cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Causal Structure Learning with Reduced Partial Correlation Thresholding

Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are commonly used to represent causal relations within a large number of random variables. Estimating DAGs from observational data is a difficult task, it is often impossible to uniquely determine edge direction. The skeleton of the graph, where directions are removed from edges, is often estimated instead. We consider the task of estimating the skeleton of a potentially high-dimensional DAG consisting of Gaussian random variables. A drawback of existing methods is that a prohibitively large number of conditional independence relations need to be tested for. By exploiting properties of common random graph families, we develop a new algorithm that requires conditioning only on small sets of variables. By extending previous theoretical results for undirected graphs to the setting of directed graphs, we prove the consistency of our algorithm, and demonstrate improvements over the state-of-the-art alternative in low and high-dimensional simulation settings. We conclude by applying our proposed algorithm on a real gene expression data set.
Liposomal bupivacaine versus bupivacaine/epinephrine after video-assisted thoracoscopic wedge resection†.

Objectives The purpose of this research is to compare liposomal bupivacaine and bupivacaine/epinephrine for intercostal blocks related to analgesic use and length of stay following video-assisted thoracoscopic wedge resection. Methods A retrospective study of patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic wedge resection from 2010 to 2015 was performed. We selected patients who stayed longer than 24 h in hospital. Primary outcomes were length of stay and postoperative analgesic use at 12-h intervals from 24 to 72 h. Results Intercostal blocks were performed with liposomal bupivacaine in 62 patients and bupivacaine/epinephrine in 51 patients. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test evaluated differences in median postoperative analgesic use and length of stay. Those who received liposomal bupivacaine consumed fewer analgesics than those who received bupivacaine/epinephrine, with a statistically significant difference from 24 to 36 h (20.25 vs 45.0 mg; P = 0.0059) and from 60 to 72 h postoperatively (15.0 vs 33.75 mg; P = 0.0350). In patients who stayed longer than 72 h, the median cumulative analgesic consumption in those who received liposomal bupivacaine was statistically significantly lower than those who received bupivacaine/epinephrine (120.0 vs 296.5 mg; P = 0.0414). Median length of stay for the liposomal bupivacaine and bupivacaine/epinephrine groups were 45:05 h and 44:29 h, respectively. There were no adverse events related to blocks performed with liposomal bupivacaine. Conclusions Thoracic surgery patients who have blocks performed with liposomal bupivacaine require fewer analgesics postoperatively. This may decrease complications related to poor pain control and decrease side effects related to narcotic use in our patient population.
Economic analysis of demand uncertainty and delayed information sharing in a third-party managed supply chain

AbstractDesigners and retailers in consumer products industry are faced with high demand volatility and potential loss of profit from design piracy. Many retailers rely on third-party supply chain managers (SCMs) to manage global supply chains. A SCM starts raw materials procurement and production process based on expected demand and takes financial risks associated with demand uncertainty. But a retailer often delays sharing product design information with SCM forcing it to expedite production and distribution processes incurring additional financial penalties. To analyse economic impact of delayed information sharing under uncertain demand, we develop a mathematical model. Our model indicates that higher demand volatility lessens the effect of penalty associated with delayed information sharing for retailers. The model also shows that for a given demand volatility, per-unit premium increases asymptotically for a retailer compared to marginal production cost increase for SCM. Such findings are not intuit...
Embodiment, collaboration, and challenge in educational programming games: exploring use of tangibles and mouse

While there are common design decisions in existing games for teaching Computer Science (single player puzzle based games for the touchpad/keyboard and mouse), recent work has suggested that alternative approaches such as collaborative play and physically embodied designs may also provide important benefits to learners. In order to explore how making interactions with an educational programming game more physically embodied could impact collaborative play, we created an educational programming game called Bots & (Main)Frames. We then conducted a preliminary study to examine if the level designs achieved desired challenge and explore how two versions of the game with different forms of physical embodiment/input (e.g., mouse vs. tangible programming blocks) impacted player interactions underlying collaboration. We found that game levels seem to provide desired increasing challenge, and that players often used the mouse and tangible programming blocks to aid communication/collaboration in distinctly different ways.
Arthroscopic Treatment of Combined Shoulder Instability and Rotator Cuff Tear

Rotator cuff tears have been noted in the setting of shoulder instability, particularly in older patients (Porcellini et al., Sports Med Arthrosc 19:395–400, 2011). Anterior glenohumeral instability in young athletes has also been associated with tears of the rotator cuff (Savoie et al., Orthop Clin North Am 32:457–461, ix, 2001; Goldberg et al., Br J Sports Med 37:179–181, 2003). Efforts to understand rotator cuff pathomechanics have shown relationships between various anatomic lesions and glenohumeral instability (Gombera and Sekiya, Clin Orthop Res 472:2448–2456, 2014). Craig (Craig, Clin Orthop Res (190):212–216, 1984) popularized the idea that failure of an attenuated posterior rotator cuff occurs in older patients, with relative sparing of the anterior capsule and labrum. The failure of the infraspinatus to restrain anterior humeral head translation may lead to anterior instability. This posterior mechanism of anterior dislocation is in contrast to the more common mechanism seen in younger patients, in which anterior capsular and labral structures fail, with the rotator cuff uninjured.
Studies in contact dermatitis: I. Adhesive plaster dermatitis: Technics for surface testing on patients sensitive to adhesive plaster

