cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of Growth Factors and L‐Arginine on Ischemic Skin Flaps in Rats

This study determined the effect of the polypeptide growth factors transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and growth hormone (GH) alone and in combination with dietary L-Arginine HCL (ARG) on skin flap survival in rats. Caudally based dorsal skin flaps were created in 110 Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were randomly assigned into three treatment groups, based on drinking water supplementation. Group 1 (n = 50) received ARG in their drinking water, group 2 (n = 50) received tap water alone, and group 3 (n = 10) received N-omega-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA) and hydralazine. Groups 1 and 2 were divided into subgroups of 10 rats each based on treatment with either: TGF-beta, IGF-I, GH, or IGF-I + GH. All subgroups that received GH had significantly greater (P < .0001) median body weight gains when compared with subgroups not receiving GH. L-arginine HCL when added to IGF-I negated the positive effects of IGF-I on both flap survival and weight gain. Although the rats in all subgroups from groups 1 and 2 had an increase in mean percent skin flap survival when compared with the water alone subgroup, only rats receiving IGF-I, or the combination of ARG with either TGF-beta or GH, had statistically significant enhanced skin flap survival. Rats in group 3 did not show an increase in skin flap survival when compared with the control subgroup.
Cytoplasmic localization of tristetraprolin involves 14-3-3-dependent and -independent mechanisms.

The immediate early gene tristetraprolin (TTP) is induced transiently in many cell types by numerous extracellular stimuli. TTP encodes a zinc finger protein that can bind and destabilize mRNAs that encode tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and other cytokines. We hypothesize that TTP also has a broader role in growth factor-responsive pathways. In support of this model, we have previously determined that TTP induces apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, analogously to certain oncogenes and other immediate-early genes, and that TTP sensitizes cells to the pro-apoptotic signals of TNFα. In this study, we show that TTP and the related proteins TIS11b and TIS11d bind specifically to 14-3-3 proteins and that individual 14-3-3 isoforms preferentially bind to different phosphorylated TTP species. 14-3-3 binding does not appear to inhibit or promote induction of apoptosis by TTP but is one of multiple mechanisms that localize TTP to the cytoplasm. Our results provide the first example of 14-3-3 interacting functionally with an RNA binding protein and binding in vivo to a Type II 14-3-3 binding site. They also suggest that 14-3-3 binding is part of a complex network of stimuli and interactions that regulate TTP function.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors in Muscle Aging

The regenerative potential of skeletal muscle, and overall muscle mass, decline with age. This regenerative potential may be influenced by autocrine growth factors intrinsic to the muscle itself. Extrinsic host factors that may influence muscle regeneration include hormones, growth factors secreted in a paracrine manner by accessory cells, innervation, and antioxidant mechanisms. Unaccustomed exercise, which involves mechanical overload of myofibers, provides a convenient method for studying muscle regeneration in both humans and animal models. An inflammatory response ensues in which distinctive populations of macrophages infiltrate the affected tissue: some of these macrophages are involved in phagocytosis of damaged fibers; other macrophages arriving at later times may deliver growth factors or cytokines that promote regeneration. These include fibroblast growth factor and insulin-like growth factor, which are important regulators of muscle precursor cell growth and differentiation, as well as nerve growth factor, which is essential for maintenance or reestablishment of neuronal contact. Other cytokines, including interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-15, and ciliary neurotrophic factor, have a strong influence on the balance between muscle protein synthesis and breakdown. The functional activity of invading macrophages can be influenced by age, by factors in myofibers and extracellular matrix, and can be influenced systemically by the antioxidant status of the host.
Recurrent orbital myositis with radiological feature mimicking thyroid eye disease in a patient with Crohn's disease.

Orbital myositis is an extremely rare extra-intestinal manifestation of Crohn’s disease. Herein we describe a patient with self-limiting episodes of episcleritis and uveitis prior to the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, and subsequent development of recurrent orbital myositis with radiological features mimicking thyroid eye disease.
Advanced care planning in health service users

Aims and objectives. To examine the use of advanced directives (ADs) in patients actively using health services in the USA. Background. Since 1991, USA law (PSDA 1991) has required hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health services to inquire, at admission, if patients have in place ADs, to provide patients with a written summary of their rights in regard to health-related decision-making and to provide education to staff and the community about ADs. Design. Via chart review and observation, the AD status of patients residing in three SNFs during a six-week period was ascertained (n = 272). Those with ADs were further evaluated to examine the timing of the directive in regards to their health status. Methods. Patients residing at SNFs were selected for study because SNF patients are admitted from the hospital; therefore, there are at least two opportunities – at hospital admission and at SNF admission – to inquire and educate about advance directives. Results. Residents ranged in age from 35 to 100 years and included patients admitted for short-term rehabilitation after hospitalisation, as well as residents who were initially admitted after a hospitalisation but required long-term care. A full 90·44% (n = 246) entered skilled care without an AD, and 69·11% (n = 188) remained without an AD. The most likely reason for the development of an AD was lengthy decline in health status associated with multiple hospitalisations. Conclusions. Current law appears ineffective. A more appropriate approach is to encourage open dialogue about treatment options and quality of life. Relevance to clinical practice. Given the rapidity with which populations are ageing in countries worldwide, ADs would appear to be a phenomenon that should be embraced. However, experience in the USA has called into question their usefulness.
Saving the ischemic penumbra: endovascular thrombolysis versus medical treatment.

