cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improvement in CT image resolution due to the use of focal spot deflection and increased sampling

When patient anatomy is positioned away from a CT scanner's isocenter, scans of limited diagnostic value may result. Yet in some cases, positioning of patient anatomy far from isocenter is unavoidable. This study examines the effect of posi-tion and reconstruction algorithm on image resolution achieved by a CT scanner operating in a high resolution (HR) scan mode which incorporates focal spot deflection and acquires an increased number of projections per rotation. Images of a metal bead contained in a phantom were acquired on a GE CT750 HD scanner with multiple reconstruction algorithms, in the normal and HR scan mode, and at two positions, scanner isocenter and 15 cm directly above isocenter. The images of the metal bead yielded two-dimensional point spread functions which were averaged along two perpendicular directions to yield line spread functions. Fourier transforms of the line spread functions yielded radial and azimuthal modulation transfer functions (MTFs). At isocenter, the radial and azimuthal MTFs were aver-aged. MTF improvement depended on image position and modulation direction. The results from a single algorithm, Edge, can be generalized to other algorithms. At isocenter, the 10% MTF cutoff was 14.4 cycles/cm in normal and HR mode. At 15 cm above isocenter, the 10% cutoff was 6.0 and 8.5 cycles/cm for the azimuthal and radial MTFs in normal mode. In HR mode, the azimuthal and radial MTF 10% cutoff was 8.3 and 10.3 cycles/cm. Our results indicate that the best image resolu-tion is achieved at scanner isocenter and that the azimuthal resolution degrades more significantly than the radial resolution. For the GE CT750 HD CT scanner, the resolution is significantly enhanced by the HR scan mode away from scanner isocenter, and the use of the HR scan mode has much more of an impact on image resolution away from isocenter than the choice of algorithm.
Analysis on infectious disease emergency events in Qianxian Prefecture from 2009-2012

[Objective]To understand the epidemiological characteristics and rules of infectious disease emergency events in Qianxian Prefecture from 2009-2012,provide scientific basis for carrying out prevention and control measures. [Methods]The reports from the National public health emergencies management information system and the data from the field epidemiological survey were analyzed statistically by the descriptive epidemiological method.[Results]A total of 67 infectious disease emergency events were reported from 2009-2012,including 1701 cases and 11 death cases. 73. 13% of events occurred in schools,and 97. 96% were caused by respiratory infectious disease. Most of events occurred in primary and middle schools in township and village,accounting for 90. 59%. 65. 67% of events were tested by laboratory detection. The events which were rapidly reported through network accounted for 33. 33%,while 29. 59% of them had complete information,and 70. 41% were not complete. The median time from onset to report to the center for disease control and prevention was 6. 00 days.[Conclusion]Most of infectious disease emergency events have occurred in schools,especially rural schools. The events have mainly caused by respiratory infectious diseases,including influenza A( H1N1),varicella,mumps,rubella and influenza.
Probing Toluene and Ethylbenzene Stable Glass Formation Using Inert Gas Permeation

Inert gas permeation is used to investigate the formation of stable glasses of toluene and ethylbenzene. The effect of deposition temperature (Tdep) on the kinetic stability of the vapor deposited glasses is determined using Kr desorption spectra from within sandwich layers of either toluene or ethylbenzene. The results for toluene show that the most stable glass is formed at Tdep = 0.92 Tg, although glasses with a kinetic stability within 50% of the most stable glass were found with deposition temperatures from 0.85 to 0.95 Tg. Similar results were found for ethylbenzene, which formed its most stable glass at 0.91 Tg and formed stable glasses from 0.81 to 0.96 Tg. These results are consistent with recent calorimetric studies and demonstrate that the inert gas permeation technique provides a direct method to observe the onset of molecular translation motion that accompanies the glass to supercooled liquid transition.
Body dysmorphic disorder in the DSM-IV field trial for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objective This study investigated the prevalence and phenomenology of body dysmorphic disorder in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Method The authors studied 442 patients who participated in the DSM-IV field trial for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Results Twelve percent (N = 51) of the patients had a lifetime comorbid diagnosis of body dysmorphic disorder. Patients with and without body dysmorphic disorder did not differ in demographic characteristics of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder had more anxious, impulsive, and schizotypal features than patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder alone. Age at onset was similar for the two disorders, and severity correlated. However, insight was significantly more impaired for body dysmorphic disorder than for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Conclusions As previously thought, these findings suggest that the two disorders are strongly related but also have differences that require further investigation.
Human embryonic retinal cell transplants in athymic immunodeficient rat hosts.

