cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthetic Protein Scaffolds for Biosynthetic Pathway Colocalization on Lipid Droplet Membranes.

Eukaryotic biochemistry is organized throughout the cell in and on membrane-bound organelles. When engineering metabolic pathways this organization is often lost, resulting in flux imbalance and a loss of kinetic advantages from enzyme colocalization and substrate channeling. Here, we develop a protein-based scaffold for colocalizing multienzyme pathways on the membranes of intracellular lipid droplets. Scaffolds based on the plant lipid droplet protein oleosin and cohesin-dockerin interaction pairs recruited upstream enzymes in yeast ester biosynthesis to the native localization of the terminal reaction step, alcohol-O-acetyltransferase (Atf1). The native localization is necessary for high activity and pathway assembly in close proximity to Atf1 increased pathway flux. Screening a library of scaffold variants further showed that pathway structure can alter catalysis and revealed an optimized scaffold and pathway expression levels that produced ethyl acetate at a rate nearly 2-fold greater than unstructur...
Radiation burden on the thyroid during DaTScan SPECT imaging for patients with and without Lugol’s Solution

2830 Objectives DaTscan is used to confirm a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. According to the SNMMI DaTscan protocol and guidelines, the patient is given Lugol’s solution equivalent to 100mg of iodide to fully saturate the thyroid to protect it from radiation exposure. The objective is to understand what levels of radiation burden the thyroid receives when the patient is allergic to iodine and therefore cannot take the Lugol’s solution. Methods Two case studies were examined to compare and contrast patients who had received Lugol’s as opposed to patients who had not, both of which were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Along with the case studies, journal articles were examined concerning the use of Lugol’s solution during DaTScan SPECT imaging. Results Both patients presented with little to no uptake in the putamen and caudate nuclei which are consistent with a Parkinsonian syndrome. During the imaging procedure the patient who did not receive Lugol’s had an extra image taken of the thyroid proving that most of the uptake was in the thyroid. Conclusions Radiation burden is a major issue in healthcare today. The case studies listed above have proven that the thyroid can be exposed to high levels of radiation during DaTscan imaging when a Lugol’s solution is not given. For this reason further research is suggested on how to decrease the radiation burden for patients who are unable to take the Lugol’s solution during DaTscan imaging.
Risk Factors for Staphylococcus aureus Acquisition in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Matched Case-Case-Control Study

OBJECTIVE To determine risk factors independent of length of stay (LOS) for Staphylococcus aureus acquisition in infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). DESIGN Retrospective matched case-case-control study. SETTING Quaternary-care referral NICU at a large academic children's hospital. METHODS Infants admitted between January 2014 and March 2016 at a level IV NICU who acquired methicillin resistant (MRSA) or susceptible (MSSA) S. aureus were matched with controls by duration of exposure to determine risk factors for acquisition. A secondary post hoc analysis was performed on the entire cohort of at-risk infants for risk factors identified in the primary analysis to further quantify risk. RESULTS In total, 1,751 infants were admitted during the study period with 199 infants identified as having S. aureus prevalent on admission. There were 246 incident S. aureus acquisitions in the remaining at-risk infant cohort. On matched analysis, infants housed in a single-bed unit were associated with a significantly decreased risk of both MRSA (P=.03) and MSSA (P=.01) acquisition compared with infants housed in multibed pods. Across the entire cohort, pooled S. aureus acquisition was significantly lower in infants housed in single-bed units (hazard ratio,=0.46; confidence interval, 0.34-0.62). CONCLUSIONS NICU bed design is significantly associated with S. aureus acquisition in hospitalized infants independent of LOS. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:46-52.
Improving participants' retention in a smoking cessation intervention using a community-based participatory research approach

Background: This study compares participants' retention in three phases of smoking cessation interventions, one provided in a health clinic and the subsequent two in community-based settings. Methods: Smoking cessation interventions were conducted in three phases from 2008 to 2015 in two underserved urban communities with low socioeconomic profiles and high rates of smoking (n = 951). Phase I was conducted in a clinic; Phases II and III were conducted in community venues. In Phases II and III, incremental changes were made based on lessons learned from the previous phases. Retention (attending six or more sessions) was the primary predictor of cessation and was analyzed while controlling for associated factors including age, gender, race, employment, education, and nicotine dependence. Results: Retention increased substantially over the three phases, with rates for attending six or more sessions of 13.8%, 51.9%, and 67.9% in Phases I, II, and III, respectively. Retention was significantly higher in community settings than in the clinic setting (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 6.7; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 4.6, 9.8). In addition to the intervention in community venues, predictors of retention included age and unemployment. Higher retention was significantly associated with higher quit rates (adjusted OR = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.5, 3.8). Conclusions: Conducting the intervention in community settings using trained peer motivators rather than health-care providers resulted in significantly higher retention and smoking cessation rates. This was due in part to the ability to tailor cessation classes in the community for specific populations and improving the quality of the intervention based on feedback from participants and community partners.
“Every Tradesman Must Also Be a Merchant”: Behavioral Ecology and Household-Level Production for Barter and Trade in Premodern Economies

