cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Results and Predictors of Early and Late Outcome of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Patients With Severely Depressed Left Ventricular Function

Background Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a well-accepted therapeutic approach in patients with symptomatic multivessel coronary artery disease and severely depressed left ventricular function. However, the potential impact of off-pump CABG in this group of patients remains unknown. In addition, there are only scarce data regarding long-term survival and its predictors in this patient population. Methods We retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data of 2,725 consecutive patients (mean age, 65 ± 11 years; 843 (31%) female) undergoing CABG between January 1998 and December 2005 (ejection fraction [EF] ≤ 0.30; n=495, 18%). Outcome measures included hospital mortality, major complications, and long-term survival. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors of hospital mortality and late survival. Subgroup analysis for patients with EF less than or equal to 0.30 undergoing conventional CABG (n = 424, 86%) versus off-pump CABG (n = 71, 14%) was performed. Results Hospital mortality was 1.8% (EF ≤ 0.30, 3.6%; EF > 0.30, 1.4%; p = 0.002). Off-pump CABG did not have an impact on operative mortality (on-pump, 4%; off-pump, 3%; p = 0.509). Ejection fraction of 0.30 or less was not an independent risk factor of hospital mortality but predicted respiratory failure (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3) and sepsis (OR, 1.4). Long-term survival was significantly decreased in patients with EF of 0.30 or less: 1-year and 5-year survival 88% ± 1.5% and 75% ± 2.2% versus 96% ± 0.4% and 81% ± 1.2%, respectively ( p = 0.001). Reoperation (OR, 6.9), peripheral vascular disease (OR, 3.2), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 3.0), congestive heart failure (OR, 2.7), and female sex (OR, 2.1) were independent predictors of long-term survival. Conclusions Excellent results after CABG can be expected in patients with EF of 0.30 or less, with minimal increase in mortality and acceptable postoperative morbidity. Long-term survival remains limited, but recent results are substantially better than historical reports. Careful preoperative patient selection and perioperative management are essential in these patients undergoing CABG.
Fast T2-weighted imaging by PSIF at 0.2 T for interventional MRI

Rapid T2 weighted (T2W) images would facilitate physicians being able to distinguish normal tissues, vessels, tumors, and thermal lesions from therapeutic devices throughout interventional MRI procedures commonly performed in open low-field scanners (e.g., 0.2 T). Conventional diagnostic MRI techniques have not been successful at low-field strength for fast T2W imaging during the guidance phase of interventional MRI (I-MRI) procedures. FISP and true-FISP methods yield T1/T2-weighted images and do not always provide sufficient contrast for device guidance or lesion assessment. As such, a variant of PSIF (a gradient reversed form of FISP) which collects the T2-weighted spin echo of the SSFP signal was developed and implemented at 0.2 T for use in I-MRI procedures. The sequence has a balanced readout gradient to reduce motion sensitivity. Asymmetric sampling toward the end of the TR cycle reduces T2* decay of the spin echo component in the SSFP signal. The sequence gives one image in 5–7 s in vivo with adequate SNR and T2 contrast for interventional applications. Patient studies showed that the PSIF sequence variant demarcates many tumors not detectable by either FISP or true-FISP. Results from animal experiments suggested that it has potential to monitor thermal lesions during interstitial thermal ablation procedures. Magn Reson Med 42:335–344, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Fitness Determinations in Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

[Abstract] Fitness is defined as the overall replicative ability. Testing whether a mutation (or combination of mutations) has an effect on fitness often relays on determining virus production as a surrogate measurement. However, viruses do not usually replicate in a void, and evolutionary speaking, it is key to determine replicative ability compared to other viruses, e.g. the relative fitness. John Holland developed a method for vesicular stomatitis virus based on the use of a neutral genetic marker that allows to distinguish two competitors and to measure accurately the relative ratio between the two during competition (Holland et al., 1991). The marker is a mutation in the external G glycoprotein that has no effect on the virus other than conferring resistance to a monoclonal antibody, I1. To measure fitness a marked test strain is mixed with a reference unmarked strain and the mixture is allowed to infect a cell monolayer. Ratios before and after competition are measured by plaque assay in the presence and absence of I1 antibody, and changes in ratio give the fitness value.
Davidson on Skepticism: How not to Respond to the Skeptic

In his defense of a coherence theory of truth and knowledge, Donald Davidson insists that (i) we must take the objects of a belief to be the causes of that belief, and (ii) given the nature of beliefs, most of our beliefs are veridical. As result, a response to skepticism is provided. If most of our beliefs turn out to be true, global skepticism is ultimately incoherent. In this paper, I argue that, despite the many attractions that a coherence theory has, a response to skepticism is not among them. After distinguishing three forms of skepticism (global skepticism, Pyrrhonianskepticism and lottery skepticism), I argue that none of them is affected by Davidson’s strategy.
Immunosuppression for the Prevention and Treatment of BOS