This study investigates the possibility to use the athymic "nude" rat as a host for the transplantation of human embryonic retinal cells without immunosuppression. The long-term development of such transplants is compared with results from our earlier study that used immunosuppressed rats, and showed transplant immunoreactivity for S-antigen. Several additional cell markers have been included: rhodopsin, rod (alpha-transducin, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), synaptophysin (SYN), cone-specific opsins, vimentin, cellular retinaldehyde binding protein (CRALBP), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), rat major histocompatibility antigen class II (MHC-II) and a rat macrophage marker (Ox-42). Human retinal cells (9-13 wk postconception) were transplanted to the eyes of 28 athymic rats. Host rats were kept in microisolator cages for up to 48 wk after surgery. Host immune response and the development of the transplants were studied using histology, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. When using retinas of donors 9-11 wk postconception, transplants grew to 2-3 mm in diameter with many rosettes, in 31 of 35 eyes. Transplants derived from donors 12-13 wk postconception did not survive as well (8 out of 11 eyes), were smaller and less organized. All transplants fused well with the host retina, better than corresponding transplants to immunosuppressed rat hosts. Most transplants appeared to be healthy, even after long survival times, and only occasionally were MHC-II positive macrophages observed in transplants or host retinas. All retinal layers were observed, except for an inner limiting membrane on the vitreous surface. The oldest transplants (34-57 wk total age = donor age + time after surgery) exhibited well developed photoreceptors, rods and cones, with inner and outer segments. SYN-staining showed the development of inner and outer plexiform layers. Although many cones stained for SYN and NSE, few were immunoreactive for red-green or blue opsin. Most rods became immunoreactive for S-antigen and rhodopsin. Transplant Muller cells stained for vimentin and CRALBP. Immunoreactivity for GFAP developed slowly and was not completely expressed in all transplant Muller cells until 44 wk total age. Nude rats offer an excellent model for the study of human retinal xenografts without the negative effects of immunosuppression. Compared to immunosuppressed rats, transplantation to nude rats gives consistent results and superior long-term survival of hosts and transplants.
Missing the Savoir for the Connaissance: Disciplinary and Content Area Literacy as Regimes of Truth

This conceptual review addresses the bifurcation of content area and disciplinary literacy by examining each as regimes of truth. We look specifically at the ways in which both approaches comprise,...
Truthful mobile crowdsensing for strategic users with private qualities

Mobile crowd sensing has found a variety of applications (e.g., spectrum sensing, environmental monitoring) by leveraging the "wisdom" of a potentially large crowd of mobile users. An important metric of a crowd sensing task is data accuracy, which relies on the qualities of the participating users' data (e.g., users' received SNRs for measuring a transmitter's transmit signal strength). However, the quality of a user can be its private information (which, e.g., may depend on the user's location) that it can manipulate to its own advantage, which can mislead the crowd sensing requester about the knowledge of the data's accuracy. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the user can also manipulate its effort made in the crowd sensing task, which is a hidden action that could result in the requester having incorrect knowledge of the data's accuracy. In this paper, we devise truthful crowd sensing mechanisms for Quality and Effort Elicitation (QEE), which incentivize strategic users to truthfully reveal their private qualities and truthfully make efforts as desired by the requester. The QEE mechanisms achieve the truthful design by overcoming the intricate dependency of a user's data on its private quality and hidden effort. Under the QEE mechanisms, we show that the crowd sensing requester's optimal (CO) effort assignment assigns effort only to the best user that has the smallest "virtual valuation", which depends on the user's quality and the quality's distribution. We also show that, as the number of users increases, the performance gap between the CO effort assignment and the socially optimal effort assignment decreases, and converges to 0 asymptotically. We further show that while the requester's payoff and the social welfare attained by the CO effort assignment both increase as the number of users increases, interestingly, the corresponding users' payoffs can decrease. Simulation results demonstrate the truthfulness of the QEE mechanisms and the system efficiency of the CO effort assignment.
Poverty and Progress in the U.S. South since 1920

Progress from Poverty: Education and Self-improvement in Rural Regions Sears, Roebuck Catalog Games: Shop Window and Southern Literature Erskine Caldwell Anticipates the New South The War on the Home Front: James Agee and the Making of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Progress through Rayon: The Nederlandse Kunstzijdefabriek in Hominy Valley, 1928-1940 Juneteenth: The Evolution of an Emancipation Celebration The Never-ending Cycle of Poverty: Sarah E Wright's This Child's Gonna Live Lyndon Johnson and Albert Gore: Southern New Dealers and the Modem South From School Improvers to School Savers: Arlington Moderates and the Fight for Public Education, 1945-1959 The Mississippi Freedom Labour Union From William Alexander Percy to Walker Percy: Progress or Regress? A Sugar Cage: Poverty and Protest in Stephanie Black's H-2 Worker Junkyard Tales: Poverty and the Southern Landscape in Janisse Ray's Ecology of a Cracker Childhood The Southern Family Farm as Endangered Species: Possibilities for Survival in Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer Southern Conservatives: Race and Poverty, 1980-2006.
God of Mercy, People of Mercy: The Year of Mercy and the Mission of the Church

