cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analysis of nitrite reductase (nirK and nirS) genes and cultivation reveal depauperate community of denitrifying bacteria in the Black Sea suboxic zone

Chemical profiles of the Black Sea suboxic zone show a distribution of nitrogen species which is traditionally associated with denitrification, i.e. a secondary nitrite maximum associated with nitrate depletion and a N(2) gas peak. To better understand the distribution and diversity of the denitrifier community in the Black Sea suboxic zone, we combined a cultivation approach with cloning and sequencing of PCR-amplified nitrite reductase (nirS and nirK) genes. The Black Sea suboxic zone appears to harbour a homogeneous community of denitrifiers. For nirK, over 94% of the sequences fell into only three distinct phylogenetic clusters, and for nirS, a single closely related sequence type accounted for 91% of the sequences retrieved. Both nirS and nirK genes showed a dramatic shift in community composition at the bottom of the suboxic zone, but overall, nirK-based community composition showed much greater variation across depths compared with the highly uniform distribution of nirS sequences throughout the suboxic zone. The dominant nirK and nirS sequences differed at the amino acid level by at least 17% and 8%, respectively, from their nearest database matches. Denitrifying isolates recovered from the suboxic zone shared 97% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Marinobacter maritimus. Analysis of the recently discovered nirS gene from the anammox bacterium Candidatus'Kuenenia stuttgartiensis' revealed that mismatches with commonly used primers may have prevented the previous detection of this divergent sequence.
Fluid Flow and Particle Diffusion in the Human Upper Respiratory System

ABSTRACT Airflow patterns within the human upper airways, including nasal airway, oral airway, laryngeal airway, and the first two generations of tracheobronchial airway, are investigated by numerically solving the corresponding full Navier-Stokes equations using the flow simulation software CFX-F3D. A body-fitted three-dimensional curvilinear grid system and a multiblock method have been employed to mimic the complex head airway geometry and to match the computational domain with the outline of a semirealistic nasal sagittal cross-section geometry. Effects of human breath patterns, i.e., nasal breath, oral breath and simultaneous nasal and oral breath, on airflow and ultrafine particle deposition are investigated. Results of ultraflne particle deposition generated by computer simulation show reasonable agreements with the experimental measurements.
A supplemental interview for forms of "affective spectrum disorder".

OBJECTIVE Recent evidence suggests that a number of psychiatric and medical conditions may be members or candidate members of a larger family of conditions, which we have termed "affective spectrum disorder (ASD)." In order to facilitate further research into this concept, we drafted seven interview modules, using the format of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID), designed to diagnose the following psychiatric and medical disorders: irritable bowel syndrome, narcolepsy, Tourette's disorder, migraine, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and kleptomania. METHOD Published operational diagnostic criteria for these seven disorders were sought in the literature. Questions in SCID format were then drafted in accordance with these operational criteria. Draft modules were then sent to experts familiar with each of the disorders and suggestions and revisions from these experts incorporated into the final modules. RESULTS The complete supplemental interview is presented with this report. Preliminary experience with this interview in more than 100 patients tentatively suggests that it is reliable for diagnosing the disorders in question; however, a formal test-retest reliability assessment is still required. CONCLUSIONS It is hoped that this supplemental interview, used in conjunction with the SCID, will be helpful in further studies of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of these possible forms of affective spectrum disorder.
Travel Choice with No Alternative: Can Land Use Reduce Automobile Dependence?

Land use is expected to have a two-tiered effect on reducing automobile dependence. One is to enhance access to choices and the other to influence modal shifts away from driving. Existing studies have focused primarily on the second-tier effect. This article presents an empirical study of automobile dependence with emphasis on the identification of the first-tier effect. Using the Boston 1991 activitytravel survey data, the study jointly models travel choice set formation and mode choice decision. Automobile dependence is defined and measured as the probability that a traveler has the automobile as the only element in the choice set of travel modes. The study finds a wide variation in levels of automobile dependence along spatial and social dimensions. Elasticity estimates show that automobile dependence is highly sensitive to street network connectivity and to automobile availability, while population/job density and transit supply also matter. The study confirms the choice-enabling role of land use in r...
Adaptation and persistence of adaptation to a cold stressor in mice

To determine their ability to adapt to a cold Stressor, C3H mice were immersed to the neck daily in a 45°F water bath from 36–42 days of age. Following this adaptation procedure, the mice were divided into four groups and again immersed at either 1, 7, 14, or 21 days later. The results indicate that mice adapt very rapidly to cold and maintain an an increased tolerance to cold for at least 21 days.
Differentiation Kinetics of in Vitro 3T3-L1 Preadipocyte Cultures

