cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Hsp60 protein of helicobacter pylori displays chaperone activity under acidic conditions

The heat shock protein, Hsp60, is one of the most abundant proteins in Helicobacter pylori. Given its sequence homology to the Escherichia coli Hsp60 or GroEL, Hsp60 from H. pylori would be expected to function as a molecular chaperone in this organism. H. pylori is an organism that grows on the gastric epithelium, where the pH can fluctuate between neutral and 4.5 and the intracellular pH can be as low as 5.0. This study was performed to test the ability of Hsp60 from H. pylori to function as a molecular chaperone under mildly acidic conditions. We report here that Hsp60 could suppress the acid-induced aggregation of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) in the 7.0-5.0 pH range. Hsp60 was found to undergo a conformational change within this pH range. It was also found that exposure of hydrophobic surfaces of Hsp60 is significant and that their exposure is increased under acidic conditions. Although, alcohol dehydrogenase does not contain exposed hydrophobic surfaces, we found that their exposure is triggered at low pH. Our results demonstrate that Hsp60 from H. pylori can function as a molecular chaperone under acidic conditions and that the interaction between Hsp60 and other proteins may be mediated by hydrophobic interactions.
Hybrid Fluid-Particle Simulation of Whistler-Mode Waves in a Compressed Dipole Magnetic Field: Implications for Dayside High-Latitude Chorus†

In this work we present a methodology for simulating whistler-mode waves self-consistently generated by electron temperature anisotropy in the inner magnetosphere. We present simulation results using a hybrid fluid/particle-in-cell code, that treats the hot, anisotropic (i.e., ring current) electron population as particles and the background (i.e., the cold, inertialess) electrons as fluid. Since, the hot electrons are only a small fraction of the total population, warm (and isotropic) particle electrons are added to the simulation to increase the fraction of particles with mass, providing a more accurate characterization of the wave dispersion relation. Ions are treated as a fixed background of positive charge density. The plasma transport equations are coupled to Maxwell's equations and solved in a meridional plane (a 2-D simulation with 3-D fields). We use a curvilinear coordinate system that follows the topological curvature of Earth's geomagnetic field lines, based on an analytic expression for a compressed dipole magnetic field. Hence, we are able to simulate whistler wave generation at dawn (pure dipole field lines) and dayside (compressed dipole), by simply adjusting one scalar quantity. We demonstrate how, on the dayside, whistler-mode waves can be locally generated at a range of high latitudes, within pockets of minimum magnetic field, and propagate equatorward. The obtained dayside waves (in a compressed dipole field) have similar amplitude and frequency content to their dawn-sector counterparts (in a pure dipole field), but tend to propagate more field aligned.
Abstract 420: Synthesis and Targeted Spatiotemporal Delivery of Peptide Amphiphile to the Vasculature

Introduction: The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a novel systemically delivered targeted therapy that will prevent restenosis after all cardiovascular interventions. To accomplish this aim, our goal is to synthesize a self-assembled peptide amphiphile (PA) targeted to a unique collagen-binding sequence, and demonstrate binding to the site of vascular intervention. Our hypothesis is that our collagen binding PA will bind to the site of vascular injury. Methods: PA was synthesized using solid-phase peptide synthesis and purified by reversed-phase HPLC. The collagen-binding sequence and a fluorescent tag (AlexaFluor546) was incorporated into the PA. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and adventitial fibroblasts (AF) were exposed to the PA (0.25-1.0 mM) in culture and metabolic activity was assessed with the MTT assay. Male Sprague Dawley rats underwent the carotid artery injury model followed by intra-arterial injection of the PA (5mg) for 10min. Carotid arteries and arterial cross-sections were imaged for fluorescence using excitation and emission wavelengths of 535 nm and 580 nm, resp. Results: VSMC and AF exposed to the targeted PA for 24hrs showed similar metabolic activity compared to controls except at the highest concentration (1mM) at which a 50% decrease was detected (P Conclusion: These data demonstrate that our novel targeted PA is biocompatible with vascular cells in vitro. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated specific binding of our injectable targeted PA to the site of injury. This research serves as the foundation upon which a targeted drug-eluting therapy will be designed and evaluated to prevent restenosis following vascular interventions.
Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis Based on Lebesgue Sampling

Traditional fault diagnosis and prognosis (FDP) approaches are based on periodic sampling, i.e. samples are taken and algorithms are executed both in a periodic manner. As the volume of sensor data and complexity of algorithms keep increasing, the bottleneck of FDP is mainly the limited computational resources, which is especially true for distributed applications where FDP functions are deployed on microcontrollers and embedded systems with limited computation re- sources. This paper introduces the concept of Lebesgue sampling in FDP and proposes a Lebesgue sampling based fault diagnosis and prognosis (LS-FDP) framework. In the proposed LS-FDP, a novel diagnostic philosophy of “execution only when necessary” is developed in computation cost re- duction and uncertainty management. For prognosis, different from traditional approaches in which the prognostic horizon is on the time axis, the proposed approach defines prognostic horizon on the state axis. With a reduced prognostic horizon, the LS-FDP naturally benefits the uncertainty management. The goal is to create the fundamental knowledge for LS-FDP solutions that are cost-efficient, capable for the de- ployment on systems with limited computation sources, and supportive to the trend of distributed FDP schemes in complex systems. The design and implementation of LS-FDP based on particle filtering algorithms are presented with experimental results to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
Measurements of anisotropy in optical turbulence

