cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The World Bank and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

We examine the impact of World Bank structural adjustment and health lending on child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1990 to 2005. We use two-way fixed effects regression models to analyze data for a sample of thirty-one Sub-Saharan African nations. We find that when a Sub-Saharan African nation receives a World Bank structural adjustment loan then it tends to have higher levels of child mortality than when it does not receive such a loan. Conversely, we find that when a Sub-Saharan African nations receives a World Bank investment loan in the health sector then it tends to have lower levels of child mortality than it if does not receive an investment health loan. We conclude by talking about the theoretical implications, methodological implications, policy suggestions, limitations of the study, and possible avenues for future research.
Max Stirner and Loving Egoistically

Max Stirner was a radical philosopher of personal power and extreme individualism. Der Einzige und sein Eigentum, published in English as The Ego and His Own (“Der Einzige”), dedicated “To my sweetheart Marie Dahnhardt”, his second wife, begins and ends with a quote from Goethe: “All things are nothing to me”.1 Stirner’s philosophy unfolds from this central theme, which places individuals at the center of their world. Individuals wield their power to gain control of their predicaments through acquiring property. They sever ties with everyone and everything, including authorities, religion, morals, values, truth, emotions, and intellect, which he dismissed as abstractions or “spooks”.2 Individuals hold nothing sacred and are masters of their own metaphysical universe. Having broken ties with everything, an individual is solitary, or in Stirner’s words, a “unique one”. Stirner’s emphasis on enjoyment, frivolity, and personal interest encourages us to ask: why would one engage in a romantic relationship that lacks these essential ingredients?
Does team-based planning "work" for adolescents? Findings from studies of wraparound.

OBJECTIVE This article focuses on wraparound as an example of a team planning process, and uses data from several sources to reflect on questions about whether-and under what conditions-collaborative teams are successful in engaging young people-and their caregivers-in planning. METHODS We used data collected in three studies to address our research questions. The first data set comes from a study on wraparound service planning in Nevada. We examined data collected from 23 matched pairs of caregivers and youth at 6 months after wraparound planning began. Our second data set came from a national study of 41 local wraparound programs throughout the United States. Our analyses use data from 366 matched pairs of caregivers/youth. The third dataset comes from the pilot test of the Achieve My Plan! intervention. Data was gathered from eight teams before and after the intervention was implemented. RESULTS Taken together, the findings suggest that teams' success in managing caregiver and adolescent perspectives simultaneously during care and treatment planning is more strongly related to the quality of the team process than to youth age. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Through attention to youth engagement, preparation, and tem process, it appears possible to increase meaningful youth participation in planning without sacrificing caregiver satisfaction with the team experience.
Index of Suspicion in the Nursery: Late Preterm Baby With Recurrent Respiratory Distress

A 34-week preterm baby (triplet C) is born of a triplet gestation to a 29-year-old gravida 2 para 3 mother after conception by in vitro fertilization. The mother is on thyroxine hormone for hypothyroidism and glyburide for diabetes mellitus. Delivery is by cesarean delivery at 34 weeks’ gestation due to progressively worsening maternal hypertension and a low biophysical profile of triplet B. Delivery room stabilization includes positive pressure ventilation, intubation, and surfactant administration. Apgar scores are 6 at 1 minute and 8 at 5 minutes. Birthweight is 2,380 g (50th–75th percentile), length is 46 cm (50th–75th percentile), and head circumference is 33.4 cm (75th–90th percentile). He is extubated to continuous positive airway pressure in a few hours, and respiratory support is weaned to humidified high flow through nasal canula. Feedings are commenced when he is 4 days old and gradually advanced. He vomits and has desaturation with worsening respiratory distress and requires increased respiratory support with each attempt to increase feeds. Radiologic evaluation reveals progressively worsening parenchymal haziness (Figs …
Source of the Testicular Hormone.

In 1903 Ancel and Bouin1 published the theory that the interstitial cells of the testis (the cells of Leydig) produced the testicular hormone. The theory was based upon 4 main premises, as follows: Animals remain sexually active (a) after vasectomy, (b) when they possess only cryptorchid testes, (c) when their testes have been exposed to Roentgen rays and (d) when the only testicular tissue they possess is a graft. Under each of these conditions all germinal epithelium was reported absent while the interstitial cells were normal or hypertrophied. All 4 of these premises have been shown to be incorrect (see Oslund4, 5, 6, 7) and some germinal epithelium usually exists under each of the above conditions. Since both germinal epithelium and interstitial cells are present in hormone producing testes it has seemed impossible to designate which of these produces the hormone.It occurred to the writer that if a potent extract could be obtained from the epididymis this would offer strong presumptive evidence that t...
The clinical research of 200 cases gestational hypertension and intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy

