cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of prostate-tissue-directed monoclonal antibody, alpha-Pro 13.

The α-Pro 13-secreting hybridoma was produced by immunizing mice with an equal mixture of PC-3, DU145, and LNCaP established prostatic carcinoma cell lines. The specificity of α-Pro 13 monoclonal antibody was evaluated by the criteria of differential binding to cultured cells; differential binding to extracts of malignant prostate, nonmalignant prostate, and malignant and nonmalignant tissues of various histiotypes in solid phase radioimmunoassay; and by immunoperoxidase staining of primary surgical tissues of varied histiotypes. The data generated by multiple assay investigation indicate that α-Pro 13 exhibits preferential binding to the ductal epithelium of prostate tissue; immunoperoxidase evaluation indicates a considerable heterogeneity of staining of ductal epithelial cells. The most prevalent cross-reactivity of α-Pro 13 monoclonal antibody with non-prostate tissue occurs with blood vessel endothelium of restricted tissues. Electrophoretic analysis of immunoprecipitates from radioiodinated prostatic tumor extracts indicates that the molecule recognized by α-Pro 13 is of 120,000 dalton apparent nonreduced molecular weight. Under reducing conditions, the antigen (p40) consists of a major component of 40,000 dalton apparent MW and a minor component of 17,000 dalton MW. p40 has an isoelectric point of 3.5–4.5. The antigen is intrinsically stable on the PC-3 cell surface; its release into spent culture medium is negligible. p40 is also stable upon complexation with α-Pro 13 antibody in that it is not shed from the cell surface as an immune complex nor is it endocytosed to any extent as an immune complex.
Programming agents with visual rules

A visual programming facility is described which is based on a visual rule formalism. It permits programmers to specify the behaviors of agents in the class of program objects in the Agentsheets system of Repenning. The resulting agents can be used in designing simulations for two-dimensional cellular worlds such as in automobile traffic flow situations, video games, and cellular automata studies. The programming facility, called "Agent Builder", is integrated into the Agentsheets system (providing a substitute for the non-visual AgenTalk editor) in such a way that agent programming becomes a process of arranging icons in a worksheet, using a special gallery of icons. Several applications of Agent Builder are presented, and its limitations and possible extensions are discussed.
Infant mental health: the science, context, and meaning of formative relationships.

Human beings, as a species, possess a biological need for relatedness. This primal energy for development reflects an essential expression of our genetic code as well as a consequence of learned behavior. Relationships influence growth, development, organization, and function from the molecular to the social levels of human life. Indeed, integrative scientific research documents the occurrence of epigenetic changes on gene structure and expression resultant from sensitively timed stressors from the social or physical environment. This journal article reviews the issues and literature.
Credentialing a Preclinical Mouse Model of Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma

The highly aggressive muscle cancer alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) is one of the most common soft tissue sarcoma of childhood, yet the outcome for the unresectable and metastatic disease is dismal and unchanged for nearly three decades. To better understand the pathogenesis of this disease and to facilitate novel preclinical approaches, we previously developed a conditional mouse model of ARMS by faithfully recapitulating the genetic mutations observed in the human disease, i.e., activation of Pax3:Fkhr fusion gene with either p53 or Cdkn2a inactivation. In this report, we show that this model recapitulates the immunohistochemical profile and the rapid progression of the human disease. We show that Pax3:Fkhr expression increases during late preneoplasia but tumor cells undergoing metastasis are under apparent selection for Pax3:Fkhr expression. At a whole-genome level, a cross-species gene set enrichment analysis and metagene projection study showed that our mouse model is most similar to human ARMS when compared with other pediatric cancers. We have defined an expression profile conserved between mouse and human ARMS, as well as a Pax3:Fkhr signature, including the target gene, SKP2. We further identified 7 "druggable" kinases overexpressed across species. The data affirm the accuracy of this genetically engineered mouse model.
Evaluation of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica) as a vector for verotoxigenic Escherichia coli F18 in confined swine production

German cockroaches are common pests of confined swine production in North Carolina and other southeastern states. Vector competence of German cockroaches for one of the most important porcine bacterial pathogens, verotoxigenic Escherichia coli F18, was evaluated in laboratory bioassays using a culturing approach followed by multiplex PCR. In addition, the populations of fecal coliforms from the feces of piglets and cockroaches collected from a swine nursery were assessed. Viable and virulent cells of E. coli F18 were detected in cockroach feces for up to 8 days after the initial exposure. The population of fecal coliforms in cockroach feces was high (4.4 x 10(5) CFU g(-1)) and comparable to that of piglet feces (1.9 x 10(6) CFU g(-1)). This study demonstrates that cockroaches may serve as important mechanical vectors of pathogenic E. coli. Integrated management of cockroach populations should be incorporated into the disease prevention and control programs in the swine industry.
Trajectories of maternal depression over 7 years: Relations with child psychophysiology and behavior and role of contextual risks

