cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intracystic papillary carcinoma of the breast: A SEER database analysis of implications for therapy.

Background Intracystic papillary carcinoma (IPC) of the breast is a rare breast malignancy with an indolent course. However, patients can develop metastatic disease. Indications for surgery and radiotherapeutic management have not been well elucidated.
Estimating Publication Bias in Meta-Analysis:

A central assumption of meta-analysis is that the sample of studies fairly represents all work done in the field, published and unpublished. However, if studies with “poor” results are less likely ...
Nondestructive Evaluation of RC Structures Strengthened with FRP Laminates Containing Near-Surface Defects in the Form of Delaminations

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are being utilized in a wide range of application areas in structural rehabilitations because these materials are less affected by corrosive environmental conditions and known to provide longer life with less maintenance. However, there are still some concerns about FRP strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) structures, such as the presence of near-surface defects. Currently limited data exists regarding this issue. The presence of near-surface defects in the form of delaminations between the fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminate and concrete substrate can significantly affect the structural integrity and stiffness of the structural section. These defects should be properly detected and accurately located to access if injection or replacement is warranted. The control and assessment of these defects still require improvements in detection techniques and standardization in these assessment methods. The latest advances in non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques including technologies in microwave, acousto-ultrasonic, impact-echo and thermography are providing promising results in detecting such defects and are discussed in further detail in this paper. 1 Senior Evaluation Specialist, International Code Council-Evaluation Service, 5360 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, California, 90601 mekenel@icc-es.org (Corresponding Author) 2 Associate Professor, Department of Civil, Arch. & Env. Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri, 65401 jmyers@umr.edu Ekenel, M. and Myers, J.J. 2
An Overview on Research of Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper introduces the architecture,communication protocol,sensor nodes of wireless sensor network.Sensor network is a noval technology to collect and process information,but the design of sensor network is challenging.
AN INFLUENCE OF “XUN XI FANG” ON COLLAGEN-III mRNA EXPRESSION AND TGF-β_1 LEVEL IN STIFF JOINT SYNOVIUM AT THE LATE STAGE OF RAT FRACTURE

In order to study the action mechanism of "XUN XI FANG" (XXF, a TCD recipe for steaming and washing) on collagen-III mRNA expression and TGF-β1 level in stiff joint synovium at the late stage of rat fracture, animal models of stiff joint at the late stage of fracture were made on Wistar rats, the collagen-III mRNA expression and TGF-β1 level in the ankle joints were detected by dot blot hybradization and ELISA methods, respectively. The results showed: (1) the collagen-III mRNA and TGF-β1 levels in the modeled group ascent significantly with a significant difference from those of the normal control group(P 0.05, P 0.01); (2) the collagen-III mRNA and TGF-β1 levels in the functional and TCD groups descended obviously with a significant difference from those of the modeled group (P 0.01); (3) the collagen-III mRNA and TGF-β1 levels of the TCD group were significantly lower than those of the functional group (P 0.05), suggesting that at the late stage of rat fracture, the collagen-III mRNA and TGF-β1 levels in the stiff joint synovium were abnormally changed; the function to reduce the collagen-III mRNA and TGF-β1 levels may be one of the important mechanisms of XXF for treating stiff joint at the late stage of fracture.
Optimization in Calculating Models of the Circulating Water Pump Operation and Applications

The circulating water pump operation calculation models which was based on performance test utilizing the test data to calculate and optimize the pump operation under the working conditions which had been tested.For those working conditions which had not been tested,the models would not give the operating economic analysis.A calculating method had been introduced in this paper as an improvement of that kind of models and the results had been verified with examples.
Genetic characteristics of astrovirus in adult outpatients with acute gastroenteritis, Nanjing

Objective To provide data on the molecular epidemiology of astrovirus in adult outpatients with suspected viral diarrhea by nucleic acid detection, genotyping and evolution analysis. Methods 375 suspected cases of viral diarrhea were collected in 2013,which were fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR tested by with specific primers and probe for astrovirus. The positive cases were then tested again by one-step RT-PCR method for specific nucleic acid fragments. PCR products were bidirectionally sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. Results There were nine(2.4%) positive cases in all samples, of which six cases amplified a single band and totally obtained 449 bp of astrovirus capsid protein gene sequence fragments. From the comparative analysis, there were four cases of type 5 astrovirus, one case of type 1 astrovirus, and one case of type 8 astrovirus in the six cases of astrovirus. Conclusion Viral diarrheas in adults were caused by a variety of type's astrovirus in Nanjing and type 5 astrovirus was the dominant type.
Analysis on the mosquitoes and flies monitoring results in Shenyang from 2011 to 2014

