cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Finite Element Model for Failure Study of Two-Dimensional Triaxially Braided Composite

A new three-dimensional finite element model of two-dimensional triaxially braided composites is presented in this paper. This meso-scale modeling technique is used to examine and predict the deformation and damage observed in tests of straight sided specimens. A unit cell based approach is used to take into account the braiding architecture as well as the mechanical properties of the fiber tows, the matrix and the fiber tow-matrix interface. A 0 deg / plus or minus 60 deg. braiding configuration has been investigated by conducting static finite element analyses. Failure initiation and progressive degradation has been simulated in the fiber tows by use of the Hashin failure criteria and a damage evolution law. The fiber tow-matrix interface was modeled by using a cohesive zone approach to capture any fiber-matrix debonding. By comparing the analytical results to those obtained experimentally, the applicability of the developed model was assessed and the failure process was investigated.
The stroke pharmacopeia : Promising experimental therapies

The development of promising acute stroke treatments is the fruit of the growing appreciation for the complex biochemical processes within neuronal tissue that commence immediately after the onset of ischemia. These biochemical cascades can be modified either by direct pharmacologic mitigation or by rapid restoration of perfusion and oxygenation. With both interventions, the ischemic tissue can remain viable and regain neurologic function rather than progress to infarction. Today the two major pharmacologic approaches to stroke therapy are neuroprotectants and thrombolytics. Neuroprotectants enable neuronal tissues to tolerate periods of minimal perfusion better, whereas thrombolytics facilitate reperfusion by disrupting the fresh thrombus. Important classes of neuroprotectants include calcium channel antagonists, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, benzothiazoles, and free radical scavengers. Pro-urokinase is a potentially important investigational thrombolytic. Ancrod, a defibrinogenating agent, is also currently being evaluated in acute stroke.
Optimal cluster selection based on Fisher class separability measure

In this paper, a novel hierarchical clustering algorithm is proposed, where the number of clusters is optimally determined according to the Fisher class separability measure. The clustering algorithm consists of two phases: (1) Generation of sub-clusters based on the similarity metric; (2) Merging of sub-clusters based on the Fisher class separability measure. The proximity matrices are constructed. Each subcluster comprises patterns close to each other in proximity metric. The trellis diagram is used for searching of subclusters. Connections between consecutive layers in the trellis diagram are weighted by the similarity metric. The threshold for the merge of sub-clusters is numerically designed according to Fisher class separability measure. The proposed algorithm can pre-process the data for the supervised learning. It also can be applied for the optimal determination of basis functions for radial basis function (RBF) networks.
Method of multiple scales and identification of nonlinear structuraldynamic systems

A procedure has been developed t o identify the parameters of a nonlinear structural dynamic system with a single degree of freedom. A cubic nonlinearity has been assumed for purposes of illustration. In comparison t o the direct identification procedures, that depend on (a) either the availability of data on all four variables, namely, velocity, acceleration, displacement and the input t o the system or (b) the formulation of a numerical algorithm that can be used a t each iterative step, the developed procedure requires the data on only one of the field variables. The input t o the system is also treated a s an unknown. The results from the perturbation identification procedure have been compared with the results from two direct identification procedures.
Automating ITSM Incident Management Process

Service desks are used by customers to report IT issues in enterprise systems. Most of these service requests are resolved by level-1 persons (service desk attendants) by providing information/quick-fix solutions to customers. For each service request, level- 1 personnel identify important keywords and see if the incoming request is similar to any historic incident. Otherwise, an incident ticket is created and, with other related information, forwarded to incident's subject matter expert (SME). Incident management process is used for managing the life cycle of all incidents. An organization spends lots of resources to keep its IT resources incident free and, therefore, timely resolution of incoming incident is required to attain that objective. Currently, the incident management process is largely manual, error prone and time consuming. In this paper, we use information integration techniques and machine learning to automate various processes in the incident management workflow. We give a method for correlating the incoming incident with configuration items (CIs) stored in Configuration management database (CMDB). Such a correlation can be used for correctly routing the incident to SMEs, incident investigation and root cause analysis. In our technique, we discover relevant CIs by exploiting the structured and unstructured information available in the incident ticket. We present efficient algorithm which gives more than 70% improvement in accuracy of identifying the failing component by efficiently browsing relationships among CIs.
Structural basis for Smoothened receptor modulation and chemoresistance to anticancer drugs.