This study examines the relation between the longitudinal course of maternal depression during the child's early life and children's psychophysiology and behavior at age 6.5 years. One hundred fifty-nine children of depressed and nondepressed mothers were followed from infancy through age 6.5 years. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify classes of depressed mothers based on the longitudinal course of the mother's depression. School-aged children of chronically depressed mothers were found to have elevated externalizing behavior problems, decreased social competence, reduced frontal brain activation (EEG power), and higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Children of mothers with decreasing and stable mild depression were found to have increased hyperactivity and attention problems compared to children of nondepressed mothers. Contextual risk factors were found to mediate the relation between maternal depression and child behavioral outcomes.
A new diagnostic for open-shell coupled-cluster theory

Abstract We present a new diagnostic for open-shell coupled-cluster theory, readily computed from the single substitution amplitudes in the CCSD wavefunction. The new diagnostic, D1(ROCCSD), is designed to be comparable to the previously proposed D1(CCSD) diagnostic. Unlike other approaches, the D1 diagnostics are independent of system size and have the same invariance properties as the energy with respect to orbital rotations. Calibration of the D1(ROCCSD) diagnostic on 34 molecular systems indicates that for values of D1(ROCCSD) of 0.025 or below the quality of the CCSD results are, in general, excellent, whereas values larger than 0.025 signal inadequacies in the CCSD approach.
Chiral magnetic wave at finite baryon density and the electric quadrupole moment of the quark-gluon plasma.

Chiral Magnetic Wave (CMW) is a gapless collective excitation of quark-gluon plasma in the presence of external magnetic field that stems from the interplay of Chiral Magnetic (CME) and Chiral Separation Effects (CSE); it is composed by the waves of the electric and chiral charge densities coupled by the axial anomaly. We consider CMW at finite baryon density and find that it induces the electric quadrupole moment of the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy ion collisions: the ”poles” of the produced fireball (pointing outside of the reaction plane) acquire additional positive electric charge, and the ”equator” acquires additional negative charge. We point out that this electric quadrupole deformation lifts the degeneracy between the elliptic flows of positive and negative pions leading to v2(� + ) < v2(� ), and estimate the magnitude of the effect.
Applications of state-variable techniques in detection theory

The central issue in detection theory is that of detecting known or random signals in the presence of random noise. The detailed problem description depends on the physical situation of interest. In most of the original work on detection theory the random processes were modeled as Gaussian processes and characterized by their covariance function. In many cases the solution for the optimum detector is expressed in terms of an integral equation which is difficult to solve. In this paper we demonstrate how to formulate and solve detection theory problems using state-variable techniques. These techniques enable us to obtain complete solutions to almost all problems of interest. In addition, they offer new insights into the problems. We first formulate our basic state-variable model for real and complex random processes. We then study five applications of state-variable techniques. The first application is in the solution of linear homogeneous Fredholm equations. This problem arises whenever we want to find the eigenvalues and eigenfunction of a random process. The second application is the detection of a slowly fluctuating point target in the presence of colored noise. The third application is the detection of Gaussian processes in Gaussian noise. The fourth application is detection of Doppler spread targets and communication over Doppler spread channels. In the final application, we introduce distributed state variables in order to study the detection of doubly spread targets. The goal of the paper is to demonstrate the importance of state-variable techniques in a wide variety of detection theory problems.
Angular anisotropy of 2H NMR spectral densities in phospholipid bilayers containing cholesterol

Abstract Spin—lattice (R1Z) and quadrupolar order (R1Q) relaxation rates were measured for bilayers of macroscopically oriented 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC-d54) containing cholesterol (1:1 molar ratio), using inversion recovery and broadband Jeener—Broekaert pulse sequences, respectively. Anisotropic deuterium (2H) NMR spin relaxation data were obtained for the first time along the entire flexible acyl chains of the phospholipid molecules in the liquid-crystalline state. Individual spectral densities J1(ω0) and J2(2ω0) were calculated from these relaxation rates, and a strong dependence on the angle θ between the macroscopic bilayer normal and the static magnetic field was observed. The spectral densities exhibited opposite angular anisotropies, which were explained in terms of a simple rotational diffusion model for the molecular dynamics of membrane lipid constituents.
Small Cloud Particle Shapes in Mixed-Phase Clouds

