cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reassignment of Lamanema from Nematodirinae to Molineinae (Nematoda: Trichostrongyloidea)

The monospecific Lamanema historically has been assigned to the Nematodirinae within the Molineidae. Inconsistencies in morphological characters, within a phylogenetic context for Nematodirinae, led to a re-evaluation of the putative relationships and taxonomic placement of Lamanema. Among 7 putative synapomorphies for Nematodirinae, Lamanema possesses only 1, large eggs. Large eggs, sporadically present in phylogenetically disparate taxa of trichostrongyles, are equivocal with respect to placement of Lamanema; it is considered that possession of this single homoplasious character alone is insufficient justification to retain the genus in Nematodirinae. Affinities with the Trichostrongylidae (Cooperiinae or Haemonchinae) have also been proposed; however, Lamanema possess neither of 2 synapomorphies that diagnose monophyly of the family. Lamanema is retained in the Molineidae and transferred to the Molineinae as it possesses all characters of the family as currently defined. The origin of Lamanema represents a secondary colonization of ruminants by molineids and provides no context for elucidating the history of the Nematodirinae and Nematodirus.
The Prohibition on Torture and the Limits of the Law

The debate about the moral and legal nature of the prohibition on torture and about the permissibility of carving out exceptions to that ban is generally conceptualized as a clash between two opposing poles with no middle ground between them. One may support an absolute ban on torture. Alternatively, one may believe that the duty not to torture, even if generally desirable and laudable, does not apply in certain exceptional circumstances, or, even if it does apply, is overridden, canceled or trumped by competing values. This paper defends an absolute prohibition on torture while, at the same time, arguing that truly catastrophic cases, such as the paradigmatic ticking-bomb scenario, should not be brushed aside as merely hypothetical or as either morally or legally irrelevant. The paper suggests that the way to deal with the "extreme" or "catastrophic" case is neither by reading it out of the equation nor by using it as the center-piece for establishing general policies. Rather, the focus is turned to the possibility that truly exceptional cases may give rise to official disobedience, i.e., public officials may step outside the legal framework and be ready to accept the legal ramifications of their actions. I argue that the prospect of extralegal action supports and strengthens the possibility of formulating and maintaining an absolute prohibition on torture.
Symmetry and Class Action Litigation

In ordinary litigation, parties often have different resources to devote to their lawsuit. This is a problem because the adversarial system is predicated on two (or more) parties, equal and opposite one another, making their best arguments to a neutral judge. The class action is a procedural device that aims to equalize resources between individual plaintiffs and organizational defendants by allowing plaintiffs to pool their claims. Current developments of class action doctrine, however, reinforce in the courtroom the asymmetry that exists between individual plaintiffs and organizational defendants outside the court. This Article explores these trends and the questions they raise. Why is it that critics of class actions (and some judges) argue that class actions ought not to be certified for litigation purposes because they “blackmail” defendants into settling meritless suits, but approve of the practice of certifying class actions for settlement when defendants ask approval to settle clearly meritless claims? Why is the blackmail argument so resilient in the class action context, and what insight does this lend to the context of binary litigation where litigants are more likely to have unequal resources to devote to litigation and, as a result, more likely to enter into settlements that do not reflect the true value of the lawsuit? Should asymmetry of resources in litigation be considered a problem for our court system, or is it right for courts to take litigants as they find them, even if litigants have vastly unequal resources to devote to pursuing their lawsuits?
The Origin and Evolution of Enzyme Catalysis

The semicentennial anniversary of Professor Oparin’s first reading of a theory on the origin of life (1) honors the many opportunities and stimuli afforded for experimental correlation, such as we see active in the field today.
FONOPs to Preserve the Right of Innocent Passage? Despite Popular Misconception, that is Hardly Mission Impossible

The U.S. Freedom of Navigation (FON) Program has received more attention in the past year than perhaps the Program’s preceding 35 years combined, due largely to ongoing developments in the South China Sea. Official summaries of the Program provided by the U.S. Departments of State and Defense are informative, but are not necessarily exhaustive in depth, due to a number of reasons. This informational lacuna has led to a series of commentaries by outside observers seeking to fill in factual gaps, make logical connections, extrapolate intentions, and forecast future events. But some of those commentaries have been less than fully accurate, warranting substantive correction by those having direct experience with the FON Program. This article is another such effort to help inform the public discussion on a particular aspect of the Program as it pertains to the legal concept known as the right of innocent passage. In short, it is not an “operational impossibility” for a U.S. warship to conduct a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) challenging an excessive maritime claim, and to exercise the right of innocent passage simultaneously. To the contrary, if depicted as a Venn diagram, FONOPs and innocent passage would be overlapping circles, not mutually exclusive ones. In fact, the United States has routinely conducted FONOPs to preserve the right of innocent passage for many years, consistent with applicable international law and longstanding U.S. FON Policy. Hence, there’s no need to whistle the theme song to “Mission Impossible.”
The Role of Body Image in the Link Between ADHD and Depression Symptoms Among College Students

