cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The True Test: Alternative Safer Designs for Drugs and Medical Devices in a Patent-Constrained Market

In section 6(c) of the Products Liability Restatement, Professors James Henderson and Aaron Twerski, the American Law Institute (ALI) reporters, rejected the ordinary test of product design defect (the section 2(b) reasonable alternative design test) for prescription drugs and medical devices. For such medical products the ALI rule enunciates a manufacturer-protective standard, declaring that under it liability would only rarely be imposed. A product is defective under section 6(c) only if it provides no net benefit for any foreseeable class of patients. The rule was challenged in an earlier article by Professor Conk. The first state court of last resort to confront the issue, the Nebraska Supreme Court, overturned precedent and rejected the Restatement rule. This Article discusses the issue of the character of the proofs of design defect, which the Nebraska court indicated it will address in the future. In a rebuttal the Reporters have embraced an alternative safer design test for drugs. But they would limit the test to comparison with FDA-approved products actually available on the market at the time of sale of the challenged product. The Reporters' saving construction is welcomed. But Conk finds the Reporters' new reading to be an unconvincing exegesis, if nonetheless a small step forward. The Reporters assert that courts are incompetent to judge drug product design defect claims because they would have to replicate at trial the complex FDA approval process in order to pass upon a plaintiff's alternative safer design. This is a much greater burden than that for all other classes of products - for which no prototype need be produced, nor an alternative be shown to be on the market. The new reading of section 6(c) is still inadequate. The problem of showing the existence of an alternative safer design in a patent-monopolized market is discussed. Conk argues that in patent-monopolized markets the burden on the plain-tiff to produce an alternative design should be lighter than in robust markets open to competition. In more open markets the absence of a safer product on the market may carry greater evidentiary weight on the issues of the feasibility and practicality of the plaintiff's proposed alternative design. Three drugs for which liability could be found under the alternative safer design test of section 2(b), but would be excused under the manufacturer-protective test of section 6(c), are discussed - the anti-acne drug Accutane, unpasteurized Anti-hemophilic Factor concentrate (AHF), and Sabin live-virus oral polio vaccine. Finally, pointing to medical devices like IUD's and tampons, and the fact that mechanical devices are more amenable to alternative safer design analysis than are drugs, the Article discusses the final fatal flaw of section 6(c) - its treatment of both drugs and devices by the same manufacturer - deferential standard of liability.
Electrophoretic Patterns of Concentrated Cerebrospinal Fluid.

SummaryThe electrophoretic pattern of the cerebrospinal fluid proteins resembles that of the plasma. Alterations in the composition of the serum proteins produce similar changes in the spinal fluid patterns. Colloidal gold activity in pathological fluids is associated with the gamma globulin.
PathCutter: Severing the Self-Propagation Path of XSS JavaScript Worms in Social Web Networks.

Worms exploiting JavaScript XSS vulnerabilities rampantly infect millions of web pages, while drawing the ire of helpless users. To date, users across all the popular social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and Twitter, have been vulnerable to XSS worms. We propose PathCutter as a new approach to severing the self-propagation path of JavaScript worms. PathCutter works by blocking two critical steps in the propagation path of an XSS worm: (i) DOM access to different views at the client side and (ii) unauthorized HTTP request to the server. As a result, although an XSS vulnerability is successfully exercised at the client, the XSS worm is prevented from successfully propagating to the would-be victim’s own social network page. PathCutter is effective against all the current forms of XSS worms, including those that exploit traditional XSS, DOM-based XSS, and content sniffing XSS vulnerabilities. We present and evaluate both a server-side and proxyside deployment of PathCutter. We implement PathCutter on WordPress and Elgg and demonstrate its resilience against two proof-of-concept attacks. We also evaluate the PathCutter implementation on five real-world worms: Boonana, MySpace Samy, Renren, SpaceFlash, and the Yamanner worm. We show that although the worms themselves exploit different vulnerabilities, at either the client side or server side, they are successfully thwarted by PathCutter as it is vulnerability agnostic and blocks the propagation path of the infection. Our performance evaluation shows that rendering overhead of PathCutter is less than 4%, and memory overhead for one additional view is less than 1%.
Weight loss and metabolic changes of morbidly obese patients after gastric partitioning operation.

