cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dental Pulp Tissue Regeneration Using Dental Pulp Stem Cells Isolated and Expanded in Human Serum

Abstract Introduction Dental pulp–derived stem cells (DPSCs) have the potential to regenerate dentin and dental pulp tissue because of their differentiation capacity and angiogenic properties. However, for regenerative approaches to gain regulatory and clinical acceptance, protocols are needed to determine more feasible ways to cultivate DPSCs, namely, without the use of xenogeneic-derived components (animal sera) and exogenous growth factors. Methods In this study, human DPSCs were isolated from third molars and expanded in standard culture conditions containing fetal bovine serum (DPSCs-FBS) or conditions containing human serum (DPSCs-HS). After cell characterization and evaluation of their angiogenic secretome, DPSCs were seeded in tooth slice/scaffolds and implanted subcutaneously into immunodeficient mice. After 30 days, tooth slices were retrieved and evaluated for dental pulp tissue regeneration. Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy were used to quantify blood vessel formation and evaluate predentin and dentin formation. Results After culture, DPSCs-HS produced concentrations of angiogenic growth factors equivalent to DPSCs-FBS. Additionally, in DPSCs-HS, several angiogenic factors were produced in at least 1-fold higher concentrations than in DPSCs-FBS. In vivo, it was determined that DPSCs-HS produced a robust angiogenic response and regeneration of dentin equivalent to DPSCs-FBS. Conclusions These findings show that DPSCs can be isolated and expanded to clinical scale numbers in media devoid of animal serum or exogenous growth factors and still maintain their pulp regenerative properties. The implications of these findings are significant for further development of clinical protocols using DPSCs in cell therapies.
Environmental Certification and Eco‐Labeling

Certification is a set of practices that includes the writing of standards, the inspection and labeling of products that meet those standards, and the accreditation and auditing of producers, inspectors, and agencies involved in certification. This entry will discuss the growth and expansion of certification and certified product consumption, and address the following points. First, certification itself is becoming more standardized under ISO (International Organization for Standardization) guideline 17065. Second, certification networks have expanded to form a global certification industry that is linked to state agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and global institutions such as the World Trade Organization. Third, since certification practices impact environments and conservation organizations, these practices have become a source of contention between national and international institutions and agencies. Finally, certification practices shape the everyday lives of certified product producers such as farmers, foresters, and fishermen. Keywords: conservation; environmental regulation; farming and agrarian geographies; food; human–environment interaction; labor geography; nature; political ecology; privatization; work
Nutrients in one-carbon metabolism and urinary arsenic methylation in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004

Exposure to inorganic arsenic (inAs), a potent toxicant, occurs primarily through ingestion of food and water. The efficiency with which it is methylated to mono and dimethyl arsenicals (MMA and DMA) affects toxicity. Folate, vitamins B12 and B6 are required for 1C metabolism, and studies have found that higher levels of these nutrients increase methylation capacity and are associated with protection against adverse health effects from inAs, especially in undernourished populations. Our aim was to determine whether 1C-related nutrients are associated with greater inAs methylation capacity in a general population sample with overall adequate nutrition and low levels of As exposure. Univariate and multivariable regression models were used to evaluate the relationship of dietary and blood nutrients to urinary As methylation in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004. Outcome variables were the percent of the sum of inAs and methylated As species (inAs+MMA+DMA) excreted as inAs, MMA, and DMA, and the ratio of MMA:DMA. In univariate models, dietary folate, vitamin B6 and protein intake were associated with lower urinary inAs% and greater DMA% in adults (≥18years), with similar trends in children (6-18). In adjusted models, vitamin B6 intake (p=0.011) and RBC folate (p=0.036) were associated with lower inAs%, while dietary vitamin B12 was associated with higher inAs% (p=0.002) and lower DMA% (p=0.030). Total plasma homocysteine was associated with higher MMA% (p=0.004) and lower DMA% (p=0.003), but not with inAs%; other blood nutrients showed no association with urinary As. Although effect size is small, these findings suggest that 1C nutrients can influence inAs methylation and potentially play an indirect role in reducing toxicity in a general population sample.
High dietary intake of flavonoids was associated with decreased mortality

Source Citation Knekt P, Jarvinen R, Reunanen A, Maatela J. Flavonoid intake and coronary mortality in Finland: a cohort study. BMJ. 1996 Feb 24;312;478-81.8597679
Electrical Synapses in Fishes: Their Relevance to Synaptic Transmission

The elucidation of the mechanisms of communication between neurons involved the use of identifiable cell contacts from various animal species, which offered the required experimental accessibility for these investigations. Within this context seminal observations in fishes were foundational in what we recognize today as “synaptic electrical transmission.” Moreover, fish electrical synapses first revealed the functional contributions of this modality of transmission to vertebrate neural circuits and provided early evidence of their plastic properties. Present and future investigations in genetically tractable species will shed light on the molecular mechanisms and functional diversity of electrical transmission in the vertebrate brain. This chapter discusses the past, present, and potential future contributions of fish electrical synapses to the understanding of synaptic communication in general.
The Long Road to Equality: A Meta-Regression Analysis of Changes in the Black Test Score Gap over Time.

