cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chronic Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibition Retards Age-associated Arterial Proinflammation and Increase in Blood Pressure

Age-associated arterial remodeling involves arterial wall collagen deposition and elastin fragmentation, as well as an increase in arterial pressure. This arterial remodeling is linked to proinflammatory signaling, including transforming growth factor-β1, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, and proendothelin 1, activated by extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and orchestrated, in part, by the transcriptional factor ets-1. We tested the hypothesis that inhibition of MMP activation can decelerate the age-associated arterial proinflammation and its attendant increase in arterial pressure. Indeed, chronic administration of a broad-spectrum MMP inhibitor, PD166739, via a daily gavage, to 16-month–old rats for 8 months markedly blunted the expected age-associated increases in arterial pressure. This was accompanied by the following: (1) inhibition of the age-associated increases in aortic gelatinase and interstitial collagenase activity in situ; (2) preservation of the elastic fiber network integrity; (3) a reduction of collagen deposition; (4) a reduction of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and transforming growth factor-β1 activation; (5) a diminution in the activity of the profibrogenic signaling molecule SMAD-2/3 phosphorylation; (6) inhibition of proendothelin 1 activation; and (7) downregulation of expression of ets-1. Acute exposure of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro to proendothelin 1 increased both the transcription and translation of ets-1, and these effects were markedly reduced by MMP inhibition. Furthermore, infection of vascular smooth muscle cells with an adenovirus harboring a full-length ets-1 cDNA increased activities of both transforming growth factor-β1 and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1. Collectively, our results indicate that MMP inhibition retards age-associated arterial proinflammatory signaling, and this is accompanied by preservation of intact elastin fibers, a reduction in collagen, and blunting of an age-associated increase in blood pressure.
Surface plasmon resonance sensing in capillaries

A capillary-based surface plasmon resonance sensor is presented. Glass capillaries internally coated with Au are radially illuminated with focused laser light that strikes the interior capillary surface and exits the capillary at angles that vary with the interior incident angle. Measurement of the exit light provides reflectivity against angle spectra useful for chemical sensing.
Induction of BAIAP3 by the EWS-WT1 chimeric fusion implicates regulated exocytosis in tumorigenesis

Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is defined genetically by the chimeric fusion of the Ewing's sarcoma and Wilms' tumor genes, generating a novel transcription factor, EWS-WT1. By using cells with inducible EWS-WT1 to screen high-density microarrays, we identified BAIAP3 as a transcriptional target of the chimera. The BAIAP3 promoter is specifically bound in vivo by the (-KTS) isoform of EWS-WT1, consistent with its activation in reporter assays. BAIAP3 encodes a protein implicated in regulated exocytosis, which is colocalized with a secreted growth factor within cytoplasmic organelles. Ectopic expression of BAIAP3 in tumor cells dramatically enhances growth in low serum and colony formation in soft agar. BAIAP3 therefore encodes a transcriptional target of an oncogenic fusion protein that implicates the regulated exocytotic pathway in cancer cell proliferation.
Optical beam shaping and diffraction free waves: A variational approach

Abstract We investigate the problem of shaping radially symmetric annular beams into desired intensity patterns along the optical axis. Within the Fresnel approximation, we show that this problem can be expressed in a variational form equivalent to the one arising in phase retrieval. Using the uncertainty principle we prove various rigorous lower bounds on the functional; these lower bounds estimate the L 2 error for the beam shaping problem in terms of the design parameters. We also use the method of stationary phase to construct a natural ansatz for a minimizer in the short wavelength limit. We illustrate the implications of our results by applying the method of stationary phase coupled with the Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm to beam shaping problems arising in the remote delivery of beams and pulses.
Noise and linearity optimization in SiGe HBT RF technology

This paper reviews the fundamental noise and linearity characteristics of SiGe HBTs, and discusses SiGe profile design for improved device and circuit performance. The interaction between device physics and circuit performance is illustrated using a novel low-noise amplifier design.
Akt and MAPK signaling mediate pregnancy-induced cardiac adaptation

Although the signaling pathways underlying exercise-induced cardiac adaptation have been extensively studied, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that result in the response of the heart to pregnancy. The objective of this study was to define the morphological, functional, and gene expression patterns that define the hearts of pregnant mice, and to identify the signaling pathways that mediate this response. Mice were divided into three groups: nonpregnant diestrus control, midpregnancy, and late pregnancy. Both time points of pregnancy were associated with significant cardiac hypertrophy. The prosurvival signaling cascades of Akt and ERK1/2 were activated in the hearts of pregnant mice, while the stress kinase, p38, was decreased. Given the activation of Akt in pregnancy and its known role in cardiac hypertrophy, the hypertrophic response to pregnancy was tested in mice expressing a cardiac-specific activated (myristoylated) form of Akt (myrAkt) or a cardiac-specific constitutively active (antipathologic hypertrophic) form of its downstream target, glycogen synthase kinase 3β (caGSK3β). The pregnancy-induced hypertrophic responses of hearts from these mice were significantly attenuated. Finally, we tested whether pregnancy-associated sex hormones could induce hypertrophy and alter signaling pathways in isolated neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs). In fact, progesterone, but not estradiol treatment increased NRVM cell size via phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Inhibition of MEK1 effectively blocked progesterone-induced cellular hypertrophy. Taken together, our study demonstrates that pregnancy-induced cardiac hypertrophy is mediated by activation of Akt and ERK1/2 pathways.
"Obesity is a disease": examining the self-regulatory impact of this public-health message

