cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Papillae formation on Arabidopsis leaf trichomes requires the function of Mediator tail subunits 2, 14, 15a, 16, and 25

Arabidopsis Mediator subunits 2, 14, 15a, 16, and 25 are required for papillae development on the trichome cell wall surface. Arabidopsis leaf hairs exhibit raised protrusions, termed papillae, on their cell wall surfaces. Here, we show that the glassy hair mutant, glh2, exhibits trichomes with an approximate 11-fold decrease in papillae density on their surfaces in comparison to wild type. This phenotype was found to be the result of mutations in Arabidopsis Mediator subunit 16. MED16 is localized to the nucleus of trichomes, consistent with Mediator’s role in transcription. The expression patterns of the trichome development reporters, ETR2pro::GUS and GL2pro::GUS, as well as GL2 transcript levels were not altered in the glh2 mutant. Screening of available T-DNA insertion lines in other subunits of the Mediator tail module revealed glassy trichome phenotypes in med2, med14, and med15a mutants. The data suggest that the Mediator complex is required for expression of genes involved in trichome papillae development.
Sport Participation, Locus of Control, and Academic Performance among Early Adolescents: Racial and Linguistic Status Differences

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sport participation on locus of control and academic performance among eighth-grade students. In the analysis, particular attention was place...
Defining configuring

This paper is intended to serve as part of the context in which the other papers in this special issue should be read. Its main goal is to revisit the basic definition of the configuration task, on which many people depend, to show some of its flaws, and to point out how it shapes thinking about the problem. We are concerned about characterizing the reasoning processes used to produce a configuration.
Intermittent of Atmospheric Turbulence

Abstract Dimensionless structure functions such as kurtosis of the velocity gradients are computed from aircraft data for a variety of atmospheric situations in order to characterize the intermittency of the turbulence. It is necessary to distinguish between small scale intermittency of the velocity gradients organized by the individual main eddies and global intermittency associated with patchiness of turbulence on scales larger than the main eddies. Failure to make such a distinction can lead to ambiguity and inability to recognize contamination of statistics by sampling problems. The sharp edges of the main eddies contribute to the small scale intermittency as measured by the kurtosis of the velocity gradients and other intermittency statistics. However, for some of the strongly stratified cases, global intermittency increases the kurtosis by a factor of 2 or 3 in which case the statistics reflect the global spatial variability of the turbulence (patchiness) more than the local characteristics of the t...
Pathophysiology and epidemiology of stress fractures

Stress injury of bone includes a spectrum from hyperactive bone remodeling to a discrete fracture line visible on imaging. Stress fractures can occur when bone, either healthy or osteopenic, is subject to repeated loading with a subsequent loss of normal bone metabolism and failure of remodeling. Factors that increase load, such as repetitive impact through competition or training for sports or the military, contribute to the development of a stress fracture. They are also more common in the lower extremity, which sees loads that are multiples of body weight during many activities. Similarly, factors that affect normal bone turnover such as metabolic abnormalities, nutrient deficiencies and even genetic predisposition also contribute to the risk of developing a stress fracture. The incidence of stress fractures is difficult to establish from the current literature due to a variation in the quality and method of exposure reporting between studies and the heterogeneity of stress injury by location. Data on the occurrences and incidence rate of stress fracture do suggest, however, that females, runners, and military personnel have the highest incidence rates.
Euclidean-Distance Based Fuzzy Commitment Scheme for Biometric Template Security

With the introduction of triplet loss and other Euclidean-distance based loss functions, significant performance enhancement has been obtained for deep-learning based face recognition systems. However, existing template security solutions are based on binary feature vectors or binarization of real valued feature vectors using shielding function. This paper proposes a key-binding cryptographic template security scheme that uses lattice structure and sphere packing in the Euclidean space. In contrary to existing schemes, the proposed scheme can be applied to real-valued feature vectors. Therefore, it is more compatible with recent face recognition methods based on Euclidean distance. In this paper, two different versions of our proposed schemes are discussed in terms of security and complexity. Experimental investigations on Labeled Faces in the Wild dataset suggest no degradation in the performance of the face recognition system after being secured by our proposed scheme.
Severe Bone Marrow Edema Among Patients Who Underwent Prior Marrow Stimulation Technique Is a Significant Predictor of Graft Failure After Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation.