AbstractThe shapes of cloud particles with maximum dimensions Dmax between 35 and 60 μm in mixed-phase clouds were studied using high-resolution particle images collected by a cloud particle imager (CPI) during the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (M-PACE) and the Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC). The area ratio α, the projected area of a particle divided by the area of a circle with diameter Dmax, quantified particle shape. The differing optical characteristics of CPIs used in M-PACE and ISDAC had no effect on derived α provided that Dmax > 35 μm and CPI focus > 45. The fraction of particles with 35 0.8 increased with the ratio of liquid water content (LWC) to total water content (TWC). The average αmean of small particles in each 10-s interval in mixed-phase clouds was correlated with LWC/TWC with a correlation coefficient of 0.60 for M-PACE and 0.43 for ISDAC. The stronger correlation seen during M-PACE was most likely associated with the presence of more liq...
An effective treatment strategy for promotion of lower limb functional recovery in adult monkeys with spinal cord injury

Aimed to develop an effective approach for treating spinal cord injury (SCI) subjects in a nonhuman primate model, we used four monkeys which received unilateral surgical hemi-section at the T8 spine level (3–5 mm gap), and two of them, as treatments were further transplanted of 4 sural nerve segments as well as infused acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) to injured spinal cord sites. Physical therapy and bipedal walking training on a treadmill were applied to promote the function recovery after surgery. A complex evaluation system including general observation in the home cage, behavioral test and clinic score system was used to assess the effect of the novel treatment strategy. The recovery of functional mobility in treated group is much faster as evidenced by their starting to move around in cage within a week and continued improvement in walking performance as measured by gait symmetry, while the control group developed spasticity and rigidity with a much slower and less functional recovery of mobility. All these results suggest that the treatment strategy of peripheral nerve grafting combined with aFGF is an effective method to treat SCI subjects.
Strategies for Overcoming Site and Recruitment Challenges in Research Studies Based in Intensive Care Units

Recruitment of a sufficient number of participants is a challenge for any clinical study that involves humans, and enrollment of participants receiving mechanical ventilatory support in the intensive care unit (ICU) poses particular challenges. The dynamic, fast-paced environment of the ICU; the ever-changing conditions of patients; the need to work with numerous staff members in a complex environment; and the impaired communication of patients due to placement of an endotracheal tube, the nature of the critical illness or injury, heavy sedation, or neuromuscular blockade all affect recruitment efforts. These issues limit the potential recruitment pool from which to obtain a sample for a clinical trial. Innovative strategies are needed to enhance recruitment. We describe the challenges faced in the first 2 years of a 4-year multisite clinical trial, strategies that successfully addressed those challenges, and recommendations for investigators recruiting critically ill, ventilator-dependent ICU patients.
A Systematic Revision and Cladistic Analysis of Charianthus (Melastomataceae) using Morphological and Molecular Characters

Abstract In this paper we present a revision of Charianthus, which represents the first genus in the Miconieae (Melastomataceae) to be the subject of a combined molecular and morphological cladistic analysis. Charianthus is a morphologically well-characterized clade of six species of hummingbird pollinated shrubs and small trees found in the tropical montane rain forests and elfin forests of the Lesser Antilles. Analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, combined with morphological data, resulted in a strongly supported Charianthus clade. Charianthus fadyenii was placed in the Tetrazygia clade where its position as sister to T. bicolor is strongly supported. Inclusion of C. fadyenii in Charianthus renders both Charianthus and Tetrazygia non-monophyletic, therefore, this species has been transferred to Tetrazygia. Charianthus purpureus, as defined by earlier taxonomists, is a polyphyletic species because of the inclusion of morphologically distinctive populations on the islands of Dominica a...
Hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions of C2Hx moieties on the Ru(001) surface

Abstract Reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) was used to identify and characterize the surface intermediates formed in the thermal decomposition of ethylene (C2H4) on Ru(001). Ethylene is found to adsorb on the surface in a di-σ bonded complex at 95 K and to dehydrogenate to form ethylidyne (CCH3) at or above 150 K. Upon further annealing to above 320 K, ethylidyne dehydrogenates to ethynyl (CCH). Annealing to higher than 450 K causes ethynyl to decompose to methylidyne (CH). The characterization of surface intermediates formed from the adsorption and decomposition of ethylene provides new insights into the surface chemistry of CxHy species on Ru surfaces.
Abstract 109: Manipulative Dexterity is Associated with Occult White Matter Ischemic Lesions in Healthy Asymptomatic Persons at Increased Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