Engineering autologous adipose constructs from cell culture is a promising strategy to overcome limitations of conventional soft-tissue implants. A methodology is presented to experimentally determine and mathematically model the differentiation kinetics of in vitro 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cultures that can aid in construct design. Relative rates of morphological and interfacial events during adipogenesis were compared. Model results suggest that maturation of an intermediate multilocular phenotype was the rate-limiting step in morphological differentiation and had an intrinsic rate of 0.012 day(-1). Dislodgment of multilocular fat cells was the primary mechanism of cell loss during adipogenesis. The maximum rate of lipid droplet nucleation was predicted to precede that of coalescence by 10 days and to be three times faster. Coalescence probability was estimated to decrease from 33 to 11% for 4- and 8-microm-diameter droplets, respectively. Fluid drainage and the cytoskeleton between droplets could have impeded coalescence. The kinetic analysis suggests that droplet ripening was the dominant mechanism of lipid production. Applications of this research include engineering of an adipose construct and predicting surgical outcome of patients requiring soft-tissue augmentation.
Differential timing of amino acid and 5-HIAA rhythms in suprachiasmatic hypothalamus

In vivo brain microdialysis was used to characterize the daily pattern of extracellular excitatory amino acids (EAA; glutamate and aspartate), glutamine and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the region of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in freely behaving male Syrian hamsters. Diurnal variations in the extracellular concentrations of EAA and 5-HIAA observed under 14:10-h light-dark (LD) photoperiod were confirmed by cosinor analysis. Peak levels occurred during the night, with the mean acrophasis for 5-HI-AA concentration preceding that for EAA by 1-2 h. Release of EAA was stimulated by K(+)-induced depolarization in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner and was not affected by tetrodotoxin. In the absence of light cues (constant dim red light, < 0.4 lx; DD) there was a significant time-of-day effect in peak glutamate concentration (occurring during subjective night), but the rhythmic pattern of 5-HIAA output was lost. There was no apparent direct temporal linkage between peaks in extracellular EAA or 5-HIAA and bouts of wheel-running activity under LD or DD. These results are evidence that 1) the daily release pattern of extracellular glutamate, but not 5-HIAA, is circadian in nature; and 2) this rhythm in glutamate is not based on Na+ channel-dependent action potentials. Finally, a discordance in the timing of peak nocturnal extracellular 5-HIAA and EAA concentrations was evident, possibly reflecting an interplay between serotonergic and EAA pathways in the SCN.
Von Hippel-Lindau gene mutation status is associated with a dichotomous response in primary and metastatic tumors in patients receiving bevacizumab and erlotinib for metastatic renal cell carcinoma

15522 Background: A single arm phase II study is underway evaluating the safety and clinical benefit of presurgical bevacizumab and erlotinib in the management of patients with untreated convention...
Factors Contributing to the Specialty Selection, Practice Location, and Retention of Physicians in Rural Practice

This qualitative study describes the phenomenon of becoming a rural physician and the experiences that influence physicians to choose and stay in rural practice. Fifteen individual interviews were conducted. For the participants in this study, rural upbringing, family values, early experiences regarding medicine, and identity in place were experiences prior to medical school that influenced the desire to practice and live in a rural area. Rural clinical experiences during medical school and residency, the culture of the medical school, and preceptor relationships were factors that influenced physicians’ choices. Family, partners, and loan forgiveness were factors that influenced practice type and location. Professional support and integration into the community were factors influencing retention. This information is valuable to medical educators, administrators, and community leaders interested in addressing the maldistribution of physicians and, ultimately, health disparities affecting rural citizens.
Model-based iterative reconstruction for magnetic resonance fingerprinting

Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is an emerging quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique that simultaneously acquires multiple tissue parameters (e.g., spin density, T 1 , and T 2 ) in an efficient imaging experiment. A statistical estimation framework has recently been proposed for MRF reconstruction. Here we present a new model-based reconstruction method within this framework to enable improved parameter estimation from highly under-sampled, noisy k-space data. It features a novel mathematical formulation that integrates a low-rank image model with the Bloch equation based MR physical model. The proposed formulation results in a nonconvex optimization problem, for which we develop an efficient iterative algorithm based on variable splitting, the alternating direction method of multipliers, and the variable projection method. Representative results from numerical experiments are shown to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.
Associations between prenatal coparenting behavior and observed coparenting behavior at 9-months postpartum

Coparenting, or the ways partners relate to each other in their roles as parents, is important to child and family functioning. However, it remains unclear whether coparenting begins at or prior to a child's birth. This study tested whether expectant parents' behavior in the Prenatal Lausanne Trilogue Play procedure (PLTP), an assessment designed in Switzerland for examining prebirth coparenting behavior, forecasted postnatal observations of coparenting behavior in a sample of first-time parents in the United States. Participants were 182 dual-earner couples expecting their first child. Couples completed the PLTP in the third trimester of pregnancy and observations of coparenting behavior at 9-months postpartum. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated significant continuity between expectant parents' prenatal coparenting behavior and their observed postpartum coparenting behavior 1 year later. In particular, couples who engaged in higher quality prenatal coparenting behavior demonstrated more supportive and less undermining coparenting behavior at 9-months postpartum, even after controlling for observed prenatal couple behavior and self-reported couple relationship functioning. Thus, this study demonstrated the validity and utility of the PLTP as a window into the development of coparenting, and supported the notion that the coparenting relationship develops prior to the child's birth and is already distinct from the couple relationship.
Aleutian Disease of Mink Infectious Virus-Antibody Complexes in the Serum.

