cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Vegetative Cover on Foraging Site Selection by Swainson's Hawk

Foraging bouts of male Swainson's Hawks (Buteo swainsoni) were observed using radio-telemetry to determine the effect of plant cover on the selection of foraging sites. Home ranges consisted of varying amounts of cultivated and uncultivated habitats. Cultivated fields were the most abundant and they supported large amounts of prey, but were not hunted until crop harvest reduced the density of their plant canopy. A negative correlation between estimates of plant cover and foraging suggested that habitat differences such as vegetative cover were of greater importance than prey density in the selection of hunting sites. A correlation between foraging and prey biomass after it had been adjusted for vegetative concealment indicated that models relating prey abundance with raptor foraging should consider the effect of such a habitat difference on the availability of a hunting site's food supply. The efficient selection of hunting sites is critical for foraging birds. Because physical features vary among habitats, it is logical to assume that these differences would influence the availability of food and a bird's hunting success. Discussions of avian foraging have begun to emphasize the importance of such factors as plant cover, distance of travel, and weather in the selection process (Goss-Custard 1970, Royama 1970, Hassell 1971, Smith and Dawkins 1971, Zach and Falls 1976a, b, Kushlan 1979, Eiserer 1980, Fitzpatrick 1980). Although descriptions of habitat use by foraging raptors are limited, they indicate that, for species such as hawks and owls, plant cover and weather may have a greater effect than prey abundance on the suitability of their foraging habitats (Southern and Lowe 1968, Wakeley 1978, Stinson 1980). If this is true, predator-prey models that assume a direct relationship between hunting and prey density (MacArthur and Pianka 1966, Emlen 1968, Simons and Alcock 1971, Alcock 1973, Poole 1974) would need to be reconsidered when applied to raptors. I report here the results of a study I conducted to determine the effect of plant cover on the availability of Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) prey. I predicted that, if plant cover limited the productivity of potential hunting sites, a reduction in a habitat's cover would increase its use by foraging hawks. Birds nesting in farmland of southeastern Washington were ideal to study because crop harvest reduced plant cover in large portions of their nesting habitat. Using estimates of plant cover together with estimates of prey density, I compared the distribution of foraging efforts before and after harvest for a possible correlation between a habitat's use and its vegetative cover.
264 Five-Year Survival Trends in Heart Transplantation Based on Recipient Age over Two Decades of Multi-Institutional Experience

Purpose: Over the last two decades, survival has improved after cardiac transplantation. The reasons for this improvement have not been fully explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of age at the time of transplant on 5 year patient survival over two decades of experience. Methods and Materials: Outcomes data from 7,015 patients were collected from 1990-2008 from the Cardiac transplant Research Database (CTRD) were used in a multivariable analysis to generate a predictive model using recipient variables. Age at time of transplant was tested for interactions with date of transplant to determine if the relative risk for death changed over time. Results: Kaplan-Meier analysis for death of pts tx at ages 35, 35-59 and 60 show 5-year survivals of 67% (n 216), 78% (n 1289), and 76% (n 617), respectively from 2002-2008. Compared to 1990-1995 this is a decrease of 2% (p .5) for ages 35, and an increase of 6% for ages 35-59 (p .008); 9% for ages 60 (p .007). By multivariate analysis in the hazard domain both age (p .002) and date of tx (p .0001) were risk factors for death and these variables interact (p .0001). Predictive equations derived from this analysis show predicted 5-year survival for a pt tx at age 20 remains flat from 1990-2008, whereas pts tx at age 40 increase from 72% to 78%, and pts tx at age 60 increase from 74% to 85% (p .0001) for the model. Conclusions: Observed improvements in survival over two decades of cardiac transplantation at least in part can be explained by improvements in outcomes in older heart transplant recipients. The lack of improvement in the younger age group suggests that changes in clinical management that have resulted in improvements in survival in the older ages have not benefited the younger adult patients. Therefore, we submit that different clinical practices should be tailored based on age within the adult population.
Topsy-Turvy: a smarter and faster parallelization of mutation analysis

Mutation analysis is an effective, if computationally expensive, technique that allows practitioners to accurately evaluate the quality of their test suites. To reduce the time and cost of mutation analysis, researchers have looked at parallelizing mutation runs --- running multiple mutated versions of the program in parallel, and running through the tests in sequence on each mutated program until a bug is found. While an improvement over sequential execution of mutants and tests, this technique carries a significant overhead cost due to its redundant execution of unchanged code paths. In this paper we propose a novel technique (and its implementation) which parallelizes the test runs rather than the mutants, forking mutants from a single program execution at the point of invocation, which reduces redundancy. We show that our technique can lead to significant efficiency improvements and cost reductions.
Mediated Politics in Taiwan Political Talk Shows and Democracy