Author(s): Huntington-Klein, Nick; Ackert, Elizabeth | Abstract: ObjectiveWe analyze changes in test score gaps between Black students and their peers from 1979 to 2010 and examine how observable factors contribute to the gap.MethodsUsing meta-regression, we examine the relationship between African American racial status and achievement in United States K-12 education in 165 published studies.ResultsThe absolute relationship between Black status and achievement decreased during the 1980s and early 1990s, but was stagnant from the late 1990s through 2010. Socioeconomic status explained more than half of the gap, and the influence of socioeconomic status on the gap did not changed significantly over time. Schooling characteristics explained relatively little of the gap, but school-level factors increased in importance over time.ConclusionsBlack test score gap closure stagnated in an era when federal education policy sought to close racial achievement gaps. Observable factors explain more of the gap than has been previously recognized.
The nature and limits of Gary Becker’s theory of racial discrimination

To what extent does Gary Becker’s model of discrimination capture “the essence of prejudice and discrimination”? After providing a general outline of Becker’s original model and summarizing some subsequent developments, this paper takes a critical perspective on the model to suggest that the absence of imperfect information in his approach unhelpfully limits its explanatory power. Instead, an approach that allows for the possibility of genuine error and draws on Adam Smith’s analysis of the impact of markets on one’s moral sense offers a deeper, more realistic understanding of what it means for people to express their prejudice (or not) through their choices.
Detection and modulation of capsaicin perception in the human oral cavity.

Abstract Capsaicin causes a burning or spicy sensation when this vanilloid compound comes in contact with trigeminal neurons of the tongue. This compound has low solubility in water, which presents difficulties in examining the psychophysical properties of capsaicin by standard aqueous chemosensory tests. This report describes a new approach that utilizes edible strips for delivering precise amounts of capsaicin to the human oral cavity for examining threshold and suprathreshold amounts of this irritant. When incorporated into pullulan-based edible strips, recognition thresholds for capsaicin occurred over a narrow range, with a mean value near 1 nmol. When incorporated into edible strips at suprathreshold amounts, capsaicin yielded robust intensity values that were readily measured in our subject population. Maximal capsaicin intensity was observed 20 s after strips dissolved on the tongue surface, and then decreased in intensity. Suprathreshold studies showed that complete blockage of nasal airflow diminished capsaicin perception in the oral cavity. Oral rinses with vanillin-linoleic acid emulsions decreased mean intensity values for capsaicin by approximately 75%, but only modestly affected recognition threshold values. Also, oral rinses with isointense amounts of aqueous sucrose and sucralose solutions decreased mean intensity values for capsaicin by approximately 50%. In addition, this decrease in capsaicin intensity following an oral rinse with sucrose was partially reversed by the sweet taste inhibitor lactisole. These results suggest that blockage of nasal airflow, vanillin, sucrose, and sucralose modulate capsaicin perception in the human oral cavity. The results further suggest a chemosensory link between receptor cells that detect sweet taste stimuli and trigeminal neurons that detect capsaicin.
Debt Default Risk and the Correlation of Stock Returns and Bond Yield Changes

Using Merton’s (1974) structural model corporate debt default, this paper argues that correlation between firm level corporate bond yield changes and stock returns should be informative about firm level default risk of this corporate debt. In particular, as the absolute value of the correlation increases, Merton’s framework suggests that default risk increases. We estimate the contemporaneous correlation between firm level corporate bond yield changes and stock returns using daily data, and investigate how this variable sheds light on firm level default risk, as measured by distance to default. We find evidence that as the stock-bond correlations increase in absolute value, the default risks of bonds increase, as expected. In addition, we examine if changes in the stock-bond correlation and the probability of future credit rating changes are related. We find that as the stock-bond correlation increases in absolute value, the probability of credit rating downgrades increases, which is consistent with the finding that the stock-bond correlation is a proxy for default risk.
Tropics: A Distributed Spacecraft Mission for Studying Tropical Storms

