cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimation of absolute myocardial blood flow during first-pass MR perfusion imaging using a dual-bolus injection technique: comparison to single-bolus injection method.

Purpose To compare the dual-bolus to single-bolus quantitative first-pass magnetic resonance myocardial perfusion imaging for estimation of absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF). Materials and Methods Dogs had local hyperemia of MBF in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery (intracoronary adenosine). Animals (n = 6) had sequential single- and dual-bolus perfusion studies with microsphere determination of absolute MBF. Perfusion imaging was performed using a saturation-recovery gradient-echo sequence. Absolute MBF was by Fermi function deconvolution and compared to transmural, endocardial, and epicardial microsphere values in the same region of interest (ROI). Results Signal and contrast were significantly higher for the dual-bolus perfusion images. The correlation with MBF by microspheres was r = 0.94 for the dual-bolus method and r = 0.91 for the single-bolus method. There was no significant difference between MRI and microsphere MBF values for control or hyperemic zones for transmural segments for either technique. When the ROI was reduced to define endocardial and epicardial zones, single-bolus MR first-pass imaging significantly overestimated MBF and had a significantly larger absolute error vs. microspheres when compared to dual-bolus perfusion. Conclusion Both single-bolus and dual-bolus perfusion methods correlate closely with MBF but the signal and contrast of the dual-bolus images are greater. With smaller nontransmural ROIs where signal is reduced, the dual-bolus method appeared to provide slightly more accurate results. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of monoclonal antibody and phenolic extraction from transgenic Lemna for purification process development

Several pharmaceutical protein products made in transgenic plant hosts are advancing through clinical trials. Plant hosts present a different set of impurities from which the proteins must be purified compared to other expression hosts such as mammalian cells. In this work, phenolic compounds present in extracts of monoclonal antibody (mAb)-expressing Lemna minor were examined. Two different extraction pHs were evaluated to assess the effect of extraction condition on the concentration of mAb and phenolics in the extracts. The extract prepared at pH 4.5 had an enriched level of mAb relative to native protein when compared to a pH 7.5 extract although similar overall mAb was extracted at either pH. Slightly more mAb was recovered from the pH 3 elution of the pH 4.5 extract run on a MabSelect column than was recovered from the pH 7.5 extract. Phenolic levels in extracts were assessed by spectrophotometry, Folin-Ciocalteu assay and by profiling on RP-HPLC. The Folin-Ciocalteu assay results did not agree with those obtained by the other two methods. Therefore phenolic levels were quantified by RP-HPLC comparing the total area of phenolic peaks to those of reference phenolic compounds. The pH 7.5 extract had 22% less phenolics than the pH 4.5 extract. Acidic precipitation of the pH 7.5 extract resulted in further reduction of phenolics originally present in the pH 7.5 extract. The total phenolics present in the extracts were effectively removed by incubation of extracts with a commercially available anion exchange resin, Amberlite IRA-402. We anticipate that early removal of phenolic compounds will prolong the life of more expensive affinity columns used for the purification of potential pharmaceutical proteins and should therefore be considered in process development involving proteins extracted from transgenic plant hosts.
Elevated serum alpha-linolenic acid levels are associated with decreased chance of pregnancy after in vitro fertilization

Objective To analyze relationships between serum free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations and pregnancy. Design Prospective cohort. Setting University hospital. Patient(s) Ninety-one women undergoing IVF. Intervention(s) Serum was analyzed for total and specific serum FFAs, including myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and α-linolenic acids. Main Outcome Measure(s) Univariate analyses were used to identify specific FFAs and other factors associated with pregnancy after IVF. Logistic regression was performed modeling relationships between identified factors and chance of pregnancy. Result(s) In unadjusted analyses, women with elevated serum α-linolenic acid (ALA) levels (highest quartile) demonstrated a decreased chance of pregnancy compared with women with the lowest levels (odds ratio 0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.052–0.792). No associations between other FFAs and pregnancy were identified. In a multivariable regression model, associations between elevated serum ALA levels and decreased chance of pregnancy remained after adjusting for patient age, body mass index, and history of endometriosis or previous live birth (adjusted odds ratio 0.139, 95% confidence interval 0.028–0.686). Conclusion(s) Elevated serum ALA levels are associated with decreased chance of pregnancy in women undergoing IVF. Further work is needed to determine whether ALA is involved in early reproductive processes and whether the relationship between ALA and pregnancy is associated with excess ALA intake, impaired ALA metabolism, or both.
Sport and Education: Theory and Practice in the USSR

This paper examines the complex relationship between education and athletics in the USSR. Young athletes throughout the world face many difficulties in dividing their attention between education and sport. In the USSR, the state has teken the initiative in helping young athletes to resolve this dilemma, due to the significance of sport in Soviet society. The importance of sport may in part explain Sovied determination to tackle the education/athletics problem. The paper then describes the organization of youth sport and the traing demands expected of school-age athletes, as well as the structure and organization of the sports boarding school and the specialist class.
Restructuring the Chinese City: Changing Society, Economy and Space