In the current work, we examined the impact of the American Medical Association's recent classification of obesity as a disease on weight-management processes. Across three experimental studies, we highlighted the potential hidden costs associated with labeling obesity as a disease, showing that this message, presented in an actual New York Times article, undermined beneficial weight-loss self-regulatory processes. A disease-based, relative to an information-based, weight-management message weakened the importance placed on health-focused dieting and reduced concerns about weight among obese individuals—the very people whom such public-health messages are targeting. Further, the decreased concern about weight predicted higher-calorie food choices. In addition, the disease message, relative to a message that obesity is not a disease, lowered body-image dissatisfaction, but this too predicted higher-calorie food choices. Thus, although defining obesity as a disease may be beneficial for body image, results from the current work emphasize the negative implications of this message for self-regulation.
Does stress response predict return rate in a migratory bird species? A study of American redstarts and their non-breeding habitat.

In vertebrates, the adrenocortical stress response activates an emergency life-history stage, which is thought to promote survival by helping individuals escape life-threatening situations. Although the adrenocortical stress response promotes many behavioural and physiological changes, it remains unclear whether this stress response actually translates into higher survival in wild vertebrates. We measured the adrenocortical stress response of non-breeding American redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla), a migratory bird that wintered in habitats of either high (mangroves) or low suitability (scrubs), and subsequently monitored their return rate during the following non-breeding seasons. The intensity of the adrenocortical stress response was consistent within individuals across the non-breeding season and was positively correlated with return rates in redstarts that wintered in scrubs, but not in redstarts that wintered in mangroves. Thus, in a context-dependent manner, the ability of an individual to physiologically react to stress determines its ability of returning to its non-breeding territory the following winters. For an individual, the ability to mount an important adrenocortical stress response probably benefits to survival. However, this beneficial effect probably depends on an individual’s environment and phenotypic characteristics because these two variables are likely to affect its probability of being confronted with life-threatening stressors during its annual life cycle.
The Physical and Chemical Stability of Wine

The major physical instability in bottled wines continues to be the precipitation of the tartaric salts, potassium bitartrate, and calcium tartrate. Prevention of this precipitation in bottled wines is desirable because consumers find it objectionable and an indication of poor quality control. Precipitation of these salts can be due to one or more reasons, such as the incomplete stabilization in the cellar, the use of a nonrepresentative sample for the stability test, the use of an inappropriate stability test, the removal of colloidal materials at the point of final filtration that have previously inhibited the precipitation and natural chemical changes, especially the polymerization of phenolic pigments. The initial instability is caused by supersaturated levels in juices that are augmented by the decrease in solubility due to ethanol and the low temperatures used for wine storage.
Course on care of patients with chronic illness: Patient-centered medical home model

Background: In the United States, the Patient-centered Medical Home (PCMH) is an emerging concept in primary care that is guiding clinical reorganization to meet the needs of patients with chronic illness. We developed a one-semester curriculum to teach the principles and practice of PCMH to medical and physician assistant students during their clinical clerkship year. Methods: The mini-course on PCMH consists of three 3-h weekend sessions over 16 weeks and a student project to develop constructive planning ideas for an assigned clinical site. In the first two sessions, students receive didactics and engage in project development discussions. Subsequently, participants work with a faculty advisor and clinic site administrative staff to identify and analyze an area of interest for the student and clinic site. In the last session, students present their projects to the larger group. During the first year of implementation, student evaluations were collected after the first and last sessions. Results: At the end of the course, students reported confidence in their understanding of PCMH concepts and practical implementations of it. Completing a student project at their clinical sites posed challenges that were logistical, rather than conceptual, and was difficult to integrate with classroom learning. Discussion: We present an interprofessional PCMH curriculum for medical and physician assistant students during their clinical year. This course provides students a familiarity with principles of the medical home model and practical experience with practice redesign issues in the context of PCMH transformation.
Atomistic description for temperature-driven phase transitions in BaTiO 3