Abstract The phenomenon of skin irritation from adhesive plaster has led to a formidable problem, in view of the extensive use of adhesive plaster clinically and as a constituent part of the patch test. I have undertaken a series of studies to determine the nature of these skin changes. In order to begin these investigations it was necessary to develop a technic for testing, by the patch or surface method, those subjects by whom adhesive plaster was not tolerated. In principle, this newly adopted procedure consists in stamping out, by means of a glass tube, a ring of some liquid adhesive or fixing agent around the test substance, and sealing this over by a disc membrane cut from some impermeable or nearly impermeable material. Several combinations are herein suggested, namely, plain cellophane and collodion (experimental), scrim cellophane and collodion (experimental), tracing paper and collodion (experimental), white single-faced rubberized cloth and duo liquid adhesive, rubber tissue and frisket type rubber cement. There exists a distinct need for a number of such substitute technics for patch testing, inasmuch as a combination suitable in one subject may be unsuitable in another. I prefer the technic employing rubberized cloth and duo adhesive for the reasons previously designated, and suggest this as a starting point when the problem of adhesive irritation arises. In fact, it has been found entirely satisfactory to use this procedure routinely in testing for contact dermatitis. I also desire to point out that cellophane, which is used extensively in the patch test as a constituent part of it, may be of the moistureproof kind, the surface coating of which contains a natural resin. This variety of cellophane may thus produce misleading positive reactions in selected instances.
Life in the Village: Good News and Bad

Most of the jurors’ memories related to life in the village—to themselves, to their families, and to others with whom they lived and worked. Their memories often rest on the life milestones—birth, marriage, and death—and these could be offered with some feeling or in the most laconic fashion, touching their children, siblings, spouses, and others whose coming or going left a mark. Beyond the life milestones, there were many recollections of such pedestrian matters as great storms, fires, and accidents, with broken shins and broken arms seemingly quite prevalent among people who did manual labor and who rode unreliable animals. In aggregate these are all memories of what we can consider as the ordinary events—some good, some bad—that reflect the course of life and lived experience.
Linking the distribution of board-executive governance responsibilities to charter school performance

This study aims to use the original data collected from school board members representing nonprofit charter schools in the state of Minnesota to examine the relationship between the distribution of board-executive governance responsibilities and the performance of organizations operating as part of a New Public Management style macro-governance reform.,A combination of survey data collected from Minnesota charter school board members and hard performance data were utilized in two OLS regression models to predict the link between organizational governance and school performance.,The authors find that boards can improve hard measures of organizational performance by shifting responsibility of day-to-day operations closer to the executive, and public advocacy duties closer to the board. The results build on the existing literatures on school board governance and board-executive relations. Overall, the findings suggest the existence of an ideal balance between board-executive governance responsibilities in key functional areas on charter school boards.,Though a healthy literature exists regarding the value of charter schools, very few studies have actually explored the way in which these organizations are governed. This study is the first to link charter board governance responsibilities to performance.
Image set for deep learning: field images of maize annotated with disease symptoms.

Automated detection and quantification of plant diseases would enable more rapid gains in plant breeding and faster scouting of farmers’ fields. However, it is difficult for a simple algorithm to distinguish between the target disease and other sources of dead plant tissue in a typical field, especially given the many variations in lighting and orientation. Training a machine learning algorithm to accurately detect a given disease from images taken in the field requires a massive amount of human-generated training data. This data set contains images of maize (Zea mays L.) leaves taken in three ways: by a hand-held camera, with a camera mounted on a boom, and with a camera mounted on a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS, commonly known as a drone). Lesions of northern leaf blight (NLB), a common foliar disease of maize, were annotated in each image by one of two human experts. The three data sets together contain 18,222 images annotated with 105,705 NLB lesions, making this the largest publicly available image set annotated for a single plant disease.
SPATIAL CHANGES IN THE HYDROLOGY OF PORTIONS OF THE TWIN CITIES, MINNESOTA: A SIMULATION STUDY