Objective: Given the link between negative body image and depression symptoms, body image may affect the association between ADHD and depression symptoms. We evaluated the degree to which a variety...
Ultrastructure of dormant, converted, and germinating oospores of Pythium ultimum

The ultrastructural aspects of the conversion of constitutively dormant oospores of Pythium ultimum to thin-walled germinable oospores and their subsequent germination were studied by electron micr...
Remembering a legend: Candida Royalle, 1950–2015

I wanted to make films that made people feel good about their sexuality and about who they are as sexual beings. I wanted to make films that say we all have a right to pleasure, and that women, esp...
Archaeological Excavations in Hohokam Sites of Southern Arizona

In 1963 archaeological investigations were conducted by the Arizona State Museum in a series of Hohokam sites on the Gila River Indian Reservation of south-central Arizona. Significant data were derived from two of the eight sites tested. One site, Arizona U:13:9, included two small villages. The earlier village was first occupied during the Snaketown phase, which is estimated to date between A.D. 300 and 500. Occupation continued through the Sacaton phase or until about A.D. 1100. The later village was occupied during two phases of the Classic period, or from A.D. 1100 to about 1450. At this ruin both inhumations and cremations, apparently contemporaneous, were found in a distinct burial zone. The patterning noted in the placement of these two types of burials is a new feature for the Hohokam Classic period. The other site, Arizona U:13:11, a small Soho phase village that was occupied between A.D. 1100 and 1300, is important for the support it adds to the establishment of a pattern of burial placement during the Classic period.
The Thinking and Research to the Developing Condition of the Common Institutes and Universities

The author investigates and analyzes the developing situation of the common Institutes Universities athletics.The result shows that in recent years athletics teaching in the Institutes Universities often adopt the student to choose the the lesson freely.The students are not interested in the sports lessons and few student select them.The reason are various.So I suggest to change the athletics teaching system as soon as possible in all levels school to keep Institutes and universities athletics from associatia with high school,to strengthen knowing to the athletics value and to value the development of the athletics of Institute and University.
Leukemic Relapse Presenting with Ureteral Obstruction Caused by Granulocytic Sarcoma

AbstractWe report an unusual case of leukemic relapse after bone marrow transplantation that was initially manifest by ureteral obstruction from a granulocytic sarcoma of the bladder.
Co-Managing Patients with Type 1 Diabetes and Cancer

The life expectancy of people with type 1 diabetes is improving and now approaches that of those without diabetes. As this population ages, a growing number will be diagnosed with and treated for cancer. Cancer treatments can drastically affect insulin requirement and glycemic control through multiple mechanisms including high doses of glucocorticoids and targeted therapies that directly interfere with cellular pathways involved in the action of insulin. Patients with cancer frequently also have alterations in gastrointestinal motility or appetite and require supplemental enteral or parenteral nutrition. Few studies have evaluated these patients directly, but data on patients with and without diabetes suggest that glycemic control may play a larger role in cancer outcomes than is often recognized. Collaboration between the treating oncologist and diabetologist allows people with diabetes to receive the most effective therapies for their cancers without undue risk of hypoglycemia or adverse outcomes due to hyperglycemia.
Characterising the safety of clomiphene citrate in male patients through prostate-specific antigen, haematocrit, and testosterone levels.

OBJECTIVE To determine the safety profile of clomiphene citrate (CC) in men being treated for hypogonadism or infertility by measuring prostate-specific antigen (PSA), haematocrit (Hct), and testosterone levels. PATIENTS AND METHODS We identified patients presenting to our institution who were placed on CC, 50 mg every day or every other day, for male infertility and/or symptomatic hypoandrogenism between September 2013 and April 2016. Patients with documented exogenous testosterone, human chorionic gonadotrophin, or anastrozole use within 2 weeks of baseline evaluations were excluded. Our primary outcomes were the effects of CC on PSA, Hct, and total testosterone levels evaluated at the 3, 6, 9, or 12 months of follow-up. Outcomes were averaged within patients across visits and summarised by mean, median, range, standard deviation (SD) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) for the mean. RESULTS A total of 77 patients had recorded PSA, Hct, and/or testosterone values. The mean (SD, range) age and body mass index was 34 (6, 22-51) years and 31 (6, 22-52) kg/m2 , respectively. The mean (SD) follow-up was 358 (29) days. Within this group, CC concentration was changed in 24 patients (31%) and was discontinued in 24 patients (31%). The median (range) duration of CC therapy before discontinuation was 127 (44-161) days. The use of CC significantly raised both mean total and bioavailable testosterone levels by 200 ng/dL and 126 ng/dL, respectively (P < 0.001). This increase in testosterone had significant clinical effects with improvements in Androgen Deficiency in Aging Male questionnaire scores (P < 0.01) but not Sexual Health Inventory for Men scores. CC had no effect on mean PSA (1 ng/dL, 95% CI 0.8-1.1) or Hct (49%, 95% CI 41-53) levels, which were within normal ranges. CONCLUSIONS As more men are placed on CC for infertility or hypogonadism, characterising the safety effect profile becomes important. Our study found that CC significantly increased testosterone levels without changing PSA or Hct values. Because the biochemical response to CC can vary, we suggest scheduling laboratory evaluation at regular intervals; however, ordering routine assessment of PSA and Hct may not be necessary.
Systematics of the spider generaMallosandMexitlia(Araneae, Dictynidae)