Abstract Endovascular thrombolysis may allow rapid arterial recanalization in patients with acute ischemic stroke. We present the first study to our knowledge comparing the ischemic penumbra saved with endovascular versus medical therapy. A retrospective review of 21 patients undergoing endovascular intervention for stroke from 2010 to 2011 was contrasted with 21 consecutive patients treated with antiplatelet agents alone. Immediate computed tomography perfusion (CTP) scan of the head and neck was obtained in all patients. Patients with lacunar and posterior circulation infarcts, and those who were medically unstable for MRI post-operatively were excluded. CTP and MRI underwent volumetric calculation. CTP penumbra was correlated with diffusion restriction volumes on MRI, and an assessment was made on the volume of ischemic burden saved with either endovascular treatment or antiplatelet agents. The median age was 70 years (interquartile range 62–80). Median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was 18 and 14 in the control and endovascular groups, respectively. Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator was administered in 22 of 42 patients (52%). Median penumbra calculated was 32,808 mm3 in the control group and 46,255 mm3 in the endovascular group. Median penumbra spared was 9550 mm3 (4980–18,811) in the control group versus 38,155 mm3 in the endovascular group (p = 0.0001). Endovascular thrombolysis may be more efficient than medical therapy alone in saving ischemic penumbra. Future advances in recanalization techniques will further improve the efficacy of endovascular therapy.
Cancer therapy—the 21st century

This century has seen a dramatic increase in the modalities available to prevent, control, or cure cancer. Dr. Rosenthal, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, reflects on the progress in cancer management made in the 20th century and predicts a continuing rapid evolution for the 21st century.
Do Communication Abilities Affect Promotion Decisions? Some Data From the C-Suite

Senior U.S. business executives reported that in making recent promotion decisions, they had placed a great deal of weight on candidates’ interpersonal skills, less weight on oral communication ski...
Asymptotic expansions in non-linear renewal theory

We obtain first order asymptotic expansions for the distribution of the excess of a standard normal random walk over a curved boundary and the error probabilities of some repeated significance tests. The key step in the analysis is an asymptotic expansion for the conditional probability that the random walk has not crossed the boundary before the N step, given that it is near the boundary after the nth step.
Accuracy of AISC Methods in Predicting Flexural Strength of Concrete-Encased Members

This paper investigated the accuracy of the AISC analysis methods in determining flexural strength of concrete-encased members. Analytical results from analyses performed using the AISC methods and a proposed method were compared with test data for 32 specimens. Results from this study showed that the method of superposition of elastic stresses and method of plastic stress distribution on the steel section alone overly underestimated flexural strength of the concrete encased composite members studied herein. On the other hand, the method of plasticstressdistributiononthecompositesection,themethodofstraincompatibility,andtheproposedmethodwellpredicted flexuralstrength of the encased composite members including members without shear anchors, suggesting that composite action can be developed in encased composite members without shear anchors when sufficient confinement is provided by transverse reinforcement. In addition, studies of effects oflongitudinalandtransversereinforcementon flexuralbehaviorofencasedcompositememberswereconductedtoidentifycrucialparameters. Theparametersexaminedhereinincludedreinforcementratio,steel flangearea,steelshapedepth,andtransversereinforcementspacing.Impli- cationsandrecommendationsdrawnfromthestudiesarediscussed.DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000640.©2013American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Flexural strength; Structural members; Stress distribution; Strain; Concrete. Author keywords: Flexural strength; Encased composite members; SRC; Plastic stress distribution; Strain compatibility.
Engineering Approaches for Investigating Tumor Angiogenesis: Exploiting the Role of the Extracellular Matrix

A major paradigm shift in cancer research is the emergence of multidisciplinary approaches to investigate complex cell behaviors, to elucidate regulatory mechanisms and to identify therapeutic targets. Recently, efforts are focused on the engineering of complex in vitro models, which more accurately recapitulate the growth and progression of cancer. These strategies have proven vital for investigating and targeting the events that control tumor angiogenesis. In this review, we explore how the emerging engineering approaches are being used to unlock the complex mechanisms regulating tumor angiogenesis. Emphasis is placed on models using natural and synthetic biomaterials to generate scaffolds mimicking the extracellular matrix, which is known to play a critical role in angiogenesis. While the models presented in this review are revolutionary, improvements are still necessary and concepts for advancing and perfecting engineering approaches for modeling tumor angiogenesis are proposed. Overall, the marriage between disparate scientific fields is expected to yield significant improvements in our understanding and treatment of cancer. Cancer Res; 72(23); 6089–96. ©2012 AACR .
MRI, Arthroscopy, and Surgical Anatomy of the Joints. Edited by David W. Stoller. Illustrated by Salvador Beltran. Philadelphia, Lippincott-Raven, 1999. $249.00, 704 pp.