Laurence J. C. Ma and Fulong Wu, eds. London and New York: Routledge, 2005. xv and 283 pp., maps, diagrams, tables, photos, and index. $75.00 cloth (ISBN 0-415-33385-7). In less than three decades,...
Correcting DCT Codes With Laurent Euclidean Algorithm and Syndrome Extension

Real number block codes derived from the discrete cosine transform (DCT) are corrupted by a few large errors along with low-level noise. Checking syndromes are encapsulated in Laurent polynomials and a special Euclidean algorithm determines the locations of large errors. These locations are adjusted properly to give an error-modeling polynomial that is used to extend syndromes which are in turn transformed to codeword error values. A probabilistic analysis describes the effects of the low-level noise on corrected values after they pass through the syndrome extension process. Simulations yield probability of codeword errors, mean-squared decoding errors and sample means and variances of low-level noise effects.
Robust, Double-Walled Microcapsules for Self-Healing Polymeric Materials

Double-walled polyurethane/poly(urea-formaldehyde) microcapsules (PU/UF) are prepared for use in self-healing materials. This modified encapsulation procedure combines two chemistries to form more robust capsule shell walls in a single operation. Robust capsules are formed by this procedure as long as the aromatic polyisocyanate prepolymer is soluble in the core liquid and the core liquid is compatible with isocyanates. Compared to a standard UF encapsulation, the modified procedure results in capsules with an increase in shell wall thickness from 200 to 675 nm as a function of the amount of PU added to the core liquid. Thermal stability of PU/UF microcapsules prepared with varying amounts of PU is compared to UF microcapsules. Mechanical properties of the PU/UF microcapsules are assessed from single-capsule compression testing.
Context attributes: an approach to enable context-awareness for service discovery

The service discovery problem has attracted a lot of attention from researchers and practitioners. Jini, SLP, and UPnP are among the few emerging service discovery protocols. Although they seem to provide a good solution to the problem, there is an unaddressed need of more sophisticated location and context-aware service selection support. In this paper, we introduce the concept of context attribute as an effective, flexible means to exploit relevant context information during the service discovery process. Context attributes can express context information including service-specific selection logic, client, and network condition. We describe our approach and implementation, and present experimental results of our context-aware service discovery implementation.
Development and metamorphosis of the digestive system of larval lobsters, Homarus americanus (Decapoda: Nephropidae).

This study provides a detailed account of the development of the digestive system of larval lobsters (Homarus americanus H. Milne Edwards, 1837) and the morphological changes that occur at metamorphosis. The most dramatic of these changes involves the gastric mill of the cardiac stomach. First-and second-stage lobsters lack the medial and lateral teeth characteristic of the grinding stomach of adult lobsters. Clearly recognizable, heavily cuticularized teeth first appear in the third stage, and accessory lateral teeth do not appear until the fourth stage. In place of the teeth of the gastric mill, first- and second-stage stomachs have a series of pads and ridges which are the apparent rudiments of the teeth. The development of the gastric mill during the larval stages enables lobsters to deal successfully with the more substantial food they encounter in the benthic environment, and corresponds to the drastic change of habitat and diet which occurs at metamorphosis. Confusion about the extent of the midgut and hindgut in larval lobsters has been clarified. The results of this study have shown that the larvae have a long midgut, which lacks a cuticle, and a short hindgut with a cuticular lining, just as in adult lobsters. The junction between midgut and hindgut lies in the sixth abdominal segment in all of the first four stages, as well as in the adult.
A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus

Life is mostly composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus. Although these six elements make up nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids and thus the bulk of living matter, it is theoretically possible that some other elements in the periodic table could serve the same functions. Here, we describe a bacterium, strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae, isolated from Mono Lake, California, that is able to substitute arsenic for phosphorus to sustain its growth. Our data show evidence for arsenate in macromolecules that normally contain phosphate, most notably nucleic acids and proteins. Exchange of one of the major bio-elements may have profound evolutionary and geochemical importance.
The Empathetic Meme: Situating Chris Crocker Within the Media History of LGBT Equality Struggles

This essay argues for the historical significance of a viral video and its memes within mediated struggles for Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender equality. Informed by affect, sound, and media studies, I argue that Chris Crocker’s “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” helped form empathy for these populations. Through a close reading of the video, historical contextualization, and examining responses, I describe how his user-generated video, spread widely across various media, can be appreciated as one component in changing social attitudes. To accomplish this, I viewed and transcribed LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!, examined comments, parodies, and other reactions, reviewed media coverage of Crocker at the time and since, and consulted historiographies, trend analyses, and other material on Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender equality struggles in the 21st century.
Soy Protein Diet, but Not Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Decreases Mucin-1, Trefoil Factor-3, and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Colon of Dextran Sodium Sulfate-Treated C57BL/6 Mice

