cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Discovery of 3-Formyl-Tyrosine Metabolites from Pseudoalteromonas tunicata through Heterologous Expression

Genome mining and identification of natural product gene clusters typically relies on the presence of canonical nonribosomal polypeptide synthetase (NRPS) or polyketide synthase (PKS) domains. Recently, other condensation enzymes, such as the ATP-grasp ligases, have been recognized as important players in natural product biosynthesis. In this study, sequence based searching for homologues of DdaF, the ATP-grasp amide ligase from dapdiamide biosynthesis, led to the identification of a previously unannotated biosynthetic gene cluster in Pseudoalteromonas tunicata. Heterologous expression of the cluster in Escherichia coli allowed for the production and structure determination of two new 3-formyl tyrosine metabolites.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis in a patient with stage 4 neuroblastoma receiving oral fenretinide.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has previously been reported in association with other malignancies. The pathogenesis of LCH and its relationship to other malignancies is poorly understood. We present a novel case of a child who developed an LCH bone lesion while receiving a Phase I protocol therapy with oral fenretinide/Lym-X-Sorb (4-HPR/LXS) powder for neuroblastoma. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;53:1111–1113. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Intercalation of erlotinib and pemetrexed in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Both the multi-targeted antifolate pemetrexed and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) erlotinib have established roles in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Given different mechanisms of action and minimal overlapping toxicities, combinations of these agents have been considered. However, four previous phase III trials investigating concurrent chemotherapy with or without EGFR TKIs showed no clinical benefit. Based on preclinical data, we developed a model of pharmacodynamic separation to avoid potential negative interactions between chemotherapy and EGFR TKIs in NSCLC tumors containing wild-type EGFR gene. This review summarizes the background, scientific rationale and early clinical data in support of intercalation of intermittent erlotinib dosing with pemetrexed as a means of achieving pharmacodynamic separation. Ongoing research efforts investigating this concept are reviewed.
Surface reactions of copper films in O2/CF4/N2 plasmas

Copper surfaces treated with O2/CF4 and O2/CF4/N2 plasmas have been characterized using x-ray photoelectron and Auger electron spectroscopy. Deeper oxidation and fluorination result for oxygen-rich mixtures than for CF4-rich gas feeds. Film thicknesses increase with time of exposure. Copper oxidation is always deeper than fluorination for O2/CF4 mixtures. It appears that penetration of fluorine is more facile through the copper oxide matrix than through the metallic copper film. With addition of 5% N2, concentration of fluorine is enhanced relative to oxygen. These observations are discussed with respect to gas phase and surface reactions involving oxygen, fluorine and nitrogen.
Pro-inflammatory complement activation by the Aβ peptide of Alzheimer’s disease is biologically significant and can be blocked by vaccinia virus complement control protein

Abstract The amyloid plaque is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The transmembrane domain and a portion of the C-terminus (Aβ) of the amyloid precursor protein, are known to form the nucleus of the amyloid plaque. It has been demonstrated recently, using in vitro assays, that the Aβ peptide can activate both the classical (antibody-independent) and alternate pathways of complement activation. The proposed complement activation is due to the binding of Aβ to the complement components Clq and C3, respectively, which initiate formation of the proinflammatory C5a and C5b-9 membrane attack complex. In this report, we have investigated the in vitro findings for the likely complement-dependent proinflammatory properties of the Alzheimer’s disease Aβ peptide. We have performed experiments using congenic C5-deficient and C5-sufficient mice injected with synthetic Aβ and recombinant polypeptide (C-100) containing Aβ. Injection of C-100 into C5-sufficient mice induced a clear increase in the number of polymorphonuclear cells (neutrophils) at the site of injection due to complement activation and the subsequent release of proinflammatory chemtoactic factors. In sharp contrast, the C5-deficient mice did not show any increase in cellular influx. The vaccinia virus complement control protein, an inhibitor of both the classical and alternate pathway can down-regulate the biologically significant activation of complement by Aβ, as demonstrated by an in vitro immunassay. The therapeutic down-regulation of Aβ-caused complement activation could greatly alleviate the progression of some of the chronic neurodegeneration characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dancing up a spiral staircase: learning how best practices and policies intertwine lifelong moral development with education

My professional and personal lives have always intertwined; as someone who works in moral education and psychology—fields defined by historical and socio-political contexts—the political sphere has also surrounded my career. Being a researcher, interventionist and evaluator has taught me that it is very easy to lose one or more of the necessary, but often too loosely woven, threads of educational practice and policy with human development and culture. Based on my own professional experiences, I discuss two sets of issues that inform my current political stance on school reform. Currently in the USA and elsewhere, school reform efforts focus almost exclusively on learning and short-term goals to the neglect of lifelong developmental goals. Development and learning are not considered equally important educational goals. These issues form the threads of my narrative; the dance up the spiral staircase is my career.
Dynamic regulation of circulating microRNA during acute exhaustive exercise and sustained aerobic exercise training

