cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Qualitative Analysis of Sexually Experienced Female Adolescents: Attitudes about Vaginal Health

Abstract Study Objective To explore adolescent's perceptions of vaginal health, practices, and vaginally-placed products. Design Semistructured interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed until theoretical saturation was achieved. Setting Adolescent medicine clinics in New York City. Participants Female adolescents (N = 22) who were sexually experienced, predominately Hispanic (73%, n = 16) with a mean age of 17.7 years (range, 15-20 years). Interventions None. Main Outcome Measures Interviews were used to assess perspectives on vaginal health, specific vaginal hygiene practices, and attitudes about vaginally-placed products (contraceptive rings, intrauterine devices), and proposed multipurpose technologies administered as ring or gel). The interviews were transcribed and coded for relevant themes. Results Overlapping themes included young women's view of their vagina as a space that needed to be healthy for sexual partners and future fertility. The vagina could not be presumed to be healthy and conversations about vaginal health were limited to include only specific individuals. All reported a variety of practices to maintain their vaginal health, including showering 1-5 times a day and using soaps specifically for the vagina. Attitudes about vaginally-placed products revealed concerns about the sensory experience of having a product in the vagina, safety concerns and interest in the product's objective (prevention of pregnancy or infection). Conclusion Adolescents have very specific views and practices about their vaginas. Clinicians should initiate conversations about vaginal health and hygiene with adolescents and focus on the normalcy of the vagina. Development of vaginally-placed products should focus on the sensory experience, safety, and purpose of the product.
Korean Traditional Fashion Inspires the Global Runway

Currently, a growing number of luxury fashion brands present their pre-season collections adopting Korean aboriginal fashion in textile and apparel designs. This is mainly because of the significance of South Korea as the third largest luxury market in Asia. Traditional Korean design and techniques are eco-friendly in their use of materials, processes, and design techniques. However, the sustainability of Korean aboriginal fashion has not been recognized in the global market. Global luxury brands’ recent adoption of Korean aboriginal inspirations can certainly help to create global awareness of Korean aboriginal fashion’s sustainability and aesthetics. The consumer trends seeking sustainable products and manufacturers’ enhanced production capabilities generate new opportunities for Korean fashion brands in the global market. The present case study about Korean aboriginal fashion helps to clarify the growth of Korean aboriginal fashion in the global fashion industry. This research addresses how Korean aboriginal fashion can affect sustainable fashion consumption of global consumers. Specifically, this case study has explored the adoption of Korean traditional natural materials, dyeing techniques, and design technologies as reflected in the global fashion brands’ runway collections.
Construction and Structure Determination of a Three-Dimensional DNA Crystal.

Structural DNA nanotechnology combines branched DNA junctions with sticky-ended cohesion to create self-assembling macromolecular architectures. One of the key goals of structural DNA nanotechnology is to construct three-dimensional (3D) crystalline lattices. Here we present a new DNA motif and a strategy that has led to the assembly of a 3D lattice. We have determined the X-ray crystal structures of two related constructs to 3.1 A resolution using bromine-derivatized crystals. The motif we used employs a five-nucleotide repeating sequence that weaves through a series of two-turn DNA duplexes. The duplexes are tied into a layered structure that is organized and dictated by a concert of four-arm junctions; these in turn assemble into continuous arrays facilitated by sequence-specific sticky-ended cohesion. The 3D X-ray structure of these DNA crystals holds promise for the design of new structural motifs to create programmable 3D DNA lattices with atomic spatial resolution. The two arrays differ by the use of four or six repeats of the five-nucleotide units in the repeating but statistically disordered central strand. In addition, we report a 2D rhombuslike array formed from similar components.
Secret and sacred: Contextualizing the artifacts of African-American magic and religion

Although historical archaeologists have accumulated a large amount of data regarding African-American magical and religious systems, researchers still underestimate the importance of magical and religious systems within African-American communities. In addition, archaeologists seem reluctant to interpret these data in a diachronic manner. Spiritual beliefs affected all arenas of the African-American experience including medicine, childcare, gender, family, and community relations. To properly understand African-American daily life, attention must be paid to spiritual traditions. This paper addresses the role of magical practices within African-American society and the importance of recognizing the role of gender ideologies within magical and religious practice, and proposes a diachronic model for understanding the changing relationship between magic and religion. The model, consisting of three stages of cultural change, Formative, Persisting, and Transformative, provides a means of linking the archaeological and documentary databases. Application of the model to three archaeologically well-studied regions demonstrates that, despite growing interest in the archaeological study of African-American spiritual traditions, archaeological evidence for these traditions is sparse when analyzed diachronically.
Secure and Dependable NoC-Connected Systems on an FPGA Chip