Background:Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is a well-established cartilage repair procedure; however, numerous studies have shown higher ACI graft failure rates after prior marrow stimula...
Free-Space Phased-Array Characterization and Calibration Using Code-Modulated Embedded Test

A phased-array self-test technique called code-modulated embedded test (CoMET) is used for free-space characterization and calibration of phased-array transceivers packaged with antennas. Orthogonal two-bit modulation is applied to all phase shifters to allow for parallel extraction of gain and phase of array elements using a simple power detector. Our array uses two commercially-available beamformers and a patch antenna array. At 10 GHz, CoMET-extracted gain, phase, and phase offset are accurate to within 0.4 dB and 4° compared to network analyzer measurements. CoMET is then used within a calibration-loop to equalize elemental gain and phase across the array for 7-bit phase resolution. After calibration, the maximum gain and phase offsets between elements are reduced from 3.5 dB and 70° to 1.1 dB and ~0°. Free-space beam patterns after calibration show significant improvement.
Entropy of a bacterial stress response is a generalizable predictor for fitness and antibiotic sensitivity.

Genes implicated in bacterial stress responses have been used to construct models that infer the growth outcome of a bacterium in the presence of antibiotics with the objective to develop novel diagnostic methods in the clinic. Current models are trained on data specific to a species or type of stress, making them potentially limited in their application. It is unclear if a generalizable response-signature exists that can predict bacterial fitness independent of strain, species or type of stress. Here we present a substantial RNA-Seq and experimental evolution dataset for 9 strains and species, under multiple antibiotic and non-antibiotic stress conditions. We show that gene panel-based models can accurately predict antibiotic mechanism of action, as well as the fitness outcome of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the presence of antibiotics or under nutrient depletion. However, these models quickly become species-specific as gene homology is limited. Instead, we define a new concept, transcriptomic entropy, which we use to quantify the amount of transcriptional disruption that occurs in a bacterium when responding to the environment. With entropy at the center, we train a suite of predictive (machine learning) models enabling generalizable fitness and antibiotic sensitivity predictions. These entropy-based models that predict bacterial fitness are validated for 7 Gram-positive and -negative species under antibiotic and non-antibiotic conditions indicating that transcriptomic entropy can be used as a generalizable stress signature. Moreover, rather than being a binary indicator of fitness, an entropy-based model was developed and validated to predict the minimum inhibitory concentration of an antibiotic. Lastly, we show that the inclusion of a varied-set of multi-omics features of a bacterial stress response further enhances fitness predictions by reducing ambiguity. By demonstrating the feasibility of generalizable predictions of bacterial fitness, this work establishes the fundamentals for potentially new approaches in infectious disease diagnostics, including antibiotic susceptibility testing.
Adolescent Social Isolation Reprograms the Medial Amygdala: Transcriptome and Sex Differences in Reward

ABSTRACT Adolescence is a sensitive window for reward- and stress-associated behavior. Although stress during this period causes long-term changes in behavior in males, how females respond is relatively unknown. Here we show that social isolation stress in adolescence, but not adulthood, induces persistent but opposite effects on anxiety- and cocaine-related behaviors in male vs. female mice, and that these effects are reflected in transcriptional profiles within the adult medial amygdala (meA). By integrating differential gene expression with co-expression network analyses, we identified crystallin mu (Crym), a thyroid-binding protein, as a key driver of these transcriptional profiles. Manipulation of Crym specifically within adult meA neurons recapitulates the behavioral and transcriptional effects of social isolation and re-opens a window of plasticity that is otherwise closed. Our results establish that meA is essential for sex-specific responses to stressful and rewarding stimuli through transcriptional programming that occurs during adolescence.
Motivating Future Adventures in Computing by Unmasking Math Behind Movie Special Effects

Children and adolescents consume increasing hours of screen time, the largest share of which goes to viewing movies according to Common Sense Research. Recently, movies with the highest box office revenues typically feature computer-generated imagery (CGI). Despite this substantial consumption of computer-generated imagery, the typical young viewer is unaware of how large a role mathematics plays in creating these movies. Studies have shown that there is a link between proficiency in math and predicted success in computing. In this paper, we describe our efforts to develop and evaluate CS Unplugged and code-based activities that attempt to explicitly connect math concepts with the creation of movie special effects magic. The learning activities have been designed and evaluated with middle school and first-year college students to demonstrate their potential to increase awareness and knowledge of how math is used in movie effects and to increase desire for future study of math. The paper describes the motivating context, pedagogical strategies, math learning outcomes, and CS Unplugged and code-based activities so that others may apply the methods. The paper concludes with a presentation and analysis of results from a five-day STEM summer camp for middle-school children and activities presented in first-year college classrooms and discussion of limitations and directions for future work.
Improving Semantic Segmentation through Spatio-Temporal Consistency Learned from Videos

We leverage unsupervised learning of depth, egomotion, and camera intrinsics to improve the performance of single-image semantic segmentation, by enforcing 3D-geometric and temporal consistency of segmentation masks across video frames. The predicted depth, egomotion, and camera intrinsics are used to provide an additional supervision signal to the segmentation model, significantly enhancing its quality, or, alternatively, reducing the number of labels the segmentation model needs. Our experiments were performed on the ScanNet dataset.
Pediatric contact allergens in the neonatal intensive care unit