Over the past 3 decades, lung transplantation has evolved into a life-saving procedure for patients with end-stage lung disease. During this time, further development of biologic agents and newer immunosuppressive agents has continued to improve outcomes after transplantation. Although there is variability among centers regarding specific immunosuppressive medications, the overall approach to immunosuppressive regimens in lung transplantation is quite uniform and consists of a triple-drug immunosuppressive regimen that includes a calcineurin inhibitor, an antimetabolite, and corticosteroids (CS), with or without a biological agent as induction therapy. However, the discovery and continued development of new immunosuppressive agents that target novel immune pathways provide alternate therapeutic options for lung recipients with progressive decline in pulmonary function. The current goal of immunosuppression is to maintain allograft viability by preventing acute and chronic rejection while decreasing toxicities associated with immunosuppression. This chapter will review the current approach to immunosuppressive medications that are used in the maintenance of allograft stability and the prevention and treatment of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS).
Framing the Distributional Effects of the Bush Tax Cuts

In this article he explains how the distributional analysis of the income tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration depends on one's choice of analytical framework. Under the framework preferred by the administration - which compares percentage reductions in income tax liabilities of taxpayers at different income levels - the tax cuts have been mildly progressive. If the focus is shifted, however, to the percentage increases in after-tax incomes attributable to the cuts, the cuts appear regressive. Even greater regressivity appears if the focus is on the distribution of raw dollars of tax cuts. Under the most comprehensive analysis of all - which considers the net effect of tax reductions and spending cuts necessitated by the tax reductions - recent legislation again appears to favor the rich at the expense of other taxpayers. After the discussion of analytical frameworks, the article considers some particular distributional aspects of recent tax legislation, relating to the alternative minimum tax, Social Security taxes, and the increasing inequality in the distribution of pretax income. It concludes with some speculation as to why the public has been so accepting of tax cuts skewed in favor of the rich.
Abstract 4037: Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage and Delayed Cerebral Ischemia

Introduction: We have previously shown that early impairments in dynamic cerebral autoregulation are strongly associated with subsequent development of angiographic cerebral vasospasm. While angiographic cerebral vasospasm is associated with delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), the relationship between cerebral autoregulation and DCI has not been previously investigated. Our study is designed to specifically test the relationship between early changes in dynamic cerebral autoregulation and subsequent development of DCI. Methods: Thirty-nine consecutive patients with acute non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and adequate transcranial Doppler windows, presenting within 24 hours of symptom onset, have been prospectively studied so far. Daily 5-minute measures of continuous beat-to-beat bilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) flow velocity and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) recordings were obtained on days 1-10. Transfer function analysis of spontaneous MAP and MCA mean flow velocity (MFV) oscillations were performed in the very low (0.03-0.07 Hz), low (0.07-0.15 Hz), and high (0.15-0.3 Hz) frequency ranges. Non contrast head CTs were reviewed by a neurologist and neuroradiologist blinded to the autoregulatory and angiographic data. Infarctions present within 6 weeks after SAH, which could not be attributed to instrumentation or peri-op strokes, were identified as DCI. Results: Patients with DCI had significantly higher Hunt and Hess (H&H) scores (median=4 vs 3, p Conclusion: Our preliminary data show that dynamic cerebral autoregulation, as measured by transfer function phase in the autoregulatory frequency range, is significantly impaired in the early days after SAH and that this early impairment is associated with the development of DCI. We are continuing to collect data on additional patients with SAH to confirm our findings in a larger cohort. Impairments in dynamic cerebral in the early days post SAH may be reliable predictors for identifying patients at higher risk of delayed cerebral ischemia.
Conflicts of interest in American health care: are HMOs the solution or the problem?

This chapter discusses physicians’ conflicts of interest and the conflicts of interest of insurers. It examines the role of HMOs and managed care in regulating the physicians’ conflicts of interest. It also shows that HMOs and managed care can create new conflicts of interest. Furthermore, insurers themselves can have conflicts of interest which limit their ability to effectively regulate certain physicians’ conflicts of interest. Therefore, managed care can be both part of the solution and the source of new problems.
The Influence of Spring Snow Depth on White-Tailed Ptarmigan Breeding Success in the Sierra Nevada

The relationship between spring snow depth and breeding success of an introduced population of White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus altipetens) in the Sierra Nevada, California, was studied from 1982 through 1987. Yearly spring snow depth varied from 50.8 cm to 424.2 cm. Hatch dates were later in years of deep snow (P < 0.05) but brood size showed no relation to snow depth. Nesting success, chick survival, and brood success (all of which contribute to breeding success) were negatively correlated with snow depth as was breeding success (P < 0.05). The number of paired ptarmigan in the study area varied from 22 (in 1987) to 46 in 1985 which was the year with the least snow; however, no significant relationship existed between breeding numbers and snow depth. Successful reproduction of White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Sierra Nevada appears to be strongly affected by snow, potentially due to its influence on the availability of resources such as nest sites, food, and cover.
Subgroups of Holomorphs of Groups