Antagonists of Smoothened, a class F GPCR involved in the hedgehog pathway, have been developed to treat some cancers. Here Wang et al. report structures of Smoothened in complex with antagonists and an agonist, and describe how mutations may result in resistance to anti-Smoothened treatment.
WCRT analysis for a uniprocessor with a unified prioritized cache

In this paper, we investigate the problem of inter-task cache interference in preemptive multi-tasking real-time systems. A prioritized cache is used to reduce cache conflicts among tasks by partitioning the cache. Cache partitions are assigned to tasks according to their priorities. We extend a known tool, SYMTA, in order to estimate the Worst Case Execution Time of tasks executing on a uniprocessor with a unified prioritized L1 cache. Furthermore, we apply a formal timing analysis approach to estimate the Worst Case Response Time of tasks using the prioritized cache. The prioritized cache is compared to a conventional set associative cache of the same size. Our experiments show that the WCRT estimate can be reduced up to 50% when a prioritized cache is used.
A Bayesian modeling approach for determining productivity regimes and their characteristics

Oscillations in the environment result in substantial alterations to population dynamics as evidenced by time series of abundance and recruitment. Depending on the reference timescale, these oscillations are referred to as regime shifts. Regime shifts may occur on very short time scales and are often undetected for several years. Consequently, tools that allow the estimation of regime-specific population dynamic parameters may be of great value. Using a hidden Markov model to describe the unobserved regime state, we develop methods to infer regime-specific parameters for a commonly used model of density-dependent recruitment in addition to identifying the unobserved regime state. We apply the method to recruitment data for Japanese sardine (Sardinops melanostictus).
Hardware-software co-verification in an undergraduate laboratory

Skills in hardware-software co-design are quickly becoming critical to product development in high-technology computer industries. Systems-on-silicon typically include a considerable amount of software as well as custom hardware and are increasingly difficult to develop using traditional techniques. To satisfy a growing demand in industry, students in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science should be introduced to concepts of hardware-software co-design at the undergraduate level. This paper examines a new laboratory at the University of Missouri-Rolla in which students in Electrical and Computer Engineering are exposed to modern system design concepts through the use of hardware-software co-simulation. Key tools used in the course including a hardware prototype consisting of an 8051 microcontroller and a field programmable gate array, and a VHDL model of the prototype are discussed.
RIDGE REGRESSION INVERSION APPLIED TO CRUSTAL RESISTIVITY SOUNDING DATA FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Ridge regression inversion has been used to test the applicability of various one‐dimensional crustal models to the interpretation of deep Schlumberger sounding data from southern Africa (Van Zijl and Joubert, 1975). Four main models were investigated: a simple three‐layered earth, a layered earth with a transition zone exhibiting a linear decrease in log resistivity with depth, a similar earth with the transition zone determined by cubic splines, and a model having exponential resistivity behavior at depth. The last model corresponds to temperature‐dependent semiconduction through solid mineral grains (Brace, 1971). It was found that all of these models are capable of fitting the sounding data from southwestern Africa, while all except the semiconduction model fit the data from southeastern Africa. One is, thereby, immediately alerted to the problem of lack of resolution in Schlumberger sounding data where geologic control is not available. A major with the inversion of Schlumberger data alone is that ac...
α-Isothiocyanatoacrylic Esters

Abstract Although allylic thiocyanates undergo a facile thermal (3,3) isomerization to form the more stable allylic isothiocyanates1, this transformation has played a surprisingly minor role in organic synthesis. We have found that α,β-unsaturated esters (1) can be converted to α-isothiocyanatoacrylic esters (2) via an allylic (3,3) thiocyanate isomerization.
CHANGES IN BENTHIC ALGAL ATTRIBUTES DURING SALT MARSH RESTORATION

To assess attributes of algal assemblages as indicators of salt marsh restoration, we chose eight pairs of salt marshes in North Carolina, USA, each pair with one restored marsh (from 1 to 28 years old) and a nearby existing salt marsh. Algae on both Spartina alterniflora and sediments (sediment algae) were collected in each marsh during spring and summer 1998 for assaying algal biomass (dry mass (DM), ash free dry mass (AFDM), chl a content, algal biovolume), algal species composition and diversity, and gross primary production. An attribute restoration ratio was calculated by dividing attribute values from each restored marsh by values from a paired reference marsh. Controlling for regional variation in reference marshes substantially increased precision in relations between attributes and the increase in age of restored marshes. The organic matter restoration ratio of sediments increased with age of restored marshes in both spring and summer. The algal biomass restoration ratios of epiphytes, calculated with algal biovolume and chl a, increased with restored marsh age in summer but not during spring. Biomass of sediment algae was not related to marsh age. The species diversity of sediment algae in summer showed an asymptotic relationship with sediment nutrient concentration. The similarity of diatom species composition between paired restored and reference sites increased with age of restored marshes during spring and summer. Primary production by epiphytic and sediment algae in summer showed site-specific changes and did not change consistently with marsh age. Algal biomass, algal diversity, and diatom species composition during summer were positively correlated with sediment nitrogen and phosphorus concentration. We concluded that other structural and functional development of restored wetlands, especially nutrient storage in sediments, regulates algal species composition and algal biomass accumulation, which can be used to evaluate salt marsh restoration.
Annotating longitudinal clinical narratives for de-identification