SummaryMink affected with Aleutian disease have viremia which persists until death. Removal of G immunoglobulin from infectious serum of affected mink markedly reduces the virus titer. The virus in the serum exists as a complex with immunoglobulin, in which in vivo infectivity is still present.
Effects of three different methods on killing cockroaches in restaurants

Objective To test experimental effects of three different methods for killing cockroaches in restaurants.Methods Managing the first restaurant using the method of residual spray with aerosol missile,the second restaurant with aerosol missile and glue bait,the third restaurant with glue bait.Results After one week,the efficiency of killing Blattella germanica in the restaurant,which was managed with the method of residual spray and aerosol missile,was 93.18%.It was 91.33% after two weeks and 83.90% after four weeks.After one week,the efficiency of killing cockroaches in the restaurant with the method of aerosol missile and glue bait was 88.55%.After two weeks,it was 98.17%.After four weeks,it was 98.86%.After one week,the efficiency of killing cockroach in the restaurant with glue bait was 96.22%.It was 98.63% after two weeks while it was 99.54% after four weeks.Conclusion The method of using aerosol missile with glue bait and using glue bait had relatively good effect.Furthermore,the method of using aerosol missile with glue bait was easily to be put into praction on large areas because this method could achieve excellent effect with relatively low cost.
Diagnosis and Management of Cardiovascular Disease in Advanced and End-Stage Renal Disease.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 13% of the US population.[1][1] Although a significant proportion of these patients progress to end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT)[2][2] or renal transplantation, cardiovascular disease remains the most common cause of
Efficient Enrichment of Bacterial mRNA from Host-Bacteria Total RNA Samples.

Despite numerous advances in genomics and bioinformatics, technological hurdles remain to examine host-microbe transcriptomics. Sometimes the transcriptome of either or both can be ascertained merely by generating more sequencing reads. However, many cases exist where bacterial mRNA needs to be enriched further to enable cost-effective sequencing of the pathogen or endosymbiont. While a suitable method is commercially available for mammalian samples of this type, development of such methods has languished for invertebrate samples. Furthermore, a common method across multiple taxa would facilitate comparisons between bacteria in invertebrate vectors and their vertebrate hosts. Here, a method is described to concurrently remove polyadenylated transcripts, prokaryotic rRNA, and eukaryotic rRNA, including those with low amounts of starting material (e.g. 100 ng). In a Wolbachia-Drosophila system, this bacterial mRNA enrichment yielded a 3-fold increase in Wolbachia mRNA abundance and a concomitant 3.3-fold increase in the percentage of transcripts detected. More specifically, 70% of the genome could be recovered by transcriptome sequencing compared to 21% in the total RNA. Sequencing of similar bacterial mRNA-enriched samples generated from Ehrlichia-infected canine cells covers 93% of the Ehrlichia genome, suggesting ubiquitous transcription across the entire Ehrlichia chaffeensis genome. This technique can potentially be used to enrich bacterial mRNA in many studies of host-microbe interactions.
Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis and Thoracic Kyphosis in Older Men and Women.

Author(s): Katzman, Wendy B; Parimi, Neeta; Mansoori, Ziba; Nardo, Lorenzo; Kado, Deborah M; Cawthon, Peggy M; Marshall, Lynn M; Schousboe, John T; Lane, Nancy E; Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study Research Group and the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures | Abstract: ObjectiveTo investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) and thoracic kyphosis in older persons.MethodsDISH and kyphosis were assessed in 1,500 men from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study and in 1,267 women from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF). DISH was assessed using baseline lateral spine radiographs, and Cobb angle of kyphosis was measured from baseline and followup radiographs, a mean 4.6 years later in men, and 3.7 and 15 years later in women. Linear regression was used to analyze associations of DISH with baseline Cobb angle and with percent annualized change in Cobb angle. We tested for heterogeneity among studies.ResultsDISH was identified in 222 participants in MrOS (15%) and in 156 participants in SOF (12%). Participants with DISH in both cohorts had higher baseline Cobb angles (P l 0.05), after adjustment for covariates. After approximately 4 years of followup, there was no significant difference in annualized percent change in Cobb angle in those with DISH compared to those without DISH (P g 0.05) for men or women. Women with DISH had less kyphosis progression over 15 years (0.25% less annualized change in Cobb) than those without DISH.ConclusionPrevalent DISH is associated with greater kyphosis in older men and women, and is not significantly associated with a change in kyphosis over 4-5 years. However, in women followed over 15 years, DISH was associated with less progression of kyphosis. These results suggest that DISH influences kyphosis and may slow progression over the long term. Additional studies of DISH/kyphosis associations are warranted to understand the functional implications of this finding.
Rebuilding an airliner in flight: a retrospective on refactoring IBM testarossa production compiler for Eclipse OMR