Talk show programs have been a media phenomenon in many democratic societies. This essay intends to offer an analysis of media discourse and the political deliberation process in Taiwan in the 2000s, by concentrating on the talk-show fever of the past decade. Over this period, any political issue in Taiwan could easily develop into a heavily mediated political event, attracting widespread public attention and leading to a complex, intriguing power relationship among the media, politicians, and the general public. In other words, talk shows have become a forum used by various political forces in Taiwan to compete and struggle for agenda-setting power and to try to manipulate public debates in favor of their political space and place. This study illustrates several distinctive features of Taiwan's political talk shows, identifies how they frame and promote political issues, shows the mediated interaction among different political actors, and evaluates the contribution of talk shows to Taiwan's democratic deliberation process.
Constitutive Model for the Undrained Compression of Unsaturated Clay

AbstractThis paper proposes a constitutive model to describe the isotropic compression response of unsaturated, compacted clay under undrained conditions over a wide range of mean stresses. The tot...
Rulemaking's Missing Tier

Litigation about the validity of agency rules is anomalous. In ordinary federal cases, appellate judges scrutinize lower court decisions. In challenges to agency rules, one court usually pronounces the judiciary’s first, last, and only judgment.One might plausibly expect a compelling justification for such a significant departure from the regular order. But in fact, there is no viable reason to structure rulemaking challenges differently from other highstakes cases that do not require judicial fact-finding. It follows that either we deploy too many judicial tiers in many cases, or too few in disputes about agency rules. Because two-tier court structures are epistemically superior to one-tier court structures — that is, they are less prone to legal error — the latter is more likely. The troubling implication is that our courts are probably getting too many rulemaking cases wrong. Indeed, although judicial error rates can’t be directly observed, the occurrence of error in rulemaking litigation is suggested by the fact that, despite legal doctrines meant to make the political preferences of judges irrelevant, judicial ideology persistently influences case outcomes.Rulemaking challenges are among the most consequential cases heard by federal courts, yet we consign them to an anomalous judicial architecture that likely generates preventable errors. Reform is possible. This Article identifies and evaluates four potential reforms: enlarging the en banc dockets of circuit courts, repudiating the presumption in favor of circuit court (over district court) jurisdiction, routing all rulemaking cases through the district courts, or enabling circuit court decisions in rulemaking cases to be appealed to different circuits, what this Article calls “intercircuit peer review.” Although the latter two reforms would require congressional action, the former could be achieved by the courts alone.
Immunohistochemistry in Neuro-Oncology: Markers or Signposts?

The contributions of immunohistochemical techniques to the interpretation and further study of central nervous system (CNS) tumors are well known. Recent reviews have described the scope of these techniques in neurosurgical diagnosis and illustrated how proteins with diverse neural specificity are being employed today as markers of developing, normal adult, and pathological cells of the nervous system (1–3). These proteins may be structural (therefore related to the cytoskeleton or the cell membranes), or soluble (some having enzymatic activity); others may be concerned with neuroendocrine functions, and others again behave as neurotransmitters. While these markers are often highly sensitive, their cell-specificity varies. Consequently some of their immunomorphological reactions are currently raising a number of questions which necessitate a reappraisal of their role as indicators of cytogenesis. In reality the antigenic determinants revealed by these methods often prove to be not so much markers of histogenesis, as signposts — or signals — pointing towards one or more potential lines of neoplastic differentiation. We have discussed in greater detail elsewhere the implications that may be drawn from the various manifestations of this phenomenon (4). In this brief review, we propose to summarize some of these points.
Skeletal muscle cramps

The different clinical conditions characterized by the presence of cramps (intense, often painful, localized contractions of skeletal muscle) were surveyed. These clinical conditions are varied and include certain primary diseases of muscle metabolism, disorders of the muscle membrane, and various affections of nerve. In addition, certain widespread metabolic disorders may lead to cramps, probably in most cases by mechanisms affecting firing in peripheral nerves. The problem of cramps of functional origin is also briefiy discussed. Some of the physiologic mechanisms of cramps are outlined briefiy.
JOURNAL CLUB: Can Coronal STIR Be Used as Screening for Acute Nontraumatic Hip Pain in Children?

OBJECTIVE. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether coronal STIR MRI can be used as a screening test for nontraumatic acute hip pain in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS. From 2008 to 2012, we identified all patients younger than 18 years at our tertiary care facility who underwent pelvic MRI including coronal STIR for the following indications: acute hip pain, limping, or refusal to bear weight. Patients with a history of trauma were excluded. Each MR image was independently reviewed by four radiologists who were blinded to the clinical outcome. After first reviewing the coronal STIR images only, they then reviewed the full MRI studies in a random order different from that used for review of the coronal STIR images. The sensitivity and specificity of STIR-only images in identifying the presence of abnormality and specific diagnoses were calculated, with the full MRI study considered as the reference standard. Kappa values were calculated for STIR-only and full MRI studies. RESULTS. A total of 127...
Nanocomposites prepared by sol-gel methods: Synthesis and characterization