A Hartmann Turbulence Sensor was employed along a 200 meter path over a grassy field to investigate turbulence anisotropy. This sensor was based on a 16″ telescope with a 32 × 32 subaperture array featuring 700 active subapertures and a camera operating as fast as 8000 frames/sec. Data was recorded at different times of the day over the course of a 5-week period in 3–12 hour capture periods. Anisotropy was gauged by both differences between horizontal and vertical tilt variances observed on subapertures and also on variances of tilt differences between subaperture pairs. This latter differential tilt approach is expected to be largely immune to base disturbances. Unsurprisingly, during the day the turbulence appeared to be largely isotropic. During the evening neutral events, (at times near sunset) the turbulence showed a statistically significant anisotropy with tilt variances and differential tilt variances in the vertical direction exceeding those on the horizontal by roughly 5%. The anisotropy observed is consistent with the atmosphere being arranged into a vertically layered structure. At times near sunrise, where limited data was collected, this effect appeared to be weaker. No clear conclusions are drawn for the nighttime case, where while the turbulence was generally lower than that seen during the day, the measures of anisotropy appeared to be quite noisy. The results of this experiment are in general agreement with those of Sanchez et al. (referenced herein), who used a largely identical instrument at Kirtland AFB, NM, but with an environment and collection geometry which were quite different. Most models of surface layer turbulence presume isotropic conditions, this research shows that this presumption isn't always correct and a small correction is all that would be needed to create more realistic models.
SHORT DURATION DRY ICE SAMPLING FOR AMERICAN DOG TICKS (ACARI: IXODIDAE) IN MARYLAND: A COMPARISON WITH DRAGGING

On eight of 18 sampling dates, significantly more (p 3 times more ticks than the dry ice; significantly more (p < 0.05) ticks on nine of the 18 sampling dates and never significantly (p < 0.05) fewer. On two of 18 sampling dates, dry ice baits attracted no ticks while ticks were found by dragging and on three sampling dates dry ice catches were < 3% of the corresponding drag catches. Dragging the same transects the day before or after dry ice sampling caught as many ticks as on the sampling days. No immature D. variabillis were collected by the dragging or dry ice method. In this study dragging was more reliable,...
The Likelihood and Invariance Principles

THE general problem considered here is that of drawing inferences about a parameter 0, given the observation that the result x of an experiment lies in some set A; a model (X, P, 0) connects x and 0, 0 indexing a family of probability distributions of x over X. Governing these inferences there are indifference principles which may be formulated without a precise statement of the form of the inferences. The best known of these principles is the "likelihood principle" which states that the "inferences about 0" depend only on the likelihood function P(A I 0). This principle has been advocated by Fisher, for example, (1956), Barnard (1949) and others. A recent stimulating contribution by Birnbaum (1962) is accompanied by illuminating discussion. The principle has been the subject of great controversy because it seems to deny the use of concepts involving averages across the sample space, such as unbiasedness. A second type of indifference principle is the "invariance principle", which essentially states that inferences refer only to the family of probability distributions on X indexed by 0). Thus if two parameter spaces index the same family of probability distributions, and the observation xe A is made, inferences about the two parameter spaces correspond through the probability distributions they index. The motivation of the present paper lies in studies of the author on determining prior distributions from the model (8,P, 0) (Hartigan, 1964, 1965). These prior distributions depend on the whole model, not merely the likelihood P(A I 0), so the posterior distribution of 0 given x e A does not depend on the likelihood function only. However, the prior distributions do satisfy the invariance principle. The question considered here is whether inferences may be forced to satisfy both the likelihood and invariance principles; we consider, in particular, a form of inference known as an inversion, i.e. a measure over the parameter space given x E A. The likelihood principle and invariance principle together imply the probability principle, which states that inferences about 0 depend only on the probability spectrum .B, the set of values taken by P(A I 0)/sup0P(A I 0); we are forced to make corresponding inferences about any two parameter spaces indexing the same spectrum. We cannot distinguish two 6-values indexing the same point on the spectrum. For inversions which are localizable (i.e. truncation of the parameter space does not essentially change the
CMOS-compatible on-chip self-rolled-up inductors for RF/mm-wave applications

