cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enabling Microfluidics: from Clean Rooms to Makerspaces

The traditional requirement for clean rooms and specialized skills has inhibited many biologists from pursuing new microfluidic innovations. Makerspaces provide a growing alternative to clean rooms: they provide low-cost access to fabrication equipment such as laser cutters, plotter cutters, and 3D printers; use commercially available materials; and attract a diverse community of product designers. This Opinion discusses the materials, tools, and building methodologies particularly suited for developing novel microfluidic devices in these spaces, with insight into biological applications and leveraging the maker community. The lower barrier to access of makerspaces ameliorates the otherwise poor accessibility and scalability of microfluidic prototyping.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in lung cancer: The impact of control.

9613 Background: Lung cancer (LC) remains the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the U.S., and is associated with significant symptom burden. The diagnosis and treatment of LC can make patients feel a loss of control, and desire for control has been associated with CAM use. While interest in CAM has surged recently, scant literature exists on its use in LC. This study aimed to quantify the prevalence of and identify the factors associated with CAM use in patients (pts) with LC with a specific focus on perceived control. Methods: We performed a cross sectional survey in pts with LC treated at the oncology clinic of an academic medical center. Self-reported CAM use was the primary outcome. Demographic and clinical variables were collected by chart abstraction. Pts’ perception of their degree of control was measured using the Cancer Locus of Control scale. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine which factors were independently associated with CAM use. Results: 296 pt...
Prenatal exposure to neurotoxic metals is associated with increased placental glucocorticoid receptor DNA methylation

ABSTRACTEpigenetic alterations related to prenatal neurotoxic metals exposure may be key in understanding the origins of cognitive and neurobehavioral problems in children. Placental glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) methylation has been linked to neurobehavioral risk in early life, but has not been examined in response to neurotoxic metals exposure despite parallel lines of research showing metals exposure and NR3C1 methylation each contribute to a similar set of neurobehavioral phenotypes. Thus, we conducted a study of prenatal neurotoxic metals exposure and placental NR3C1 methylation in a cohort of healthy term singleton pregnancies from Rhode Island, USA (n = 222). Concentrations of arsenic (As; median 0.02 μ□/g), cadmium (Cd; median 0.03 μg/g), lead (Pb; median 0.40 μg/g), manganese (Mn; median 0.56 μg/g), mercury (Hg; median 0.02 μg/g), and zinc (Zn; 145.18 μg/g) measured in infant toenails were categorized as tertiles. Multivariable linear regression models tested the independent associations for ea...
Accurate address streams for LLC and beyond (SLAB): A methodology to enable system exploration

With increasing memory footprints and working set sizes of emerging workloads, system designers need to evaluate new memory hierarchies with large last level caches (LLCs), DRAM caches, large DRAMs, etc. to optimize performance gains. This requires a deep understanding of the memory access behavior of the target workloads. It is important to have accurate mechanisms to generate address streams to study memory access behavior at and beyond LLCs. Prior memory trace generation proposals such as WEST and STM utilize LRU stack distance to capture temporal locality in the data access streams. In addition, STM also captures spatial locality information by modeling stride-based access patterns. However, a key drawback of prior models is that the metadata that they store to capture locality is significantly high. In this paper, we propose an efficient, light-weight methodology to generate accurate traces for modeling address Streams for LLC And Beyond (SLAB). SLAB leverages the key insight that memory access patterns can be efficiently characterized by combining locality and reuse statistics captured from both instruction and address streams. Compared to prior studies, which capture patterns solely based on data addresses, using the additional instruction stream localized information significantly reduces the space complexity. For programs where dominant instruction-localized patterns do not exist, SLAB exploits multi-granularity data reuse distances. We evaluate SLAB using SPEC CPU2006 and Cloudsuite benchmarks. With meta-data sizes of less than 7% of the original LLC traces, SLAB demonstrates over 91% accuracy in replicating original application behavior across ∼9000 different cache, prefetcher and memory configurations.
Network work trip assignment for agent-based simulation accounting for travel time

With advances in computational power and larger sample data sources, destination choices can be determined from the disaggregated data itself using logit models rather than from aggregated gravity models. Unfortunately, larger sample data are required as spatial resolution increases in such models, which is often limited due to privacy restrictions or survey costs. This makes higher spatial resolution work trip OD assignment inaccurate due to over-aggregation from limited sample data. Alternatively, high resolution aggregated OD employment data are available through Census sources, making detailed OD assignment possible with the gravity model. The challenge now becomes how to assign destinations to disaggregated individuals using spatially aggregated sources. This paper explores a method of assigning disaggregated destinations using aggregated sources, constrained by individual travel time using OD travel time matrices. This process was performed on a synthetic population of 4.1-million individuals in the Boston, Massachusetts area distributed across 2,727 traffic analysis zones. Travel times by mode from an origin zone were used to create a zonal radius around the origin, greatly reducing the number of possible destinations for individuals. From this subset, the possibilities were then further stratified using individual criteria of age and industry. This added travel time constraint reduces the possibility of individuals being assigned to impossible destinations where random assignment is used.
Spatial variation in the parasite communities and genomic structure of urban rats in New York City.

