cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
HDACs and HDAC Inhibitors in Cancer Development and Therapy

Over the last several decades, it has become clear that epigenetic abnormalities may be one of the hallmarks of cancer. Posttranslational modifications of histones, for example, may play a crucial role in cancer development and progression by modulating gene transcription, chromatin remodeling, and nuclear architecture. Histone acetylation, a well-studied posttranslational histone modification, is controlled by the opposing activities of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). By removing acetyl groups, HDACs reverse chromatin acetylation and alter transcription of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. In addition, HDACs deacetylate numerous nonhistone cellular substrates that govern a wide array of biological processes including cancer initiation and progression. This review will discuss the role of HDACs in cancer and the therapeutic potential of HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) as emerging drugs in cancer treatment.
Trans-scleral Cyclophotocoagulation Curriculum: Lecture and Skills Practice.

Introduction Trans-scleral cyclophotocoagulation (TS-CPC) is a laser procedure that is often used in the treatment of end-stage glaucoma and glaucoma that is refractory to medical and surgical trea...
Atherosclerotic Disease and its Relationship to Lumbar Degenerative Disk Disease, Facet Arthritis, and Stenosis With Computed Tomography Angiography.

Abstract Background The intervertebral disk is the largest avascular structure in the body. It relies on passive diffusion from arteries at the periphery of the disk for nutrition. Previous studies have suggested a correlation between vascular disease and lumbar degenerative disk disease (DDD), but the association with facet arthritis and stenosis has not been evaluated. Objective To evaluate the degree of lumbar artery stenosis, aortic atherosclerosis on computed tomography angiography, and its relationship to lumbar DDD, facet arthritis, and spinal canal stenosis. Design Retrospective case review. Setting Academic tertiary care hospital. Participants Not applicable. Methods A total of 300 lumbar arteries (150 lumbar artery pairs of the first to fifth lumbar arteries) were evaluated on consecutive computed tomography angiography scans. Severity of vascular disease of lumbar arteries was documented as normal, mild, moderate, severe, or occluded. Aortic vascular disease was documented along the posterior wall where the lumbar arteries originate. Main Outcome Measurements The relationship between vascular disease with DDD, facet arthritis, and spinal canal stenosis was examined and further evaluated controlling for age. Results Lumbar artery and aortic atherosclerosis had a positive relationship with DDD, facet arthritis, and spinal stenosis that was statistically significant ( P P P Conclusion Atherosclerotic disease of the lumbar arteries and aorta correlated with lumbar DDD, facet arthritis, and spinal canal stenosis after we adjusted for age, although the correlation with facet arthritis and spinal canal stenosis was not as strong in the older age group. Level of Evidence IV
Open versus endovascular repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms: What have we learned after more than 2 decades of ruptured endovascular aneurysm repair?

Background Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm is one of the most difficult clinical problems in surgical practice, with extraordinarily high morbidity and mortality. During the past 23 years, the literature has become replete with reports regarding ruptured endovascular aneurysm repair. Methods A variety of study designs and databases have been utilized to compare ruptured endovascular aneurysm repair and open surgical repair for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and studies of various designs from different databases have yielded vastly different conclusions. It therefore remains controversial whether ruptured endovascular aneurysm repair improves outcomes after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in comparison to open surgical repair. Results The purpose of this article is to review the best available evidence comparing ruptured endovascular aneurysm repair and open surgical repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, including single institution and multi-institutional retrospective observational studies, large national population-based studies, large national registries of prospectively collected data, and randomized controlled clinical trials. Conclusion This article will analyze the study designs and databases utilized with their attendant strengths and weaknesses to understand the sometimes vastly different conclusions the studies have reached. This article will attempt to integrate the data to distill some of the lessons that have been learned regarding ruptured endovascular aneurysm repair and identify ongoing needs in this field.
From Blindness to Foraging to Sensing to Sociality: an Evolutionary Perspective on Cognitive Radio Networks

Wireless communication is an increasingly important aspect of the digital ecosystem. The Internet of Things reached 4+ billion devices in 2014, and is expected to exceed 25 billion by 2020. In this paper, we formalize the notion of evolutionary pressures in Cognitive Radio (CR) societies, and show how it can be expected to drive the emergence of more advanced sensing capabilities, and correspondingly more sophisticated models of resource sharing. We put forth four evolutionary stages for CR societies, based on well-established biological analogs, and demonstrate that at each stage of CR evolution, a subpopulation that is able to engage more advanced sensing capabilities and co-use strategies is able to better extract greater utility from spectrum resources. In this manner, we see that each stage of CR evolution prepares the way for the next: the present societies of non-foragers facilitate the emergence of foragers; foragers give way to contention-sensing rational CR societies; these, in turn, will likely facilitate the emergence of sociality. We find this progression to depend crucially in population size, and to be robust to consideration of primary user activity. We use a sensitivity analysis to isolate salient factors most likely to accelerate or inhibit the anticipated natural evolutionary trajectory.
Can Interfaith Research Resolve the Global Conflicts Based on Faith