On-chip copper (Cu) based self-rolled-up membrane (S-RuM) inductors are demonstrated for the first time. Compared to the gold (Au) based S-RuM inductor, device structures and fabrication processes are re-designed to realize CMOS compatibility by switching conduction metal to Cu and overcoming related processing challenges. Performance enhancements include ∼44% reduction of conduction layer resistivity compared to Au-based with the same thickness, and a clear path to 100% fabrication yield are achieved. RF measurement shows as high as ∼ 61nH/mm2 inductance density with just a 2-turn structure for these air-core S-RuM inductors. The achieved inductance is in the range from 0.3nH to 1nH. The best self-resonant-frequency (SRF) and quality factor (Q factor) of 1nH device is ∼23GHz and ∼2.4@5GHz, respectively. Much better performance can be readily obtained by rolling up more turns and integrating soft magnetic material thin film and core. Results show that Cu S-RuM inductor is very promising to replace on-chip planar inductor with better performance as a new industry standard.
Embodying Gluttony as Women’s Wildness: Rembrandt’s Naked Woman Seated on a Mound, c. 1629–1631

Rembrandt’s unusual c. 1629–1631 etching known as Naked Woman Seated on a Mound examined alongside other early modern northern European prints offers opportunities to probe how gendered representations of heavy-bodied women embodied a particular type of female otherness. Read in contexts of attitudes toward food and women’s appetites, certain fleshy bodies were implicitly linked to a threatening, unrestrained kind of sexuality. These images contributed to a broader discourse on how perceptions of the early modern female body influenced constructions of gendered, sexual power.
CHAPTER 39 – One for All or One for Each? Matching Radiotracers and Regional Brain Pharmacokinetics1

In the development of new radiotracers for brain imaging, it is almost always considered that a single radiotracer will be useful for quantification of a biochemical process throughout the brain. It has been demonstrated that when there are large regional differences in concentrations of binding sites or enzymes, a single radiotracer may not be optimal for use in all regions. In the example of substrates for brain acetylcholinesterase, quantification of enzyme hydrolysis rates in a region of high enzyme concentrations such as the striatum requires a substrate with a slow reaction rate; for the cortex, a region of low enzyme concentrations, a substrate with a high hydrolysis rate is best. By this means of adjusting the reaction rate, proper radiotracer pharmacokinetics are obtained in both brain regions, such that the enzymatic hydrolysis rate for the enzyme can be clearly separated from the effects of substrate delivery to the tissues. This concept can and should be extended to the quantification of other biochemical processes, such as binding to receptors or transporters, when there are very large regional differences in the concentrations of targeted sites.
Artistic Encounters: Ethical Collaborations Between Children and Adults

Within this chapter, I explore the value of child-led artistic collaborations between adults and children. Through analysis, I conceptualize these as moments that foster co-construction of knowledge and newness in adult/child relationships, and also as ethical encounters grounded in notions of respectful interdependence. Framed as a type of “other than child visual culture and other than adult visual culture” (Wilson, B. (2007). Art. visual culture, and child/adult collaborative images: Recognizing the other-than. Visual Arts Research, 33(2), 6–20.), the collaborative artmaking encounters shared in this chapter challenge traditional ideas of what it means to be a teacher and a student in the early childhood art classroom by confronting established notions about the role of adults in children’s artwork. I discuss the significance of engaging in artmaking encounters alongside young children and how child-led artistic collaborations foster both ethical relationships and a space of mutual transformation among children and adults.
Association between intra- and post-arrest hyperoxia on mortality in adults with cardiac arrest: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Objectives The association between intra-arrest and post-arrest hyperoxia and mortality in adults with cardiac arrest (CA) is widely debated. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the association between intra-arrest and post-arrest hyperoxia and mortality in adults with CA. Methods We systematically searched MEDLINE and Cochrane databases to identify observational studies from January 2008 to December 2017 investigating the relationship between hyperoxia (either intra-arrest or post-arrest) and mortality in adults with CA. Results We included 16 observational studies with a total of 40,573 adult patients. Six studies included patients only with out-of-hospital CA (OHCA), 2 studies included patients only with in-hospital CA (IHCA), and 8 studies included patients with both OHCA and IHCA. Two studies assessed intra-arrest hyperoxia while 14 studies examined post-arrest hyperoxia. Of the 10 studies included for quantitative analysis, intra-arrest hyperoxia was associated with a significantly lower mortality rate [odds ratio (OR) 0.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12–0.53, p Conclusions In adults with CA, intra-arrest hyperoxia is associated with lower mortality while post-arrest hyperoxia is associated with higher mortality.
Bacterial Viruses of Genetic Interest

The literature on bacterial viruses is very large, and a short treatment such as this cannot hope to be comprehensive with regard to bacteriophage genetics. Many different bacteriophages have been described; for some of these, such as the T-even phage of Escherichia coli, extensive information is available, while for others, relatively little is known. An attempt has been made to discuss only those bacteriophages for which the genetic analysis is particularly complete, or phage which are representative of the various types of bacterial viruses. Wherever possible, the references cited are to recent review articles which survey the original literature in detail.
Electrophysiological Correlates of Blast-Wave Induced Cerebellar Injury