Barium titanate (${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$) is a prototypical ferroelectric perovskite that undergoes the rhombohedral-orthorhombic-tetragonal-cubic phase transitions as the temperature increases. In this paper, we develop a classical interatomic potential for ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ within the framework of the bond-valence theory. The force field is parametrized from first-principles results, enabling accurate large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at finite temperatures. Our model potential for ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ reproduces the temperature-driven phase transitions in isobaric-isothermal ensemble ($NPT$) MD simulations. This potential allows for the analysis of ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ structures with atomic resolution. By analyzing the local displacements of Ti atoms, we demonstrate that the phase transitions of ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ exhibit a mix of order-disorder and displacive characters. Besides, from a detailed observation of structural dynamics during phase transition, we discover that the global phase transition is associated with changes in the equilibrium value and fluctuations of each polarization component, including the ones already averaging to zero, Contrary to the conventional understanding that temperature increase generally causes bond-softening transition, the $x$-polarization component (the one which is polar in both the orthorhombic and the tetragonal phases) exhibits a bond-hardening character during the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition. These results provide further insight about the temperature-driven phase transitions in ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$.
Take me to your leader!: online optimization of distributed storage configurations

The configuration of a distributed storage system typically includes, among other parameters, the set of servers and their roles in the replication protocol. Although mechanisms for changing the configuration at runtime exist, it is usually left to system administrators to manually determine the "best" configuration and periodically reconfigure the system, often by trial and error. This paper describes a new workload-driven optimization framework that dynamically determines the optimal configuration at run-time. We focus on optimizing leader and quorum based replication schemes and divide the framework into three optimization tiers, dynamically optimizing different configuration aspects: 1) leader placement, 2) roles of different servers in the replication protocol, and 3) replica locations. We showcase our optimization framework by applying it to a large-scale distributed storage system used internally in Google and demonstrate that most client applications significantly benefit from using our framework, reducing average operation latency by up to 94%.
Structured negotiation

Structured negotiation is proposed as a new method through which collaborating agents can seek consensus on the apportionment of tasks and resources. The approach draws on research in collaborative planning and human dialog understanding: agent interactions are organized in a manner that reflects the structure of a shared plan. Negotiations are incremental and interleaved with the shared planning process while communications supporting negotiations are made efficient by drawing on knowledge of a prevailing context. Agent proposals to team members are annotated with causal information that compactly expresses relationships between new proposals and the current context. Normative guidelines for proposal generation further restrict communications of ancillary information to only those fragments that represent departures from the norm. Finally, a set of interpretation rules allows agents to infer information not explicitly communicated.
Some remarks about time in Newtonian particle mechanics

In the “Principia”, Newton stateda priori (in the first pages of Volume I) that the flow of time is uni-directional and uniform. In this paper, the Newtonian universe including time and its arrow is defined with some precision, and the needed axioms are listed which yield Newton's flow of time a consequence, rather than ana priori assumption, of classical particle mechanics.
Adaptive Optimal Power Trade-Off in Underwater Sensor Networks

In general, sensor networks have two competing objectives: (i) maximization of network performance with respect to the probability of successful search with a specified false alarm rate for a given coverage area, and (ii) maximization of the network’s operational life. In this context, battery-powered sensing systems are operable as long as they can communicate sensed data to the processing nodes. Since both operations of sensing and communication consume energy, judicious use of these operations could effectively improve the sensor network’s lifetime. From these perspectives, the paper presents an adaptive energy management policy that will optimally allocate the available energy between sensing and communication operations at each node to maximize the network performance under specified constraints. With the assumption of fixed total energy for a sensor network operating over a time period, the problem is reduced to identification of a network topology that maximizes the probability of successful detection of targets over a surveillance region. In a two-stage optimization, a genetic algorithm-based meta-heuristic search is first used to efficiently explore the global design space, and then a local pattern search algorithm is used for convergence to an optimal solution. The results of performance evaluation are presented to validate the proposed concept.© 2013 ASME
Agonist-specific effects of guanine nucleotides on alpha-adrenergic receptors in human platelets.

The effect of GTP on the binding affinity of alpha-adrenergic receptors for alpha-adrenergic agents was studied in human platelet lysates using direct ligand binding methods with [3H]dihydroergocryptine. GTP at a concentration of 0.1 mM markedly decreased the binding affinity of the agonist (-)epinephrine for the receptors (more than 10-fold) but had no effect on the binding of antagonists. The half maximal effect of GTP on epinephrine binding occurred at a concentration of 4 µM. Gpp(NH)p was as effective as GTP at the same concentration, whereas GDP was only 80% as effective. Other nucleotides such as ATP and ITP were less effective. The extent of the GTP-induced reduction in the affinity of alpha-adrenergic agents for the receptors was directly related to the intrinsic activity of these agents for inhibition of PGE1-stimulated adenylate cyclse. The effect of GTP appears to depend on the concurrent presence of Mg++. In the absence of Mg++, GTP caused only a slight decrease in the agonist binding affinity. When Mg++ was present without GTP, the binding affinity of the agonist (-)epinephrine was increased by 5-fold. GTP in the presence of Mg++ induces a state of diminished affinity of the receptor for the agonist which is lower than that induced by the nucleotide in the absence of MgCl2. The relationship between GTP and MgCl2 in the regulation of platelet alpha-adrenergic receptors which are inhibitory to adenylate cyclase activity appears to be analogous to their role in regulating beta-adrenergic receptors which are stimulatory for the enzyme in other tissues.
Determination of Acid Herbicides Using Modified QuEChERS with Fast Switching ESI+/ESI– LC-MS/MS