Objective To learn and master the mosquitoes and the flies density and seasonal fluctuation in Shenyang and to provide a technical support for arbo-infectious diseases prevention and control.Methods Light traps and fly cage were used for mosquitoes and flies respectively.Results From 2011 to 2014, a total of 8572 mosquitoes were collected, with amean density of 4.46 mosquitoes/(lamp·hour). Culex pipiens pallens was predominant species, accounting for 73.74%. The mosquito density was the highest in barns, followed by in farmers' houses, residential areas, hospitals and in parks. The mosquito density showed a marked seasonal fluctuation in Shenyang, with peak activity between July to September; from2011 to 2014, a total of 16 119 flies were collected, with a mean density of 6.40 flies/(trap·hour), falling into 5 families, 13 genera and 14 species. Lucila sericata was predominant species, followed by Muscina stabulans, Musca domestica, Bellieria melanura, Calliphora vicina, Bercaea haemorrhoidalis, Boettcherisca peregrina; with a rising trend year by year, fly density of 2014 was 6.4 times that of 2011; fly density had peak times from June to August; the fly density was the highest in greenbelts, followed by in farm product markets, residential areas and in restaurants.Conclusion Data were obtained for the basic information on mosquitoes and flies density, species composition and seasonal fluctuation in Shenyang. The long termand systematic monitoring on mosquitoes and flies density should be conducted to provide a scientific basis for reasonable formulation of comprehensive prevention and control strategy.
Der Aufbau des Manuskriptes

Vor der Niederschrift der Arbeit mus das darzustellende Material nach bestimmten Gesichtspunkten angeordnet werden. Eine derartige Disposition kann aus Uberschriften der in Aussicht genommenen kurzen Abschnitte bestehen, wobei jeder Abschnitt einen Teil des Hauptthemas umfast. Fur eine eingehende Ausarbeitimg konnen die Abschnitte noch weiter unterteilt werden. Auf diese Weise werden Wiederholimgen von Gedanken oder von Tatsachen — ein sehr haufiger Fehler — vermieden. Eine treffende Uberschrift, charakteristische Untertitel, eine klare Zusammenfassung und zwingende Schlusfolgerungen stellen die Disposition einer gut aufgebauten Arbeit dar.
Leon Trotsky and the Soviet Military Response to Poland’s Invasion

While Krasin was trying to develop a detente with England and Radek was defining the limited nature of Soviet war aims, the Red Army took up the task of driving the Polish forces back. The Soviet counterattack, when finally launched, consisted essentially of a one–two punch which sent Pilsudski’s troops reeling and retreating toward Poland. The first Russian blow was a left hook delivered in early June by Budenny, whose First Cavalry Army was transferrred from the Caucasus to strike at the Poles’ over-extended underbelly – their Ukrainian bread-basket. The second blow was a right cross thrown in early July by Tukhachevsky, whose armies hit Poland’s chin which was jutting into Belorussia. By mid-July the invader had been staggered and nearly routed. If the Poles had sued for peace at this point, the war could conceivably have ended earlier, with Poland receiving areas East of her ethnic border, as Radek and Marchlewski had suggested. But Warsaw waited until 22 July before making an overture to Moscow, and then postponed peace talks until 1 August. During that decisive delay the Second Congress of the
Overview of cyber-physical temperature estimation in smart buildings: From modeling to measurements

Smart buildings are playing a more important role in everyday lives of people. One important goal of creating smart buildings is to offer highly comfortable services to the occupants at the lowest cost. In-building temperature modeling and measurement is a critical task to facilitate high-quality service with low cost. In this paper, we give an overview of state-of-the-art cyber-physical temperature estimation methods in smart buildings. For temperature modeling, by adopting an orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm, the modeling cost and accuracy can be both improved compared with the conventional least-squares fitting method. For temperature measurement, by combining temperature modeling with few sensor measurements using a Bayesian model fusion framework, the spatial temperature distribution can be accurately estimated.
Prenatal Anticonvulsants and Small Infant Head Size

Occipitofrontal head circumference (OFC) of 172 neonates exposed prenatally to phenobarbital and phenytoin was compared to 168 control neonates, and the findings were studied in relation to a follow-up assessment of cognitive functioning in adulthood, at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Wavelet based harmonics decomposition of ultrasonic signal in assessment of plastic strain in aluminum

Abstract In nonlinear ultrasonics, the correlation between microstructural change and ultrasonic properties is investigated by the acoustic nonlinearity parameter, calculated by experimentally measuring the first and second harmonic amplitudes of ultrasound signals. The most prevalent signal processing method is to transform the time-domain signal into the frequency domain and acquire the amplitudes of each frequency from the frequency spectrum. However, the major drawback of this approach is that temporal information is not preserved and the transformation errors increase dramatically in analyzing nonlinear signals with discontinuities. In this study, two wavelet-based algorithms are introduced to analyze the waveform in nonlinear ultrasonic testing. The algorithms are applied to correlate the acoustic nonlinearity parameter and the plastic deformation of aluminum 1100 specimens, for the purpose of validation. The results showed that the acoustic nonlinearity parameter calculated through the proposed algorithms is not influenced by the signal processing variables, and the signal processing error is reduced when the wavelet-based decomposition is applied.
MRI of the Hip: What the Surgeon Wants to Know