Understanding the mechanisms underlying traumatic neural injury and the sequelae of events in the acute phase is important for deciding on the best window of therapeutic intervention. We hypothesized that evoked potentials (EP) recorded from the cerebellar cortex can detect mild levels of neural trauma and provide a qualitative assessment tool for progression of cerebellar injury in time. The cerebellar local field potentials evoked by a mechanical tap on the hand and collected with chronically implanted micro-ECoG arrays on the rat cerebellar cortex demonstrated substantial changes both in amplitude and timing as a result of blast-wave induced injury. The results revealed that the largest EP changes occurred within the first day of injury, and partial recoveries were observed from day-1 to day-3, followed by a period of gradual improvements (day-7 to day-14). The mossy fiber (MF) and climbing fiber (CF) mediated components of the EPs were affected differentially. The behavioral tests (ladder rung walking) and immunohistological analysis (calbindin and caspase-3) did not reveal any detectable changes at these blast pressures that are typically considered as mild (100–130 kPa). The results demonstrate the sensitivity of the electrophysiological method and its use as a tool to monitor the progression of cerebellar injuries in longitudinal animal studies.
Males tend to die, females tend to pass away.

The hypothesis that obituary notices will be less direct/less emotional in the language used for females than for males was tested. A total of 703 consecutive obituaries were examined in a local newspaper and instances of whether the person died or passed away was noted for males and females. A 2 (gender) × 2 (died, passed away) Chi-Square analysis supported the hypothesis: X2 (1) = 8.87, p < .01. Thus, males are more likely to die, whereas females are more likely to pass away.
Heart Transplantation in Women

Over the past 5 decades, heart transplantation has become an established therapy with greater quality of life and survival than expected from end-stage heart failure. Nonetheless, challenges still exist, especially for women undergoing heart transplantation. Women have greater post-transplant survival than their male counterparts but worse quality of life. Pregnancy may occur, especially because more women are reaching child-bearing age after transplantation. Successful outcomes have been reported but require a systematic multidisciplinary approach. Women are more likely to be sensitized, with preformed anti-human leukocyte antigens antibodies related to prior pregnancies, posing challenges for their pretransplant and post-transplant management.
Environmentally induced changes in the distribution of disease susceptibility phenotypes in Pinus radiata

Pinus radiata (Monterey pine) is highly susceptible to Fusarium circinatum, the cause of pitch canker, but heritable variation in resistance to this disease has been documented in P. radiata. In this study, the distribution of susceptibility phenotypes (=lesion lengths) was assessed by inoculating P. radiata trees with a spore suspension of F. circinatum. The results show the distribution of susceptibility phenotypes in naive seedlings to be normally distributed, both in a breeding population and in a population established from seed collected in a native forest. This pattern aligns with expectations for a quantitatively inherited trait. However, after 2.5 years of growth in a forest, variation in susceptibility is no longer normally distributed but rather is positively skewed. Thus, exposure to the forest environment results in a distribution that is enriched for relatively resistant individuals. A similarly skewed distribution is observed in standing trees in a native population of P. radiata. The observed change in distribution cannot be attributed to ontological effects on resistance to pitch canker, because tree age accounts for almost none of the variation in susceptibility. We hypothesize that the change in distribution of susceptibility phenotypes is due primarily to infections and infection attempts by the microbiota resident in the forest.
Characterization and comparative analysis of promoters from three plant pararetroviruses associated with Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis)

Two distinct caulimoviruses, Dahlia mosaic virus (DMV) and Dahlia common mosaic virus (DCMV), and an endogenous plant pararetroviral sequence (DvEPRS, formerly known as DMV-D10) were reported from dahlia (Dahlia spp). Promoter elements from these dahlia-associated pararetroviruses were identified and characterized. The TATA box, the CAAT box, the transcription start site, the polyadenylation signal, and regulation factors, characteristic of caulimovirus promoters, were present in each of these promoter regions. Each of the promoter regions was separately cloned into a binary vector containing β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene and delivered into Agrobacterium tumefaciens by electroporation followed by agroinfiltration into Nicotiana benthamiana. The activity of the 35S promoter homologs was determined by transient expression of the GUS gene both in qualitative and quantitative assays. The length of the promoter regions in DMV, DCMV, and DvEPRS corresponded to 438, 439, and 259 bp, respectively. Quantitative GUS assays showed that the promoters from DMV and DCMV resulted in higher levels of gene expression compared to that of DvEPRS in N. benthamiana leaf tissue. Significant differences were observed among the three promoters (p < 0.001). Qualitative GUS assays were consistent with quantitative GUS results. This study provides important information on new promoters for prospect applications as novel promoters for their potential use in foreign gene expression in plants.
Direct Synthesis and Size Selection of Ferromagnetic FePt Nanoparticles