Abstract This systematic study recognizes and describes 14 species of the genus Mallos O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902 and three species of the genus Mexitlia Lehtinen, 1967. Three species of Mallos — Mallos gertschi, Mallos chamberlini and Mallos macrolirus —and one species of Mexitlia — Mexitlia altima —are newly described. Mallos ghiggi (Caporiacco, 1938) is considered a synonym of Mexitlia grandis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896). Mexitlia grandis is considered the senior synonym of Mexitlia avara (Banks, 1898). Two species, Mallos flavovittatus (Keyserling, 1880) and Mallos nigrescens (Caporiacco, 1955) are removed from Mallos . The males of Mallos kraussi Gertsch, 1946 and Mallos blandus Chamberlin and Gertsch 1958, are described for the first time. A cladistic analysis based on 26 morphological characters produced a cladogram that supports the monophyly of Mallos and the validity of Mexitlia . This cladogram presents a phylogenetic framework for considering the evolution of social behaviour in Mallos
Shamim Ara and the Divorce Politics of a Secular and Modern India

In this (draft) piece, I argue that crucial aspects of the 2002 landmark Supreme Court of India opinion in Shamim Ara v. State of U.P. have largely been overlooked, with the consequence that this opinion’s broader significance for understanding the contemporary Indian state’s complicated self-conceptualization as secular and modern has been diminished.
The Discovery of a Potent, Selective, and Peripherally Restricted Pan-Trk Inhibitor (PF-06273340) for the Treatment of Pain

The neurotrophin family of growth factors, comprised of nerve growth factor (NGF), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin 3 (NT3), and neurotrophin 4 (NT4), is implicated in the physiology of chronic pain. Given the clinical efficacy of anti-NGF monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies, there is significant interest in the development of small molecule modulators of neurotrophin activity. Neurotrophins signal through the tropomyosin related kinase (Trk) family of tyrosine kinase receptors, hence Trk kinase inhibition represents a potentially “druggable” point of intervention. To deliver the safety profile required for chronic, nonlife threatening pain indications, highly kinase-selective Trk inhibitors with minimal brain availability are sought. Herein we describe how the use of SBDD, 2D QSAR models, and matched molecular pair data in compound design enabled the delivery of the highly potent, kinase-selective, and peripherally restricted clinical candidate PF-06273340.
El dramatismo de la misa de amores : parodia y rito desacralizado en la gestación del teatro sacro español del Renacimiento temprano

The paramount role of the mass in the birth of Spanish theater of the late Middle Ages or early Renaissance has been duly recognized by authoritative critics and historians. These scholars, however, have paid little or no attention to the centrality of the Eucharist in the gestation phase of that theater. The present essay is focused on the process of adapting the rite of transubstantiation to a dramatic plot on the way to an eventual transmutation into a full-fledged theatrical representation. At issue here are the only four extant specimens of the so-called misa de amores of the fifteenth century. These daring parodies of the Mass include Francesc Moner’s most ingenious rendition of the genre. On the basis of Linda Hutcheon’s innovative theory, one may envisage a parodic mode that conditions the distinctive traits of a “desacralized” ritual, the very matrix of the transmutation in question.
Modelling and Control of a TiNi Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Actuator

Abstract TiNi SMA is a good candidate for nanoactuation due to its low operation voltage, large range of recoverable deformations, and high recovery forces. This paper addresses the modelling and control of a TiNi SMA wire in free-standing configuration. The dynamic behaviour of the wire during the cooling-heating phase under the normal operation condition (2~3 V) and the off-normal operation condition (1.2~1.8 V or 3.2~3.4 V) are studied. A first-order model is employed to characterize the system. A hybrid input shaping, consisting of normal and off-normal operation voltage, is developed to achieve the ideal wire position control. A vision system measures the displacement of the wire, and then sends the position information to the controller to adjust the input to achieve the ideal wire position.
Use of Tachycardia in Patients With Submassive Pulmonary Emboli to Risk Stratify for Early Initiation of Thrombolytic Therapy: A Case Series Comparing Early Versus Late Thrombolytic Initiation:

Pulmonary embolism (PE) represents a prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with approximately 600 000 cases diagnosed annually. The mortality rate for untreated PE is as high as 30%. Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is a sign of possible adverse outcomes with right-sided heart failure being the usual cause of death from PE. There is a spectrum of clinical presentations associated with PE diagnoses, from incidental and asymptomatic to rapid hemodynamic collapse. Despite successes in identifying patients with "high-risk" PEs for aggressive thrombolytic interventions and "low-risk" PEs for outpatient anticoagulation, a significant lack of consensus exists regarding intervention modalities for PEs identified as "intermediate risk" or "submassive," defined as normotensive (systolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg) with acute RV dysfunction and myocardial injury. In this case series, we review the management and outcomes of 2 patients with submassive PEs and sustained tachycardia in the setting of normal blood pressures, and we address the need to recognize tachycardia as an ominous RV compensatory sign, indicative of impending hemodynamic collapse, that should lead to aggressive therapy with vascular intervention.
Applications of chemokines as adjuvants for vaccine immunotherapy.