Summary Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) are a globally distributed pest. Urban habitats can support large infestations of rats, posing a potential risk to public health from the parasites and pathogens they carry. Despite the potential influence of rodent-borne zoonotic diseases on human health, it is unclear how urban habitats affect the structure and transmission dynamics of ectoparasite and microbial communities (all referred to as “parasites” hereafter) among rat colonies. In this study, we use ecological data on parasites and genomic sequencing of their rat hosts to examine associations between spatial proximity, genetic relatedness and the parasite communities associated with 133 rats at five sites in sections of New York City with persistent rat infestations. We build on previous work showing that rats in New York carry a wide variety of parasites and report that these communities differ significantly among sites, even across small geographical distances. Ectoparasite community similarity was positively associated with geographical proximity; however, there was no general association between distance and microbial communities of rats. Sites with greater overall parasite diversity also had rats with greater infection levels and parasite species richness. Parasite community similarity among sites was not linked to genetic relatedness of rats, suggesting that these communities are not associated with genetic similarity among host individuals or host dispersal among sites. Discriminant analysis identified site-specific associations of several parasite species, suggesting that the presence of some species within parasite communities may allow researchers to determine the sites of origin for newly sampled rats. The results of our study help clarify the roles that colony structure and geographical proximity play in determining the ecology of R. norvegicus as a significant urban reservoir of zoonotic diseases. Our study also highlights the spatial variation present in urban rat parasite communities, indicating that rats across New York City are not reservoirs for a homogenous set of parasites and pathogens. As a result, the epidemiological risks may be similarly heterogeneous for people in urban habitats.
The influence of social determinants of health among young adults after they have left foster care in the US

Aims and objectives To describe the influence of the social determinants of health on health care seeking among young adults after they left foster care. Background Extensive research suggests that stakeholders in foster care systems throughout the world struggle to consistently and effectively manage the health and well-being of youth. These struggles extend beyond time in foster care as indicated by poor health and social outcomes throughout the life course. Evidence that describes how young adults address health and related social needs after leaving foster care is missing. Design A phenomenological design, Phenomenology of Practice, was used to collect data. Content analysis was used to analyse the data, using constructs from the Healthy People 2020 SDOH Model to organise the data. Methods Thirteen young adults who left foster care in the southwestern US were recruited using convenience sampling. Data were collected via individual interviews. Results Young adults formerly in foster care reported using and lacking social support networks to navigate SDOH. The interrelatedness of SDOH on health outcomes after foster care is evident. Conclusions Social support networks can help explain how young adults are both able and unable to navigate systems to address health issues. Evaluating social networks used to access care is an important aspect of assessment and intervention for these vulnerable young adults. Relevance to clinical practice Healthcare providers facilitate healthcare access for young adults who have been in foster care through evaluation of social determinants. Assessment and care planning based on social determinants for those who have been in foster care are critical to ensure the efficacy of interventions designed to address health outcomes. Social support systems are key factors for young adults formerly in foster care to access resources, substantiating the need for ongoing assessment and development of these support systems.
Aid for trade and Africa's trade performance: Evidence from bilateral trade flows with China and OECD countries

Abstract The optimism surrounding aid for trade (AfT) led scholars and practitioners to probe its link with trade performance of aid-recipient countries in Africa. In the absence of formal evaluation guidelines, most previous studies, using aggregate data, have looked into the impacts of AfT on exports and imports and found results consistent with the stated objectives of AfT. The present study investigates the nature of the link for the case of African countries using disaggregated AfT data from China and OECD member countries. The results show that flows of OECD aid to all sectors and to economic infrastructure have increased both Africa's imports from and exports to OECD countries. This finding also holds the various commodity group. The results for the components of AfT from OECD countries are mixed, with AfT for ‘trade education and training' the only component found to improve net-exports. In the case of China, the results are weak, but suggest that Chinese AfT flows to Africa have played little role in Africa's trade with China, with infrastructure and economic size of African countries being more important.
Classroom Simulation to Prepare Teachers to Use Evidence-Based Comprehension Practices.