A one-step synthesis of L10 FePt nanoparticles ca. 17.0 nm in diameter by reductive decomposition of the single-source precursor, FePt(CO)4dppmBr2, on a water-soluble support (Na2CO3) is demonstrated. Direct conversion of a FePt(CO)4dppmBr2/Na2CO3 composite to a L10 FePt/Na2CO3 nanocomposite occurs at 600 °C under getter gas with metal-ion reduction and minimal nanoparticle coalescence. Triturating the resulting nanocomposite with water simultaneously dissolves the sodium carbonate solid support and precipitates the formed fct FePt nanoparticles. As-prepared FePt nanoparticles are ferromagnetic and exhibit coercivities of 14.5 kOe at 300 K and 21.8 kOe at 5 K. When capped by functionalized methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) surfactant molecules, as-prepared, polydisperse ferromagnetic FePt nanoparticles can be dispersed and size-selected by fractional precipitation.
Schleiermacher and the state

Schleiermacher’s doctrine of the state has long been neglected yet he offers a novel theory of the state. It is intended to avoid the traditional theories which believe that the state is a function...
Diabetic amyotrophy, not your typical back pain.

A 49-year-old man presented to the hospital for spinal cord decompression surgery with left buttock and left leg pain. The patient described an acute burning pain radiating down from his left buttock to left lateral leg. He also noted a 13.6 kg weight loss in recent months. Physical examination showed decreased muscle bulk of the left thigh, decreased strength of the left hip, left knee flexors and extensors. Recent MRI spine showed mild canal narrowing and cord flattening in the lower thoracic spine. Serologic testing showed an elevated glucose of 17.9 mmol/L and haemoglobin A1c of 9.8%. Electromyography showed denervation of scattered muscles of the left knee flexors, hip flexors and adductors. In the setting of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus, he was diagnosed with diabetic amyotrophy, started on insulin therapy, and his surgery was cancelled.
Core Components and Empirical Foundation of the Self-Regulation Empowerment Program (SREP) in School-Based Contexts

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is widely regarded as a core twenty-first century skill that is strongly related to students’ academic and social-emotional functioning. Accordingly, researchers have developed myriad applied SRL interventions for implementation within school-based contexts. The primary purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the theoretical foundation, instructional components, and empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of the Self-Regulation Empowerment Program (SREP). Grounded in social-cognitive model of SRL and strategy development, SREP is designed to enhance students’ capacity to take on greater responsibility and strategic control over their learning and academic behaviors. Trained coaches implement SREP typically with small groups of students multiple times per week typically over the course of three to four months. Through modeling, guided practice, and structured reflection activities, students learn to become more proficient in using task-specific and SRL strategies as they strive to overcome common challenges and barriers while learning course-specific content or preparing for tests. Initial evidence from case study design and experimental methodologies reveal that SREP is a promising academic intervention for improving the motivation, strategic skills, and academic success of middle school and high school students. It has also been identified as a socially valid intervention as conveyed by students, teachers, and parents.
Trigger Warning: Poetry as Feminist Response to Media Headlines:

In a chapbook of feminist poetry titled, Trigger Warning, the author responds to media headlines about violence, gender, race, and class through verse. The author uses poetic inquiry as a form of f...
Establishment of a multidisciplinary fetal center streamlines approach for congenital lung malformations.

Fetuses with a diagnosis of congenital lung malformations (CLM) on prenatal imaging are commonly referred to a multi-disciplinary specialty team for prenatal assessment and postnatal management. Th...
HERCULES: A Three Degree-of-Freedom Pneumatic Upper Limb Exoskeleton for Stroke Rehabilitation *

This paper outlines the construction, current state, and future goals of HERCULES, a three degree-of-freedom (DoF) pneumatically actuated exoskeleton for stroke rehabilitation. The exoskeleton arm is capable of joint-angle control at the elbow in flexion and extension, at the shoulder in flexion and extension, and at the shoulder in abduction and adduction. In the near future we plan to embed kinematic synergies into the control system architecture of this arm to gain dexterous and near-natural movements.Clinical Relevance— This device can be used as an upper limb rehabilitation testbed for individuals with complete or partial upper limb paralysis. In the future, this system can be used to train individuals on synergy-based rehabilitation protocols.
Nuevas experiencias de lectura para la Unidad Popular: la “novela tabloide” … Y corría el billete (1972) de Guillermo Atías

This article examines Guillermo Atias’ self-proclaimed “tabloid novel”… Y corria el billete (1972), which was published during Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government through the new state publishing house Quimantu. I argue that Atias presents his work as an example of how print media may move beyond traditional journalistic and literary frameworks within a revolutionary context. …Y corria el billete may in this sense be considered to enter into dialogue with Quimantu regarding the importance of creating multilayered educational materials that are able to cater to –and politically influence– a diverse readership with different levels of commitment to Chile’s “road to socialism”.
Abstract PO051: Enhancing NK cell penetration of the tumor stroma using gene modification and nanomedicine