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are intracellular mediators of essential biological functions. Recently, plasma-based 'circulating' miRNAs (c-miRNAs) have been shown to control cellular processes, but the c-miRNA response to human exercise remains unknown. We sought to determine whether c-miRNAs are dynamically regulated in response to acute exhaustive cycling exercise and sustained rowing exercise training using a longitudinal, repeated measures study design. Specifically, c-miRNAs involved in angiogenesis (miR-20a, miR-210, miR-221, miR-222, miR-328), inflammation (miR-21, miR-146a), skeletal and cardiac muscle contractility (miR-21, miR-133a), and hypoxia/ischaemia adaptation (miR-21, miR-146a, and miR-210) were measured at rest and immediately following acute exhaustive cycling exercise in competitive male rowers (n = 10, age = 19.1 ± 0.6 years) before and after a 90 day period of rowing training. Distinct patterns of c-miRNA response to exercise were observed and adhered to four major profiles: (1) c-miRNA up-regulated by acute exercise before and after sustained training (miR-146a and miR-222), (2) c-miRNA responsive to acute exercise before but not after sustained training (miR-21 and miR-221), (3) c-miRNA responsive only to sustained training (miR-20a), and (4) non-responsive c-miRNA (miR-133a, miR-210, miR-328). Linear correlations were observed between peak exercise levels of miR-146a and VO2max (r = 0.63, P = 0.003) and between changes in resting miR-20a and changes in VO2max (pre-training vs. post-training, r = 0.73; P = 0.02). Although future work is required, these results suggest the potential value of c-miRNAs as exercise biomarkers and their possible roles as physiological mediators of exercise-induced cardiovascular adaptation.
Global measures of coherence for edge detector evaluation

We propose a class of benchmarks for edge detector evaluation that require no ground truth. Each benchmark consists of a large number of images of a carefully designed scene for which we enforce a constraint on the edges, for example, that they are co-linear. We sample the space of edge appearances as densely as possible by capturing the images under widely varying imaging conditions. Not only do we change the viewing geometry and the illumination direction, but we also vary the camera parameters and the physical properties of the objects in the scene. We show that the degrees to which the constraints hold in the output edge-maps can be used as highly discriminating measures of edge detector performance. The code, images, and results which form our benchmarks are all available from the website http://www.cs.columbia.edu/CAVE/. The code and images enable a user to compare any new detector against several previous ones with minimal effort.
The Formal and Informal Social Structure of a South African Gold Mine

The primary purpose of this article is to examine the structures of domination in a South African gold mine from the perspective of black migrant miners. The formal management organizational blueprint for mine and compound is compared with the actual social structure of the mine. The article concludes that the black miner's experience of domination in the South African gold mines is a complex combination of management-ordained authority and personal power on the part of a series of overlapping, sometimes conflicting, sometimes complementary, black fiefdoms; namely those of the Team Leader [boss boy], Personnel Assistant, Induna, and the clerks.
Alignment tolerance of accelerating structures and corrections for future linear colliders

The alignment tolerance of accelerating structures is estimated by tracking simulations. Both single-bunch and multi-bunch effects are taken into account. Correction schemes for controlling the single and multi-bunch emittance growth in the case of large misalignment are also tested by simulations.
Nigrostriatal Lesion and Dopamine Agonists Affect Firing Patterns of Rodent Entopeduncular Nucleus Neurons

Altered activity of the entopeduncular nucleus, the rodent homologue of the globus pallidus internal segment in primates, is thought to mediate behavioral consequences of midbrain dopamine depletio...
Abstract PL01-03: Drug resistance and tumor maintenance in genetically engineered mice

Cancer arises through an evolutionary process whereby normal cells acquire mutations that erode growth controls, leading to the inappropriate expansion of aberrantly proliferating cells. Such mutations can involve activation of oncogenes or inactivation of tumor‐suppressor genes, each contributing one or more new capabilities to the developing cancer cell. However, cancer is not an inevitable consequence of oncogenic mutations; instead, cells acquiring such mutations can be eliminated or kept in check by innate tumor‐suppressor programs that can be activated in these damaged cells. Our laboratory studies tumor‐suppressor networks controlling apoptosis and senescence and how their disruption influences malignant behavior. We previously showed that apoptosis and cellular senescence are potent barriers to oncogene‐driven tumorigenesis and that each contributes to the antitumor action of many chemotherapeutic drugs. Thus, not only do mutations that disrupt apoptosis and senescence promote tumor progression but, depending on the particular lesion, they can also reduce the efficacy of cancer therapy. To facilitate our research, we have recently developed new mouse cancer models based on the genetic manipulation of stem and progenitor cells ex vivo followed by transplantation of the altered cells into the appropriate organ of syngeneic recipient mice. This approach allows us to rapidly study the impact of many genes and gene combinations on tumorigenesis in a “mosaic” setting where tumor‐initiating cells are embedded in normal tissues. Furthermore, we have developed powerful methods for using RNAi to suppress gene function in vivo in either a stable and reversible manner. Current efforts in the laboratory strive to integrate mosaic mouse models, RNA interference, and cancer genomics to identify new components of tumor suppressor gene networks and characterize their impact on tumorigenesis and treatment response. In addition, we are developing new RNAi interference methods to explore the role of tumor suppressor genes in tumor maintenance, and the cell death mechanisms involved in tumor regression. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(12 Suppl):PL01-03.
Patient Selection and Monitoring for Immunotherapies: Challenges for Immune Checkpoint Antibody and Cell Therapies

