cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Body Mass Index and the Spontaneous Onset of Parturition

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and the onset of parturition throughout gestation. METHODS This was a secondary analysis of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network Preterm Prediction Study. Time-to-spontaneous-birth-event (ie, "survival") methods were used to study the association of BMI with the timing of spontaneous onset of labor throughout gestation with indicated births censored at delivery. A Kaplan-Meier estimate of the probability of spontaneous labor was compared with a log rank test across five categories of BMI (kg/m): underweight (less than 18.5), normal weight (18.5-24.99), preobese (25-29.99), obese I (30-34.99), and obese II+ (35 or greater). A proportional hazards model was estimated to compare time to spontaneous onset of labor adjusted for multiple variables known to be associated with the onset of labor. RESULTS Normal-weight women (n=1,054) had a median delivery gestational age of 39 3/7 weeks. Obese II+ women (n=178) had a median delivery gestational age 5 days later than normal-weight women (P<.001). Delivery gestational age of preobese (n=866) and obese I (n=548) women was not significantly different from normal-weight women. Underweight women (n=41) had a median delivery gestational age 5 days earlier than normal-weight women (P<.001). Compared with women with normal BMIs, obese II+ women were significantly less likely and underweight women significantly more likely to enter spontaneous labor at all gestational ages. In the multivariable model, BMI was significantly associated with spontaneous onset of labor throughout pregnancy (BMI [five-unit] adjusted hazard ratio 0.874, 0.829-0.921). CONCLUSION Body mass index is significantly associated with the likelihood of the spontaneous onset of labor at all gestational ages with gestational age at the time of delivery and BMI being inversely related. This novel observation unifies previous reports focusing on the association of overweight and underweight BMIs and preterm and postterm birth and may inform discussions surrounding elective induction of labor at term.
Asynchronous Task Scheduling of the Fast Multipole Method Using Various Runtime Systems

In this paper, we explore data-driven execution of the adaptive fast multipole method by asynchronously scheduling available computational tasks using Cilk, C++11 standard thread and future libraries, the High Performance ParalleX (HPX-5) library, and OpenMP tasks. By comparing these implementations using various input data sets, this paper examines the runtime system's capability to spawn new task, the capacity of the tasks that can be managed, the performance impact between eager and lazy thread creation for new task, and the effectiveness of the task scheduler and its ability to recognize the critical path of the underlying algorithm.
Persistent Use of Dalfampridine Extended Release on Healthcare Resource Utilization and Cost in Multiple Slerosis: A Claims Database Analysis (P2.188)

Objective: Assess real-world association of dalfampridine extended release (D-ER) treatment with healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs in multiple sclerosis (MS). Background: While clinical and economic benefits of D-ER in patients with MS have been established, there are limited real-world data on the association between D-ER treatment and HRU and costs. Design/Methods: Retrospective analysis was conducted using MarketScan (4/2009-3/2014), a widely used research claims database with >74 million lives in the study period. Patient inclusion requirements were: 1) 12-month continuous private health plan enrollment preceding (“baseline period”) and following (“follow-up period”) first D-ER claim; 2) ≥2 MS diagnosis codes with ≥1 during the baseline period; 3) 18-64 years of age with no alternate gait-impairing etiologies during baseline and follow-up periods; 4) ≥2 consecutive D-ER claims. Patients were separated into 2 cohorts—continuous D-ER users for ≥360 days (persistent users) and D-ER users for <360 days (non-persistent users). Inpatient admissions (all-cause and MS-related) and costs were calculated and compared between the 2 cohorts in the follow-up period using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and regression models controlling for age, gender, MS relapses, Charlson comorbidity index, any disease-modifying therapy use, and other factors. Results: Of 1,598 eligible patients, 719 (45.0[percnt]) were classified as persistent D-ER users and 879 (55.0[percnt]) as non-persistent users. Both cohorts shared similar demographic and clinical characteristics; mean (SD) age of 51.0 (8.4) and 50.6 (8.6) years and 71.3[percnt] and 66.6[percnt] female, respectively. Persistent D-ER use was associated with fewer all-cause inpatient admissions (OR=0.58, P=0.0097) and fewer MS-related inpatient admissions (OR=0.50, P=0.0041). It was also associated with lower inpatient expenditures for all-cause admissions ($669 vs $1,515, P=0.0016) and MS-related admissions ($388 vs $891, P=0.0084). Conclusions: Persistent D-ER use was associated with lower rates of all-cause and MS-related inpatient admissions and costs. Disclosure: Dr. Krieger has received personal compensation for activities with Acorda, Bayer, Biogen, EMD Serono, Genentech, Genzyme, Novartis, Questcor, Takeda, and Teva for consulting and non promotional lectures. Dr. Niyazov has received personal compensation for activities with Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Dendy has received personal compensation for activities with Analysis Group, Inc. Dr. Terasawa has received personal compensation for activities with Analysis Group Inc. Dr. Wu has received personal compensation for activities with Analysis Group, Inc. Dr. Aupperle has received personal compensation for activities with Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Guo has received personal compensation for activities with Acorda Therapeutics as an employee.
ANTIPLATELET THERAPY IN CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE - AN EVOLVING TARGET ? Part 1 : Non ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome

coronary artery disease: The platelet is a mediator of various thrombotic, endothelial and inflammatory processes, and as such, is pivotal in the progression of atherosclerosis. Exposure of platelets to subendothelial collagen and circulating thrombin causes platelet activation which sets entire coagulation cascade into action, culminating in formation of platelet and later fibrin plug. Medical therapies targeting pathways involved in platelet activation and aggregation are fundamental to the treatment of unstable atherosclerotic disease; antiplatelet agents are the mainstay of the treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) because these have been shown to reduce the risk of death, myocardial infarction (MI), and urgent revascularisation. NSTEACS : Epidemiological studies have shown three important recent trends in developing economies – 1) Incidence of NSTEMI is less when compared to that of STEMI1 - albeit some differences do exist in different regions.2 2) Mean age of patients admitted with ACS tend to be lower when compared to that of patients enrolled in registries in Europe and US. 3) Patients with NSTEACS tend to be older and reach hospitals later than those with STEMI 4) Use of highly sensitive markers of myocardial necrosis has shifted the classification of NSTE ACS from unstable angina to NSTEMI
Investigation of Self-Organizing Traffic Signal Control with Graphical Signal Performance Measures

Adaptive signal control is the subject of an increasing amount of research, development, and implementation. Most existing adaptive control systems achieve coordination by applying system control as a constraining layer on top of local control. Some researchers have suggested that, with the right local control logic, coordination might be achieved as a dynamically emergent phenomenon without the need for a management layer. This paper describes how the potential of a self-organizing signal control algorithm was explored with various performance measures. First, the initially reported algorithm performance was reproduced in an idealized environment; next, the algorithm was applied in a realistic road network to compare its performance with that of actuated coordinated control, with and without pedestrian phases. Comparisons were made under (a) the same base volumes used to design the actuated coordinated timing plan and (b) variant volumes. Self-organizing control was found to be more flexible than coordin...
I(nter)dentificación racial: racialización de la salud materna a través del programa Oportunidades y clínicas gubernamentales en México

Using an ethnographic approach, this article examines the role of racialization in health-disease-care processes specifically within the realm of maternal health. It considers the experiences of health care administrators and providers, indigenous midwives and mothers, and recipients of conditional cash transfers through the Oportunidades program in Mexico. By detailing the delivery of trainings of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) [Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social] for indigenous midwives and Oportunidades workshops to indigenous stipend recipients, the article critiques the deployment of "interculturality" in ways that inadvertently re-inscribe inequality. The concept of racial i(nter)dentification is offered as a way of understanding processes of racialization that reinforce discrimination without explicitly referencing race. Racial i(nter)dentification is a tool for analyzing the multiple variables contributing to the immediate mental calculus that occurs during quotidian encounters of difference, which in turn structures how individuals interact during medical encounters. The article demonstrates how unequal sociohistorical and political conditions and differential access to economic resources become determinants of health.
Contaminants of Emerging Concern, With an Emphasis on Nanomaterials and Pharmaceuticals

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) include a diversity of compounds, categorized as “emerging” because they are currently not monitored or regulated. However, these chemicals have the potential to accumulate in the environment and may cause adverse effects to humans or wildlife. Despite their emerging status, we can apply basic toxicological principles to understand their fate, transport, and bioavailability, and new approaches (i.e., adverse outcome pathways) to understand their environmental impacts. This chapter focuses on nanomaterials and pharmaceuticals as case studies to illustrate the challenges associated with CECs. Nanomaterials may have complex macromolecular structures and often display increased reactivity compared with their bulk counterparts. Pharmaceuticals are potent by design and often cause adverse effects to aquatic life at very low concentrations. We propose that by understanding the reasons why some chemicals are CECs, green chemists can play an important role by designing less toxic chemicals with limited persistence and thus reduce the number of CECs in the environment.
Integrating Genomics into Pharmacy Education and Practice: Pharmacogenomics Is Not Enough

Abstract The role of pharmacogenetics or pharmacogenomics in professional practice and the pharmaceutical sciences is expanding rapidly. Necessary competencies in pharmacogenomics encompass much more than a knowledge of specific drugs and the identified genes that play a role in their metabolism disposition or genes that code for therapeutic targets. Driven largely by continuing technological advances, the application of genetic or genomic principles to our understanding of human health has and will continue to revolutionize the nature of health care and the standards of practice for health care providers at all levels and professional settings. Drugs and diagnostics in the post–human genome years will be directed to patient-specific molecular targets, probably more so than to patient-specific genotypes. It will become increasingly difficult to practice contemporary pharmacy and provide satisfactory pharmaceutical care in the future without a fundamental knowledge of genetics and genomics. Pharmacists will need to have a working comprehension of the human genome and pharmacogenomics because most important interprofessional interactions with other health care professionals will involve decisions that will be centered on specific aspects related to the genomics of the individual patient and the genomic characterization of his or her disease. A strong scientific foundation in genomics is essential if pharmacists and student pharmacists are to take a leadership role in the interprofessional care of patients and be enabled to serve as key members of the integrated health care team.
Family Communication About Genetic Risk of Hereditary Cardiomyopathies and Arrhythmias: an Integrative Review