Adoptive cell therapy has shown great success in treating liquid tumors. While T cells have been most commonly used for these indications, NK cells are emerging as a promising immune effector cell against solid tumors. Solid tumors present a more heterogeneous population of tumor antigens than liquid tumors, and NK cells, unlike T cells, can target multiple antigens to decrease the likelihood of antigen escape. NK cells can also be transplanted allogeneically with a lower risk of inducing graft-versus-host disease than T cells, which makes off-the-shelf NK cell therapy both simpler than T cell therapy and available to leukopenic patients. However, barriers to treating solid tumors with adoptive cell therapy remain, including the physical barrier of the dense stroma, which blocks immune cell infiltration. This project aims to develop an adoptive cell therapy to overcome this barrier. We tested the ability of cord blood-derived NK cells to kill mesothelioma tumor cell lines H226 and H2452 in the presence of heparanase, a heparan sulfate proteoglycan endoglucuronidase that both degrades the tumor stroma and stimulates NK cell invasion. We also conjugated this heparanase to FDA-approved Prussian blue nanoparticles to determine whether these nanoparticles might increase heparanase accumulation in the tumor and protect it from degradation. We used cytotoxicity assays, transwell invasion assays, and spheroid coculture assays to determine whether heparanase or hep-PBNPs aid NK cell cytotoxicity, invasion, and penetration. Surprisingly, our results indicate that PBNPs themselves may have heparanase activity. However, our invasion and penetration assays must be repeated to fully elucidate the effect of PBNPs and hep-PBNPs on NK cell invasion. Citation Format: Nicole F. Bonan, Eric Yvon, Rohan Fernandes. Enhancing NK cell penetration of the tumor stroma using gene modification and nanomedicine [abstract]. In: Abstracts: AACR Virtual Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2020 Oct 19-20. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2021;9(2 Suppl):Abstract nr PO051.
A National Survey of School Counselors’ Experiences With Student Death by Suicide:

We examined school counselors’ experiences with student’s suicide. Our quantitative findings identified that encountering the death of a student by suicide is common for school counselors during th...
Functional Relevance of Hyper-Reflectivity in Macular Telangiectasia Type 2.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to quantify hyper-reflective lesions on en face optical coherence tomography (OCT) and study its functional relevance in macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel). Design This was a retrospective, cross-sectional cohort study. Methods Baseline image and functional data from participants of a phase II clinical trial (NCT01949324) that studied the effect of Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor in patients with MacTel were analyzed. The projection of hyper-reflectivity within different layers on OCT was used to generate an en face view and measure the en face size of hyper-reflectivity. Ellipsoid zone (EZ)-loss was additionally evaluated, and en face images were superimposed onto microperimetry sensitivity maps, allowing to estimate mean retinal sensitivity within areas displaying hyper-reflectivity and EZ-loss, respectively. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and reading speed were also analyzed. Results Fifty-two eyes from 52 patients were analyzed. Hyper-reflectivity was present in 32 eyes (62%), and EZ-loss in 50 (96%) eyes. Mean lesion size was 0.11 mm² (range = 0.01-0.26) for hyper-reflectivity and 0.51 mm² (range = 0.02-1.34) for EZ-loss, and lesion sizes correlated strongly (Spearman r = 0.79, P < 0.001). Although both hyper-reflectivity and EZ-loss were associated with a significant decrease in retinal sensitivity, mean sensitivity thresholds differed significantly between lesions (0.9 dB vs. 16.3 dB; P < 0.001), indicating an almost complete loss of sensitivity in hyper-reflective areas. No correlations were found between the size of hyper-reflectivity and BCVA (r = 0.09) or reading speed (r = -0.17). Conclusions En face OCT can be used to quantify the area of hyper-reflective lesions in MacTel. Hyper-reflectivity in MacTel is associated with severe functional impairment, leading to an almost complete loss of retinal sensitivity as observed on microperimetry.
Abstract 17088: In-Hospital Complications and Outcomes of Leadless Pacemaker Implantation: A Propensity-Score Matched Analysis From Nationwide Database

Introduction: There are no randomized controlled trials that compared the outcomes of leadless pacemaker (L-PPM) implantation with transvenous pacemaker (TV-PPM) and there is scarcity of data on re...
Pharmacological inhibition of nSMase2 reduces brain exosome release and α-synuclein pathology in a Parkinson's disease model.

We have previously reported that cambinol (DDL-112), a known inhibitor of neutral sphingomyelinase-2 (nSMase2), suppressed extracellular vesicle (EV)/exosome production in vitro in a cell model and reduced tau seed propagation. The enzyme nSMase2 is involved in the production of exosomes carrying proteopathic seeds and could contribute to cell-to-cell transmission of pathological protein aggregates implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). Here, we performed in vivo studies to determine if DDL-112 can reduce brain EV/exosome production and proteopathic alpha synuclein (αSyn) spread in a PD mouse model. The acute effects of single-dose treatment with DDL-112 on interleukin-1β-induced extracellular vesicle (EV) release in brain tissue of Thy1-αSyn PD model mice and chronic effects of 5 week DDL-112 treatment on behavioral/motor function and proteinase K-resistant αSyn aggregates in the PD model were determined. In the acute study, pre-treatment with DDL-112 reduced EV/exosome biogenesis and in the chronic study, treatment with DDL-112 was associated with a reduction in αSyn aggregates in the substantia nigra and improvement in motor function. Inhibition of nSMase2 thus offers a new approach to therapeutic development for neurodegenerative diseases with the potential to reduce the spread of disease-specific proteopathic proteins.
Propofol Versus Remifentanil Sedation for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A Single Academic Center Experience.