UNLABELLED Weight loss, alterations in basal metabolic rate, and utilization of body fat, carbohydrate, and protein substrates were studied in nine patients before operation and 3 and 12 months after gastric partitioning operation for morbid obesity. Respiratory oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide excretion measurements were taken three consecutive mornings by the open circuit-Scholander technique. Measurements of urine urea nitrogen were made from 24-hour urine collections. Basal metabolic rate and utilization of fat, carbohydrate, and protein were calculated in kilocalories per minute by indirect calorimetry. Initial body weight was 124.5 +/- 19.0 kg (mean +/- SD). The weight losses between measurements at months 0 and 3 and at months 3 and 12 were 20.8 +/- 4.6 kg and 2.7 +/- 8.4 kg, respectively. Total weight loss between months 0 and 12 was 23.5 +/- 8.3 kg (19.3% +/- 7.4%). At 3 months the fraction of basal metabolic rate contributed by carbohydrate (p less than 0.05) and protein (p less than 0.01) utilization decreased significantly, while that contributed by fat increased (p less than 0.05). Between months 0 and 12 there was no significant difference in protein or carbohydrate utilization, but fat utilization increased (p less than 0.10). CONCLUSIONS Gastric partitioning operation resulted in an initial rapid body weight loss over 3 months with a sustained reduction over 1 year; there was a metabolic utilization shift to fat with carbohydrate and protein sparing; no metabolic parameter was predictive of weight loss; and temporally, the rapid weight loss was paralleled by a significant metabolic utilization shift, and the sustained loss was paralleled by a stabilization of this shift.
Measurement of Severity of Injury After Articular Fracture and Correlation with Post-Traumatic Arthritis Development

The severity of the initial injury to the articular surface and the supporting bone and surrounding soft tissue envelope is one of the most important factors in determining patient outcome after articular fractures. Injury severity strongly influences clinical decision-making during treatment and is an important predictor of patient outcome months and years after injury. Injury severity is often assessed on plain radiographs by casually labeling fractures as “high” or “low” energy, but energy is a mechanical entity that can be formally quantified. The CT-based methods described in this chapter make it possible to supplement these qualitative terms used to describe fracture severity with objectively measured quantities. CT-based fracture severity metrics have been shown to correlate with the opinions of experienced clinicians. For distal tibia fractures there appears to be a threshold for fracture severity, above which PTOA is much more likely to develop. Objectively quantifying acute fracture severity holds promise to improve clinical research by identifying who is at risk for PTOA development and set the stage for meaningful trials of new biologic agents to preserve articular surfaces. It will also improve patient care by guiding treatment and providing risk stratification and determining prognosis.
Epilepsy, Invasive Monitoring for

Depth electrodes and subdural grid electrodes are invasive monitoring techniques used to localize accurately the source of seizures in highly selected patients. These techniques are used in patients with medically refractory focal-onset epilepsy, who do not have clearly localized areas of seizure onset as determined by noninvasive scalp electroencephalography or imaging studies. After a careful evaluation of all noninvasive studies and before pursuing invasive monitoring, clinicians and patients must carefully weigh the small but definite surgical risks of these invasive techniques against the benefit of a potential surgical cure of epilepsy.
The War and I: A Comic Opera in Six Acts

Long before September of 1939, the shadow of the war had begun to stretch across Europe. Some, not without a certain fascination with the prospect, considered it inevitable; others did not think it impossible that the tempest would be averted at the last minute. My sister was among those who saw the impending war as the worst of all possible evils. Although she had never propagated or espoused the illusions of dyed-in-the-wool pacifists, she later came to repent bitterly for her original position. As for me, I tried my best to believe in a simplistic syllogism: “If England goes to war,” I said, “then whatever happens, she will lose India; she will never accept the idea of losing India; therefore she will not go to war; therefore there will be no war.” The prospects suggested by this reasoning were hardly more reassuring than the war itself, but they seemed in the long run to afford a bit more slack to humanity in this time of crisis, and I believe my sister shared this point of view.
Optical Performance Of The Gemini Carbon Dioxide Laser Fusion System

The performance of the Gemini two beam carbon dioxide laser fusion system was recently upgraded by installation of optical components with improved quality in the final amplifier. A theoretical analysis was conducted in conlunction with measurements of the new performance. The analysis and experimental procedures, and results obtained are reported and compared. Good agreement was found which was within the uncertainties of the analysis and the inaccuracies of the experiments. The focal spot Strehl ratio was between 0.24 and 0.3 for both beams.© (1980) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Transient analysis and simulation of large-scale photovoltaic (PV) energy system integration into the distribution grid

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is the fastest growing segment of distributed generation technologies. In addition, the need for reliable, stable and quality power is on the rise. Large-scale PV power connected to the grid contributes to the safe operation of the grid to bring new challenges in GCC. This study focuses on future large-scale PV energy system integration into the GCC power grid to address its energy security and environmental challenges. A new simulation model is developed to analyze and investigate the impact of integrating large-scale solar PV facilities into the distribution grid, and to carry out transient stability analysis.
Chapter 6 – Temperature