The growing reliance on intellectual properties exposes systems on chip (SoCs) to many security vulnerabilities and is raising more and more concerns. At the same time, with the quick increase in chip density and deep scaling of feature size, current billion-transistor chip designs introduce more challenges to manufacturing fault-free chips. In this paper, we propose an integrated run-time solution for both security and fault tolerance of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA)-based SoCs through digital signatures, live monitoring, adaptive routing, and partial reconfiguration supported by an in-house-developed network on chip, X-Network. Our X-Network reduces the ratio of required routers versus processing elements with better performance, and more importantly, offers more flexibility than conventional networks to facilitate fault tolerance and security designs. A multiplexed Montgomery modular multiplication architecture is used to increase the speed of the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman algorithm. The design has been implemented and tested on a Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA development board. Experimental results show that even if up to 20% of the links in the network are faulty, our reconfigurable architecture and algorithm manage to route packets around such faults, and deliver them to their destinations in a relatively low latency. Unlike conventional fault-tolerant methods that usually require resource redundancy, our design does not incur significant area or speed degradation. The resource overhead for both security and fault-tolerant features is around 10% more lookup tables.
Dynamic Community Detection with Temporal Dirichlet Process

Research of detecting dynamic communities from network stream has attracted increasingly attention recently. Some of the previous techniques employed a two-stage approach to detect communities. However, since the two-stage approaches detect communities within each epoch independently, the identified communities usually have high temporal variation. Another restriction of the previous techniques is the requirement of predefining the number of hidden communities by a fixed value or within a very narrow range. To overcome these limitations, we propose the Dynamic Stochastic Block model with Temporal Dirichlet Process, which is able to detect communities and track their evolution simultaneously from a network stream. The number of communities is automatically decided by a Recurrent Chinese Restaurant Process without human intervention. In addition, the identified communities exhibit a rich-gets-richer effect and other appealing properties. The experiment results on both simulated dataset and Flickr dataset showed the effectiveness of our proposed technique.
Estimation, Navigation and Control of Multi-Rotor Drones in an Urban Wind Field

The paper presents an on-board estimation, navigation and control architecture for multi-rotor drones flying in urban environment. It consists of adaptive algorithms to estimate vehicle's aerodynamic drag coefficients with respect to still air and the urban wind components along the flight trajectory, with guaranteed fast and reliable convergence to the true values; navigation algorithms to generate feasible trajectories between given way-points that take into account the estimated wind; and of control algorithms to track the generated trajectories as long as the vehicle retains sufficient number of functioning rotors capable of compensating for the estimated wind. All components of this on-board system are computationally effective and are intended for a real time implementation. The algorithms were tested in simulations.
On My Terms: Sharing a Story of Hypocrisy and Transformation

The 4th interviewee for the Hearing Our Elders series is Mr. Bob Zellner. Mr. Zellner's experience growing up in the segregated South underscores a commitment to stand up to obstacles and societal norms, even when to do so was life threatening. His experiences remind us of a historical time not too long ago that, to hear, one might think could never happen. And yet, witnessing his experience in the context of modern-day struggles portrayed in the civil rights movement; the 2016 Tennessee denial of service law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals; and the 2016 Orlando shooting outside a gay nightclub reminds us that the historical events of Mr. Zellner's past are not too distant from the present. The interview captures 6 themes: being nonconforming in the face of punitive measures, living a purposeful life, pushing beyond comfort zones, early experiences as resilience building, self-evaluation as a cornerstone for commitment, and giving meaning to grief. El senor Zellner crecio en una comunidad segregada del sur, y su experiencia subraya su compromiso para enfrentar obstaculos y normas sociales, aunque hacerlo pueda poner en riesgo la vida. Sus vivencias nos recuerdan un periodo historico no muy lejano que hoy podria parecer inconcebible. Y aun asi, contemplar sus experiencias en el contexto de las luchas actuales del movimiento por los derechos civiles (como la ley de 2016 en Tennessee que permitia denegar servicios a personas lesbianas, gais, bisexuales, transexuales y queer; y el tiroteo de 2016 en Orlando en un club gay) nos recuerda que los eventos historicos del pasado del senor Zellner no estan tan alejados del presente. La entrevista captura 6 temas: el inconformismo frente a medidas punitivas, vivir la vida con decision, salir de las zonas de confort, experiencias tempranas como factores de resiliencia, la autoevaluacion como cimiento del compromiso, y darle sentido al sufrimiento.
Treatment of Extranodal Marginal Zone Lymphoma and Primary Cutaneous B Cell Lymphoma with Rituximab: A Single Institution Experience.