Display Omitted De-identification shared task for longitudinal clinical records.Protected Health Information in records replaced with realistic surrogates.First corpus of its kind available for distribution.Used for Track 1 of the 2014 i2b2/UTHealth NLP shared task. The 2014 i2b2/UTHealth natural language processing shared task featured a track focused on the de-identification of longitudinal medical records. For this track, we de-identified a set of 1304 longitudinal medical records describing 296 patients. This corpus was de-identified under a broad interpretation of the HIPAA guidelines using double-annotation followed by arbitration, rounds of sanity checking, and proof reading. The average token-based F1 measure for the annotators compared to the gold standard was 0.927. The resulting annotations were used both to de-identify the data and to set the gold standard for the de-identification track of the 2014 i2b2/UTHealth shared task. All annotated private health information were replaced with realistic surrogates automatically and then read over and corrected manually. The resulting corpus is the first of its kind made available for de-identification research. This corpus was first used for the 2014 i2b2/UTHealth shared task, during which the systems achieved a mean F-measure of 0.872 and a maximum F-measure of 0.964 using entity-based micro-averaged evaluations.
Fracture Mechanics of Interfaces

Interfacial bond properties between fibers and matrix are investigated in the present paper. A fiber pull-out test, which is commonly used to study the interfacial bond strength of fiber-matrix system, is analyzed. The bonding between fibers and matrix is assumed to be perfect before the pull-out load is applied. Griffith energy criterion is used to govern the crack propagation at the interfacial region when debonding begins. A constant frictional shear stress, which may be a result of existence of surface roughness at the interface, is assumed to exist at the wake of debonding region. Based on this mechanism, the total pull-out load can be decomposed as: resistance offered by the interfacial bond and resistance offered by the frictional stress. The proposed approach is applicable to any elastic fiber and matrix system, but only the results of steel fibers and reinforcing bar in a cementitious matrix are reported. The proposed model correctly predicts several experimental trends of bond strengths reported by other researchers. Furthermore, theoretical predictions of progressive failure of bond cracks are found to be in good agreement with a holographic interferometry study on a pull-out test.
Negative Compliance as an Organizational Response to Legal Pressures: The Case of Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Law

Scholars have conceptualized the interaction between law and organizations as a game of tug-of-war in which organizations try to protect those internal operations regulated by law. This suggests that organizations are likely to substantively comply if symbolic compliance alone is insufficient. This conceptualization, however, cannot capture a radical response: organizations may stop interpreting legal demands or protecting their internal operations and simply leave the game. In this case, they change their internal operations in order to disengage from the law. I term this negative compliance . In this paper, I identify conditions under which this occurs and demonstrate the unexpected consequences. Analyzing panel data on corporate responses to Japan’s equal employment opportunity law and its revision, I show that after the revision strengthened the law, firms followed one of three paths: substantive compliance (hiring more women); symbolic compliance (no change in hiring practices, effectively protecting sex segregation); or negative compliance (externalizing female labor and hiring even fewer women). I discuss the implications of negative compliance, which is likely to be an increasingly common corporate response to regulations.
Cytomegalovirus infection after autologous bone marrow transplantation with comparison to infection after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection was detected in 65 of 143 (45%) autologous bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients. CMV pneumonitis occurred in only 2% of the patients and CMV retinitis occurred in none. Infection occurred in half of the 40 initially seronegative patients and 47% of the 94 initially seropositive patients. Among initially seropositive patients, platelet recovery was slower in infected patients than in those not infected (97 v 35 days median, P = .003), and neutrophil recovery was slightly delayed in infected patients (31 days v 24 days, P = .02). Although the incidence of CMV infection was comparable in autologous and allogeneic BMT patients, CMV pneumonitis was less frequent in autologous BMT patients (2% v 12%, P less than .001). The risk for CMV pneumonitis in autologous BMT patients was comparable with that in allogeneic BMT patients without graft-v-host disease (GVHD) (2% v 6%), but significantly lower than the risk in allogeneic BMT patients with GVHD (2% v 23%, P less than .001).
Abstract 3329: A let-7 signaling pathway targets metastatic genes enriched in tumor initiating cells