While archaeologists now have demonstrated that barter and trade of material commodities began in prehistory, theoretical efforts to explain these findings are just beginning. We adapt the central place foraging model from behavioral ecology and the missing-market model from development economics to investigate conditions favoring the origins of household-level production for barter and trade in premodern economies. Interhousehold exchange is constrained by production, travel and transportation, and transaction costs; however, we predict that barter and trade become more likely as the number and effect of the following factors grow in importance: (1) local environmental heterogeneity differentiates households by production advantages; (2) preexisting social mechanisms minimize transaction costs; (3) commodities have low demand elasticity; (4) family size, gender role differentiation, or seasonal restrictions on household production lessen opportunity costs to participate in exchange; (5) travel and transportation costs are low; and (6) exchange opportunities entail commodities that also can function as money. Population density is not a direct cause of exchange but is implicated inasmuch as most of the factors we identify as causal at the household level become more salient as population density increases. We review archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic evidence for premodern marketing, observing that the model assumptions, variables, and predictions generally receive preliminary support. Overall, we argue that case study and comparative investigation of the origins of marketing will benefit from explicit modeling within the framework of evolutionary anthropology.
Safety Issues in MSC Therapy

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have enormous ­therapeutic potential because of their unique biological properties related to proliferative potential, differentiation capability, lack of immunogenicity, immunosuppressive nature, homing ability, tissue repair, and cytokine production. However, the very properties that drive enthusiasm for MSCs as cellular therapy could potentially impact safety. Most troublesome is the risk of promoting malignancy demonstrated in animal models. Culture conditions (media, passage length), donor (autologous versus allogeneic), source (marrow, cord, placental, or adipose tissue), and therapy indication (transplant versus cardiovascular versus tissue regeneration) are additional variables that may potentially influence the safety profile.
The Neurobiology of Mood and Psychoses

On several occasions I have had the privelege of having Dr. Kety discuss my presentations. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to discuss his, and I am flattered. I am also pleased to discuss the papers of Drs. Mandell and Stein. In doing so, I shall try to function as a critic and a clinician — Not in a destructive sense, I hope, but rather for the purpose of showing how incomplete our hypotheses still are and how they have trouble accommodating some important existing information about pharmacology and behavior at both animal and human level. Perhaps this will lead to methods for extending the information and refining the hypotheses.
Active idiopathic systemic lupus erythematosus in a 90-year-old woman requiring corticosteroid therapy

A woman who developed multisystem systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at the age 80 improved with therapy, but after a hip fracture her disease flared necessitating corticosteroid treatment at age 90. This is the oldest case of active lupus ever reported, and points out the importance of not excluding active SLE as a cause of symptoms or signs even in advanced age.
An Evaluation of Social and Medical Support for Adult Stage Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (PD3.003)

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the opinions of patients with adult stage Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and/or their surrogates on their social and medical support. BACKGROUND: Advances in management have led to many patients with DMD reaching adulthood. Adult DMD patients have severe physical disabilities including immobility and ventilator dependency, which demand full time care. Surveying these patients may be helpful in identifying problematic aspects of their care that may be addressed and improved. DESIGN/METHODS: We conducted a phone survey on 10 patients with adult DMD selected from a MDA clinic. Patients were between the ages of 20-36 and all were either wheelchair or bed bound and used ventilator support. RESULTS: All patients require 24 hours of care and had federal or state funded financial assistance. All patients receive aid from private duty nurses for ventilator management which ranged from 12 to 24 hours a day. The majority of nurses were LPN. 9 out of 10 patients felt that the nurses were not adequately trained in ventilator care. 4 patients or their surrogates have rejected support from carers because it was felt that they were unable to handle the complexity and severe disability of the patient. 8 out of 10 patients were happy with the prompt provision of practical aids. Aspects of care that were challenging to manage include ventilator care, transferring patient, and lack of awareness of available support programs. 8 out of 10 thought there was a lack of knowledge of their primary health care providers on the specific complications of adult DMD. Estimated cost of disease was reportedly between $120,000 to $200,000 per year. CONCLUSIONS: Areas of potential improvement include increasing awareness in primary health care setting and providing better access to appropriate social support programs for adult DMD patients and their families. Disclosure: Dr. Ly has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bertorini has nothing to disclose.
Higher Education, Bigger Networks? Differences by Family Socioeconomic Background and Network Measures:

Income or health returns linked to obtaining a college degree often are greatest for individuals who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Although this importantly suggests that coll...
Luminescent nanomaterials for droplet tracking in a microfluidic trapping array.

