cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intraoperative Cardiopulmonary Arrest in Children Undergoing Spinal Deformity Correction: Causes and Associated Factors.

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective review. OBJECTIVE To report the incidence of and risk factors for intraoperative cardiopulmonary arrest (ICA) in children undergoing spinal deformity surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Spinal deformities in children are associated with comorbidities that can pose substantial risks during surgery. METHODS We reviewed records of patients who underwent surgery at two pediatric tertiary-care hospitals from 2004 through 2014. Fisher exact test and the Student t test were used to compare ICA and non-ICA groups by patient diagnosis, estimated blood loss, number of vertebral levels fused, and proportion of blood volume lost (significance, P < 0.05). We classified proximate causes of ICA based on hemoglobin, metabolic panel/electrolyte imbalance, electrocardiogram/echocardiography, and vital signs. RESULTS ICA occurred in 11 of 2524 (0.4%) patients. Patients with neuromuscular disorders had a 3-fold higher risk of ICA compared with those without neuromuscular disorders. At the time of ICA, hemoglobin levels were 5 g/dL or less in four patients, potassium was higher than 5.5 mEq/L in six patients, and ionized calcium was less than or equal to 1 mmol/L in two patients. There were significant differences between the ICA and non-ICA groups in mean number of vertebral levels fused (15 vs. 12), patient weight (34 vs. 49 kg), estimated blood loss (2623 vs. 959 mL), and proportion of blood volume lost (1.03 vs. 0.33) (all P < 0.01). Suspected causes of ICA were cardiovascular causes (eight patients) and anaphylaxis, primary rhythm disturbance, and respiratory/airway cause (one patient each). The incidence of ICA for patients with idiopathic scoliosis was 0.13%. Ten of the 11 patients were successfully resuscitated, and one patient died. CONCLUSION ICA occurs in approximately 0.4% of children undergoing spinal fusion surgery. Patients with neuromuscular disorders are at greater risk of ICA than those without these disorders. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3.
Chinese Budhi ST Brconzes in the Freer Gallery of Art: Physical Features and Elemental Composition

Technical studies were performed on one hundred and seven Chinese copper-alloy sculptures dating from the fifth to the nineteenth centuries A. D. in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. X-radiography, stereomicroscopy and metallography were used to determine various physical features; atomic absorption spectroscopy was used to characterize the metal composition. All sculptures were determined to be cast by the lost wax method, and details were tooled by engraving and chasing. Metallographic examination and microprobe analysis showed that the gilding technique used was mercury gilding. Bronzes from the Northern Wei to the Song dynasty are similar in their physical characteristics and alloy type, leaded tin bronze. Beginning in the Ming dynasty, an increase in the amount of zinc is found, both as an impurity in tin bronzes and as a brass alloy constituent.
Skullduggery, Secrets, and Murders: The 1894 Wells Fargo Scam That Backfired. By Bill Neal.

Skullduggery, Secrets, and Murders: The 1894 Wells Fargo Scam That Backfired . American Liberty and Justice Series. By Bill Neal. Foreword by Gordon Morris Bakken. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2015. xviii + 219 pp. Illustrations, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. $34.95.) Bill Neal, a retired criminal lawyer, writes wittily, concludes incisively, and infuses a sense of fair play. Two previous works illustrate his mastery of his subjects: Getting Away with Murder on the Texas Frontier (2006) and From Guns to Gavels (2008). Neal’s work is an exciting mystery set in the Texas Panhandle. On 23 November 1894, four “long riders”—that is, men prepared to ride long distances—trotted into the Santa Fe Railroad depot town of Canadian, Texas. Three were known outlaws. The fourth? … chandlersbasset{at}yahoo.com
Respiratory factors in disturbance of acid-base balance.

"In contrast to acidosis, there is no adequate evidence for the establishment of the hypothetical condition of alkalosis either in the sense of an increase in the hydroxyl ion concentration of blood or an increase in the reserve of fixed bases." When Sellards made this statement 35 years ago, acidosis (metabolic) was the only condition of electrolyte imbalance known to the physician. Since then our knowledge has been extended to include both metabolic acidosis and metabolic alkalosis. Not as well known, however, are conditions of "respiratory" acidosis and "respiratory" alkalosis. In this paper we shall review the physiology of the respiratory factors influencing acid-base balance and discuss some conditions of acid-base imbalance due to alterations of these factors.
Design and Implementation of the Electromagnetic/Noise Environment Database Management System Based on ASP.NET

This paper develops a database management system for electromagnetic environment of transmission project,which uses ASP.NET as the development platform and ADO.NET as the database access technology.It has the functions of input,query,display of electromagnetic/noise test data as well as the theoretical calculation and analysis of power frequency electromagnetic field of high voltage transmission line.The practical use results in electricity sector show that the system enhanced the substation staff management level for electromagnetic environment test data information,as well as the electric planning and construction department evaluation level of electromagnetic environment of transmission and substation facilities.
Chlorpromazine metabolism. 3. Determination of conjugated metabolites in the blood of schizophrenic patients.