Objective To analyze the effects of gestational hypertension with intrahepatic cholestasis to fetal and maternal,in order to provide the necessary reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods Randomly selected 200 patients of gestational hypertension associated with intrahepatic cholestasis from April 2013 to April 2014 treated in our hospital,the clinical data were analyzed retrospectively and regarded as the observation group,selected 200 patients of gestational hypertension not with intrahepatic cholestasis the same period as the control group,comparison two groups of maternal and neonatal condition and statistical analysis. Results The degree of liver function damage of the observation group, the amount of postpartum hemorrhage and so on, are higher than those of the control group, and has a significant statistical difference(P 0.05).Comparison of two neonates, the neonatal toxic asphyxia and perinatal mortality rate of the observation group is higher than that of control group,and has a significant statistical difference(P 0.05). Conclusion Gestational hypertension with intrahepatic cholestasis will have a certain impact on maternal and child health, in the clinical treatment,early diagnosis and early treatment has a good clinical value to reduce maternal and infant complications and improve the delivery results.
A troubled teen: matters of confidentiality.

This case highlights a family physician's dilemma regarding confidentiality when caring for a minor patient. This sort of scenario is not uncommon in an office practice.
The Test Authors Speak: Reporting on an Author Survey of the Leading Tests Used in Gifted Assessment:

The conceptualization of giftedness continues to be a widely debated topic within the field. Recently, there has been a shift from a psychometric view of giftedness to inclusion of conative and contextual factors. How one defines and conceptualizes “gifted” drives assessment and identification practices. Conceptualization also guides the development of measures used in gifted assessment; however, the perceptions of giftedness held by test authors have not yet been explored empirically. The aim of this study was to investigate the perspectives of giftedness held by authors of the leading tests in gifted assessment. Test authors provided their views on topics, including gifted identification, use of cutoff scores, and how their tests serve the needs of this unique population. Findings indicate that there are varying opinions and views of giftedness, although most test authors in the sample embrace a multi-dimensional approach to gifted assessment. This article includes a discussion of clinical implications ...
Recent Progress of Research on Herbal Products Used in Traditional Chinese Medicine: the Herbs belonging to The Divine Husbandman's Herbal Foundation Canon (神農本草經 Shén Nóng Běn Cǎo Jīng)

This article will review selected herbal products from Chinese Materia Medica that are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The herbs come from the upper, middle, and lower class medicines as listed in The Divine Husbandman's Herbal Foundation Canon ( Shen Nong Běn Cǎo Jīng). The review will focus on the active constituents of the herbs and their bioactivities, with emphasis on the most recent progress in research for the period of 2003 to 2011.
Abstract 3673: BVES dependent regulation of YAP1 in colorectal cancer cells

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has a US incidence rate of almost 150,000 cases and accounts for over 10% of new cancer diagnoses. Dysfunction of epithelial adherens junctions and tight junctions (TJs) have long been implicated in CRC growth and metastasis The Popeye domain containing family of proteins are TJ-associated and appear to nucleate TJ formation. BVES or POPDC1 is one member of this family and is under-expressed in all stages of human colorectal carcinoma (CRC). On the other hand, YAP1 a novel oncogene in the Hippo pathway is up-regulated in many cancers including colon cancer. In the present study, we report an inverse correlation between tumor suppressor protein BVES and oncogene YAP1 in human colorectal carcinoma tumor samples and human colon cancer cell lines. We demonstrate that ectopic expression of BVES in BVES deficient cells decreases YAP1 protein while knocking down BVES in cells expressing BVES increases YAP1 levels. Cycloheximide (CHX) experiments indicate that this is likely occurring at the level of protein stability. CDK6 is a cell cycle regulator and YAP1 transcriptional target, and its levels are increased in the setting of BVES-knockdown in CACO2 cells. Concurrent with this there is increased cell growth. Conversely, when BVES is overexpressed, CDK6 transcription is reduced. Further knocking down of YAP1 in BVES knocked down cells reverses the cell growth advantage suggesting that BVES regulation of cell growth in part is dependent upon YAP1 protein levels. Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and yeast-2-hybrid (Y2H) assay also shows a direct interaction of BVES and YAP1. In sum, these findings suggest a novel mechanism underlying BVES tumor-suppressive function through regulation of a potential growth modulator, YAP1 in colorectal cancer. Citation Format: Mukul K. Mittal, Anthony Bilotta, Cody E. Keating, Sarah P. Short, Christopher S. Williams. BVES dependent regulation of YAP1 in colorectal cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3673.
A Decade of Organizational Communication Research: Journal Articles 1980–1991

This chapter reviews 889 organizational communication journal articles published in 61 journals from 1980 through 1991. The superior-subordinate communication relationship and communication skills were the most frequently discussed topics, with culture showing the largest increase in published articles. Articles have consistently linked communication to positive outcomes. As the decade progressed, culture-related articles increasingly focused on positive outcomes. Interest grew in some areas (e.g., cross-cultural communication, networks) and decreased in others (e.g., nonverbal communication, structure). Increasingly, various areas (e.g., power) focused on the socially constructed nature of reality. Few articles focused on workplace diversity and ethics-related issues.
Why He Won’t Send His Daughter to School—Barriers to Girls’ Education in Northwest Pakistan: A Qualitative Delphi Study of Pashtun Men