AbstractReading comprehension is an area of weakness for many students, including those with disabilities. Innovative technology methods may play a role in improving teacher readiness to use evidence-based comprehension practices for all students. In this experimental study, researchers examined a classroom simulation (TLE TeachLivE™) to improve preservice teacher (N = 22) knowledge of evidence-based practices embedded in Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR). Participants were randomly assigned to teach in a simulation or observe peers teach in a simulation. Both groups significantly improved their knowledge of CSR practices after experience in the simulation, and all participants indicated an overall positive perception of simulation to prepare teachers. (Keywords: comprehension, evidence-based practices, simulation, TeachLivE, teacher education)
Pin-Efficient 12-Bit 8-Wire 8-Level Permutation Coding for High-Speed Parallel Wireline Tranceivers

A 12-bit 8-wire 8-level (12B8W8L) permutation coding scheme is designed for high speed parallel I/O interfaces. The proposed 12B8W8L permutation coding scheme improves pin efficiency to 150%, compared to 50% pin efficiency of the non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signaling, while keeping the encoding and decoding logic simple. It reduces the baud rate to 1/3 of NRZ signaling compensating for reduced SNR. The proposed coding scheme eliminates simultaneous switching noise (SSN) and reference voltage noise. A prototype transceiver is designed, simulated and verified in a 65 nm CMOS process, achieving 6 Gb/s/pin data rate and 0.99 pJ/bit energy efficiency over 4-inch FR4 channels.
Video game addiction, ADHD symptomatology, and video game reinforcement

Background: Up to 23% of people who play video games report symptoms of addiction. Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be at increased risk for video game addiction...
The Quinolones: Prospects

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the importance of the fluoroquinolones in clinical medicine, the advances already accomplished during the past decade, and their future prospects. These advances have led to the introduction of new compounds that are innovative and have improved clinical applications. Many infectious diseases can be treated successfully with oral quinolone therapy. Specifically, respiratory infections such as acute bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, community-acquired pneumonia and sinusitis, uncomplicated and some complicated urinary tract infections, as well as bacterial prostatitis, skin and soft tissue infections and bone and joint infections respond well to oral quinolone therapy. Gastrointestinal infections, particularly infectious diarrhea caused by toxigenic Escherichia coli , Salmonella , Shigella , Campylobacter , Aeromonas , and Vibrio species as well as Plesiomonas shigelloides are highly responsive to the oral quinolone therapy. In addition, some sexually transmitted diseases and pelvic infections can be cured with the oral quinolone therapy. Future developments of quinolone might provide compounds with greater activity against staphylococci, streptococci, corynebacteria, Listeria , Chlamydia , Mycoplasma, Legionella , and the anaerobes. Another key potential for the quinolones would be to develop new compounds with higher specific affinity for the DNA of human malignant cells. Success in this area may require the development of effective agents that can be used either alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents.
Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the five image-based criteria of the foot posture index-6.

Purpose/background The Foot Posture Index-6 (FPI-6) is considered a simple quantification tool to assess static foot alignment. Palpation of the foot is required for assessment of one of the six criteria that comprise the FPI-6; the remaining five criteria may be evaluated using still-frame photographs. Using only the image-based criteria may allow multiple clinicians to evaluate large groups of patients quickly. Reliability using only these five image-based criteria has not been established. The purposes of the current study were to establish the inter- and intra-rater reliability using five image-based criteria from the Foot Posture Index-6 (FPI-6) as well as to examine the agreement between the raters in identifying foot type using the composite five FPI scores. Methods Forty participants (23 females, 17 males; 23.67 ± 8.49 years; 64.59 ± 14.43 kg; 166.07 ± 11.79 cm) volunteered for this study. An investigator took three photos with a digital camera of the medial longitudinal arch, posterior ankle, and of the talonavicular joint approximately 45° from the posterior calcaneus for both right and left feet. Two investigators assessed the five image-based criteria of the FPI-6 for both feet of 40 participants on three occasions separated by a day. Inter-and intra-rater reliability were assessed with Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC3,2). The amount of agreement for classification of foot posture type between the two raters was assessed with Cohen's kappa coefficient. Significance was set a priori at P Results The inter-rater reliability was poor to moderate for all three sessions (ICC3,2 = 0.334-0.634). For the foot posture classification, the amount of agreement between two raters was poor for left (κ= 0.12) and right (κ= 0.19) feet. The intra-rater reliability was excellent for left (ICC3,2=0.956) and right feet (ICC3,2=0.959). Conclusions Excellent intra-rater and poor to moderate inter-rater reliability was found using only the five image-based criteria of the FPI-6. However, the classification of foot posture did not improve the amount of agreement between raters. Therefore, caution is needed when interpreting FPI scores from five image-based criteria. Levels of evidence 3b.
Corticotropin-releasing Factor Receptor 2 Mediates Sex-Specific Cellular Stress Responses