A physically based, distributed model called SIRWAT (Spatially Integrated Regional Watershed Analysis Tool) has been designed to simulate water-resource changes in intermediate-scale basins undergoing change due to urban expansion. This water-yield model overcomes several limitations in current simulations through its integration with a geographic information system (GIS) and use of an expanded groundwater model for complex, multi-layered subsurface situations. A typical simulation consists of one or more watersheds with a combined area between 100 and 10,000 km2, and response units of a square kilometer or larger. Input parameters do not require calibration, which allows the model to be applied in a variety of geographic situations. Analysis of the Nine Mile Creek basin in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) of Minnesota, USA, illustrates the magnitude of change (e.g., annual increases of surface runoff from 23 to 64 percent, and losses of groundwater recharge from 25 to 50 percent) and spatial vari...
Observations on the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition

The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (P.O.D.), also known as the Karhunen-Loeve expansion, is a procedure for decomposing a stochastic field in an L2 optimal sense. It is used in diverse disciplines from image processing to turbulence. Recently the P.O.D. is receiving much attention as a tool for studying dynamics of systems in infinite dimensional space. This paper reviews the mathematical fundamentals of this theory. Also included are results on the span of the eigenfunction basis, a geometric corollary due to Chebyshev’s inequality and a relation between the P.O.D. symmetry and ergodicity.
Contribution of the neighborhood environment to cross-sectional variation in long-term CVD risk scores in the Framingham Heart Study.

Few studies of the health impact of the built environment have examined downstream outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease. We analyzed the neighborhood-level proportional variance in the 10- and 30-year Framingham risk scores (FRS) in the Framingham Heart Study. Our analysis included 3,103 Offspring- and Generation 3 cohort participants 20–74 years old, inhabiting private residences in Massachusetts geocoded to neighborhoods (defined as 2000 US Census block groups) containing the residences of ≥5 participants. The outcome variables were log-transformed to mitigate the effects of the non-normal distributions. In order to remove the possible effects of neighborhood clustering by age and sex, we analyzed residuals of the transformed FRS regressed upon age and sex. Neighborhood-level intraclass correlations (ICCs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of age- and sex-independent, log-transformed FRS were estimated using multilevel linear regression. Individual- and neighborhood-level variables were then added to models to evaluate their influence on ICCs. Analyses were repeated stratified by sex. Among 2,888 participants living in 187 neighborhoods, 1.73% (95% CI: 0.62, 4.72%) of the variance in 10-year FRS was explained at the neighborhood level. The neighborhood ICC was 2.70% (95% CI: 0.93, 7.56) among women but 0.23% (95% CI: 0.00, 99.47%) among men. In the analysis of the neighborhood-level variances in 30-year FRS among 2,317 participants residing in 164 neighborhoods, the ICCs were 3.31% (95% CI: 1.66, 6.47%), 6.47% (95% CI: 3.22, 12.58), and 0.74% (95% CI: 0.01, 33.31), among all participants, women, and men, respectively. In our homogenous middle-class white population in Massachusetts, residential neighborhoods explained a small proportion of the variance in CVD risk.
Changing trends in surgery for abdominal Crohn's disease.

AIM The introduction of biological agents and laparoscopy are, arguably, the most important developments for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) in the last two decades. Due to the efficacy of biological agents in treating mild disease, it is likely that the percentage of surgery for complex cases may have increased. The objective of this study was to analyse the changing characteristics and results of the surgical treatment of patients with CD over the past 13 years. METHODS All patients who underwent abdominal surgery for CD between 2004 and 2016 were retrospectively identified. Data were compared between two periods (2004-2010 and 2011-2016). RESULTS A total of 908 procedures were performed (48% men, mean age 43 ± 16 years). Demographic and CD characteristics changed significantly over time: comorbidities were more frequent (35% vs 46%, P < 0.0001), and preoperative steroids (28% vs 36%, P < 0.01) and anti-tumour necrosis factor (20% vs 40%, P < 0.0001) treatments were more frequently used in the second period. Smoking (14% vs 8%, P < 0.0001) and use of immunosuppressors (32% vs 22%, P < 0.001) decreased significantly. More cases of penetrating disease (22% vs 32%, P < 0.001) were operated upon in the second period. The laparoscopic approach (49% vs 57%, P < 0.04) was more frequently performed and mean blood loss (167 ± 222 vs 123 ± 243 ml, P < 0.01) decreased significantly. Postoperative morbidity did not change between the two periods. CONCLUSION Despite a higher incidence of comorbidities and the use of biologics postoperative morbidity remained unchanged. An increased use of laparoscopy and a decreased intra-operative blood loss may have contributed to offsetting the impact of increased comorbidity.
Changes in body mass index, height, and weight in children during and after therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