Introduction: Persons with a family history of early-onset coronary artery disease (CAD) have an excess risk of stroke and CAD. White matter lesions (WML) on MRI represent small vessel ischemic cerebrovascular disease and are associated with incident stroke and neurocognitive decline with age. We hypothesized manipulative manual dexterity, an integration of fine motor, visual spatial, and cognition function, may be affected by increased WML burden in task-relevant brain regions across age ranges in persons at risk for pre-clinical occult vascular disease. We tested this in a large population with a family history of early CAD. Methods: Healthy 29-74 year old subjects (N=714; mean age 51± 11 years; mean education 14 ± 3 years; 42% male, 38% Black) were identified from probands with CAD <60 years. WML location and volumes were measured on 3T FLAIR MRI. Manipulative manual dexterity was measured with standardized timed grooved pegboard test. Left and right pegboard scores were averaged. Results: WML were observed in all age groups; mean overall pegboard scores were 108±18, and were within reference norms. In unadjusted analysis, pegboard scores were highly correlated in the expected direction with total WML volumes, r=0.34, p=<.0001; subcortical volumes r=0.30, <.0001 periventricular volumes r=0.31, <.0001; and with most regional WML volumes; frontal 0.34, <.0001; insula r=0.31, p<.0001, parietal r=0.31, p<.0001, and temporal volumes r=0.17, p <.0001. In separate multivariate regression analyses predicting (log) pegboard score adjusted for age, sex, race, education and nonindependence of families (GEE), total WML volume became more statistically significant ( p=5.79E-05) while other regions retained statistical significance, p< 0.01. Conclusions: Our findings in a large population-based sample with a family history of early CAD confirm that greater WML volumes in multiple brain locations are associated with higher pegboard scores (worse performance) independent of age, sex, race, and education. This suggests that small vessel cerebrovascular disease is present in an early preclinical state and that WML volumes impact manipulative manual dexterity in healthy middle-aged and younger individuals with excess risk for clinical vascular disease.
Processing Cassandra Datasets with Hadoop-Streaming Based Approaches

The progressive transition in the nature of both scientific and industrial datasets has been the driving force behind the development and research interests in the NoSQL model. Loosely structured data poses a challenge to traditional data store systems, and when working with the NoSQL model, these systems are often considered impractical and costly. As the quantity and quality of unstructured data grows, so does the demand for a processing pipeline that is capable of seamlessly combining the NoSQL storage model and a “Big Data” processing platform such as MapReduce. Although MapReduce is the paradigm of choice for data-intensive computing, Java-based frameworks such as Hadoop require users to write MapReduce code in Java while Hadoop Streaming module allows users to define non-Java executables as map and reduce operations. When confronted with legacy C/C++ applications and other non-Java executables, there arises a further need to allow NoSQL data stores access to the features of Hadoop Streaming. We present approaches in solving the challenge of integrating NoSQL data stores with MapReduce under non-Java application scenarios, along with advantages and disadvantages of each approach. We compare Hadoop Streaming alongside our own streaming framework, MARISSA, to show performance implications of coupling NoSQL data stores like Cassandra with MapReduce frameworks that normally rely on file-system based data stores. Our experiments also include Hadoop-C*, which is a setup where a Hadoop cluster is co-located with a Cassandra cluster in order to process data using Hadoop with non-java executables.
Enteric Disease Criteria for Recreational Waters

A critical review is given of the overall subject of bacteriological water quality control procedures, criteria and standards and their epidemiological basis, considering the adoption by the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (FWPCA) in 1967 of numerical fecal coliform values as ceiling standards. Attention is focused on the nonurban sources from which bacterial index organisms and most other stream water constituents predominantly originate. The restrictive term enteric disease is used because the bacterial index organism standards under review are enteric organisms which are not normally present in any other animal excretions.
Optimal Market-based Multi-Robot Task Allocation via Strategic Pricing.

Auction and market-based mechanisms are among the most popular methods for distributed task allocation in multirobot systems. Most of these mechanisms were designed in a heuristic way and analysis of the quality of the resulting assignment solution is rare. This paper presents a new market-based multi-robot task allocation algorithm that produces optimal assignments. Rather than adopting a buyer’s “selfish” bidding perspective as in previous auction/market-based approaches, the proposed method approaches auctioning from a merchant’s point of view, producing a pricing policy that responds to cliques of customers. The algorithm uses price escalation to clear a market of all its goods, producing a state of equilibrium that satisfies both the merchant and customers. The proposed method can be used as a general assignment algorithm as it has a time complexity (O(nlgn)) close to the fastest state-of-the-art algorithms (O(n)) but is extremely easy to implement. As in previous research, the economic model reflects the distributed nature of markets inherently: in this paper it leads directly to a decentralized method ideally suited for distributed multi-robot systems.
An Incremental Algorithm for High Order Maximum Voronoi Diagram Construction.