Stem-like “Tumor Initiating Cells” (TICs) have been isolated from a number of tumors including breast, and they are likely involved in all aspects of tumor biology including metastasis. Recent studies have established a link between epithelial stem-like properties and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a step that leads to invasion and metastasis. Identifying key signaling pathways that regulate both tumor initiating and metastatic events could enable more accurate prognosis and reveal important mediators of the process that could serve as novel therapeutic targets. Previous studies from our laboratory and others have shown that let-7 inhibits breast tumor initiation and metastasis. Previously, we have shown that BACH1, a transcription factor that is a direct target of let-7, promotes metastasis. Using gene expression arrays to quantify transcription in BACH1 depleted cells, we show that BACH1 regulates a number of downstream targets including Bone Metastasis Signature (BMS) genes. Utilizing an approach based on experimental and clinical validation, we identify genes implicated in both tumor initiation and metastasis. Gene set analysis confirmed that the BACH1 target genes significantly correlate to the metastatic pathway including BACH1, let-7 and BMS gene expression across a set of more than 1200 primary human tumors, and, in tumors selected for a basal phenotype, the expression levels of individual BACH1 target genes can significantly stratify metastasis free survival in patients. Using FACS to sort metastatic breast cancer cell lines, we see a significant increase in the transcription levels of BACH1 regulated genes when comparing TICs to non-tumor initiating cells. Additionally, in metastatic cell lines known to be enriched in TICs, BACH1 depletion reduces the population of cells expressing cell surface markers (CD44+CD24-/lowESA+) specific to a tumor initiating phenotype. And finally, gene set enrichment analysis indicates that BACH1 and the BACH1 target genes are enriched in human and mouse primary breast TICs relative to non-initiating tumor cells. Taken together, these results suggest that let-7 regulates a signaling cascade involving BACH1 and BACH1 target genes that promotes both tumor initiation and metastasis. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3329. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3329
Problems in management of opportunistic fungal diseases.

Opportunistic fungal infections are now common and will become more common as a consequence of the use of various regimens of immunosuppressive therapy for a variety of diseases and because of AIDS. These infections can be broadly divided into those that take advantage of a neutrophil defect (e.g., candidiasis, aspergillosis, and mucormycosis) and those that take advantage of a T cell mononuclear phagocyte defect (e.g., cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, and coccidioidomycosis). Problems in diagnosis have been apparent since these infections were first recognized. The usual clinical specimens are often not revealing, and attempts to develop special serologic and biochemical tests have been made for years, but progress has been slow. Problems in treatment stem first from a lack of an early diagnosis and second from a lack of drugs that are effective and relatively nontoxic. It is difficult to evaluate new drugs if we cannot make accurate diagnoses; this difficulty is compounded by the low rate of autopsies in the academic hospitals where such studies are conducted.
Neuronal activity and the expression of hypothalamic oxytocin and vasopressin in social versus cocaine conditioning

Although drug rewards and natural rewards share neural substrates, the neuronal activation patterns and mechanisms behind the interaction between cocaine and social reward are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the conditioned place preference (CPP) in social (conspecific) vs cocaine conditioning, and the expression of central c-Fos, hypothalamic oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) in ICR mice. We found that the mice produced CPP when conditioned with unfamiliar conspecific or cocaine alone. However, the mice failed to produce CPP when the two stimuli were concurrently conditioned. Compared to conditioning with conspecific alone, the mice decreased preference for conspecific when conditioning with social vs cocaine. We observed differential expression of c-Fos-immunoreactive neurons in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, accumbens (shell and core), medial nucleus of the amygdale and the ventral pallidum when comparing the control (CK), social (SC) or cocaine conditioning (CC) group, and social vs cocaine conditioning (SCC) group. Compared to the CK group, the SC or CC group had higher OT expression in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and lower AVP expression in the PVN and supraoptic nucleus. The SCC group showed lower OT expression compared to the SC group, and higher OT and AVP expression in the PVN compared to the CC group. These results indicate that cocaine impairs social preference through competing with social reward. The differential activations of neurons within specific reward areas, and differential expression of OT and AVP are likely to play an important role in mediating the interaction between social and cocaine rewards.
Clinical observation of two different methods in treating pediatric patients with the liquid leakage of intravenous solution infusion

Objective:To study the effective method of cold dressing with magnesium sulfate solution and Pbentolamine Mesylate in treatment of children with liquid leakage of intravenous solution infusion in peripheral intravenous.Methods:60 patients who were selected from all patients with leakage in our department were divided into an experiment group and a control group randomly from Oct.2004 to Oct.2005.Cold dressing with sulfate solution and Phentolamine Mesylate were adopted in the patients of experiment group,cold dressing with only sulfate solution was adopted in the control group.Results:After observing for 1 to 2 days,an effective rate of 96.7 % was in the experiment group,and the effective rate in the control group was 80.0%.The difference between them was statistically significant (X~2=4.04,P0.05).Conclusions:Cold dressing with sulfate solution and Phentolamine Mesylate was superior to cold dressing with only magnesium sulfate solution.
Mechanism for the generation of Human Capital:A Theoretical Reflection on a Math-described Model

Human capital is a kind of capital in special form and is a result of behavioral option of a family or a person gaining its or his expected income and satisfaction through human capitalization. Human capital investment and accumulation are an activity of investment under the arrangement of the trading rules followed by the family, the market and the business contracted one another, with the rational expectation as the premise. And, therefore, the achievement of the goal of human capital investment is influenced and controlled by many factors.
Nanostructured carbon electrocatalyst supports for intermediate-temperature fuel cells: Single-walled versus multi-walled structures