Eclipse OMR is a new open source project created by refactoring the IBM J9 Java Virtual Machine to create a set of language agnostic components for building all kinds of language runtimes. This paper reflects on the effort, the successes, and the mistakes made while refactoring more than a million lines of code on the master development branch while 8 disparate production compiler products were under active development. Refactoring large scale projects like compilers and language runtimes can be done while shipping releases, but there are certainly challenges. We offer some recommendations for other projects considering this path.
Effect of spatial temperature uniformity on outdoor photovoltaic module performance characterization

Temperature uniformity in a photovoltaic (PV) module is critical to accurately measure module performance parameters and temperature coeificients. In the case of indoor flash solar simulators, a uniform temperature among all the cells within a test module is maintained using a specialized thermal setup or an air conditioned environment. However, maintaining uniform module temperature in all the cells of a module under prevailing uncontrolled outdoor field conditions on clear sunny days has been a challenge. This study quantitatively determines the extent of temperature non-uniformity, and the influence of ‘spatial’ temperature distribution on the accuracy of module performance parameters and temperature coefficients. An experimental approach to improve temperature uniformity under prevailing field conditions is also presented to obtain outdoor performance data and to possibly improve field performance with less influence of temperature variability. Results indicate that better temperature uniformity and more accurate performance data can be obtained by thermally insulating the inner and outer surfaces of the module frame.
Mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication initiation in eukaryotes

AbstractCellular DNA replication is initiated through the action of multiprotein complexes that recognize replication start sites in the chromosome (termed origins) and facilitate duplex DNA melting within these regions. In a typical cell cycle, initiation occurs only once per origin and each round of replication is tightly coupled to cell division. To avoid aberrant origin firing and re-replication, eukaryotes tightly regulate two events in the initiation process: loading of the replicative helicase, MCM2-7, onto chromatin by the origin recognition complex (ORC), and subsequent activation of the helicase by its incorporation into a complex known as the CMG. Recent work has begun to reveal the details of an orchestrated and sequential exchange of initiation factors on DNA that give rise to a replication-competent complex, the replisome. Here, we review the molecular mechanisms that underpin eukaryotic DNA replication initiation – from selecting replication start sites to replicative helicase loading and a...
Hospital and Physician Rating Websites: Ethical Challenges Without Context

Ratings systems for practitioners and hospitals on the Internet can be helpful, providing practical information such as phone numbers and insurance accepted. However, today’s rating systems do not yet provide unbiased, transparent, timely, and relevant information to help make educated healthcare choices. The multiple hospital rating sites use various, often unclear criteria for assessment leading to wide variation in the rankings of the same hospital. Of great concern, some of the sites will assist hospitals in improving their rating for a fee. Similar challenges exist for the practitioner rating sites. Due to patient confidentiality, individuals can anonymously post reviews which are inaccurate or blatantly false. In addition, the practitioner is held responsible for customer service aspects of the interaction including the actions of the nurse, billing personnel, and parking attendant. Many, but not all, practitioner rating sites encourage correction of inaccurate information, so physicians should regularly monitor their presence on these sites. The rise of rating sites has resulted in a new dynamic, and possibly irreversible shift in balance, in the physician-patient relationship. Hopefully this can be countered by increased accountability, reliability, and utility of medical rating sites in the future.
Automated adipose study for assessing cancerous human breast tissue using optical coherence tomography (Conference Presentation)

Breast cancer is the third leading cause of death in women in the United States. In human breast tissue, adipose cells are infiltrated or replaced by cancer cells during the development of breast tumor. Therefore, an adipose map can be an indicator of identifying cancerous region. We developed an automated classification method to generate adipose map within human breast. To facilitate the automated classification, we first mask the B-scans from OCT volumes by comparing the signal noise ratio with a threshold. Then, the image was divided into multiple blocks with a size of 30 pixels by 30 pixels. In each block, we extracted texture features such as local standard deviation, entropy, homogeneity, and coarseness. The features of each block were input to a probabilistic model, relevance vector machine (RVM), which was trained prior to the experiment, to classify tissue types. For each block within the B-scan, RVM identified the region with adipose tissue. We calculated the adipose ratio as the number of blocks identified as adipose over the total number of blocks within the B-scan. We obtained OCT images from patients (n = 19) in Columbia medical center. We automatically generated the adipose maps from 24 B-scans including normal samples (n = 16) and cancerous samples (n = 8). We found the adipose regions show an isolated pattern that in cancerous tissue while a clustered pattern in normal tissue. Moreover, the adipose ratio (52.30 ± 29.42%) in normal tissue was higher than the that in cancerous tissue (12.41 ± 10.07%).
Resilience among adult survivors of childhood neglect: A missing piece in the resilience literature