Abstract Vaccinations are expected to aid in building immunity against pathogens. This objective often requires the addition of an adjuvant with certain vaccine formulations containing weakly immunogenic antigens. Adjuvants can improve antigen processing, presentation, and recognition, thereby improving the immunogenicity of a vaccine by simulating and eliciting an immune response. Chemokines are a group of small chemoattractant proteins that are essential regulators of the immune system. They are involved in almost every aspect of tumorigenesis, antitumor immunity, and antimicrobial activity and also play a critical role in regulating innate and adaptive immune responses. More recently, chemokines have been used as vaccine adjuvants due to their ability to modulate lymphocyte development, priming and effector functions, and enhance protective immunity. Chemokines that are produced naturally by the body’s own immune system could serve as potentially safer and more reliable adjuvant options versus synthetic adjuvants. This review will primarily focus on chemokines and their immunomodulatory activities against various infectious diseases and cancers.
Emotional Knowing: the Role of Embodied Feelings in Affective Cognition

The emotions play a crucial role in our apprehension of meaning, value, or significance — and their felt quality is intimately related to the sort of awareness they provide. This is exemplified most clearly by cases in which dispassionate cognition is cognitively insufficient, because we need to be emotionally agitated in order to grasp that something is true. In this type of affective experience, it is through a feeling of being moved that we recognize or apprehend that something is the case. And that is why our emotions are epistemically indispensable: namely, because they give us access to significant truths. In this essay, I explain how the phenomenally felt character of an emotion is intimately linked with its intentionality. Intellectual activity divorced from affective feeling is profoundly lacking — not only in its qualitative feel, but also in its epistemic import, or its ability to inform us about matters of significance. A better appreciation of how the living body is involved in affective experience should help us to understand the distinctive kind of embodied cognition that emotional responses involve. It also ought to resolve confusions about phobic responses and other “recalcitrant” emotions, which are not divorced from cognition as many have claimed.
The Backlash Politics of Evolutionary Psychology: Steven Pinker’s Blank Slate

This chapter examines Steven Pinker’s Blank Slate to demonstrate how the new brain sciences are often shaped by an academic effort to discredit the social sciences and replace them with a new form of social Darwinism. Moreover, this reaction against other academic disciplines mirrors an attempt to formulate a science-based conservative backlash against postmodern social movements, welfare state policies, and progressive parenting. We shall see that this political discourse is presented in the form of a value-free scientific theory, which itself attempts to deny the importance of culture, language, and history. In short, new brain sciences tend to posit that all other social science and humanities disciplines are not only misleading but also dangerous because they are not based on empirical facts. Just as psychoanalysis has been criticized for not being scientific, I will argue that evolutionary psychology attempts to eliminate the Freudian conceptions of the unconscious and sexuality in order to reimagine a new mode of neoliberal social Darwinism.
SVDquest: Improving SVDquartets species tree estimation using exact optimization within a constrained search space

Abstract Species tree estimation from multi-locus datasets is complicated by processes such as incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) that result in different loci having different trees. Summary methods, which estimate species trees by combining gene trees, are popular but their accuracy is impaired by gene tree estimation error. Other approaches have been developed that only use the site patterns to estimate the species tree, and so are not impacted by gene tree estimation issues. In particular, PAUP∗ provides a method in which SVDquartets is used to compute a set Q of quartet trees (i.e., trees on four leaves), and then a heuristic search is used to combine the quartet trees into a species tree T, seeking to maximize the number of quartet trees in Q that agree with T. The PAUP∗ method based on SVDquartets (henceforth referred to as SVDquartets + PAUP∗) is increasingly used in phylogenomic studies due to its ability to reconstruct species trees without needing to estimate accurate gene trees. We present SVDquest∗, a new method for constructing species trees using site patterns that is guaranteed to produce species trees that satisfy at least as many quartet trees as SVDquartets + PAUP∗. We show that SVDquest∗ is competitive with ASTRAL and ASTRID (two leading summary methods) in terms of topological accuracy, and tends to be more accurate than ASTRAL and ASTRID under conditions with relatively high gene tree estimation error. SVDquest∗ is available in open source form at https://github.com/pranjalv123/SVDquest .
Radiation Therapy and Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Cushing’s Disease