Abstract Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma is a low grade B cell lymphoma. It comprises about 5% of all non-hodgkin's lymphoma. They typically present in the lung, thyroid, breast, lacrimal and salivary gland, orbit, and skin. Primary cutaneous B cell lymphoma is an extremely rare form of lymphoma with 3 histological variants: marginal zone, follicular, and diffuse large B cell. In general, they have a high remission rate with overall survival up to 80% at 10 years. At the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, we have seen ten such cases from July 2005 to July 2007. There is no standard treatement for either extranodal marginal zone lymphoma or primary cutaneous B cell lymphoma, but prior reports have shown long term survival with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Most institutions use radiation therapy as the main modality after excisional biopsy. There is one report by Gitelson et al (leuk lymphoma 2006) using single agent rituximab as the only modality. Out of the ten cases at our institution, six cases were primary cutaneous B cell lymphoma (4 marginal zone, 1 follicular, one diffuse large B cell), and four cases were extranodal marginal zone lymphoma. Four out of six cases of primary cutaneous B cell lymphoma and three out of four of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma was treated with single agent rituximab. Two out of the six cases of primary cutaneous B cell lymphoma and one out of four of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma was treated with radiation. Patients were given induction therapy rituximab at the dose of 375mg/m2 IV weekly x 4 weeks and maintenance therapy at 375 mg/m2 IV every two to three month interval for 8 cycles. 7 patients were given rituximab single agent. All achieved CR (100%) immediately after induction therapy at 1 month. They were also given maintenance treatment. No relapses has occured at the medium follow up of 7 month (3–24 month). Our preliminary result supports the recent report of single agent rituximab. Even though extranodal marginal zone lymphoma is a rare disorder and primary cutaneous B cell lymphoma even more rarer, we feel that a well designed prospective randomized trial would determine the role of rituximab for this disease.
Genetic characterization and antiretroviral resistance mutations among treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals in Jiaxing, China.

// Jinlei Guo 1, * , Yong Yan 1, * , Jiafeng Zhang 2, * , Jimei Ji 1 , Zhijian Ge 1 , Rui Ge 1 , Xiaofei Zhang 1 , Henghui Wang 1 , Zhongwen Chen 1 , Jianyong Luo 1 1 Jiaxing Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiaxing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jiaxing 314001, PR China 2 Institute of AIDS Control and Prevention, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310051, PR China * These authors have contributed equally in this study Correspondence to: Jianyong Luo, email: luojianyong1116@sina.com Keywords: HIV-1, treatment-naive, genotype, drug resistance, genetic diversity Received: November 20, 2016 Accepted: January 11, 2017 Published: February 16, 2017 ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to characterize HIV-1 genotypes and antiretroviral resistance mutations among treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals in Jiaxing, China. The HIV-1 partial polymerase (pol) genes in 93 of the 99 plasma samples were successfully amplified and analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the existence of five HIV-1 genotypes, of which the most prevalent genotype was CRF01_AE (38.7%), followed by CRF07_BC (34.4%), CRF08_BC (16.1%), subtype B/B’ (5.4%), and CRF55_01B (2.1%). Besides, three types of unique recombination forms (URFs) were also observed, including C/F2/A1, CRF01_AE/B, and CRF08_BC/CRF07_BC. Among 93 amplicons, 46.2% had drug resistance-associated mutations, including 23.7% for protease inhibitors (PIs) mutations, 1.1% for nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) mutations, and 20.4% for non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) mutations. Six (6.5%) out of 93 treatment-naive subjects were identified to be resistant to one or more NNRTIs, while resistance to NRTIs or PIs was not observed. Our study showed the genetic diversity of HIV-1 strains circulating in Jiaxing and a relative high proportion of antiretroviral resistance mutations among treatment-naive patients, indicating a serious challenge for HIV prevention and treatment program.
Segmenting Fiber Bundles in Diffusion Tensor Images

We consider the problem of segmenting fiber bundles in diffusion tensor images. We cast this problem as a manifold clustering problem in which different fiber bundles correspond to different submanifolds of the space of diffusion tensors. We first learn a local representation of the diffusion tensor data using a generalization of the locally linear embedding (LLE) algorithm from Euclidean to diffusion tensor data. Such a generalization exploits geometric properties of the space of symmetric positive semi-definite matrices, particularly its Riemannian metric. Then, under the assumption that different fiber bundles are physically distinct, we show that the null space of a matrix built from the local representation gives the segmentation of the fiber bundles. Our method is computationally simple, can handle large deformations of the principal direction along the fiber tracts, and performs automatic segmentation without requiring previous fiber tracking. Results on synthetic and real diffusion tensor images are also presented.
Thinking by Computers

It is hardly possible to talk about thinking by computers without saying something first about thinking by people. There are two reasons why this is so. First, the only definitions of thinking that are of any use at all are ostensive ones. We can point to a person in a certain state of activity and say, ‘Thinking is a set of processes like those now taking place in the central nervous system of that person.’ Alternatively, we can point to the statement of a problem and to its solution and say, ‘Thinking is a set of processes like those that enabled a person to produce this problem solution from this problem statement.’ I do not mean that these two definitions are necessarily equivalent, but they might serve equally well as a basis for delimiting the set of phenomena we wish to understand when we investigate thinking.
Isolation of Campylobacter Species from Stool Samples by Use of a Filtration Method: Assessment from a United States-Based Population.