The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROP-ICS) mission was selected by NASA as part of the Earth Venture Instrument (EVI-3) program. The overarching goal for TROPICS is to provide nearly all-weather observations of 3-D temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high-value science investigations of tropical cyclones, including: (1) relationships of rapidly evolving precipitation and upper cloud structures to upper-level warm-core intensity and associated storm intensity changes; (2) the evolution of precipitation structure and storm intensification in relationship to environmental humidity fields; and (3) the impact of rapid-update observations on numerical and statistical intensity forecasts of tropical cyclones. TROPICS will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements (median refresh rate of 40 minutes for the baseline mission) over the tropics that can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm lifecycle. TROPICS comprises six CubeSats in three low-Earth orbital planes. Each CubeSat will host a high performance radiometer to provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75 GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapor profiles using three channels near the 183 GHz water vapor absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher resolution water vapor channels), and a single channel at 206 GHz that is more sensitive to precipitation-sized ice particles. This observing system offers an unprecedented combination of horizontal and temporal resolution to measure environmental and inner-core conditions for tropical cyclones on a nearly global scale and is a major leap forward in the temporal resolution of several key parameters needed for assimilation into advanced data assimilation systems capable of utilizing rapid-update radiance or retrieval data.
Social Support and Preventive Healthcare Behaviors Among Couples in Later Life.

Background and study objectives Intimate partners and close friends represent two major sources of social support that are central to one's health and health behaviors in later life. The aim of this study was to examine dyadic linkages between perceived social support (from spouses and friends) and preventive healthcare behaviors among coupled-individuals. Design and methods Prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study (2010, 2012) were used to analyze a sample of coupled-individuals (dyad N = 1,902). A series of multilevel logistic regression (actor-partner interdependence) models were estimated to evaluate whether perceived social support from spouses and friends was associated with the likelihood of using two common forms of preventive healthcare services (i.e., influenza vaccination and cancer screenings). Results Apart from the role of perceived support from spouse on flu vaccinations, wives' preventive healthcare behaviors were unrelated to perceived social support. In contrast, husbands' preventive healthcare behaviors showed consistent associations with perceived social support from friends for the 2-year observation period. Further, husbands' receipt of prostate cancer screening was associated with wives' perceptions of social support from spouse as well as friends. Discussion and implications These findings contributed to our understanding of the health advantages associated with being in a marital relationship for preventive healthcare behaviors, especially for men. Future research should unpack the pathways through which social support of various forms is associated with obtaining needed preventive health services.
Evaluation of Image Enhancement Techniques for Vision-Based Navigation under Low Illumination

Cameras are valuable sensors for robotics perception tasks. Among these perception tasks are motion estimation, localization, and object detection. Cameras are attractive sensors because they are passive and relatively cheap and can provide rich information. However, being passive sensors, they rely on external illumination from the environment which means that their performance degrades in low-light conditions. In this paper, we present and investigate four methods to enhance images under challenging night conditions. The findings are relevant to a wide range of feature-based vision systems, such as tracking for augmented reality, image registration, localization, and mapping, as well as deep learning-based object detectors. As autonomous mobile robots are expected to operate under low-illumination conditions at night, evaluation is based on state-of-the-art systems for motion estimation, localization, and object detection.
Evolutionary Comeuppance: Mitochondrial Stress Awakens the Remnants of Ancient Bacterial Warfare

Mitochondria are organelles descended from an endosymbiosed bacterium, and many bacterial toxins impair mitochondria, likely as an echo of ancient bacterial warfare. However, the signal transduction pathways that translate mitochondrial dysfunction into a transcriptional program for detoxification have not been well understood. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Mao et al. (2019) provide insight into how mitochondrial perturbations can activate both the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmito) and detoxification response and, importantly, how these responses differentially affect organismal physiology under normal conditions or with pathogenic challenges.
Forecasting Limited Access to Urology in Rural Communities: Analysis of the American Urological Association Census

Author(s): Cohen, Andrew J; Ndoye, Medina; Fergus, Kirkpatrick B; Lindsey, John; Butler, Christi; Patino, German; Anger, Jennifer T; Breyer, Benjamin N | Abstract: ObjectiveTo assess an aging subspecialty workforce and growing population that portends challenges in meeting patient care needs. We hypothesized that rural physicians are retiring at higher rates than their urban counterparts in the United States and that this represents a bellwether for workforce challenges at large.MethodsWe analyzed data from the 2014-2016 American Urological Association Census, a sample-weighted representative survey of urologists, as a case study for subspecialists. We compared urologists who work in rural regions to nonrural regions on available characteristics.ResultsIn 2016, rural urologists accounted for 2.4% of 12,186 practicing urologists in the United States. General urology remained the focus of 90% of rural urologists, compared to 59% of nonrural urologists (P = .03). Alarmingly, 48% of rural physicians were g65 years old in 2016 compared to 29% in 2014, and 33% of rural urologists were solo practitioners compared to 9% of nonrural urologists (P l .01). The planned retirement age for rural physicians increased from 68 in 2014 to 73 in 2016 (P trend = .02). The percentage of rural practice urologists has remained stable since 2014.ConclusionsRural urologists are older and provide more general urological care than their nonrural counterparts. Rural urologists are postponing retirement. Although this might be due to personal desires and financial goals, it may also be due to a relative absence of potential junior partners. Given that almost 50% of rural urologists were older than 65 in 2016, this is not a sustainable solution to an impending shortage of physicians. Greater innovation in telemedicine or alternative care models will soon be needed.
Does Gender Bias Still Affect Women in Science