The incidence of inflammatory bowel diseases has increased during recent decades. Within the colon, the families of mucins (MUC) and trefoil factors (TFF) facilitate mucosal protection. Probiotic administration influences the intestinal MUC layer. Additionally, food components may affect gut microflora or have direct effects on the MUC barrier. Our objective was to determine whether diet and/or Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) would mediate dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis by altering expression of the MUC and TFF genes. C57BL/6 mice were fed diets containing 20% (wt:wt) casein, soy, or whey proteins with or without LGG for 12 d. Seven days after starting LGG diets, the mice were given 2% DSS in drinking water for 4 d. Two additional casein groups with or without LGG were given tap water, for a total of 8 groups. One day after the DSS treatment, the mice were killed and the colon and cecum tissues and cecum contents were collected and analyzed by qRT-PCR. Whey protein significantly increased cecal LGG content compared with the other diets. In the casein diet groups, MUC1 and TFF-3 expression in colon was significantly induced by DSS independent of LGG. Compared with other DSS-treated groups, soy protein decreased MUC-1 and TFF-3 in the colon. Similarly, soy protein decreased the impact of DSS on inflammatory scores, TNFα gene expression, and colon shortening. There was no overall effect of LGG on these measurements. In conclusion, soy protein suppressed the DSS-induced inflammatory stimulation of MUC, TFF, and TNFα gene expression independently of LGG.
Using clustering strategies for creating authority files

As more online databases are integrated into digital libraries, the issue of quality control of the data becomes increasingly important, especially as it relates to the effective retrieval of information. Authority work, the need to discover and reconcile variant forms of strings in bibliographic entries, will become more critical in the future. Spelling variants, misspellings, and transliteration differences will all increase the difficulty of retrieving information. We investigate a number of approximate string matching techniques that have traditionally been used to help with this problem. We then introduce the notion of approximate word matching and show how it can be used to improve detection and categorization of variant forms. We demonstrate the utility of these approaches using data from the Astrophysics Data System and show how we can reduce the human effort involved in the creation of authority files.
Bilingual Two-Way Immersion Programs Benefit Academic Achievement.

The effects of bilingual education on reading and math achievement were examined by comparing test scores across different elementary school programs. Results revealed that bilingual Two-Way Immersion (TWI) programs benefited both minority-language and majority-language students. Minority-language students in TWI programs outperformed their peers in Transitional Programs of Instruction, while majority-language students in Two-Way Immersion outperformed their peers in Mainstream monolingual classrooms. Bilingual Two-Way Immersion programs may enhance reading and math skills in both minority-language and majority-language elementary school children.
High protein intake from meat as complementary food increases growth but not adiposity in breastfed infants: a randomized trial

Background: High intake of cow-milk protein in formula-fed infants is associated with higher weight gain and increased adiposity, which have led to recommendations to limit protein intake in later infancy. The impact of protein from meats for breastfed infants during complementary feeding may be different. Objective: We examined the effect of protein from meat as complementary foods on growths and metabolic profiles of breastfed infants. Design: This was a secondary analysis from a trial in which exclusively breastfed infants (5‐6 mo old from the Denver, CO, metro area) were randomly assigned to receive commercially available pureed meats (MEAT group; n = 14) or infant cereal (CEREAL group; n = 28) as their primary complementary feedings for w 5m o. Anthropometric measures and diet records were collected monthly from 5 to 9 mo of age; intakes from complementary feeding and breast milk were assessed at 9 mo of age. Results: The MEAT group had significantly higher protein intake, whereas energy, carbohydrate, and fat intakes from complementary feeding did not differ by group over time. At 9 mo of age mean (6 SEM), intakes of total (complementary feeding plus breast-milk) protein were 2.9 6 0.6 and 1.4 6 0.4 g $ kg 21 $ d 21 , w17% and w9% of daily energy intake, for MEAT and CEREAL groups, respectively (P , 0.001). From 5 to 9 mo of age, the weight-for-age z score (WAZ) and length-for-age z score (LAZ) increased in the MEAT group (DWAZ: 0.24 6 0.19; DLAZ: 0.14 6 0.12) and decreased in the CEREAL group (DWAZ: 20.07 6 0.17; DLAZ: 20.27 6 0.24) (P-group by time , 0.05). The change in weightfor-length z score did not differ between groups. Total protein intake at 9 mo of age and baseline WAZ were important predictors of changes in the WAZ (R 2 = 0.23, P = 0.01). Conclusion: In breastfed infants, higher protein intake from meats was associated with greater linear growth and weight gain but without excessive gain in adiposity, suggesting potential risks of high protein intake may differ between breastfed and formula-fed infants and by the source of protein. Am J Clin Nutr doi: 10.3945/ajcn. 114.088807.
Sets, Bags, and Rock and Roll