The development of a textbook combining arthroscopic pathoanatomy and magnetic resonance imaging can be a very challenging project. Other textbooks have been written with this goal in mind, but more emphasis has been placed on either the arthroscopic aspects of disease or the radiographic imaging. Dr. Stoller has already given orthopaedic surgeons, sports-medicine physicians, and radiologists a comprehensive magnetic resonance imaging textbook, Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Now, he …
Sistemas de información geográfico y la preservación del patrimonio natural y cultural: la exploración de La Mosquitia hondureña

In May 2012, after more than a year of research and planning, a group led by cinematographer Steve Elkins and backed by Bill Benenson and Garry Spire, conducted the first ever airborne LiDAR exploratory survey of the Honduran Mosquitia region utilizing a Cessna 337 twin engine airplane. LiDAR technology, which is an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging, is also known as Optical Radar or laser Radar and it employs laser pulses to generate three-dimensional maps of the of the Earth’s surface. Current LiDAR units can generally record multiple returns per laser shot, and as the pulses propagate through partial openings in the forest canopy, they produce returns from the vegetation, the underlying terrain, or both. Through the use of morphological filters it is possible to classify returns as coming from the vegetation or ground, and the ground returns reveal what is hidden under the forest canopy. La Mosquitia jungle provides the toughest conditions on which to test airborne LiDAR capabilities.The LiDAR data collection, processing and preliminary analysis were performed by researchers from the University of Houston (UH) Geosensing Engineering and Science Research Center and the National Science Foundation National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM). The survey was focused in several areas within a jungle area of roughly 1000 km² in the department of Gracias a Dios. The flight plans and equipment were configured to maximize canopy penetration. Firing more than 20 laser pulses/m², which yielded approximately 31 returns/m², only 1 or 2 of which were found to be ground returns. Under the forest canopy, the digital elevation models reveal an exuberant topography and a very complex hydrology. Perhaps even more interesting, they reveal extended anthropogenic terrain modifications in what appear to be archeological remains.Revista Ciencias Espaciales, Volumen 8, Numero 1 Primavera, 2015; 260-276
O-GlcNAcylation of master growth repressor DELLA by SECRET AGENT modulates multiple signaling pathways in Arabidopsis

The DELLA family of transcription regulators functions as master growth repressors in plants by inhibiting phytohormone gibberellin (GA) signaling in response to developmental and environmental cues. DELLAs also play a central role in mediating cross-talk between GA and other signaling pathways via antagonistic direct interactions with key transcription factors. However, how these crucial protein-protein interactions can be dynamically regulated during plant development remains unclear. Here, we show that DELLAs are modified by the O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) SECRET AGENT (SEC) in Arabidopsis. O-GlcNAcylation of the DELLA protein REPRESSOR OF ga1-3 (RGA) inhibits RGA binding to four of its interactors-PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR3 (PIF3), PIF4, JASMONATE-ZIM DOMAIN1, and BRASSINAZOLE-RESISTANT1 (BZR1)-that are key regulators in light, jasmonate, and brassinosteroid signaling pathways, respectively. Consistent with this, the sec-null mutant displayed reduced responses to GA and brassinosteroid and showed decreased expression of several common target genes of DELLAs, BZR1, and PIFs. Our results reveal a direct role of OGT in repressing DELLA activity and indicate that O-GlcNAcylation of DELLAs provides a fine-tuning mechanism in coordinating multiple signaling activities during plant development.
Disastrous Uncertainty: How Government Disaster Policy Undermines Community Rebound

In the aftermath of large-scale disasters, policy makers frequently respond by developing and directing topdown recovery plans and launching a variety of expensive and complicated programs to rebuild cities and compensate victims. This was certainly the case after Hurricane Katrina.However, these plans tend to ignore the innate abilities of individuals, communities, and businesses to use a variety of resources and sources of information to guide their decisions about whether and how to rebuild. These decisions are not made in isolation, but rather depend substantially on the signals sent by similarly situated people.Recovery efforts guided by the signals that emerge from action on the ground produce faster, more robust, and more sustainable redevelopment than efforts stemming from a politically-produced and centrally-executed recovery plan. Moreover, large-scale redevelopment programs can overwhelm and obfuscate the signals created locally, stalling and distorting the organic recovery that is crucial to long-term sustainable development.Public policy can foster an environment which encourages sustainable, organic recovery by:1. Providing quick, clear, and credible commitments about what goods and services governmentswill provide and when,2. Creating in advance alternative regulatory regimes specific for post-disaster environments, and3. Avoiding policies that distort local economies and hamper civil society rebuilding.Because policy mistakes can have serious retarding effects on post-disaster rebuilding efforts, policy makers must understand the systemic reasons why government help so often goes awry, why private citizens with a stake in the outcome are best situated to lead their own recovery, and how to craft policy responses in a way that keeps signal noise to a minimum.
Ascent of Apes