Although transsphenoidal resection is the mainstay of treatment, recurrent or residual ACTH-secreting adenomas are well suited for radiosurgery. Using a stereotactic device, radiation can be focused on a well-circumscribed region such as an adenoma and shielding of the nerves and eloquent structures in the suprasellar and parasellar regions. Radiosurgery is effective in inducing endocrine remission, even in cases where magnetic resonance (MR)-imaging is negative. This chapter reviews the indications and outcomes of stereotactic radiosurgery for Cushing’s Disease.
Acute Coronary Syndrome

As noted by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines, “Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) has evolved as a useful operational term that refers to a spectrum of conditions compatible with acute myocardial ischemia and/or infarction due to an abrupt reduction in coronary blood flow.” The critical tools for the clinician to place patients on this spectrum and prioritize their care are the electrocardiogram (ECG) and troponin assays, the specific cardiac biomarkers of necrosis. A key branch point is the presence of ST-segment elevation (ST elevation) or new left bundle branch block on a patient’s ECG, which is pathognomonic of an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). STEMI is an indication for immediate coronary angiography to determine if there is an opportunity for reperfusion therapy to open a likely completely occluded coronary artery. The role of the critical care surgeon in acute coronary syndrome is to recognize the presence of this clinical syndrome in the perioperative or trauma patient. Recognition is the crucial first step in rescuing these patients. Once a patient is found to have ACS, proper assignment to STEMI or NSTE-ACS pathways will guide the urgency of consultations and interventions by cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. The critical care surgeon will need to remain engaged as the subject matter expert with regard to the patient’s ability to tolerate various anticoagulation, intervention, and cardiac surgical therapies in relation to their current condition and potential need for further surgical intervention.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

Monosodium glutamate (Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number 142-47-2) is an amino acid salt that is used as a seasoning in oriental cuisine.
Named Data Networking Strategies for Improving Large Scientific Data Transfers

Current scientific workflows such as Climate Science and High Energy Particle Physics (HEP), routinely generate and use large volumes of observed or simulated data. Users are often geographically dispersed and need to transfer large volumes of data over the network for replication, archiving, or local analysis. Scientific communities have built sophisticated applications and dedicated networks to facilitate such data transfers, and yet, users continue to experience failures, delay, and unpredictable transfer latency. Named Data Networking (NDN) is a new Internet architecture that provides a more flexible and intelligent network layer, suitable for large data transfers. In this work, we use a real scientific data flow to demonstrate NDN's flexibility and versatility that makes it a suitable choice for large-data workflows. We use deadline-based data transfers as our driving example since HEP communities widely use them and discuss several NDN forwarding strategies that can help such flows. In addition to using typical forwarding strategies, we propose, at a high level, a bandwidth reservation protocol for NDN and an on-demand high-speed path creation mechanism. Using these as building blocks, we create a deadline-based data transfer protocol and show how NDN can simplify and improve scientific data distribution. Finally, we use a week-long HEP data log to evaluate our protocol analytically.
Effect of chemical sanitizing agents on ATP bioluminescence measurements

Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of sodium hypochlorite (SH), quaternary ammonium (QA), trisodium phosphate (TSP), lactic acid (LA), hydrogen peroxide (HP), and trichlosan (TR) on ATP bioluminescence measurements. Each sanitizer was tested at three different levels and compared to a control group containing no sanitizer. ATP from three sources was analyzed, Escherichia coli, chicken blood, and a pure ATP standard. The effect of each sanitizer was reported as a percent decrease in log10 relative light units (LRLU) for the treatment groups when compared to LRLU from the control groups. SH concentrations of 30, 50, and 70 ppm and quaternary ammonium at concentrations of 10, 20, and 30 ppm had no effect on LRLU measurements, regardless of the ATP source. LA concentrations of 0.5% and higher reduced LRLU by 75%. LRLU measurements were significantly (P < or = 0.05) reduced by approximately 60% when levels of TSP exceeded 1%. HP had no effect on LRLU measurements from any of the ATP sources at 0.1%; however, at 1% HP significantly (P < or = 0.05) decreased LRLU measurements by approximately 60% for all ATP sources. TR at 0.25% had no significant effect on LRLU measurements from any of the ATP sources. TR at 0.5 and 1% reduced LRLU measurements by 30 and 50%, respectively. These results indicate that commercial sanitizers containing LA, TSP, HP, or TR may negatively affect LRLU measurements if the sanitizer is allowed to come into direct contact with the ATP bioluminescence reagents.
Rod and cone pigment regeneration in RPE65-/- mice.