Abstract Optimum conditions for the hydrolyses of the conjugated metabolites of chlorpromazine have been developed. Enzymatic procedure under such conditions yields 80 per cent hydrolysis in 1 hour. The rates of hydrolyses of individual metabolite conjugates have been determined. The time required for maximum hydrolysis of all the known conjugates varies between 1 and 4 hours.
Ileal Conduits in Children at the Massachusetts General Hospital From 1955 to 1970

AbstractThe 45 ileal conduits performed on children at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1955 to 1963 are reviewed and compared to the 45 ileal conduits performed from 1964 to 1970. Late complications involving the conduits occurred in 60 per cent of the early group and in 51 per cent of the late group. Of the renal units judged normal pyelographically preoperatively in the early group 77 per cent went on to at least some deterioration, while 62 per cent of the late group judged normal later deteriorated. Combining all renal units, 34 per cent remained unchanged, 26 per cent improved and 41 per cent showed some degree of deterioration after ileal conduit urinary diversion. The late complication and renal deterioration rates seem to increase progressively with time.There was no apparent urinary obstruction in 13 per cent of the renal units that deteriorated. Theoretical and experimental considerations indicate the reflux of infected urine as the etiology of the renal deterioration. Because of the lat...
Simple Evolutionary Optimization Can Rival Stochastic Gradient Descent in Neural Networks

While evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have long offered an alternative approach to optimization, in recent years backpropagation through stochastic gradient descent (SGD) has come to dominate the fields of neural network optimization and deep learning. One hypothesis for the absence of EAs in deep learning is that modern neural networks have become so high dimensional that evolution with its inexact gradient cannot match the exact gradient calculations of backpropagation. Furthermore, the evaluation of a single individual in evolution on the big data sets now prevalent in deep learning would present a prohibitive obstacle towards efficient optimization. This paper challenges these views, suggesting that EAs can be made to run significantly faster than previously thought by evaluating individuals only on a small number of training examples per generation. Surprisingly, using this approach with only a simple EA (called the limited evaluation EA or LEEA) is competitive with the performance of the state-of-the-art SGD variant RMSProp on several benchmarks with neural networks with over 1,000 weights. More investigation is warranted, but these initial results suggest the possibility that EAs could be the first viable training alternative for deep learning outside of SGD, thereby opening up deep learning to all the tools of evolutionary computation.
Alexander Pope and Eighteenth Century Conflicts About Ultimacy

L'A. replace le poete anglais Alexander Pope dans son contexte litteraire et historique comme prelude a l'analyse de la piece maitresse de son oeuvre, An Essay on Man. L'A. presente Pope comme un ethicien defendant la notion d'un ordre naturel et surnaturel de l'univers contre une forme de scepticisme ayant cours au XVIII e siecle sous la forme du deisme et de l'empirisme. Tout au long de son oeuvre, Pope se veut un humaniste chretien voulant renforcer le pouvoir de l'imgination, de la raison, de la culture et de la foi comme des methodes complementaires visant a deduire l'ordre de l'univers d'un createur sage et misericordieux
Referring to Oneself

In her influential paper, The First Person/1 Elizabeth Anscombe brings together a number of considerations which, she believes, lead to the startling conclusion that the first person pronoun is not a referring expression that T is never used to refer. This is startling, because if we consider even superficially the logical properties of first person statements, nothing could, prima facie, seem more obvious than that in any such statement, the first person pronoun functions logically as a singular referring expression. Moreover, Anscombe herself offers the following informal gloss on the truth conditions of first person assertions: If X asserts something with T as subject, his assertion will be true if and only if what he asserts is true of X.'2 If this is how we are to under-
Circulating Loop Experiments on Solitons with Periodic Dispersion Management

We characterize the performance of long-haul 10 Gbit/s optical communication systems using stationary optical band-pass filters and periodic dispersion management. We have found for low values of path-averaged dispersion in a strong dispersion-managed system the pulse energy and dynamics are practically independent of path-averaged dispersion.
Thermal and magnetic properties of nanostructured densified ferrimagnetic composites with graphene - graphite fillers

Abstract We report the results of an experimental study of thermal and magnetic properties of nanostructured ferrimagnetic iron oxide composites with graphene and graphite fillers synthesized via the current activated pressure assisted densification. The thermal conductivity was measured using the laser-flash and transient plane source techniques. It was demonstrated that addition of 5 wt.% of equal mixture of graphene and graphite flakes to the composite results in a factor of × 2.6 enhancement of the thermal conductivity without significant degradation of the saturation magnetization. The microscopy and spectroscopic characterization reveal that sp2 carbon fillers preserve their crystal structure and morphology during the composite processing. The strong increase in the thermal conductivity was attributed to the excellent phonon heat conduction properties of graphene and graphite. The results are important for energy and electronic applications of the nanostructured permanent magnets.
18-Electron Resonance Structures in the BCC Transition Metals and Their CsCl-type Derivatives.