Resistance to girls’ education in Pakistan has long been an intractable problem; the lowest enrolment figures are in Pashtun areas. This study focused on Pashtun men’s perceptions of girls’ educati...
The king's army: The campaigns of the army, 1562–76

THE DIMENSIONS OF CIVIL WAR At first glance, the convulsions of violence that move across France during the Wars of Religion seem to deny the historian's compulsive need to impose patterns of order and meaning. Notwithstanding the title usually given to this period, much of its religious and civil conflict did not take the form of wars waged between conventionally operating military forces, nor were the wars fought exclusively over religious issues. The popular violence associated with persecution, repression, and massacres often did not wait for official declarations of war nor necessarily depend upon the presence or absence of formally organized armies. Even that most spectacular outbreak of violence, the 1572 Saint-Bartholomew's Day massacre, owed almost nothing to the formal military apparatus of the crown beyond the involvement of the king's French and Swiss guards in the killing in Paris. This said, however, the fact remains that during these years of religious conflict formal warfare did come to dominate, both directly and indirectly, much of French life. During Charles IX's reign alone there were five openly declared periods of civil war in which the royal army fought a series of conventional military campaigns against the Huguenots. During those years much of the crown's attention and most of its resources were devoted to waging war.
Vegetation Delight? Greenness and Reduced Risk of Nonaccidental Death.

Although more than half of humanity now lives in urban areas, 1 we have by and large retained a love for green spaces. A growing body of research suggests that exposure to “greenness” (i.e., vegetation) can improve both physical and mental health. 2 However, studies linking the greenness of an area to mortality have been limited in looking at populations over time. Environmental epidemiologist Peter James and his colleagues at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health addressed this gap with a long-term study of U.S. women. They found that living in more densely vegetated areas was associated with fewer deaths from causes other than accidents. 3
Characterization and mitigation of power contention across multiprogrammed workloads

Shared resource contention has been a major performance issue for CMPs. In this paper we focus on power, which is one of the most valuable shared resources of CMPs. We believe it is important to study power contention, especially with the prevalence of power capping features among modern commercial microprocessors. When multiple processes compete for power in such systems, the power management system attempts to mitigate the contention (i.e., reduce the power consumption) by slowing down the processor, which results in degraded total system performance. We characterize this phenomenon using a real testbed with an Intel processor with power capping capability realized by the RAPL technology. We observe noticeable performance degradation for SPEC CPU2006, especially at tighter power caps. In order to solve this problem, we develop a shared resourceaware scheduling algorithm that improves system performance by mitigating the contention for power and the shared memory subsystem at the same time. Evaluation results across a variety of multiprogrammed workloads show performance improvements over a state-of-the-art scheduling policy which only considers memory subsystem contention. In addition, we present a guard mechanism implemented on top of the proposed scheduler that greatly improves performance when there is severe power contention that introduces performance anomalies.
Products, Not Words

(1958). Products, Not Words. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 14-16.
Σ Hypernuclei and Σ + -Proton Scattering

By analyzing the ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}$-proton scattering data at low energies, it is found that the triplet $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$-nucleon interaction in the $I=\frac{3}{2}$ state is certainly not strong enough to support the formation of a particle-stable ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}n$ or ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}p$ system. The singlet $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$-nucleon interaction, on the other hand, could be quite strong, but it is probably still not sufficient to create a bound two-body $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ hypernucleus. Also, because of the relative weakness of the triplet interaction, it can be concluded that a bound hypernucleus ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{nn}$ very likely does not exist. Using the results obtained in this investigation, speculations are also made concerning the double-$\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ hypernuclear systems ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}n$ and ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{nn}$.
Mechanical characterization of parts produced by ceramic on-demand extrusion process

Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) is an additive manufacturing process recently developed to produce dense three-dimensional ceramic components. In this paper, the properties of parts produced using this freeform extrusion fabrication process are described. High solids loading (~60 vol%) alumina paste was prepared to fabricate parts and standard test methods were employed to examine their properties including the density, strength, Young's modulus, Weibull modulus, toughness, and hardness. Microstructural evaluation was also performed to measure the grain size and critical flaw size. The results indicate that the properties of parts surpass most other ceramic additive manufacturing processes and match conventional fabrication techniques.
P188 The effect of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor genes on clinical outcome after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Aim To investigate the effect of donors’ inhibitory and activating KIR genes on the clinical outcome in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for different hematological malignancies. Effects of 2DS4 allelic variants 2DS4f (001/011/014/015/016) and 2DS4d (003/004/006/007/008/009/010/012/013) were analyzed as well. Methods Retrospective analysis on 32 HSCT recipient/donor pairs transplanted at RUMC was conducted. Detection of all 16 known KIR genes in the donors was done by PCR-SSOP. The outcomes, overall survival (OS) and occurrences of grade II–IV GvHD were assessed using time-to-event analysis and Fisher exact test. Results KIR genes 2DL1, 2DL4, 2DP1, 3DL2, 3DL3 and 3DP1 were detected in all donors. Frequencies of other KIR genes in our donor cohort were 2DL2 (n = 14, 43.8%), 2DL3 (n = 30, 93.8%), 2DL5 (n = 21, 65.6%), 2DS1 (n = 17, 53.1%), 2DS2 (n = 15, 46.9%), 2DS3 (n = 12, 37.5%), 2DS5 (n = 15, 46.9%), 3DL1 (n = 31, 96.9%), 3DS1 (n = 20, 62.5%). Allelic distribution of 2DS4 was assessed in 31 patients and 2DS4 functional gene was not detected in 15 patients (48.4%), 3 were KIR2DS4f homozygous (9.7%) and 13 were 2DS4 heterozygous for both full and deleted version (41.9%). The median follow up was 476 (30–1879) days. The median survival was estimated to be 1151 days and 19/32 (59%) had >1 year survival. Significantly higher OS in HSCT recipients was noted when the donors had 2DS4f and 2DS4d compared to OS in those HSCT recipients with donors who had only 2DS4f gene (median not reached vs 162 days; p = 0.003). The OS of HSCT recipients when the donors had no 2DS4 (1151 days) and the OS of those who had donors with 2DS4 (162 days) were not different statistically (p = 0.19). Significantly higher OS was also seen in presence of 2DL3 (1151 days vs 106 days, p = 0.013) and absence of 2DL5 (median not reached vs 210 days p = 0.032). Presence of 3DS1 in the donor showed a positive trend towards one year survival (p = 0.062). Individual KIR genes did not influence GvHD. The 2DS4 gene variants also did not have significant effect on GvHD (p = 0.37). Conclusions Further mechanistic studies to explain the differential effects of inhibitory and activating KIR genes on OS of HSCT recipients are required. Higher OS seen in those who had donors with 2DL3, without 2DL5 and with 2DS4 heterozygous (2DS4f + 2DS4d) could lead to mechanistic approaches.
Dome-Shaped Lesion on the Finger.

A man presented with a lesion on his right index finger that had been growing gradually for a couple of years.
Exertional Observation in Adults Performing Intermittent Treadmill Walking and Running.

The present investigation examined the Adult OMNI Walk-Run Scale for use by an independent observer to rate an individual's perception of exertion during intermittent treadmill walking and running. Forty (22.4 ± 2.9 yrs) recreationally active males (n = 18) and females (n = 22) completed three 5-min intermittent bouts of treadmill exercise. The exercise bouts were a level walk (LW; 4.0 km·hr-1, 0% grade), hill walk (HW; 5.6 km·hr-1, 5% grade), and run (R; 8 km·hr-1, 2.5% grade). Each bout was separated by a 5-min recovery period. RPE responses were simultaneously estimated by an observer and self-estimated by the participant during each bout using the Adult OMNI Walk-Run Scale. Session RPE responses were simultaneously estimated by the same observer and self-estimated by the participant 5-min post-exercise session. Analysis of variance indicated no significant mean differences between observer RPE and participant RPE (p > 0.05) except for males during the running bout (p 0.05). Finally, strong positive correlations were found between observer and participant RPE ranging from 0.79-0.84 for exercise bouts and moderate-strong positive correlations ranging from 0.58-0.64 for the exercise session. Results support the use of the OMNI RPE Scale in a direct observation procedure to estimate exertion in female and male young adults performing intermittent treadmill walking and running. This observation-based procedure provides the practitioner with an opportunity to independently evaluate the perceptual intensity of individuals involved in aerobic exercise.
Das varandas de "Under the Frangipani", Mia Couto, Francisco Varela et al.

Mia Couto is considered a special case in the field of African Lusopho­ne writers due to the quality of his writing. His texts are imbedded of a magical, mythical world that nevertheless depicts the reality of Lusophone Africa. These characteristics together with the exceptional character of the themes on which he focuses constitute an invitation to apply to his works the concepts derived from quantum physics and the science of cognition. In this article I bring together two different structures of thought, Western and African, in an effort to give Western readers the tools to go beyond the basic approaches to Couto’s text.
Abstract 569: A comprehensive immunoscore to predict immunotherapy responses based on multivariate genomic/transcriptomic features