RPE65 is a major protein in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) (Hamel et al., 1993), where it is required for the regeneration of 11-cis retinal, the native ligand of rod and cone opsins, in the dark (Redmond et al., 1998). Therefore, the retina of the Rpe65 -/- mouse is almost completely depleted of 11-cis retinal, resulting in a minimal level of photosensitivity. This observation poses several questions, of which we will only address three: first, which cell type (rods and/or cones) is responsible for the remaining photosensitivity; second, if only one cell type remains photosensitive, what happens to the other one; and third, what is the chromophore that enables the formation of light-sensitive pigment? Early reports have disagreed whether the remaining photosensitivity can be attributed to rod (Seeliger et al., 2001) or cone function (Redmond et al., 1998; Ekesten et al., 2001). Double knockout experiments, crossing the Rpe65 -/- with either the rhodopsin or the cone cGMP-gated channel knockout, respectively, revealed that the remaining photosensitivity in the young adult and old Rpe65 -/- mouse retina (>6 weeks-of-age) can be attributed to rod sensitivity (Seeliger et al., 2001). This leaves open the question as to the possible fate of the cone photoreceptors in the absence of RPE65. Likewise, early reports demonstrated a slow degeneration in particular of the rod photoreceptors (Redmond et al., 1998), suggesting that the accumulation of the retinyl ester in the RPE might contribute to the demise of the photoreceptors. However, in the Rpe65 -/-::Gnat1 -/- mouse, in which similar elevated amounts of retinyl ester have been reported to accumulate in the RPE, no rod degeneration occurs (Woodruff et al., 2003). And finally, with respect to the available chromophore; several groups have tried to obtain a spectrum of the pigment from pooled tissue and have failed to do so (Ablonzcy et al., 2001; C. H. Reme, personal communication). Thus, here we would like to further address these three key issues and how our laboratories have investigated them over the past 5 years.
Adrenal involvement from renal cell carcinoma: predictive value of computerized tomography.

AbstractAlthough adrenal involvement from renal cell carcinoma is rare, removal of the adrenal during radical nephrectomy continues to be standard practice. To assess the actual need for adrenalectomy, we elected to evaluate whether malignant involvement of the adrenal gland could be reliably diagnosed preoperatively by a computerized tomogram (CT) of the abdomen. A blinded retrospective review of preoperative abdominal CT in 157 patients with renal cancer revealed an abnormality of the ipsilateral adrenal gland in 38. Histopathology confirmed malignant involvement of the adrenal in 10 patients. Significantly, all 119 adrenal glands judged to be normal on the preoperative CT were confirmed to be uninvolved by the renal cancer on histopathological study.We conclude that abdominal CT is reliable in the preoperative evaluation of the ipsilateral adrenal gland and assessment of its noninvolvement with renal carcinoma. In such cases adrenal sparing nephrectomy may be considered (76% of our patients). None of t...
Claim of public service in Ukraine: procedural and administrative aspect

Стаття присвячена дослідженню питань процедури організації та управління процесом складення Присяги державним службовцем в Україні. Опрацьоване чинне законодавство, яке регулює процедуру організації та приведення особи до Присяги працівника державної служби. В статті наведені особливості процедури складання присяги іншими суб’єктами державно-владних повноважень. Відстоюється позиція, що процедура приведення особи до Присяги державного службовця є особливою формою державного управління, яка полягає у здійснення дій правового характеру. Акцентується увага на тому, що складення присяги є важливою формою управлінської діяльності і завжди тягне за собою юридичний наслідок, який змінює правове становище громадянина.Автором обґрунтовані власні пропозиції та рекомендації, які направлені на підняття статусу присяги державного службовця і удосконалення управлінської складової її проведення. Зокрема, зазначається, що Закон України «Про державну службу», який врегульовує окремі питання управління та процедури прийняття Присяги державним службовцем, містить окремі правові прогалини та невизначеності, які доцільно виправити через процедури внесення змін у текст Закону. Крім того, є нагальна необхідність розробити та прийняти окреме Положення про порядок складання Присяги державного службовця, в якому чітко прописати процедурно-управлінські аспекти прийняття Присяги державного службовця. Автор вважає, що зміст Присяги не повинен зводитись до формального та символічно-церемоніального акту, а повинен мати, насамперед, нормативний характер. Це дасть змогу особі, яка складає Присягу, більш глибоко сприйняти значущість Присяги як не просто звичайної процедури, а акту, який наділяє службовця правами та обов’язками, які він повинен неухильно виконувати на благо України та її громадян. Тільки через чітке нормативне закріплення процедури проведення Присяги державного службовця, вона набуде зовсім іншого змісту і перетвориться із формального інституту в дійсно дієвий і важливий інститут.
Post-mortem computed tomography improves completeness of the trauma registry: a single institution experience

To describe our institutional experience with post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) and its impact on decedent injury severity score (ISS) and to assess the adequacy of emergently placed support medical devices. Over a 5-year period, patients who died at or soon after arrival and have physical exam findings inconsistent with death were candidates for inclusion. Whole body CT was performed without contrast with support medical devices left in place. ISS was calculated with and without the PMCT findings. PMCT results were compared to autopsy findings, if performed. The location of support medical devices was documented. A total of 38 decedents underwent PMCT, including 53.1% males and a mean age of 42.0 years. Pre-PMCT ISS based on physical exam findings alone was 5.2 (range 0–25), including 16 with ISS = 0. Post-PMCT ISS using the additional imaging data was 50.3 (range 21–75), including 15 with ISS = 50 or greater. Nearly half (47.4%) had at least one support medical device that was either malpositioned or suboptimally positioned, including 26.3% with malpositioned airway devices, 10.3% with malpositioned intra-osseous catheters, and 100% with malpositioned decompressive needle thoracotomies. PMCT adds value in identifying injuries that otherwise may have gone undetected in lieu of a formal autopsy, thus creating a more complete trauma registry. The identification of malpositioned support lines and tubes allows for educational feedback to the first responders and trainees. Institutions with a low formal autopsy rate for trauma victims may benefit from developing a PMCT program.
Trace Level Quantification of Derivatized Boronic Acids by LC/MS/MS