The degree of neonatal exposure to potentially sensitizing agents on neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and the process by which personal care products are selected for use in the NICU are poorly documented. We evaluated personal care products used in three NICUs for potentially sensitizing agents. We interviewed NICU staff to analyze how products are selected and approved for use. Twenty-four personal care products were evaluated. 75% contained one or more potential contact allergen, with fragrances being most common. Staff preference, brand loyalty, cost, and small product size were often considered when approving NICU products. The prevalence of potentially sensitizing agents in the products indicates a need for improvement in the evaluation and acquisition process of over-the-counter products used for neonatal skin care. The involvement of dermatology in this process may be beneficial.
Image transmission across a magnetic dispersive chiral boundary under uniform and Gaussian-profile beams

Recent work involving image transmission across a magnetic achiral/chiral interface by use of Fresnel coefficients under different incident angles and permittivity/permeability ratios is extended to include dispersive chiral dielectrics with uniform and Gaussian-profile incident beams.
Graduate Student-Athletes: An Examination of Identity Roles and Transition

Increasingly, student athletes are enrolling in graduate programs with remaining athletic eligibility. From identity role conflict and transition theory approaches, this study examines how graduate student athletes develop by negotiating their identities as both graduate students and as athletes. Implications for collegiate administrators, coaches, and faculty who seek to support graduate student success and transition out of sport are discussed.
The irrationality of folk metaethics

Many philosophers and psychologists have thought that people untutored in philosophy are moral realists. On this view, when people make moral judgments, they interpret their judgments as tracking u...
Patient perceptions of a student-led remote hypertension education program

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed healthcare, promoting a shift to remote services. Managing long-term therapy conditions, like hypertension, became increasingly difficult due to limited access to care. During these unprecedented times, two community pharmacies collaborated with a school of pharmacy to develop a new remote program to encourage patient centered disease state management. Objectives: The primary objective was to describe patient perceptions of participating in a student-led, remote hypertension education program. The secondary objective was to gain insight on perceptions of the program's impact on current lifestyle. Methods: Second- and third-year pharmacy students worked with faculty preceptors to develop and remotely deliver an 8-week curriculum. During each call, students educated on a topic and set S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) goals. After completing the program, participants were interviewed regarding their experience. This study was a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews. Participants in the program were interviewed by trained investigators. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and thematically coded to address study outcomes. Results: A total of 12 participant interviews were conducted with all participants 50 years of age or older and a majority having a diagnosis of hypertension for greater than 20 years. From the interviews, six dominant themes were identified. Themes were: (a) students were knowledgeable, professional, and engaged;(b) participants felt comfortable communicating with the students and developed a positive relationship;(c) participants expressed having a positive impact on the students' education;(d) the program was organized;(e) participants reported positive lifestyle changes or reinforced habits that they plan to continue, and (f) the remote nature of the program was convenient, but face-to-face interaction was missed. Conclusion: Participants had an overwhelmingly positive experience completing the program. Utilizing students for development and implementation allowed the pharmacies to offer an additional clinical service and was a factor that impacted patient engagement and participation.
Around the Sine Addition Law and d’Alembert’s Equation on Semigroups

We treat several related trigonometric functional equations on semigroups. First we make a small improvement to the description of solutions of the sine addition law $$f(xy) = f(x)g(y) + g(x)f(y)$$ for $$f,g:S \rightarrow {{\mathbb {C}}}$$ , where S is a semigroup. Next we solve the partial Pexiderization $$f(xy) = g(x)h(y) + h(x)g(y)$$ for $$f,g,h:M \rightarrow {{\mathbb {C}}}$$ , where M is a monoid. Our main result is the solution of the partially Pexiderized d’Alembert-type equation $$f(x\sigma (y)) + h(\tau (y)x) = 2f(x)k(y)$$ for $$f,g,h,k:M \rightarrow {{\mathbb {C}}}$$ , where $$\sigma ,\tau $$ are involutive automorphisms of M. The solutions of the latter two equations were given by Ng, Zhao, and Lin assuming that M is a group, then by the author assuming that the monoid M is either regular or generated by its squares. Here we find that new solutions appear on monoids that are neither regular nor generated by their squares. In addition we give the continuous solutions of all three functional equations on topological semigroups/monoids.
The Federal Role in Risk Communication and Public Education

The interpretation and communication of risk factors are now recognized as essential parts of the process of risk assessment and risk management. In our society, it cannot be otherwise. Collectively, the public must decide which risks are acceptable. Individually, each person makes risk management decisions every day in the context of his or her life.
The X-ray transform on a symmetric space