The use of high-throughput multiplexed screening platforms has attracted significant interest in the field of on-site disease detection and diagnostics for their capability to simultaneously interrogate single-cell responses across different populations. However, many of the current approaches are limited by the spectral overlap between tracking materials (e.g., organic dyes) and commonly used fluorophores/biochemical stains, thus restraining their applications in multiplexed studies. This work demonstrates that the downconversion emission spectra offered by rare earth (RE)-doped β-hexagonal NaYF4 nanoparticles (NPs) can be exploited to address this spectral overlap issue. Compared to organic dyes and other tracking materials where the excitation and emission is separated by tens of nanometers, RE elements have a large gap between excitation and emission which results in their spectral independence from the organic dyes. As a proof of concept, two differently doped NaYF4 NPs (europium: Eu3+, and terbium: Tb3+) were employed on a fluorescent microscopy-based droplet microfluidic trapping array to test their feasibility as spectrally independent droplet trackers. The luminescence tracking properties of Eu3+-doped (red emission) and Tb3+-doped (green emission) NPs were successfully characterized by co-encapsulating with genetically modified cancer cell lines expressing green or red fluorescent proteins (GFP and RFP) in addition to a mixed population of live and dead cells stained with ethidium homodimer. Detailed quantification of the luminescent and fluorescent signals was performed to confirm no overlap between each of the NPs and between NPs and cells. Thus, the spectral independence of Eu3+-doped and Tb3+-doped NPs with each other and with common fluorophores highlights the potential application of this novel technique in multiplexed systems, where many such luminescent NPs (other doped and co-doped NPs) can be used to simultaneously track different input conditions on the same platform.
AcMC 2 : Accelerating Markov Chain Monte Carlo Algorithms for Probabilistic Models

Probabilistic models (PMs) are ubiquitously used across a variety of machine learning applications. They have been shown to successfully integrate structural prior information about data and effectively quantify uncertainty to enable the development of more powerful, interpretable, and efficient learning algorithms. This paper presents AcMC2, a compiler that transforms PMs into optimized hardware accelerators (for use in FPGAs or ASICs) that utilize Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to infer and query a distribution of posterior samples from the model. The compiler analyzes statistical dependencies in the PM to drive several optimizations to maximally exploit the parallelism and data locality available in the problem. We demonstrate the use of AcMC2 to implement several learning and inference tasks on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA. AcMC2-generated accelerators provide a 47-100× improvement in runtime performance over a 6-core IBM Power8 CPU and a 8-18× improvement over an NVIDIA K80 GPU. This corresponds to a 753-1600× improvement over the CPU and 248-463× over the GPU in performance-per-watt terms.
Ankle power biofeedback attenuates the distal-to-proximal redistribution in older adults.

Abstract Background Compared to young adults, older adults walk slower, with shorter strides, and with a characteristic decrease in ankle power output. Seemingly in response, older adults rely more than young on hip power output, a phenomenon known as a distal-to-proximal redistribution. Nevertheless, older adults can increase ankle power to walk faster or uphill, revealing a translationally important gap in our understanding. Research question Our purpose was to implement a novel ankle power biofeedback paradigm to encourage favorable biomechanical adaptations (i.e. reverse the distal-redistribution) during habitual speed walking in older adults. Methods 10 healthy older adults walked at their preferred speeds while real-time visual biofeedback provided target increases and decreases of 10 and 20% different from preferred ankle power. We evaluated the effect of changes in ankle power on joint kinetics, kinematics, and propulsive ground reaction forces. Pre and post overground walking speed assessments evaluated the effect of increased ankle power recall on walking speed. Results Biofeedback systematically elicited changes in ankle power; increasing and decreasing ankle power by 14% and 17% when targeting ±20% different from preferred, respectively. We observed a significant negative correlation between ankle power and hip extensor work. Older adults relied more heavily on changes in ankle angular velocity than ankle moment to modulate ankle power. Lastly, older adults walked almost 11% faster when recalling increased ankle power overground. Significance Older adults are capable of increasing ankle power through targeted ankle power biofeedback – effects that are accompanied by diminished hip power output and attenuation of the distal-to-proximal redistribution. The associated increase in preferred walking speed during recall suggests a functional benefit to increased ankle power output via transfer to overground walking. Further, our mechanistic insights allude to translational success using ankle angular velocity as a surrogate to modulate ankle power through biofeedback.
Nodal arc of disordered Dirac fermions and non-Hermitian band theory

Disordered Dirac fermions have been studied in a variety of contexts, including quantum Hall transitions, surface states of topological insulators, and graphene. Here, the authors study a new Dirac system in which the two components of the Dirac fermion are unrelated by symmetry and, hence, disorder results in two different quasiparticle lifetimes. It is demonstrated that disorder generates a nodal arc replacing the original Dirac point, thus leading to a new universality class.
Costs of medical care for mesothelioma

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare and devastating form of cancer with an increasing economic burden. We sought to describe the direct cost burden of mesothelioma to the US health system. A systemati...
Religion, language, race and ethnic voting