We propose an incremental approach to compute the order-k maximum Voronoi diagram of disks in the plane. In our approach, we start with an order-k Voronoi diagram of disk centers and iteratively expand disks and update the changes of the diagram until all disks reach their targeted size. When disks expand continuously, the structure of the diagram changes discretely. The algorithm takes O l rmax rmin dmin m k 2 N logN time complexity, where N, rmax and rmin are respectively the number of disks, the maximum and minimum radii of disks, and dmin is the minimum distance between two disk centers. Our algorithm is amiable to distributed implementation.
Selecting the Content of a Health Education Course on the Basis of the Needs of Students

Abstract In this study, the critical incident technique was used to determine the personal adjustment problems of 560 students who were taking a required Health Education course at Columbia College, Columbia University. These problems were then successfully used as the basis for the selection of the subject matter for this course.
A Robust Method to Characterize Vertebral Geometry In Vivo

Wolff’s law postulates that bone will grow in the direction principal stress, as an effect of adaptation to this loading environment, and therefore will adjust their shape to prevent physiological imbalance. Altered geometry can be a mark of disease progression and degeneration just like a biomarker. For functional reasons, the vertebral body as a bone is not immune to these changes in geometry. Previous work in the literature has documented vertebral body geometry characteristics with age [1], its contribution to lordosis changes [2] and detected some asymmetric features [3]. These few descriptions available in the literature are limited due to their planar approach (radiography or individual CT slice cuts) [1, 2] or use of manual metrology devices that are subject to operator error, which might compromise its repeatability [3]. Based on the Wolff’s law premise, the hypothesis for this study is that a known alteration — spinal degeneration — of the spine configuration (lordosis) will also have an effect on the shape of the vertebral bodies. A common byproduct of spinal degeneration is also the presence of osteophytes in the intervertebral junction. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has attempted to characterize hypothetical changes in vertebral geometry as in a population of low back pain symptomatic/ asymptomatic volunteers in vivo. The aim of this study is to prove said hypothesis by applying an accurate imaging technique that is insensitive to osteophytes and able to measure the vertebral body using subject-specific CT-based 3D models.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Defective Serum PGI2 Binding in Thrombotic Stroke: A Potential Mechanism for Platelet Hyperaggregability in Stroke

The blood platelet plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of thrombotic stroke. It contributes to the formation of atherosclerotic plugs via its interaction with damaged vessel wall and the release of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) from its α-granules and generation of 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) via arachidonic acid metabolism. 12-HETE induces vascular smooth muscle cell migration [8] while PDGF stimulates its proliferation [12]. Platelets are key elements of thrombotic plugs formed on the atherosclerotic plugs. Formation of thrombotic plugs involves multiple steps of platelet activation including adhesion, spreading, release reaction, and aggregation and the surface catalysis of coagulation. Multiple chemical reactions are activated to initiate and reinforce these biological processes. This subject is beyond the scope of this paper and readers are referred to review articles [19]. It is sufficient to emphasize that thrombotic plugs and the detached debris are the major factors contributing to the acute cerebrovascular events.
Environmental Sustainability and Poverty Eradication in Developing Countries

Land use change in developing countries is critically bound up with their pattern of economic development. Most of these economies, and certainly the majority of the populations living within them, depend directly on natural resources. Primary product exports account for the vast majority of the export earnings of many developing economies, and one or two primary commodities make up the bulk of exports (Barbier 2005:Chapter 1). Agricultural value added accounts for an average of 40 percent of GDP, and nearly 80 percent of the labor force is engaged in agricultural or resourcebased activities (World Bank 2008). Further adding to these disparities, by 2025, the rural population of the developing world will have increased to almost 3.2 billion, placing increasing pressure on a declining resource base (United Nations Population Division 2008).
The impact analysis of the kiln leg′s width towards structure system of immature soil cave dwelling

A Finite Element Analysis has been carried out towards a cave in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province through changing the width of the kiln leg,which lead to Maximum stress and maximum displacement corresponding to the location and their variation.The Finite Element Analysis can provide a certain reference for designing and excavating cave in the future.
The role of time and size in ontogenetic allometry: I. Review

Several interconnected issues are a part of most studies of ontogenetic allometry, the relationship between size and shape during growth. One issue is the choice of a model, either linear or one of a series of nonlinear models that have been proposed in the literature. The independent variable, against which growth is assessed, can be a measure of time, e.g., age or a measure of size, e.g., weight. These categories of independent variables have become confused with Medawar's (1945) classification of allometric studies as empirical or deductive. Medawar's distinction may be less useful than Tukey's (1980) between exploratory and confirmatory studies. The "correct" choice for some of these options will be a function of the data set being analyzed. However, an understanding of the implications of these issues is necessary to make the correct choices.
P016 Overcoming electronic medical record interoperability challenges with a combined discrete data and encapsulated binary test results interface

