cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Baseline working memory activation deficits in dimensional anxious depression as detected by magnetoencephalography.

Objective Anxiety often co-occurs with major depressive disorder (MDD). This preliminary study sought to ascertain the extent to which anxious depression drives group neurobiological differences between patients with MDD and healthy volunteers (HVs). Methods Magnetoencephalography beta-band frequency was used to compare differences in brain response during the N-back working memory task between 30 medication-free patients with treatment-resistant MDD (anxious depression=18; nonanxious depression=12) and 28 HVs. Results Compared to HVs, patients with anxious depression had significantly reduced desynchronisation (less activation) in the left precuneus, right cuneus, and left insula extending into the inferior and middle frontal cortex during the 2-back condition compared with the 1-back condition of the N-back working memory task – indicating less activation of these neural networks in patients with anxious depression during the condition with the highest level of task demands. No other significant group differences were found during the working memory conditions. Conclusion This preliminary study suggests that a subset of patients – those with anxious depression – may be driving observed group differences between patients with MDD and HVs. Further neurobiological studies and replication experiments are necessary to determine the extent to which this subgroup has preferentially influenced our understanding of the underlying neurobiology of depression.
How is the study of communication changing

Purpose – The Conference on Corporate Communication serves as a forum to “exchange ideas and information on relevant issues facing the corporate communication profession.” What have we found over the past 10 years? What themes have been seen as “relevant” and how has what we research changed? This paper aims to focus on the answers to these questions.Design/methodology/approach – In order to examine how the central themes have changed over the years, a semantic network analysis was undertaken using the abstracts from all the presentations from each of the past nine years. The semantic network analysis examined the relationship among words to determine clusters of shared themes.Findings – The research found that over the course of the last decade, the study of corporate communication is not static. It is ever evolving as the world changes and continues to rise to meet the needs of this changing worldOriginality/value – This tool allowed the researcher the opportunity to capture the visible and quantifiable...
The relationship of optimism, pain and social support to well-being in older adults with osteoarthritis

Improving the psychological well-being of individuals with osteoarthritis (OA) is an important concern because the condition is highly prevalent and has no known cure. Few studies have assessed the joint contribution of social, personality, and physical factors in relation to well-being for OA patients. In a cross-sectional sample of older adults with OA (n = 73, 73% female), we assessed the role of support perceptions, optimism and pain in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Greater optimism and support were significantly related to both greater life satisfaction and lower depressive symptoms. Further, optimism partially mediated the relationship of pain to life satisfaction, while support partially mediated the role of pain in depressive symptoms. The interplay of these variables in relation to well-being is discussed in the context of chronic illness and older adulthood.
It Is A Small World After All: Teaching Business Ethics In A Global Environment

Increasingly, managers and employees are facing ethical issues when conducting business in the global marketplace. Business educators attempting to teach appropriate ethical behavior and develop skills for dealing with complex ethical situations need to incorporate realistic case scenarios to challenge students. Such cases should appropriately address personal, corporate and international and cultural issues students are likely to face. This paper presents realistic cases that have been used to teach ethical decision-making in international business classes.
Association of Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders and Hospital Mortality Rate Among Patients With Pneumonia

Importance Hospital quality measures that do not account for patient do-not-resuscitate (DNR) status may penalize hospitals admitting a greater proportion of patients with limits on life-sustaining treatments. Objective To evaluate the effect of analytic approaches accounting for DNR status on risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates and performance rankings. Design, Setting, and Participants A retrospective, population-based cohort study was conducted among adults hospitalized with pneumonia in 303 California hospitals between January 1 and December 31, 2011. We used hierarchical logistic regression to determine associations between patient DNR status, hospital-level DNR rates, and mortality measures. Changes in hospital risk-adjusted mortality rates after accounting for patient DNR status and interhospital variation in the association between DNR status and mortality were examined. Data analysis was conducted from January 16 to September 16, 2015. Exposures Early DNR status (within 24 hours of admission). Main Outcomes and Measures In-hospital mortality, determined using hierarchical logistic regression. Results A total of 90 644 pneumonia cases (5.4% of admissions) were identified among the 303 California hospitals evaluated during 2011; mean (SD) age of the patients was 72.5 (13.7) years, 51.5% were women, and 59.3% were white. Hospital DNR rates varied (median, 15.8%; 25th-75th percentile, 8.9%-22.3%). Without accounting for patient DNR status, higher hospital-level DNR rates were associated with increased patient mortality (adjusted odds ratio [OR] for highest-quartile DNR rate vs lowest quartile, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.04-1.32), corresponding to worse hospital mortality rankings. In contrast, after accounting for patient DNR status and between-hospital variation in the association between DNR status and mortality, hospitals with higher DNR rates had lower mortality (adjusted OR for highest-quartile DNR rate vs lowest quartile, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70-0.89), with reversal of associations between hospital mortality rankings and DNR rates. Only 14 of 27 hospitals (51.9%) characterized as low-performing outliers without accounting for DNR status remained outliers after DNR adjustment. Hospital DNR rates were not significantly associated with composite quality measures of processes of care for pneumonia ( r = 0.11; P = .052); however, DNR rates were positively correlated with patient satisfaction scores ( r = 0.35; P Conclusions and Relevance Failure to account for DNR status may confound the evaluation of hospital quality using mortality outcomes, penalizing hospitals that admit a greater proportion of patients with limits on life-sustaining treatments. Stakeholders should seek to improve methods to standardize and report DNR status in hospital discharge records to allow further assessment of implications of adjusting for DNR in quality measures.
Zamore “the African” and the Haunting of France's Collective Consciousness