Is reasoning a uniquely human ability? This article reviews experiments on reasoning in chimpanzees. In the first series of experiments, a 16 year old female chimpanzee, Sarah, demonstrated the ability to reason analogically in a variety of analogy problems. She chose the correct stimulus B’ to complete an analogy A is to A′ same as B is to B1 and chose the correct predicates to complete analogies A is to A′ same as B is to B′ and A is to A′ different from B is to C. The second series of experiments investigated transitive inference. A 6 year old female chimpanzee, Sadie, was trained on adjacent pairs from a linear series, F r E, E r D, D r C, C r B, and B r A, where the relation r was “more food than.” Sadie then was given the novel nonadjacent pairs, EB, EC, and DB; she chose E and D indicating the ability to make transitive inferences. The third series of experiments placed four chimpanzees in a reasoning task similar to a problem likely to confront chimpanzees in their natural environment. A subject had to choose between two limited food sources. Just prior to making the choice, the chimpanzee received negative information from which it could infer that food was no longer in one of the locations. The chimpanzees demonstrated their inferential abilities by consistently going to the other location.
The full translational spectrum of prevention science.

A new generation of research now demonstrates that individual differences in risk for psychopathology result from intrapersonal and environmental modulation of neurophysiologic and genetic substrates. This transdisciplinary model suggests that, in any given individual, the number of genetic variants implicated in high-risk behaviors and the way in which they are assorted and ultimately suppressed or activated by experiential and contextual factors will help to explain propensity and ultimate outcomes. Thus, risk can be amplified or reduced based on characteristics of an individual and his/her environment. This emerging research generated by multiple disciplines has extraordinary potential for preventing behavioral problems and promoting resilience. Unfortunately, however, the relevant sciences continue to be overly silo’ed, for example, with researchers focusing on socio-emotional and contextual influences working independently from those studying neurobiologic and genetic processes. Recent trends, however, are responding to a burgeoning body of research on the brain and behavior, promising to increase integration of basic science into a holistic model of prevention research. And, near-futuristically, an end-goal is to guide development of new and innovative interventions and inform policy change. In essence, the state-of-the-science highlights the need for a transdisciplinary and translational model of prevention.
Tight-Binding Study of the Electronic Structure of the high Temperature Superconductor La2CuO4

We have fit our first principles LAPW band structure results for the high Tc superconductor La2CuO4 to a tight-binding Hamiltonian that contains s, p, and d interactions from the three components of these materials. Our fit reproduces very accurately the 17 lower bands of this material and especially the Fermi surface.
"It might be nice to be a girl... Then you wouldn't have to be emotionless": Boys' resistance to norms of masculinity during adolescence

This article examines the patterns of resistance to norms of masculinity (i.e., emotional stoicism, physical toughness, and autonomy) and its association to psychological and social adjustment among boys from preadolescence through late adolescence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted longitud
Complication Management Malunion/Non-union Proximal Humeral Fractures

Proximal humeral fractures are common injuries, especially in elderly and osteoporotic patients. The initial management can be operative or non-operative, depending on the fracture pattern and patient factors. The development of symptomatic non-union or malunion of proximal humeral fractures is rare, and can occur with both operative and non-operative treatment of the acute fracture. The non-union rate following proximal humeral fractures has been reported to be from 1 to 20 % in the literature [1–3]. A recent systematic review of non-operative management of proximal humerus fractures revealed a radiographic union rate of 98 % [1]. Malunions are much more common with a 13 % rate of varus malunion reported in the same study. However, malunions are frequently asymptomatic or well-tolerated especially in the elderly, a low demand population that typically suffers from these injuries. Similar rates of non-union and malunion have been reported with operative management of proximal humerus fractures [4]
Dissociation of serum prolactin response to sequential thyrotropin-releasing hormone and chlorpromazine stimulation in patients with primary empty sella syndrome

The presence of galactorrhea and/or hyperprolactinemia in patients with the primary empty sella syndrome (PESS) has been proposed to be of hypothalamic etiology. To further elucidate this possible mechanism, sequential testing of 19 subjects with PESS with 500 μ g thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), followed by the injection of 0.7mg/kg chlorpromazine (CPZ) 150minutes later, was compared with results obtained in 6 patients with idiopathic galactorrhea (IG) and 3 normal adult women in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. The thyroid-stimulating hormone and prolactin (PRL) response to TRH was similar in all three groups. The mean maximal increase of serum PRL following CPZ, however, was 16.1±18.5ng/ml (standard deviation) in the PESS group, whereas the mean maximal PRL response was 68.6±40.9ng/ml in subjects with IG and 67.7±48.1ng/ml in the seven normal women. The impaired responsiveness of CPZ in the PESS group was significant ( P
Effects of some drugs on electrical activity of the isolated colon of the cat.

