of these challenging infections.
Adenosine contributes to hypoxia-induced forearm vasodilation in humans.

In humans, hypoxia leads to increased sympathetic neural outflow to skeletal muscle. However, blood flow increases in the forearm. The mechanism of hypoxia-induced vasodilation is unknown. To test ...
Profiling R on a contemporary processor

R is a popular data analysis language, but there is scant experimental data characterizing the run-time profile of R programs. This paper addresses this limitation by systematically cataloging where time is spent when running R programs. Our evaluation using four different workloads shows that when analyzing large datasets, R programs a) spend more than 85% of their time in processor stalls, which leads to slower execution times, b) trigger the garbage collector frequently, which leads to higher memory stalls, and c) create a large number of unnecessary temporary objects that causes R to swap to disk quickly even for datasets that are far smaller than the available main memory. Addressing these issues should allow R programs to run faster than they do today, and allow R to be used for analyzing even larger datasets. As outlined in this paper, the results presented in this paper motivate a number of future research investigations in the database, architecture, and programming language communities. All data and code that is used in this paper (which includes the R programs, and changes to the R source code for instrumentation) can be found at: http://quickstep.cs.wisc.edu/dissecting-R/.
Abstract 362: Impact of Veteran Status on Prevalence of Hypertension in Seniors

Background: Knowledge of risk factors for development of hypertension in elderly may contribute to prevention and screening efforts. Currently, it is unclear whether veteran status can be considered as a risk factor for hypertension in elderly population. In this study, we compared the prevalence of hypertension in elderly veterans and non-veterans. Methods: The Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS) is a harmonized dataset for the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Using the IHIS 1997-2010 dataset, population-based prevalence of hypertension among elderly veterans (age ≥ 65) was compared to non-veterans. Veteran status was defined as a positive answer to the question, “Have you ever been honorably discharged from active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Crops, or Coast Guard?” Diagnosis of hypertension was based on self-report. Prevalence of hypertension was calculated for veterans and non-veterans. Sampling weights that adjust for the complex design of the NHIS were applied in all analyses presented. Statistical analyses were performed using SAS 9.0. Results: Overall 55.0% of elderly veterans reported to have hypertension compared to 57.5% of non-veteran civilians. (Rao-Scott chi square, p Conclusion: Overall the prevalence of hypertension was higher in non-veteran group. However, the logistic regression model revealed that history of being enrolled in military may have a lasting effect on the health of seniors.
Crystal Orientation and Piezoelectricity of AIN Thin Films Prepared on Polycrystalline Substrates

Highly c-axis oriented AlN thin films were prepared on the polycrystalline substrates of MoSi 2 , Al 2 O 3 and SiC by rf magnetron sputtering. Crystal orientation of the thin films was not influenced by the difference in the polycrystalline substrate materials. Crystal structure of the thin film was hexagonal and its texture was consisted of many columnar grains. It was thought that the thin films were c-axis oriented because the interaction between the thin films and the substrate surfaces was small and the growth of (100) and (110) planes of AlN was fast. The orientation of the thin films deposited on the polycrystalline substrates was worse than that of thin films deposited on single crystal substrates, however, the thin films showed appreciable piezoelectricity.
Fluorogen-activating proteins provide tunable labeling densities for tracking FcεRI independent of IgE.

Crosslinking of IgE bound FceRI on mast cells and basophils by multivalent antigen leads to degranulation and the release of key inflammatory mediators that stimulate the allergic response. Here, we present and characterize the use of fluorogen-activating proteins (FAPs) for single particle tracking of FceRI to investigate how receptor mobility is influenced after IgE-induced changes in mast cell behavior. FAPs are genetically encoded tags that bind a fluorogen dye and increase its brightness upon binding up to 20,000-fold. We demonstrate that, by titrating fluorogen concentration, labeling densities from ensemble to single particle can be achieved, independent of expression level and without the need for wash steps or photobleaching. The FceRI γ-subunit fused to a FAP (FAP-γ) provides, for the first time, an IgE-independent probe for tracking this signaling subunit of FceRI at the single molecule level. We show that the FceRI γ-subunit dynamics are controlled by the IgE-binding α-subunit and that the cytokinergic IgE, SPE-7, induces mast cell activation without altering FceRI mobility or promoting internalization. We take advantage of the far-red emission of the malachite green (MG) fluorogen to track FceRI relative to dynamin-GFP and find that immobilized receptors readily correlate with locations of dynamin recruitment only under conditions that promote rapid endocytosis. These studies demonstrate the usefulness of the FAP system for single molecule studies and have provided new insights into the relationship among FceRI structure, activity, and mobility.
Pseudoscorpions and Spiders from Moss, Fungi, Rhododendron Leaf Litter, and Other Microcommunities in the Highlands Area of Western North Carolina