Bonding in elemental metals and simple alloys has long been thought of as involving intense delocalization, with little connection to the localized bonds of covalent systems. In this Article, we show that the bonding in body-centered cubic (bcc) structures of the group 6 transition metals can in fact be represented, via the concepts of the 18-n rule and isolobal bonding, in terms of two balanced resonance structures. We begin with a reversed approximation Molecular Orbital (raMO) analysis of elemental Mo in its bcc structure. The raMO analysis indicates that, despite the low electron count (six valence electrons per Mo atom), nine electron pairs can be associated with any given Mo atom, corresponding to a filled 18-electron configuration. Six of these electron pairs take part in isolobal bonds along the second-nearest neighbor contacts, with the remaining three (based on the t2g d orbitals) interacting almost exclusively with first-nearest neighbors. In this way, each primitive cubic network defined by th...
Harnessing the Neo-liberal Beast

The term “market” has negative connotations in the humanities: it describes the bitter competition for resources such as staffing and classrooms, and the emergence of the “student-as-consumer” who expects to have a say in curricular decisions. The mutual hostility of art and commerce already was a tenet of Romanticism, and grew during the Modernist era. While the danger of the corruption of art by commerce is real, the claim that literature resides inside a timeless space, unsullied by financial interests, has become a barrier to its appreciation by more than a small caste. It is time to reconsider the relationship between literature and the market through a more nuanced understanding of the metaphor of the literature student as a “consumer”, as well as a “producer” of culture.
Hydroxyapatite cement resurfacing the dehiscent jugular bulb: Novel treatment for pulsatile tinnitus

Objectives/Hypothesis The objectives were to discuss the presentation and symptomatology of patients with jugular bulb abnormalities, summarize the literature describing jugular bulb abnormalities, compare methods of treating symptomatic dehiscent jugular bulb, describe a novel surgical technique and pitfalls to repair dehiscent bulbs with hydroxyapatite cement, and present a case series to demonstrate outcomes with this technique Study Design Case series presentation, PubMed literature review, and description of operative technique. Methods A series of patients presenting with pulsatile tinnitus due to dehiscent jugular bulbs who underwent operative repair with hydroxyapatite cement resurfacing is described. Literature review was conducted via a PubMed database search. Abstracts and references were reviewed to identify relevant sources. Surgical technique of repair and outcomes are reported. Results Three patients who presented with unilateral, bothersome, pulsatile tinnitus with history and imaging consistent with a diagnosis of high riding, dehiscent jugular bulbs underwent jugular bulb resurfacing with hydroxyapatite cement. Two patients associated the onset of their symptoms with trauma. All patients reported complete resolution of their tinnitus at an average follow-up of 15 months. No hearing, vestibular, or intracranial complications were encountered. Conclusions Compressive, obliterative, and endovascular interventions have been attempted to treat pulsatile tinnitus due to high-riding dehiscent jugular bulbs. Reconstruction of the middle ear floor with autologous tissue grafts has also been described. These techniques have been associated with variable results and with the risk of increased intracranial pressure. Hydroxyapatite cement resurfacing may be considered as an alternative for the treatment of this pathology. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 2017
Control of autoimmunity by regulatory T cells.

The development of autoimmune disease involves a breakdown in the mechanisms that control self vs non-self discrimimation. The primary mechanism that leads to self tolerance is thymic deletion of autoreactive T cells, but thymic deletion is not perfect and autoreactive T cells do escape to the periphery. Cells that escape thymic deletion are then subject to mechanisms of peripheral tolerance including the induction of anergy t as well as T cell ignorance/indifference of the recognition of autoantigens. However, anergy can be reversed and ignorant T cell populations have the potential to be activated when their target self-antigens are released into the lymphoid system during the course of an infectious insult or when activated by cross-reactive antigens present on infectious agents. Passive mechanisms for the induction of self tolerance may therefore be insufficient to control the activation of autoreactive T cells. Evidence has recently been obtained for an active mechanism of immune suppression in which a distinct subset of T cells suppresses the activation of autoreactive T cells that have escaped the other mechanisms of tolerance induction. Two experimental models have been developed which have allowed the definition of unique populations of regulatory T cells. In one model, autoimmunity is induced by depletion of regulatory T cells from adult animals, while in the second model, the development of regulatory T cells is abolished in neonatal animals.
Abstract P154: Factors Affecting the Decision to Treat Cardiovascular Risk in an Urban Underserved Population with Intermediate Framingham Risk