Abstract Why do some ethnic groups vote along ethnic lines while others do not? This article looks at whether the objective characteristics of ethnicity – in terms of language, religion and race – affect ethnic voting. I address three sets of questions: (1) are ethnic groups that are objectively different from other groups of their country more likely to vote ethnically? (2) is ethnic voting higher among groups that are linguistically, religiously and racially homogeneous? (3) do some ethnic markers, such as language, induce more ethnic voting than others? Using a dataset covering 142 ethnic groups and 49 democracies worldwide, I find that within-group similarity increases ethnic voting. On balance, however, there is little evidence that between-group difference or the identity of the ethnic dimension affect ethnic voting. These results suggest that a group's internal characteristics and the cohesiveness of its members play a key role in explaining its voting behavior.
Use of X-ray to Assess Fecal Loading in Patients with Gastrointestinal Symptoms

There is currently no gold standard for evaluating stool burden in the colon for patients with gastrointestinal symptoms. We aim to examine the relationship between fecal loading on single view abdominal X-ray imaging and gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and accidental bowel leakage in adult outpatients. This retrospective, cross-sectional study examined patients seen at University of Michigan from 2005 to 2017. Chart review of demographic information, reported gastrointestinal symptoms, past medical history, and abdominal radiographic imaging was performed. Bivariate analysis was performed to assess associations between these characteristics and fecal loading. Factors independently associated with fecal loading were identified using logistic regression. Significance was established at p < 0.05. In total, 319 patients who had an X-ray were included in the final analysis, with 84.0% demonstrating fecal loading on the initial X-ray and most reporting constipation as a symptom (n = 214, 84.3%, p = 0.0334). In logistic regression, a chief complaint of constipation had higher odds of being associated with fecal loading on X-ray compared to diarrhea (adjusted OR 6.41; CI 1.51–27.24, p = 0.0118). Bloating as a reported symptom was statistically significant with an adjusted OR of 2.56 (CI 1.10–5.96, p = 0.0286). Constipation (as a chief complaint) and bloating (as a symptom) were associated with fecal loading on X-ray imaging, while accidental bowel leakage and diarrhea were not.
Heterogeneity introduced by EHR system implementation in a de-identified data resource from 100 non-affiliated organizations.

Objectives Electronic health record (EHR) data aggregated from multiple, non-affiliated, sources provide an important resource for biomedical research, including digital phenotyping. Unlike work with EHR data from a single organization, aggregate EHR data introduces a number of analysis challenges. Materials and methods We used the Cerner Health Facts data, a de-identified aggregate EHR data resource populated by data from 100 independent health systems, to investigate the impact of EHR implementation factors on the aggregate data. These included use of ancillary modules, data continuity, International Classification of Disease (ICD) version and prompts for clinical documentation. Results and discussion Health Facts includes six categories of data from ancillary modules. We found of the 664 facilities in Health Facts, 49 use all six categories while 88 facilities were not using any. We evaluated data contribution over time and found considerable variation at the health system and facility levels. We analyzed the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 and found that some organizations completed the shift in 2014 while others remained on ICD-9 in 2017, well after the 2015 deadline. We investigated the utilization of "discharge disposition" to document death and found inconsistent use of this field. We evaluated clinical events used to document travel status implemented in response to Ebola, height and smoking history. Smoking history documentation increased dramatically after Meaningful Use, but dropped in some organizations. These observations highlight the need for any research involving aggregate EHR data to consider implementation factors that contribute to variability in the data before attributing gaps to "missing data."
Human embryoid bodies model basal lamina assembly and muscular dystrophy

Abstract The basal lamina is a specialized sheet of dense extracellular matrix (ECM), linked to the plasma membrane of specific cell types in their tissue context, that serves as a structural scaffold for organ genesis and maintenance. Disruption of the basal lamina and its functions is central to many disease processes, including cancer metastasis, kidney disease, eye disease, muscular dystrophies, and specific types of brain malformation. The latter three pathologies occur in the dystroglycanopathies, which are caused by dysfunction of the ECM receptor dystroglycan. However, opportunities to study the basal lamina in various human disease tissues are restricted due to its limited accessibility. Here, we report the generation of embryoid bodies from human induced pluripotent stem cells to model basal lamina formation. Embryoid bodies cultured via this protocol mimic pre-gastrulation embryonic development, consisting of an epithelial core surrounded by a basal lamina and a peripheral layer of ECM-secreting endoderm. In dystroglycanopathy patient embryoid bodies, electron and fluorescence microscopy revealed ultrastructural basal lamina defects and reduced ECM assembly. By starting from patient-derived cells, these results establish a method for the in vitro synthesis of patient-specific basal lamina and recapitulate disease-relevant ECM defects seen in muscular dystrophies. Finally, we applied this system to evaluate an experimental ribitol supplement therapy on genetically diverse dystroglycanopathy patient samples.
Mentorship and Learning Experiences of Preservice Teachers as Community Children’s Chorus Conductors:

A service-learning model may be used to provide preservice music teachers with authentic context learning experiences and a range of pedagogical benefits, but research evidence specific to choral m...
Testing the inadvertency hypothesis: Incidental news exposure and political disagreement across media platforms:

The inadvertency hypothesis predicts that people encounter political difference in social media spaces not by design, but rather as a by-product of social media’s affordances and cultural logics. T...
anTraX: high throughput video tracking of color-tagged insects

Recent years have seen a surge in methods to track and analyze animal behavior. Nevertheless, tracking individuals in closely interacting, group-living organisms remains a challenge. Here we present anTraX, an algorithm and software package for high-throughput video tracking of color-tagged insects. anTraX combines neural network classification of animals with a novel approach for representing tracking data as a graph, enabling individual tracking even in cases where it is difficult to segment animals from one another, or where tags are obscured. The use of color tags, a well-established and robust method for marking individual insects in groups, relaxes requirements for image size and quality, and makes the software broadly applicable. anTraX is readily integrated into existing tools and methods for automated image analysis of behavior to further augment its output. anTraX can handle large-scale experiments with minimal human involvement, allowing researchers to simultaneously monitor many social groups over long time periods.
Increased dental fluctuating asymmetry is associated with active skeletal lesions, but not mortality hazards in the precontact Southwest United States.

OBJECTIVE This study examines whether individuals with higher dental fluctuating asymmetry (DFA) are frailer than those with lower DFA, by examining whether increased DFA is associated with skeletal lesion formation. SUBJECTS AND METHODS 150 individuals with permanent teeth and 64 individuals with deciduous teeth. All individuals are Ancestral Puebloans from archaeological sites in modern-day New Mexico. We estimate DFA in three ways: (a) deciduous DFA only, (b) permanent DFA only, and (c) a composite of permanent and deciduous DFA. We analyzed DFA alongside lesion status for cribra orbitalia (CO) and porotic hyperostosis (PH), as well as the presence/absence of enamel hypoplasia (EH). All stress indicators were further analyzed for their impact on mortality hazards. RESULTS We find that individuals with active CO and PH lesions have increased DFA, while those with healed lesions have lower DFA. We found no relationship between EH and DFA. Further, DFA alone does not predict individual mortality but CO does. CONCLUSIONS Individuals with increased DFA are frailer and therefore, less capable of buffering themselves against perturbations to their health than those with lower DFA. All results indicate that individuals in this study with lower DFA were more successful in buffering themselves against random environmental impacts during childhood. While DFA alone does not predict mortality hazard, its relationship to lesion status (lower DFA in individuals with healed lesions) indicates that it would be a valuable addition to studies of health and stress.
Surgical and oncological outcomes after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy at a nonacademic center: 25-year experience.

Background Cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC) is predominantly performed and studied in academic centers. While developing CRS/HIPEC programs in nonacademic hospitals can increase accessibility, its safety and oncological efficacy remains unclear. We evaluated CRS/HIPEC outcomes in a nonacademic setting. Methods A single-center descriptive study was conducted using a prospective database. Data of all CRS/HIPEC attempts in peritoneal surface malignancies (PSM) patients from October 1994 to November 2019 were extracted. Surgical and survival outcomes were measured. Center experience was assessed by quartiles of cases. Results Overall, 856 patients underwent 948 CRS/HIPEC attempts: 788 (83%) completed CRS/HIPECs, 144 (15%) aborted HIPECs, and 16 (2%) complete cytoreductions (CC-0/1) without chemoperfusion. For completed CRS/HIPECs, median peritoneal cancer index was 24 (interquartile range: 10-33) and CC-0/1 rate was 88%. Major complications occurred in 23.5% with 30- and 100-day mortality of 1.0% and 2.3%, respectively. Median overall survival was 68 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 50-86). Median progression-free survival was 37 months (95%CI: 28-46). Incomplete cytoreduction and major complication rates decreased over time, while mortality remained low and constant. Conclusions CRS/HIPEC at a nonacademic center with advanced surgical and auxiliary services is a safe option to treat PSM with favorable surgical and oncological outcomes.
Genomic characterization of a wild diploid isolate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals an extensive and dynamic landscape of structural variation.

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been extensively characterized for many decades and is a critical resource for the study of numerous facets of eukaryotic biology. Recently, whole genome sequence analysis of over 1000 natural isolates of S. cerevisiae has provided critical insights into the evolutionary landscape of this species by revealing a population structure comprised of numerous genomically diverse lineages. These survey-level analyses have been largely devoid of structural genomic information, mainly because short read sequencing is not suitable for detailed characterization of genomic architecture. Consequently, we still lack a complete perspective of the genomic variation the exists within the species. Single molecule long read sequencing technologies, such as Oxford Nanopore and PacBio, provide sequencing-based approaches with which to rigorously define the structure of a genome, and have empowered yeast geneticists to explore this poorly described realm of eukaryotic genomics. Here, we present the comprehensive genomic structural analysis of a wild diploid isolate of S. cerevisiae, YJM311. We used long read sequence analysis to construct a haplotype-phased, telomere-to-telomere length assembly of the YJM311 genome and characterized the structural variations (SVs) therein. We discovered that the genome of YJM311 contains significant intragenomic structural variation, some of which imparts notable consequences to the genomic stability and developmental biology of the strain. Collectively, we outline a new methodology for creating accurate haplotype-phased genome assemblies and highlight how such genomic analyses can define the structural architectures of S. cerevisiae isolates. It is our hope that continued structural characterization of S. cerevisiae genomes, such as we have reported here for YJM311, will comprehensively advance our understanding of eukaryotic genome structure-function relationships, structural genomic diversity, and evolution.
Transparency to Reduce Surgical Implant Waste