The purpose of this review is to explore novel MR imaging techniques focused on the hip as well as specific MR imaging findings of interest to the referring orthopedic surgeon. MR arthrography demonstrates high accuracy for the detection of chondrolabral lesions, which portend less favorable prognosis and may change surgical approach. The addition of leg traction has been shown to increase the accuracy of MR arthrography in detecting intra-articular pathology. 3D models of the hip generated from 3D imaging sequences can also be used for pre-surgical planning, including simulation of preoperative range of motion. Extra-articular pathology, including hamstring, gluteal, and iliopsoas tendon pathology can necessitate surgical intervention depending on the degree of injury. MR arthrography remains the imaging modality of choice in assessment of the hip when intra-articular pathology is clinically suspected, though conventional MR imaging at 3.0 T also demonstrates strong diagnostic performance. New techniques including direct traction and 3D imaging can provide valuable diagnostic and pre-surgical information in the assessment of the athlete’s hip.
Modeling annual grassland phenology along the central coast of California

Grassland phenology is an important component of terrestrial biophysical models, with substantial differences in the cycling of energy, carbon, water, and nutrient fluxes between periods of growth and dormancy. Modeling the phenology of moisture-driven annual grasslands in Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) remains challenging because although soil moisture is often a direct control on green-up, high rainfall variability during MTE wet seasons makes predicting the optimal time for senescence problematic. For this study, we developed a Mediterranean grassland phenology model (MGPM) to model green-up and senescence for coastal California annual grasslands. Mediterranean grassland phenology model was embedded in an ecohydrologic model, Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation System, and simulations of ecosystem fluxes were compared to a simpler fixed-date (i.e., photoperiod) phenology model. Results indicated that a soil water potential threshold was an accurate predictor of grassland green-up initiation. Annual cumulative net primary productivity (NPPcum) was observed to be a good predictor of senescence initiation, with higher levels of NPPcum associated with delayed senescence initiation. We also observed that photoperiod acts as an additional control on senescence initiation, restricting the window of time during which senescence may occur. Long-term peak NPPcum was noted as a potential control on the timing of this photoperiod window. Inclusion of MGPM into biophysical models is expected to improve the representation of annual grasslands and more accurately simulate ecosystem fluxes.
The Background of Newton’s Jewish Studies

I cannot paint out in little a true and lively character of [the Jews] better, than in these paradoxes and riddles. There are no Authors do more affright and vex the Reader, and yet there are none, who do more intice and delight him. In no Writers is greater or equal trifling, and yet in none is greater, or so great benefit. The Doctrine of the Gospel hath no more bitter enemies than they, and yet the Text of the Gospel hath no more plain interpreters. To say all in a word, To the Jews their Countrymen they recommend nothing but toys, and destruction and poyson; but Christians, by their skill and industry, may render them most usefully serviceable to their Studies, and most eminently tending to the Interpretation of the New Testament.1
Blended Shared Control of a Hydraulic Excavator

Abstract The situational awareness, robustness and expertise unique to skilled operators have precluded the full automation of many construction tasks. However, automatic control may be able to execute some quasi-repetitive construction tasks more efficiently than a human. This dichotomy has led to interest in Shared Control (SC) which synthesizes the advantages of both autonomous and manual control of machinery. A particularly interesting case of SC for unstructured environments is called Blended Shared Control (BSC) where weighted inputs from the human operator and autonomous controller are continuously combined to perform a task. We discuss the kinematics and dynamics of an excavator, and some low-level control and coupling issues. Then, we present a 1/12th scale hydraulic excavator test-bed, which is utilized for shared control experimentation. We introduce a state-machine based prediction framework and a BSC implementation which can be executed in real-time on embedded hardware. The proposed framework uses subgoals, distinct points in the workspace which the operator must reach in order to complete the task. We then analyze the performance of this BSC implementation for a typical earth-moving task with several operators on the excavator test-bed. Digging efficiency of each operator increases under BSC, whereas the effect of BSC on cycle time varies with operator skill level and operation style.
Mass Administration of Ivermectin in Areas Where Loa loa Is Endemic.