ABSTRACT Fecal samples submitted to our clinical microbiology laboratory from patients in the Philadelphia region were prospectively analyzed for Campylobacter species other than C. jejuni and C. coli using a filtration method and microaerobic conditions with increased H 2 concentrations. Of 225 samples tested, 13 (5.8%) yielded Campylobacter species, with frequent isolation of C. concisus. The majority of Campylobacter species were not clinically significant. Additional studies in U.S. populations are warranted.
Na+ influx via Orai1 inhibits intracellular ATP-induced mTORC2 signaling to disrupt CD4 T cell gene expression and differentiation

T cell effector functions require sustained calcium influx. However, the signaling and phenotypic consequences of non-specific sodium permeation via calcium channels remain unknown. α-SNAP is a crucial component of Orai1 channels, and its depletion disrupts the functional assembly of Orai1 multimers. Here we show that α-SNAP hypomorph, hydrocephalus with hopping gait, Napahyh/hyh mice harbor significant defects in CD4 T cell gene expression and Foxp3 regulatory T cell (Treg) differentiation. Mechanistically, TCR stimulation induced rapid sodium influx in Napahyh/hyh CD4 T cells, which reduced intracellular ATP, [ATP]i. Depletion of [ATP]i inhibited mTORC2 dependent NFκB activation in Napahyh/hyh cells but ablation of Orai1 restored it. Remarkably, TCR stimulation in the presence of monensin phenocopied the defects in Napahyh/hyh signaling and Treg differentiation, but not IL-2 expression. Thus, non-specific sodium influx via bonafide calcium channels disrupts unexpected signaling nodes and may provide mechanistic insights into some divergent phenotypes associated with Orai1 function.
Galactic Rings Revisited. II. Dark Gaps and the Locations of Resonances in Early-to-Intermediate Type Disk Galaxies

Dark gaps are commonly seen in early-to-intermediate type barred galaxies having inner and outer rings or related features. In this paper, the morphologies of 54 barred and oval ringed galaxies have been examined with the goal of determining what the dark gaps are telling us about the structure and evolution of barred galaxies. The analysis is based mainly on galaxies selected from the Galaxy Zoo 2 database and the Catalogue of Southern Ringed Galaxies. The dark gaps between inner and outer rings are of interest because of their likely association with the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points that would be present in the gravitational potential of a bar or oval. Since the points are theoretically expected to lie very close to the corotation resonance (CR) of the bar pattern, the gaps provide the possibility of locating corotation in some galaxies simply by measuring the radius rgp of the gap region and setting rCR=rgp. With the additional assumption of generally flat rotation curves, the locations of other resonances can be predicted and compared with observed morphological features. It is shown that this "gap method" provides remarkably consistent interpretations of the morphology of early-to-intermediate type barred galaxies. The paper also brings attention to cases where the dark gaps lie inside an inner ring, rather than between inner and outer rings. These may have a different origin compared to the inner/outer ring gaps.
The Elderly Burn Patient

The elderly, due to the physiologic and cognitive declines that accompany aging, are at increased risk for sustaining burn injury. The presence of comorbidities and the effects of aging on wound healing increase the morbidity and mortality associated with burn injury. The response to burn injury in the elderly may also play a role. Treatment of the elderly burn patient differs from the young adult, and careful consideration of the patient’s status is required to tailor therapy for each elderly individual. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the unique epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatment, and outcomes of burns in the elderly.
Incentivizing Care Coordination in Managed Care.

* Abbreviations: CMC — : children with medical complexity CSHCN — : children with special health care needs HMO — : health maintenance organization NSCH — : National Survey of Children’s Health PCCM — : primary care case management Care coordination for children remains one of the least-understood, widespread practice and policy interventions in pediatrics. In “Medicaid Managed Care Structures and Care Coordination: A National Cross-Sectional Analysis,” Gilchrist-Scott and colleagues examine the degree to which state penetrance of Medicaid managed care structures (specifically, health maintenance organizations [HMOs] versus primary care case management [PCCM]) may incentivize care coordination. They find that states with lower HMO and higher PCCM penetrance exhibited greater care coordination on 2 parent-reported National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) metrics: access to care coordination and receipt of care coordination when needed. Given that NSCH data were cross-sectional and penetrance data were aggregated by state, no causal inferences can be made, but the findings are intriguing nonetheless. From low to high quintiles of HMO penetrance (and, conversely, from high to low quintiles of PCCM penetrance), access to care coordination fell roughly 5 percentage points, and receipt of care coordination when needed fell roughly 10 percentage points. This finding is not subtle and suggests that the choice of incentive structure may matter. Nor is this finding surprising, given the incentive structures themselves. Unlike PCCM, fully … Address correspondence to Paul J. Chung, MD, MS, Department of Pediatrics, University of California – Los Angeles, 10833 LeConte Ave, B2-433 MDCC, Los Angeles, CA 90095. E-mail: paulchung{at}mednet.ucla.edu
Biophysical Methods in Virus Research