Publisher Summary Sol-gel processing of nanocomposite materials has evolved recently because of the generality of this synthetic method. A wide variety of host matrices can be formed under very mild conditions with relatively inexpensive reagents using sol-gel chemistry. Conversion of a sol to a gel using hydrolysis and intermolecular condensation reactions occurs, under proper conditions, even for complex reactant mixtures affording convenient syntheses of host matrices having complex compositions. This flexibility enables the tuning of the pore size, surface area, density, dielectric constant, refractive index, and chemical composition of a host matrix. Inorganic/organic matrices are also accessible, and sol-gel chemistry even occurs within inverse micelles. Formation of the nanoparticulate phase is achieved most commonly through reduction processes for elemental particles or precipitation reactions for chemical substances. A variety of methods are available to initiate particle formation. Nanoparticle growth is usually promoted by thermal annealing, and, for many substances, thermal energy is required for single-crystal formation. This growth process typically affords nanoclusters of the guest phase having a distribution of particle sizes.
Promoting Positive Youth Development Through Teenagers-as-Teachers Programs:

A promising approach to support positive youth development is having adolescents serve as teachers for younger children. Through a qualitative interview study, we explored adolescents’ development in their role serving as teachers for younger elementary-age children during out-of-school time; programs were managed by the University of California 4-H Youth Development Program. We interviewed 32 teenagers (median age 15; 27 female, 5 male) about their experiences, growth, and learning. Through consensus-based inductive thematic analysis, we identified 26 codes that we analytically sorted and found they aligned with the six indicators outlined by the Five Cs of the positive youth development model. Adolescents reported positive experiences and their own growth in competence, confidence, connection, caring, character, and contribution. Furthermore, data indicated that contributing in a meaningful way was developed in tandem with the other Cs.
Cultural Stressors and Depressive Symptoms in Latino/a Adolescents: An Integrative Review:

BACKGROUND: Latino/a adolescents experience higher levels of depressive symptoms than Caucasian and African American adolescents. Many studies found that cultural stressors contribute to this dispa...
Complexes of [(dadi)Ti(L/X)]m That Reveal Redox Non-Innocence and a Stepwise Carbene Insertion into a Carbon–Carbon Bond

The addition of donors to (dadi)Ti(THF) (1-THF, dadi = [{−CH═N(1,2-C6H4)N(2,6-iPr2–C6H3)}2]n) afforded the adducts [(dadi)Ti(L/X)]m (1-L, m = 0, N2CPh2; m = −1, X = Cl–, N3–, OiPr–, CH3–, neoPe–, CH═CH2–, CCPh–, CCTMS–, H(D)−). In all adducts, the chelate was in the (dadi)4– redox state. For certain anions, evidence for intimate binding of the Li+ counterion was explored spectroscopically. Treatment of 1-THF with PhHCN2, yielded {PhC3H3(-NC6H4-2-NAr)2}Ti(THF) (3, Ar = 2,6-iPr2–C6H3), which contains a cyclopropanated dadi ligand. The mechanism was explored by calculations, and the addition of Ph2CN2 to 3 produced a nacnac derivative, {PhC(CHNC6H4-2-NAr)2}Ti(η2-HNNCPh2) (4, Ar = 2,6-iPr2–C6H3), generated via hydrogen transfer from the cyclopropane.
The Aerodynamics and Dynamics of Rotors—Problems and Perspectives

The aerodynamic and dynamic characteristics of rotary wing devices such as helicopters, other VTOL aircraft and wind turbines differ markedly from those of fixed wings. Major differences are due to: 1. the high concentration of bound circulation over the outer portion of the blade resulting in an intense vortex trailed from the tip, 2. a curved spiralling wake remaining initially close to the rotor causing strong blade/vortex interactions, 3. the high centrifugal force field in which the blades operate, 4. the relatively large steady state displacements of the blades out of the plane of rotation.
To Walk in Another's Shoes

This patient objectively should not have been prescribed an opioid, but my heart told me differently.
Impact of air-handling system exhaust failure on dissemination pattern of simulant pathogen particles in a clinical biocontainment unit.