Portia’s well known speech in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice—probably quoted a lot in this Year of Mercy—startled me when I read it once again as I searched for words in literature to speak to you about mercy in a Year of Mercy. I was startled, because I found in these beautiful, powerful words the entire outline of what I want to share in this presentation about Mercy and Mission. God’s mercy, Shakespeare says, is an attribute of God as such. God is a God of Mercy, and human beings are most like God when they are merciful themselves, especially “seasoning” justice with mercy. Without God’s mercy, if God dealt “with us according to our sins” (Ps 103:10), none of us would see salvation. Keywords: God of Mercy, Mission, People of Mercy, Mercy
Complications and their associations following the surgical repair of pressure ulcers.

Abstract Background Despite high expenditure, there is little national data on rates of complications following pressure ulcer repair. Complications, mortality and their predictors following surgical repair of pressure ulcers were evaluated. Methods Patients undergoing pressure ulcer repair were identified in the NSQIP database from 2005 to 2015. Regression models were used to identify risk factors for complications. Results 1248 cases were identified with a complication rate of 35.0%. Obesity was associated with increased risk of complications, whereas flap closure was associated with fewer complications. Thirty-day mortality was 3.3%. Elderly age and diabetes were associated with increased mortality. Conclusions Elderly age, diabetes and dependency are associated with increased mortality following pressure ulcer surgery. Flap repair is associated with decreased complications. Pressure ulcer reconstruction requires careful patient selection and surgical technique to mitigate risks and mortality.
Physical Accuracy Leads to Biological Relevance: Best Practices For Simulating Ligand-Gated Ion Channels Interacting With General Anesthetics

Abstract Efforts to detect binding modes of general anesthetics (GAs) for pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) are often complicated by a large number of indicated sites, as well as the challenges of ranking sites by affinity and determining which sites are occupied at clinical concentrations. Physics-based computational methods offer a powerful route for determining affinities of ligands to isolated binding sites, but preserving accuracy is essential. This chapter describes a step-by-step approach to multiple methods for identifying candidate sites and quantifying binding affinities and also discusses limitations and common pitfalls.
Economic Development and Sustainability: A Case Study from Long Island, New York

Economic development is often used to promote sustainability initiatives at the local, regional, or national scale. This chapter reviews how a statewide initiative in the State of New York to develop ten regional economic development councils was used to promote sustainability in one of the regions—Long Island. When the economic development program was initiated in 2011 at the end of the Great Recession, the Long Island region quickly decided to focus on enhancing natural assets as one of the key guiding tenets. Since its inception, the local council has funded dozens of projects to preserve land, reduce pollution, promote and protect tourism assets, and preserve agriculture and fisheries. Substantive sustainability planning that took place prior to the development of the council supported these projects. One of the challenges of inserting sustainability in an economic development context is that sustainability outcomes are not traditionally measured using economic development indicators making it difficult to assess success. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that infusing sustainability within an economic development process can improve a region and frame development in new ways.
Teacher Mental Health Literacy is Associated with Student Literacy in the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program

The Adolescent Depression Awareness Program, developed by psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is a depression literacy program delivered to high school students by teachers. This mode of delivery represents an effective and sustainable way to increase awareness of mental health, reduce stigma, improve early detection, and facilitate help-seeking behavior among adolescents. The present study explores the depression literacy and stigma of teachers and their students. Survey responses of 66 teachers and 6679 high school students about depression literacy and stigma pre- and post-education intervention were analyzed using a multilevel model fit in Mplus. Teacher depression literacy was significantly associated with student depression literacy [β = 0.199, SE = 0.095, p = 0.035, 95% CI (0.044, 0.355)] at the post-assessment, but was not associated with student stigma. Teacher stigma was not significantly related to student depression literacy or stigma in the post-assessment. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing teacher depression literacy in order to maximize student depression literacy while also diminishing concerns about the transmission of stigmatized beliefs from teachers to students.
Nerve and Muscle: Basic Concepts

Reflex and voluntary motor activity results from the integration of multiple and continuous stimuli. The hierarchical division of motor behavior reflects its particular goal. Thus, short interneuron arcs in the spinal cord mediate simple reflexes, and complex motor activities involve central processors, such as motor cortex, cerebellum, and basal ganglia. Regardless of complexity, motor activity always involves nerves and muscles as the final pathway for the production of force and movement. This chapter presents the basic aspects of neuromuscular biology: how neural signals initiate the contractile process, and how it is regulated.
Rapid determination of enantiomeric excess of α-chiral aldehydes using circular dichroism spectroscopy