All viruses are composed at least of protein and nucleic acid, and certain viruses contain other biochemical constituents as integral parts of their structure. Thus the biophysical methods used in the isolation and characterization of viruses are the same as those used by biochemists generally. It would be impossible in a chapter of reasonable length to deal with all such methods exhaustively. For that reason, an attempt will be made to limit this discussion to those most extensively used by virologists. The approach will be to explain the underlying principles involved in each method and to illustrate its use by citing examples drawn more or less randomly from the literature, including previous volumes of Comprehensive Virology. The purpose of the present effort is to provide readers not familiar with these methods a basis for understanding them, and perhaps some appreciation of which methods are best adapted to the solution of specific problems. However, anyone desiring to make use of any of the methods must consult more detailed specific treatments available in the literature. Certain methods, like electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography, are either so widely used or so highly technical that they deserve chapters in their own right, written by experts in the particular field. These methods are dealt with in Chapters 2 and 3 of this volume.
“Thou Trade which didst sustaine my poverty”: Thomas Heywood's The Four Prentices of London and the Emergence of a Rhetorical Counterpublic

This essay investigates how the depiction of apprenticeship in Thomas Heywood's early play The Four Prentices of London participated in the formation of a marginalized rhetorical community on the Elizabethan stage. Contributing to a larger early modern counterpublic, this play publicized the private discussion of the outspoken if disenfranchised apprentices of Renaissance London by placing the marginalized concerns of these young men in direct conversation with the public's aspirational understanding of the guilds' training system. In his young and dynamic protagonist Eustace, Heywood stages a direct challenge to the narrow understanding of a riotous apprentice and offers a nuanced take on the institution itself – one that honors the possibility of social mobility but recognizes the cost of pursuing it. In The Four Prentices, Heywood uses the rhetoric of this marginalized urban cohort to theatrically refashion the Elizabethan public sphere and makes room for the apprentices in the public deliberations of ...
Invited Written Testimony of Professor Kirsten Matoy Carlson, on H.R. 3744, a Bill to Provide That an Indian Group May Receive Federal Acknowledgment as an Indian Tribe Only by Act of Congress, before the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs, Natural Resources Committee, United States House of Representatives, 115th Congress, September 26, 2017

H.R. 3744 intends to clarify the roles of Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the federal acknowledgment of Indian entities. In evaluating the proposal in H.R. 3744, members of this Committee should be fully informed about the historical role that Congress has played in the federal recognition process and the experiences of Indian groups seeking congressional recognition. This testimony summarizes the findings from two empirical studies that I conducted on the legislative and administrative recognition of Indian groups from 1975 to 2013. These studies reveal that while H.R. 3744’s goals of consistency and clarity are laudable, the bill rests on questionable assumptions about federal recognition and Congress’s role in it over time. I conclude with some observations about H.R. 3744 and its ability to increase transparency and efficiency in the federal recognition process.
Systematic mischaracterization of exoplanetary system dynamical histories from a model degeneracy near mean-motion resonance

There is a degeneracy in the radial velocity exoplanet signal between a single planet on an eccentric orbit and a two-planet system with a period ratio of 2:1. This degeneracy could lead to misunderstandings of the dynamical histories of planetary systems as well as measurements of planetary abundances if the correct architecture is not established. We constrain the rate of mischaracterization by analyzing a sample of 60 non-transiting, radial velocity systems orbiting main sequence stars from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (NASA Archive) using a new Bayesian model comparison pipeline. We find that 15 systems (25% of our sample) show compelling evidence for the two-planet case with a confidence level of 95%.
Phenomenal intentionality: reductionism vs. primitivism

This paper explores the relationship between phenomenal properties and intentional properties. In recent years a number of philosophers have argued that intentional properties are sometimes necessitated by phenomenal properties, but have not explained why or how. Exceptions can be found in the work of Katalin Farkas and Farid Masrour, who develop versions of reductionism regarding phenomenally-necessitated intentionality (or ‘phenomenal intentionality’). I raise two objections to reductive theories of the sort they develop. Then I propose a version of primitivism regarding phenomenal intentionality. I argue that primitivism avoids the pitfalls of reductionism while promising broad explanatory payoffs.
Automatic Dependency Management for Scientific Applications on Clusters

Software installation remains a challenge in scientific computing. End users require custom software stacks that are not provided through commodity channels. The resulting effort needed to install software delays research in the first place, and creates friction for moving applications to new resources and new users. Ideally, end-users should be able to manage their own software stacks without requiring administrator privileges. To that end, we describe vc3-builder, a tool for deploying software environments automatically on clusters. Its primary application comes in cloud and opportunistic computing, where deployment must be performed in batch as a side effect of job execution. vc3-builder uses workflow technologies as a means of exploiting cluster resources for building in a portable way. We demonstrate the use of vc3-builder on three applications with complex dependencies: MAKER, Octave, and CVMFS, building and running on three different cluster facilities in sequential, parallel, and distributed modes.
The Mutagenicity of Mineral Fibers

