cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quality improvement analysis ofHER2FISH testing in breast cancer in response to the new ASCO/CAP guidelines.

CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts Abstract #3013 Background: The new ASCO/CAP guidelines for HER2 testing in breast cancer redefined the interpretation of HER2 FISH testing result. A new category of equivocal result is defined as FISH ratio of 1.8-2.2. Patients with equivocal results constitute a poorly studied subgroup with uncertain association of test scores to benefit from HER2 -directed therapy. Additional quality control and quality assurance recommendations were also detailed in the guideline. As part of our institutional effort for quality improvement of HER2 testing, we reviewed the FISH HER2 testing performed in our institution for the past four years. Methods: The FDA-approved PathVision HER2 FISH kit (Abbott Molecular, CA) was used for all FISH testing. The Herceptest ParmDx antibody (Dako Cytomation) and the Neu-Her2/Cerb-2 antibody (Vision Biosystems) were used for all IHC testing. The new ASCO/CAP interpretation criteria were applied to the FISH enumeration results and compared with the IHC results and interpretation. Correlation with clinical decision of trastuzumab therapy and clinical outcome was reviewed. Results: A total of 554 samples between 2004 and 2008 were tested for HER2 FISH. According to the new interpretation criteria, 12.8% of the samples had amplified values and 3.8% of the samples had equivocal values. IHC was negative for Her2 for all the samples with equivocal FISH results. Only one patient was treated with trastuzumab. In addition to this equivocal category, some samples showed genetic heterogeneity with some of the tumor showing cells with HER2 amplification whereas cells at different areas of the same tumor were not amplified. Half of these patients were treated and the remaining 50% were not. The discordant rate between FISH and IHC was 3.6% overall, and aneusomy 17 may explain some of the discordance. Of patients with discordant HER2 results by FISH and IHC, physicians' decision to treat with trastuzumab or not appeared to be based on either FISH or IHC with equal frequencies. Conclusion: Due to small sample size and retrospective nature of this review, outcome data was uninformative in these small cohorts. As suggested by the ASCO/CAP expert panel, pooling data from all adjuvant trastuzumab trails on subjects with equivocal results would be helpful to provide an evidence base for physicians to make treatment decisions. Alternatively, we are beginning to explore molecular expression profiles to see whether some of these equivocal or discordant cases behave more like HER2 positive or negative patients. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 3013.
Characterization of proteins with wide-angle X-ray solution scattering (WAXS)

X-ray solution scattering in both the small-angle (SAXS) and wide-angle (WAXS) regimes is making an increasing impact on our understanding of biomolecular complexes. The accurate calculation of WAXS patterns from atomic coordinates has positioned the approach for rapid growth and integration with existing Structural Genomics efforts. WAXS data are sensitive to small structural changes in proteins; useful for calculation of the pair-distribution function at relatively high resolution; provides a means to characterize the breadth of the structural ensemble in solution; and can be used to identify proteins with similar folds. WAXS data are often used to test structural models, identify structural similarities and characterize structural changes. WAXS is highly complementary to crystallography and NMR. It holds great potential for the testing of structural models of proteins; identification of proteins that may exhibit novel folds; characterization of unfolded or natively disordered proteins; and detection of structural changes associated with protein function.
The Center Cannot Hold: The AICPA and Accounting Professional Leadership 1997–2013

SYNOPSIS: Trade associations should play an integral role in defining and defending the legitimacy and jurisdiction of a profession. In addition, they should provide a field upon which individuals can rise above the confines of their organizations and grow their professional leadership capacities. Evidence in the literature suggests that U.S. accounting conformed to this pattern under the auspices of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). However, various recent events have transpired that reduce the confidence that this continues to be the case. Using network analysis on longitudinal data from 1997 to 2013, this paper documents an increasingly fragmented and isolated leadership structure. This finding suggests the reduced influence of the AICPA. Surprisingly, this decline has not been offset by the stronger influences of the large international firms. Implications for the profession are discussed.
What can we measure