Although females suffer twice as much as males from stress-related disorders, sex-specific participating and pathogenic cellular stress mechanisms remain uncharacterized. Using corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 2-deficient (Crhr2−/−) and wild-type (WT) mice, we show that CRF receptor type 2 (CRF2) and its high-affinity ligand, urocortin 1 (Ucn1), are key mediators of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response in a murine model of acute pancreatic inflammation. Ucn1 was expressed de novo in acinar cells of male, but not female WT mice during acute inflammation. Upon insult, acinar Ucn1 induction was markedly attenuated in male but not female Crhr2r−/− mice. Crhr2−/− mice of both sexes show exacerbated acinar cell inflammation and necrosis. Electron microscopy showed mild ER damage in WT male mice and markedly distorted ER structure in Crhr2−/− male mice during pancreatitis. WT and Crhr2−/− female mice showed similarly distorted ER ultrastructure that was less severe than distortion seen in Crhr2−/− male mice. Damage in ER structure was accompanied by increased ubiquitination, peIF2, and mis-targeted localization of vimentin in WT mice that was further exacerbated in Crhr2−/− mice of both sexes during pancreatitis. Exogenous Ucn1 rescued many aspects of histological damage and cellular stress response, including restoration of ER structure in male WT and Crhr2−/− mice, but not in females. Instead, females often showed increased damage. Thus, specific cellular pathways involved in coping and resolution seem to be distinct to each sex. Our results demonstrate the importance of identifying sex-specific pathogenic mechanisms and their value in designing effective therapeutics.
Vibrational Excitation in Polyatomic Molecules

In this article we will discuss what happens to a polyatomic molecule that is driven by a high-power, resonant, infrared laser. It is assumed that the molecules are in the gas phase, and our discussion centers around systems at low pressure so that we may focus our attention on one individual molecule immersed in the photon field of the laser. We will present detailed calculations simulating the response of two molecular species, SF6 and S2F10. In this introduction we will discuss briefly our (admittedly subjective) view of the current status of the multiphoton excitation-dissociation problem (mpe, mpd) with primary emphasis on SF6, the most studied molecule.
Microcircuit Model of the Dentate Gyrus in Epilepsy

The dentate gyrus in the mammalian brain is an extremely complex structure containing millions of cells (over 1 million in the rat and many more in primates) of numerous types connected together by billions of synapses. Despite this complexity, the dentate is a highly ordered structure and decades of research have led to a deep understanding of the anatomical and physiological properties of the cells contained therein. Since the dentate is thought to serve as a gate for activity propagation throughout the limbic system (Heinemann et al. 1992; Lothman et al. 1992), understanding of its structure and components is important for developing therapeutic interventions for treating neurological disorders such as epilepsy. Epilepsy and the process by which a normal brain becomes epileptic (epileptogenesis) are complex themselves, however, and result in myriad changes to the dentate gyrus on both molecular and cellular levels.
Methane Pyrolysis for Carbon Nanotubes and COx-Free H2 over Transition-Metal Catalysts

Recently, researchers at West Virginia University reported a promising catalyst innovation for nonoxidative thermochemical conversion of methane to CO2-free hydrogen and solid carbon nanotubes (CNTs). A catalyst system was discovered that promotes “base growth” CNT formation rather than conventional “tip growth”. This enables catalyst regenerability while also generating highly pure and crystalline carbon products. In this study, simultaneous productions of CNTs and CO2-free hydrogen were studied over Fe-based catalysts supported on Al2O3, SiO2, and H-ZSM-5. The experimental results showed that metal–support interaction played a key role in the base growth mechanism. Methane conversion and the property of CNTs depended significantly on metal loading and the type of support. To elucidate the formation mechanism of CNTs, the spent catalysts were characterized by a number of analytical instrumentations including transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD)...
Unraveling the mechanisms of calcium-dependent secretion.

Ca2+-dependent secretion is a process by which important signaling molecules that are produced within a cell—including proteins and neurotransmitters—are expelled to the extracellular environment. The cellular mechanism that underlies secretion is referred to as exocytosis. Many years of work have revealed that exocytosis in neurons and neuroendocrine cells is tightly coupled to Ca2+ and orchestrated by a series of protein–protein/protein–lipid interactions. Here, we highlight landmark discoveries that have informed our current understanding of the process. We focus principally on reductionist studies performed using powerful model secretory systems and cell-free reconstitution assays. In recent years, molecular cloning and genetics have implicated the involvement of a sizeable number of proteins in exocytosis. We expect reductionist approaches will be central to attempts to resolve their roles. The Journal of General Physiology will continue to be an outlet for much of this work, befitting its tradition of publishing strongly mechanistic, basic research.
Buildings-to-Grid Integration Framework

