cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Resonant Extraction Method for Installed Antenna Radiation Calculations

In the calculation of the radiation patterns of antennas installed on complex structures using iterative solvers, the convergence rate is often slower compared to the problem with the structure alone without antenna. This is due to the resonant nature of the antenna. To increase the convergence rate, a resonant extraction method is introduced by which a small region including the antenna and its nearby neighborhood is singled out from the overall structure and treated using a direct method, and a reduced system is better conditioned, hence much less iteration numbers are needed if solved by an iterative solver. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.
Magnetic resonance angiography of the body in pediatric patients: experience with a contrast-enhanced time-resolved technique

This paper reviews the general technique of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) and the challenges of applying CE-MRA to pediatric patients. In particular, the application of “time-resolved” CE-MRA on a commercially available MR scanner using parallel imaging technique such as sensitivity encoding (SENSE) is discussed in detail. Multiple clinical case examples are provided to highlight the broad clinical application of this particular technique and the ease of use of this technique. The main limitation of this technique is dictated by the trade-off between temporal and spatial resolution. Finally, some potential future techniques that may be able to provide better MRA in freely breathing pediatric patients are suggested.
The Haemophilus influenzae hFbpABC Fe3+ transporter: analysis of the membrane permease and development of a gallium-based screen for mutants.

The obligate human pathogen Haemophilus influenzae utilizes a siderophore-independent (free) Fe3+ transport system to obtain this essential element from the host iron-binding protein transferrin. The hFbpABC transporter is a binding protein-dependent ABC transporter that functions to shuttle (free) Fe3+ through the periplasm and across the inner membrane of H. influenzae. This investigation focuses on the structure and function of the hFbpB membrane permease component of the transporter, a protein that has eluded prior characterization. Based on multiple-sequence alignments between permease orthologs, a series of site-directed mutations targeted at residues within the two conserved permease motifs were generated. The hFbpABC transporter was expressed in a siderophore-deficient Escherichia coli background, and effects of mutations were analyzed using growth rescue and radiolabeled 55Fe3+ transport assays. Results demonstrate that mutation of the invariant glycine (G418A) within motif 2 led to attenuated transport activity, while mutation of the invariant glycine (G155A/V/E) within motif 1 had no discernible effect on activity. Individual mutations of well-conserved leucines (L154D and L417D) led to attenuated and null transport activities, respectively. As a complement to site-directed methods, a mutant screen based on resistance to the toxic iron analog gallium, an hFbpABC inhibitor, was devised. The screen led to the identification of several significant hFbpB mutations; V497I, I174F, and S475I led to null transport activities, while S146Y resulted in attenuated activity. Significant residues were mapped to a topological model of the hFbpB permease, and the implications of mutations are discussed in light of structural and functional data from related ABC transporters.
Time-resolved distance determination by tryptophan fluorescence quenching: probing intermediates in membrane protein folding.

The mechanism of insertion and folding of an integral membrane protein has been investigated with the ‚-barrel forming outer membrane protein A (OmpA) of Escherichia coli. This work describes a new approach to this problem by combining structural information obtained from tryptophan fluorescence quenching at different depths in the lipid bilayer with the kinetics of the refolding process. Experiments carried out over a temperature range between 2 and 40 °C allowed us to detect, trap, and characterize previously unidentified folding intermediates on the pathway of OmpA insertion and folding into lipid bilayers. Three membrane-bound intermediates were found in which the average distances of the Trps were 14-16, 10-11, and 0-5 A, respectively, from the bilayer center. The first folding intermediate is stable at 2 °C for at least 1 h. A second intermediate has been isolated at temperatures between 7 and 20 °C. The Trps move 4-5 A closer to the center of the bilayer at this stage. Subsequently, in an intermediate that is observable at 26-28 °C, the Trps move another 5-10 A closer to the center of the bilayer. The final (native) structure is observed at higher temperatures of refolding. In this structure, the Trps are located on average about 9-10 A from the bilayer center. Monitoring the evolution of Trp fluorescence quenching by a set of brominated lipids during refolding at various temperatures therefore allowed us to identify and characterize intermediate states in the folding process of an integral membrane protein.
Availability of Special Education Teachers Trends and Issues

A national shortage of fully certified special education teachers has been a persistent concern over the years. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher availability by analyzing data from the annual reports to Congress over a 10-year period. Findings indicate (a) that there is a nationwide shortage of teachers who are qualified to teach across all disabilities, including a particularly disproportionate shortage in the area of emotional and behavioral disorders, and (b) that there has been a dramatic decrease in the teacher shortage rate, beginning in the 1993—1994 year and continuing in subsequent years. Possible explanations for this decrease may be the expanded reliance on the proliferation of alternate or emergency certification, inclusionary practices, personnel preparation training grants, and noncategorical certification. In the short run, alternate or emergency certification routes may decrease the shortage of special education teachers; however, we caution against the use of these routes ...
Surgery for Pancreatic Cancer