Abstract A method for enantiodiscrimination of α-chiral aldehydes is reported. The method utilizes circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and a sensing ensemble composed of 2-(1-methylhydrazinyl) pyridine (1) and Fe(II)(TfO)2. Aldehydes react rapidly with hydrazine (1) to form chiral imines, which form complexes with Fe(II). By monitoring the CD bands above 320 nm, one can determine the enantiomeric excess (ee) values of α-chiral aldehydes with an average absolute error of ±5%. The analysis was fast, and thus can have potential applications in high-throughput screening (HTS) of catalytic asymmetric induction.
Reliability of Smartphone Inclinometry to Measure Upper Cervical Range of Motion

Context Assessment of upper cervical range of motion (UCROM) and mobility is commonly performed in the clinical setting for patients suffering from headache, neck pain and vestibular dysfunction. Reliable and reproducible measurement of this motion is often difficult or too expensive to perform in the clinical setting. Smartphone applications, utilizing the device's internal gyroscope, offer an easy and inexpensive means of measuring UCROM, but their reliability has not been reported in the literature. Objective Assess the reliability of an inclinometer application, installed on two different devices (iPhone6 (IP), Andriod (AN)), to measure UCROM in a healthy population. Design Two examiners assessed passive UCROM. Each examiner was assigned to a specific smartphone and a repeated measures design consisting of three trials for each examiner-phone was performed. The order of testing was randomized and the examiners were blinded to UCROM measures. Setting Laboratory Participants: 38 subjects (19F, 19M; 23.8±1.2 yrs) without pain or injury to the neck and spine for at least 3 months. Intervention Each examiner passively flexed the head fully and then rotated the head fully in one direction then in another. Peak rotation measures were recorded from each smartphone. Three trials were performed for each phone with a 2-minute break between examiners/phones. Main outcome measures Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) using a two way mixed, absolute agreement model were obtained (1) between each examiner-phone and (2) within each examiner-phone for the measurements in each rotation direction. Results Inter-phone/examiner reliability comparing average peak and total UCROM for each device were excellent (0.87, 0.81). Intra-phone/examiner reliability, determined across three trials, was also excellent (AN Right Rot. = 0.91, AN Left Rot. 0.96, IP Right Rot. = 0.98, IP Left = 0.95 Rot.). Conclusions UCROM can be reliably measured using a smartphone inclinometer application.
Post-gastrectomy complications and mortality in elderly patients with gastric cancer: A population-based study.

e21533Background: We aimed to evaluate post-gastrectomy outcomes in patients (pts) age ≥ 75 using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), as population based data in elderly pts are needed given the...
Modern conception of carcinogenesis creates opportunities to advance cancer risk assessment

Abstract Tumor initiation can be viewed as abnormal tissue development. During carcinogenesis, co-localized clones of cells carrying genetic and epigenetic lesions may interact to overcome normal cellular homeostasis, setting the stage for tumor progression. This interpretation and available data support the use of some cancer driver mutations (CDMs) as reporters of carcinogenesis. Cells carrying a subset of CDMs, often referred to as hotspot CDMs, are remarkably prevalent in normal tissues, as well as in tumors, where they are detected frequently as subpopulations. Studies with model carcinogens established that geometric mean CDM mutant fractions (MFs) can serve as biomarkers of carcinogenic potential following acute or sub-chronic exposures. For some studies, the CDMs measured in tissues of treated rodents (as log10 MF geomean or log10 MF standard deviation) can be correlated with tumor responses produced by chronic exposures to the same carcinogens. Variation in cancer driver MF across rodents within a treatment group (log10 MF standard deviation), for a panel of CDMs, may more accurately capture the stochastic nature of cancer driver mutational impact on tumor initiation, clonal expansion and tumor response than a measure of treatment group central tendency. CDMs have important advantages as biomarkers of cancer risk that warrant broader, systematic investigation; they are sensitive in vivo endpoints and carcinogenic effects detected using evolutionarily conserved rodent CDMs are likely relevant to human. Progress in this area has been limited by the inability to analyze more than one CDM at a time, but error-corrected next-generation sequencing (EC-NGS) approaches now provide an opportunity to examine multiple hotpot CDMs at once. Thus, EC-NGS should be utilized to test the hypothesis that within-treatment group variation for a battery of CDMs can be used as a metric to predict future cancer risk and provide a biologically-based foundation for rodent to human extrapolation.
Behavioral Interventions and Supports in Preparation for and During Transitions in Life Stages

Comprehensive treatment of patients with IDD is multidimensional and can have a lasting impact on patients starting in childhood and as they transition into adulthood. Notably, pharmacology does have an important role in treatment; however, the best outcomes typically result from a combination of both pharmacotherapy and alternative behavioral therapies such as applied behavior analysis (ABA). ABA and similar therapies are often most effective when used in multiple settings (i.e., home, school, clinic) and include family involvement in collaboration with providers. Research has also shown that patients with IDD seek to be understood and those whom are encouraged to participate in their care via self-determination and choice, especially with respect to transitional topics such as employment and living environment, tend to have better overall outcomes than those who do not. This chapter explores the different types of behavioral therapies used for patients with IDD, the importance of family and patient involvement in formulating care plans, and the universal transitional phases that these patients encounter from a perspective that is unique to those with IDD.
On reproduction as an interpretative framework for social/gender relations