We examined the effects of drugs on frequency and duration of the electric slow wave and on the occurrence of spike bursts in the circular muscle of the cat colon. Electrical potentials from glass pore electrodes were recorded simultaneously from six sites along the mesenteric border of an isolated preparation of the whole colon of the cat in vitro. In the untreated colon, slow wave frequency was slower proximally than distally; slow wave duration was longer and more variable proximally than distally. Cholinergic agonists prolonged slow wave duration and increased the incidence of accompanying spike bursts, but either slightly reduced or had no effect on slow wave frequency. These effects were antagonized by atropine. Norepinephrine and epinephrine in low concentrations raised the incidence of spikes, and either reduced slow wave frequency slightly or had no effect. Epinephrine also prolonged slow wave duration. At higher concentrations, these drugs inhibited spike activity. The excitation of spikes at lower concentration was opposed by phenoxybenzamine; the suppression of spike bursts by higher concentrations was opposed by both propranolol and phenoxybenzamine. Isoproterenol diminished slow wave frequency slightly, reduced slow wave duration, and suppressed spike activity. These effects were opposed by propranolol. Serotonin increased slow wave duration, enhanced spike activity, and reduced slow wave frequency slightly. These effects were opposed by methysergide. Morphine prolonged slow waves and enhanced spikes, and slightly reduced frequency. Ouabain prolonged slow wave duration, enhanced spike activity, and slightly reduced frequency at low concentrations. Higher concentrations diminished amplitude of slow waves. Nicotine and dimethylphenylpiperazinium iodide had no effect on slow wave duration and frequency, and left spike activity unchanged. The results indicate that the frequency and duration of the colon slow wave and the incidence of spike bursts are labile and can be changed by a variety of autonomic agents and other drugs. An increased slow wave duration accompanies an increase of spike bursts, representing excitation of contractions. Slow wave frequency is affected much less. Stimulation of muscarinic receptors excites this muscle. Adrenergic α receptors are excitatory, adrenergic β receptors are inhibitory.
Chemical and functional properties of metal chelators that mobilize copper to elicit fungal killing of Cryptococcus neoformans

A panel of iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) chelators was screened for growth inhibitory activity against the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Select bidentate metal-binding ligands containing mixed O,S or O,N donor atoms were identified as agents that induce cell killing in a Cu-dependent manner. Conversely, structurally similar ligands with O,O donor atoms did not inhibit C. neoformans growth regardless of Cu status. Studies of Cu(II) and Cu(I) binding affinity, lipophilicity, and growth recovery assays of Cu-import deficient cells identified lipophilicity of thermodynamically stable CuIIL2 complexes as the best predictor of antifungal activity. These same complexes induce cellular hyperaccumulation of Zn and Fe in addition to Cu. The results described here present the utility of appropriate metal-binding ligands as potential antifungal agents that manipulate cellular metal balance as an antimicrobial strategy.
In Good Times but Not in Bad: The Role of Managerial Discretion in Moderating the Stakeholder Management and Financial Performance Relationship

We examine the role of managers in controlling the positive impact of stakeholder management (SM) on firm financial performance (FP) in the long term. We develop and test competing hypotheses on whether managers act as “good citizens” or engage in “self-dealing” when allowed greater discretion. We test our assertions using dynamic panel data analysis of a sample of 806 U.S. public firms operating in 34 industries over 5 years (2005–2009). Our results indicate a nuanced influence of managerial discretion contexts on the SM-FP relationship. We infer that given more latitude in decision making, as long as the “going is good” managers act as good citizens, but otherwise they revert to managerial self-dealing. In light of our results, firms designing governance mechanisms to encourage managers to balance the needs of both shareholders and stakeholders must remain cognizant of contextual contingencies.
Performance Interference of Memory Thrashing in Virtualized Cloud Environments: A Study of Consolidated n-Tier Applications