In the past 10 years, immunotherapies with immune checkpoint antibodies alone or in combination with other treatment modalities have become established as promising anticancer agents across a wide range of malignancies and have even demonstrated clinical effect in solid malignancies that were previously not thought to be susceptible to immune-based strategies. However, because of the high cost of applying these therapies, frequent observation of immune-related adverse events, and deviation from conventional tumor-response criteria, immunotherapies present novel challenges in appropriate patient selection and monitoring for the disease and immunological responses. In the age of personalized or precision medicine, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, and translational researchers have united in the objective to develop criteria that would target a patient population most likely to benefit from these therapies in the face of potential toxicities. In this chapter, I focus on approaches for patient selection and monitoring in immune checkpoint antibody therapy, namely anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen (CTLA-4) antibodies and anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibodies. Briefly, I also discuss these principles in adoptive T cell therapies.
Boss of the road: Early-20th-century consumer selections of work clothing from alabama gates work camp, Owens Valley, California

The beginning of the 20th century saw the establishment of more work-clothing companies fueled by changes in laborers’ clothing options and the expiration of the patent on riveted garments. While consumer strategies for buying merchandise revolved around the typical purchaser, generally the female head of the household, particular situations (such as work camps in the western United States) were overwhelmingly comprised of individual men who not only built water or transportation systems but needed to negotiate their way through outfitting themselves for this work. What kind of shopping choices and brand names were available to this consumer while working in isolated areas? Product availability and cost provide a context for examining the buying strategies and fashion choices of work-camp workers. The 393 brand-name buttons from at least 110 work-clothing garments identified during data recovery at the 1912 Alabama Gates Construction Camp in southeastern California is used as the case study.
Characterizing the vibratory and acoustic signals of the “purring” wolf spider, Gladicosa gulosa (Araneae: Lycosidae)

AbstractBoth airborne acoustic signals and substrate-borne vibrations are prevalent modes of animal communication, particularly in arthropods. While a wide variety of animals utilize one or both of these modalities, the connection between them is still ambiguous in many species. Spiders as a group are not known for using, or even perceiving, acoustic signals, despite being well-adapted for vibratory communication. Males of the “purring” wolf spider Gladicosa gulosa are reported to produce audible signals during courtship, although the literature on this species is largely anecdotal. Using a laser Doppler vibrometer and an omnidirectional microphone in controlled conditions, we recorded and characterized the visual and mechanical (both substrate-borne and airborne) signals of this species in an attempt to provide a qualitative and quantitative overview of its signal properties. We found that the vibratory signal is composed of two primary repeating and alternating elements, consisting of pulses of stridula...
Implications of Spatial Distribution of Insect Populations in Storage Ecosystems

Integrated management of storage pests requires understanding storage ecosystems and accurately monitoring pest population levels. Geostatistical techniques for spatial analysis provide a powerful tool to assist in biological interpretation of sample counts and trip captures of insects, as well its interpretations of physical measurements such as grain temperature and moisture content. Contour analysis is 3-step process. Data are first posted to a map of sample points; then a denser grid of data points is generated by interpolation (using one of several algorithms) and contours (lines joining points with equal values) are drawn at some fixed interval. This provides a contour display, showing the value of the variable at all points on the surface represented by the sample points. The utility of this method in stored-product protection is illustrated by a series of studies based on data sets for stored corn. These include comparison of spatial distribution of species and species interactions; analysis of temporal changes in distribution, precision targeting, and evaluation of control measures; interpretation of trap cattch; examination of physical variables and interactions of insects with the physical environment; and analysis of goodness of fit of contour surfaces to the data. The utility of techniques such as grid subtraction and construction of probability contours is demonstrated.
Laboratory evaluation of the insect growth regulator CME-13406 on Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Consumption of leaflets dipped in aqueous solutions containing the chitin synthesis inhibitor 1-(3,5-dichloro-2, 4-difluorophenyl)-3-(2,6-difluorobenzoyl)-urea (CME-13406) caused 94% cumulative mortality after 5 d to Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) third instars at half field rate (7 mg active ingredient [AI]/liter). Larvae given all but the weakest dosage of CME-13406 (0.44 mg [AI]/liter) consumed less foliage than untreated larvae. Amounts of foliage consumed by adults or total number of eggs laid per female did not differ among treatments. Egg viability was reduced in newly emerged adults for 7 dafter they consumed leaflets treated with 14.0 mg (AI)/liter (field rate) for 48 h. An average of 65% of eggs of untreated females hatched. Average percentage hatch of eggs of females treated with 140, 70, 14, and 7 mg (AI)/liter was 10, 8, 31, and 36%, respectively. All but the lowest dosage caused reduced hatch. Mean number of progeny per female for untreated females and those with 140, 70,14, and 7 mg (AI)/liter was 136.4, 15.9, 14.1, 46.0, and 60.3, respectively. All treated females produced fewer progeny than untreated females. The compound had no apparent effect on host plant acceptance by adult beetles.
Investigation of miniaturized radioisotope thermionic power generation for general use

Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) running off the radioisotope Pu238 are the current standard in deep space probe power supplies. While reliable, these generators are very inefficient, operating at only approx.7% efficiency. As an alternative, more efficient radioisotope thermionic emission generators (RTIGs) are being explored. Like RTGs, current RTIGs concepts use exotic materials for the emitter, limiting applicability to space and other niche applications. The high demand for long-lasting mobile power sources would be satisfied if RTIGs could be produced inexpensively. This work focuses on exposing several common materials, such as Al, stainless steel, W, Si, and Cu, to elevated temperatures under vacuum to determine the efficiency of each material as inexpensive replacements for thermoelectric materials.
Cacidases: caspases can cleave after aspartate, glutamate and phosphoserine residues

Caspases are a family of proteases found in all metazoans, including a dozen in humans, that drive the terminal stages of apoptosis as well as other cellular remodeling and inflammatory events. Caspases are named because they are cysteine class enzymes shown to cleave after aspartate residues. In the past decade, we and others have developed unbiased proteomic methods that collectively identified ~2000 native proteins cleaved during apoptosis after the signature aspartate residues. Here, we explore non-aspartate cleavage events and identify 100s of substrates cleaved after glutamate in both human and murine apoptotic samples. The extended consensus sequence patterns are virtually identical for the aspartate and glutamate cleavage sites suggesting they are cleaved by the same caspases. Detailed kinetic analyses of the dominant apoptotic executioner caspases-3 and -7 show that synthetic substrates containing DEVD↓ are cleaved only twofold faster than DEVE↓, which is well within the 500-fold range of rates that natural proteins are cut. X-ray crystallography studies confirm that the two acidic substrates bind in virtually the same way to either caspases-3 or -7 with minimal adjustments to accommodate the larger glutamate. Lastly, during apoptosis we found 121 proteins cleaved after serine residues that have been previously annotated to be phosphorylation sites. We found that caspase-3, but not caspase-7, can cleave peptides containing DEVpS↓ at only threefold slower rate than DEVD↓, but does not cleave the unphosphorylated serine peptide. There are only a handful of previously reported examples of proteins cleaved after glutamate and none after phosphorserine. Our studies reveal a much greater promiscuity for cleaving after acidic residues and the name 'cacidase' could aptly reflect this broader specificity.
Origin, Methods, and Evolution of the Three Nurses’ Health Studies

We have summarized the evolution of the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), a prospective cohort study of 121 700 married registered nurses launched in 1976; NHS II, which began in 1989 and enrolled 116 430 nurses; and NHS3, which began in 2010 and has ongoing enrollment.Over 40 years, these studies have generated long-term, multidimensional data, including lifestyle- and health-related information across the life course and an extensive repository of various biological specimens. We have described the questionnaire data collection, disease follow-up methods, biorepository resources, and data management and statistical procedures.Through integrative analyses, these studies have sustained a high level of scientific productivity and substantially influenced public health recommendations. We have highlighted recent interdisciplinary research projects and discussed future directions for collaboration and innovation.
Titanium Sport And Medical Application Focus

(2002). Titanium Sport And Medical Application Focus. Materials Technology: Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 4-7.
A 1.40mm 2 141mW 898GOPS sparse neuromorphic processor in 40nm CMOS

Sparsity is a brain-inspired property that enables a significant reduction in workload and power dissipation of deep learning. This work presents a 1.40mm2 40nm CMOS sparse neuromorphic processor that implements a two-layer convolutional restricted Boltzmann machine (CRBM) for inference and a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The processor incorporates sparse convolvers to realize sparsity-proportional workload reduction. The architecture is parallelized along a non-sparse dimension to minimize stalling. At 0.9V and 240MHz, the processor achieves an effective 898.2GOPS performance, dissipating 140.9mW. Using sparsity, we reduce the workload, datapath power consumption and area by 3.4×, 3.3× and 1.74×, respectively. The design uses latch-based memory to reduce area and dynamic clock gating to save power.
Online Kernel estimation of stationary stochastic diffusion models