Abstract Despite the established long-term effect of childhood maltreatment, some proportion of adult individuals, who suffered childhood maltreatment, appear more resilient than others and continue to function well in life. We searched the databases of MEDLINE, PsycINFO and ERIC in order to identify relevant studies on resilience among adult survivors of child neglect, which constitutes the most common form of child maltreatment. We found that the vast majority of quantitative (n = 41) and qualitative (n = 45) studies on resilience among adult survivors focused on survivors of sexual and physical abuse rather than neglect. Only few studies examined neglect often along with other forms of child maltreatment. We reviewed the studies, identified gaps in the existing literature, and suggested directions for future research.
Pulmonary Nodules: A Small Problem for Many, Severe Distress for Some, and How to Communicate About It

Every year, millions of patients are diagnosed with pulmonary nodules, and as increasing numbers of people undergo lung cancer screening, even more patients will be found to have a nodule. The vast majority of patients cannot benefit from the detection of a pulmonary nodule because most are benign. Accordingly, it is important to develop strategies to minimize harm, in particular the distress of a "near-cancer" diagnosis. In other settings, communication strategies are critical mediators of patient-centered outcomes for those with cancer and those at-risk of cancer. We conducted multiple studies to characterize the experience of patients with the diagnosis and evaluation of incidental pulmonary nodules, measure patient-centered outcomes for patients with pulmonary nodules, and determine the association of patient-clinician communication practices with those outcomes. We learned that a substantial proportion of patients experience distress and inadequate communication about pulmonary nodules and their evaluation, and yet many clinicians are unaware of the degree to which some patients are affected by the finding of a pulmonary nodule. The present review provides a comprehensive summary of our results and offers suggestions for how clinicians can best provide high-quality communication for their patients.
Chaste Thinking, Cultural Reiterations: Shakespeare’s Lucrece and The Letter

This essay addresses the fidelity model of film adaptation and the “chaste thinking” of Shakespeare cinematic adaptation criticism. It addresses the current boundaries of Shakespeare adaptation study through an intertextual reading of texts whose castigating exemplarity links sexual violation, female chastity, and political formations: Shakespeare’s narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece (1593–1594), and the William Wyler film The Letter (1940), based on W. Somerset Maugham’s short story “The Letter” (1923) and stage play (1925). These particular literary and cinematic adaptations form a transhistorical conversation, whose shared thematics of chastity and politics is echoed in adaptation criticism as well. Suggesting a dialogical relationship between a famous Shakespeare text, itself both a faithful and unfaithful adaptation of its sources, and a cinematic reiteration of the Lucretia myth that works through inversion and wildly unfaithful gestures, throws additional critical light on the adaptation process.
A Review: Associations Between Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder, Physical Activity, Medication Use, Eating Behaviors and Obesity in Children and Adolescents.

Abstract In the past few years we have become increasingly aware of strong associations between obesity and ADHD. Both conditions are major public health issues, affecting children, adolescents and adults alike. Objective This review seeks to (1) examine prior research on the association between ADHD and obesity in children and adolescents; (2) discuss mechanisms and consequent behavioral attributes to gain understanding of the path association between ADHD and obesity, (3) review studies examining the role of physical activity, medication, eating behavior and gender on the relationship between ADHD and obesity in children and adolescents. Method PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases were used to search for studies whose subjects were children and adolescents, ages 0–17 years and whose publication years were from 2000 to 2016. After screening 31 studies were included in the review. Results The literature suggests that there is a significant association between ADHD and obesity. Further, the inattentive and impulsive behaviors that characterize ADHD could contribute to dis-regulated eating behaviors and a lack of motivation to engage in physical activity. In addition, it is proposed that medication, gender and physical activity play a role in mediating and moderating the relationship between ADHD and obesity.
Cable tension control of cable-driven parallel manipulators with position-controlling actuators

Keep all cables in tension is crucial for the control of a cable driven parallel manipulator (CDPM). It is challenging to control the tensions in cables of a CDPM with position-controlling actuators because the controlled output positions of actuators are not directly related to cable tensions, especially when cable elasticity is considered. This paper proposes a cable tension control algorithm for fully-constrained CDPMs with positioncontrolling actuators. The proposed tension control algorithm is mathematically derived and verified through simulation using Matlab. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can guarantee all cables are in tension for fully-constrained CDPMs with position-controlling actuators, while not affecting the motion control of the CDPM.
Joint Segmentation and Nonlinear Registration Using Fast Fourier Transform and Total Variation