Screening for hereditary cardiomyopathies and arrhythmias (HCA) may enable early detection, treatment, targeted surveillance, and result in effective prevention of debilitating complications and sudden cardiac death. Screening at-risk family members for HCA is conducted through cascade screening. Only half of at-risk family members are screened for HCA. To participate in screening, at-risk family members must be aware of their risk. This often relies on communication from diagnosed individuals to their relatives. However, family communication is not well understood and is ripe for developing interventions to improve screening rates. Until very recently, family communication of genetic risk has been mostly studied in non-cardiac disease. Using this non-cardiac literature, we developed the family communication of genetic risk (FCGR) conceptual framework. The FCGR has four main elements of the communication process: influential factors, communication strategies, communication occurrence, and reaction to communication. Using the FCGR, we conducted an integrated review of the available literature on genetic risk communication in HCA families. Descriptive analysis of 12 articles resulted in the development of categories describing details of the FCGR elements in the context of HCA. This review synthesizes what is known about influential factors, communication strategies, communication occurrence, and outcomes of communication in the context of HCA.
Your Password is Your New PIN

This chapter will describe a method of deriving new PINs from existing passwords. This method is useful for obtaining friction-free user onboarding to mobile platforms. It has significant business benefits for organizations that wish to introduce mobile apps to existing users who already have passwords, but are reluctant to authenticate the users with the existing passwords. From the user’s perspective, a PIN is easier to enter than a password, and a derived PIN does not need to be remembered—assuming the user has a password and can recall it. In addition, even though the PINs are derived from passwords, they do not contain sufficient information to make the passwords easy to infer from compromised PINs. This, along with different transaction limits for PINs and passwords, makes the derived PINs more useful in a situation where users have to enter their PINs in public. We describe real-life password distributions to quantify exactly how much information about the passwords the derived PINs contain, and how much information is lost during the derivation. We also describe experiments with human subjects to qualitatively and quantitatively show that the user-side derivation method is easy to use.
Apoptosis-Inducing Anticancer Drugs in Clinical Trials

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, plays an essential role in controlling cell number in many developmental and physiologic settings as well as in chemotherapy-induced tumor cell killing. It is a genetically regulated biologic process that is regulated by the ratio of proapoptotic proteins over antiapoptotic proteins. Researchers have recently begun using apoptosis inducers in cancer therapy. In a number of studies, attempts have been made to induce apoptosis by triggering the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor and the Bcl-2 family of proteins, caspases, and inhibitors of apoptotic proteins. Most of these agents are still in the preclinical phase of development because of their low efficacy and potential for resistance. However, the results obtained with other agents have been promising. This chapter reviews the development of apoptosis inducing anticancer drugs in clinical trials.
A Community Engagement Advisory Board as a strategy to improve research engagement and build institutional capacity for community-engaged research.

Purpose Community engagement is deemed as critical to the success of the CTSA program. In 2009, to improve research engagement and build capacity for community-engaged research across the translational spectrum, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago created a Community Engagement Advisory Board (CEAB). Here, we report results of our ongoing evaluation efforts. Methods CEAB activities are evaluated using mixed methods. Annual CEAB evaluation surveys were completed from 2010 to 2016 (n=106 respondents). In 2014, two 90-minute focus groups were conducted with a subset of recent CEAB members (n=19). Results Survey data suggest respondents perceive their consultations to be helpful in improving the capacity of researchers (90%) and the quality of research projects (80%). Further, CEAB members perceive themselves to have personally benefitted from their involvement including obtaining new knowledge (84%), expansion of their networks (76%), and forming new community linkages (51%). Results of the qualitative data were consistent with survey data. Conclusions Our CEAB has improved research engagement and developed institutional capacity to conduct community-engaged research in several ways. Our findings can inform the establishment or enhancement of community engagement services for CTSA-affiliated researchers and community partners.
Hot and Cold

A 5-year-old boy presents to the emergency department (ED) with 2 days of fever (temperature 100.7 °F), fatigue, jaundice, and dark urine. The parents note that the child had symptoms of a viral upper respiratory illness 2 weeks before presentation and that he was previously healthy with no history of blood transfusion. In the ED, the child weighs 21.3 kg, and laboratory workup reveals severe anemia with hemoglobin (Hgb) 5.4 g/dL, elevated total bilirubin 5.1 mg/dL, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) 357 U/L (normal range, 8–60 U/L), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) 8126 U/L. Serum haptoglobin is undetectable. Urinalysis results are as follows: color, dark; red blood cells (RBCs), 0–3 per high-power field; and urine Hgb, 3+ positive. Notably, the onset of symptoms (fever, fatigue, jaundice, dark urine) was associated with eating a bowl of ice cream. An ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) anticoagulant type and screen sample is submitted to the blood bank along with a request for RBC transfusion.
Slip of shuffle screw dislocations through tilt grain boundaries in silicon