In July 1772, the Countess Du Barry, mistress to King Louis XV, took a ten-year old Bengali boy to the baptismal font in great pomp. Young Louis-Benoit Zamore had been brought to France a few years...
Unraveling Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) affect more than 30,000 patients in the USA per year, most of whom are elderly, and these diseases are associated with dismal prognoses. The main features of MDS are ineffective hematopoiesis and aberrant myeloid differentiation. Furthermore, MDS are heterogeneous, both clinically and molecularly. This heterogeneity and the frequent occurrence of age-related comorbidities make the management of these diseases challenging. In fact, there have been no new drug approvals for MDS in the USA in the last 9 years, and few currently available investigational drugs are likely to be approved in the near future. Novel targeted treatment based on better understanding of the pathogenesis of MDS is needed to maximize patient outcomes. Here, we discuss new insights into diagnostic accuracy, prognostic assessment, pathogenic mechanisms, and effective treatments for MDS.
Control of Insect Populations through Genetic Manipulations

Calculations are presented that support the feasibility of using insects with inherited lethal factors to control their own populations. The boll weevil ( Anthonomus grandis Boheman) is used as an example, and the theoretical results of releasing males carrying recessive lethal genes into a natural population suggest that this method of control may prove valuable.
Rotor State Feedback Control for Rotorcraft with Variable Rotor Speed

The impacts of variable rotor speed on closed loop stability of rotorcraft are discussed. In previous work a model following controller was designed to provide high bandwidth control of a utility helicopter while providing improved performance using variable rotor speed. However, reduction of rotor speed can result in rotor body coupling and even instability. A rotor state feedback control law can be designed independently and easily integrated into the model following control architecture. Simulations were performed to verify the effectiveness of RSF control to stabilize the rotorcraft dynamics or improve the command tracking performance in the presence of reduced rotor RPM.
Book Review: Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartooning, by Fiona Deans Halloran

Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartooning. Fiona Deans Halloran. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012. 366 pp. $35.00 hbk.Thomas Nast is best remembered for his relentless and effective lampooning of William "Boss" Tweed, New York City's notoriously corrupt Tammany Hall politi- cian and ringleader. Drawing for Harper's Weekly in 1871, one Nast cartoon showed Tweed's giant thumb squashing the island of Manhattan. In another, Nast drew a blubbery caricature of Tweed, replacing his heart with a diamond pin and his head with a bag of cash. In yet another, Nast portrayed Tweed and his cronies at a Roman coliseum, watching the Tammany Tiger rip the broken body of noble Columbia, her republican crown lying in the dirt. On Election Day that year, the Tweed Ring itself was broken, and Nast emerged as the most famous and powerful cartoonist in America.Nast's career included dozens of notable images, including the original Republican elephant and sentimental drawings of Christmas and Santa Claus still popular today. But as historian Fiona Deans Halloran shows in this cogent and highly readable biog- raphy, Nast's rise to prominence encompasses a larger story of immigrant life in ante- bellum New York City as well as the clashes and contradictions of politics and journalism during the upheavals of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age. With its wealth of detail and explication of major political and social issues, the book will be valuable to students as well as the scholars of nineteenth-century American political journalism and visual culture.Halloran's task was challenging in part because of Albert Bigelow Paine's 1904 Nast biography, an authorized account that sugarcoated Nast's early life. Born in Germany in 1840, Nast arrived in New York at age six. He was a small boy, bullied by other immigrants in the tough Five Points neighborhood. Such experiences, Halloran notes, provided Nast with a rich material for his sketchbook and shaped his strong anti-Irish, anti-Catholic views, despite his family's Catholic past. His upbringing also instilled in Nast a determined American optimism, including his take on the American Dream-talent, opportunity, and hard work.Eager and ambitious, Nast began his career in illustrated journalism as a teenager, first for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and then for the New York Illustrated News, which sent him to London. From there, Nast traveled to Italy to cover Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Italian war for the London Illustrated News, an experience that "helped shape his style, teaching him to work quickly and to identify the emotional center of a scene," Halloran writes.In 1861, Nast married Sallie Edwards, determined to use his artistic skill to pro- vide for his new wife and anticipated family. His breakthrough as a cartoonist came at Harper's Weekly, where Fletcher Harper allowed him considerable freedom. …
Evaluation of a Pyridoxalated-Hemoglobin-Polyoxyethylene Conjugate (PHP) as an Oxygen Carrying Plasma Expander in Lethal Anemia