This manuscript is a response to the articles that Sutapa Chattopadhyay has collected in this themed section, which takes different pathways to analyze ‘reproduction’ as the analytic category best fit to think a complex web of social and gender relations that have been at the center of my work. Already, in her introduction Sutapa Chattopadhyay describes how the authors of the essays she has selected to interact with my theorization of reproductive activities especially in Caliban and the Witch and Revolution at Point Zero. In this response, I limit myself to comment on some of the questions the contributed articles raise which, I believe, are of particular significance and open new lines of investigation.
Academic and behavioral trajectories for at-risk adolescents in urban schools

The purpose of this longitudinal study was twofold: (a) to investigate academic, behavioral, and emotional outcomes for adolescents who were followed longitudinally from middle through high school ...
Disparities in Donor Human Milk Supplementation Among Well Newborns

Background:Donor human milk supplementation for healthy newborns has increased. Racial-ethnic disparities in supplementation have been described in the neonatal intensive care unit but not in the w...
Practical algorithms for multivariate rational approximation

Abstract We present two approaches for computing rational approximations to multivariate functions, motivated by their effectiveness as surrogate models for high-energy physics (HEP) applications. Our first approach builds on the Stieltjes process to efficiently and robustly compute the coefficients of the rational approximation. Our second approach is based on an optimization formulation that allows us to include structural constraints on the rational approximation (in particular, constraints demanding the absence of singularities), resulting in a semi-infinite optimization problem that we solve using an outer approximation approach. We present results for synthetic and real-life HEP data, and we compare the approximation quality of our approaches with that of traditional polynomial approximations.
Shedding and characterization of gastrointestinal nematodes of growing beef heifers in Central Texas.

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) do not detrimentally affect cattle to the extent of small ruminants. However, they are developing resistance to drugs used to treat them. Genetic strategies to control the nematodes and/or their detrimental effects could be a sustainable alternative to treatment with drugs. An essential first step in development of such a strategy is characterization of nematode populations in commonly used breed types of cattle in local conditions. Fecal egg counts (FEC) were obtained every two months on a cohort of 53 crossbred Nellore-Angus heifers grazing Central Texas pastures from an average heifer age of 3 months to approximately 2 years of age. For 10 of those 12 sets of samples, coprocultures were set up to characterize gastrointestinal nematode species present. Heifers were ½ Nellore ½ Angus (n = 18) or ¾ Angus ¼ Nellore (n = 35). They were born in the spring of 2014 to cows that were from 3-5 years old. They were maintained as a group throughout weaning, postweaning, exposure to bulls as yearlings, and as pregnant cows through the birth of their first calves. An interaction of breed group with sampling time (P 0.3) may be indicative of the increased susceptibility of females that lactate heavily or longer to internal parasite infection. Proportions of GIN genera by sampling day differed from χ2 expectation (P < 0.0001). Cooperia and Haemonchus species were detected in large proportions in sampling dates that corresponded to heifers less than one year of age. Ostertagia and Trichostrongylus species predominated in sampling dates after heifers reached one year of age.
AI and Reliability Trends in Safety-Critical Autonomous Systems on Ground and Air

Safety-critical autonomous systems are becoming more powerful and more integrated to enable higher-level functionality. Modern multi-core SOCs are often the computing backbone in such systems for which safety and associated certification tasks are one of the key challenges, which can become more costly and difficult to achieve. Hence, modeling and assessment of these systems can be a formidable task. In addition, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already being deployed in safety critical autonomous systems and Machine Learning (ML) enables the achievement of tasks in a cost-effective way.Compliance to Soft Error Rate (SER) requirements is an important element to be successful in these markets. When considering SER performance for functional safety, we need to focus on accurately modeling vulnerability factors for transient analysis based on AI and Deep Learning workloads. We also need to consider the reliability implications due to long mission times leading to high utilization factors for autonomous transport. The reliability risks due to these new use cases also need to be comprehended for modeling and mitigation and would directly impact the safety analysis for these systems. Finally, the need for telemetry for reliability, including capabilities for anomaly detection and prognostics techniques to minimize field failures is of paramount importance.
Evidence for HIV transmission across key populations: a longitudinal analysis of HIV and AIDS rates among Black people who inject drugs and Black heterosexuals in 84 large U.S. metropolitan areas, 2008-2016.