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown great promise in treating various cancer types; however, only a fraction of patients respond to this type of immunotherapy. Currently, PD-L1 ligand expression and microsatellite-instability (MSI) status are FDA-approved biomarkers to guide selected checkpoint-based immunotherapy; however, due to the complexity of tumor-immune interactions, it is unlikely that any single biomarker will be able to comprehensively predict clinical outcomes across the gamut of immunotherapeutics. Many genomic and cellular features have been shown to contribute to the effectiveness of immunotherapy, including tumor mutational burden (TMB), tumor T cell infiltrate, HLA gene expression, and Treg /myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) infiltrates. Here we have built a machine learning model trained on multiple features derived from whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) data. The resulting patient-specific “immunoscore” describes the likelihood that a patient will respond to a specified immunotherapy. Additionally, we have developed a novel visualization schema, which summarizes the full model immunoscore, as well as the weight and impact of each genomic and transcriptomic feature. In this study, we assessed WES and WTS data from two melanoma cohorts, the first treated with anti-PD1 immunotherapy and the second with anti-CTLA4 immunotherapy. First, we extracted genomic/transcriptomic features around five functional groups: antigen presentation, tumor lymphocyte infiltration, checkpoint gene signatures, interferon-gamma gene signatures, and Treg/MDSC gene signatures. Next, random forest classification was performed to identify significant features and weight the relative importance of each. A final immunoscore was calculated as the patient-specific probability of immunotherapy response, scaled from zero (0% likelihood of response) to ten (100% likelihood of response). We noted that the highest-weighted feature for anti-PD1 response came from the antigen presentation feature group, while the highest-weighted feature for anti-CTLA4 response came from the tumor lymphocyte infiltration feature group, which is consistent with the underlying mechanistic difference between the two checkpoint inhibitors. Finally, our immunoscore has shown significantly better performance compared to any single feature based on 3-fold cross validation (p Citation Format: Mengchi Wang, Aaron Wise, Han Kang, Vitor F. Onuchic, Ali Kuraishy, Sven Bilke, Kristina M. Kruglyak, Shile Zhang. A comprehensive immunoscore to predict immunotherapy responses based on multivariate genomic/transcriptomic features [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 569.
Associations between maternal plasma measurements of inflammatory markers and urinary levels of phenols and parabens during pregnancy: A repeated measures study.

Abstract Background Maternal immune system regulation is critical for maintenance of a healthy pregnancy and fetal development. Exposure to phenols and parabens is widespread, and may be linked to systemic inflammation and alteration of circulating immunological biomarkers. Objective We sought to characterize associations between repeated measures of individual urinary phenols, parabens and plasma inflammatory markers across pregnancy. Methods In the LIFECODES prospective birth cohort, we conducted a nested preterm birth case-control study, including 130 cases and 352 controls. In urine samples collected from each participant at up to four study visits during pregnancy, we measured concentrations of six phenols and four parabens, as well as five plasma inflammatory markers. We used multivariable linear mixed models to analyze repeated measures of exposures on inflammatory markers. We created and applied inverse probability weights to account for the sampling approach. Results We observed bidirectional associations between select phenols and parabens and inflammatory markers. An interquartile range increase in triclosan (55.2 ng/mL) was associated with a 12.5% (95% CI: 3.67, 22.0) increase in C-reactive protein, a 7.95% (95% CI: 1.95, 14.3) increase in interleukin 10, and a 7.93% (95% CI: 3.82, 12,2) increase in tumor necrosis factor-α. Additionally, an interquartile range increase in 2,5-dichlorophenol (11.0 ng/mL) was associated with a 10% increase in C-reactive protein (95% CI: 1.92, 18.7). Conversely, an interquartile range increase in ethyl paraben (10.4 ng/mL) was associated with a 7.7% decrease in interleukin‑1β (95% CI: −14.1, −0.86). Conclusions Our findings can be organized into two thematic frameworks, one where concentrations of urinary phenols and parabens during pregnancy reflected a pro-inflammatory relationship with immunological biomarkers, and the other contrary theme – an anti-inflammatory relationship. These findings have implications for fetal development and reproductive outcomes, and emphasize the need for further research on immunological mechanisms of phenol and paraben action during pregnancy.
Associations between imprinted gene differentially methylated regions, appetitive traits and body mass index in children.

Background Knowledge regarding genetic influences on eating behaviours is expanding; yet less is known regarding contributions of epigenetic variation to appetitive traits and body mass index (BMI) in children. Objective The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between methylation at differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of imprinted genes (insulin-like growth factor 2/H19 and Delta-like, Drosophila, homolog 1/maternally expressed gene 3) using DNA extracted from umbilical cord blood leucocytes, two genetically influenced appetitive traits (food responsiveness and satiety responsiveness) and BMI. Methods Data were obtained from participants (N = 317; mean age = 3.6 years; SD = 1.8 years) from the Newborn Epigenetic STudy. Conditional process models were implemented to investigate the associations between DMRs of imprinted genes and BMI, and test whether this association was mediated by appetitive traits and birthweight and moderated by sex. Results Appetitive traits and birthweight did not mediate the relationship between methylation at DMRs. Increased insulin-like growth factor 2 DMR methylation was associated with higher satiety responsiveness. Higher satiety responsiveness was associated with lower BMI. Associations between methylation at DMRs, appetitive traits and BMI differed by sex. Conclusions This is one of the first studies to demonstrate associations between epigenetic variation established prior to birth with appetitive traits and BMI in children, providing support for the need to uncover genetic and epigenetic mechanisms for appetitive traits predisposing some individuals to obesity.
Cellular Target of a Rhodium Metalloinsertor is the DNA Base Pair Mismatch