As network traffic increases, the problems associated with monitoring and analyzing the traffic on high speed networks become increasingly difficult. In this paper, we introduce a new conceptual framework based on sets of IP addresses, for coming to grips with this problem. The analytical techniques are described and illustrated with examples drawn from a dataset collected from a large operational network.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Evolution and Demise

Title 10 of the US Code, Section 654 entitled “Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the Armed Forces” was passed into law in 1993 and became commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). DADT expressly forbid open homosexuality in the US military. It required that a member of the US armed forces be separated from military service if s/he had (1) engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or act; (2) had stated that s/he was homosexual or bisexual; or, (3) had married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex. During the seventeen years in which DADT was in force, more than 13,000 gay, bisexual and lesbian service members were forcibly separated under the policy. DADT was not a spontaneous political issue from the 1990s, but rather a deep-seated cultural issue that began to emerge after World War II and continued to evolve over the next six decades. In September 2012, after certification by the Commander-in-Chief, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, DADT was finally rendered obsolete, at which point it became permissible to serve openly in the US military irrespective of one’s sexual orientation. This chapter seeks to describe the historical context that gave rise to the evolution and decline of DADT from 1949 to 2011.
The Charming Betsy and the Paquete Habana

This chapter for the book “Landmark Cases in Public International Law” discusses two famous U.S. Supreme Court decisions — The Charming Betsy (1804) and The Paquete Habana (1900). Although written nearly one hundred years apart, each decision appears to stand for similar propositions — that international law has an important place in the law of the United States, but that U.S. domestic law should prevail in the event of conflict. What often goes unnoticed is that the Supreme Court decided these cases against the backdrop of very different understandings about international law and its relationship to U.S. domestic law. In addition to discussing the background and significance of each case, this chapter describes three shifts in U.S. thinking about customary international law during the nineteenth century. First, the theoretical foundations of customary international law shifted away from natural law towards positivism. Second, the consent requirement for making customary international law shifted from the individual consent of each state to the consent of states generally. And third, the U.S. understanding of the relationship between international law and domestic law shifted away from monism towards dualism — away from an understanding that international law was part of U.S. law unless displaced, towards an understanding that international law was not part of U.S. law unless adopted. The Charming Betsy and The Paquete Habana are landmark cases not because they changed the course of international law in the United States but because they reveal changes in the landscape.
The Iapetan rifted margin of southern Laurentia

The Iapetan rifted margin of southern Laurentia includes the northeast-striking Blue Ridge, Ouachita, and Marathon rifts, which are offset by the northwest-striking Alabama-Oklahoma and Texas transform faults, framing the Alabama and Texas promontories and the Ouachita and Marathon embayments of the continental margin. Interpretations of the original trace, structural style, and age of the rifted margin rest on identification of synrift rocks and structures, as well as continental-shelf and off-shelf sedimentary deposits on the passive margin. Both late Paleozoic Ouachita-Appalachian allochthons and post-orogenic Atlantic-Gulf passive-margin deposits cover the Iapetan rift margin, necessitating the use of data from deep wells and geophysical surveys along with geologic maps of the exposed Ouachita-Appalachian thrust belts to characterize the synrift and post-rift rocks and structures. The continental margin and passive-margin shelf strata are primarily in the footwall of the Ouachita allochthon; however, some Ouachita thrust faults displaced shelf-margin basement and cover. Appalachian thrust faults imbricate synrift fill of the intracratonic Birmingham graben and the passive-margin shelf. Palinspastic restoration of thrust-belt structures uses balanced cross sections to locate the original trace of the Iapetan margin. Thickness and subsidence history of the passive-margin successions, as well as a general lack of preserved synrift deposits, indicate an upper-plate structure along the Blue Ridge rift on the Alabama promontory and along the Ouachita rift on the Texas promontory. The upper plate on the Texas promontory is conjugate to a lower-plate rift structure on the Argentine Precordillera. Although data are limited, the evolution of the passive margin along the Marathon rift in the Marathon embayment suggests a lower-plate structure. Geophysical modeling supports a steep continental margin along the Alabama-Oklahoma transform, and a similar structure can be inferred for the Texas transform. The Blue Ridge rift north of the Alabama promontory is dated by synrift volcanic rocks as young as 564 Ma, and passive-margin transgression beginning in earliest Cambrian is documented along the Alabama promontory and farther north. The age of the Ouachita rift is documented by the 530–539 Ma synrift volcanics of the transform-parallel intracratonic Southern Oklahoma fault system, by Early Cambrian synrift sediment along the conjugate rift margin in the Argentine Precordillera, and by late synrift graben-fill of Early to early Late Cambrian age in the rift-parallel intracratonic Mississippi Valley and Birmingham graben systems, as well as by subsidence history of the passive margin on the Texas promontory. The diachroniety of rifting reflects an inboard shift from the Blue Ridge rift to the Ouachita rift along the Alabama-Oklahoma transform and rifting of the Argentine Precordillera from the Ouachita embayment.
Center specificity in the limited sampling model (LSM): can the LSM developed from healthy subjects be extended to disease states?