Abstract Purpose To assess cross-population linkages in HIV/AIDS epidemics, we tested the hypothesis that the number of newly diagnosed AIDS cases among Black people who inject drugs (PWID) was positively related to the natural log of the rate of newly diagnosed HIV infections among Black non-PWID heterosexuals in 84 large U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in 2008–2016. Methods We estimated a multilevel model centering the time-varying continuous exposures at baseline between the independent (Black PWID AIDS rates) and dependent (HIV diagnoses rate among Black heterosexuals) variables. Results At MSA level, baseline (standardized β = 0.12) Black PWID AIDS rates and change in these rates over time (standardized β = 0.11) were positively associated with the log of new HIV diagnoses rates among Black heterosexuals. Thus, MSAs with Black PWID AIDS rates that were 1 standard deviation= higher at baseline also had rates of newly diagnosed HIV infections among Black non-PWID heterosexuals that were 10.3% higher. A 1 standard deviation increase in independent variable over time corresponded to a 7.8% increase in dependent variable. Conclusions Black PWID AIDS rates may predict HIV rates among non-PWID Black heterosexuals. Effective HIV programming may be predicated, in part, on addressing intertwining of HIV epidemics across populations.
Successful treatment of metastatic pancreatoblastoma in an adult with autologous hematopoietic cell transplant

Abstract Background Pancreatoblastoma is a rare pediatric malignant neoplasm characterized by its histological resemblance to fetal pancreatic tissue and poor clinical outcomes. Preoperative diagnosis of the neoplasm is difficult due to its rarity, variable clinical presentation, and its lack of distinct laboratory markers. Current mainstay of treatment is surgical resection of the tumor, although a standard of care has not yet been established. Methods Data were collected on one patient admitted to the University of Virginia Hospital System. Radiology, hematopoietic cell transplant, and biopsy data were collected according to the best clinical practice. Results Herein, we describe the case of an adult patient with pancreatoblastoma treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood hematopoietic cell transplantation. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first documented successful treatment of pancreatoblastoma using autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation in the United States, and the first successful treatment in an adult patient worldwide. Conclusions While it is difficult to draw conclusions based on a single case, we would like to highlight the success of this treatment modality in the management of our patient with a 51-month remission and open further discussion into exploring the use of autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation for pancreatoblastoma. Our patient is currently living 57 months after diagnosis despite the average survival rate being less than 18 months.
Implicit Bias is Real, Implicit Bias Training Matters: Responding to the Negative Press

The Huffington Post recently reported “‘Implicit bias’ training don’t actually change police behavior, Anti-racism courses are too short, too simplistic – and may be making things worse.” We beg to differ. Because we worry that headlines like this weaken respect for implicit bias training at a time when it is most in demand and most needed, we write to offer a more extended analysis. This paper reviews the sources of criticism of implicit bias, reviews studies showing effectiveness of well constructed training, and suggests intentions for going forward.
Ballistic performance comparison of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se, Te) metal-oxide- semiconductor field effect transistors

We study the transport properties of monolayer MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se, Te) n- and p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) using full-band ballistic non-equilibrium Green's function simulations with an atomistic tight-binding Hamiltonian with hopping potentials obtained from density functional theory. We discuss the subthreshold slope, drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL), as well as gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) for different monolayer MX2 MOSFETs. We also report the possibility of negative differential resistance behavior in the output characteristics of nanoscale monolayer MX2 MOSFETs.
Predictors and outcomes of ustekinumab dose intensification in ulcerative colitis: a multicenter cohort study.

Ustekinumab has been shown to be effective for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC); however, >40% of patients have suboptimal clinical response after induction and maintenance dosing every 8 weeks.1,2 The best management approach for these patients is unclear. Many undergo empiric dose intensification to every 4 weeks or every 6 weeks, a nonstandardized decision because of limited data supporting therapeutic drug monitoring of ustekinumab.3 In Crohn's disease, approximately 50% of patients undergo ustekinumab dose intensification, which seems to be effective based on prior work from our group and others.4-8 However, similar data in UC are lacking. In this real-world multicenter cohort study, we sought to identify predictors and outcomes of ustekinumab dose intensification in UC.
Effects of Peptide-Induced Immune Tolerance on Murine Lupus.