PHP, mean molecular weight of approximately 90,000 daltons, is produced by chemical modifications of outdated human red cell hemoglobin (Hb). The P50 value of PHP is 22 ± 0.7mmHg. Eleven healthy mongrel dogs were exposed to severe anemia to a hematocrit of 5 ± 2% by normovolemic exchange (ET) with PHP (n=5) or a plasma expander, Hespan (Control, n=6). Hb concentration in the preparation is 6.0 g/dl. All the animals with PHP tolerated the procedure well and have survived for 1 year at sacrifice while five of the controls died within a week (p=0.004). Reductions in hematological and coagulation parameters occurred following ET and these parameters returned to the normal ranges by 4 weeks post ET. Renal function parameters (serum urea and creatinine) remained in the normal range throughout the experimental period. A transient slight increase in the hepatic enzyme SGOT was observed. Open biopsies of major organs at 2 weeks post ET showed vacuolated cells in the liver and kidneys. Normal histology was noted at and after 3 months. Oxygen transport properties as examined by arterial-venous oxygen differences, oxygen delivery and oxygen extraction showed that PHP continued to transport oxygen up to 48 hours studied post ET. PHP functioned as effectively as red blood cells at 6 hours in oxygen delivery to the tissues. PHP effectively supported life at lethal levels of anemia and is physiologically well accepted.
Case selection and practical points on the administration of ACTH.

Important points in the use of ACTH and cortisone therapy are covered, as well as a discussion of the types of patients to whom these agents should be given. The paper concludes with a transcript of questions and answers on the application of ACTH and cortisone in treatment of various diseases.
The American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology Guidelines for Unsatisfactory Pap Smears with High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Co-testing: A Quality Assurance Review

The recommendation for unsatisfactory Pap smears endorsed by the new American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) 2013 guidelines is based on the high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA (hr-HPV) testing status. For women with unsatisfactory cytology with either an unknown or a negative HPV test result, repeat cytology in 2 to 4 months is recommended. …
Action mechanism of special functional agents in composite solid propellant (IV)——processability/mechanical properties

In the propellant composed of HTPB/AP/Al, the effects of special functional agents such as tris(methyl-aziridinyl) phosphine oxide ( MAPO), triethanolamine trifluoro-boron complex (TEA·BF_3 ) and antioxidant H on the processability and mechanical properties were investigated by the aid of rheological testing on the propellant slurry, dynamic mechanical analysis, and measurement of uniaxial tensile properties, gel fraction and relation network bond (RNB). The results show that MAPO is able to decrease the yield value and the apparent viscosity of propellant slurry,improve the processability, and increase obviously the tensile strength, but not to influence the maximum elongation. TEA·BF_3 can rise yield value of propellant slurry greatly, which would take down the processability, and on the other hand it can enhance the maximum tensile strength and the maximum elongation to a certain extent due to an increased entropy elasticity. Finally H can not only improve significantly the processability, but also enhance the maximum elongation. Besides, the action mechanisms of the functional agents used in the experimental propellant are discussed.
Obstetric analgesia and anesthesia.

SUMMARY A number of analgesic and anesthetic options are available for patients during the intrapartum period. Appropriate attention in the prenatal period to patient education regarding these options is imperative. If pharmacologic anesthesia is required, risks and benefits both to the mother and neonate must be considered. If cesarean section is necessary, consideration of regional or general anesthesia is appropriate. Women and their support people should be involved in the discussion of anesthesia and analgesic options. This discussion should begin during the prenatal period to ensure that the woman has an opportunity to make an informed choice. When the woman presents in labor, the anesthetic plan may again need to be revised. Continued patient-doctor communication throughout labor is essential with the woman’s preferences, tempered by sound medical judgment, guiding optimal pain control.
Acute fasting increases somatodendritic dopamine release in the ventral tegmental area

Fasting and food restriction alter the activity of the mesolimbic dopamine system to affect multiple reward-related behaviors. Food restriction decreases baseline dopamine levels in efferent target sites and enhances dopamine release in response to rewards such as food and drugs. In addition to releasing dopamine from axon terminals, dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) also release dopamine from their soma and dendrites, and this somatodendritic dopamine release acts as an autoinhibitory signal to inhibit neighboring VTA dopamine neurons. It is unknown whether acute fasting also affects dopamine release, including the local inhibitory somatodendritic dopamine release in the VTA. In these studies, I have tested whether fasting affects the inhibitory somatodendritic dopamine release within the VTA by examining whether an acute 24-h fast affects the inhibitory postsynaptic current mediated by evoked somatodendritic dopamine release (D2R IPSC). Fasting increased the contribution of the first action potential to the overall D2R IPSC and increased the ratio of repeated D2R IPSCs evoked at short intervals. Fasting also reduced the effect of forskolin on the D2R IPSC and led to a significantly bigger decrease in the D2R IPSC in low extracellular calcium. Finally, fasting resulted in an increase in the D2R IPSCs when a more physiologically relevant train of D2R IPSCs was used. Taken together, these results indicate that fasting caused a change in the properties of somatodendritic dopamine release, possibly by increasing dopamine release, and that this increased release can be sustained under conditions where dopamine neurons are highly active.
Trusting in the future: The re-emergence of state trust funds in the shale era