Aim Our aim is to deeply integrate University of Nebraska Medical Center’s institutional electronic medical record (EMR), EPIC, and HLA Laboratory Management System, mTilda, in order to achieve: streamlined clinician order entry and resulting; a higher level of fidelity of discrete HLA data within the EMR in preparation for data intensive test types including Next-gen Sequencing; the automation of manual and error-prone processes by means of a data interface capable of receiving orders and sending test results programmatically. Methods Process maps of paper-based HLA laboratory functions and workflows were prepared and optimized by deploying a laboratory management information systems and enterprise interface platform (MIRTH) that is Health Level 7 (HL7) compliant. The HLA lab identified forty-nine (49) unique HLA test types to send via HL7 data interchange. Results The HL7 data format was extended to allow clinician-readable test results to be sent to the EMR as binary 64-bit encapsulated PDFs through the HL7 Order Message protocol. The HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM) was extended to include discrete HLA laboratory meta-data from test results. Conclusions Extending the HL7 data model allowed us to encode higher volume and fidelity of discrete HLA data into an HL7 results message interface for integration into the EMR database. As EMR vendors expand their data model to include HLA-specific database fields, it is increasingly important to send a combination of discrete HLA test results data and traditional well-formatted PDF reports to ensure that a patient’s longitudinal medical records include immunogenetic-relevant discrete data.
Understory Responses to Mechanical Treatment of Pinyon-Juniper in Northwestern Colorado☆

ABSTRACT Pinyon-juniper (Pinus spp.-Juniperus spp.) encroachment and decliningmule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in western Colorado have necessitated management for increased forage. Pinyon-juniper removal is one such technique; however, it is unclear which method of tree removal most effectively promotes forage species. We conducted an experiment to quantify understory responses to mechanical pinyon-juniper removal and seed additions in a blocked design using three different methods: anchor-chaining, rollerchopping, and mastication. Blocks contained each mechanical and seeding treatment along with an untreated control. Seven blocks across two sites, North Magnolia (NM, 4 blocks) and South Magnolia (SM, 3 blocks), were treated during the fall of 2011. Half of each plot was seeded before or during mechanical treatment with a mix of grasses, shrubs, and forbs. After two growing seasons, biomass of perennial grasses was 90–160 kg · ha-1 in mechanically treated plots compared with 10 kg · ha-1 in un...
Structural Determinants of Alkyne Reactivity in Copper-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions

This work represents our initial effort in identifying azide/alkyne pairs for optimal reactivity in copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reactions. In previous works, we have identified chelating azides, in particular 2-picolyl azide, as “privileged” azide substrates with high CuAAC reactivity. In the current work, two types of alkynes are shown to undergo rapid CuAAC reactions under both copper(II)- (via an induction period) and copper(I)-catalyzed conditions. The first type of the alkynes bears relatively acidic ethynyl C-H bonds, while the second type contains an N-(triazolylmethyl)propargylic moiety that produces a self-accelerating effect. The rankings of reactivity under both copper(II)- and copper(I)-catalyzed conditions are provided. The observations on how other reaction parameters such as accelerating ligand, reducing agent, or identity of azide alter the relative reactivity of alkynes are described and, to the best of our ability, explained.
Sino-Soviet Rivalry in Guinea-Conakry, 1956–1965: The Second World in the Third World

The domestic practices, tensions, and assumptions of the Second World influenced foreign policy and the Sino-Soviet rivalry in the Third World. Debates from within the Bloc about the problem of Russian “great power chauvinism,” the effectiveness of Soviet industrial and technical aid, and the work of Soviet and socialist Bloc advisers shaped the Sino-Soviet struggle for influence in Guinea-Conakry in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Chinese claimed to have learned difficult and disturbing lessons from their decade of participation in the socialist Bloc, which they were now determined to share with new allies. These lessons informed the Chinese effort to cultivate a relationship with the newly independent Guinea-Conakry and its anti-colonial leader, Sekou Toure, who had recently liberated his country from the French. Internal Second World forms of collaboration, exchange, and rivalry shaped the struggle for influence in the Third World.
Abstract A06: All Nations Breath of Life: A culturally tailored smoking cessation program for heterogeneous urban American Indian communities

Prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians, yet few culturally appropriate smoking cessation programs have yet been developed and tested for multi-tribal American Indian adult populations. This study tested for effectiveness the All Nations Breath of Life culturally tailored smoking cessation program in multi-tribal urban and suburban American Indian communities in 7 locations across 5 states (N=312). This single-arm implementation effectiveness study used community-based participatory research to conduct a 12-week intervention. Participants were followed through month 6 in person and month 12 via telephone. The primary outcome was continuous abstinence from recreational cigarette smoking at 6 months post-baseline, verified through voluntary provision of salivary cotinine levels. At program completion, 53.3% of program completers remained abstinent; using an intent-to-treat analysis labeling those lost to follow-up as smokers resulted in a 41.4% quit rate. At 6 months post-baseline, 31.1% of retained participants quit smoking (p All Nations Breath of Life is an effective smoking cessation program for multi-tribal urban American Indian communities. It can be successfully implemented in a variety of urban settings. Citation Format: Jordyn Gunville, Ryan Goeckenr, Jason Hale, T Edward Smith, Niaman Nazir, Sean Daley, Won Choi, Christine M. Daley. All Nations Breath of Life: A culturally tailored smoking cessation program for heterogeneous urban American Indian communities. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A06.
Review of Urban Indians in a Silver City: Zacatecas Mexico, 1546-1810, by Dana Velasco Murillo