This paper puts forth a mathematical framework for Buildings-to-Grid (BtG) integration in smart cities. The framework explicitly couples power grid and building’s control actions and operational decisions, and can be utilized by buildings and power grids operators to simultaneously optimize their performance. Simplified dynamics of building clusters and building-integrated power networks with algebraic equations are presented---both operating at different time-scales. A model predictive control (MPC)-based algorithm that formulates the BtG integration and accounts for the time-scale discrepancy is developed. The formulation captures dynamic and algebraic power flow constraints of power networks and is shown to be numerically advantageous. The paper analytically establishes that the BtG integration yields a reduced total system cost in comparison with decoupled designs where grid and building operators determine their controls separately. The developed framework is tested on standard power networks that include thousands of buildings modeled using industrial data. Case studies demonstrate building energy savings and significant frequency regulation, while these findings carry over in network simulations with nonlinear power flows and mismatch in building model parameters. Finally, simulations indicate that the performance does not significantly worsen when there is uncertainty in the forecasted weather and base load conditions.
Designing a Mobile Game That Develops Emotional Resiliency in Indian Country

Communities in Indian Country experience severe behavioral health inequities [11, 12]. Based on recent research investigating scalable behavioral health interventions and therapeutic best practices for Native American (NA) communities, we propose ARORA, a social and emotional learning intervention delivered over a networked mobile game that uses geosocial gaming mechanisms enhanced with augmented reality technology. Focusing on the Navajo community, we take a community-based participatory research approach to include NA psychologists, community health workers, and educators as co-designers of the intervention activities and gaming mechanisms. Critical questions involve the operation of the application across low-infrastructure landscapes as well scalability of design practices to be inclusive of the many diverse NA cultural communities in Indian Country.
Revenue maximization for query pricing

Buying and selling of data online has increased substantially over the last few years. Several frameworks have already been proposed that study query pricing in theory and practice. The key guiding principle in these works is the notion of arbitrage-freeness where the broker can set different prices for different queries made to the dataset, but must ensure that the pricing function does not provide the buyers with opportunities for arbitrage. However, little is known about revenue maximization aspect of query pricing. In this paper, we study the problem faced by a broker selling access to data with the goal of maximizing her revenue. We show that this problem can be formulated as a revenue maximization problem with single-minded buyers and unlimited supply, for which several approximation algorithms are known. We perform an extensive empirical evaluation of the performance of several pricing algorithms for the query pricing problem on real-world instances. In addition to previously known approximation algorithms, we propose several new heuristics and analyze them both theoretically and experimentally. Our experiments show that algorithms with the best theoretical bounds are not necessarily the best empirically. We identify algorithms and heuristics that are both fast and also provide consistently good performance when valuations are drawn from a wide variety of distributions.
MgAl-layered double hydroxide flower arrays grown on carbon paper for efficient electrochemical sensing of nitrite

Abstract In this work, MgAl-layered double hydroxide nanosheets arrays in-situ grown on commercial carbon paper (MA-LDH/CP) have been successfully fabricated via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method, which shows a hierarchical flower-like structure. The as-prepared MA-LDH/CP is used as a free-standing electrode for electrochemical detection of nitrite in aqueous media, showing high sensitivity with a low detection limit of 0.03 μM, and good anti-interference to other species. Moreover, it exhibits outstanding electrochemical stability without any deactivation in almost two months. The superior performance of MA-LDH/CP for nitrite determination is attributed to the 3D hierarchical architecture of MA-LDH nanolayers and a large number of exposed surface sites, which facilitate the electron transfer and nitrite adsorption.
From Bismark to Woodcock: The

This paper contains an exploration of some of the special or general benefits that might explain the widespread pursuit of national health insurance follows. The primary purpose of this inquiry has been to attempt to explain the popularity of national health insurance around the world.
3-Dimensional printing to predict paravalvular regurgitation after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Background There is no effective method to predict paravalvular regurgitation prior to transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Methods We retrospectively analyzed pre-TAVR computed tomography (CT) scans of 20 patients who underwent TAVR for severe, calcific aortic stenosis and subsequently printed 3-dimensional (3D) aortic root models of each patient. Models were printed using Ninjaflex thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) (Ninjatek Manheim, PA) and TPU 95A (Ultimaker, Netherlands) on Ultimaker 3 Extended 3D printer (Ultimaker, Netherlands). The models were implanted at nominal pressure with same sized Sapien balloon-expandable frames (Edwards Lifesciences, CA) as received in-vivo. Ex-vivo implanted TAVR models (eTAVR) were scanned using Siemens SOMATOM flash dual source CT (Siemens, Malvern, PA) and then analyzed with Mimics software (Materialize NV, Leuven, Belgium) to evaluate relative stent appositions. eTAVR were then compared to post-TAVR echocardiograms for each patient to assess for correlations of identified and predicted paravalvular leak (PVL) locations. Results A total of 20 patients (70% male) were included in this study. The median age was 77.5 (74-83.5) years. Ten patients were characterized to elicit mild (9/10) or moderate (1/10) PVL, and 10 patients presented no PVL. In patients with echocardiographic PVL, eTAVR 3D model analyses correctly identified the site of PVL in 8/10 cases. In patients without echocardiographic PVL, eTAVR 3D model analyses correctly predicted the lack of PVL in 9/10 cases. Conclusion 3D printing may help predict the potential locations of associated PVL post-TAVR, which may have implications for optimizing valve selection and sizing.
Emergency Department Operations I: Emergency Medical Services and Patient Arrival