Management of cardiovascular disease risk in intermediate risk (Framingham score ≥10%, <20%) patients remains controversial. Recent studies have suggested that imaging of coronary atherosclerosis be performed in these patients to identify patients who require therapy. In this study, we stratified a population of urban, underserved subjects with no history or symptoms of coronary disease into high and intermediate risk to determine those patients who would need adjunctive imaging or biomarker data for a decision to treat CVD risk. Methods We screened 210 inner city underserved subjects for CVD risk as candidates for a study of risk reduction using nurse intervention and telemedicine, 68.6% (144) were at Intermediate risk (56.9% males, 80.6% African American, 11.8% white, 6.3% Hispanic, Age 56.2±9.9 years, BMI 31.7±7.2, hypertension 45.1%, hyperlipidemia 81.9%, diabetes 46.5%, smoker 36.8%, obese 54.2%). Results Based on presence of hypertension or hyperlipidemia, 133 of 144 intermediate risk subjects (93.3...
Self-Signaling and the Demand for Commitment Savings Devices

Take-up of commitment savings devices remains low, even amongst individuals exhibiting both time-inconsistent preferences and a desire for higher savings. I adapt the self-signaling framework of Benabou and Tirole (2004) to propose an explanation for this phenomenon. High and low willpower agents with self-reputation concerns trade-off a desire to forestall future temptation spending with a desire to maintain the belief that they have high willpower. In equilibrium, low willpower agents attempt to mimic high willpower agents: when high willpower agents refrain from using the commitment savings device, low willpower agents (who ex-ante prefer to use the device) refrain as well. I show that a social planner may optimally choose to provide commitment savings devices that bundle different types of agents in order to overcome the adverse self-signaling effects that reduce demand for these devices. I further show that a monopolist can profitably provide bundling devices, but only does so when agents have high values of reputation, unlike the social planner. Finally, I show that competitive markets cannot provide bundling devices unless the costs of providing flexible commitment accounts is sufficiently low, reinforcing the importance of understanding how to make commitment accounts with soft commitment features more efficacious.
Optimization of Irradiation Conditions for Upconversion Nanoparticle Assisted Photobiomodulation of Neuronal Cells

Photoluminescence from upconversion nanoparticles provides a nanoplatform for desired photochemical effects on neuron cells resulting proliferation and outgrowth with NIR light irradiation, when overcoming the unwanted heating issues by optimizing irradiation conditions.
Integrated Medical Systems

Routine medical care and functions are specially amenable to computer and network processing. In this chapter, we indicate a methodology for processing the medical functions of any patient by the medical community using intelligent computer systems. It is our objective to present architectures to demonstrate that machines can enhance the productivity and efficiency of medical environments by confining the procedural steps, bookkeeping functions, and resource allocation to specially tailored computer systems. The human functions of pattern matching, judgment, and ultimate decision-making are also facilitated by a backbone of computers and networks organized to perform knowledge-based AI functions. Similar existing and effective environments currently in use are the corporate Management Information Systems/Decision Support Systems (MIS/DSS), where decision-making tasks and analysis are performed routinely, and the stock market environments where vast numbers of routine transactions are handled quickly and inexpensively.
An expert system that simulates group decision making in a stochastic environment and exhibits learning

ABSTRACT The objective of the expert system model development was to provide an experimental environment to test its decision-making capabilities as it simulated group decision makers. The expert system acquired knowledge dynamically as it reacted to a stochastically changing environment during three simulated years of competing in a business game environment. The experiment intended to provide a preliminary understanding of the methods by which an expert system analyses strategic scenarios and develops operating decisions as well as contributes to the growing interest in the applicability of expert systems to business decision making.
Proceedings of the 2007 ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on Video games

This is the second year of existence for the Sandbox Symposium. It's also the first year we have a printed proceedings. It was a challenge to pull the first year of the symposium together. In this second year the symposium has settled into a groove with an even mix of presentations on game development, game design, algorithms, and education and psychology. Although the 31 submissions were fewer than last year they were more focused and higher quality. We chose the best 16 of them for presentation. In addition to these papers we have two discussion panels, on Open Source and Prototyping, and keynote addresses by Warren Spector and John Klima. The symposium has tried to balance a practical focus on game development with meta-commentary on the uses and impact of games. As a result it attracts a diverse audience from industry and academia. We hope that in future years it will continue to be a locus for the study of games, both how to make them and what they are, and for dissemination of knowledge. The Animation session presents two papers that have practical techniques that can be applied immediately to character animation. The Open Source session demonstrates how to build a facial animation system. And concludes with a panel that will show how to construct an Open Source game developers toolchain. The Education and Psychology session focuses on the impact of games on individuals in education and in play. Game Design I discusses three research and serious games that are in varying stages of development. The Graphics session presents a novel rendering technique and an interactive tool for developing graphics shaders. Game Design II describes the experience of making an electronic game from a board game, and presents an analysis of game genres based on user surveys. Stretching the Interface follows our keynote address by John Klima. The first paper shows the results of experiments with the Wii controller, while the second paper presents a quantitative approach to information placement. The last session on prototyping presents an example from pervasive game development, and concludes with a panel of industry experts who describe their use of prototyping in the game design process. This session concludes with the "best paper" award. We hope this program is informative and look forward to future years of Sandbox!
Perseverance when the going gets tough.