Abstract Energy-producing states confront numerous challenges related to the boom-and-bust of resource extraction, including substantial fluctuation in revenue produced by severance taxes. Revenues surge as drilling expands during booms, creating many pressures for immediate expenditure. This often sets up enormous strain during bust periods when revenues plunge as longer-term needs emerge. This paper, however, examines the small set of states that have devised unique mechanisms to prepare for future busts. It reviews two periods (1970s and 2010s) in which six oil and gas-producing states amended their state constitutions to place severance tax revenues into permanent trust funds for long-term stewardship. It examines the key political factors that prompted the formation of these funds while also considering their resilience and performance to date.
Micro-optical coherence tomography of the mammalian cochlea

The mammalian cochlea has historically resisted attempts at high-resolution, non-invasive imaging due to its small size, complex three-dimensional structure, and embedded location within the temporal bone. As a result, little is known about the relationship between an individual’s cochlear pathology and hearing function, and otologists must rely on physiological testing and imaging methods that offer limited resolution to obtain information about the inner ear prior to performing surgery. Micro-optical coherence tomography (μOCT) is a non-invasive, low-coherence interferometric imaging technique capable of resolving cellular-level anatomic structures. To determine whether μOCT is capable of resolving mammalian intracochlear anatomy, fixed guinea pig inner ears were imaged as whole temporal bones with cochlea in situ. Anatomical structures such as the tunnel of Corti, space of Nuel, modiolus, scalae, and cell groupings were visualized, in addition to individual cell types such as neuronal fibers, hair cells, and supporting cells. Visualization of these structures, via volumetrically-reconstructed image stacks and endoscopic perspective videos, represents an improvement over previous efforts using conventional OCT. These are the first μOCT images of mammalian cochlear anatomy, and they demonstrate μOCT’s potential utility as an imaging tool in otology research.
Heterojunction bipolar transistors for high efficiency power amplifiers

Heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) using AlGaAs/GaAs have been developed for use in microwave and millimeter-wave amplifiers. These transistors, which offer high gain and high efficiency for power amplifiers, have been fabricated using simple lithography (device features of 1 mu m or above). Without requiring submicrometer dimensions, the device has ample gain to trade for efficiency and a very low 1/f noise level. The state of the art of HBT development is reviewed, with particular attention given to gain vs. frequency, efficiency vs. collector-layer thickness, power density, and thermal considerations. >
Abstract 692: The BET inhibitor INCB054329 is synergistic with JAK1 inhibition in models of multiple myeloma

Bromodomain and Extra Terminal (BET) protein inhibitors have emerged as a potentially effective therapeutic option for multiple tumor types, through their ability to regulate expression of genes necessary for proliferation and survival. For example, multiple myeloma (MM) cells have been shown to be highly sensitive to BET inhibition due in large part to the ability of BET proteins to control transcription of c-myc, an oncogene known to be dysregulated in MM. Likewise, some inflammatory response and cytokine signaling pathways associated with MM (eg. IL-6/JAK/STAT pathway) have also been shown to be reliant on BET proteins. Therefore, inhibition of both BET proteins and the JAK/STAT signaling pathway may be beneficial to MM patients. Here we assess the in vitro and in vivo effects of combining clinical compounds that target BET proteins and JAK in multiple myeloma cell lines. Studies were performed using the potent pan-BET inhibitor INCB054329 and selective JAK1 inhibitors. When tested in cell proliferation assays, the combination of BET and JAK1 inhibitors displayed strong synergistic effects in the IL-6 dependent INA-6 MM cell line in vitro. Western blots also revealed that several pharmacodynamic (PD) markers including c-MYC, PIM-2 and phospho-STAT3 were further repressed with the combination than with single agents alone. Likewise, the c-MYC and p-STAT3 PD markers could also be increasingly repressed in vivo by combined administration of BET and JAK1 inhibitors in the INA-6 mouse xenograft model. In vivo efficacy experiments in the INA-6 model resulted in enhanced, synergistic tumor growth inhibition in the BET/JAK inhibitor cohort as compared with the single drug cohorts. Interestingly, the cytokine independent MM1.S cell line was also sensitive to the BET/JAK inhibitor combination in vivo, while being far less sensitive to JAK1 inhibition as a monotherapy. In the MM1.S model, the c-MYC and p-STAT3 PD markers also behaved as seen in the INA-6 model. Our data indicate that the pharmacological inhibition of BET proteins and JAK1 yields strong combinatorial effects in MM cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, dual inhibition of BET proteins and the JAK/STAT signaling pathway may offer a novel therapeutic approach and suggest a potential clinical utility for this drug combination in MM. Citation Format: Matthew C. Stubbs, Xuesong M. Liu, Xiaoming Wen, Jun Li, Valerie Dostalik, Sybil O9Connor, Eian Caulder, Margaret Favata, Mark Rupar, Yu Li, Beth Rumberger, Thomas Maduskuie, Richard Sparks, Nikoo Falahatpisheh, Padmaja Polam, Kris Vaddi, Timothy Burn, Andrew P. Combs, Wenqing Yao, Reid Huber, Gregory Hollis, Peggy Scherle, Phillip CC Liu. The BET inhibitor INCB054329 is synergistic with JAK1 inhibition in models of multiple myeloma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 692. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-692
On almost Lyapunov functions for non-vanishing vector fields