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine was shared in part by the discoverers of ivermectin.1 Donated tablets of ivermectin have been distributed in Africa since 1988 through mass drug administration programs for onchocerciasis, or river blindness (caused by Onchocerca volvulus),2 and since 2000 for lymphatic filariasis (caused by Wuchereria bancrofti).3 These vectorborne filarial parasites cause disabling and stigmatizing diseases, especially in impoverished populations. The complex lifecycles of these parasites include male and female adult worm stages, in which fertilized females in humans release microfilariae that can be ingested by simulium black flies from the skin, in the case of onchocerciasis, . . .
Method and improvisation: Theatre arts performance techniques to further HRI in social and affective robots

Theatre Arts methodologies of improvisational humor and method performance techniques are combined for a social robot study to further the affective, relational, and social interaction between humans and robots for positive effect. The complexity of performance methodology develops authentic human social interaction and is thereby well-suited to a positive human-robot model. The analysis of this pilot research study incorporating the proposed theatre methodology approach allows innovative solutions in affective communication to be studied from a multimodal sensory perspective.
Narrative aftershocks: Digital retellings of an earthquake in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy

Abstract This article focuses on the rapid diffusion of traumatic digital storytelling after a lethal earthquake damaged many towns across the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna in May 2012. This natural disaster produced a large amount of online narratives by and about the survivors and their family members and acquaintances. Through an analysis of the interactional dynamics between these storytellers and their commenters in blogs, this article explores how these traumatic stories can be reshaped and manipulated for different ends and how a politicized collective identity among bloggers and commenters can be (co)constructed, contested, and solidified through blogging. More specifically, this article shows how these digital counter-narratives attempt to transform an allegedly sympathy-based virtual community into a community enraged by the purported causes of all the widespread suffering and distress. In this way, these virtual communities’ emotional stances are redirected more to environmental politics than to sympathy and grief in interesting ways. Besides investigating the pragmatics of narrative interaction in virtual environments, this article extends linguistic anthropological analytical and methodological tools to digital discursive practices.
Industry Evolution Mechanisms

The theory of industry evolution discusses the sources of industry growth in terms of the constituent firms and their interactions. Industry evolution today depends critically on three sets of forces: (1) innovations and R&D investments, (2) knowledge diffusion and learning by doing, and (3) competitive selection mechanisms in market dynamics.
Care of the Self: Mythopoetic Dimensions of Professional Preparation and Development

Graduate study in higher and adult education prepares adults for professional practice in educational leadership and pedagogy. Central to practice is the self-other relationship, in which the practitioner enters into a relationship with an “other” for purposes of providing a service or bringing about change. Depth psychology suggests that this self-other relationship is imaginatively constructed and characterized by powerful emotional dynamics that often challenge the integrity of the practitioner’s work. To be effective, practitioners must be able to empathically enter into these relationships without denying the other or losing the self. This process requires a deep sense of self-awareness, authenticity, and integrity, a set of personal attributes reflected in the development of self-knowledge. I refer to this process of developing self-knowledge as self-formation. Using a mythopoetic perspective grounded in Jungian and post-Jungian psychology, this chapter explores the process of self-formation in professional preparation within higher and adult education.
Barely Alive Servers: Greener Datacenters Through Memory-Accessible, Low-Power States

Current resource provisioning schemes in Internet services leave servers less than 50% utilized almost all the time. At this level of utilization, the servers’ energy efficiency is substantially lower than at peak utilization. A solution to this problem could be dynamically consolidating workloads into fewer servers and turning others off. However, services typically resist doing so, because of high response times during re-activation in handling traffic spikes. Moreover, services often want the memory and/or storage of all servers to be readily available at all times.In this paper, we propose a family of barely-alive active low-power server states that facilitates both fast re-activation and access to memory while in a low-power state. We compare these states to previously proposed active and idle states. In particular, we investigate the impact of load bursts in each energy-saving scheme. We also evaluate the additional benefits of memory access under low-power states with a study of a search service using a cooperative main-memory cache. Finally, we further investigate our barely-alive states in two case studies: (1) a mixed system that combines a barely-alive state with the off state to maximize energy savings; and (2) a barely-alive system that facilitates hosting more than one service at the same time. We find that the barely-alive states can reduce service energy consumption by up to 38%, compared to an energy-oblivious system. These energy savings are consistent across a large parameter space. In the presence of two services, the barely-alive system can reduce energy consuption by 34% over a two-system deployment.
Breast-feeding counseling practices of family practice residents

BACKGROUND Despite breast-feeding being the best newborn feeding method, the percentage of women in the United States who breast-feed has declined. Family physicians are in a unique position to counsel women about breast-feeding because their emphasis on continuity of care provides both prenatal and postnatal contact. Whether family physicians are trained sufficiently to offer such counseling is unknown. METHODS A pretested questionnaire was distributed to all residents in 11 of 14 residency programs in North Carolina and Georgia. Data were analyzed with descriptive chi-square statistics and backward logistic regression to assess variables independently predictive of residents' counseling behaviors. RESULTS One hundred fifty-five residents filled out usable surveys (response rate: 69%). The residents' primary teachers of breast-feeding were family physicians (34%) and nurses (33%). Most residents (93%) felt it was their personal responsibility to counsel women about breast-feeding; 67% believed their training was inadequate, and 48% stated they lacked necessary skills. Forty-one percent of residents counseled such women less than 50% of the time. Personal or spousal breast-feeding experiences gave residents more confidence in breast-feeding anticipatory guidance (P < .001), comfort in teaching techniques (P < .001), and effectiveness in counseling (P < .009) but did not lead to improved counseling rates. Multivariate analysis showed that female residents, those with high confidence in their breast-feeding counseling skills, and residents that had adequate training in breast-feeding counseling instructed women more often about breast-feeding. CONCLUSIONS Breast-feeding counseling skills are an important but neglected aspect of family practice clinical training. Personal breast-feeding experience is an important indicator of breast-feeding counseling confidence and effectiveness, although it doesn't ensure that proper counseling skills are obtained. Family medicine training programs should incorporate breast-feeding educational programs into their residency curricula.
Clinical-Community Partnerships to Reduce Food Insecurity Among High-Need, High-Cost Medicaid Patients.

