cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 185: The Relationship of Ambulatory Visit Frequency and Hypertension Control Among Young Adults

Background: Young adults (18-39 years old) have the lowest rates of hypertension control compared to middle-aged and older adults. Shorter follow-up encounter intervals have been associated with faster rates of hypertension control in middle-aged and older adults. However, the optimal follow-up interval is not defined in younger adults. The objective was to evaluate the relationship between ambulatory follow-up intervals, defined as the average number of provider-patient blood pressure encounters over time, and rates of hypertension control among young adults with incident hypertension. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of 3,150 young adults receiving regular primary care in a large, Midwestern, academic group practice from 2008-2011. Patients were included upon meeting JNC7 clinical criteria for hypertension (≥140/90 mmHg) and followed for 24 months. Young adults with a previous hypertension diagnosis or prior antihypertensive medication were excluded. We calculated the average blood pressure encounter interval over 24 months and categorized the intervals using established categories of 6 month intervals. Summary statistics were constructed using frequencies and proportions for categorical data and median (25 th , 75 th percentile) for continuous variables. Univariate associations between continuous variables were assessed using two-sided t-test. The probability of achieving hypertension control ( Results: Among young adults with newly diagnosed hypertension (59% male, 83% White), those with the shortest average encounter interval ( 6 months (13%), p th -75 th percentile) by encounter intervals was: 2.8 (1.8-3.9), 7.1 (5.1-11.3), 10.5 (8.5-14.4), 16.4 (12.4-22.6), and 23.9 (22.5-24.1) months. Young adults with 2-3 month and 3-6 month encounter intervals had higher rates of antihypertensive medication initiation within 24 months, 28% (884/3150) and 27% (850/3150) respectively, compared to 21% (661/3150) with Conclusions: A shorter encounter interval (
Characterization of Four Multidrug Resistance Plasmids Captured from the Sediments of an Urban Coastal Wetland.

Self-transmissible and mobilizable plasmids contribute to the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria by enabling the horizontal transfer of acquired antibiotic resistance. The objective of this study was to capture and characterize self-transmissible and mobilizable resistance plasmids from a coastal wetland impacted by urban stormwater runoff and human wastewater during the rainy season. Four plasmids were captured, two self-transmissible and two mobilizable, using both mating and enrichment approaches. Plasmid genomes, sequenced with either Illumina or PacBio platforms, revealed representatives of incompatibility groups IncP-6, IncR, IncN3, and IncF. The plasmids ranged in size from 36 to 144 kb and encoded known resistance genes for most of the major classes of antibiotics used to treat Gram-negative infections (tetracyclines, sulfonamides, β-lactams, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and amphenicols). The mobilizable IncP-6 plasmid pLNU-11 was discovered in a strain of Citrobacter freundii enriched from the wetland sediments with tetracycline and nalidixic acid, and encodes a novel AmpC-like β-lactamase (blaWDC-1), which shares less than 62% amino acid sequence identity with the PDC class of β-lactamases found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Although the IncR plasmid pTRE-1611 was captured by mating wetland bacteria with P. putida KT2440 as recipient, it was found to be mobilizable rather than self-transmissible. Two self-transmissible multidrug-resistance plasmids were also captured: the small (48 kb) IncN3 plasmid pTRE-131 was captured by mating wetland bacteria with Escherichia coli HY842 where it is seemed to be maintained at nearly 240 copies per cell, while the large (144 kb) IncF plasmid pTRE-2011, which was isolated from a cefotaxime-resistant environmental strain of E. coli ST744, exists at just a single copy per cell. Furthermore, pTRE-2011 bears the globally epidemic blaCTX-M-55 extended-spectrum β-lactamase downstream of ISEcp1. Our results indicate that urban coastal wetlands are reservoirs of diverse self-transmissible and mobilizable plasmids of relevance to human health.
Social epidemiology for the 21st century

Social epidemiology, as defined by the textbook of the same name (Berkman et al., 2014) is "that branch of epidemiology concerned with the way that social structures, institutions, and relationships influence health" (p. 2). As our Special Issue commemorates the 50th anniversary of Social Science & Medicine, it is worth noting that the Social Epidemiology office within the journal has existed only for a fraction of that time (fifteen years). So what has been learned in the fifteen years since the establishment of the new office? In this commentary, we spotlight some of the achievements, substantive topics, and future trends in the research papers that we have featured in our Section of the journal.
Risk assessment of the hospital discharge process of high-risk patients with diabetes.