We study convergence properties of nonlinear systems in the presence of “almost Lyapunov” functions which decrease along solutions in a given region not everywhere but rather on the complement of a set of small volume. The structure is quite general except that the system dynamics never vanishes in a region that is away from the equilibrium. It is shown that solutions starting inside the region will approach a small set around the origin as long as the volume where the Lyapunov function does not decrease fast enough is sufficiently small. The main theorem of this paper is established by tracking the change of Lyapunov function value when the solution passes through the above mentioned volume and finding an upper bound of the volume swept out by a neighborhood along the solution before it can achieve an overall gain in its Lyapunov function value. The result shows that the convergence rate is traded off against the size of such small volume that the system can have. In the end a non-trivial example where our theorem is applicable is demonstrated.
Anthropology and Global Mental Health: Depth, Breadth, and Relevance

Anthropology brings nuance and innovation to the field of Global Mental Health. It offers depth and breadth of knowledge regarding the drivers of mental health and psychosocial wellness, championing a fine-grained approach to culture, and insisting on critical analyses of social and moral contexts relevant to wellbeing. It offers insights that are relevant for the design of effective and sustainable interventions, helping us understand what can be transformative in health promotion and lasting in terms of intergenerational change. This chapter presents critical reflections on culture, resilience, and mental health from previously published work in Afghanistan. One of the important lessons drawn from this research is that a sense of trajectory—a sense of coherence and hope—is fundamental to the struggle to be well. In the context of coping with violence, poverty, and inequality, gaining a deep understanding of mental health becomes a matter of understanding local narratives of resilience, as well as identifying the cultural goals and material resources that feed hope and help weather everyday stressors. Cultural insights on risk and resilience in mental health are worth scholarly investment and best advanced with a collaborative agenda, one that integrates approaches from medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry.
Reducing the thermal stress in a heterogeneous material stack for large-area hybrid optical silicon-lithium niobate waveguide micro-chips

Abstract The bonding of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) to lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) is becoming important for a new category of linear and nonlinear micro-photonic optical devices. In studying the bonding of SOI to LNOI through benzocyclobutene (BCB), a popular interlayer bonding dielectric used in hybrid silicon photonic devices, we use thermal stress calculations to suggest that BCB thickness does not affect thermal stress in this type of structure, and instead, thermal stress can be mitigated satisfactorily by matching the handles of the SOI and LNOI. We bond LNOI with a silicon handle to a silicon chip, remove the handle on the LNOI side, and thermally cycle the bonded stack repeatedly from room temperature up to 300°C and back down without incurring thermal stress cracks, which do appear when using LNOI with a lithium niobate handle, regardless of the BCB thickness. We show that this process can be used to create many hybrid silicon-lithium niobate waveguiding structures on a single patterned SOI chip bonded to a large-area (16 mm × 4.2 mm) lithium niobate film.
Age Friendly Cities: The Bureaucratic Responsiveness Effects on Age Friendly Policy Adoption