The spiders and pseudoscorpions collected from fungi, moss, and other forest floor microhabitats near Highlands, N. C, (a high-rainfall region at about 4000 feet altitude in the southern Appalachian Mountains) are listed and discussed. The evidence indicates that most species are general inhabitants of several types of humid forest microcommunities and do not show any pronounced habitat specificity.
A PHENOTYPIC SWITCH IN PLATELETS PROMOTES DYSREGULATED PLATELET ACTIVITY IN HYPOXIC STATES

We recently reported that a misunderstanding of fundamental platelet biology in ischemic diseases may explain why some patients have a variable response to anti-platelet medications. We sought to determine whether hypoxia alters the expression profile of platelets proteins in vivo and ex vivo,
1,2,4,5-Tetrazinyl-Substituted Amino-1,2,4,5-Tetrazines

The synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrazinylamino-1,2,4,5-tetrazines is reported, including the preparation of compounds containing three tetrazine heterocycles in a single compound. These materials were compared to phenylamine derivatives, also synthesized in this study. The UV/Vis and cyclic voltammetry data were collected and are reported, along with the crystal structure of one of the tritetrazine compounds.
Process-Oriented Production Planning and Control: Factors That Influence System Design

This research describes how five production planning and control functions are accomplished by successful information systems in process industries, identifies factors that influence the design of ...
The role of physical activity in the management of obesity

Sedentary lifestyle is associated with obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases. Increased physical activity can produce clinically significant changes in body composition and a reduction in risk of obesity-related chronic diseases in obese people. Because a great proportion of a primary care physician's patient population will be obese, it is essential that physicians know the scientific facts about the role of physical activity in the treatment of obesity and how to effectively prescribe it. This article summarizes significant research conclusions about the relationship between physical activity, obesity, and health. It also provides practical strategies for helping obese patients integrate physical activity into their lives.
Law, Violence, and Community in Classical Athens: Theorizing Athenian society: the rule of law

The previous chapter argued that Thucydides, Aristotle, and Plato regarded conflict and civil strife as occurring naturally in Greek cities. The rivalries through which political and social hierarchies are established and contested unleash the centrifugal forces of resentment, enmity, retaliation, and violence. These forces are fueled by the corrosive power of envy and the primal drive for revenge. How can these centrifugal tendencies be checked? In classical Athens political thinkers of various ideological hues all agreed that the rule of law could provide a bulwark against civil strife. As Thucydides showed how the survival of a political community required the preservation of legal institutions independent from competing factions, so too Plato and Aristotle argued that the stability of the polis depended upon the rule of law. Skeptical of radical democracy, they contrasted the rule of law of the good society with the lawlessness and license of contemporary Athens. Athenian democratic politicians, on the other hand, tirelessly reaffirmed that the rule of law was the bulwark of radical democracy, and that in non-democratic cities those who held power pursued their interests without respect for the laws and constitution. In other words, while everyone might agree that the rule of law alone could preserve a city from stasis, their respective conceptions of the rule of law were closely connected to commitments to particular ideologies of political community.
State of the opioid system in rats with different sensitivity to ethanol

In this work we investigated the content of opioids in plasma blood and the changes caused by ethanol (1.5 g/kg, i.p.) in midbrain opioid receptors of rats with different sensitivity to ethanol, as determined according to the duration of ethanol-induced sleep (DEIS). A receptor binding technique with selective delta-DADLE and mu-DAGO radioligands were used. Ethanol even at low dose produced changes in the midbrain opioid receptors which appeared after 6 hours. The response of the receptors and the content of opioids in plasma blood of rats with different DEIS were not identical.
The Adventure of Reading: The Styles of the Odyssey and the Odyssey of Styles