Objectives Describe the application of a risk assessment to identify failures in the hospital discharge process of a high-risk patient group, liver transplant (LT) recipients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and/or hyperglycaemia who require high-risk medications. Design A Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) of the hospital discharge process of LT recipients with DM and/or hyperglycaemia who required DM education and training before discharge was conducted using information from clinicians, patients and data extraction from the electronic health records (EHR). Failures and their causes were identified and the frequency and characteristics (harm, detectability) of each failure were assigned using a score of low/best (1) to high/worst (10); a Criticality Index (CI=Harm×Frequency) and a Risk Priority Number (RPN=Harm×Frequency×Detection) were also calculated. Setting An academic, tertiary care centre in Chicago, Illinois. Participants Healthcare providers (N=31) including physicians (n= 6), advanced practice providers (n=12), nurses (n=6), pharmacists (n= 4), staff (n=3) and patients (n=6) and caregivers (n=3) participated in the FMECA; EHR data for LT recipients with DM or hyperglycaemia (N=100) were collected. Results Of 78 identified failures, the most critical failures (n=15; RPNs=700, 630, 560; CI=70) were related to variability in delivery of diabetes education and training, care coordination and medication prescribing patterns of providers. Underlying causes included timing of patient education, lack of assessment of patients’ knowledge and industry-level design failures of healthcare products (eg, EHR, insulin pen). Conclusion Most identified critical failures are preventable and suggest the need for the design of interventions, informed by the failures identified by this FMECA, to mitigate safety risks and improve outcomes of high-risk patient populations.
Implicit Racial Bias and Racial Anxiety: Implications for Stops and Frisks

Fifty years ago, in Terry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court recognized that the practice of stopping individuals for questioning and conducting frisks for weapons was “a major source of friction between the police and minority groups.” Despite acknowledging that a frisk represents “a serious intrusion upon the sanctity of the person, which may inflict great indignity and arouse strong resentment,” the Court held that officers could conduct them even in the absence of probable cause to believe that the individual was armed and dangerous. Furthermore, the Court also affirmed that police may approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest. Experience in the years since Terry was decided demonstrates that stops and frisks continue to foster negative relationships between communities of color and the police, leading many in these communities to distrust the police and to question their legitimacy. In this Essay, I will use lessons from social psychology as a lens to explain why Terry and its progeny were destined to create unjustified racial disparities in policing regardless of officers’ conscious racial motivations. I conclude that these disparities in stops and frisks are inevitable and that the only way to prevent them is to eliminate the practice.
Changes in Sodium and Potassium Content of Urine from Mice Subjected to Intense Magnetic Fields

Man is being exposed to increasingly higher magnetic fields on earth. Such exposures occur in plasma and solid state physics laboratories, industrial factories using magnetic forming devices, and other engineering disciplines. Betatrons and cyclotrons with magnetic fields ranging to 20 kOe are used for accelerating charged particles. It is reasonable to expect that in the near future man will be exposed to an increasing number of sources of even higher intensities. Magnetic fields to shield men against damaging radiation during extended space flights are contemplated.
Transplanting Hepatitis C Virus–Infected Versus Uninfected Kidneys Into Hepatitis C Virus–Infected Recipients: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Background Direct-acting antiviral agents are now available to treat chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Objective To examine whether it is more cost-effective to transplant HCV-infected or HCV-uninfected kidneys into HCV-infected patients. Design Markov state-transition decision model. Data Sources MEDLINE searches and bibliographies from relevant English-language articles. Target Population HCV-infected patients with ESRD receiving hemodialysis in the United States. Time Horizon Lifetime. Perspective Health care system. Intervention Transplant of an HCV-infected kidney followed by HCV treatment versus transplant of an HCV-uninfected kidney preceded by HCV treatment. Outcome Measures Effectiveness, measured in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and costs, measured in 2017 U.S. dollars. Results of Base-Case Analysis Transplant of an HCV-infected kidney followed by HCV treatment was more effective and less costly than transplant of an HCV-uninfected kidney preceded by HCV treatment, largely because of longer wait times for uninfected kidneys. A typical 57.8-year-old patient receiving hemodialysis would gain an average of 0.50 QALY at a lifetime cost savings of $41 591. Results of Sensitivity Analysis Transplant of an HCV-infected kidney followed by HCV treatment continued to be preferred in sensitivity analyses of many model parameters. Transplant of an HCV-uninfected kidney preceded by HCV treatment was not preferred unless the additional wait time for an uninfected kidney was less than 161 days. Limitation The study did not consider the benefit of decreased HCV transmission from treating HCV-infected patients. Conclusion Transplanting HCV-infected kidneys into HCV-infected patients increased quality-adjusted life expectancy and reduced costs compared with transplanting HCV-uninfected kidneys into HCV-infected patients. Primary Funding Source Merck Sharp & Dohme and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
NUMERICAL METHODS FOR NONLINEAR BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEMS AT RESONANCE

