cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Low-calorie- and calorie-sweetened beverages: diet quality, food intake, and purchase patterns of US household consumers

Background: Few studies have investigated the diet quality of consumers of low-calorie-sweetened (LCS) and calorie-sweetened (CS) beverages. Objective: The objective was to examine the dietary quality and adherence to dietary purchasing and consumption patterns of beverage consumers from 2000 to 2010. Design: We analyzed purchases for 140,352 households from the Homescan longitudinal data set 2000–2010 and dietary intake from NHANES 2003–2010 (n = 34,393). We defined mutually exclusive consumer profiles as main exposures: LCS beverages, CS beverages, LCS & CS beverages, and non/low consumers. As main outcomes, we explored dietary quality by using total energy and macronutrients (kcal/d). We performed factor analyses and applied factor scores to derive dietary patterns as secondary outcomes. Using multivariable linear (NHANES) and random-effects (Homescan) models, we investigated the associations between beverage profiles and dietary patterns. Results: We found “prudent” and “breakfast” patterns in Homescan and NHANES, “ready-to-eat meals/fast-food” and “prudent/snacks/LCS desserts” patterns in Homescan, and “protein/potatoes” and “CS desserts/sweeteners” patterns in NHANES. In both data sets, compared with non/low consumers, both CS- and LCS-beverage consumers had a significantly higher total energy from foods, higher energy from total and SFAs, and lower probability of adherence to prudent and breakfast patterns. In Homescan, LCS-beverage consumers had a higher probability of adherence to 2 distinct patterns: a prudent/snacks/LCS dessert pattern and a ready-to-eat meals/fast-food purchasing pattern. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that overall dietary quality is lower in LCS-, CS-, and LCS & CS–beverage consumers relative to non/low consumers. Our study highlights the importance of targeting foods that are linked with sweetened beverages (either LCS or CS) in intervention and policy efforts that aim to improve nutrition in the United States.
Vector bank based target tracking via vision sensors in aviation systems

In this paper, we present a technique of detection and tracking of one or possibly more moving objects by implementing a “Vector Bank“ into an H.264 based System-on-a-Chip design architecture as a vision sensor in aviation systems, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Most of the existing target-tracking algorithms are based on software solutions. The introduction of H.264 encoding chips provides a far better hardware solution by developing motion estimation blocks to detect Macro-Block movement up to 10 reference frames in streaming imaging data. By adding a vector bank with the proposed framework, a high-resolution H.264 based vision sensor could be easily developed and implemented for target tracking purpose in a real-time manner in aviation systems.
Is There a Psychology of the Rural Aged

Among other things, this century is witnessing “the graying of America. ”Whereas in 1910 only 2% of the population of the United States was over 65 years of age, by 1970, 11% had reached this age, and by 2030, 25% will be considered elderly.
Photometric Double Stars and Light Curves

The binary stars to be described in the following sections disclose their duplicity by periodic changes of brightness as a result of mutual occultations of the components during their orbital revolution. Thus far observations of positions and of radial velocities have been featured. In the class of binaries now to follow — which is the most interesting and difficult one from the view-points of variety and of evolutionary interpretation— the discovery and the continued measurements lie in the realm of photometric studies, as is the case for variable stars. The name ‘photometric binaries’ is nowadays increasingly favored over ‘eclipsing variables’ since it shows the distinction from the intrinsically variable stars. It also permits to include those close pairs whose light variation is caused geometrically not by eclipses but by the change of radiating area owing to the deformation of shape of the revolving components (ellipsoidic light variation).
Changing patterns of respiration in newborn infants.

The respiratory activity of quiet and sleeping healthy infants has been studied by pneumographic tracings and by clinical observations. Four successive stages of respiration have been described through which all healthy, full term newborn infants pass. The first stage is concerned with the establishment of postnatal respirations and lasts for a few minutes following birth. The second stage lasts from several hours to a day or more. Respiratory activity is characterized by a wide range of rates, a regular rhythm and a single respiratory pattern, to which the term "synchronous" has been given. The term is based on the fact that all parts of the chest and abdomen expand and contract together in an easy, smooth and regular fashion. Any signs of chest retraction indicate that the infant either is not well or has passed into the third stage. The third stage lasts several days or weeks. Infants in this stage exhibit rapidly fluctuating rates, variable rhythms and a wide variety of respiratory patterns. Two of the common patterns seen in this stage have been given the terms "simple retraction" and "see-saw." In simple retraction the lower end of the sternum and adjacent costal margins are pulled inwards as the abdomen and upper chest expand. In "see-saw" breathing the whole anterior chest wall is pulled inwards and downwards as the abdomen expands. There is much shifting back and forth from one pattern to another. The fourth stage begins several weeks after birth and is characterized by a return to more stable rhythms and respiratory patterns. All previous bizarre patterns have disappeared leaving "synchronous" and "simple retraction" as the only patterns of breathing. The same four stages of respiration have been identified in a small group of surviving premature infants. Knowledge of these stages has made it possible to give a more accurate prognosis during the first 24 hours of life on the infant9s chances for survival The absence of retraction during stage 2 has been associated with an excellent prognosis for the infant. The presence of any degree of retraction in the first 24 hours of life, except as it may occur in the first few minutes after birth, has been associated with serious illnesses in the infants in the small series of cases observed to date. Factors which might explain the presence of stages 2, 3 and 4 have been explored only partially. One of the factors involved in the change from stages 2 to 3 is the increasing vigor of diaphragmatic contractions.
Männlichkeits- und Weiblichkeitsvorstellungen bei Männern und Frauen — eine Rorschachuntersuchung