Urban Indians in a Silver City: Zacatecas Mexico, 1546-1810, by Dana Velasco Murillo. Stanford University Press, pp. 328, June 2016, ISBN: 9780804796118.
Arrhythmias in the Adult with Congenital Heart Disease

Arrhythmias are an important problem in adults with congenital heart disease, whether previously operated upon or not. This article discusses the incidence, pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of arrhythmias in the adult congenital patient. Arrhythmias can be the cause or the effect of hemodynamic deterioration. Complex patients, such as those with transposition of the great arteries, tetralogy of Fallot and single ventricle problems are highly likely to have major arrhythmias during adult life. Early recognition and appropriate management can improve the patient’s life and can even prevent early death. Pacemaker placement should be considered for bradycardia. Tachyarrhythmia patients may need a combination of drug therapy, catheter ablation, pacemaker for antitachycardia pacing, or reoperation for residual structural issues combined with arrhythmia surgery. Sudden death is another major problem and risk stratification strategies will be discussed. Appropriate and early use of implantable defibrillators can also save lives.
MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES RECOGNIZING COMMON ANTIGENIC DETERMINANTS ON LYSOSOMAL ENZYMES

Publisher Summary Rabbits immunized with either of two purified lysosomal enzymes produce antisera that –cross-react with several other lysosomal enzymes and a wide spectrum of cellular and secreted proteins. The antigenic determinant shared by these proteins is a carbohydrate modification. This chapter presents an ongoing study where a screening of mouse monoclonal hybridomas secreting antibodies is being performed. In addition to the commonly used indirect Elisa assay for screening clones, a second direct screening method has been developed, in which S. aureus Protein A is bound to microtiter plates followed by consecutive reactions with monoclonal supernatants and purified or crude lysosomal enzymes. Fluorescent substrate for one or more enzymes that might be recognized by the common antisera is then added. Hybridoma clones from mice injected with either purified enzyme or a crude lysosomal enzyme mixture were screened using both direct and indirect assays. These two assays showed some overlap but each assay also detected a unique set of clones. Using these methods, hybridomas that secrete antibodies that cross-react with lysosomal enzymes in a manner similar to the rabbit antisera was isolated.
Uses of Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies for the Diagnosis of Primary Immunodeficiencies

Primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) are genetic disorders impairing host immunity, leading to life-threatening infections, autoimmunity, and/or malignancies. Genomic technologies have been critical for expediting the discovery of novel genetic defects underlying PIDs, expanding our knowledge of the complex clinical phenotypes associated with PIDs, and in shifting paradigms of PID pathogenesis. Once considered Mendelian, monogenic, and completely penetrant disorders, genomic studies have redefined PIDs as a heterogeneous group of diseases found in the global population that may arise through multigenic defects, non-germline transmission, and with variable penetrance. This review examines the uses of NGS in the diagnosis of PIDs. While whole genome sequencing identifies variants throughout the genome, whole exome sequencing sequences only the protein-coding regions within a genome, and targeted gene panels sequence only a specific cohort of genes. The advantages and limitations of each sequencing approach are compared. The complexities of variant interpretation and variant validation remain the major challenge in wide-spread implementation of these technologies. Lastly, the roles of NGS in newborn screening and precision therapeutics for individuals with PID are also addressed.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus in the United States, 2003–2016

Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), a mosquito-borne alphavirus, is one of the most severe arboviral encephalitides in North America.1 Eastern equine encephalitis virus is primarily maintained in an enzootic cycle between birds and Culiseta melanura mosquitoes, which breed in freshwater hardwood swamp environments.2 Spread of EEEV to mammals typically requires bridging mosquitoes (e.g., Aedes or Coquillettidia species) that feed on both birds and mammals.1,2 There is some evidence that alternative enzootic and epizootic cycles exist.3–6 Humans are considered dead-end hosts because they generally do not develop high enough viremia levels to allow virus transmission to feeding mosquitoes. Most persons infected with EEEV have no apparent illness.7 An estimated < 5% of persons infected with EEEV develop meningitis or encephalitis.2,7 Systemic infection is characterized by acute onset of fever, chills, malaise, myalgia, and arthralgia.1 Signs and symptoms in patients with neuroinvasive disease include fever, headache, altered mental status, and seizures.8–10 Eastern equine encephalitis virus neuroinvasive disease is estimated to have a 30% case fatality rate and results in neurologic sequelae in more than 50% of survivors.8,11–13 Although veterinary EEEV vaccines are available for use in horses, there are no licensed vaccines or effective treatment of humans. The first human EEEV disease cases were recognized during a 1938 outbreak in southeastern Massachusetts.8 Human EEEV disease cases have occurred sporadically and in small clusters, primarily along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.9,11,14 The largest recorded EEEV outbreak occurred in New Jersey in 1959, with 32 laboratory-confirmed human cases during an 8-week period.11 From 1997 through 2007, a median of eight neuroinvasive disease cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually.15 This report summarizes the national EEEV surveillance data for 2003 through 2016, including human disease cases and nonhuman infections.
Trends in Results of HBIPS National Performance Measures and Association With Year of Adoption