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the numerical methods for nonlinear boundary value problems at resonance. It highlights the problem of numerical solution of nonlinear boundary value problems at resonance. A nonlinear boundary value problem at resonance is an operator equation of the type Eu = Nu, where E is a linear differential operator with a nontrivial kernel. The chapter explores few methods to find an approximate solution to the nonlinear operator equation. It also discusses methods to find an approximate solution to the nonlinear operator equation . The chapter highlights the method of Cesari. It presents a detailed analysis of the sufficient conditions for the convergence of the solutions of the approximate equations to a solution of the problem and the corresponding error estimates.
Oral lipoic acid as a treatment for acute optic neuritis: A blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial (P6.388)

Objective: To determine whether LA is neuroprotective in AON. Background: Lipoic acid (LA) is an inexpensive, orally active antioxidant that can treat experimental acute optic neuritis (AON) and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis effectively. Recently, LA showed slower whole brain atrophy in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, suggesting a neuroprotective effect. Thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) as detected by optical coherence tomography (OCT) occurs 3–6 months following AON, indicating retinal nerve ganglion cells axonal degeneration. While corticosteroids speed AON recovery, neuroprotective therapies for AON are lacking. Design/Methods: We conducted a double-masked, placebo-controlled 24-week long pilot trial to assess the effectiveness of LA in AON. Subjects were randomized within 14 days of AON diagnosis to receive LA (1200 mg orally once a day) or placebo for 6 weeks. The outcome measures included: Primary - difference in affected eye RNFL thickness from baseline to 24 weeks post-enrollment; Secondary - difference in affected eye RNFL thickness from baseline to 12 weeks post-enrollment, changes from baseline to 12 and 24 week in low- and high-contrast visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual field. Results: We enrolled 31 subjects (average age −38.6 years (SD: 10.3); 65% female) with 4 who were lost to follow-up. 13 (42%) of the subjects received steroid treatment. Mean baseline RNFL thickness in the affected eye and unaffected eye at: Baseline −106.3 μm (SD: 23.1) and 96.4 μm (SD: 10.5); 12 week −88.5 μm (SD: 18.7) and 96 μm (SD: 13.3); 24 week −79.4 μm (SD: 22.8) and 95.9 μm (SD: 15.2) respectively. Treatment was tolerated well. The last subject exits the study in November 2016. Conclusions: The results of the trials, including effects of LA on changes in RNLF and other outcome measures will be presented. Study Supported by: Pure Encapsulations® Disclosure: Dr. Yadav has nothing to disclose. Dr. Mass has nothing to disclose. Dr. Marracci has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wanchu has nothing to disclose. Dr. Fryman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hills has nothing to disclose. Dr. Falardeau has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bourdette has nothing to disclose.
A survey of digitized data from U.S. fish collections in the iDigBio data aggregator

Recent changes in institutional cyberinfrastructure and collections data storage methods have dramatically improved accessibility of specimen-based data through the use of digital databases and data aggregators. This analysis of digitized fish collections in the U.S. demonstrates how information from data aggregators, in this case iDigBio, can be extracted and analyzed. Data from U.S. institutional fish collections in iDigBio were explored through a strictly programmatic approach using the ridigbio package and fishfindR web application. iDigBio facilitates the aggregation of collections data on a purely voluntary fashion that requires collection staff to consent to sharing of their data. Not all collections are sharing their data with iDigBio, but the data harvested from 38 of the 143 known fish collections in the U.S. that are in iDigBio account for the majority of fish specimens housed in U.S. collections. In the 22 years since publication of the last survey providing information on these 38 collections, 1,219,168 specimen records (lots), 15,225,744 specimens, 3,192 primary types, and 32,868 records of secondary types have been added. This is an increase of 65.1% in the number of cataloged records and an increase of 56.1% in the number of specimens. In addition to providing specimen-based data for research, education, and various outreach activities, data that are accessible via data aggregators can be used to develop accurate, up-to-date reports of information on institutional collections. Such reports present collections data in an organized and accessible fashion and can guide targeted efforts by collections personnel to meet discipline-specific needs and make data more transparent to downstream users. Data from this survey will be updated and published regularly in a dynamic web application that will aid collections staff in communicating collections value while simultaneously giving stakeholders a way to explore collections holdings as they relate to the institutions in which they are housed. It is through this resource that collections will be able to leverage their data against those of similar collections to aid in the procurement of financial and institutional support.
100.02 Correlation Between Fraction Flow Reserve Variation and Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging Post-Stenting Optimization: Results from ILUMIEN-I Trial