Fur die menschliche Faszination am Zusammenspiel von Mannlichkeitsund Weiblichkeitsvorstellungen innerhalb der Personlichkeit finden sich im Mythos, in der Kunst und im Ritual vielfaltige (historische und kulturubergreifende) Belege. Plato berichtet von einer Sage, in der die Anziehungskraft zwischen Mannern und Frauen mit dem Versuch in Zusammenhang gebracht wird, eine ursprungliche bisexuelle Vollkommenheit wiederherzustellen, die im Laufe der Zeit in einen mannlichen und einen weiblichen Teil gespalten worden war. Der Mythos von Hermaphroditos spricht von der Vereinigung der Liebenden zu einem einzigen Wesen und dem Verlust der Liebesfahigkeit als Folge der Erschaffung dieser Form von Intimitat. Zeus handelte als mannliches Wesen, wenn er Frauen schwangerte, aber er war es auch, der Athena zur Welt brachte. Skulpturen von Gestalten mit mannlichen Genitalien und auch Brusten hat man bei Eskimos1 und in Neuirland (Otten 1971, S. 224) gefunden. Bettelheim (1954) diskutiert anthropologische Untersuchungen mannlicher Pubertatsriten, in denen Transvestismus, Subinzision und andere Zeremonien explizit oder implizit auf die Inanspruchnahme oder den Verzicht auf weibliche Krafte durch die jungen Manner hindeuten.
Xtranomics: Where Xtranormal Meets Economics

Students are often quite good at memorizing and replicating definitions and concepts on exams in the context in which those definitions and concepts are taught. What many students have more difficulty with is applying the material they learn in the classroom to a broader range of scenarios. This website presents the design and instructions for implementation of an exercise I have devised that allows instructors to identify if out of context learning is lacking or has been achieved. Using the website Xtranormal.com and its embedded software, I require students to create a short animated film that works basic economic concepts into the script. Students are instructed to be creative and not simply have their characters recite textbook definitions. Viewing the finished product allows one to see which concepts students understand well and which concepts students are having difficulty applying outside of the context of the classroom. The motivation for this assignment came from reading a section of Ken Bain’s book What the Best College Teachers Do (2004). Bain reports the findings of Halloun and Hestenes (1985). Halloun and Hestenes report that even students who passed a physics course with an A did not have their preconceived and wrong notions about physics change. I was curious if this was also the case for my students in a Principles of Economics class. By having my students write scenes that include the economic way of thinking I am able to find if my students suffer from a similar problem. I assign this project early in the semester allowing ample time for additional instruction and practice on any problem areas uncovered. This project is easily adaptable to nearly any topic. I have found that unleashing student creativity is both very fun and very rewarding in the amount of learning and teachable moments it produces.
Experimental Studies of Factors Influencing Hepatic Metastases. XVIII. Significance of Trapped Tumor Cells.

SummaryNo increase in numbers of intra-portally injected 51Cr-labeled Walker tumor cells was detected in livers of rats subjected to partial hepatectomy, hepatic manipulation, reticuloendothelial blockade, high fat, choline-free diet, caval constriction, or injection of dextran. This information indicates that the augmentation of hepatic metastases produced by these modalities in this model system is related to their metabolic or biologic (“soil”) rather than mechanical influences on hepatic-tumor cell relationships.
Survey of the leprosy prevention and control work in Hefei

Objective To understand the leprosy work in Hefei,and provide evidence for developing prevention and control measures of leprosy. Methods Field survey were conducted in Hefei and four countries which belong to Hefei to understand the institutions,personnel and work of leprosy prevention and control. Results There was one part- job for leprosy prevention and control personnel in the counties( city). The leprosy prevention and control work were in large differences between different counties. The county where had leprosy patient had taken a part of the work. Other counties( city) basically did not carry out the work of leprosy prevention and control. Conclusion The leprosy prevention and control work in Hefei showed a astable state. The government should strengthen the attention and investment in leprosy prevention and control.
Software architecture health monitor