Stream temperature has direct and indirect effects on stream ecology and is critical in determining both abiotic and biotic system responses across a hierarchy of spatial and temporal scales. Temperature variation is primarily driven by solar radiation, while landscape topography, geology, and stream reach processes across ecosystem scales contribute to local variability. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity in freshwater ecosystems influences habitat distributions, physiological functions, and phenology of all aquatic organisms. In this chapter, we provide an overview of methods for monitoring stream temperature, characterization of thermal profiles, and modeling approaches to stream temperature prediction. Recent advances in temperature monitoring allow more comprehensive studies of the underlying processes influencing annual variation of temperatures and how thermal variability may impact aquatic organisms at individual-, population-, and community-based scales. Likewise, the development of spatially explicit predictive models provides a framework for simulating natural and anthropogenic effects on thermal regimes, which is integral for the sustainable management of freshwater systems.
Expression of CD126 (IL-R alpha) on Plasma Cells in Monoclonal Gammopathies.

Abstract Background: IL-6 is important for proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis in malignant plasma cells. Understanding the role of IL-6 receptor alpha chain (CD126) in the pathogenesis of plasma cell disorders may help in developing future treatment therapies for these diseases. A previous study has shown that CD126 (alpha subunit of IL-6 receptor) is expressed distinctly in myeloma, monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance (MGUS), and plasmacytomas when compared to normal. We performed this study in order to confirm and describe the expression of CD126 in different plasma cell disorders. Design and Methods: Using flow cytometry we assessed CD126 expression on clonal plasma cells from patients with Primary Amyloidosis (n=7), monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) (n=13), smoldering Myeloma (SMM) (n=19) and active Myeloma (n=22), as well as normal plasma cells (n=9). Plasma cells were identified by their characteristic CD38/45 expression. The expression of CD126 was separately analyzed on the CD45 positive and negative plasma cells. CD 126 expression was considered significant when more than 20% of the cells had expression. Results: CD126 expression was seen distinctly in plasma cell disorder plasma cells and not in normal plasma cells when all plasma cells were studied together. The highest expression percentages were found in Amyloid (28%) followed closely by MGUS 29(%), then SMM (23%), and Myeloma (12%) cells. The CD45 neg subset was similarly positive in the plasma cell disorder group. In this group, MGUS showed the highest expression percentage followed distantly by Amyloid, Myeloma, and SMM. The CD45 pos subset was uniformly positive in expression of CD126. If was found that this subset expressed higher levels of CD126 in all the studied plasma cell disorders and normal plasma cells when compared to the CD45 neg subset. Conclusion: The findings of this study confirm the increased expression of CD126 in plasma cell disorders when compared to normal plasma cells. The higher expression of CD126 in the CD45 pos plasma cell subset has not been previously described. In addition, the CD45 pos subset expressed higher levels of CD126 in all study groups when compared to the CD45 pos subset. This data contributes to the understanding of IL-6 receptor physiology and confirms the important role of the CD45 pos subset in the proliferation of neoplastic plasma cells. The findings are in accordance with the increased proliferative rates seen in the CD45 fraction of malignant plasma cells.
Within and between person associations of calibration and achievement

Abstract Self-regulated learning (SRL), the ability to set goals and monitor and control progress toward these goals, is an important part of a positive mathematical disposition. Within SRL, accurate metacognitive monitoring is necessary to drive control processes. Students who display this accuracy are said to be calibrated, and although calibration is a growing area of research within Educational Psychology, unanswered questions remain about calibration's role as an aspect of metacognition, including the unique association between calibration and academic performance. In this study, calibration is characterized as part of a dynamic system that varies across tasks within the same person; variance in calibration is associated with variance in performance gain for the same student across tasks (quizzes within a year-long mathematics curriculum, ST Math). Both accurate determinations of certainty (Sensitivity) and uncertainty (Specificity) have unique small, yet statistically significant, associations with performance gains from pre to posttest in ST Math. For Specificity, there also remains a contextual association with performance at the Person level. Results are discussed in light of prior research on calibration and of theories of SRL; the data and analyses present a novel approach to studying calibration within a dynamic system and offer insights for future work.
A community-based aquatic exercise program to improve endurance and mobility in adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a community-based aquatic exercise program on physical performance among adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability (ID). Twenty-two community-dwelling adults with mild to moderate ID volunteered to participate in this study. Participants completed an 8-week aquatic exercise program (2 days/wk, 1 hr/session). Measures of physical performance, which were assessed prior to and following the completion of the aquatic exercise program, included the timed-up-and-go test, 6-min walk test, 30-sec chair stand test, 10-m timed walk test, hand grip strength, and the static plank test. When comparing participants' measures of physical performance prior to and following the 8-week aquatic exercise program, improvements were seen in all measures, but the change in scores for the 6-min walk test, 30-sec chair stand test, and the static plank test achieved statistical significance (P<0.05). An 8-week group aquatic exercise program for adults with ID may promote improvements in endurance and balance/mobility.
The daughter centriole controls ciliogenesis by regulating Neurl-4 localization at the centrosome