Abstract In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the interaction between tilt grain boundaries (GBs) and a shuffle screw dislocation in silicon are performed. Results show that dislocations transmit into the neighboring grain for all GBs in silicon. For Σ 3 , Σ 9 and Σ 19 GBs, when a dislocation interacts with a heptagon site, it transmits the GB directly. In contrast, when interacting with a pentagon site, it first cross slips to a plane on the heptagon site and then transmits the GB. The energy barrier is also quantified using the climbing image nudged elastic band (CINEB) method. Results show that Σ 3 GB provides a barrier for dislocation at the same level of the Peierls barrier. For both Σ 9 and Σ 19 GBs, the barrier from the heptagon sites is much larger than the pentagon sites. Since the energy barrier for crossing all the GBs at the heptagon sites is only slightly larger than the Peierls barrier, perfect screw dislocations cannot pile up against these GBs. Furthermore, the critical shear stress averaged over the whole sample for the transmission through the Σ 9 and Σ 19 GBs is almost twice on heptagon site for initially equilibrium dislocation comparing with dislocations moving at a constant velocity.
Effects of platelet-rich plasmapheresis during cardiovascular surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials.

Abstract Objective This study aimed to explore the effects of platelet-rich plasmapheresis (PRP) on the amount of postoperative blood loss and the requirements for allogeneic fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions during cardiovascular surgery. Methods A literature search of 7 online databases was conducted. Randomized control trials (RCT) comparing intraoperative PRP or appropriate control groups were considered suitable for this current study. Results Fifteen RCTs enrolling a total of 1002 patients, including 501 patients who received PRP and 501 control patients. Meta-analysis of the data from these trials showed that PRP reduced the total volume of postoperative blood loss (standardized mean difference [SMD], −0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], −1.18 to −0.31; P Conclusion Conducting PRP before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and transfusing autologous platelet-rich plasma (aPRP) after reversal of heparin could reduce postoperative blood loss, the requirements for blood products transfusion during cardiovascular surgery. A higher mean platelet count in aPRP may improve the final outcome. However, there was a high degree of undetermined heterogeneity among the analyzed trials, and larger and more precise RCTs are needed to confirm these conclusions.
Resonance Raman Study of the T1 Excited State of Zinc(II) Complexes of β-Substituted Chlorins

Nanosecond time-resolved transient absorption (TA) and time-resolved resonance Raman (TR3) spectroscopies have been used to study the first triplet excited state, T1, of Zn(II) octaethylchlorin (ZnOEC). Additionally, TR3 spectra are reported for Zn(II) etiochlorin I (ZnEtI) and the meso-d4 and 15N isotopomers of ZnOEC. Formation of the T1 state in ZnOEC results in a red shift of the Soret absorption band from 400 to 421 nm. Features in the resonance Raman spectra of the ground and T1 states are assigned on the basis of the isotope shift patterns and of normal coordinate analyses of MOECs. Bands at 1464 and 1597 cm-1 in the T1 spectrum are assigned to CαCm stretching modes, ν3 and ν10 respectively, downshifted by 21 and 19 cm-1 from their ground state frequencies. The only observed CβCβ stretching mode seen in the T1 spectrum is at 1542 cm-1 and is assigned to ν2, downshifted from 1571 cm-1 in the ground state. The CαN and CαCβ stretching modes located in the 1350−1400 cm-1 region of the ground state downs...
Long-Term Hydroclimatic Patterns in the Truckee-Carson Basin of the Eastern Sierra Nevada, USA

Haury Visiting Scholar Fellowship from the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona in Tucson; NSF EAR-Hydrological Sciences Award [1445895]
CHAPTER 4 – Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on on the exponential and logarithmic functions. Functions of the form f(x) = ax are called exponential functions. The variable x appears as an exponent on some base a. However, the base a must be positive (a > 0) and not equal to one (a ≠ 1). A function f(x) = ax is increasing if a > 1 and decreasing if 0 1 and decreasing if 0 0 and a ≠ 1. This is exactly the same restriction that the base a has in the exponential function y = ax. The logarithmic function y = log ax and y = ax suggests that if a is raised to the power y, the final output will be x.
Oxalate-fluoride anion exchange in alpine tundra soil: Impact on aluminium transport