Interfaith issues are quite central in the contemporary life as they had often been in ancient times. In the light of political striving, violence, and deep global concerns for the world order and peace, a great many people have been increasingly inspired to know about religions of the world, their similarities and differences, the roles they may play in conflict and conflict resolution, and the ways most desirable to get their members to know one another in justice and peace, regardless of the size of followers a religion enjoys or the tenets of faith they enjoin. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam maintain ancestral ties with a unique origin, namely the Abrahamic scriptural and spiritual heritages the Talmud, the Bible, and the Qur’an literally contained. These holy books contain a great wealth of knowledge about God and His messengers who enlightened mankind with the wisdom of religion to pursue the good life with perseverance and moral values. The discourse of interfaith ideals and practices has been in great demand globally, despite a few endeavors to enhance authentic knowledge about religion, in general, and the monotheistic religions, in particular. The need of the world is largely felt to appreciate the true meanings of religious life for individuals and social groups in order to advance the cause of peaceful co-existence between peoples of the world, especially in areas suffering deep ideological hostilities or prolonged violence through the negative influences of religious intolerance.
Does Frugality Influence Firm Behavior? Evidence from Natural Disasters

Across 42 countries, I show that nonfinancial firms in more frugal countries tend to have shorter debt maturity, and when large natural disasters occur, they raise debt with a much shorter maturity structure and smaller amounts of equity. Additionally, firms in more frugal countries are more likely to tap global capital markets the year after the disasters, not before. Lastly, while firms in thriftier countries reduce corporate investments at higher rates when disasters occur, those that have foreign assets and foreign income do not, as would be expected if residents’ frugality can intensify frictions on firms’ local capital supply.
General model for retroviral capsid pattern recognition by TRIM5 proteins

Restriction factors are intrinsic cellular defense proteins that have evolved to block microbial infections. Retroviruses such as HIV-1 are restricted by TRIM5 proteins, which recognize the viral capsid shell that surrounds, organizes, and protects the viral genome. TRIM5α uses a SPRY domain to bind capsids with low intrinsic affinity (KD of >1 mM) and therefore requires higher-order assembly into a hexagonal lattice to generate sufficient avidity for productive capsid recognition. TRIMCyp, on the other hand, binds HIV-1 capsids through a cyclophilin A domain, which has a well-defined binding site and higher affinity (KD of ∼10 μM) for isolated capsid subunits. Therefore, it has been argued that TRIMCyp proteins have dispensed with the need for higher-order assembly to function as antiviral factors. Here, we show that, consistent with its high degree of sequence similarity with TRIM5α, the TRIMCyp B-box 2 domain shares the same ability to self-associate and facilitate assembly of a TRIMCyp hexagonal lattice that can wrap about the HIV-1 capsid. We also show that under stringent experimental conditions, TRIMCyp-mediated restriction of HIV-1 is indeed dependent on higher-order assembly. Both forms of TRIM5 therefore use the same mechanism of avidity-driven capsid pattern recognition.IMPORTANCE Rhesus macaques and owl monkeys are highly resistant to HIV-1 infection due to the activity of TRIM5 restriction factors. The rhesus macaque TRIM5α protein blocks HIV-1 through a mechanism that requires self-assembly of a hexagonal TRIM5α lattice around the invading viral core. Lattice assembly amplifies very weak interactions between the TRIM5α SPRY domain and the HIV-1 capsid. Assembly also promotes dimerization of the TRIM5α RING E3 ligase domain, resulting in synthesis of polyubiquitin chains that mediate downstream steps of restriction. In contrast to rhesus TRIM5α, the owl monkey TRIM5 homolog, TRIMCyp, binds isolated HIV-1 CA subunits much more tightly through its cyclophilin A domain and therefore was thought to act independently of higher-order assembly. Here, we show that TRIMCyp shares the assembly properties of TRIM5α and that both forms of TRIM5 use the same mechanism of hexagonal lattice formation to promote viral recognition and restriction.
Measuring Prosociality: The Development of a Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Scale

Prosociality is a critical issue in behavioral research. In this investigation, we developed a measure of prosocial behavioral intentions. Qualitative responses from two surveys (n = 465) and items from existing measures were used to generate a list of prosocial behaviors in which people might intend to engage. We factor analyzed responses to these items (n = 319) and retained the most common and representative items. The new measure demonstrated adequate internal consistency (n = 247, 147; α = .81, .83); convergent validity with past prosocial behavior (r = .51, .43), moral identity (r = .50, .55), and materialism (r = -.30, -.20). The instrument also predicted prosocial behavior while controlling for a prior measure of prosocial intentions, Exp(B) = 1.99, Wald = 10.59, p = .001, thereby demonstrating incremental predictive validity. This 4-item scale could be used across contexts to advance the study of prosociality.
“Race and Housing Values: What Happens When Whites Don't All Move Out?”