M. Celeste Simon is Scientific Director of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCh Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies tumour and stromal cell responses to variable oxygen and nutrient levels and is a devoted mentor of biomedical trainees.
Antioxidant Effects of Bioactive Compounds Isolated from Pressurized Steam-Treated Corni Fructus and Their Protective Effects Against UVB-Irradiated HS68 Cells

This study evaluated the antioxidant and protective effects of bioactive compounds isolated from pressurized steam-treated Corni Fructus (PSC). We had previously tested the protective effects of the furan fraction containing 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), polyphenol fraction containing gallic acid, and iridoid glycoside fraction containing morroniside and loganin. We measured the potency of antioxidant activities of the bioactive compounds isolated from PSC via oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assays. One fraction in particular (named F-2) not only contained high amounts of phenolics but also had potent antioxidant activities. The protective effects of F-2 were evaluated by measuring the levels of the collagen-degrading enzyme, matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), and the marker of collagen biosynthesis, procollagen type I C-peptide (PIP), in UVB-treated HS68 fibroblasts. MMP-1 levels decreased in an F-2 concentration-dependent manner, and PIP secretion from the cultured HS68 cells was significantly higher than that from the UVB-irradiated cultures alone. Further, F-2 attenuated UVB-induced MMP-1 and ameliorated UVB-downregulated collagen type I alpha 1 mRNA expression in HS68 cells. Therefore, F-2 isolated from PSC is a good candidate for the prevention of skin damage from free radicals in various skin conditions.
Blakea echinata (Melastomataceae: Blakeeae): a new species from the Caribbean rainforest of Panama

Blakea echinata from the lowland Caribbean rainforest of Panama is described, illustrated, mapped, and compared with superficially similar species. It is readily distinguished by its elongate internodes; indumentum of spreading smooth (sometimes gland-tipped) trichomes on distal branchlets, leaves, floral bracts, and calyx lobes intermixed with laterally compressed and somewhat roughened conic to clavate or ± triangular trichomes on distal branchlets, floral peduncles, and abaxial surfaces of floral bracts; rhombic reflexed basally clawed petals; yellow-orange unappendaged anthers; and ovary apex that is elaborated into a distally glandular-laciniate collar 5–6 mm long that envelops the style base. A conservation assessment of Critically Endangered is recommended for this species based on IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.
Assessing Plyometric Ability during Vertical Jumps Performed by Adults and Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to compare different methods for assessing plyometric ability during countermovement (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ) in a group of adults and adolescents. Ten resistance-trained adult men (age: 22.6 ± 1.6 years) and ten adolescent male basketball players (age: 16.5 ± 0.7 years) performed a CMJ and a DJ from a height of 0.40 m. Jump height (JH), contact time, normalized work (WNORM), and power output (PONORM) during the absorption and propulsion phases were calculated from force platforms and 3-D motion analysis data. Plyometric ability was assessed using the modified reactive strength index (RSIMOD during CMJ) and the reactive strength index (RSI during DJ) as well as three indices using propulsion time, propulsion work (PWI), and propulsion power. Adults jumped significantly higher than adolescents (mean difference [MD]: 0.05 m) while JH (MD: 0.05 m) and ground contact time (MD: 0.29 s) decreased significantly from CMJ to DJ. WNORM (MD: 4.2 J/kg) and PONORM (MD: 24.2 W/kg) during the absorption phase of CMJ were significantly less than these variables during the propulsion phases of the jumps. The reactive strength index variants increased significantly from the CMJ to DJ (MD: 0.23) while all other plyometric indices decreased significantly. Neither RSIMOD nor RSI contributed significantly to the prediction of JH during CMJ and DJ, respectively, while PWI was able to explain ≥68% of the variance in JH. Variants of the reactive strength index do not reflect the changes in mechanical variables during the ground contact phase of CMJ and DJ and may not provide an accurate assessment of plyometric ability during different vertical jumps.
Creating an immunization content database for knowledge management across clinical systems.

Purpose A initiative at an academic medical center to create a single database of immunization-related content to inform the build and configuration of immunization-related knowledge assets across multiple clinical systems is described. Methods Semistructured expert interviews were conducted to ascertain the immunization information needs of the institution's clinical systems. Based on those needs, an immunization domain model constructed with data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website was developed and used to analyze and compare current immunization-related content from CDC data sources with the content of the institution's clinical systems. Results Five identified clinical systems that used immunization-related content collectively required 22 unique information concepts, 11 of which were obtainable from CDC vaccine code sets. The proportion of vaccines designated by CDC as active products (i.e., currently available administrable vaccines) that were included in the 5 clinical systems ranged from 59% to 95%; in addition, some non-active-status vaccines were listed as active-status products in the various clinical systems. Upon further review, updates to immunization-related content in the 5 clinical systems were implemented. Conclusion Creating a single database for immunization-related content based on CDC data facilitated an explicit and tractable knowledge management process and helped ensure that clinical systems had correct and current content. The immunization domain model created has the potential to assist in the automated detection of updates and relaying those updates to the applicable clinical systems.
Macrophages Educated with Exosomes from Primed Mesenchymal Stem Cells Treat Acute Radiation Syndrome by Promoting Hematopoietic Recovery.