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a reliable and reproducible invasive method to assess coronary ischemia due to its physiologic approach. Some studies found that post stenting FFR above 0.90 predicts good outcomes, but thin assessment reflects a vessel level, providing limited information regarding
Correction of Corrupted Columns Through Fast Robust Hankel Matrix Completion

This paper studies the robust matrix completion (RMC) problem with the objective to recover a low-rank matrix from partial observations that may contain significant errors. If all the observations in one column are erroneous, existing RMC methods can locate the corrupted column at best but cannot recover the actual data in that column. Low-rank Hankel matrices characterize the additional correlations among columns besides the low-rankness and exist in power system monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging, and array signal processing. Exploiting the low-rank Hankel property, this paper develops an alternating-projection-based fast algorithm to solve the nonconvex RMC problem. The algorithm converges to the ground-truth low-rank matrix with a linear rate even when all the measurements in a constant fraction of columns are corrupted. The required number of observations is significantly less than the existing bounds for the conventional RMC. Numerical results are reported to evaluate the proposed algorithm.
“To have healthy leisure is to have balance”: Young adults’ conceptualization of healthy and unhealthy leisure

Leisure is an important developmental context in adolescence and emerging adulthood due to its role promoting healthy development and mitigating risk behavior. Empirical work has focused on the ben...
Noticing and Noting: Teaching Students with EBD to Effectively Self-Monitor.

Self-monitoring interventions can be effective components in the specially designed instruction programs of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. This article provides a self-monitoring...
Estrogen and prolactin upregulate zinc transports and zinc uptake in the prostate cancer cell lines

3273 The genetic/molecular basis of the development and progression of prostate cancer is largely unidentified. The most consistent and persistent distinguishing characteristic of malignant prostate is the inability of the malignant epithelial cells to accumulate zinc. A key factor in the malignant process is the mechanism that results in this inability of the neoplastic prostate cell to accumulate zinc. Recent studies identified ZIP1 (SLC39A1) as an important zinc transporter involved in the uptake and accumulation of zinc by prostate cells: up-regulation of hZIP1 in prostate cells increases zinc accumulation, which inhibits cell growth and increases net citrate production; down-regulation of hZIP1 decreases zinc accumulation in prostate cells 1-5. The down-regulation of hZIP1 transporter expression appears to be an essential factor in the development and progression of malignant prostate cells. We have shown that hZIP1 gene expression, which is expressed in normal peripheral zone glandular epithelium (the zone where prostate cancer occurs most often), is down-regulated in adenocarcinomatous glands. Correspondingly, the zinc level is depleted in the malignant glands. Down-regulation of hZIP1 and consecutive zinc depletion is a critical early event in the development of prostate malignancy. The intracellular zinc concentration in situ was measured using the zinc indicator dye Newport Green DCF (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). In our studies, three steroid hormones-testosterone, beta-estrodial and prolactin-at varying concentrations (ranging from 1ng/ml to 10,000ng /ml and combinations) were tested on five different cell lines, each exhibiting different characteristics with regards to their dependency on various hormones. The five cell lines utilized were: 1) LnCAP, PC3, RWPE-1, RWPE-2 and CA-HPV-10. After exposure to the three different hormones separately or in combination overnight or for two hours, the zinc uptake of the prostate cells was assayed by utilizing zinc indicators. The intracellular levels of zinc were measured by an Elisa based reader and by fluorescent microscopic visualization. The hZIP1, hZIP2, hZIP4 genes expression were analyzed by performing RT-PCR using RNA extracted from hormone-treated cells as a template. We have determined that: i) high concentrations of testosterone drastically decrease the zinc uptake, ii) a combination of low testosterone and relatively high estrogen and high prolactin increases zinc uptake in prostate cell lines and the same combination gives a two fold higher expression of both hZIP1 and hZIP2. Implications of a potential therapy or prevention for prostate cancer utilizing a zinc supplement plus a combination of hormones will be presented.
Urban Land Use: Central to Building a Sustainable Future

Urban land use has impacts spread across time and place. How urban areas are built and configured in the coming decades will have long-term implications on the environment and the lives of billions of people. A systems approach that emphasizes the importance of science and the relevance of policy to understanding urban land use is vital to building a sustainable future.
Changes in children's exposure as a function of age and the relevance of age definitions for exposure and health risk assessment.