Objective Comparison of remifentanil versus propofol for sedation during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures to analyze the risk of sedation-related hypoxemia and hypotension. Secondary outcomes included the rate of conversion to general anesthesia, procedure length, rate of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, and 30-day mortality. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting A single tertiary teaching hospital. Participants Two hundred fifty-nine patients who had propofol or remifentanil sedation for TAVR between March 2017 and March 2020. Intervention None. Measurements and Main Results There were 130 patients (50.2%) in the propofol cohort and 129 patients (49.8%) in the remifentanil cohort. The primary outcomes were oxygen saturation nadir values and vasopressor infusion use. Remifentanil was associated with a lower oxygen saturation nadir, as compared to propofol (91.3% v . 95.4%, p Conclusions For patients undergoing TAVR with conscious sedation, remifentanil was associated with more hypoxemia while propofol was associated with a higher rate of vasopressor use.
Thermo-osmotic ionogel enabled high-efficiency harvesting of low-grade heat

Low efficiency in recovering low-grade heat remains unresolved despite decades of attempts. In this research, we designed and fabricated a novel thermo-osmotic ionogel (TOI) composite to recover low-grade heat to generate electric power through a thermo-induced ion gradient and selective ion diffusion. The TOI composite was assembled with a crystalline ionogel (polymer-confined LiNO3–3H2O) film, ion selective membrane, and hydrogel film. With a 90 °C heat supply, the single TOI composite produced a high open-circuit voltage of 0.52 V, a differential thermal voltage of ∼26 mV K−1, a peak power density of 0.4 W m−2, and a ground-breaking peak energy conversion efficiency of 11.17%. Eight pieces of such a TOI composite were connected in series, demonstrating an open-circuit voltage of 3.25 volts. Such a TOI system was also demonstrated to harvest body temperature for powering a LED, opening numerous opportunities in powering wearable devices.
Improving methadone access for rural communities in the USA: lessons learned from COVID-19 adaptations and international models of care.

Context The COVID-19 pandemic led to several changes to methadone treatment protocols at federal opioid treatment programs in the USA. Issue Protocol changes were designed to reduce transmission of COVID-19 while allowing for continuity of care, but those changes also demonstrated that many policies surrounding opioid use disorder care in the USA cause unnecessary burdens to patients. In this commentary, we describe how current policies create and maintain fatal barriers to methadone treatment for people in rural communities who have opioid use disorder, and highlight how COVID-19 adaptations and more flexible methadone models in other countries can better allow for effective and accessible care. Reasons and ways to address these issues to create lasting solutions for rural communities are discussed. Lessons learned We focus on three lessons: (1) methadone dispensing and take-home schedules during COVID-19, (2) telehealth services during COVID-19, and (3) international models in use prior to COVID-19. We then outline recommendations for each lesson to improve access to methadone treatment long term for rural communities in the USA. There is an urgent need to implement recommendations that maintain flexible approaches and address methadone treatment barriers in the rural USA. To achieve lasting health policy change and combat stigma about addiction and methadone treatment, there is a need for advocacy efforts that give voice to rural residents impacted by inequitable access to methadone treatment and rural-tailored educational initiatives that promote the evidence base for methadone. We hope opioid treatment program directors, regulatory authorities, and health policymakers consider our recommendations.
Natural production and release of tumour necrosis factor.

Abstract Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) was first described as an oncolytic factor found in sera of animals injected (primed) with reticuloendothelial stimulators and subsequently (days later) given lipopolysaccharide (LPS). TNF is not found in the serum of 'primed' animals but can be found in animals given LPS alone when sensitive assays are employed. TNF appears almost immediately upon LPS injection, reaches a maximum from about 1.5-2 hours and disappears rapidly thereafter, and is almost undetectable by 4-6 hours. When such mice are injected again with LPS, they are unresponsive (tolerized) and do not produce TNF again, at least for seven days. Other unrelated substances, such as muramyl dipeptide, viruses and mitogens, also induce TNF production. A high percentage of patients with some parasitic infections (but not cancers) demonstrate low levels of TNF in their sera; thus, they do not seem to be tolerized but produce it continuously. TNF can also be produced in macrophage cultures by treatment with LPS, muramyl dipeptide and other substances. Again, it appears almost immediately and synthesis is maintained for about 8-12 hours. Synthesis is dependent upon the continuous presence of LPS. After synthesis stops it cannot be reinitiated by adding more LPS; thus, the macrophages also appear to be tolerized. Macrophage cell lines eventually become sensitive again after cultivation in LPS-free conditions. Synthesis of TNF is inhibited by actinomycin D or cycloheximide, indicating that it is an inducible protein. Its production is also inhibited by glucocorticoids and prostaglandin E2, indicating that these substances play important roles in the regulation of TNF synthesis.
The molecular genetic basis of positional information in insect segments