Previous research on neighborhood racial composition and housing values has demonstrated that as the proportion of Black residents in a neighborhood increases housing values lag. In this paper, we ...
Motor affordance for grasping a safety handle.

Abstract Mere observation of objects in our surroundings can potentiate movement, a fact reflected by visually-primed activation of motor cortical networks. This mechanism holds potential value for reactive balance control where recovery actions of the arms or legs must be targeted to a new support base to avoid a fall. The present study was conducted to test if viewing a wall-mounted safety handle – the type of handle commonly used to regain balance – results in activation of motor cortical networks. We hypothesized that the hand area of the primary motor cortex would be facilitated shortly after visual access to a safety handle versus when no handle was visible. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to measure corticospinal excitability in hand muscles directly following access to vision while participants performed a seated reach-grasp task. Vision was controlled using liquid crystal lenses and TMS pulses were time-locked to occur shortly after the goggles opened but prior to any cue for movement. Between trials the response environment was unpredictably altered to present either a handle or no handle (i.e. covered). Our results demonstrated a rapid motor facilitation in muscles of the right hand when participants viewed a handle versus trials where this handle was covered. This effect was selective both in terms of the muscles activated and the timing at which it emerged. The First Dorsal Interosseus and Opponens Pollicus muscles (synergists in closing the hand) were facilitated 120 ms after viewing the handle. Interestingly, this effect was absent at earlier (80 ms) and later (160 ms) points. Conversely, Abductor Digiti Minimi, which moves the little finger out from the rest of the hand, tended to diminish when viewing the handle. These findings suggest a rapid engagement of muscles suitable for grasping a handle based on vision. This is consistent with the concept of affordances where vision automatically translates viewed objects into appropriate motor terms. The fact that this affordance effect was present for a wall-mounted safety handle commonly used to regain balance has implications for automatically priming recovery actions with upper limbs suited to our surroundings, even before postural perturbation is detected.
The persistence of policies of protection in LGBTQ research & advocacy

Schools across the United States have taken up the task of ‘protecting’ lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth, but their reliance on identity-based antidiscrimination policies...
Guidance for Selecting Health Care Products Using Human Factors Techniques

In health care, a wide variety of professionals use a wide variety of products when providing care to a wide variety of patients. In addition, safety reports support the idea that medical products vary in terms of usability, compatibility, and functionality. All this variability may contribute to purchasers failing to fully understand and define the needs for and risks of these products. Some purchasing decisions in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) utilize well-defined procedures such as investigation by Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), which includes a hands-on evaluation of multiple options prior to crafting a national contract. Ideally, all products would go through rigorous functionality and usability testing under a variety of conditions prior to purchase, but such an approval process does not currently exist. The Purchasing Checklist aids purchasers in investigating patient safety concerns related to usability when planning a purchase when extensive hands-on evaluation is not possible. The c...
Biosynthesis of Aromatic Polyketides

Aromatic polyketides differ from other polyketides by their characteristic polycyclic aromatic structures. These polyketides are widely distributed in bacteria, fungi, and plants, and many of them are clinically valuable agents or exhibit other fascinating biological activities. Analogous to fatty acids and reduced polyketide biosynthesis, aromatic polyketide biosynthesis is accomplished by the polyketide synthases that catalyze sequential decarboxylative condensation between the starter and extender units to yield a linear poly-β-ketone intermediate. The latter undergoes regiospecific reduction, aromatization, or cyclization to furnish the polycyclic aromatic structures, which are further modified by tailoring enzymes to imbue them with various biological activities. This review begins with a brief discussion on the architectural organizations among various polyketide synthase genes and genetic contributions to understanding polyketide synthases. It then presents a comprehensive account of the most recent advances in the biochemistry and enzymology of bacterial, fungal, and plant polyketide synthases, with emphasis on in vitro studies. It concludes with a cautious summary of the so-called design-rules to guide rational engineering of polyketide synthases for the synthesis of novel aromatic polyketides.
Capmatinib and gefitinib combination therapy: will EGFR-mutated MET-dysregulated NSCLC "capitulate"?

The mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (MET)/hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) axis is a key pathway in acquired resistance against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The binding of the cognate HGF ligand to MET induces receptor activation, promoting cell proliferation, cell invasion, and cell survival in multiple preclinical cancer models (1). Evidence of MET dysregulation conferring resistance to EGFR TKI therapy was identified as early as 2007 when Engelman and colleagues demonstrated that focal MET amplification drives ERBB3-dependent activation of PI3K and subsequent resistance to gefitinib. Crucially, MET inhibitor monotherapy was not sufficient to overcome gefitinib resistance; combined treatment with a MET inhibitor and gefitinib was required, suggesting that selective pressure exerted by gefitinib causes cancer cells to adapt so that sustained downstream signaling of either the EGFR pathway or MET pathway is sufficient for survival (2), necessitating the concurrent use of both an EGFR inhibitor and a MET inhibitor. These early observations would herald the paramount importance of carefully selecting EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients with documented acquired resistance to primary EGFR TKI therapy in the clinical development of MET inhibitors, as earlier disappointingly negative clinical studies investigating MET inhibitors largely featured unselected NSCLC patient populations.
An Account of Proceduralist Meaning

Within both game studies and development communities, it is often argued that a game’s processes (rules and goals) are of primary significance when considering a game’s meaning. In opposition to this position, some claim that this approach denies player subjectivity by ignoring the dynamic, culturally-embedded ways in which players create, rather than receive, meaning through play. This paper clarifies the proceduralist position by exploring a notion of the procedural that necessarily includes the individual player as part of a circuit in which a computational machine is able to operate meaningfully. From this point, procedural rhetoric is reframed in the language of semiotics to demonstrate that the proceduralist position respects player autonomy and expects meaning to result from the harmonious alignment between the authorial sign system and the many cultural sign systems within which the player is embedded.
Communication Behavior in an Emerging Democracy

During elections in emerging democracies, communication behavior can indicate the relative freedom of expression perceived by individuals and organizations. Communication is critical for citizens to stay informed and make sense of competing political visions, platforms, and candidates. In Fall 2014, three years after the Arab Spring uprising that originated in Tunisia and resulted in the overthrow of long-time dictator Ben Ali, Tunisian citizens went to the voting booth to elect members of parliament and the next president. These were the first regular presidential elections since the Tunisian Revolution of 2011 and the adoption of the Constitution in January 2014, and the first free and fair presidential elections since independence from French colonialism in 1956. To explore the level of political tolerance and freedom of expression in this emerging democracy, we examined the contents and metadata of tweets during the election period. We used computational techniques (e.g., natural language processing, topic modeling, data visualization, and social graphing) as well as manual inspection of tweets to identify the main topics of political discussion and related social interaction. Our findings show a lively and open expression of political opinions, candidate positions, and policy issues appearing during the period of the 2014 elections, suggesting an increasingly democratic society in Tunisia.
Enhancing clinical concept extraction with contextual embeddings.

Objective Neural network-based representations ("embeddings") have dramatically advanced natural language processing (NLP) tasks, including clinical NLP tasks such as concept extraction. Recently, however, more advanced embedding methods and representations (eg, ELMo, BERT) have further pushed the state of the art in NLP, yet there are no common best practices for how to integrate these representations into clinical tasks. The purpose of this study, then, is to explore the space of possible options in utilizing these new models for clinical concept extraction, including comparing these to traditional word embedding methods (word2vec, GloVe, fastText). Materials and methods Both off-the-shelf, open-domain embeddings and pretrained clinical embeddings from MIMIC-III (Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III) are evaluated. We explore a battery of embedding methods consisting of traditional word embeddings and contextual embeddings and compare these on 4 concept extraction corpora: i2b2 2010, i2b2 2012, SemEval 2014, and SemEval 2015. We also analyze the impact of the pretraining time of a large language model like ELMo or BERT on the extraction performance. Last, we present an intuitive way to understand the semantic information encoded by contextual embeddings. Results Contextual embeddings pretrained on a large clinical corpus achieves new state-of-the-art performances across all concept extraction tasks. The best-performing model outperforms all state-of-the-art methods with respective F1-measures of 90.25, 93.18 (partial), 80.74, and 81.65. Conclusions We demonstrate the potential of contextual embeddings through the state-of-the-art performance these methods achieve on clinical concept extraction. Additionally, we demonstrate that contextual embeddings encode valuable semantic information not accounted for in traditional word representations.
AEROBIC BIOLOGICAL TREATABILITY STUDIES ON LANDFILL LEACHATE WITH NITRIFICATION AND DENITRIFICATION

Large pilot-scale treatment trials have examined the treatment of a leachate typical of those found at many closed landfill sites, containing approximately 200mg/l of ammoniacal-N. At such sites, treatment of these leachates with nitrification of ammoniacal-N alone, will not allow discharges of treated leachate to be made into sensitive surface watercourses, because of concerns about nitrate-N. The trials therefore included denitrification processes, by modification of an SBR process configuration, using the waste product glycerol, widely available as a by-product from the production of biodiesel, as the carbon source for denitrification. Initially a nitrification-only Stage 1 treatment trial treated strong, methanogenic leachate containing 2000mg/l of ammoniacal-N and 4000mg/l COD, completely nitrifying all ammoniacal-N to nitrate-N. Following the successful treatment of strong leachate through nitrification, the innovative combined nitrification and denitrification treatment system was constructed. Stage 2 of the treatability trial used this newly designed system to incorporate both aeration and anoxic phases within a single reactor; enabling full nitrification and denitrification of weaker leachate from a closed landfill, containing 150mg/l ammoniacal-N and 200mg/l COD. In particular, the development of an innovative, stable, robust and relatively simple combined nitrification and denitrification process will have wide application at many closed landfill sites, where a reliable and robust treatment process is required, whilst full denitrification of nitrate-N is essential if treated leachate is to be discharged locally into small watercourses. The relative simplicity of the new process, in a single tank, with readily-automated operation and few chemical additions, means that it can be used at remote closed landfills, to produce high quality effluents suitable for discharge into many surface watercourses.
Probing the flavor dependence of proton's light-quark sea in the SeaQuest experiment