and Introduction Abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to review and synthesize the existing exposure information available to support the characterization and estimation of children's environmental health risks as a function of age. Method: This includes a review of the existing peer-reviewed literature and reports from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) up through January 1, 2003 for information about exposure data for American children with a focus on identifying the age categories used and data gaps that limit our ability to estimate children's risks from exposure to environmental hazards. Results: On the basis of this synthesis, several key data gaps emerge that suggest some areas in which exposure assessors may want to focus attention, including current breast milk consumption by infants and breastfeeding information for children over age 1 year; children's food-handling practices and how these lead to exposure (eg, by eating with dirty hands or by eating food that has dropped onto a contaminated surface); fish-intake rates for young children and for children whose families include sport fishers or whose families rely on self-caught fish for sustenance; incidental and intentional soil intake by children; soil adherence for dermal exposure; relationships between various microactivities, macroactivities, and microenvironments where children spend time; and a correlation between exposure factors and growth (ie, how children's exposure behaviors change over time). In contrast, relatively good exposure information exists for characterizing children's growth and water ingestion, and at least some exposure information exists for the wide ranges of exposures of regulatory interest. Conclusion: Given the currently available data, exposure assessors can estimate children's potential health risks from a number of different types of exposure, but longitudinal data are needed to reduce the significant uncertainties that arise from reliance on currently available data, and a number of dose-response challenges remain.
Classifying Memory Access Patterns for Prefetching

Prefetching is a well-studied technique for addressing the memory access stall time of contemporary microprocessors. However, despite a large body of related work, the memory access behavior of applications is not well understood, and it remains difficult to predict whether a particular application will benefit from a given prefetcher technique. In this work we propose a novel methodology to classify the memory access patterns of applications, enabling well-informed reasoning about the applicability of a certain prefetcher. Our approach leverages instruction dataflow information to uncover a wide range of access patterns, including arbitrary combinations of offsets and indirection. These combinations or prefetch kernels represent reuse, strides, reference locality, and complex address generation. By determining the complexity and frequency of these access patterns, we enable reasoning about prefetcher timeliness and criticality, exposing the limitations of existing prefetchers today. Moreover, using these kernels, we are able to compute the next address for the majority of top-missing instructions, and we propose a software prefetch injection methodology that is able to outperform state-of-the-art hardware prefetchers.
Chapter Eight – LINEAR PROGRAMMING

Publisher Summary The linear programming approach to the solution of economic and business problems is a branch of linear economic theory in which all functions are assumed to be either straight lines or actually linear. In the various linear programming situations, linear functions are used to represent the constraints and the function to be optimized, the objective function. There is more than one method for solving simple linear programming problems—the graphical method, the algebraic method in combination with the graph, or the purely mathematical technique can be used to arrive at the optimal value. However, when the number of items contained in the objective function or the number of constraints exceeds manageable quantities, one uses the computer and the large-number or preprogrammed “packages” that are now available for many different types of complex linear programming problems. This chapter discusses a profit-maximization example to illustrate the fundamental techniques associated with the graphical version of the linear programming solution and subsequently explores other methods.
Welcome to the Big Leagues: Exploring Rookie Sports Broadcasters' Adjustment to New Careers.

The purpose of this study is to understand how effectively sports journalism programs and internship experiences are preparing graduates for careers in local TV sportscasting. This study also exami...
Attention fluctuations impact ongoing maintenance of information in working memory

Working memory maintains information in a readily accessible state and has been shown to degrade as the length of the retention interval increases. Previous research has suggested that this decline is attributable to changes in precision as well as sudden loss of item representations. Here, by measuring trial-to-trial variations in performance, we examined an orthogonal distinction between the maximum number of items that an individual can store, and the probability of achieving that maximum. Across two experiments, we replicated the finding that performance declines after long (10 s) retention intervals, as well as past observations that forgetting was due to probabilistic dropping of individual items rather than all-or-none losses of the stored memories. Critically, longer retention intervals did not reduce the maximum amount of information that could be stored in working memory. Instead, lower attentional control accounted for a decreased probability of maintaining the maximum number of items in working memory. Thus, longer retention intervals impact working memory storage via fluctuations in attentional control that lower the probability of achieving a stable maximum storage capacity.
Epigenome-wide association study identifies DNA methylation sites associated with target organ damage in older African Americans.

Target organ damage (TOD) manifests as vascular injuries in the body organ systems associated with long-standing hypertension. DNA methylation in peripheral blood leukocytes can capture inflammator...
Schein’s Process Consultation: Three Reactions

This precis outlines the process consulting style and notes three reactions to the exclusive division of alternatives it intuits, the assumptions of the approach, and the concept of client.
From Fundamental Understanding to Engineering Design of High-Performance Thick Electrodes for Scalable Energy-Storage Systems.