The emergency department (ED) is by its nature inherently an environment with the potential for chaos because of the high volume and varied types of patients cared for in an ED setting. This article discusses potential system opportunities from the prehospital environment through arrival in the ED before provider evaluation. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act is reviewed in detail. Management and the reduction of risk to waiting room patients and patients who leave without being seen is explored. Description of the risks and mitigation strategies are discussed to decrease risk to patients, providers, and hospitals.
The Hawaiian Koʻa Card: coral health and bleaching assessment color reference card for Hawaiian corals

Coral reefs are the foundation to our social, cultural, and economic life; however, reefs around the world are currently being threatened by many local and global impacts. Ongoing increases in seawater temperature pose significant threats to the integrity of these valuable ecosystems through extensive coral bleaching events. Therefore, we developed a coral health reference card, the Hawaiian Koʻa (coral) Card, to assess and quantify coral bleaching and to educate the community about its impacts in Hawai‘i. To accurately quantify the change in coral color during bleaching, controlled laboratory studies followed by field validations and surveys were conducted. Colors presented on the Hawaiian Koʻa Card have been linked to physiological state and health (e.g., symbiont density, chlorophyll levels, photosynthetic performance) of common coral species in Hawaiʻi due to bleaching. The Hawaiian Koʻa Card provides a technical solution to inform and improve management of our nearshore resources through collaborative monitoring efforts by community members, educators, researchers, and managers on a state-wide scale, which will assist in determining management efficacy, identifying regions and species of resilience, establishing baselines and focus areas, and developing and executing rapid response plans.
K 2P 2.1 (TREK-1) potassium channel activation protects against hyperoxia-induced lung injury.

No targeted therapies exist to counteract Hyperoxia (HO)-induced Acute Lung Injury (HALI). We previously found that HO downregulates alveolar K2P2.1 (TREK-1) K+ channels, which results in worsening lung injury. This decrease in TREK-1 levels leaves a subset of channels amendable to pharmacological intervention. Therefore, we hypothesized that TREK-1 activation protects against HALI. We treated HO-exposed mice and primary alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) with the novel TREK-1 activators ML335 and BL1249, and quantified physiological, histological, and biochemical lung injury markers. We determined the effects of these drugs on epithelial TREK-1 currents, plasma membrane potential (Em), and intracellular Ca2+ (iCa) concentrations using fluorometric assays, and blocked voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (CaV) as a downstream mechanism of cytokine secretion. Once-daily, intra-tracheal injections of HO-exposed mice with ML335 or BL1249 improved lung compliance, histological lung injury scores, broncho-alveolar lavage protein levels and cell counts, and IL-6 and IP-10 concentrations. TREK-1 activation also decreased IL-6, IP-10, and CCL-2 secretion from primary AECs. Mechanistically, ML335 and BL1249 induced TREK-1 currents in AECs, counteracted HO-induced cell depolarization, and lowered iCa2+ concentrations. In addition, CCL-2 secretion was decreased after L-type CaV inhibition. Therefore, Em stabilization with TREK-1 activators may represent a novel approach to counteract HALI.
Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Discrepancies in Opioid Prescriptions Among Older Patients With Cancer.

PURPOSE:Minority race and lower socioeconomic status are associated with lower rates of opioid prescription and undertreatment of pain in multiple noncancer healthcare settings. It is not known whe...
Noisy Student learning for cross-institution brain hemorrhage detection.

Computed tomography (CT) is the imaging modality used in the diagnosis of neurological emergencies, including acute stroke and traumatic brain injury. Advances in deep learning have led to models that can detect and segment hemorrhage on head CT. PatchFCN, one such supervised fully convolutional network (FCN), recently demonstrated expert-level detection of intracranial hemorrhage on in-sample data. However, its potential for similar accuracy outside the training domain is hindered by its need for pixel-labeled data from outside institutions. Also recently, a semi-supervised technique, Noisy Student (NS) learning, demonstrated state-of-the-art performance on ImageNet by moving from a fully-supervised to a semi-supervised learning paradigm. We combine the PatchFCN and Noisy Student approaches, extending semi-supervised learning to an intracranial hemorrhage segmentation task. Surprisingly, the NS model performance surpasses that of a fully-supervised oracle model trained with image-level labels on the same data. It also performs comparably to another recently reported supervised model trained on a labeled dataset 600x larger than that used to train the NS model. To our knowledge, we are the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of semi-supervised learning on a head CT detection and segmentation task.
Sorption and desorption behavior of four antibiotics at concentrations simulating wastewater reuse in agricultural and forested soils.