Surgical resection remains the only potentially curative therapy for pancreatic cancer, despite a high rate of systemic recurrence. Because of local invasion or distant spread, a minority of patients presenting with pancreatic cancer are candidates for surgery. Although perioperative mortality is low in high-volume settings, pancreatic surgery remains associated with considerable morbidity. Minimally invasive and robotic surgical techniques are increasingly used for pancreatic resection, although not always applicable to all patients. Strategies to extend the benefits of margin-negative surgical resection to more patients include surgery with vascular resection and reconstruction for locally invasive tumors, and resection after neoadjuvant therapy.
A Goal Programming Example in Public Health Resource Allocation

A model developed to aid a state-level resource allocation process in the United States Department of Agriculture Special Supplement Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children WIC is presented. The model is formulated as a linear integer goal program, utilizing service levels for six categories of WIC participants as goals. The model employs a methodical, consistent approach to the allocation process, yet allows ample flexibility for consideration of state-specific issues. By allowing the user to adjust the relative importance of each goal, the model can incorporate subjective attitudes of state-level WIC administrators. This is extremely important as these attitudes are the result of the administrators' familiarity with the WIC program in their states, and the significance of input of this nature should not be neglected. An application of the model to the Indiana WIC program is presented. Sensitivity of the model to changes in the objective function weights and in the target values for the goals is explored. Although orginally developed to allocate budget increases, the model may be used in allocating budget cuts as well; this form of the model is also presented. The model can be extended hierarchically to incorporate resource allocation at the federal level. This modeling approach should be useful in all public sector programs characterized by multiple objective and hierarchical decisionmaking.
Aerosol administration of phospho-sulindac inhibits lung tumorigenesis

Phospho-sulindac (PS) is a sulindac derivative with promising anticancer activity in lung cancer, but its limited metabolic stability presents a major challenge for systemic therapy. We reasoned that inhalation delivery of PS might overcome first-pass metabolism and produce high levels of intact drug in lung tumors. Here, we developed a system for aerosolization of PS and evaluated the antitumor efficacy of inhaled PS in an orthotopic model of human non-small cell lung cancer (A549 cells). We found that administration by inhalation delivered high levels of PS to the lungs and minimized its hydrolysis to less active metabolites. Consequently, inhaled PS (6.5mg/kg) was highly effective in inhibiting lung tumorigenesis (75%, p<0.01) and significantly improved the survival of mice bearing orthotopic A549 xenografts. Mechanistically, PS suppressed lung tumorigenesis by 1) inhibiting EGFR activation, leading to profound inhibition of Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR survival cascades; 2) inducing oxidative stress, which provokes the collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondria-dependent cell death; and 3) inducing autophagic cell death. Our data establish that inhalation delivery of PS is an efficacious approach to the prevention of lung cancer, which merits further evaluation.
Pediatric Food Allergies and Psychosocial Functioning: Examining the Potential Moderating Roles of Maternal Distress and Overprotection

Objectives Identify factors associated with maternal perceptions of health-related quality of life (QoL) among youth with food allergies (FA), and identify maternal factors that may moderate relationships between FA-related challenges and child QoL. Methods In all, 533 mothers of children with FA completed measures assessing characteristics of their child's FA, maternal perceptions of child QoL, maternal psychological distress, and maternal overprotection. Results FA severity, maternal psychological distress, and overprotection were significantly associated with maternal reports of poorer child functioning and/or poorer QoL among youth with FA. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed an FA severity by maternal distress interaction in the prediction of child FA-related anxiety; children of higher stress mothers showed a stronger link between auto-injector use and anxiety than children of lower stress mothers. Conclusions When identifying youth with FA who are at risk for low QoL, it is important to assess history of FA-related challenges, parental psychological distress, and overprotection.
Asymmetric Virtual Environments: Exploring the Effects of Avatar Colors on Performance

Due to the virtual nature of Virtual Environments (VE), there is an affordance to change game and avatar features asymmetrically, where the features that are rendered for one participant can be different from those rendered for other participants while still sharing the same virtual world. We are calling these kinds of VEs Asymmetric Virtual Environments (AVE). In this paper we present work on a platform for studying online interactions using an AVE. We do so through a preliminary study that explores the effects of avatar colors on individual and group performance when solving a scavenger hunt in a 3D virtual environment followed by a location identification task in a 2D virtual environment. While the results of this preliminary study are not conclusive, our data seem to indicate that players' avatar colors can indeed influence online performance.
A Simultaneous Visualization of the Antioxidant Enzymes Glutathione Peroxidase and Catalase on Polyacrylamide Gels