Limited or uncertain access to adequate food is associated with adverse health consequences. Although federal programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aim to improve access ...
A 64-GB Sort at 28 GB/s on a 4-GPU POWER9 Node for Uniformly-Distributed 16-Byte Records with 8-Byte Keys.

Govinderaju et al. [1] have shown that a hybrid CPU-GPU system is cost-performance effective at sorting large datasets on a single node, but thus far large clusters used on sorting benchmarks have been limited by network and storage performance, and such clusters have remained CPU-only. With network and storage bandwidths improving more rapidly than CPU throughput performance, the cost effectiveness of CPU-GPU clusters for large sorts should be re-examined. As a first step, we evaluate sort performance on a single GPU-accelerated node with initial and final data residing in system memory. Access to main memory is limited to two reads and two writes, while executing the partitioning and sort in GPU memory. On a dual-socket IBM POWER9 system with four NVlink-attached NVIDIA V100 GPUs a single-node sort of 64 GB 8-byte key, 8-byte value records completes in under 2.3 s corresponding to a sort rate of over 28 GB/s. On a small (4-node) cluster with the same amount of data per node, the cluster sort completes in under 4.5 s. Sort performance is enabled by high system memory bandwidth, managing system-memory NUMA affinities, high CPU-GPU bandwidth, an efficient GPU-based partitioner, and an optimized GPU sort implementation. A cluster version of the algorithm benefits from minimizing copy operations by using RDMA. Matching the throughput of an optimized partitioner for our system would require a 50-100 GB/s network, which is feasible with a dual-socket POWER9 system.
The effect of specific foods and water loading on the ileal excreta of ileostomized human subjects.

Summary 1.The effect on ileal excreta of 12 selected foods and liquids fed in normal quantities was studied in 7 healthy ileostomized persons. These foods were chosen for investigations because they are either forbidden or advocated in the treatment of many intestinal disorders. Only prune juice consistently increased the wet weight and many other characteristics of ileal effluent. Cooked cabbage augmented the output of wet and dry weight per day of ileal excreta, whereas baked beans increased only the dry weight output per day. 2.Water loads in approximate amounts of 1400, 2500, and 3500 gm. per day above control intake did not alter Real excreta significantly. The excess water seemed to be excreted mainly in the urine. 3.The wet weight of ileal excreta per day averaged 507 gm. It was semi-liquid to mushy, had an average pH of 6.3, and contained 92.1 per cent water on the average. Fat and nitrogen output per day were normal. An average of 60.3 mEq of sodium, 3.6 mEq of potassium, 86.2 mg. of bilirubin and 17.8 mg. of urobilinogen were excreted per day. 4.If these characteristics of ileal effluent and those of normal feces are compared, certain inferences as to colonic function can be made. The colon seems to absorb approximately 58 to 60 mEq of sodium and 400 ml. of water per day, excretes potassium, and is the main site where urobilinogen is formed.
Breaking the Shell: Voyaging from Nuclear Refugees to People of the Sea in the Marshall Islands

On 1 March 1954, the United States detonated the largest yielding weapon of its nuclear testing program. Conducted at Pikinni (Bikini) Atoll in the Marshall Islands, site of 23 nuclear tests from 1...
Bronchial Cartilage Assessment with Model-Based GAN Regressor

In the last two decades, several methods for airway segmentation from chest CT images have been proposed. The following natural step is the development of a tool to accurately assess the morphology of the bronchial system in all its aspects to help physicians better diagnosis and prognosis complex pulmonary diseases such as COPD, chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis. Traditional methods for the assessment of airway morphology usually focus on lumen and wall thickness and are often limited due to resolution and artifacts of the CT image. Airway wall cartilage is an important characteristic related to airway integrity that has shown to be deteriorated during the airway disease process. In this paper, we propose the development of a Model-Based GAN Regressor (MBGR) that, thanks to a model-based GAN generator, generate synthetic airway samples with the morphological components necessary to resemble the appearance of real airways on CT at will and that simultaneously measures lumen, wall thickness, and amount of cartilage on pulmonary CT images. The method is evaluated by first computing the relative error on generated images to show that simulating the cartilage helps improve the morphological quantification of the airway structure. We then propose a cartilage index that summarizes the degree of cartilage of bronchial trees structures and perform an indirect validation with subjects with COPD. As shown by the results, the proposed approach paves the way for the use of CNNs to precisely and accurately measure small lung airways morphology, with the final goal to improve the diagnosis and prognosis of pulmonary diseases.
Invasive Mosquito Species and Potential Introductions