Image segmentation and registration play active roles in machine vision and medical image analysis of historical data. We explore the joint problem of segmenting and registering a template (current) image given a reference (past) image. We formulate the joint problem as a minimization of a functional that integrates two well-studied approaches in segmentation and registration: geodesic active contours and nonlinear elastic registration. The template image is modeled as a hyperelastic material (St. Venant-Kirchhoff model) which undergoes deformations under applied forces. To segment the deforming template, a two-phase level set-based energy is introduced together with a weighted total variation term that depends on gradient features of the deforming template. This particular choice allows for fast solution using the dual formulation of the total variation. This allows the segmenting front to accurately track spontaneous changes in the shape of objects embedded in the template image as it deforms. To solve the underlying registration problem, we use gradient descent and adopt an implicit-explicit method and use the fast Fourier transform.
An Introduction to the Thermodynamics of Surfaces

Although I have worked on problems in ordinary “bulk” thermodynamics for many years, it is only recently that I have begun to study surfaces. There is, of course, an advantage to having a novice give you an introduction to the subject: I know where a lot of the conceptual difficulties and traps are located, since I have fallen into them myself on numerous occasions. There is also a disadvantage which you should keep in mind: my own understanding of the subject is still quite limited and I may lead you into error. Professor Dash has wisely given me only three lectures, and this puts a definite upper limit on the amount of misinformation which I can transmit to you.
cGMP-Dependent Protein Kinase in Regulation of the Perinatal Pulmonary Circulation

At birth, the increase in oxygen tension results in upregulation of the nitric oxide-cGMP pathway in the pulmonary vasculature and facilitates vasodilation and a fall in pulmonary vascular resistance. In the perinatal period, both cAMP and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) act via cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) in mediating relaxation of the pulmonary circulation, with cGMP working predominantly via PKG. Oxygen exposure results in an increase in PKG activity, PKG protein content, and mRNA expression in fetal pulmonary vascular smooth muscle. The increased production of reactive oxygen species in pulmonary vascular smooth muscle that occurs during hypoxia in the fetus is responsible for downregulation of PKG activity and the PKG protein levels in pulmonary vascular smooth muscle in the fetus, which is reversed on exposure to increased oxygen tension at birth. PKG mRNA expression also appears to be regulated by nitric oxide and cGMP, such that chronic exposure of pulmonary vascular smooth muscle to nitric oxide and cGMP results in downregulation of PKG mRNA levels. This might be one mechanism by which chronic inhalation therapy with nitric oxide in neonates with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn results in development of resistance to nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation in the pulmonary circulation.
Persistent tubal ectopic gestation: patterns of circulating beta-human chorionic gonadotropin and progesterone, and management options.

To aid in the clinical decision making involved with persistent ectopic gestation, a total of 329 operative procedures for tubal gestation were reviewed. Six of 114 (5.3%) cases treated conservatively had persistent trophoblastic activity. The decline in serum β -human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and progesterone (P) at 3 and 6 days postoperatively was similar in the “persistent ectopic” and the “resolved ectopic” groups. However, beyond day 6 both β -hCG percentage of baseline and P level were significantly higher in the “persistent ectopic” (> 22.6 ± 6.6%, > 3.4 ± 0.7 ng/ml, respectively) than the “resolved ectopic” group ( β -hCG or P at 6 days postoperatively, and at 3 day intervals thereafter. The choice of management may be determined by various factors including serum β -hCG and patient s symptoms.
Early Child Development, Residential Crowding, and Commute Time in 8 US States, 2010-2017.

Objectives. To examine relationships of residential crowding and commute time with early child development.Methods. We used the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher-reported, population-health measure of child development. The sample included child-level observations spanning 8 US states from 2010 to 2017 (n = 185 012), aggregated to the census tract (n= 2793), stratified by percentage of households in poverty. To test the association of commute times, crowding, and child development, we tested overall readiness and 5 EDI domains by using adjusted census tract–level multivariate regression with fixed effects.Results. In the full sample, a 1-standard-deviation increase in crowding was associated with 0.064- and 0.084-point decreases in mean score for cognitive development and communication skills, respectively. For the high-poverty subsample, a 1-standard deviation increase in commute time was associated with 0.081- and 0.066-point decreases in social competence and emotional maturity.Conclusions....
Experimental Thermodynamics and Surface Properties of Ag-Cu-Ge Solder/Braze Alloys