Modern datacenters employ server virtualization and consolidation to reduce the cost of operation and to maximize profit. However, interference among consolidated virtual machines (VMs) has barred mission-critical applications due to unpredictable performance. Through extensive measurements of RUBBoS n-tier benchmark, we found a major source of performance unpredictability: the memory thrashing caused by VM consolidation can reduce the system throughput by 46% although memory was not over-committed. On a physical host with 4 consolidated VMs, we observed two distinct operational modes during a typical RUBBoS benchmark experiment. Over the first half of run-time session we found frequent CPU IOwait causing very long response time requests even though the system is under read-only CPU intensive workload, however, the latter half showed no such CPU abnormalities (IOwait). Using ElbaLens - a lightweight tracing tool, we conducted fine-grain analyses at time granularities as short as 50ms and found that the abnormal IOwait is caused by transient memory thrashing among consolidated VMs. The abnormal IOwait induces queue overflows that propagate through the entire n-tier system, resulting in very long response time requests due to frequent TCP retransmissions. We provide three practical techniques such as VM migration, memory reallocation, soft resource reallocation and show that they can mitigate the effects of performance interference among consolidated VMs.
NLRP3 inflammasome: activation, regulation, and role in diseases

Inflammation functions as a protective response to microbial invasion or harmful stimuli; however, uncontrolled inflammation can result in tissue damage and disease. The NLRP3 inflammasome, which is a cytosolic protein complex formed by the NOD-like receptor family member NLRP3, can trigger the maturation and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and IL-18, thereby promoting the initiation and progression of inflammation. The NLRP3 inflammasome senses both microbial invasion and “danger signal”, and plays an important role in several major human inflammatory diseases, thereby attracting much attention in the recent years. Here, we briefly review the current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the activation and regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and discuss the potential of the NLRP3 inflammasome as a target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.
Deep learning analytics for diagnostic support of breast cancer disease management

Breast cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of cancer death among women. Mammogram is the standard of care for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. The American College of Radiology developed the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) lexicon to standardize mammographic reporting to assess cancer risk and facilitate biopsy decision-making. However, because substantial inter-observer variability remains in the application of the BI-RADS lexicon, including inappropriate term usage and missing data, current biopsy decision-making accuracy using the unstructured free text or semi-structured reports varies greatly. Hence, incorporating novel and accurate technique into breast cancer decision-making data is critical. Here, we combined natural language processing and deep learning methods to develop an analytic model that targets well-characterized and defined specific breast suspicious patient subgroups rather than a broad heterogeneous group for diagnostic support of breast cancer management.
Creating a Culture of Collaboration: A Brief History of Academic Neurosurgery in Washington, DC

Clinical neurosurgery has been practiced in the US capital for just over 100 years. As former residents and fellows of Drs. Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy moved to the region, hospitals at Georgetown and George Washington Universities became early adopters of this new surgical discipline. Later academic neurosurgery programs were established at the National Institutes of Health, Walter Reed Medical Center, and Children's National Medical Center. Neurosurgical pioneers at these institutions developed new technologies and diagnostic procedures which continue to inform our current practice. In addition, continued collaboration between the multiple training sites in Washington, DC has uniquely enriched our residents' training experience.
Coupled UHF Micromechanical Ring Resonators With Schottky Transducers

In this letter, we present ultra-high frequency coupled ring resonators realized in a suspended AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. The piezoelectric transducers consist of back-to-back nickel (Ni) Schottky diodes deposited on a 20-nm-thick AlGaN layer and a floating 2-D electron gas (2-DEG) sheet at the AlGaN/GaN interface. The dispersion characteristics of symmetric and anti-symmetric Lamb waves in ring resonators are characterized. Higher order resonance harmonics are targeted with very high mechanical quality factors ( $Q\text{s}$ ) through optimized design of the coupling beam. Such a scheme minimizes the acoustic energy leakage to the substrate, and thus increases anchor $Q$ . We report on a high-order breathing resonance mode at 900.7 MHz with very high mechanical $Q$ of 8350 measured at room temperature and ambient pressure, achieving a record high frequency $\times Q$ value of $7.5\times 10^{12}$ . [2017-0064]
A Software Application for Mining and Presenting Relevant Cancer Clinical Trials per Cancer Mutation.

ClinicalTrials.org is a popular portal which physicians use to find clinical trials for their patients. However, the current setup of ClinicalTrials.org makes it difficult for oncologists to locate clinical trials for patients based on mutational status. We present CTMine, a system that mines ClinicalTrials.org for clinical trials per cancer mutation and displays the trials in a user-friendly Web application. The system currently lists clinical trials for 6 common genes (ALK, BRAF, ERBB2, EGFR, KIT, and KRAS). The current machine learning model used to identify relevant clinical trials focusing on the above gene mutations had an average 88% precision/recall. As part of this analysis, we compared human versus machine and found that oncologists were unable to reach a consensus on whether a clinical trial mined by CTMine was “relevant” per gene mutation, a finding that highlights an important topic which deems future exploration.
La Redifinición de la Puertorriqueñidad a través de la Fotografía en La Llegada de José Luis González