Surprisingly large flavor asymmetry of the light-quark sea in the proton was reported in deep-inelastic scattering and Drell-Yan experiments. The Bjorken-$x$ dependence of the $\bar{d}/\bar{u}$ ratio extracted from the Fermilab E866 experiment also revealed an intriguing drop at the highest values of $x$. The Fermilab E906/SeaQuest experiment was designed to measure $\bar{d}/\bar{u}$ with improved accuracy at high Bjorken-$x$. By detecting high-mass dimuon events produced in the interaction of 120 GeV proton beam with liquid hydrogen (LH$_2$) and deuterium (LD$_2$) targets, the SeaQuest experiment probes the $\bar{d}/\bar{u}$ ratio up to $x \approx 0.45$. Data collection has been completed and we report the status of data analysis for SeaQuest. Two different methods for extracting the LD$_2$/LH$_2$ Drell-Yan cross section ratios for $0.1\leq x\leq 0.45$ are discussed. These ratios are compared with calculations using various PDFs.
Words matter: A qualitative content analysis of campus crime alerts and considerations for best practices.

Objective: An impediment to an informed discussion of the impact that campus crime alerts have on college campuses is the dearth of research on the topic. This study explores the composition of cam...
Treatment of sarcoptic mange in llamas (Lama glama) and alpacas (Vicugna pacos) with repeated subcutaneous moxidectin injections

An outbreak of sarcoptic mange was investigated in a herd of llamas and alpacas in the Black Forrest (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany). The diagnosis was made by clinical picture and detection of mites in skin scrapings and ear swabs. At the beginning numerous of Sarcoptes mites were found in the scraping samples. The llamas and alpacas were treated subcutaneously with 0,2 mg/kg bodyweight moxidectin every three weeks (2 mL per llama, 1,5 mL per alpaca). Because of the slow recovery of the South American Camelids it was necessary to repeat the treatment eight times. On days 0, 42, 84, 126, and 168, all animals were examined clinically, and epidermal debris were collected from both auricular areas and other body regions for microscopic examination. The alpacas recovered rapidly and mite counts declined steadily. Llamas showed a slower remission of mite counts and clinical condition. For complete healing of crusting skin reactions, and pruritus six months of treatment were necessary. Therapy of sarcoptic mange in South American Camelids with macrocyclic lactons usually takes a long duration of time.
P7. Hierarchical surface roughness produced with additive manufacturing technology significantly increases osteogenic cellular differentiation and gene expression when compared to PEEK and smooth titanium surfaces

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Spine interbody fusion devices are used to stabilize and treat diseased and degenerative spine conditions. Commonly utilized interbody fusion devices are comprised of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) or titanium (Ti). PEEK interbody devices have a hydrophobic surface that does not directly bond to bone and promotes fibrous tissue formation. In contrast, Tispinal fusion devices have favorable osseointegration properties especially for those with roughened surfaces. PURPOSE Previous studies have shown that nano-scale surface features created by subtractive grit blasting and acid etching increase osteogenic differentiation and gene expression when compared to PEEK or smooth Ti (Sm Ti) surfaces. More recently, proprietary 3D additive manufacturing processes have been used to create implants that have a hierarchical surface roughness that spans from the macro to nano-scale. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the P3D surface increases osteogenic differentiation and gene expression when compared to PEEK or smooth Ti surfaces, as similarly seen in acid etch surfaces. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING N/A PATIENT SAMPLE N/A OUTCOME MEASURES N/A METHODS The P3D implants with hierarchical surface roughness were produced on a Q 10+ 3D printer (Arcam). Bone marrow was harvested from a BAC transgenic reporter mouse. Primary bone marrow stem cells (BMSC) were cultured under basal conditions and seeded onto P3D, Sm Ti, or PEEK constructs. Cell-constructs cultured in osteogenic condition were harvested at days 3, 7, 14 and 22. Cells were removed by accutase for fluorescence image cytometry. RNA evaluation was performed by submerging in trizol and physical scraping. cDNA synthesis and qPCR utilized sequences for 18S, osteocalcin, collagen type 1, alkaline phosphatase, osterix and PHEX. Students 2-tailed t-test was utilized to evaluate statistical differences. RESULTS Significantly more (p CONCLUSIONS Compared to PEEK and Sm Ti surfaces, the P3D rough Ti surface enabled a significantly greater proportion of BMSC to enter the osteogenic lineage and resulted in faster and significantly greater osteogenic gene expression. Similar to prior publications that demonstrated increased osteogenesis on nanotopography surfaces, P3D with macro to nano-scale surface roughness also increased osteogenesis. The increased osteogenic response from the 3DP surface features may lead to quicker bone/implant fixation which would provide a stable environment for fusion to occur and reduce the risk of complications. FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.
Trust Change in Information Technology Products