When characterizing a shape or changes in shape we must first ask, what can we measure about a shape? For example, for a region in ∫3 we may ask for its volume or its surface area. If the object at hand undergoes deformation due to forces acting on it we may need to formulate the laws governing the change in shape in terms of measurable quantities and their change over time. Usually such measurable quantities for a shape are defined with the help of integral calculus and often require some amount of smoothness on the object to be well defined. In this chapter we will take a more abstract approach to the question of measurable quantities which will allow us to define notions such as mean curvature integrals and the curvature tensor for piecewise linear meshes without having to worry about the meaning of second derivatives in settings in which they do not exist. In fact in this chapter we will give an account of a classical result due to Hadwiger, which shows that for a convex, compact set in Rn there are only n + 1 unique measurements if we require that the measurements be invariant under Euclidian motions (and satisfy certain "sanity" conditions). We will see how these measurements are constructed in a very straightforward and elementary manner and that they can be read off from a characteristic polynomial due to Steiner. This polynomial describes the volume of a family of shapes which arise when we "grow" a given shape. As a practical tool arising from these consideration we will see that there is a well defined notion of the curvature tensor for piece-wise linear meshes and we will see very simple formulas for quantities needed in physical simulation with piecewise linear meshes. Much of the treatment here will initially be limited to convex bodies to keep things simple. This limitation that will be removed at the very end.
Does Parental Participation in Schools Empower or Strain Civil Society? The Case of Community‐managed Schools in Central America

Among the various educational models in Latin America that seek to increase parental participation in schooling, perhaps the most far-reaching is the experiment with self-managed schools. These are publicly funded schools administered by parents. Broad public powers, such as the capacity to decide the budget and make staffing decisions, are given to parents, many of whom have had very limited prior administrative experience. How does this policy innovation impact on civil society? Does parental participation in school administration empower participating citizens or strain civil society? There are various ways of answering these questions. This article looks at some possible ways to conceptualize and assess the relationship between parental participation in self-managed schools and civil society. The article draws from the experience of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, where these reforms have advanced significantly since the 1990s.
Effect of Fiber Orientation and Ply Mix on Fiber Reinforced Polymer-Confined Concrete

This paper explores the effects of fiber orientation and ply mix on load–deformation behavior and failure modes of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete by testing under uniaxial compression a designed array of plain concrete cylinders wrapped with different fabric orientation. Depending on the jacket confinement stiffness, either a strain hardening or a strain softening behavior was observed beyond the kink point where there was a sharp reduction in slope in the load–deformation curve. Kinking was seen to have a definable graphical relationship with the critical concrete lateral strain while the kink stress was found to upshift with increasing jacket stiffness. It is concluded that while hoop fiber wrapped concrete leads to brittle failures, angular fiber wrapped concrete tends to fail in a ductile manner, attributed to a fiber reorientation mechanism. Ply mix sequence plays an important role in the overall deformation and failure behavior. Existing models are found to be adequate in describin...
Mariner 9 evidence for wind erosion in the equatorial and mid‐latitude regions of Mars

Evidence for extensive wind erosion principally in the equatorial and mid-latitude regions of Mars is presented and compared with selected erosional landforms from the coastal desert of Peru known to be of eolian origin. The evidence for widespread erosion on Mars prompted an examination of certain aspects of its wind regime that are thought to be significant geologically.
Outcomes research using a voluntary generic registry

Abstract The Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium is a cooperative program developed to assess the quality of care being given to pediatric patients with congenital heart disease. The participating hospitals pool their clinical information to allow statistically meaningful analyses and comparisons. A method has been developed to allow centers to compare operative mortality in a way that takes operative risk factors into account. The Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium has developed an acceptable standard of care models in pediatric cardiology, established a method for translating clinical data into useful practise information for evaluating services, and served as a model for other outcome analysis programs.
Evidence for Change in Children's Use of Defense Mechanisms

ABSTRACT Using a cohort-longitudinal design, children's use of the defeneses of denial. projection, and identification was assessed at four points over a 2-year time span, covering the age period from 6 years, 6 months to 9 years, 5 months. The results showed a clear decrease in the use of denial from early to middle childhood, a sharp increase in the use of projection, and an increase in the use of identification. These findings, predicted by a theory of defense mechanism development, are consistent with cross-sectional results reported previously.
Disaster disparities and differential recovery in New Orleans

The historical disparities in the socio-demographic structure of New Orleans shaped the social vulnerability of local residents and their responses to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. These disparities, derived from race, class, gender, and age differences, have resulted in the uneven impact of the catastrophe on various communities in New Orleans, and importantly, their ability to recover. This article examines how the pre-existing social vulnerabilities within New Orleans interacted with the level of flood exposure to produce inequities in the socio-spatial patterns of recovery. Utilizing a combination of statistical and spatial approaches, we found a distinct geographic pattern to the recovery suggesting that the social burdens and impacts from Hurricane Katrina are uneven—the less flooded and less vulnerable areas are recovering faster than tracts with more vulnerable populations and higher levels of flooding. However, there is a more nuanced story, which suggests that it is neighborhoods in the mid-range of social vulnerability where recovery is lagging. While private resources and government programs help groups in the high and low categories of social vulnerability, the middle group shows the slowest rates of recovery. Further, it appears that the congressionally funded State of Louisiana Road Home Program (designed to provide compensation to Louisiana’s homeowners who suffered impacts by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita for the damage to their home) is not having a significant effect in stimulating recovery within the city.
MR Imaging of Head Trauma: Review of the Distribution and Radiopathologic Features of Traumatic Lesions