Desde el momento de su aparicion, en la Francia de 1839, la fotografia fue incorporada en diferentes discursos, como el cientifico, el militar y el educativo. Se subrayo como la nueva tecnica fotografica permitia obtener documentos exactos y veraces. La fotografia proporcionaba la ilusion de la exactitud y de transmitir el objeto de estudio tal cual. Por su lealtad a la verdad y su supuesta objetividad la fotografia se convirtio en el aspecto esencial de la exploracion y la definicion de las posesiones coloniales de grandes imperios del siglo XIX. Era una herramienta indispensable en la empresa de delimitar y domesticar los territorios coloniales con el fin de poseerlos. En Picturing Empire James Ryan explica que “the invention and development of photography (from 1839) concurred with the extraordinary expansion of Britain’s overseas Empire. […] An indispensable record of the progress and achievements of Empire was provided by photography […]” (11). Ademas, era una manera eficaz, explica Ryan, de tasar y catalogar las diferentes razas en las colonias nuevas. Las fotografias movilizaban, reforzaban y a veces contradecian conceptos sobre la alteridad racial y cultural mantenidos en la metropoli.
Paternal Incarceration and Children’s Social-Emotional Functioning at Age Nine: Why Fathers’ Violence Matters

ABSTRACTResearch documents the consequences of parental incarceration for children’s well-being, and studies have begun to explore heterogeneity in parental incarceration’s influence on child outcomes. This study investigates the effect of paternal incarceration on children’s social competence. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal study of new parents in urban areas, I examine (1) the effect of recent paternal incarceration on multiple measures of children’s social-emotional functioning, including children’s social competence, and (2) whether fathers’ violence against mothers and children weakens the effect of recent paternal incarceration on children’s social-emotional functioning. The results from propensity score and multivariate regression analyses show that recent paternal incarceration is detrimental to children’s social-emotional functioning, in general. However, for some indicators of children’s social-emotional functioning, the effects of recent paternal ...
Developing certificate-based projects for web security classes

Increasing number of applications are using the Internet to exchange data, varying from online chatting to credit card numbers and other sensitive information. Accompanying the widespread use of inter-networks is the ubiquitous problem of malicious attacks at the applications and the underlying networks. Data transmitted without proper protection are subject to unauthorized access and tampering. To fortify an application against attacks, it is important to integrate proper security measures. In this paper we present web security projects utilizing certificate-based mechanisms to secure web applications. The projects involve imitating attacks and protecting resources from those attacks. The projects involve the use of security technologies such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Digital certificates, and HTTPS (Secure HyperText Transport Protocol) for securing communication channels. By integrating the projects into web development courses, instructors may provide practical exercises that help students to acquire real-life knowledge of how these attacks are performed and how the control measures work.
Contracts and Equivalences

When Justice Holmes reminds us that the earliest forms of contract in common law are covenant and debt, we want to be aware that, of these, debt is the elemental form.1 The covenant, related to the promise under seal after the Norman invasion, is a distinct kind of promise. It represents, as sign, evidence and fact, which are themselves the outcome of a preparatory legal procedure. Debt, that is, the history of the action of debt in law, is more ancient and nearly universal throughout legal systems. It is tied to the doctrine of consideration, and, as is well known, consideration was rarely if ever required for contracts under seal. Consideration, in layman’s terms, is equivalent to the proof of the existence of a contract. Proof takes a number of forms, but each of these forms may be regarded as a variation in the act of attesting to an agreement of quid pro quo.2
Two-Level Methods for Blood Flow Simulation

We consider two-level Newton-Krylov-Schwarz algorithms for blood flow in arteries, which is a computationally difficult and practically important application area [6, 8]. In particular, the similar densities of blood and artery wall make the coupling between fluid and structure strong in both directions, so that partitioned or iterative procedures have difficulties due to the added-mass effect [4]. Instead of a partitioned procedure, we adopt a monolithic computational approach, coupling fluid to structure in one large system that is solved all at once. This tight coupling allows for robustness to parameters and makes our method immune to the added-mass effect. The resulting system is difficult to solve, but we show here that it can be solved efficiently with effective preconditioning strategies specifically designed for parallel computing.
The Evolution of Healthcare Infrastructure

Infrastructure is like Air: you need it all the time but only notice when it is broken. Today, healthcare infrastructure is broken, so everyone notices. Tomorrow, healthcare infrastructure could be working again. But only if a radical transformation takes place in measuring and managing healthcare. This book is about that transformation, what is needed and how to achieve it.
Dynamic Replication Methods and Synthetics