A method for the determination of 35 acid herbicides in food matrices was developed, validated, and implemented. It utilizes a modified QuEChERS extraction procedure coupled with quantitation by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The acid herbicides analyzed are all organic carboxylic acids, including the older chlorophenoxy acid herbicides such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), dicamba, 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4-CPA), quinclorac, and many of the newer imidazolinone herbicides such as imazethapyr and imazaquin. In the procedure, 10 mL of water is added to 5 g of sample and then extracted with 1% formic acid in acetonitrile for 1 min. The acetonitrile phase is salted out of the extract by adding sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate, followed by centrifugation. The acetonitrile is diluted 1:1 with water to enable quantitation by LC-MS/MS using fast switching between positive and negative electrospray ionization modes. The average recoveries for all the compounds except aminocyclopyrachlor were 95% with a precision of 8%. The method detection limits for all residues were less than 10 ng/g, and the correlation coefficients for the calibration curves was greater than 0.99 for all but two compounds tested. The method was used successfully for the quantitation of acid herbicides in the FDA's total diet study. The procedure proved to be accurate, precise, linear, sensitive, and rugged.
Supporting Aspect-Oriented Paradigm by bio-inspired concepts

The idea of applying the biological principle of natural evolution to artificial systems, introduced more than three decades ago, has seen impressive growth in the past few years. Usually these artificial systems group bio-inspired systems, evolutionary computation, artificial life, etc. This convinced all that nature has much we might be inspired by when designing our systems and the genetics is a promising inspiration. Extensive methodologies and systems, mapping it, were developed. But the mapping of the natural genetics to the software design has been however very limited. Actually, intensive efforts are being invested for upgrading programming tools from high level programming languages to design languages, including Aspect-Oriented Paradigm (AOP). The growing interest of AOP and its application in several domains necessitates its enrichment by strong concepts which are intended to support effectively the application domain diversity. This paper proposes such enhancement inspired from natural genetics. We first present Bio-inspired, Aspect-Oriented, and Subject-Oriented software design approaches. Then the enrichment of AOP, induced by a Bio-inspired approach, with its supporting design methodology will be introduced and evaluated.
Evaluation of Chipped Cankers for Management of Eastern Filbert Blight

ABSTRACT Oregon harvested 36,000 tons of hazelnuts with a farm gate value of $135 million in 2014, primarily from eastern filbert blight (EFB) susceptible cultivars. Cultural management of EFB incl...
B-Aggressive Lymphoma (BAL) Family Proteins Have Unique Domains Which Modulate Transcription and Exhibit PARP Activity.

BAL1 was originally identified in a genome-wide search for risk-related genes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In pilot and subsequent independent series of primary DLBCLs, BAL1 expression was significantly higher in chemoresistant tumors. BAL1 encodes a nuclear protein with a duplicated N-terminal domain homologous to the non-histone region of histone macroH2A. Several lines of evidence suggest that macro domains may modulate transcription, including: high concentration of histone macroH2A in the inactive X chromosome, direct interference with transcription factor binding in a positioned nucleosome and structural similarity to DNA binding domains. In addition to N-terminal macro domains, the BAL1 protein includes a C-terminal region with homology to the catalytic domain of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) proteins. PARPs catalyze the transfer of ADP-ribose onto acceptor proteins, using NAD+ as a substrate. Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is a critical post-translational modification that regulates chromatin configuration, transcription and DNA repair. After characterizing BAL1 , we recently identified two additional BAL family members, BAL2 and BAL3 , with multiple N-terminal macro domains and putative C-terminal PARP catalytic domains. Given the emerging evidence that PARP family proteins represent possible cancer treatment targets and the reported association between BAL1 expression and chemoresistance in DLBCL, we performed detailed structure/function analyses of BAL family members. We demonstrate that BAL macro domains repress transcription when tethered via a Gal4 DNA binding domain to a TK promoter in classic transcription repression assays. In addition, we show that BAL2 and BAL3, but not BAL1, exhibit PARP activity. In agreement with these data, BAL1 lacks several critical donor and acceptor residues that are conserved in the BAL2 and 3 PARP active sites. Of interest, BAL family members with inactive or functional PARP domains differed in their ability to repress transcription. BAL family members are the only described proteins with both PARP and macro domains, underscoring the potential functional significance of this unique combination.
Transcription factor–DNA binding: beyond binding site motifs