In this paper, we first discuss the concept of architecture debt and how this debt grows in virtually every software-intensive project. Next we propose a methodology for developers to monitor the health of a project's architecture through an analysis of the development artifacts that a project produces. Our objective is to monitor and manage architecture debt by leveraging an architecture model that we proposed recently, called the Design Rule Space (DRSpace). We use DRSpaces to split a complex system into smaller subsystems based on features, patterns, refactoring targets, etc., so that we can monitor and analyze the evolution and interaction of each subsystem separately. We also employ a recently proposed architectural metric---Decoupling Level---to quantitatively monitor changes in a project's overall level of architecture maintainability. Using these tools, we describe our vision for a software architecture "health monitor", on analogy with a health monitor used in a hospital, to continuously monitor the health of the "patient" and alert staff to any potential danger signs.
Expression, purification, and buffer solubility optimization of the putative human peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase PTRHD1

Performing the essential function of recycling peptidyl-tRNAs, peptidyl-tRNA hydrolases are ubiquitous in all domains of life. The multicomponent eukaryotic Pth system differs greatly from the bacterial system composed predominantly of a single Pth1 enzyme. While bacterial Pth1s are structurally well characterized and promising new targets for antibiotic development, eukaryotic Pths are largely understudied. From amino acid sequence alignment and secondary structure predictions, the human gene product PTRHD1 was classified as a eukaryotic Pth. Herein, we report cloning, recombinant bacterial expression, and weak binding to peptidyl-tRNA for PTRHD1. Additionally, we report binding to tRNA but absence of peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase activity. Thus, PTRHD1 is not a Pth and the functional consequence of nucleotide binding remains undefined.
LV pressure-volume area and oxygen consumption: evaluation in intact dog by fast CT.

The relationship between left ventricular (LV) myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) and LV systolic pressure-volume area (PVA) was investigated in anesthetized closed-chest dogs with intact reflexes and subsequently with beta-adrenergic blockade, with or without simultaneous muscarinic blockade. LV chamber volumes were measured using a fast computerized tomography (CT) scanner (dynamic spatial reconstructor, DSR) at 33-ms intervals. Myocardial blood flow was measured from the DSR scans of aortic root angiograms. With intact reflexes, LV MVO2 (Y) related to PVA (X) values as Y = (4.28 +/- 1.81)X + (1.94 +/- 6.0) (n = 24) (mJ.g-1.cycle-1). With beta-adrenergic blockade, LV MVO2 (Y) related to PVA (X) value as Y = (4.24 +/- 1.03)X - (6.43 +/- 6.5), (n = 9) (mJ.g-1.cycle-1). With beta-adrenergic and muscarinic blockade, LV MVO2 (Y) related to PVA (X) value as Y = (2.84 +/- 1.72)X + (3.51 +/- 5.15), (n = 13) (mJ.g-1.cycle-1). The slopes of these regressions are higher than the slopes demonstrated by others in isolated ventricles but very similar to those demonstrated in open-chest dogs.
Pineal region: rare location of a cavernous haemangioma.

AbstractCavernous haemangiomas are commonly located within the central nervous system. There are only 77 cases of this malformation found in the pineal region reported in the literature, and only four of them have documenting photomicrographs. Very little has been writted about diagnostic features of these tumours when they occur in this area. We describe our diagnosis of a cavernous haemangioma in the pineal region with special emphasis on its radiologic and histologic aspects. [Neurol Res 1994; 16: 133-136]
Artists’ archives: preserving the documentation and collections of an artist organization

A wealth of primary documentation has been produced and collected by artists and artist-run organizations since the 1970s. Alternative art activities were often time-based and experimented with form and material, and documentation has become essential as a means to study and understand the intent, the actualization and the impact of artworks. What are the key issues for artists, archivists and researchers interested in the collection, preservation and provision of future access to the archives of the avant-garde?
Ross and Scheler on the Givenness and Unity of Value

In this chapter, J. Edward Hackett clarifies the ambiguity of Ross’s list of prima facie duties using two components from Scheler’s phenomenology: affective intentionality and the order of preferencing. By showing how integral these two components are to moral experience, Hackett supports and defends intuitionism against the charge that it is unable to reveal basic and derived duties, and argues that Ross’s intuitionism is not arbitrary with respect to duties. Instead, there is a unity that can be experienced, even in cases of conflict, precisely because Ross does not have a full account of the phenomenological structure of moral experience. For Hackett, phenomenology’s future relevance depends on interpreting the non-reductive aspects of experience in terms of the same non-naturalism that is common in both thinkers.
We Are What We Generate - Understanding Ourselves Through Our Data☆