Defects in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) are commonly found in various cancers, especially in colorectal cancers. Despite the high prevalence of MMR-deficient cancers, mismatch-targeted therapeutics are limited and diagnostic tools are indirect. Here, we examine the cytotoxic properties of a rhodium metalloinsertor, [Rh(phen)(chrysi)(PPO)]2+ (RhPPO) in 27 diverse colorectal cancer cell lines. Despite the low frequency of genomic mismatches and the non-covalent nature of the RhPPO-DNA lesion, RhPPO is on average five times more potent than cisplatin. Importantly, the biological target and profile for RhPPO differs from that of cisplatin. A fluorescent metalloinsertor, RhCy3, was used to demonstrate that the cellular target of RhPPO is the DNA mismatch. RhCy3 represents a direct probe for MMR-deficiency and correlates directly with the cytotoxicity of RhPPO across different cell lines. Overall, our studies clearly indicate that RhPPO and RhCy3 are promising anticancer and diagnostic probes for MMR-deficient cancers, respectively.
Abstract P404: Sex-specific Associations of Plasma Endothelin-1 With Incidence of Stroke in African Americans: the Jackson Heart Study

Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a vasoconstrictive peptide with cerebral action, also associated with the degree of atherosclerosis. Previous research found that estrogen has inhibitory effect o...
Decentralized event-driven algorithms for multi-agent persistent monitoring tasks

We address the issue of identifying conditions under which the centralized solution to the optimal multi-agent persistent monitoring problem can be recovered in a decentralized event-driven manner. In this problem, multiple agents interact with a finite number of targets and the objective is to control their movements in order to minimize an uncertainty metric associated with the targets. In one-dimensional settings, it has been shown that the optimal solution can be reduced to a simpler parametric one and that the behavior of agents under optimal control is described by a hybrid system. This hybrid system can be analyzed using Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis (IPA) to obtain an on-line solution through an event-driven centralized gradient-based algorithm. We show that the IPA gradient can be recovered in a distributed manner based on local information, except for one event requiring communication from a non-neighbor agent. Simulation examples are included to illustrate the effectiveness of this “almost decentralized” algorithm and its fully decentralized counterpart where the aforementioned non-local event is ignored.
Linked Lives, Linked Trajectories: Intergenerational Association of Intragenerational Income Mobility:

Most intergenerational mobility studies rely on either snapshot or time-averaged measures of earnings, but have yet to examine resemblance of earnings trajectories over the life course of successiv...
“The moral arithmetic”: morality in the age of mathematics

This article examines the influence of mathematics on early modern and modern moral thought. In particular, I trace the origin and development of the “moral arithmetic” (which has previously been m...
La Responsabilité De L’Administration Fédérale Aux États-Unis (Tort Liability of Federal Government in the United States)

La responsabilite extracontractuelle de l'administration federale aux Etats-Unis est regie par le Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Cet article expose comment le FTCA tel qu'interprete par les Cours americaines a en realite limite la responsabilite de l'administration sur le fondement d'une conception (peut-etre trop) stricte de la separation des pouvoirs.Federal government liability in the United States is governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). This article (in French) exposes how the FTCA as interpreted by the US courts has in fact curtailed government liability on the premise of a very strict (may be too strict) conception of the separation of powers.
The probability that ideals in a number ring are k-wise relatively r-prime

We say that n nonzero ideals of algebraic integers in a fixed number ring are k-wise relatively r-prime if any k of them are relatively r-prime. In this paper, we provide an exact formula for the p...
Late Health Status of Patients Undergoing Myectomy for Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Background Surgical myectomy eliminates symptoms in most patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but dyspnea and/or angina can recur in some. This study investigated clinical features associated with a lack of clinical improvement postoperatively. Methods Between March 2007 and December 2012, 963 patients underwent transaortic septal myectomy at our clinic. Six hundred one patients received standardized follow-up questionnaires, which were answered by 409 (68.1%). We compared clinical characteristics of patients with and without improvement and identified predictors of worsening health using a multivariable proportional odds ordinal logistic model. Results Of 409 patients, 329 (80.4%) indicated better health status at follow-up and 80 (19.6%) responded that their health had stayed the same or worsened. The median age of patients with perceived better health was 56.8 years (interquartile range, 47.4, 65.7) and those without improvement was 63.0 years (interquartile range, 50.0, 70.2). New York Heart Association class III/IV dyspnea was present in 90.3% of patients who reported improvement and in 79.7% who did not. In multivariable analysis the presence of coronary artery disease (odds ratio [OR], 2.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17-6.50; P = .020), lower preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (per interquartile range increase: OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.57-0.99; P = .047), and worse preoperative health status (eg, poor or fair: OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.05-2.54; P = 0.004) were associated with worse health status at follow-up. Conclusions Septal myectomy leads to excellent symptomatic relief in most patients, and more than 80% report subjective improvement in health status. Important predictors of worsening health included coronary artery disease and poor preoperative health status.
Diminished Health Returns of Educational Attainment Among Immigrant Adults in the United States.