The distribution and extent of traumatic lesions were prospectively evaluated with MR imaging in 40 patients with closed head injuries. Primary intraaxial lesions were classified according to their distinctive topographical distribution within the brain and were of four main types: (1) diffuse axonal injury (48.2%), (2) cortical contusion (43.7%), (3) subcortical gray-matter injury (4.5%), and (4) primary brainstem injury (3.6%). Diffuse axonal injury most commonly involved the white matter of the frontal and temporal lobes, the body and splenium of the corpus callosum, and the corona radiata. Cortical contusions most frequently involved the inferior, lateral, and anterior aspects of the frontal and temporal lobes. Primary brainstem lesions were most commonly seen in the dorsolateral aspects of the rostral brainstem. The pattern and distribution of primary lesions seen by MR were compared with those expected from previous pathologic studies and found to be quite similar. Our data and review of the literature would also indicate that MR detects a more complete spectrum of traumatic lesions than does CT. Secondary forms of injury (territorial arterial infarction, pressure necrosis from increased intracranial pressure, cerebral herniation, secondary brainstem injury) were also visible by MR in some cases. The level of consciousness was most impaired in patients with primary brainstem injury, followed by those with widespread diffuse axonal injury and subcortical gray-matter injury. The best MR imaging planes, pulse sequences, and imaging strategies for evaluating and classifying traumatic lesions were evaluated, and the mechanisms by which traumatic stresses result in injury were reviewed. MR was found to be superior to CT and to be very effective in the detection of traumatic head lesions and some secondary forms of injury. While T2-weighted images were most useful for lesion detection, T1-weighted images proved to be most useful for anatomic localization and classification.
On identifying additive link metrics using linearly independent cycles and paths

In this paper, we study the problem of identifying constant additive link metrics using linearly independent monitoring cycles and paths. A monitoring cycle starts and ends at the same monitoring station, while a monitoring path starts and ends at distinct monitoring stations. We show that three-edge connectivity is a necessary and sufficient condition to identify link metrics using one monitoring station and employing monitoring cycles. We develop a polynomial-time algorithm to compute the set of linearly independent cycles. For networks that are less than three-edge-connected, we show how the minimum number of monitors required and their placement may be computed. For networks with symmetric directed links, we show the relationship between the number of monitors employed, the number of directed links for which metric is known a priori, and the identifiability for the remaining links. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that derives the necessary and sufficient conditions on the network topology for identifying additive link metrics and develops a polynomial-time algorithm to compute linearly independent cycles and paths.
Discovering Habitable Earths, Hot Jupiters, and Other Close Planets with Microlensing

Searches for planets via gravitational lensing have focused on cases in which the projected separation, a, between planet and star is comparable to the Einstein radius, RE . This paper considers smaller orbital separations and demonstrates that evidence of close-orbit planets can be found in the low-magnification portion of the light curves generated by the central star. We develop a protocol for discovering hot Jupiters as well as Neptune-mass and Earth-mass planets in the stellar habitable zone. When planets are not discovered, our method can be used to quantify the probability that the lens star does not have planets within specified ranges of the orbital separation and mass ratio. Nearby close-orbit planets discovered by lensing can be subject to follow-up observations to study the newly discovered planets or to discover other planets orbiting the same star. Careful study of the low-magnification portions of lensing light curves should produce, in addition to the discoveries of close-orbit planets, definite detections of wide-orbit planets through the discovery of repeating lensing events. We show that events exhibiting extremely high magnification can effectively be probed for planets in close, intermediate, and wide distance regimes simply by adding several-time-per-night monitoring in the low-magnification wings, possibly leading to gravitational lensing discoveries of multiple planets occupying a broad range of orbits, from close to wide, in a single planetary system.
Serum neuron-specific enolase as a predictor of short-term outcome in children with closed traumatic brain injury.