We examine why trust change occurs when potential users first encounter news about a specific technology. We propose personal perceptions and three cognitive outcomes—attention, sensemaking, and th...
The great demographic illusion: majority, minority and the expanding American mainstream: by Richard Alba, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2020, xiii + 336pp., $29.95 (hardback), ISBN 978-0691201634

Richard Alba has written a book that American politicians should read. His thesis is simple: contrary to popular opinion, the numerical dominance of non-Hispanic whites is not going away any time s...
Mitigating background caused by extraneous scattering in small-angle neutron scattering instrument design.

Measurements, calculations and design ideas to mitigate background caused by extraneous scattering in small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instruments are presented. Scattering includes processes such as incoherent scattering, inelastic scattering and Bragg diffraction. Three primary sources of this type of background are investigated: the beam stop located in front of the detector, the inside lining of the detector vessel and the environment surrounding the sample. SANS measurements were made where materials with different albedos were placed in all three locations. Additional measurements of the angle-dependent scattering over the angular range of 0.7π–0.95π rad were completed on 16 different shielding materials at five wavelengths. The data were extrapolated to cover scattering angles from π/2 to π rad in order to estimate the materials' albedos. Modifications to existing SANS instruments and sample environments to mitigate extraneous scattering from surfaces are discussed.
Forecasting the Construction Expenditure Cash Flow for Transportation Design-Build Projects with a Case-Based Reasoning Model

AbstractAccurately forecasting the construction expenditure cash flow of transportation projects is critical for state departments of transportation (state DOTs) to secure sufficient funding to cov...
A contemporary view of bioequivalence and therapeutic equivalence

Bioequivalence studies play an important role in the drug development as well as during the post-approval period for both new drugs and generic drugs. In principle, the goals of these studies are two-fold: (1) serve as bridging studies to provide supportive evidence for safety and efficacy of a drug product; and (2) ensure product quality and performance throughout the life time of a drug product in the presence of changes in formulation or manufacturing. Additionally, in the context of generic drugs, the current U.S. regulation dictates that evidence of bioequivalence and pharmaceutical equivalence provides the assurance of therapeutic equivalence, hence interchangeability. The conventional wisdom for bioequivalence studies indicates that the testing is best performed using the most accurate, sensitive, and reproducible approach available for the drug under examination. Accordingly, to date, comparative pharmacokinetic studies have been used in most cases for bioequivalence determination. In vitro tests are seldom utilized while pharmacodynamic studies and clinical trials are employed for locally acting drug products or when drug levels cannot be measured in the blood. This trend, however, is changing with the recent advances in pharmaceutical science and technology. For example, the introduction of the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) has provided a valuable tool for predicting drug absorption and bioavailability. The rapidly growing knowledge of pharmacogenetics/genomics combined with formulation science may facilitate a better understanding of the potential interplay between pharmaceutical characteristics and biological system in humans. In the future, an enhanced prediction and assessment of bioequivalence may be achieved through the rational design of formulations and use of in vitro, in situ or in silico test methods. Implicit in the inclusion of pharmaceutical equivalence as part of the definition of therapeutic equivalence has been the regulatory objective of achieving 'sameness' to the greatest extent possible between a generic and innovator product, thereby avoiding unnecessary in vivo human testing. Perceivably, the better the drug substance and product are characterized, the more accurate and precise the determination of pharmaceutical equivalence will be. An increased assurance of pharmaceutical equivalence based on state-of-the-art science and technology may lessen the uncertainty of 'sameness' in the clinical responses and reduce the burden for requiring in vivo evidence of bioequivalence. Over the last three decades, scientists have worked diligently to develop guidance and recommendations on how to demonstrate bioequivalence and pharmaceutical equivalence (hence therapeutic equivalence). Approaches to establishing any type of equivalence depend on the scientific knowledge and tools available at the time of evaluation. Continuing efforts and research are encouraged to improve the current approaches, and ensure product quality and performance over time for both new and generic drug products.
Open-source image analysis software yields reproducible MRI measures of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration in sheep models