A simple and sensitive method for the simultaneous visualization of glutathione peroxidase and catalase on polyacrylamide gels is described. The procedure included: (1) running samples on a 7.5% polyacrylamide gel, (2) soaking the gel in a certain concentration of reduced glutathione (0.25-2.0 mM), (3) soaking the gel in GSH plus H2O2 or cumene hydroperoxide, (4) finally staining with a 1% ferric chloride 1% potassium ferricyanide solution. The best concentration of glutathione for simultaneous visualization of glutathione peroxidase in mouse liver homogenates and also it is specific for glutathione peroxidase since other peroxidases such as lactoperoxidase, horseradish peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase cannot be visualized. Using this method, it was found that unlike catalase, glutathione peroxidase is heat resistant (68 degrees C, 1 min), but sensitive to 10 mM sodium iodoacetate.
Taxonomy of 'Euconnus complex'. Part VI. Status of Protoscydmus and Euconnus subgenera Neonapochus, Paranapochus, and Filonapochus (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae).

Examination of the type species of the genus Protoscydmus (Borneo) and subgenera of Euconnus: Neonapochus (Europe) and Paranapochus (Madagascar, Oriental) revealed that these taxa do not differ in any important characters from Euconnus (Napochus). Consequently, Protoscydmus, Neonapochus, and Paranapochus are placed as junior synonyms of Napochus, and Euconnus (Napochus) sabahensis (Franz) is placed as a new combination (ex Protoscydmus). Filonapochus (Madagascar) is maintained as a separate subgenus of Euconnus; it also belongs to taxa similar to Napochus.
Bmi1 Is a Key Epigenetic Barrier to Direct Cardiac Reprogramming

Direct reprogramming of induced cardiomyocytes (iCMs) suffers from low efficiency and requires extensive epigenetic repatterning, although the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. To address these issues, we screened for epigenetic regulators of iCM reprogramming and found that reducing levels of the polycomb complex gene Bmi1 significantly enhanced induction of beating iCMs from neonatal and adult mouse fibroblasts. The inhibitory role of Bmi1 in iCM reprogramming is mediated through direct interactions with regulatory regions of cardiogenic genes, rather than regulation of cell proliferation. Reduced Bmi1 expression corresponded with increased levels of the active histone mark H3K4me3 and reduced levels of repressive H2AK119ub at cardiogenic loci, and de-repression of cardiogenic gene expression during iCM conversion. Furthermore, Bmi1 deletion could substitute for Gata4 during iCM reprogramming. Thus, Bmi1 acts as a critical epigenetic barrier to iCM production. Bypassing this barrier simplifies iCM generation and increases yield, potentially streamlining iCM production for therapeutic purposes.
(Invited) Strain Engineering for Fully-Depleted SOI Devices

Limitations of conventional strain engineering methods for fully-depleted SOI structure are reviewed and methods to extend these approaches to future FDSOI devices are discussed. The application of global strain engineering combined with biaxial to uniaxial strain conversion is shown to be promising. Finally, methods to utilize oxidation-induced strain engineering are introduced.
ADC Estimation in Multi-scan DWMRI

A maximum-likelihood-based scheme for estimating the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) value in diffusion-weighted MRI is presented, using which data from multiple scans acquired at the same diffusion-gradient value can be used for accurate ADC computation.
Seeking support in response to social and achievement stressors: A multivenue analysis

Social support is the subject of much research, but comparatively little attention has been paid to support seeking. Moreover, what research exists on support seeking has primarily addressed in-person support seeking, despite the proliferation of new support venues (e.g., Facebook, websites, etc.). This article uses a daily diary methodology to examine the support-seeking behavior men (N = 41) and women (N = 97) exhibit in response to various types of stressors. Results indicate that (a) in-person support seeking remains the most popular form; (b) compared to achievement stressors, social stressors are more likely to result in emotional support seeking rather than instrumental support seeking; and (c) men may engage in more support seeking than has been previously suggested by the literature, particularly in electronic venues.
Uncovering Class-Wide Patterns in Responses to True/False Questions.

ABSTRACT A popular type of problem in online homework involves a set of several true/false statements and requires that students submit their answers to all the statements at once. Such problems can force a student to submit many responses to the same true/false statement. It is possible to examine student submission patterns to problems of this type with the goal of determining which of the individual true/false statements exhibit a large proportion of response switches and which statements exhibit largely consistent responses. This paper describes algorithms that allow an instructor to uncover those statements that exhibit class-wide randomness and also those that exhibit a class-wide preference for an incorrect response. The utility of the approach is suggested by the fact that examining statements which emerge as outliers according to these metrics uncovers several statements that probe known student misconceptions.
Platelet adsorptive properties and platelet extracts in thromboplastin generation.