Background: Closed traumatic brain injury (cTBI) is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in children. The natural course and extent of recovery from cTBI in children are poorly understood. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE), an enzyme detected in serum following structural damage of neuronal brain cells, appears to be a good marker for intracranial injury. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the usefulness of NSE as a predictor of disability in children with cTBI has not been reported. Objectives: To examine the association between posttraumatic serum NSE level and short-term physical disability in children with cTBI. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively enrolled cohort of children aged 0‐18 years with isolated cTBI presenting to the emergency department (ED) within 24 hours of injury, and having a cranial computed tomography (CT) scan as part of the evaluation. The NSE level was obtained at the time of ED evaluation. Physical disability was measured using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). The GOS score was assigned retrospectively for enrolled patients by a single investigator blinded to NSE level. Patient outcomes were categorized as good (GOS = 5) or poor (GOS , 5). A single radiologist reviewed all cranial CT scans. Results: Ninety eligible subjects with NSE levels were identified; 86 met the enrollment criteria. Seven subjects (8%) had poor outcome. There was a significant difference in NSE levels between the poor and good outcome groups, even within high-risk subgroups. The area under the curve (AUC) for NSE prediction of poor vs. good outcome was 0.83. A serum NSE level of 21.2 ng/dL was 86% sensitive and 74% specific in predicting poor outcome. Conclusions: It appears that the serum NSE level can be used as a predictor of global short-term physical disability in children following cTBI. Key words: neuronspecific enolase; enolase; prediction; pediatrics; children; disability; outcomes. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2005; 12:732‐738.
Similarities and Differences in the Microstructure of Attritor-milled Fe–Al–N Compositions

Although numerous studies of high-energy, ball-milled metal powders have been conducted, to date few studies have characterized the mechanical processing of identical elemental compositions of prealloyed powders and of powder blends. This study reports on the mechanical processing (attritor ball milling) in argon and nitrogen gas environments of (a) iron powder and prealloyed iron–2 wt.% aluminum powder, and (b) iron-aluminum, iron-aluminum nitride, and iron-iron nitride powder blends. When nitrogen was milled into iron particles either from nitride powder or by gas infusion, the nitrogen dissolved interstitially in bcc-Fe (principally at the grain boundaries) or was present as bct-Fe nanoparticles at the bcc-Fe nanograin boundaries. The resulting nitrogen distribution was independent of how the nitrogen was added. Milled blends of iron and aluminum powder and prealloyed iron-aluminum powder resulted in similar microstructures: micrometer size particles with similar nanograin size. The aluminum in the blended powder mixture developed an ultrafine distribution on the grain boundaries, but it did not become uniformly distributed within the bcc-Fe grains. In contrast, the aluminum in prealloyed Fe–Al powder remained in solid solution during the mechanical milling.
Three Civil Rights Fallacies

From the early 1950s until the present day, three propositions have permeated the arguments of lawyers and others interested in advancing the cause of civil rights. The first proposition is that the target of the civil rights movement is discrimination, which is always or usually a product of irrational hatred, fear, or prejudice. In this view, the purpose of civil rights law is to eliminate these forms of irrationality from the public and private realms. The second proposition is that the principal function of civil rights law is compensatory. Just as an injured person in a tort action has a right to be made whole, so victims of a history of discrimination (including slavery) are entitled to be put into the place they would have occupied if discrimination had never occurred. Restoration of the status quo ante is a substantial part of the reasoning and rhetoric of civil rights law. The third proposition is that the judiciary is the appropriate institution for the making and enforcement of civil rights law. Reliance on the courts, principally through interpretation of the Constitution, has been a distinctive feature of the civil rights movement since the middle of this century. In this essay, I argue that these three propositions, which are mutually reinforcing, are fallacies. They misconceive the nature of discrimination and offer prescriptions that are ill-adapted to its elimination. This was so even in the period in which they arose and helped to accomplish considerable good. But their fallacious character will be especially conspicuous in the last decade of the twentieth and the early decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, the consequences of the fallacies will probably be pernicious. I do not mean at all to deny that prejudice still plays a major role in many realms of social and economic life, that the history of discrimina-
SAR and MODIS images of atmospheric solitary waves generated by upstream blocking in flow over St. Lawrence Island Bering Sea

A group of atmospheric solitons is identified on a RADARSAT-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image and a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image taken about 4.5 hours later on June 6, 2001. On both images, this group of solitons is showed as dark-bright linear features. The atmospheric solitons are generated at St. Lawrence Island in Bering Sea and propagate against the airflow in the upstream direction. On the first SAR image, there are only three wave crests. However, on the second MODIS image, the wave train propagates further upstream and seven wave crests can be identified. The basic properties of this group of solitons are measured and derived. Radiosonde data show that the Froude number is close to unity. Therefore, theoretically, this phenomenon can be described by the classic "flow over bump" model and analyzed using the classic KdV equation.
Novel MMSE precoder and decoder designs subject to per-antenna power constraint for uplink multiuser MIMO systems