The X-ray transform which we studied for Rn of course makes sense for an arbitrary complete Riemannian manifold X.
Impact of the columbia supercomputer on NASA science and engineering applications

Columbia is a 10,240-processor supercomputer consisting of 20 Altix nodes with 512 processors each, and currently ranked as one of the fastest in the world. In this paper, we briefly describe the Columbia system and its supporting infrastructure, the underlying Altix architecture, and benchmark performance on up to four nodes interconnected via the InfiniBand and NUMAlink4 communication fabrics. Additionally, three science and engineering applications from different disciplines running on multiple Columbia nodes are described and their performance results are presented. Overall, our results show promise for multi-node application scaling, allowing the ability to tackle compute-intensive scientific problems not previously solvable on available supercomputers.
Chemical reactivity of metcar Ti8C12, nanocrystal Ti14C13 and a bulk TiC(001) surface: A density functional study

Density functional calculations show that the “magic” structures of titanium carbide nanoparticles display an unexpected high reactivity toward CO, NH3, and H2O when compared to the bulk TiC(001) surface. In spite of the large C/Ti ratio in Ti8C12, our results show that the bulk surface is much more tightly bonded than the nanocluster, and thus the nanocluster has a much higher chemical activity.
Crossing Borders to Target Al-Qaeda and Its Affiliates: Defining Networks as Organized Armed Groups in Non-International Armed Conflicts

Al-Qaeda’s dispersal and the rise of regional terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab in Somalia have raised the stakes for defining an “organized armed group” (OAG). If an entity fails the OAG test, a state may use only traditional law enforcement methods in responding to the entity’s violence. Both case law and social science literature support a broadly pragmatic reading of the OAG definition. While the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has cited factors such as existence of a headquarters and imposition of discipline, ICTY decisions have found organization when evidence was at best equivocal. Moreover, terrorist organizations reveal surprisingly robust indicia of organization. Illustrating this organizational turn, a transnational network like Al-Qaeda operates in a synergistic fashion with regional groups. Moreover, recent news reports have suggested that current Al-Qaeda leader Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri has attempted to assert operational control over the specific targeting decisions of Al-Qaeda affiliates, although that effort has not been uniformly successful. Furthermore, while Al-Qaeda does not micromanage most individual operations, it exercises strategic influence, e.g., through a focus on targeting Western interests. When such strategic influence can be shown, the definition of OAG is sufficiently flexible to permit targeting across borders. In addition, the doctrine of co-belligerency, borrowed from neutrality law, provides a basis for targeting that is not confined by state boundaries. Even when these indicia are absent, individuals within non-Al-Qaeda groups may be targetable if they engage in coordinated activity with Al-Qaeda.
Anonymous communications in mobile ad hoc networks

Due to the broadcast nature of radio transmissions, communications in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are more susceptible to malicious traffic analysis. In this paper we propose a novel anonymous on-demand routing protocol, termed MASK, to enable anonymous communications thereby thwarting possible traffic analysis attacks. Based on a new cryptographic concept called pairing, we first propose an anonymous neighborhood authentication protocol which allows neighboring nodes to authenticate each other without revealing their identities. Then utilizing the secret pairwise link identifiers and keys established between neighbors during the neighborhood authentication process, MASK fulfills the routing and packet forwarding tasks nicely without disclosing the identities of participating nodes under a rather strong adversarial model. MASK provides the desirable sender and receiver anonymity, as well as the relationship anonymity of the sender and receiver. It is also resistant to a wide range of adversarial attacks. Moreover, MASK preserves the routing efficiency in contrast to previous proposals. Detailed anonymity analysis and simulation studies are carried out to validate and justify the effectiveness of MASK.
Occurrence of Amphibians in Saline Habitats: A Review and Evolutionary Perspective

Abstract: Amphibians are well known as osmotically sensitive organisms due to their highly permeable skin and eggs and, as such, biologists have mostly discounted their presence in saline environments. Yet, from the 1800s to the present day, scientists have repeatedly found amphibians living and breeding in a variety of saline coastal and inland habitats. Despite this plethora of observations, their presence in these habitats is still mostly ignored, and the last (and only) complete literature review documenting amphibians in brackish and saline habitats was completed over 50 yr ago. Here we provide a review of the literature of amphibians in saline waters and present data on 144 species, in 28 families, on every continent except Antarctica. In doing so, we make the case that salt tolerance in amphibians may not be as rare as generally assumed. Through classifying habitats and studies, we conclude that the abilities of dozens of species to locally adapt to coastal and inland saline habitats have been exte...
Kalman filtering of large-scale geophysical flows by approximations based on Markov random field and wavelet