Abstract We have tendency to exhibit ourselves through the data we share about ourselves including, liking, friendship, follows, disliking, pictures, audio, videos, causes, blogs and sites. Such data about us have already been used by big data companies to create customized ads and marketing tactics. However, while such data being in unstructured and noisy format, utilization and research is at its early stages. In this paper, we elaborate on the idea of understanding individuals through lens of data they produce in context of our main research work for Predicting Educational Relevance For an Efficient Classification of Talent (PERFECT) algorithm engine. We illustrate some of research problems in relevance of such data and identify research problem as ground for this paper. We present sub set of our framework including algorithm and math constructs, for the problem we identify. We conclude that such analytics and cognitive research can help to improve education, healthcare, Job economy, crime control, etc. Thus we coin the phrase “we are what we generate”, with our work in this paper. We suggest future work and opportunities in relevant directions.
HASS Rapid Change-Over Process

A significant increase in HASS testing demand drove the necessity for process improvement to reduce traditional set-up times. Multiple part numbers are undergoing HASS testing at the manufacturing facility. With limited resources and capacity, it became crucial to improve current processes to meet production demands. Using the Lean Six Sigma process, a team of engineers developed a rapid change out approach for interchanging tested products. Included in this approach were improvements in fixture design, ensuring early initiation of HASS fixturing into the HALT process, product and fixture assembly being performed outside the chamber, and standardized processes, set-ups, electrical tester interfaces, hardware, mistake proofing and ergonomics. Repeatability and documentation were also addressed in the approach and drove improvements in installation techniques to ensure consistent product orientation, cable connections, and air flow through ducting. The rapid change out approach has allowed for an increased production output by reducing the change-out down time of the HASS chambers.
Effects of Substituent Chains on the Mesomorphism of the Schiff’s Bases of p-Aminocinnamic Acid Esters

Compounds of the general structure Open image in new window are known to form variously smectic and nematic mesophases (1,2). Leclercq, Billard and Jacques (4) have presented thermodynamic data on fifteen derivatives of the above structure. Very little work has been presented on the effect of various substituent groups on the order-disorder magnitude (entropy) of various transitions in these or other nematogenic series. The availability of the data of Leclercq et al. (4), Table I, permits a preliminary consideration of the following questions for the lower members of the series: 1. Which end of the molecule controls predominantly the order-disorder of the solid → smectic, smectic → nematic and nematic → isotropic liquid changes? 2. To what extent is pure geometric size a controlling factor in the above transitions? 3. To what extent does the polarity of the substituent groups control transition entropies and types? 4. What effect does an increase in molecular thickness have on transition entropy and mesophase type?
Globally convergent adaptive tracking of angular velocity with inertia identification and adaptive linearization

Abstract The problem of a rigid body tracking a desired angular velocity trajectory is addressed using adaptive feedback control. An adaptive controller is developed for a planar rotating body tracking a desired angular velocity command. Lyapunov analysis is used to show that tracking is achieved globally. A periodic angular velocity command is then used to identify the inertia parameter. The adaptive controller is implemented on a triaxial attitude control testbed with fan thrusters. A piecewise linear approximation of an observed input non linearity is inverted to obtain improved angular velocity tracking and inertia identification. To eliminate residual tracking error, an adaptive algorithm is used for improved feedback linearization. Lyapunov analysis is used to show boundedness of the angular velocity and inertia estimate errors. The approach is validated by numerical simulation.
VLSI Architectures for the Restricted Boltzmann Machine

Neural network (NN) systems are widely used in many important applications ranging from computer vision to speech recognition. To date, most NN systems are processed by general processing units like CPUs or GPUs. However, as the sizes of dataset and network rapidly increase, the original software implementations suffer from long training time. To overcome this problem, specialized hardware accelerators are needed to design high-speed NN systems. This article presents an efficient hardware architecture of restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) that is an important category of NN systems. Various optimization approaches at the hardware level are performed to improve the training speed. As-soon-as-possible and overlapped-scheduling approaches are used to reduce the latency. It is shown that, compared with the flat design, the proposed RBM architecture can achieve 50% reduction in training time. In addition, an on-the-fly computation scheme is also used to reduce the storage requirement of binary and stochastic states by several hundreds of times. Then, based on the proposed approach, a 784-2252 RBM design example is developed for MNIST handwritten digit recognition dataset. Analysis shows that the VLSI design of RBM achieves significant improvement in training speed and energy efficiency as compared to CPU/GPU-based solution.
Proteomic Analysis of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) Seeds Reveals the Accumulation of Numerous Stress-Related Proteins.