(1) Simple incubation of normal platelets in saline for 10 minutes at 37 C. markedly diminishes their activity in the thromboplastin generation test. This loss of activity is due to the removel of a factor(s) from the platelet and is present in the saline extract. (2) These "attenuated" platelets retain their effect on the recalcification time, prothrombin consumption, and clotting time of whole blood. (3) Attenuated platelets, as well as platelets thought to be qualitatively defective, regain normal activity in the TGT after incubation in normal plasma or in plasmas from patients with qualitative platelet defects. (4) Attenuated platelets, in contrast to qualitatively defective platelets, are restored to normal, as measured by the TGT, after treatment with saline extracts of normal platelets. Attenuated platelets, however, do not function normally after incubation with saline extracts of qualitatively defective platelets. (5) The possible mechanisms involved are discussed, and it is concluded that the phenomenon involves the adsorption of plasma factor(s) by the platelet. The nature of the plasma factor(s) is not known.
Making a Miracle: A New Approach

As the discussion in the last two chapters has shown, a large part of the problem of resolving the debate between the miracle-mongers and miracle-breakers has to do with the characteristics of the growth process itself. In this chapter a systematic attempt will be made to arrive at a methodology for identifying the nature of the growth process in the East Asian economies. The key issue from this perspective is whether these countries have been able to create a positive-feedback loop innovation system (POLIS).
Association of Age with Fluorescence In Situ Hybriditization (FISH) Abnormalities In Multiple Myeloma Patients Reveals Higher Rate of Igh Translocations Among Older Patients

Abstract Abstract 1913 Introduction: Molecular cytogenetic evaluation of chromosome abnormalities has proven to be an important tool to determine prognosis in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients. The majority of MM patients will have one or more cytogenetic abnormality detectable by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Deletion of 17p13, t(4;14)(p16;q32) and t(14;16)(q23;q32) define high-risk MM, while abnormalities common in standard risk MM are hyperdiploid karyotype and t(11;14)(q13;q32). The prognostic importance of deletion of 13q14 detected by FISH is controversial with worse outcome noted in some but not all series. Even though a strong correlation between age and patter of chromosome abnormalities has been demonstrated in other hematologic malignancies (e.g. acute leukemias), such association has not been clearly defined in MM. We utilized a cohort with high frequency of young patients to further explore the correlation between FISH abnormalities and age in MM. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of all patients seen at our institution with diagnosis of MM from 2002 to 2010 and for whom comprehensive FISH analysis of MM cells was available. Patients were divided in two groups according to age. The proportions of specific FISH findings were compared between the two groups using chi-square test. Results: One hundred patients were identified with a median age of 59 years (range 20–81). We defined two groups containing younger (age Conclusions: Even though there does not seem to be a strong association between age and MM FISH abnormalities, our findings suggest a higher frequency of translocations involving IgH, particularly t(4;14), among older patients. It is unlikely however that the differences in outcomes between younger and older MM patients are due to intrinsic biological differences. Download : Download high-res image (196KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Mining User Requirements from Application Store Reviews Using Frame Semantics

Context and motivation: Research on mining user reviews in mobile application (app) stores has noticeably advanced in the past few years. The majority of the proposed techniques rely on classifying the textual description of user reviews into different categories of technically informative user requirements and uninformative feedback. Question/Problem: Relying on the textual attributes of reviews often produces high dimensional models. This increases the complexity of the classifier and can lead to overfitting problems. Principal ideas/results: We propose a novel semantic approach for app review classification. The proposed approach is based on the notion of semantic role labeling, or characterizing the lexical meaning of text in terms of semantic frames. Semantic frames help to generalize from text (individual words) to more abstract scenarios (contexts). This reduces the dimensionality of the data and enhances the predictive capabilities of the classifier. Three datasets of user reviews are used to conduct our experimental analysis. Results show that semantic frames can be used to generate lower dimensional and more accurate models in comparison to text classification methods. Contribution: A novel semantic approach for extracting user requirements from app reviews. The proposed approach enables a more efficient classification process and reduces the chance of overfitting.
Midwestern Misfits: Bullying Experienced by Perceived Sexual and Gender Minority Youth in the Midwestern United States

Perceived sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth experience more bullying in schools than their heteronormative peers. The social ecological model offers a framework for exploring the phenomenon of...
Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2) usage and cancer correlation: An analysis of 10,416 spine fusion patients from a multi-center spine registry

• This is an independent, non-industry supported study—one of the few that exists in the literature.
On distributed linear filtering with noisy communication

We consider distributed filtering of a scalar linear stochastic process under communication corrupted by Gaussian noise. We investigate how communication noise degrades the performance of an existing distributed algorithm and develop a novel algorithm that mitigates these problems. We rigorously investigate the properties of the new distributed estimator and discuss optimal tuning of (fixed) gains that minimize the asymptotic error covariance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm through numerical simulations.
Hybrid piezoresistive-optical tactile sensor for simultaneous measurement of tissue stiffness and detection of tissue discontinuity in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery

To compensate for the lack of touch during minimally invasive and robotic surgeries, tactile sensors are integrated with surgical instruments. Surgical tools with tactile sensors have been used mainly for distinguishing among different tissues and detecting malignant tissues or tumors. Studies have revealed that malignant tissue is most likely stiffer than normal. This would lead to the formation of a sharp discontinuity in tissue mechanical properties. A hybrid piezoresistive-optical-fiber sensor is proposed. This sensor is investigated for its capabilities in tissue distinction and detection of a sharp discontinuity. The dynamic interaction of the sensor and tissue is studied using finite element method. The tissue is modeled as a two-term Mooney–Rivlin hyperelastic material. For experimental verification, the sensor was microfabricated and tested under the same conditions as of the simulations. The simulation and experimental results are in a fair agreement. The sensor exhibits an acceptable linearity, repeatability, and sensitivity in characterizing the stiffness of different tissue phantoms. Also, it is capable of locating the position of a sharp discontinuity in the tissue. Due to the simplicity of its sensing principle, the proposed hybrid sensor could also be used for industrial applications.
Correlates and Outcomes of Physician Burnout Within a Large Academic Medical Center.

This survey study uses the Maslach Burnout Inventory to measure physician burnout and associated outcomes in a large academic medical center.
Marriage Preparation: A Ministry with Lasting Benefits

With the vast majority of marriage preparation provided in a religious setting, churches are uniquely positioned to help couples improve marital quality and stability by providing research-based and biblically sound premarital counseling. This chapter discusses the importance of church-based premarital counseling and gives tools for developing an effective ministry. The chapter includes background information about clergy involvement in premarital counseling; best practices for marriage preparation; and the attitudes and behaviors of U.S. clergy related to this ministry that we have discovered in our research. We offer specific suggestions to help the minister develop appropriate skills, recommend tools to address the unique needs of each couple, and suggest strategies for utilizing additional resources. An appendix lists websites that provide specific resources.
Single lumen endotracheal intubation with carbon dioxide insufflation for lung isolation in thoracic surgery

Double lumen tube (DLT) intubation is used for lung isolation but is not without disadvantages including increased intubation time, anesthesia expertise, risk of airway trauma, and costs over single lumen tube (SLT) intubation. SLT intubation with CO2 insufflation can be used as an alternative for lung isolation. We reviewed our experience with this technique during thoracoscopic surgery. We performed a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained IRB-approved database from 2009 to 2018. Operations were performed with CO2 insufflation up to 15 mmHg. Indications for surgery, operative details, intraoperative complications, pathology, and postoperative complications were reviewed. We identified 123 patients (70 females [57%]) with a median age of 40 years (range 16–80 years) and a median BMI of 26.2 kg/m2 (range 15–59 kg/m2) that underwent minimally invasive thoracoscopic procedures with this technique. Procedures included: mediastinal mass resection or biopsy (41%), sympathectomy (37%), wedge resection (10%), first rib resection (6%), diaphragm plication (2%), segmentectomy (2%), decortication (2%), pleural biopsy (2%), and pericardial cyst resection (1%). Median operative time was 90 min (range 25–584 min) and median intraoperative blood loss was 10 mL (range 2–200 mL). Intraoperative hemodynamic parameters were obtained at procedure start, 1 h after CO2 insufflation, and at procedure completion: we observed significant changes in heart rate and systolic blood pressure (P = 0.027 and P < 0.001, respectively) although clinically inconsequential. Mean end-tidal CO2 1 h after insufflation was 36.6 ± 4.5 mmHg. There were no intraoperative complications and no conversions to a DLT. Median length of stay was 1 day (range 0–14 days). Five complications (4%) were observed and no mortalities. SLT intubation and CO2 insufflation is a feasible and safe alternative to DLT intubation for lung isolation. This can be a useful strategy to accomplish lung isolation for some thoracoscopic procedures, in particular when expertise for DLT placement is unavailable.
Transient excitons at metal surfaces

We employ multiphoton photoemission to study resonant and nonresonant transitions between the occupied and unoccupied surface states at noble metal surfaces. At resonance, nondispersive bands give evidence for the existence of transient excitons at metal surfaces.
Motivational Interviewing: A High-Yield Interactive Session for Medical Trainees and Professionals to Help Tobacco Users Quit.