The ever-growing needs for renewable energy demand the pursuit of batteries with higher energy/power output. A thick electrode design is considered as a promising solution for high-energy batteries due to the minimized inactive material ratio at the device level. Most of the current research focuses on pushing the electrode thickness to a maximum limit; however, very few of them thoroughly analyze the effect of electrode thickness on cell-level energy densities as well as the balance between energy and power density. Here, a realistic assessment of the combined effect of electrode thickness with other key design parameters is provided, such as active material fraction and electrode porosity, which affect the cell-level energy/power densities of lithium-LiNi0.6 Mn0.2 Co0.2 O2 (Li-NMC622) and lithium-sulfur (Li-S) cells as two model battery systems, is provided. Based on the state-of-the-art lithium batteries, key research targets are quantified to achieve 500 Wh kg-1 /800 Wh L-1 cell-level energy densities and strategies are elaborated to simultaneously enhance energy/power output. Furthermore, the remaining challenges are highlighted toward realizing scalable high-energy/power energy-storage systems.
Debating with Wertham's ghost: comic books, culture wars, and populist moral panics

Seduction of the Innocent, by Fredric Wertham, contended that comic books could harm youth; it is popularly understood as the impetus for the creation of the Comics Code Authority that limited what...
Cholesterol in Brain Development and Perinatal Brain Injury: more than a Building Block.

The central nervous system (CNS) is enriched with important classes of lipids, in which cholesterol is known to make up a major portion of myelin sheaths, besides being a structural and functional unit of CNS cell membranes. Unlike in the adult brain where the cholesterol pool is relatively stable, cholesterol is synthesized and accumulated at the highest rate in the developing brain to meet the needs of rapid brain growth at this stage, which is also a critical period for neuroplasticity. In addition to its biophysical role in membrane organization, cholesterol is crucial for brain development due to its involvement in brain patterning, myelination, neuronal differentiation and synaptogenesis. Thus any injuries to the immature brain that affect cholesterol homeostasis may have long-term adverse neurological consequences. In this review, we describe the unique features of brain cholesterol biosynthesis and metabolism, cholesterol trafficking between different cell types, and highlight cholesterol-dependent biological processes during brain maturation. We also discuss the association of impaired cholesterol homeostasis with several forms of perinatal brain disorders in term and preterm newborns, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Strategies targeting the cholesterol pathways may open new avenues for diagnosis and treatment of developmental brain injury.
Diagnosis and Treatment: ERCP in PSC

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic progressive cholestatic disease characterized by inflammatory destruction and fibrosis of both intra- and extra-hepatic bile ducts. Seen primarily in patients with underlying inflammatory bowel disease who have an increased risk of colorectal cancer, the most feared biliary complication of PSC is cholangiocarcinoma. Endoscopic cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a very useful diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the management of PSC and cholangiocarcinoma.
A Comprehensive Theory of Civil Settlement

A settlement is an agreement between parties to a dispute. In everyday parlance and in academic scholarship, settlement is juxtaposed to trial or some other method of dispute resolution in which a third-party factfinder ultimately picks a winner and announces a score. The “trial versus settlement” trope, however, represents a false choice; viewing settlement solely as a dispute-ending alternative to a costly trial leads to an anemic understanding of how dispute resolution should and often does work. In this article, we describe and defend a much richer concept of settlement, amounting in effect to a continuum of possible agreements between litigants along many dimensions. “Fully” settling a case, of course, appears to completely resolve a dispute, and if parties to a dispute rely entirely on background default rules, a “naked” trial occurs. But in reality virtually every dispute is “partially” settled. The same forces that often lead parties to fully settle—joint value maximization, cost minimization, and risk reduction—will under certain conditions lead them to enter into many other forms of Pareto-improving agreements while continuing to actively litigate against one another. We identify three primary categories of these partial settlements: award-modification agreements, issuemodification agreements, and procedure-modification agreements. We provide real-world examples of each and rigorously link them to the underlying incentives facing litigants. Along the way, we use our analysis to characterize unknown or rarely seen kinds of partial agreements that nevertheless seem to us theoretically attractive, and we allude to potential reasons for their scarcity within the context of our framework. Finally, we study partial settlements and how they interact with each other in real-world adjudication using new and unique data from New York’s summary jury trial program. Patterns in the data are consistent with parties using partial settlement terms both as substitutes and as complements for other terms, depending on the context, and suggest that entering into a partial settlement can reduce the attractiveness of full settlement. We conclude by briefly discussing the distinctive welfare implications of partial settlements.
A new instrument for infant circumcision.

s INCE circumcision of the newborn has become almost routine, any instrument which can simplify the operation or add to its safety is welcome. A study of the instruments in current use revealed several drawbacks to their complete acceptance. When the application of a clamp is complicated, the surgeon may not consider it worth while in an operation as simple as circumcision. Moreover, if the instrument makes it difficult to judge the amount of foreskin being excised, and especially if it is possible to remove too much skin or mucous membrane, the surgeon may further challenge its value for him. In order to construct an instrument which might be more universally acceptable, three principlei were kept in mind:
Examining the Interaction Between Geographic Scale and Ways of Knowing in Ecosystem Management: A Case Study of Place-Based Collaborative Planning