Abstract It is unknown if nanostructured carbons possess the requisite electrochemical stability to be used as catalyst supports in the cathode of intermediate-temperature solid acid fuel cells (SAFCs) based on the CsH2PO4 electrolyte. To investigate this application, single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were used as supports for Pt catalysts in SAFCs operating at 250 °C. SWNH-based cathodes display greater maximum activity than their MWNT-based counterparts at a cell voltage of 0.8 V, but are unstable in the SAFC cathode as a consequence of electrochemical carbon corrosion. MWNT-based cells are resistant to this effect and capable of operation for at least 160 h at 0.6 V and 250 °C. Cells fabricated with nanostructured carbon supports are more active (52 mA cm−1 vs. 28 mA cm−1 at 0.8 V) than state-of-the-art carbon-free formulations while simultaneously displaying enhanced Pt utilization (40 mA mgPt−1 vs. 16 mA mgPt−1 at 0.8 V). These results suggest that MWNTs are a viable support material for developing stable, high-performance, low-cost air electrodes for solid-state electrochemical devices operating above 230 °C.
Odor detection thresholds in a population of older adults.

Objectives/Hypothesis To measure odor detection thresholds and associated nasal and behavioral factors in an older adult population. Study Design Cross-sectional cohort study. Methods Odor detection thresholds were obtained using an automated olfactometer on 832 participants, aged 68 to 99 (mean age = 77) years in the 21-year (2013–2016) follow-up visit of the Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study. Results The mean odor detection threshold (ODT) score was 8.2 (range = 1–13; standard deviation = 2.54), corresponding to an n-butanol concentration of slightly less than 0.03%. Older participants were significantly more likely to have lower (worse) ODT scores than younger participants (P < .001). There were no significant differences in mean ODT scores between men and women. Older age was significantly associated with worse performance in multivariable regression models, and exercising at least once per week was associated with reduced odds of having a low (≤5) ODT score. Cognitive impairment was also associated with poor performance, whereas a history of allergies or a deviated septum was associated with better performance. Conclusions Odor detection threshold scores were worse in older age groups but similar between men and women in this large population of older adults. Regular exercise was associated with better odor detection thresholds, adding to the evidence that decline in olfactory function with age may be partly preventable. Level of Evidence 3b. Laryngoscope, 127:1257–1262, 2017
Impact of Neutron Exposure on Global Gene Expression in a Human Peripheral Blood Model

The detonation of an improvised nuclear device would produce prompt radiation consisting of both photons (gamma rays) and neutrons. While much effort in recent years has gone into the development of radiation biodosimetry methods suitable for mass triage, the possible effect of neutrons on the endpoints studied has remained largely uninvestigated. We have used a novel neutron irradiator with an energy spectrum based on that 1-1.5 km from the epicenter of the Hiroshima blast to begin examining the effect of neutrons on global gene expression, and the impact this may have on the development of gene expression signatures for radiation biodosimetry. We have exposed peripheral blood from healthy human donors to 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 or 1 Gy of neutrons ex vivo using our neutron irradiator, and compared the transcriptomic response 24 h later to that resulting from sham exposure or exposure to 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 2 or 4 Gy of photons (X rays). We identified 125 genes that responded significantly to both radiation qualities as a function of dose, with the magnitude of response to neutrons generally being greater than that seen after X-ray exposure. Gene ontology analysis suggested broad involvement of the p53 signaling pathway and general DNA damage response functions across all doses of both radiation qualities. Regulation of immune response and chromatin-related functions were implicated only following the highest doses of neutrons, suggesting a physiological impact of greater DNA damage. We also identified several genes that seem to respond primarily as a function of dose, with less effect of radiation quality. We confirmed this pattern of response by quantitative real-time RT-PCR for BAX, TNFRSF10B, ITLN2 and AEN and suggest that gene expression may provide a means to differentiate between total dose and a neutron component.
Linking myofilaments to sudden cardiac death: recent advances

The major goal of this focused review is to highlight some of the recent advances and remaining open questions about how a mutation in a myofilament protein leads to an increased risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD). The link between myofilaments and SCD has been known for over 25 years, but identifying mutation carriers at risk for SCD is still a challenge and currently the only effective prevention is implantation of a defibrillator (ICD). In addition to recognized risk factors, other contributing factors need to be considered and assessed, e.g. 'microvascular dysfunction', to calibrate individual risk more accurately. Similarly, improving our understanding about the underlying mechanisms of SCD in patients with sarcomeric mutations will also allow us to design new and less invasive treatment options that will minimize risk and hopefully make implantation of an ICD unnecessary.
Comparison of Associations of DXA and CT Visceral Adipose Tissue Measures With Insulin Resistance, Lipid Levels, and Inflammatory Markers