Pigeonpea is one of the major sources of dietary protein for more than a billion people living in South Asia. This hardy legume is often grown in low-input and risk-prone marginal environments. Considerable research effort has been devoted by a global research consortium to develop genomic resources for the improvement of this legume crop. These efforts have resulted in the elucidation of the complete genome sequence of pigeonpea. Despite these developments, little is known about the seed proteome of this important crop. Here, we report the proteome of pigeonpea seed. To enable the isolation of maximum number of seed proteins, including those that are present in very low amounts, three different protein fractions were obtained by employing different extraction media. High-resolution two-dimensional (2-D) electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS/MS analysis of these protein fractions resulted in the identification of 373 pigeonpea seed proteins. Consistent with the reported high degree of synteny betwe...
Development of an ultra-wide band receiver for the North America array

The North America Array (NAA), also known as the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), is a concept for a radio astronomical interferometric array operating in the frequency range 1.2 GHz to 116 GHz and designed to provide substantial improvements in sensitivity, angular resolution, and frequency coverage while reducing operational costs compared to the current Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA). At JPL, we are designing a single receiver package designed to operate across the 8 to 48 GHz frequency range, in contrast to the current JVLA, which covers this frequency range with five receiver packages. Reducing the number of receiving systems required to cover the full frequency range would reduce operating costs. We are developing a prototype integrated feed-receiver package with a system noise temperature that meets the requirements of the ngVLA/NAA primary science programs, with a design that meets the requirement of low long-term operational costs. The receiver package being developed at JPL consists of a feed horn, low-noise amplifier (LNA), and down-converters to analog intermediate frequencies. We report on the status of this receiver package development.
Clone morphing: Creating new workload behavior from existing applications

Computer system designers need a deep understanding of end users' workload in order to arrive at an optimum design. However, current design practices suffer from two problems: time mismatch where designers rely on workloads available today to design systems that will be produced years into the future to run future workloads, and sparse behavior where many performance behavior is not represented by the limited set of applications available today. We propose clone morphing, a systematic method for producing new synthetic workloads (morphs) with performance behavior that does not currently exist. The morphs are generated automatically without knowing or changing the original application's source code. There are three different aspects a morph can differ from the original benchmark it is built on: temporal locality, spatial locality, and memory footprint. We showed how each of these aspects can be varied largely independently of other aspects. Furthermore, we also presented a method for merging two different applications into one that has an average behavior of both applications. We evaluated the morphs by running them on simulators and collect statistics that capture their behavior, and validated that morphs can be used for projecting future workloads and for generating new behavior that fills up the behavior map densely.
In the Eye of the Beholder: Recovery and Personal Narrative

Despite the term recovery being commonplace in mental health circles, there continues to be debate about how it should be conceptualized. Some policy makers, researchers, and professionals link level of recovery with tangible outcomes ranging from symptom reduction to the ability to work and live independently. By contrast, the definitions offered by people with lived experience of mental illness tend to focus heavily on the process of recovery, and given this, recovery is commonly referred to as a journey. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study focused on understanding how those with serious mental illness conceptualize and live out their own recovery. Drawing upon Frank’s classic work, The Wounded Storyteller, participants’ recovery narratives are classified into three categories including recovery as restitution, recovery in the midst of chaos and recovery as quest. This study illustrates how recovery involves a range of multifaceted and complex factors. The authors advocate for a conceptualization of recovery that takes into consideration the unique personal histories of those with the lived experience of serious mental illness. Tentative implications for practice are offered.
SAM: Optimizing Multithreaded Cores for Speculative Parallelism

This work studies the interplay between multithreaded cores and speculative parallelism (e.g., transactional memory or thread-level speculation). These techniques are often used together, yet they have been developed independently. This disconnect causes major performance pathologies: increasing the number of threads per core adds conflicts and wasted work, and puts pressure on speculative execution resources. These pathologies often squander the benefits of multithreading.We present speculation-aware multithreading (SAM), a simple policy that addresses these pathologies. By coordinating instruction dispatch and conflict resolution priorities, SAM focuses execution resources on work that is more likely to commit, avoiding aborts and using speculation resources more efficiently.We design SAM variants for in-order and out-of-order cores. SAM is cheap to implement and makes multithreaded cores much more beneficial on speculative parallel programs. We evaluate SAM on systems with up to 64 SMT cores. With SAM, 8-threaded cores outperform single-threaded cores by 2.33x on average, while a speculation-oblivious policy yields a 1.85x speedup. SAM also reduces wasted work by 52%.
Wireworm (Coleoptera: Elateridae) effects on sugarcane emergence after short-duration flood applied at planting.

The purpose of this study was to analyze sugarcane, interspecific hybrids of Saccharum spp., emergence under severe wireworm, Melanotus communis Gyllenhal, pressure after floods of 7, 14, and 21 d applied at planting, as well as following a conventional application of an organophosphate insecticide at planting without flooding. In three experiments, wireworms were applied at the rate of 13 larvae per m of row in plastic containers filled with Pahokee muck soil. In the first experiment, sugarcane bud emergence percentages under the flood treatments were lower than under the insecticide treatment, probably due to lower than normal air and soil temperatures. Emergence percentages in the 14- and 21-d flood treatments and the insecticide treatment were similar in the final two experiments, except that the 14-d flood resulted in greater emergence than the insecticide treatment in the second experiment. Reductions in plant weight were associated with some flood treatments. Previous work reported that wireworms d...
The Role of Horseshoe Crabs in the Biomedical Industry and Recent Trends Impacting Species Sustainability