BACKGROUND Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have an increased risk of obesity and short stature. To the authors' knowledge, data regarding patients treated on contemporary protocols without cranial irradiation are limited. METHODS Changes in z scores for body mass index (BMI), height, and weight from the time of diagnosis to 5 years off therapy were evaluated using multivariable analysis in 372 children with ALL who were aged 2 to 18 years at the time of diagnosis and were enrolled on the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Total XV protocol from 2000 through 2007. RESULTS The percentage of overweight/obese patients increased from 25.5% at the time of diagnosis to approximately 50% during the off-therapy period. Median BMI z scores increased significantly during glucocorticoid therapy (induction: ∆0.56; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.29-0.64 [P<.001]; and reinduction II: ∆0.22; 95% CI, 0.13-0.49 [P=.001]) and during the first year after therapy (∆0.18; 95% CI, 0.08-0.46 [P=.006]). Among patients who were of healthy weight/underweight at the time of diagnosis, those aged 2 to <10 years at diagnosis had a significantly higher risk of becoming overweight/obese during or after therapy compared with those aged ≥10 years (P=.001). Height z scores declined during treatment and improved after therapy. Being aged 2 to <10 years at the time of diagnosis, being of low-risk status, having a white blood cell count < 50×109 /L at the time of diagnosis, and having negative central nervous system disease were associated with significantly better improvements in z scores for height during the off-therapy period compared with being aged ≥10 years, being of standard-risk/high-risk status, having a white blood cell count ≥ 50×109 /L, and having positive central nervous system disease, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The results of the current study demonstrate that obesity is prevalent, and height growth, especially in patients with identified risk factors, appears compromised. Multidisciplinary intervention should begin during induction therapy and continue during the off-therapy period.
18 ALUMINUM EXPOSURE FROM PARENTERAL NUTRITION IN HOSPITALIZED INFANTS.

Prolonged aluminum (Al) exposure can result in serious liver, bone, and neurologic diseases, including encephalopathy and osteomalacia. Parenteral nutrition (PN) mixtures are a source of exposure, and premature and hospitalized infants may be at particular risk for toxicity from such exposure. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that attempts be made to minimize Al exposure, and recommended 5 μg/kg/day as an upper safe limit. Objective and Method Because of their high risk for Al toxicity, the objective of this study was to examine the Al exposure of 126 premature and newborn infants treated with PN. The compounding pharmacy at our hospital provided deidentified data of Al content of PN ordered for these patients over a 6-month period in 2005. Results The mean (± SD) number of days of PN use in patients was 12.4 ± 12 days (median = 7 days). Overall mean Al from ordered PN was 356 ± 295 μg/kg/day (median 304 μg/kg/day). Thirty-eight percent of infants were on PN for > 10 days; mean exposure for this group was 398 ± 215 μg/kg/day; mean exposure for infants receiving PN for ≤ 10 days was 330 ± 332 μg/kg/day. Conclusion Infants on PN are routinely exposed to Al levels far beyond the goal set by the FDA. The consequences of such exposure are unknown, and these data suggest that more studies are warranted on possible associated adverse physiologic outcomes. Additionally, more aggressive efforts are needed to reduce the levels of Al in PN solutions.
Not a Double-Edged Sword: Why U.S. Economic Sanctions Encourage the Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons, but Can't Prevent Their Acquisition

Despite the U.S. Government’s use of economic sanctions as one of its primary counter-proliferation tools, few studies have actually examined their overarching impact on nuclear weapons proliferation. Drawing on the sanctions and nuclear proliferation literatures, I hypothesize that U.S. economic sanctions make their targets more likely to begin pursuing nuclear weapons because of the security concerns they invoke. Yet, being sanctioned by the United States can also undermine their targets’ ability to successfully acquire nuclear weapons. I test whether economic sanctions thus cut both ways in causing their targets to pursue nuclear weapons but preventing their targets from acquiring them via a large-n analysis of 154 countries from 1945-2000. The results indicate that while U.S. economic sanctions dramatically increase their targets’ likelihoods of starting nuclear weapons programs, they are ineffective at preventing their targets from acquiring nuclear weapons. The concluding sections explore the potential reasons for these findings and their policy implications.
Significant Reduction of Murine Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Cell Death Using the Immediate-Acting PrC-210 Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenger.

Background Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury remains a significant problem for all solid organ transplants; thus, an important unmet need in transplantation is the prevention of IR injury. PrC-210 has demonstrated superior prevention of reactive oxygen species damage in several preclinical studies as a free radical scavenger. Here, we describe its profound efficacy in suppressing IR injury in a murine model of kidney IR injury. Methods C57/B6 mice underwent laparotomy with the left renal pedicle occluded for 30 minutes to induce IR injury. Right nephrectomy was performed at the time of surgery. Mice received a single systemic dose of the PrC-210, PrC-211, or PrC-252 aminothiols 20 minutes before IR injury. Twenty-four hours following IR injury, blood and kidney tissue were collected for analysis. Kidney caspase-3 level (a marker of cell death), direct histological analysis of kidneys, and serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were measured in animals to assess reactive oxygen species scavenger protective efficacies. Results A single systemic PrC-210 dose 20 minutes before IR injury resulted in significant reductions in (1) IR-induced kidney caspase level (P PrC-211 >> PrC-252 paralleled previous radioprotection studies of the molecules. Conclusions A single PrC-210 dose, minutes before the IR insult, profoundly reduced caspase, renal tubular injury, and serum BUN in mice exposed to standard kidney IR injury. These findings support further development of the PrC-210 molecule to suppress or prevent IR injury in organ transplant and other IR injury settings.
Factors Associated With Large Improvements in Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: Results From ORBIT-AF.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) adversely impacts health-related quality of life (hrQoL). While some patients demonstrate improvements in hrQoL, the factors associated with large improvements ...
Do Analysts Mind the GAAP? Evidence From the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