“Wandering Rocks” dramatizes the spiritual and cultural sterility and the moral cannibalism that Ulysses must address. By presenting and implicitly discarding the Church, personified by Father Conmee, and the secular authority, personified by the Viceroy, the Earl of Dudley, Joyce is establishing the need for Bloom, the contemporary Elijah figure whose humanistic values offer hope; the need for Stephen, the putative artist whose creative imagination and prophetic vision will redeem Ireland and, in particular, Dublin, its morally paralyzed urban wasteland; and the need for Molly who will redeem Ireland through her sexuality, passion, and enjoyment of the physical. In its nineteen vignettes, it shows the specific effects of Ireland’s position as a servant to England and Roman Catholicism. As we shall see, “Circe” re-examines much of the material in “Wandering Rocks” in terms of the hallucinations and nightmares of Stephen and Bloom, including material of which Bloom and Stephen were unaware within “Wandering Rocks”.
Multivariate bounded process adjustment schemes

We investigate multivariate process adjustment policies in the presence of fixed adjustment costs. A fixed adjustment cost leads to a trade-off between adjusting a process continuously and allowing the process to drift until a bound is violated. The problem of determining the best bounded adjustment policy and the optimal bounded adjustment parameter is addressed. Although the univariate bounded adjustment problem has received interest in the past, there has been little focus on the multivariate case in the literature. It has been shown that in the univariate case, the shape of the optimal adjustment policy is a deadband. Determining the shape of the optimal dead region and the parameter that defines this region in the multivariate case is a difficult problem. A State-Space model is formulated for the multivariate bounded process adjustment problem and a Kalman filter-based controller is used. With the help of simulation, the optimal bounded adjustment parameter is computed for two specific dead subspace ...
State of the Climate in 2015

Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2016 is a very low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.
Theory and Practice in a Sensible Economic Policy Mix: A Glance at Willi Semmler’s Contributions to Empirical Macroeconomics

The Global Financial Crisis, which peaked in late 2008, accentuated the urgent need for reconciliation between the theoretical and practical components of macroeconomic theory. Worldwide, apart from a few, economists faced the profession’s dire challenge to develop an ability to think outside conventional macroeconomic equilibrium models. Such ability, of course, pre-supposes an open approach to dynamic macroeconomic modeling, one founded in a profound understanding of the diverse currents within the many traditions of economic thought. One of such economists of the highest caliber is Professor Willi Semmler, in whose honor this book is compiled, celebrating his life and grand scientific accomplishments. His work encompasses research on problems of dynamic modeling, computational methods in economics and finance, financial economics, exchange rate, credit risk, and ultimately climate change and the linkages between financial and “real” economic activity. Offering a rundown of the book’s structure, this chapter mainly discusses Dr. Semmler’s achievements across three pillars of academia and science: teaching, research, and mentorship.
Conflicts of Interest for Patient-Advocacy Organizations

In this examination of 104 large patient-advocacy organizations, 83% receive financial support from drug, device, and biotechnology companies, and industry executives often serve on governing boards. The authors recommend more transparency about industry involvement.
Abstract 175: Performance of a Multilocus Genetic Risk Score Derived from Top Signals in the Cardiogram+C4d Consortium in Predicting Incident Coronary Disease in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Genome wide association studies (GWAS) to date have identified 30 CAD susceptibility loci but the ability to use this information to improve risk prediction remains limited. A meta-analysis of the GWAS and Cardio Metabochip data produced by the CARDIoGRAM+C4D consortium representing 63,253 cases and 126,820 controls has identified 1885 SNPs passing a False Discovery Rate (FDR) threshold of 0.5%. We hypothesized that an expanded multi locus genetic risk score (GRS) incorporating genotype information at all loci below an FDR of 0.5% would perform better than a GRS restricted to 42 loci reaching genome wide significance and tested this hypothesis in subjects of European ancestry participating in the Atherosclerosis Risk in the Community (ARIC) study. Models testing the GRS were either minimally (age and sex) or fully adjusted for traditional risk factors (TRFs). The Figure shows the hazard ratio (HZ) and 95% CI for incident events comparing each quintile of GRS to the middle quintile. The GRS including genotype information at all loci with an FDR of 0.5% noticeably improves risk prediction over the GRS restricted to genome wide significant loci in both the minimally and fully adjusted models based on several metrics including i) HR per GRS quintile, ii) the HR per SD of the GRS, and iii) the logistic regression pseudo R2, and iv) the c statistic. The HR per GRS quintile and per SD of GRS were all lower in the fully adjusted models compared to the respective minimally adjusted models but the reduction of the HR was more striking for the models that tested the more expansive GRS. These findings suggest that a larger proportion of novel GWAS CAD loci are mediating their effects through TRFs. While these findings demonstrate some progress in risk prediction using GWAS loci, both the limited and the expanded GRS continues to explain a relatively small proportion of the overall variance compared to TRF. Thus, the clinical utility of a CAD GRS remains to be determined.
Are Walkable Neighborhoods More Resilient to the Foreclosure Spillover Effects