ABSTRACT In the setting of radiation-induced trauma, exposure to high levels of radiation can cause an acute radiation syndrome (ARS) causing bone marrow (BM) failure, leading to life-threatening infections, anemia, and thrombocytopenia. We have previously shown that human macrophages educated with human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by coculture can significantly enhance survival of mice exposed to lethal irradiation. In this study, we investigated whether exosomes isolated from MSCs could replace direct coculture with MSCs to generate exosome educated macrophages (EEMs). Functionally unique phenotypes were observed by educating macrophages with exosomes from MSCs (EEMs) primed with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at different concentrations (LPS-low EEMs or LPS-high EEMs). LPS-high EEMs were significantly more effective than uneducated macrophages, MSCs, EEMs, or LPS-low EEMs in extending survival after lethal ARS in vivo. Moreover, LPS-high EEMs significantly reduced clinical signs of radiation injury and restored hematopoietic tissue in the BM and spleen as determined by complete blood counts and histology. LPS-high EEMs showed significant increases in gene expression of STAT3, secretion of cytokines like IL-10 and IL-15, and production of growth factors like FLT-3L. LPS-EEMs also showed increased phagocytic activity, which may aid with tissue remodeling. LPS-high EEMs have the potential to be an effective cellular therapy for the management of ARS.
The Widow Maker: A National Inpatient Sample Study of Health Care Utilization Costs for Cardiovascular Complications Patients Diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma from 2000-2014

Abstract Background: Combination chemotherapy has improved the prognosis of DLBCL but has the potential for cardiovascular toxicity that can contribute to long-term morbidity and mortality. There is limited literature assessing the health care utilization costs for cardiovascular outcomes in patients diagnosed with non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). We conducted this study to evaluate trends in hospital cost, length of stay, complication rates, and in-hospital mortality in adult patients diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphomas admitted for cardiovascular complications. Methods: We conducted a population-based study from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). All adult admissions with a diagnosis of NHL from 2000-2014 were identified using ICD-9 codes. A priori outcome measures were left heart failure, atrial or ventricular arrhythmias, malignant or accelerated hypertension, hypertensive encephalopathy, and aortic dissection. Total cost was adjusted for inflation using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Logistic regression was used to compare rates of cardiovascular complications and mortality, cost, and length of stay between patients with NHL the general cardiovascular admissions (GCV), and between teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Results: Data were available for 9711761 hospitalized adults, of which 9711761 comprised the NHL group. The incidence of hospitalization for cardiovascular complications was 2.8 (OR = 2.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.48+/-3.16) times higher in the NHL group than the general cardiovascular admissions (GCV) (58.7% versus 20.9%, P=0.005). Patients with Non Hodgkins lymphoma were 2.8 times more likely to be seen in the ED and admitted with cardiovascular complications than GCV patients (7,112,300 in the NHL group vs. 2,599,450 GCV group p Conclusions: There is a high rate of cardiovascular morbidity in NHL patients and survivors, which contributes hospitalization, cost, and increased morbidity and mortality. This large population based study identifies a need for cardiovascular screening and risk reduction strategies after treatment for NHL. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
A Kinome shRNA Screen to Identify Pathways That Regulate Megakaryocyte Polyploidization and New Targets for Differentiation Therapy

Abstract 89 Megakaryocytes undergo a unique mode of cell cycle called endomitosis, which is characterized by repeated rounds of DNA synthesis without cell division. Normally, polyploidization is tightly coupled with expression of megakaryocyte specific genes and terminal differentiation. Although there have been several reports of differences between the proliferative and endomitotic cell cycles, the precise mechanisms that regulate the switch to polyploidization and terminal differentiation remain unknown. To identify genes that play a role in this process, we performed a high throughput shRNA screen assaying for genes whose decreased expression induce polyploidization in CMK megakaryocytic leukemia cell line. We used a kinase biased library of shRNAs, reasoning that targeting the kinome would identify pathways or complexes important for this switch. After transduction of with the lentiviral shRNA library, CMK cells were selected with puromycin, fixed and stained with Hoechst dye. A high content imaging assay using CellProfiler software was employed to analyze the DNA content of microscopic images of cells. By this approach, we screened 775 genes, 650 encoding kinases, with at least 5 hairpins per gene. In parallel, we performed an otherwise identical screen (i.e., modifier screen) that included sub-maximal doses of dimethylfasudil, a drug that we have previously shown to promote megakaryocyte polyploidization. To reduce the off-target effects of shRNA, we only considered genes that scored with two or more shRNAs. In comparison to non-targeted shRNA controls, we considered the top 5% of genes in either the direct or modifier screens to be hits. By this analysis, we identified 71 genes whose loss promoted polyploidization. Pathway analysis revealed that the majority of these genes clustered into five groups. Among these clusters, one was notable for containing AURKA (aurora kinase A), AURKB (aurora kinase B), CCNB1 (cyclin B1), CDK2 and PLK1 (polo-like kinase). The screen revealed that knockdown of Aurora B kinase significantly increased polyploidization in the absence of diMF (p Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Occupational Therapy Interventions Supporting Leisure and Social Participation for Older Adults With Low Vision: A Systematic Review.