1. C. W. Barnes, Remarks on the Bessel polynomials, this MONTHLY, 80 (1973) 1034-1040. 2. I. Bendixson, Sur les Racines d'une Equation Fondamentale, Acta Math., 25 (1902) 359-365. 3. G. Birkhoff and R. S. Varga, Discretization errors for well-set Cauchy problems. I, J. Maths. Phys., 44 (1965) 1-23. 4. K. Docev, On generalized Bessel polynomials, Bulgar. Akad. Nauk. Izv. Mat. Inst., 6 (1962) 89-94. 5. B. L. Ehle, On Pade approximations to the exponential function and A-stable methods for the numerical solution of initial value problems, Doctoral Thesis, University of Waterloo, 1969. 6. E. Grosswald, On some algebraic properties of the Bessel polynomials, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 71 (1951) 197-210. 7. E. A. Guillemin, Synthesis of Passive Networks, Wiley, New York, 1957. 8. M. A. Hirsch, Sur les Racines d'une Equation Fondamentale, Acta Math., 25 (1902) 367-370. 9. H. L. Krall and 0. Frink, A new class of orthogonal polynomials: the Bessel polynomials, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 65 (1949) 100-115. 10. M. Marcus and H. Minc, A Survey of Matrix Theory and Matrix Inequalities, Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, Boston, 1964. 11. M. Parodi, Sur les Polyn6mes de Bessel, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, 274 (1972) 1153-1155. 12. J. Wimp, On the zeros of a confluent hypergeometric function, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., 16 (1965) 281-283. 13. A. Wragg and C. Davies, Computation of the exponential of a matrix. I: Theoretical considerations, J. Inst. Maths. Applics., 11 (1973) 369-375.
Bur1/Bur2 and the Ctk Complex in Yeast: The Split Personality of Mammalian P-TEFb

Eukaryotic organisms possess a host of factors that regulate transcriptional elongation. In higher eukaryotes, the transcription factor P-TEFb not only regulates phosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain, but it also inhibits the action of transcriptional repressors and is required for the association of several elongation factors with the transcribing polymerase. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the cyclin dependent kinases Bur1/Bur2 and Ctk complex (Ctk1, 2 and 3) are also able to impact several aspects of transcription. Together, these two kinase complexes appear to functionally reconstitute the activity of P-TEFb in yeast. Recent findings regarding the role of these kinases in histone tail modifications and transcriptional regulation is briefly reviewed below.
Expression changes of β-catenin in hepatoma cells transfected with p120ctn 3A

Purpose To observe the expression changes of the β-catenin in hepatoma cells transfected with p120ctn 3A and to provide experimental evidence for possible gene-therapy through this methodology. Methods The p120ctn isoform 3A was stably transfected in BEL-7404 human hepatoma cells and then the effects of β-catenin subcellular localization was investigated by immunoblotting and confocal microscopy. Cell adhesion, cell migration and proliferation were also studied. Results It is found that the p120ctn reduced to some extent the β-catenin expression at nucleus and that its membrane expression and association with E-cadherin increased. Cell adhesiveness was increased but its proliferation and mobility were decreased. Conclusions The results indicate that transfection of p120ctn isoform 3A can change the malignant features of the BEL-7404 human hepatoma cells, and it is a possibly effective channel to intervene the β-catenin oncogene expression in the nucleus.
Pharmacology of Intravenous Sedatives and Opioids in Critically Ill Patients

This article summarizes the pharmacologic principles necessary to rationally understand and use sedatives and opioids for the treatment of agitation, delirium, and pain relief in critically ill patients. Benzodiazepines, barbiturates, ketamine, etomidate, propofol, and neuroleptics are all reviewed in detail. In addition, a rational approach to the use of opioid analgesics is presented.
Quantify? or, Wanna Cry? Integrating Methods Training in the IR Classroom