Background and objectives Area under the curve (AUC) can be related to the therapeutic or toxic effect of a drug. In order to accurately measure AUC, multiple blood samples are required, but in a clinical setting, frequent blood sampling from the patients is time-consuming and expensive. The limited sampling model (LSM) is one of the approaches that is gaining popularity due to its simplicity for the estimation of AUC using 1 - 3 samples. Despite its simplicity, the LSM has some shortcomings. One of the major drawbacks of the LSM is that the LSM developed under a given condition may not be extended to other conditions. For example, the LSM developed from healthy subjects may not be extended to disease states such as renal or hepatic impairment or vice versa. This characteristic of the LSM can be referred to as "center-specific". In this investigation, the LSM developed from the healthy subjects was used to predict AUC in patients with renal or hepatic impairment. Methods Two sets of simulated plasma concentration versus time data for 2 antihypertensive drugs and measured plasma concentration versus time data for 2 representative drugs (A and B) were used in the analysis. Results and conclusion The results of the study indicate that the LSM developed from healthy subjects is inadequate to predict AUC in patients with hepatic or renal impairment, indicating center specificity of the LSM.
Medical malpractice issues related to interventional radiology complications.

Medical malpractice is defined as an adverse outcome that causes injury or harm which occurs after a physician–patient relationship establishes the duty of care.1 There must be negligence by provider which is usually interpreted as failure to provide the standard of care and direct causality between negligence and outcome. Litigation is an unfortunate consequence of medical complications although in my experience, whether or not malpractice occurred is often unrelated to whether or not a lawsuit is filed. People usually file a lawsuit because of an unexpected, bad outcome, not necessarily because malpractice was committed. Errors in medicine happen commonly, fortunately, most do not result in patient harm. Clearly, a bad outcome does not necessarily indicate malpractice but most patients are not in a position to determine whether or not true malpractice has transpired. Complications are unavoidable and most complications are defensible except for a special category referred to as “res ipsa loquitur” which is loosely translated to mean “the event speaks for itself.” These are complications that are so egregious that by definition, negligence has occurred. “Never events” such as retained foreign bodies and air embolism are often referred to as “res ipsa loquitur.” Incidentally, this is different and sometimes confused with “prima facie” which simply means that the minimal amount of evidence needed to continue a case.
Abstract B120: Wnt expression and the association with autophage protein in pancreatic cancer

Background: Aberrant wnt signaling pathway and contribution of autophagy have been documented in many types of human cancers. However, the association between and autophage-related protein has not been studied in pancreatic cancer. We analyzed the expression of wnt protein and autophage-related protein in pancreatic cancer to determine the association and its clinical significance. Materials and Methods: From January 2001 to December 2009, paraffin embedded blocks from 74 patients undergone pancreatic resection for the treatment of pancreatic cancer were used in the present study. We performed immunohistochemical staining for wnt3, wnt5a, s-catenin in wnt signaling pathway and Atg5, Ambra1, Beclin-1, LC3, Bif-1 in the fields of autophage related protein. We reviewed the clinicopathologic characteristics and analyzed the association between wnt signaling pathway and the autophage. Results: In 74 patients, the expression rates of wnt protein were 68.9% for wnt3, 83.8% for wnt5a and 54.9% for s-catenin. The wnt3 expression was more frequent in pancreatic head than in body or tail (p = 0.039) and s-catenin was more commonly expressed in negative lymphatic invasion (p = 0.032). The wnt 3 expression is positively associated with ATG5 (p=0.004), Ambra1 (p=0.004), Beclin (p=0.022), and LC3 (p=0.002). The wnt5 expression also showed the correlation with ATG5 (p=0.01), Ambra1 (p=0.026), Beclin (p=0.012), and LC3 (p=0.003). There was no prognostic significance association between survival outcome and wnt expression. Conclusion: In pancreatic cancer, wnt protein expression was very high, showing association with autophage-related protein. To determine the clinical significance of these protein expressions, we are currently ongoing further research. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Myung Ah Lee, Jin Hee Park. Wnt expression and the association with autophage protein in pancreatic cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment; May 18-21, 2014; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(13 Suppl):Abstract nr B120.
Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy and quality of life: answering the unanswered questions?