Introduction Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative patient-focused counseling technique that is effective in promoting smoking cessation but is not consistently taught/practiced in trai...
SIToolBox : A package for Bayesian estimation of the isotropy violation in the CMB sky

The standard model of cosmology predicts a statistically isotropic (SI) CMB sky. However, the SI violation signals are always present in an observed sky-map. Different cosmological artifacts, measurement effects and unavoidable effects during data analysis etc. may lead to isotropy violation in an otherwise SI sky. Therefore, a proper data analysis technique should calculate all these SI violation signals, so that they can be matched with SI violation signals from the known sources and then conclude if there is any intrinsic SI violation in the CMB sky. In one of our recent works, we presented a general Bayesian formalism for measuring the isotropy violation signals in the CMB sky in presence of an idealized isotropic noise. In this paper, we have extended the mechanism and develop a software package, SIToolBox, for measuring SI violation in presence of anisotropic noise and masking.
Comparison of feedback strategies for noise suppression in protein level

Stochastic variation in the level of protein among cells of the same population is ubiquitous across cell types and organisms. These random variations are a consequence of low-copy numbers, amplified by the characteristically probabilistic nature of biochemical reactions associated with gene-expression. We systematically compare and contrast negative feedback architectures in their ability to regulate random fluctuations in protein levels. Recent studies have revealed the role of unspliced, precursor mRNA versus stable, cytoplasmic mRNA in gene-expression regulation and noise. Our work takes advantage of this distinction and creates a model describing mRNA as two separate species: pre-mRNA inside the nucleus and cytoplasmic mRNA outside the nucleus. Each gene synthesizes pre-mRNAs in transcriptional bursts. Then, each pre-mRNA transcript is exported to the cytoplasm and is subsequently translated into protein molecules. In this setup, three feedback architectures are implemented: protein inhibiting transcription of its own gene (I), protein enhancing the nuclear pre-mRNA degradation rate (II), and protein inhibiting the export of pre-mRNAs (III). Explicit analytic expressions are developed to quantify the protein noise levels for each feedback strategy. Mathematically controlled comparisons provide insights into the noise-suppression properties of these feedback architectures. For example, when the pre-mRNA export rate is greater than its degradation rate, then feedback architecture I provides the best noise attenuation. In contrast, when mRNA is highly unstable, feedback architecture III is superior to both II and I. We finally discuss biological relevance of these findings in context of precursor mRNA and noise suppression in HIV.
Evidence for sleep-dependent synaptic renormalization in mouse pups

In adolescent and adult brains several molecular, electrophysiological, and ultrastructural measures of synaptic strength are higher after wake than after sleep [1, 2]. These results support the proposal that a core function of sleep is to renormalize the increase in synaptic strength associated with ongoing learning during wake, to reestablish cellular homeostasis and avoid runaway potentiation, synaptic saturation, and memory interference [2, 3]. Before adolescence however, when the brain is still growing and many new synapses are forming, sleep is widely believed to promote synapse formation and growth. To assess the role of sleep on synapses early in life, we studied 2-week-old mouse pups (both sexes) whose brain is still undergoing significant developmental changes, but in which sleep and wake are easy to recognize. In two strains (CD-1, YFP-H) we found that pups spend ~50% of the day asleep and show an immediate increase in total sleep duration after a few hours of enforced wake, indicative of sleep homeostasis. In YFP-H pups we then used serial block-face electron microscopy to examine whether the axon-spine interface (ASI), an ultrastructural marker of synaptic strength, changes between wake and sleep. We found that the ASI of cortical synapses (layer 2, motor cortex) was on average 33.9% smaller after sleep relative to after extended wake and the differences between conditions were consistent with multiplicative scaling. Thus, the need for sleep-dependent synaptic renormalization may apply also to the young, pre-weaned cerebral cortex, at least in the superficial layers of the primary motor area.
Examining the Role of Safety Planning and Firearms in Community Professional’s Advice and Perceived Helpfulness for Female IPV Victims

When IPV victims contact justice system or victim service professionals they are often advised on safety actions. Yet, there is limited research on what advice victims receive and how that advice might differ depending on where one lives (e.g., a rural versus urban area) or who is giving the advice (e.g., law enforcement versus victim advocates). The current study surveyed 133 justice system and victim service professionals who work with IPV victims in rural and urban communities. Three primary research questions were analyzed: (1) what advice do professionals give IPV victims with protective orders that had been violated?; (2) how helpful do professionals perceive six different safety strategies for IPV victims?; and (3) what role do firearms play in safety advice and perceived helpfulness among professionals? Contacting the criminal justice system was overwhelmingly the most common safety advice reported by all professionals. In comparison, less than one third of professionals mentioned safety planning and less than 20% mentioned seeking help from victim services despite these two responses being rated as the most helpful in the close-ended questions. Although obtaining a firearm was advised by few professionals and was perceived as unhelpful by most professionals, rural and justice system professionals were more likely than their counterparts to mention firearms in their advice and rate firearm-related protective behaviors as helpful. The results highlight the need to focus on improving first responder advice to victims and maximize training on the importance of safety planning in high-risk IPV circumstances.
Social Capital and Community Economic Development in Los Angeles Koreatown: Faith-Based Organizations in Transitional Ethnic Community