This study examines the quality of analysts’ GAAP-based earnings forecasts. Ideally, addressing this question requires events that have an ex ante estimable earnings impact, and affect GAAP earnings but not street earnings. The deferred tax adjustment as a result of a 2017 tax law change meets these criteria. Focusing on the fourth quarter of 2017 (2017Q4), we find that analysts’ GAAP earnings forecasts and revisions fail to incorporate the vast majority of the deferred tax adjustment. We explore two potential explanations for this finding – task-specific complexity and lack of GAAP earnings forecasting effort. We find evidence consistent with the latter. Our final analyses consider two implications of our findings. First, despite analysts underreacting to the deferred tax adjustment, investors promptly impound the adjustment into stock prices at the legislative enactment date, indicating that analysts’ GAAP earnings forecasts are not a good proxy for investor expectations of GAAP earnings during our sample period. Second, analysts who best incorporate the adjustment into their 2017Q4 GAAP earnings forecasts issue more accurate GAAP earnings forecasts for subsequent quarters, indicating that our inferences extend beyond a single quarter and account. Collectively, these findings have implications for research that relies on analysts’ GAAP earnings forecasts to be of reasonable quality.
“No one should see what they have to do”: Military children and media representations of war

Abstract The primary objective of this article is to describe how the children of soldiers critiqued and examined media representations of war. Taken from a more extensive qualitative case study involving eight teachers, this article examines one social studies teacher and her students’ perspectives on media coverage of war through two Socratic Seminar discussions focused on two wars: the American Civil War and Gulf War. Data was collected through interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations. Students leveled a specific set of critiques at television media and those who consume it. They also grappled with two ethical quandaries: censorship and the justness of war. This article emerged from an unusual place – a Mathew Brady photograph. The teacher, a lecturer typically, decided to engage her students in discussion. This discussion was designed to provide “process and sense-making time,” according to their teacher, Ms. Jones, after four days of lecture on the American Civil War. Yet, the discussion grew into something much different than Ms. Jones’s original plan. It evolved into an interrogation of how the media represents war. Inspired by the thoughtful discussion, several months later, Ms. Jones engaged the same students in an examination of media representations of the first Gulf War. Ms. Jones is the focus of this article because out of the eight other teachers in the larger qualitative study, she was the only one to focus on classroom time (two entire class sessions) on media representations of war.
A Framework for Place-Based Survey Implementation

This paper puts forth a framework for creating and implementing place-based surveys. Whereas such activities were once tedious and time consuming, digital tools can streamline much of the process. These tools not only allow for faster analysis but enable new questions to be addressed. This paper suggests that such a framework use (1) libre software, (2) web mapping, and (3) “on-the-fly” analysis in order to effectively capitalize on available tools and maximize societal benefit.
Abstract 996: Reversing tumor induced immune suppression: Role of the secretory autophagy pathway

The goal is to reverse cancer immune evasion at the level of the sentinel lymph node. Reduced expansion of CD8+Tcells and other innate immune effector cells in the cancer draining SLN is associated with progression and resistance to checkpoint inhibitors. Cancer derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are PD-L1 positive suppress immune recognition at the level of the SNL. Experimental goal: To remodel the SNL to overcome cancer EV-associated immune suppression and induce immune rejection of the tumor. We developed three methodologies for this project a) Collection of draining lymph fluid to characterize extracellular vesicles (EVs) shed by 4T1 syngeneic breast tumors growing in the mammary fat pad. b) Chromatographic separation and characterization of the repertoire of EVs shed by tumors into the tumor microenvironment interstitial space using western blotting, mass spectrometry, and electron microscopy. c) Nanoparticle delivery of purified classes of EVs to the tumor draining SNL in combination with cytokine chemoattractants for innate immune cells. Results: Murine and human breast cancer cell lines shed classic exosomes and autophagosomes. The latter are shed extracellularly by the activation of the secretory autophagy pathway. The classic exosomes(exosome marker positive) contained PD-L1. In contrast the LC3 I/II P62 positive double membrane extracellular autophagosomes contained mitochondrial components (mitophagy). SLN immune cell populations could be massively remodeled by introducing hydrogel nanoparticles that affinity release chemoattractants locally in the subcapsular sinus. Nanoparticles could also be used to deliver concentrated packages of EVs of different classes to the SLN. Introduction of the autophagosome containing EV population to the SLN augmented tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis, even when cytokine induction was used to remodel the SLN. In marked contrast, introduction of the PD-L1 positive exosomes to the SLN in combination with nanoparticle release of T-cell and dendritic cell chemoattractants, induced immune rejection of the syngeneic breast cancer, reducing tumor growth and blocking metastasis. The findings demonstrate that different classes of EVs have opposite effects on cancer immune evasion at the level of the SLN and that immune suppression can be reversed by SLN remodeling to augment dendritic and CD8 T cells. Citation Format: Marissa Ashton Howard. Reversing tumor induced immune suppression: Role of the secretory autophagy pathway [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 996.
Enhancing adult neurogenesis promotes contextual fear memory discrimination and activation of hippocampal-dorsolateral septal circuits