Two complementary numerical approaches, the generalized iterative approach (GIA) and the transmit covariance optimization approach (TCOA) are proposed for jointly designing the minimum mean square error (MMSE) precoders and decoders in uplink multiuser multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems with a per-antenna power constraint. The TCOA always give optimum solution but works only when the source covariance matrices are projection matrices multiplied by the same constant and the rank constraint on the precoders is relaxed. On the other hand, the GIA does not have these restrictions. Furthermore, it is able to deal with arbitrary source covariances and allows arbitrary numbers of data streams. However, under these more general conditions, the GIA results are only guaranteed to be locally optimum. Regarding computational efficiency, the TCOA is more efficient at high transmission power and the GIA is more efficient at low transmission power when both approaches are applicable. Furthermore, the GIA and the TCOA are equivalent and both are optimum if the transmit covariance matrices obtained from the MMSE design are full rank. Numerical results show that the MSE and BER performances of the two approaches with the more practical per-antenna power constraint are very similar to those with the less practical per-user power constraint.
Effect of 6-gingerol on pro-inflammatory cytokine production and costimulatory molecule expression in murine peritoneal macrophages.

Background Pro-inflammatory cytokines produced primarily by macrophages are key elements in many surgical conditions including sepsis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and transplant rejection. Herbal products are being used as alternative treatments in such inflammatory conditions. Ginger is known for its ethno-botanical applications as an anti-inflammatory agent. 6-gingerol is one of the active ingredients of ginger that imparts ginger with its anti-inflammatory properties. We hypothesized that the anti-inflammatory effect of 6-gingerol is because of inhibition of macrophage activation, more specifically by an inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines and antigen presentation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activated macrophages. Methods To study the effect of 6-gingerol on pro-inflammatory cytokines, we measured the liberation of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-12 by murine peritoneal macrophages exposed to several doses of 6-gingerol in the presence of LPS stimulation. We also studied the effect of 6-gingerol on the cell surface expression of B7.1, B7.2, and MHC II. Finally, we examined the APC function of the 6-gingerol treated macrophages by a primary mixed lymphocyte reaction. Results 6-gingerol inhibited the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines from LPS stimulated macrophages but had no effect on the LPS-induced expression of B7.1, B7.2, and MHC II. The APC function of LPS stimulated macrophages was also unaffected by 6-gingerol treatment. Conclusion Our data indicate that 6-gingerol selectively inhibits production of pro-inflammatory cytokines from macrophages but does not affect either the APC function or cell surface expression of MHC II and costimulatory molecules. We, thus, provide a mechanistic insight into the anti-inflammatory properties of 6-gingerol that may be useful to treat inflammation without interfering with the antigen presenting function of macrophages.
Structural Analysis and Deletion Mutagenesis Define Regions of QUIVER/SLEEPLESS that Are Responsible for Interactions with Shaker-Type Potassium Channels and Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Ly6 proteins are endogenous prototoxins found in most animals. They show striking structural and functional parallels to snake α-neurotoxins, including regulation of ion channels and cholinergic signaling. However, the structural contributions of Ly6 proteins to regulation of effector molecules is poorly understood. This question is particularly relevant to the Ly6 protein QUIVER/SLEEPLESS (QVR/SSS), which has previously been shown to suppress excitability and synaptic transmission by upregulating potassium (K) channels and downregulating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in wake-promoting neurons to facilitate sleep in Drosophila. Using deletion mutagenesis, co-immunoprecipitations, ion flux assays, surface labeling and confocal microscopy, we demonstrate that only loop 2 is required for many of the previously described properties of SSS in transfected cells, including interactions with K channels and nAChRs. Collectively our data suggest that QVR/SSS, and by extension perhaps other Ly6 proteins, target effector molecules using limited protein motifs. Mapping these motifs may be useful in rational design of drugs that mimic or suppress Ly6-effector interactions to modulate nervous system function.
Analysis of racial variations in disease characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The impact of race on outcomes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in the west, is not well studied. We aimed to understand racial variations in clinical and disease characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes in patients with CLL. We utilized the Mayo Clinic CLL database to perform an analysis of these characteristics and natural history of non-white (NW) compared to white (W) CLL patients. Differences by race in median overall survival (OS) and time-to-first-treatment (TTFT) were investigated. Of the 4215 CLL patients, 4114 (97.6%) were W and 101 (2.4%) were NW. NW patients were younger (median age at diagnosis 59.4 vs. 63.4; P = 0.003) and more likely to have an elevated LDH (28.0% vs. 16.2%; P = 0.02). No differences in prognostic parameters were noted. No major differences were observed in treatment selection. OS and TTFT were similar between both groups. In the largest analysis of NW-CLL patients in North America, and contrary to historical retrospective reports, W and NW patients appear to have comparable outcomes when treated similarly. These findings suggest previously noted outcome differences may be due to disparities in access to care and management rather than differences in disease biology. Am. J. Hematol. 91:677-680, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Implementation of a nontraditional postgraduate year 1 pharmacy residency program