The percentage of women employed in professional scientific positions has been low but is increasing over time. The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have both implemented programs to improve women's participation in science, and many universities and companies have diversity and equity programs. While most faculty and scientists believe that they are fair and unbiased, numerous well-designed studies published in leading peer-reviewed journals show that gender bias in sciences and medicine is widespread and persistent today in both faculty and students. Recent studies show that gender bias affects student grading, professional hiring, mentoring, tenure, promotion, respect, grant proposal success, and pay. In addition, sexual harassment remains a significant barrier. Fortunately, several studies provide evidence that programs that raise conscious awareness of gender bias can improve equity in science, and there are a number of recommendations and strategies for improving the participation of women.
How are medical students using the Electronic Health Record (EHR)?: An analysis of EHR use on an inpatient medicine rotation

Physicians currently spend as much as half of their day in front of the computer. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) has been associated with declining bedside skills and physician burnout. Medical student EHR use has not been well studied or characterized. However, student responsibilities for EHR documentation will likely increase as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) most recent provisions now allow student notes for billing which will likely increase the role of medical student use of the EHR over time. To gain a better understanding of how medical students use the EHR at our institution, we retrospectively analyzed 6,692,994 EHR interactions from 49 third-year clerkship medical students and their supervising physicians assigned to the inpatient medicine ward rotation between June 25 2015 and June 24 2016 at a tertiary academic medical center. Medical students spent 4.42 hours (37%) of each day at the on the EHR and 35 minutes logging in from home. Improved understanding of student EHR-use and the effects on well-being warrants further attention, especially as EHR use increases with early trainees.
Improving situation awareness in degraded environments using a distributed array of hyperentangled sensors

A method of improving situation awareness in a degraded environment based on a distributed array made up of quantum hyperentangled sensors is considered. This approach greatly reduces the effect of interference, noise, and signal loss mechanisms. It offers significant increases in the performance range for sensor or communications applications. It simultaneously improves resolution, signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), diminishes time-on-target (TOT), information transfer rates, etc. Each hyperentangled system consists of a single hyperentangled signal and single ancilla photon. The effect of noise in every single photon state as well as loss is included. The signal photon will experience classical loss and each ancilla photon will suffer a low level of loss. Forming an array offers further advantage of an increased reduction in measurement time. Let d be the number of single photon states, i.e., the dimensionality of the underlying Hilbert space resulting from hyperentanglement. It is shown mathematically that in the large d limit, that different members of the array do not interfere with each other, implying they can be put close together. This permits an enormous reduction in the measurement time, i.e., the TOT. Each hyperentangled system making up the array receives a factor of d improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio, SIR, and a factor of d reduction in measurement time.
Non-rapid Eye Movement Parasomnias and Restless Leg Syndrome in Women

Non-Rapid Eye Movement Parasomnias (Non-REM) and sleep related movements disorders have significant impact for patients especially women leading to sleep disruption, injuries and poor quality of life. Non-Rem parasomnias include sleep walking, confusional arousal, night terrors, sleep related eating and sleep related sexual behavior. Common sleep related movement disorders in women are restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder.
Printing the Bespoke Book: Euclid’s Elements in Early Modern Visual Culture

In 1482, Erhard Ratdolt, a prominent German printer in Venice, issued the editio princeps of Euclid’s Elements. Ratdolt experimented with the new technology of printing to overcome the difficulty in arranging geometric diagrams alongside the text. This article examines the materials and techniques that Ratdolt used in his edition of Elements including his use of vellum, gold printing, and illumination for special copies as well as his use of woodcuts, movable type, and metal-cast diagrams. Significantly, the legacy of Ratdolt’s innovations continued almost one hundred years later in subsequent editions of Elements. In 1572, Camillo Francischini printed Federico Commandino’s Latin translation and commentary, and today, there are at least two surviving copies of this edition printed on blue paper. Both printers, Ratdolt and Francischini, used the printing press to produce unique and bespoke books using material and visual cues from luxury objects like illuminated manuscripts. These case studies of Euclid’s Elements brings together the fields of art history, history of the book, and the history of geometry, and analyzes the myriad ways that printers employed the printing press in the early modern period to elevate and modernize ancient, mathematical texts.
Clostridium difficile Infection in the Plastic Surgery Population: Lessons from the ACS NSQIP Database.