Abstract Invasive species can be a threat to health and biodiversity. There are relatively few invasive mosquito species in Texas, including Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus. The wide variety of habitats and climatic conditions in Texas create opportunities for invasive species, especially as climate and human change create more disturbed habitats. Potentially important species that might be poised to move north from Mexico include Anopheles vestitipennis, Ae. serratus, and, An. albimanus. Globally, An. stephensi, An. arabiensis, and Ae. notoscriptus are species that have shown a tendency to expand their ranges and that might find suitable habitats in Texas. The best defense against invasive mosquito species is systematic, coordinated surveillance that will enable early detection and response.
Identifying blood pressure loci whose effects are modulated by multiple lifestyle exposures.

Although multiple lifestyle exposures simultaneously impact blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular health, most analysis so far has considered each single lifestyle exposure (e.g., smoking) at a time. Here, we exploit gene-multiple lifestyle exposure interactions to find novel BP loci. For each of 6,254 Framingham Heart Study participants, we computed lifestyle risk score (LRS) value by aggregating the risk of four lifestyle exposures (smoking, alcohol, education, and physical activity) on BP. Using the LRS, we performed genome-wide gene-environment interaction analysis in systolic and diastolic BP using the joint 2 degree of freedom (DF) and 1 DF interaction tests. We identified one genome-wide significant (p < 5 × 10-8 ) and 11 suggestive (p < 1 × 10-6 ) loci. Gene-environment analysis using single lifestyle exposures identified only one of the 12 loci. Nine of the 12 BP loci detected were novel. Loci detected by the LRS were located within or nearby genes with biologically plausible roles in the pathophysiology of hypertension, including KALRN, VIPR2, SNX1, and DAPK2. Our results suggest that simultaneous consideration of multiple lifestyle exposures in gene-environment interaction analysis can identify additional loci missed by single lifestyle approaches.
Molecular‐Level Overhaul of γ‐Aminopropyl Aminosilicone/Triethylene Glycol Post‐Combustion CO2‐Capture Solvents

Capturing carbon dioxide from post-combustion gas streams is an energy-intensive process that is required prior to either converting or sequestering CO2 . Although a few commercial 1st and 2nd generation aqueous amine technologies have been proposed, the cost of capturing CO2 with these technologies remains high. One approach to decrease costs of capture has been the development of water-lean solvents that aim to increase efficiency by reducing the water content in solution. Water-lean solvents, such as γ-aminopropyl aminosilicone/triethylene glycol (GAP/TEG), are promising technologies, with the potential to halve the parasitic load to a coal-fired power plant, albeit only if high solution viscosities and hydrolysis of the siloxane moieties can be mitigated. This study concerns an integrated multidisciplinary approach to overhaul the GAP/TEG solvent system at the molecular level to mitigate hydrolysis while also reducing viscosity. Cosolvents and diluents are found to have negligible effects on viscosity and are not needed. This finding allows for the design of single-component siloxane-free diamine derivatives with site-specific incorporation of selective chemical moieties for direct placement and orientation of hydrogen bonding to reduce viscosity. Ultimately, these new formulations are less susceptible to hydrolysis and exhibit up to a 98 % reduction in viscosity compared to the initial GAP/TEG formulation.
Technical Approach to Laparoscopic Examination of the Small Bowel in Gallstone Ileus.

Background. Gallstone ileus is an infrequent cause of small bowel obstructions (SBO), accounting for only 0.1-5% of SBOs and 25% of nonstrangulating causes of SBO in the elderly population. There is scant literature available regarding the use of laparoscopy to treat gallstone ileus. Currently, much of the literature available is limited to case reports only. Methods. A complete laparoscopic approach was utilized to manage a 65-year-old woman with morbid obesity who presented with gallstone ileus. With regard to our technical approach, we describe the technical approach that facilitates safe laparoscopic examination of the entire small bowel and can be applied to other acute care surgery cases involving small bowel pathology. Results. The patient’s postoperative course was complicated by new-onset atrial fibrillation which was treated medically with good response. She was safely discharged on postoperative day 2. Conclusion. Laparoscopy is a feasible option for the management of gallstone ileus and can lead to decreased morbidity compared to laparotomy. The technique described allows for laparoscopic examination of the entire small bowel.
Nasal povidone-iodine implementation for preventing surgical site infections: Perspectives of surgical nurses.