Can quantitative methods training be successfully fused with content courses? With the continuing rise of “Big Data,” familiarity with quantitative research methods is an increasingly necessary skill set in the workplace. This article provides an in-depth “how-to” guide and framework for implementing methods training into content courses. In this program, students (in both lower and upper division courses) carry out dataset construction, along with data analysis, using the R, R commander, and Gretl statistical programs. Tips are provided for addressing issues that instructors and students may face. Finally, discussions and reflections from the course instructor and representative students suggest that integrating quantitative methods training into topical courses can provide students with a greater appreciation and understanding of social scientific research, along with providing them with a toolkit of skills that can be expanded upon and assist them in the job market.
Adjuvant Radiation Improves Survival in Older Women Following Breast-Conserving Surgery for Estrogen Receptor-Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract Purpose Published prospective trials have questioned the role of post-lumpectomy radiotherapy in older women with early-stage, estrogen receptor–positive (ER + ) breast cancer. As the population with ER − tumors may be at greater risk for relapse, particularly given that endocrine therapy is not effective, we hypothesize the addition of radiation would be of benefit in patients age ≥ 70. Methods and Materials The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was queried from 1998 to 2011 for patients age ≥ 70 years receiving breast-conserving surgery for T1, ER − invasive ductal carcinoma. Patients were separated into 2 cohorts: those treated with and without adjuvant radiotherapy. Chi-square analysis, unpaired t test and Kaplan-Meier log-rank were used to compare patient and tumor characteristics as well as overall and cancer-specific survival between the cohorts. Results Overall, 3685 patients received radiation and 1493 patients received lumpectomy alone. Patients treated with adjuvant radiation were younger (median age 76 vs. 78 years, P P P Conclusions This analysis of the SEER database demonstrates that women ages 70 and older treated with lumpectomy and radiotherapy for ER − , early-stage breast cancer have improved overall survival and breast cancer–specific survival compared with patients treated with lumpectomy alone. This information may help in the decision-making process for this patient population.
Uncanny Sums and Products May Prompt “Wise Choices”: Semantic Misalignment and Numerical Judgments

Automatized arithmetic can interfere with numerical judgments, and semantic misalignment may diminish this interference. We gave 92 adults two numerical priming tasks that involved semantic misalignment. We found that misalignment either facilitated or reversed arithmetic interference effects, depending on misalignment type. On our number matching task, digit pairs (as primes for sums) appeared with nouns that were either categorically aligned and concrete (e.g., pigs, goats), categorically misaligned and concrete (e.g., eels, webs), or categorically misaligned concrete and intangible (e.g., goats, tactics). Next, participants were asked whether a target digit matched either member of the previously presented digit pair. Participants were slower to reject sum vs. neutral targets on aligned/concrete and misaligned/concrete trials, but unexpectedly slower to reject neutral versus sum targets on misaligned/concrete-intangible trials. Our sentence verification task also elicited unexpected facilitation effects. Participants read a cue sentence that contained two digits, then evaluated whether a subsequent target statement was true or false. When target statements included the product of the two preceding digits, this inhibited accepting correct targets and facilitated rejecting incorrect targets, although only when semantic context did not support arithmetic. These novel findings identify a potentially facilitative role of arithmetic in semantically misaligned contexts and highlight the complex role of contextual factors in numerical processing.
Ultrasonic Reverberation Clutter Suppression Using Multiphase Apodization With Cross Correlation

Despite numerous recent advances in medical ultrasound imaging, reverberation clutter from near-field anatomical structures, such as the abdominal wall, ribs, and tissue layers, is one of the major sources of ultrasound image quality degradation. Reverberation clutter signals are undesirable echoes, which arise as a result of multiple reflections of acoustic waves between the boundaries of these structures, and cause fill-in to lower image contrast. In order to mitigate the undesirable reverberation clutter effects, we present, in this paper, a new beamforming technique called multiphase apodization with cross correlation (MPAX), which is an improved version of our previous technique, dual apodization with cross correlation (DAX). While DAX uses a single pair of complementary amplitude apodizations, MPAX utilizes multiple pairs of complementary sinusoidal phase apodizations to intentionally introduce grating lobes from which an improved weighting matrix can be produced to effectively suppress reverberation clutter. Our experimental sponge phantom and preliminary in vivo results from human subjects presented in this paper suggest that MPAX is a highly effective technique in suppressing reverberation clutter and has great potential for producing high contrast ultrasound images for more accurate diagnosis in clinics.
India’s Initial WTO Disputes—An Analysis in Retrospect

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the WTO and its dispute settlement mechanism, the authors consider it opportune to examine some of these initial disputes involving India with the benefit of hindsight. In this chapter we assess the extent to which these disputes have had an impact on India’s process of internal reform, on India continuing to open up its import markets and gain greater market access abroad, as well as on the positions adopted by India in more recent WTO disputes and negotiations.
The NLRP3 inflammasome in pathogenic particle and fibre-associated lung inflammation and diseases.