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) measured by computed tomography (CT) is related to insulin resistance, lipids, and serum inflammatory markers. Our objective was to compare the strength of the associations of VAT measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA-VAT) and CT (CT-VAT) with insulin resistance, serum lipids, and serum markers of inflammation. For 1117 men aged 65 and older enrolled in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study, the cross-sectional associations of DXA-VAT and CT-VAT with homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (homa2ir), C-reactive protein, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were estimated with regression models and compared using a Hausman test. Adjusted for age and body mass index, DXA-VAT was moderately associated with homa2ir (effect size 0.38, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.28-0.47) and modestly associated with HDL cholesterol (DXA effect size -0.29, 95% CI: -0.38 to -0.21). These associations were significantly greater than those for CT-VAT with homa2ir (0.30, 95% CI: 0.24-0.37; p value for effect size difference 0.03) and CT-VAT with HDL cholesterol (-0.22, 95% CI: -0.29 to -0.15; p value for difference 0.005). Neither DXA-VAT nor CT-VAT was associated with C-reactive protein after adjustment for age and body mass index (DXA-VAT effect size 0.14, 95% CI: -0.04 to 0.32; CT-VAT effect size 0.08, 95% CI: -0.08 to 0.25; p value for difference 0.35). DXA-VAT has similar or greater associations with insulin resistance and HDL cholesterol as does CT-VAT in older men, confirming the concurrent validity of DXA-VAT. Investigations of how well DXA measurements of VAT predict incident cardiovascular disease events are warranted.
Basker: Parallel sparse LU factorization utilizing hierarchical parallelism and data layouts

Abstract Transient simulation in circuit simulation tools, such as SPICE and Xyce, depend on scalable and robust sparse LU factorizations for efficient numerical simulation of circuits and power grids. As the need for simulations of very large circuits grow, the prevalence of multicore architectures enable us to use shared memory parallel algorithms for such simulations. A parallel factorization is a critical component of such shared memory parallel simulations. We develop a parallel sparse factorization algorithm that can solve problems from circuit simulations efficiently, and map well to architectural features. This new factorization algorithm exposes hierarchical parallelism to accommodate irregular structure that arise in our target problems. It also uses a hierarchical two-dimensional data layout which reduces synchronization costs and maps to memory hierarchy found in multicore processors. We present an OpenMP based implementation of the parallel algorithm in a new multithreaded solver called Basker in the Trilinos framework. We present performance evaluations of Basker on the Intel SandyBridge and Xeon Phi platforms using circuit and power grid matrices taken from the University of Florida sparse matrix collection and from Xyce circuit simulation. Basker achieves a geometric mean speedup of 5.91× on CPU (16 cores) and 7.4× on Xeon Phi (32 cores) relative to state-of-the-art solver KLU. Basker outperforms Intel MKL Pardiso solver (PMKL) by as much as 30× on CPU (16 cores) and 7.5× on Xeon Phi (32 cores) for low fill-in circuit matrices. Furthermore, Basker provides 5.4× speedup on a challenging matrix sequence taken from an actual Xyce simulation.
Dispersal enhances beta diversity in nectar microbes

Dispersal is considered a key driver of beta diversity, the variation in species composition among local communities, but empirical tests remain limited. We manipulated dispersal of nectar-inhabiting bacteria and yeasts via flower-visiting animals to examine how dispersal influenced microbial beta diversity among flowers. Contrary to the prevailing view that dispersal lowers beta diversity, we found beta diversity was highest when dispersal was least limited. Our analysis suggested that this unexpected pattern might have resulted from stronger priority effects under increased dispersal. Dispersal is highly stochastic, generating variability in species arrival history and consequently the potential for community divergence via priority effects, in these and likely many other microbial, plant, and animal communities. Yet most previous experiments eliminated this possibility. We suggest that the positive effects of dispersal on beta diversity, like the one we report here, may have been greatly underappreciated.
The effect of abrupt salinity change on oxygen consumption in crab megalopae of Chincoteague Bay, USA

AbstractVariability in salinity is an environmental stressor that crab megalopae encounter as they are carried by tides and currents throughout Chincoteague Bay. We exposed blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) and fiddler crab (Uca spp.) megalopae to abrupt salinity changes from 10 to 31 ppt and measured their oxygen usage. It was hypothesized that the megalopae would cope with the changes in a manner reflective of the documented abilities and tolerances of adult crabs. It was also hypothesized that lower salinities would have a particularly detrimental effect on the megalopae reflected by both increased oxygen usage and mortality. The megalopae of both species did exhibit an increase in oxygen use at lower salinities, although the effect was more pronounced during the initial transition and decreased during acclimation. The megalopae mirrored the adult responses, with blue crab larvae consuming more oxygen per mg of wet weight at lower salinities, whereas fiddler crab larval oxygen consumption was relatively ...
Ultrasound and the Complete Urologist Part 2: Outcomes