Since 2007, many studies have explored the price spillover effect of foreclosures. However, none has examined the potential moderating effects of built-environment characteristics such as walkabili...
Inhibition of hydrogen flux in palladium membranes by pressure–induced restructuring of the membrane surface

Abstract The effects of high pressure gas exposure on the hydrogen flux though Pd films were explored. It was observed that exposure of a Pd membrane to N 2 , Ar, or CO 2 at 3.0 MPa and 500 °C caused a substantial decline in hydrogen flux within 24 h that only recovered to ca. 60% of its initial value after 24 h of subsequent hydrogen exposure. Atomic force microscopy images revealed that the Pd surface became smoother with a reduction in density of nanoscale features after high pressure exposure, consistent with an observed transition in rate limiting step from bulk diffusion to surface kinetics. The rate of flux loss was found to have an apparent activation energy of 39 kJ mol −1 , which is consistent with values reported for Pd surface self-diffusion. This effect was not observed when the exposure gas was helium or at pressures 2 impurities (ca. 1%) in the feed.
The virtual Episodic Memory Task: Towards remediation in neuropsychiatric disorders

Impairment of cognitive functioning represents a characteristic manifestation in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia (SZ) is characterised by significant impairment of declarative memory and executive functioning. Remediation of these cognitive functions is therefore a crucial part of the long-term care in SZ. In two pilot studies we present two variants of the virtual Episodic Memory Task (vEMT) used to assess memory for ‘what?’- ‘when?’- and ‘where?’ happened during specific events. Pilot 1: The vEMT was designed in two complex virtual environments (VEs - an open space office and a family house) and applied in a working memory paradigm. Both variants were tested in several collecting trials with increasing level of difficulty (number of items). We demonstrated a crucial role of the VE structure in the memory for item-space associations, while the temporal associations were not affected. Pilot 2: The second variant was designed to test delayed recall of all three episodic-like memory components by including the item recognition. The task shows unbalanced performance measured for individual components. Both task variants are designed for cognitive remediation in ecologically valid episodic situations, affecting both short- and long-term memory. Presented findings will be used to control the difficulty of individual components by regulation of various task parameters in the remediation program.
Internationally Minded: A Phenomenological Exploration of School Counsellors' Experiences Working in U.S. Schools with Internationally Themed Missions.

School counsellors are uniquely equipped to impact school culture due to their expertise in adopting a systemic perspective while facilitating culturally competent services. This study sought to understand the school culture that places importance on developing U.S. students’ appreciation for world cultures and emerging global mindsets. The researchers utilized a phenomenological approach to analyze interviews with counsellors working in schools with international missions within the United States. The emergent themes related to counsellors’ beliefs, role expectations, and students’ international competencies.
Sparse and low-rank methods in structural system identification and monitoring

Abstract This paper presents sparse and low-rank methods for explicit modeling and harnessing the data structure to address the inverse problems in structural dynamics, identification, and data-driven health monitoring. In particular, it is shown that the structural dynamic features and damage information, intrinsic within the structural vibration response measurement data, possesses sparse and low-rank structure, which can be effectively modeled and processed by emerging mathematical tools such as sparse representation (SR), and low-rank matrix decomposition. It is also discussed that explicitly modeling and harnessing the sparse and low-rank data structure could benefit future work in developing data-driven approaches towards rapid, unsupervised, and effective system identification, damage detection, as well as massive SHM data sensing and management.
Plasmonic hot carriers skip out in femtoseconds

Plasmonic antennas store energy by localizing light to nanoscale volumes. A plasmon’s oscillating electrons can scatter directly into a semiconductor, transferring the captured energy in less than ten femtoseconds.
Dating exhumed peridotite with spinel (U-Th)/He chronometry