Biocontainment units (BCUs) are facilities used to care for patients with highly infectious diseases. However, there is limited guidance on BCU protocols and design. This study presents the first investigation of how HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) operating conditions influence the dissemination of fluorescent tracer particles released in a BCU. Test conditions included normal HVAC operation and exhaust failure resulting in loss of negative pressure. A suspension of optical brightener powder and water was nebulized to produce fluorescent particles simulating droplet nuclei (0.5-5 μm). Airborne particle number concentrations were monitored by Instantaneous Biological Analyzers and Collectors (FLIR Systems). During normal HVAC operation, fluorescent tracer particles were contained in the isolation room (average concentration = 1 × 104 ± 3 × 103 /Lair ). Under exhaust failure, the automated HVAC system maximizes airflow into areas adjacent to isolation rooms to attempt to maintain negative pressure differential. However, 6% of the fluorescent particles were transported through cracks around doors/door handles out of the isolation room via airflow alone and not by movement of personnel or doors. Overall, this study provides a systematic method for evaluating capabilities to contain aerosolized particles during various HVAC scenarios. Recommendations are provided to improve situation-specific BCU safety.
Evaluation of Video-Based Instructional Coaching for Middle School Teachers: Evidence from a Multiple Baseline Study

We designed a multiple baseline study to evaluate an instructional coaching model in which coaches use video recordings of collaborating teachers' classrooms to inform their coaching practices. In ...
Corporate Political Strategy and Firms’ Market Capabilities: An Integrated Perspective

We develop theory to address the questions of how political strategies and capability-building market strategies are integrated; we focus on how firms’ market capabilities (the abilities to outperform competitors in the market such as production efficiency) influence the nature of their investments in political strategy. We argue that the answers to these research questions critically depend on the goal of political strategy. We first draw on the corporate political strategy literature in management and economics which has focused primarily on rent-seeking political strategy, and propose that rent-seeking political strategy and market strategies are substitutes, and that weaker firms (i.e., firms with weaker market capabilities) are more likely to use political strategies to seek refuge from competitive forces. We then examine a different goal of political strategy, the hazard-reducing political strategy, which helps firms to safeguard their market production from hazards of public and private expropriation; drawing on institutional economics and international business, we propose that hazard-reducing political strategy and market strategies are complements, and that stronger firms stand to benefit more from hazard-reducing political strategy. Finally, we discuss standard-setting political strategy and compare it with the previous two political goals. This perspective has novel implications for the integration of firms’ nonmarket strategy and market strategy.
Thermal Atomic Layer Etching of Amorphous and Crystalline Hafnium Oxide, Zirconium Oxide, and Hafnium Zirconium Oxide

Thermal atomic layer etching (ALE) using the fluorination and ligand-exchange mechanism was employed to etch amorphous and crystalline films of hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, and hafnium zirconium oxide. HF was the fluorination reactant and dimethylaluminum chloride (DMAC) or titanium tetrachloride was the metal precursor for ligand-exchange. The amorphous films etched faster than the crystalline films. The differences were most pronounced for hafnium oxide. At 250°C, the etch rate was 0.03-0.08 A/cycle for crystalline HfO 2 and 0.68 A/cycle for amorphous HfO 2 .
Auditory Warnings Invoking Startle Response Cause Faster and More Intense Neck Muscle Contractions Prior to Head Impacts

High-pressure level and sudden sound, especially during an elevated state of alertness can elicit a startle response. Startle response can induce sudden, intense muscle activations. Some studies ha...
Developing a Normative Framework to Access Small-Firm Entry Strategies: A Resource-Based View

The decision to pursue growth opportunities is often complex and multidimensional. Small businesses pursuing these opportunities must consider many important criteria, such as resource requisites, timing and how to enter new markets. Unfortunately, there are not many systemic tools available to make these difficult decisions. One area of literature that may assist small businesses in deciding how to enter new markets is the resource-based view of a firm. The resource-based view of a firm complements current strategic management thought by refocusing efforts on the long-term accumulations of assets rather than short-term resource allocations. We synthesize concepts from the resource-based view with the literature on alternative entry strategies to develop a normative framework for small-business decision makers. Specifically, from the resource-based view, we consider: I) different types of distinctive competencies - tangible/intangible resources owned by a firm and capabilities/processes used by a firm; 2) the degree to which these distinctive competencies can be sustained given certain environmental attributes, such as ease of imitation, abilities of competitors and industry dynamism. The interrelationships between distinctive competence and environmental sustainability are then used to identify appropriate strategies to enter new markets.
YAP/TAZ Activation Drives Uveal Melanoma Initiation and Progression.

Summary Uveal melanoma (UM), the most common ocular malignancy, is characterized by GNAQ/11 mutations. Hippo/YAP and Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) emerge as two important signaling pathways downstream of G protein alpha subunits of the Q class (GαQ/11)-mediated transformation, although whether and how they contribute to UM genesis in vivo remain unclear. Here, we adapt an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based ocular injection method to directly deliver Cre recombinase into the mouse uveal tract and demonstrate that Lats1/2 kinases suppress UM formation specifically in uveal melanocytes. We find that genetic activation of YAP, but not Kras, is sufficient to initiate UM. We show that YAP/TAZ activation induced by Lats1/2 deletion cooperates with Kras to promote UM progression via downstream transcriptional reinforcement. Furthermore, dual inhibition of YAP/TAZ and Ras/MAPK synergizes to suppress oncogenic growth of human UM cells. Our data highlight the functional significance of Lats-YAP/TAZ in UM initiation and progression in vivo and suggest combination inhibition of YAP/TAZ and Ras/MAPK as a new therapeutic strategy for UM.
Novel nitric oxide-generating platform using manuka honey as an anti-biofilm strategy in chronic rhinosinusitis.