†Austen BioInnovation Institute, Akron, OH, USA Background: Rising health care costs and emphasis on value have placed the onus of reducing healthcare costs on the surgeon. Methods: Financial data from 3,973 hip, knee, and shoulder arthroplasties performed at a physician owned orthopedic hospital was retrospectively reviewed over a two-year period. A wasted implant financial report was posted starting the second year of the study. Each surgeon’s performance could be identified by his peers. Results: After posting of the financial report, 1.11% of all hip and knee arthroplasty cases had a waste event compared to 1.50% during the control year. Shoulder arthroplasty waste events occurred twice as often than that observed in hip and knee arthroplasty during the study period. A decrease in waste events was observed but was not statistically significant (p = 0.30). Conclusions: Posting a non-blinded wasted implant data sheet was associated with a reduction in the number of wasted orthopedic surgical implants in this series, although the reduction was not statistically significant.
Generation and use of transgenic ascidian embryos.

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the development of a simple and rapid electroporation technique used to generate transgenic ascidian embryos. The following features of ascidian embryos make them one of the best-suited animal models for gene regulatory analysis: (1) the rapid embryogenesis resulting in a tadpole larva of ∼2500 cells just 18 h after fertilization, (2) a well-defined cell lineage, (3) a small, compact genome of ∼160 MB with relatively simple gene regulatory networks, (4) nearly complete genome sequences from two closely related species with an extensive expressed sequence tag (EST) collection, and (5) a wide assortment of microsurgical and molecular and cellular biological experimental techniques. This chapter describes the development and use of electroporation in ascidian embryos and presents a detailed electroporation protocol. Electroporation has been successfully used on a variety of ascidian species to generate transgenic embryos and this protocol can likely be adapted for use on other marine invertebrate embryos.
The effect of bio-char on soil properties and corn grain yields in Iowa

v General Introduction 1 References 4 Thesis Organization 6 The effect of three different qualities of bio-char on selected soil properties Abstract 7 Introduction 8 Materials and Methods 10 Results and Discussion 12 Summary and Conclusions 15 Acknowledgements 16 References 16 Figures 18 Tables 23 The effect of the application of bio-char on soil properties, corn grain and biomass yields in Iowa Abstract 25 Introduction 26 Materials and Methods 27 Results and Discussion 30 Summary and Conclusions 33 Acknowledgments 33
Paradoxical lower esophageal sphincter contraction induced by cholecystokinin-octapeptide in patients with achalasia

Abstract A recent study in cats suggests that cholecystokinin-octapeptide relaxes the feline lower esophageal sphincter (LES) by evoking an indirect neural inhibitory effect that overrides a direct excitatory myogenic effect. We reasoned that, if cholecystokinin-octapeptide has a dual effect on the human LES similar to that in the cat, cholecystokinin-octapeptide might increase LES pressure in patients with impaired inhibitory innervation. To test this hypothesis we determined the effect of intravenous bolus doses of cholecystokinin-octapeptide on LES pressure in three groups of subjects: 7 controls (group 1), 24 patients with untreated idiopathic achalasia (group 2), and 32 miscellaneous patients referred for esophageal manometry (group 3). Lower esophageal sphincter pressure was monitored by a perfused sleeve device. In 6 of 7 control subjects, cholecystokinin-octapeptide caused monophasic LES relaxation. The seventh subject demonstrated a biphasic response of LES relaxation followed by contraction. In 21 of 24 achalasia patients, cholecystokinin-octapeptide induced paradoxical monophasic LES contraction. In 2 achalasia patients, LES pressure did not change after cholecystokinin-octapeptide and in 1 achalasia patient LES pressure decreased, as in normal subjects. In the 32 miscellaneous patients, cholecystokinin-octapeptide induced LES relaxation in 25, a biphasic response in 4, no change in 2, and a paradoxical increase in 1. The patient demonstrating LES contraction to cholecystokinin-octapeptide had an unclassified esophageal motility disorder associated with incomplete LES relaxation after swallows. We conclude: (a) Cholecystokinin-octapeptide induces a paradoxical increase in LES pressure in most achalasia patients; (b) a presser LES response to cholecystokinin-octapeptide suggests post-ganglionic impairment of inhibitory nerves; and (c) achalasia patients demonstrating LES relaxation after cholecystokinin-octapeptide may have neural impairment limited to preganglionic fibers while the postganglionic inhibitory nerves remain at least partially intact.
Biologic effects of dental materials: 4. Effect of polycarboxylate cements on HeLa cells in vitro☆

Abstract Polycarboxylate cements are supposed to be nonirritant and adhesive. According to a new method for quantitative assay of toxicity, their inertness was confirmed, but the presence of bacteria between filling and cavity floor contradicted the claim of their adhesiveness.
Universal immunization in urban areas: Calcutta's success story.