Clostridium difficile-associated infections (CDI) have a significant impact on morbidity and mortality of hospitalized medical and surgical patients. There is a paucity of data regarding the incidence, impact, and modifiable risk factors in the plastic surgery population. Methods The ACS NSQIP database was retrospectively queried for all cases performed by plastic surgeons during 2016. All plastic surgery cases, combined cases, demographics, and baseline clinical characteristics were extracted from the database. The study population was divided into 2 groups based on the development of CDI. Independent variables for development of CDI were identified. Results During the study period, a total of 29,256 patients underwent a procedure by plastic surgery, with the most commonly performed procedures involving the breast (58%) and trunk (14%). Only 44 patients developed post-operative CDI (0.1%). Factors independently associated with development of CDI were wound classification at the end of the surgery, COPD, procedures involving the trunk, and surgery for reconstruction of pressure ulcers. Outpatient surgery was associated with decreased odds of developing CDI [AOR (95% CI):0.2 (0.1, 0.4), adj P 1 day in the hospital was associated with an increased risk of CDI development [AOR (95% CI): 1.03 (1.01, 1.13), adj P = 0.001]. Combined cases, ASA, body mass index, diabetes, and active smoking were not associated with CDI. Conclusions CDI are rare in the plastic surgery population and are most associated with trunk/decubitus ulcer reconstructions, inpatient hospital stay, and contaminated wounds. The patients that usually fit in these categories have acutely or chronically infected wounds, which are often treated with systemic antibiotics. For patient with decubitus ulcers and other trunk reconstruction, the guidelines for pre and post-operative systemic antibiotic usage is not well defined. For patients who have had trunk reconstruction, development of evidence-based antibiotic stewardship guidelines may help these patients by limiting antibiotic usage and thereby reducing the incidence of CDI.
Object Oriented Policy Conflict Checking Framework in Cloud Networks (OOPC)

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) provides a programmable framework for multi-tenant cloud network management and orchestration. The end-to-end packet processing induced by virtual network functions (VNFs) like stateless firewall, load balancer, intrusion detection, and prevention system (IDPS) in a network involves the processing of network traffic through security policies matching the traffic pattern defined in security rules of individual VNF. The conflicting rules in terms of traffic match and conflicting actions can lead to a) violation of security requirements (authentication and authorization bypass) b) mission requirements - the presence of redundant rules (increased latency, reduced throughput). We present a new object-oriented policy conflict detection and resolution framework (OOPC), which analyzes the rule dependency relationships between the rules of heterogeneous virtual network functions (VNFs) and creates a VNF-Graph. The rules are analyzed using object-oriented dependencies between the address space and actions of VNF rules. OOPC utilizes a compact VNF-Graph, which leads to a reduction in search complexity when analyzing new security policies. Our security policy composition in our framework OOPC achieves 37% lower latency in policy graph composition than previous work. The proposed solution performs 20% faster security policy conflict detection on a cloud network with 60k OpenFlow rules than prior frameworks that serve a similar purpose.
Confronting Hatred: Neo-Nazism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust Studies Today

The six contributions to Volume 35, Number 2 of The Journal of Holocaust Research (2021), ‘Confronting Hatred: Neo-Nazism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust Studies Today,’ were first presented at events...
Do Use of Foreign Auditor Personnel and Lead Engagement Partner Incentives Affect Audit Quality for U.S. Multinational Companies

While audit opinions for multinational entities are signed by a single national firm, other firms (often in the same global network) participate in gathering and evaluating evidence from client components in other countries. Regulators have recently recognized coordination and monitoring problems with these engagements, and research has begun to assess audit quality impacts. We use data from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to investigate whether audit quality (measured as total and reissuance restatements) differs with foreign auditor participation in engagements led by U.S. global network firms, and whether audit partner incentives moderate those associations. Results show that restatements are higher with foreign auditor participation, but this effect is moderated by the client importance, utilization (i.e., billable hours) and tenure of the lead engagement partner. We obtain these results while controlling for office-level client importance, firm tenure, and characteristics distinguishing multinational engagements with more versus less foreign auditor participation.
Centriole and Golgi microtubule nucleation are dispensable for the migration of human neutrophil-like cells

Neutrophils migrate in response to chemoattractants to mediate host defense. Chemoattractants drive rapid intracellular cytoskeletal rearrangements including the radiation of microtubules from the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) towards the rear of polarized neutrophils. Microtubules regulate neutrophil polarity and motility, but little is known about the specific role of MTOCs. To characterize the role of MTOCs on neutrophil motility we depleted centrioles in a well-established neutrophil-like cell line. Surprisingly, both chemical and genetic centriole depletion increased neutrophil speed and chemotactic motility, suggesting an inhibitory role for centrioles during directed migration. We also found that depletion of both centrioles and GM130-mediated Golgi microtubule nucleation did not impair neutrophil directed migration. Taken together, our findings demonstrate an inhibitory role for centrioles and a resilient MTOC system in motile human neutrophil-like cells. [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text].
US Army basic combat training alters the relationship between body mass index and per cent body fat.