Objectives: Marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs) refer to weaker health effects of educational attainment for socially marginalized groups compared to the socially privileged groups. Most of the existing literature on MDRs, however, has focused on marginalization due to race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Thus, very limited information exists on MDRs of educational attainment among immigrant populations in the United States. Aims: Building on the MDRs framework and using a nationally representative sample of US adults, we compared immigrant and native-born adults for the effects of educational attainment on psychological distress, self-rated health (SRH), and chronic diseases (CDs). Methods: The 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has enrolled 33,672 individuals who were either immigrant (n = 6,225; 18.5%) or native born (n = 27,429; 81.5%). The independent variable (IV) was educational attainment, which was treated as a categorical variable. The dependent variables included psychological distress, SRH, and CDs, all of which were dichotomous variables. Age, gender, race, ethnicity, and region were confounders. Immigration (nativity status) was the moderator. Results: Higher educational attainment was associated with lower odds of psychological distress, poor SRH, and CDs. However, immigration showed a significant statistical interaction with college graduation on all outcomes, which were suggestive of smaller protective effects of college graduation on psychological distress, poor SRH, and CDs for immigrant than native-born adults. Conclusions: In the US, the associations between educational attainment and psychological distress, SRH, and CDs are all weaker for immigrant than native-born adults. To prevent health disparities, it is essential to decompose health inequalities that are due to low educational attainment from those that are due to diminished returns of educational attainment (i.e., MDRs). There is a need to help highly educated immigrant adults secure positive health outcomes, similar to their native-born counterparts. Such changes may require bold and innovative economic, public, and social policies that help immigrant adults to more effectively mobilize their educational attainment to secure tangible outcomes. Elimination of health disparities in the US requires efforts that go beyond equalizing access to education.
Continuous Random Variables

In Chapter 2, we discussed discrete random variables. These random variables took on finite or countably many values. Here we will study random variables whose set of possible values is uncountable. For example, the price of a stock with its erratic ups and downs can be modeled as a random variable, and since in principle the price can be any positive number, modeling it using a continuous random variable is a sensible strategy. Another example is the waiting time for the first customer to enter a store, if you like, your neighborhood Starbucks. The waiting time can be any positive number (if we could measure it with sufficient precision), so a continuous random variable could be a good model.
Manager's Trading Around Stock Repurchases

We analyze personal open market trades by managers around stock repurchases by tender offer. With the exception of Dutch auction offers, managers trade their firm's shares prior to repurchase announcements as though repurchases convey favorable inside information to outsiders. Prior to fixed price repurchase offers that do not follow takeover-related events, managers increase their buying and reduce their selling of their firm's shares. Prior to repurchases that follow takeover-related events, only a decrease in selling is found. No abnormal trading precedes Dutch auction repurchase offers.
Performance of a Broad-Band, High-Resolution, Transition-Edge Sensor Spectrometer for X-ray Astrophysics

Future X-ray astrophysics experiments require multiplexed readout of high fill-factor, kilo-pixel arrays of transition-edge sensors (TESs), with very high spectral resolution over a broad range of energies. In this paper we report on a prototype kilo-pixel array of Mo/Au TESs readout with 8-column by 32-row time-division multiplexing (TDM). This system is being used to demonstrate the critical detector and readout technology for ESA's Athena X-IFU, and when complete will be used in laboratory astrophysics experiments. Our array and TDM readout have demonstrated a combined full-width-at-half-maximum energy resolution, including > 200 pixels, of: 1.95 eV for Ti-Kα (4.5 keV), 1.97 eV for Mn-Kα (5.9 keV), 2.16 eV for Co-Kα (6.9 keV), 2.33 eV for Cu-Kα (8 keV), 3.26 eV for Br-Kα (11.9 keV). The 1 sigma statistical errors are ≤0.01 eV for all spectra. These results meet the broad-band resolution requirements for X-IFU with margin.
Passive and Active Multiple Scattering of Forests Using Radiative Transfer Theory With an Iterative Approach and Cyclical Corrections

In this article, a unified framework of vegetation scattering using radiative transfer (RT) theory for passive and active remote sensing of vegetated land surfaces, especially those associated with moderate-to-large vegetation water contents (VWCs), e.g., forest field, is presented. The framework allows for modeling passive and active microwave signatures of the vegetated field with the same physical parameters describing the vegetation structure. RT equations are solved by a numerical iterative approach for both passive and active configurations. This approach allows including higher order scattering, which represents multiple scattering. In fields such as forests with large VWCs, associated with large scattering albedo and optical thickness, multiple scattering effects are critical. In the active iterative approach, cyclical terms are identified and backscattering enhancement is included by doubling contributions from cyclical terms. The method is applied to aspen trees in forest fields to compute the brightness temperatures and backscattering coefficients for passive and active remote sensing configurations, respectively. In the passive configuration, for forest field with VWC of 15 kg/m², the deviation between the zeroth-order brightness temperature, i.e., the tau-omega model results, and multiple scattering results around 40°observation angle, can be as large as 50 K for vertical polarization and 35 K for horizontal polarization. In the active configuration, the deviation between first-order results, which is identical to the distorted Born approximation, and the multiple scattering results around 40°incidence angle, is about 1.6 dB for VV and 0.7 dB for HH polarization. Multiple scattering is shown to be crucial for accurate forward modeling, especially over forested areas. The proposed approach is thus suitable for vegetation scattering with large VWCs. Furthermore, the proposed model is validated with the passive and active L-band sensor (PALS) acquired in SMAPVEX12 measurements in 2012, which demonstrates the applicability of this model.
Spectrum of [ 18 F]FDG-PET/CT Findings in Benign Lymph Node Pathology