Large-scale extended Kalman filters for atmospheric and oceanic circulation models can readily be approximated using a wavelet transform or a Markov random field model. For a filtering problem where the unknown field of the state variables is highly correlated and the observations are relatively sparse, the wavelet-approximated filter seems more appropriate. For a problem in which the covariance matrix is non-singular and where a relatively large quantity of independent observations are processed, the MRF-approximated filter seems more appropriate.
Early Postoperative Tube Feeding in Liver Transplantation

We published one of the first prospective randomized controlled trials evaluating early postoperative tube feeding (TF) in liver transplant recipients nearly 20 years ago. That first study showed that early posttransplant TF was safe and well tolerated; the study results also suggested that early TF could reduce posttransplant infection rates. This Pivotal Paper review evaluates the past, present, and future of early postoperative TF in liver transplantation. This article identifies what nutrition support findings more than 2 decades ago were the basis for attempting postoperative TF in liver transplantation. The results of our study, its unique findings, and shortcomings are summarized. Other subsequent studies of post-liver transplant TF are evaluated with a focus on effects on posttransplant infection rates. Finally, current transplant challenges, including donor organ shortage, increased severity of patients' pretransplant condition, expansion of living donor options, changes in immunosuppression, and use of specialized nutrients, are discussed in the context of how and why these factors affect nutrition support.
Sensitivity of a Simulated Squall Line to Horizontal Resolution and Parameterization of Microphysics

Idealizedsimulations ofthe 15May2009 squalllinefromthe SecondVerification ofthe OriginsofRotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) are evaluated in this study. Four different microphysical setups are used, with either single-moment (1M) or double-moment (2M) microphysics, and either hail or graupel as the dense (rimed) ice species. Three different horizontal grid spacings are used: Dx 5 4, 1, or 0.25 km (with identical vertical grids). Overall, results show that simulated squall lines are sensitive to both microphysical setupandhorizontalresolution,althoughsomequantities(i.e.,surfacerainfall)aremoresensitiveto Dxinthis study. Simulations with larger Dx are slower to develop, produce more precipitation, and have higher cloud tops, all of which are attributable to larger convective cells that do not entrain midlevel air. The highestresolution simulations have substantially more cloud water evaporation, which is partly attributable to the development of resolved turbulence. For a given Dx, the 1M simulations produce less rain, more intense cold pools, and do not have trailing stratiform precipitation at the surface, owing to excessive rainwater evaporation. The simulations with graupel as the dense ice species have unrealistically wide convective regions. Comparison against analyses from VORTEX2 data shows that the 2M setup with hail and Dx 5 0.25 km producesthemostrealisticsimulationbecause(i)thissimulationproducesrealisticdistributionsofreflectivity associatedwithconvective,transition,andtrailingstratiformregions,(ii)thecoldpoolpropertiesarereasonably close to analyses from VORTEX2, and (iii) relative humidity in the cold pool is closest to observations.
Allocating Academic Library Budgets: Adapting Historical Data Models at One University Library

Many academic libraries have traditionally used complicated budget allocation models to inform funding for materials purchased in support of curriculum. When these formulas are applied, librarians usually temper the results with historical spending patterns. A small university library found that historical spending patterns can be used for budget allocation, yielding allocations similar to those derived from a complex formula. As part of the collection evaluation procedure described, the effectiveness of historical data allocations should be assessed annually by checking use of ordered materials. The effectiveness of allocations also can be supported by the use of proportional use statistics for departmental subject areas. The procedures and practices described in this article would be useful for university/college libraries of similar size to the Stetson University library, the library described in the article.
Pilot study of combined therapy with ω-3 fatty acids and niacin in atherogenic dyslipidemia

Abstract Background Niacin and ω-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FA) are both nutrients that reduce serum triglyceride and raise high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels when used at pharmacological doses. The possibility that these two agents, given in combination, might have additive effects on these lipid parameters has not been examined previously. In addition, the combination might prevent the rise in low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-C levels frequently seen with ω-3 FA treatment. Objective To determine the effect of therapy of niacin and ω-3 FA alone and in combination versus placebo on lipid parameters in subjects with atherogenic dyslipidemia. Methods In a pilot parallel group study, we studied 29 patients with atherogenic dyslipidemia who were assigned to either dual placebo (n = 7), ω-3 FA (3.4 g/d; n=8), crystalline niacin (3 g/d; n=7), or the combination (n = 7) for 12 weeks. Fasting lipid profiles were assessed before and after treatment. Results Changes in serum triglyceride levels from baseline were 10%, −2%, −17%, and −52%, respectively, while HDL-C concentrations rose by 4%, 10%, 18%, and 33%, respectively. Both of these results were statistically significantly different for combination therapy compared to changes with placebo and ω-3 FA monotherapy (analysis of variance with Tukey's post-hoc test). No statistically significant changes were seen for LDL-C. Addition of ω-FA to niacin had no effect on niacin-induced flushing. Conclusion From this small pilot study, we conclude that combined therapy with niacin and ω-3 FA has beneficial effects on triglyceride and HDL-C levels, and use of these two agents in combination prevents the ω-3 FA-induced rise in LDL-C. Larger studies of this combination therapy are clearly warranted in patient populations with atherogenic dyslipidemia to assess not only lipid effects, but also potential coronary heart disease benefits.
Signet Ring Breast Carcinoma Metastases Limited to the Endometrium and Cervix