Introduction/background As a proxy for adiposity, body mass index (BMI) provides a practical public health metric to counter obesity-related disease trends. On an individual basis, BMI cannot distinguish fat and lean components of body composition. Further, the relationship between BMI and body composition may be altered in response to physical training. We investigated this dynamic relationship by examining the effect of US Army basic combat training (BCT) on the association between BMI and per cent body fat (%BF). Methods BMI and %BF were measured at the beginning (week 1) and end (week 9) of BCT in female (n=504) and male (n=965) trainees. Height and weight were obtained for BMI, and body composition was obtained by dual X-ray absorptiometry. Sensitivity and specificity of BMI-based classification were determined at two BMI thresholds (25 kg/m2 and 27.5 kg/m2). Results A progressive age-related increase in fat-free mass index (FFMI) was observed, with an inflection point at age 21 years. In soldiers aged 21+, BMI of 25.0 kg/m2 predicted 33% and 29% BF in women and 23% and 20% BF in men and BMI of 27.5 kg/m2 predicted 35% and 31% BF in women and 26% and 22% BF in men, at the start and end of BCT, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of BMI-based classification of %BF were poor. Soldiers below BMI of 20 kg/m2 had normal instead of markedly reduced %BF, reflecting especially low FFMI. Conclusions BCT alters the BMI–%BF relationship, with lower %BF at a given BMI by the end of BCT compared with the beginning, highlighting the unreliability of BMI to try to estimate body composition. The specific BMI threshold of 25.0 kg/m2, defined as ‘overweight’, is an out-of-date metric for health and performance outcomes. To the extent that %BF reflects physical readiness, these data provide evidence of a fit and capable military force at BMI greater than 25.0 kg/m2.
Peripheral Hypertrophic Subepithelial Corneal Degeneration.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to report a large series of patients with peripheral hypertrophic subepithelial corneal degeneration (PHSCD) and differentiate the condition from Salzmann nodular degeneration (SND). Methods We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 49 patients diagnosed with PHSCD and reported their clinical, refractive, and topographic/tomographic findings. Results Most of the eyes were white and quiet. Minimal variable injection was present in a few eyes usually in the presence of pseudopterygium. Typical corneal involvement consists of peripheral circumferential-elevated whitish subepithelial opacities with fine superficial vessels along the limbus and linear deposits of iron in the epithelium along the central edge of the opacification. The typical topographic/tomographic findings consist of flattening directly over the corneal opacification with central flattening aligning with the axis of the opacification. In all subjects, the mean refractive astigmatism was significantly less than the mean topographic/tomographic Sim K astigmatism. Thirty-five eyes underwent surgical excision. The surgical eyes demonstrated significantly less astigmatism and better best-spectacle corrected visual acuity than pre-op. Moreover, all the eyes that underwent surgery for discomfort experienced significant improvement in their symptoms. Histopathology of the keratectomy specimens demonstrated paucicellular subepithelial fibrosis with overlying epithelium that was variable in caliber. Conclusions PHSCD is distinct from SND, primarily occurring in middle-aged women, bilateral and fairly symmetric with larger more peripheral opacities than SND, and absence of inflammatory signs and symptoms.
The stability of tastant detection by mouse lingual chemosensory tissue requires Regulator of G protein Signaling-21 (RGS21).

The T1R and T2R families of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) initiate tastant perception by signaling via guanine nucleotide exchange and hydrolysis performed by associated heterotrimeric G proteins (Gαβγ). Heterotrimeric G protein signal termination is sped up by Gα-directed GTPase-accelerating proteins (GAPs) known as the Regulators of G protein Signaling (RGS proteins). Of this family, RGS21 is highly expressed in lingual epithelial cells and we have shown it acting in vitro to decrease the potency of bitterants on cultured cells. However, constitutive RGS21 loss in mice reduces organismal response to GPCR-mediated tastants - opposite to expectations arising from observed in vitro activity of RGS21 as a GAP and inhibitor of T2R signaling. Here, we show reduced quinine aversion and reduced sucrose preference by mice lacking RGS21 does not result from post-ingestive effects, as taste-salient brief-access tests confirm the reduced bitterant aversion and reduced sweetener preference seen using two-bottle choice testing. Eliminating Rgs21 expression after chemosensory system development, via tamoxifen-induced Cre recombination in eight week-old mice, led to a reduction in quinine aversive behavior that advanced over time, suggesting that RGS21 functions as a negative regulator to sustain stable bitter tastant reception. Consistent with this notion, we observed downregulation of multiple T2R proteins in the lingual tissue of Rgs21-deficient mice. Reduced tastant-mediated responses exhibited by mice lacking Rgs21 expression either since birth or in adulthood has highlighted the potential requirement for a GPCR GAP to maintain the full character of tastant signaling, likely at the level of mitigating receptor downregulation.
Times and seasons: An archaeological perspective on early latter day saints printing