Sequence-specific transcription factors (TFs) regulate gene expression by binding to cis-regulatory elements in promoter and enhancer DNA. While studies of TF-DNA binding have focused on TFs' intrinsic preferences for primary nucleotide sequence motifs, recent studies have elucidated additional layers of complexity that modulate TF-DNA binding. In this review, we discuss technological developments for identifying TF binding preferences and highlight recent discoveries that elaborate how TF interactions, local DNA structure, and genomic features influence TF-DNA binding. We highlight novel approaches for characterizing functional binding site motifs that promise to inform our understanding of how TF binding controls gene expression and ultimately contributes to phenotype.
Low temperature hydrogen production during experimental hydration of partially-serpentinized dunite

Abstract Dissolved hydrogen is common in mafic and ultramafic aquifers; however, the water/rock reactions that give rise to hydrogen production at near-surface temperatures are enigmatic. Similarly, mineral hydration experiments have not yet unequivocally demonstrated whether H2 can be produced at low-temperatures at significant rates from reaction of aqueous fluids with basalts and peridotites for prolonged amounts of time. We conducted laboratory-based water/rock reactions between partially serpentinized Oman dunite and a simulated Oman rainwater (RW) media, as well as a simulated seawater (SW) media, to quantify H2 generation rates at 100 °C. Throughout more than 9 months of water/rock reaction, extensive hydrogen production and consumption were observed in RW and SW media. In the first 24 h of reaction in anoxic fluids containing only dissolved N2 and CO2, the room-temperature pH in both RW and SW media increased from 6.5 to ∼9, and the average pH then remained relatively constant at pH 8.5 (±0.5 pH) for the duration of the experiments. We also measured some of the highest hydrogen concentrations observed in experimental low-temperature serpentinization reactions. The maximum measured H2 concentrations in SW media were 470 nmol H2 per g mineral after ∼3 months, while RW media H2 concentrations reached 280 nmol/g H2 after ∼3 months. After reaching micromolar dissolved H2(aq), the H2 concentrations notably declined, and CO2 was almost fully consumed. We measured the formation of formate (up to 98 μM) and acetate (up to 91 μM) associated with a drawdown of H2 and CO2 in the experiments. No CH4 or carbonate formation was observed. To identify reactions giving rise to low-temperature hydrogen production, the mineralogy and oxidation state of the Fe-bearing species in the dunite were extensively characterized before and after reaction using Raman spectroscopy, Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by SCANing electron microscopy (QEMSCAN), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetic susceptibility, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fe K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopic techniques. The mineralogy of the solid starting material was dominated by olivine and serpentine with minor brucite, pyroxene and spinel. After reaction, additional serpentine and magnetite could be detected as reaction products, and pre-existing brucite was consumed. No changes were observed in the abundance or grain sizes of olivine or pyroxene. Thus, we propose that the destabilization of Fe(II)-bearing brucite and the subsequent oxidation of the aqueous Fe(II) to form magnetite and Fe(III)-rich serpentine give rise to H2 production at 100 °C. This work demonstrates that dissolved hydrogen and low molecular weight organic acids can be produced by the reaction of labile Fe(II)-bearing minerals generated during a prior stage of water/rock reactions. In particular, progressive alteration of partially-serpentinized peridotites containing brucite may generate sufficient electron donors to fuel in-situ subsurface microbial activity.
Emiliano F.B. Mundrucu: Inter-American revolutionary and abolitionist (1791–1863)

This article explores transnational dialogues between peoples of color in Brazil, Spanish-speaking South America, Haiti, and North America on issues relating to revolution, abolitionism, diplomacy, and civil rights in the nineteenth century. By focusing on Emiliano Felipe Benicio Mundrucu (1791–1863), a Brazilian pardo who traveled and lived in Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, and the United States, this paper discusses the unique socio-economic, racial, and political perspectives that educated, polyglot, and unusually well-traveled peoples of color brought to debates on abolition, civil rights, and broader hemispheric-wide questions of black identity in this period. It also explores their involvement in transnational revolutionary activity in the early nineteenth century, discussing how Mundrucu, along with other Brazilian secessionists, solicited the help of the young, radical republics of Haiti and Gran Colombia to challenge the Brazilian monarchy in Rio de Janeiro and establish a federalist republic in the north east of the country.
Antenna probes for power reception from deep tissues for wearable microwave thermometry