Ag-based alloys have industrial importance in relation to their use as high-temperature solders in jewellery or braze alloys for thermoelectric modules. Good wetting properties and a tarnish-resistance of Ag-Ge and Ag-Cu-Ge alloys together with appropriate mechanical properties make them good candidates for bonding sterling silver (Ag-7.5Cu, in wt.%). The melting temperature and the heat of melting of Ag-Cu, Ag-Ge and Ag-Cu-Ge eutectic alloys have been measured by differential scanning calorimetry. From a technological point of view, particular attention should be paid to the surface tension, a key property of the joining processes. The aim of this study is to correlate the thermodynamic properties of the Ag-Cu-Ge system and its subsystems with their surface properties and to compare the model predicted property values to the data available in the literature.
For Love and Affection: Elder Care and the Law's Denial of Intra-Family Contracts

As the U.S. population ages, demand for care providers for older adults is rapidly growing. Although the law’s treatment of care contracts between older adults and their family caregivers has substantial implications for the country’s ability to meet this demand, there has been no prior empirical examination of the law’s current treatment of such agreements. This Article fills that gap by assessing how courts and other legal actors treat intra-family agreements to pay family members for elder care. A look into a long-ignored area of case law—Medicaid eligibility determinations—reveals that courts, administrative law judges, and state regulators typically attach little or no monetary value to elder care provided by family members. Rather, payments for caregiving are routinely treated as fraudulent transfers. The result is that, in the name of combatting Medicaid fraud, states penalize older adults who pay for their own care. Treating family-provided elder care as lacking monetary value stands in sharp contrast to the high cost of elder care purchased on the open market and is at odds with states’ increased willingness to directly pay family care providers. This Article shows that this incongruence can be partially explained by public distaste for Medicaid planning and distrust of agents acting on behalf of older adults. Entrenched stereotypes about care work and related expectations about familial care also contribute to the law’s refusal to recognize these agreements and the economic value of care provided under them. This Article offers lessons for social policy, legal theory, and legal practice. On a policy level, it shows that states are engaged in counterproductive behavior that will discourage the very type of family care they purport to encourage. On a theoretical level, it indicates that attitudes toward care work and courts’ willingness to enforce contracts between family members have not changed to the extent commonly described by family law scholars. Finally, at a practical level, it suggests that attorneys should adapt the advice they give clients to better account for distrust of agents.
A Single "All-in-One" Helper-Dependent Adenovirus to Deliver Donor DNA and CRISPR/Cas9 for Efficient Homology-Directed Repair.

In this study, we developed a single helper-dependent adenovirus (HDAd) to deliver all of the components (donor DNA, CRISPR-associated protein 9 [Cas9], and guide RNA [gRNA]) needed to achieve high-efficiency gene targeting and homology-directed repair in transduced cells. We show that these “all-in-one” HDAds are up to 117-fold more efficient at gene targeting than donor HDAds that do not express CRISPR/Cas9 in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The vast majority (>90%) of targeted recombinants had only one allele targeted, and this was accompanied by high-frequency indel formation in the non-targeted allele at the site of Cas9 cleavage. These indels varied in size and nature, and included large deletions of ∼8 kb. The remaining minority of recombinants had both alleles targeted (so-called bi-allelic targeting). These all-in-one HDAds represent an important platform for accomplishing and expanding the utility of homology-directed repair, especially for difficult-to-transfect cells and for in vivo applications.
Cannabis Use and Low-Back Pain: A Systematic Review

Introduction: The potential use of cannabis and cannabinoid products for the treatment of low-back pain is an important area for investigation. As one of the leading reasons to visit a primary care provider, low-back pain results in a significant burden of disease in both the United States' economic and health care systems. Given the current opioid epidemic, it is important to seek novel analgesics and understand their efficacy for myriad pain conditions, including low-back pain. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was performed using multiple online databases to assess the association of cannabis use and low-back pain in the literature. Results: A total of 124 articles were produced via our search methods, 73 abstracts in total were screened, 16 articles underwent full-text review, and 6 articles were included in qualitative synthesis. Discussion: This systematic literature review reveals a lack of primary research investigating cannabis as a potential treatment of low-back pain and highlights the need for further investigation with well-designed clinical trials. There remain substantial political and legal barriers to performing such research. Conclusion: Although there is a considerable body of work on the usage of cannabinoid products for many medical conditions, including the treatment of chronic pain, more directed clinical research into their utility as an analgesic for low-back pain and related symptoms needs to be addressed.
Non-confirming replication of "Performance of InSilicoVA for assigning causes of death to verbal autopsies: multisite validation study using clinical diagnostic gold standards," by Flaxman et al.

A verbal autopsy (VA) is an interview conducted with the caregivers of someone who has recently died to describe the circumstances of the death. In recent years, several algorithmic methods have been developed to classify cause of death using VA data. The performance of one method—InSilicoVA—was evaluated in a study by Flaxman et al., published in BMC Medicine in 2018. The results of that study are different from those previously published by our group. Based on the description of methods in the Flaxman et al. study, we attempt to replicate the analysis to understand why the published results differ from those of our previous work. We failed to reproduce the results published in Flaxman et al. Most of the discrepancies we find likely result from undocumented differences in data pre-processing, and/or values assigned to key parameters governing the behavior of the algorithm. This finding highlights the importance of making replication code available along with published results. All code necessary to replicate the work described here is freely available on GitHub.
Clinical and cardiac characteristics of COVID-19 mortalities in a diverse New York City Cohort.