The Mormon experience in early newspaper printing paralleled the common fortunes of the church and its followers from the founding in 1830 to the fragmentation in 1846. These quasi-official extensions of church doctrine and practice were highly effective in publicizing the new religion.
Undoped and doped GaN thin films deposited on high-temperature monocrystalline AlN buffer layers on vicinal and on-axis α(6H)-SiC(0001) substrates via organometallic vapor phase epitaxy

Monocrystalline GaN(0001) thin films have been grown at 950 °C on high-temperature, ≈ 100 nm thick, monocrystalline AlN(0001) buffer layers predeposited at 1100 °C on α(6H)−SiC(0001)Si substrates via OMVPE in a cold-wall, vertical, pancake-style reactor. These films were free of low-angle grain boundaries and the associated oriented domain microstructure. The PL spectra of the GaN films deposited on both vicinal and on-axis substrates revealed strong bound excitonic emission with a FWHM value of 4 meV. The near band-edge emission from films on the vicinal substrates was shifted slightly to a lower energy, indicative of films containing residual tensile stresses. A peak attributed to free excitonic emission was also clearly observed in the on-axis spectrum. Undoped films were too resistive for accurate Hall-effect measurements. Controlled n-type, Si-doping in GaN was achieved for net carrier concentrations ranging from approximately 1 × 1017 cm−3 to 1 × 1020 cm−3. Mg-doped, p-type GaN was achieved with nA−nD ≈ 3 × 1017 cm−3, ρ ≈ 7 Ω · cm, and μ ≈ 3 cm2/V · s. Double-crystal x-ray rocking curve measurements for simultaneously deposited 1.4 μm GaN films revealed FWHM values of 58 and 151 arcsec for deposition on on-axis and off-axis 6H−SiC(0001)Si substrates, respectively. The corresponding FWHM values for the AlN buffer layers were approximately 200 and 400 arcsec, respectively.
Global asymptotic stability of non-linear difference

Abstract A sufficient condition for global asymptotic stability of the origin for non-linear difference equations is presented without assuming the differentiability of the iteration function. This conditions is a generalization of the results of Okuguchi (1977), Fujimoto (1987), and Wu and Brown (1989).
Physical properties of formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase from Clostridium thermoaceticum.

Abstract The hydrodynamic parameters of the thermostable formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase from Clostridium thermoaceticum have been measured in the ultracentrifuge at 20°. s20,w0 = 9.86 ± 0.20 S; V20 = 0.752 ± 0.011 cc per g; and molecular weight = 244,000 ± 9,000. Calculations based on these parameters give a frictional ratio, f/f0 = 1.27 ± 0.11, and a Stokes radius of 53.0 ± 4.8 A. The sedimentation constant from sucrose density gradient centrifugation is 9.9 ± 0.4 S, and the Stokes radius of the enzyme from chromatography on a calibrated Sephadex G-200 column is 55.1 A. There are four subunits per 244,000 molecular weight. The fluorescence emission spectrum indicates that the tryptophans in the enzyme are in a moderately hydrophobic environment at 20°. The hydrophobicity possibly increases when the enzyme is heated to 56°, which is near the temperature optimum of the enzyme. The data show that the enzyme is not a random coil at 20 or 56°.
Segment-based hand pose estimation

The work presented here solves two major problems of hand pose recognition: (A) determining what pose is shown in a given, input picture and (B) detecting the presence of a known input pose in a given input video. It builds on the earlier work of Athitsos and Sclaroff (2003) toward solving problem A. Because that method relies upon lines found in the input data and requires computer-generated database models, it is unsuitable for the later, video problem. Our reworking of this framework uses different, region-based information to allow video frames to be used as the "database" in which to look for the test pose. It returns database images of hands in the same configuration as a query image by using a series of steps based on the number and direction of visible finger protrusions, Chamfer distance, orientation histograms, and a competitive, comparison-based matching of each visible finger segment. Detailed result data demonstrates the system's feasibility and potential.
Impact of instrument and experiment parameters on reproducibility of ultrahigh resolution ESI FT-ICR mass spectra of natural organic matter.