PIP: The Central Government of Calcutta, India aimed to immunize 85% (85,262) of the city's 12 month old infants against polio, diphtheria, measles, tuberculosis, pertussis and tetanus. The Universal Immunization Program (UIP) achieved this target 3 months earlier than intended. In fact, at the end of December 1990, it achieved 110.6% for DPT3, 142.16% for OPV3, 151.96% for BCG, and 97% for measles. UIP was able to surpass its targets by emphasizing team work. Government, the private sector, UNICEF, and the voluntary sector made up the Apex Coordination Committee on Immunization headed up by the mayor. The committee drafted an action plan which included routine immunization sessions on a fixed day and intensive immunization drives. Further the involved organizations pooled together cold chain equipment. In addition, the District Family Welfare Bureau was the distribution center for vaccines, syringes, immunization cards, report formats, vaccine carriers, and ice packs. Health workers administered immunizations from about 300 centers generally on Wednesday, National Immunization Day. Intensive immunization drives focused on measles immunizations. UIP leaders encouraged all center to routinely record coverage and submit monthly progress reports to the District Family Welfare Bureau. The Calcutta Municipal Corporation coordinated promotion activities and social mobilization efforts. Promotion included radio and TV announcements, newspaper advertisements, cinema slides, billboards, and posters. The original UIP plan to use professional communicators to mobilize communities was ineffective, so nongovernmental organizations entered the slums to encourage people to encourage their neighbors to immunize their children. Further Islamic, Protestant, and Catholic leaders encouraged the faithful to immunize their children. A UNICEF officer noted that this success must be sustained, however.
A Role for Neutrophil Elastase in Solar Elastosis

Hairless (SKH-1) mice were mated with beige (C57BL/bb) mice to produce a hairless mouse deficient in neutrophil elastase (hhbb). These mice were exposed to 0.09 J UVB radiation for 5 months to see if neutrophil elastase was an important factor in the development of solar elastosis. Analysis of peritoneal neutrophils confirmed that the hhbb mouse was deficient in elastase, retaining only 10% of the activity of the normal littermates (hhHb). Skin myeloperoxidase activity was equally elevated in all the mice receiving UVB indicating a similar influx of inflammatory cells. The absolute breaking strength of the skin in both the hhBb and hhbb mice was not altered by UVB treatment over the 5 month exposure period. Elastin quantitated biochemically as desmosine, or visualized histologically, was increased following UVB exposure in the normal mice. In the elastase-deficient mice, however, the elastin fibres appeared to be unaffected by exposure to UVB radiation at this level. The results suggest that neutrophil elastase is an important mediator in the development of solar elastosis resulting from continued exposure to UVB.
Deregulated GSK3β activity in colorectal cancer: its association with tumor cell survival and proliferation

5400 Glycogen synthase kinase 3s (GSK3s) reportedly has opposing roles, repressing Wnt/s-catenin signaling on the one hand but maintaining cell survival and proliferation through the NF-κB pathway on the other. The present investigation was undertaken to clarify the roles of GSK3s in human cancer. In colon cancer cell lines and colorectal cancer patients, levels of GSK3s expression and amounts of its active form were higher in tumor cells than in their normal counterparts; these findings were independent of nuclear accumulation of s-catenin oncoprotein in the tumor cells. Inhibition of GSK3s activity by phosphorylation was defective in colorectal cancers but preserved in non-neoplastic cells and tissues. Strikingly, inhibition of GSK3s activity by chemical inhibitors and its expression by RNA interference targeting GSK3s induced apoptosis and attenuated proliferation of colon cancer cells in vitro. Our findings demonstrate an unrecognized role of GSK3s in tumor cell survival and proliferation other than its predicted role as a tumor suppressor, and warrant proposing this kinase as a potential therapeutic target in colorectal cancer (Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2005;334:1365-73; Oncology 2007, in press; PCT/JP2006/300160).
Nonlinear evolution PDEs in R+ × Cd : Existence and uniqueness of solutions, asymptotic and Borel summability properties