Anion exchange between ubiquitous low‐molecular‐weight organic acids (LMWOA), such as oxalate, and surface‐retained inorganic anions, such as F⁻, SO₄²⁻ and OH⁻, can play a critical role in Al bioavailability and transport in acidic alpine tundra soil. A series of batch equilibration and composite soil column leaching studies were conducted to examine anion exchange reactions between F⁻, oxalate and OH⁻, and the impact of increased soil solution F⁻ concentration on Al transport. The addition of either F⁻ or oxalate to soil suspensions resulted in significantly higher solution pH, suggesting F⁻ and oxalate exchange with surface –OH groups. Distinct stages of OH⁻ release were observed for all soil horizons leached with 1.32 × 10⁻³ mol l⁻¹ F⁻, with OH⁻ release decreasing in the order O/A1 ~ A2> > Bw. A similar OH⁻ release pattern was observed in the O/A1 horizon for the 7.81 × 10⁻⁴ mol l⁻¹ oxalate treatment, suggesting that both F⁻ and oxalate may be competing for common exchange sites in the O/A1 horizon. Fluoride displacement by oxalate, in batch equilibration experiments, was observed for both the 2.84 × 10⁻⁴ mol l⁻¹ and 7.81 × 10⁻⁴ mol l⁻¹ oxalate treatment. Individual soil horizons leached with 7.81 × 10⁻⁴ mol l⁻¹ oxalate exhibited increased F⁻ leaching in the order O/A1 > A2 ~ Bw, with pulsed F⁻ movement being observed in the O/A1 horizon. Soil columns eluted with 1.32 × 10⁻³ mol l⁻¹ F⁻ exhibited increased Al solubilization and transport, with Al leaching increasing in the order Bw > A2 > O/A1. Sequential leaching of soil columns in the order D. I. H₂O → 1.32 × 10⁻³ mol l⁻¹ F⁻ → D.I. H₂O → 7.81 × 10⁻⁴ mol l⁻¹ oxalate indicated that previously adsorbed F⁻ was displaced by oxalate. Displacement of F⁻ by oxalate increased in the order O/A1 > A2 > Bw. Hydroxyl displacement by both F⁻ and oxalate may be an important source of acid neutralization in a soil wetting front, affecting Al speciation and transport. HIGHLIGHTS: Oxalate and F⁻ compete for similar OH⁻ exchange sites, increasing soil pH. Adsorbed F⁻ can be displaced by oxalate anions. Al solubilization increases with F⁻ adsorption in alpine tundra soil. Aluminium fluoride speciation changes rapidly within the soil wetting front. Anion exchange reactions should be considered in assessing soil ANC.
Symptomatology and neurocognition among first-episode psychosis patients with and without cannabis use in the three months prior to first hospitalization.

Abstract Objective The nature of associations between recent cannabis use and negative symptoms, positive symptoms, and neurocognitive deficits remains unclear. In a relatively large sample of well-characterized patients with first-episode psychosis, we hypothesized that, compared to first-episode patients without cannabis use in the three months prior to first hospitalization, those having used cannabis would have lesser negative symptoms, greater positive symptoms, and no differences in cognitive functioning. Dose-response relationships were also examined. Methods Between 2008 and 2013, 247 first-episode psychosis patients were assessed during their hospitalization at one of six participating inpatient psychiatric units. Measures included the Longitudinal Substance Use Recall for 12 Weeks instrument, the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Results Anhedonia-asociality was significantly lower among those using cannabis in the past three months (10.7±4.6 v. 12.1±4.4, p=.023). Delusions were more severe among those having used cannabis (19.3±8.4 v. 15.9±9.1, p=.005), as was bizarre behavior (p=.01). There were no significant differences between those using and not using cannabis across nine MCCB measures. Correlations between the “dose” of cannabis and all of these measures were not significant. Conclusions Compared to those without cannabis use, those who use cannabis in recent months have lesser anhedonia-asociality, greater delusion and bizarre behavior severity, and no significant differences in neurocognition. Such characterizations could shed light on subgroups of individuals with first-episode psychosis, as well as risk factors for cannabis use in the early course of these disorders.
Diminished Efficacy of Programmed Death-(Ligand)1 Inhibition in STK11- and KEAP1-Mutant Lung Adenocarcinoma Is Affected by KRAS Mutation Status.

Abstract Introduction STK11 and KEAP1 mutations (STK11 mutant [STK11MUT] and KEAP1MUT) are among the most often mutated genes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Although STK11MUT has been associated with resistance to programmed death-(ligand)1 (PD-[L]1) inhibition in KRASMUT LUAD, its impact on immunotherapy efficacy in KRAS wild-type (KRASWT) LUAD is currently unknown. Whether KEAP1MUT differentially affects outcomes to PD-(L)1 inhibition in KRASMUT and KRASWT LUAD is also unknown. Methods Clinicopathologic and genomic data were collected from September 2013 to September 2020 from patients with advanced LUAD at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Massachusetts General Hospital cohort and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center/MD Anderson Cancer Center cohort. Clinical outcomes to PD-(L)1 inhibition were analyzed according to KRAS, STK11, and KEAP1 mutation status in two independent cohorts. The Cancer Genome Atlas transcriptomic data were interrogated to identify differences in tumor gene expression and tumor immune cell subsets, respectively, according to KRAS/STK11 and KRAS/KEAP1 comutation status. Results In the combined cohort (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Massachusetts General Hospital + Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center/MD Anderson Cancer Center) of 1261 patients (median age = 61 y [range: 22–92], 708 women [56.1%], 1065 smokers [84.4%]), KRAS mutations were detected in 536 cases (42.5%), and deleterious STK11 and KEAP1 mutations were found in 20.6% (260 of 1261) and 19.2% (231 of 1202) of assessable cases, respectively. In each independent cohort and in the combined cohort, STK11 and KEAP1 mutations were associated with significantly worse progression-free (STK11 hazard ratio [HR] = 2.04, p Conclusions STK11 and KEAP1 mutations confer worse outcomes to immunotherapy among patients with KRASMUT but not among KRASWT LUAD. Tumors harboring concurrent KRAS/STK11 and KRAS/KEAP1 mutations display distinct immune profiles in terms of gene expression and immune cell infiltration.
Seeing Red: Mars Mania and the Real Mars