The regulation of autoimmunity and the molecular mechanisms by which different immune cells, including T cells, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN-granulocytes), and B cells suppress autoimmune diseases is complex. We have shown previously that BWF1 lupus mice are protected from autoimmunity after i.v. injection or oral administration of tolerogenic doses of pCons, an artificial synthetic peptide based on sequences containing MHC class I and MHC class II determinants in the VH region of a J558-encoded BWF1 anti-DNA Ab. Several T cell subsets can transfer this tolerance. In this study, we determined the potential roles of granulocytes, B cells and regulatory T cells altered by pCons treatment in the BWF1 (NZB/NZW) mouse model of lupus. Immunophenotyping studies indicated that pCons treatment of BWF1 mice significantly increased CD4+Foxp3+ T cells, reduced the percent of B cells expressing CD19+CD5+ but increased the percent of CD19+CD1d+ regulatory B cells and increased the ability of the whole B cell population to suppress IgG anti-DNA production in vitro. pCons treatment significantly decreased the expression of CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4) in CD8+ T cells. In addition, peptide administration modified granulocytes so they became suppressive. We co-cultured sorted naive B cells from mice making anti-DNA Ab (supported by addition of sorted naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from young auto-antibody-negative BWF1 mice) with sorted B cells or granulocytes from tolerized mice. Both tolerized granulocytes and tolerized B cells significantly suppressed the production of anti-DNA in vitro. In granulocytes from tolerized mice compared to saline-treated littermate controls, real-time PCR analysis indicated that expression of interferon-induced TNFAIP2 increased more than 2-fold while Ptdss2 and GATA1 mRNA were up-regulated more than 10-fold. In contrast, expression of these genes was significantly down-regulated in tolerized B cells. Further, another IFN-induced protein, Bcl2, was reduced in tolerized B cells as determined by western blot analyses. In contrast, expression of Foxp3 was significantly increased in tolerized B cells. Together, these data suggest that B cells and granulocytes are altered toward suppressive functions by in vivo tolerization of BWF1 mice with pCons and it is possible these cell types participate in the clinical benefits seen in vivo.
Classification: Assigning Observations to Known Categories

In this chapter, we will explore supervised learning methods. Unlike with clustering, generally, the value of a supervised model output is inherent in the framing of the question. This makes interpretation easier, but it requires an outcome variable to have a strong relationship with its indicator variables, and benefits from data that are well structured and clean. With statistical modeling, people often say “garbage in, garbage out,” meaning that even a very sophisticated model will not be able to produce reliable results if the data are not high quality or there is no actual relationship between input and output variables.
Risk of prostate cancer for men with prior negative biopsies undergoing magnetic resonance imaging compared with biopsy-naive men: A prospective evaluation of the PLUM cohort.

Background Men with prior negative prostate biopsies have a lower risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer in comparison with biopsy-naive men. However, the relative clinical utility of identified lesions on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) is uncertain between the 2 settings. Methods Patients from the Prospective Loyola University mpMRI (PLUM) Prostate Biopsy Cohort (January 2015 to June 2020) were examined. The detection of any prostate cancer and clinically significant prostate cancer (Gleason score ≥ 3 + 4) was stratified by Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) scores in the prior negative and biopsy-naive settings. Multivariable logistic regression models (PLUM models) assessed predictors, and decision curve analyses were used to estimate the clinical utility of PI-RADS cutoffs relative to the models. Results Nine hundred men (420 prior negative patients and 480 biopsy-naive patients) were included. Prior negative patients had lower risks of any prostate cancer (27.9% vs 54.4%) and clinically significant prostate cancer (20.0% vs 38.3%) in comparison with biopsy-naive patients, and this persisted when they were stratified by PI-RADS (eg, PI-RADS 3: 13.6% vs 27.4% [any prostate cancer] and 5.2% vs 15.4% [clinically significant prostate cancer]). The rate of detection of clinically significant prostate cancer was 5.3% among men with prior negative biopsy and PI-RADS ≤ 3. Family history and Asian ancestry were significant predictors among biopsy-naive patients. PLUM models demonstrated a greater net benefit and reduction in biopsies (45.8%) without missing clinically significant cancer in comparison with PI-RADS cutoffs (PI-RADS 4: 34.0%). Conclusions Patients with prior negative biopsies had lower prostate cancer detection by PI-RADS score category in comparison with biopsy-naive men. Decision curve analyses suggested that many biopsies could be avoided by the use of the PLUM models or a PI-RADS 4 cutoff without any clinically significant cancer being missed. Lay summary Men with a prior negative prostate biopsy had a lower risk of harboring prostate cancer in comparison with those who never had a biopsy. This was true even when patients in each group had similar multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) findings in terms of Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS)-graded lesions. Decision curve analyses showed that many biopsies could be avoided by the use of the Prospective Loyola University mpMRI prediction models or a PI-RADS 4 cutoff for patients with prior negative biopsies.
CT and MRI features differentiating mucinous cystic neoplasms of the liver from pathologically simple cysts.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if CT and MRI features can accurately differentiate mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) from simple liver cysts and to compare accuracy of CT and MRI in detecting these features. Methods Eighty-four surgically treated lesions with pre-operative CT or MRI were evaluated by two abdominal radiologists for upstream biliary dilatation, perfusional change, internal hemorrhage, thin septations, thick septations/nodularity, lobar location, and number of coexistent liver cysts. Odds ratios, sensitivities, specificities, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for association of each feature with MCNs. Results Of 84 liver lesions, 13 (15%) were MCNs, all in women, and 71 (85%) were simple cysts, in 59 women and 12 men. Thick septations/nodularity, upstream biliary dilation, thin septations, internal hemorrhage, perfusional change, and fewer than 3 coexistent liver cysts were more frequent in MCNs than in simple cysts. The combination of thick septations/nodularity and at least one additional associated feature showed high specificity for MCNs (94–98%). MRI detected significant associations of biliary dilation, thin septations, and hemorrhage/debris with MCNs which CT did not. Conclusion Surgically treated MCNs of the liver with preoperative imaging occurred at our institution only in women. Thick septations or nodularity, biliary dilation, thin septations, internal hemorrhage or debris, perfusional change, and fewer than 3 coexistent liver cysts are features that help differentiate MCNs from simple cysts. MRI has advantages over CT in detecting these features.
Studies on thermo-mechanical properties of HNTs filled ABS/PVC composites