Hippocampal circuitry is continuously modified by integration of adult-born dentate granule cells (DGCs). Prior work has shown that enhancing adult hippocampal neurogenesis decreases interference or overlap or conflict between ensembles of similar contexts and promotes discrimination of a shock-associated context from a similar, neutral context. However, the impact of enhanced integration of adult-born neurons on hippocampal network activity or downstream circuits such as the dorsolateral septum that mediate defensive behavioral responses is poorly understood. Here, we first replicated our finding that genetic expansion of the population of adult-born dentate granule cells (8 weeks and younger) promotes contextual fear discrimination. We found that enhanced contextual fear discrimination is associated with greater c-Fos expression in discrete hippocampal subfields along the proximo-distal and dorsoventral axis. Examination of the dorsolateral septum revealed an increase in activation of somatostatin expressing neurons consistent with recent characterization of these cells as calibrators of defensive behavior. Together, these findings begin to shed light on how genetically enhancing adult hippocampal neurogenesis affects activity of hippocampal-dorsolateral septal circuits.
Phase-Aberration Correction for HIFU Therapy Using a Multielement Array and Backscattering of Nonlinear Pulses

Phase aberrations induced by heterogeneities in body wall tissues introduce a shift and broadening of the high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) focus, associated with decreased focal intensity. This effect is particularly detrimental for HIFU therapies that rely on shock front formation at the focus, such as boiling histotripsy (BH). In this article, an aberration correction method based on the backscattering of nonlinear ultrasound pulses from the focus is proposed and evaluated in tissue-mimicking phantoms. A custom BH system comprising a 1.5-MHz 256-element array connected to a Verasonics V1 engine was used as a pulse/echo probe. Pulse inversion imaging was implemented to visualize the second harmonic of the backscattered signal from the focus inside a phantom when propagating through an aberrating layer. Phase correction for each array element was derived from an aberration-correction method for ultrasound imaging that combines both the beamsum and the nearest neighbor correlation method and adapted it to the unique configuration of the array. The results were confirmed by replacing the target tissue with a fiber-optic hydrophone. Comparing the shock amplitude before and after phase-aberration correction showed that the majority of losses due to tissue heterogeneity were compensated, enabling fully developed shocks to be generated while focusing through aberrating layers. The feasibility of using a HIFU phased-array transducer as a pulse-echo probe in harmonic imaging mode to correct for phase aberrations was demonstrated.
Towards a better understanding of information storage in visual working memory

Chota, S., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2021). Dynamic and flexible transformation and reallocation of visual working memory representations (this issue); Iamshchinina, P., Christophel, T. B., Gayet, S....
The Case for the Abolition of Criminal Confessions

Confessions are often considered the “gold standard” of evidence in criminal proceedings. But in truth, confession evidence imposes significant harms on our criminal justice system, through false convictions and other violations of defendant’s due process and moral rights. Moreover, our current doctrine is unable to eliminate or even curb these harms. This Article makes the case for the abolition of confession evidence in criminal proceedings. Though it may seem radical, abolition is both sensible and best furthers our penological goals. As a theoretical matter, confession evidence has low probative value, but it is prejudicially overvalued by juries and judges. Consequently, this overvaluation means both that innocent defendants are systemically pressured into proclaiming their guilt and that juries are so swayed by it — even in light of countervailing evidence — that they render wrongful convictions. Indeed, as practice and empirical evidence demonstrate, this is not merely a theoretical possibility: false confessions and resulting miscarriages of injustice occur with disturbing frequency. Moreover, confession evidence, and the methods to obtain it, impose significant harms on defendants in terms of their due process and moral rights, due to the pressures of interrogation, investigation, and jeopardy. And our current constitutional and evidentiary doctrine is incapable of addressing these harms, for it fails to recognize that false confessions are often caused by overwhelming pressures endemic to our criminal justice system. Consequently, solving these problems requires a comprehensive, properly focused solution that goes far beyond our current doctrinal hodgepodge. The abolition of confession evidence meets that demand. Compared to other solutions that have been proposed, such as further limiting law enforcement and prosecutorial conduct or introducing expert testimony and evidence, the abolition of such evidence best apprehends and mitigates the epistemic and moral concerns arising from confession evidence and interrogation. In addition, it coheres with and flows from the Constitution’s due process requirement of voluntariness in confessions and the evidentiary requirements of reliability. Finally, it preserves and improves key features of our criminal justice system, namely interrogation, plea bargaining, and the assessment of evidence.
Soft X-Ray Microscopy of Activated Human Platelets