Sheep are established models for intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) translational research. Objectives of this retrospective, secondary analysis, observational study were to evaluate reproducibility of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of IVDD in sheep using open-source image analysis software. Sagittal planar, T2-weighted, lumbar MRI scans from a previous, prospective study were evaluated (4 sheep @ 3 treatment periods/sheep @ 7 lumbar discs /treatment period = 84 discs). A standardized protocol was developed for measuring MRI index (nucleus pulposus signal intensity × nucleus pulposus sagittal area), and nucleus pulposus signal intensity standard deviation (NPSISD). Scans were randomized and four observers with varying experience levels applied the protocol to independently perform triplicate measures. Mean coefficient of variation values for both the MRI index and NPSISD were within an acceptable range ( .05).
The influence of regional economy- and industry-level environmental munificence on young firm growth

Abstract This study examines the impact of environmental munificence on young firm revenue growth. One hundred and ninety young U.S.-based firms from 42 states are studied for their growth over a three-year period. Specifically, we find that the environmental munificence in terms of entrepreneur’s selected industry has a significant impact on young firms’ revenue growth but the state’s economic condition has no such impact. However, the positive effect of industry growth on young firms’ revenue growth is significantly stronger in states with declining GDP. The findings suggest that state economy may not be as important for starting a business for its revenue growth, and the choice of industry for the business is more important in a declining regional economy than has been previously understood.
Oral treatment of TRAMP mice with doxazosin suppresses prostate cancer metastasis

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004 5130 Prostate gland has a rich sympathetic innervation and contains a high density of alpha1-adrenergic receptors. The release of neuro-transmitters from the nerve endings of this organ has been shown to regulate the growth of stromal cells and the glandular epithelial cells via alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. The neurotransmitters, such as epinephrine, nor-epinephrine, and catecholamines, are the ligands for the alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. Since catecholamines induces mitogenesis of several cell types including prostatic stromal cells in vitro, the dense innervation in the organ may play an important role in regulating the normal growth of prostatic cells as well as a profound effect on the development of prostate cancer. Doxazosin, an effective and selective blocker for the alpha1-adrenergic receptor, has been used for clinical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Although Doxazosin has been shown to be a cytotoxic agent for several prostate cancer cell lines in vitro, the effect of doxazosin on the tumor growth and malignant progression of prostate cancer has not been tested in animal models. We have used the TRAMP model for the in vivo test of Doxazosin. Five groups of TRAMP mice (5-6 mice in each group) at different ages were orally fed with Doxazosin (0.02 mg per mouse). The first group was treated with the drug starting at the ages of 134-253 days and terminated after feeding the drug for 45 days. The second group was treated with the drug starting at the ages of 183-205 days and terminated after feeding the drug for 81 days. The control mice were fed with DMSO (0.25%). At the end of feeding, mice were euthanasized. Tumor weight was determined, and metastasis to multiple organs was examined. We found that treatment of TRAMP mice with the drug did not decrease the sizes of the pre-existing prostatic tumors when compared to the control mice. But surprisingly, the drug-treated mice did not have metastasis to multiple organs. Thus it appears that doxazosin may suppress the metastasis of prostate cancer in this transgenic mouse model. Treatment of three other groups with the drug, starting at ages of 110-121 days, 42-88 days, and 29-39 days, respectively, is still ongoing. These mice will be terminated after 5, 6, or 7 months of treatment. The results will be analyzed. The final assessment of the treatment or prevention of the malignant progression of the mouse prostate adenocarcinoma with Doxazosin in this mouse model will be presented.
Nasal Chemesthesis: Similarities Between Humans and Rats Observed in In Vivo Experiments

Recent advancements in the study of nasal chemesthesis have primarily been achieved through in vitro, cellular, and molecular techniques, with a resultant shift of focus away from in vivo experimental methodology. Psychophysical and electrophysiological data derived from long-standing in vivo methods form our core understanding of trigeminal chemoreception, including the functional characterization of responses to many known trigeminal stimuli, across species. We selected relevant in vivo data from existing studies relating to nasal trigeminal nerve-mediated chemesthesis and performed a series of inter-species comparisons in cases where the methodological and procedural similarities between studies allowed for a productive analysis. There was a remarkable similarity between human and rat nasal chemesthesis in terms of comparative sensitivity to select compounds, structure-activity assessments, and mechanisms of action. The parallels between rat and human nasal chemesthesis suggest that the rat represents an excellent model for the assessment of human trigeminal chemosensitivity. The similarities presented here are not surprising considering the primitive and adaptive nature of the chemesthetic sense.
The Physician-Doctor Relationship