BACKGROUND Bacterial biofilms are implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis. Nitric oxide (NO) is a key immune effector with potent antimicrobial effects, but a short half-life limits achievement of therapeutic concentrations. We hypothesized that manuka honey (MH) could induce sustained reduction of nitrite to NO causing biofilm disruption and that this effect would be enhanced with the addition of a NO-releasing microparticle. METHODS Porous organosilica microparticles containing nitrosylated thiol groups were formulated (SNO-MP). MH was combined with serial dilutions of nitrite. NO release was evaluated using a NO analyzer. The susceptibility of 2 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms to these NO-releasing platforms was evaluated using confocal microscopy. Cell viability and biofilm volume were quantified. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test with SPSS software. RESULTS MH with nitrite generated a linear increase in NO formation. SNO-MP induced a bolus release of NO within 5 minutes, followed by a sustained plateau phase. MH with nitrite combined with SNO-MP enhanced NO release during the plateau phase. MH with nitrite reduced biofilm live cells and volume by 88.5% to 96.9% and 95.1% to 95.6%, respectively, vs control (p < 0.0001). SNO-MP reduced live cells and volume by 61.0% to 98.5% and 74.7% to 85.7%, respectively, vs control (p < 0.0001). MH with nitrite combined with SNO-MP nearly eradicated biofilm, with a 98.3% to 99.8% (log 1.8-2.6) reduction in viability and a 91.4% to 97.7% decrease in volume (p < 0.0001 vs control). CONCLUSION A novel platform that generates NO using MH and nitrite produces a potent anti-biofilm effect, which can be further enhanced with the addition of SNO-MP.
Hemodynamics rounds: Hemodynamics of mitral valve interventions

Mitral valvulopathy presents as regurgitation, stenosis, or mixed disease and can occur in both native and prosthetic valves. Such disease develops in conjunction with pathophysiologic changes in the left atrium (LA) and drives changes in LA compliance, pressure, and thus clinical syndromes. With advances in the understanding and treatment of structural heart disease and in the setting of higher-risk patient populations, less-invasive transcatheter approaches have become increasingly commonplace in the treatment of mitral valve disease. Over time, transcatheter mitral valve interventions have evolved to include paravalvular leak closure, mitral valve repair, and mitral valve replacement. Parallel to this evolution, advances in invasive intracardiac pressure monitoring, particularly at the level of the LA, have also occurred. These advances emphasize the unique interplay between mitral valve disease and LA function; account for limitations of noninvasive assessment; and guide beneficial outcomes in each area of transcatheter mitral valve intervention. As a result, continuous transseptal LA pressure monitoring has developed into an indispensable instrument in successful percutaneous mitral valve intervention, complementing traditional noninvasive assessment.
Endoscopic stricturotomy and ileo-colonic resection in patients with primary Crohn's disease-related distal ileum strictures.

Background Stricture is a common presentation of Crohn's disease with the site of prevalence being the distal ileum. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of patients with primary distal ileum stricture treated with endoscopic stricturotomy (ESt) vs ileo-colonic resection (ICR). Methods All consecutive patients with primary distal ileum stricture that were treated with ESt and/or ICR were extracted from the interventional inflammatory bowel disease (i-IBD) unit from 2001 to 2016. All patients with a stricture >5 cm or those with anastomotic strictures were excluded from the study. The primary outcomes were surgery-free survival and post-procedural complications. Results A total of 13 patients receiving ESt and 32 patients receiving ICR were included in this study. Although the length of the stricture is comparable between the two groups (2.4 ± 0.9 vs 3.0 ± 1.1 cm, P = 0.17), patients who received surgery had a more complicated obstruction presented by the high pre-stenosis proximal dilation rate (67.7% vs 9.1%, P = 0.001). All patients in both groups achieved immediate technical success after treatment. The median follow-up durations were 1.8 and 1.5 years in the ESt and ICR groups, respectively. The subsequent surgery rates were similar between the two groups (15.4% vs 18.8%, P = 0.79) and the overall surgery-free survival was also comparable between the two groups (P = 0.98). Post-procedural adverse events were seen in 2/29 ESt procedures (6.9% per procedure) and 8/32 (25.0%) patients receiving ICR (P = 0.05). Conclusions ESt achieved comparable stricture-related surgery-free survival as ICR, while ESt had a numerically lower post-operative complication rate.
Automated MicroCT-based bone and articular cartilage analysis using iterative shape averaging and atlas-based registration.