A hundred years ago, in 1882, J, Bizzozero described the blood platelets as they appeared to him under the microscope, unstained and flowing in the mesenteric vessels of rabbits and guinea pigs. His impeccable drawings demonstrated that platelets, the smallest and anucleated cells of the blood, can adhere and aggregate, have a central role in arresting hemorrhage, and an important participation in thrombosis and embolism. Micro-imaging technics have, since then, slowly improved, but progress has been more rapid during the past two decades. Simultaneously, recent studies on the structural physiology of blood platelets have made important strides. We believe that the very recent application of soft x-ray microscopy to platelet studies has offered new possibilities in this important area of research.
Leaving Kids Alone in Cars: An Amendment to the Illinois Child Endangerment Statute is Declared Unconstitutional, But the Underlying Act Can Still Be Prosecuted without a Statutory Presumption

This article analyzes a decison of the Illinois Supreme Court (People v. Jordan), which declared unconstitutional part of an Illinois criminal statute on child endagerment. The Illinois statute had provided a "rebuttable presumption that a person committed the offense [of child endangerment] if he or she left a child of six years of age or younger unattended in a motor vehicle for more than 10 minutes." The Illinois Supreme Court found that to be an "unconstitutional mandatory rebuttable presumption." The court remanded for a new trial in the case of a college student who had left his child unattended in a car while running into the campus bookstore. The article discusses the implications of that court decision and possible legislative remedies.
Hunger for money: Maize, food-insecurity, and identity formation within polygynous households in rural southern zambia

AbstractThe haphazard process of maize market liberalization produces conditions for maize to assume a money function in the Tonga-speaking region of Mayindi, Zambia. Drawing on ethnographic data, this article analyzes the ways in which members of polygynous households in Mayindi attempt to navigate the intra-household tensions provoked by the use of a staple food as a form of money. In an effort to reconcile these tensions, co-wives in many polygynous households now distribute maize equally among themselves, regardless of how many people each individual woman is responsible for feeding. I argue that while this form of maize distribution leaves some members of the household food-insecure, it also serves to maintain critical aspects of women's social identities as mothers to their children and members of their matrilineage.
ROS generation and antioxidant enzyme expression in NNK-induced cancer cells with radioresistant phenotype

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006 4416 Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in the indirect action of ionizing radiation (IR) and mediate many of the biological effects induced by IR. ROS can be eliminated by antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and peroxiredoxin (PRX). Among these enzymes, manganese SOD (MnSOD) has been reported to be overexpressed in highly radioresistant glioma cells and protect against IR-induced cytotoxicity in cultured cells. However, the correlation between radioresistance and antioxidant enzymes is not fully understood. We established a cancer cell clone (BEAS/NNK) by exposing immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS) to the tobacco carcinogen NNK (4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone). Anchorage-independent assay showed that BEAS/NNK cells were able to formed colonies, whereas BEAS cells did not. Gap-filling assay demonstrated that BEAS/NNK cells were more migrative than BEAS cells. Colony formation assay revealed that BEAS/NNK cells were more resistant to IR than BEAS cells. Western blotting showed higher levels of MnSOD, copper-zinc SOD (CuZnSOD), and GPX-1, and lower levels of catalase and PRX-3 in BEAS/NNK cells compared to BEAS cells. Interestingly, among three enzymes that catalyze the reaction from hydrogen peroxide to water, only GPX-1 was upregulated in BEAS/NNK cells. Quantitative analyses showed that superoxide generation in the early passages of BEAS/NNK cells was higher than in BEAS cells, and eventually decreased to the basal level, most likely due to the upregulation of SODs during the adaptation in culture. Hydrogen peroxide in BEAS/NNK cells was lower than in BEAS cells, likely due to high expression of GPX-1. Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kB), a cell survival transcription factor known to affect radiosensitivity, was activated in BEAS/NNK cells, as demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Our results suggest that BEAS/NNK cells acquired overexpression of SODs and GPX-1 during the carcinogenesis process, and that this increase in antioxidant enzymes to eliminate ROS may be an important mechanism by which cells become resistant to IR. Constitutive activation of NF-kB may provide an additional survival mechanism for BEAS/NNK cells to resist IR.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, aspirin, and cognitive function in the Baltimore longitudinal study of aging.