This article examines the interaction between geographic scale and ways of knowing in the context of collaborative stakeholder participation in ecosystem analysis and management. The examination uses data from a qualitative comparative case study of two watershed councils in western Oregon. The results tentatively support the proposition that geographic scale can significantly affect individual stakeholder ways of knowing. For small-scale places, stakeholder ways of knowing tend to be particularistic and rely on diverse personal experiences and specific place features; for large-scale places, stakeholder ways of knowing tend to be aesthetic and rely primarily on recreational experiences and scientific analyses. However, the results also indicate that geographic scale combines with at least three factors to affect the development of sharedways of knowing: (1) tensions between experts and laypersons; (2) primacy of organizational representation in stakeholder interactions; and (3) discovery of common group identity based on long-term communication and shared on-the-ground experiences, such as field trips. This examination suggests that geographic scale in ecosystem management is likely an important factor affecting working relationships in a collaborative stakeholder participation process. These relationships, in turn, can affect the perceived credibility and legitimacy of outcomes.
Behavioral correlates of sleep-disordered breathing in older men.

Study Objectives: To examine the association between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and subjective measures of daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, and sleep-related quality of life in a large cohort of community-dwelling older men and to determine whether any association remained after adjustment for sleep duration.
Macroscale prediction of autumn leaf coloration throughout the continental United States

Aim Previous studies have shown that warming temperatures can affect the phenology of cold deciduous forests, delaying the timing of leaf coloration. However, these works have principally been based on observations from a small number of sites. Consequently it has been challenging to infer continental-scale variations in the phenology of individual deciduous forest species and the extent to which there may be underlying climate drivers for these variations. To address that problem, this study evaluated and predicted the large-scale variations of leaf colouring by using macroscale observations and models. Location North America. Methods We developed leaf colouring models using select observations (1) from Harvard Forest only and (2) from both Harvard Forest and a new, ground-based, Alaskan dataset from the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). Both model types were evaluated using reserved observations from the continental-scale USA-NPN that were not used in model calibration. Validated models were then used to assess the spatial scaling and interspecies variation in the timing of leaf coloration. The sensitivity of the models to projected climate change was also evaluated. Results Using a model calibrated only with data from Harvard Forest, significant biases were found in predictions of leaf colouring date for species with broad habitat ranges in the temperate to boreal regions. When calibration data from both Harvard Forest and Alaska were used, model performance improved throughout the whole continent. It was also found that species with similar shade tolerance could be described by similar models. Finally, the models indicated that climate change over the next century will affect leaf coloration in Alaska less than in the Harvard Forest region. Main conclusions For a given species, continental-scale variations in the timing of autumn leaf coloration can be predicted using a model driven by photoperiod and daily temperature. The temperature sensitivity of the leaf colouring date is nonlinear, such that warmer regions have a larger temperature sensitivity than cooler regions. Species-specific measurements from multiple environments are essential for model parameterization.
Comparative Study of Selected Government Policies for Promoting Transfer of Technology and Competitiveness in the Colombian Pharmaceutical Sector

The overall conclusion of this study is that domestic pharmaceutical producers in Colombia will face increasing challenges from foreign enterprises if and as the market is further opened to competition. If there is a national interest in maintaining or improving the local and global market position of Colombian enterprises, steps should be considered to encourage upgrade of the facilities of private operators to meet standards prevalent among major international generics suppliers. Facilities upgrading would have positive consequences for the Colombian public in terms of improving the quality of products on costs, financial assistance to local firms will be required. Some restructuring of the local industry (in terms of consolidation) should be anticipated. Strengthening Colombia’s domestic manufacturing industry should, over the long term, increase local private investment in R&D. Nonetheless, Colombia is presently at the low end of government funding for R&D programs, and at the low end of R&D as a percentage of GDP (reflecting low private investment in R&D). If Colombia seeks to take advantage of its strength in areas such as ownership of biodiverse resources, it should likely increase its public funding for R&D in sectors with potential opportunity. It might also consider promoting partnerships with firms and institutions from countries already heavily invested in biotechnology R&D, taking care in negotiations for fairly sharing in the commercial output of such ventures, and to promote training opportunities for its scientific community. From an industrial policy standpoint, it is important to assess whether Colombia has a comparative advantage in the pharmaceutical sector that justifies government intervention and support in favor of local industry. Because government resources are scarce, it is sensible to allocate them toward industry sectors in which prospects for success in the global economy are higher. However, it also should be recognized that the pharmaceutical sector is not the same as other industry sectors. A strong local pharmaceutical industry can help to assure reasonably priced high quality medicines for local consumers, and it is important for public security. Particularly in times of public health emergency, a country runs substantial risk if it is wholly dependent on foreign sources of medicines supply. Maintaining a strong base of industrial capacity is important. Without a technologically sound local industry, the capacity to respond to public health threats may be jeopardized. This is not to suggest a policy of pharmaceutical “autarky” or self-sufficiency, but rather to emphasize that production capacity in pharmaceuticals raises different issues than production capacity in flowers or coffee. Economics and public health must be considered in tandem.
Automatically composing data workflows with relational descriptions and shim services