Abstract Micro-computed tomography (μCT) and contrast-enhanced μCT are important tools for preclinical analysis of bone and articular cartilage (AC). Quantitative data from these modalities is highly dependent on the accuracy of tissue segmentations, which are often obtained via time-consuming manual contouring and are prone to inter- and intra-observer variability. Automated segmentation strategies could mitigate these issues, but few such approaches have been described in the context of μCT. Here, we validated a fully-automated strategy for bone and AC segmentation based on registration of an average tissue atlas. Femora from healthy and arthritic rats underwent μCT scanning, and epiphyseal trabecular bone and AC volumes were manually contoured by an expert. Average tissue atlases composed of 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 pre-contoured training images (n = 10 atlases/group) were generated using iterative shape averaging and registered onto unknown images via affine and non-rigid registration. Atlas-based and expert-defined volumes for bone and AC were compared in terms of shape-based similarity metrics, as well as morphometric and densitometric parameters. Our results demonstrate that atlas-based registrations were capable of highly accurate and consistent segmentation. Atlases built from as few as 3 training images had no incidence of mal-registration and exhibited improved incidence of accurate registration, and higher sensitivity and specificity compared to atlases built from only one training image. Atlas-based segmentation of bone and AC from μCT images is a robust and accurate alternative to manual tissue segmentation, enabling faster, more consistent segmentation of pre-clinical datasets.
Systems biology approaches help to facilitate interpretation of cross-species comparisons

Abstract Translation of biological knowledge from animal models to humans is an important step in the development of therapeutics, but there remain limitations for effective translation. Systems biology offers approaches to understand the limitations for translation between species through data-driven models, such as methods that rely on learning patterns from data, and mechanism-driven models of biological processes, such as pharmacokinetic models. Here, we describe recent advances in both data-driven and mechanism-driven systems biology approaches to better understand limitations to translation from animal models to humans. Both approaches to modeling have their strengths and weaknesses but still provide key biological insight for translating between model systems and humans (Fig. 1). The presented methods not only identify differences between different model organisms but also provide opportunities to identify shared biomarkers and unique biological insight.
The effect of prolonged tracheal intubation on the association between patent ductus arteriosus and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (grades 2 and 3).

To determine if the need for mechanical ventilation alters the association between prolonged patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) exposure and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (grades 2 and 3) (BPD). Observational study of 407 infants (<28 weeks’ gestation) with echocardiograms performed at planned intervals. Twelve percent (48/407) of study infants had BPD (grades 2 and 3). In a multivariable regression model, exposure to a moderate-to-large PDA shunt for ≥7 days was associated with an increased risk of BPD (grades 2 and 3) (from 16 to 35%: aRD = 19% (6, 32%), p < 0.005) when infants required ≥10 days of intubation (n = 170). In contrast, there was no significant association between prolonged PDA exposure and BPD when infants required ≤9 days of intubation (aRD = 4%) (−1, 10%) (n = 237). Moderate-to-large PDAs are associated with an increased risk of BPD—but only when infants require intubation ≥10 days.
Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: systemic therapies, guidelines, and an evolving standard of care

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) management is evolving because of the emergence and development of antiangiogenic therapies to eliminate bleeding telangiectasias and achieve hemostasis. This progress is reflected in recent clinical recommendations published in the Second International Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of HHT, in which systemic therapies including antiangiogenics and antifibrinolytics are now recommended as standard treatment options for bleeding. This review highlights the new recommendations especially relevant to hematologists in managing bleeding, anticoagulation, and anemia in patients with HHT.
Comparative Effectiveness of Anti-Inflammatory Drug Treatments in Coronary Heart Disease Patients: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Introduction and Hypothesis. The role of inflammation is widely recognized in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease. Research on animal models had shown the potential benefits of targeting specific inflammatory pathways. However, studies on human subjects are limited with small number of patients and no head-to-head comparisons. Methods. We conducted a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that studied the effects of anti-inflammatory medications on cardiovascular outcomes of coronary artery disease patients. We searched the electronic database until March 2020 for relevant studies. Results. Nineteen trials examining the efficacy of eight anti-inflammatory medications (pexelizumab, anakinra, colchicine, darapladib, varespladib, canakinumab, inclacumab, and losmapimod) were selected for analysis. Overall, there is no statistically significant difference in all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, revascularization, and major cardio and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) with the use of anti-inflammatory drugs. However, we found the use of colchicine significantly reduces the odds of developing stroke by approximately 75% (OR 0.26, CI 0.10-0.63). Colchicine use was also associated with a lower risk of revascularization and MACCE compared to the other agents. Our subgroup analyses comparing the timing of medication initiation (within 7 days vs. >7 days) and clinical presentation (ACS vs. non-ACS) revealed a significant reduction in the risk of recurrent MI in the group that received medication after seven days (OR 0.92, CI 0.86-0.99) and the non-ACS group (OR 0.88, CI 0.80-0.98). Conclusion. Although many anti-inflammatory medications have failed to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes in the CAD population, selected medications show promise among subgroups of patients without ACS or after the first week following an acute ischemic event. Future studies examining the proper timing and targetable anti-inflammatory pathways are warranted.
Modality-Classification of Microscopy Images Using Shallow Variants of Deep Networks