Objective To examine the relations of non-aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and aspirin use to age-related change in multiple domains of cognitive function among non-demented, community-dwelling individuals.
Weiner, Michael W.: The Implanted Kidney Coil and What Followed

In 1980, the author first learned about nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). He developed a technique to implant an RF coil around the kidney of a living rat and to acquire 31P NMR spectra in vivo. This began the author's career in NMR research, which led to clinical investigations using MRI and MRS, resulting in more than 400 publications in this field. Keywords: kidney; 31P NMR; Koretsky; Karzmar; saturation; implanted; potassium; pH; ATP
Trehalose as an Endogenous Reserve in Spores of the Fungus Myrothecium verrucaria

Mandels, G. R. (U.S. Army Natick Laboratories, Natick, Mass.), Rasma Vitols, and Frederick W. Parrish. Trehalose as an endogenous reserve in spores of the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria. J. Bacteriol. 90:1589–1598. 1965.—Gross analysis of Myrothecium verrucaria spores showed approximately 3% fat, 33% carbohydrate, and 9.5% nitrogen. The water-soluble carbohydrates were trehalose, glucose, mannitol, and an unidentified phosphorylated compound. Water-soluble amino acids include leucine or norleucine (or both), valine, γ-amino-n-butyric acid, β-amino-n-butyric acid, ergothionine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, aspartic acid, asparagine, cystine, and cystathionine. Ergosterol was also present. αα-Trehalose is the major reserve (20% of the dry weight), although approximately 30% of it appeared to be at the spore surface and was released by nonlethal treatment with 0.1 n HCl. Treatment with toluene or exposure to heat sufficient to kill the spores (20 min at 60 C) caused rapid liberation of all of the trehalose. Although spores could utilize exogenous trehalose with no appreciable lag, some stimulus, such as exposure to heat (10 min at 55 C), incubation with azide, or germination on exogenous substrates, was necessary to effect utilization of trehalose reserves. Spores have trehalase, but it is apparently at the spore surface, since it is inactivated by acid treatment which does not kill the spores. The metabolic pathway for utilization of trehalose is not known, but presumably it is not mediated by trehalase. The involvement of mannitol is indicated, since it tends to increase as trehalose decreases, although the changes are not quantitatively equivalent.
Urban Riots and Cricket in South Asia: A Postscript to 'Leveling Crowds'

My book Leveling Crowds1 was published in 1996, and around the same time and in succeeding years there was a spate of books on much the same topic, but primarily focused on India. This essay discusses the implications of some of these studies for my chief submissions, and also responds to the comments of some reviews of my book. It is hoped that this postscript will amplify and enrich our investigation of the dynamics of ethnonationalist conflicts in South Asia.
Smallpox and American Indians Revisited

Smallpox ravaged the people of Europe and the Americas in the early modern era. Why it was a catastrophic cause of death for American Indians that helped lead to severe depopulation, but a manageable cause among Europeans that allowed continued population growth, has puzzled scholars. Research on variola continued after smallpox eradication in 1977, prompted in part by the fear that aerosolized smallpox might be used in bioterrorism. That research updates factors that may have aggravated smallpox lethality in American Indians, giving new information about infectivity, the proportion of people who may have contracted smallpox, the burden on infants of mothers who had not had smallpox, and the toll for pregnant women. This essay reviews old and new hypotheses about why so many in the New World died from smallpox using recent smallpox research and older sources.
Origin of the unique activity of Pt/TiO2 catalysts for the water–gas shift reaction

Abstract Periodic density functional theory calculations and microkinetic modeling are used to illustrate the specific role of the three-phase boundary (TPB) in determining the activity and selectivity of TiO 2 -supported Pt catalysts for the water–gas shift (WGS) reaction. The Pt 8 /TiO 2 (1 1 0) catalyst model identified from a systematic ab initio atomistic thermodynamics study is used to investigate the redox mechanism and associative pathway with redox regeneration of the WGS reaction. Analysis of a microkinetic model determined exclusively from first principles suggests that a CO-promoted redox pathway dominates in the low-temperature range of 473–623 K and the classical redox pathway becomes dominant at temperatures above 673 K. The improved activity of the TPB compared to the Pt(1 1 1) surface can be explained by a reduced CO adsorption strength on Pt sites at the TPB, an increased number of oxygen vacancy at the TPB, and a significantly facilitated water activation and dissociation.
Nonverbal zero-acquaintance accuracy of self-esteem, social dominance orientation, and satisfaction with life

Abstract Two samples of undergraduates judged the personalities of strangers (either six men or six women) after viewing a 30 s, silent video clip of each target. We evaluated the accuracy of five traits, three of which were not previously studied in zero-acquaintance research (self-esteem, social dominance orientation (SDO), and satisfaction with life (SWL); we also tested masculinity and femininity). We compared these five new traits to a baseline of accuracy for extroversion. People reached consensus on self-esteem, SDO, and SWL, though accuracy was higher and more consistent for male targets. Significant self-other agreement was obtained only for SWL, for male targets. We replicated past studies by demonstrating zero-acquaintance accuracy for masculinity but not femininity.