Many scientific problems can be represented as computational workflows of operations that access remote data, integrate heterogeneous data, and analyze and derive new data. Even when the data access and processing operations are implemented as web or grid services, workflows are often constructed manually in languages such as BPEL. Adding semantic descriptions of the services enables automatic or mixed-initiative composition. In most previous work, these descriptions consists of semantic types for inputs and outputs of services or a type for the service as a whole. While this is certainly useful, we argue that is not enough to model and construct complex data workflows. We present a planning approach to automatically constructing data processing workflows where the inputs and outputs of services are relational descriptions in an expressive logic. Our workflow planner uses relational subsumption to connect the output of a service with the input of another. This modeling style has the advantage that adaptor services, so-called shims, can be automatically inserted into the workflow where necessary.
After Innocence, directed, written, and produced by Jessica Sanders

Jessica Sanders's exceptionally well-made documentary focuses on men whose freedom the Innocence Project restored after they were convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Although...
Prostate-specific antigen velocity (PSAV) risk count improves the specificity of screening for clinically significant prostate cancer

Study Type – Prognosis (retrospective cohort analysis) Level of Evidence 2b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? PSA screening reduces prostate cancer mortality but also may lead to unnecessary biopsies and overdiagnosis of insignificant tumours. PSA velocity (PSAV) risk count (number of serial PSAV exceeding 0.4 ng/ml/year) significantly improves the performance characteristics of screening for overall prostate cancer and high-grade disease on biopsy. Risk count may be useful to reduce unnecessary biopsies and prostate cancer overdiagnosis compared to PSA alone. OBJECTIVE • To determine whether the prostate-specific antigen velocity (PSAV) risk count (i.e. the number of times PSAV exceeds a specific threshold) could increase the specificity of screening for prostate cancer and potentially life-threatening tumours. PATIENTS AND METHODS • From 1989 to 2001, we calculated two serial PSAV measurements in 18 214 prostate cancer screening-study participants, of whom 1125 (6.2%) were diagnosed with prostate cancer. • The PSAV risk count was determined as the number of PSAV measurements of >0.4 ng/mL/year (0, 1, or 2). • We used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and reclassification analyses to examine the ability of PSAV risk count to predict screen-detected and high-grade prostate cancer. RESULTS • The PSAV was >0.4 ng/mL/year twice (risk count 2) in 40% of prostate cancer cases compared with only 4% of those with no cancer (P < 0.001). • After adjusting for age and PSA level, a PSAV risk count of 2 was associated with an 8.2-fold increased risk of prostate cancer (95% confidence interval 7.0–9.6, P < 0.001) and 5.4-fold increased risk of Gleason score 8–10 prostate cancer on biopsy. • Compared with a model with age and PSA level, the addition of the PSAV risk count significantly improved discrimination (area under the ROC curve 0.625 vs 0.725, P= 0.031) and reclassified individuals for the risk of high-grade prostate cancer (net reclassification, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS • Sustained rises in PSA indicate a significantly greater risk of prostate cancer, particularly high-grade disease. • Compared with men with a risk count of ≤1, those with two PSAV measurements of >0.4 ng/mL/year (risk count 2) had an 8-fold increased risk of prostate cancer and 5.4-fold increased risk of Gleason 8–10 disease on biopsy, adjusting for age and PSA level. • Compared to PSA alone, PSAV risk count may be useful in reducing unnecessary biopsies and the diagnosis of low-risk prostate cancer.
Monte Carlo liquid water simulations with four‐body interactions included

A number of our Metropolis–Monte Carlo liquid simulation programs have been successfully modified to run on a system consisting of an IBM host computer and several array processors (FPS-164) configured to allow execution of a single computation on multiple attached processors. These include programs which incorporate three- and four-body molecular interaction terms, and therefore require a high-performance computing system for practical execution. The strategies used to modify our Fortran programs are discussed. Preliminary results from practical calculations using these programs are presented to demonstrate the performance gains achieved by our configuration for large-scale scientific computations; in particular, the techniques developed for this Monte Carlo study and for quantum-chemical computations have already been successfully adopted in converting molecular dynamics simulations to this configuration.