Every year the Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) arrives on shore to spawn, a sight once taken for granted. However, in addition to the gradual climate changes impacting all ecosystems, commercial demand from the widespread application of Atlantic horseshoe crab blood in industrial endotoxin testing and steady use as eel and whelk bait has brought the future of this enduring species into question. In response, regulations have been adopted to enhance the traceability and record keeping of horseshoe crab harvest, which has historically been difficult to track. However, these regulations do not restrict or limit LAL harvest in any significant manner. Still, sometimes-lethal biomedical bleeding process and associated behavioral changes pose a risk to horseshoe crab viability after bleeding and once returned to the waters. As a result, regulators and environmentalists are concerned that current trends and overfishing of this marine arthropod will significantly impact the surrounding ecosystem. This review examines their role and recent trends in the biomedical industry that are impacting these ancient creatures and the derivative effect on shorebirds, while considering emerging alternatives where feasible, as well as ways to ensure sustainable and pragmatic harvesting strategies. Ultimately, healthy populations of horseshoe crabs are vital to restoring and maintaining ecosystems while balancing the need for medical and research applications entirely dependent on these unique creatures.
Interleukin-8 mediates neutrophil-endothelial interactions in pig-to-human xenogeneic models

BACKGROUND Human neutrophils are sequestered by pig lung xenografts within minutes during ex vivo perfusion. This phenomenon is not prevented by pig genetic modifications that remove xeno-antigens or added human regulatory molecules intended to down-regulate activation of complement and coagulation pathways. This study investigated whether recipient and donor interleukin-8 (IL-8), a chemokine known to attract and activate neutrophils during inflammation, is elaborated in the context of xenogeneic injury, and whether human or pig IL-8 promote the adhesion of human neutrophils in in vitro xenograft models. METHODS Plasma levels of pig, human or non-human primate (NHP) IL-8 from ex vivo pig lung perfusion experiments (n = 10) and in vivo pig-to-baboon lung transplantation in baboons (n = 22) were analysed by ELISA or Luminex. Human neutrophils stimulated with human or pig IL-8 were analysed for CD11b expression, CD18 activation, oxidative burst and adhesion to resting or TNF-activated endothelial cells (EC) evaluated under static and flow (Bioflux) conditions. For some experiments, human neutrophils were incubated with Reparixin (IL-8/CXCL8 receptor blocker) and then analysed as in the in vitro experiments mentioned above. RESULTS Plasma levels of pig IL-8 (~6113 pg/mL) increased more than human (~1235 pg/mL) between one and four hours after initiation of ex vivo lung perfusion. However, pig IL-8 levels remained consistently low (<60 pg/mL) and NHP IL-8 plasma levels increased by ~2000 pg/mL after four hours in a pig-to-baboon lung xenotransplantation. In vitro, human neutrophils' CD11b expression, CD18 activation and oxidative burst all increased in a dose-dependent manner following exposure to either pig or human IL-8, which also were associated with increased adhesion to EC in both static and flow conditions. Reparixin inhibited human neutrophil activation by both pig and human IL-8 in a dose-dependent fashion. At 0.1 mg/mL, Reparixin inhibited the adhesion of IL-8-activated human neutrophils to pAECs by 84 ± 2.5%. CONCLUSIONS Pig IL-8 increased in an ex vivo model of pig-to-human lung xenotransplantation but is not detected in vivo, whereas human or NHP IL-8 is elevated to a similar degree in both models. Both pig and human IL-8 activate human neutrophils and increase their adhesion to pig aortic ECs, a process significantly inhibited by the addition of Reparixin to human neutrophils. This work implicates IL-8, whether of pig or human origin, as a possible factor mediating in lung xenograft inflammation and injury and supports the evaluation of therapeutic targeting of this pathway in the context of xenotransplantation.
In Vivo 3D Histomorphometry Quantifies Bone Apposition and Skeletal Progenitor Cell Differentiation

Histomorphometry and Micro-CT are commonly used to assess bone remodeling and bone microarchitecture. These approaches typically require separate cohorts of animals to analyze 3D morphological changes and involve time-consuming immunohistochemistry preparation. Intravital Microscopy (IVM) in combination with mouse genetics may represent an attractive option to obtain bone architectural measurements while performing longitudinal monitoring of dynamic cellular processes in vivo. In this study we utilized two-photon, multicolor fluorescence IVM together with a lineage tracing reporter mouse model to image skeletal stem cells (SSCs) in their calvarial suture niche and analyze their differentiation fate after stimulation with an agonist of the canonical Wnt pathway (recombinant Wnt3a). Our in vivo histomorphometry analyses of bone formation, suture volume, and cellular dynamics showed that recombinant Wnt3a induces new bone formation, differentiation and incorporation of SSCs progeny into newly forming bone. IVM technology can therefore provide additional dynamic 3D information to the traditional static 2D histomorphometry.
Engineered EF-Tu and tRNA-Based FRET Screening Assay to Find Inhibitors of Protein Synthesis in Bacteria.