Challenging a long-held attachment to the medical model, this research develops a cultural model placing local governments at the center of policy making and refocusing policy attention on mobility, housing, the built environment and services. To examine the phenomenon of age friendly policy adoption by cities and the magnitude of adoption, a 21-question web-based survey was administered to a sample of 1,050 cities from the U.S. Census having a population over 10,000 and having at least 14% of their population aged 65 years and over. The goal of the questionnaire was to help identify what kind of policy objectives cities establish to facilitate the opportunity for older adults to live healthy and independent lives in their communities as they age. Multiple linear and ordinal regression models examined the likelihood of policy action by cities and provide evidence as to why some cities support more age friendly policy actions than others. Evidence illustrates theoretical advancement providing support for a cultural model of aging. The cultural model includes multiple factors including bureaucratic responsiveness reflected in the management values of the administration. Findings show variation in the integration of a cultural awareness of aging in the municipality's needs assessment, strategic goals, citizen engagement strategies, and budgetary principles. Cities with a cultural awareness of aging are more likely to adopt age friendly policies. Findings also provide support for the argument that the public administrator is not the driving sole factor in decision making. A shared spaced with mobilized citizen need of individuals 65 and over is identified.
Weak states and uneven pluralism: lessons from Mali and Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACTWe argue that certain important democratic practices and elements of pluralism are lasting features of political systems in many poor countries. Because of state weakness, such arrangements work to the benefit of both elites and citizens. The broader citizenry and civil society enjoy significant political freedoms and greater access to foreign aid. Elites tolerate these limited civil liberties and regular elections because they produce few costly consequences due to state incapacity. We evaluate this theory of ‘uneven pluralism’ in poor countries using evidence from a paired comparison of Mali and Kyrgyzstan. These two countries have experienced significant political turbulence, but on balance have shown a persistent and robust commitment to a free press, transparent elections, and respect for freedom of association. Our theory suggests that uneven pluralism is likely to continue in countries like Mali and Kyrgyzstan, even as significant limits on judicial independence, persistent corruption, and ...
The Influence of Risk Factors on Preschoolers’ Spanish Vocabulary Development in the Context of Spanish Instruction

Research Findings: This longitudinal study investigated the Spanish vocabulary development of dual-language-learning (DLL) children (N = 150) from Spanish-speaking, low-income, predominantly immigr...
Observations and Insights from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Warfare Ecology

The authors participated in the NATO Advanced Workshop as ­designated observers, for the purpose of documenting and summarizing the content of the presentations and discussions. This chapter summarizes the participant presentations during sessions A-F as well as the outcomes of three Working Group assessments. The assessments of policy implications, research priorities, and training and education followed the workshop presentations and discussions. The assessments were intended to synthesize and frame future directions and priorities in warfare ecology.
VMAT and IMRT plan-specific correction factors for linac-based ionization chamber dosimetry.

PURPOSE The determination of absorbed dose to water from external beam radiotherapy using radiation detectors is currently rooted in calibration protocols that do not account for modulations encountered in patient-specific deliveries. Detector response in composite clinical fields has not been extensively studied due to the time and effort required to determine these corrections on a case-by-case basis. To help bridge this gap in knowledge, corrections for the Exradin A1SL scanning chamber were determined in a large number of composite clinical fields using Monte Carlo methods. The chamber-specific perturbations that contribute the most to the overall correction factor were also determined. METHODS A total of 131 patient deliveries comprised of 834 beams from a Varian C-arm linear accelerator were converted to EGSnrc Monte Carlo inputs. A validated BEAMnrc 21EX linear accelerator model was used as a particle source throughout the EGSnrc simulations. Composite field dose distributions were compared against a commercial treatment planning system for validation. The simulation geometry consisted of a cylindrically symmetric water-equivalent phantom with the Exradin A1SL scanning chamber embedded inside. Various chamber perturbation factors were investigated in the egs_chamber user code of EGSnrc and were compared to reference field conditions to determine the plan-specific correction factor. RESULTS The simulation results indicated that the Exradin A1SL scanning chamber is suitable to use as an absolute dosimeter within a high-dose and low-gradient target region in most nonstandard composite fields; however, there are still individual cases that require larger delivery-specific corrections. The volume averaging and replacement perturbations showed the largest impact on the overall plan-specific correction factor for the Exradin A1SL scanning chamber, and both volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and step-and-shoot beams demonstrated similar correction factor magnitudes among the data investigated. Total correction magnitudes greater than 2% were required by 9.1% of step-and-shoot beams and 14.5% of VMAT beams. When examining full composite plan deliveries as opposed to individual beams, 0.0% of composite step-and-shoot plans and 2.6% of composite VMAT plans required correction magnitudes greater than 2%. CONCLUSIONS The A1SL scanning chamber was found to be suitable to use for absolute dosimetry in high-dose and low-gradient dose regions of composite IMRT plans but even if a composite dose distribution is large compared to the detector used, a correction-free absorbed dose-to-water measurement is not guaranteed.
Git-keeper: an automated assignment testing environment based on git

This tutorial introduces git-keeper, an automated code-testing tool where students obtain and submit assignments using Git. Unlike other systems that require students to use a web portal or other external system, students interact with git-keeper using version control, and therefore are introduced to a skill that transfers to real-world projects. When a student pushes their work to the server, git-keeper automatically tests the submission and sends the student an email containing the results.
Reframing the Landscape

This chapter explores some of the ways in which Grace Nichols’s descriptions of English countryside are linked to Caribbean references or terminology, a connection made explicit in her poem “Hurricane Hits England”. Nichols’s affection for the English countryside is increasingly evident in her later work, and especially in the collection Picasso, I Want My Face Back (2010). Here, she closely examines parts of Britain’s countryside, including views as she travels on trains, evoking (as does Walcott) other English poets. Nichols finds much of comfort in the countryside of Britain, and, as with the poem “Hurricane…”, she increasingly celebrates the topography of her countryside home, including in Sussex, where she has lived since her arrival in England in the 1970s.
Pancreatic schwannoma, an extremely rare and challenging entity: Report of two cases and review of literature.