Judging from discussions in medical journals and at professional meetings, pediatricians and other physicians are increasingly aware of their relationships with patients, patients9 families, medical co-workers, laboratory personnel, insurance company representatives, legislators, regulators, lawyers, reporters, students, and spouses. There is, however, little discussion of a central relationship that affects all the others: the physician-doctor relationship. It arises because "physician" is not a description of a person, but rather of a role that a person—the doctor—plays. PHYSICIANS AND DOCTORS The doctor9s coat, stethoscope, and title are a costume that facilitates the performance of the role of physician. It helps the doctor and others to suspend disbelief that this person is a physician: objective; busy yet available; knowledgeable, skilled; undaunted by always private, sometimes smelly, and occasionally fatal problems. These traits of the physician are often important to filling the role, because they allow patients to entrust themselves to the physician, and the doctor to accept the trust and to go on when the going gets tough. But the traits of the physician contrast sharply with those of the person who fills the role of physician—the doctor. That person is, like other people, subjective, unavailable when busy, often ignorant and unskilled for the job in hand, and likely to be upset by personal and life-threatening problems. The discrepancy between the traits of the doctor (a person) and the physician (a role the person plays) gives rise to a relationship (the physician-doctor relationship) that is central to what physicians do. Understanding this central relationship is likely to be both important and interesting.
Case 2: Infant with lung nodules

A three-week-old, full-term female infant born vaginally to a G2P2 mother presented with an increase in irritability and decreased oral intake one week before admission. Three days before admission, she developed grunting and fever. Pregnancy and delivery were uncomplicated with no maternal history of fever or infections. The mother’s serologies were negative. The baby was admitted for sepsis evaluation, which revealed negative blood cultures, normal cerebral spinal fluid analysis and culture, negative urine cultures, normal blood count and electrolytes. After 48 h of empirical antibiotic therapy, she was discharged. One week later, she was readmitted for continuing fever and grunting. During this admission, a chest x-ray was performed, revealing multiple round discrete infiltrates. Her white cell count was elevated to 23×109/L. She was initially started on nafcillin and cefotaxime. However, her clinical status did not improve and she continued to have a fever of 39°C and required oxygen therapy. During the hospitalization, her lung nodules were biopsied and the results showed inflammatory cells and segmented hyphae, suggestive of fungal pneumonia. She was diagnosed with Aspergillus fumigatus pneumonia, and subsequent computed tomography scan of the chest showed multiple masses, both in the anterior mediastinum and in the lung parenchyma. After intravenous antifungal agents were started, repeat computed tomography showed a decrease in the size of the masses. Pathology from the initial biopsy showed no tumour cells in the lung nodules or the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Special stain for acid-fast bacilli was negative. No family history of frequent or unusual infections, and no history of consanguinity, were reported.
Of Beasts and Bees: the View of the Natural World in Virgil's Georgics and John's Apocalypse

The article proposes a dialogue between Virgil's Georgics and John's Apocalypse as a means of illuminating Revelation's view of the natural world. A comparison of the two works reveals a common understanding of the natural order as at once beautiful and terrifying, majestic and vulnerable. While irreconcilable religious differences remain (particularly concerning the figure of Augustus), the two works can still be read in a complementary way. Virgil's lyrical evocations of the Italian countryside give a new depth to the tragedy of the destruction of the natural order in Revelation, while John's theology of hope supplies a theological focus lacking in the Latin poet.
PRECISE on ATIS: semantic tractability and experimental results

The need for Natural Language Interfaces to databases (NLIs) has become increasingly acute as more and more people access information through their web browsers, PDAs, and cell phones. Yet NLIs are only usable if they map natural language questions to SQL queries correctly -- people are unwilling to trade reliable and predictable user interfaces for intelligent but unreliable ones. We describe a reliable NLI, PRECISE, that incorporates a modern statistical paser and a semantic module. PRECISE provably handles a large class of natural language questions correctly. On the benchmark ATIS data set, PRECISE achieves 93.8% accuracy.
Collisional activation spectra. Behavior of [C3H7O]+ and other [CnH2n+1O]+ ions

Collisional activation spectra have identified (i) as Stable ion structures. Evidence is presented for a variety of pathway for their formation, including anchimeric assistance and hydrogen migration in less stable isomers. The fragmentation behavior of a number of [CnH2n+1O]+ isomers of n = 2 to 5 shows that extensive rearrangements are common, but that some reactions appear to be useful for ion structure elucidation. One reaction identified is unusual in that it represents the decomposition of an even-electron ion to yied an odd-electron ion product in significant abundance.
Chromaticity of color perception and object color knowledge

Sensorimotor theories of semantic memory require overlap between conceptual and perceptual representations. One source of evidence for such overlap comes from neuroimaging reports of co-activation during memory retrieval and perception; for example, regions involved in color perception (i.e., regions that respond more to colored than grayscale stimuli) are activated by retrieval of object color. One unanswered question from these studies is whether distinctions that are observed during perception are likewise observed during memory retrieval. That is, are regions defined by a chromaticity effect in perception similarly modulated by the chromaticity of remembered objects (e.g., lemons more than coal)? Subjects performed color perception and color retrieval tasks while undergoing fMRI. We observed increased activation during both perception and memory retrieval of chromatic compared to achromatic stimuli in overlapping areas of the left lingual gyrus, but not in dorsal or anterior regions activated during color perception. These results support sensorimotor theories but suggest important distinctions within the conceptual system.