Abstract Due to rises in antibiotic resistance, fate and transport of antibiotics in soil systems requires greater understanding. Adsorption coefficients (Kd and Kf) are standard measures for determining sorption capacity and partitioning behavior of organic contaminants in solid matrices. Frequently, sorption studies use higher antibiotic concentrations (mg L−1) and larger spiked water volume to mass of soil (>5:1), which may not reflect sorption behaviors of antibiotics at low concentrations (ng L−1 - μg L−1) in natural soils. The aim of this study was to determine sorption and desorption behaviors of four antibiotics commonly found in soils due to wastewater reuse using parameters replicating typical soil conditions. Concentrations (μg L−1) of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), trimethoprim (TMP), lincomycin (LIN) and ofloxacin (OFL) were equilibrated with four soil types at a 2:1 ratio of spiked water volume to mass of soil, which better represents field conditions. Log Kf and log Kfoc value ranges in this study were 1.88–1.95 and 3.2–4.7 for TMP, 0.43–1.4 and 2.7–3.2 for SMX, and 0.65–1.4 and 2.0–4.1 for LIN, respectively. Ofloxacin adsorbed tightly to soil particles, and adsorption coefficients could not be calculated. Sorption values were higher than previous studies that used similar soil types but had higher ratios of spiking solution to mass of soil (>5:1). Overall, OFL and TMP are expected to strongly interact with soil particles and be less mobile, while SMX and LIN are expected to be more mobile due to weaker sorption interactions.
“Capacity‐building” in global Internet governance: The long‐term outcomes of “multistakeholderism”

“Capacity building” is a catch phrase from the UN development discourse. In recent years, it has entered the global Internet governance (IG) arena. At World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS 2003), “capacity building” was identified as a key public policy issue. It is proposed in this study that ‘capacity building’ be defined in a different manner – as the principal outcome of the experimental multistakeholder (MSH) process in global IG. The open and inclusive process of stakeholder deliberation leads to accumulation of intellectual capital, development of relational infrastructure for the domain (epistemic community), and emergence of common global consciousness. When cast as a capacity-building process, MSH collaboration at global Internet governance arenas exhibits long-term and large-scale intangible outcomes. This study contributes to the understanding of the capacity-building potential of MSH collaboration in IG. By employing concepts from International Relations and Organizational Learning, the author develops a model of tangible and intangible outcomes of MSH collaboration. This unique model can be used for studying the effects in other stakeholder venues of governing global resources and processes.
Monoclonal antibody protection from age-dependent poliomyelitis: implications regarding the pathogenesis of lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus.

Abstract Over 90% of cyclophosphamide-treated, 6- to 7-month-old C58/M mice developed fatal paralytic disease after infection with a virulent strain of lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV), with a mean onset of paralysis of about 16 days. Passive immunization with polyclonal antibodies or with a group of anti-LDV monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) with single-epitope specificity 1 day before or at the time of LDV infection prevented the development of paralytic disease without interfering with the replication of LDV in permissive macrophages, the primary host cells of LDV. In situ hybridization of spinal cord sections with an LDV-specific cDNA probe indicated that the MAb specifically prevented the cytocidal infection of motor neurons by LDV without blocking the infection of smaller nonneuronal cells in the spinal cord. The protective antibodies recognize at least two different epitopes on the glycoprotein of LDV, VP-3. Passive immunizations with other anti-LDV MAbs, which recognize at least three other epitopes on VP-3 of LDV, afforded no protection. In contrast to the protective effect of anti-LDV MAb injection before or at the time of LDV infection, their administration postinfection exerted relatively little protection, though it delayed the appearance of paralytic symptoms. However, repeated injections of MAbs until at least 7 days postinfection also afforded a high degree of protection. The results indicate that protective MAbs may interfere with two stages in the development of LDV-induced paralytic disease. When administered at the time of LDV infection, they prevent the initial infection of spinal cord motor neurons. After this initial event, repeated injections of MAb are required to inhibit the spread of LDV between neurons until the endogenous production of protective anti-LDV antibodies in these mice.
Glenn Gould: The Idea of South by North