Rates of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) among women with early-stage breast cancer continue to rise in the United States, despite a lack of evidence for any survival benefit associated with this surgery (1,2). While many studies have robustly evaluated medical outcomes, including survival and risk of contralateral breast cancer, less is known about the psychosocial impact of CPM in breast cancer patients who undergo this procedure.
Sex Differences in Smoking Cessation Pharmacotherapy Comparative Efficacy: A Network Meta-analysis

Introduction Converging clinical and biological evidence suggest sex is an important factor when selecting a pharmacological intervention for smoking cessation. The current investigation used network meta-analyses to estimate sex differences in the comparative efficacy of transdermal nicotine (TN), varenicline, and sustained release (SR) bupropion for smoking cessation. Methods Systematically searched previously published reviews and databases (Medline, PsycINFO, Embase) of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of bupropion-SR, TN, and varenicline for cigarette smoking cessation in primary care/general community samples were included. Results Thirty-two studies met all criteria and 28 (88%) were included in the final analyses, representing 14 389 smokers (51% female). Results of the full sample (women and men combined) mirrored those from a Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group network meta-analysis of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy, showing VAR>TN=BUP. All medications improved quit rates over placebo for both women and men. Relative to placebo, varenicline efficacy was similar for women and men. Significant sex differences were evident when comparing varenicline versus TN and varenicline versus bupropion. For women, varenicline was more efficacious than TN (RR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.12,1.76) and bupropion (RR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.08,1.77). For men, outcomes for those treated with TN and bupropion were similar to those treated with varenicline. There were no differences in efficacy when comparing bupropion versus TN. Conclusions The advantage of varenicline over bupropion SR and TN is greater for women than men. Clinicians should strongly consider varenicline as the first option treatment for women. Among men, the advantage of varenicline over TN or bupropion is less clear. Implications This study provides information for the sex-informed treatment of nicotine addiction among cigarette smokers. Relative to placebo, women and men achieved similar outcomes when treated with varenicline; however the advantages of varenicline over transdermal patch and bupropion were greater for women compared to men.
Statistical ARQ link analysis and planning for dynamic links

In [1] and [2], we discussed automatic Repeat-reQuest (ARQ) link analysis and planning in terms of effective data rate, effective throughput, latency, and frame-error-rate (FER), under the standard assumption that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) remains the same throughout the ARQ communication session. In [3], we argued that the concept of constant SNR might not be valid when considering events over a long time horizon, as many link parameters are inherently statistical. This is particularly true for long-haul ARQ links because the channel SNR changes during subsequent retransmissions of un-received or non-decodable frames. As shown in [3], this inaccurate assumption of constant SNR might be non-consequential for static links such as S-band and X-band, but can lead to large discrepancies in the analysis and planning of the more dynamic communication links such as Ka-band and optical communication frequencies. In this paper, using similar techniques developed in [3], we incorporate the effect of changing SNR, or link uncertainty, into the analysis of ARQ links. SNR is no longer considered as a fixed value, but a random variable whose long-term statistics can be characterized with a probability distribution function. We consider two limiting cases: 1. “Fast-varying” SNR: when SNRs in subsequent retransmissions of a code-block can assume different values, and they are independent. One example is the deep space link when the ARQ acknowledgement time is much larger than the coherency time of the channel. For communications between Earth's ground stations and spacecraft at Mars, the round trip light time is 20–40 minutes, and this is much more than the typical atmospheric coherency time of Ka-band. 2. “Slow-varying” SNR: when SNR values in subsequent retransmissions of a code-block remain the same. One example is the proximity link between a low-Mars-orbit orbiter and a surface asset at Mars. In this case, the ARQ acknowledgement time is of the order of milliseconds and we can assume identical channel environment in subsequent re-transmissions. We expect the ARQ behavior of real-world dynamic channels would fall in between the “fast-varying” and “slow-varying” cases, thus providing interesting insights on the ARQ data return performance and latency performance. We illustrate the aforementioned analysis using the NASA (1024, ½) low-density-parity check (LDPC) code.
Generation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Teratomas

Publisher Summary When pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are injected into immune-compromised mice they form teratomas, which are tumors made of cells and organized foci of complex tissues derived from all three germ layers. The generation of human ESC (hESC)-derived teratomas is an important technique used to assess the pluripotency of a hESC line and should be part of the routine evaluation of cell lines in culture as well as a critical step in the validation of newly derived lines or genetically altered hESC clones. All procedures with animals should be performed under the appropriate institutional review and oversight. This chapter describes several methods used to generate hESC-derived teratomas in immunodeficient mice. All of the strains of severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice have been used successfully for the xenograft of hESCs.
A Puzzle About Hart’s Theory of Internal Legal Statements