Abstract Pancreatic schwannoma is a rare benign tumor, for which the preoperative and intraoperative definitive diagnosis is quite challenging. We present the clinical, radiological and pathologic features of two primary pancreatic schwannomas identified in our pathology database over a period of 30 years at our tertiary care hospital. To better understand the clinico-pathological and radiological features of this entity, we provide a comprehensive review of 73 cases described in the English literature, along with our two cases. This review will especially focus on preoperative and intraoperative diagnosis to assess their accuracy for pancreatic schwannoma. The three most common preoperative diagnoses based on imaging for pancreatic schwannomas were cystic neoplasm (56%), pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (29%) and mucinous cystic neoplasm (26%). Imaging could not definitely diagnose pancreatic schwannoma in any of the reported cases. To obtain a definite diagnosis before surgery, 25 cases underwent imaging-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA)/biopsy, of which 60% were correctly reported as benign with definite diagnosis of pancreatic schwannoma in 48%. A higher diagnostic accuracy was observed in biopsies (71%) than FNA (37%). In addition, an intraoperative frozen section was carried out in 15 cases, and 47% were correctly diagnosed. Despite relatively low accuracy, preoperative histological assessment can be helpful in surgical managment. A core tissue specimen is recommended to improve the diagnostic accuracy in this setting.
Tomato bHLH132 Transcription Factor Controls Growth and Defense and Is Activated by Xanthomonas euvesicatoria Effector XopD During Pathogenesis

Effector-dependent manipulation of host transcription is a key virulence mechanism used by Xanthomonas species causing bacterial spot disease in tomato and pepper. Transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors employ novel DNA-binding domains to directly activate host transcription, whereas the non-TAL effector XopD uses a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) protease activity to represses host transcription. The targets of TAL and non-TAL effectors provide insight to the genes governing susceptibility and resistance during Xanthomonas infection. In this study, we investigated the extent to which the X. euvesicatoria non-TAL effector strain Xe85-10 activates tomato transcription to gain new insight to the transcriptional circuits and virulence mechanisms associated with Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pathogenesis. Using transcriptional profiling, we identified a putative basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor, bHLH132, as a pathogen-responsive gene that is moderately induced by microbe-associated molecular patterns and defense hormones and is highly induced by XopD during X. euvesicatoria infection. We also found that activation of bHLH132 transcription requires the XopD SUMO protease activity. Silencing bHLH132 mRNA expression results in stunted tomato plants with enhanced susceptibility to X. euvesicatoria infection. Our work suggests that bHLH132 is required for normal vegetative growth and development as well as resistance to X. euvesicatoria. It also suggests new transcription-based models describing XopD virulence and recognition in tomato.
Health Risks of Ionizing Radiation: Dr Roentgen Today.

Articles, see p 2406 and p 2516 Interventional cardiology is dependent on ionizing radiation. We, as operators, are charged with assessing the risks and benefits of exposure knowing that our patients, staff, and we are reliant on this century-old potentially dangerous imaging modality. Dismissed from high school, enrolled in a Poly-Tech Institute, and ultimately receiving a PhD from the University of Zurich, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen won the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his discovery of the x-ray. On the evening of November 8, 1895, while experimenting with high voltages generated in a partially evacuated glass tube, Dr Roentgen noticed a shimmering barium platino-cyanide screen across the room. Subsequently termed x-rays because of the uncertain nature of his findings, he published this discovery in December 1895 at the age of 50. Over the past century, while benefiting from this discovery, we continue to identify the multiple hazards of Roentgen’s x-rays in both patients and operators. In this issue of Circulation , 2 studies provide further evidence of the potential professional hazards from operator exposure to radiation. Modarai and his colleagues1 studied blood samples from operators performing various types of catheter-based endovascular aortic repairs. Specific biomarkers for DNA damage/repair (γ-H2AX) and DNA damage response (phosphorylated ataxia telangiectasia mutated) were measured in circulating lymphocytes. These markers were elevated immediately after radiation exposure and returned to normal by 24 hours, reflecting DNA damage and repair after exposure. Additional radiation protection to the lower extremities mitigated this damage; no DNA damage was detectable in the control group of operators who performed open repair without fluoroscopic imaging. In a separate study, Andreassi and his group2 studied genetic markers in blood samples obtained from 132 interventional cardiologists. Plasma levels of microRNA (mi-RNA) in this group were …
Study of Soil Seed Banks in Ex-closures for Restoration of Degraded Lands in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia.