Purpose The development and implementation of a nontraditional pharmacy residency program at a Veterans Affairs medical center (VAMC) are described. Summary The nontraditional pharmacy residency program at Lebanon VAMC was designed in accordance with the ASHP accreditation standard. The residency program was structured to meet staff needs without compromising patient care or significantly affecting the pharmacy services provided. The purpose statement, intended outcomes, and learning goals and objectives of the nontraditional pharmacy residency program were formulated to be equivalent to those of a traditional one-year pharmacy residency program, enabling practicing pharmacists to obtain similar overall learning experiences. The nontraditional residency program at Lebanon VAMC spans two years. The non-traditional program structure is based on a four- to six-week residency learning experience that alternates with a comparable time in the work schedule. Each required or elective learning experience ranges from four to six weeks. Longitudinal learning experiences may extend up to two years. One pharmacist was matched and began the residency in July 2012 as the inaugural nontraditional postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy resident at Lebanon VAMC, the second institution to implement the nontraditional program within the Veterans Health Administration. The resident is expected to complete the program in June 2014 and remain committed to the Lebanon VAMC pharmacy service for a minimum of two years thereafter. Conclusion A nontraditional PGY1 pharmacy residency program was successfully developed and implemented for pharmacists who aspire to complete residency training and improve their clinical, leadership, and preceptorship skills.
Applications of the Feynman Calculus

This chapter is devoted to a few applications of the Feynman operator calculus. We first consider the theory of linear evolution equations and provide a unified approach to a class of time-dependent parabolic and hyperbolic equations.
The slider task: an example of restricted inference on incentive effects

Real-effort experiments are frequently used when examining a response to incentives. For a real-effort task to be well suited for such an exercise its measurable output must be sufficiently elastic over the incentives considered. The popular slider task in Gill and Prowse (Am Econ Rev 102(1):469–503, 2012) has been characterized as satisfying this requirement, and the task is increasingly used to investigate the response to incentives. However, a between-subject examination of the slider task’s response to incentives has not been conducted. We provide such an examination with three different piece-rate incentives: half a cent, two cents, and eight cents per slider completed. We find only a small increase in performance: despite a 1500 % increase in the incentives, output only increases by 5 %. With such an inelastic response we caution that for typical experimental sample sizes and incentives the slider task is unlikely to demonstrate a meaningful and statistically significant performance response.
Support for Gestalt versus Business-As-Usual theories of insight depends on operational definition of insight

Some theories propose that insight involves automatic processes that are responsible for restructuring. Other theories postulate that the mechanisms surrounding restructuring are controlled and effortful. The current study tested these theories by comparing different methodology and operational definitions that have been used in previous research to investigate the nature of “Aha!” experiences and impasse in insightful problem solving. One hundred two undergraduate psychology students from Old Dominion University completed working memory tasks, six classic insight problems, and gave initial problem representation ratings for the insight problems before solution attempt. Using a think-aloud protocol, we assessed the occurrence of impasse during the problem solving phase. After solving each problem, participants completed self-reported, measures of the Aha! experience—solution confidence, how sudden a solution appeared, and the effort required. Results demonstrated distinctly different response patterns between self-reported ratings of insight and the empirically coded measure of impasse when compared with all other variables of interest. This suggests that the Aha! ratings lack construct validity as an assessment of insight. Further, we replicated contradictory working memory correlations found in previous research with the self-report ratings and impasse coding, suggesting that discrepancies in the literature were the result of how insight was assessed. These findings call into question previous research utilizing self-report Aha! ratings.
WE‐DE‐207B‐07: Hotelling Templates Without Additional Training Data for Breast Tomosynthesis Observer Models