Objective:Multiple studies demonstrate a consistent pattern of improvement on quality measures among health care organizations after they begin collecting and reporting data. This study compared re...
From Perspective Drawing to the Eighth Dimension

The Arnolfini Portrait (Fig. 1.1), by Jan van Eyck (1434), is an acclaimed example of the new realism in Flemish painting in the early fifteenth century. It seems to be an accurate depiction of a three-dimensional space and of three-dimensional objects. However, van Eyck’s treatment of perspective is not mathematically correct.
Destruction of the Innocents(ce) and a Call to Conscious Action

Aylan’s photo put a face to the ever-increasing numbers of faceless refugees. The numbers could not arouse sympathy, but Aylan’s photo did, underscoring families’ pain and suffering even in their efforts to shield each other from the raging battles of the Kurdish forces and the Islamic state insurgents (Cole, 2017; Smith, 2015). Perhaps the photo aroused compassion because Aylan looked so much like any child might, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts (Cole, 2017; O’Grady and Noack, 2019), or perhaps because we were able to see his face. But that compassion was short-lived, if the gradually decreasing level of donations to campaigns for Syrian refugees is any indication (Cole, 2017).
Crowd Control Agents

Chemical restraint can be used for a variety of reasons: for control of a violent individual or the agitated patient, to disperse crowds (crowd-control agents), or to limit access to specific areas. This type of control has also been used by criminals to subdue the individual in acts such as rape, robbery, and murder. The possibilities are vast, and detection of their use can be obvious, such as that with traditional tear gas or pepper spray, or may take forensic testing in cases where the person was sedated or otherwise drugged.
An Agent-based Environment for Dynamic Positioning of the Fogg Behavior Model Threshold Line

In this paper, it is presented a mathematical modeling for the action line, or threshold line, of the Fogg Behavior Model (FBM) as well as an analysis of its positioning in relation to the dataset. According to the mathematical modeling formation process for both Motivation and Ability axes, the action line evaluation was performed by simulations via agents. This behavioral model is mainly used as an empirical evaluation method applied to processes based on persuasive technologies. The results showed that the threshold line should not be fixed, as originally proposed in the model, but dynamically allocated based on the Kolmogorov mean. This dynamic allocation ensures its use as a visual feature towards greater efficiency in triggers implementations. This work aims to contribute with an approach that transits between theoretical and practical when related to applications that requires the FBM, thus allowing the use of this behavioral model with higher degree of certainty and thus maximizing efficiency in the evaluation and implementation processes based on persuasive technologies.
Impact of Free-Living Nutrition Intervention on Microbiome in College Students at Risk for Disease: FRUVEDomic Pilot Study

ObjectiveWe tested the hypothesis that an 8 week, free-living nutrition intervention (emphasizing increased fruits and vegetables) in 18–28 year old college students “at risk” for Metabolic Syndrom...
The impact of painful knee osteoarthritis on mortality: a community-based cohort study with over 24 years of follow-up.

Summary Objective To investigate the impact of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and/or knee pain on excess mortality. Method We analyzed data from 4,182 participants in a community-based prospective cohort study of African American and Caucasian men and women aged ≥45 years. Participants completed knee radiographs and questionnaires at baseline and at up to three follow-ups to determine knee OA (rOA), knee pain and covariate status. Mortality was determined through 2015. We used Cox proportional hazards regression with time-varying covariates (TVC) to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Additional analyses stratified by sex, race and age were carried out. Results Median follow-up time was 14.6 years during which 1822 deaths occurred. Baseline knee radiographic osteoarthritis (rOA) was 27.7%, 38.8% at first follow-up, 52.6% at second follow-up and 61.9% at the third follow-up. Knee rOA with pain and knee pain alone were both associated with a >15% increase in premature all-cause mortality. In analyses stratified by sex, race and age, associations between knee pain, with or without knee rOA, and all-cause death were found among women, Caucasians, those ≤65 years of age, and those with a body mass index (BMI)≥30, with observed increased risks of death between 21% and 65%. We observed similar, somewhat attenuated, results for cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths. Conclusion In models taking into account variables that change over time, individuals who had knee pain, alone or with knee rOA, had increased mortality. These effects were particularly strong among those obese. Effective interventions to reduce knee pain, particularly those including weight management and prevention of comorbidities, could reduce mortality.