Boron-containing compounds are often controlled as potentially mutagenic impurities based on ICH M7 guidance in drug substances. Herein, we describe a simple method to derivatize a subset of organoborons, non-nitrogen-containing aryl boronic acids, in order to quantify trace levels remaining in a drug substance using LC/MS/MS. Through this derivatization we are able to increase the sensitivity, demonstrate linearity, and spiked analyte recovery in matrix down to low parts per million (ppm) levels. The feasibility of this method is proven as three different examples are described, two in which one boronic acid may be present in a drug substance and one where two boronic acids may be present in the final product.
Exploring FPGA-specific Optimizations for Irregular OpenCL Applications

OpenCL is emerging as a high-level hardware description language to address the productivity challenges of developing applications on FPGAs. Unlike traditional hardware description languages (HDLs), OpenCL provides an abstract interface to facilitate high productivity, enabling end users to rapidly describe the required computations, including parallelism and data movement, to create custom hardware accelerators for their applications. However, these OpenCL-realized accelerators are unlikely to make efficient use of the reconfigurable fabric without adopting FPGA-specific optimizations, particularly for irregular OpenCL applications. Consequently, we explore the FPGA-specific optimization space for OpenCL applications and present insights on which optimization techniques improve application performance and resource utilization. Exploring this optimization space will enable end users to harness the computational potential of the FPGA.While these optimizations are general and applicable to any application, the expected performance gain and resource-utilization efficiency vary depending on the application characteristics. Specifically, hardware profilers are used to analyze the limitations of OpenCL application kernels and to guide the development of FPGA-optimized implementations. In particular, we pursue the more challenging problem of irregular OpenCL applications, which suffer from workload imbalance, unpredictable control flow, and irregular memory-access patterns. Experiments using representative kernels from the graph traversal, combinational logic, and sparse linear algebra application domains show that FPGA-specific optimizations can improve the performance of irregular OpenCL applications by up to 27-fold in comparison to the architecture-agnostic OpenCL code from the OpenDwarfs benchmark suite.
The limited value of a second opinion: Competition and exaggeration in experimental cheap talk games

Abstract We experimentally investigate the effect of a second opinion on information transmission. Our design varies the number of senders as well as the alignment and magnitude of senders' biases in a sequential, cheap-talk, sender-receiver game. We find that decision makers do no better when a second opinion is available, irrespective of the alignment or competition between advisers, than when they receive a single opinion. Despite the fact that messaging behavior differs across experimental conditions, receivers successfully extract the same amount of information—an amount greater than what is theoretically predicted. These findings are consistent with senders using a simple strategy of naive exaggeration, with receivers correctly recognizing this and adjusting their behavior accordingly.
Effects of post-trip eudaimonic reflections on affect, self-transcendence and philanthropy

Recently, tourism scholars have recognized that travel can create transformation, including (1) personal benefits such as improved wellbeing and personal growth and (2) societal benefits such as in...
Blastomyces dermatitidis Antibody and Antigen Detection: Comparison of Four Lysate Antigens and Antibodies Prepared from Human Isolates from a Blastomycosis Outbreak

Blastomycosis is a systemic fungal disease of humans and other animals produced by the thermally dimorphic fungal organism, Blastomyces dermatitidis. Recent studies have focused on the utilization of antibody and antigen detection in the development of immunoassays for the diagnosis of blastomycosis. This study was designed to evaluate four B. dermatitidis yeast lysate antigenic preparations from human isolates (591, 592, 597, 598) from an outbreak of blastomycosis in Eagle River, Wisconsin. The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to compare these four antigens for their ability to detect antibodies in 28 serum specimens from immunized rabbits and in 18 sera from dogs with blastomycosis. This study also compared antibodies prepared from each of the four B. dermatitidis lysate antigens for their ability to detect antigen using the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 18 urine specimens from the same dogs as above with blastomycosis. All four reagents proved to be immunoreactive and were able to detect antibody in the rabbit and dog sera and antigen in each of the urine specimens with only slight variations in the mean absorbance values evidenced. Antibody detection, mean absorbance values with the four lysates, ranged from 1.522 (592 antigen) to 2.047 (597 antigen) in the rabbit sera and from 1.504 (591 antigen) to 1.878 (597 antigen) in the dog sera. Antigen detection, sensitivity values obtained with the antibodies prepared from the four lysates, ranged from 89% (598 serum) to 100% (591 and 592 serum specimens).
Discovery of the Transuranium Elements Inspired Rearrangement of the Periodic Table and the Approach for Finding New Elements