The role of faith-based organizations in the development of social capital in ethnic communities, particularly the Korean-American community in Los Angeles, California, is examined.Using social capital and community development as a theoretical background, whether religious-based social capital enhances economic and business opportunities in Koreatown is considered. Between October 2002 and October 2003, a spatial analysis of U.S. census records and the Korean Business Directory was performed to clarify the distribution of the Korean population and their institutions in the Los Angeles area.Sunday services and other meetings in four Korean congregations, and board meetings of Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD) and the Korean American Museum (KAM), were observed.Also surveyed were 46 people from selected Korean congregations and one business association, andin-depth interviews were conducted with pastors from the selected congregations, as well as small business owners, church members, and community leaders. Analysis of the data reveals that Korean congregations play a pivotal role in creating social capital for the Korean immigrant community in Los Angeles: many Koreans have built close social networks through the ethnic churches.In fact, Korean churches act as small business incubators in Koreatown, placing information and financial capital within the reach of immigrant entrepreneurs.Because these Koreans place more trust in those from the same religious group than in those from the same ethnic group, it appears that faith-based social capital can be more important than ethnic resources in the establishment of immigrant businesses. (SAA)
Epidemiology, pathophysiology, and prevention of heart failure in people with HIV

Heart failure (HF) has been a known complication of HIV/AIDS for three decades. As the treatment of HIV has changed, so has the epidemiology and pathophysiology of HF in people with HIV (PWH). Initial manifestations of HF in uncontrolled HIV primarily included a rapidly evolving cardiomyopathy with pericardial involvement. With the widespread uptake of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), HF in PWH has become a chronic disease reflective of the aging population and associated comorbidities, albeit with a contribution from HIV-associated chronic immune dysregulation and inflammation. Despite viral suppression, PWH remain at elevated risk for both HF with reduced ejection fraction and HF with preserved ejection fraction. In this review, we discuss the changing epidemiology and mechanisms of HF in PWH and how that may inform HF prevention in this vulnerable population.
Stochastic evolution of scalar fields with continuous symmetries during inflation

During inflation, scalar fields with masses less than the Hubble scale acquire vacuum expectation values (vevs) via stochastic processes driven by quantum fluctuations. For nearly massless spectator scalars transforming nontrivially under a continuous symmetry group, we demonstrate that the evolution of the vev depends on the dimensionality of the scalar field space. Fields in larger representations both attain larger vacuum expectation values and converge more rapidly to equilibrium. We present an argument demonstrating how this higher-dimensional evolution can be obtained in unitary gauge for fields transforming under local symmetries with a mass gap that is small compared to the Hubble scale. Finally, we show that accounting for the full number of degrees of freedom in the Standard Model Higgs multiplet tightens Higgs stability constraints on the inflationary scale at the percent level and has more dramatic consequences for both the vev and the energy stored in the Higgs field after inflation.
Complicated Lives: A Look Into the Experience of Individuals Living with HIV, Legal Impediments, and Other Social Determinants of Health

Those living with HIV continue to have challenges that extend well beyond their medical needs Public misconceptions surrounding HIV transmission and treatment have resulted in systemic and pervasive discrimination against those living with the disease. Common misconceptions include overly optimistic perceptions of the modern state of medical treatment, leading the uninformed to conclude that people living with HIV are minimally impacted by the disease, and misunderstandings regarding how the disease is transmitted from person-to-person, leading to stigma and social prejudice. Because of these misconceptions, three professors from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth formed a community partnership to determine the unmet needs of individuals living with HIV in the Southcoast region of Massachusetts. The team used the social determinants of health as its framework for conducting a community assessment. The goal of the study was to uncover factors preventing individuals living with HIV from attaining optimal health outcomes. The study addressed the concerns of those living with HIV in Southcoast, Massachusetts. However, the barriers faced by those living with HIV in Southcoast mirror difficulties faced by those in other areas of the country in fundamental ways. This study and others reveal that the social determinants of health influence the quality of life experienced by those living with HIV as much as the condition itself. Out of this study developed the University of Massachusetts School of Law Human Rights at Home Clinic which provides services to low income residents of Southcoast Massachusetts with an interest in serving people living with HIV or AIDS and others experiencing stigma.The implementation of the clinic and its work is not the subject of this article, but its ongoing community activism informs the article’s discussion. Part I describes the study partnerships as well as the study processes. Part II addresses legal and other stressors on those living with HIV that impact many HIV positive individuals locally and across the country. Part III includes a discussion of the study results and the ongoing needs of those living with HIV with a focus on transportation.
Understanding rates of change: A case study using fossil pollen records from California to assess the potential for and challenges to a regional data synthesis