We consider a system of n-th order nonlinear quasilinear partial differential equations of the form ut+P(∂xj)u+g(x,t,{∂xju})=0;u(x,0)=uI(x) with u∈Cr, for t∈(0,T) and large |x| in a poly-sector S in Cd (∂xj≡∂x1j1∂x2j2⋯∂xdjd and j1+⋯+jd⩽n). The principal part of the constant coefficient n-th order differential operator P is subject to a cone condition. The nonlinearity g and the functions uI and u satisfy analyticity and decay assumptions in S. The paper shows existence and uniqueness of the solution of this problem and finds its asymptotic behavior for large |x|. Under further regularity conditions on g and uI which ensure the existence of a formal asymptotic series solution for large |x| to the problem, we prove its Borel summability to the actual solution u. The structure of the nonlinearity and the complex plane setting preclude standard methods. We use a new approach, based on Borel–Laplace regularization and Ecalle acceleration techniques to control the equation. These results are instrumental in constructive analysis of singularity formation in nonlinear PDEs with prescribed initial data, an application referred to in the paper. In special cases motivated by applications we show how the method can be adapted to obtain short-time existence, uniqueness and asymptotic behavior for small t, of sectorially analytic solutions, without size restriction on the space variable.
Biaxial stress effects on hysteresis and MIVC

Abstract Changes in the magnetic properties of a cruciform-shaped SAE-4130 steel specimen were measured under biaxial stress conditions. Compared to model predictions are the experimental remanence at various biaxial stresses and the magnetically induced velocity changes (MIVC) of ultrasonic shear and longitudinal waves propagated perpendicular to the stress plane.
A Microbial Arsenic Cycle in a Salt-Saturated, Extreme Environment

Searles Lake is a salt-saturated, alkaline brine unusually rich in the toxic element arsenic. Arsenic speciation changed from arsenate [As(V)] to arsenite [As(III)] with sediment depth. Incubated anoxic sediment slurries displayed dissimilatory As(V)-reductase activity that was markedly stimulated by H2 or sulfide, whereas aerobic slurries had rapid As(III)-oxidase activity. An anaerobic, extremely haloalkaliphilic bacterium was isolated from the sediment that grew via As(V) respiration, using either lactate or sulfide as its electron donor. Hence, a full biogeochemical cycle of arsenic occurs in Searles Lake, driven in part by inorganic electron donors.
Troubled times: Violence and warfare in the past

Edited by Debra L. Martin and David W. Frayer. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach. 1997. 376 pp. ISBN 90-5699-534-0. $20.00 (paper)
Cadmium induces hypertrophy accompanied by increased myc mRNA accumulation in NRK-49F cells

Previous studies showed that Cd++ inhibits EGF-induced DNA synthesis but not EGF-induced myc mRNA accumulation or amino acid incorporation into protein in serum-starved NRK-49F cells. In this study, flow cytometry was used to analyze the DNA and protein content of individual cells stimulated with Cd++ and/or epidermal growth factor (EGF). myc oncogene expression in these cells was also measured. It was found that, in both parental NRK-49F cells and in a clonal subpopulation, N1, Cd++ induces an hypertrophic response. In parental NRK-49F cells, however, lower doses of Cd++ (0.5 microM) induced more pronounced hypertrophic responses than did higher doses (4 microM); whereas in N1 cells, the Cd+(+)-induced hypertrophic response shows a pattern of increasing response with doses of Cd++ from 0.5 to 4 microM. myc mRNA accumulation measured 2 hours after stimulation correlated with the hypertrophic responses in both NRK-49F cells and in N1 cells. The results show that Cd+(+)-induced hypertrophy in NRK-49F cells is associated with increased myc oncogene mRNA accumulation, indicating that cell proliferation and cell hypertrophy may in part share common activation pathways.
Cholesterol activates vascular niche and hematopoiesis.

In this issue of Blood, Gomes and colleagues demonstrate that hypercholesterolemia in mice for 30 days induces dramatic alterations in hematopoiesis through CXCL12 (SDF-1)–mediated enhanced interaction of the hematopoietic cells with specialized bone marrow sinusoidal endothelial cells.1 This results in thrombocytosis, lymphocytosis, and increased mobilization of the progenitor cells to the peripheral circulation, possibly contributing to atherosclerosis.
Electrophoretic variants of egg white transferrin indicate a low rate of intraspecific brood parasitism in colonial cliff swallows in the Sierra Nevada, California

The frequency of intraspecific brood parasitism in two colonies of cliff swallows (Hirundo pyrrhonota) nesting in the eastern Sierra Nevada in California was assessed through an electrophoretic analysis of egg white (albumin) proteins. Albumin proteins are maternally derived and are presumed to directly reflect maternal genotype. Thus, a comparison of protein banding patterns produced by eggs collected from a single clutch allows any egg laid by a female other than the putative mother to be detected. Eggs were collected from 13 cliff swallow nests in 1984 and 41 nests in 1987, a total of 54 nests. Of the clutches collected in 1984, one showed evidence of intraspecific brood parasitism, giving a nest parasitism rate of 7.6%. In 1987, one of 41 nests contained a parasitic egg, for a parasitism rate of 2.4%. Over both years combined the rate of intraspecific brood parasitism was 2 of 54 nests, or 3.7%. These parasitism rates are much lower than those estimated for Nebraskan cliff swallows (22–43%) and 2nd-year purple martins (36%). Possible explanations for the discrepancy between parasitism rates in Sierran cliff swallows and other groups of swallows are discussed.