Importance: Evidence supports interventions for social participation for older adults with low vision. Objective: This systematic review examined the evidence for interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice to maintain, restore, and improve performance and quality of life in leisure and social participation for older adults with low vision. Data Sources: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, OTseeker, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched for articles published from January 2010 to March 2017 that described interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice for older adults with low vision (mean age 55+). Study Selection and Data Collection: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA–P) guidelines were followed and applied for this review. Exclusion criteria included publications outside of the period of the study, participants with mean age <55 yr, and interventions outside the occupational therapy scope of practice. Findings: The search yielded 455 articles, of which 3 Level III studies met the inclusion criteria. Low evidence with high risk of bias was found for interventions supporting social participation. Group therapy, more hours of direct service over a shorter duration, and fitting with low vision devices resulted in improvements in social participation and other outcomes. Conclusion and Relevance: Little evidence exists to support occupational therapy interventions in the areas of leisure and social participation. More research is needed in these areas. What This Article Adds: There continues to be a need for research studies in the areas of leisure and social participation.
The State of City Diplomacy

Cities have organised into a global collective voice. Doing so has required diplomatic maturation and resulted in new diplomatic standing. Both these developments will be tested with the return of ...
Volumetric Laser Endomicroscopy in Barrett's Esophagus

ABSTRACT Volumetric laser endomicroscopy (VLE) is an advanced endoscopic imaging technique that provides high-resolution mucosal and submucosal images of the esophagus. VLE has been used in surveillance of Barrett's esophagus (BE) and in patients undergoing endoscopic treatment of BE neoplasia. Several VLE image-interpretation scoring systems have been developed and tested. Advances in the VLE system, such as the addition of color to areas of the VLE image and laser marking of the mucosa to target biopsies, may allow for increased detection of early neoplasia in BE.
COVID-19: fighting the invisible enemy with microRNAs.

The novel coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). It is believed that early reports of COVID-19 cases were noticed in De...
Lope’s El Hamete de Toledo: the infidel’s body as conquered land

Set in the aftermath of the 1609 expulsion of the Moriscos decreed by King Philip III of Spain (r. 1598–1621), the play El Hamete de Toledo, by Lope de Vega, has found a new relevance on stage and in political debates linked to the current immigration crisis. This article aims to rethink the current victimization of Muslims, as presented in the production of AlmaViva Teatro, a Spanish theater company which used the Early Modern Spanish tragedy to connect to a contemporary audience, thirsty for social justice. To this end, I will focus on the treatment of Hamete, a Moor imprisoned in Spain, and whose body becomes the symbol of the Other, to be conquered. As such, in the course of the play, his body is vilified, dehumanized, chained, and tortured. The culmination of this process coincides with the final act of surrender, the moment of his conversion, but also of the physical dismemberment of his body, a brutal ritualistic sacrifice carried out in the name of eternal salvation.
Hybrid binary-unary truncated multiplication for DSP Applications on FPGAs

Multipliers are the basic building blocks of modern DSP systems and contribute significantly to their overall performance. In many DSP systems, using truncated multipliers instead of full precision multipliers can keep the accuracy at a desirable level while significantly reducing FPGA resources, delay, and power consumption. Truncated multipliers are widely used to accelerate DSP applications such as filtering, fast Fourier, and discrete cosine transforms. In this paper we propose a novel low-cost, low energy, and highspeed truncated multiplier using a hybrid binary-unary encoding method. We take advantage of the unary computing method to exploit two error correction mechanisms in order to reduce error without adding to the hardware cost. The proposed multipliers outperform Xilinx LogiCORE IP in terms of hardware cost, and outperform state-of-the-art FPGA-specific approximate multipliers in terms of accuracy and hardware costs. The proposed approximate multipliers result in area reductions between 12% to 48% for 7- to 15-bit multipliers on average. We assess the performance of the proposed multipliers on an FIR filter, 2-D discrete cosine transform, and fast Fourier transform as three common DSP algorithms. The evaluation results show that these applications can deliver desirable performance using the proposed multipliers.
Should her name begin with “Doctor”?