Abstract Insights into the rates at which ecosystems and vegetation respond to a changing climate is fundamental to anticipating impacts of projected climate change. Characterization of vegetation change over millennia to centuries has potential to make an important contribution toward this goal, and regional scale syntheses of fossil pollen data can provide the foundation for this understanding. However, challenges of data analysis and integration are nontrivial. Here we present a case study in which publicly available fossil pollen data for California are assessed and analyzed. The data are selected according to a clearly defined selection criteria, and a Rate of Change (RoC) value is calculated to assess rates of vegetation change in California from ~15k BP (before A.D. 1950) to the present. Our results highlight several challenges presented by the extant data sets, including temporal sampling variation within and between records, large age control uncertainties, and sparse, geographically biased coverage. Recommendations for methodological refinements to better characterize ecological rates of change include increasing sampling frequency, maintaining a consistent temporal spacing within records, and applying probabilistic approaches to existing pollen data sets.
Comparative Analysis of the Extracellular Matrix Proteome across the Myotendinous Junction

The myotendinous junction is a highly interdigitated interface designed to transfer muscle-generated force to tendon. Understanding how this interface is formed and organized, as well as identifying tendon- and muscle-specific extracellular matrix (ECM), is critical for designing effective regenerative therapies to restore functionality to damaged muscle-tendon units. However, a comparative analysis of the ECM proteome across this interface has not been conducted. The goal of this study was to resolve the distribution of ECM proteins that are uniformly expressed as well as those specific to each of the muscle, tendon, and junction tissues. The soleus muscles from 5-month-old wild-type C57BL/6 mice were harvested and dissected into the central muscle (M) away from tendon, the junction between muscle and tendon (J) and the tendon (T). Tissues were processed by either homogenizing in guanidine hydrochloride or fractionating to isolate the ECM from more soluble intracellular components and then analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Overall, we found that both tissue processing methods generated similar ECM profiles. Many ECM were found across the muscle-tendon unit, including type I collagen and associated fibril-regulating proteins. The ECM identified exclusively in M were primarily related to the basal lamina, whereas those specific to T and J tissue included thrombospondins and other matricellular ECM. Type XXII collagen (COL22A1) was restricted to J, and we identified COL5A3 as a potential marker of the muscle-tendon interface. Immunohistochemical analysis of key proteins confirmed the restriction of some basal lamina proteins to M, tenascin-C to T, and COL22A1 to J. COL5A3, PRELP, and POSTN were visualized in the tissue surrounding the junction, suggesting that these proteins play a role in stabilizing the interface. This comparative map provides a guide for tissue-specific ECM that can facilitate the spatial visualization of M, J, and T tissues and inform musculoskeletal regenerative therapies.
The Role of Antennae in Heat Detection and Feeding Behavior in the Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)

The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) is an obligate hematophagous ectoparasite that has significant impacts on human health and well-being. All life stages of bed bugs (except eggs) feed solely on blood, which is required to molt and reproduce. Bed bugs use multiple cues to locate their hosts, including heat, CO2, and body odors. Of these cues, detection of heat appears limited to a short distance of 50% of the bed bugs fed even when the entire antenna was removed, suggesting redundancy in sensory cues that drive feeding. These results will be used to better understand the role heat plays in bed bug host attraction and design of traps.
A Comparison of Dopaminergic and Cholinergic Populations Reveals Unique Contributions of VTA Dopamine Neurons to Short-Term Memory.

We systematically compare the contributions of two dopaminergic and two cholinergic ascending populations to a spatial short-term memory task in rats. In ventral tegmental area dopamine (VTA-DA) and nucleus basalis cholinergic (NB-ChAT) populations, trial-by-trial fluctuations in activity during the delay period relate to performance with an inverted-U, despite the fact that both populations have low activity during that time. Transient manipulations reveal that only VTA-DA neurons, and not the other three populations we examine, contribute causally and selectively to short-term memory. This contribution is most significant during the delay period, when both increases and decreases in VTA-DA activity impair short-term memory. Our results reveal a surprising dissociation between when VTA-DA neurons are most active and when they have the biggest causal contribution to short-term memory, and they also provide support for classic ideas about an inverted-U relationship between neuromodulation and cognition.
A songbird inhibits blinking behaviour in flight

Visual attention plays a fundamental role in avian flight but attention is likely limited whenever birds blink. Because blinks are necessary to maintaining proper vision, this study tested the hypothesis that birds strategically inhibit their blinks in flight. The blinks of captive great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) were recorded before, during and after they flew a short distance in an open environment. The grackles spent the least amount of time blinking in flight (take-off, during flight and landing) and the most amount of time blinking at impact. Their blinking behaviour was similar before and after flight. These results suggest that grackles strategically inhibit their blinking behaviour in flight, potentially because blinks impose costs to avian flight.
Emergence of a Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Southern California.

This research describes findings of sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of SARS-CoV-2 isolates from symptomatic patients cared for at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in November-December 2020 during a regional surge in cases and hospitalizations.