This paper presents a general overview of the descriptions of Mars during the 19th century compared to observations of Mars made in the 21st century.
On the integration of grounding language and learning objects

This paper presents a multimodal learning system that can ground spoken names of objects in their physical referents and learn to recognize those objects simultaneously from naturally co-occurring multisensory input. There are two technical problems involved: (1) the correspondence problem in symbol grounding - how to associate words (symbols) with their perceptually grounded meanings from multiple cooccurrences between words and objects in the physical environment. (2) object learning - how to recognize and categorize visual objects. We argue that those two problems can be fundamentally simplified by considering them in a general system and incorporating the spatio-temporal and cross-modal constraints of multimodal data. The system collects egocentric data including image sequences as well as speech while users perform natural tasks. It is able to automatically infer the meanings of object names from vision, and categorize objects based on teaching signals potentially encoded in speech. The experimental results reported in this paper reveal the effectiveness of using multimodal data and integrating heterogeneous techniques in machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision.
Molecular basis of thyroid hormone regulation of myelin basic protein gene expression in rodent brain.

Regulation of myelin basic protein (MBP) gene expression by thyroid hormone has been investigated in rodent brain. Quantitation of the 4 major alternatively spliced transcripts by RNase protection assay showed that the individual mRNAs, corresponding to MBP isoforms 21.5, 18.5, 17, and 14 kDa, were decreased from 2- to 17-fold at all ages studied (4-60 days) in hypothyroid animals when compared to euthyroid, but the timing of onset of expression was not altered. MBP mRNA was also reduced in young adult rats thyroidectomized at the age of 5-6 weeks and was restored to normal by thyroxine administration. Nuclear run-off assays showed that the rate of MBP gene transcription is dependent on thyroid state. Co-transfection of MBP (-256/+1)-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase chimeric gene with a plasmid expressing thyroid hormone receptor alpha, and in the presence of 3,5,3‘-triiodothyronine, into NIH3T3 or NG108-15, increased chloramphenicol acetyltransferase expression 4-fold. Using a footprinting technique and Spodoptera frugiperda 9 (Sf9) nuclear extract infected with baculovirus expressing TR alpha, we have identified a single DNA-binding site (-186/-163) for the receptor. A part of this region contains the AGGACA sequence found in thyroid hormone-responsive elements of other 3,5,3‘-triiodothyronine-regulated genes. Our finding of a specific hormone-receptor interaction with the MBP promoter region is the first direct demonstration of a thyroid hormone-responsive element in a brain-specific gene.
Heavy Electron Superconductivity: From 1K to 90K to ?

Heavy electron systems are intermetallic compounds containing elements with unfilled f-electron shells, such as U or Ce, which at room temperature and above behave like a weakly interacting collection of f-electron moments and conduction electrons with ordinary masses, while at low temperatures the conduction electron specific heat becomes typically some hundred times larger than that found in most metals. (1) These highly correlated low temperature states display remarkable behavior whether the system remains normal down to the lowest temperature measured, becomes antiferromagnetic, or becomes superconducting. While in ordinary metallic superconductors a dilute concentration of magnetic impurities destroys superconductivity, in heavy electron systems superconductivity and antiferromagnetism can coexist; a transition to either ordered state may be followed by a second transition to a phase containing both states. Thus in both UPt3 and URu2Si2 one finds on lowering the temperature that an antiferromagnetic transition is followed by a transition to the superconducting state, while in U0.97 Th0.03 Be13 order of the transitions is reversed.
Radiative forcing by light absorbing impurities in snow from MODIS surface reflectance data

[1] The episodic deposition of dust and carbonaceous particles to snow decreases snow surface albedo and enhances absorption of solar radiation, leading to accelerated snowmelt, negative glacier mass balance, and the snow-albedo feedback. Until now, no remote sensing retrieval has captured the spatial and temporal variability of this forcing. Here we present the MODIS Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow (MODDRFS) model that retrieves surface radiative forcing by light absorbing impurities in snow cover from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance data. Validation of MODDRFS with a 7-year record of in situ measurements indicates the radiative forcing retrieval has positive bias at lower values and slight negative bias above 200 W m−2, subject to mixed pixel uncertainties. With bias-correction, MODDRFS has a root mean squared error of 32 W m−2 and mean absolute error of 25 W m−2. We demonstrate MODDRFS in the Upper Colorado River Basin and Hindu Kush-Himalaya.
Effects of Interactive Multimedia Training on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy of Social Work Students:

ObjectiveBuilding Family Foundations (BFF), an interactive multimedia (1M) training curriculum for child welfare workers, and its use with baccalaureate social work students is described. Students’...
Chapter 8 – Pioneering Versus Pedagogy

Pedagogy is a cornerstone of professionalism. A profession implies a corpus of specialized knowledge, which although nonproprietary, is not usually acquired autodidactically The knowledge possessed by doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other professionals is public knowledge, in the sense that anyone can go to a decent library and read what they want to. Their experience is less nonproprietary, for that is mostly acquired after graduating from an accredited degree program of specialized higher education, which entitles one to the privilege of serving an internship, a residency, an apprenticeship, or the equivalent transitional period during which one learns, under supervision from seasoned professionals, how to apply the knowledge. Even at an early stage of characterizing professions, one has invoked a political dimension, for a professional is not an isolated individual practicing in a vacuum; rather, a member of a professional association that (among other things) liaises with governments to recognize and regulate the criteria of a given professional practice.
Specific Agrin Isoforms Induce cAMP Response Element Binding Protein Phosphorylation in Hippocampal Neurons

The synaptic basal lamina protein agrin is essential for the formation of neuromuscular junctions. Agrin mediates the postsynaptic clustering of acetylcholine receptors and regulates transcription in muscles. Agrin expression is not restricted to motor neurons but can be demonstrated throughout the CNS. The functional significance of agrin expression in neurons other than motor neurons is unknown. To test whether agrin triggers responses in neurons that lead to the activation of transcription factors, we have analyzed phosphorylation of the transcriptional regulatory site serine 133 of the transcription factor CREB (cAMP response element binding protein) in primary hippocampal neurons. Our results indicate that the neuronal (Ag4,8), but not the non-neuronal (Ag0,0), isoform of agrin induces CREB phosphorylation in hippocampal neurons. The kinetics of agrin- and BDNF-induced CREB phosphorylation are similar: peak levels are reached in minutes and are strongly reduced 2 hr later. Neuronal responses to agrin require extracellular calcium, and, in contrast to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the specific inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) does not affect agrin-evoked CREB phosphorylation. Our results show that hippocampal neurons specifically respond to neuronal agrin in a Ca2+-dependent manner and via the activation of tyrosine kinases.
Consequences of heteromeric interactions among helix-loop-helix proteins.

DNA-binding proteins can be grouped according to the structural motifs that mediate their interactions with DNA. Thus far, several such motifs have been identified; these include the helix-turn-helix, the homeobox, the POU domain, the zinc finger, the basic-leucine zipper, and the basic-helix-loop-helix (1). In addition to providing a certain administrative convenience-there are presumably hundreds of DNA-binding proteins-such groupings can often provide insights into a protein’s function and regulation. This review will focus on HLH2 proteins and describe several examples that illustrate the relationships between structure and function within this protein family.
Determinantal point processes

We present a list of algebraic, combinatorial, and analytic mechanisms that give rise to determinantal point processes.
Use of gadolinium chelate to confirm epidural needle placement in patients with an iodinated contrast reaction.

Objective When performing epidural steroid injections for the management of chronic back pain, imaging guidance and a limited epidurogram improve accuracy of needle placement and ensure appropriate delivery of the injectate into the epidural space. We describe our experience using a gadolinium chelate as an alternative contrast agent for limited epidurography in patients with a history of an iodinated contrast reaction.
Machining processes for sapphire wafers: a literature review

Sapphire wafers are widely used as the substrates for fabricating GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The quality of LEDs depends directly on the quality of the sapphire wafers. A series of machining...
On What Actually Is

The actually-operator, understood as a rigidifier, has been employed for a range of purposes in natural language semantics. In this article I argue that the properties of the operator do not correspond to any feature of natural language or feature natural language users have access to. Nor is it needed to provide a formal representation of natural language sentences—the examples usually provided to illustrate the indispensability of the operator are much more plausibly interpreted using plural quantifiers. This lack of connection to natural language is a serious worry for accounts that appeal to rigidifying operations to explain natural language phenomena, as well as a challenge to theories that appeal to the operator to capture the difference between different kinds of necessity expressed in natural language.
Aerobic metabolism of the anglerfish Melanocetus johnsoni, a deep-pelagic marine sit-and-wait predator

Abstract Melanocetus johnsoni (Teleostei:Melanocetidae), a bathypelagic marine sit-and-wait predatory fish captured off Hawaii, has an average aerobic metabolism of 0.486 μmol OZ g −1 h',a rate much lower than that of more active species from similar depths but similar to that of other sit-and-wait predators. Larger individuals have a lower mass-specific metabolic rate than do small ones (the slope of the allometric relationship between wet mass and mass-specific metabolism is -0.46). This species, a resident of the oxygen minimum layer, is capable of regulating its oxygen consumption down to the lowest oxygen pressures encountered in its environment off Hawaii, and can also survive for hours under severely hypoxic or anaerobic conditions.
Gaze step distributions reflect fixations and saccades: a comment on.