Outcome studies help establish the benefits of tests or procedures that can change the delivery of medical care. Through this discourse, the current status of outcomes with respect to the use of ultrasound imaging for AMH as well as its general use during a routine urologic physical examination are explored. The changes in today's health care environment focus on cost reduction and outcomes that produce value in the context of patient satisfaction. The question is whether we have to wait for outcome results (that can take a lengthy period of time to achieve) before the benefits produced by ultrasound can be applied. This report reviews the literature and the role ultrasound can play in today's urologic health care environment. Supportive evidence demonstrates the value that ultrasound use brings to the urologic examining table for AMH and to daily urologic practice to the benefit of both patient and physician.
Enigmatic Desert Soil Algae

Vast expanses of arid and semiarid land characterize many areas of the world including the western United States of America (U.S.A.) and Mexico. Subject to high temperatures and limited water availability, these areas would appear to offer inhospitable habitats for living organisms, and indeed vascular plant growth is sparse compared to more temperate regions (Skujins 1995). But microbial communities are present in even the harshest environments, often forming water-stable surface soil aggregates known as cryptogamic or microbiotic crusts. Composed of bacteria, microalgae, fungi, protozoans, and lichens, crust communities contribute to the environment in many ways including: (1) soil particle formation (2) production of organic products through photosynthesis (3) nitrogen fixation and (4) nutrient cycling (Reviewed by Johansen 1993). It may well be that the most important contribution made by cryptogamic crusts is to stablizie the soil by preventing erosion.
ANTICOAGULATION WITH VITAMIN K ANTAGONISTS VERSUS ANTIPLATELET THERAPY EARLY AFTER BIOPROSTHETIC VALVE IMPLANTATION IN THE PREVENTION OF THROMBOEMBOLISM: A META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

The optimum medical therapy in the 1st 3 months after surgical bioprosthetic valve implantation (BVI) remains controversial. Current guidelines of the American College of Cardiology recommend anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKA) (level IIa) or antiplatelet (AP) using aspirin (level IIa)
Modeling Service Migration and Relocation in Mission-Critical Systems

Mission-critical information systems are commonly used in critical infrastructure assets such as the electric power grid, telecommunications networks, healthcare systems, water management systems and national defense. Damage or disruption of these systems could result in the loss of services and potentially serious societal consequences. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the essential services provided by these systems are reliable and dependable. This paper presents a modeling framework for service migration and relocation, which can dynamically transfer critical services from a compromised platform to other healthy platforms. The mechanism guarantees that vital services are continuously available despite malicious attacks and system failures. When the compromised platform has recovered, the services can be moved back to the platform. The modeling framework provides a means for studying the important factors that impact service migration and relocation, and how an assured service migration mechanism can be designed to increase confidence about the reliability of mission-critical information systems.
Neurogenic Factors in Hypertension Associated With Chronic Kidney Disease

Hypertension is very prevalent among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and it is commonly refractory to treatment. Several mechanisms contribute to hypertension in these patients, including volume expansion and activation of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system. This chapter deals with the role of the sympathetic nervous system in hypertension and CKD progression in these patients and with the mechanisms that can contribute to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, including angiotensin II, increased oxidative stress, and renalase. Finally, this chapter reviews the current role of renal denervation in the management of hypertension in these patients.
Ethical Implications: Screening for and Treatment of AIDS

(1987). Ethical Implications: Screening for and Treatment of AIDS. Health Education: Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 4-7.
Payment Innovations To Improve Diagnostic Accuracy And Reduce Diagnostic Error.

Diagnostic accuracy is essential for treatment decisions but is largely unaccounted for by payers, including in fee-for-service Medicare and proposed Alternative Payment Models (APMs). We discuss t...
The central role of disgust in disorders of food avoidance.

Background Individuals with extreme food avoidance such as Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) experience impairing physical and mental health consequences from nutrition of insufficient variety or/and quantity. Identifying mechanisms contributing to food avoidance is essential to develop effective interventions. Anxiety figures prominently in theoretical models of food avoidance; however, there is limited evidence that repeated exposures to foods increases approach behavior in ARFID. Studying disgust, and relationships between disgust and anxiety, may offer novel insights, as disgust is functionally associated with avoidance of contamination from pathogens (as may occur via ingestion) and is largely resistant to extinction. Method This exploratory, cross-sectional study included data from 1,644 adults who completed an online questionnaire. Participant responses were used to measure ARFID classification, picky eating, sensory sensitivity, disgust, and anxiety. Structural equation modeling tested a measurement model of latent disgust and anxiety factors as measured by self-reported frequency of disgust and anxiety reactions. Mediational models were used to explore causal ordering. Results A latent disgust factor was more strongly related to severity of picky eating (B ≈ 0.4) and ARFID classification (B ≈ 0.6) than the latent anxiety factor (B ≈ 0.1). Disgust partially mediated the association between anxiety and picky eating and fully mediated the association between anxiety and ARFID. Models testing the reverse causal ordering demonstrated poorer fit. Findings suggest anxiety may be associated with food avoidance in part due to increased disgust. Conclusions Disgust may play a prominent role in food avoidance. Findings may inform novel approaches to treatment.
Adaptive Immune Resistance Emerges from Tumor-Initiating Stem Cells.