The goal of the research presented in this paper is a design procedure for wearable antenna probes for monitoring internal body temperature using microwave radiometry. Receiving thermal black-body radiation from internal tissue layers is challenging as the human skin dominates the received power due to its high conductivity and permittivity. Therefore, a new design method is needed for probes that receive thermal power preferentially from deep tissue layers, while minimizing the contribution of surface tissues. The design method starts from reciprocity in the near-field, allowing simulations of volume loss power density to be used to predict black-body radiation. Several probes with superstrates are designed in order to maximize the volume loss power density in a specific buried layer. The experiments are performed in the 1.4-GHz quiet band, and temperature tracking is demonstrated and compared to thermocouple direct measurements on a skin-fat-muscle phantom.
Environmental, Economic, and Scalability Considerations and Trends of Selected Fuel Economy-Enhancing Biomass-Derived Blendstocks

Twenty-four biomass-derived compounds and mixtures, identified based on their physical properties, which could be blended into fuels to improve spark ignition engine fuel economy, were assessed for their economic, technology readiness, and environmental viability. These bio-blendstocks were modeled to be produced biochemically, thermochemically, or through hybrid processes. To carry out the assessment, 17 metrics were developed for which each bio-blendstock was determined to be favorable, neutral, or unfavorable. Cellulosic ethanol was included as a reference case. Overall economic and, to some extent, environmental viability is driven by projected yields for each of these processes. The metrics used in this analysis methodology highlight the near-term potential to achieve these targeted yield estimates when considering data quality and current technical readiness for these conversion strategies. Key knowledge gaps included the degree of purity needed for use as a bio-blendstock. Less stringent purificati...
Frontstage/Backstage: Attending to Organizational Responsibilities

During healthcare visits, medical providers must attend to multiple agendas, including those of their patients and their organizations. A discussion of professional competency, then, must consider how nurse practitioners (NPs) attend to their organizational responsibilities in their interactions with patients. Following from Goffman’s (The presentation of self in everyday life, Random House, 1959) frontstage/backstage dichotomy, this chapter addresses how interactional practices often involve attending to organizational responsibilities and how this ‘backstage’ work gets accomplished in ‘frontstage’ interactions. In outpatient settings, the ‘backstage’ practice of interacting with patients’ electronic medical records overlaps with provider–patient interactions; in inpatient settings, the ‘backstage’ organizational work involves efforts at coordinating care with other providers, family members, and outside organizations, all of which reflects an NP’s professional competency during ‘frontstage’ encounters.
Adrenal oncocytic pheochromocytoma with functionality in a neurofibromatosis patient: A case report

Abstract Background There are 4 prior reports of oncocytic pheochromocytoma of the adrenal. It may histologically resemble cortical carcinoma, which also can have oncocytic cells. Case presentation We report a 54-year-old male with neurofibromatosis 1 who had an endocrinologically functional, 13.5 cm tumor. Histology showed mostly oncocytic cells. An adrenalectomy showed that the tumor had capsular and vascular invasion. Symptoms were cured by surgery. A cortical carcinoma with oncocytic change was initially favored, but the clinical history together with immunostain results were consistent with pheochromocytoma with oncocytic change. Conclusions In conclusion, the clinical history was crucial to the diagnosis. This is the first tumor of this type in a neurofibromatosis patient and the first in which functional effects were caused.
Modeling an Electrodynamic Shaker Using Experimental Substructuring

When a vibration test is performed, the dynamic modes of a shaker or shaker table may be excited, changing the response of the parts depending on their location on the shaker and possibly invalidating the test. However, shaker systems are difficult to model because of joints with unknown properties, unknown stiffness and damping effects of the magnetic field and because drawings of the internal components are rarely available. This work explores the use of experimental/analytical substructuring to create a test based model of a shaker. A modal test was performed and a modal model of a shaker was obtained with an adapter plate attached. This was coupled to a finite element model of the adapter plate, and the Transmission Simulator Method was used to assemble the two and to remove one copy of the adapter plate. The model thus obtained can then be used to predict the variation in the environment across the top of the shaker as different components are connected.
Apolipoprotein A-I and B distribution in the human cornea.

PURPOSE To determine the presence and localization of apolipoprotein A-I, a marker for high density lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein B, a marker for low density lipoprotein, in human cornea; to examine the relationship of these lipoprotein markers with areas of lipid accumulation in the cornea. METHODS A-I and B apolipoproteins were localized in frozen sections of human corneas with specific monoclonal antibodies using avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase labelling. Corneal lipid was colocalized with apolipoproteins by oil red 0 staining of immunostained sections. RESULTS Staining data showed that apolipoprotein B and lipid accumulated in the extracellular spaces of peripheral corneal stroma. However, their distributions were not coincident. The posterior region of peripheral corneal stroma (including Descemet's membrane) often contained lipid without immunodetectable apolipoprotein B. Unexpectedly, apolipoprotein A-I was associated with many keratocytes throughout the cornea in addition to an extracellular distribution heaviest in peripheral cornea. CONCLUSIONS Lipid deposits lacking apolipoprotein B in peripheral cornea suggest that if accumulated corneal arcus lipid is derived from extracellular deposition of plasma low density lipoprotein, the low density lipoprotein is altered such that it looses its immunoreactive apolipoprotein B. The unexpected association of apolipoprotein A-I with keratocytes suggests that these cells are either taking up or synthesizing a protein sharing an immunoreactive epitope with apolipoprotein A-I.
Optimal management of scapholunate ligament injuries

Scapholunate ligament (SLL) injuries are a common cause of wrist pain and instability. Treatment of SLL injuries requires intricate understanding of wrist anatomy and biomechanics. Mindful physical exam and appropriate diagnostic studies can orient the surgeon to the defined stage of injury. Review of the literature on each treatment by stage can prepare the upper extremity surgeon to provide the best evidence-based care. The optimal management of SLL injuries should result in a stable, painless wrist.
Targeting EZH2 in acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM).