Abstract In three experimental tasks Stephen and Mirman (2010) measured gaze steps, the distance in pixels between gaze positions on successive samples from an eyetracker. They argued that the distribution of gaze steps is best fit by the lognormal distribution, and based on this analysis they concluded that interactive cognitive processes underlie eye movement control in these tasks. The present comment argues that the gaze step distribution is predictable based on the fact that the eyes alternate between a fixation state in which gaze is steady and a saccade state in which gaze position changes rapidly. By fitting a simple mixture model to Stephen and Mirman’s gaze step data we reveal a fixation distribution and a saccade distribution. This mixture model captures the shape of the gaze step distribution in detail, unlike the lognormal model, and provides a better quantitative fit to the data. We conclude that the gaze step distribution does not directly suggest processing interaction, and we emphasize some important limits on the utility of fitting theoretical distributions to data.
Transient Coupling of Launch Vehicle Bending Responses with Aerodynamic Flow State Variations

Current analytic formulations for the self-sustained coupling of launch vehicle bending responses with aerodynamic e ow statevariations are restricted to prediction of the limit cycle state and associated stiffness and damping values. The theory is extended to include evolution of the structural response during transonic e ight to the limit cycle state. The method of multiple scales is used to analyze the nonlinear equation of motion. The resulting analytic expressions agree well with histories from a rigorous numerical solution for the idealized force ‐response coupling relationship. Itis shown that the transientresponseforlaunchvehicleaeroelastic coupling depends on the initial conditions, the structural frequency and damping, and the time lag associated with e ow state changes. It is also shown that the maximum response during the transonic regime can be signie cantly smaller than that for the limit cycle state, depending on the combination of these variables. In particular, the short time period that launch vehicles typically spend in the transonic regime precludes convergence of the bending mode response to the limit cycle state when the structural frequency and damping are low. The structure of the solution space is described, and it is shown that a subcritical Hopf bifurcation exists when the e ow state changes at 0 deg.
Cooperative relaxations in amorphous polymers studied by thermally stimulated current depolarization

Abstract Thermally stimulated current depolarization (t.s.c.) was used to study the relaxations in amorphous polymers including poly (ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA), poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC) and polyarylate (PAR) over temperature ranges covering the β and α (glass transition) regions. A.c. dielectric was used to obtain activation energies (Ea) for PS and PC to verify the accuracy of those values determined by the t.s.c. thermal sampling method. At temperatures below the glass transition (Tg) the values of Ea were found to agree with those predicted using an activated states equation with a zero activation entropy. This is evidence of the localized, non-cooperative nature of the low temperature secondary β relaxations which are found to be characterized by a continuous variation of activation energies as a function of temperature. The measured values of Ea depart from the zero activation entropy curve and exhibit a prominent maximum at Tg. This behaviour is known to be due to an enhanced degree of cooperativity of segmental relaxations near Tg. The results indicate that the main advantage of the thermal sampling method is the high sensitivity and high temperature resolution for cooperative relaxations. For the polymers studied here, only PEMA and PMMA show a substantial population of cooperative relaxations more than 60°C below Tg. This is tentatively explained in terms of structural heterogeneity due to variable tacticity in the methacrylates. Compensation of the t.s.c. relaxation spectra plotted in Arrhenius or Eyring plots was found for all polymers to differing degrees. Some discussion of compensation is made in terms of independently measured values of the coefficient of thermal expansion.
Analysis of stresses in GaAs waveguides integrated with ZnO thin films

Thin-film induced stress has been investigated on GaAs mesa structures integrated with ZnO films. ZnO films were sputter deposited on GaAs with a SiO2 thin buffer layer. Stress on the cleaved facet of the GaAs mesa was imaged with a spatially-resolved and polarization- resolved photoluminescence technique. The result shows that the GaAs mesa is stressed up to 1 by 109 dyn/cm2 (10-3 strain) due to a residual compressive stress from the deposited films. A finite element analysis was also carried out to calculate the stress distribution. The simulation result shows a good agreement with the experimental result. As an application of the thin-film induced stress, we propose a new waveguide structure, in which vertical confinement of light is obtained via a photoelastic effect while lateral confinement is made by a mesa structure. A numerical analysis shows that the proposed waveguide structure can support vertical modes with the amount of thin-film induced stress observed in this work. The proposed structure can be fabricated on bulk semiconductor substrates without requiring any separate cladding layers for vertical confinement of light. The proposed structure, therefore, is promising for low propagation loss, 2-dimensional waveguides that can be formed with a simple and economical method.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.