Microscopy images are pervasive in biomedical research publications, where images obtained through various microscopy modalities (light, fluorescence, scanning, transmission) are often used to describe and summarize experiments and contributions. Hence, there is growing interest in automatically identifying these microscopy images’ modality and utilizing this knowledge in automated search tools. However, identifying microscopy images poses challenges due to a lack of extensive collections of labeled images. We describe and evaluate two alternative approaches to microscopy image classification. In the first approach, we progressively fine-tuned layers of ResNet models. The second approach uses shallow variants of ResNet networks, where we leverage the outputs from previous convolutional blocks. We compare these results against a Support Vector Machine (SVM)-based baseline. Our results show that fine-tuning specific layers yields better results than fine-tuning the whole model. Furthermore, shallower variants produce competitive results when compared to the entire fine-tuned model.
Spirit Molestation: Identity Development Abuse in Western Early Childhood Education Programmes Serving Black African American Students

The most vulnerable students in the USA's public education system are young African American children. They are vulnerable to developmental abuse or spirit molestation. This article focuses on earl...
Mesoscale hetero-deformation induced (HDI) stress in FeAl-based metallic-intermetallic laminate (MIL) composites

Abstract Single-phase intermetallic FeAl layered material is synthesized using a layered foil approach to study the fracture mechanisms of FeAl-based metallic-intermetallic laminate (MIL) composites containing a similarly fabricated structure. The mechanical properties and crack evolution of the single-phase FeAl are investigated via incremental compression testing. Microstructure and composition assessment confirm a similar intermetallic layer laminate microstructure of single-phase FeAl and FeAl-based MIL composites. When compressed perpendicular to the layers, both materials fail by the axial splitting of the FeAl phase along the loading direction. Mesoscale hetero-deformation induced (HDI) stress, which is tensile on the FeAl layers of MIL composites, accelerates crack nucleation and crack propagation, eventually inducing failure. The HDI stress evaluated via finite element analysis (FEA) simulation provides an explanation for the difference between 430SS-FeAl and 304SS-FeAl MIL composites, which posses similar microstructure and composition, but very different strengths. When compressed parallel to the layers, mesoscale HDI stress is expected to be negligible, whereas the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) pile-up induced HDI stress can enhance the performance of the composites. Fracture toughness is characterized via four-point bend testing, and the results demonstrate improvement of the FeAl-based MIL composites over the single-phase FeAl material.
IC variability minimization using a new C/sub p/ and C/sub pk/ based variability/performance measure

A new performance measure, based on the capability indices C/sub p/ and C/sub pk/ (commonly used in process control), is proposed for general circuit Design for Quality. It overcomes some of the critical limitations of the traditional quadratic loss function (e.g., that of Taguchi) and leads to the creation of a new methodology for statistical circuit design. It also allows for the automation of the manual two-stage variability minimization/tuning methodology, and gives a concrete interpretation to the "goodness" of a circuit in easy to understand terms. Successful IC variability/performance optimization examples are presented. >
Handbook of Program Evaluation for Social Work and Health Professionals by Michael J. Smith

There could have been no better time than now for Michael J. Smith's Handbook of Program Evaluation for Social Work and Health Professions. This is a well-organized, well-written, step-by-step guid...
Corporate law and Residual Claimants

Author(s): Black, Bernard | Abstract: Common shareholders are not the only important residual claimants on a firm's income. Instead, other claimants, including employees,creditors, preferred shareholders, option holders, suppliers, customers, and the government (as tax collector) also often gain substatially whenthe firm does well, and suffer when the firm does badly. The conventional contractarian explanation for why only common shareholders vote - thatthey are the firm's principal residual claimants - thus fails to fit the facts.I propose a refraiming of the question - why do only common shareholders vote - as several related questions. In a world where commonshareholders, employees, creditors, preferred shareholders, and others are all important residual claimants, why do common shareholdersreceive voting control rights, some creditors receive default-based and nonpayment-based control rights, other creditors receive onlynonpayment-based control rights, preferred shareholders receive weak, situation-limited voting rights, and employees, suppliers, customers,and the government receive no formal control rights (unless they happen to also own common shares)?In answering these interrelated questions, the emphasis shifts from explaining why residual claimants receive control rights to explaining whythey often do not. Why are residual interests so much more widely distributed than formal control rights? Why do employees, suppliers,customers, and the government receive no formal control rights even though they are often major residual claimants? Why do preferredshareholders receive voting rights that are almost uselessly weak? Why do trade creditors receive only nonpayment rights while banks receivestronger default rights, when standard contractarian theory - in which formal control flows from residual interest - would predict the oppositeoutcome? The article sketches some possible approaches to answering these questions.
Collagen microstructure in the vocal ligament: initial results on the potential effects of smoking.