Abstract Antibiotic-resistant infections that do not respond to available drugs are becoming more common. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria (“superbug...
Prevalence and Clinical Manifestations of the Anconeus Epitrochlearis and Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Background: The true prevalence of the anconeus epitrochlearis (AE) and the natural history of cubital tunnel syndrome associated with this anomalous muscle are unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of AE and to characterize the preoperative and postoperative features of cubital tunnel syndrome caused by compression from an AE. Methods: All elbow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and all patients undergoing cubital tunnel surgery during a 20-year period were identified and retrospectively reviewed for the presence of an AE. All patients with an AE identified intra-operatively were matched to patients with no AE identified at surgery based on age, sex, concomitant procedures, and year of surgery. Preoperative and postoperative physical exam findings, electrodiagnostic study results, time to improvement, and reoperations were compared between the groups. Results: A total of 199 patients had an elbow MRI, and 27 (13.6%) patients were noted to have an AE present. Average time to improvement after surgical release was 23.0 days for patients with an AE and 33.2 days for patients with no AE. Twenty-seven patients with an AE noted improvement at the first postoperative visit (68%) compared to 15 patients without an AE (33%). No patients with an AE underwent reoperation for recurrent symptoms (0%) compared with four patients (10%) without an AE. Conclusions: The prevalence of AE in our study is 13.6%. These patients experience quicker and more reliable symptom improvement after surgical release than those without the anomalous muscle.
Lubricity of High Water Content Aqueous Gels

Aqueous gels such as biopolymer gels, mucus, and high water content hydrogels are often qualitatively described as lubricious. In hydrogels, mesh size, ξ, has been found to be a controlling parameter in friction coefficient. In the tribology of aqueous gels, we suggest that the Weissenberg number (Wi) is a useful parameter to define different regimes, and following the original formulations in rheology, Wi is given by the polymer relaxation time (ηξ3/kBT) multiplied by the shear rate due to fluid shear through a single mesh (V/ξ): Wi = ηVξ2/kBT. At sliding speeds below a Weissenberg number of approximately 0.1, Wi < 0.1, the friction coefficient is velocity-independent and scales with mesh size to the − 1 power, µ ∝ ξ−1. De Gennes’ scaling concepts for elastic modulus, E, give a dependence on polymer mesh size to the − 3 power, E ∝ ξ−3, and following Hertzian contact analysis, the contact area is found to depend on the mesh size squared, A ∝ ξ2. Combining these concepts, the shear stress, τ, and therefore the lubricity of aqueous gels, is predicted to be highly dependent on the mesh size, τ ∝ ξ−3. Studies aimed at elucidating the fundamental mechanism of lubricity in biopolymer gels, mucus, and hydrogels have wrestled with comparisons across mesh size, which can be extremely difficult to accurately quantify. Using scaling concepts relating polymer mesh size to water content reveals that shear stress decreases rapidly with increasing water content, and plots of shear stress as a function of swollen water content are suggested as a useful method to compare aqueous gels of unknown mesh size. As a lower bound, these data are compared against estimates of fluid shear stress for free and bound water flowing through a mesh size estimated by the water content of the gels. The results indicate that the strong dependence on lubricity is likely due to a synergistic combination of a low viscosity solvent (water) coupled to a system that has a decreasing friction coefficient, modulus, and the resulting contact pressure with increasing water content. Although the permeability, K, of aqueous gels increases dramatically with water content (and mesh size), K ≅ ξ2/η, the stronger decrease of the elastic modulus and subsequent decrease in contact pressure due to an increase in the contact length, predicts that the draining time under contact, t, actually increases strongly with increasing water content and mesh size, t ∝ ξ2. Consistent with the finding of extremely high water content aqueous gels on the surfaces of biological tissues, these high water content gels are predicted to be optimal for lubrication as they are both highly lubricious and robust at resisting draining and sustaining hydration.
Theory of Steady State Superradiance: Collective Forces, Quantum Limited Metrology, and Ultra-Stable Light

In this talk, I will review recent theoretical and experimental developments aimed at utilizing ultracold quantum gases for a wide variety of cavity QED applications. Ultrastable "clock" atoms when employed as an active medium in a laser-like system could potentially form the basis for producing coherent light of extreme frequency stability. The fundamental coherence limits with realistic experimental parameters appear to be competitive with the most ultrastable lasers developed to date. Furthermore, the coupling of high-Q atoms with spin-like analogues by optical resonators have interesting applications in both quantum metrology and sensing, and in quantum information science.
Pimavanserin and Lorcaserin Attenuate Measures of Binge Eating in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats.

Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by dysregulated feeding and reward-related processes, and treatment is often challenged by limited therapeutic options. The serotonin (5-HT) 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR) and 5-HT2CR are implicated in both feeding-related and reward-related behaviors and are thus poised to regulate BED-related behaviors. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of the FDA-approved medications pimavanserin, a 5-HT2AR antagonist/inverse agonist, and lorcaserin, a 5-HT2CR agonist, in a rodent model of binge eating. The effects of pimavanserin (0.3-3.0 mg/kg), lorcaserin (0.25-1.0 mg/kg), and administration of the lowest effective doses of pimavanserin (0.3 mg/kg) plus lorcaserin (1.0 mg/kg) were tested in a high-fat food (HFF) intermittent access binge eating model in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=64). We assessed three measures related to binge eating – binge episode occurrence, binge intake, and weight gain associated with HFF access. Pimavanserin decreased binge intake and weight gain associated with HFF access, but did not prevent binge episode occurrence. Lorcaserin decreased binge intake, but did not prevent binge episode occurrence or weight gain associated with HFF access. Combined pimavanserin plus lorcaserin prevented binge episode occurrence in addition to decreasing binge intake and weight gain associated with HFF access. These preclinical findings in male rats suggest that pimavanserin and lorcaserin may be effective in treating patients with BED. Our studies further indicate that administration of one or both drugs may be more effective in certain sub-populations of patients with BED because of the unique profile each treatment elicits. These data support future assessment in clinical populations with BED.
X-CHANT: A Diverse DSA based Architecture for Next-generation Challenged Networks

This paper presents a novel network architecture, termed neXt-generation CHAllenged NeTwork (X-CHANT), for improving connectivity in rural environments. The underlying idea is to deploy diverse Dynamic Spectrum Access (d-DSA) radio devices on the public transportation vehicles, such as buses. This results in a d-DSA enabled delay-tolerant network in which the devices can operate in various (un)licensed bands (e.g., TV, LTE, ISM, CBRS), if available. Given the lack of research in efficient routing for such time-varying d-DSA enabled networks, we propose a novel diverse DSA aware routing (dDSAaR) protocol that jointly exploits various (un)licensed bands besides the time-varying yet sufficiently predictable mobility of public transportation vehicles. We compare X-CHANT, utilizing dDSAaR, to the conventional non-DSA/DSA architectures, utilizing a standard (single band) routing protocol (e.g., Epidemic). We use real bus mobility traces collected at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus. Results show that X-CHANT achieves better message delivery, negligible message overhead, and better energy expenditure, at the expense of a slight increase in delay. Never-theless, the delay improves with higher predictable mobility.
Psychosocial Profiles of Women with Risky Sexual Partners: The National AIDS Behavioral Surveys (NABS)

Women represent one of the fastest growing groups of U.S. AIDS cases. This study examined women with risky male sexual partners drawn from a national/urban probability telephone sample. Our analyses use a matched control design to profile women with risky sexual partners and their male partners. We used the multifaceted model of HIV risk (MMOHR) as a framework for examining how women with risky partners differed from matched controls. Compared to matched controls, women with risky partners (n = 209) were young, poor, sexually unassertive, in troubled relationships, and were cognizant of their health risks. We found two distinct groups of women: women whose only risk was through their partner (single risk) and women who had additional risks of their own (multiple risk). Single-risk women were more conservative, more guilty about sex, and in traditional relationships. Interventions should build on women's recognition of their risk and focus on the relationships that support risky behavior.
Adaptation of Acacia koa leaves and phyllodes to changes in photosynthetic photon flux density

Koa (Acacia koa gray) seedlings were grown under full sunlight (HH treatment) and under 27% of full sunlight (LL treatment). Some of these seedlings were moved to the opposite light intensity to form two additional treatments―HL and LH. Phyllodes developed only on seedlings in the HH treatment. If seedlings with phyllodes were placed under shade, leaves instead of phyllodes developed at the terminal. Leaflets of leaves in the HH treatment were smaller but thicker and had lower specific leaf areas than those in the LL treatment (...)
Structures and Energetics of Some Potential Intermediates in Titanium Nitride Chemical Vapor Deposition: TiClm(NH2)n, TiClm(NH2)nNH, and TiClm(NH2)nN. An ab Initio Molecular Orbital Study

The various potential intermediates in the chemical vapor deposition production of TiN films have been studied using a variant of the G2 level of theory. The structures of TiClm(NH2)n, 0 ≤ m + n ≤ 4, TiClm(NH2)nNH, 0 ≤ m + n ≤ 2, and TiClm(NH2)nN, 0 ≤ m + n ≤ 1, were optimized at B3LYP level of theory with the Wachters−Hay basis set for Ti and the 6-311G(d) basis set for H, N, and Cl. The energies were calculated at the MP4 and QCI levels with these basis sets augmented by multiple sets of polarization and diffuse functions using the B3LYP optimized geometries. Bond dissociation energies, heats of atomization, heats of formation, and entropies have been calculated at this modified G2 level of theory.