The two centrioles of the centrosome differ in age and function. Although the mother centriole mediates most centrosome-dependent processes, the role of the daughter remains poorly understood. A recent study has implicated the daughter centriole in centriole amplification in multiciliated cells, but its contribution to primary ciliogenesis is unclear. We found that manipulations that prevent daughter centriole formation or induce its separation from the mother abolish ciliogenesis. This defect was caused by stabilization of the negative ciliogenesis regulator CP110 and was corrected by CP110 depletion. CP110 dysregulation may be caused by effects on Neurl-4, a daughter centriole-associated ubiquitin ligase cofactor, which was required for ciliogenesis. Centrosome-targeted Neurl-4 was sufficient to restore ciliogenesis in cells with manipulated daughter centrioles. Interestingly, early during ciliogenesis, Neurl-4 transiently associated with the mother centriole in a process that required mother-daughter centriole proximity. Our data support a model in which the daughter centriole promotes ciliogenesis through Neurl-4-dependent regulation of CP110 levels at the mother centriole.
Country Music and the Sonic Artifact

Travelers are drawn to sites by opportunities to participate in new and out-of-the-ordinary experiences or to engage with cultural objects in their alleged space of creation and/or continuance. The opportunity to experience history and culture in the present and through engagement with the destination or cultural object is key in the realization of a tourist/fan experience. However, music destinations are unique in that the object of attraction is a mediated sound rather than a one-of-a-kind object. Unlike the visual arts or historical artifacts, in which there is a clear distinction between an interaction with the original and a copy, popular music, by its very nature, is a mass-produced and copied object. Music sites, therefore, raise questions. How can sound be put on display, and why do fans make the pilgrimage to Nashville to interact with a sound that can be heard in the comfort of their own homes? To address such questions, this chapter discusses select musical spaces throughout the city. Through ethnographic observations of tourist spaces and interviews with locals, tourists, and industry executives, I provide an analysis of the many ways sites of performance, production, preservation, and remembrance are presented by the industry and performed and realized by the fans.
Effects of Cover Crops on Pratylenchus penetrans and the Nematode Community in Carrot Production

Cover cropping is a common practice in U.S. Midwest carrot production for soil conservation, and may affect soil ecology and plant-parasitic nematodes—to which carrots are very susceptible. This study assessed the impact of cover crops—oats (Avena sativa), radish (Raphanus sativus) cv. Defender, rape (Brassica napus) cv. Dwarf Essex, and a mixture of oats and radish—on plantparasitic nematodes and soil ecology based on the nematode community in Michigan carrot production systems. Research was conducted at two field sites where cover crops were grown in Fall 2014 preceding Summer 2015 carrot production. At Site 1, rootlesion (Pratylenchus penetrans) and stunt (Tylenchorhynchus sp.) nematodes were present at low population densities (less than 25 nematodes/100 cm3 soil), but were not significantly affected (P . 0.05) by cover crops. At Site 2, P. penetrans population densities were increased (P # 0.05) by ‘Defender’ radish compared to other cover crops or fallow control during cover crop growth and midseason carrot production. At both sites, there were few short-term impacts of cover cropping on soil ecology based on the nematode community. At Site 1, only at carrot harvest, radish-oats mixture and ‘Dwarf Essex’ rape alone enriched the soil food web based on the enrichment index (P # 0.05) while rape and radish increased structure index values. At Site 2, bacterivore abundance was increased by oats or radish cover crops compared to control, but only during carrot production. In general, cover crops did not affect the nematode community until nearly a year after cover crop growth suggesting that changes in the soil community following cover cropping may be gradual.
Einführung in die replizierenden Portfolios

In einem vollstandigen Markt ohne Transaktionskosten kann jeder Claim durch eine geeignete selbstfinanzierende Handelsstrategie perfekt repliziert werden (vgl. Follmer u. Schied (2011)). In einem unvollstandigen Markt ist dies per Definition nicht moglich. Man kann aber versuchen eine selbstfinanzierende Strategie zu finden deren Auszahlungsprofil der des Claims moglichst nahe kommt.
Percutaneous Transthoracic Lung Biopsy

Percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (TNB) has emerged as a viable and minimally invasive procedure for the diagnosis of indeterminate pulmonary nodules, masses, and consolidations. Over the past two decades with continued improvements in small gauge coaxial core needle systems and biopsy technique, coaxial core biopsy is now a preferred technique for pulmonary lesions as it can obtain larger specimens for diagnosis and molecular analysis. Core needle samples are becoming increasingly important as recent advances in molecular profiling require adequate tumor tissue to identify specific mutations allowing for targeted cancer therapy and for accurate prognosis. With the continued improvement in imaging technology, needle design, biopsy technique, enhanced targeting, and strategies for preventing and managing potential complications, previously inaccessible pulmonary lesions can be biopsied in a safe and reliable manner. This chapter gives an overview of TNB including its indications, contraindications, the imaging modalities currently used for guidance, and the special techniques utilized in performing the procedure and minimizing complications.
Did You Hear the Vocalist? Differences in Processing Between Short Segments of Familiar and Unfamiliar Music

Previous research indicates that people gain musical information from short (250 ms) segments of music. This study extended previous findings by presenting shorter (100 ms, 150 ms, and 200 ms) segments of Western popular music in rapid temporal arrays; similar to scanning through music listening options. The question remains, is there a critical feature, such as the song’s vocalist, that listeners used when processing the complex timbral arrangements of Western popular music? Participants were presented with familiar and unfamiliar music segments, four segments in succession. Each trial contained a female or a male vocalist, or was purely instrumental. Participants were asked whether they heard a vocalist (Experiment 1) or a female vocalist (Experiment 2) in one of the four music segments. Vocalist detection in Experiment 1 was well above chance for the shortest stimuli (100 ms), and performance was better in the familiar trials than the unfamiliar. When instructed in Experiment 2 to detect a female vocalist, however, participants performed better with the unfamiliar trials than the familiar trials. Together, these findings suggest that the vocalist and vocalist gender may be stored as separate features and their utility differs based on one’s familiarity with the musical stimulus.
Cognitive Changes in Cancer Survivors.

Advances in cancer treatments have led to substantially improved survival for patients with cancer. However, many patients experience changes in cognition as a side effect of both cancer and cancer treatment. This occurs with both central nervous system (CNS) tumors and non-CNS tumors and in both children and adults. Studies of patients with non-CNS cancer have shown that cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), which can include changes in memory, executive function, attention, and processing speed, occurs in up to 30% of patients prior to any treatment and in up to 75% of patients during treatment. A subset of patients with non-CNS and CNS cancer appear to be at higher risk for CRCI, so much research has gone into identifying who is vulnerable. Risk factors for CRCI in adults include cognitive reserve, age, genetic factors, and ethnicity; risk factors for children include genetic factors, female sex, younger age at diagnosis, chemotherapy dose, and both dose and field size for radiation. Although the...
Automatically customizing a powered knee prosthesis with human in the loop using adaptive dynamic programming

In this study, we validated a human-in-the-loop auto-tuner using machine learning to automatically customize powered knee prosthesis control parameters for an amputee subject in real time. The experimental powered knee prosthesis was controlled by a finite state impedance controller, which had 12 configurable impedance control parameters. Using adaptive dynamic programming with reinforcement learning while one transfemoral amputee subject walked with the powered knee prosthesis, the auto-tuner would interact with the human-prosthesis system and learn to configure the high dimension of control parameters. We tested 4 different initial conditions with one unilateral transfemoral amputee subject. The results showed that the auto-tuner discovered the control parameters that allowed amputee subject to generate normative knee kinematics in 3 out of 4 tuning sessions. For all test sessions, the averaged root-mean-square error of the knee kinematics relative to the normative knee kinematics decreased from 6.6 degrees to 4.6 degrees after tuning procedure.
Effects of Optical Buffering on the Performance of Manhattan Street Networks

Multihop networks are strong candidates for the implementation of high-speed networks, ranging from back-plane networks for cluster computing to metropolitan-area networks. Besides using deflection routing for contention resolution, optical buffering may be used to enhance the performance of optical multihop networks and to reduce or even eliminate the need for optical-electrical conversions. The enhancements obtained by augmenting traditional MSN (Manhattan Street Networks) with optical buffering are evaluated. The MSN considered here is based on a novel 6 × 6 optical switching node with up to two fiber delay loops. Impact of the parameters associated with optical buttering, such as the number of delay loops and the loop length, are discussed in detail.
Somatosensory Adaptations of Flying Mammals