Asbestos fibers are carcinogenic to both man and experimental animals. At present the cellular and molecular mechanisms for fiber carcinogenesis, however, are not entirely clear. Various in vitro and in vivo studies have identified several factors that may influence the biological effects of mineral fibers. Fibers that are long and thin are more carcinogenic than fibers that are short and thick (Stanton et al, 1977). In vitro studies using oncogenic transformation as an endpoint have demonstrated that asbestos fibers can induce malignantly transformed foci in certain rodent cells (Hesterberg et al, 1984) and that asbestos fibers, in combination with either benzo[a]pyrene (Brown et al, 1983) or radiation (Hei et al,1985, 1989) can synergistically enhance the oncogenic transforming activity of these agents. Although several types of asbestos fibers have been shown to induce chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges in both rodent and human cells (Jaurand et al, 1986; Lechner et al, 1985), reports on the mutagenicity of asbestos fibers have largely been negative. Huang et al (1978) reported the only positive mutagenic studies of asbestos fibers, using Chinese hamster lung cells at the hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) locus with 6-thioguanine as the selective agent.
Sorbinil prevention of diabetic-like retinopathy in the galactose-fed rat model.

PURPOSE To determine if the retinal microangiopathies of the galactose-fed rat model of diabetic retinopathy can be prevented with the aldose reductase inhibitor sorbinil. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats were fed 50% d-galactose with or without sorbinil (0.05% wt/wt), mixed biweekly with fresh diet. Rats in each group were examined frequently by slit lamp and were killed after 8, 16, and 24 months. Computer-assisted morphometry was performed on wholemounts of elastase retinal digest preparations. RESULTS Cataracts developed in all galactose-fed untreated rats within 3 weeks but not in the sorbinil-treated rats even after 24 months. At 8 months, the galactose-fed untreated rats exhibited statistically significant increases in the mean capillary width, the percent of retinal area occupied by capillaries (capillary density), and the percent of microvascular area with capillaries > 20 microns wide (dilated channels), compared to controls. At 16 months, the galactose-fed untreated rats showed statistically significant increases over controls in both total mean capillary length and density, and two of the four rats examined had microaneurysms. At 24 months, all the galactose-fed untreated rats had microaneurysms and extensive areas with hypercellular meshworks composed of dilated channels characteristic of intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA). By contrast, galactose-fed, sorbinil-treated rats, at 24 months, had no IRMA and showed no statistically significant differences from control rats in any of the parameters measured morphometrically. CONCLUSIONS All the galactose-induced retinal microangiopathies were prevented with sorbinil. Aldose reductase inhibitors may be beneficial in ameliorating the similar vascular lesions characteristic of human diabetic retinopathy, though the mechanism remains obscure.
I’d do it again in a heartbeat: Coalbed methane development and satisfied surface owners in Sheridan County, Wyoming

Abstract The geographic extent and surface footprint of onshore oil and gas development in the United States have greatly expanded since the mid-1990s, prompting a new set of academic questions and public debates about the social acceptability of the industry. We explore an under-examined phenomenon in the research on the social acceptability of oil and gas industries, that of landowner acceptance and satisfaction with development. We examine a group of split estate surface owners who hosted coalbed methane development (CBM) during the 1998–2008 CBM rush in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with surface owners and oil and gas attorneys in Sheridan County, Wyoming, we learn that positive post facto assessments of the CBM boom were linked to landowner implementation of diverse but related strategies connected to their private participation in planning for development. We find that private participation during exploration, regarding legal negotiations, and monitoring during development were most closely linked with eventual satisfaction. However, no two surface owners implemented the same strategies, indicating that there are diverse paths to satisfaction. Findings suggest that greater attention be paid to the individual experiences of landowners to further clarify the challenges and opportunities for hosting extractive industries on private lands.
Integrating Markov Model, Bivariate Gaussian Distribution and GPU Based Parallelization for Accurate Real-Time Diagnosis of Arrhythmia Subclasses