The synthesis and characterization of transuranium elements played an important and in the history of the periodic table. Prior to their discovery, elements up to uranium were thought to be 6d elements, and in the late 1930s, they were placed in the periodic table as such. The discovery of neptunium and plutonium and the determination of their chemical properties suggested that valence electrons were entering 5f orbitals and represented the emergence of a new series in the periodic table. The original characterization of americium and curium failed, until it was realized that they may behave more like uranium and plutonium than transition elements. Glenn Seaborg introduced the actinide concept and proposed rearranging the periodic table to create a new 5f actinide series akin to the 4f lanthanide series. Due to imperfect screening of the 5f electrons, and the subsequent changes in the energetics of both the 5f and 6d orbitals as one progresses along the series, the actinides experience an actinide contraction and display a fascinating set of periodic trends. Moving from left to right, the valence 5f electrons contract and lose their ability to form chemical bonds. The crossover from bonding (itinerant) to ionic (magnetic) behavior gives rise to many exotic and interesting chemical and physical properties and has challenged modern approaches to electronic structure both in theory and experiment. The multiplicity of oxidation states, coupled with the hydrolysis behavior of the aqueous ions, makes the chemical behavior of protactinium through americium among the most complex of the elements in the periodic table.
Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging of pediatric cancer predisposition syndromes: special considerations, challenges and perspective

Cancer predisposition syndromes increase the incidence of tumors during childhood and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Imaging is paramount for ensuring early detection of neoplasms, impacting therapeutic interventions and potentially improving outcome. While conventional imaging techniques involve considerable exposure to ionizing radiation, whole-body MRI is a radiation-free modality that allows continuous imaging of the entire body and has increasingly gained relevance in the surveillance, diagnosis, staging and monitoring of pediatric patients with cancer predisposition syndromes. Nevertheless, widespread implementation of whole-body MRI faces several challenges as a screening tool. Some of these challenges include developing clinical indications, variability in protocol specifications, image interpretation as well as coding and billing practices. These factors impact disease management, patient and family experience and research collaborations. In this discussion we review the aforementioned special considerations and the potential direction that might help overcome these challenges and promote more widespread use of whole-body MRI in children with cancer predisposition syndromes.
Free Bosons and Tau-Functions for Compact Riemann Surfaces and Closed Smooth Jordan Curves. Current Correlation Functions

We study families of quantum field theories of free bosons on a compact Riemann surface of genus g. For the case g > 0, these theories are parameterized by holomorphic line bundles of degree g − 1, and for the case g = 0 — by smooth closed Jordan curves on the complex plane. In both cases we define a notion of τ-function as a partition function of the theory and evaluate it explicitly. For the case g > 0 the τ-function is an analytic torsion, and for the case g = 0, the regularized energy of a certain natural pseudo-measure on the interior domain of a closed curve. For these cases we rigorously prove the Ward identities for the current correlation functions and determine them explicitly. For the case g > 0, these functions coincide with those obtained by using bosonization. For the case g = 0, the τ-function we have defined coincides with the τ-function introduced as a dispersionless limit of the Sato's τ-function for the two-dimensional Toda hierarchy. As a corollary of the Ward identities, we note some recent results on relations between conformal maps of exterior domains and τ-functions. For this case, we also define a Hermitian metric on the space of all contours of given area. As another corollary of the Ward identities, we prove that the introduced metric is Kahler and the logarithm of the τ-function is its Kahler potential.
Bias Clustering for Online Political Articles

News articles can have a profound influence on voter opinions and preferences according to studies conducted on the effects of bias in political news coverage. Because political opinions and preferences can be persuaded, it is important that readers are aware of biases embedded within a story, as it may be perceived differently by others and motivate readers to find different sources to inform their opinions. Whereas previous research has attempted to characterize bias strictly from article text, ours examines the subjective perception of it as a function of the reader's political leanings and salience of the article's source. Our research seeks to determine if we can empirically verify in-group out-group bias in news sources rather than news article content. We present Mechanical Turk participants with a neutral definition of bias and administer a survey that collects data on whether or not readers believe the given definition of bias applies to the given article. The three news sources (CNN, Fox News, and BBC) are randomly displayed as the authoring body on the same article content. Afterward, participants answer demographic questions including their own political leanings. Furthermore, we will discuss the perceived bias by political camp, implications for news source bias, and our goal to harness the results of this experiment in pursuit of training machine learning models that can detect bias from the perspectives of members belonging to particular political leanings.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Some vitamin and mineral supplements have proved to be clinically useful in preventing various diseases and health problems. Many widely used supplements, however, have shown no benefit when carefully studied. There are also several disease states and medications that should prompt the physician to recommend certain preventive supplements. This article gives an evidence-based look at the latest information in this area. Primary care physicians should be familiar with the latest research so they can be proactive in advising patients about proper use of vitamins and minerals.