In this essay, I describe a puzzle concerning Hart’s theory of internal legal statements and the internal point of view from which such statements are made. The puzzle is tied to a commonly assumed requirement for an adequate theory of law (the Requirement, for short). According to the Requirement, a theory of law must explain why participants in legal practices should justify their decisions by appeal to legal norms, rather than pointing solely to how practice-independent norms, such as morality and prudence, are triggered by social facts about legal practices. Theories of law that are dissimilar in other respects—such as Scott Shapiro’s planning theory, Ronald Dworkin’s interpretive theory, and Hans Kelsen’s pure theory—all satisfy the Requirement. The American legal realists’ prediction theory of law does not.
Platelet-Rich Plasma and Hyaluronic Acid Are Not Synergistic When Used as Biological Adjuncts with Autologous Osteochondral Transplantation.

IntroductionAutologous osteochondral transplantation (AOT) is a treatment for osteochondral lesions with known concerns, including histological degradation of the graft and poor cartilage integration. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and hyaluronic acid (HA) have been described has having the potential to improve results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of PRP and HA on AOT in a rabbit model.MethodsThirty-six rabbits underwent bilateral knee AOT treated with either the biological adjunct (PRP, n = 12; HA, n = 12; PRP + HA, n = 12) or saline (control). PRP and HA were administered as an intra-articular injection. The rabbits were euthanized at 3, 6, or 12 weeks postoperatively. The graft sections were assessed using the modified International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) scoring system. The results from the PRP alone group is from previously published data.ResultsThe mean modified ICRS histological score for the PRP-treated group was higher than its control (P = 0.002). The mean modified ICRS...
Modeling the long-term effects of introduced herbivores on the spread of an invasive tree

Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) Blake (hereafter melaleuca) is an invasive tree from Australia that has spread over the freshwater ecosystems of southern Florida, displacing native vegetation, thus threatening native biodiversity. Suppression of melaleuca appears to be progressing through the introduction of insect species, the weevil, Oxiops vitiosa, and the psyllid, Boreioglycaspis melaleucae. To improve understanding of the possible effects of herbivory on the landscape dynamics of melaleuca in native southern Florida plant communities. We projected likely future changes in plant communities using the individual based modeling platform, JABOWA-II, by simulating successional processes occurring in two types of southern Florida habitat, cypress swamp and bay swamp, occupied by native species and melaleuca, with the impact of insect herbivores. Computer simulations show melaleuca invasion leads to decreases in density and basal area of native species, but herbivory would effectively control melaleuca to low levels, resulting in a recovery of native species. When herbivory was modeled on pure melaleuca stands, it was more effective in stands with initially larger-sized melaleuca. Although the simulated herbivory did not eliminate melaleuca, it decreased its presence dramatically in all cases, supporting the long-term effectiveness of herbivory in controlling melaleuca invasion. The results provide three conclusions relevant to management: (1) The introduction of insect herbivory that has been applied to melaleuca appears sufficient to suppress melaleuca over the long term, (2) dominant native species may recover in about 50 years, and (3) regrowth of native species will further suppress melaleuca through competition.
Synergistic Effects of Lead Thiocyanate Additive and Solvent Annealing on the Performance of Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells

We show that the cooperation of lead thiocyanate additive and a solvent annealing process can effectively increase the grain size of mixed-cation lead mixed-halide perovskite thin films while avoiding excess lead iodide formation. As a result, the average grain size of the wide-bandgap mixed-cation lead perovskite thin films increases from 66 ± 24 to 1036 ± 111 nm, and the mean carrier lifetime shows a more than 3-fold increase, from 330 ns to over 1000 ns. Consequently, the average open-circuit voltage of wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells increases by 80 (70) mV, and the average power conversion efficiency (PCE) increases from 13.44 ± 0.48 (11.75 ± 0.34) to 17.68 ± 0.36 (15.58 ± 0.55)% when measured under reverse (forward) voltage scans. The best-performing wide-bandgap perovskite solar cell, with a bandgap of 1.75 eV, achieves a stabilized PCE of 17.18%.
A systematic review of active comparator controlled clinical trials in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis.

Purpose: Interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-23 inhibitors are the newest biologic agents used in the management of moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Active comparator studies allow for direct comparison of dif...
Adaptation of limit-cycle walkers for collaborative tasks: A supervisory switching control approach

This paper presents a method to achieve online gait adaptation of a dynamically walking biped when collaborating with an external agent — either a human or a robot — acting as a leader. Adaptation occurs without any explicit information on the leader's intended motion; only implicit information is used through the interaction force developed between the leader and the biped. An adaptive supervisory control scheme is proposed and guarantees for boundedness of the state despite switching under external force are provided. The supervisory controller leverages the availability of a library of exponentially stable limit-cycle gaits, and orchestrates switching among them in an online fashion to achieve adaptation. As a result, the range of leader speeds that the biped can adapt to is drastically enlarged while the leader's effort is reduced.
Proteomic analysis of the cardiac extracellular matrix: clinical research applications.