Nonparametric regression has recently become important in quantitative finance due to its distribution-free property. However, this advantage does not come without any cost. As large sample sizes are always required to adequately estimate local structures, nonparametric regression is computationally intensive in real applications. This paper proposes an online method to decrease the computational cost of nonparametric regression for estimating stationary stochastic diffusion models. We establish asymptotic behaviours of the proposed estimators under appropriate conditions. Numerical examples and an empirical study of US 3-month treasury bill rates are illustrated. The application to financial risk management is also taken into consideration.
Using canine osteosarcoma as a model to assess efficacy of novel therapies: can old dogs teach us new tricks?

Since its domestication more than 10,000 years ago, the dog has been the animal that most intimately shares our work and homelife. Interestingly, the dog also shares many of our diseases including cancer such as osteosarcoma. Like the human, osteosarcoma is the most common bone malignancy of the dog and death from pulmonary metastasis is the most common outcome. The incidence of this spontaneous bone neoplasm occurs ten times more frequently that it does so in children with about 8,000–10,000 cases estimated to occur in dogs in the USA. Because there is no “standard of care” in veterinary medicine, the dog can also serve us by being a model for this disease in children. Although the most common therapy for the dog with osteosarcoma is amputation followed by chemotherapy, not all owners choose this route. Consequently, novel therapeutic interventions can be attempted in the dog with or without chemotherapy that could not be done in humans with osteosarcoma due to ethical concerns. This chapter will focus on the novel therapies in the dog that have been reported or are in veterinary clinical trials at the author’s institution. It is hoped that collaboration between veterinary oncologists and pediatric oncologists will lead to the development of novel therapies for (micro- or macro-) metastatic osteosarcoma that improve survival and might ultimately lead to a cure in both species.
Disruption of Her-2 at subdomains I and III interaction promotes an overactivation of erbB receptor family and resistance to chemotherapeutical drugs.

B51 Breast cancer growth is regulated by coordinated actions of the estrogen receptor (ER) and various growth factor receptor signaling pathways. ER, in response to E2, can interact with growth factor tyrosine kinase receptors such us HER2 and IGFR and activate their cascades. Therapies to target HER2 or ER have been developed and are currently being used successfully in many cases. However, a large population of breast cancer patients that are HER2 and ER positives are refractory to trastuzumab (used to target HER2) or to the antiestrogen tamoxifen (used to target ER positive tumors). Once the ER is blocked, cells take advantage of the Her-2 pathway and vice versa. The mechanism of how ER positive tumors that overexpress Her-2 become more aggressive and resistant to treatment is not very well understood. In this study we investigated if an extracellular domain (ECD) site in HER2 receptor, which is involved in the dimerization of the receptor, plays a role in tumor progression, resistance to antiestrogens and Her-2 therapy. We developed a deletion mutant of the sub-domain III of Her-2 ECD (Her-2 mutant). That domain contributes to most of the determinants involved in ligand binding and signal transduction. Stable BT474 cell lines overexpressing the empty vector (pLXSN) and Her-2 mutant were generated using retroviral vector. In these cell lines, first we investigated if Her-2 mutant promotes anchorage-independent growth advantage in response to E2. Her-2 mutant cells formed more colonies of a larger size than control cells, in the presence and in the absence of E2, indicating that cells that overexpress Her-2-mutant are estrogen independent and acquired a higher E2 sensitivity. However, Her-2 mutant showed to be antiestrogen sensitive as did the control cells. We did not observe differences in ERE-luciferase promoter activity between Her-2 mutant and control cells, suggesting that the growth advantage of Her-2 mutant depends on non-genomic ER activity. In addition, Her-2 mutant was resistant to Trastuzumab in anchorage-independent growth. By western blot analysis we observed that Trastuzumab treatment for 24 h causes downregulation on Her-2 levels only in the control cells. Moreover, we found that the Her-2 mutant has higher basic levels of activation of EGFR, Her-2 and Her-3, and other tyrosine kinase receptors and Akt. These results suggest that the deletion of the ECD site in the Her-2 receptor promotes elevated activation of erbB receptors, most probably by stabilization of Her-2 heterodimers with EGFR and Her-3. All together, these results suggest that there is a crosstalk between ER and erbB-family receptor that provides cell growth advantage, resistance to Her-2 therapy and estrogen independence.
The Arrangement of the Platonic Corpus in the Newly Published Compendiosa Expositio Attributed to Apuleius of Madaura