The concept of the inflammasome, a macromolecular complex sensing cell stress or danger signals and initiating inflammation, was first introduced approximately a decade ago. Priming and activation of these intracellular protein platforms trigger the maturation of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines, most notably, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18, to promulgate innate immune defenses. Although classically studied in models of gout, Type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, the importance and mechanisms of action of inflammasome priming and activation have recently been elucidated in cells of the respiratory tract where they modulate the responses to a number of inhaled pathogenic particles and fibres. Most notably, inflammasome activation appears to regulate the balance between tissue repair and inflammation after inhalation of pathogenic pollutants such as asbestos, crystalline silica (CS), and airborne particulate matter (PM). Different types of fibres and particles may have distinct mechanisms of inflammasome interaction and outcome. This review summarizes the structure and function of inflammasomes, the interplay between various chemokines and cytokines and cell types of the lung and pleura after inflammasome activation, and the events leading to the development of non-malignant (allergic airway disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asbestosis, silicosis) and malignant (mesothelioma, lung cancer) diseases by pathogenic particulates. In addition, it emphasizes the importance of communication between cells of the immune system, target cells of these diseases, and components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in regulation of inflammasome-mediated events.
SOIAS: dynamically variable threshold SOI with active substrate

This paper describes a low voltage, silicon on insulator, active substrate (SOIAS) technology which addresses the problems of increased leakage currents in high performance, low voltage circuits. The threshold voltage is dynamically variable through the application of a voltage to an insulated back gate for high performance and low leakage.
Scaling Up Success for English Language Learners in Charter Schools: Exploring the Role of Charter School Authorizers

The population of English language learners (ELLs) and the number of charter school students have both increased rapidly over the past two decades, but no existing research has examined the role th...
Consistent low-contrast detectability for variable patient sizes and corresponding dose in abdominal CT.

Purpose For CT dose optimization, one needs to address two important questions. The first is how various lesion specific detection tasks demand different patient doses for the same patient. The second is how the variation of the patient size requires different patient doses for the same lesion detection task. In this study, we attempted to find quantitative solutions to these questions by utilizing a wide range of abdomen phantoms. Methods A simplified model with a monochromatic fan-beam passing through a bowtie filter and an elliptical object was proposed. The model relates the minimum detectable contrast (MDC) to the size specific dose by power index of -1/2 and to the lesion size by power index of -1 with a patient size dependence function (PSDF) as the proportionality factor. The experimental validation was performed using seven abdomen phantoms (lateral ranges: 10 cm – 39 cm) scanned with helical modes at various dose levels on two 64-slice scanners (Siemens mCT and GE HD 750). Noise images were obtained using subtractions among adjacent slices in the images reconstructed with filtered back-projection. It was verified that the mean pixel value distributions from various small regions (1.8 mm – 10 mm) are Gaussian, thus the concept of the statistically defined minimum detectable contrast (SD-MDC), defined as distribution's standard deviation multiplied by 3.29, can be applied. The impact of the helical pitch and the high-definition (HD) acquisition was also studied. Results The experimental data from all phantoms were found to fit the power law well (R2 ≥ 0.983). The PSDF was found to be scanner dependent- modeled with a Gaussian amplifier (R2 = 0.983) for one manufacturer and with an exponential function for the other (R2 = 0.990). The MDC relationship was not found to be impacted by different pitches or by HD acquisition. The results were used to find the size specific doses and corresponding acquisition techniques required by consistent low contrast detectability for variable patient sizes. Visual comparisons on the low contrast insert images demonstrated that the derived techniques delivered consistent low contrast detectability. Conclusions We have modeled and verified the relationship of the minimum detectable contrast to the patient size, the patient dose and the lesion size from the images reconstructed with filtered backprojection. The findings can be useful for task-specific dose modulation on abdomen CT studies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PET for pets: PET/CT imaging of veterinary patients

1028 Learning Objectives To introduce veterinary PET/CT scanning for patient care as well as clinical research. Hybrid PET/CT-imaging using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose has been rapidly evolving as a clinical modality in human patients in recent years and has been used in pre-clinical research. PET/CT is also feasible in a veterinary setting, but its use in veterinary patient care and clinical research is in its infancy. We have recently developed PET/CT services meant to operate in parallel with other imaging modalities, for the purpose of providing human and veterinary patient care and research imaging in an integrated way. This exhibit will serve as an introduction to the concept of veterinary PET/CT imaging, including established processes and our recent experiences, with the overall goals being to highlight the steps needed to perform it appropriately and its potential applications. We will also introduce our current veterinary PET/CT protocols including the dynamic imaging of animals
Slip at Molten Polymer-Polymer Interfaces

Neutron reflectometry is used to measure the rate of interdiffusion between bilayer samples of deuterated and hydrogenated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films with the polymerpolymer interface near the native oxide surface of a silicon wafer. In this work, the effects of a favorable substrate interaction and the molecular weight of each polymer layer are determined. Both the film thickness and the molecular weight of the lower d-PMMA layer are kept constant with a thickness of approximately one radii of gyration (Rg) of the polymer and the molecular weight of the upper hydrogenated layer is varied. Earlier experiments show that the mobility of the polymer chains within Rg of the substrate is much lower than that of the bulk, suggesting that the mobility of surface-pinned polymers controls the interdiffusion rate. In this study, we find that the rate of interdiffusion is strongly dependent upon the molecular weight of the top layer.
Construction and Management of Stigma Based on a Voluntary‐Achieved Status