What we call ourselves, and how others refer to us, matters. This is perhaps nowhere more important than in a professional setting, where the use of titles or first names has the potential to bring up gender and equity issues. A recent column in The BMJ by David Oliver on whether doctors should use their first names,1 started a lively debate in the rapid responses, with many responses coming from US women. Oliver wrote, “Personally, I set great store by being human and approachable and would never insist on using titles: ‘David’ is fine.” As a workforce gender equity researcher, I was invited to discuss this important topic. Oliver begins, “I work in an 800 bed hospital employing over 4000 people, yet everyone knows the chief executive and the chief operating officer as ‘Steve’ and ‘Dom.’” Notably, these examples are men, so one might consider how the culture of using first names may be influenced by a cloak of privilege at the top. After all, women in the US and many other countries are often represented in top leadership positions at very low levels. For example, there are more men named John than there are women in many leadership positions.2 A deep dive into the promotion of women in medicine by Richter and colleagues, studying more than 500 000 graduates from 134 US …
Interdisciplinary Project Based Learning Approach for Machine Learning and Internet of Things

This paper reports on the use of an interdisciplinary project-based learning approach for undergraduate engineering education in machine/deep learning, and the internet of things (IoT). Machine learning has evolved from pattern recognition and is an important element of artificial intelligence. IoT has also seen rapid growth in multiple application domains including embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation, and sensors. A challenge for traditional electrical/computer engineering curriculum is to effectively educate students in these areas through hands-on activities and projects. There is a need to develop a project-based learning approach to involve undergraduate students in real-world problem solving to develop use cases of machine learning and IoT. This paper reports on the implementation of an interdisciplinary project-based learning approach followed in the undergraduate electrical/computer engineering curriculum. The students were involved in solving real-world problems through machine/deep learning. They also developed IoT applications in multiple domains to address the limitations of existing systems and to go through the engineering design process. The qualitative results indicate that the PBL approach was highly effective in improving their learning outcomes.
Internally cooled membrane-based absorber for dehumidification and water heating: Validated model and simulation study

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive model for advanced membrane-based absorber components accounting for three separate fluid streams, one of them providing internal cooling, with complex flow patterns. The model was implemented with various liquid desiccants and their properties (including LiCl, CaCl2, and [emim][OMS] ionic liquid [IL]). The model has been validated using data from two laboratory prototype absorbers, one with CaCl2 as the working fluid and one with an IL as the working fluid. Entropy analysis was further carried out to verify the model and understand effect of internal cooling on the entropy variation of three fluid streams. The developed model and codes are expected to enable detailed configuration optimization and provide in-depth understanding of three-fluid heat and mass exchanger (HMX) performance. The paper also describes parametric studies of the HMX components in utilizing the latent heat removed in space cooling to heat water and numerically explores the unique benefit of its application in a semi-open absorption heat pump water heater. The results show that a single three-fluid HMX has the potential to achieve simultaneous dehumidification and water heating efficiently at cost effectiveness, particularly in hot and humid climates.
Commentary on: Venous Thromboembolism and Bleeding Events With Chemoprophylaxis in Abdominoplasty: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis of 1596 Patients.

Background Many plastic surgeons avoid the administration of venous thromboembolism (VTE) chemoprophylaxis out of concern for surgical bleeding in abdominoplasty. While previous studies have attempted to address the relationship between abdominoplasty and bleeding or VTE, poor reporting techniques remain a challenge. As a result, there has been a lack of reliable data to guide clinical practice. Objectives To determine the prevalence of bleeding and VTE in abdominoplasty with and without chemoprophylaxis. Methods A systematic review was performed following PRISMA guidelines using PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane Central. Patient demographics, comorbidities, risk category (if available), bleeding events, VTE events, and chemoprophylaxis information were recorded. Results Across 10 articles, 691 patients received chemoprophylaxis in the setting of abdominoplasty: 68 preoperatively, 588 postoperatively, and 35 received both. 905 patients did not receive chemoprophylaxis. 96.8% of patients were female, 73% underwent concomitant liposuction, and none were clearly risk stratified. The overall incidence of VTE and bleeding was 0.56% (9/1596) and 1.6% (25/1596), respectively. Compared to no chemoprophylaxis, chemoprophylaxis was not associated with increased incidence of bleeding [1.3% (9/671) vs. 0.91% (8/881), p=0.417], nor with decreased incidence of VTE [0.87% (6/691) vs. 0.33% (3/901), p = 0.187]. Conclusion The prevalence of bleeding in abdominoplasty was low. Chemoprophylaxis was not associated with increased risk of bleeding or decreased risk of VTE, though the lack of risk stratification and heterogeneity of our cohort precludes firm conclusions regarding the benefits and/or risks of chemoprophylaxis. Our study underscores the importance of utilizing validated risk-stratification tools in order to guide perioperative decision making.