Natural dissolved organic matter (OM) is a complex heterogeneous mixture of compounds that have defied traditional characterization using standard analytical methods. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, particularly in ultrahigh resolution mode, provides a new platform for compositional assessment of this important pool of the Earth’s reduced carbon. Here, we propose a framework for optimization of instrument and experiment parameters for high quality data acquisition using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). We report the impact of these parameters on reproducibility of peak detection and repeatability of peak height in replicate injections of Suwannee River fulvic acid (FA), a common terrestrial OM standard. In addition, we examine the variability in peak detection and peak height among different types of experimental replicates of dissolved OM derived from laboratory cultures of Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique, a ubiquitous marine α-proteobacterium.
Abraham Flexner and the German University: The Progressive as Traditionalist

Der Erziehungswissenschaftler Abraham Flexner (1866–1959) wurde in seinem Wirken wesentlich beeinflust durch seine Bewunderung fur das deutsche Universitatssystem des ausgehenden neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Obwohl er das stetige Anwachsen der Seminare, die Uberbeanspruchung des Lehrformats der Vorlesung und die wachsende Macht der Ordinarien zunehmend kritisch betrachtete, hielt er an seiner Befurwortung der Doppelfunktion aus Forschung und Lehre fest, die den Kern der deutschen Universitaten ausmachte. Zeit seines Lebens, als Verfasser von einflusreichen Studien uber medizinische Erziehung in Nordamerika und Europa, als Verwalter der Rockefeller‐Stiftungen sowie als Buchautor und Grunder des Institute for Advanced Study an der Princeton Universitat, war er ein kritischer Bewunderer des deutschen Erziehungssystems.
Victim Forgiveness in Restorative Justice Dialogue

Abstract The burgeoning interest in the healing potential of victim forgiveness has predictably pulled the field of restorative justice into the limelight because of its ability to achieve emotional repair for crime victims in ways that influence a forgiveness response. This article delineates the unique dimensions of forgiveness in restorative justice, reviews the empirical literature on forgiveness in restorative justice programs, and makes recommendations about how to research forgiveness in ways that protect the uniqueness of each victim’s process and guard against the imposition of moral or religious prescriptions to forgive.
A Reinterpretation of the Electron Spectra of Radioactive Ytterbium and Tantalum

Highly purified ytterbium, on irradiation in the pile, yields radioactivities whose half-lives are found to be 32.4 days, 4.2 days, and 6.7 days, in addition to the 2.4-hour activity known to exist. The 32.4-day activity is assigned to Yb 169 which decays by $K$-capture to excited Tm 169, yielding no general beta-radiation, but about 30 electron conversion lines which are interpreted as due to 10 gamma-rays. Many of the gamma-rays fit into a simple level scheme. The 4.2-day activity is assigned to Yb 175 and in addition to a strong beta-radiation shows conversion electron lines indicative of 4 gamma-rays. It is shown that the 6.7-day activity is a daughter product in lutecium 177, growing from a radioactive ytterbium 177 which is presumably the well-known 2.4-hour activity.A re-interpretation of the approximately 40 electron conversion lines in radioactive tantalum 182 leads to 18 gamma-rays, all of which fit well a proposed energy level scheme.
Survival of fetal skin grafts is prolonged on the human peripheral blood lymphocyte reconstituted-severe combined immunodeficient mouse/skin allograft model.

Background. Fetal tissue is considered to be immune privileged and is under extensive investigation as a source of tissue for transplantation. In this paper, we analyzed the immune properties of human fetal and neonatal skin before and after transplantation to severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Using a human peripheral blood mononuclear cell reconstituted SCID (huPBMC-SCID) mouse model of allograft rejection, we compared the immune response to transplanted fetal and neonatal skin. Methods. We analyzed human fetal (55-122 days of gestation) and neonatal skin samples by routine histology and immunohistochemistry for the expression of (MHC class I and II antigens before and after transplantation to SCID mice. After transplantation, we injected the mice with huPBMCs and analyzed the survival of neonatal and fetal skin grafts both visually and microscopically. Results. We detected no class II expression in fetal skin of all gestational ages and only weak class I expression after 89 days compared with abundant class I and II expression in neonatal skin before transplantation. When transplanted to SCID mice, fetal skin grafts differentiated and expressed class I and II, but the levels were lower than neonatal grafts. In mice injected with huPBMCs, rejection of neonatal grafts started on day 5, and by day 9 all grafts were rejected. In contrast, rejection of fetal skin grafts was significantly delayed. Rejection started on day 13 and was complete by day 23 (P<0.00005). Histology sections from the rejected grafts showed marked CD3 + T cell infiltration in the human skin with a sharp demarcation between the human and mouse skin, with no T-cell infiltration in the mouse skin. CD4 + and CD8 + T cells were present in the rejected sites in similar densities. Conclusions. Our results show that fetal skin differentiates and expresses increased amounts of MHC class I and class II antigens when transplanted to SCID mice. However, these levels are much lower than the levels found in neonatal skin. We demonstrate that the survival of human fetal skin allografts is markedly prolonged compared with that of neonatal skin grafts in the huPBMC-SCID mouse model. Our results support the hypothesis that low levels of MHC antigen expression lead to a delay in the rejection of fetal skin and further demonstrate the utility of the huPBMC-SCID mouse model to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the immune response to human fetal tissues.