The Middle Platonist Compendiosa Expositio gives dialogue-by-dialogue summaries of doctrines allegedly expounded in Plato’s works. According to Justin Stover, the principle of division used by the work for arranging Plato’s dialogues is the dominant philosophical influence in each case. I argue that there is no principle of division, and that the dialogues are arranged, not on the basis of influence, but according to their main speaker. One thing this allows, I suggest, is for the author of the CE to assert the dependence of the Stoics on Plato.
A DC Link Sensor-Less Voltage Balancing Technique for Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Converters With Asymmetric Selective Harmonic Current Mitigation-PWM

A grid-tied cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter with low frequency modulation techniques needs to meet power quality standards. At the same time, the effects of grid voltage harmonics on CHB converter's current harmonics must be considered in the modulation techniques. Furthermore, the dc link voltages of grid-tied converters need to be regulated. In this paper, an asymmetric selective harmonic current mitigation-pulse width modulation (PWM) (ASHCM-PWM) technique is used to meet the current harmonic limits of a power quality standard with the effects of grid voltage harmonics considered in the equation set of its optimization process. A voltage balancing technique based on the average power of each cell is derived to regulate the dc link voltages of the CHB converters without using dc voltage sensors. By using the proposed voltage balancing technique, the CHB converters do not need complicated dc link voltage controllers. As a result, the cost and complexity of the grid-tied converters can be significantly reduced. Simulations and experiments were conducted on a 7-level grid-tied CHB converter to validate the proposed voltage balancing technique with ASHCM-PWM modulation technique.
Isolated unilateral adrenal gland hemorrhage following motor vehicle collision: a case report and review of the literature

Adrenal gland trauma is a rare condition that typically stems from blunt force trauma, and is associated with multiple organ injuries. Alternatively, isolated adrenal gland trauma is extremely rare, accounting for only 1.5 to 4% of all adrenal trauma cases. While isolated adrenal trauma is a mostly self-limiting condition, it is potentially life-threatening, representing a significant cause of bleeding, and/or hypotension due to adrenal insufficiency and adrenal crisis. Due to its rare occurrence, there are no reported guidelines for monitoring and observing isolated adrenal trauma. Here we report on an isolated adrenal hemorrhage from a blunt trauma without associated injuries. A 53-year-old white man presented with abdominal pain after a high-speed motor vehicle accident. An initial evaluation revealed minimal abdominal pain and negative focused assessment with sonography for trauma examination; computed tomography imaging revealed a significant fluid collection consistent with adrenal hemorrhage. He was observed in our intensive care unit for 24 hours, and had stable hemoglobin and vital signs, after which he was discharged. At 1-month follow-up, he reported persistent intermittent abdominal pain, which was completely resolved by the 4-month follow-up. This case report demonstrates isolated adrenal gland injury resulting from significant blunt trauma to the abdomen. There are no current guidelines for monitoring isolated adrenal hemorrhage. Recognizing possible adrenal injury in blunt trauma cases is important due to potentially severe adrenal hemorrhage; therefore, we recommend follow-up with serial abdominal computed tomography until the resolution of hemorrhage and symptoms.
Red Lights and Handcuffs: The Effect of Arrests on the Fear of Crime*

Objectives Despite decreasing rates of violent victimization, the fear of neighborhood crime continues to rise and is often exaggerated. This project explores the role of arrests on the fear of crime and perceived neighborhood safety. The visual nature of arrests—flashing red lights, blaring sirens, and apprehension of a suspect—provides residents with an observable proxy for crime, elevating their fear. Alternately, arrests can serve as a signal of police effectiveness and the decreasing threat of victimization. Methods I use multilevel modeling to investigate the unique relationship between two forms of neighborhood concern and arrests. Results Results show that the number of arrests increases the fear of violent crime. Perceived neighborhood safety is influenced more by crime rates than arrests. Conclusions These results have implications for the role of police in managing the fear of crime among community residents, especially surrounding violent crime.
'Just three Skittles in a bowl will kill you. Would you take a handful?' Evidence, public policy and Islamist-inspired violent extremism

Saggar’s article is concerned with the use of evidence by the UK policy community to tackle Islamist-inspired terrorism. It focuses on how evidence for such terrorism is generated, interpreted and ...
Effect of Inhalation Flow Rate on Mass-Based Plume Geometry of Commercially Available Suspension pMDIs

Although high-speed laser imaging is the current standard to characterize the plume angle of suspension-based pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs), this method is limited by the inability to identify the drug content in a droplet and simulate inhalation flow. The Plume Induction Port Evaluator (PIPE) is a modified induction port for cascade impactors that allows for the calculation of the angle of a plume based on direct drug mass quantification rather than indirect droplet illumination under airflow conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate the use of the PIPE apparatus to evaluate the effect of airflow on the Mass Median Plume Angle (MMPA) of commercially available suspension-based pMDIs (Ventolin® HFA, ProAir® HFA, and Proventil® HFA). Deposition patterns within PIPE were log-normally distributed allowing for the calculation of the MMPA for the three suspension products. Mass-based plume angles were significantly smaller (narrower angle) when inhalation airflow was used compared to no flow conditions (reduction of MMPA was 8, 16, and 13% for Ventolin® HFA, ProAir® HFA, and Proventil® HFA, respectively). Additionally, new parameters for characterizing plume geometry were calculated (MMPA ex-actuator and plume orientation). Mass-based plume angles of the suspension-based pMDI formulations were highly reproducible and demonstrated the effect of inhalation flow rate. These results suggest that plume geometry tests should be evaluated under flow conditions which is not possible using current methodologies. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.
A Linear Filter for Discrete Systems with Correlated Measurement Noise