In this chapter dynamic replication is traditionally discussed within a theoretical framework. It works “exactly” only in continuous time, where continuous, infinitesimal rebalancing of the replicating portfolio is possible. This exactness in replication may quickly disappear with transaction costs, jumps in asset prices, and other complications. In discrete time, dynamic replication can be regarded as an approximation. Yet, even when it does not lead to the exact replication of assets, dynamic replication is an essential tool for a financial engineer. On the other hand the synthetic constructions are static in the sense that the replicating portfolio does not need any adjustments until the target instrument has matured or expired. As time passed, the fair value of the synthetic and the value of the target instrument have moved in an identical fashion. Static replication was best done using cash flow diagrams and has resulted in contractual equations with constant weights.
Identity Sorting and Political Compromise

In this article, I explore the relationship between sorting and the value that individuals assign to compromise. Analyzing four separate, nationally-representative surveys from 2007 to 2016, I show...
DETERMINISTIC CONTROL OF UNCERTAIN SYSTEMS1

Mathematical models embodied in dynamical systems contain uncertain elements due to modelling imperfections (parameter uncertainties) and external disturbances (input uncertainties). Taking a deterministic point of view, controllers are proposed which assure stable behavior. When the bounds of the uncertain elements are known, the proposed controllers are of the feedback type, utilizing only information about uncertainty bounds. When these bounds are themselves uncertain, adaptive controllers are put forward; these utilize dynamic adaption of the control parameters. The use of these controls is illustrated by examples.
Emerging Roles for Polycomb-Group Proteins in Stem Cells and Cancer

Polycomb-group (PcG) complexes are multiprotein, evolutionarily conserved epigenetic machineries that regulate stem cell fate decisions and development, and are also implicated in cancer and other maladies. The PcG machinery can be divided into two major complexes: Polycomb repressive complex 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2). Traditionally, PcG complexes have been associated with maintenance of gene repression mainly via histone-modifying activities. However, during the last years, increasing evidence indicates that the PcG complexes can also positively regulate gene transcription and modify non-histone substrates in multiple biological processes, cellular stages, and cancers. In this review, we will illustrate recent findings in PcG-mediated gene regulation, with special focus on the recently described non-classical functions of PcG complexes in stem cells and cancer.
Michael Harrington: An American Original

Michael Harrington (1928-1989) was an important voice for democratic socialism in the United States. His book on The Other America is often credited for sparking the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations’ focus on the plight of America’s poor. He was also an early supporter and then passionate critic of the Students for Democratic Society, a prominent New Left organization active in the 1960s and 1970s, and played a role in the 1963 March on Washington alongside his colleague Bayard Rustin. Harrington’s forged his philosophy and spirit of social activism while engaged Dorothy Day’s “Catholic Worker” movement, and in many ways personifies the left perspective within U.S. Catholicism. After an introduction by NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman, Professor Estreicher offers lunch remarks on the evolution and impact of this American original.
Partitioning of iron and plutonium to exopolymeric substances and intracellular biopolymers: A comparison study between the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi and the diatom Skeletonema costatum

Abstract Iron (Fe), a micronutrient for algal growth, and plutonium (Pu), an anthropogenic radionuclide , share some common features. This includes similar oceanic distributions when different input modes are taken into account, as well as their chemical behavior, such as a high affinity to natural organic matter (NOM). The NOM produced by various phytoplankton communities can potentially influence Fe cycling in the ocean, and likely also influence the transport behavior of Pu. We conducted laboratory incubation experiments using the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi and the diatom Skeletonema costatum, in the presence of 59Fe and 238 Pu as radiotracers, in order to differentiate Fe and Pu uptake by extracellular exopolymeric substances (EPS) and intracellular biopolymers . The Fe and Pu distributions in select organic compound classes produced by these two types of phytoplankton, including proteins, total carbohydrates (TCHO) and uronic acids (URA), were compared. Our results indicated that most of the Fe and Pu (>95%) were found concentrated in E. huxleyi-derived non-attached EPS, while much less ( intracellular biopolymers > outer cell covering (i.e., frustule). In fact, over 50% of the Fe was concentrated in S. costatum -derived attached EPS and intracellular biopolymers. The diatom derived Fe-EPS complexes were more hydrophobic, with stronger tendency to aggregate in seawater . Fe binding to biopolymers in both E. huxleyi and S. costatum cultures was related to URA concentrations, but the overall distribution of URA between these two phytoplankton species was different (e.g., high intracellular abundance of URA in S. costatum but low intracellular URA abundance in E. huxleyi). Our findings suggest that the presence of URA on cellular surfaces of S. costatum (i.e., attached EPS) and its high intracellular fraction could be an indicator for Fe transport from the surrounding seawater to the diatom cells. However, for the coccolithophore E. huxleyi, Fe was not efficiently taken up during its growth. Instead, the more hydrophilic non-attached EPS (i.e., low protein/TCHO ratio) produced by E. huxleyi could have stabilized Fe in the colloidal form as Fe-EPS complexes. Similar partitioning behavior of Fe and Pu suggests that Pu isotopes can potentially serve as a tracer for Fe biogeochemistry in the ocean.