Introduction: The cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) provides anatomical, biochemical, and physiological support to the left ventricle. ECM proteins are difficult to detect using unbiased proteomic...
Improved Use of Small Reference Panels for Conditional and Joint Analysis with GWAS Summary Statistics

Due to issues of practicality and confidentiality of genomic data sharing on a large scale, typically only meta- or mega-analyzed genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data, not individual-level data, are publicly available. Reanalyses of such GWAS summary data for a wide range of applications have become more and more common and useful, which often require the use of an external reference panel with individual-level genotypic data to infer linkage disequilibrium (LD) among genetic variants. However, with a small sample size in only hundreds, as for the most popular 1000 Genomes Project European sample, estimation errors for LD are not negligible, leading to often dramatically increased numbers of false positives in subsequent analyses of GWAS summary data. To alleviate the problem in the context of association testing for a group of SNPs, we propose an alternative estimator of the covariance matrix with an idea similar to multiple imputation. We use numerical examples based on both simulated and real data to demonstrate the severe problem with the use of the 1000 Genomes Project reference panels, and the improved performance of our new approach.
“My bitterness is deeper than the ocean”: understanding internalized stigma from the perspectives of persons with schizophrenia and their family caregivers

It is estimated that 8 million of the Chinese adult population had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Stigma associated with mental illness, which is pervasive in the Chinese cultural context, impacts both persons with schizophrenia and their family caregivers. However, a review of the literature found a dearth of research that explored internalized stigma from the perspectives of both patients and their caregivers. We integrated data from standardized scales and narratives from semi-structured interviews obtained from eight family-dyads. Interview narratives about stigma were analyzed using directed content analysis and compared with responses from Chinese versions of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale and Affiliated Stigma Scale. Scores from the two scales and number of text fragments were compared to identify consistency of responses using the two methods. Profiles from three family-dyads were analyzed to highlight the interactive aspect of stigma in a dyadic relationship. Our analyses suggested that persons with schizophrenia and their caregivers both internalized negative valuation from their social networks and reduced engagement in the community. Participants with schizophrenia expressed a sense of shame and inferiority, spoke about being a burden to their family, and expressed self-disappointment as a result of having a psychiatric diagnosis. Caregivers expressed high level of emotional distress because of mental illness in the family. Family dyads varied in the extent that internalized stigma were experienced by patients and caregivers. Family plays a central role in caring for persons with mental illness in China. Given the increasingly community-based nature of mental health services delivery, understanding internalized stigma as a family unit is important to guide the development of cultural-informed treatments. This pilot study provides a method that can be used to collect data that take into consideration the cultural nuances of Chinese societies.
Drivers of Patient Costs in Accessing HIV/AIDS Services in Tanzania.

Background:Patient costs pose a challenge in accessing antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. The study aimed at identifying drivers for out-of-pocket (OOP) costs ...
A smart system for face detection with spatial correlation improvement in IoT environment

This paper presents an Internet of Things (IoT) based face detection system. The main objective is to build a fully automated human face detection system for images with complex backgrounds. Our system can capture images and run face detection algorithms on each IoT smart camera device, which is required to write face detection program code. The raspberry Pi 3 board is used as the gateway of IoT smart camera device with a camera on it. The final detected faces will be sent to remote devices, e.g. cell phones and laptops. Two main steps are used to detect faces: 1) cascade classifiers for face detection first and then 2) spatial correlation for detection results improvement. The experimental results showed that our smart camera system gives comparable face detection performance. The average precision of 85.7%. Several promising directions for future research based on IoT are also concluded.
Ocean Carbon Sequestration: A Case Study in Public and Institutional Perceptions

Publisher Summary The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan (NEDO), and Norwegian Research Council (NRC) entered into a Project Agreement for International Collaboration on CO2 Ocean Sequestration in Kyoto on December 4, 1997. By signing the agreement during the Third Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-3), the groups demonstrated their commitment to mitigating climate change, but also opened themselves to international scrutiny. DOE, NEDO and NRC agreed to an initial field experiment on ocean carbon sequestration via direct injection. These original ‘sponsors” were later joined by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Swiss/Swedish firm Asea Brown Bovery (ABB). The sponsors created a Steering Committee (SC) to manage the direction of the project. In addition, a Technical Committee (TC) consisting of the participating research institutions was formed to guide scientific aspects. The purpose of the initial experiment was to secure reliable field data that could be applied to understand how the chemical environment of the deep ocean is perturbed by direct injection. The data would be used to develop models to accurately predict chemical changes for a range of injection scenarios. This would be the first critical step in understanding the environmental impacts of the direct injection of CO2 into the ocean.