This paper introduces an optimal linear filter for discrete systems with correlated measurement noise by generalized least square method which is novel in its structure, its derivation and its simplicity. The equations reduce to the standard Kaiman filter equations when the measurement noise is independent. The new filter avoids the increased order and other complexities of previously proposed methods particularly those based on augmented state and differencing approaches.
Definitive locoregional therapy (LRT) versus bridging LRT and liver transplantation with wait-and-not-treat approach for very early stage hepatocellular carcinoma

PURPOSE Since the change in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policy excluding patients with very early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (veHCC, single tumor nodule <2 cm) from receiving Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) exception points, patients eligible to receive liver transplantation (LT) who fall in this category are commonly treated with locoregional therapy (LRT) after progression to UNOS T2 stage (1 nodule of 2-5 cm or up to 3 nodules, none above 3 cm). The aim of the current study is to compare the outcomes of patients treated with bridging LRT and LT with wait-and-not-treat approach with patients treated with definitive LRT. METHODS A retrospective study has been performed on patients with veHCC evaluated in multidisciplinary liver tumor clinic of a large academic center between 2004-2011. Patients eligible for LT were assigned to the wait-and-not-treat group while patients who were not eligible were assigned to the definitive LRT group. Tumor size, time to treatment, severity of liver disease, recurrence and survival from time of detection were reviewed and recorded. RESULTS A total of 19 patients were identified and treated with definitive LRT while 57 patients were treated with bridging LRT prior to LT after disease progression to T2 stage. Patients in the definitive LRT group were older (70.4±10.2 years vs. 58.7±5.9 years, P < 0.001) and had more comorbid conditions compared with the wait-and-not-treat group. Mean survival for definitive LRT group at the end of 5 years was 34.3±6.0 months with a median of 30.3 months (95% CI, 5.7-55.0 months) compared with 48.7±2.6 months for the wait-and-not-treat group, respectively (median not reached). The 3- and 5-year survival rates were 53.3% and 33.3% for the definitive LRT group compared with 78.9% and 68.4% for the patients in the wait-and-not-treat group. Survival rate at the end of 5 years was significantly better for the wait-and-not-treat group (P = 0.013). CONCLUSION Based on the findings of current retrospective study, treating veHCC (UNOS T1 stage) patients listed for LT with bridging LRT after disease progression to T2 stage appears to be safe and effective with high 5-year survival rates.
Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) modifies microenvironment to promote nonnative plant communities.

Scotch broom [Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link] is a globally important nitrogen (N)-fixing invasive plant species that has potential to alter soil water dynamics, soil chemistry, and plant communities. We evaluated the effects of Scotch broom on soil moisture, soil chemistry, soil temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and vegetation communities over 4 years at a site recently harvested for timber. Treatments of Scotch broom (either present via planting or absent) and background vegetation (either present or absent via herbicide treatments) were applied to 4 m2 plots. Background vegetation was associated with the greatest decrease of soil water content (SWC) among treatments. During the driest year, Scotch broom showed some evidence of increased early-and late-season soil water usage, and, briefly, a high usage relative to background vegetation plots. On a percent cover basis, Scotch broom had a substantially greater negative influence on SWC than did background vegetation. Surprisingly, Scotch broom was not consistently associated with increases in total soil N, but there was evidence of increasing soil water N when Scotch broom was present. Scotch broom-only plots had greater concentrations of soil water magnesium (Mg2+) and calcium (Ca2+) than other treatments. On a percent cover basis, Scotch broom had a uniquely high demand for potassium (K+) relative to the background vegetation. Average soil temperature was slightly greater, and soil surface PAR lower, with Scotch broom present. Scotch broom-absent plots increased in species diversity and richness over time, while Scotch broom-present plots remained unchanged. Scotch broom presence was associated with an increase in cover of nonnative sweet vernalgrass (Anthoxanthum odoratum L.). Scotch broom generated positive feedbacks with resource conditions that favored its dominance and the establishment of nonnative grass.
Basal Plate Myometrial Fibres

The presence of myometrial fibres adherent to the delivered placenta has been recognized as an important histologic finding within the spectrum of placenta accreta/morbidly adherent placenta. Basal plate myometrial fibres (BPMF) are easily and not uncommonly recognized with careful examination of the basal plate, and although more research is needed to determine its significance, cohort studies have shown an increased risk for development of placenta accreta in a subsequent pregnancy.
Minimum Spectral Bandwidth in Echo Seeded Free Electron Lasers