Cutaneous somatosensory specializations of the bat wing are considered in terms of their potential role in bat flight and aerial foraging. The bat wing is an elaborated hand with flexible digits between thin wing membranes. While bats can alter wing shape to improve their control of flight, the hand-wing has lost the ability for fine manipulation. Flight control may be enhanced by somatosensory feedback from orderly arrays of raised dome structures, each with a protruding hair, that are distributed across wing membrane surfaces. Domes and associated hairs contain concentrations of a common mammalian tactile receptor, the Merkel cell. Recordings from wing nerves suggest that these and other wing cutaneous receptors may be specialized for sensing surface airflow patterns that determine wing lift properties. The various types of wing tactile receptors may also improve prey capture, especially for insectivorous bats that must transfer captured insects from wing to mouth in mid-flight. The bat forearm and wing are well represented in somatosensory areas of the cortex. While most of the cortical body map reflects the standard mammalian pattern, the forearm representation shows an unusual reverse orientation. This variation in cortical representation pattern may relate to the forearm’s unique role in bat flight or foraging.
Polypyrrole: An Electrochemical Approach to Conducting Polymers

Until recent times, almost all of the known organic polymers were essentially electrically insulating, with room-temperature conductivities of 10−10 ohm−1 cm−1 or less. The desirability of having low-density, flexible, processible conductors provided the impetus for finding ways of enhancing the electronic conductivity of polymers. The electrical and optical properties of these materials depend on the electronic structure and basically on the chemical nature of the repeating unit. The general requirements of the electronic structure in these polymers were recognized and described many years ago.1 The electronic conductivity is proportional to both the density and the drift mobility of the carriers. The carrier drift mobility is defined as the ratio of the drift velocity to the electric field and reflects the ease with which carriers are propagated. Enhancing the electrical conductivity of polymers then requires an increase in the carrier mobility and the density of charge carriers. The particular importance of the delocalized π-electrons to form energy bands of high-mobility carriers was stressed early on2 and a large number of polymers were considered as having this characteristic.3 These same considerations have been discussed from a somewhat broader perspective that include polymeric charge-transfer complexes and organometallics.4 The dramatic conductivity enhancements reported recently5 in polyacetylene when treated with strong oxidants have spurred a resurgence of interest in these systems including several articles reviewing the electronic structure of these polymers.6–8
Individual differences in negative affect repair style

Two studies (ns = 422, 263) examined individual differences in repair styles, in which strategies habitually used to repair negative affect depend on shared underlying features. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed two repair styles organized around the use of adaptive, engagement strategies (adaptive engagement style) or maladaptive, avoidance strategies (maladaptive avoidance style). This two-factor structure fit the data better than several theoretically derived models; both repair styles were highly stable across 3 months and associated with personality, emotional intelligence, state and trait repair efforts, and adaptation. Findings add to the extant affect regulation literature and suggest directions for future research.
N-Acetyltransferase in the chick retina

N-acetyltransferase activity has similar circadian rhythms controlled by environmental lighting in the eyes and pineal glands of chicks (Gallus domesticus). The interactions of the two eyes and the pineal gland were examined by using patches of black tape to reduce the intensity of light reaching the eyes and/or the pineal gland. Suppression of N-acetyltransferase activity (normally 80%) by extending the light into the dark-time was used to test the effects of light. On the basis of the test, the eyes respond to light independently of each other and of the pineal gland; the pineal gland, however, responds to light perceived by the eyes.
Inconsistency is not pathological: a pragmatic perspective

Both behavioral and standard neoclassical economists place a heavy emphasis on the consistency of preferences. In particular, transitive preferences are considered a desideratum. This paper attempts to show that consistency at the level of individual choice may be pragmatically irrelevant. Consistently following an environmentally adapted rule can result in intransitive preferences without negative consequences for individual or social goals. I give three examples of this. Social scientists should look at intransitivity of choices as a challenge to offer better explanations rather than as a normative defect.
The African ape-like foot of Ardipithecus ramidus and its implications for the origin of bipedalism

Walking on two legs is considered to be one of the first steps towards becoming human. While some animals are also able to walk on two legs, such as kangaroos, birds, and some rodents, the way they move is nevertheless quite distinct to the way humans walk. How animals evolve traits is influenced by the characteristics of their ancestors. But what exactly was the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees like? Most primates are suited for a life in the trees. But some also have skeletal characteristics associated with living on the ground. For example, the feet of chimpanzees and gorillas show adaptations that suit life on the ground, such as walking on the sole of the foot with a heel first foot posture. So far, it was unclear whether the ancestor of humans and chimpanzees was primarily adapted to living on the ground or in the trees. To investigate this further, Prang studied the oldest-known fossil foot (4.4 million years) attributed to the hominin Ardipithecus ramidus. This involved using evolutionary models to evaluate the relationship between foot bone proportions and the locomotory behaviour of monkeys and apes. The results revealed that humans evolved from an ancestor that had a foot similar to living chimpanzees and gorillas. The African ape foot is uniquely suited to life on the ground, including shorter toe bones, but also shows some adaptations to life in the trees, such as an elongated, grasping big toe. Therefore, the locomotion of our common ancestor probably bore a strong resemblance to these two ape species. Moreover, if the last common ancestor already had ground-living characteristics, the first step of the evolution of human bipedalism did not involve descending from the trees to the ground, as our ancestors had already achieved this milestone in some form and frequency. This is an important discovery. If this ancestor already had adaptations for life on the ground, why did only humans evolve to walk upright despite the retention of climbing capabilities in the earliest human relatives? A next step could be to investigate what selective pressures favored upright walking in a partly ground-living African ape. This may provide us with more insight into our own evolutionary story as well as the ways in which living primates evolve adaptations in an ecological context.
Racial disparities for uterine corpus tumors