Objectives/Hypothesis This investigation quantitatively characterizes the collagenous microstructure of human vocal ligament specimens excised postmortem from nonsmokers and smokers. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods Second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging was performed at three anatomical locations of vocal ligament specimens: anterior, mid-membranous, and posterior regions. Two microstructural parameters were extracted from the SHG images: (1) normalized fiber density, and (2) fiber dispersion coefficient, quantifying the degree of collagen fiber dispersion about a preferred direction. Results For both the nonsmoker and smoker subjects, the fiber dispersion coefficient was heterogeneous. Differences in the collagenous structure of nonsmokers and smoker subjects were pronounced at the mid-membranous location. However, the directionality of the heterogeneity in the smoker subjects was opposite to that in the nonsmoker subjects. Specifically, the fiber dispersion coefficient in the nonsmoker subjects was lower in the mid-membranous region (indicating more fiber alignment) than at the anterior/posterior regions, but for the smoker subjects the fiber dispersion coefficient was higher at the mid-membranous region. The normalized fiber density was near constant in the nonsmoker subjects, but the smoker subjects had fewer fibers in the mid-membranous region than at the anterior/posterior regions. Conclusion Spatial microstructural variations may exist in the vocal fold ligament both in nonsmokers and smokers. Smoking appears to influence the degree and direction of microstructure heterogeneity in the vocal fold ligament. Level of Evidence N/A. Laryngoscope, 124:E361–E367, 2014
From Action to Typology? A Neuro-evolutionary Perspective

The article offers an assessment of David Kemmerer's article ‘The Cross-Linguistic Prevalence of SOV and SVO Word Orders Reflects the Sequential and Hierarchical Representation of Action in Broca's Area’ in the context of the question, ‘How did biological evolution yield a language-ready brain?’ We argue that the path from praxic actions to grammatical structure is indirect and that comparative neurobiology of human and monkey and computational modeling of neural circuitry may both play a role complementary to that of human neurology and neurolinguistics in tracing the intricacies of that path. We conclude that (a) Kemmerer's focus on BA44 ignores the involvement of a larger system and that the key factor of subject salience is determined by regions outside BA44 supporting the perceptual salience of people within a scene; (b) the ability to process ‘non-canonical’ structures (i.e., structures with a non-default mapping between syntax and semantics) may have been crucial in the evolution of language, and (c) that constituent hierarchies (i.e., the ability to express increasingly more complex information by increasing constituent complexity) also play a particularly important role in explaining the communicative power of language.
Structure of the Synapse

The sections in this article are: 1 Structure of the Presynaptic Active Zone 2 Recycling of Synaptic Vesicles 3 Vesicle Turnover and Transmitter Metabolism 4 Vesicles and Transmitter in Adrenergic Synapses 5 Ultimate Origin and Fate of Synaptic Vesicles 6 Development and Degeneration of Synaptic Terminals 7 Glial and Schwann Cells Next to Synaptic Terminals 8 Structure of the Postsynaptic Active Zone
Intelligent applications in substations disturbance analysis

This paper is prepared for a panel session titled "Intelligent Applications in Substations" and represents a summary of the presentation on the subject of disturbance analysis. The topics covered by this presentation include the use of the following intelligent system techniques: expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and advanced signal processing. The applications covered are all related to different aspects of automated analysis of disturbances ranging from classification of faults and power quality disturbances to automated analysis of faults and fault clearing sequences. Each of the mentioned implementations is developed by the author of this paper and his research team, and demonstrated using utility data.
The differential reference frequency synthesizer

Indirect digital frequency synthesizers cannot achieve fast frequency switching with closely spaced frequencies because of limitations imposed by the requisite narrow loop bandwidth. A novel dual-loop digital frequency synthesizer is presented which satisfies these conflicting requirements and, in most cases, exhibits improved phase noise performance. Two realizations of the novel frequency synthesizer are presented and compared to a conventional dual-loop digital synthesizer using an example. From this example, it is evident that the use of the differential reference frequency synthesizer allows synthesis of closely spaced frequencies with phase-locked loops that use arbitrarily high reference frequencies and, therefore, can have considerably wider bandwidths and commensurately shorter frequency switching times than can be achieved with conventional dual-loop synthesizers. >
Massive Hepatic Enlargement with Fatty Change Associated with Ketoconazole

Several forms of hepatic toxicity have been described with the antifungal agent ketoconazole. We report a case of massive liver enlargement with fatty infiltration presenting as gastric compression. This occurred in a young woman with AIDS taking ketoconazole as maintenance therapy for cryptococcal meningitis. This is the first reported case of ketoconazole causing fatty change in the liver.