Purpose: To describe and test a practical approach that uses minimal training data for estimating signal mean and background statistics to compute the Hotelling observer (HO) in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). Methods: Best among all linear observers, Hotelling observer (HO) is desired for many detection tasks. However, training data cost is usually high for obtaining prior information regarding the signal and data covariance. This limits the HO's utility in many practical situations. We propose that, in breast tomosynthesis images, it is feasible to estimate priors without using additional training data. The approach consists of obtaining the signal mean from a subtraction of noiseless reconstructions of a uniform background with and without signal and the noise power spectrum (NPS) computed from each breast tomosynthesis image itself, and implementing the HO in the Fourier domain. We call this approach no-additional-training Fourier HO (FHO). We compare this approach to the usual-training approach with pre-acquired training data to examine whether the resulting performances are comparable. We utilize a baseline model observer (MO) without prewhitening and an efficient MO with Laguerre-Gauss channelized HO (LG-CHO) to examine the efficiency of the no-additional-training FHO. Performance is evaluated in terms of lesion detectability using simulated DBT images corresponding to the UPENN breast phantoms with spherical lesions and two types of reconstruction. Results: The no-additional-training FHO yielded similar and even higher performance compared to the usual-training approach in all the simulated imaging conditions. The performance improvement over non-prewhitening MO was substantial and over LG-CHO was also moderate, indicating a higher efficiency of the no-additional-training FHO in detecting lesions from the simulated DBT images. Conclusion: The approach to estimate HO templates without additional training data shows excellent performance with simulated breast tomosynthesis data. Its efficiency will be further tested on virtual and real patient breast tomosynthesis image sets.
ATRP Synthesis of Sunflower Polymers using Cyclic Multimacroinitiators.

Polymers with advanced architectures can now be readily and reproducibly synthesized using controlled living polymerization. These materials are attractive as potential drug carriers due to their tunable size, versatile methods of drug incorporation and release, and ease of functionalization with targeting ligands. In this work, we report the design and development of macrocyclic brush or “sunflower” polymers, synthesized by controlled radical polymerization of hydrophilic “petals” from a cyclic multimacroinitiator “core”. These nanostructures can be synthesized with low polydispersity and controlled sizes depending on polymerization time. We further demonstrate that folate-functionalized sunflower polymers facilitate receptor-mediated uptake into cancer cells. These materials therefore show potential as drug carriers for anticancer therapies.
A nonlinear observability formulation for power systems incorporating generator and load dynamics

Traditionally, observability in power systems is derived from the state-estimation problem and is based on a non-linear algebraic model of the system. This measure of system observability focuses on the sensitivity of the system measurements to the change In the system states. Since the model of the system used is an algebraic model, describing the flow of power throughout the network, the non-linear dynamics of the system related to generator performance and non-linear components are ignored. The proposed observability formulation accounts for these non-linearities and provides a more comprehensive observability determination with the ability to track the observability determination of the system along the trajectory of the dynamic system states. The observability formulation of the system is sensitive to the trajectories of the system states, and the regions of the statespace where the system observability is lost are presented. A qualitative analysis for the limits of the observability formulation is presented for a 3-bus power system.
Emendative therapy and the Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione

In the last two chapters I have discussed a number of issues preliminary to considering Spinoza's method. In chapter 1, I discussed the analogy of the worm in the blood and the problem of how we – natural beings – come to understand nature. In chapter 2, I considered a number of key concepts that all have bearing on the solution that Spinoza proposed to the worm's problem, specifically on Spinoza's definition of God. In this chapter and the three that follow it I will present what Spinoza and some philosophers who Spinoza drew on have to say about method. By “method” I understand what the Scholastics called a “via” and Spinoza calls a mos , a way or means to discover those truths “that can lead us, by the hand as it were, to the knowledge of the human Mind and its highest blessedness” (II “Preface”). For Spinoza this via is intertwined with what I call an “emendative therapy.” Why and that they are interconnected is the concern of this chapter. The first two sections concern the idea of “emendation” in Spinoza's Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione . In these sections I will try to show that in the TIE Spinoza draws on and alters Francis Bacon's theory of mental tools, Gersonides' theory of emendation, and Descartes' account of innate ideas, and uses them for his own ends. The final section will emphasize that emendation is the crucial first step to understanding Spinoza's account of definition and the mos geometricus .
Change of Coordinates