Previous research on stigma has focused on ascribed personal attributes that are either impossible or difficult to change. Less is known, however, about how people voluntarily join stigmatized groups and manage stigma based on an achieved status. This paper sought to answer this question by focusing on stigma management strategies used by a Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ) gaming organization in a southeastern university. Data were collected through four months of fieldwork and twelve interviews with HvZ gamers and moderators. Results showed that gamers' decision to join the group reflected their effort to strengthen a sense of moral worth. Furthermore, in order to keep receiving this benefit and minimize potential costs, they used three strategies to manage their stigma based on the voluntary, achieved status: (1) by “othering” stereotypical members; (2) by challenging the stereotype; and (3) by reappropriating the stigma. As they employed these strategies, gamers drew on social discourses available in the organizational and life course context.
Giant Cell Tumor

Although sometimes described as a benign tumor, malignant tranformation occurs independent of radiation. This tumor is often treated because of major bone destruction which could be devastating.Eighty-three percent of radiation oncologists in the national survey would treat giant cell tumors if they are threatening.
Law Student Debt: Changes from 2008 to 2012 and Implications for the Future

In 2012, graduate students borrowed more than $35 billion in loans to finance their education. Like some other fields of study, tuition and fees have for Law school has increased precipitously in the past few decades. Using the most recent data available from the National Post-secondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), this study examined changes in education debt for Law students from 2008 to 2012, with Law graduates reporting a mean cumulative debt of almost $122,000 in 2012. Increasing education debt may discourage students from even considering enrollment and/or may motivate degree completers to seek more lucrative jobs after graduation simply to pay off loans. Additional implications are discussed.
Patient and Graft Survival: Biliary Complications after Liver Transplantation.

Background Biliary complications (BCs) affect up to to 34% of liver transplant recipients and are a major source of morbidity and cost. This is a 13-year review of BCs after liver transplantation (LT) at a tertiary care center. Study Design We conducted a single-center retrospective review of our prospective database to assess BCs in adult (aged 18 years or older) liver transplant recipients during a 13-year period (2002 to 2014). Biliary complications were divided into 3 subgroups: leak alone (L), stricture alone (S), and both leak and strictures (LS). Controls (no BCs) were used for comparison. Results There were 1,041 adult LTs performed during the study period; BCs developed in 239 (23%) of these patients: 55 (23%) L, 148 (62%) S, and 36 (15%) LS. One hundred and two (43%) were early (less than 30 d). Surgical revision was required in 42 cases (17%) (30 L, 10 LS, and 2 S), while the remaining 197 (83%) were managed nonsurgically (25 L, 26 LS, and 146 S), with a mean of 4.2 interventions/patient. One-, 3-, and 5-year overall patient and graft survival was significantly reduced in patients with bile leaks (84%, 71%, and 68% and 76%, 67%, and 64%, respectively) compared with controls (90%, 84%, and 78% and 88%, 81%, and 76%, respectively [p 2, and T-tubes as independent BC predictors. Conclusions Biliary complications after LT can significantly decrease patient and graft survival rates. Careful donor and recipient selection and attention to anastomotic technique can reduce BCs and improve outcomes.
Library space assessment methods: perspectives of new information professionals

Purpose The research explores the emerging specialty of learning space assessment with a focus on how new information professionals represented by graduate students in an academic libraries course defined quality criteria for library spaces and how they approached designing and conducting a one-shot multi-site space assessment project. Design/methodology/approach The instructor-investigator adopted a diachronic collective case study strategy, using documents generated by six cohorts over three academic years. The data included 180 online discussion posts, 97 individual site assessments and 32 group project reports. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to identify patterns and trends in student behaviour. Findings The analysis revealed a strong trend among students for creating their own evaluation frameworks in preference to reusing existing professional tools in their current form; the proportion of students who developed their own criteria or combined existing criteria in new ways shifted from 40 per cent to 80 per cent in three years. Their approaches demonstrated willingness and ability to engage in independent and creative thinking, and readiness to explore interdisciplinary and international perspectives on space. They also displayed a commitment to accessible, flexible and adaptable user-centred design for active, collaborative learning and to bringing a user perspective to their observations. Originality/value The focus on student-librarians provides a unique forward-looking perspective on the desirable qualities of next-generation learning spaces in academic libraries. The study documents an unprecedented range of established and novel space evaluation frameworks and tools informed by different professional disciplines. The results should be of interest to library and information science (LIS) educators and practitioners.
Deficiency of dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase due to two mutant alleles (E340K and G101del): Analysis of a family and prenatal testing