Soil seed banks (SSB) can be important components in the process of rehabilitating degraded lands. Thus, this study was aimed to evaluate the role of SSB to the restoration of degraded lands in six, fifteen and twenty-five year’s ex-closures and adjacent degraded open grazing land (DOGL). Totally, 160 samples of SSB from four soil layers (litter, 0–3 cm, 3–6 cm & 6–9 cm), four sites and ten in a composite of 5 (15 × 15 cm) were collected and tested for seed viability through seed extraction and seedling emergence methods. Species richness and diversity showed a significant difference between the SSB of the ex-closures and DOGL (P = 0.0148 and P = 0.0218 respectively). Seed densities also showed significant differences between the vertical layers of the soils in the ex-closures and DOGL (P = 0.0112) and the interaction effect of the land use type and the vertical soil layers (P = 0.0174). Ex-closures and DOGL scored highest seed densities in their litter and bottom layers of the soils respectively. Most of the woody species in the SSB of older ex-closures were represented in the aboveground flora. Thus, this study has verified that SSB has played a vital role in the restoration of woody species in degraded land through ex-closure practices.
Flexible Utility Function Approximation via Cubic Bezier Splines

In intertemporal and risky choice decisions, parametric utility models are widely used for predicting choice and measuring individuals’ impulsivity and risk aversion. However, parametric utility models cannot describe data deviating from their assumed functional form. We propose a novel method using cubic Bezier splines (CBS) to flexibly model smooth and monotonic utility functions that can be fit to any dataset. CBS shows higher descriptive and predictive accuracy over extant parametric models and can identify common yet novel patterns of behavior that are inconsistent with extant parametric models. Furthermore, CBS provides measures of impulsivity and risk aversion that do not depend on parametric model assumptions.
Perfluoroalkyl substances and cognitive function in older adults: Should we consider non-monotonic dose-responses and chronic kidney disease?

Abstract Background Although potential neurotoxicity of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is suggested, previous epidemiologic studies have reported a ‘protective’ association between serum PFAS concentration and cognition function. Poor outcome assessment, residual confounding, non-monotonic dose-responses (NMDRs), and the role of reduced kidney function in PFAS excretion may be alternative explanations of these findings. Objectives We examined the association of perfluoroalkyls with cognitive functions assessed using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease word learning and recall; the Animal Fluency; and the Digit Symbol Substitution tests. Methods We included 903 adults aged ≥60 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2014. We computed a composite z-score as an average of four individual cognitive z-scores and used it as the outcome. Linear and generalized additive models were used to evaluate linear and non-linear associations. Results With the linearity assumption, perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorononanoate (PFNA) were significantly positively associated with composite z-score after adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, poverty-income ratio, health insurance, food security, alcohol, and physical activity. Smoothing plots suggested NMDRs, especially for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) with a U-shape dose-response. When restricting to participants without chronic kidney disease (CKD) (n = 613), the positive associations for PFOA and PFNA observed in the whole population diminished, whereas PFOS was inversely and significantly associated with composite z-score. Also, negative confounding effects of fish/seafood consumption seem to be substantial. Effect estimates of composite z-score were −0.055 (95% CI: −0.097, −0.012, P = 0.01) for a doubling increase in PFOS. Discussion These findings suggest that the previous epidemiologic findings of a ‘protective’ association between PFAS and cognition may be explained by CKD, NMDRs and confounding by fish consumption. PFOS at the current population exposure level in the U.S. may be a risk factor for cognitive decline in older adults with normal kidney function.
A new approach to the relative convergence test

This article proposes a new approach to the relative convergence test. The original relative convergence test proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007) recommends discarding the first 1/3 of the time-ser...
Neuroimaging Advances in Diagnosis and Differentiation of HIV, Comorbidities, and Aging in the cART Era

In the "cART era" of more widely available and accessible treatment, aging and HIV-related comorbidities, including symptoms of brain dysfunction, remain common among HIV-infected individuals on suppressive treatment. A better understanding of the neurobiological consequences of HIV infection is essential for developing thorough treatment guidelines and for optimizing long-term neuropsychological outcomes and overall brain health. In this chapter, we first summarize magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods used in over two decades of neuroHIV research. These methods evaluate brain volumetric differences and circuitry disruptions in adults living with HIV, and help map clinical correlations with brain function and tissue microstructure. We then introduce and discuss aging and associated neurological complications in people living with HIV, and processes by which infection may contribute to the risk for late-onset dementias. We describe how new technologies and large-scale international collaborations are helping to disentangle the effect of genetic and environmental risk factors on brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases. We provide insights into how these advances, which are now at the forefront of Alzheimer's disease research, may advance the field of neuroHIV. We conclude with a summary of how we see the field of neuroHIV research advancing in the decades to come and highlight potential clinical implications.