In this paper, we present the integration of SIMT (Single Instruction Multiple Threads), Markov model and bivariate Gaussian distribution as a general-purpose technique for real-time accurate diagnosis of subclasses of arrhythmia. The model improves the accuracy by integrating both morphological and temporal features of ECG. GPU based implementation exploits concurrent execution of multiple threads at the heart-beat level to improve the execution efficiency. The approach builds a bivariate Gaussian Markov model (BGMM) for each subclass of arrhythmia where each state includes bivariate distribution of temporal and morphological features of each waveform and ISO-lines using ECG records for each subclass from standard databases, and the edge-weights represent the transition probabilities between states. Limited 30-second subsequences of a patient’s beats are used to develop bivariate Gaussian transition graphs (BGTG). BGTGs are matched with each of the BGMMs to derive the exact classification of BGTGs. Our approach exploits data-parallelism at the beat level for ECG preprocessing, building BGTGs and matching multiple BGTG-BGMM pairs. SIMT (Single Instruction Multiple Thread) available on CUDA resources in GPU has been utilized to exploit data-parallelism. Algorithms have been presented. The system has been implemented on a machine with NVIDIA CUDA based GPU. Test results on standard MIT- BIH database show that GPU based SIMT improves execution time further by 78% with an overall speedup of 4.5 while retaining the accuracy achieved by the sequential execution of the approach around 98%.
Biomechanical parameters of the elbow stretch reflex in chronic hemiparetic stroke

We sought to determine the relative velocity sensitivity of stretch reflex threshold angle and reflex stiffness during stretches of the paretic elbow joint in individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke, and to provide guidelines to streamline spasticity assessments. We applied ramp-and-hold elbow extension perturbations ranging from 15 to 150°/s over the full range of motion in 13 individuals with hemiparesis. After accounting for the effects of passive mechanical resistance, we modeled velocity-dependent reflex threshold angle and torque–angle slope to determine their correlation with overall resistance to movement. Reflex stiffness exhibited substantially greater velocity sensitivity than threshold angle, accounting for ~ 74% (vs. ~ 15%) of the overall velocity-dependent increases in movement resistance. Reflex stiffness is a sensitive descriptor of the overall velocity-dependence of movement resistance in spasticity. Clinical spasticity assessments can be streamlined using torque–angle slope, a measure of reflex stiffness, as their primary outcome measure, particularly at stretch velocities greater than 100°/s.
Presentation and outcomes among inflammatory bowel disease patients with concurrent pneumatosis intestinalis: a case series and systematic review

Background/Aims: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involves chronic inflammation of the colon with ulcerative colitis (UC), and the colon and/or small intestine with Crohn’s disease (CD). Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI), characterized by compromise of the intestinal wall with gas-filled cysts, has rarely been reported with IBD. The presentation, best management and outcomes of PI with IBD are poorly defined. Methods: We conducted a search for PI in all abdominal computed tomography (CT) reports at 2 large tertiary care hospitals from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2017, cross referenced to ICD codes for IBD. CT and chart review was performed to confirm PI and IBD respectively. A systematic review excluding case reports was performed for PI with IBD for comparison. Results: Of 5,990 patients with a CT abdomen report mentioning PI, we identified 11 cases of PI with IBD, 4 UC, 6 CD, and 1 indeterminate colitis. PI was limited to the small bowel in 5 patients, the right colon in 5, and small bowel and colonic in 1. All 3 mortalities had CD, small intestinal PI and portal/mesenteric venous gas. The systematic literature search identified 9 articles describing 58 patients with IBD and PI. These cases were mostly included in larger cohorts of PI patients without extractable data on presentation or outcomes in the IBD subpopulation. Conclusions: Ours appears to be the first reporting of presentations and outcomes, outside of case reports, for those with PI and IBD. The high mortality for those with CD and PI of the small bowel appears to define a group requiring more than supportive medical care. (Intest Res 2020;18:289- 296)
Evaluation: Be More than a Scorekeeper.

keeping is a routine that occurs in hundreds of mathematics classrooms throughout the country. Teachers explain assignments, allow a work period, check the answers, then record the scores. Score keeping continues to be a common practice in the name of evaluation. Little attention is given to anything but the score that is recorded in the teacher's record book. Some teachers spend hours each week scoring and recording mathematics papers, but little thought is given to the usefulness of this practice. To many, this procedure has become a ritual rather than a meaningful assessment of students' work. Extensive score keeping of daily work assignments is not an effective evaluation practice. A record book full of achievement scores may seem impressive but does little to help students learn mathematics. The NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (Standards) (1989) stresses that assessment should be an integral part of teaching and should be more than simply counting correct answers for assigning grades. Included in the Standards are the following statements in support of this position (p. 203):
Transitions in metabolic and immune systems from pre-menopause to post-menopause: implications for age-associated neurodegenerative diseases