A male child with metabolic acidosis was diagnosed as having dihydrolipoamide dehydrognase E3 deficiency. E3 activity of the proband's cultured fibroblasts and blood lymphocytes was 3-9% of normal, while in the parent's . lymphocytes it was about 60% of normal. The proband's pyruvate dehydrogenase complex PDC and the a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex activities from cultured skin fibroblasts were 12% and 6% of normal, respectively. PDC activity in the parents cultured fibroblasts was 25-31% of normal. Western and Northern blot analyses showed similar quantities of E3 protein and mRNA in cultured fibroblasts from the proband and his parents. DNA sequencing of cloned full-length E3 cDNAs, from the proband and the parents, showed two mutations on different alleles of proband were inherited from the . parents. One mutation is a three nucleotide AGG deletion, from the mother, resulting in deletion of Gly101 in the FAD . binding domain. The other mutation is a nucleotide substitution G to A , from the father, leading to substitution of Lys for Glu340 in the central domain. The same deletion mutation was found in E3 cDNA from a chorionic villus sample and cultured fibroblasts obtained from the mother's subsequent offspring. This finding illustrates the possiblilty of successful prenatal diagnosis of E3 deficiency utilizing mutations characterized prior to initiation of pregnancy. q 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.
Faculty–Student Collaborative Human Rights Research

Danielle MacCartney discusses the use of collaborative faculty–student research to extend the reach of HRE while promoting faculty scholarship and deepening student learning and engagement. Supervising independent student research or collaborating with students on human rights research holds many challenges, particularly for educators carrying heavy teaching loads or strict disciplinary expectations for research productivity. As a professor at a teaching-focused university, MacCartney argues that pairing her research with teaching is advantageous for herself, as well as for her undergraduates. Using her experiences creating a student research conference and research-driven study abroad experiences to countries such as Ghana and Thailand, MacCartney considers collaborative faculty–student research as a tool for effective HRE, the benefits of collaboration for students and faculty, and the role that academic administration can play to help overcome some of the challenges of engaging in collaborative faculty–student research.
GPF: A GPU-based Design to Achieve ~100 μs Scheduling for 5G NR

5G New Radio (NR) is designed to operate under a broad range of frequency bands and support new applications with ultra-low latency. To support its diverse operating conditions, a set of different OFDM numerologies has been defined in the standards body. Under this numerology, it is necessary to perform scheduling with a time resolution of ∼100 μs. This requirement poses a new challenge that does not exist in LTE and cannot be supported by any existing LTE schedulers. In this paper, we present the design of GPF -- a GPU-based proportional fair (PF) scheduler that can meet the ∼100 μs time requirement. The key ideas include decomposing the scheduling problem into a large number of small and independent sub-problems and selecting a subset of sub-problems from the most promising search space to fit into a GPU. By implementing GPF on an off-the-shelf Nvidia Quadro P6000 GPU, we show that GPF is able to achieve near-optimal performance while meeting the ∼100 $\mathrmμs time requirement. GPF represents the first successful design of a GPU-based PF scheduler that can meet the new time requirement in NR.
After Years of Erosion, Mid-Size and Some Small Employers Added Health Coverage in 2016

This EBRI Notes article examines the percentage of employers offering health insurance from 2008–2016 to better understand how health insurance offer rates may have been affected by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), the Great Recession of 2007–2009, and the subsequent economic recovery. The data come from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey–Insurance Component (MEPS-IC). Many employers were expected to drop workplace health insurance with the introduction of the ACA. Since 2008, the percentage of coverage-offering employers with 1,000 or more employees has been consistently near or above 99 percent—it reached 99.8 percent in 2016—but smaller firms have shown a steady, though not precipitous, decline in offer rates. For the smallest employers studied, those with fewer than 10 employees, the offer rate declined from 22.7 percent in 2015 to 21.7 percent in 2016. But over the last year, perhaps with the strengthening economy and lower unemployment rates, there is evidence of what may be a rebound in employment-based coverage offer rates among firms with 10-999 employees. More specifically, from 2015-2016: For employers with 10–24 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 48.9 percent to 49.4 percent. For employers with 25–99 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 73.5 percent to 74.6 percent. For employers with 100-999 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 95.1 percent to 96.3 percent. For these employers, this trend actually began a year earlier, when the offer rate increased from 92.5 percent in 2014 to 95.1 percent in 2015. This paper discusses the context for the recent rebound and suggests factors that may influence future trends.
Second-Generation Nanosponges: Nanonetworks in Controlled Dimensions via Backbone Ketoxime and Alkoxyamine Cross-Links for Controlled Release

We report the synthesis of nanoparticle (NP) networks in a variety of sizes through the controlled cross-linking reaction of ketone groups integrated into linear polyester backbones and a difunctionalized aminooxy ethylene cross-linker. In contrast to previous work forming nanonetworks from linear components with pendant reactive groups, the ketone functional group is part of the polymer backbone accomplished by copolymerization of 2-oxepane-1,5-dione (OPD) monomers together with δ-valerolactone. This process precludes postpolymerization reactions, modifying pendant functional groups in the polyester component, and provides direct access to the cross-linking entity. Reactions with bis(aminooxy)poly(ethylene glycol) form networks in a rapidly proceeding process with linear precursors containing 4%, 8%, and 14% of OPD, in a ratio of two aminooxy groups per keto group. The concentration of the OPD unit in solution is another critical factor contributing to the controlled production of these particles as inve...
Doubly Marginalized: Conditions and Media Representations of Black Transgender Women in the United States with a Brief Focus on Jamaica