Breast cancer metastatic to the cervix and uterus in the absence of extrapelvic foci is a rare finding in the medical literature. Signet ring breast carcinoma is also an unusual neoplasm. We present an asymptomatic 71-year-old woman 2 years status-post modified radical mastectomy for signet ring carcinoma who was found to have metastatic lesions to the cervix and endometrium at the time of a routine gynecological examination. Bone scan as well as computerized tomography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis failed to locate other metastatic sites. We believe this to be the only reported case of signet ring breast carcinoma metastatic solely to the uterus and cervix. The patient's lack of recent pelvic examination highlights the need for continued gynecological evaluation in patients with breast cancer.
Percutaneous Closure of Paravalvular Leak After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Paravalvular leak (PVL) occurs more frequently after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) than after surgical replacement ([1][1]). PVL may be due to prosthesis underexpansion, undersizing, impingement of calcium nodules interfering with stent expansion, or incorrect positioning so the
Implications of solution chemistry effects: Direction-specific restraints on the step kinetics of calcite growth

Abstract Classical crystallization models successfully depict the dependence of growth kinetics on thermodynamic driving force but cannot predict the roles of solution chemistry. Yet, it has become increasingly clear that crystal growth rate at fixed supersaturations depends on pH, ionic strength, and the relative abundance of cations and anions in the parent solutions. We conducted experiments to isolate the effect of individual solution-chemistry parameters on calcite step growth kinetics. Our results revealed a distinct correlation between step velocity and pH in acute and obtuse directions and a simultaneous trend change at pH ∼9.5. Step speeds varied with solution stoichiometry, and each direction reached its maximal rate at a different [ Ca 2 + ] / [ CO 3 2 - ] value. In addition, the solution cation/anion at which maximal step speed occurred appeared to be pH dependent as well. Limited effect of ionic strength on step growth was observed in the obtuse direction at low background electrolyte concentrations, but no obvious change was found for growth at the acute side. We proposed a growth model based upon independent incorporation of cations and anions and interpreted these observations as: (1) solute constituents enter kinks through direct solution diffusion at obtuse steps but surface diffusion at acute steps; (2) growth is limited by Ca2+ dehydration at the obtuse side, but by surface adsorption and reorientation and rearrangement of CO32− in the acute direction; and (3) background electrolyte (NaCl in our study) competes with solutes for surface sites at more easily accessible kinks.
Health-related quality of life after pediatric trauma

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pediatric injury results in significant preventable morbidity and functional limitations, with long-term impact on the quality of life of children and their families. The purpose of this review is to outline recent research in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in pediatric trauma, with an emphasis on identification of predictors of outcome that will impact interventions and allocation of resources to optimize recovery. RECENT FINDINGS: Studies of HRQOL in pediatric trauma use a variety of generic measurement tools that have now been validated in this patient population. Most children experience rapid recovery of physical and psychological functioning after injury, but children with traumatic brain injury continue to demonstrate long-term impairments. Decrease in HRQOL of children after trauma contributes to increase in caregiver stress and family burden of injury. There is increasing recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pediatric trauma, correlating with and impacting HRQOL. SUMMARY: Evaluation of HRQOL in children after trauma should become incorporated into standards of care, with development of family-centered interventions and evidence-based allocation of resources for high-risk children and families to optimize long-term outcomes. Language: en
Chronic carbamazepine administration attenuates dopamine D2-like receptor-initiated signaling via arachidonic acid in rat brain.

Observations that dopaminergic antagonists are beneficial in bipolar disorder and that dopaminergic agonists can produce mania suggest that bipolar disorder involves excessive dopaminergic transmission. Thus, mood stabilizers used to treat the disease might act in part by downregulating dopaminergic transmission. In agreement, we reported that dopamine D2-like receptor mediated signaling involving arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n−6) was downregulated in rats chronically treated with lithium. To see whether chronic carbamazepine, another mood stabilizer, did this as well, we injected i.p. saline or the D2-like receptor agonist, quinpirole (1 mg/kg), into unanesthetized rats that had been pretreated for 30 days with i.p. carbamazepine (25 mg/kg/day) or vehicle, and used quantitative autoradiography to measure regional brain incorporation coefficients (k*) for AA, markers of signaling. We also measured brain prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), an AA metabolite. In vehicle-treated rats, quinpirole compared with saline significantly increased k* for AA in 35 of 82 brain regions examined, as well as brain PGE2 concentration. Affected regions belong to dopaminergic circuits and have high D2-like receptor densities. Chronic carbamazepine pretreatment prevented the quinpirole-induced increments in k* and in PGE2. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that effective mood stabilizers generally downregulate brain AA signaling via D2-like receptors, and that this signaling is upregulated in bipolar disorder.
Anxiety and substance use disorders: introduction to the special series