Tensor calculus achieves invariance by establishing rules for forming expressions that evaluate to the same value in all coordinate systems. In order to construct expressions that do not depend on the choice of coordinates, one must understand how individual elements transform under a change of coordinate. This chapter is therefore devoted to the study of coordinate changes and the corresponding changes in calculated quantities. Looking ahead, we discover that certain objects transform according to a special rule that makes it particularly easy to form invariant combinations. Such objects are called tensors.
Schooling in Capitalist America Twenty-Five Years Later

We thank David Swartz (2003) for his insightful and balanced review of Schooling in Capitalist America (Bowles and Gintis, 1976) and the editors of Sociological Forum for inviting our response. Typically this is an opportunity to correct the reviewer’s errors, especially those that contributed to a less than stellar evaluation of the work in question. But we find ourselves with next to nothing to say on this score. Swartz has captured what we attempted and what we accomplished with extraordinary accuracy and nuance. We wholeheartedly agree with his criticism of what he terms our empty, “get out there and struggle” political rhetoric. We concede that our macro–social research strategy did not allow us to shed much light inside the black box of how what goes in the classroom accounts for the role of schooling in the reproduction of the social order. The critics of our work whom Swartz cites have admirably filled this gap. These shortcomings point to what we did not do in the book: concerning what we did do, we remain for the most part convinced of the truth of the propositions advanced concerning schooling and social structure. Among these is the claim that capitalism generates a high degree of inequality; that this inequality is transmitted across generations, giving rise to stark disparities in the opportunities of the children of the rich and the less well-off; that IQ and other test scores account only for a small portion of this inequality; and that schooling reproduces rather than ameliorates that inequality. Indeed, research by others in the years since publication of Schooling has strengthened the empirical evidence underlying our analysis, in a number of cases strongly affirming the once-controversial claims made in that work.
Abstract IA19: Microenvironmental regulation of breast cancer invasion, dissemination, and lung colonization

The majority of cancer deaths are associated with the metastasis of epithelial tumors. This clinical reality presents an interesting conceptual puzzle: homeostatic epithelial cells are tightly adherent to each other and exhibit comparatively modest levels of proliferation and motility. Conversely, metastatic cancer cells must escape from the primary tumor, navigate the local stroma, access the systemic circulation, evade the immune system, and survive in distant sites with molecularly distinct microenvironments. We seek to understand the molecular changes that underlie this large change in epithelial cell behavior. To accomplish this goal, we first developed a series of 3D organotypic assays to elucidate the specific molecular changes downstream of expression of genes associated with metastatic cell behaviors, such as Twist1. We found that Twist1 expression is sufficient to induce mammary cells to disseminate but, surprisingly, its major effectors are proteins that constitute, interpret, or modify the extracellular compartment. We further demonstrated that Twist1 induced dissemination occurs in the presence of membrane localized adherens junction components and requires E-cadherin (Shamir et al, JCB, 2014). We are currently leveraging our bioinformatic analyses to identify molecular targets that can be inhibited to block invasion and dissemination. In addition to candidate gene approaches, we sought to identify invasion and metastasis associated genes in an unbiased fashion. We therefore developed 3D organotypic culture assays using primary and metastatic tumor tissue from mouse models and clinical breast cancer samples (n>150). We discovered a conserved molecular program expressed in the most invasive breast cancer cells across molecular subtypes (Cheung et al, Cell, 2013). We next used lineage analysis in vivo to demonstrate that the majority of metastases in the MMTV-PyMT mouse model are founded by multicellular groups of cancer cells. Importantly, the keratin-14+ (K14+) invasive molecular phenotype is common in invasion strands, locally disseminated cancer cells, CTC clusters, and micrometastases but rare in the macrometastases. We are now focused on understanding how the microenvironment determines the likelihood of dissemination from the primary tumor and metastatic outgrowth in distant organs. Citation Format: Andrew J. Ewald. Microenvironmental regulation of breast cancer invasion, dissemination, and lung colonization. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Function of Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression; 2016 Jan 7–10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(15 Suppl):Abstract nr IA19.
Can technology replace live preparations in student laboratories

We have seen a trend in recent years toward reduction or elimination of student laboratories in many physiology curricula. Some departments have sought "alternatives" to live preparations in an attempt to retain an active learning experience for students. However, it seems as if few departments have seriously examined the specific educational objectives of their student laboratories to determine whether alternatives exist that will allow these objectives to be met. Technology certainly offers a variety of ways to provide active learning experiences. In some instances, technological approaches can be used to address the same educational objectives as traditional laboratories, while in others these objectives may be partially met by use of technology. However, it is important to recognize that some educational objectives can only be achieved through first-hand experience with live preparations.