9534Background: Efforts to identify targeted therapies that can improve treatment outcome in metastatic ALM have been unsuccessful. In a previous genomic screening, we identified copy number amplif...
Anisotropic mechanics and dynamics of a living mammalian cytoplasm

During physiological processes, cells can undergo morphological changes that can result in a significant redistribution of the cytoskeleton causing anisotropic behavior. Evidence of anisotropy in cells under mechanical stimuli exists; however, the role of cytoskeletal restructuring resulting from changes in cell shape in mechanical anisotropy and its effects remain unclear. In the present study, we examine the role of cell morphology in inducing anisotropy in both intracellular mechanics and dynamics. We change the aspect ratio of cells by confining the cell width and measuring the mechanical properties of the cytoplasm using optical tweezers in both the longitudinal and transverse directions to quantify the degree of mechanical anisotropy. These active microrheology measurements are then combined with intracellular movement to calculate the intracellular force spectrum using force spectrum microscopy (FSM), from which the degree of anisotropy in dynamics and force can be quantified. We find that unrestricted cells with aspect ratio (AR) ∼1 are isotropic; however, when cells break symmetry, they exhibit significant anisotropy in cytoplasmic mechanics and dynamics.
Concentrated Factor Administration and Subsequent Stroke Rates on HeartMate II LVAD Support

Purpose Limited data exists regarding concentrated factor administration during continuous flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) implantation and subsequent neurologic events. While the hemocompatability profile of CF pumps are presently changing, this is the largest concentrated factor experience reported in a CF-LVAD population to date. Methods The study cohort consisted of patients with a first time HeartMate II implantation at a single center (n=330). Patients were coded as receiving concentrated factor if prothrombin 4 factor complex or recombinant factor VIIa was charted intra-operatively or within 48 hours of device implantation. Time to first stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic) was recorded using INTERMACS definitions. Multivariate cox regression was used to assess the association between concentrated factor administration and the time to first stroke. Results Eighteen percent of patients (60/330) received concentrated factor intra-operatively or within 48 hours of device implantation. During a median follow up time of 488 days, 47 patients developed a stroke on LVAD support (51% ischemic, 49% hemorrhagic). In the final multivariate models, concentrated factor administration was not significantly associated with all cause stroke (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.32-1.72, p = 0.50), ischemic stroke (HR 1.23, 95% CI 0.43-3.56, p = 0.7), or hemorrhagic stroke (0.39, 95% CI 0.09-1.75, p =0.22). All models were adjusted for age, INTERMACS profile, implant year, ischemic cardiomyopathy diagnosis, diabetes, presence or absence of atrial fibrillation at implantation, and discharge pump speed. Conclusion While there was no statistical association with stroke rates after concentrated factor administration, the hazard ratios suggests a protective effect against hemorrhagic events and a slight increase in ischemic events with factor administration. Larger data will be needed to fully answer this question in the contemporary continuous flow era.
Using Brief Experimental Analysis to Identify the Right Math Intervention at the Right Time

Brief experimental analysis (BEA) is a methodology of rapidly implementing interventions and observing the effect each has on student performance. Extensive research exists demonstrating the utility of BEA in identifying effective reading interventions for students, but comparatively little research exists regarding BEA and mathematics. The current study utilized BEA procedures to identify an intervention targeting skill- or performance-based deficits that would be effective for remediating 4 middle school students’ two-digit by two-digit multiplication skills. Each student had a clearly differentiated intervention identified by BEA as being most effective. Findings from the current study provide evidence for the utility of BEA in matching deficits with mathematics interventions and illustrate their sensitivity to changes in student performance.
Systems-level analysis of isotopic labeling in untargeted metabolomic data by X13CMS.