Abstract In present work, Acrylnitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) copolymer and Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) polymers have been blended with injection molding technique. To improve the thermo-mechanical properties of ABS/PVC blend, Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) at different concentration like (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 wt%) also added. To obtain the best results, the percentage concentration of PVC is maintained at 10 % in ABS. The results of this work showed that due to addition of HNTs up to 1.5 wt% tensile and impact properties improve by 71.73 % and 32.6 % respectively. In addition to this, HNTs also showed the improved thermal stability of composites which is explained with the help of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). ABS/PVC composites will find applications in the piping and electrical insulation systems.
Residual Conformational Entropies on the Sugar–Phosphate Backbone of Nucleic Acids: An Analysis of the Nucleosome Core DNA and the Ribosome

A nucleic acid folds according to its free energy, but persistent residual conformational fluctuations remain along its sugar–phosphate backbone even after secondary and tertiary structures have been assembled, and these residual conformational entropies provide a rigorous lower bound for the folding free energy. We extend a recently reported algorithm to calculate the residual backbone entropy along a RNA or DNA given configuration of its bases and apply it to the crystallographic structures of the 23S ribosomal subunit and DNAs in the nucleosome core particle. In the 23S rRNAs, higher entropic strains are concentrated in helices and certain tertiary interaction platforms while residues with high surface accessibility and those not involved in base pairing generally have lower strains. Upon folding, residual backbone entropy in the 23S subunit accounts for an average free energy penalty of +0.47 (kcal/mol)/nt (nt = nucleotide) at 310 K. In nucleosomal DNAs, backbone entropies show periodic oscillations w...
Abstraction mechanisms in hypertext

Abstraction is the means by which information can be stored and retrieved from an information structure at different levels of detail and from different perspectives. As such, abstraction mechanisms in hypertext are interesting to evaluate from a theoretical perspective as they become various first-order logic formulae.
Platinum-Resistant and Refractory Ovarian Cancer

Despite an initial response rate of greater than 70% to platinum-based chemotherapy, most patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer eventually develop and succumb to recurrent disease. Ovarian cancer patients with platinum-resistant and -refractory disease have the lowest response rates to salvage chemotherapy. Various chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel, liposomal doxorubicin, topotecan, docetaxel, platinum, etoposide, ifosfamide, gemcitabine, and vinorelbine, are available and result in response rates of 7–40%. Unfortunately, salvage therapy is not curative, and treatment is palliative. Therefore, the therapeutic choice must consider not only the best opportunity for response, but also the tolerability profile, quality-of-life issues, cost of therapy, and patient convenience. Patients should be encouraged to enroll in clinical trials evaluating novel agents and administration schedules.
Measurement and reliability of 3D end-point stiffness of the human arm

The endpoint stiffness of the human arm was characterized in three-dimensions (3D) and both the reliability and error properties of the estimates were evaluated. Endpoint stiffness was estimated by multiple-input multiple-output frequency response functions between 3D stochastic displacements imposed on the hand and the evoked 3D forces. The response functions, estimated while the subject maintained one of seven constant endpoint forces, were identified with high coherence and were highly repeatable above approximately 1 Hz. Analysis of potential mechanisms for poor characterization below 1 Hz indicate that small changes in the subject's contraction level during the imposed perturbation were likely responsible. We found that the horizontal components of the stiffness were similar to those previously identified under planer, two-dimensional, conditions. In addition, coupling between the vertical and horizontal components was small for the posture tested. Overall these results indicate that characterization of three-dimensional stiffness of the arm is feasible.
The Maturity Structure of Bank Credit: Determinants and Effects on Economic Growth

We investigate a new data set on the maturity of bank credit to the private sector in 74 countries. We show that credit maturity is longer in countries with strong institutions, low inflation, large financial markets, and where banks share information about borrowers. Furthermore, we extend the finance and growth literature by showing that credit maturity matters for economic growth. Economic growth is enhanced in countries where agents have access to long-term financing. Therefore, weak institutions, high inflation and other variables that reduce credit maturity have an impact on economic growth via their influence on credit maturity. The estimated effects are substantial in size.