Introduction Preoperative nasal decolonization of surgical patients with nasal povidone-iodine (PI) has potential to eliminate pathogenic organisms responsible for surgical site infections. However, data on implementation of PI for quality improvement in clinical practice is limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation feasibility, fidelity and acceptability of intranasal PI solution application by surgical nurses using the Integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) conceptual framework. Materials and methods Using the i-PARIHS framework to frame questions and guide interview content areas, we conducted 15 semi-structured interviews of pre- and post-operative care nurses in two facilities. We analyzed the data using deductive content analysis to evaluate nurses' experience and perceptions on preoperative intranasal PI solution decolonization implementation. Open coding was used to analyze the data to ensure all relevant information was captured. Results Each facility adopted a different quality improvement implementation strategy. The mode of facilitation, training, and educational materials provided to the nurses varied by facility. Barriers identified included lack of effective communication, insufficient information and lack of systematic implementation protocol. Action taken to mitigate some of the barriers included a collaboration between the study team and nurses to develop a systematic written protocol. The training assisted nurses to systematically follow the implementation protocol smoothly to ensure PI administration compliance, and to meet the goal of the facilities. Nurses' observations and feedback showed that PI did not cause any adverse effects on patients. Conclusions We found that PI implementation was feasible and acceptable by nurses and could be extended to other facilities. However further studies are required to ensure standardization of PI application.
Behavior traits associated with career outcome in a prison puppy-raising program

Abstract The Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ©) ( http://www.cbarq.org ) has been used to measure behaviors associated with release or graduation from several assistance dog programs, however it has never been evaluated within a prison environment. This study investigated whether a modified version of the C-BARQ© can be utilized in a prison puppy-raising program (Puppies Behind Bars, PBB) to identify behaviors that are associated with dogs’ career outcomes. PBB dogs that successfully complete the program are placed as service dogs or explosives detection dogs (EDD). Dogs are released from the program as a result of behavioral or medical problems. The PBB program has more than one career outcome, facilitating an assessment of the C-BARQ© as a tool to identify specific working dog roles based on differences in C-BARQ© subscale scores. We examined the associations between subscale scores and career outcomes by comparing the scores of dogs with successful outcomes (service or EDD) with those released for behavioral reasons. We assessed the questionnaire’s application to the PBB setting and its ability to distinguish between outcomes. 314 paper copies of the C-BARQ© were completed by puppy raisers from seven correctional facilities in the New York area when their assigned dog was between 6 and 16 months old. Dogs that had successfully completed the PBB program or had been released due to behavioral issues were included, whereas dogs still in training and those released for medical reasons were excluded. A total of 271 completed C-BARQ© questionnaires were analyzed. Service dogs and EDDs were compared with released dogs to determine whether C-BARQ subscale scores were associated with outcome. Multinomial log-linear models containing one subscale score and fixed factors (age group, medical category, sex, neuter status within sex, the interaction between age group and medical category) and outcome as the dependent variable, were fitted for each subscale. Service dogs had lower stranger-directed aggression, owner-directed aggression, dog-directed aggression, dog-directed fear, dog rivalry, chasing, stranger-directed fear, and separation-related problems than released dogs. EDDs had lower trainability, dog-directed fear, dog rivalry, and attachment/attention-seeking behavior than released dogs. These findings suggest that some of the C-BARQ© subscales might be used in the future to predict outcomes for young dogs. Results show that the C-BARQ© can be applied to the PBB program; however, the omission of seven questions is recommended.
The Terrible 'Ifs'

The United States employs a version of the precautionary principle when it confronts threats to national security. We spend vast amounts on defenses against threats unlikely to affect Americans. Experts, defense officials, and politicians justify those expenditures by saying they are necessary to protect the public from worst case dangers. The principle fails to acknowledge that decisions about risk, whether they regulate health hazards or arm against a state, cannot deal with one risk alone. Because resources are always limited, efforts to head off a particular danger take resources away from other government programs and from private investment that also reduce risk.
Young adult cannabis use disorder treatment admissions declined as past month cannabis use increased in the U.S.: An analysis of states by year, 2008-2017.

Abstract Objective This short communication reports on the association of annual measures of young adult (age 18–24) past month cannabis use with cannabis use disorder (CUD) treatment admissions by state in the U.S. from 2008 to 2017. Methods Annual data on percentage of past month cannabis use and the total number of CUD treatment admissions among young adults were acquired for each state from SAMHSA NSDUH and TEDS-A data sets. For each state, the correlation over time between cannabis use and treatment admissions rate was calculated and visualized in a choropleth map. Fixed-effects regression, where effects are fixed by state, was used to investigate the association of cannabis use with treatment admissions rate. Results In 38 out of 50 states, including seven out of the eight states legalizing recreational cannabis during the study period, as young adult cannabis use increased, treatment admissions declined. Cannabis use is significantly and negatively associated with treatment admissions (β = −7.21, 95% CI = −11.88, −2.54), even after controlling for health insurance coverage, criminal justice referral, treatment center availability, and cannabis legalization status. Conclusions While it is possible that across the U.S. more young adults are using cannabis without developing CUD, we speculate that increasing social acceptance of cannabis use, and declining perception of harm, may influence treatment seeking behavior, potentially resulting in growing unmet need for CUD treatment among young adults. Monitoring state-level trends in cannabis use, CUD prevalence, and treatment admissions is key to developing CUD prevention and treatment policies targeted to timely, state-specific conditions.
Analysis of momentum recovery within the near wake of a cross-flow turbine using Large Eddy Simulation