Abstract The timing of cooling and exhumation of mantle peridotites in oceanic and continental settings has been challenging to determine using traditional geo- and thermochronometric techniques. Hence, the timing of the exhumation of mantle rocks to the Earth's surface at mid-ocean ridges, rifted and passive continental margins, and within continental volcanic and orogenic systems has remained largely elusive or only loosely constrained by relative age bracketing. Magmatic spinel [(Mg, Fe)(Al,Cr)2O4] is a ubiquitous primary mineral phase in mantle peridotites and is often the only primary mineral phase to survive surface weathering and serpentinization. This work explores spinel (U–Th)/He thermochronology as a novel tool to directly date the exhumation and cooling history of spinel-bearing mantle peridotite. Samples were chosen from a range of tectonic and petrologic settings, including a mid-ocean ridge abyssal peridotite (ODP Leg 209), an orogenic tectonic sliver of sub-continental mantle (Lherz massif, France), and a volcanic-rock hosted mantle xenolith (Green Knobs, NM). Spinel grains were selected based on grain size and morphology, screened for internal homogeneity using X-ray computed tomography, and air abraded to eliminate effects of alpha ejection/implantation. These case studies yield spinel He age results that are reproducible and generally in good agreement with independent age constraints. For ODP Leg 209, a spinel He age of 1.1 ± 0.3 Ma (2 SE) ( n = 8 ) is consistent with independent U–Pb and magnetic anomaly ages for the exhumation of oceanic crust by detachment faulting along this segment of the slow-spreading ridge. Spinel from the Lherz massif yield He ages from 60–70 Ma ( n = 3 ), which correspond well with independent thermochronometric constraints for cooling associated with Pyrenean collisional exhumation. Spinel from a mantle xenolith within a previously undated kimberlite diatreme at Green Knobs, New Mexico, generate a reproducible mean He age of 11.7 ± 1.8 Ma (2 SE) ( n = 6 ) that appears to record young volcanism in the area or age resetting by post-emplacement re-heating or alteration. The combined results of these case studies demonstrate the viability for spinel He thermochronometry to resolve cooling histories of peridotite exhumed through tectonic and volcanic processes.
Diabetes Mellitus and Transplantation: Risks for Post-transplant Diabetes

New onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) is a serious and frequently observed complication following solid organ transplantation. Kidney transplant recipients who develop NODAT are at increased risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events and other adverse outcomes including infection, reduced patient survival, graft rejection, and accelerated graft loss compared with those who do not develop diabetes. Identification of high-risk patients and implementation of measures to reduce the development of NODAT may improve long-term patient and graft outcome. The following chapter presents an overview of the literature on the current diagnostic criteria for NODAT, its incidence after solid organ transplantation, suggested risk factors, and potential pathogenic mechanisms. The impact of NODAT on patient and allograft outcomes and suggested guidelines for early identification and management of NODAT will also be discussed.
Cardiovascular Diagnosis with Real Time Ultrasound Imaging

In 1954, Edler and Hertz first used ultrasound to identify cardiac structures. Since that time, this noninvasive technique has become a useful diagnostic tool which is currently enjoying a phase of rapid technological advancement. New developments have primarily been aimed towards the generation of two-dimensional tomographic images of cardiac structures in an effort to overcome the inherent limitations of a one-dimensional imaging technique, the time-motion (T-M) display mode. Currently, this technique is the standard method of clinical cardiac examinations.
Cellular and Molecular Properties of Multipotent Neural Stem Cells Throughout Ontogeny

Single cells isolated from the both the developing and the adult central nervous system (CNS) can give rise to neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes and retain the ability to self-renew, in vitro. This observation has led to the conclusion that the CNS develops from multipotent, self-renewing stem cells (CNS stem cells) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). However, since the isolation of CNS stem cells from embryonic and adult CNS (1,3,4,6,10,11), identification of their origin in vivo remains unclear (12,13). Moreover, the cellular and molecular relationship between neural stem cell populations at different stages of ontogeny and different anatomical regions is unresolved. To understand exactly what characteristics define neural stem cell identity in vivo and in vitro it is first necessary to elucidate the lineage relationship between the various types of stem cells and how they contribute to the development, differentiation, maintenance, and function of the CNS (14). To achieve this certain methodologies need to be developed for the direct isolation and characterization of neural stem cells from the embryonic and adult CNS.
Extra-osseous localized non-neoplastic bone and cartilage formation (so-called myositis ossificans): clinical and pathological confusion with malignant neoplasms.