Identification of previously unreported metabolites (so-called ‘unknowns’) in untargeted metabolomic data has become an increasingly active area of research. Considerably less attention, however, has been dedicated to identifying unknown metabolic pathways. Yet, for each unknown metabolite structure, there is potentially a yet-to-be-discovered chemical transformation. Elucidating these biochemical connections is essential to advancing our knowledge of cellular metabolism and can be achieved by tracking an isotopically labeled precursor to an unexpected product. In addition to their role in mapping metabolic fates, isotopic labels also provide critical insight into pathway dynamics (i.e., metabolic fluxes) that cannot be obtained from conventional label-free metabolomic analyses. When labeling is compared quantitatively between conditions, for example, isotopic tracers can enable relative pathway activities to be inferred. To discover unexpected chemical transformations or unanticipated differences in metabolic pathway activities, we have developed X13CMS, a platform for analyzing liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) data at the systems level. After providing cells, animals, or patients with an isotopically enriched metabolite (e.g., 13C, 15N, or 2H), X13CMS identifies compounds that have incorporated the isotopic tracer and reports the extent of labeling for each. The analysis can be performed with a single condition, or isotopic fates can be compared between multiple conditions. The choice of which metabolite to enrich and which isotopic label to use is highly context dependent, but 13C-glucose and 13C-glutamine are often applied because they feed a large number of metabolic pathways. X13CMS is freely available. X13CMS is used to annotate signals in untargeted, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, metabolomic datasets after samples are labeled with an isotopic tracer. The results provide insight into novel biochemical transformations and metabolic flux.
Fractal: A New Paradigm for High-Performance Proof-of-Stake Blockchains

The phenomenal successes of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have demonstrated the exciting promise of blockchain in powering a new decentralized economy. Yet, the current technologies exhibit many limitations, from the huge energy waste to the unsatisfying performance. In this talk, we will give a brief overview of the celebrated Bitcoin's proof-of-work (PoW) protocol, and, then, Fractal's completely new blockchain design from networking to consensus layers, to deliver the first large-scale, high-performance, and provably-secure proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. Our latest benchmark indicates that our cross-layer design can scale to 10,000+ nodes across the globe, and, under a modest bandwidth limit of 20 Mbps, sustains a stellar throughput of 3,000+ tps. The first part of the talk will focus on our new consensus protocol, called ?iChing", a pure PoS protocol that is much more energy- efficient. On one hand, iChing's design closely mimics Bitcoin, the only blockchain that stands the test of time for being secure, decentralized (scale to 10,000+ nodes), and irreversible. On the other hand,"iChing" through rigorous yet practical cryptographic design, addresses notorious security challenges in PoS such as nothing-at- stake and grinding attacks. The second part of the talk will present "BackPacker" our systematical redesign of peer-to-peer network to make permissionless and anonymous communication in the network more robust and fair. Moreover, "BackPacke" presents a new philosophy in separating application data (e.g. transaction information) from consensus data (order of transactions) to substantially reduce the disparity among the participating nodes. Through rigorous proofs and real-world benchmark, we show that "BackPacker" achieves both optimal block propagation time as well as near-optimal throughput (80% of the network-physical-limit). Finally, we will also discuss Fractal's perspective on important topics including effective governance and building decentralized applications. Some results in this talk are based on my joint work with Thang Dinh, Lei Fan, Jonathan Katz, and Phuc Thai.
Improvements in a Kinetic-Based Model to Predict Evaporation of Gasoline

Abstract Reference collections containing chromatograms of ignitable liquids are widely used in fire debris analysis to aid the identification of any liquid present in the debris. Most reference collections also include chromatograms of ignitable liquids evaporated to different levels to account for chemical changes as a result of evaporation during the fire. Previous work in our laboratory demonstrated the potential of a kinetic-based model to predict chromatograms corresponding to evaporated liquids, thereby eliminating the need for experimental evaporations. Our initial work indicated the need to improve accuracy in predicting chromatograms corresponding to evaporated gasoline, which is the focus in the current work. Three gasoline samples were experimentally evaporated to 50%, 70%, and 90% by mass and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Modifications to the instrument method, including elimination of the solvent delay and subtraction of background interferences, resulted in improved correlation between predicted and experimental chromatograms at each evaporation level. Modification of the method used to calculate the total fraction of the liquid remaining offered further improvement in predictive accuracy across all three evaporation levels. Application of the model to generate a reference collection of predicted chromatograms for gasoline and other ignitable liquids was also demonstrated, with maximum Pearson product-moment correlation (PPMC) coefficients ranging from 0.937 to 0.991 for comparisons of predicted and experimental gasoline. The model improvements reported here provide a method by which predicted chromatograms corresponding to any evaporation level of gasoline can be generated accurately, saving time and resources in generating reference collections for fire debris applications.
0.040 rad(Si)/s total dose testing of Renesas parts proposed for the Europa Clipper mission

We report the results of collaborative total ionizing dose (TID) radiation testing carried out by Renesas Electronics America (‘Renesas’) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (‘JPL’) in support of the Europa Clipper program. The program investigated the TID response of seven Renesas part types as listed in Table 1. The low dose rate of 0.040 rad(Si)/s and the total dose of 300 krad(Si) are specific to the Europa Clipper radiation requirements.