Abstract Momentum recovery within the near wake of a cross-flow turbine is studied, focusing on the different terms of the momentum balance equation. The flow is computed via Large-Eddy Simulation, coupled with an Immersed-Boundary method. Results demonstrate the dominant role of the spanwise flows (oriented along the axis of the turbine) in contributing to momentum recovery within the near wake, especially via advection in the vicinity of its spanwise boundaries and via turbulent transport at inner locations, closer to the mid span. Large streamwise-oriented vortices on the windward side promote momentum recovery into the wake core from its spanwise boundaries, moving the lower-momentum fluid downstream of the turbine from the leeward side towards the windward side, increasing this way the asymmetry of the wake system. Away from the turbine the importance of the spanwise flows declines, compared to that of the cross-stream ones (orthogonal to the axis of the turbine), due to a faster depletion of the spanwise gradients within the wake. As a consequence, the relative importance of the cross-stream flows on further momentum recovery becomes more significant. Meanwhile, as mean gradients decay away from the turbine, turbulent transport contributes more than advection to complete the process of momentum replenishment within the wake.
Clinician specialty, access to care, and outcomes among patients with peripheral artery disease

Abstract Background Understanding the relationship between patterns of peripheral artery disease and outcomes is an essential step toward improving care and outcomes. We hypothesized that clinician specialty would be associated with occurrence of major adverse vascular events (MAVE). Methods Patients with at least 1 peripheral artery disease-related encounter in our health system and fee-for-service Medicare were divided into groups based on the specialty of the clinician (ie, cardiologist, surgeon, podiatrist, primary care, or other) providing a plurality of peripheral artery disease-coded care in the year prior to index encounter. The primary outcome was MAVE (a composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, lower extremity revascularization, and lower extremity amputation). Results The cohort included 1768 patients, of whom 30.0% were Black, 23.9% were Medicaid dual-enrollment eligible, and 31.1% lived in rural areas. Patients receiving a plurality of their care from podiatrists had the highest 1-year rates of MAVE (34.4%, P Conclusions Clinician specialty was not associated with worse outcomes after adjustment, but certain socioeconomic factors were. The effects of clinician specialty and socioeconomic status were likely attenuated by the fact that all patients in this study had health insurance; these analyses require confirmation in a more representative cohort.
Pre-pregnancy body mass index and parent and teacher-reported behavioral outcomes among offspring in childhood.

OBJECTIVE Pre-pregnancy obesity has been linked to childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes, including autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The aim of our study was to examine the association between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and scores on behavioral scales according to both mother and teacher report. METHODS We conducted a longitudinal study of 469 mother-child pairs. Information on pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) was collected from standardized maternal interviews conducted after delivery and assessment of childhood behavioral problems was measured at 5-12 years of age according to maternal-report using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and teacher-report using the Teacher Report Form (TRF). Using normal pre-pregnancy BMI (18.5-24.9 kg/m2) as the reference (n = 305), we calculated adjusted mean differences (MD) for t-scores on broadband and syndrome scales of behavior for children of mothers with pre-pregnancy overweight (n = 101) or obese (n = 63) BMI. We also examined associations with scores in the clinical range using risk ratios (RR) and compared results across informants. To account for loss to follow-up between the initial interview and the childhood behavioral assessment, we weighted models using stabilized inverse probability weights. RESULTS Pre-pregnancy obesity was associated with a mean increase in child's total behavior problem t-scores according to both mother and teacher report, after adjustment for confounders and weighted for loss to follow-up (MD: 0.7, 95% CI: -2.2, 3.6 on CBCL; MD: 3.1, 95% CI: 0.5, 5.7 on TRF), indicating poorer behavioral outcomes. Comparing the magnitude of associations between mother and teacher-report, mean differences for pre-pregnancy obesity and most behavioral problem scales were larger for teacher-reported outcomes than mother-reported outcomes. Pre-pregnancy obesity was associated with increased risks of externalizing behaviors in the clinical range regardless of informant (CBCL RR: 1.6, 95% CI: 0.8, 3.2 and TRF RR: 1.7, 95% CI: 0.8, 3.5). Pre-pregnancy obesity was also associated with increased risks of internalizing behaviors according to teacher-report (TRF RR: 2.6, 95% CI:1.5, 4.6). CONCLUSIONS Pre-pregnancy obesity, compared to pre-pregnancy normal weight, is associated with generally higher scores on both mother and teacher reported childhood behavioral assessments, indicating an increased likelihood of behavioral problems.