BACKGROUND: Black women with endometrial cancer have been more likely to die than white patients. The authors examined factors associated with the poor outcome for black women with uterine corpus tumors and analyzed whether these characteristics have changed over time based on year of diagnosis. METHODS: The authors examined women with uterine neoplasms recorded from 1988-2004 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database. The authors developed Cox proportional hazards models to examine the effect of race on survival and stratified women by year of diagnosis into 3 groups: 1988-1993, 1994-1998, 1999-2004. RESULTS: A total of 80,915 patients including 5564 (7%) black women were identified. Black patients were significantly younger, had more advanced stage tumors, and had more aggressive, nonendometrioid histologic variants (P < .001). Black women were 60% more likely to die from their tumors than white women when matched for other prognostic variables (hazards ratio, 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.51-1.69). For each of the 3 time periods, survival was worse for blacks even when stratified by stage and histology. Over time, the incidence of serous and clear-cell tumors increased, and the use of radiation decreased for both races. Staging lymphadenectomy was performed more commonly in both blacks (45%) and whites (48%) who had been treated more recently. CONCLUSIONS: Black women with uterine corpus tumors were more likely to die from their disease. This survival difference has persisted over time. The clinical characteristics of blacks and whites have remained relatively constant. The proportion of women who undergo surgical staging has increased with time and was well matched between races. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.
Phase Control of Self-Excited Parametric Resonators

Parametric resonators have wide utility as bits, sensors, and frequency references. Controlling the phase states of a parametric resonator enables signal generation and computation, but so far the states' rich dynamics in the presence of nonlinearities have received little attention. The authors delineate the regimes of nonlinearities for which parametric phase control is possible, and use this to experimentally operate on now-accessible solutions of the parametric response. In the context of micro- and nanoelectromechanical resonators, this work can foster numerous applications for parametric pumping in $e.g.$ scanning probe microscopes, signal amplifiers, and inertial sensors.
Confronting the opioid crisis with basic research in neuropharmacology

Abstract Opioid medications are widely prescribed to alleviate pain and suffering for millions of patients, but the utility of these drugs is limited by serious adverse effects including abuse liability, dependence, and overdose. At present, the non-medical (i.e., recreational) abuse of opioids is a worldwide public health threat. In the United States alone, more than 47,000 opioid-related overdose deaths occurred during 2017 (Scholl et al., 2018), and most of these fatalities were associated with synthetic opioids, especially fentanyl and its various analogs. Fentanyl is a mu-opioid receptor (MOP) agonist that is 50-100 times more potent than morphine as an analgesic agent. The origins of the current opioid crisis are complex, and effective solutions will require multidisciplinary cooperation among law enforcement personnel, first responders, treatment providers, policymakers, and scientists (Madras, 2018). To this end, basic research in pharmacology can provide critical information for addressing the opioid crisis (Baumann et al., 2018). In this Special Issue of Neuropharmacology, entitled “New Vistas in Opioid Pharmacology”, we bring together an international panel of experts who report research findings related to three topics: 1] neuropharmacology of heroin, fentanyl and its analogs; 2] development of safer pain medications; and 3] novel pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders.
Objective and subjective socioeconomic status associated with metabolic syndrome severity among African American adults in Jackson Heart Study.