In taking the history in these atypical instances of myositis ossificans one should pay particular attention to previous trauma. If there is history of trauma, careful timing of the progression of the pathological process is helpful in diagnosis. Finally, and most important, in these atypical cases as well as the typical cases, zone phenomena are present. There is a central, undifferentiated zone impossible to distinguish from sarcoma. This zone merges into oriented osteoid formation and finally, into well formed bone in the periphery of the lesion. If these zones are present, they are of paramount importance in making a diagnosis of a benign process and may save the patient from mutilating and needless surgery.
Effect of Junction Profile on the Phase and Loss Characteristics of a Silicon Optical Modulator

In this paper, numerical analysis has been done to calculate the modal, phase and loss characteristics of a silicon rib PN phase shifter for three samples with different junction profiles. Each sample has been compared based on performance characteristics to show that a graded junction gives better performance compared to an abrupt junction phase shifter.
The Use of Excise Taxes to Reduce Tobacco, Alcohol, and Sugary Beverage Consumption

In countries around the world, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are significant contributors to the global epidemic of noncommunicable...
Sticky Wikis

After observing and developing online reference websites for 20 plus years, it's clear the biggest hurdle to reliability still hasn't been overcome.
Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Imaging with Lymphoscintigraphy for Sentinel Node Biopsy in Melanoma: Increasing the Sentinel Lymph Node-Positive Rate

The goal of this study was to analyze patients who underwent a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in melanoma with the combination of radioisotope lymphoscintigraphy and indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging to compare our true positive (TP) rate, a means to perform immediate analysis of the SLNB, with that of the literature. Consecutive cutaneous melanoma patients who underwent SLNB with lymphoscintigraphy and ICG-based fluorescence imaging by the senior author (BG) from 2012 to 2018 were prospectively enrolled. The average expected SLN-positive rate per T stage was calculated based on three studies and compared with our SLN-positive rate. Overall, 574 consecutive patients were analyzed. Average Breslow thickness was 1.9 mm. A total of 1754 sentinel nodes were sampled; 1497 were identified by gamma probe signaling and ICG, 241 were identified by gamma probe signaling only, and 16 were identified by ICG only. There were 123 (21.4%) patients with at least one positive SLN; 113 (91.9%) had at least one positive node identified with both gamma probe signaling and ICG, 8 (6.5%) had positive node(s) identified with gamma probe signaling only, and 2 (1.6%) had positive node(s) identified with ICG only. There was an overall 21.4% SLN-positive rate, with 8% T1, 18.5% T2, 41.1% T3, and 52.4% T4, which is higher than the predicted rates for each stage. With the largest cohort of patients reported who underwent a melanoma SLNB with lymphoscintigraphy and ICG, we demonstrated that this technique results in higher SLN-positive rates than predicted. Patients are being followed but, given the TP data, knowledge of our results may foster the use of this modality to improve staging and treatment options.
Resonance Energy Transfer from Alkylbenzene Substrates to Naphthalene and Biphenyl Overlayers on Al2O3

In an ultrahigh vacuum chamber, an alkylbenzene was deposited from the vapor phase onto a cryogenically cooled Al2O3 surface. An additional layer with a fluorophore of naphthalene or methylnaphthalene was deposited, and the bilayer was optically pumped. Vapor-deposited naphthalene and methyl-substituted naphthalene molecules on the surface of Al2O3 are amorphously arranged and exhibit a characteristic excimeric fluorescence that is spectrally broad, featureless, and red-shifted relative to the monomer fluorescence. When the bilayer was heated in a temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) experiment, the ordering in the alkylbenzene substrate caused the overlayer of naphthalenes to crystalize due to heteroepitaxy. Finally, the two layers mixed when the surface temperature was nearly at the desorption temperature and resonance energy transfer was observed from the alkylbenzene to naphthalene and methylnaphthalenes when the alkylbenzene percolated through the naphthalene and methylnaphthalene adlayers. The wa...
Unified memory in HOOMD-blue improves node-level strong scaling

Abstract Current supercomputer designs rely on increasing the compute density inside a node to maximize the performance of applications that tightly integrate the processors within a shared memory space. HOOMD-blue 2.5 enables molecular dynamics simulations that take advantage of multiple GPUs inside the same node which are connected via NVLINK. We describe the native implementation of CUDA unified memory in HOOMD-blue for strong scaling on this hardware, and provide performance benchmarks.
henn-1/HEN1 Promotes Germline Immortality in Caenorhabditis elegans