Introduction Electrocardiographic characteristics in COVID-19-related mortality have not yet been reported, particularly in racial/ethnic minorities. Methods and results We reviewed demographics, laboratory and cardiac tests, medications, and cardiac rhythm proximate to death or initiation of comfort care for patients hospitalized with a positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in three New York City hospitals between March 1 and April 3, 2020 who died. We described clinical characteristics and compared factors contributing toward arrhythmic versus nonarrhythmic death. Of 1258 patients screened, 133 died and were enrolled. Of these, 55.6% (74/133) were male, 69.9% (93/133) were racial/ethnic minorities, and 88.0% (117/133) had cardiovascular disease. The last cardiac rhythm recorded was VT or fibrillation in 5.3% (7/133), pulseless electrical activity in 7.5% (10/133), unspecified bradycardia in 0.8% (1/133), and asystole in 26.3% (35/133). Most 74.4% (99/133) died receiving comfort measures only. The most common abnormalities on admission electrocardiogram included abnormal QRS axis (25.8%), atrial fibrillation/flutter (14.3%), atrial ectopy (12.0%), and right bundle branch block (11.9%). During hospitalization, an additional 17.6% developed atrial ectopy, 14.7% ventricular ectopy, 10.1% atrial fibrillation/flutter, and 7.8% a right ventricular abnormality. Arrhythmic death was confirmed or suspected in 8.3% (11/133) associated with age, coronary artery disease, asthma, vasopressor use, longer admission corrected QT interval, and left bundle branch block (LBBB). Conclusions Conduction, rhythm, and electrocardiographic abnormalities were common during COVID-19-related hospitalization. Arrhythmic death was associated with age, coronary artery disease, asthma, longer admission corrected QT interval, LBBB, ventricular ectopy, and usage of vasopressors. Most died receiving comfort measures.
Fairness of Classifiers Across Skin Tones in Dermatology

Recent advances in computer vision have led to breakthroughs in the development of automated skin image analysis. However, no attempt has been made to evaluate the consistency in performance across populations with varying skin tones. In this paper, we present an approach to estimate skin tone in skin disease benchmark datasets and investigate whether model performance is dependent on this measure. Specifically, we use individual typology angle (ITA) to approximate skin tone in dermatology datasets. We look at the distribution of ITA values to better understand skin color representation in two benchmark datasets: 1) the ISIC 2018 Challenge dataset, a collection of dermoscopic images of skin lesions for the detection of skin cancer, and 2) the SD-198 dataset, a collection of clinical images capturing a wide variety of skin diseases. To estimate ITA, we first develop segmentation models to isolate non-diseased areas of skin. We find that the majority of the data in the two datasets have ITA values between 34.5\(^\circ \) and 48\(^\circ \), which are associated with lighter skin, and is consistent with under-representation of darker skinned populations in these datasets. We also find no measurable correlation between accuracy of machine learning models and ITA values, though more comprehensive data is needed for further validation.
High Current Medium Voltage Bidirectional Solid State Circuit Breaker using SiC JFET Super Cascode

DC power systems found in electric transport, data centers and residential microgrid applications maintain a demand for fast, reliable and efficient power electronics in the Medium Voltage (MV) range. DC systems are inherently more sensitive to faults due to low system impedance and voltage sensitivity of accompanying power electronics creating a need for a fast all Solid State approach to system protection. This paper proposes a Bidirectional Solid State Circuit Breaker (BSSCB) utilizing the SuperCascode topology as the breaking element and has parallel transient energy absorption circuitry comprising of MOVs and snubbers to denergize the line upon fault. The paper discusses critical design points in breaker design, advantages of SuperCascode switch for breaker applications and power stage scaling calculations of the transient absorption circuitry. For packaging, a novel Epoxy Resin Composite Dielectric (ERCD) is considered as an alternative to metal-clad ceramic (DBC) substrate for higher reliability. The paper studies transient heat transfer in the power module using finite element analysis (FEA) and proposes a thermally defined and digitally controlled fuse curve for breakers. A design example of 10kV/100 A BSSCB is provided which holds 10x rated current for a 5ms dwell. A scaled-down 6kV/10A SSCB prototype using TO-247 packaged dies is demonstrated and is capable of withstanding 7x over-current for 1μs and short circuit interruption in approximately 60 ns.
Simulation of High-Strain-Rate Comminution through a Breakage Model with Adaptive Rate Dependence

AbstractWhile laboratory evidence suggests that particle crushing generates nonnegligible rate-dependence in granular materials, few constitutive laws reproduce such effects in light of grain-scale...