Abstract Purpose To assess independent associations between objective socioeconomic status (OSS) and subjective social status (SSS) with metabolic syndrome (MetS) severity and indicators among African American (AA) adults in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) at baseline (2000–2004) and eight-year follow-up (2009–2013). Methods Participants included 1724 AA adults from the JHS cohort (64.4 % women; mean age 53.4 ± 11.8). Associations of OSS (annual household income and school years completed) and SSS (measured with MacArthur Scales) with sex- and race/ethnic-specific MetS severity Z-score were examined after adjustment for demographics and MetS risk factors (i.e., nutrition, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and depressive symptoms) at baseline and eight-year follow-up. Principal results Independent of OSS, demographic, psychosocial, and lifestyle factors, individuals with lower US-society SSS had more severe MetS at baseline. A significant interaction existed between sex and US-society SSS such that women with lower perceived social status had more severe MetS severity at baseline, and for every one unit increase in US-society SSS, MetS severity Z-score is estimated to decrease by 0.04. Components of MetS driving the relationship between US-society SSS and MetS severity at baseline were the inverse associations of SSS with glucose levels and the positive associations of SSS with HDL-C. Physical activity was independently associated with MetS severity at baseline, but not at eight-year follow-up. Major conclusions Though subjective and objective measures of social status are independently associated with cardiometabolic risk factors and MetS severity among AA adults, SSS may be a stronger predictor of MetS severity than OSS, particularly among women. SSS should be considered in conjunction with OSS when exploring social determinants of cardiometabolic health.
Bartonella rochalimae, a newly recognized pathogen in dogs.

Background Bartonella spp. comprise a genus of bacteria that frequently cause persistent, often subclinical infection. Although many Bartonella spp. have been implicated in a variety of clinical presentations, Bartonella rochalimae has yet to be documented in association with a clinical presentation other than infectious endocarditis (IE) in dogs. Objectives To document a spectrum of clinical presentations accompanied by mild hematological abnormalities in B rochalimae-infected dogs from the United States. Animals Eight dogs with documented B rochalimae infection. Methods Retrospective 10-year study of B rochalimae naturally infected dogs. Clinical and clinicopathologic data, including medical history, CBC, serum biochemistry panel, urinalysis, echocardiogram, and comprehensive vector-borne disease diagnostic panel results, were reviewed. Results Eight dogs were diagnosed with B rochalimae via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Five dogs were diagnosed with IE. Three dogs, PCR positive for B rochalimae, were diagnosed with seizures or antibiotic responsive lameness or during routine screening of a military working dog. Conclusions This case series provides support for an association between B rochalimae and IE and provides documentation of dogs infected with B rochalimae with other clinical diagnoses.
Constrained brain volume in an efficient coding model explains the fraction of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in sensory cortices

Abstract The number of neurons in mammalian cortex varies by multiple orders of magnitude across different species. In contrast, the ratio of excitatory to inhibitory neurons (E:I ratio) varies in a much smaller range, from 3:1 to 9:1 and remains roughly constant for different sensory areas within a species. Despite this structure being important for understanding the function of neural circuits, the reason for this consistency is not yet understood. While recent models of vision based on the efficient coding hypothesis show that increasing the number of both excitatory and inhibitory cells improves stimulus representation, the two cannot increase simultaneously due to constraints on brain volume. In this work, we implement an efficient coding model of vision under a volume (i.e., total number of neurons) constraint while varying the E:I ratio. We show that the performance of the model is optimal at biologically observed E:I ratios under several metrics. We argue that this happens due to trade-offs between the computational accuracy and the representation capacity for natural stimuli. Further, we make experimentally testable predictions that 1) the optimal E:I ratio should be higher for species with a higher sparsity in the neural activity and 2) the character of inhibitory synaptic distributions and firing rates should change depending on E:I ratio. Our findings, which are supported by our new preliminary analyses of publicly available data, provide the first quantitative and testable hypothesis based on optimal coding models for the distribution of neural types in the mammalian sensory cortices.
Surface chemistry of quantum-sized metal nanoparticles under light illumination.

Size reduction of metal nanoparticles increases the exposure of metal surfaces significantly, favoring heterogeneous chemistry at the surface of the nanoparticles. The optical properties of metal nanoparticles, such as light absorption, also exhibit a strong dependence on their size. It is expected that there will be strong coupling of light absorption and surface chemistry when the metal nanoparticles are small enough. For instance, metal nanoparticles with sizes in the range of 2–10 nm exhibit both surface plasmon resonances, which can efficiently produce high-energy hot electrons near the surface of the nanoparticles under light illumination, and the Coulomb blockade effect, which favors electron transfer from the metal nanoparticles to the surface adsorbates. The synergy of efficient hot electron generation and electron transfer on the surface of small metal nanoparticles leads to double-faced effects: (i) surface (adsorption) chemistry influences optical absorption in the metal nanoparticles, and (ii) optical absorption in the metal nanoparticles promotes (or inhibits) surface adsorption and heterogeneous chemistry. This review article focuses on the discussion of typical quantum phenomena in metal nanoparticles of 2–10 nm in size, which are referred to as “quantum-sized metal nanoparticles”. Both theoretical and experimental examples and results are summarized to highlight the strong correlations between the optical absorption and surface chemistry for quantum-sized metal nanoparticles of various compositions. A comprehensive understanding of these correlations may shed light on achieving high-efficiency photocatalysis and photonics.