Our bodies are equipped with powerful immune surveillance to clear cancerous cells as they emerge. How tumor-initiating stem cells (tSCs) that form and propagate cancers equip themselves to overcome this barrier remains poorly understood. To tackle this problem, we designed a skin cancer model for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) that can be effectively challenged by adoptive cytotoxic T cell transfer (ACT)-based immunotherapy. Using single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and lineage tracing, we found that transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-responding tSCs are superior at resisting ACT and form the root of tumor relapse. Probing mechanism, we discovered that during malignancy, tSCs selectively acquire CD80, a surface ligand previously identified on immune cells. Moreover, upon engaging cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA4), CD80-expressing tSCs directly dampen cytotoxic T cell activity. Conversely, upon CTLA4- or TGF-β-blocking immunotherapies or Cd80 ablation, tSCs become vulnerable, diminishing tumor relapse after ACT treatment. Our findings place tSCs at the crux of how immune checkpoint pathways are activated.
Expression of S100 calcium-binding protein A8 in peripheral blood of patients with preeclampsia during pregnancy:

A total of 30 late onset severe preeclampsia (LS-PE) patients and 30 early onset severe preeclampsia (ES-PE) patients were selected as Experimental group, and 30 normal pregnant were selected as Co...
Cocaine-related alterations in fronto-parietal gray matter volume correlate with trait and behavioral impulsivity.

Abstract Background Chronic cocaine use is associated with structural brain abnormalities within prefrontal regions implicated in impulsivity. Despite high levels of impulsivity among persons who use cocaine, it is not known how reductions in gray matter volume (GMV) may relate to trait and behavioral measures of impulsivity. Methods The sample included 39 active cocaine users (COC+) and 40 controls with no history of cocaine use (COC−). Participants had a brain scan on a 3 T MRI machine and completed out-of-scanner measures of trait impulsivity and delayed reward discounting. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry was used to compare GMV between COC+ and COC−. Within regions that differed between groups, voxelwise correlations were conducted to examine the relationship between GMV and impulsivity. Results In a whole-brain analysis, COC+ had broad reductions in GMV compared to COC− in bilateral frontal, parietal, occipital, and cerebellar regions. Lower GMV correlated with trait impulsivity in lateral prefrontal regions and with delayed reward discounting in medial prefrontal regions, while lower GMV correlated with both measures in the posterior parietal cortex. COC+ demonstrated significantly higher impulsivity than COC− on all measures, but the nature of the correlation with GMV was similar in both groups. Conclusions Reflecting the multi-faceted nature of impulsivity, these results show that trait and behavioral measures of impulsivity map differentially onto altered brain morphology. While the brain-behavior patterns were similar in COC+ and COC−, suggesting that impulsivity varies on a continuous spectrum, cocaine-related abnormalities in frontal-parietal brain systems may contribute to heightened impulsivity.
Comparison of Women from Georgia and Contiguous States Who Obtained Abortions in Georgia, 1994–2016

To determine trends for Georgia and contiguous state residents seeking abortions in Georgia between 1994 and 2016. We analyzed aggregate vital statistics data, collected in Georgia, on Georgia residents (n = 675,995) and contiguous state residents (Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee) (n = 76,232) obtaining abortion and delivery services in Georgia between 1994 and 2016. We examined demographic, pregnancy, and abortion characteristics using counts, ratios, and χ2 tests of proportion. Of the data analyzed, 10.1% of all abortions were for contiguous state residents. The number of abortions in Georgia for contiguous state residents increased 35.3% from 1994 to 2016 (from n = 3115 to n = 4216) while it decreased for Georgia residents by 11.1% (from n = 32,934 to n = 29,264). Contiguous state residents exhibited a higher abortion ratio (1115) compared to Georgia women (224). These populations exhibited statistically significant differences across all variables and time points. Both populations demonstrated similar trends in ethnicity, race, education, marital status, and age. However, contiguous state residents were more likely to obtain an abortion at ≥ 20 weeks gestational age (13.8%) and obtained a lower proportion of suction curettage abortions (60.0%) and a higher proportion of dilation and evacuation procedures (31.9%). They were also less likely to be primigravid. Women from neighboring states seek abortions in Georgia later in gestation and may therefore lack affordable, safe, early abortion care in their home states. Understanding trends in travel for abortion can allow providers and policymakers to better respond to the needs of patients.