Summary The germline contains an immortal cell lineage that ensures the faithful transmission of genetic and, in some instances, epigenetic information from one generation to the next. Here, we show that in Caenorhabditis elegans, the small RNA 3′-2′-O-methyltransferase henn-1/HEN1 is required for sustained fertility across generations. In the absence of henn-1, animals become progressively less fertile, becoming sterile after ∼30 generations at 25°C. Sterility in henn-1 mutants is accompanied by severe defects in germline proliferation and maintenance. The requirement for henn-1 in transgenerational fertility is likely due to its role in methylating and, thereby, stabilizing Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). However, despite being essential for piRNA stability in embryos, henn-1 is not required for piRNA stability in adults. Thus, we propose that methylation is important for the role of piRNAs in establishing proper gene silencing during early stages of development but is dispensable for their role in the proliferated germline.
Keep Children with CKD Safe from Inappropriate Prescribing.

Medical advancements over the past decades have led to improved survival rates and longevity for children with a number of acute and chronic illnesses, including sepsis, cancer, congenital heart disease, and cystic fibrosis. The interventions associated with these improvements include the reliance
Addiction, traumatic loss, and guilt: A case study resolving grief through psychodrama and sociometric connections

Abstract Traumatic loss, complicated grief, and addiction can be difficult and complicated clinical issues. Many clients share their losses, self-blame or feelings of being stuck in their grief. However, verbal processing is not always adequate to stimulate change. Experiential sociometry provides refined tools for promoting strength-based connections between group members around their experiences of loss. The surplus reality of psychodrama offers unique opportunities to renegotiate the relationship to a deceased loved-one and offer the possibility of closure through role reversal. This article outlines four types of sociometric processes for cultivating connections between group members – the spectrogram, step-in sociometry, locograms, and floor checks. These experiential sociometry tools can be used independently as group processes or as a structured warm-up to a psychodrama enactment. A scene from a psychodramatic vignette is offered depicting a case study of a client working through complicated grief in an addictions group psychotherapy context. Sociometric and psychodramatic theoretical considerations are presented in the context of short practice depictions presented throughout this article. Psychodramatic letter writing is also introduced as an alternative for time limited groups or clinicians without extensive psychodrama training.
Loss of circadian gene Bmal1 in the collecting duct lowers blood pressure in male, but not female, mice.

Kidney function follows a 24-hour rhythm subject to regulation by circadian genes including the transcription factor Bmal1. High salt diet induces a phase shift in Bmal1 expression in the renal inn...
Abstract P482: Long-term Health and Cost Impact of the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (2017 Acc/aha) Hypertension Guidelines for Low-risk Adults

Introduction: The 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines redefined stage 1 hypertension to include blood pressure 130-139 mmHg/80-89 mmHg and recommended non-pharmacologic interventions (e.g., DASH diet, physical...
Robust Assortment Optimization under a Ranking-based Choice Model with Product Unavailability Effect

The assortment planning problem is a central piece in the revenue management strategy of any company in the retail industry. In this paper, we study a robust assortment optimization problem for substitutable products under a sequential ranking-based choice model. Our modeling approach incorporates the cumulative effect of finding multiple unavailable products on the customers' purchase decisions. To model the highly uncertain order in which a customer explores the products to buy, we present a bi-level optimization approach to maximize the expected revenue under the worst-case order of products in the preference lists of customers. We provide a polynomial-time algorithm that optimally solves a special case of the unconstrained assortment planning problem under our choice model. For the general constrained version of the problem, we devise a solution procedure that includes a single-level reformulation and a cutting-plane approach to iteratively tighten the solution space. We also provide a greedy algorithm that can quickly solve large instances with small optimality gaps.
Not One of the Boys: Memoir of an Academic Misfit

Looking back over her long career, Haack explains why she never quite fitted in, socially or intellectually. The result is an illuminating summary of her work---and a compilation of fascinating anecdotes!
Site and gene-wise likelihoods unmask influential outliers in phylogenomic analyses