ON A CITY BUS IN TORONTO, on his way to the memorial ser vice for Glenn Gould, a friend of Gould's found himself in the company of a gentleman from Washington, D.C.. The gentleman wasn't a musician, nor did he have anything directly to do with music. Indeed he was a lawyer, who had taken time from a busy schedule (he was to argue a case before the Supreme Court in two days and was still working on the brief) to pay that tribute in a cold Canadian city on a blustery, showery October afternoon, among strangers, to a man he'd never met. Gould's friend asked him why. Because, the lawyer said, he thought T. S. Eliot and Glenn Gould were the two greatest figures of the twentieth century. From the general public, quite a tribute to a pianist. Gould is certainly one of the greatest pianists who ever lived. But his greatness is cluttered with distractions: Gould the pop philosopher with his meandering opinions about technology and cruelty to animals; Gould the flamboyant radio, television and film personality wearing funny hats and impersonating self-invented characters with funny names and accents; Gould the writer of convoluted essays in Floridian prose on such subjects as the Moog Synthesizer, Petula Clark and ?always ?himself; Gould the enfant terrible of interviews with his outrageous pronouncements on music and composers he doesn't like; Gould the creator of elaborately spliced, finicky, dauntingly complex and uninteresting radio documentaries; Gould the visionary inventor of do-it-yourself tape kits and conduct-it yourself playback equipment for the making of personalized home music; Gould the tinkering experimenter with hybrid pianos; Gould the prepos terous eccentric with his vials of pills, bottles of Poland water, arrowroot cookies, his galoshes, overcoats, gloves and tweed caps worn indoors; Gould the self-conscious and crafty recluse, unreachable, untouchable ? Gould the muffled genius. Keats' genius is evident in his letters even if he had written no poetry. Gould away from the piano is mildly amusing, also annoying and hare brained?a gifted, irritating adolescent. Fitful flashes of brilliance do sometimes penetrate upwards through the lush and twining verbiage of a
Experimental study of a shock accelerated thin gas layer

Planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging is utilized in shock-tube experiments to visualize the development of a shock-accelerated thin gas layer. The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of both sides of the heavy gas layer causes perturbations initially imposed on the two interfaces to develop into one of three distinct flow patterns. Two of the patterns exhibit vortex pairs which travel either upstream or downstream in the shock tube, while the third is a sinuous pattern that shows no vortex development until late in its evolution. The development of the observed patterns as well as the growth in the layer thickness is modeled by considering the dynamics of vorticity deposited in the layer by the shock interaction process. This model yields an expression for the layer growth which is in good agreement with measurements.
Aerobic exercise + weight loss decreases skeletal muscle myostatin expression and improves insulin sensitivity in older adults.

Objective To determine whether aerobic exercise training + weight loss (AEX + WL) would affect the expression of myostatin and its relationship with insulin sensitivity in a longitudinal, clinical intervention study. Design and Methods Thirty-three obese sedentary postmenopausal women and men (n = 17 and 16, age: 61 ± 1 years, body mass index: 31 ± 1 kg/m2, VO2max: 21.9 ± 1.0 mL/kg/min, X ± Standard error of the mean (SEM)) completed 6 months of 3 days/week AEX + WL. During an 80 mU m−2 min−1 hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, we measured glucose utilization (M), myostatin, myogenin, and MyoD gene expression by real-time RT-PCR in vastus lateralis muscle at baseline and 2 h. Results Body weight (−8%) and fat mass (−17%) decreased after AEX + WL (P < 0.001). Fat-free mass (FFM) and mid-thigh muscle area by computed tomography did not change but muscle attenuation increased (P < 0.05). VO2max increased 14% (P < 0.001). AEX + WL increased M by 18% (P < 0.01). Myostatin gene expression decreased 19% after AEX + WL (P < 0.05). Basal mRNA myostatin levels were negatively associated with M before the intervention (r = −0.43, P < 0.05). Insulin infusion increased myoD and myogenin expression before and after AEX + WL (both P < 0.001) but basal levels did not change. The insulin effect on myostatin expression was associated with the change in M after AEX + WL (r = 0.56, P < 0.005). Conclusions Exercise and weight loss results in a downregulation of myostatin mRNA and an improvement in insulin sensitivity in obese older men and women.
Expression of CD44 is repressed in neuroblastoma cells.

Abstract We have used cDNA subtractive cloning to identify a group of human genes that are expressed in diverse differentiated derivatives of neural crest origin but not in neuroblastoma cell lines. One of these genes was identified as CD44, which encodes an integral membrane glycoprotein that serves as the principal receptor for hyaluronate and participates in specific cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. The repression of CD44 expression in neuroblastoma cell lines might be relevant to their high metastatic potential. We have cloned full-length cDNAs corresponding to CD44 trancscripts and identified a novel splice variant of CD44 lacking 31 amino acids of the extracellular domain. As a first step toward analysis of CD44 downregulation in neuroblastoma cells, we have mapped the CD44 RNA initiation site and analyzed the structure of the upstream regulatory region. We constructed a series of plasmids containing different amounts of CD44 upstream regulatory region linked to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene and then analyzed their ability to promote transcription in neuroblastoma and melanoma cells. We found that a DNA segment including about 150 bp of the CD44 upstream region and the 5' end of the gene itself was sufficient to induce substantial transcription of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in both neuroblastoma and melanoma cells. Several upstream cis-acting elements contribute to the downregulation of CD44 in neuroblastoma cells, the most prominent being a 120-bp DNA fragment located 450 bp upstream to the RNA initiation site. Our data suggest that multiple factors might be involved in downregulation of CD44 in neuroblastoma cells.