Diffuse lymphadenopathy has a long differential diagnosis that includes both malignant and benign causes. As part of the lymphadenopathy work-up, many patients undergo [18F]FDG-PET/CT for purposes of ruling out malignancy. FDG-avid lymph nodes, however, are not specific for malignancy. This review will illustrate the spectrum of nodal findings on FDG-PET/CT with correlation to other cross-sectional imaging and clinical history in patients with representative infectious, inflammatory, and benign lymphoproliferative disorders. These findings are important for the nuclear medicine radiologist to understand, as they can represent common pitfalls in the work-up of lymphadenopathy. While FDG-PET/CT may be limited in ascertaining a definitive diagnosis in a disease process as the cause of lymphadenopathy, it can help to narrow this differential and rule out certain diseases in the correct clinical context.
Managing Land for Butterflies

Because butterflies are important contributors to biodiversity of natural areas, their habitat needs should be considered when making decisions regarding land management. In order to do this effectively it’s important to know what factors are essential components of butterfly habitat. In addition to host plants and nectar resources, a wide variety of parameters, including vegetative structure, presence of mutualist organisms, and edaphic as well as other factors all contribute to the overall quality of butterfly habitat. Population structure is also an important consideration, particularly in cases where metapopulation dynamics are present. Land managers can simplify their task considerably by limiting their considerations to those species that require the habitats that are under active management while recognizing that species that are adapted to the broader landscape are much less likely to be affected by management activities.
Molecular Dynamics Studies Of Lithium Dimers

Optical-optical double resonance (OODR) was employed to excite ro-vibrational levels into the unknown upper third of the potential energy curve of the F ( 4 ) 1 Σ g + state.
Protein-Alkaloid Relationship in Datura stramonium var. tatula

The objective of this research was to find a relationship between protein synthesis and alkaloid synthesis in Datura stramonium L. var. tatula Torrey, if one existed. Sterile root cultures were grown for 2 weeks in a nutrient solution containing chloramphenicol, cycloheximide, and puromycin. The alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine were separated by TLC and assayed spectrophotometrically. The total nitrogen content was determined by the micro-Kjeldahl method. In the tracer work, the sterile root cultures were grown in the nutrient solution containing L-proline-U-14C and puromycin. The soluble protein content of the radioactive roots was determined by the Lowry method. The incorporation of L-proline-U-14C into alkaloids and trichloroacetic acid-precipitable proteins was determined by the liquid scintillation technique. The growth habits were changed and the weights of the root cultures reduced. Of the three inhibitors tested, only puromycin caused an increase in the hyoscyamine production and in the uptake of proline into it. This is the first relationship demonstrated between protein synthesis and alkaloid synthesis.
Glycolytic control mechanisms. II. Kinetics of intermediate changes during the aerobic-anoxic transition in perfused rat heart.

Abstract The tissue levels of the glycolytic intermediates and adenine nucleotides were measured in perfused rat hearts supplied with 20 mm glucose during the transition from aerobiosis to carbon monoxide-induced anoxia. Facilitation of phosphofructokinase occurred as early as 20 sec after the induction of anoxia at 37°, as shown by an increase of fructose diphosphate and a fall of hexose monophosphate levels. Inorganic phosphate, creatine, adenosine monophosphate, and ADP levels increased simultaneously, while ATP and creatine-phosphate levels decreased. The increases of the nucleotides slightly preceded the rise of fructose diphosphate, and the largest percentage changes were in AMP and inorganic phosphate. These results are in accordance with the postulated activation of phosphofructokinase in vivo by AMP and phosphate. At 25°, the adenine nucleotide changes were much smaller, and an increase of phosphate accounted for the observed activation of phosphofructokinase. Maximum activation of phosphofructokinase occurred between 40 and 60 sec after the onset of anoxia. Overshoots in the levels of many glycolytic intermediates were observed during the transition from the aerobic to the anoxic steady states, indicating a complex sequence of interactions between the various control sites in the glycolytic pathway. Aerobic recovery after a brief period of anoxia was associated with an inhibition of phosphofructokinase, and a return of the levels of high energy phosphate intermediates to their preanoxic values.