This paper examines the impact of non-linear longitudinal phase distortions on the spectral bandwidth in echo seeded free electron lasers (FELs). It extends the existing theory developed in Ref.~\cite{HemsingBunchingPhase} for echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) to include finite laser pulse durations. An analytic expression for the shape of the optimized longitudinal bunching envelope is derived, and is used to determine the laser and electron beam pulse durations that minimize the seeded bandwidth in the presence of arbitrary phase distortions. The time-bandwidth product (TBP) is also derived, and is shown that the TBP and the bandwidth increase by no more than $\sqrt{2}$ from their transform-limited values when the bandwidth is minimized.
The entropic bond in colloidal crystals

A vast array of natural phenomena can be understood through the long-established schema of chemical bonding. Conventional chemical bonds arise through local gradients resulting from the rearrangement of electrons; however, it is possible that the hallmark features of chemical bonding could arise through local gradients resulting from nonelectronic forms of mediation. If other forms of mediation give rise to “bonds” that act like conventional ones, recognizing them as bonds could open new forms of supramolecular descriptions of phenomena at the nano- and microscales. Here, we show via a minimal model that crowded hard-particle systems governed solely by entropy exhibit the hallmark features of bonding despite the absence of chemical interactions. We quantitatively characterize these features and compare them to those exhibited by chemical bonds to argue for the existence of entropic bonds. As an example of the utility of the entropic bond classification, we demonstrate the nearly equivalent tradeoff between chemical bonds and entropic bonds in the colloidal crystallization of hard hexagonal nanoplates.
Imaging of Intracranial Infections.

Central nervous system (CNS) infections are a major source of morbidity and mortality despite the remarkable progress in prevention and treatment of infectious disease. Because of the difficulty of direct tissue sampling, imaging plays a crucial role in detecting, diagnosing, and monitoring the therapeutic response of CNS infections. An accurate diagnosis in CNS infections is especially rewarding, given the availability of potential effective antimicrobials. Bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections may affect the brain and/or its meningeal coverings, and can be characterized by a variety of radiological patterns that help narrow the differential diagnoses and eventually tailor the optimal management. This review addresses the typical imaging findings of intracranial infectious diseases in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients.
Project DDD. Dialogues on drug dependence.

Eighty-eight South Vietnamese children with bubonic, bubonic-septicemic and septicemic forms of plague are reviewed. This disease is fulminating in children. Of the various forms of treatment available, tetracycline and chloramphenicol appear to produce a more rapid lysis of toxic symptoms than does streptomycin, and may well avert death by endotoxin shock which streptomycin seems to induce.
Breaking with the Past

The editor-in-chief explains the discontinuation of the print edition of Optical Engineering.
Estimation of surface heat fluxes via variational assimilation of land surface temperature, air temperature and specific humidity into a coupled land surface-atmospheric boundary layer model

Abstract Numerous studies have estimated surface heat fluxes by assimilating land surface temperature (LST) observations (as the state variable of land surface). A number of other studies have focused on the estimation of surface energy balance components by assimilating air temperature and specific humidity (as the state variables of atmosphere) into an atmospheric boundary layer model. This study advances these existing data assimilation approaches by the synergistic assimilation of LST, air temperature, and specific humidity into a coupled land surface-atmospheric boundary layer model. The unknown parameters are the neutral bulk heat transfer coefficient (CHN) and evaporative fraction (EF). CHN scales the sum of turbulent heat fluxes, and EF represents their partitioning. The developed approach is tested at the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project Field Experiment (FIFE) site in the summer of 1987 and 1988. The results indicate that the new approach performs well in both wet and dry periods because it uses the implicit information in both the land surface and atmospheric state variables (i.e., LST, air temperature, and specific humidity). The root-mean-square-errors (RMSEs) of estimated daily sensible and latent heat fluxes are 21.80 Wm−2 (22.10 Wm−2) and 39.32 Wm−2 (36.89 Wm−2) for FIFE 87 (88). The corresponding mean-absolute-percentage-errors (MAPEs) are 22.16% (18.64%) and 13.98% (13.44%) for FIFE 87 (88). The new variational data assimilation (VDA) system outperforms the previous studies that assimilated either LST or air temperature/specific humidity. For FIFE 87, this study decreases the RMSEs of daily sensible and latent heat fluxes estimates by 12.5% and 24.4% compared to assimilating only LST, and by 15.2% and 26.7% compared to assimilating only air temperature and specific humidity. A similar improvement is obtained for FIFE 88. The atmospheric boundary layer height, potential temperature, and specific humidity estimates from the VDA approach are also in good agreement with the corresponding radiosonde observations, and can capture their variations during the course of the day.