The brain undergoes two aging programs: chronological and endocrinological. This is particularly evident in the female brain, which undergoes programs of aging associated with reproductive competency. Comprehensive understanding of the dynamic metabolic and neuroinflammatory aging process in the female brain can illuminate windows of opportunities to promote healthy brain aging. Bioenergetic crisis and chronic low-grade inflammation are hallmarks of brain aging and menopause and have been implicated as a unifying factor causally connecting genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we discuss metabolic phenotypes of pre-menopausal, peri-menopausal, and post-menopausal aging and their consequent impact on the neuroinflammatory profile during each transition state. A critical aspect of the aging process is the dynamic metabolic neuro-inflammatory profiles that emerge during chronological and endocrinological aging. These dynamic systems of biology are relevant to multiple age-associated neurodegenerative diseases and provide a therapeutic framework for prevention and delay of neurodegenerative diseases of aging. While these findings are based on investigations of the female brain, they have a broader fundamental systems of biology strategy for investigating the aging male brain. Molecular characterization of alterations in fuel utilization and neuroinflammatory mechanisms during these neuro-endocrine transition states can inform therapeutic strategies to mitigate the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in women. We further discuss a precision hormone replacement therapy approach to target symptom profiles during endocrine and chronological aging to reduce risk for age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Aborigines' Dreaming or Britain's Terra Nullius: Perceptions of Land Use in Colonial Australia

Australia’s landscape has been significantly changed by the actions of the Aborigines and European settlers. To the Aborigines, the land was not only a physical provider of resources but also the foundation for their spiritual beliefs. The Dreaming, a dynamic belief system that describes the Aborigines’ creation story, rituals, and social codes, instilled a cultural dedication to maintaining the environment for future generations. Rock art provides a glimpse into Aborigine perceptions of the landscape and how those changed across space and time. Arid-climate ecosystems like those present across Australia are sensitive to disturbance; the Aborigines adapted to ecological limits by maintaining a semi-nomadic lifestyle centered on family groups and using a variety of techniques, from foraging and hunting to fire, to gather and maintain a variety of resources. Group stewardship of the environment produced a balance between extraction and conservation that allowed both Aborigines and ecosystems to survive. Beginning in 1788, British colonization by convicts and free settlers resulted in the disenfranchisement of the Aborigines and extensive environmental degradation. Revealed through explorer records and missionary accounts, settlers did not understand the Aborigine lifestyle or their system of territorial control, and thus interpreted Australia as a “terra nullius” or empty continent ready for commercial exploitation. Using a variety of methods, such as treaties, charters, militia operations, and an emphasis on legally documented private ownership, the British barred the Aborigines from reclaiming their territory. Commercial export agriculture, including monocrop farms and extensive ranches, became a hallmark of the colonial Australian economy. Intensive agricultural production used irrigation to boost harvests, but at the expense of ecological vitality. The focus on agricultural production in an arid country resulted in severe erosion, deforestation, soil salinization, and water pollution beginning in earnest in the 1840s. Settler photos reveal an awareness of the impact of early changes to the landscape, but the colonial focus on economic production meant environmental mitigation was not pursued until the accelerating effects of widespread ecological destruction became apparent. Australia in the twenty-first century is struggling to formulate a comprehensive response to deal with ongoing environmental degradation. It is possible to adapt some of the Aborigines’ resource management techniques to fit within contemporary systems, though the increasing pressures of climate change require that people be flexible and willing to sacrifice in order for conservation and restoration efforts to succeed.
Safe Feedback Motion Planning: A Contraction Theory and $\mathcal{L}_1$-Adaptive Control Based Approach

Autonomous robots that are capable of operating safely in the presence of imperfect model knowledge or external disturbances are vital in safety-critical applications. In this paper, we present a planner-agnostic framework to design and certify safe tubes around desired trajectories that the robot is always guaranteed to remain inside of. By leveraging recent results in contraction analysis and $\mathcal{L}_1$-adaptive control we synthesize an architecture that induces safe tubes for nonlinear systems with state and time-varying uncertainties. We demonstrate with a few illustrative examples how contraction theory-based $\mathcal{L}_1$-adaptive control can be used in conjunction with traditional motion planning algorithms to obtain provably safe trajectories.
Intersection of two key signal integrators in the cell: activator of G protein Signaling 3 and Dishevelled-2.

Activator of G-protein signaling 3 (AGS3, encoded by GPSM1) was discovered as a one of several receptor-independent activators of G-protein signaling, which are postulated to provide a platform for divergence between canonical and noncanonical G-protein signaling pathways. Similarly, Dishevelled (DVL) proteins serve as a point of divergence for β-catenin-dependent and -independent signaling pathways involving the family of Frizzled (FZD) ligands and cell-surface WNT receptors. We recently discovered the apparent regulated localization of dishevelled-2 (DVL2) and AGS3 to distinct cellular puncta, suggesting that the two proteins interact as part of various cell signaling systems. To address this hypothesis, we asked the following questions: (1) do AGS3 signaling pathways influence the activation of β-catenin (CTNNB1)-regulated transcription through the WNT-Frizzled-Dishevelled axis, and (2) is the AGS3 and DVL2 interaction regulated? The interaction of AGS3 and DVL2 was regulated by protein phosphorylation, subcellular distribution, and a cell-surface G-protein-coupled receptor. These data, and the commonality of functional system impacts observed for AGS3 and DVL2, suggest that the AGS3-DVL2 complex presents an unexpected path for functional integration within the cell.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.