Despite the wealth of evolutionary information available from sequence data, recalcitrant nodes in phylogenomic studies remain. A recent study of vertebrate transcriptomes by Brown and Thomson (2016) revealed that less than one percent of genes can have strong enough phylogenetic signal to alter the species tree. While identifying these outliers is important, the use of Bayes factors, advocated by Brown and Thomson (2016), is a heavy computational burden for increasingly large and growing datasets. We do not find fault with the Brown and Thomson (2016) study, but instead hope to build on their suggestions and offer some alternatives. Here we suggest that site- and gene-wise likelihoods may be used to idenitfy discordant genes and nodes. We demonstrate this in the vertebrate dataset analyzed by Brown and Thomson (2016) as well as a dataset of carnivorous Caryophyllales (Eudicots: Superasterids). In both datasets, we identify genes that strongly influence species tree inference, and can overrule the signal present in all remaining genes altering the species tree topology. By using a less computationally demanding approach, we can more rapidly examine competing hypotheses, providing a more thorough assessment of overall conflict. For example, our analyses highlight that the debated vertebrate relationship of Alligatoridae sister to turtles, only has six genes with complete coverage for all species of Alligatoridae, birds and turtles. We also find that two genes (~0.0016%) from the 1237 gene dataset of carnivorous Caryophyllales drive the topological estimate and, when removed, the species tree topology supports an alternative hypothesis supported by the remaining genes. Additionally, while the genes highlighted by Brown and Thomson (2016) were revealed to be the result of errors, we suggest that the topology produced by the outlier genes in the carnivorous Caryophyllales may not be the result of methodological error. Close examination of these genes revealed no obvious biases (i.e. no evidence of misidentified orthology, alignment error, or model violations such as significant compositional heterogeneity) suggesting the potential that these genes represent genuine, but exceptional, products of the evolutionary process. Bayes factors have been demonstrated to be helpful in addressing questions of conflict, but require significant computational effort. We suggest that maximum likelihood can also address these questions without the extensive computational burden. Furthermore, we recommend more thorough dataset exploration as this may expose limitations in a dataset to address primary hypotheses. While a dataset may contain hundreds or thousands of genes, only a small subset may be informative for the primary biological question.
Quantum State Estimation from Partial Tomography Data Using a Stack of Machine Learning Models and Imputation

Reconstruction of two-qubit systems typically performed using 36 coincidence measurements. We trained an ensemble of CNN & XGBoost ML models, employed imputation to demonstrate high-fidelity state estimation when multiple measurements are missing.
Brain Metastases from Endometrial Cancer: Clinical Characteristics, Outcomes, and Review of the Literature.

Background Brain metastases from endometrial cancer are rare and poorly described. We aimed to estimate the proportion of brain metastases at our institution that arose from endometrial cancer, and to detail clinicopathologic features and survival outcomes. Methods We retrospectively identified and reviewed the charts of 30 patients with brain metastases from endometrial cancer seen at Stanford Hospital from 2008 to 2018. Results Among all patients with brain metastases, the proportion arising from endometrial cancer was 0.84%. The median age at diagnosis was 62 years (range, 39–79 years), and the median overall survival from brain metastasis diagnosis was 6.8 months (range, 1.0–58.2 months). Most patients harbored endometrioid histology (53.3%), and some had concurrent metastases to lung (50.0%), bone (36.7%), and liver (20.0%). The median time from endometrial cancer diagnosis to brain metastasis development was 20.8 months (range, 1.4 months to 11.2 years), and the median number of brain metastases was 2 (range, 1–20). Patients with non-endometrioid histologies had more brain metastases than those with endometrioid histology (6.21 vs. 2.44, P = 0.029). There was no difference in overall survival by histology. Conclusions We describe the largest cohort to date of patients with brain metastases originating from endometrial cancer. These patients represent a small fraction of all patients with brain metastases and have poor prognoses. These data enable providers caring for patients with brain metastases from endometrial cancer to appropriately counsel their patients.
Sunspot fluctuations in dynamics with predetermined variables

In this paper, I study the existence of Sunspot Equilibria in a general framework whose dynamics allow for the presence of predetermined variables in the system. The main motivation for this research comes from the fact that previous studies did not allow for such predetermined variables which, nevertheless, appear quite naturally in economic models. I show, for a non-negligible subset of dynamics with predetermined variables verifying usual assumptions, the existence of Stationary Sunspot Equilibria fluctuating between an arbitrary finite number of states arbitrarily close to a steady state.