The interplay between anxiety pathology and substance use disorders is increasingly recognized in empirical and clinical work. The present article serves as a general introduction to the special series highlighting the relationship between a number of anxiety conditions and a variety of substance use disorders. In this overview, we first discuss the importance of better understanding the association between anxiety and substance use and abuse followed by a brief review of each study and their major findings. This set of studies has implications for our understanding of the nature of these conditions as well as their treatment. We hope that this body of work will inspire future research in this important area.
Formalizing an Analytic Proof of the Prime Number Theorem

We describe the computer formalization of a complex-analytic proof of the Prime Number Theorem (PNT), a classic result from number theory characterizing the asymptotic density of the primes. The formalization, conducted using the HOL Light theorem prover, proceeds from the most basic axioms for mathematics yet builds from that foundation to develop the necessary analytic machinery including Cauchy’s integral formula, so that we are able to formalize a direct, modern and elegant proof instead of the more involved ‘elementary’ Erdos-Selberg argument. As well as setting the work in context and describing the highlights of the formalization, we analyze the relationship between the formal proof and its informal counterpart and so attempt to derive some general lessons about the formalization of mathematics.
Temporal acceleration of spatially distributed kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

The computational intensity of kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation is a major impediment in simulating large length and time scales. In recent work, an approximate method for KMC simulation of spatially uniform systems, termed the binomial @t-leap method, was introduced [A. Chatterjee, D.G. Vlachos, M.A. Katsoulakis, Binomial distribution based @t-leap accelerated stochastic simulation, J. Chem. Phys. 122 (2005) 024112], where molecular bundles instead of individual processes are executed over coarse-grained time increments. This temporal coarse-graining can lead to significant computational savings but its generalization to spatially lattice KMC simulation has not been realized yet. Here we extend the binomial @t-leap method to lattice KMC simulations by combining it with spatially adaptive coarse-graining. Absolute stability and computational speed-up analyses for spatial systems along with simulations provide insights into the conditions where accuracy and substantial acceleration of the new spatio-temporal coarse-graining method are ensured. Model systems demonstrate that the r-time increment criterion of Chatterjee et al. obeys the absolute stability limit for values of r up to near 1.
Voluntary Anonymous Reporting of Medical Errors for Neonatal Intensive Care

Objectives. Medical errors cause significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Specialty-based, voluntary reporting of medical errors by health care providers is an important strategy that may enhance patient safety. We developed a voluntary, anonymous, Internet-based reporting system for medical errors in neonatal intensive care, evaluated its feasibility, and identified errors that affect high-risk neonates and their families. Methods. Health professionals (n = 739) from 54 hospitals in the Vermont Oxford Network received access to a secure Internet site for anonymous reporting of errors, near-miss errors, and adverse events. Reports used free-text entry in phase 1 (17 months) and a structured form in phase 2 (10 months). The number and types of reported events and factors that contributed to the events were measured. Results. Of 1230 reports—522 in phase 1 (17 months) and 708 in phase 2 (10 months)—the most frequent event categories were wrong medication, dose, schedule, or infusion rate (including nutritional agents and blood products; 47%); error in administration or method of using a treatment (14%); patient misidentification (11%); other system failure (9%); error or delay in diagnosis (7%); and error in the performance of an operation, procedure, or test (4%). The most frequent contributory factors were failure to follow policy or protocol (47%), inattention (27%), communications problem (22%), error in charting or documentation (13%), distraction (12%), inexperience (10%), labeling error (10%), and poor teamwork (9%). In 24 reports, family members assisted in discovery, contributed to the cause, or themselves were victims of the error. Serious patient harm was reported in 2% and minor harm in 25% of phase 2 events. Conclusions. Specialty-based, voluntary, anonymous Internet reporting by health care professionals identified a broad range of medical errors in neonatal intensive care and promoted multidisciplinary collaborative learning. Similar specialty-based systems have the potential to enhance patient safety in a variety of clinical settings.
Postnatal increase of intrafusal fibers in the rat muscle spindle.