Pattern formation is the process by which a group of initially unspecified cells organizes itself to generate a precise array of structures. Pattern forming systems as diverse as the vertebrate limb, the insect segment, and the hydra body column, are remarkably resistant to environmental effects and to malicious manipulations perpetrated by researchers. Large variations in the overall size of the organism, the number of cells, and the growth conditions can be tolerated. Injuries result in attempts by the surviving cells to regenerate the pattern. For example, if part of an insect segment is damaged or surgically removed then some or all of the missing structures will be regenerated during subsequent molts. Such regenerative responses to injury are termed “pattern regulation”. Pattern regulation almost certainly reflects the same mechanisms that accommodate variations in cell number and arrangement during normal development. Thus, studies of pattern regulation in response to injury should reveal the processes that form pattern de novo during development.
The Acquisition Performance of S&P 500 Firms

Previous literature documents the uniqueness of S&P 500 firms and their stock price premium, but provides little evidence on how this affects their corporate decisions. We attempt an answer to this question by comparing the acquisition performance of S&P 500 and non-S&P 500 firms after controlling for differences in firm characteristics. During 1980-2004, S&P 500 firms make a greater number and dollar value of acquisitions. They more often use cash payment and tender offers, the market reacts better to the announcement of their acquisitions, and they are more likely to complete their deals. The target shareholders seem to attach incremental value to joining with an S&P 500 firm and accept a lower premium in stock deals. The S&P 500 acquirers also have stronger pre-acquisition operating performance, choose targets with stronger pre-acquisition performance, and realize significant gains in post-acquisition performance. We interpret the combined evidence as broadly consistent with the efficiency hypothesis, which suggests that S&P 500 firms are more efficiently managed firms and make better acquirers.
Distributed object implementations for interactive applications

As computers become pervasive in the home and community and homes become better connected, new applications will be deployed over the Internet. Interactive Distributed Applications involve users in multiple locations, across a wide area network, who interact and cooperate by manipulating shared objects. A timely response to user actions, which can potentially update the state of the objects, is an important requirement of interactive applications. Because of the inherent heterogeneity of the environment, distributed applications are built using technologies like distributed objects. Central server based implementations of distributed objects cannot meet the response time needs of interactive users because invocations are always subject to communication latencies. Our approach is to extend these technologies with aggressive caching and replication mechanisms to provide interactive response time and to improve scalability. A flexible caching framework is presented, where objects can be cached in an application specific manner. It provides multiple consistency protocols that enable tradeoffs between the consistency of a cached object's state at a particular client, and the communication resources available to the client. At runtime, clients can specify their consistency requirements via a Quality of Service specification interface that is meaningful at the application level. This paper presents the caching framework, its implementation and some preliminary performance results.
Characterization of a Flavobacterium glutathione S-transferase gene involved reductive dechlorination.

Abstract The gene pcpC, encoding tetrachloro-p-hydroquinone (TeCH) reductive dehalogenase, was cloned from Flavobacterium sp. strain ATCC 39723 and sequenced. The gene was identified by hybridization with a degenerate oligonucleotide designed from the N-terminal sequence of the purified protein. An open reading frame of 747 nucleotides was found, which predicts a translational product of 248 amino acids having a molecular weight of 28,263, which agrees favorably with the sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-determined molecular weight of 30,000 reported for the purified protein. The predicted translational product of pcpC matched the N-terminal sequence of the purified protein exactly. From the nucleotide sequence, the protein appears to have a processed formylmethionyl. An Escherichia coli pcpC overexpression clone was shown to produce dichlorohydroquinone and trichlorohydroquinone from TeCH. Protein data base searches grouped the predicted translational sequence of pcpC with two previously reported plant glutathione S-transferases but less significantly with any of the mammalian glutathione S-transferases or the glutathione-utilizing, hydrolytic dechlorinating enzyme from Methylobacterium sp. strain DM4.
Narrowing of Public Responsibility in Finland, 1990–2010

Public responsibility in Finland has narrowed in the last 20 years while the sphere of the private sector has been increased. The economic crisis of the early 1990s was not the cause, but an accelerator of public sector/welfare state retrenchment in Finland. Based on which, it was easy for the advocates of neo-liberal reforms to argue that the changes were a must. The welfare state programmes however, are popular among the Finnish population and therefore large one-time cutbacks have not been possible beyond the immediate aftermath of the economic crisis. This article looks into three different methods through which the Finnish welfare state has been gradually cut since then: (1) by not raising income transfers along with the rising cost of living and wages; (2) by reducing funding of public services; and, on the other side of the coin (3) through regular tax cuts contracting the revenue side. Welfare state retrenchment in Finland has therefore been achieved in a subtle fashion through slow gradual weakening of social programmes on one hand, and through cuts in revenue on the other that have left proportionally more in the hands of the wealthier. These combined movements have resulted in a drastic reversal in the trend in income inequality in Finland.