Drawing from multiple disciplines such as anthropology, cultural studies, music studies, and women’s studies, this chapter explores the history and conditions of black transgender people living in the United States and will slightly compare the homophobia and/or transphobia they face with those confronting their counterparts in Jamaica. Examples used in this chapter will also come from a few music lyrics expressing the kind of abuse to which black transgender and homosexual individuals are exposed in these two nations. In addition, the chapter draws attention to the importance of the narratives of black transgender people which, like those of Shontae and RuPaul, reflect the harsh experiences these individuals must overcome in their lives. Racism is a major factor in these experiences since black transgender people in the United States especially face multiple challenges stemming not only from their skin color but also from their gender and sexuality.
Pediatric urgent care education: a survey-based needs assessment

There is an increasing number of pediatric urgent care centers that are largely staffed by pediatric residency graduates. It is unclear if pediatric residency adequately prepares a physician to fully and successfully provide care in an urgent care setting. The goal of this study is to conduct an assessment of urgent care directors’ perceptions of recent pediatric residency graduates’ preparedness to successfully provide pediatric urgent care after graduation. This is a 2018 cross-sectional survey of all pediatric emergency medicine division chiefs in the United States and all pediatric urgent care directors who are members of the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care. An electronic survey was distributed consisting of eight multiple choice questions regarding perceived preparedness and knowledge gaps of recent pediatric residency graduates for independent practice in urgent care. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze results and qualitative data were analyzed via an inductive thematic approach. Forty-two percent (65/154) of surveys were completed. No respondents believed that a recent pediatric residency graduate would be adequately prepared to independently practice in a pediatric urgent care and 81% of respondents recommended some additional training. Most respondents described this training as important (46%) or very important (35%). Most respondents recommended between 6 months and 1 year as the appropriate amount of time to achieve competency. Despite the growing number pediatric residency graduates staffing pediatric urgent care centers, the majority of surveyed pediatric emergency medicine division chiefs and pediatric urgent care directors do not think that pediatric residency adequately prepares graduates to successfully provide urgent care to pediatric patients. We recommend further exploration of gaps in knowledge of recent pediatric residency graduates as a next step towards developing systems for further training for pediatric residency graduates to gain competency in urgent care management.
Symplectic neural networks in Taylor series form for Hamiltonian systems

Abstract We propose an effective and light-weight learning algorithm, Symplectic Taylor Neural Networks (Taylor-nets), to conduct continuous, long-term predictions of a complex Hamiltonian dynamic system based on sparse, short-term observations. At the heart of our algorithm is a novel neural network architecture consisting of two sub-networks. Both are embedded with terms in the form of Taylor series expansion designed with symmetric structure. The key mechanism underpinning our infrastructure is the strong expressiveness and special symmetric property of the Taylor series expansion, which naturally accommodate the numerical fitting process of the gradients of the Hamiltonian with respect to the generalized coordinates as well as preserve its symplectic structure. We further incorporate a fourth-order symplectic integrator in conjunction with neural ODEs' framework into our Taylor-net architecture to learn the continuous-time evolution of the target systems while simultaneously preserving their symplectic structures. We demonstrated the efficacy of our Taylor-net in predicting a broad spectrum of Hamiltonian dynamic systems, including the pendulum, the Lotka–Volterra, the Kepler, and the Henon–Heiles systems. Our model exhibits unique computational merits by outperforming previous methods to a great extent regarding the prediction accuracy, the convergence rate, and the robustness despite using extremely small training data with a short training period (6000 times shorter than the predicting period), small sample sizes, and no intermediate data to train the networks.
Conduit and Gatekeeper: Practices and Contestations of Language Within Informal and Formal Education in Senegal

One of the most prominent questions facing educators in postcolonial African societies today is how to maintain and draw upon linguistic identities and Indigenous knowledges in multilingual environments. This chapter takes an even broader perspective stepping away from the classroom and into communities to explore the fundamental connection between Indigenous education forms and language knowledge bases across the African continent. This chapter presents case studies within the present-day state of Senegal to demonstrate how language knowledge bases influenced educational processes from precolonial times to present. The diversity of these case studies allows for exploration of various linguistic landscapes and pre-/postcolonial experiences. This chapter holds as its premise that Indigenous education systems have long-held influence within communities, both prior to the rise of colonial and Islamic forms of education took root and since. Language provides an unparalleled vehicle for structuring and articulating epistemology, ways of knowing, and learning processes.