Abstract The development of the intrafusal muscle fiber complement in spindles of the extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles of rats from birth to 12 days of age was studied by radioautographic and conventional microscopic methods. In adult rat muscles an average of 4.08 intrafusal fibers per spindle was found, only 12 units in 83 having more or less than four fibers. On criteria of cross-sectional area of the nucleated and polar regions, and configuration of nuclei at the midlength, the majority of spindles were found to have two fibers of the types known as “nuclear bag” and two “nuclear chain” fibers. A few bag fibers were observed to bifurcate at one motor pole. Spindles from rats killed at birth contained only two intrafusal fibers, one of which was consistently larger in diameter and had many more nuclei than its mate. We concluded that bag and chain fibers were already differentiated at birth. In muscles of 1-day-old rats, a proportion of the spindles showed a split along one end of the smaller intrafusal fiber. By Day 3, half of the spindles had three intrafusal fibers, two of these being of the chain type. Four days after birth, spindles were found in which the large fiber was divided along one end, and by the next day the majority of spindles had four intrafusal fibers. We estimated that the number of nuclei in the equatorial section of a large fiber in the newborn spindle was approximately equal to the sum of nuclei counted in the two bag fibers of spindles in 6-day-old rats. Mitotic figures were not observed during the time of intrafusal fiber multiplication. To further test for the presence of mitosis, radioactive thymidine was injected into 0- to 12-day-old rats, which were killed 8 hours later for serial radioautographic sections. In a given spindle in each muscle, sections were scored for the total number of intrafusal fiber nuclei present and the number of these with labeling. Similar counts were made for the capsule cells. No intrafusal fibers were found with labeled nuclei, although other components of the spindle were labeled. These observations indicate that increase in intrafusal muscle fibers after birth takes place in the rat by simple longitudinal division of the two existing fibers, and that the nuclear complement is determined prior to birth and merely distributed to daughter fibers at the time of division.
Endocrine regulation of testicular function in men: implications for contraceptive development☆

The testicle has two important and complimentary functions in the adult male: the production of sperm and the synthesis of testosterone. Testicular function is directed by the central nervous system through its effects on the pituitary gland. Precise regulation of testicular function is accomplished by an elegant endocrine feedback loop in which the secretion of pituitary gonadotropins is stimulated by the pulsatile release of GnRH from the hypothalamus and modulated by testicular hormones. Inhibin, testosterone and its metabolites inhibit the secretion of the gonadotropins both directly at the pituitary and centrally at the level of the hypothalamus. In the testis, LH mainly stimulates testosterone production and FSH promotes spermatogenesis, but the exact details of these actions are only now being elucidated. The discovery of novel mutations in gonadotropin structure and signaling provide unique insight into the roles of these crucial hormones in the development and function of the male reproductive axis. A key goal of research into hormonal regulation of testicular function is the development of reversible, safe and effective male hormonal contraceptives. Recent promising trials of hormonal contraceptive combinations may soon bring the promise of male contraception to fruition.
Geologic aspects of landfill refuse disposal

Abstract The decomposition of solid waste materials in sanitary landfills produces liquids and gases which are deleterious to human beings, animals, plants and inorganic geologic materials. This paper presents a summary of leachate characteristics and discusses the effects of leachate on groundwater quality and carbonate strata. A system for site evaluation for purposes of sanitary landfill is also presented. The characteristics of the soil and rock at a site are included in the evaluation system through assessment of their infiltration potential, permeability, filtering capability and absorption potential. The characteristics of the groundwater at a site are taken into consideration through assessment of the substrate potential, buffering capacity and distributive potential (for contaminants). Formulae are stated to allow determination of evaluation parameters, and an example of the application of the rating system is presented. Use of the site-evaluation system will improve the quality of site selection and will reduce contamination and pollution problems created by construction of refuse landfills at unsuitable locations.
Magnetic Drug Targeting: Drug Delivery in Large Vasculature

Magnetic drug targeting (MDT) is a novel drug delivery method with potential to dramatically revolutionize clinical approaches of the treatment of many diseases. In fact, MDT has been proposed for ailments ranging from vascular disease to cancer [1, 2]. Conventional drug delivery methods utilize large doses of medication to account for the dispersion of the drug throughout the body in the hope that a sufficient concentration of medicine arrives at the diseased site. Unfortunately, many medications can have caustic effects on healthy systems leaving patients with discomfort, weakened immunity or lowered quality of life. Alternatively, MDT aims to reduce potentially harmful global dosage levels by localizing medication at the diseased site. Additionally, magnetic drug targeting not only reduces chemicals seen by healthy areas of the body, it may provide a higher concentration of drug capable of remaining at the damaged location for a longer duration than typically seen for current treatment practices. Possibly the most important advantage of MDT is the method’s ability to enhance delivery while providing no additional invasive procedures.Copyright © 2008 by ASME